#GirlsShitToo

New Friends

Even though I was embarrassed about being called out in Adree's video, I couldn't pretend I wasn't impressed by it. In fact, I downright loved it. Lots of people tweeted awesome responses:

Camille Henderson @CammieHenderson21

Periods: monthly reminders that we hold the power of creation! #GirlsBleedToo

Alison Power @AliceInPowerland

When I was 14 my aunt convinced me that I need to douche monthly after I bleed. So I've totes grown up w/ a dirty V complex #GirlsBleedToo

Valerie Devant @VVDevant

I used to be so excited that really small tampons were sold in bright wrappers b/c that meant I could pretend they were gum #GirlsBleedToo

Victoria Tellers @VTellers1995

They actually sell tampons w/ noiseless wrappers. b/c we need to be THAT embarrassed of our periods #GirlsBleedToo

Mizzz Erin @ErinHeller_thatsall

I free-bleed now b/c I don't like supporting the industry that makes me feel like my period is a dirty secret #GirlsBleedToo

Skye Forever @InTheSkye

At our commune the women painted a mural w/ menstrual blood, and it was BEAUTIFUL #GirlsBleedToo

Eric Fulton @Eric_Fulton

PSA: #TransgenderGuysCanBleedToo

* * *

"Well, Adree's vlog was a winner this week," Eric said on Thursday during lunch. He, Dylan, and I sat in his car, eating our sack lunches.

"Ugh I know," I said, rolling my eyes. She had even won me over. I had spent the previous nights researching Menarchy, and the experience was pretty transformative.

Thinking my period was this gross disgusting thing that I needed to hide using expensive, scented tampons was something I had been nurtured into, and I wanted to change that. I wasn't about to paint my face with my menstrual blood or anything, and I didn't even know if that could qualify as metal for me, but I was ready to challenge the idea that my period was a dirty secret.

Dylan disagreed. "I think periods and shit are gross. I don't understand what's wrong with being private about that stuff."

The last of my peanut butter sandwich made its way down my throat before I said, "Maybe once we acknowledge that girls poop and bleed and that there's nothing wrong with it, we can start being private about it again. But a lot of us are just private about it because we like to pretend it's a secret or that it doesn't happen. I'm not about that kind of privacy."

* * *

In econ on Friday, Trish asked Harber if she could go to the restroom. He said no, like he usually did (he always told us that we should "be responsible" and "lay off the liquid"). Then she said, "If you won't let me go, Mr. Harber, I'm going to bleed through my expensive jeans and it won't wash out and my mom will kill me." His jaw dropped and he did this weird nod and said, "Okay then, go! Quickly!"

I would never have imagined Trish saying something like that, and I felt pretty sure the reason she did was because of Adree's vlog. My thumb went up in support of her.

Then after class, Alex brought the new girl Justine out to lunch with me and him and Benny. She seemed super excited to meet me, and I was momentarily jealous of Alex. She looked like Miss World if Miss World were metal. And the fact that she liked some of the heaviest metal out there made her ten times hotter, but she was my best friend's girlfriend, not a prospect. She said, "People at my school in San Diego were watching your vlogs. It's really weird meeting you!"

"Well I'm just a regular person." I ruffled my hair like a celebrity.

"A regular, shitting person," Alex corrected me.

"The shitting is implied when you say regular," I said.

"Not if you don't shit regularly," Benny said.

"No, we are talking about regular, shitting people with two coordinate adjectives, not regularly shitting people with an adverb modifying an adjective," I argued.

"Ms. Brooks would be proud of this conversation," Alex said, with Justine looking amused beside him.

"Speaking of shitting regularly," she said. "Do you guys want coffee with lunch?"

I widened my eyes before saying, "Oh, you are a keeper!"

"Isn't she?" asked Alex. "Plus, she likes 'shuggah with her coffee!"

Benny did not look like he wanted to keep her, despite her love for Meshuggah. In fact, during all of lunchtime, his agitation was high. I made him a cheap-o hacked latte, and he didn't say thank you. He glared at me as Justine took a selfie of the two of us at our table, which I had only agreed to because her friends would be "so jealous" (I was not a selfie taker). She posted it on Instagram right then with the caption, "Me and @DallasDelaney, a regular and regularly shitting person!"

Then, when she complained about how she had a short film due on Monday for film studies, Benny said, full of malice (and oozing with jealousy), "Maybe Alex should star in your film."

"That's not a bad idea," she said, and Alex got a panicked look. He wasn't the drama type; in fact, he regularly made fun of the Crystal Shore theatre department (uncool).

"What do you guys think the world would be like if you had periods?" I asked them, changing the subject to help him out.

"What?" Benny said.

"I've just been looking up lots of stuff about Menarchy lately, and lots of feminists think if men had periods they would be like...a bragging point."

"Well, blood is pretty metal," Alex said, probably glad I changed the subject. "I mean...you just posted that picture of your epic knee injury from the skatepark on Instagram last week," he told Benny.

"And you posted that other picture to prove how much you bled through your cloth bandages," I reminded him. "You were so proud. I can totally imagine you bragging about a heavy period."

Even though Benny had been in a sour mood, a smile appeared on his face. "Maybe."

"That gives me the best idea. What if both of you were in my short film? A short about manstruation?" Justine gestured with her hands, gazing off into the distance, trying to get us all to share her vision.

"That is the best idea!" I could see it clearly, and it was hilarious.

"What?" Benny said. "No way."

Justine's hands went together in a pleading gesture. "Benny, this is a chance at stardom. Please?" 

"Please please please?" I asked.

"Yeah dude," Alex said, probably thinking there would be no way out of helping his new girlfriend and that it would better to star in a short film alongside a friend. "It'll be cool."

"I'll buy your coffee next time," Justine offered.

Considering the offer, Benny looked at all three of us. When his eyes fell on Alex, who seemed to be pleading as hard as we were, he turned to Justine and said, "The next two times, and you have a deal." It seemed like he'd finally accepted she was going to be attending our lunchtime coffee runs a lot.

"Do you think we could collaborate?" I asked her. "I feel like this would be the perfect thing to post in lieu of a vlog."

"I'll check with Mrs. Egert next period. She's cool—she'll probably say yes," she said. "And I'd love to have you as a co-writer."

As we drove home, I went on Instagram. Her post with the selfie of us had already received lots of love. Lots of comments said things like, "Wow, you know her? Cool!"

I had to admit: being famous could be fun.