• She felt something move again.
    This had been the second time within the past three days that she thought she felt something moving within her stomach.
    No, no, no... It was all in her head. She couldn't be... She was still having her you-know-what every month. Maybe it was just indigestion...
    She decided to stop thinking of the matter and to just focus on her morning grammar assignment. No sooner than she had begun writing did the movement come again.
    Nononononononono, God... Pleaaase no.... She was only 17 and still trying t finish school.... She struggled enough with her depression as it was, and was struggling even worse in school... She COULD NOT BE PREGNANT...
    In a state of panic, hoping the school nurse had pregnancy tests, she raised her hand and asked for a pass to see the nurse. The teacher obliged and wrote her a hall pass, which she took gratefully and scurried out the class and down the hall.
    She exited the English wing, and entered the Technology wing. She walked all the way down the hall until she reached the nurse's door.

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    The nurse was sitting at her desk, which was covered with an array of paperwork, bandages, cotton swabs, hand lotion and hand sanitizer. The nurse looked up at the young girl and said, "Ah, Avril, how nice to see you. What can I do for you?"
    Avril felt like she had to throw up. She felt so nervous, but she knew she had to ask.
    "Um, Nurse S----...." She paused for a long time, hesitant for fear of the nurse getting mad at her, then finally realized that was a stupid thought, and that the nurse wouldn't be nearly as mad as her parents would be. The nurse questioningly looked over her glasses at Avril.
    "IthinkImightbepregnant."
    It came out as one long word. The nurse, apparently having been able to understand her regardless of her speech failure got up from her desk, walked past Avril, and shut the door, so that no other students would hear their conversation.
    Having already let the rabbit out of the hat, Avril felt unafraid to ask the nurse for a test to confirm or deny her sinking suspicion. "Do you have any pregnancy tests here....? I'm too afraid to talk to my parents about it, because my step dad threatened to kick me out if I ever got pregnant, so I am to afraid to ask for money for a pregnancy test..."
    "No, Avril, I don't have any of those here, although I believe we should, with all the young women who come in asking for them. Here's what you need to do..."
    The nurse went on to tell her that Avril needed to sit down and speak with her mother about the situation, and that if she did get kicked out, there were places for pregnant women that the nurse would easily take Avril to, if need be, and that she as a nurse and a human being had to either tell Avril's parents, or Avril had to tell them herself.
    Avril chose the latter, calling her mother, who was at work, and telling her that they really needed to talk, and that she needed her to pick her up. Her mother, however, had an appointment to take Avril's younger brother to see the doctor at 1:15pm, so her step dad would have to pick her up and they could talk later. She agreed, feeling the nausea hit her again.

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    15 minutes later, her step father, David, was waiting out front for her. She walked out, got into the van, and buckled in. They were both quiet, the slight dislike for each other evident in the air. Suddenly, he spoke.
    "So what's wrong with you this time?"
    "Girl problems," Avril replied disdainfully.
    After that, the ride stayed silent until they reached the apartment.
    David walked up to the door, unlocking it so they could get in, and left it open as he walked in first. She went in a good distance behind him, not wanting him to go on another of his tirades, rants, or raves.
    Avril shut the door behind herself and went up the stairs, nabbing her mother's phone from the dresser in her parent's room and going in her and her sisters' room. She quietly shut the door behind herself and sat on her bed. She wanted to call her boyfriend, but he was probably not even up, as it was only 6am where he lived. Her mother was on break, so she decided to call her before she left the building for lunch. Thankfully, she hadn't left yet, and her boss got her for Avril. She talked to her for a little, trying to see if her mother would take Avril with her to her brother's appointment, and her mother said sure. After a while of her mother trying to persuade her to get Avril to tell her what was wrong, she finally cracked.
    "Mom, I think I might be pregnant..."
    Her mother stayed silent for a good while. Then she spoke, no apparent anger in her voice.
    "We will talk about this when I get off. Did you have take a test?"
    "Not yet..."
    "Okay. I'll see what I can do when I get off work to take your brother to his appointment."
    "Alright... Love you mom. Talk to you when you get here."
    "Love you too, bye."
    Avril felt anxious... Would they kick her out if she was pregnant...? She laid down, feeling sick and exhausted. She eventually drifted off to sleep, worrying about what the future would hold.
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    Avril woke up, hearing her mother shut the front door downstairs. She looked at the time on her clock. 3:15pm??? She sat up, feeling too groggy to walk down the stairs. Her mother came up the stairs after a few minutes of putting away groceries. She sat down on Avril's littlest sister's bed after handing her the test wrapped up in a Dollar Tree bag.
    Her mom began talking, telling her that after asking the nurse if she could get a pregnancy test and finding out they had none available at the clinic, where to get a reliable pregnancy test, and the nurse told her the dollar store had accurate tests, then told Avril to read the instructions carefully and to take it in the bathroom.
    Avril unwrapped the plastic bag, and removed the box with the test in it, then read the back carefully. She followed the instructions, and laid the test on the counter, waiting on the results.
    Slowly, one line appeared....
    And then another.
    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... WHYYYYY????????????? She began sobbing, kicking herself mentally for allowing herself to get pregnant. The pills she was on evidently didn't work as well as they were supposed to.
    She walked out of the bathroom, tears running down her face, and into her room, sitting slowly on her bed.
    "It is a positive...."
    Her mother, who was laying on her sister's bed, breathed in deeply.
    "What were you thinking, Avril?"
    Avril began sobbing hysterically.
    "I d-don't know....."

