For most kids 4th grade is a pretty decent chapter. They're no longer the little kids at school, but they don't have the stresses of the 5th graders getting ready to transfer to middle school. For some kids though, it's a bit more difficult to maintain the standards of a 10 year old.
That was the case with Justin. Justin was a smart kid but he struggled with the social accepts of growing up due to his self consciousness and social anxiety. This became a real issue one day in the middle of silent reading when Justin sat at his desk with a sense of dread. He had to pee... bad.
Looking down at his crotch and back up at his teacher, Justin began to fear what would happen if he didn't ask to go to the bathroom. He was going to pee his pants, and not for the first time at school. Back in kindergarten, Justin faced a lot of teasing from peers about his "little accident" after he failed to put on a pull-up before nap time. Terrified of receiving that ridicule again, he knew he had to ask to use the bathroom, but right as he prepared to raise his hand, he went numb as the inevitable warmth spread across his lap. It was too late.
With a brick in the pit of his stomach and a quickly reddening face, Justin pulled his shirt down in a futile attempt to cover the wet patch and hung his head in shame trying to figure out his next move. That move was decided for him when Ms. Lowe looked up from her desk and saw clearly the embarrassment on the child's face. She walked over to his desk, crouched down beside him, and just as she whispered "hey Justin, what's wrong?' she saw the wet pants the boy was desperately trying to cover.
"What happened here?' she asked already knowing what the answer was. An elementary school teacher didn't have to guess when she saw a child trying to hide wet pants, although this was typically more common of the lower grades.
"I had an accident" Justin whispered reluctantly.
"Aww sweetie" Ms. Lowe said. "I'll send you to the nurse so she can take care of you, okay?"
Justin knew that's what he had to do, but he also knew as soon as he stood up everyone was going to see what happened, but Ms. Lowe spared him when she walked to the front of the room and addressed the class asking them all to close their eyes and think about what they've been reading. With everyones eyes closed, she looked at Justin and nodded for him to go ahead and leave.
As he walked in to the nurse's office, Justin was greeted by a sweet and sympathetic "oh dear, let's get you out of those wet things. Come with me." Justin just stayed silent as the nurse led him to the bathroom and handed him some baby wipes, a pair of sweatpants, and, to his absolute humiliation, a pair of Barney underwear.
"Sorry, those are all we have. Usually we need them for younger kids.'' She spoke, instantly realizing she shouldn't have.
Justin just stepped into the bathroom and removed his soaked jeans and now yellow stained Spider-Man underwear and placed them in a plastic bag. He then cleaned himself up and put on the fresh, much more childish underwear and happily covered them up with the sweatpants and walked back out to the nurse.
"Hey sweetie, why don't you lay down for a bit and take a nap before I send you back to class. I know how draining this can be.''
Justin didn't like the idea of napping at school given his history, but he was emotionally exhausted so he agreed and laid down on the cot. He definitely needed the rest because in less than two minutes he was fast asleep and just minutes after that the nurse couldn't help but let out a slight laugh when she saw he had his thumb in his mouth. She figured it must be from the stress and let it be, but it was still a sight to see. She shook her head.
"Poor little guy.'
