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  1. Fidgeting anxiously in the café Amelia couldn’t stop herself from checking the clock every few moments, Irritated that only 15 minutes have passed when it felt like 15 years. To focused on the time she barely notices when the waitress walks up “just yourself today Hun” pulling out a pen and paper for her order. “I’m waiting on someone actually” looking down to avoid eye contact she sheepishly says “could I have small coffee please” she’s never been good with strangers “ of course coming right up” the waitress replies smiling before turning away. Amelia’s eyes once again dart back to the clock with 10 minutes to go, almost squirming uncontrollably “I can’t believe I’m doing this” she murmurs under her breath waiting for the elusive C an older woman she has been chatting on fetlife for the last several weeks. They seem to click on every level spending hours upon hours discussing everything from books to their home life. They decided to wait on a meeting up or giving names, both having been burned heavily in past relationships due to their interests but neither wished to discuss it just yet. Arriving with her coffee the waitress leaves it on the table and heads back up front, suddenly the café door opens up and Amelia hears her say “oh she’s in the back waiting” Amelia straightened up her anxiety going through the rood as she hears the footsteps growing closer until finally. “Hello are you A?” Her voice sounds incredibly familiar to Amelia as she stands and turns, but freezes at the sight of C instantly recognizing her. “Oh no oh no” is all she can say her mind racing “this can’t be happening” standing before her is Claire Parker her old middle school teacher. Not just any teacher, her favorite teacher. The one who was there to comfort Amelia when her best friend pretended she didn’t exist in the cafeteria, the one who helped wipe away the tears when bullies wouldn’t leave her alone calling her “anchor Amy” because of her size. Miss Parker was also the one who encouraged her to follow her passion for music and to be honest the one when had an enormous crush on. She was a huge influence on young Amelia, but suddenly one day she just quit, no word or warning she just vanished. Leaving Amelia devastated. But now over 6 years later they’re once again face to face, she should be overjoyed at the reunion but all Amelia can think about is the fact that she has told Miss Parker everything. Literally every dirty fantasy and kink has been unknowingly discussed with her former teacher; shaking uncontrollably the only thing that stops her from fleeing is 9Miss Parkers reaction. “AMEILIA!!!” she exclaims pulling the startled girl into a warm embrace “now this is a happy coincidence isn’t it” her voice giddy with excitement “it’s been what? 6 years? Look how you’ve grown” looking her up and down Miss Parker gets a good look at her former pupil her smile growing “you filled out in all the right places” Amelia’s face flashes crimson at the compliment, looking down at her thick frame she doesn’t quite get what Ms Parker is seeing “t..th..thank you Miss Parker” is all she can spit out “Oh I think we’re far past calling me Miss don’t you?” her kind demeanor making Amelia fill more at ease “ why don’t you try calling me Claire?” she says as she settles down into the booth. Settling down herself she takes a deep breath to steady her nerves “this isn’t weird for you? I mean you use to be my teacher” says Amelia quietly, her eyes darting back and forth ensuring the coast is clear “I haven’t been your teacher in a long time sweetie, were both adults who know what they are getting into” Claire keeps a close eye on her not looking away for a moment “and besides I think we’d both rather I be your Mommy anyway” she says it so casually it causes Amelia to blush even harder. “but why don’t we forget all that for now” reaching across the table Claire puts a hand on her arm “I’d love for us just to catch up and chat, just treat this like a regular old date, no pressure or expectations. How does that sound?” Thinking of this as a normal date did help alleviate some of Amelia’s anxiety about the situation, I mean at the least this isn’t some stranger just trying to seduce her or anything, it was Miss Parker one of the kindest people she has ever known “I guess that could work” a smile beginning to spread across her face as she begins to relax. And so began their first official ‘date’ it was awkward at first with Amelia stumbling to find her words but soon they were both chatting up a storm talking for hours in the quiet little booth about everything they could think off . It all flowed just so naturally as if they were friends for years. It was the best date either of them had in quite a while. One thing became very evident to Amelia throughout the evening and that is that she was still totally infatuated with her former teacher hanging onto her every word neither of them realizing just how long they’ve been talking until Amelia asks the question that has plagued her for years “Why did you leave the way you did” Claire grimaces, the old memory still causing a sting even now “well you see sweetie back then I was in a relationship that had slowly become toxic. We were bad for each other but neither of us could admit it. In the end I broke things off with her” she pauses staring down at her coffee “she….didn’t take it well” Amelia’s can see her eyes start to glisten and says “you don’t have to tell me if it’s too