Back In School, Taking A Test

Highschool. At her desk, the girl in front of her handing back the test sheets. Maria began to sweat as she stared down at the multiple-choice circles, sharp No. 2 pencil in her hand. It was a pop quiz. How much was this worth for her grade? She couldn't afford to screw this up! If she failed, she'd be bagging groceries for the rest of her life...

Maria stared down at the test sheet, the letters refusing to cohere into legible words. There were illustrations...what subject was this? Anatomy? Biology? She could make out black-and-white diagrams of little squiggly sperm, round double circles for eggs, condoms.

She shifted in her seat, suddenly aware of how uncomfortable it was...and stared down at her bulging belly pressing into the desk in front of her.

That was impossible! She hadn't...she couldn't...

"Oh no," she whispered as the sweat started. It was Sex Ed. She knew she should have studied.

"Miss Vasquez!" A shrill voice rang out from the front of the room. Like nails on a chalkboard. The dread tones of Mrs. Pitter. Seventy years old and contemptuous of the very idea of teen pregnancy. Maria shivered, trying to hunker down behind the student in front of her, not wanting to be seen, not wanting to hear what was coming next.

"Will you come to the front of the room?"

With a sinking feeling, Maria struggled out of her seat, having to turn sideways to get her baby belly out from between the chair and the desk, standing up only with difficulty...and only realizing as she was standing up, and all the eyes of the test-takers in the class turned to her, that she was stark naked.

The long waddle to the chalkboard at the front of the class felt like it took at least a mile. Maria's cheeks were burning in shame as she felt everyone stare at her swollen midsection, her engorged breasts with their thick dark nipples, just like her mama's had been when pregnant with her baby sister.

Mrs. Pitter was waiting for her there, a disapproving frown engraved in her face.

"Well Miss Vasquez. Since you have so much experience in sexual health, would you kindly tell the class how long a pregnancy lasts?"

Maria opened her mouth, but the answer stuck in her throat. She made an awkward sort of rumble, and then blurted out: "Nine months!"

"Forty weeks," Mrs. Pitter corrected. "And how long ago were you impregnated?"

"I...I don't..." Maria heard her classmates begin to titter. "I don't know..."

"You mean you can't remember? Do you really not recall the date of insemination? Or are you just such a wanton slut that you cannot pin the date down with any accuracy?"

"I...I..." The classroom was laughing now, and Maria wished she could just shrink into a ball and hide. This was a nightmare, a night—

Panting and sweating, Maria awoke with a start. A feeling of cold, stark relief flowed through her as she realized it was just a dream.