Author's Notes: I know, I know. I suck. I'm slow. Believe me, I KNOW. This past semester was CRAZY busy. I mean crazy. It seemed like it would never end. But it did and I did well and now I have Christmas break until January 11th. Anyway, I am skipping ahead a bit in this story because if I don't, the goddamn thing will go on FOREVER. So this chapter is starting the Monday of Thanksgiving week. In the Denver Airport. Wendy's parents are picking Seth up for his Thanksgiving break. Also, if I make references to "the election", I am referencing the 2006 election where the Democrats took over the House and Senate.
"What's his flight number again?" Martin Testaburger asked his wife.
"I thought you were looking up his flight number." Kathy Testaburger replied, rolling her eyes at her husband.
"No, Kathy, I told you to look it up!" he replied, gripping the steering wheel angrily. Wendy and Jessica exchanged annoyed glances. They had both had other plans that night, but their father had insisted that they cancel them because he wanted the entire family to meet Seth at the airport so that they could go out for a nice family dinner afterward, goddammit. So Jessica had skipped out on cheerleading practice and Wendy had bailed on a Student Council meeting. Her father had even left work early and her mother had stayed out of the wine all day, which was a first for her.
"Seth said that it was arriving at six our time. How many flights from Seattle can REALLY be arriving at the same time?" Wendy asked, hoping to stop the fight before it started.
"I want to know so that I know where to meet him." Martin replied, gritting his teeth.
"Don't snap at Wendy. She's trying to be helpful!" Kathy replied.
"Wendy wouldn't have to be helpful if you would have just looked it up like I asked you to!" Martin replied.
"Doesn't he usually fly the same airline anyway?" Jessica asked, trying to be helpful.
"Yeah. You guys have those miles set up for him to earn or something, right?" Wendy asked.
"Anything can change." Martin replied, taking the exit that led to the airport.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting on the bench by the baggage claim area, waiting for Seth. Martin was waiting for Seth's bag and Seth was still nowhere to be seen, although the bags from his flight were on the baggage carousel and the display screen said that his flight had gotten in before. Martin got Seth's bag and checked the tag, making sure it was indeed Seth's. Seth soon strolled up to the baggage claim area, a bouquet of red roses in hand. Wendy laughed, realizing he had actually been expecting Mandi to pick him up. Seth never missed a beat, though. He walked up to his mother, gave her a hug, and handed her the roses.
"For you." he said, grinning. She smiled.
"You thought Mandi was picking you up, huh?" she replied. Seth shrugged.
"No no. Of course not." he said.
"Right. Should we go, then?" Martin replied, leading everyone out to the car. Seth piled into the backseat with Wendy and Jessica, nearly crushing both of them.
"Hey Seth? There are two other people back here. Contain your bulk, please." Wendy said, rolling her eyes.
"My bulk? I think you're the one with the ever-expanding ass and waistline, sister." he replied, eyeing Wendy's tiny roll of fat under her shirt. She zipped her jacket self-consciously.
"Be nice to your sister. There is no possible way that she is gaining any weight. She's had the same stomach flu all month!" Kathy replied.
"Sounds more like bulimia to me." Jessica muttered.
"Shut up, Jessica." Wendy and Seth said in unison.
Twenty minutes later, they had finally settled on some hole in the wall Italian place in Fairplay for dinner. They were seated immediately and they all stared at their menus. Wendy was pleased to see that they actually offered vegetarian lasagna as well as several meatless pasta dishes. The waiter was a guy about Wendy's age. He smiled warmly at everyone, but cast several side glances at Jessica, who didn't seem to notice.
"Now isn't this nice? A family dinner. How often do we get to do this?" Kathy asked.
"I'm missing practice for this." Jessica said, glaring at her mother.
"I'm missing Student Council." Wendy said.
"I'm missing my girlfriend." Seth replied, not even looking up from his phone. Wendy guessed he was texting Mandi.
"Wendy, you have a big birthday coming up. Do you want to do anything special for it?" Kathy asked, ignoring everyone's complaints.
"What? I don't know." Wendy replied. Her stomach was starting to bother her again.
"Seth, what did we do for your eighteenth?" Kathy asked. Seth shrugged.
"I've slept since then." he replied.
"I remember. You all went ice skating at some fancy place in Denver and Seth got in trouble for having sex with that Australian foreign exchange student in his car." Jessica replied, smirking. Seth shot her a death glare.
"No, Jess, that was his seventeenth birthday. He was dating Molly on his eighteenth birthday." Wendy replied, smiling in spite of her rolling stomach.
"I remember that. He got that poor girl deported." Martin replied, chuckling.
"She got herself deported because she got pregnant." Seth replied.
"What?!" Kathy asked, shocked.
"Not by me! It was like three months later." Seth replied, rolling his eyes.
"I thought she got deported for having an affair with that creepy teacher's aide." Jessica replied.
"Who do you think knocked her up?" Wendy said. Jessica made a gagging noise.
"Anyway, what did we do?" Kathy asked, going back to Seth's eighteenth birthday.
"Was that the year that we did that giant pizza party?" Martin asked.
"I think it was." Seth replied.
"Molly got mad at you. I remember that part." Jessica replied, grinning.
"Yeah, because he spent most of the night talking to Mandi." Wendy replied, rolling her eyes.
"I did not!" Seth replied.
"Do you want to do a pizza party, Wendy?" Kathy asked. Wendy swore she could hear her stomach gurgle.
"I'm going to be sick." she said, running off to the bathroom.
"We really should take her to a doctor or something." Kathy said, watching Wendy disappear into the bathroom.
"She's fine, Kathy. Stop worrying so damn much." Martin replied.
"I still say she's bulimic." Jessica said.
"Why would you say that?" Seth asked.
"Because she pukes ALL the time!" Jessica replied, rolling her eyes.
"Bulimia is when you throw up after you eat to avoid gaining weight, smart one." Seth replied. He made a face at Jessica and leaned to the side as she tossed a piece of bread at his face.
"Maybe she's doing it to get Token back." Jessica replied.
"You know, maybe she's upset about that break-up." Kathy said, as if it made perfect sense to her.
"Token does have a new girlfriend already." Jessica replied. She had seen him making out with Red at her locker a few days before.
"Should we get her some counseling or something?" Martin asked. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.
"You should probably just talk to Wendy about it." Seth replied. He couldn't believe his parents were just now having this conversation if Wendy had actually been that sick for a month.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. She won't talk to me." Kathy replied, sighing.
"I'll talk to her." Seth replied.
"Sorry guys. I feel a little better now." Wendy said, sitting down at the table.
--
"God, Bebe, you're so hot." Scott moaned. Bebe smiled through their kiss.
"I'm glad you think so." she replied, pulling away.
"No. Come back." he said, pulling her back. She let him kiss her until she felt his hand reaching for the zipper on her jeans.
"Scott. No. Come on." she said, pulling away again. He sighed in frustration, but moved his hand.
"Come on, Bebe. We've been going out for like six months now." he said.
"Actually, it's been almost three months. I'm glad you know how to count." she said, sitting up. He sighed. Bebe sitting up was a sure sign that they were finished fooling around for the evening.
"It feels like six months because I love being with you." he replied, grinning. And hoping like hell he could save his own ass. She smiled, just like he predicted she would.
"You're so full of it. But you're also sweet." she replied.
"I just want to be closer to you. That's all." he said, taking her hand and pulling her down next to him.
"And I'm not ready." Bebe replied, sighing.
"Is it me?" he asked.
"I think I might want to wait until I'm married." Bebe said.
"Is that a proposal?" Scott asked. Bebe rolled her eyes.
