Callies Story

It was 3 in the morning, and Callie still couldn’t manage to get an ounce of shut eye. It was really starting to show. When you looked at Callie in her current condition, you would agree with her brother, who says she looks like a zombie. She wasn’t sure if it was the stress of exams coming up or that she had been fighting with her mom and Jayson more often, or maybe it was because Chris was back in town, leaving threats everywhere she went, or maybe it was the thing growing inside her. She didn’t know what it was from, all she knew was that, it needed to stop.

She had considered going to the doctor’s to get him to prescribe her some sleeping pills, but just hadn’t made it there yet. She didn’t have any time for a doctor’s appointment. Between ISU work, charity events her Mom wanted her to do, and trying to keep up with friends, there was just so much going on.

Callie just needed a break, from life. From reality. She needed everything to just stop, and be over and done with. But, since life doesn’t come with a ‘stop, pause, fast-forward, play’ option, Callie would just have to deal with it. Deal with everything that she does not want to even face in the morning, or ever.

Five hours later, and Callie, resembling that of a zombie, was at school. She had heard her friends calling out to her. Looking around, she couldn’t find them. Was she that tired that she was hearing things now?

“Woah, what happened to you? You look terrible! No offence, or anything.” Daniel said to her.

Now, she could she them. Now, they were right in front of her. They all looked like they were well rested, without a care in the world. Callie wanted to be like that. To be able to just not care from day to day activities.

“It’s called a lack of sleep, Dee.”

“I don’t think it’s a good look for you, babe. Makes you very pale, and your eyes,” He shuddered, “your eyes look ghostly.” Callie’s boyfriend, Jayson had told her.

“I have to agree with him there, Cal.” Arianna put in.

“Do I really look that bad?” Callie had dared to ask.

“Do you want the truth, or a sugar coated version telling you that you look amazing as a partial zombie?” Dee had asked her playfully.

“Dee!”

“Don’t worry about it, Cal. Let’s get you to a bathroom, and I’ll fix you up…well, as much as I can, anyways.” Arianna suggested.

Callie silently agreed, and began walking in step with Arianna, as they started towards the closest bathroom.

“What’s this lack of sleep from anyways?” Jayson had asked her.

“Umm, I don’t know, exams are coming up, and I’ve just been pretty stressed about those, I guess.” Callie had told him.

She kept quiet after that, letting Arianna lead the way, to the bathroom, and in the conversation. Callie could tell that Arianna knew that there was more to Callie’s lack of sleep then what she was letting out. But, Arianna, being her, just kept quiet about it. She knew her friend would come clean sometime, or so she had hoped.

Once they were in the bathroom and the guys were out of sight, Callie loosened up. Arianna picked up on this, and took it as her cue.

“So, when are you going to tell me what’s really going on?” Arianna pounced.

“What are you talking about? Exams are stressing me out, that’s all.” Callie told her, fidgeting with her hair.

Playing around with her hair was what she always did when she was holding stuff back. Arianna knew this all too well.

“Don’t bullshit me, Callie. I know something’s up, and its definitely not exams. Exams are like two weeks away, and you already worrying about them? Bullshit.”

Callie looked over at Arianna, her best friend. This was the girl she had told everything to. The one she trusted most out of everyone. What was different now? Why hadn’t she just told Arianna straight up?

“Cal, tell me.”

“Okay, fine. You want to know what’s really bugging me? Do you really want to know?” Callie had given in, she couldn’t just not tell her best friend.

“Yes, I really want to know. You’re hurting, I can see that, and I want to help. But, I can’t help you, unless I know what is going on.”

“Fine, I’m going to tell you. You have to promise me that you wont tell Jay or Dee.” This was too important.

“Okay, I promise, Hun. Now what is it?”

“I haven’t been able to sleep. I have been really stressed out. I am hungry all the time now it seems. I crave the weirdest things. But when I do eat, it all just comes right back up. I can’t keep anything down. My breasts have been killing me. Everything’s just wrong, it’s not supposed to be like this, A!” At this point, Callie was in tears, sitting on the bathroom floor, her head in her hands.

Arianna knew right away what was wrong. Her older sister had gone through the exam same thing. She was irritable, didn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. All that was left now was for Arianna to ask that one question.

“Callie, when was your last period?”

At hearing this question, Callie started to sob, uncontrollably. Arianna knew, then and there, what was going on. Callie was pregnant, no doubt about it. All signs pointed to it. No wonder she had been so stressed the last couple of days.

“Cal, you know what we have to do, right?” Arianna asked, as the crying slowly came to a stop.

“No, I don’t know what to do, A. I don’t know at all. This wasn’t supposed to happen! I am supposed to go to University, and become a teacher. I can’t do that if I have a kid right now!” The crying started once again.

“Callie, for God’s sake, get a hold of yourself! I know this is hard for you, hell it’s even hard for me, being your best friend and all. But, you have to deal with it. And the first step towards dealing with it, is going to the doctors, and we’re going toady, after school.”

“But, Arianna, I can’t go. That will just make everything more real.” Callie had began to plead with her.

