she had some control. She felt as though her sister Gracie was totally out of control with the wedding, and just being around her was depressing these days. And the effect on Victoria had been disastrous. She had gone totally berserk with everything she ate. She had an appointment with Dr. Watson that afternoon after school, and she told her about all of it and how depressed she was.
“I was like a crazy person,” she confessed, “eating everything in sight. I haven’t eaten like that in years. Or months anyway. I weighed myself this morning, and I put on three pounds.”
“You’ll lose it again,” Dr. Watson reassured her. “Why do you think it happened?” She looked interested and not panicked.
“I felt invisible again, like nothing I said mattered. She’s turning into one of them.”
“Maybe she always was.”
“No, she wasn’t. But the guy she’s marrying is just like my father. I feel outnumbered now. And the dress she wants me to wear to the wedding will look awful on me.”
“Why didn’t you speak up?”
“I tried. She wouldn’t listen. She ordered it anyway. She’s being a terrible brat at the moment.”
“That happens to brides sometimes. She sounds completely unreasonable.”
“She is. She wants her dream wedding. And she shouldn’t be marrying this guy at all. She’ll wind up like my mother, and I don’t want that to happen to her.”
“You can’t alter that,” the doctor reminded her. “The only person you can control is yourself.” Victoria was beginning to understand that, but it was painful to watch Grace become just like their parents. Victoria felt better when she left the psychiatrist’s office. She spent an hour on the treadmill when she got home, and then she went to the gym.
Victoria came back at eight o’clock, and she was so exhausted, she went to bed. Gracie had sent her two texts that day, thanking her again. Victoria felt guilty about being so upset about the weekend. Although Gracie had thought it was fabulous, it hadn’t been fun for her. She could hardly wait for the wedding to be over, so they could spend some decent time together again. It was going to be a long eight months.
The next day Victoria went to Weight Watchers before she went to work. She confessed her sins to one of the counselors and submitted to the weigh-in. She had already lost two of the pounds she’d gained on the weekend, which was a relief, and she was back on track again.
She taught three classes back to back before lunch, and she was just leaving her classroom and heading for her office, when she saw one of her students crying in the hall. The girl had a look of despair on her face, and she darted into the ladies’ room when she saw Victoria coming, which worried her. She followed her inside and found her in the bathroom alone.
“Are you okay?” Victoria asked her cautiously. The girl’s name was Amy Green, she was a good student, and Victoria knew from the grapevine that the girl’s parents were getting divorced.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Amy said, dissolving into tears again. Victoria handed her several tissues, and Amy blew her nose and looked embarrassed.
“Is there anything I can do?” The girl shook her head, speechless with despair. “Do you want to come to my office for a few minutes, or go for a walk?” Amy hesitated, and then nodded. Victoria had always been nice to her, and Amy thought she was “cool.”
Her office was only a few doors away, and Amy followed her. Victoria closed the door as soon as Amy walked in, and she waved her to a chair. Victoria poured some bottled water into a glass and handed it to her, while Amy dissolved into uncontrollable sobs again. Things weren’t looking good. Victoria sat quietly waiting for her to calm down. And then finally Amy looked at her in utter terror.
“I’m pregnant,” she sobbed. “I didn’t even know. I just found out yesterday.” And it was easy to guess who the boy was. She had been dating the same one for two years, and he was a nice kid. They were both graduating in June. It suddenly pushed all thoughts of her sister’s wedding from Victoria’s mind.
“Have you told your mom yet?” Victoria asked quietly, handing her more tissues.
“I can’t. She’ll kill me. She’s upset about the divorce.” Her father had left for another woman, and Victoria had heard rumors about it. “And now this. I don’t know what to do.”
“Does Justin know?”
Amy nodded. “We just went to the doctor. We used a condom, and it broke. And I stopped taking the Pill because it made me sick.”
“Shit,” Victoria said, and Amy laughed through her tears.
“You can say that again.”
“Okay, shit.” This time they both laughed, although it was no laughing matter. “Do you know what you want to do about it?” It was a decision she would have to make with her parents, but Victoria could listen.
“I don’t know. I’m too young to have a baby. But I don’t want to have an abortion. Will they kick me out of school?” She looked panicked, and was suddenly sorry she had told her.
“I don’t know,” Victoria said honestly. In her seven years at the school, she had never dealt with this before. She knew other students had gotten pregnant, and she had heard about it, but she had never been in the front lines or the first to know. Those things were usually handled by the counseling staff, the dean of students, or the headmaster. She was just an English teacher, even if she was the head of the department. But she was a woman and could relate to this young girl, although it had never happened to her. And she hated not to have Amy graduate. She had a real shot at Yale or Harvard, and all the first-rate schools she had applied to. “Maybe we can work something out.” She knew they had never allowed a pregnant student to attend classes. “I think you need to talk to your mom first.”
“It’ll kill her.”
“No, it won’t. Things like this happen, to lots of people. You just have to find the right solution, whatever that is. That’s up to you and your mom. Do you want me to talk to her with you?”
“No. I think she’d be mad I told you first,” Amy said with a sigh, and took a sip of the water. She had calmed down. But she had some tough decisions to make. She was seventeen years old, and had a bright future ahead of her, without a baby. With one, it would be a lot harder. “Justin said he’d talk to her with me. He wants me to keep it, and maybe we can get married one day.” She looked sad as she said it. She didn’t feel ready for a baby, or marriage, but the alternative sounded worse to her.
Victoria jotted her cell phone number down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “Call me anytime, at any hour. I’ll do anything I can to help. And if you talk to Mr. Walker, maybe I can help out there.” She didn’t want her to get kicked out or suspended. She wanted her to finish school, which was what Amy wanted too.
They left her office together a few minutes later, and Victoria gave her a hug before Amy went to find Justin in the cafeteria. And she saw them leave school together after lunch. She hoped she was going home to see her mother. And the following day she didn’t come to school. And then Amy called her. She said they were meeting with Mr. Walker that afternoon after school, and she asked Victoria to be there. She agreed to do it, and she was waiting outside his office when Amy and her mother arrived. Amy looked as if she’d been crying, and her mother looked bleak. Amy smiled as soon as she saw Victoria, and her mother thanked her for coming.
The headmaster was expecting them, and stood up as soon as they walked into the room. He looked surprised to see Victoria, and invited them all to sit down. He looked concerned. He hadn’t heard of any problem Amy was having at school, and he had no idea why they were there. He assumed it was something to do with the divorce, and hoped she wasn’t changing schools. She was an excellent student, and they would be sorry to lose her if she did. He looked startled when Mrs. Green told him that Amy was pregnant. He looked instantly sorry for her. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it was always a tough situation for the student and the school. Mrs. Green said the baby was due in May. And then she amazed Victoria and the headmaster by saying that Amy had decided to keep it. Her mother was going to take care of the baby when Amy went to college in the fall. She had applied to Barnard and NYU, and could stay home with the baby. Amy’s mother was being very supportive about it, and Amy looked less upset than she had two days before.
“What we need to know,” Mrs. Green said as calmly as she could, “is if Amy can stay at school here, or if we have to remove her from the school.” It was one of their biggest fears at the moment and would probably impact whether she went to college if her senior year were completely disrupted.
“Amy, how would you feel about being here?” the headmaster asked her directly. “Would that be too hard on you, with everyone talking and aware of your situation?”
“No. Since I’m keeping the baby anyway.” She smiled gratefully at her mother, and Victoria could see that it