"I don't know how I feel about it anymore." she said.
"You almost had sex with Craig." Scott pointed out.
"Almost. Almost doesn't count." Bebe replied. She sat up again and pulled her cardigan back on. It had somehow found it's way onto the floor during their make-out session.
"Where are you going?" Scott asked, sitting up as well. He grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and pulled his t-shirt back over his head. Another casualty.
"It's almost eight. I'm supposed to be studying, remember?" Bebe asked, rolling her eyes. She didn't add that it would probably take her at least half an hour to get home. And her parents didn't exactly know about Scott yet.
"I told you, I'm willing to teach you about your own anatomy any day of the week." Scott replied, wiggling his eyebrows.
"I'm pretty sure that's illegal." Bebe replied, grabbing her purse from the chair in the corner.
"It is not." Scott replied. He had looked it up long ago.
"You're sick." Bebe replied, pulling on her boots.
"You love me anyway." Scott replied, grinning.
"Three months. Not going there." Bebe replied, putting on her coat and zipping it up.
"Do you really have to go?" Scott asked, standing up and walking over to her.
"My parents will kill me if I'm late again." she replied. She kissed his cheek and walked out of his bedroom. He heard the front door open and close and then the sound of her car starting up and driving away. He sighed.
--
"My grandparents are excited for Thanksgiving." Butters said, grinning at Rebecca. She looked up from her Calculus book and smiled.
"I'm glad." she replied. She was supposed to spend Thanksgiving evening with the Stotch family. It would be the first time she had ever met anyone in Butters' family other than his parents. She wasn't really looking forward to it.
"And all my cousins are going to be here too. And they are gonna love you, Becs." he said, grinning again. Rebecca smiled once again.
"They don't have to love me, Butters." she said.
"Why, sure they do. You're my girlfriend." he replied.
"Butters…we need to talk." she said. There, she had finally blurted out what she had been wanting to say to him for a month. Except she wasn't totally sure what she should say to him.
"I agree." he replied. Well that was a surprise.
"You do?" she asked, confused.
"Yeah. We need to talk about what we're gonna do for Christmas." he replied.
"Christmas?" Rebecca asked, frowning. That wasn't what she wanted to talk about.
"Well yeah. See, I've been lookin' at this ring that I want to buy for you. A promise ring, I guess." he said, blushing.
"Wait…a promise ring?" Rebecca asked, thoroughly confused.
"Well yeah. I know it ain't an engagement ring or anything like you were probably hoping for, but I don't have much money right now." Butters said. Rebecca was sure that her jaw was gong to fall off of its hinges.
"An engagement ring? Butters, we haven't even been together that long!" she exclaimed.
"I know it's soon and all, but I love you, Becs." Butters said, taking her hand. Rebecca wasn't quite sure what to say. Luckily, Linda chose that moment to walk through the front door.
"Butters?" she asked.
"Well, I'm right here." he replied.
"What are you doing? Oh, hi, Rebecca." she said, smiling politely at Rebecca before turning her attention back to Butters.
"Well, I was just talkin' to Rebecca about buyin' her a promise ring for Christmas." Butters said, grinning at his mother. Linda frowned.
"Butters, you know that we discussed this with your father last week. We told you that you were not going to buy Rebecca any kind of ring for Christmas this year." she said, her eyes narrowing. She shot a dirty look at Rebecca, who shrugged. It definitely wasn't HER idea.
"But Mom, don't you get it? I love her!" Butters said. Rebecca could see his inner eight-year old coming through. Oh yeah, and she was freaked out of her goddamn mind because of what he had just said.
"Butters! What did you just say?" Linda asked, the look of shock on her face mirroring the look on Rebecca's.
"I said I love her!" Butters replied, a look of defiance forming in his eyes.
"Butters, you are grounded, mister! How many times have we told you not to fall for some girl you meet in high school?" Linda demanded.
"Four times, mom." Butters replied, letting go of Rebecca's hand and suddenly becoming very interested in the living room carpet.
"Well obviously those four times were useless, now weren't they?" Linda replied.
"I'm sorry." Butters said.
"You just wait until your father hears about this. I'm going to call him right now!" Linda said, stomping off to the kitchen. Butters sighed.
"Well, now I'm in a whole world of trouble." he said. He sounded on the verge of tears.
"Butters, why did you say that?" Rebecca asked.
"Because it's true." he replied, smiling at her. Rebecca sighed. This poor kid was about to have his world crash down around him.
"Butters, I don't want you to buy me a promise ring for Christmas. Or an engagement ring." she said, sighing. She felt like the worst person in the world.
"Becs, you don't have to say that." he replied. He took her hand again, but she pulled away.
"No, Butters. I don't think we should see each other anymore. I think we feel very differently about one another and I don't want to lead you on or something." she said.
"Are you breaking up with me?" he asked, shocked. She sighed.
"Yeah, Butters. I am." she replied.
"But…but I love you. You can't do this!" he replied. She saw tears forming in his eyes.
"It's not going to work out. This got way more serious than I wanted it to." she said.
"Rebecca, please don't do this. I can change. I'll be the boyfriend you want!" he replied. She shook her head.
"No, Butters. I don't love you. I'm sorry." she said. Now he was just starting to get annoying.
"Please reconsider!" Butters said. He hadn't felt this desperate since they took his precious back to the video store.
"We can still be friends." Rebecca said, smiling. Even though she knew damn well that they weren't going to be friends.
"I…I…" Butters said. Or hiccupped.
"I'll just…show myself out." Rebecca said, standing up and leaving. She felt terrible for breaking Butters' heart. He was like a little kid in a way. She opened her car door and got in. As she buckled her seatbelt and started the car, she thought about Stan and how he would be happy to hear the news. If he would even speak to her again. They hadn't really spoken since she asked for space after her birthday party.
"Rebecca? Rebecca, wait." Linda Stotch called. Rebecca sighed, but turned off her car and got out anyway.
"What's up, Mrs. Stotch?" she asked, hoping that she wouldn't lecture her.
"Are things between you and Butters really over?" Linda asked, frowning.
"Yeah." Rebecca replied. She wasn't sure what else to say.
"You broke his heart." Linda said. Yet she wasn't really being confrontational or accusatory.
"Look, I didn't mean to, okay? Things wouldn't have worked out between us." Rebecca replied. She shivered as a cold wind blew through. She was only wearing a light sweater coat.
"It's just as well, I suppose. Have a nice night." Linda said, walking back towards the house.
"Mrs. Stotch? Tell him I said sorry." Rebecca called after her. Linda merely nodded and walked back inside the house.
--
"Dude, fuck this fucking project." Cartman said, throwing his poster board on the table.
"Keep gluing, asshole." Kyle said, not even looking up from his.
"Dude, we've been working on this for like three hours now. It's not even due until after Thanksgiving." Stan said, putting his poster board down as well.
"Yeah, and if we don 't work on it now, then we won't have time over Thanksgiving weekend and we'll be doing it all at the last fucking minute and goddammit, I will not get a bad grade on this, Stan!" Kyle exclaimed. They had been working on their project for AP Psychology for three hours each day for about a week. They were actually almost finished, but Kyle was being a perfectionist about it.
"Dude, you're not going to get a bad grade. Chill out." Stan replied. The project was on schizophrenia. They had to do a ten minute presentation on it. They had already finished the presentation part and had since moved on to making the posters.
"Well, Jew Boy, I'm going to order pizza." Cartman said, pressing the speed dial button for Pizza Shack on his cell phone.
"You would have it on speed dial, you fat fuck." Kyle replied, rolling his eyes.