“As opposed to what? Sorry to break it to you, Cal, but this is real. Not going to the doctors does not make it any less real. Now, we are going to the doctors, after school today, and that’s final.”

Callie knew she had been defeated. Knowing Arianna, when she had her mind set onto something, she kept it that way. There was no way you or anyone else could change it. Callie accepted this defeat, and slowly got up.

“We’re going to be late for class, A.”

With that, the two girls left the bathroom, walking in silence to their first period class. They both knew today would be hell for the both of them. They felt that the best thing at this point, was to just not talk about it, or think about, until it was confirmed.

The day had seemed to drag on for Callie. Every class she was in was just as boring and as slow as the last one. It seemed to be pure torture waiting for that last bell to ring. Once it did, Callie was out of the class, and headed straight to her locker. Here, she bumped into Arianna, just like she knew she would. Callie wanted to get out of the school before anyone knew what was up.

“You ready?” Arianna asked her gently.

“Yeah, let’s just go, and get this over with. You didn’t tell Dee or Jay, right?”

“I promised you I wouldn’t, Cal. Do you think I would break my promise?”

Arianna was right. In all the time Callie had known her, she had never been one to break a promise. She stayed true to her word, and when she was unable to keep it for whatever reason, she explained why, and was ultimately sorry.

“Alright, let’s go. Oh, and Arianna?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, for everything. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“Don’t worry about it, this is what friends are for.”

The two girls walked towards Arianna’s car, and began their drive to the place that would hold the truth.

It had been a pretty quick procedure, one that was terrifying for both Callie and Arianna. They were both glad when it was over. The tests had confirmed what they had known all along. Callie, sweet and innocent, Callie, was six weeks pregnant.

“What do I do, now, A?” Callie had asked as they got into the car. Arianna always seemed to be the sensible one, the one with all the answers for everything. She knew how to deal with bitches, she knew how to deal with teachers and parents, Callie assumed she knew how to deal with her best friends teenage pregnancy as well.

“Firstly, you have to make a decision. Are you going to keep it…or?” Arianna stopped there, knowing her friends view on abortion. It was something that Callie had always been strongly against. But, now that Callie was the one with n unwanted baby, would she go against her beliefs?

Callie had looked appalled.

“Of course I am going to keep it! What do you think I would do? Just let someone go inside of me and kill my own baby? My own flesh and blood? It was my mistake, not the kids. Why should the baby have to die for what I did?”
“Okay, Callie, relax! It was just a question. Are you going to tell Jayson?”

Callie looked at Arianna, how could she ask her something like that? Would she kill her own baby? She could never do that. The thought of telling Jayson crept on her. She had been thinking about it. But, how could she? He didn’t need a child in his life right now. She would just do this on her own.

“No.” Callie said, so low, Arianna could barely hear her.

“What?!?” Arianna freaked.

“You have to tell him, Cal. This is his baby too, he deserves to know. Plus, he can help you get through all of this. I know that you don’t exactly want a baby right now, but at this moment, that’s what you have. A baby is growing inside of you right this very instant. Do you really think you can raise that child on your own? Or even just got through the pregnancy alone? Cal, if you tell Jayson, I can guarantee that he wont abandon you. He’s not like that. I know that and you know that. You need Jayson right now, you need him more than anything.”

“But what if he does? What if he wants nothing more to do with me because of this? I can’t stand losing him, A. I love him too much to lose him.”

“Cal, you’re going to lose him if you don’t tell him. He is going to find out sooner or later. It’s not like you can just hide his own kid from him. You’re going to start to show soon, and he is going to know that it’s his. It would be better if you were the one to tell him.”

Arianna looked over at Callie. She was a complete mess. This wasn’t the Callie she was used to. It was Callie, underneath it all. Right now she was covered with fear, hormones, stress, lack of sleep and reality. This version of Callie made Arianna hurt for her.

“You’re right, A. You always are right. How do you do it? You always know exactly what to say when I need a good kick in the butt.” Callie attempted at a half smile.

“Let’s just call it my special touch.” Arianna said with a smile on her face. She was glad that Callie was beginning to come to her senses.

Once Arianna dropped Callie off, Callie went straight to the fridge. She was starving, after having not eaten all day. She pulled out her half eaten sandwich from the day before. Before she could take a bite out of it, the phone had rang. Sighing, she put the sandwich down, and went to answer it. It was Jayson.

“Hey, Callie.”

“Hey, Jay.”
“How are you doing, sweetie? I was a little worried about you. I barely saw you all day, and you were gone before I got out after school. Everything okay?” He asked her.

“Yeah, everything is fine. I’m just stressed. And after school, Arianna and I just took a drive, to just get away, you know?” Callie knew that she had to tell him. She could hear Arianna’s voice in the back of her head, telling her to tell him.

“Yeah, sometimes, we all kind of just need to get away, I guess. Umm, so how was your day? I know this morning you looked pretty bad, you’re doing better though, right?”

Callie smiled as she listened to Jayson talk. He had never been good at the whole phone conversation thing, and she could just picture him standing in front of his mirror, practicing what he would say to her.

