Chapter Thirty-Two
Erin forced herself to take another sip from her chocolate milk carton. It wasn’t as cold as it should have been, so although it didn’t taste spoiled, it didn’t taste very good either. But she was thirsty, and she only brought exactly enough money to school to buy lunch, so going back up and getting something else wasn’t an option.
As thirsty as she was, she really didn’t feel much like eating. The greasy rectangular slice of pizza with tiny little cubes of pepperoni sitting on her tray only had a few bites missing from it, and she had no desire to consume any more.
She looked across the table at her cousin. Hailey was just finishing off the last of the food on her tray. Erin followed Hailey’s eyes from Hailey’s now-empty tray across to her own uneaten food.
“Are you okay?” asked Hailey. “You’ve hardly eaten anything, and you didn’t really eat much at breakfast either.”
“I’m fine,” answered Erin. “I’m just not really hungry. Do you want mine?”
Hailey shook her head. “No, I just want to make sure you’re alright. You’re not eating and you’ve been pretty quiet.” She lowered her voice slightly. “Are you still frustrated about this morning?”
Erin had woken up this morning with a wet diaper. Normally this wouldn’t bother her too much; as much as she wished she didn’t have this problem, it wasn’t an unusual occurrence. However, she’d been dry for the previous seven nights. Even though it was something she had no voluntary control over, she’d been proud of herself, and Hailey seemed proud of her too. With a week of waking up dry, she’d allowed herself to hope that her bedwetting was going away.
The damp feeling she woke up to this morning had shattered her optimism, and she’d been feeling down all day because of it. She knew she shouldn’t be so depressed; instead, she should consider herself lucky that her bladder had granted her one good week. Yet she still couldn’t shake her mood. It was her own fault anyway, she’d decided. She’d let herself get hopeful prematurely, and she should have known better.
“A little,” she admitted. “But that’s not why I’m not eating. I’m just really not feeling hungry.”
Hailey nodded. “Are you ready to head outside for the rest of lunch recess, then?”
“I’ll meet up with you outside,” she said. “I need to stop by the bathroom.”
“Did you want me to come along?”
“It’d probably be better if you didn’t, I might be a little while. I don’t just have to pee.”
Hailey nodded understandingly, although she looked a little surprised. “And you’re going to do that in the school bathrooms?”
Erin understood the concern; the school bathrooms weren’t exactly the pinnacle of cleanliness, and neither girl was inclined to spend any more time in them than necessary. The strong pressure she was now feeling on her backside, however, informed her that this was necessary. “I’d rather wait until I get home, but I don’t think I’ll be able to, and after lunch recess I won’t really have a chance to spend long enough in the bathroom to do it.”
Hailey stood back from the table. “Okay, then. I’ll see you outside when you’re done.” Hailey stood and began to walk towards the trash can with her tray. Erin followed her to the trash can, and they parted ways in the hallway, Hailey heading to the left towards the back paved area that the middle school used for lunch break on nice days, and Erin heading to the right towards the restrooms.
The bathroom had a slight odor of tobacco; it didn’t smell like someone had been smoking recently, but it was obvious that students had used the room for that purpose at many times in the past. There was a girl she didn’t recognize at the sink, and the stall closest to the door was occupied. She picked the stall farthest from the occupied one and the door; although she’d be using the bathroom for its intended purpose, she really didn’t want to be producing these kinds of smells right next to another person. Finding the toilet clean enough to be usable, she lowered her pants and panties and sat down.
As soon as she relaxed, she felt some very runny material rapidly leave her, making a noise that she probably would have giggled at when she was half her current age. Now, though, it was embarrassing, especially since she knew there were other people in the bathroom. They didn’t say anything, though.
Although what she’d released had relieved the pressure she was feeling significantly, she didn’t feel like she was done. It didn’t surprise her that there was more, really; now that she thought about it, it had been a few days since she’d last gone. She allowed her bladder to empty, and then worked on pushing the remainder out. By the time she checked her watch and realized only seven minutes remained before the warning bell for the end of lunch break, she’d only managed to get just a little bit more of the runny matter out. She still wasn’t done, but she was out of time. At least she’d lessened the pressure enough that she’d be able to wait until she got home to finish.
She wiped, flushed, washed her hands, and headed outside to meet Hailey. Only a couple minutes were left before the bell would signal them to go back inside and head for their next class.
Hailey smiled as she approached. “Hey, Erin. Feel better now?”
Erin returned a brief smile. “Physically, yes.” Although she could still feel the need to go, it was no longer uncomfortably strong.
Hailey nodded. “But you’re still not in a great mood?”
“Not really. I’m sorry.”
Hailey reached over and patted her on the shoulder. “Well, I hope you feel better soon. I know this morning wasn’t great for you, but you’re still my best friend.”
Erin noticed that Hailey seemed to be choosing her words very carefully so that anyone overhearing the conversation couldn’t tell specifically what the problem had been. For this, Erin was thankful; even as a new student, she’d been able to get by without too much harassment, and she suspected that might change if other students knew that she didn’t always wake up dry.
“I’ll be okay,” Erin said. “I shouldn’t have got my hopes up like that; it made it harder to take when I failed.”
“You’re not a failure,” said Hailey. “You just had a bit of bad luck. But you’re a strong girl, and I know you can handle this.”
Erin nodded just as the bell rang. The paved patio area they were standing on was always loud from the many conversations occurring during lunch break, but the cacophony only increased as the students crowded into the door and attempted to say their last remarks to their friends before class. To hear each other, Hailey and Erin would have to yell, and shouting wasn’t conducive to the private conversation they were having. They remained silent for the entire trip to their next class.
Erin still couldn’t shake the lingering feeling of disappointment in herself. Hailey’s reassurances helped a lot, and she knew that what happened this morning was something she couldn’t change, but her shattered pride still taunted her.
Similarly, she just wished her bowels would make a decision. Her need to defecate had returned to her in full force not more than an hour and a half after her previous trip to the toilet, and the urge was now strong enough that every once in a while she had to tense up and fight to hold it back. Although the five minutes between classes was barely enough to visit the restroom and pee before she had to leave to get to class on time, she’d sat on the toilet and pushed as hard as she could for the duration of her brief bathroom trip. Yet she’d had no results.
It was very frustrating that she couldn’t get herself to go while she was on the toilet, since the pressure was strong enough that she was beginning to worry how long she could hold it. Luckily, it was only a few minutes until this class ended, and her next class was gym, which would afford her a longer chance to use the toilet. She knew she could change very quickly, so if she went straight to the locker room after this class and changed right away, she could probably spend six or seven minutes on the toilet. It wasn’t ideal, but a lot better than the single minutes she’d had before.
The bell rang, and she put her plan into action. She gathered her books and gave a quick nod goodbye to her cousin before walking as fast as she could to the locker room. Very few girls were there when she entered, and she performed the world’s fastest change and locked herself into a toilet stall before many more showed up.
Yet even with the seven minutes she had, she was unable to deposit any more than urine in the toilet, in spite of how strongly she needed to go. She could feel her bowels were just on the edge of letting go, but try as she might, she couldn’t get them to release. If only one of those cramps would come over her, she was sure she could do her job, but her body just seemed to be teasing her. She left the toilet as she heard Mrs. Smitters call for the girls to finish up, her situation no better than when she first entered the stall.
