Anything but Normal - Melody Carlson [47]
“Yes!” Kelsey exclaimed. “That’s what my mom said too. She said that when the school makes these pregnancy centers and sets up child care, it’s like giving girls permission to have sex, get pregnant, and—”
“No one needs to give anyone permission,” Sophie shot back. “It’s happening, Kelsey. Maybe what those girls needed was birth control.”
“Birth control?” Kelsey looked shocked.
“Seriously, Sophie.” Carrie Anne shook her head like she thought Sophie had lost her mind. “This doesn’t even sound like you. Are you suggesting that the school nurse should be handing out birth control pills or condoms?”
“Yeah, hasn’t our town already been down that road?” Hannah said.
“Maybe we need to go down it again,” Sophie snapped.
“That’s exactly what my mom thinks,” Kelsey shot back at her. “She’s already planning a meeting at church for next Saturday.”
“A meeting at church?” Sophie frowned at her. “Why?”
“To inform people about what’s really going on—”
“Does she even know what’s going on?” Sophie was talking so loudly that others were listening now. Not that she cared. “She knows it’s time that the church got more involved,” Kelsey continued, “and she thinks that our high school is going straight to—”
“Maybe she should stop thinking so much.” Sophie’s hands were curled into fists. “And instead of passing judgment, maybe she should spend some time with some of these pregnant girls to find out what’s really—”
“I can’t believe how you’re defending them,” Carrie Anne said. “Like you think it’s okay to get pregnant while you’re still in high school.”
Sophie felt ready to explode. She couldn’t believe how harsh and judgmental her friends—if they were her friends—had become.
“Man, Sophie.” Kelsey looked stunned. “I think journalism is messing with your head. It’s like you’re turning into such a liberal.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Because I care about people, because I feel sorry for a girl who gets pregnant, I’m suddenly a liberal?” Sophie stood up and stared at her friends. “Fine. I’m a liberal. Whatever!”
“The next thing we know you’ll be pro-abortion,” Kelsey sniped.
Sophie picked up her tray, walked away from the table, and counted to ten. As she dumped her tray, she counted to ten again. Some people were such morons. Seriously, if ignorance was bliss, Kelsey North had to be the happiest girl on the planet.
“Hey, sunshine.”
Sophie turned to see Wes jogging to catch her.
“What’s the hurry?”
She frowned. “No hurry. I just needed to escape from my friends.”
“What’s up?”
As they walked to the journalism room, she poured out the whole story. Well, everything except her current condition. “Now Kelsey is calling me a liberal.”
Wes kind of laughed. “Some of us take that as a compliment.”
Sophie considered this. “But I always thought I was fairly conservative. I mean, my parents are Republicans. I’m a Christian and pro-life. We live in a very conservative town.”
“I don’t see why people have to label everything.” Wes sighed. “I mean, instead of just being one thing or another, maybe we need to be better informed—and come to our own conclusions.”
“Yeah.” She nodded, taking this in.
“And that’s exactly what you did in your feature, Sophie.” “Except that now it feels like I’ve rocked the boat again.”
“You know what they say.”
“What?”
“You know, you can please some of the people some of the time . . .”
“But not all of the people ever.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“Right now it just feels like I’ve made all my friends mad. Well, except for Jenny.” Sophie paused. “And that’s funny.”
“Why?”
“Because Jenny used to be the one friend I never agreed with about much of anything.”
“People change.”
Sophie nodded. “That’s true.” People did change. Sometimes more than anyone knew.
14
“Great article, Sophie!”
Sophie looked up from her current project to see that Mrs. Manchester had come into the journalism room. “Thanks,” she told her.
“Thank you. It’s a pleasure to see honest journalism. The girls in the center were pleased too. Thank you for protecting