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.
The weather outside was very pleasant on that mid-September Thursday, so Mrs. Smitters announced that they’d be going outside. The locker rooms were configured so that they had an exit to the outside of the school building; this exit faced the football field and track, and she followed her teacher and the rest of the girls through the door.
Looking to the left as she exited, she could see the boys filing out of their door, accompanied by Mr. McDowell. Erin hadn’t been going to the school long enough to figure out all the details yet, but from what she’d managed to gather, Mr. McDowell was the coach of several of the boys’ sports teams, as well as somewhat of an assistant gym teacher to Mrs. Smitters. Although she’d never had an assistant gym teacher at her old school, it made sense to have one; after all, Mrs. Smitters wouldn’t be able to supervise the boys in their locker room. The two of them seemed to be very friendly with each other, a fact which a lot of the students picked up on, talking behind their backs about how they must love each other. Erin didn’t really understand where they got that; after all, the ‘Mrs.’ in Mrs. Smitters’s title would indicate she was already married, right?
Anyway, the two of them were pleasant enough as teachers, even if she wasn’t particularly interested in a non-academic subject such as gym. Mr. McDowell was very laid back for the most part, and Mrs. Smitters was always very courteous as long as she wasn’t interrupted while she was talking.
At the moment, though, Erin was really wishing that being interrupted wasn’t one of Mrs. Smitters’ pet peeves. Now that she was a few hundred yards away from the toilet she hadn’t successfully used earlier, her bowels decided it would be a good time to start cramping up again, and this time, the cramps weren’t going away. She desperately needed to ask to go back inside to use the toilet, but even if the teacher didn’t mind being interrupted, she would have still found it very difficult to speak up in the middle of her speech. So instead, Erin struggled to hold back, praying that Mrs. Smitters would hurry up with her explanation of the rules of the inane game they were going to play.
Mrs. Smitters was just finishing up as Erin felt a little spurt escape from her rear.
I just pooped my pants a little!
She could tell that it wasn’t very much, but it would definitely stain her panties, and she really hoped the stain wasn’t visible through her white sweatpants. She knew, though, that she needed to go to the toilet now. Luckily, her teacher had just finished her explanation and sent the kids onto the field. Erin hung back and approached her.
“Mrs. Smitters?”
“Yes, Erin?”
“May I go use the bathroom?”
“Didn’t you just come out of the locker room, Erin?”
“I did,” Erin admitted, “but I still really have to go.”
Erin was concerned that Mrs. Smitters wouldn’t believe her, which was a problem, as she knew she didn’t have long. She needn’t have worried, though; Mrs. Smitters took a good look at her face and realized the girl wasn’t lying. “Hurry up, then.”
“Thank you,” Erin gushed, and turned around to get to the locker room as fast as she could.
Her departure wasn’t missed by her fellow students, however. As she half walked, half ran towards the building, she heard a general murmur behind her, and a boy’s voice spoke up. “How come she gets to leave?”
Her body decided to answer him. She halted in her tracks as a very strong cramp came over her, making it too painful to keep going forward. The stopping didn’t help her situation, though, and with a final gurgle of her abdomen, the contents of her colon emptied into her sweatpants. She felt a large solid part pass painfully, and that stayed within her panties. The majority of her accident, however, was the same semi-liquid material she’d passed earlier. Her panties did very little to contain it, and an easily visible brown stain formed on the seat of her pants. She could feel a little bit of the mess sliding down her upper leg, praying that it wouldn’t actually escape the leg of her sweatpants. Erin couldn’t think of a time when she’d ever felt more gross than this.
“Oh, my god!” exclaimed some girl whose voice Erin didn’t recognize. “I think she just sh…” The girl suddenly cut off her voice before swearing, apparently noticing that her exclamation had gotten the attention of Mrs. Smitters.
There was a general murmur as people turned to look, and some laughter began to form before the teachers jumped into action and cut it short. “One word from anybody, and you’re all running laps for the rest of the class,” shouted Mr. McDowell. “Get back to your game!”
Apparently none of the students wanted to earn the ire of their classmates; although there was still some staring, nobody said anything. Mrs. Smitters jogged over to Erin, put her hand on the back of the girl’s shoulder, and led her back inside to the locker room.
Erin was still too much in shock from what had happened to be worried about what her fellow students were thinking yet. Right now, all she wanted to do was get out of these dirty clothes. No matter how delicately she walked, the load kept shifting, and the smell was beginning to reach her nostrils.
