Back to Risa, who is just seething about the baby. Rightly so.

Now Risa realizes he doesn’t just make bad decisions, he makes dangerous ones.

Unlike dragging an unconscious drunk-the-koolaid tithe around, which isn’t dangerous. Even though a few chapters ago you were seriously speculating that doing this was behind the lack of reporting in the news as part of a plot to murder you both for kidnapping.

Anyway, this is more “my character’s flaw is being a klutz”. Connor is obviously getting set up as virtuous for what he did. Imagine how different it’d be if he’d actually done it because he’s impulsive and just grabs stuff without thinking.

The school bus only has a few kids on it as they step on

Bullshit, book. This was apparently the most trafficked bus stop in school history. There was a pack of kids there and it took them so long to get on that they had time for that long drama with the baby. Lev only had to hold up the bus at the very end, which we can tell because if he’d been doing that for any length of time the bus driver would’ve started yelling.

Anyway, the driver doesn’t seem to care about the baby and Risa guesses it’s because she can see another kid with one of the bus. Which means teen pregnancy must be through the roof because we were just told the bus is almost empty and yet already there’s a baby.

Lev wants to know why there’s a baby all of the sudden.

“They’re looking for two boys and a girl. Having a baby will throw them off.”

See, if that’d been Connor’s reasoning, it’d also have been an improvement – Risa could still rightly accuse him of being an idiot. But even without the help of being in his head last chapter, he’s doing a terrible job of lying lest anyone get confused and think he didn’t do it just because he’s so great.

Arg! I actually really like the idea of Connor doing this but the book needs to fuck off with its “poor Connor everyone’s mad at him and he makes terrible decisions because he’s so kind” thing.

Connor offers to hold it and Risa says nope, she’s keeping it because he’ll just make it cry.

Risa is no stranger to babies. At the state home she occasionally got to work with the infants. This one probably would have ended up at a state home too. She could tell that the woman at the door had no intention of keeping it.

THEN WHY EVEN FUCKING BOTHER WITH THE WHOLE STORKING THING? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

Literally the only point in bothering to stork kids instead of directly giving them up is if the storked person can’t turn around and do exactly that.

The girl with the baby that Risa was avoiding eye contact with earlier for some reason hops back a few seats the next time the bus stops for some baby chat.

I’m Alexis, and this is Chase.” Her baby looks at Risa curiously, and drools over the seat back. Alexis picks up the baby’s limp hand, and makes it wave like she might wave the hand of a toy doll.

And here we see the book reving up for the other side of prolife fuckery.

See, if someone gets pregnant and abandons the baby, she’s childish and irresponsible. If someone gets pregnant and keeps the baby, she’s childish and irresponsible and now you can always tell that she’s someone you should look down on.

The book helpfully informs us that Alexis either literally is or is acting younger than Risa. See, it’s fine to make this one underage because it just ties into the idea she’s so stupid she doesn’t understand it’s bad to have a baby, so the book can again dodge any sympathy.

Alexis goes on to say it’s “brave” to go back to school so soon, which is probably in the sense of acknowledging that getting pregnant out of wedlock means people treat you badly – it’s possible it means in the sense that childbirth leaves you physically mangled, but that wouldn’t really fit well with “brave” and more importantly, wouldn’t allow Alexis thinking it’s praiseworthy to be another part of why she’s a terrible shameless whore.

“That’s sooooo great that you’re still seeing each other. Chaz—that’s Chase’s father—doesn’t even go to our school anymore. He got sent to military school. His parents were so mad when they found out that I was, you know, ‘uploaded,’ he was afraid they might actually have him unwound. Can you believe it?”
Risa could strangle this girl if it weren’t for the fact that it would leave drooling Chase motherless.

Because the girl is a filthy childish slut who isn’t being properly shamed! The only reason we shouldn’t murder all these whores is then we’d have to find real people to take care of the disgusting bastards they produce.

I should remind you that Risa is fifteen, and if we’re to take her literally about Alexis being younger, she’s fourteen. Look at how the fourteen year old sounds like a regular kid! Look at how she talks like she’s still an actual person and not permanently ruined! How dare she.

When prolifers complain about how our godless society is causing teen pregnancy, it’s not because they actually think that kids getting pregnant is bad for the kid. It’s because the younger they are, the more likely they’re unmarried whores who, in a proper society, would be packed off to the convent to spend the rest of their life scrubbing the floor.

Then the evil bitch-whore asks if the baby’s a girl or boy. Risa hesitates and guesses girl. I’m sort of hoping it’ll turn out wrong, because girl babies are considered extra precious defenseless little blessings, so having it be a girl would just be further hammering in that babies are wonderful and abandoning one makes you Satan.

Connor then volunteers “Didi” as the name for the kid.

This brings forth a little grin from Risa in spite of how angry she is at him.

And my hackles are up yet again! This is another of those relationship dynamic things I don’t like – it tends to play out where the girl is mad, but then smiles/laughs/whatever (the very phrase “in spite of” often features), and then that’s it, she’s not allowed to complain about it or criticize whatever the issue was.

It’s especially inexplicable here – what’s so great about recycling the name she used?

“Yeah,” says Risa. “Same as me. Family tradition.”

Okay, so I just checked and the author’s fifty. So let me tell you a story about names. The only adult I know who’s named after a parent is my uncle, who is also fifty, and my grandfather had one of those super nicknamey names that can turn into a dozen names easily, so they were never called the same thing. And my mother and aunt both bucked tradition by being named after no one in the family at all, well before this guy was even born. My father is named after a family member, but it was an uncle in his case. My little brother is named after my grandfather’s middle name, because middle names are what you use to bounce names around now and also Mom just liked it, and it turns out the guy to actually have that name was pretty horrible but we don’t care because it was never really about tradition or honoring some guy.