"Kyle, so help me, I am bigger and stronger than you. I could easily snap you in half. You would be better off shutting your goddamn Jew mouth." Cartman said, rather calmly.
"Dude, how much pizza are you ordering?" Kenny asked, walking in.
"How is it that you always manage to show up right when we're either eating or ordering food, Kenny?" Stan asked. Kenny shrugged.
"Dude, I don't know. It's a gift." he replied, digging through Cartman's kitchen cabinets.
"Yes, yes, thank you." Cartman said, hanging up the phone.
"Well?" Stan asked.
"Oh. I got four large pizzas. You assholes owe me ten bucks each." Cartman said.
"Jesus Christ, Cartman. I'm not going to eat a whole large pizza by myself." Kyle replied.
"I'll take what you don't eat." Kenny replied.
"Goddammit Kenny. You better not have stolen shit out of my kitchen again." Cartman said, glaring at him.
"Dude, I have to feed my family somehow." Kenny replied. Cartman started to say something else, but his back door opened and Katie McCormick walked in.
"Oh, what the fuck is this?" Cartman demanded. Katie rolled her eyes.
"The electricity went out. Mom said to come over here if I wanted to do homework." Katie replied, shrugging. She sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out her Calculus book and began to work the problems.
"Bitch, did I say you could sit down?" Cartman asked, glaring at her. Katie shrugged.
"Look, asshole, I'll be leaving as soon as Jessica gets home. For now, I'm doing my homework. I'm not going to bug you or anything. Jesus." she replied, rolling her eyes.
"I don't mind if she hangs around." Kyle said. Everyone turned to give him a weird look.
"Thank you, Kyle." she said, smiling.
"Do you, uh…do you need any help with that?" Kyle asked, gesturing towards her Calculus homework.
"Oh, no. I've got it." she said. She smiled at him again and went back to the homework. Kyle was impressed with how fast she worked, especially considering the fact that she didn't even have a calculator. He pulled out his own and tried to hand it to her.
"Here, it might make things easier." he said, feeling the tips of his ears turn as red as his hair. She shook her head.
"Oh no, I know how to do everything in my head." Katie said.
"Katie is a genius." Kenny said, shrugging. Katie rolled her eyes.
"Everyone is a genius compared to you." she replied.
"No, seriously. She takes classes at South Park Community College and everything. She's probably going to graduate with our class." Kenny said.
"Wow, really?" Kyle asked. Katie shrugged.
"I could if I wanted to. I'm just not sure if that's what I want yet." she replied.
"That's pretty cool, dude." Kyle said, actually impressed. Katie shrugged.
"Whatever, I guess." she said.
"Do you know what you want to study in college?" Kyle asked.
"Dude, Kyle, leave her alone." Stan said.
"Yeah, Kyle. Put your boner back in your pants and leave her alone." Cartman said. Kyle glared at him.
"No no, it's okay. I don't know what I want to study. I'm thinking pre-med, though." Katie replied.
"I'm glad that you have goals. You know, considering your family and your life and stuff." Kyle said.
"Dude!" Stan said, hoping that Katie wouldn't take offense. Luckily she didn't.
"Oh…thanks, Kyle. I'm glad you approve?" she replied.
"I didn't mean to sound like a dick." Kyle said, blushing. Katie shrugged.
"You didn't." she replied.
"I suppose you expect us to feed you fucking dinner too." Cartman said, glaring at her. She shrugged.
"I'm not going to refuse food. But I won't steal it like my brother. By the way, that ham your mom buys is really good." Katie replied. Kyle laughed.
"I knew he was stealing food from here. I knew it!" Cartman replied, glaring furiously at Kenny.
"Hey, I have to feed my family somehow, asshole!" Kenny replied.
"Yeah, well, if your dad would get a job, you wouldn't have that problem, would you, you poor piece of shit?" Cartman replied.
"Actually, we more or less take care of ourselves. And our dad moved out like, two years ago." Katie said.
"Dude, your dad left?" Stan asked, looking at Kenny.
"Yeah, well, are you really shocked?" Kenny asked.
"No, not really." Cartman replied.
"So when you say you take care of yourself, what do you mean?" Kyle asked, interested.
"Kenny has a job." Katie replied.
"And Katie gives blow jobs." Kenny replied. Kyle's eyes widened.
"I do not. I tutor people. Mostly in math." Katie replied, rolling her eyes.
"That's her cover." Kenny said.
"Kenny can't accept that he's the only whore in the family." Katie replied.
"Right. Well whatever, bitch. You're not eating any of the pizza." Cartman replied.
"Dude, she can share mine." Kenny replied.
"Or mine." Kyle said. Kenny gave Kyle a weird look.
"Dude, Kyle." Kenny said, realization washing over his features.
"What?" Kyle asked.
"Nothing." Kenny replied, shaking his head. Stan started to say something, but his phone began blasting "Why Can't I?" by Liz Phair.
"What the fuck, Stan?!" Cartman demanded, covering his ears.
"It's Rebecca and I's song. Shut up." Stan replied, walking into Cartman's living room with his phone.
"Jesus Christ, that's their song? That song is fucking awful!" Kenny said.
"That song is better than the crap you listen to." Katie said, rolling her eyes.
"Hey." Stan said from the living room. He opened Cartman's front door and stood in his front yard.
"Hi Stan." Rebecca said.
"What's up?" he asked. She hadn't really talked to him since the night of his birthday party when he drove her home. He was kind of shocked that she was calling him, but he was glad.
"I broke up with Butters." she said, her voice sort of shaky. He frowned.
"You sound kind of upset about it." he said. He hadn't expected her to feel bad about her decision to end things with Butters.
"It was awful. He was so upset. He cried." she said. Stan breathed a small sigh of relief.
"That sucks, but he'll get over it." Stan said.
"Where are you?" Rebecca asked. He realized that she was probably driving.
"I'm at Cartman's. Kyle is making us work on our project for AP Psychology." Stan replied.
"Oh." Rebecca replied.
"Do you want to like…come over? Or something?" Stan asked. Rebecca hesitated before answering.
"No, I should probably go home. Do you want to eat lunch together tomorrow?" Rebecca asked.
"Yeah. Yeah I would." Stan replied.
"Okay. Meet me in front of my locker tomorrow?" she asked. He nodded, but then realized she couldn't see him through a phone call.
"Yeah. I'll see you then." he said. They exchanged goodbyes and hung up. He walked back into Cartman's kitchen with a giant grin on his face.
"What are you smiling about?" Cartman asked.
"Rebecca broke up with Butters." Stan said, sitting down in one of Cartman's kitchen chairs.
"Oh Jesus. You guys are really going to get back together?" Kenny asked, rolling his eyes.
"So what if we do?" Stan asked, rather defensively.
"You're so lame when you have a girlfriend." Kenny replied.
"Dude, he's fucking lame when he doesn't have a girlfriend." Cartman said.
"I think it's sweet." Katie said, smiling at Stan. He shot her a grateful look.
"It's not sweet. He's never been single for more than two months of his life." Cartman replied, rolling his eyes.
"That's not true." Stan said.
"Dude, it sort of is…" Kyle replied, shrugging.
"So you think this is a bad idea?" Stan asked, mainly looking at Kyle. Kyle shrugged.
"Dude, it's your life. Just remember what's important." Kyle said.
"Rebecca is important." Stan said.
"Stan, you are such a pussy." Cartman said.
"School is important too." Kyle said. Stan started to say something else, but he was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. He grabbed the money off of the kitchen counter and stalked off into the living room to pay for the pizza.
"She'll be the death of him, Kyle. Mark my words, she'll be the death of him." Cartman said. Kyle rolled his eyes.