Once they were inside the otherwise empty locker room, Mrs. Smitters finally spoke to Erin. “You’re in your gym clothes now, so I’m assuming that means you have your street clothes to change back into?”
“I have a change of pants, but I don’t have a change of underwear.” Erin frowned.
“I’m afraid I can’t help you with that; you’re probably going to have to go without them. Go ahead and clean yourself up and get dressed in your street clothes. We’ve got the showers over there, you should probably use them.”
Erin nodded. “Do you want me to come back out when I’m done, or just stay here, or what?”
The teacher gave her a sympathetic expression. “Erin, It’s the last class of the day. I think with what happened, I could justify sending you to the nurse’s office to be checked out, or you could go to the front office and have them call your parents to pick you up. I’ll write you a note for that either way, and either way, that would save you the trouble of having to deal with the other students today.”
Erin hesitated. She wasn’t feeling sick, so it seemed odd to go to the nurse, but she really didn’t want to face her peers again. She had just had an accident after trying all day to go to the toilet; maybe something was wrong with her. At least, the possibility that something was wrong with her was reasonable enough that she could justify to herself skipping the rest of class to pay the nurse a visit.
“You’d let me go to the nurse?” Erin finally answered.
“Of course. It’s probably a good idea for you to be checked out anyway after something like this.” She walked into her locker room office, scribbled a quick note on a piece of paper, and handed it to Erin. “When you’re done, go ahead and take this note to the nurse’s office, and they’ll take care of you from there.”
Erin felt very grateful. “Thank you. Um… I’m sorry for being such a hassle.”
“You’re not in trouble. It was an accident, and I know that can be tough at your age, but the best thing you can do about it right now is get yourself cleaned up. Are you going to be okay with cleaning and getting yourself to the nurse’s office?”
“I… can handle it.”
Mrs. Smitters patted her twice on the shoulder and turned towards the door. “I’ll give you some privacy,” she said, and walked back outside.
Erin set the note down on a bench and got her change of clothes out of the locker. Her day had gone from bad to horrible, and she wanted nothing more than to get out of her messy underwear.
The only positive thing she had going for her was that the accident had occurred during gym, so she hadn’t ruined her normal clothes, and she had a place to change. In a way, that was lucky, as hard as it was to attribute any element of good luck to what had happened.
She was alone in the locker room, so she went over to the toilets and carefully pulled down her sweatpants and panties after removing her shoes and socks. She succeeded in making her legs dirtier, but she eventually managed to mostly empty her mess out of her clothes and into the toilet. The clothes were still horribly stained, though. There wasn’t much chance for them, but her aunt had bought them for her, and she probably shouldn’t throw them out without permission. She saw a spare trash bag tucked under the liner of the trash bin, took it, and put her dirty clothes in that, tying it in a knot.
She took the remainder of her clothes off and went into the showers, thankful for the wall-mounted soap dispensers. As she cleaned herself up, her thoughts turned to Hailey.
Erin realized that this was the first time she’d cleaned up a messy accident of her own in a while. She’d soiled herself on that day she was sick, and she’d had the accident in the car on the way home from the amusement park, and both times Hailey had helped her.
It wasn’t the cleaning itself that made her wish her cousin was there. Although the task was gross, it was one she could handle. No, it was more of a feeling of amazement that someone was willing to help her out, even when she was disgusting as she was. Erin was generally reluctant to believe people would care much about her, but the help Hailey gave her in such a situation proved to her that she did have concern for Erin, and that feeling of having such a good friend was the one ray of light in the otherwise horrible experience of an accident.
Hailey wasn’t here now, though. She’d be in her algebra class, completely ignorant of what was happening to her cousin. As much as Erin wanted a hug from Hailey and some meaningful consolation, she’d have to get through this on her own for now.
She finished in the shower, dried herself off with her gym shirt, and redressed herself in her street clothes sans underwear. It felt rather odd to Erin, and she wasn’t entirely sure she liked wearing nothing under her pants, but it was leagues better than the feeling of the mess. Grabbing her books and teacher’s note in one hand and the tied-off trash bag with her dirty clothes in the other, she left the locker room for the deserted hallways of the school.
Gym was her final class, and her locker was on the way to the nurse’s office, so she stopped to pick up her backpack along the way. She soon reached her destination and carefully opened the cracked door, and she did a double-take as she looked into the room.
