“ But you can’t be!,” he cried, “ You just can’t be!”
“ Well obviously I can be because I am!,” she screamed back.
“ But how can you be pregnant? I’m only thirteen, I can’t be a dad!,” he almost begged her. He felt tears come to his eyes, but quickly wiped them away. He didn’t want to cry. Especially not in front of Ellie.
“ You think I wanted this? You think I planned on becoming pregnant at fifteen, Zac?,” Ellie snapped.
“ I didn’t say that! But how could this happen? We were so careful,” Zac paced back and forth, wringing his hands. He couldn’t stand still. It was too much for him to bear.
“ Well apparently you weren’t as careful as you thought you were, were you?”
His head snapped up. “Me? This is not entirely my fault, you know! You’re involved in this just as much as I am, so don’t you dare pin all the blame on me!”
“ Well who’s pregnant? I’m the one who’s gonna carry this baby for nine months, I’m the one who’s gonna go through labor, and I’m the one who’s gonna have to find some way to take care of it, because I won’t give it up!,’ Ellie told him.
“ I never said anything about giving it up!”
“ No, you just went into complete denial! I’m a kid, Zac, I don’t want to have a baby.” She sat down on his bed, head in her hands. By the trembling of her shoulders, Zac knew she was crying. He sat down next to her and tentatively put his arm around her.
“ I’m sorry,” he whispered,” I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“ Zac, what am I going to do?”
“ We,” he corrected, “ I’m not gonna let you handle this on your own. I’ll get a job and help you pay for it.”
Ellie shook her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “ Teen fathers almost always split within a few months of the baby’s birth, if they even stay around that long.”
“ But I won’t do that. I’ll be a good father. I’ll help you pay for it and take care of it. I swear I will,” Zac insisted.
“ Forget it. I’ve heard of too many girls who rely on their boyfriends only to have them leave when they need them the most. I don’t want that to happen to me. I might as well be disappointed now instead of having my hopes raised only to have you leave too,” Ellie said, and slowly got up and walked towards the door.
“ But I’m not like that! You can count on me!,” Zac said in desperation.
“ I’ll keep that in mind, Zac. But you’re gonna want to live your own life again sooner or later anyway. I’ll find some way to take care of the baby myself.” She reached for the doorknob.
Zac jumped up and ran after her. “ No, Ellie, wait! It’s-“
Slam!
She was gone.
“ It’s my baby too,” he whispered. She was gone. Just like that. She was gone and so was his baby. He felt his legs go weak. He sank to his knees. Then he sobbed like he had wanted to do the very moment he learned that at only thirteen, he was going to be a father.
****************************************
“ Hello?,” Zac answered the phone on the first ring.
Silence.
“ Hello?,” he repeated.
“ Zac?,” a hesitant voice said.
“ Ellie?”
“ Yeah.”
“ Where have you been all this time? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you so I could talk to you but-”
“ Zac, I’m in the hospital,” she interrupted.
“ Why? What is it, what’s wrong?,” he asked with concern.
“ I had the baby today.”
Zac felt his heart skip a beat. “ You did?”
“ Yeah.” Ellie paused. “ I want to see you. Please come visit me.”
“ I’ll be right there. Just let me ask my brother to drive me.”
****************************************
Zac tapped lightly on the door frame. “ Hi,” he said quietly.
Ellie looked up from her book, then gave a tiny smile. “ Hi.” She set the book down. “ I’m so sorry, Zac, I was just scared and-”
“ And you thought I would hate you and blame you for getting pregnant,” he finished.
“ I think so, yeah.”
“ So how did your parents take to the news?”
“ Not so well as I had hoped, but they’re coping.”
“ Do they know I’m the father?”
“ I wouldn’t tell them. I’m going to tell them in a while, so they don’t freak when they see you helping me with the baby so much.” She looked at him, hopefully. “ You are still going to help me, aren’t you?”
“ Yeah, I still plan on helping,” he informed her.
Ellie sighed with relief. She was quiet for a moment, then pointed to a small bed in the corner.
“ The baby’s in there.”
Zac slowly walked over to it and peered inside. There lay a tiny baby girl, wrapped in a pink blanket, hardly two hours old. She was fast asleep.
“ Her name’s Donna,” Ellie informed him.
“ She’s beautiful,” Zac said. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He couldn’t believe that this was his daughter. “ That’s my baby? Can I hold her?”
“ Go ahead.”
Zac carefully reached down and picked up the newborn. Her blue eyes suddenly opened wide and seemed to stare directly at him.”
“ Hi there, little one, “ Zac said quietly, “ I’m your daddy.”
