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and shoved a little plastic-wrapped piece at Nikki, tossing the box back on the bed.
    Nikki grabbed the package and scurried into the bathroom. She locked the door and read the instructions on the test. She followed them carefully and held her breath while she waited for the results.
    Christy spoke through the door, softly enough so her voice wouldn’t carry downstairs. “This seems awful, Nikki, and I know a lot is, but I was thinking in the car. What if… what if you really are pregnant? What if you’re actually going to have a baby? Teenage parenthood isn’t the best thing ever, but you’d still have a child, an adorable little kid that you created. A life inside of you, dependant on you. How awesome is that?”
    Nikki chewed her bottom lip and didn’t respond to Christy’s monologue, too fixated on the little plastic stick in her hand. When two pink lines showed, she sighed. She put the test back in the plastic wrapping and slipped past Christy in the hall back into her room, hiding the used test at the bottom of her trash can.
    "Positive?" Christy asked, eyebrows raised, a little too cheery.
    Nikki nodded, her glum face in stark contrast to her friend’s.
    They both stood silently for a moment before Christy spoke. "Well, how do you want to do this? I mean, I can't exactly invite myself over for dinner."
    Nikki’s head jerked up. "Maybe you could."
    "What do you mean?"
    "You go ask your parents if you can sleepover. I'll beg mine -- tell them you're already invited. I'll make sure mine say yes. Then, I'll tell my parents about... about the baby, and you can help me make a plan for telling Matt." At his name, they both grimaced.
    "Okay." Christy’s voice lost the cheer it held earlier. Nikki took a deep breath. This was no game. Motherhood stood in her imminent future.
    A few minutes and several promises later, the girls sat next to each other at the dinner table across from Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Christy ate her chicken soup quickly and not too quietly, while Nikki stirred hers around long after it grew cold. After a horrible twenty minutes of Christy’s slurps breaking the silence, Nikki’s parents picked up the dishes and brought out a tray of brownies. Before her dad could cut the chocolate treats, Nikki spoke up.
    "Um... Mom, Dad?" Her tone held more concern and less maturity than she’d hoped for.
    Her father sat back down and both parents looked at her with worried expressions. "Yes?"
    "Um... see... " Nikki glanced at Christy, who nodded encouragingly. She stared at the table and blurted out, "I'm pregnant." So much for tact. Or a plan.
    Her mother cried out, but her father looked skeptical. "What's that?"
    This time, she looked up, avoiding his eyes while fighting back the flood of guilt and shame washing over her. "I said... I'm pregnant."
    Her father sat quietly. Her mother, however, was not so compassionate. She pressed her fists into the tablecloth and shot up from her chair. "I told you this would happen! It was that man, wasn't it? He raped you; I knew he would! I told you to stay away from him! Why, we should sue him. Take him to court! Make him pay!"
    Nikki stared at her mother in shock, but Christy handled the situation well. "Mrs. Johnson, I think you should hear the whole story. Nikki wasn't finished." A momentary surge of gratitude for her best friend swept through Nikki, slightly calming her shame.
    "Oh?" Mrs. Johnson sat down and paused long enough for Nikki to speak again.
    "Mom, Matt didn't hurt me. I made a mistake -- actually, we both did. After the Fourth of July picnic, we went to his house together..."
    Christy saw Nikki floundering and came to the rescue again. "But that's not important right now. What's important is that Nikki is going to have a baby in..." She looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if counting in her head. "...April, and she really needs your support."
    Her mother seemed lost. Nikki could tell she wanted to rant against Matt, but Nikki had just shot down any