Joey, chapter 18
We did the only one thing we could do. We told my mom and dad. I know what you're thinking. Did they go ballistic? You bet they did. We got the biggest lecture ever but, nonetheless they supported us. My mom said we would need to get down to the hospital to see if Stef had infact had a miscarriage so, that's where we are headed, all four us, that is Stef, my dad, me and the baby if it is still there. We got lectured all the way down to the hospital it gets so boring. You know what would be a good addition with a parent? A mute button. Just switch them off every time they get on your nerves. After what seemed like eternity, we arrived at the hospital.
"Hi, how can I help you?" asked the nurse receptionist.
"Yeah, hey I'm Mr Armstrong I am just calling in because we need an emergency scan done on my son's girlfriend to see if she is still carrying the baby or if the baby has died." My dad explained.
"Okay Mr Armstrong I'll just need to take a few details from them and a nurse will be round to see you as soon as possible, just take a seat" she said, as me and Stef stepped forward to give our details.
"So Mr Armstrong, I need to know are you the father or this baby?" she asked.
"Yes I am " I replied. And then she took all our other details such as name, address and telephone number and then we took a seat next to my dad and waited.
About 15 minutes later a nurse called me and Stef through into a room where she was going to take the scan. I held Stef's hand tight as they put some jelly on her stomach and brought a picture onto the screen. A picture of our unborn child, a picture of something so, so small, it was hard to believe it was living.
"Now as you can see this is your baby and this up here is it's heartbeat" she said pointing to the line on the screen, that was moving up and down.
"I am afraid your baby is alive but won't be for much longer, the heartbeat is not stable enough to keep going. I think it would be best to get an abortion rather than let the baby suffer more pain" she explained.
"Now I will give you a few moments to decide, I mean it is entirely up to you but I do strongly recommend the abortion" she said leaving the room.
"What do you want to do?" I asked Stef, after a few moments of silence.
"I think we should do the right thing and get an abortion. I was going to suggest that even if the baby would still alive. We are too young to raise a child, it would ruin our lives, like the rest of our childhood, when we're older yes but now, no" she said.
"I know, you're right, well I guess an abortion it is" I said, just as the nurse walked in.
"Right, we've decided on the abortion" I told her.
"Okay, I shall book you an appointment for tomorrow at 11:30 A.M at the abortion clinic on the 3rd floor" she said, taking out an appointment card and writing it down.
We left the room and went back to my dad in the waiting room.
"So?" he asked, standing up and leading us out to the car.
"We are getting an abortion, the baby is dying anyway, this is just so it does not cause it more suffering." I explained as we got in the car.
"That was good decision you two, I'm proud of you both," My dad said as he started the car.
"It was the right decision. Neither of us wants a baby, we are too young." Stef said. said.
"Yeah, we made the decision together. We thought about how it would ruin the rest of childhood." I told him.
"You are 100 percent correct. You wanna enjoy life while you can. You don't want your friends to be calling you and asking you to go out and you replying 'oh I can't I have to look after the kid' now do you?" asked dad although it wasn't a rhetorical question.
When we arrived home, we told my mom straight away about what was happening and Stef asked her to go with her to the abortion clinic. My mom said she would and my dad said that me, him Jakob and Estelle, yes Estelle could go out for the day as my mom and Stef were gonna go somewhere after the clinic.
***
The next day, Jakob, Estelle, my dad and me all got ready to go to the pool while Stef and my mom got ready for the abortion clinic and then shopping afterwards. Stef was crying her eyes out. As much as she didn't want the baby and as much as she knew it was dying she still wanted it. And I knew what she was feeling. We created that little person and now we are killing it.
"Sh, come on it's okay. It's the right decision" I said, holding her and kissing her forehead gently. There was one thing bothering me. Stef still hadn't touched food. She was getting dangerously thin. I left her, to go and talk to my mom.
"Hey mom" I said.
"Hi Joey, what's up?" she asked.
"When you are at the mall after you have been to the clinic, please try and get Stef to eat something. She hasn't eaten in weeks." I said.
"I'll try my best honey, I can't force it down her." my mom said.
"I know, I'm just so worried about her" I said.
"I know son. I promise, for you I'll try my best" she said.
"Come on Joey we're going!" Yelled my dad.
"Yeah hurry up fat ass!" called Jakob.
"Love you mom" I said giving her a hug.
"Love you too Joey, have fun" she said.
I ran back to Stef and gave her a kiss goodbye.
"I love you. I promise everything will be alright" I said, as I wiped her tears away.
