Anything but Normal (15 page)

Still, she decided as she went into her house, she needed to do a better job of playing that part—the role of the good Christian girl. And if that meant putting on some lame costume and going to the harvest party and yukking it up with her friends, so be it. But first she was taking a nap!

“You’re home early,” Sophie said to her dad as he came into the house and tossed his Carhartt jacket over a kitchen chair.

“It’s a holiday.”

“It’s
Halloween
, Dad.” She grabbed her bag.

“Halloween happens to be one of my favorite holidays.”

“Well, the candy’s there, what’s left of it anyway.” She pointed to the big bowl that everyone had been sneaking from. “We’ve already had some early birds. Mom will be home by six. And she’s got some more candy.”

“Hey, looks like you took my advice.” He chuckled as he set his thermos in the sink.

“Huh?” She fished her car keys from her bag.

He poked her in the tummy and grinned. “Putting on a little weight there, aren’t you, pumpkin?”

“Very funny.” She looked down at the orange T-shirt she’d borrowed from his closet. She’d used black electrical tape to make a smiley face. Then she’d put it on and stuffed it full of wadded-up newspaper to resemble a lumpy jack-o’-lantern.

By the time she reached the church, the parking lot was full and the party was in full gear. She went inside, pushed past moms and kids in costume, and finally located her friends in the snack area.

“Wow, you went all out with your costume this year,” Kelsey said sarcastically. She was dressed like a princess, the same costume she’d worn for the past couple of years—in Sophie’s opinion, boring.

“You have something against pumpkins?”

“I’m just glad you made it.” Carrie Anne gave her a sideways hug.

“What are you?” Sophie studied her black head-to-toe attire.

“A cat, of course.” Carrie Anne waved her tail under Sophie’s nose.

Sophie dug a green stocking hat from her bag and pulled it on her head. “Almost forgot my stem.”

“Now there’s a good look,” Jenny teased.

“Are you supposed to be an elf or something?” Sophie asked.

“Peter Pan.” Jenny bowed, then pointed to Hannah. “And this is Tinkerbell.”

“Of course.” Sophie laughed at the strange apparatus of wire hangers and cloth that was attached to Hannah’s back. “The wings are a dead giveaway.”

And so the evening went. Sophie hung with her friends, made jokes, and played the multifaceted role of good Christian girl, class clown, and loyal friend. Hopefully she dispelled any concerns that Carrie Anne or the others had about her. Of course, the constant question was, how long could she keep this up?

Sophie put a lot of time into her article about the pregnancy center. But when she finally finished it on Sunday night, it wasn’t exactly what she’d expected it would be. At least it was fair, though. Mostly she didn’t want to think about it anymore.

And when she took it to school on Monday, she hoped she wouldn’t bump into any of the girls she’d interviewed. More than that, she never wanted to see the pregnancy center again.

“You’ve examined both sides of this issue now,” Mr. Young told Sophie at their publisher’s meeting. “I recommend you run this feature on the front page in the next edition.”

“I agree,” Wes said.

“The
front
page?” Sophie asked. “Are you sure?”

“It’s a good story, Sophie.” Wes nodded. “And judging by the reactions we got from your editorial, you’ve hit a hot button with this whole pregnancy issue.”

Mr. Young gave her back the hard copy. “I think readers will appreciate your honesty.”

She cringed.
Honesty?
That made her want to laugh. Or cry.

Her only escape was to lose herself in school and journalism. So for the next couple of weeks, that’s what she did. By mid-November, she realized that she was feeling fairly normal again. No more morning sickness or tender breasts or excessive tiredness. It was amazing. Almost as if the whole thing had gone away, except for the fact that none of her jeans fit her now. She’d gotten some sweats and baggy clothes to cover things up. Sure, her friends occasionally took jabs at her weight, but that seemed minor compared to reality.

However, a different kind of reality began to create itself. Sophie felt so much more like her old self, so much more normal and almost happy, that she actually began to imagine she wasn’t really pregnant. She knew it was a game—or that she was being the queen of denial again. But at the moment it was working.

“My mom read your story in the
Panther Paw
,” Kelsey told Sophie at lunch one day. “And she wasn’t too pleased.”

“Huh?” Sophie looked up from her fries.

“She thinks you’re being way too soft on pregnancy.”

“Soft on pregnancy?” Sophie frowned.

“What did she want Sophie to do?” Jenny demanded. “Beat on the girls who were pregnant? Like they don’t have enough problems?”

“Okay, maybe I didn’t say that quite right.” Kelsey looked contemplative. “What my mom said was that by showing the pregnancy center the way you did, and by telling those girls’ stories, it was kind of like saying it was okay.”

“And your point is?” Sophie glared at Kelsey.

“I know what Kelsey is saying,” Carrie Anne said. “She means it’s like you were endorsing the whole thing. Like it’s cool to be a pregnant teen.”

“Yeah,” Kelsey said. “Like that
Juno
movie. Like you’re glamorizing it. That’s what my mom said.”

“Glamorizing it?” Sophie stared at her friends like they were aliens. “Are you guys nuts?”

“Well, it did seem like you were on their side,” Hannah pointed out. “Like you thought it was great that they were in the pregnancy center.”

“Well, where do you guys think those girls
should
be?” Sophie took in a deep breath. “Maybe you want them to be hidden away? Treated like they have leprosy and locked away in some dark dungeon? And forget about education, right? I mean, once a girl makes a mistake or is the victim of rape—”

“You don’t know that for a fact,” Kelsey said.