"You have said that about every girl he's ever dated, fatass." Kyle replied.
"He's only dated like four different girls." Kenny pointed out. Kyle shrugged.
--
The Testaburger family put on their happy faces and pretended like they liked each other enough to enjoy a meal together in a restaurant. They continued this façade until they got back into the car and drove home, at which point they turned on each other. It started off innocently enough.
"Hey, Jessica?" Kathy said from the front seat. Jessica rolled her eyes.
"What?" she asked, rather rudely. Martin turned around and shot her a warning glance.
"That waiter left his number for you on the ticket." Kathy said, grinning. Jessica smiled and started to say something, but Martin interrupted.
"Well there's something that's never going to happen." he said.
"What? Why not? He was cute!" Jessica replied.
"Because you're not allowed to date, young lady." Martin said.
"Since when?!" Jessica demanded.
"Since now. I will not have my daughter out gallivanting around with some waiter. No. No way." Martin said. Jessica shot a pleading glance at Kathy. Seth and Wendy sighed in unison.
"Really, Martin, I think you're being unreasonable." Kathy said. Martin shook his head.
"You stay the hell out of this, Kathy." he said. Wendy and Seth looked at each other, wondering if they should jump in and defend their mother.
"Oh, so I raise them for years with no help from you since you're apparently married to your job, but I'm not allowed to interject or have any say when it comes to decisions regarding them? That's real nice, Martin." Kathy said.
"There are too many girls out there getting knocked up. My daughters are not going to be statistics, do you hear me?" Martin said, gripping the steering wheel angrily. Wendy felt her stomach roll.
"No one said anything about her having sex! Jesus Christ, it's just a phone number. Overreact a little more, okay?" Kathy said.
"Ask Seth what guys her age have on their minds. Just ask him." Martin said, glancing at Seth in the rearview mirror. Seth rolled his eyes.
"You can't let Seth speak for every guy in the world! Seth has always made decisions with his dick!" Jessica said.
"And so does every other guy." Martin replied.
"Does this have something to do with me dating Kenny McCormick?" Jessica asked. Martin slammed on the brakes a little too hard as he stopped at the stoplight.
"You dated Kenny McCormick?!" he asked. He was both shocked and disgusted.
"Not for very long." Jessica replied, looking down at her feet.
"She told him no when he tried to get in her pants." Seth offered. Even though he didn't owe Jessica anything for the thinking with his dick comment.
"She knows how to make good decisions. Give her some credit." Kathy said. Martin rolled his eyes.
"I don't want her getting pregnant and dropping out of high school." Martin said.
"Can we stop please?" Wendy asked, trying to choke back the chunks that were rising in her throat.
"Jesus Christ, Wendy. Stop puking everything back up!" Jessica said, annoyed that her sister was trying to direct attention to herself. She had almost convinced her father to see her side. Martin sighed, but he pulled the car over. As soon as it stopped, Wendy was out of it and puking onto the side of the road. Kathy got out of the car as well and stood next to Wendy, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her.
"How long has she been doing this?" Seth asked, actually kind of concerned. Martin shrugged.
"A couple of weeks." he replied. Wendy stopped puking and Kathy helped her back into the backseat. Once she had settled her in, she went around to the front seat and got back in the car. She fastened her seatbelt and Martin began driving again.
"There will be no further arguing tonight. Are we clear?" Kathy asked, first looking at her husband and then at Jessica. Martin nodded, but Jessica wasn't as compliant.
"Mom, this is SO not fair!" she protested. Kathy shot her a dirty look.
"Your sister is sick. You are not going to make it worse for her." Kathy said. Her tone was what finally shut Jessica up. They sat in silence for the rest of the drive home. When Martin pulled the car into the garage, he helped Seth inside with his suitcase while Kathy helped Wendy up to her room. She wordlessly handed Wendy a pair of baggy blue sweatpants and a white tank top to change into. Once Wendy had changed, she walked back into her bedroom and sat down on her bed. Kathy was waiting for her.
"I'm calling the doctor first thing in the morning and we are going in to see her." Kathy said. Wendy sighed.
"Mom, I have school tomorrow. I can't just skip it." Wendy said. Kathy shook her head.
"You haven't missed one day this year. I think you're having so much trouble getting over this because you haven't taken the time to rest and let your body recover." Kathy said.
"I'm going to school right after my appointment." Wendy said. Kathy shook her head.
"Sweetheart, you're going to be lucky if the doctor even lets you come home. You're probably very dehydrated." Kathy replied. Wendy sighed, but didn't say anything else. She allowed Kathy to help her into bed and tuck her in, much like she had done when she was a little kid. She kissed Wendy's forehead and sat the remote control to her TV on her nightstand. As soon as Kathy left the room, Wendy turned on her TV and began channel surfing. She finally settled on some show about cheetahs. Ten minutes into it, there was a light knock on her bedroom door and it opened to reveal Seth.
"I could have been naked or something." she said, not even looking up from the TV. He laughed.
"I figured you would be asleep by now." he said, sitting at the foot of her bed.
"I'm not tired. I actually feel fine right now. Food just makes me really sick." she replied.
"That's really weird." Seth replied. Wendy shrugged.
"Okay, you didn't come in here to check on me. What do you want?" she asked.
"Wendy! Of course I came in here to check on you." he replied. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Right. Now what do you want?" she asked. He sighed.
"Well, first and foremost, I wanted to make sure you were alive." he said. She rolled her eyes.
"And you want to…what? Have me talk Mom and Dad into letting Mandi live here this week? Ask for my help with some college project?" she replied.
"Actually, I was kind of hoping you would let me borrow your car." he said. She shook her head.
"No. You are not having sex in my car, Seth. That's disgusting." she replied. He rolled his eyes.
"I don't want to have sex in your car. I want to borrow it so that I can drive over to Unplanned Parenthood and surprise Mandi." he said. Wendy rolled her eyes.
"Which will ultimately lead to you having sex in my car. Which you are not doing." Wendy said.
"I promise I won't have sex in your car." he said, looking her in the face to prove that he was telling the truth. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine, you can borrow my car. But if I smell something weird in there tomorrow…" she said, trailing off.
"I will pay to have it fumigated." Seth said, finishing her sentence.
"The keys are on my desk." Wendy said, gesturing to the other side of her bedroom. He grinned.
"Thanks Wendy." he said, taking the keys and basically flying out of her room. She rolled her eyes and went back to watching her cheetah show.
--
About two hours after he left Cartman's house, Stan found himself driving around South Park. This eventually led to him driving past Rebecca's house. Four times. When he was about to turn the corner of her street a fifth time, his phone vibrated. He answered it without looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?" he asked, glancing at the clock. It was about 10:30, so he figured it was probably one of his parents calling to bitch him out about being out so late on a school night.
"Hey, stalker? Stop driving past my house. You're freaking my brother out." Rebecca's voice said. Stan felt like his entire body had turned to ice.
"I'm not being a stalker." he muttered. Rebecca laughed.
"Well whatever. You're driving past my house. Do you want to come in or something?" she asked. He paused before answering. If he went over to her house, her parents would flip the fuck out and she would get in trouble.
"What about your parents?" he asked.
"In Chicago until Wednesday morning for some home schooling convention." she replied. Even though her parents had stopped home schooling their children once they hit high school, they still went to the conventions. They had actually formulated some new teaching method when Rebecca and Mark had been in middle school. As a result, they had become celebrities in the home school world and had been the keynote speakers at every convention since their invention.
"They left you and Mark alone?" Stan asked, incredulous. They were still really overprotective. They usually conned some distant aunt or something to baby-sit whenever they left Mark and Rebecca by themselves for more than a few hours.
