A Bump in the Road

By, the Unlucky-charm.

Oh, how I hated that Sunday feeling. It was the worse. You knew you had the day off, but you also knew that there would be school the next day. But not this Sunday. Why? Because today was the day where I would finally have the new Xbox 360 Kinect. I had been saving up for months and now I had enough to afford it. As a repayment for letting them sleepover, Kenny was willing to drive me there.

And so we were off to the mall in Kenny's orange truck, with Stan in the back. My cell phone started to ring and I answered when I saw Bebe's name on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, where are you?"

"Oh, well I'm headed for the mall."

'Oh.'

There was silence on the other end and I waited for her to say something else or some kind of goodbye, but nothing.

"Bebe...? Are you all right?"

There was another pause.

'Oh, um yeah. I'm-I'm fine.'

I sighed. I knew she wasn't. Who would be? She's pregnant! And I didn't need a damn doctor to tell me, because it's not hard to figure out. You have sex unprotected, you take a pregnancy test, its positive; you're pregnant. It's that simple.

"Babe, listen. You're pregnant, I know and we need to do something. We can't just stand around and wait for a doctor to confirm it or for our parents to take action for us. It's going to be hard, but I'm here."

I thought I had said something meaningful but I started to question that when there was no answer on the other end.

'Thank you.' 'She uttered.

"All right, I need to go."

Silence once again.

"I love you." I added.

'I love you too.' She said and then I hung up.

I had to get used to saying that. It comforted me and I'm sure it comforted her too. Besides, she needs it more than I do. But right now, as selfish as it sounds, I'm putting all that aside and going to buy my precious Kinect game.

"Oh yeah, rock star parking!" Kenny said, parking only two spaces away from the entrance.

We hopped out of the car and went inside where it was heated. The South Park mall wasn't really that big of a deal, so finding the department store wasn't really that hard of a task.

Years ago, after we had destroyed the Wal-Mart, another one had opened. Only this one was sort of connected, you could say, to the rest of the mall. People wanted to burn it down again, but the townspeople decided against it, in fear of burning down the whole mall.

"There it is." Stan said, pointing ahead.

We walked in, where we were greeted by some old folk in the store uniform. I had always wondered how much they were paid to do that. It couldn't be a lot, I mean it's not hard to say a simple 'hello' to everyone in sight.

The journey to the electronic section was a road I knew well. All you did was pass in front of the jewellery stand, then through the lingerie section, past the children's corner and then you were there.

The jewellery stands and the children's corner were the easy parts; the one in between was a bit more complicated.

"Oh my god!" Kenny cried in joy. "Look at this one! It has a goddamn Hello Kitty on the ass..." His pupils darkened and a small smirk appeared on his lips. His hands tightened on the pair of underwear and he snapped his head around to us. He looked like a hungry tiger, ready to pounce.

"Kenny?" I said. What did he think of now?

"Hey..." He mumbled. "Do you thinks Butters would-"

"Ew! Kenny!" Stan cut him off and slapped the bottoms out of the blonde's hands. "Come on, let's go."

We made it through the lingerie unscarred (except for Stan) and were going down one of the main passages.

And there it was.

The electronic section, in which, lay my Kinect console. It was there, separated only by a short walking distance, by an arm's reach...

That's when I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

I turned around.

It was small, but hard to miss. The colors were bright and the smell was strong. Small noises emanated from it, rattling noises to be precise. And the sight... was terrifying.

Huggies diapers, $24.99.

Oshkosh shoes, $14.99

Bibs, $5.99

Snowsuits, $39,99

Car seats, $75,00

Fisher Price cradles, $130,00

Fisher Price high chair, $120,00

Changing tables, $99,97

I froze in place. Unable to move, with one glance I saw it all. I heard my friends call out my name and it wasn't like I couldn't answer; it was just that, at that moment, I didn't want to.

"Kyle?" Kenny called.

"Dude...look." Stan said. He pointed to where I was looking. To the pastel fluffy corner of doom. All of a sudden, the 200 dollars in my pocket felt like 20 bucks. My college savings were now worth half their value.

"Kyle... you okay?"

I turned to them and grinned, like nothing had happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So where do you want to go next?" I asked.

"Well, weren't you going to buy that gaming thing you wanted?" Stan asked, exchanging a quick glance with Kenny.

They looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Who knows? Maybe I had. Crazy people don't know they're crazy...

"Aw well, I changed my mind."I stretched my arms and yawned. "Let's go have some lunch or something, I'm hungry."

I started to walk back down the way but I didn't hear any footsteps following me. I stopped and turned to see my two friends still standing in place.