painful I understand” the last thing she wants is to drudge up old hurts. “No…no it’s ok you of all people deserve an answer” breathing in deep she exhales “my former little ousted me to everyone, she told the school board and all the parents the nature of our relationship and they freaked” Amelia’s eyes grow wide with disbelief. How could anyone do such a cruel vindictive thing to Claire, she was always the kindest and most compassionate out of all the teachers at school. “They gave me the choice to resign with some dignity or be fired” looking down to avoid eye contact she says “I’m so very sorry for never saying goodbye but they wouldn’t let me” a moment of pure silence follows as Claire continues to stare at her coffee. Amelia had never seen the usually confident Miss Parker seem so vulnerable. Shaking her head she looks up at Amelia “but that’s all in the past now” reaching over the table she takes Amelia’s Hand “I’d much rather look to the future” she squeezes a little “and I hope you can be a part of it as my little” Amelia’s entire body once against turns scarlet almost forgetting why they were there in the first place. The thought of loosing Miss Parker again is too much to bear; she squeezes Claire’s hand just as hard before replying “I think I’d like that very much” “You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that” says Claire still holding Amelia’s Hand tightly “there’s no rush we can take this as fast or slow as you want ok baby girl” gazing deep into Amelia’s eyes she leans forward over the table their lips just barely touching before she pulls away “I’ll keep you safe, I’ll take care of you, I promise” Amelia’s brain short circuits as their lips meet, she must have day dreamed about doing that a million times back in school but the reality of it is much more satisfying then in fantasy. Her attempts to speak fail miserably, unable to find the right words. Burying her face in her hands incredibly flustered she can only murmur “oh my God that just happened “much to the amusement of her older companion. Mustering the strength of will to lift her head she finally asks “do you mean it…..that you’ll keep me safe? ….. That you’ll take care of me?” Her face instantly serious without a shred of doubt in her voice Claire replies “Always Amelia no matter what we do I’ll be there with you every step of the way” softening her features “you’re going to be my little girl after all” Seeing Claries conviction she relaxes, a state of calm she rarely enjoys. The ideas of being someone’s baby girl making her feel so at ease it’s shocking. Feeling 10 years younger she slips into a headspace she’s not quite familiar expressing in front of others. Having spent her teen years being the good girl, the honour roll student, the constant pressure by her parents to succeed. Heck she has never even had a detention. With a coy smile she leans over and giggles “but what if your baby girl likes being a brat” she teases twirling her honey blonde hair around her finger enjoying being able to show this side of herself to someone “I mean I can be a lot to handle” “Oh is that so” purrs Claire her voice sweeter then honey “well there isn’t a brat born who myself and Miss Hairbrush can’t handle” reaching into her purse she pulls out a solid oak paddle brush placing it in front of Amelia. Biting her lip Amelia’s eyes lock onto the brush, so many deep seated fantasies of being helpless over someone’s knee while they roast her bottom flashing through her mind, squeezing her legs together in need hoping Claire doesn’t notice. Feeling like a bratty teen now more than ever she defiantly proclaims “is that all?” dismissing the brush entirely “you’ve met your match Miss Parker” sticking her tongue out at her former mentor impudently. Leaning to the side Claire raises her hand almost shouting “Check Please!” Sitting in Claries SUV outside her home Amelia’s heart is beating like a drum, she is made to sit in the back on the drive because “little girls are safer back there”. Sticking true to her role Amelia whined “but I wanna sit up front” But was quickly silenced by Claire’s steely glare. Stepping out onto the asphalt the young woman can’t help but stare in awe at the big house, so entranced she doesn’t notice Claire coming up beside her “sweetie there’s something important we need to discuss” Turning around to look up the tall brunette is staring down at her. She can’t help but blush “If anything gets to be too overwhelming or to difficult you just have to say cantaloupe and well stop ok” reaching up she brushes some of amelias hair behind her ears before leaning to whisper “otherwise the second you walk in that door you’ll be nothing but a naughty brat in need of some firm discipline, is that clear” her demeanour changing rapidly, now strict and demanding causing a shiver to run down Amelia’s spine, nodding her head unable to articulate a response Claire gently grasps her hand leading her up the stairs. inside the house is immaculate and well furnished but the awestruck girl has no time to process when she hears “Amelia Jacobs you are in so much trouble” spinning around to see Miss Parker with her hands firmly on her hips stern look across her face. “I can’t believe a girl your age would act like such an incorrigible brat in public” with hands faster then they eye can see she grabs Amelia by the ear much to her dismay“and I know just how to deal with bratty little girls”. Stinging like hell with little choice but to lean forward awkwardly as the older