"I love you too, I'll see you when we get back" she said giving me one last kiss.
I raced downstairs as my dad was picking up his car keys.
"I call shotgun!" I yelled.
"Damn it!" Jakob yelled.
We all got in the car and put our seatbelts on and pulled out of the drive and headed for the pool.
When we got to the pool, we all got changed and headed out to the pool. It took my dad ages to find the courage to come out. He didn't want to be recognised by anyone.
"Come on dad!" I said, grabbing his arm as Jakob pushed his back.
"No! There might be...Dare I say it?" he said looking around. "Teenies" he whispered.
Me and Jakob burst out laughing.
"Well then dad if there is any TEENIES! we'll make sure they don't eat you" said Jakob, still laughing as my dad covered his ears when he bellowed that terrifying word.
"Come on you stupid fool! Stella is waiting out there for us" I said.
"Stella?!" said Jakob.
"Well yeah, she isn't allowed in the mens changing rooms" I said.
"I knew that. I'm gonna go wait with her." he said leaving me.
"Come on dad. I'll scratch your car" I said trying to threaten him.
"I'm getting a new one" he said shrugging.
"Um, I'll hide your hair gel." I said.
"I'll buy more." he said shrugging again.
"Oh! I'll hide your guitar" I said.
"Let's go!" he said walking out.
As we walked out, I noticed Jakob holding Stella's hand and then quickly dropping it and blushing as he saw us coming.
"How did you do it?" asked Jakob dumbfounded.
"I told him I'd hide his guitar" I said, as Jakob laughed.
My dad was looking around frantically.
"Watch out dad! There's a teenie!" said Jakob pointing to a random woman. My dad jumped.
"Where?" he asked.
"No where" said Jakob. My dad gave him a playful hit around the head.
"Come on, let's go into the pool" I said, climbing in, soon joined by the rest of them.
We had a great time, splashing around, Jakob and Stella were doing some serious flirting. Jakob kept dunking Stella under the water and tickling her. I was just standing by the edge of the pool watching them when my dad grabbed me from behind and dunked me in the water.
"No dad! Stop please no!" I yelled as he continued dunking me. A 3 girls walked by and stopped to watch.
"Look it's Billie Joe Armstrong!" I heard one of them say.
"Is it? Are you sure?" asked another one.
My dad hadn't heard them.
"Hey dad. You have. Some admirers." I said between laughs, as he was still dunking me in the water. He dropped me and looked around. He saw the girls and nearly screamed.
"Have they seen me yet?" he asked.
"Of course they have! They've been there for a while." I said laughing at him.
"It's too late for me Joey but save yourself!" he said pushing me away.
"They aren't gonna eat you dad" I said to him. "Watch" I said.
I walked over to the edge of the pool where the girls were.
"Hi!" I said.
"H-hi!" one of them said.
"Is that really Billie Joe?" asked another.
" Yeah that's my dad." I said, beckoning for my dad. He slowly walked over to me.
"Hi girls" said my dad smiling.
"Hi. Your band is totally awesome by the way" said one girl.
"Thanks, what's your name?" asked my dad.
"I'm Jazz" She replied. She was about 13 and had light brown hair with purple streaks.
"Hi and what are the rest of you called?" asked my dad.
"I'm Jade" said a black haired girl.
"I'm Charlie" said a girl with brown hair.
"Well it was nice to meet you all" my dad said.
"Yeah it was cool" said Jazz.
"See you around" said my dad.
"Bye" all three girls called.
"See, they weren't teenies." I said.
"Thank the lord" my dad said.
"They seemed really cool" I said.
"Yeah, they did." he replied.
"Have you seen Jakob and Stella?" I asked my dad.
"No, why?" he asked.
"They have been doing some serious flirting" I said.
"Really?" He asked
"Mhm, come with me" I said leading him over to where Jakob and Stella were.
"I think they are going out, they just haven't told us." I said.
"I'm gonna go gate crash it" said my dad smiling evily.
"Dad what are you 12?" I asked.
"No I'm 12 and a half actually" my dad said sticking his tongue out and swimming over to them. I followed him.
"Well, well. You two going out now?" my dad asked.
"No" said Jakob.
"I was about to ask her but you came over and ruined it." he said.
"Oh well we'll leave" my dad said dragging me away.
"I wanted to hear!" I whined.
"Tough. He didn't listen in when you asked Stef out" my dad said.
"Fine. Shouldn't we be heading back now anyway?" I asked.
"Yeah. We'll go and get them and then leave" said my dad.
