It was a shooting game like Doom. There were no cheat codes like in Doom and the graphics were far better: no pixilation or anything. It was a lot more complicated. Her screen flashed red and her gun began to shake on the screen as her view shifted vertical to horizontal. The words, “Fragged you Accident Girl,” appeared on the screen.
They did the same thing over and over until she got a handle on the controls and how the game worked. The next time they came around she shot them with her shotgun and ran across the screen to a more defensible position. She pulled out the sniper rifle and just killed Red Team players for the rest of the class period.
In Spanish she had to pay attention. She was lost most of the class because the teacher taught it in Spanish. If only the teacher taught German instead. She could ace that, or at least relearn it. The Spanish teacher asked Lia something and she nodded and said, “Si.” Then she asked Deborah the same thing.
She took a fifty-fifty chance and said, “Si.” The teacher seemed pleased by her remark.
“Everyone, conversations are due next week. Alison and Lia volunteered to go first, so they get five bonus points. We will have a test next Friday. You should be able to handle it easily. It is on chapter eighteen in your book.”
The bell rang and Deborah hurried to study hall. She got the pre-Calculus done fairly quickly and was about to pull Brave New World out to read, but the bell rang. She hurried to the bus. At least she had the weekend to get caught up. She hoped she could make it through Spanish and graduate.
On the bus ride home, Lia seemed excited. She chattered constantly about what she heard on the Internet about Star Trek and how when the new Spock did a mind meld, he gave a whole new meaning to the term “my mind to your mind.”
“I don’t get it,” said Deborah.
“Because Zachary Quinto plays Siler on Heros.” She paused to see if I recognized what she was talking about. “And Siler eats peoples’ brains.”
“Ick,” said Deborah. “I don’t think I want to watch Heros.”
“Don’t worry,” said Lia, “I won’t watch it anymore after this season. I’ll pick you up in an hour,” she said.
The bus stopped in front of Alison’s house. Deborah hadn’t even noticed. She got off the bus and went into the house to have the talk with her mother.
“How was school, Alison?” asked her mother.
“Fine,” she answered.
“Sit down and let’s talk.”
Deborah sat down on the couch and her mother sat beside her. “You wet the bed two nights in a row and on Wednesday you not only had an accident in school, but you had another one at the dinner table. I’m worried about you.”
“I…,” Deborah started to say, but stopped. She didn’t know what to say at all. She was going to be grounded, she knew it and then she would do horrible in Spanish and maybe not get into college. She hoped she could do well if she failed the conversation assignment. She bite her lip and looked at her mother. “How long am I grounded for?” she asked.
“I’m not punishing you. I am sure you didn’t mean to have accidents, but I am getting tired of washing your sheets every morning. Just because I work at home doesn’t mean I have time to deal with your laundry every day. I have deadlines you know.”
“All right, I will try not to wet the bed,” said Deborah. She knew she would anyway.
“I think maybe you should wear protection to bed,” her mother said. “I bought you something to wear to protect your sheets.”
“What do you mean?” asked Deborah.
“Come on up to your room.” Her mother led the way to Deborah’s bedroom. On her bed was a package of Depends.
“There is no way I am going to wear diapers,” said Deborah. “I thought you said you wouldn’t punish me.”
“It’s just for night. No one will ever know. You don’t have to wake up in wet sheets anymore.”
“I can’t. Lia is going to spend the night. I don’t want her to see me in diapers.”
“I’ll put them in your closet then.” Her mother carried the bag of diapers to Alison’s closet. “I just thought they would be more comfortable than wet pajamas. We can try them out tomorrow night. Just try them one night and see if you like them.”