"They've been doing that for awhile now, Stan." Rebecca said. Stan took a moment and realized that he didn't actually know much about what had been happening in Rebecca's life since they broke up.
"Oh." he replied, suddenly feeling sort of depressed. She had been such a giant part of his life for two and a half years, and now he didn't even know her.
"So do you want to come in?" she asked. He pulled around in front of her house again and saw that she was standing on her front stoop waiting for him to drive by again. He smiled and parked his car in front of the house.
"I'll be right in." he said, getting out of the car and walking up to her.
--
Kathy crept into Wendy's room after she had fallen asleep and turned off her alarm clock. She also turned off the clock on Wendy's cell phone. She knew that Wendy needed to get a good night's rest before her doctor's appointment the next morning. Kathy herself woke up at 6:30 the next morning and rustled Seth out of bed to get him to give Jessica a ride to school so that she wouldn't wake Wendy up. She then called the family doctor's office and left a message detailing Wendy's symptoms and asking that Wendy be seen that morning. They called her back at 8:30, about half an hour before they opened. They asked if she could bring Wendy in at 10:30, and she told them yes. She allowed Wendy to sleep in until 9:15 before she went in to wake her. As soon as she shook her, Wendy sat straight up.
"Mom? What time is it?" she asked, fumbling around on her nightstand for her phone.
"9:15, sweetie. I've called you into school already and you are going to the doctor at 10:30." Kathy said, using her no-nonsense tone. Wendy sighed, but didn't protest.
"Whatever." she said, and then bolted into her bathroom. Kathy heard the sounds of her retching and silently thanked God that Wendy was seeing a doctor that day. Wendy showered and dressed in loose-fitting clothing because they were comfortable to her. She allowed Kathy to put her hair up in a "sick bun", something she had done before when Wendy was sick as a child. She also allowed her to drive her to the large medical building in Fairplay. She allowed Kathy to sign her in and to fill out the appropriate paperwork. Finally, a nurse wearing a scrub top adorned with various colorful puppies opened the door that separated the exam rooms from the waiting room and looked at the folder in her hand.
"Wendy Testaburger?" she asked. Wendy got up and walked over to the woman.
"That's me." she said. The woman nodded, and then frowned at Kathy, who had followed behind Wendy.
"Mom? Are you coming with us?" the nurse asked. She shot Wendy a questioning look. Wendy turned around and gave her mother a nearly identical look.
"Mom, I'm fine." she said. Kathy nodded once and retreated back to her chair. She had to finish filling out the necessary paperwork anyway. Wendy followed the nurse through the door and shut it behind her. The nurse led her around the corner into what appeared to be a triage area, a lot like the one at Hell's Pass. Wendy had been through their ER triage area when she had broken her wrist in sixth grade and again when she had sliced her hand open in an art class her freshman year of high school. The nurse gestured towards the scale and Wendy stepped up on it. The nurse fiddled with it for a bit and then wrote something down on her chart.
"132. That's good." the nurse said, smiling. Wendy didn't think it was good, but she didn't say anything. Her normal weight lingered around the 125-130 area. The nurse measured her height next, which hadn't changed. She was still 5'5".
"At least that's normal." Wendy muttered. The nurse laughed.
"Okay, hon, now I need you to sit down for a minute so I can get the rest of your vitals." the nurse said. Wendy sat in the blue plastic chair next to the scale. The nurse pulled a cart over from across the hall and attached a blood pressure cuff to Wendy's arm. She also stuck a thermometer in Wendy's mouth. Both the thermometer and the blood pressure machine beeped at the same time. The nurse first glanced at the blood pressure machine and frowned and then the thermometer.
"Your blood pressure is a bit low and your temperature is a bit high. Just 100.1, but still." she said, writing this on the chart.
"Is that bad?" Wendy asked. The nurse paused for a moment.
"It's bad, yes, but I suppose it is to be expected with your symptoms." she said. She closed the folder containing Wendy's chart and gestured for her to follow her into an exam room. Wendy followed her inside and closed the door.
"Should I…?" Wendy asked, gesturing towards the table. The nurse nodded. Wendy climbed up onto the exam table and looked at the nurse expectantly. The nurse sat down on a stool and put Wendy's chart onto a small table that was mounted to the wall. She opened Wendy's chart and uncapped her pen, ready to write.
"I just have some basic medical questions for you. Nothing too probing. When was your last checkup?" the nurse asked. Wendy took a moment to think about it before she finally answered.
"It was in August. My brother had to get a physical for hockey and my mom made the rest of us go in to get them as well." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded.
"Your chart notes that everything was normal. Are you currently taking any medications?" the nurse asked.
"Just the anti-nausea stuff my mom force feeds me everyday." Wendy replied. The nurse smiled and wrote this down.
"Do you smoke? Drink? Take recreational drugs?" the nurse asked.
"No to all three." Wendy replied. The nurse smiled.
"Good girl. When was your last menstrual period?" she asked. Wendy froze. She hadn't really kept track of them. She was usually too busy to even really notice them. They had always been really out of whack anyway.
"I want to say September." Wendy replied. The nurse frowned.
"September? This is November. Are you telling me that your period has been absent for two months?" the nurse replied. Wendy simply shrugged.
"They aren't really regular anyway. I could be wrong. I don't pay much attention to my period." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded and noted this on the chart.
"Are you sexually active?" the nurse asked. Wendy paused. She hadn't actually had sex since her rendezvous with Stan in October. Before that, she hadn't had sex with Token since a couple of weeks after school started. She didn't think that counted as being sexually active.
"No." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded. Wendy briefly wondered if she even believed her.
"Okay, now tell me about your symptoms. What brings you in today?" the nurse asked.
"I've been throwing up a lot lately. I can't eat anything without puking it back up. I told my mom it's probably just school food messing with my stomach, but she freaks out over everything. Now she's making me miss school so you guys can tell me the exact same thing." Wendy replied. The nurse wrote this down.
"When did this start?" the nurse asked.
"I don't know…maybe around mid-October." Wendy replied. The nurse also wrote this down.
"Do you have any other symptoms? Diarrhea, headache, anything?" the nurse asked.
"I guess I've had some headaches, yeah." Wendy replied. The nurse wrote this down as well. Wendy was beginning to wonder just how much the nurse had written down and what exactly she was saying.
"What about fatigue? Are you feeling more tired than usual?" the nurse asked. Wendy smiled.
"Almost all of my classes are AP. I'm the president of my class. I'm the co-president of Future Lawyers of America. I'm treasurer of Park County High School Democrats. I have an internship. I'm applying to colleges. Sleep is kind of a foreign concept to me right now." Wendy replied. The nurse stared at her.
"You have quite a full plate." she said. Wendy nodded.
"Where are you applying to school?" she asked, putting her pen down for a second.
"Northwestern, NYU, University of Colorado, Colorado State, Berkeley, University of Denver, and University of Washington." Wendy replied. She didn't add that the last one had been Seth's idea.
"That's quite the impressive list. Which one is your top choice?" the nurse asked, actually interested. For the first time, Wendy noted that the nurse was close to her age. Very close, in fact.
"I'm not sure. I like them all. I'm probably going to go wherever I get a bigger scholarship." Wendy replied. The nurse nodded.
"That's the way to do it. I'm a Colorado State grad myself." she said, smiling. Wendy nodded.
"That's cool." she replied.
"Class of '04." the nurse said, grinning.
"I know a lot of people who went there." Wendy said. The nurse nodded.
