The first month
Technically, pregnancy is counted from the day of your last period. That means by the time you conceive, you could be 1-4 weeks “pregnant.” So the first month of pregnancy is sometimes considered to be from 3-6 weeks. The first month includes the glorious moment when conception takes place.
MJ remembered the last day she had her period started the second day of February because Peter invited her over to watch the movie “Groundhog Day” after school. She thought to herself “If I had to relive this day for all eternity I would rather implode” as she lay on Peter’s couch writing in agony.
MJ and Peter had been dating since the summer, but they tended to go slow with things. They kissed for the first time on Halloween, which had been a solid two and a half months of just watching movies on Peter’s couch and giggling little inside jokes. Teenage romance was weird.
It was Valentine’s day when Peter invited MJ over, saying that Aunt May would be spending the day with Happy and that they could turn the volume on the movie up as loud as they liked. MJ agreed to come over after school.
MJ showed up just herself and was surprised to see Peter had bought her flowers and boxes of her favorite mac n’ cheese. Peter told her that she didn’t need to get him anything because cuddling to watch movies was a present enough.
“I have something I could give you if you want,” MJ said, not even a third of the way through whatever sappy love story they were watching on the screen.
“Don’t worry about it, MJ it’s okay,” Peter replied, but when he turned to look at her, he noticed she didn’t have a shirt on anymore. Peter stammered to find something to say, but he just kept staring sheepishly at Michelle’s lack of clothing.
“We don’t have to if you’re not ready, Peter. It’s stupid, I’m sorry I even-” MJ started apologizing because she found Peter’s silence to mean a no.
But then Peter pulled MJ into a kiss, which made her relax as she leaned back on the couch. Peter tried to get his shirt off without breaking the kiss, but it wasn’t happening, so MJ laughed at him while he got undressed, and she held the blanket up like a dress for herself.
MJ pinned Peter to the couch once he was naked and told him she was going to give him the best present she could. They both had never done this before, but MJ figured they’d watched enough movies to understand at least the basic motions.
MJ winced when Peter went in, and Peter started to apologize profusely. “No-No, I want you to keep going,” MJ argued.
Peter just nodded and kept going. He had been fantasizing about this moment since they kissed for the first time almost four months ago, but he was too awkward to ever bring it up to MJ.
Michelle had been on birth control since eighth grade for help with periods. She had some very bad periods, and her mom had suggested birth control. And she had been diligent with it up until last week, which was midterms week. She had been studying so late she had forgotten in the mornings to take her antidepressants and her birth control, which she regretted immensely. But Michelle figured that would be fine because that was last week, and this week she was back on her daily schedule for birth control. Surely that one slip up wouldn’t mean any real harm; she convinced herself that at least
After MJ and Peter had finished, they just curled on the couch together and fell asleep. May must have seen them asleep with just a blanket covering them on the couch when she came home because MJ woke up that morning to her alarm that she was still at Peter’s house.
“Peter, fuck, wake up. Wake up, idiot!” she nudged the boy above her awake.
“Hngh- five more minutes.” he cooed. Michelle shoved him this time: “No, it’s morning dumbass. And we are still naked. Now get off me, I need to find some clothes.”
That seemed to have worked as Peter got up almost immediately. He just kept stammering as MJ to pick up her clothes from the floor.
“Okay, I’m gonna call my mom and tell her not to worry, but school is like in an hour, so I kind of have to get ready here, I think. Do you have an extra toothbrush or something?”
Peter couldn’t even form words. “I-uh-I yeah check under the sink.”
MJ nodded and left the living room empty. Peter put on the same clothes from that night and decided to make a good breakfast to apologize to Mj and May. He felt mortified when May came through her door.
“Morning, sleepyhead! Did you and Michelle have a good night?” she asked casually, but Peter could feel the sarcasm permeate every word.
“That’s never happened before, May, I swear. And MJ is on birth control, so it’s all fine. I’m so sorry, May. But don’t get mad at MJ, it was my idea.”
“You understand I am going to have to supervise movie nights now, don’t you?”
“But-” Peter interjected.
“No. And I want your patrols for the next week to be strictly within a few miles radius of this apartment, do you understand? And you come straight home after school, do you hear me?”
Peter felt his cheeks go a deep red. “May that’s not-”
She interrupted him, finishing his sentence, “Not fair? You are seventeen I don’t care if it is fair! I made a promise to take care of you, and by God am I going to uphold that, do you understand?”
Peter tried to argue, but he knew it would be no use. Peter may be physically stronger than his Aunt, but he knew that she could psychological-warfare him until the end of time.
“Okay.” he succumbed.
Meanwhile, Michelle was yet to hear the end of her mother’s tirade of scolding. She had been worried sick when MJ didn’t respond to her calls. It was May who called her close to midnight to say that she was safe at their house, and May admitted she found them passed out on the couch together without clothes.
“Michelle Elise Jones, I can’t even believe you! You are going to school, but then you are coming straight home because you are grounded!”
“Mom, you’ve got to be kidding me!” MJ rebutted.
“Like hell, I am! You are too young to be doing this kind of stuff! I don’t care that it was Valentine’s Day or that you had never before; that isn’t an excuse. You know- Michelle, you know I was your age when I had you.”
MJ sighed. She had heard her mother’s warnings dozens of times before. “I know, mom. We were safe, don’t worry.”
MJ and Peter had a silent walk to school. Neither of them knew what to say. Classes were awkward that day, too, and Ned felt weird that his best friends had this palpable tension between them.
“Was Valentine’s Day that bad, you too? I mean come on-I’m sure Peter didn’t mean whatever he said to piss you off, MJ.”
“He didn’t say anything, Ned. It’s complicated, but in short, I’m grounded for probably all of eternity.” MJ explained.
Ned’s curiosity only intensified. “Okay, now you seriously have to tell me what happened that was that bad. MJ seriously, you better tell me, or I’ll annoy you all day.”
Ned was poking Mj’s arm, and Mj was not in the mood at all.
“We had sex, okay? Are you happy? We had sex, and May caught us, and she told my mom, and now it’s insanely awkward, and now I-” MJ looked away as tears began to well up.
“Oh.” was all Ned was able to muster.
Michelle hadn’t taken her birth control that morning because she had a surprise sleepover at Peter’s. And she didn’t take it the next day, either, because it was Saturday and she wanted to sleep for eternity after being grounded forever.
The rest of the first month was idle for Michelle Jones. She felt exhausted, but never nauseous or other pregnancy signs. The grounding rules were lifted slightly when February break rolled around, and MJ wanted desperately to talk to Peter the whole time, but she couldn’t. Ned came over one day, and they played video games.
“Peter misses you, MJ.,” he told her. MJ wasn’t exactly sure how to respond.
“You aren’t grounded anymore; we should all hang out this weekend. I can be your chaperone if you need me to be. I think your mom and May trust me.”
MJ only said, “You lose, nerd.” as she KO’d her friend while he was distracted.
They did hang out, and MJ apologized to Peter for even wanting to have sex.
“Can we promise this won’t ruin our relationship?” he asked.
“Of course.” MJ smiled. “I won’t let anything come between us.”
They hugged for a long time. Things would finally be normal again. That is, until two weeks later, when Michelle realizes she is in the company of an unexpected arrival.