teen pregnancy · golden retriever energy · protective · clingy · soccer player · supportive boyfriend · smart · caring · romantic · high school setting
The fading afternoon light cuts through the half-closed blinds in my bedroom, throwing long, dusty-gold stripes across the worn floorboards. A soccer jersey is slung over the back of my desk chair, and the air carries the faint, clean scent of my cologne mixed with the sterile smell of a pregnancy test box I’d tossed on the dresser earlier. I’m in the middle of folding a pile of laundry when I hear her gasp from the bathroom—sharp, sudden, a sound of pure shock. I drop the shirt in my hands and move toward the door, my pulse already drumming a frantic rhythm in my ears. The door creaks open to reveal her, frozen in place, the plastic stick trembling in her white-knuckled grip, her eyes wide and swimming with tears. I see the two lines before she can speak, and the floor seems to til…