Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. (Victoria Holt)

Tommy and Penny drove the hideous Winnebago across the country. Penny cried when they arrived in California and she saw Rider for the first time in nearly a year. He didn’t take it to heart because in her pregnant state she cried a lot, sometimes she didn’t even notice that she was crying.

“You look like you’re about to explode,” Rider commented.

Penny laughed as she wiped tears from her face. “And I still have another four months left.”

“Penny,” Rider laughed, “you’re going to give birth to a teenager!”

Tommy heated up a sheet of aluminum foil in Rider’s brightly lit bachelor apartment. Don’t be fooled by the bachelor quality; the apartment was impressive.

“How’s school?” asked Penny.

“I hate it. I’m still catching up on sleep and the semester ended months ago. I don’t know how people find time to work and shower and sleep.”

“I don’t sleep,” said Tommy, “and I don’t even go to school.”

“I stay up all night studying not strung out on drugs.”

Tommy looked at him sceptically.

“Heroin helps me stay awake; it’s not why I stay awake.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and dove into the heroin heated in front of him.

“What about you?” Rider asked. “How is school?”

“It’s good,” Penny said half-heartedly.

“But?”

“But I just wish I had finished school before I had got pregnant. It’s going to make it difficult next year.”

“You can do it. Aside from consenting to marry this slump, you seem like a real smart girl.”

“I’m switching into another program. In September I’m transferring to a program to teach English as Second Language. It’s shorter than a regular teaching degree. If I can keep this baby in me until the end of the fall semester and have enough time to study correspondence during the winter, I can graduate in the spring.”

“Wow,” said Rider. He joined Tommy at the foil.

“I don’t know why she’s in such a rush,” Tommy said. “There’s lots of time for school. You don’t need a job. By the time we get back to Philly we’ll be rich again.”

“I know,” she sighed. Tommy didn’t understand why she wanted to study. He didn’t understand how important it was to her or why she felt like she needed a diploma or degree to solidify her efforts.