"Come on guy, I'm starving."

They gave me worried looks. Why would they do that? I was fine.

In the car, Kenny refused to put on music, claiming we needed to talk.

"Kyle... dude, why didn't you buy the game?" Stan asked carefully.

"Well, I thought that maybe, you know, I could save up more money and wait for a newer consol to come out. That way I won't be disappointed." I explained and I wasn't lying. What I said was slightly true.

"Okay, now tell us why the fuck you stood in front of the baby section and lost all colour in you face?" Kenny spoke up, not as delicately as Stan had.

I didn't answer. I literally did not remember doing that. I knew I did, but I just couldn't recall what had happened precisely.

Kenny pulled into the drive through of the nearest McDonald's. He ordered 5 large fries and pulled up to the other window where Stan and him paid.

"Oh here you go guys."I said and handed them a five dollar bill.

Kenny frowned. He looked pissed and was looking at me as if I was some kind of idiot. He grabbed my dollar bill, crumpled it up a bit and threw it back into my face.

"Hey! What was that for. Aren't you going to take it?" I asked.

"Consider it a gift." He said.

"What for?"

In the parking lot of the fast food restaurant, Kenny braked hard and made me and Stan fumble forward in our seats.

My poor friend didn't look at me when he spoke the words, but his voice alone was enough to cut straight through me.

"The baby." He said.

Taken aback, my eyes widened and the smallest of gasps came out of my closed lips.

"Kenny, I think that was sort of uncalled for."Stan said.

"No." The other replied. "He needs to get it into his head Stan. He DOES know what's happening and he IS taking responsibility-"

"Yeah but-" Stan tried to cut him off but failed.

"BUT," He continued, "he had NOT accepted it yet."

What had I not accepted? The baby? Of course I had.

"Dude, I'm sure he has." Stan contradicted.

"No, he hasn't, man. He knows it, but it hasn't completely settled in yet."

They were talking about me and my situation. They talked about it as if I wasn't there, in the back seat, hearing every word.

"Guys!" I yelled and they both turned to me. "I'm still here you know."

"Sorry..." My raven friend mumbled.

"Kyle. Why didn't you buy the Kinect?" Kenny asked.

"I told you, I want to save up for-"

"Don't lie Kyle." Kenny cut in. "Why did you randomly decide to not buy it, in the middle of the store."

"Kenny, I swear, what are you talking about? I already said that-"

"NO." He raised his voice.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Can we just go home please, I really need to-"

"KYLE." He said, even louder, forcing me to look at him, into his angry eyes I had been avoiding since the conversation started.

I stared for a while, but then let my eyes drop back down. I shut them tightly and wished that I was somewhere else. Somewhere warm, with no snow. Somewhere that didn't smell as bad as this car. Somewhere...anywhere, other than here.

The silence in the car stretched on. I saw Stan, from the corner of my eye, look at Kenny a few times, getting ready to say something but then deciding against it.

We had been parked in the lot for about 12 minutes, in complete silence. I wasn't sure why Kenny hadn't even bothered moving the truck or taking us home, but I was too scared to ask.

I did however think about the question he kept asking me, as if why I didn't end up buying my gaming system. I knew the answer well and it had nothing to do with saving money for something better. The thing was, only my brain was aware of the real answer, but my heart wasn't letting my mouth say it out loud. Damn bipolar body...

My head was pounding so I decided to think of Bebe and weirdly enough, it did soothe the pain a little. Even the thought of her made my heart become warmer and beat faster. It was weird. It felt like all the blood in my body assembled into my chest and just stayed there until the thought of her flew away.

My brain worked otherwise. My heart being distracted, it managed to take full control and finally shout out.

"39,99."

Well, that wasn't exactly what I had planned to say, but hey, it must've meant something...

"39,99?"Stan whispered to Kenny, who just smiled slightly on the side. So, I figured they had decided to go on with the fact that I'm insane and pretend like I can't hear them.

"So Kyle, tell me, what's 39,99?" Kenny asked, obviously teasing. He sounded like the psychiatrist talking to one of his patients.

"I...I don't know." I said. I really didn't. Why did I say that.

"Well, then in that case, we're not moving." He said, and crossed his arms over his chest.

Was is patronizing me? Like I was some kind of child?

But I did think. What WAS 39,99? Obviously a price...a price I saw today...

"The snowsuit." I blurted out. What the hell was I talking about?

"Ah, now Kyle, why do you need a snowsuit; you're not a kid anymore."

He still spoke in that mocking tone of his, but I decided to let it pass and concentrate more on why the fuck I needed a snowsuit.

