by Meltem Y. K
CHAPTER 8
Jayna was waiting by their lockers when Pavlina arrived at school.
“Get your books and let’s go,” Jayna said pulling Pavlina down the hallway.
“Hey, our class is not that way” Pavlina protested.
“No, it’s not, but the washroom is.”
“Why do we have to go to the washroom?”
“You’ll see.” Jayna was all business, not wasting time or words.
When they walked into the girls washroom Jayna pulled out a pregnancy test from her backpack and shoved it in Pavlina’s hand.
“Take this, go in there, and pee on it. Now!”
“What? Why do I have to pee on this thing?” Pavlina asked.
“Don’t ask questions, you are wasting time, just go in there and do as I ask. No arguments, please.”
Pavlina knew that arguing with her was useless. If her best friend wanted her to pee on a stick, she would. She took the kit, went into the stall and closed the door.
Jayna waited impatiently.
“Coming out?” she asked through the stall.
No answer.
“Pav! What are you doing in there? Open this door and come out. I want to see that stick.”
Still no answer.
“Okay, open that door and come out Pav,” Jayna ordered.
The door opened quietly and Pavlina emerged from the stall. She was ghost white, disbelief written all over her face. She was holding the home pregnancy kit in her hand with two red lines on the indicator strip. Pavlina was most definitely pregnant.
“Okay, put that back in the box, go wash your hands, then we gotta go.”
Pavlina followed Jayna’s instructions like a robot. She was in shock of finding out. This was not something she was prepared for; words escaped her.
Jayna pulled her friend by the hand; they went to the office and signed out for medical reasons. The secretary in the office was sympathetic; she could see that something was wrong with Pavlina.
Pavlina did not say a single word while they drove to the Regional Health Unit. She just sat in the car and looked straight ahead. Jayna didn’t push by asking questions. Pavlina was not in any shape to talk about it yet. There would be plenty of time for that later.
When they arrived at the Health Unit, a Registered Nurse performed a second pregnancy test that confirmed the first one. Pavlina was pregnant. They offered her counseling, gave her a business card and sent her home.
When they left the Health Unit, Jayna drove to a coffee shop where they weren’t likely to run into anyone they knew. They sat at a table in the corner - that’s when the floodgates opened and Pavlina sobbed.
It broke Jayna’s heart to see her friend totally broken up. She figured the best thing was to let her cry, and get it all out.
After about half an hour of shedding uncontrolled tears Pavlina looked up with red eyes. “What am I going to do, Jay?”
Jayna remembered Ethan’s warning, that all her emotions would be amplified and affect those around her. She took a deep breath and held Pavlina’s hand. “We will figure it out.”
Jayna wished she had warned her friend earlier to be careful; yet Darren was equally responsible. If he wanted to jump in the sack he should have remember something called birth control. They had been learning about this stuff since grade school. It was obvious that in the heat of the moment, hormones overrode common sense.
“I think you should take a couple of days and think about this, decide what you want to do and then go to your parents. They have to know what’s happening,” Jayna said.
Pavlina listened, but she still couldn’t talk; when she tried only sobs came out.
“It’s past lunch time, Pav. We have to eat something. How about I get us some soup and sandwiches?”
Pavlina shrugged. She would go along with whatever Jayna suggested. She couldn’t even think right now.
Jayna bought their food and drove to Waterloo Park. There were moms with their children strolling in the park. Some of the children were running around, some were playing on the swings and others were sitting in their carriages, watching the older ones play. Both the girls noticed that some of the moms were teenage girls. That brought on a new wave of tears from Pavlina. Jayna understood, but said nothing. She pulled her friend to a picnic table.
Jayna took off the lid from the soup and pushed it in front of Pavlina.
“Come on, Pav, you gotta eat,” she said. “Look, it’s your favorite; mushroom soup.”
Pavlina did not feel like eating, but she wanted to show her appreciation of Jayna’s support. She took a few spoons of the mushroom soup but, she could hardly taste the food.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Jayna prodded gently.
Pavlina sighed deeply. “This really sucks, Jay.”
“Yeah, I know it sucks, but you aren’t the first girl to get pregnant,” Jayna reminded her.
“The worst of it is that Darren and I had a fight last night and we broke up. Today, I find out I am pregnant.” Pavlina shook her head in disbelief.
“I am only a week late.” She looked Jayna in the eye and continued in a whisper, “How did you know that I am pregnant?” she asked.
“Remember the little story I told you yesterday at school?”
Pavlina nodded.