"Back to your symptoms. You have a fever today. Have you had a fever since your symptoms began?" the nurse asked. Wendy shrugged.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I haven't taken my own temperature and I wouldn't let my mom corner me with the thermometer." Wendy said, smiling. The nurse laughed
"Okay, well, the doctor will be in shortly. And by that, I mean she will be in shortly. We've had a lot of cancelled appointments today." the nurse said, standing up. She opened the door and walked out, closing it behind her. Wendy noticed that she had left her chart sitting on the table. She began to wonder if it would be okay to peek at it. Just to see what that damn nurse had written about her. She was about to grab it and look when a light knock on the door interrupted her. Her doctor, Dr. Farmer, walked in and closed the door behind her. She smiled and sat down where the nurse had been just a few minutes before.
"Hello, Wendy." Dr. Farmer said. She put on the reading glasses that were dangling from an eyeglasses chain around her neck and began reading Wendy's chart. Wendy noted that she had lost weight since she last saw her in August and that her brown hair no longer had any gray streaks.
"You look great, Dr. Farmer." Wendy said sincerely. Dr. Farmer simply smiled at her. Apparently Wendy wasn't going to be able to change the subject.
"I saw your mother in the waiting room. She made me sit down and chat with her for a few minutes. She's very worried about you, Wendy." Dr. Farmer said. Wendy looked at the floor.
"She worries too much." Wendy muttered. Dr. Farmer smiled.
"Maybe so, but I'm worried too. Vomiting for several weeks is nothing to play around with." Dr. Farmer scolded.
"It's a virus. No big deal." Wendy said. She wasn't sure why she was being so defensive about it.
"It seems to be lasting an awfully long time to be a virus, dear." Dr. Farmer said. Wendy shrugged.
"Yeah, well, I'm bad about letting myself get better. I've been busy." Wendy said. The doctor got up from the stool and walked over to Wendy. She began poking and prodding her.
"You're dehydrated, my dear." she said. Wendy shrugged.
"So what do I have to do?" Wendy asked.
"I would like to admit you to Hell's Pass for a day or so. To do some tests and give you IV fluids." Dr. Farmer replied. Wendy shook her head.
"Oh no. I don't have time for all of that." Wendy replied. The doctor sighed and shook her head.
"Wendy, I need to know what's wrong with you." she replied.
"Okay, so let's start throwing ideas out. We can figure this out without too many tests." Wendy replied.
"I really want to get some blood work…" the doctor said. Wendy glared at her.
"I do not have time for all of that. Just give me some pills or something and I will go home." Wendy replied. The doctor frowned.
"Young lady, you need to take this seriously." she said. She wasn't surprised that Wendy was resisting, though. She had been told off plenty of times in the past. Wendy thought she was always right.
"I am taking this seriously. But I'm not going to the hospital." Wendy replied, crossing her arms.
"Okay, fine. We'll do this the old-fashioned way." the doctor said. She meant hog-tying her and dragging her to Hell's Pass, but Wendy pointed to the medical reference book on the table. The doctor sighed and opened it up.
"You know, I'm going to use our online database for this." the doctor said. She turned on the small laptop that was sitting on the table and sat back down on the stool. She waited for the computer to start before opening up the program and selecting Wendy's age and sex. After that, she typed in vomiting as a symptom.
"I'm going to assume there's nausea too. Right?" the doctor asked. Wendy nodded.
"Yeah." she replied.
"Okay, is there a specific time of day when this vomiting occurs?" the doctor asked. Wendy shook her head.
"It's pretty much constant." Wendy replied. The doctor looked down at the other symptoms that the nurse had written down on Wendy's chart and typed them into the database as well.
"Okay, sweetie. The database is pulling up a urinary tract infection, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, pregnancy, and an ulcer." the doctor said. Wendy felt her blood run cold in her veins.
"Well, I have been peeing more lately." Wendy replied. And she had, so that wasn't a lie.
"Does it burn when you go to the bathroom?" Dr. Farmer asked.
"Yes. Yes it does." Wendy replied. Dr. Farmer nodded.
"Okay, sweetie. Normally I would make you give me a urine sample to test this, but you're almost eighteen, so I'm going to trust you. I am going to give you some antibiotics." the doctor said. She took out her prescription pad and scribbled something on it. She handed two slips of paper to Wendy.
"Thanks." Wendy replied. The doctor nodded.
"I have also prescribed something for your stomach troubles." the doctor replied, smiling. Wendy nodded. She walked out of the exam room and back into the waiting room. Her mother stood as soon as she opened the door.
"Well?" Kathy asked.
"Urinary tract infection." Wendy replied. Kathy nodded.
"Okay. How does lunch sound?" she asked. Wendy shrugged.
"Sure." she replied.
--
"Hey. Ready?" Rebecca asked, walking up to Stan. He smiled at her. She worked the combination on her locker and put her books inside.
"Yeah. I'm as ready as I'll ever be." he replied. She grinned and shoved him playfully. His late night visit to her house the night before had gone very well. They had wound up sharing a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough and watching whatever HBC movie of the week was on. They had also talked a bit and Stan had made her feel a lot better about her break-up with Butters. Before Stan had finally left at almost midnight, Rebecca had told him that it felt like old times. He had agreed with her.
"I'm starving." Rebecca replied. Stan smiled.
"When are you NOT starving?" he asked. She made a face and shoved him again. He laughed.
"You are so mean to me." she replied, fake pouting. He grinned.
"I'm sorry." he replied. He pulled her into a hug and felt her tense up. She relaxed a couple of seconds later and wrapped her arms around him as well.
"I've missed this." she muttered into his shirt. He nodded.
"Me too." he replied. He kissed the top of her head before pulling away.
"Shall we?" Rebecca asked, extending her arm. He looped his through it.
"To the cafeteria!" he said. They laughed the entire way there. Once they arrived, they split up and went to their respective lunch lines. Stan grabbed his normal meal of a sub sandwich, a salad, a cup of soup, potato chips, fruit cocktail, a brownie, and an energy drink. Rebecca decided on the daily special, which was a grilled chicken sandwich and potato wedges. She also grabbed an apple, a diet pop, and a chocolate covered granola bar. She and Stan met back at the table that they had once shared when they were dating and sat down.
"You still get huge lunches?" Rebecca asked, staring at his tray. Stan laughed.
"You still get twigs and berries?" he replied, referring to her granola bar. She smiled.
"It's good for you." she replied. She picked up her chicken sandwich, removed the top bun, and slathered it with honey mustard. She took a bite of it and chewed. Yup, it was disgusting, but the honey mustard made it better.
"My mom wants to know when you're coming over for dinner." Stan said. He polished off his sandwich and started in on the salad. He slathered it with Italian dressing and took a bite.
"I don't know. Soon, maybe?" Rebecca replied. She ate one of her potato wedges. At least they weren't terrible.
"You want to come tonight? She's making your favorite." Stan said, grinning.
"You had nothing to do with that at all." Rebecca replied.
"Okay, so maybe I told her that you were coming. But now you have to." he replied, smiling. Rebecca smiled as well.
"Fine. What time am I coming over?" she asked.
"I have weight lifting until 4:00. So come over around 4:45?" he asked. Rebecca smiled.
"You're going to be all disgusting from lifting weights. Sweaty and slimy." she said. She made a face. Stan laughed.
"I'm planning on taking a shower." he said. She smiled.
"Okay. I'll come to dinner." she replied.
"And we're taking Sparky for a walk when you come over." Stan said.
"I miss Sparky." Rebecca said. Sparky didn't like many girls, but he had pretty much fallen in love with Rebecca.
"Sparky misses you too. You need to start coming to visit him." Stan replied. He finished off his salad and started in on the cheesy potato soup.