"But we were in the baby section." Stan said and received a nudge from Kenny.

But he was right...we were in the baby section.

I don't know what, but something in my head made a clicking sound.

The baby. It needed a snowsuit. Every baby did when living in South Park...

"Ken..." I mumbled.

"Yeah Kylie?"

"The mother fucking snowsuit ALONE WAS 39,99! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO AFFORD THAT!" I yelled in the car, that randomly started running.

"And we're off." Kenny said with a sad smile.

"AND WHY THE FUCK WOULD FUCKING DIAPERS COST OVER 30 BUCKS! GODDAMNIT!"

I was angry but it was only to cover up the panic. The money I had saved up for months would only cover one necessity. Only one. Where the hell was I supposed to get the money? I can't work since I have to go school! After school, I have homework and on the weekends I need to worry about a baby!

There had to be another way.

Once home again, we went into the kitchen and began eating the fries like pigs.

"I'm happy something finally clicked." Kenny said.

"Fuck you." I replied. "How the hell am I supposed to afford all of that?"

"Well you can't get a job." Stan stated the obvious.

"We can all chip in. Like each of us will buy an item." Kenny suggested.

"Maybe..." I really had no idea.

"Your parents could help too right?" Stan said.

Oh Stan, oh so naive.

"Don't even MENTON my parents Stan." I said and stuffed a fry into my mouth,

"But you ARE going to tell them right Kyle? We're not going to have to have yet another intervention time are we?"

I hit Kenny in the arm but he just smiled at me.

"I don't know dudes. There's too much to worry about. Plus, we have to face facts sooner or later, I mean, she IS going to get..."

"Bigger?" Kenny suggested.

"Yeah... Just imagine how school will be like."

I didn't even know why I said that out loud. Why was I even bringing it up when I didn't want to talk about it.

"Hey, Kyle, I have a question." Stan spoke.

We all put our food down and looked at him. Once again, he felt the pressure, even though there was none, and blushed vividly. He avoided our looks and scratched the back of his head.

"Look, it's really none of my business but... why don't you just get rid of it?" He asked.

My world cracked in front of me. Like when you break a mirror but it hasn't shattered to pieces yet. I was too afraid to touch it, I was too afraid to answer, in fear of watching it all fall to pieces. I had two choices for an answer; yes or no. Each one was like a ying and yang, a good side and a bad side.

If I get rid of it, I will be able to regain my life and live its years like a young person should. It seemed like the reasonable choice, but I knew my conscience all too well. It would have haunted me for the rest of my days, reminding me of how I ended the life of a child that hadn't even seen the light of day.

And if I answered yes and actually went through with it, I would be throwing away a large part of my youth and for what? To take care of a baby, to raise a child that I didn't even want in the first place. Now, that's a very crude way of looking at it, but it was partially true. The kid would be considered an accident, but I'm sure I would love it enough to make that 'accident' into a 'happy surprise'. Sure, I'd be facing parenthood and of course, I'd have to put aside some ambitions, but I can't say that it would be all for the worse. The newborn could be considered some kind of symbol that bound Bebe and I together. We would be put through tests and pulled through hell and back and THAT will make us stronger.

We will be ready.

"That's up to Bebe." I answered, pushing away my contradictory thoughts. I wasn't ready to just blurt all that out to my friends who can barely understand a topic concerning anything but TV, girls, cars or all of them together in one.

Kenny slapped me hard on the back, sending me stumbling forward. "I'm sure she'll make the right decision for the both of you." He said confidently.

"Which would be...?"

"Be damned if I knew." He shrugged.

I laughed and turned to Stan who was lost in his world, staring down to the floor grinning sweetly.

"Thinking about Wendy?" I teased.

It felt like a scene straight from the movies when Stan looked up with his bright blue eyes half filled with tears and his quivering smile that showed nothing but love.

"I think she should keep it." He whispered, his voice cracking a little, but no tears fell.

"Stan...?"

"Dude, this is so-so great, you know? Like your going to be a dad! My best friend...since I was 2, is soon to be a father. I mean, how-how huge is this! It's sort of a shock, bu-but a good one!" A couple of drops fell down his cheeks and a soft chocked chuckle came out of his lips like a cough.

My best friend wrapped his arms around my neck and laughed. He didn't stop; he just kept laughing.

"Congrats, man." He said.

Another large pair of orange arms wrapped around me and the blonde hair blended into the black that was already in my face.

"Congrats, Kyle." Kenny said too.

And suddenly,

'Dad'

Didn't sound so bad.