Periods

what's happening? - real story

Names are changed for privacy. I do not remember exactly what happened because this was over three years ago so minor details might change. Also, I don't know what this girl was thinking so again, small details will be off. If the text is in bold italics it's an author's note

To set the scene:

-This takes place at Girl Scout Camp Merriwether 

-It is December

-Nobody knows anything about periods

-We are in fourth grade so I'm ten and the girl is nine

My stomach had been feeling weird since breakfast, but I figured that I'd eaten too much sugar because my dads weren't around to judge what I ate.

Lacey's mom is running late to pick us up and drive us home, so we're goofing off in the bathroom. I duck into a stall and pull down my pants to find a mystery brown stain. It doesn't look like poop, but I don't know what else it might be. I come out of the bathroom and join Emme in vandalizing the bathroom with soap. 

"I just sharted" I say author's note: I'm not kidding the girl actually said this to me.

"What?" Emme says

"When you fart and poop at the same time" I say

"Where did the sh come from?" Emme asks

"I don't know" I say

Sydney K. comes to yell at us for messing around so we just stand outside in the cold. Nobody likes Sydney K. because she's in Ms. Dillard's class and everyone knows those kids are stuck up. They like making fun of me for having two dads. 

Eventually, Lacey's mom shows up and Emme, Lacey, Kayla, and I pile into the minivan. Lacey's mom's minivan is different from papa's minivan because papa's minivan doesn't play movies. Emme thinks it smells weird, but Emme thinks all cars smell weird. She should see papa's minivan. The whole ride home my stomach is doing flips and I'm beginning to see why Emme thinks the car smells weird. I wish that traffic didn't make the car ride almost twice as long or that Lacey didn't pick such a terrible movie. I tap my leg on the floor of the minivan the whole time, and when I glance down I see red. I do a double take, because I didn't cut myself on anything. Why am I bleeding? I tap Emme's shoulder and gesture to the small stain on my pants. Emme nods, shock on her face. 

I don't really want to tell anyone else about it, I only told Emme to confirm that I wasn't imagining it. I don't feel like I'm dying so I'll be fine waiting until I'm safe at home with my dads. Emme and I sit in absolute silence, waiting for Kayla or Lacey to lose interest in the stupid dog hotel movie. Eventually, Kayla turns around to talk to Emme and notices the patch of blood on my pants. The three of us make a silent pact not to further spread the word. I press my legs tighter together and hope that nobody looks at me for the rest of the car ride. 

Eventually, Lacey also loses interest in the movie and the four of us start talking about our teachers. Even though I'm in the conversation, the others don't really acknowledge me, which makes me feel a little better about the possibility of everyone in the car knowing. I guess most of them already do, but if Lacey knows she's going to tell her mom. Then her mom will pull over to check on me and it will become a whole thing. 

Luckily, we make it back to the school parking lot without Lacey noticing. Now to get up and find where my dads are waiting without someone seeing. I hesitate in the van for a second, but then just make a run for it. I hoped that my dads would say we had somewhere to be or an errand to run so I could get out of here ASAP. Of course, the one time I'm looking for an escape, there isn't one. So I sit in the trunk of the minivan so the bloodstain isn't visible. Emme keeps shooting strange glances at me and I try my best to ignore her. I can't tell if it's because she thinks my dads are weird or she's expecting me to randomly drop dead from blood loss.

I have no idea what her dads did after she went home so I'm going to fast forward to the next day at recess.

The next day at recess while digging up the mountain underneath our school (the "mountain" was this giant rock under a tree we were convinced would lead to China.)  Emme asks me what happened and if I'm okay. I don't really know what happened either, my dads didn't really explain much, but I know enough to know I'm okay.

"My dads said not to worry about it and gave me stick on diapers" I tell her

"What's a stick on diaper?" Emme asks me

"It's like half a diaper with glue on the other side you stick to your underwear" I say

"My mom has things like that in her bathroom" Emme says

"My dads said that they're for girls once they're old enough" I say

"But I don't need any and I'm older than you" Emme says, "why do you need them?" We start climbing up the blue rope dome.

Kayla climbs up behind us, "What are you talking about?" She asks

"Remember how Sophia was bleeding yesterday?" Emme asks Kayla.

Kayla nods, "Are you okay?" She asks me

"My dads said it was normal and I'd be fine" I say, "they said I'm growing up"

"Did the bleeding stop?" Kayla asks

"No, they just gave me these stick on diapers" I say, pulling one out of my pocket.

"I told you I'm not weird for still wearing pull-ups!" Kayla says to Emme

"You're still weird for it" Emme says

that's what happens when a nine year old girl with two dads gets her period.