"Yeah, well, maybe I will. To visit him." Rebecca replied. Stan laughed.
"I don't factor in there at all." he said. Rebecca nodded.
"Yeah, I couldn't care less about you. I just want to hang out with your dog." she said. Stan made what was supposed to be a sad face.
"Now you're the one being mean." he said. Rebecca laughed and reached over to pat his hand.
"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." she said. He squeezed her hand.
"Yeah, you'd better." he said. He laced his fingers through hers and she felt her face turn bright red.
"Uh…I kind of need that. To eat." she said, pulling her hand away. He smiled.
"Sorry." he said. Only he wasn't actually sorry.
"I really do just need it to eat." she said. She didn't want him to think that she didn't want him touching her or something. Even though she wasn't too sure about whether or not it was too early for them to act like a couple. Besides, they weren't even back together. Yet.
"Yeah, sure. You just don't want to hold my hand." Stan said.
"You have cooties." Rebecca replied.
--
Wendy waited for 4PM to roll around. She knew that Mandi would be working then. She told her mother that she absolutely had to go and get the homework from Mandi. Kathy wasn't happy about it, but she let Wendy go. Wendy drove like a mad woman to Unplanned Parenthood, hoping like hell that Mandi was working. As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw that Mandi's car was parked in one of the front spaces. She parked her car and ran inside. Mandi was at the desk, looking kind of bored. Wendy sighed. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to do this. She walked up to the desk.
"Wendy?" Mandi asked. She was kind of shocked to see her there, but she pulled the stack of notes that she had taken that day out of her bag. She handed them to Wendy, but she didn't really seem to notice.
"Mandi. I…I…" Wendy said. Mandi frowned.
"The notes are all there, Wendy. I promise." she said. Wendy shook her head.
"No, Mandi. I…I need to see a doctor." Wendy said. Mandi's face first registered confusion, but then understanding.
"Okay, well, here. Fill this out." Mandi said, handing Wendy a clipboard. Wendy took it back to the waiting area and began filling it out. She paused when she came to the question about whether or not she needed a pregnancy test. She sighed and checked the box for "yes". She finished filling out the papers and took them back up to Mandi. Mandi read over to make sure that Wendy had filled out everything. When she came to the question about the pregnancy test, she frowned, but she pulled a small cup out of a drawer behind the desk. She handed it to Wendy.
"I pee in this, right?" Wendy asked. Mandi nodded.
"Yeah. The test takes about twenty minutes. If it comes back positive, you can talk to one of the doctors about your options." Mandi replied. She had decided that it was not the time or place to ask Wendy questions about it. As far as she was concerned, Wendy was just another patient. Wendy took the cup and walked into the small bathroom that was directly adjacent to the waiting room. She brought it back out a few minutes later and handed it to Mandi. Mandi labeled it and put it through a small opening in the wall. Someone else must have been back there waiting for it, because it disappeared a couple of seconds later.
"You're not going to tell my brother or anything, are you?" Wendy asked. Mandi shook her head.
"No way. I'm not allowed to do that, plus that's just wrong. It's your place to tell people, not mine." Mandi said, smiling. Wendy let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Mandi. I really mean that." Wendy said. Mandi nodded.
"Look, this isn't really the place to discuss this, but if you want to come over tonight, you can. I get off at six." Mandi said. Wendy shrugged.
"We'll see. There might not be anything to discuss." Wendy replied. She was trying to be optimistic. Mandi looked at Wendy for a second and remembered how sick she had been. She remembered Wendy running off to the bathroom during class or during a meeting. Wendy looking like she had packed on a few pounds despite the fact that she hadn't been keeping much down. Wendy talking about how tired she had been. Mandi had a feeling that there would be plenty to discuss, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she nodded.
"Maybe not." she replied.
--
Rebecca decided that dinner at Stan's was a good enough excuse to change her clothes. She had worn a pair of old jeans and a Park County Cows hoodie to school that day. Not exactly flattering. She dug through her closet until she found a pair of new jeans and a light blue turtleneck sweater. She also decided that it was the perfect time to try out her new perfume. She ran a brush through her hair and touched up her make-up. By the time she had finished, it was nearly time to leave. She was giving herself a final once over in the mirror when she felt eyes on her. She turned around and saw that her brother was leaning against her door frame, arms crossed and head shaking. She rolled her eyes.
"You know, standing there and watching me is pretty creepy." she said. Mark snorted.
"What are you doing?" Mark asked. She rolled her eyes.
"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" she replied.
"Big date with Butters?" Mark asked.
"No." she replied. Like it was his business.
"What would Butters say if he knew that you had your ex-boyfriend over last night?" Mark asked. Whoops. She had forgotten to tell him that things with Butters were over.
"I doubt he would like it, but it's no longer his business. We broke up." Rebecca replied. She pulled on black flats and grabbed her purse.
"Poor Butters." Mark said.
"He'll survive." Rebecca said. She pulled on her coat and looked at Mark expectantly.
"Are you back together with Stan?" Mark asked. Rebecca paused. She really didn't know.
"Not really, no." she said. She looked at him again before finally pushing him out of her way.
"You could do a lot better." he called after her. She rolled her eyes and walked out the front door.
--
The twenty minutes that Wendy spent waiting for her pregnancy test results were the longest twenty minutes of her entire life. She could not be pregnant. She did not have the time for it. Plus she didn't even want a child. It was way too early in her life to even consider that. In her head, she went over every possible reason for her period to be late. To be puking so much. She found herself actually hoping that she had some kind of tumor or something. She had seen a movie once where a woman had all the symptoms of pregnancy, but the pregnancy had turned out to be some kind of ovarian cancer or something.
"Wendy?" Mandi said, startling her out of her thoughts. Wendy stood up and walked up to the window that Mandi sat behind.
"Yeah?" Wendy asked. Her voice sounded small and shaky.
"The doctor has your results. Go through those doors and to exam room three." Mandi said, pointing towards the double doors that separated the waiting room from the actual exam rooms.
"She wants to see me…does that mean it's bad news?" Wendy asked. Mandi shrugged.
"It's standard procedure. She's going to want to talk to you no matter what." Mandi replied. Wendy nodded. She walked through the doors and found exam room three almost immediately. She knocked on the door once and then entered. A young doctor with short red hair was sitting at a desk. Wendy saw that her urine sample was sitting next to the doctor.
"Ah, Wendy, I presume? Take a seat right there." the doctor said, pointing to a chair next to her. Wendy realized that there was no exam table in the room. That could be good news, right? She sat down in the chair and looked at the doctor.
"So?" she asked.
"Well, we have your test results. The test came back positive." the doctor said. Wendy frowned.
"Positive as in good?" she asked. The doctor smiled sadly.
"Positive as in you are pregnant." the doctor said. Wendy felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.
"And that test…it's…accurate?" Wendy asked. The doctor nodded.
"Yeah, it's very accurate. If you don't mind, I would like to do a pelvic exam. Is that okay?" the doctor asked. Wendy nodded. The doctor motioned for Wendy to follow her. They walked down the hall and entered a room that did have an exam table. The doctor handed Wendy a gown and walked out of the room. Wendy quickly changed into it and the doctor came back into the room. Wendy hopped up on the table. She felt numb.
"I can't be pregnant." she said. Not necessarily to the doctor, just out loud. The doctor sighed.
"I know it seems overwhelming, sweetie, but you are going to get through this." the doctor said. She motioned for Wendy to put her feet into the stirrups at the end of the table. Wendy flinched when the doctor began poking around, but it was over pretty fast. The doctor pulled her gloves off and threw them in the trash. She walked back over to a desk in the corner of the room and Wendy pulled her feet out of the stirrups.
