CHAPTER 4
976 Words
CHAPTER 4
KENNEDY SPENT SOME time that evening looking up abortion methods online. The information she found both sickened and saddened her. Her initial search brought up several sites aimed specifically at young girls like Rose. You don’t need to feel guilty for choosing to end an unwanted pregnancy. Many girls have this procedure. It is quick, easy, and much safer than childbirth.
As Kennedy read on, she couldn’t stop thinking about those pictures in her dad’s pro-life magazine showing what an aborted baby looks like. She jumped a little when her roommate threw open the door and swept into the room. Kennedy closed her browser. She had to get to work on some real studying, anyway.
“I thought you’d be out tonight,” Kennedy remarked. In the past two months since they first came to Harvard, Willow hadn’t spent a single night in on the weekend.
“I’m not staying.” Willow sprayed some mousse into her hands and scrunched it through her hair. “I’m just waiting for Keegan.”
“Who’s Keegan?” At first, Kennedy had tried to keep track of Willow’s dates, but when she realized her roommate hardly saw anyone more than once or twice, she gave up the habit.
“Keegan. I thought I told you about him. He’s Cesario in Twelfth Night.”
Kennedy watched Willow crumple her hair into gravity-defying curls and waves. “Isn’t Cesario supposed to be played by a girl?”
Willow shrugged and studied herself in her little desk mirror. “This version is sort of a modern retelling. Drag queens, bisexuals ... Shakespeare would’ve loved it.”
Kennedy watched Willow put on some colorful bead earrings she had made herself and wondered how her roommate found time for crafts.
Willow glanced over at Kennedy’s computer. “What are you studying?”
“Oh, I just got a lab I need to get ready to turn in on Monday.”
Willow, who could hardly ever sit still for more than five seconds, crossed her arms and eyed Kennedy critically. “You ok?”
Kennedy didn’t think she had done such a bad job hiding her stress about Rose’s phone call. She definitely didn’t want to talk about it with Willow, who probably believed Carl and Sandy’s pregnancy center would set back women’s rights by half a century or more. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Her roommate frowned. “You don’t need to talk or anything?”
What was this? Willow sounded like Kennedy’s mother, who always had an uncanny way of knowing if something was bothering her. “I’m fine. I really am.”
Willow raised her eyes to the ceiling as if she were trying to remember the lines for a play. Finally she lowered them to give Kennedy a penetrating stare. “I’m just asking because I saw you on an abortion site. Are you in trouble?”
Kennedy let out a nervous laugh. No wonder Willow had been so concerned. It was sort of endearing, but also a little troubling. Didn’t Willow know her well enough by now to understand Kennedy’s values? “I wasn’t looking it up for me.”
Her roommate frowned. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You wouldn’t be the first Christian girl to get knocked up on campus.”
“It’s really not for me.” Kennedy didn’t have the energy to tell Willow everything about Rose and the hotline phone. She hoped her roommate’s date, Keegan, or whatever his name was, would show up soon.
Willow shrugged. “All right. Just remember, the longer you wait to deal with it, the harder it is. They even have pills now. So much easier than sitting in stirrups with a doctor and nurse gaping down at you.”
Kennedy wanted to shut her ears.
“The thing with the pills is you can only take them in the first few weeks. So if you are in trouble, now’s the time to do something about it. I know a good clinic I could recommend. You know me. I’m the last person to judge.” Willow had stopped staring at Kennedy and was now pouting in the mirror as she applied her eye makeup. “I mean, I know you’re probably all pro-life and everything, but there are obviously going to be exceptions, like when the mother’s safety is threatened.”
Kennedy didn’t say anything. The more she insisted the research was for someone else, the more Willow would doubt her, anyway.
Willow adjusted her earrings. “Whatever you do, don’t become a martyr like that Morphia lady or whatever her name was. You know who I’m talking about?”
Kennedy shook her head.
“Right, I keep forgetting you spent your teenage years overseas on some mission of mercy with your parents or something. It was huge news around here last year. Some lady denying chemotherapy since she thought it would harm her baby. Made huge headlines. Of course, the anti-abortionists had a heyday about it. When she died, you would have thought she was a war hero on the crusade to abolish the murder of little fetuses or something. Anyway, the way I see it, if she didn’t want her kid getting radiation from chemo, she should have been on the pill.”
Kennedy started to say something in reply, but Willow wasn’t done with her monologue.
“And don’t get me started when you’re talking about little kids. Can you believe there are actually politicians who say that if a girl is raped by her dad, she should still be expected to carry the baby to term? I mean, even someone as conservative as you could see how ridiculous that is to make a twelve- or thirteen-year-old actually go through nine months of pregnancy and all the risks of childbirth. They’d actually rather see the girl die than take care of it right at the beginning when it’s safe.”
Kennedy didn’t answer. The mention of thirteen-year-olds and their fathers made her full stomach spin in protest. She didn’t agree with Willow. She knew abortion was wrong regardless of the circumstances. But why? She hadn’t thought through it thoroughly enough to be able to enter into any sort of debate.
Willow shrugged. Her phone buzzed once and she sprang out of her seat. “That’ll be Keegan. Gotta go.” She flashed Kennedy the same smile that made her perfect for stage acting. “Don’t wait up for me.” She flounced out of the room, leaving the door open a crack behind her.
Kennedy sighed and reached down into her book bag. She had work to do, and Monday would be here before she was ready.
- Writer