***
When we got home, my mom and Stef were still out so my dad made us some food and played Xbox with us. It was a nice day. I just hope Stef is okay and that my mom has managed to get her to eat something. It's really worrying me.
When they got home, Stef told me everything that happened and she never had any food, that's something I am going to have to work on tomorrow.
"Hi, how can I help you?" asked the nurse receptionist.
"Yeah, hey I'm Mr Armstrong I am just calling in because we need an emergency scan done on my son's girlfriend to see if she is still carrying the baby or if the baby has died." My dad explained.
"Okay Mr Armstrong I'll just need to take a few details from them and a nurse will be round to see you as soon as possible, just take a seat" she said, as me and Stef stepped forward to give our details.
"So Mr Armstrong, I need to know are you the father or this baby?" she asked.
"Yes I am " I replied. And then she took all our other details such as name, address and telephone number and then we took a seat next to my dad and waited.
About 15 minutes later a nurse called me and Stef through into a room where she was going to take the scan. I held Stef's hand tight as they put some jelly on her stomach and brought a picture onto the screen. A picture of our unborn child, a picture of something so, so small, it was hard to believe it was living.
"Now as you can see this is your baby and this up here is it's heartbeat" she said pointing to the line on the screen, that was moving up and down.
"I am afraid your baby is alive but won't be for much longer, the heartbeat is not stable enough to keep going. I think it would be best to get an abortion rather than let the baby suffer more pain" she explained.
"Now I will give you a few moments to decide, I mean it is entirely up to you but I do strongly recommend the abortion" she said leaving the room.
"What do you want to do?" I asked Stef, after a few moments of silence.
"I think we should do the right thing and get an abortion. I was going to suggest that even if the baby would still alive. We are too young to raise a child, it would ruin our lives, like the rest of our childhood, when we're older yes but now, no" she said.
"I know, you're right, well I guess an abortion it is" I said, just as the nurse walked in.
"Right, we've decided on the abortion" I told her.
"Okay, I shall book you an appointment for tomorrow at 11:30 A.M at the abortion clinic on the 3rd floor" she said, taking out an appointment card and writing it down.
We left the room and went back to my dad in the waiting room.
"So?" he asked, standing up and leading us out to the car.
"We are getting an abortion, the baby is dying anyway, this is just so it does not cause it more suffering." I explained as we got in the car.
"That was good decision you two, I'm proud of you both," My dad said as he started the car.
"It was the right decision. Neither of us wants a baby, we are too young." Stef said. said.
"Yeah, we made the decision together. We thought about how it would ruin the rest of childhood." I told him.
"You are 100 percent correct. You wanna enjoy life while you can. You don't want your friends to be calling you and asking you to go out and you replying 'oh I can't I have to look after the kid' now do you?" asked dad although it wasn't a rhetorical question.
When we arrived home, we told my mom straight away about what was happening and Stef asked her to go with her to the abortion clinic. My mom said she would and my dad said that me, him Jakob and Estelle, yes Estelle could go out for the day as my mom and Stef were gonna go somewhere after the clinic.
***
The next day, Jakob, Estelle, my dad and me all got ready to go to the pool while Stef and my mom got ready for the abortion clinic and then shopping afterwards. Stef was crying her eyes out. As much as she didn't want the baby and as much as she knew it was dying she still wanted it. And I knew what she was feeling. We created that little person and now we are killing it.
"Sh, come on it's okay. It's the right decision" I said, holding her and kissing her forehead gently. There was one thing bothering me. Stef still hadn't touched food. She was getting dangerously thin. I left her, to go and talk to my mom.
"Hey mom" I said.
"Hi Joey, what's up?" she asked.
"When you are at the mall after you have been to the clinic, please try and get Stef to eat something. She hasn't eaten in weeks." I said.
"I'll try my best honey, I can't force it down her." my mom said.
"I know, I'm just so worried about her" I said.
"I know son. I promise, for you I'll try my best" she said.
"Come on Joey we're going!" Yelled my dad.
"Yeah hurry up fat ass!" called Jakob.
"Love you mom" I said giving her a hug.
"Love you too Joey, have fun" she said.
I ran back to Stef and gave her a kiss goodbye.
"I love you. I promise everything will be alright" I said, as I wiped her tears away.
"I love you too, I'll see you when we get back" she said giving me one last kiss.
I raced downstairs as my dad was picking up his car keys.
"I call shotgun!" I yelled.
"Damn it!" Jakob yelled.
We all got in the car and put our seatbelts on and pulled out of the drive and headed for the pool.