“It was not a story I made up, Pav. It’s true, every word of it,” Jayna confessed.
“You can’t be serious.” Pavlina was dumbfounded.
“I am serious. I was out fighting demons last night and doing other stuff when Ethan asked if I knew that you were pregnant. He saw it in your aura. You have a pea sized light bulb in your tummy, that’s how he knew it. He showed it to me too,” Jayna explained.
“I am not going to pretend that I understand what you are talking about.”
“Don’t worry about understanding it, it’s a long story. So why did you and Darren fight?” Jayna asked.
Pavlina blew her nose. “He thought I was too clingy and, that I was monopolizing his time. He pointed out that he is older and more mature and needed his space. He isn’t a high school kid. In other words, he’s had enough of me.” A fresh stream of tears ran down Pavlina’s pale face.
“That jerk,” Jayna was furious. “If he is such a mature guy, why the hell was he not responsible enough to use a condom when he took you to bed?”
“We are equally responsible for this situation, but the fact remains that I am the one carrying a baby, not him,” Pavlina said. “We are not even a couple anymore.”
“Listen, Pav, if Darren is a jerk you don’t want to be with him anyway; but you have some serious thinking to do.”
“My parents will be so disappointed in me,” Pavlina said.
Teen pregnancies were a fact of life, whether parents were disappointed or not. They had to find a solution to Pavlina’s dilemma. This was not going to be easy. Pavlina was at a crossroads. Whatever she decides, it will impact her for the rest of her life, Jayna thought.
“Everything will be okay, Pav. You have to believe that. You can’t give in to despair. We’ll find a way to make things work. You need a nice long soak in your bathtub to relax your frayed nerves.” Jayna drove away as Pavlina walked into her house.
The weight of the day was weighing heavy on Jayna. She couldn’t talk about Pavlina’s situation to anyone until Pav decided what she would do. Until then Jayna had to keep quiet and be there for her friend.
She wanted to drop by her grandparents to see what was happening with Ayshen. The news of Mehmet’s death must be out by now. Thank God Ethan knew what he was doing or they could have lost Ayshen, too.
She wished she had Ethan’s phone number so she could communicate with him during the day. She was so new at this, she had no idea what she was doing or what to expect. For some reason only the Ascended Masters knew, they were not allowed to meet during the day in their physical forms; a phone number would be so great if they would be allowed that. She should ask Ethan about it tonight.
Jayna deci
ded that Ethan lived somewhere in her time zone, which meant anywhere from the most northern part of Nunavut in Canada to the tip of Florida in the U.S. He spoke English like a native North American. If she could learn to charge herself she would be able to function with a lot less sleep and increase her time in the Astral plane. Didn’t Ethan say that ten minutes of rightful meditation was worth hours of sleep? She had to master it, she had no choice.
Happy with her resolution Jayna went home. Her parents were not there yet, so she decided to start supper and give her mother a break. It would be a treat for Grace to find dinner already cooked when she came home. Jayna was determined to be more helpful around the house and spend more time with Liam in order to give her parents time to spend with each other. Their marriage could have easily crumbled under the influence of the spell that was cast on Paul; as it was they had taken quite a hit. They needed some couple time; just the two of them together. Jayna did not like thinking of her parents that way, but she was a big girl, she could handle it.
What can I cook for the family tonight, Jayna wondered. She looked in the fridge and saw that her mother had already taken out a tray of chicken breasts from the freezer last night. She wondered what Grace was planning to make with them. Maybe she should call and ask.
“Hi Jayna,” Grace answered her phone at the first ring.
“I wanted to get dinner started for you, mom. You took out some chicken breasts last night. What were you planning to make with them? Maybe I can help.”
“That’d be awesome, honey. I could use the help. I got some bad news from grandma this morning.”
Here it comes, Jayna thought and waited for her mother to continue.
“Apparently Mehmet died last night. Grandma called me at work so I could go to the funeral.”
“You mean he is buried already?”
“That’s their custom, they do burials immediately. Dad and I took time off work and went to the funeral. There will be a service at their house tonight but Ayshen said we don’t have to go to that one. It will be mostly prayers and rituals in their language.”
“Oh my God, mom.”
“I know what you mean. It happened so suddenly.”
“Poor Ayshen; how is she doing?”
“Surprisingly well; she is rock solid. Frankly, I thought she would fall apart.”
Jayna let out the breath she was holding. So, Ayshen was managing to keep herself together.
“What do you want me to make with that chicken, mom?”
“I was going to get dad to barbeque and make some rice and salad.
