Reaction by Lesley Choyce Page A

I held her. She stopped and then started crying again, and some of those mothers looked at us—some seemed concerned, and some scowled. I just held her and wondered how one minute everything can be okay and the next, everything has changed.
    I don’t know why I didn’t keep my mouth shut. I felt I had to say something. I guess I felt she needed to have an explanation. So I told her about the broken condom.
    And that changed everything.
    Ashley pulled away. The expression changed on her face. “Why didn’t you say something that night?”
    Yes, why didn’t I? I shrugged.
    â€œThen this is all your fault,” she said, way too loud.
    â€œI’m sorry. It’s no good getting mad at me now. We have to figure out what to do,” I said unconvincingly.
    â€œIf I had known, I could have maybe done something.”
    â€œI know,” I said. I knew she was referring to morning-after pills. I just didn’t think at the time that one little slipup would result in this.
    â€œI trusted you,” she said.
    â€œI know,” I said, hanging my head.
    â€œYou bastard,” she snapped back. And then she hit me.
    Well, it could have been a slap. I’m not sure. Something between a slap and a punch right on the side of my face. Then she got up and started walking away. I ignored the stinging in my face and followed her. All eyes in the park, even those of the little kids, were on us.
    â€œPlease, wait,” I pleaded. Ashley shook me off and just kept walking. She turned once to say, “I never want to speak to you again,” before walking off into the afternoon.
    I was dizzy, and I was having a hard time getting my bearings. I didn’t know what to do. A voice in my brain kept telling me to go after her, but instead I turned and walked home. I told my mom I was sick, and I went to my bedroom and played Guitar Hero . I know how that sounds, but that’s what I did. I ate a silent supper when the time came, played some more Guitar Hero and then went to sleep feeling like crap. I kept trying to think of some way out of this. Some plan. But all I did was keep beating myself up. What had I been thinking? Was sex really so important that I let this happen? Eventually I fell asleep.
    When I woke in the morning, the problem was still there, staring me square in the face.

Chapter Three
    Over the next few days, things went from bad to worse. Ashley walked away from me every time I tried to talk to her. She had two words for me: “Get away.” That’s all she’d say. And each time my heart sank. Her brother Stephen followed me into the bathroom one afternoon. Stephen was my age and in many of my classes. He was a big guy, a wrestler on the school team, and legendary for his bad temper, which I think he got from his father.
    â€œYou’re gonna have to watch your back from now on,” he said in a voice that sounded like he’d been gargling with Drano. We were standing side by side at the urinals. Before we were done, he turned and pissed on my shoes and then walked out the door.
    I knew that Ashley and her brother were close, but I was surprised to think that she would have told him she was pregnant. But, as I was cleaning my shoes, it occurred to me that she didn’t have to tell him she was pregnant. All she had to do was make up anything about me that would get Stephen angry enough to, well, piss on my shoes. Damn.
    It wasn’t long before I started to get the picture. Some of Ashley’s friends started giving me dirty looks. Her brother reappeared when I was waiting for the bus and “accidentally” shoved me in line so that I rammed into a couple of kids in front of me.
    Gossip travels fast in school, and before long I was getting dirty looks from people I didn’t even know. I started to avoid looking at anyone in the hallways. At home, Guitar Hero wasn’t enough of an escape to avoid thinking about my problem.
    When some of