woman leads her into the living room squealing along the way “hey let me go you can’t do this I’m not some little kid” trying her best to sound angry instead of deeply excited being lead to her fate. Ignoring her pleas Claire drags her to the living room before pushing her front and center, where with the same steely gaze as before she orders “Strip!” Amelia’s heart is pounding in her ears, it’s been many years since her last high school gym class, and even then she changed in the stalls insecure about her body. Panicking a little she debates using her safe word until she sees Claries face staring at hermit was a look of pure desire, of hunger and want. No one had ever looked at her that way before, like she was something desirable. Shaking her head meekly she squeaks “n-no I w-wont” stuttering while staring at her feet to hide her excitement. Feeling a hand under her chin her head rises to meet Claire’s gaze “you can do it or I can do it little one your choice” Oh god the thought of Claire stripping her down is almost too much to bear. Gulping down her apprehension and with shaky hands she slips her thumbs into her yoga pants slowly dragging them to the floor hoping that’s the end of it “Shirt to” says Claire leaving no room for argument Hands still shaking lifting her sweater over her head before dropping to cover her voluptuous body, she can feel Claire’s eyes scanning every inch of her until they rest on her wiggly bottom framed perfectly by a lacy pink thong “tsk tsk tsk” is all that comes out “Those panties are unacceptable for a girl your age Amy” taking the waistband of her panties giving it a snap against her waist “we will definitely be making some changes to your underwear drawer” without further warning she gives Amelia a spank on her unprotected bottom “in the corner now little girl” Amelia quickly buries her head into the corner having never felt so exposed while Claire can only stare at her bottom “in 20 minutes I’ll be back and I won’t be empty handed” her hand making its way to her bottom giving it gentle rub before leaving. So here was Amelia, half naked, exposed and having never felt so helpless in her entire life, yet she couldn’t have been more excited.
  2. The Weird Scholarship Chapter One: The Drive I drove down the highway with one hand held between my legs. I had to pee and being stuck in a car didn't help. A sign up ahead said that the next rest area was only fifteen miles up ahead and I could certainly hold it. It was just a bit uncomfortable and I didn't know what I would do when I got there. My phone rang and I answered it. I know you are not supposed to talk and drive, but at least I wasn't texting. I looked at the screen and saw it was my best friend Kara. “How's the drive?” “Weird,” I said. “I'm almost to Massachusetts though.” “Good timing,” she said. “What's weird about it?” “You know.” She very well did know why I felt weird. This was her plan. “I'm wearing a diaper.” “You better be, Nora,” said Kara. “You don't want to be found out as a faker and lose your scholarship.” “Yeah,” I said. “That's the problem. I'm not really incontinent. They are going to find out.” Kara giggled on the other end of the phone. “No they're not. Just act natural.” I rubbed myself in the thick padded material between my legs with my phone to keep from peeing. I then picked the phone up and said, “This is not natural.” “Well, get used to wetting yourself,” she said. “You probably should show up in a wet diaper. That way you won't look like a faker to the other girls who are used to wetting their diapers.” “Why did I let you talk me into this?” I asked. “You got a scholarship to MIT. The IRS took your college money, remember? This is your last chance to go to college.” I sighed. “Goodbye, Kara.” “Bye. And trust me about arriving in a wet diaper.” I hung up. I don't understand how things got so weird. My father had saved enough in my college fund to pay for all four years of school. So my junior year of high school, I didn't really need to bother with scholarships. When we had to go to the library to research scholarships, Kara suggested I choose the weirdest scholarships. There were actually scholarships for people who entered a program to study yodeling. Like I could get a job doing that. There was also a scholarship for incontinent girls who were studying engineering at MIT. That was a pretty specific scholarship and it was a perfect target for my entertainment during library time. So when the IRS investigated my father, somehow my college fund was where they though he was hiding the money. It was the summer before college and I had no money. The only scholarships I had applied for were for yodeling majors and for incontinent girls studying engineering at MIT. The scholarship was generous. It paid for everything I needed for college. I remember getting the phone call where I was given the scholarship. “Is Nora Stevens there,” the woman on the phone had asked. “This is Nora.” “This is Elizabeth Jones from the scholarship selection committee. I am pleased to inform you that you are next on the list for the Scholarship for Incontinent Girls in Engineering.” My mouth was opened in shock. I had though my college dreams were over since I lost my college fund. I was in until her next line. “The other girl didn't measure up. She was faking incontinence just to get the scholarship. I made this scholarship so incontinent girls can have the full college experience. That includes living in the dorms. To do that we want to make sure