• Chapter 9: Decisions

    Kauri woke up, originally forgetting where she was. Once she remembered, she realized that all that had happen in the past week wasn’t just a bad dream. She rolled out of Cameron’s bed and walked out to the living room. As she made her journey, she looked at her watch. It was 10:00. She wondered if he was even awake, and hoped he was.
    There was no way she could possibly get out of his neighborhood without him because he lived in the center of the large maze of roads, twisting and turning every possible way. She still didn’t understand how he found his way through the tangled mess, even though he had probably lived there his entire life. She looked at the couch and realized he was no longer there. Well, I know he’s up; I just don’t know where he’s at.
    “Over here, Kauri,” she heard Cameron’s voice behind her. When she turned around, she saw him sitting at the dining table, eating a sandwich. “Take a seat, we have some stuff to discuss. Mom, can you make another sandwich?” Cameron said, turning his head to face the kitchen.
    “Ok, honey. Is Kauri up?”
    “Yea, and I’m pretty sure she’s hungry. She’s always hungry. Especially now that’s she’s eating for two.”
    Kauri giggled at the last remark made by Cameron as she obediently sat down at the small table. She realized her was right; she had been hungrier since she was pregnant. She also knew people were shocked when they saw how much food she ate, since she was so little. “She knows about it?”
    “Yea. I had to explain why you were spending the night here, so I simplified it by telling her you were raped, got pregnant, and were kicked out of your home because your parents interrupted you when you tried to tell them you were raped.”
    “That’s not really simplifying, that’s summarizing. Simplifying would just be telling her I was pregnant and kicked out, but that makes me sound worse than I am.”
    “Whatever. Eat your sandwich and shut up,” Cameron jokingly ordered.
    Kauri began eating her sandwich and expectantly looked at Cameron. “Well, what did you need to talk to me about?”
    “Me and Mom have been talking, and a pregnant woman can’t live alone or outdoors. You’ll run out of food sooner than you think. Also, sleeping between the ground and a baby wouldn’t be comfortable, and you need someone who’ll take you to the doctor to get your checkups. Also, you’ll need a way to get to school everyday. So Mom told me to ask if you want to stay here. So, do you?” Cameron looked at Kauri, who had stopped in the middle of a bite of her sandwich.
    Kauri had kind of expected the question, so she couldn’t figure out why she had been so shocked when it finally came out. “Oh, you’ve already done so much for me. I couldn’t possibly stay here,” she gently rejected after putting her sandwich down on the small plate before her. “I really don’t want to be trouble to you. I’m sure I’ll be fine out there. Maybe on the way, you can take me to and from school, and checkups are expensive. I don’t want to cost you money because I had nowhere to go.” Kauri took a bite of her sandwich. “This is a REALLY good sandwich.”
    “Thanks, Hun,” Cameron’s mom chimed in. “Really, you don’t need to worry about checkups being expensive; we have health insurance. That makes it a lot less expensive. But if you’re sure…” She looked over at Kauri, waiting for an answer.
    “Yes, I’m sure. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.”
    “Only if your positive. If you need anything, anything at all, either call or just come over. I really don’t care if you call or not. I’m here most of the time, so you don’t need to worry about me not being here too much. Also, I will schedule your appointments, and you will go to them. Also, Cameron will take you to and from school,” she stated with extra emphasis on the ‘will’s in the last two sentences.
    “Ok, thank you so much Mrs.…”
    “Just call me Nancy,” she interrupted Kauri. “Now, please stay here at least for the weekend. There’s no reason for you to leave yet.”
    Kauri turned to Cameron to make sure it was all right with him. She could feel a deep sense of relief when he made a small nod of acknowledgement in her direction. She was so grateful that her friends weren’t only kind, but her friends’ parents were even more kind. She picked her sandwich back up and continued eating; hoping the child liked egg sandwiches, because that’s what it was being forced to eat at the moment. She looked at her abdomen, wondering how long it would be until she started showing. She hoped it wouldn’t grow for a while; she didn’t want to have to explain that while everything else was going on.
    “Oh, just incase you’re wondering, your first appointment will be in about a month. You are a month along, right? That’s what Cameron told me,” Nancy informed.
    Kauri snapped out of her thoughts and turned to the kind woman. “Yea, I’m about a month along. Thank you. You really don’t have to, though.”
    “But I am, and that’s the way it’s happening. Now finish eating, we’re going to go shopping for when you get bigger. And we need to go shopping for now, since you probably didn’t pack many clothes.”
    “Oh, I couldn’t possibly. I have enough clothes, and I packed baggy clothes for when I get bigger. I’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about me,” Kauri insisted.
    “Nonsense. You need clothes that still make you look good, no matter how big you get. While we do that, Cameron can set up your tent.”
    Kauri giggled at Cameron being volunteered to do physical labor. She got close to losing control of her laughter when she looked over to see his jaw dropped in obscenity of not having a say in how his day was going to go. “No, I’ll do that. He just has to drive me there so he knows exactly where it is, and he can tell me if it’s on his way to school or not.” She looked over, noticing he was still upset that he was being volunteered for things that effected every morning of his senior year.
    “Ok, get in the car, we’re going now,” Cameron demanded, grabbing his keys off the hook.