Chapter 24

Samantha drove home from Jake’s that night very confused. Not just about his reaction, but about where her life was going. A week ago, she thought she would be spending her summer getting ready for college and hanging around town. Now with one doctor’s visit, everything had changed. She was pregnant, and she felt like all she wanted to do was get out of town. How was it going look that the valedictorian of the class of 1998 was knocked up? What would everyone think? She was from a small town, and word around there spreads fast. The words of what everyone would say ran through her mind, including those of her parents.

“She is throwing her life away…”

“Guess she’s not as good as everyone thought she was…”

“I thought she was supposed to be a church going girl…”

“Samantha shook her head trying to get the voices to stop. She pulled up to her house, turning the engine of her car off. She didn’t want to face her parents. Hell when she had told them earlier, she had just blurted it out and ran. Now that they had time to think about it, she could only imagine what they had to say.

“I wonder if I can sneak in without anyone noticing,” she thought as she turned the knob to the front door slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible. She stepped in the doorway, closing the door and tip-toeing to the stairs.

“Samantha, is that you?” her father said.

“Shit, no luck on sneaking in.” she thought as she turned around and walked into the living room.

“Yeah it’s me,” she said, as she walked in and sat on the couch.

“Well Samantha, I have to say you really gave us a shock earlier,” Roger said, as she just sat there silently leaning back on the couch. “I assume this is Jake’s baby, and not that singer boy,” he said, as Samantha sat up.

“Of course daddy, Nick and I are just friends, Jake is the only person I’ve been with. And believe me, this is a huge shock to me as well,” she said quietly.

“Well, what are you planning on doing? Getting married I’d hope,” her father said to her.

“I don’t know,” Samantha said, as she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t want to get married yet, I’m not ready.”

“Oh, but you’re ready to be a mother though?” he asked, as tears started to well in her eyes.

“I’m not ready for anything. I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said, as she started to cry a little.

“I have to say Samantha, I’m very disappointed in the decisions that you’ve made. I would think nowadays, kids would act more responsibly. You know plenty about safe sex,” Roger said, as Samantha put her face in her hands and began to bawl.

“Not to mention abstinence,” he went on as he ignored her tears, “you know, like waiting until you were married,” he snapped as she began to cry harder. “What were you thinking?” he yelled.

“Roger, enough!” her mother said, as she got up and went and sat next to Samantha on the couch.

“It’s okay baby, we know you’re scared,” her mom said, as she rubbed her back. Her mom tried to think of something to change the subject.

“Sweetie, if you hadn’t have run out of here, we would have had a chance to tell you our news too,” her mother said, as Samantha looked over at her.

“What?” Samantha asked.

“I’m being transferred to another plant down in West Palm Beach,” her father said.

“Oh, so we’re moving?” she said, almost hopeful to get out of that damn town.

“Well, we are, in three weeks. Won’t you be staying here with your fiancée?” her father asked, but it was more like a demand. “You are starting a family aren’t you?” he said coldly.

“Yeah I guess so,” she said, barely above a whisper.

“Alright, so it’s settled then,” her father said, getting up from his recliner and walking up the stairs.

Samantha just sat there and cried some more while her mother hugged her. “You know how he is, he’s very strict, and he believes in being married when having a baby,” her mother said, as Samantha shuddered a bit from crying so hard. “He’s just upset, things will be better with time,” she said, as Samantha wiped her face and looked up.

“I think I’m going to go off to bed,” Samantha said, as she and her mom stood up.

“Okay, goodnight, you know that we love you right?” her mother asked.

“I love you too,” Samantha said, as she hugged her mother, but she was rolling her eyes behind her mother’s back. She pulled back, smiling a little, and then went up the stairs to her room.

Samantha crawled into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. She began to cry, she felt so hurt and deserted by her parents. Her phone rang, and she knew it was Nick. She cried harder, not picking it up. She knew if she did, Nick would just run in and fix up her life. Not that she didn’t want him to, that would make her life so much easier. But she knew she had to live her own life, she wasn’t Nick’s problem to solve.

For the next few weeks, Samantha helped her parents pack up their house. When she had told Jake that her parents were moving away, he practically jumped up and down, going right into details about the two of them living together. At first Samantha didn’t want to, but as the things in her parents house were packed away in their boxes, she knew this is what she had to do. She knew she couldn’t stay away from him, she had tried that, and she just kept going back. She knew she loved him. And besides, she didn’t really have another choice anyway. Her father’s words rang in her head over and over.

“I have to say Samantha, I’m very disappointed
in the decisions that you’ve made. I would think

nowadays, kids would act more responsibly.”

Samantha kept thinking as she looked down at a picture of her and Jake, running her hand across it.

“Won’t you be staying here with your fiancée?” her father
asked, but it was more like a demand. “You are starting a
family aren’t you?” he said coldly.

She took that and put all of the rest of her pictures in the box, taping up the sides. “On to my new life,” she said, as she put the box on top of all of her other ones.

Samantha and her father had patched things up a bit, even though she did feel like she was being deserted. But she couldn’t tell her parents about prom night, hell she couldn’t even tell Nick about that. And all of them, her parents, his parents, and Nick thought she was doing the right thing by moving in with him.

“Samantha baby, you ready?” Jake asked, as he picked up two of the boxes to take them downstairs to his truck.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” she said, as she grabbed a smaller box and headed out her bedroom door behind him.