“Are you saying that girl lied?”

“I’m saying that if I got pregnant, I’d probably say something like that too.” Kelsey sat up straighter. “Not that there’s any chance of that. I’m just saying.”

“You guys are living in the dark ages.” Jenny shook her head. “Seriously. I thought Sophie’s feature was spot-on.” She reached over and gave Sophie a high five. “Way to go.”

“I’m not saying we should lock the pregnant girls up,” Carrie Anne protested. “Just that we shouldn’t reward them, you know?”

“Yeah,” Kelsey agreed. “That’s exactly what my mom said.” “Reward them?” Sophie wanted to scream. “You think they feel rewarded? Do you have any idea what they’re going through? Did you actually read my article? Or are you guys just so judgmental that you can’t even—”

“We’re not judging them, Sophie,” Carrie Anne argued. “We’re just saying that our society keeps lowering the standards.”

“Yes!” Kelsey exclaimed. “That’s what my mom said too. She said that when the school makes these pregnancy centers and sets up child care, it’s like giving girls permission to have sex, get pregnant, and—”

“No one needs to give anyone permission,” Sophie shot back. “It’s happening, Kelsey. Maybe what those girls needed was birth control.”

“Birth control?” Kelsey looked shocked.

“Seriously, Sophie.” Carrie Anne shook her head like she thought Sophie had lost her mind. “This doesn’t even sound like you. Are you suggesting that the school nurse should be handing out birth control pills or condoms?”

“Yeah, hasn’t our town already been down that road?” Hannah said.

“Maybe we need to go down it again,” Sophie snapped.

“That’s exactly what my mom thinks,” Kelsey shot back at her. “She’s already planning a meeting at church for next Saturday.”

“A meeting at church?” Sophie frowned at her. “Why?”

“To inform people about what’s really going on—”

“Does she even know what’s going on?” Sophie was talking so loudly that others were listening now. Not that she cared. “She knows it’s time that the church got more involved,” Kelsey continued, “and she thinks that our high school is going straight to—”

“Maybe she should stop thinking so much.” Sophie’s hands were curled into fists. “And instead of passing judgment, maybe she should spend some time with some of these pregnant girls to find out what’s really—”

“I can’t believe how you’re defending them,” Carrie Anne said. “Like you think it’s okay to get pregnant while you’re still in high school.”

Sophie felt ready to explode. She couldn’t believe how harsh and judgmental her friends—if they were her friends—had become.

“Man, Sophie.” Kelsey looked stunned. “I think journalism is messing with your head. It’s like you’re turning into such a liberal.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Because I care about people, because I feel sorry for a girl who gets pregnant, I’m suddenly a liberal?” Sophie stood up and stared at her friends. “Fine. I’m a liberal. Whatever!”

“The next thing we know you’ll be pro-abortion,” Kelsey sniped.

Sophie picked up her tray, walked away from the table, and counted to ten. As she dumped her tray, she counted to ten again. Some people were such morons. Seriously, if ignorance was bliss, Kelsey North had to be the happiest girl on the planet.

“Hey, sunshine.”

Sophie turned to see Wes jogging to catch her.

“What’s the hurry?”

She frowned. “No hurry. I just needed to escape from my friends.”

“What’s up?”

As they walked to the journalism room, she poured out the whole story. Well, everything except her current condition. “Now Kelsey is calling me a liberal.”

Wes kind of laughed. “Some of us take that as a compliment.”

Sophie considered this. “But I always thought I was fairly conservative. I mean, my parents are Republicans. I’m a Christian and pro-life. We live in a very conservative town.”

“I don’t see why people have to label everything.” Wes sighed. “I mean, instead of just being one thing or another, maybe we need to be better informed—and come to our own conclusions.”

“Yeah.” She nodded, taking this in.

“And that’s exactly what you did in your feature, Sophie.” “Except that now it feels like I’ve rocked the boat again.”

“You know what they say.”

“What?”

“You know, you can please some of the people some of the time . . .”

“But not all of the people ever.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Right now it just feels like I’ve made all my friends mad. Well, except for Jenny.” Sophie paused. “And that’s funny.”

“Why?”

“Because Jenny used to be the one friend I never agreed with about much of anything.”

“People change.”

Sophie nodded. “That’s true.” People did change. Sometimes more than anyone knew.

14

“Great article, Sophie!”

Sophie looked up from her current project to see that Mrs. Manchester had come into the journalism room. “Thanks,” she told her.

“Thank
you
. It’s a pleasure to see honest journalism. The girls in the center were pleased too. Thank you for protecting their anonymity.”

“Well, I’m glad someone likes it.”

Mrs. Manchester nodded in an understanding way. “You rocked the boat a little?”

“Seems like that’s what I do best.”

“That’s because you’re a real newspaperwoman.” This came from Mr. Young.

“I was just telling Sophie thanks for writing that piece.”

“You might not be thanking me next week.”

“What happens next week?” Mrs. Manchester asked.

“Hopefully nothing.” Sophie frowned.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Young seemed interested now.

“Well, I just heard that Kelsey North’s mom wasn’t too thrilled with my article, and now she’s organizing some kind of meeting.”

“For what purpose?” He waited expectantly.

“My guess is to discuss the school’s pregnancy center.”

Mrs. Manchester looked worried. “Oh dear.”

“When is this meeting scheduled?” Mr. Young asked.

“Saturday.”

“Who’s invited to come?”

“I’m not sure.” Sophie thought for a moment. “But it’s at our church, and I’d think that anyone would be welcome.”