"Well?" Wendy asked. The doctor pulled out a small chart.
"It looks as though you are about seven weeks pregnant." the doctor said.
"Okay." Wendy said. That sounded about right.
"When was your last period, sweetie?" she asked. Wendy frowned.
"September, I think." she said. The doctor looked down at her little chart.
"What day in September?" she asked. Wendy pulled out her cell phone. She remembered that she had gotten her period the weekend before she had had that giant test in AP Psychology. She flipped through her phone's calendar and tried to find the day.
"The 23rd, I think." Wendy said. The doctor nodded.
"Did you have sex anytime around that day?" the doctor asked. Wendy blushed.
"I had sex after Homecoming." she said. The doctor nodded.
"And that was…what, October 7th?" she asked, looking at a calendar on the desk. Wendy nodded.
"When was the last time you had sex before then?" she asked. Wendy frowned.
"August, maybe?" she said. The doctor nodded.
"I think Homecoming was the night of the conception, then." she said. Wendy shrugged. Sure, whatever.
"So based on this, your baby will be due on June 30th." the doctor said. Hearing the word "baby" was what did it for Wendy. She began to cry. The doctor handed her a box of tissues.
"I'm only seventeen. I can't have a kid." she said. She wiped her eyes with one of the tissues.
"Well, sweetie, you have some options." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.
"I know. But…oh my GOD. This is too much!" she said. The doctor pulled out a few brochures and placed them on the desk for Wendy to see. One was about parenting. Another was about adoption. The third one was about abortion. Wendy reached for the parenting one at first, but changed her mind and went for the adoption one.
"Just a bit of information for you. We do not handle prenatal care here, but we will refer you somewhere. We can also refer you to an adoption agency if that is what you choose." the doctor said. Wendy sighed and looked at the abortion brochure.
"And you perform abortions in this clinic." Wendy said. She knew that they did. She had seen the protesters there dozens of times.
"That's right." the doctor said.
"What if I wanted to have an abortion?" Wendy asked.
"Well, legally, you can't have one now without notifying your parents." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.
"I'm going to be eighteen really soon." she said. The doctor checked her chart.
"December 6th. You could still have a legal abortion up to that point." the doctor said. Wendy nodded.
"How much?" Wendy asked. The doctor pulled out a price sheet.
"Well, with the labs and everything, it would cost about $400." the doctor said. Wendy sighed. She didn't have that kind of money. She had about $300 in her savings account.
"Are there payment plan options?" Wendy asked. The doctor shook her head.
"You know, I'm not the one to talk to about that. You need to make an appointment to talk to Cecelia. She's our pregnancy options counselor and she will go over all of this information with you." the doctor said.
"Okay, when can I see her?" Wendy asked.
"She's off until Monday. She took paid time off for Thanksgiving. I'm sure you could get in to see her on Monday, though." the doctor said. Wendy and the doctor finished up and Wendy walked back out to the waiting room. She approached the window and Mandi smiled at her, but stopped smiling when she saw the look on Wendy's face.
"I'm supposed to make an appointment to see someone named Cecelia." Wendy said. Mandi nodded and pulled something up on the computer.
"Cecelia is off until Monday. I assume you want something after school?" Mandi asked. Wendy nodded.
"Yeah." she said.
"Okay, I can do a Monday appointment at 3:30." Mandi said. Wendy nodded.
"Okay, thank you." she said. She took the small card that Mandi handed her and left the clinic.
--
"It's so great to see you." Sharon Marsh said. Rebecca smiled. They were all sitting at the Marsh family dinner table. Sharon had made chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes just as she had promised to do at Stan's birthday party.
"I'm glad to be here." Rebecca said. Stan smiled at her.
"Red never wanted to eat my cooking." Sharon said. Randy snorted.
"Red never wanted to eat period." he said. Sharon stifled a laugh and Stan snorted.
"Well…I love your cooking." Rebecca replied. She didn't care for Red, but she didn't want to be a total bitch and tear her down at the dinner table.
"Plus she's a real bitch." Randy said. Rebecca raised her eyebrows.
"Well…she's not very nice." Rebecca said. Sharon smiled.
"Now Randy, don't tear down Stanley's ex-girlfriend in front of his new girlfriend. Well, can we call you his new girlfriend? Anyway, don't say bad things about Red in front of Rebecca. It's rude." Sharon said.
"She's not his new girlfriend, Sharon. He dated her for like seven years." Randy said. Rebecca laughed.
"Two and a half, actually." she said.
"Are you two back together?" Sharon asked. Rebecca and Stan exchanged glances. Neither was sure what to say.
"We're talking about it." Stan said. Rebecca wondered if Sharon would probe further, but she simply smiled and nodded.
"Good." she said. They finished their dinner and dessert and Rebecca and Stan excused themselves to Stan's room for awhile. Rebecca sat down on his bed and smiled. Stan sat next to her, but not too close.
"Your room still smells the same." Rebecca said. Stan grinned.
"Unfortunately." he replied. Rebecca smiled and looked across the room at his desk. She saw that he still had a picture of the two of them sitting on it. She walked over to it and picked it up. It was the picture of them from Homecoming their junior year.
"You kept this?" she asked. His face turned red."Well…yeah." he said. She smiled. She had kept all of her pictures of the two of them as well. They had just found a new home in a box on the top shelf of her closet.
"Did it piss Red off?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Red never came in my room." he replied. Rebecca laughed.
"I see." she said.
"Yeah…" he replied.
"So you two never…?" she asked, trailing off. His face turned red again.
"We did. A few times." he replied. Rebecca nodded.
"Just not here." she said. He nodded.
"And you and Butters?" he asked. Now it was her turn to blush.
"A few times." she replied. He made a face.
"Sick." he said. She laughed.
"It wasn't that bad. It's just…Butters." she said. He nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. She sat back down on the bed, this time closer to him. He smiled and hesitantly put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.
"What are we doing?" he asked. He felt her shrug.
"I don't know. Maybe we should figure it out." she replied. He smiled.
"Maybe." he said.
--
As soon as Wendy arrived home, Seth cornered her.
"We need to talk." he said. She looked at him like he was crazy, but nodded.
"Okay. Talk." she said. He shook his head.
"Nope, not here. Your room." he said. She followed him upstairs and into her room. He shut the door and sat down in her chair. She sat down on her bed and stared at him.
"What's up?" she asked. She briefly wondered if he knew that she was pregnant, but she trusted Mandi not to say anything.
"Something is wrong with you." he said. She raised her eyebrows.
"Seth, you're confusing us again. Something is wrong with YOU." she said. He rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious, Wendy. Something is not right with you. You don't want to tell Mom or Dad and that's fine, but you need to tell me." he said. Wendy wasn't sure she'd ever had this kind of conversation with Seth. Still, she felt she could trust him.
"Fine. I went to Unplanned Parenthood today. I'm pregnant." she said. She flinched as she uttered the last sentence, but Seth didn't say anything for awhile. Finally, he spoke.
"Mom and Dad might kill you." he said. She rolled her eyes.
"Right, because I hadn't thought of that myself." she snapped.
"What are you going to do?" he asked. She sighed and shook her head.
"I have no idea." she said. She began to cry. Seth walked over to the bed and sat next to her. He pulled her into a hug.
"It's going to be okay. I'm here for you." he said. She nodded. For the first time since she had found out she was pregnant, she felt like things might be okay.
--
Author's Notes: Again, sorry that this took so damn long to post. I suck at updating, I truly do. Also, I'm not sure when Wendy's birthday is, so I just said December 6th. Don't question me. Now review.