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. Erika answered them as best as she could, considering that, from her own perspective, she had only been pregnant for about a single day. Nevertheless, her positive answers seemed to satisfy Dr. Franklin that she was apparantly in good shape. She smiled.
However, as Erik, Dr. Franklin, and her mom continued to converse, Erika began to notice something odd about the statements they made... Erika, thinking back on her mother's blase reaction to the sudden appearance of her salve-created pregnancy tried her very best to play along as though what they were saying made sense to her too. Considering how it seemed like her pregnany was "normal" to everyone around her, It was pretty obvious that, if she let on about her own confusion, that reaction would undoubtedly seem very confusing to her Mom and Dr. Franklin in turn. Nevertheless, she was definitely feeling quite confused right now... If Erika was picking up on their comments right... It seemed as though, that there was something very peculiar about the nature of her pregnancy and unborn "child"...