When we got to the pool, we all got changed and headed out to the pool. It took my dad ages to find the courage to come out. He didn't want to be recognised by anyone.
"Come on dad!" I said, grabbing his arm as Jakob pushed his back.
"No! There might be...Dare I say it?" he said looking around. "Teenies" he whispered.
Me and Jakob burst out laughing.
"Well then dad if there is any TEENIES! we'll make sure they don't eat you" said Jakob, still laughing as my dad covered his ears when he bellowed that terrifying word.
"Come on you stupid fool! Stella is waiting out there for us" I said.
"Stella?!" said Jakob.
"Well yeah, she isn't allowed in the mens changing rooms" I said.
"I knew that. I'm gonna go wait with her." he said leaving me.
"Come on dad. I'll scratch your car" I said trying to threaten him.
"I'm getting a new one" he said shrugging.
"Um, I'll hide your hair gel." I said.
"I'll buy more." he said shrugging again.
"Oh! I'll hide your guitar" I said.
"Let's go!" he said walking out.
As we walked out, I noticed Jakob holding Stella's hand and then quickly dropping it and blushing as he saw us coming.
"How did you do it?" asked Jakob dumbfounded.
"I told him I'd hide his guitar" I said, as Jakob laughed.
My dad was looking around frantically.
"Watch out dad! There's a teenie!" said Jakob pointing to a random woman. My dad jumped.
"Where?" he asked.
"No where" said Jakob. My dad gave him a playful hit around the head.
"Come on, let's go into the pool" I said, climbing in, soon joined by the rest of them.
We had a great time, splashing around, Jakob and Stella were doing some serious flirting. Jakob kept dunking Stella under the water and tickling her. I was just standing by the edge of the pool watching them when my dad grabbed me from behind and dunked me in the water.
"No dad! Stop please no!" I yelled as he continued dunking me. A 3 girls walked by and stopped to watch.
"Look it's Billie Joe Armstrong!" I heard one of them say.
"Is it? Are you sure?" asked another one.
My dad hadn't heard them.
"Hey dad. You have. Some admirers." I said between laughs, as he was still dunking me in the water. He dropped me and looked around. He saw the girls and nearly screamed.
"Have they seen me yet?" he asked.
"Of course they have! They've been there for a while." I said laughing at him.
"It's too late for me Joey but save yourself!" he said pushing me away.
"They aren't gonna eat you dad" I said to him. "Watch" I said.
I walked over to the edge of the pool where the girls were.
"Hi!" I said.
"H-hi!" one of them said.
"Is that really Billie Joe?" asked another.
" Yeah that's my dad." I said, beckoning for my dad. He slowly walked over to me.
"Hi girls" said my dad smiling.
"Hi. Your band is totally awesome by the way" said one girl.
"Thanks, what's your name?" asked my dad.
"I'm Jazz" She replied. She was about 13 and had light brown hair with purple streaks.
"Hi and what are the rest of you called?" asked my dad.
"I'm Jade" said a black haired girl.
"I'm Charlie" said a girl with brown hair.
"Well it was nice to meet you all" my dad said.
"Yeah it was cool" said Jazz.
"See you around" said my dad.
"Bye" all three girls called.
"See, they weren't teenies." I said.
"Thank the lord" my dad said.
"They seemed really cool" I said.
"Yeah, they did." he replied.
"Have you seen Jakob and Stella?" I asked my dad.
"No, why?" he asked.
"They have been doing some serious flirting" I said.
"Really?" He asked
"Mhm, come with me" I said leading him over to where Jakob and Stella were.
"I think they are going out, they just haven't told us." I said.
"I'm gonna go gate crash it" said my dad smiling evily.
"Dad what are you 12?" I asked.
"No I'm 12 and a half actually" my dad said sticking his tongue out and swimming over to them. I followed him.
"Well, well. You two going out now?" my dad asked.
"No" said Jakob.
"I was about to ask her but you came over and ruined it." he said.
"Oh well we'll leave" my dad said dragging me away.
"I wanted to hear!" I whined.
"Tough. He didn't listen in when you asked Stef out" my dad said.
"Fine. Shouldn't we be heading back now anyway?" I asked.
"Yeah. We'll go and get them and then leave" said my dad.
***
When we got home, my mom and Stef were still out so my dad made us some food and played Xbox with us. It was a nice day. I just hope Stef is okay and that my mom has managed to get her to eat something. It's really worrying me.
When they got home, Stef told me everything that happened and she never had any food, that's something I am going to have to work on tomorrow.
