Now that Andy was gone, Carolyn had the biggest decision of her life to make. Get rid of the baby or keep it. She knew getting rid of it would solve all her problems. No one had to know she was pregnant in the first place and it would have been as though none of this had ever happened. But then she thought back to what her father had told her when she was finally old enough to know. When he and her mother were still in high school, her mother got pregnant and decided to have the baby aborted. Carolyn would have had an older brother or sister right now if she had kept it.

She knew she had to make a decision before it was too late but she really didn't know what to do. If she kept it, her career would go down the drain. Everything that she worked so hard for would be gone. If she got it aborted, no one, not even Andy, would have to know about it. She could continue on with her dream.

She shook the thoughts aside for now as she got dressed to go to her classes for the day. She didn't want to think about Andy or the baby right now. It was all too much for her to handle.

When she arrived at class, she knew she was in deep shit with her teacher. She had missed yesterday's class without any kind of doctor's note to indicate she was sick.

"Decided to show up today, Carolyn?" Madam Petrova asked in her thick Russian accent. Although the woman was about 4 feet tall and hunched over with graying hair, she was quite scary.

"I-I was feeling nauseous yesterday morning, Madam." Carolyn explained. "I know I should have been here."

Madam Petrova looked over at Melanie, Carolyn's roommate, who nodded quickly to confirm Carolyn was telling the truth. Madam sighed. As ruthless as she could be, she did have a soft spot for her students.

"Alright, well, just line up at the barre for exercises." Madam Petrova ordered with a thud of her cane against the wooden floor.

"But, Madam!" Jessica, a girl in Carolyn's class, exclaimed. Jessica was the very strict ballet dancer that no one really liked because of how overly committed she was. She took everything way too seriously and just couldn't seem to loosen up. "She missed a class! She should have to do the relevé drills!" Jessica whined.

"The barre, Jessica." Madam Petrova ordered in her cold toned voice. Madam was definitely that teacher that took no shit from any of the students. She knew how students like Jessica worked. They would try and call out other students for their mistakes to make themselves look better. Madam Petrova wanted nothing more than for all her students to be considered equal in her eyes. She wasn't about to let Jessica call out Carolyn to bring her status with the teacher up a level.

Jessica frowned and shuffled over to the barre. Carolyn looked back at Madam briefly who nodded at her once. Carolyn smiled a little at Madam's effort to shut Jessica's manipulative ways down. Carolyn had never seen Madam act this way before.

When class was over, Madam dismissed the class but called for Carolyn to stay back. "Carolyn, I'd like to speak with you for a moment."

Carolyn got that fuzzy feeling of nerves in her stomach as she walked over to Madam by the stereo. "You wanted to speak to me?" Carolyn said nervously. She really hoped this wasn't going to be about her missing class yesterday.

"You missed class yesterday, Carolyn." Madam stated. Of course that's what she wanted to talk to her about. "You of all of the students is the last person I would have expected to miss class. Is something going on?"

Carolyn could tell Madam knew something. She didn't know if she knew about the pregnancy or Andy but she knew something. "N-No, everything is fine, Madam." Carolyn didn't sound very reassuring at all, even to herself.

"Carolyn," Madam looked her right in the eyes. "Are you pregnant?"

Carolyn's eyes widened. How could she have known? "I... I...."

"The nausea, missing class yesterday, and just the way you've been acting differently. I could tell something was up and I know my students very well, whether you can believe it or not. I may not act like I care in class, but I want you to know that I really do care about you and all my students. Now tell me the truth. Are you?" Madam was now holding Carolyn's hands with her own thin, wrinkled ones.

"Yes, Madam... And I don't know what to do." Carolyn started to break down. She could feel the tears rising and the lump forming in her throat.

Madam wrapped her thin arms around Carolyn's waist in a hug. "You are the only one who can make a decision like that." Madam concluded. "I can't tell you what to do. What I would suggest is getting the baby aborted because I do think you have a future as a professional ballet dancer. But this is your decision to make."

Carolyn nodded and Madam leaned in to kiss her lightly on the cheek. "Go. Go back to your dorm and think this over. If you ever want to talk to me about it, you're welcome to stay after class tomorrow as well or any other day, alright?"

Carolyn nodded again and thanked her as she quickly wiped away a stray tear from her cheek. This had turned into a bigger decision than she thought. And Andy still had no idea.

Notes

I want to thank my awesome commenters!

-chipmunkcalling
-BVBmisfit99
-Kvengeance