I'll Be There For You

By Andrea Readwolf

Prologue

The pencil snapped in my hands.

Amy looked over at me, a worried expression radiating from her

loving face. She reached for one of the four pencils lined up on her desk and handed me one.

"Eyes forward, ladies," Ms. H. said looking straight at us.

Amy's eyes snapped back to the test on her desk, but she sneaked another worried glance at me.

The pain began to recede and I, too, tried to concentrate on the test in front of me.

'Common,' I told myself. 'Please just let me get through this

test. Please. I studied so hard-'

Teeth bit back the moan that wanted to escape my throat. I closed

my eyes against the pain.

'No,' I said, shaking my head. 'It's too soon. Not now. Please,

not now.' I counted the seconds in my mind, praying for the pain to

go away.

Finally, the pain ebbed and I looked up at the clock hanging over

Ms. H's desk. My eyes caught those of my teacher's and I saw the look

of sympathy housed there. It was a look I had become quite familiar

with over the last several months. It was a look I despised.

The pain came again and this time a small whimper managed to escape

my strangled throat.

"Serena-" Ms. H was saying, standing up from her chair.

"Serena?" Amy asked, looking at me again. Her quick eyes picked up

on the pallor of my skin, the sheer sheen of sweat that covered my

face and beaded my forehead.

I shook my head. Pleading. Pleading with Amy. Pleading with Ms.

H. Pleading with the gods who ruled our lives. Pleading with the

baby who was fussing beneath my heart. 'Not now,' I repeated.

'Please, not now!'

The class had stopped their test and all eyes were focused on me:

the great freak show. The only girl in the entire school who had a

baby swelling her stomach. The only girl who-

I cried out, the pain finally too much. Tears clouded my eyes and

began to stain my cheeks.

"Serena!"

I could feel them, their power surrounding me, lending me their

strength. I looked up into the loving faces of my friends.

"Serena?" Mina asked, clasping my hand in hers.

"It's too soon, Mina," my hoarse voice whispered to her, my eyes

pleading with her to do...what?

Mina bit her lip and looked at me hopelessly. She looked up at Amy

and Lita. Lita shook her head, hopeless to tell her what to do.

Another cry slipped passed my tight lips as yet another contraction

consumed my body.

Amy frowned. "Serena! How long have your pains been coming?"

"Since...last...night," I gasped out on weak breaths.

The girls inhaled with shock.

"Oh, wow! Is Serena having her baby now?!" Melvin cried over the

murmur of the other students in the classroom.

Molly slapped him over the head with the now-forgotten test.

"Oh my!" cried Ms. H as she looked at me, then the class, and then

back to me.

"Ms. H." Mina began. "May we be excused to take Serena to the

hospital?"

Ms. H looked relieved at the suggestion and nearly pushed us out the

door before another contraction could rip its way through my body.

Lita and Minako helped support me down the hallway-I was surprisingly

weak-as Amy ran to get her car.

"It'll be alright," Lita said, as another contraction caused me to

yelp and tighten my grip on my two friends.

"We'll be right here with you," Mina repeated the promise all the

Senshi had vowed some months before.

"No matter what," Lita added.