Ben flushed bright red, he hated that word, nappies. It made him sound like a baby, being an eighteen-year-old who wore nappies was, in Ben’s opinion, even worse than being an eighteen-year-old who wet the bed.
“Our problem, Ben, is that if the other students find out about this then we can’t promise there won’t be some unkind comments. Of course we know that bedwetting is common, even amongst teenagers, and nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s perfectly normal. But some may not see it like that, which is just because they’re uninformed. And obviously today had been hard for you. And so if you want to go home now then we could always give your parents a call, and see if they could collect you tomorrow morning, or arrange for you to get a train home.”
There was nothing Ben wanted to do more than go home, but he knew he couldn’t. The trip hadn’t been cheap, and his Mum had had to work overtime in able to pay for him to go, it wouldn’t be fair for him to go home halfway through. And of course he would have to explain the whole situation to his Mum, and he knew it would hurt her more than it was hurting him to hear about the awful time her son was having. No, Ben couldn’t go home.
“I don’t want to go home.” Ben said.
“Would you like to change rooms? Mr Lea and I have two spare beds in our room, it might make things easier for you?” Mr Allen offered.
Ben shook his head, no way was he going to share a room with his teachers. That would just make things look even worse. It would only draw attention to him. If he just faced the guys in his room, and put up with their teasing, and maybe even tried to laugh it off like Mike had suggested, then hopefully by tomorrow they’d be bored of teasing him. “It’s okay, I don’t think they’ll notice.”
“Well okay Ben, have it your way, but just be aware that the offer stands. And if you have any problems, with anyone or anything, please come and speak to one of us, and we can sort it out. Okay?”
Ben nodded, “Yes miss, yes sir.”
“Okay, then you can go back to your room. And tell the others I want all lights out in fifteen minutes.”