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    The pains were coming in waves. The hospital bed felt like needles beneath Avril as the contractions were hitting her. She picked up her phone, dialing his number. It rang for a while, then went to his voicemail again.
    'Damn it,' she cursed to herself. Why the hell wasn't he answering??? She sobbed, feeling abandoned and alone. He KNEW she had to go in to have their son that day.
    She then called her mother, letting her know that they had planned a cesarian section for her that day, due to her not dialating sufficiently enough to have her son normally, who said she was on her way. After 45 more minutes of pain and Spongebob Squarepants, her mom finally showed up. They were going to take her back in less than an hour.
    She tried to get some sleep, but found herself having to go to the bathroom. Her mother helped her unhook her from the baby monitor machine, and she went to the restroom. She came back 5 minutes later and laid back down as her mother hooked her back in. Suddenly, the nurse came in. It was time.

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    They moved Avril into a stretcher and carted her off to the delivery room, her mother close behind them. They entered a small room with at least 5 different doctors in it, and a table with curtains and huge lights. They moved her from the stretcher, onto the table. Avril looked around for her mother as one of the doctors began jabbering on and on about the same thing she had heard all day. The procedure, what would happen, blah, blah, blah.... Finally, seeing her mother come in the door, she focused back on the doctor, who had just asked her a question. She looked at him blankly, so he repeated himself.
    "If you feel any pain, let us know."
    Avril nodded as they began to cover her lower half with a curtain, and she gripped her mom's hand. Suddenly, she felt a tearing feeling in her lower abdomen, and cried out in pain.
    "I can feel it, I can feel it!!!!! Please stop," she sobbed.
    The doctor told her if she couldn't relax, they had to put her under. And Avril said she would prefer it to feeling pain. So they brought over this oxygen mask looking-thing and placed it on her face as they explained to her mother that she would have to leave the room since she was being put under. After a few minutes of staring at the bright light over her head, everything went black.

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    She felt the searing pain before she even opened her eyes. She screamed and cried hysterically, and a nurse came over, and Avril began crying about being in horrible pain. They put her on morphine, and gave her a button to press when she needed more. After 10 minutes of pushing the button nonstop, she eventually felt relief.
    The next words out of her mouth were asking where her child was. The nurse told her that they would take her to a room where her mother and grandmother were waiting on her, and eventually bring her son in so she could see and hold him.
    Avril laid her head back down and waited for the doctors to move her. She was too tired to cry anymore, so she shut her eyes until she suddenly felt a jolt.
    The doctors had moved her to a stretcher again, and were carting her down the wing. She wanted to fall asleep, but forced herself to stay awake so that she could see her family and son.

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    Finally, they reached her room, and prepared to transfer her off the stretcher onto the bed. They had her move her legs onto the bed first, and she screamed in pain, feeling as though her lower abdominal muscles were being ripped apart. Then her mom came over, offering her help to move the rest of Avril onto the bed. After 5 minutes of struggling, screaming, and crying, they moved the sobbing mother onto her bed successfully.
    Avril eventually calmed down, and pushed the morphine button again. Her mother asked her how she was feeling.
    "Like hell," She replied, half drugged, half tired.
    Suddenly, a young nurse came in the room, introduced herself, and motioned to another nurse at the door to come in. In came another nurse, pushing a plastic-looking container with a small bundled up mass in it.
    Avril's mother stood over the container, looking in it affectionately, then looking at her.
    "This is your son."
    The nurse slowly took a bundle of blankets out of the container and brought it over to Avril. She gently placed it in her arms as she got her first look at her son.
    He was the splitting image of his father. Olive skin, dark hair, and gorgeous eyelashes. He was asleep.
    Avril felt herself about to cry...
    He was like an angel, so his name would indeed fit him well.
    A tear fell off her face as she looked at him and said,
    "I love you.... My little Angeal."