"What's a blue X mean?" Alyssa held the little white stick out from the bathroom door.

Teagan slumped from the bed to Ellie's shag carpet floor, well aware of what the blue X meant. Her erratic breathing invited the walls closer, the ceiling to cave in. Instinct took over and as the room blackened around her, she curled into a fetal ball on the floor, gasping for breath. Even though she'd read the directions on the box four times before she peed on the stick, she didn't want to believe. How could she, at seventeen, be pregnant?

Ellie scowled at Alyssa. "It's a plus, not an x dumb ass!"

"OMG." Alyssa turned the pink stick this way and that. "You're right. It's a plus. What's the plus mean?"

Ellie dropped to the floor and put her hand on Teagan's shoulder.

Teagan scooted until her head rested in Ellie's lap. She sobbed.

"Shhh ... It'll be okay." Ellie stroked Teagan's hair.

Alyssa flopped across the bed, above the other two. "Yeah, we'll get through this like we have all the other shit we've been through. Remember when Brady told everyone he went down on Ells and her cooch smelled like fish bait?" She giggled.

Teagan turned her head and through tear-blurred vision saw the girls next to her. Her girls. Her best friends. And she knew they always would be. She smiled. "Yeah, we turned the tables on that shit-dick. Didn't we?"

"Ughh." Ellie frowned. "Yeah. I told everyone he had a tiny prick and his pee hole was in the wrong place, upside down or some shit like that. Weirdest dick I ever saw, but the sex was actually pretty good. I'd have to say above normal."

"It's called hypospadias." Alyssa sniggered.

Teagan suspected Alyssa might be some sort of genius. She got honor roll every year, knew huge words neither her nor Ellie had any idea about, but acted like the biggest knob head in the world. She knew it had to be some sort of front.

Teagan still had no idea what to do. "I'm so screwed."

Alyssa landed on the floor next to the other girls with a thump. "I heard abortions are cheap this time of year."

Ellie smacked Alyssa across the forehead. "You insensitive bitch."

Alyssa rubbed her red brow. "Sorry. Just trying to lighten up the conversation a little, Jesus."

"Do you see either of us laughing? Seriously, Lyss, if you don't start thinking before you talk, you're gonna wind up pissing off the wrong person."

Alyssa popped out her full bottom lip. "Sorry for being eclectically sound."

"Quit it. Both of you," Teagan said. "The president ordered all pregnant women to get abortions and the government's paying for it. So Lyssa is right."

Ellie brushed the hair out of Teagan's eyes. "But you're anti-abortion. You hate the word."

"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? It's the law now."

Alyssa started to open her mouth, but Ellie held her hand up and opened and closed it as if she were doing a shadow puppet of a snake.

"But ..."

"Shhh," Ellie snapped her hand python's mouth open and closed again.

Alyssa sat on the bed and crossed her arms.

Teagan appreciated the silence. An abortion? What in the hell would she tell her mother? They'd never been open about sex. While her mother praised her for her staunch celibacy, she had secretly started seeing the older boy. Now she'd have to let her mom know she wasn't a virgin anymore. Ugh. She'd never hear the end of it. Maybe they could secretly go to one of the government clinics and have it done there? She'd seen the videos of how they cram a rod up inside of you and blend the baby up before pulling it out. Her insides crumbled at the thought of spaghetti baby on a stick.

She sprinted for the bathroom.

Alyssa slapped her hands on her cheeks. "She's gonna blow!"

Teagan didn't have time to put up the toilet seat. When she finished heaving, she wrapped her arms around the bowl. Someone behind her flushed the toilet. She'd recognize the scrawny arms of Alyssa anywhere.

"Sorry about before. Ya know me. Always sticking my foot in my mouth." She'd pulled Teagan's hair up, away from her face and the toilet; a human scrunchie.

"It's okay Lyss. I'm just overwhelmed." Teagan leaned against the counter across from the toilet.

"I know, right?" Alyssa gave a crooked smile.