There may be some area somewhere you could say you were naming a kid after you and not have it seem incredibly weird, but there can’t be many. (Plus, of all parents, younger ones are most likely to special snowflake it up with invented names!) And furthermore, Risa doesn’t have a family. She’s never even been outside the compound, and media certainly doesn’t highlight this tradition because two characters with the same name is generally considered a bad idea even before you make them related. I wouldn’t expect her to even know people did this unless she was established as being super into early colonial history or something, and even then she’d be expected to understand it doesn’t happen now, and if she forgets that they’re trying not to stand out in order to live out her colonial fantasy, she should get a death glare from Connor for being stupid.

“Well, you’re going to love Center-North High,” Alexis says. “They’ve got a great day care center, and really take care of student-mothers. Some teachers even let us nurse in class.”

Translation: evil liberal agenda progressive argleblagle kids today.

It should be pointed out that this is actually represents a significant commitment to the kids, both students and infants. Being a mother is extremely difficult and being a single mother as most of them likely are is far worse. Infants sleep only short periods, so they remove their parent’s ability to get the solid chunks of sleep adults need to function. (And remember teens often have trouble with getting enough sleep on their own.) They cry often and sometimes for no reason at all, and the cry is designed to be impossible to ignore.

Daycares do not like to deal with newborns because they are fragile and demanding. And schools do not like babies because they are screamy and demanding. To allow babies in class they probably have special areas for the girls to take the baby when it’s wailing and all sorts of policies about handling students having to leave class unpredictably. They also likely have someone with medical training on hand, both for the obvious sudden problems with one of the kids and also for any mother who needs advice.

The school also likely has an actual class or something to teach the kids the basics, like wearing a proper bra, why your baby should not lie on its face, foods that may kill your baby, babyproofing your house, signs your baby may be about to die from other causes you have no control over…

If the author even understands that this represents a great deal of effort, it’s probably followed by “and they STEAL OUR TAX DOLLARS TO PAY FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!” More likely, it’s just hatred for the idea that these kids are allowed in school instead of cowering in shame at home the way Jesus wants.

Also, on the subject of breastfeeding, it’s generally unpleasant at best, particularly for new mothers. My mother breastfed me and it meant half my diet was fresh blood. Breastfeeding a baby is going through a variable degree of trouble for the baby’s sake, ranging from inconvenience to severe pain. That the various “student mothers” are breastfeeding is probably mentioned without any thought about this, just as there’s no consideration for anything else women have to go through for a baby.

Connor puts his hand over Risa’s shoulder. “Do fathers get to watch?”
Risa shrugs off his arm, and quietly stomps on his foot. He winces, but says nothing. If he thought he was out of the doghouse, he’s dead wrong. As far as she’s concerned, his name is Fido.

Hey, remember how Risa doesn’t like to be touched? The book sure can’t give less of a fuck. She’s just mad he took the baby because Risa isn’t so awesome as Connor and doesn’t love babies enough.

Also, to answer your question, Connor/Author: it is perfectly possible, even easy, to breastfeed under your shirt. All it requires is a loose shirt, and I assume anyone breastfeeding would already be wearing that because tight shirts are going to be really unpleasant due to the general lactation thing. There are also nursing bras to make it even easier. I would bet all of the girls would quickly master this art when presented with a class of leering guys.

Then Alexis notes that her “brother”, Lev, is already making new friends :)

She tries to hear what they’re talking about but can’t hear anything beyond Alexis’s blathering.

Risa, you are the least objectionable character so far. Stop working so hard to catch up with the others.

Alexis grins and rolls her shoulders a bit. “He’s kind of cute.”
Risa didn’t think it was possible to like Alexis any less than she already did. Apparently she was wrong. Alexis must see the look in Risa’s eyes, because she says, “Well, I mean cute for a freshman.”
“He’s thirteen. He skipped a grade,” Risa says, burning Alexis an even meaner warning gaze that says, Keep your claws away from my little brother.

She’s expressing interest in a guy even after getting knocked up, the disgusting bitch!

“Sorry,” says Risa, softening her gaze. “Long night with the baby. It’s made me cranky.”
“Oh, believe me, I’ve totally been there.”
It looks as if the Alexis Inquisition might continue until they reach the school, but the bus comes to another sudden stop, making little Chase bump his chin on the seat back, and he begins to cry. Suddenly Alexis goes into mother mode, and the conversation ends.

This fucking book.

It’s just straight up about hating women. Alexis is, supposedly, doing the very thing the narration demonized the mother in the ninth chapter for not doing. But prolifers don’t actually care if the women take care of the baby, because it’s really about the crime of having sex and needing to be visibly punished for it instead of “avoiding responsibility” and getting away with it. If they could criminalize out of wedlock pregnancy itself, they’d do that and probably end up fine with aborting them – keep a few of the blond and blue eyed ones for proper parents with fertility problems and get rid of the rest.

Alexis’ sympathy doesn’t mark her as a decent person, because it’s sympathy based on experience with a baby, which she has because she is a filthy whore and therefore not a person. Alexis being a good, caring mother also doesn’t mark her as decent because again, filthy whore who isn’t a person. In fact, she’d be better if she’d given up the baby and then found a good Christian man to forgive her for being so terrible. Because it’s not about the child, it’s about control. The fact Alexis seems happy to raise the baby is why she shouldn’t have it.

But it can’t just say that outright, because that would mean admitting this is about punishing women over sex, not saving the life of a baby. She happens to be a teenage mother with a baby, and also happens to have every single thing about her treated as loathsome, but it’s not actually saying the two things are linked! It’s just a coincidence.