Traitor

Three

"Mommy! Uncle Justin is cheating again!" Julia said.

Ariana rolled her eyes as she looked to the dining room table from the kitchen. "Justin, stop cheating."

"I'm not cheating, she just sucks at the game," Justin defended.

"No!" Julia said. "You can't charge me $50,000 for railroads!"

"I can if I have hotels on them."

"You can't put hotels on a railroad property," Ariana said.

"Yeah!" Julia said. "Anyways, you only have two of them cause I have Body Odor and Reading Rainbow, and you have to have a whole set before putting houses or hotels on properties."

Ariana chuckled at her daughters names for the properties. She used to do the same thing as a kid. "J.J., I thought you were gonna help me make these cakes," she said as she licked batter off of her thumb.

"I'm playing a game."

"Y'all aren't playing it right anyways. If you restart the game then I'll come play with you guys after we get these mixed and in the oven."

"And no cheating," Julia said, sticking her tongue out at Justin as she ran to the kitchen. "I wanna make the red velvet one."

"You do that."

"I wanna help, Mommy," Justin said as he stood behind Ariana and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Ew," Ariana and Julia said.

"Don't call me Mommy, that's weird," Ariana said.

"You call me Daddy."

"Ew-wah!" Julia said.

"Justin," Ariana said with a small smile. "Don't be nasty in front of my baby."

"Your baby is the nasty one, she keeps farting," Justin said, ruffling Julia's hair.

"Julia Joan."

"It's a natural bodily function," Julia said.

"Well you should get it checked out cause something clearly crawled up your ass and died," Justin said.

"Yeah, my colon, dummy, that's what Wilbur is for," she said, tapping a bag under her shirt.

"You mean your intestines, dummy."

"The colon is the large intestine, dummy," Ariana said, flicking Justin's forehead. "Be nice to my defected baby. I can't return damaged goods."

Julia giggled as she started pouring ingredients into a large bowl. "I wouldn't want you to return me anyways, I'd miss you like I do when I have to be at Dad's house."

"Dad's house isn't so bad. Plus, Hale is there. You love Hale."

"Yeah but it's not home. You're home."

Ariana smiled a little and kissed Julia's head. "I love you, baby girl."

*

*

*

Ariana sat up quickly when she heard a sharp scream.

"Mommy!" Julia screamed.

She got up out of bed as quickly as possible, tripping over a shoe. "Move, bitch," she muttered, throwing the shoe across the room and running down the hall to Julia's room, only to see she wasn't there. "Julie! Where are you, what happened?" She called out.

"I'm in the bathroom!"

Ariana ran to the bathroom and knelt in front of her daughter, who was sitting on the toilet crying. "What happened?"

"I'm bleeding!" Julia sobbed.

Ariana looked down, seeing blood on Julia's underwear and she sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god."

"What?! I'm dying!"

She laughed and hugged her, running her hand through her hair. "You're not dying honey, calm down. Take deep breaths, gather yourself real quick. This isn't anything to worry about. I'll be right back."

"No don't leave!"

"Just a second, I'll be right back."

Ariana went to Julia's room and grabbed a clean pair of underwear and shorts before quickly returning to the bathroom and setting them on the sink. "Can you breathe?"

"Yeah..." Julia said.

"You're not dying. You started your period. It's completely normal."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to get it until I was 13, that's what the book in health class said."

"The book in health class is generalized and incorrect. I started my period when I was 9."

"What do I do?"

"First, we're gonna clean up real quick and you can take a shower in the morning," she said, digging a pack of baby wipes out of a drawer. "Clean that blood off of you, but don't flush those wipes down my toilet, the pipes will clog. I'll be right back."

Ariana walked to her bedroom, gasping and placing her hand over her chest when she saw Justin sitting up. "Jesus Christ."

"Is she okay?" Justin asked. "I heard her scream."

"Yeah. She got her first period."

"So your baby isn't a baby anymore."

"Not anymore. I'm gonna help her real quick and I'll be back to bed. You don't have to wait for me."

"Cool, I'm going back to sleep," Justin said as he laid down.

Ariana giggled to herself and walked into her bathroom, going to the sink and opening the cabinet. After shuffling through a few things, she finally pulled out a box of pads and made her way back to the other bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"This is so gross," Julia muttered.

"It is but you'll get used to it and find ways to help keep it less messy. First steps though. Pads," she said, putting the box on the counter. "These stick to your panties and absorb the blood. Like a diaper. It'll be uncomfortable at first but we can try different brands to see which one feels the most comfortable."

"A diaper... might as well just wear a pull up. I'm a big kid now," she sarcastically sang the jingle.

Ariana chuckled and tossed Julia's underwear to her. "Put those on, don't pull them up," she said as she got a pad out of the box. "Alright. Common sense is, you have to open it up. You just take it off the wrapper and put it on the crotch part of your panties. Then take the paper off this part and fold the wings to the underside."

"Wings. Like I'm drinking Red Bull or something."

"They help keep it in place so it doesn't move out of place. Trust me, they're lifesavers."

"I'm still gonna bleed all over myself though, that's the gross messy part."

"Well, let's stick with pads this first time and we can try tampons next month."

"Next month?"

"You're gonna get it again. Every month."

"Being a girl is bullshit."