Callie thought about earlier. When she told Arianna she wasn’t going to tell Jayson. How could she be so stupid as to not tell him? He had always been there for her when she needed him, why not now as well?

“Umm, Jayson, there is something I have to tell you.” She interrupted him.

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” He asked.

“ I have to tell you in person, I can’t do it over the phone. Meet me at the park in five?”

“Okay, See you in five.”

That was the end of the phone conversation. Callie grabbed her keys, and left the house, while her half eaten sandwich remain still on the counter.

Callie had gotten to the park before Jayson did. That was only to be expected of course, considering she lived closer. She didn’t mind it though, it gave her a bit more time to think about how she was going to tell him.

She had thought of using a metaphor, and hoping he would clue in. She thought about using Arianna’s older sister, who recently had her second baby, as an example. Then of course, there was the easier, but perhaps the hardest way, of just straight up telling him. She had not yet chosen a way, when she saw Jayson walking towards her.

He was wearing his faded jeans, with a polo that she had gotten him for his birthday. His hair was a mess, and his cheeks were flushed, as if he ran here. Come to find out, he did.

“Hey Cal, I got here as fast as I could.” He said, slightly out of breath.

“Yeah, looks like you ran here.” Callie smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

“I did.” He said as her laughed.

“So, uh, what was it that you wanted to tell me? It seemed pretty important.”

“Umm, yah, it is pretty important.” Callie looked around, and finally her eyes settled on the swings. Her favourite spot. She walked over towards the swings and sat on one, trying to ready herself to tell him. Jayson followed suit and sat on the swing next to her. They sat and swung lightly for a few minutes.

“Jayson, I’m pregnant.” Callie just straight out said it. She left no room for interpretation, just the facts.

Jayson’s mouth had dropped. He clearly was not expecting this to be the important news.

“But, how?” Was all he could manage to say.

“Come on, Jayson, you know how. I didn’t think I would have to explain it to you.” Callie could find herself beginning to get irritated. She was pregnant, and he was asking how? Callie took a deep breathe, trying to calm herself.

“Well, of course I know how. But what I meant was…I don’t know what I meant. I wasn’t expecting this to be the news.” Jayson stumbled over his words.

“I wasn’t expecting this to happen either, but it did.”

“How far along are you, Callie?”

“Six weeks.”

“So, its still early than…”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing…well, its just that, anything can still happen. It’s possible that you might not have the baby, right?”

“Of course it’s possible! It’s still an early pregnancy! I could have a miscarriage at this point. Is that what you want, Jayson? For me to have a miscarriage? For our own child, the one that is growing inside of me right now, to just die? So that you don’t have to deal with it? A baby doesn’t exactly fit into my life right now, either, Jayson. But guess what? I have to deal with it the best way possible, as do you.” At this point, Callie was fuming. She wished that Arianna was there to back her up and support her.

“No! That’s not what I meant, Cal. I just don’t know what to do. I’ve never had a kid before, I don’t know how to handle this.”
“And you think I do?”

“ No, I don’t. I just don’t want you to get all worried, or get your hopes up to high when anything can still happen.”

His last statement actually made sense to Callie. He was just looking out for her. He knew that she would get attached very easily and would be absolutely crushed if a miscarriage did happen. She smiled at him, as she began to cry.

“Oh Callie. Its going to be alright, I’m here for you, always.” Jayson said to her as he hugged her.

She made room for him to sit on her swing, and they just stayed like that, sitting there and holding each other for a good while.

For the first time in awhile, Callie had actually slept a full night. She went to bed at a decent time, and did not wake up until her alarm went off. She had woke up smiling. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were chirping. She took this as a sign that today would be a better day.

She continued to smile as she walked to the bathroom, where reality hit her. She threw up, and suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She then remembered that although, she had a good nights sleep, the fact remain that she was still pregnant. She cleaned herself up and continued to get ready for school. She tried her best to remain cheery, and act like nothing was at all wrong.

When she got to school, she found Daniel and Arianna waiting for her in the parking lot, as usual. Jayson was not there, however.

“Hey Callie, your looking much better today.” Dee greeted her.

“Yeah, thanks. I got more sleep last night.” Callie replied as she looked around the parking lot for Jayson.

“Yeah, it shows. Jayson called earlier, and told me to tell you that he would be a bit late getting to school. He said that everything was okay, he just had to do something before coming to school.” Dee had informed her.

“Did he say what he had to do?”

“Nah, I asked, man, he wouldn’t tell me. Me of all people! Must be pretty big if he can’t even tell me!” Dee exclaimed.

“Yeah, it must be.” Callie said absentmindedly. Truth was, she was looking forward to seeing Jayson before class.
“How you holding up, babe?” Arianna asked her, as the three began walking towards the school.

“I’m doing alright, I guess. Considering the circumstances and all. I was sick earlier this morning, but I feel fine now. Just some morning sickness, I guess.”

“Yeah, most likely. You should probably get used to that, it happens for awhile.” Arianna knew exactly what to expect with pregnancies. She had been around for her older sister’s, both times.