Enough was enough. “My life was much better before I let Mr Handsome into it,” said Itu to herself. She took her phone and arranged to meet her boyfriend. He brought her a Streetwise Two and a Tropika, but Itu wasn’t interested in any of them.

She looked uncomfortable around him. He tried to soften her up, but she didn’t really seem to be in the mood.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I cannot accept the things you buy for me anymore. I don’t think we should see each other again. Please don’t contact me,” said Itu, leaving him with the grenade she had just dropped on him.

Itu took all the clothes that Mr Handsome had bought for her and set them on fire. She was ready for a clean start, and she planned to go and ask Precious for her forgiveness the next day. She went to see Precious at her house, but she was told that Precious hadn’t been home for two weeks and was not answering her phone. Itu had seen Precious two days ago. She told her family that she would go look for Precious at Kholofelo’s house.

In the next two days, Itu had morning sickness and started to get stomach cramps. She knew for sure that she was pregnant, because she wasn’t using any prevention, and she had missed her period. She was scared of what was going to happen next. She had to decide whether she was going to keep the baby or have an abortion.

She felt confused and frustrated. “Why did this happen right after I dumped Mr Handsome and was about to have a fresh start?” she asked herself. She didn’t know who to talk to. Nobody would appreciate her story and have sympathy for her – not Precious, not Mr Handsome, and certainly not her mother. “At least I can hide this while I decide what to do,” she said to herself.

Itu went to a nearby pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test. She went home to check what it would say and it confirmed her pregnancy. Itu decided to visit Mokgadi, who she had never visited before. She knew that Mokgadi would not judge her, and that her secret would be safe with her.

Mokgadi was very understanding because she too was a teenage mother. She said to Itu: “I understand your situation, but it’s up to you to decide what’s good for you and the baby.”

Itu felt comfortable talking to Mokgadi, but still didn’t know what to decide.

“If you want to be a mother then keep the baby, but if you don’t then have an abortion,” added Mokgadi. “That will still make you the mother of a dead, innocent child, so think wisely.”

Mokgadi’s words really touched Itu. They made so much sense. Itu told her mother that she had broken up with her teacher boyfriend, but she couldn’t tell her about the pregnancy, because she was happy that her mother was coming back home.

Itu had to find a good way to tell her mother about her pregnancy. She had never felt so confused in her life. She felt like she was dreaming, or shooting an episode for a TV show, but she knew that this was neither of those things. This was real life.

She went to school like every other learner and she looked free, but all that changed when she saw Mr Handsome, who seemed to be enjoying himself around some school girls at the gate. Itu went to class, hoping to find Precious and Kholofelo so that she could make peace with them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

She tried them on their cell phones, but they didn’t answer her calls. She wondered where they could be. “Maybe they are with their Blessers,” she thought. She tried hard not to think of her friends and their whereabouts, but she couldn’t help herself.

In the next two weeks, Itu’s mother came back and found her reading in the lounge. Lucy was very happy to see her daughter reading. “Wow, indeed you want a clean start!” she said. Itu jumped up high to give her mother a long hug, but then she started crying.

Her mother sat down next to her and held her hand. She said to her daughter: “I am not proud of the things you have done recently, but I cannot change what happened in my absence or change the situation now. I wonder why you thought you could hide your pregnancy from your mother.”

Itu was surprised that her mother knew about her pregnancy. She felt like she had let everyone down. “Next year, you won’t be going to school. No one will take care of your child for you and that’s the punishment I’m giving you,” added her mother.

Lucy asked Itu to go and get her bags at the gate. “Be careful, there are some glasses in there,” she said.

Itu hurried outside and came running back into the house.

“Mama! Mama!” she cried in terror. “There’s someone standing next to your bags!”

Her mother laughed so hard at her daughter, who was now trembling with fear. “You see that man next to my bags?” she said. “That man is your father, my dear. Now go and get my bags!”

Itu screamed with so much joy, shouting “Hallelujah!” She couldn’t believe that she would now live with her parents and that they would be a complete family.

Itu was happy for days, but she also had the saddest time of her life after hearing that Precious and Kholofelo were no more. They had been found dead under a bridge, after having gone missing for a month. She cried heavily, as she couldn’t believe that her two best friends were dead.

“I am keeping this baby in memory of my two friends,” she said. “May their souls rest in perfect peace.”

***

Tell us what you think: Would you have kept the baby? Why? Why not?