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.