Waking up was much harder now that she was pregnant. Erika's mother tried for a half-hour to get the girl out of bed. It took another ten minutes just to find a decent shirt that fit her but didn't look like a night dress. "We'll have to go get some new clothes after the doctor," her mom suggested. Erika discovered that she had a whole assortment of unusual cravings, and her mom tried her best to appease them, with a few exceptions. "You're not having any ice cream for breakfast," she said sternly.
When breakfast was over, her mom insisted she drive her. "You still don't look that well today, and with that burden you'll never make it there on time if you walk." After getting dropped off, Erika found that at least one part of life was made easier: the added weight on her front just about matched her heavy backpack, so standing upright with it on was a cakewalk.
Several students stared at her during the day, as did a couple teachers, but nobody said anything to her about the baby until Max, the school bully, took a shot at her as she left the building at the end of the day.
"Everybody, keep away! Make sure you're not carrying anything sharp! She could pop any second!"
Her stomach sank. She expected this kind of thing, especially from him, but she was just about to make it through the entire day without someone else drawing attention to her. She tried to ignore him and keep walking.
"So Erika, did you suck on too many balloons? I guess helium does more than give you a high voice!" Max continued to shout. Maybe Erika should bring the Salve of Transformation to school tomorrow and see how it affects him?
Finally, her mother arrived to rescue her from the annoying boy. "How was your day?" she asked.
"Good, mostly. The cafeteria gave me extra helpings."
"I heard that boy calling you names. Who is he?"
"Max. He teases everyone."
"Maybe we can get that taken care of," her mom suggested.
Erika stopped short of saying she was already working on it.
At the doctor's, Doctor Franklin gave her a routine examination. He asked her several questions about her health in the past month.
"Well," he said after checking her ear canal, "That's that. I'll see you in two weeks. That baby's looking like it's almost ready to come out."
"Can we look inside to see what the baby looks like?" Erika asked. Her mother and the doctor exchanged frowns. Erika simply looked at the doctor innocently.
"Honey," Doctor Franklin said, crouching to meet her eye level. "We've taken a lot of scans these last eight months. We've never been able to get a clear picture of the baby. The only way we can tell it's still in good health is because it's still kicking.
"So...we don't even know if it's a girl or boy?"
Her mother took her hand. "I'm sorry, sweetie. You ask every time and we can never get an answer. You'll just have to be patient and see for yourself."
On the drive to the department store to get her some better fitting clothes, Erika rubbed her tummy and worried about what was inside it. If the salve was capable of making her eight months pregnant and grow her breasts out, it was capable of anything. Was her baby even human? Inside of her came another kick, but this time she didn't seem so happy to feel it.