Ellie rummaged through a shelf. "Here. Brush your teeth." She put a brand new toothbrush on the counter.

"Yeah. You smell like Ells did after Ryan puked on her at Erica's party last year." Alyssa laughed.

Ellie punched Alyssa in the arm.

Alyssa stumbled and fell into the tub. "Bitch"

Teagan couldn't help but smile.

After brushing her teeth several times, she went back into the bedroom where Ellie and Alyssa lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Ellie sat up. "What's the verdict, Tea Bags?"

When someone mentioned pro-choice she'd gotten a knot in her stomach and wanted to punch the idiot in the throat. Even though it scared the holy shit out of her, she'd made up her mind. 

"There's no way in hell I'm letting anyone rip this baby out of me."

Alyssa's eyes widened. "Ya wanna keep it? Are you out of your mind? Uh-uh. No way in hell! Fuck that! It's not a baby. It's a genetically mutated monster that eats people. Didn't you watch the news? Those things are chewing their way out of their mothers." She poked Teagan in the stomach. Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. "I can't lose you Teag. You gotta get that thing outta you." Her arms draped around Teagan and she cried.

Teagan squeezed Alyssa close. "I can't kill it," she whispered. "No matter what it is, it's still my baby ... my choice."

Ellie hugged and looked Teagan in the eyes. "Then you'd better pray your mom fixes this before that thing comes out." She patted Teagan's stomach.

Alyssa held up her cell phone. "Check out what I found."

Teagan wiped the tears out of her eyes and focused on the small screen. "What?"

"It's a safe-house in Corvallis. Someone just posted it on Facebook. They'll harbor you and help deliver the baby. There's a number, want me to call it?"

"Okay." Teagan sniffled.

Alyssa walked into the bathroom, dialing. Teagan couldn't hear her and didn't really care at that point. Her eyes burned and her stomach kept doing bellyflops. If she curled up next to Ellie, she might fall asleep. That sounded like her best option. Maybe she'd sleep through the entire pregnancy.

Alyssa stepped back into the room.

"Well?" Ellie asked.

"They gave me another phone number to call when we get to Corvallis. Teag, you wanna go?"

"What about my mom?" Teagan still didn't know what to tell her mom. She'd probably bring her to the hospital and perform the abortion herself.

Alyssa stuffed her phone in the front pocket of her jeans. "You don't tell her nothing. If ya wanna try and have the baby, then you can't tell anyone except us and whoever the hell we run into at the shelter thing."

Ellie pulled on her brown leather jacket. "It's settled. We tell no-one, even our moms. So, let's go. "

"Now?" Teagan's heart raced.

Ellie and Alyssa both helped her up.

"Yeah. Right fucking now. Get your prego ass off the floor and let's bounce." Ellie grabbed Teagan by the hand and pulled her through the bedroom door into the hall.

"I'm driving, bitches." Alyssa dangled Teagan's keys.

"No way in hell. When men got the idea of crazy women drivers, your dumbass was pasted all over the memo." Ellie snatched them from Alyssa's hands.

"You little bitch, give 'em back." Alyssa swiped for them, but Ellie moved her hand too quick and she missed them by an inch.

"Both of you shut the fuck up. I'm fine to drive. It's not like I'm drunk." She held out her hand and Ellie dropped the keys into her palm.

"Shotgun!" Ellie called out.

"Dammit, Elle, I never get to sit in front." Alyssa folded her arms.

Teagan smiled. "Whose lap do you think I'm going to hurl on?"

"On second thought." Ellie waved her arms forward. "It's all yours Lyss.

The two girls giggled. Not Teagan. She couldn't laugh. Her mind chastised her. It screamed at her stupidity. First for not making the jerk wear a condom. Then for not having the guts to tell her mother. Most of all, for saying she would give birth to whatever she had growing inside. The baby tossed and turned. Teagan dry heaved as they left the house, speeding toward an unknown future.

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