“Oh, okay, that’s easy enough. I will get things started. See you in a bit.”
Jayna hung up the phone and dove into domestic work. She had a lot of nervous energy so all this puttering around the kitchen was therapy. She was burning off the adrenalin running in her blood and feeling useful. When Paul and Grace arrived home there were wonderful aromas in the house and the dinner table was set.
“Jayna, honey, you have no idea how much I appreciate this,” Grace said.
“No worries, mom.” Jayna came around and gave her mother a hug.
“I love you. You are the best parents in the world. I am lucky to have you, both of you.”
Grace had tears in her eyes. She hugged Jayna tightly and held her for a few seconds.
Paul was quietly watching this interaction. He felt a knot in his throat. Thank God for family, he thought. You never knew how much time you had with your loved ones. No one should take their family for granted. One day you were here, and maybe the next day you weren’t. Mehmet’s funeral was still too fresh on his mind.
Soon, the family was having dinner and talking about the day’s events as they ate. The major topic was Mehmet’s funeral. Jayna did not mention signing out of her classes. She skillfully docked all the school related questions without raising her parents’ suspicion. She talked about exams and going to an open house at a university, but nothing about her actual day.
Jayna hadn’t touched the chicken she had cooked. “Why aren’t you eating any chicken, honey?”
Jayna shrugged. “I don’t, I just don’t feel like it.”
“Oh, okay. You like your chicken normally.”
“I have plenty of food on my plate, mom. Don’t worry about it.”
Grace smiled and shrugged. “Okay.”
“Can we go to the park?” Liam asked, “Please, please, please…”
“I’ll take you, but first you gotta eat.”
Liam smiled showing all his teeth and hurried to eat up everything on his plate.
Liam loved the swings and competed with Jayna to see who could swing the highest. After a tight race, Jayna slowed down ever so slightly and allowed Liam to win. They had spent a good hour on various playground activities when Jayna had a hunch that she should ask Liam about his dreams.
“Liam, you’re sleeping peacefully, right?”
Liam gave Jayna a big bear hug. “Thanks for killing all those monsters, Jay. You really kicked their assess, didn’t you?”
Liam’s face was full of pride for his big sister, but Jayna’s heart thudded in her chest.
“What do you mean?” She prodded Liam.
“I saw you kill the monsters, Jay. You were awesome.”
How did Liam see that? Was he there?
“How did you see me Liam?”
“In my dream, Jay, I saw you kill the monsters in my dream.”
Jayna crouched down to be at Liam’s eye level.
“Baby, listen to me. This is very important, okay?”
Liam nodded, understanding the urgency in Jayna’s voice.
“If you ever see me fighting monsters in your dream, you are to stay away. Do not go near them. Okay? You let Jayna take care of them.”
Liam nodded again.
“Pinky promise?”
“Sure, Jay, pinky promise.”
Liam and Jayna hooked their fingers as Liam swore to stay away from the monsters if he saw them again. Jayna felt slightly better, but not completely relieved. Somehow Liam had witnessed her fight with demons. Hopefully, the protection Astral beings had put on her family and their property would keep the nightmares and the monsters away. Jayna didn’t want to think about what would happen if Liam ended up in the middle of a battle with demons. It was too scary.
It was definitely time to lighten the mood. She didn’t want Liam thinking about monsters close to bed time.
“How about an ice cream, bud?”
They went for an ice cream and talked about what movie they wanted to see on the weekend as they headed home.
“Okay, big guy, let’s go give you a bath and put your pajamas on,” Jayna said. Liam was pretty tired; he ran upstairs without a protest.
Grace and Paul were watching their children proudly. What an amazing seventeen year old Jayna was, she had cooked dinner after school; taken her brother to the playground for an hour, bought him ice cream on the way home, and now she was giving him a bath and putting him to bed.
“You don’t think Jayna is buttering us up for something, do you?” he asked his wife.
Grace shook her head. “No, she is just a great kid.”
Paul looked at his wife, “I guess we are just a couple of very lucky parents to have such a good daughter.”
Jayna was a picture of innocence.
“Liam is waiting for me in the bathroom. I will give him a bath and put him to bed. Why don’t you and mom enjoy the rest of the evening? I am feeling a little tired, too. I will turn in early.”
Jayna started climbing the stairs, turned her head back and smiled, “Good night,” and she blew a kiss to her adoring parents.
Paul and Grace stood in the family room watching Jayna head upstairs.
“Jayna is becoming quite the young woman. I am so proud of her,” Grace said.