Periods In Fanfiction

Thalia Grace

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey."  I jumped, flinched, and watched electricity spark at my fingertips all in the matter of a second.  I turned around.  It was Annabeth.

"Oh.  My gods Annabeth."  She smiled smugly.

"You started."  Her smile was more pained now.

"What are..." I trailed off as I started to understand what she meant.  She nodded slowly.  I looked at the back of my khakis.  Unfortunately, I was required to wear a school uniform.  Sure enough, there was a patch of dark red blood.

"Shit!" I cursed, much louder than intended.  If I had even intended to cuss at all.  The whole class was staring at me.  I turned to look at the choir director, Mrs. Williams.  She had a disapproving look on her face.  There was some exasperation mixed in as well.

"Young lady," she said.  My expression changed to match Annabeth's.

"Yeah, would you rather give me that detention slip now or after class?"

She silently wrote out a detention slip and held it out for me to take.  Her head was resting in her hands.

"Uh, thanks.  You mind if I go to the bathroom, get some clothes cause there's blood all over mine.  That'd be great."

Mrs. Williams lifted her head and sighed.  "Sure."

"Thanks," I whispered gratefully.

I quickly walked toward my chair, where my backpack was sitting against it.  I rummaged around inside but couldn't find what I was looking for.  Not a single pad or tampon in sight.  I figured I'd have to ask Chiron or the nurse for one.

I was saved when I walked out of the classroom utterly defeated.  Annabeth tapped me on the shoulder, again.

"Is regular okay?"  She held out a blue wrapped tampon with an 'R' marked on the side.

I sort of smiled.  "Yeah, thanks."

"Of course!"

Tampon in hand, I I ran toward the bathroom, hardly even slowing down when I passed the principal's office.  As I slipped into a stall, I pulled a glass crystal and golden drachma from my back pocket.  If I tilted the glass just right, I could make a small rainbow on the wall.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering," I whispered and threw the drachma into the rainbow.  "Please, show me Chiron."

The rainbow enlarged and shimmered against the stall door.  Chiron appeared, looking startled.

"Shouldn't you be in class Thalia?" he asked.

"Yeah.  Look, I need you to go to the Zeus cabin and get me some pants and underwear from my trunk."

He gave me a quizzical look.  "Why?"

I rested my head in my right hand.  "I landed the lead role in Carrie."

"Really?  That's great!  I never knew you had auditioned for the musical!"

"No," I sighed.  "It's, um, shark week."

"But they air that in the late summer, don't they?"

"Di immortales," I muttered.  "I'M ON MY PERIOD CHIRON!  I BLED THROUGH MY CLOTHES AND EVERYTHING SUCKS!"

His face turned so red I might have laughed if I wasn't so embarrassed and annoyed.

"I'll be right on that.  Your volume control could use improvement Thalia."