CHAPTER 4

(Cassie’s POV)

"Cassie," my mother yelled at me the moment we entered the house. Pamela had dropped us off at home after the silence that had ensued immediately after the doctor announced the news. The silence lingered until we got home.

I bit my lower lip in silence, filled with regrets. I didn't know what to say to my mother. How could I have been pregnant for three months without even knowing? I asked myself. I knew my mother was highly disappointed in me.

"Aren't you going to answer me, you loose girl?" my mother asked.

"Mom, I'm not loose," I retorted in anger. "Why the hell are you calling me a loose girl when you don't even know how I got pregnant?"

"Then talk. Your silence is killing me. How will you cope with this shit and your academics? Is this how I raised you up? Why the hell do you like tormenting me?"

"Mom..."

"Don't call me. Just tell me who the hell pumped his seed into you, you naive girl."

I sighed. I didn't even know what to tell her. How could I tell my mom I didn't know him by name? How do I tell her I only know the guy by face? I am messed up, I thought to myself.

My mother gasped all of a sudden, as if she remembered something. We were in the living room which contained two sofas, a sofa set, and a center table. It was a little home that had kept us secure for years. It was also a reminder of how poor my mother was compared to my friend, Pamela, who owned her car.

"Cassie," my mother raised her head up, putting her index finger at me. "Cameron left three months ago, right?"

I knew what she was talking about immediately and shook my head. My mother was thinking the baby was Cameron's.

"It's not what you are thinking, mom. Cameron and I had been drifting apart three months before we broke up."

Mom heaved a sigh of relief as she slumped onto the nearest sofa. She hated Cameron with passion and was against the relationship between us. When we broke up, she was happy and relieved.

"Who the hell impregnated you then?" Her voice was down. "You started dating again before you broke up?"

"No, mom," I replied

“Then what happened”?

"The night after we broke up, remember Pam and I went to a party?"

"And you were raped?" She assumes.

"No, mom. It was a consensus between us. I did it because I felt Cameron will get to know and he will feel bad about it. I did it because I wanted to spite him, I wanted him to know other men find me attractive....."

"And you foolishly had sex with some man?" She interrupts me with a shout.

"And you couldn't even think of taking some pills after the goddamn sex?" Her voice is shaking.

"Mom?"

"Don't call me. My mother's face twisted in anger. "How could you be so careless?" she spat. "Do you have any idea what kind of situation we're in now? How are we going to take care of this baby?”

As I sat in silence,, I couldn't help but think about how much my life had changed in just a few short months. I was pregnant, and I didn't know who the father was. My mother's angry voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Answer me, Cassie. Who is the father of your child?" she demanded.

I am speechless right now. This is another problem. I know it will come to this. How do I tell her I don't know the man who impregnated me.

“Cassie, I asked you a question, didn't I?"