that we pair you with another girl in the dorm that is in your same situation. Will this be a problem for you?” “No problem,” I said. “Good. We are having a summer camp to get to know the other girls. Attendance is mandatory.” Kara had laughed and laughed when I told her, but she had been a big help in getting me adult diapers. They do sell diapers in stores, but the kind that real incontinent people wear are only found online and I had to order some ahead of time. The rest area came up soon after the sign that said that I was entering Massachusetts. I almost stopped, but then I thought about what Kara said. An incontinent girl would show up in a wet diaper. To be convincing, I would do the same. I relaxed and pretended I was siting on the toilet, even though I was sitting behind the wheel of my Ford Fiesta. I still had to keep my eye on the road. As I started to wet, it was so warm as the wetness spread around my crotch and under my bottom. The first time I wet the diaper, I was surprised it felt good. This was the first time I had tried to wet while sitting down. The first time I wet a diaper I was standing. Both times, I was shocked at how good it felt. I looked back at the rest stop through the rear-view mirror. The rest area, like my toilet training, was behind me. Chapter Two: Fitting in with the Group I drove my car into Cambridge and then followed the directions I was given previously. I pulled into the lot near Kesge Auditorium and right away I saw the group I was looking for. They were not hard to miss. The parking lot was empty except for a livery van and four cars. Five college age girls and two women stood around the van. I pulled in and got out. “Are you Nora?” a woman asked me. She looked like she was forty. She wore mom jeans and a T-shirt. “Yes,” I said. I opened the back door of my car and got my bags, a pillow, and my sleeping bag. I had brought two bags. One was usually sufficient for camping, but not for this trip. The extra bag was my diaper bag. I grabbed my stuff in both arms and took them toward the van. “I think I have everything I need.” “Good. You're the last one, so let's get going. You can put your stuff in the back of the van.” She open the rear door and I piled my stuff in there. I opened the diaper bag and pulled out a book and then looked down at my clean diapers. The wet diaper I had on had stopped feeling warm and good and I felt that I could use a change. “Do I have time to run to the bathroom real quick?” I leaned closer to her. “I'm wet.” The other older woman heard me. She looked at a brown haired girl. “Are you wet, Darla?” She actually put her hand under the girl's skirt to check. She pulled away. “No, mother. I'm fine. You don't have to do that. I'm starting college now. I know if I am wet or need a change.” “I'm your mother and I care about you. You don't want to get a rash like last time, do you?” “Mother, stop! I'm going to camp now.” She walked around and picked a seat in the van. The woman, not Darla's mother, leaned in and whispered to me. “Do you think we can get by another hour? I think Darla's feeling a bit of pressure to get on the road.” I nodded. When Kara and I were testing, she had me try to make a diaper leak. I hadn't been able to before the thing got so soggy I had to take it off. I had had to wet three times to get to that point. “I think so.” “Good. Then we got to go.” She led me in through the sliding door of the van and I took a seat beside a bored looking girl with a sarcastic nerd phrase on her shirt. She wore black cargo jeans with all kinds of metal hanging from them. She turned to the other woman. “Mrs. Keene, we need to get going.” “Sure. Have a good time, Darla, and listen to Miss. Jones.” The girl Darla just glared as Miss Jones closed the sliding door and walked around to the driver's seat. While she was gone, the girl next to me whispered, “My God, it's like she is a five year old going to her first sleep-away camp.” “So I wasn't the only one who thought that was uncomfortable?” I asked. “Hardly,” said the girl, “at least she was standing up to her mother and not crying as she drove away.” She just pointed her thumb behind her to a girl wearing a pale blue and plaid bib overalls. She was dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex. The girl wore her short blond hair in pig tales. In her left arm she held a battered teddy bear. “So what's your story?” Before I could answer, Miss Jones hopped in the drivers seat and started the van. She put the van in gear and started to drive out of parking lot. “Girls,” she said. “I am Elizabeth Jones, but you can call me Bets. I am the scholarship coordinator and founder of the Scholarship for Incontinent Girls in Engineering. I like to have this camp for several reasons. Mainly so you can get to know each other and find out who you want to be your roommate. There are six of you, so you can pair off during camp. The other reason is, unfortunately, to screen out people who are liars. I had to replace one girl who was not even incontinent. I thought Nora was more deserving of the scholarship.” At this point we had driven off campus and onto the main road. “So get to know each other during this week. How about introducing yourself to each other as we drive to the camp.” She stopped talking to concentration driving and we started talking. “Well, I am glad to be on the road,” said Darla. “You don't know what it's like to live with a woman that treats you like a toddler every minute of the day. I'm eighteen now. I am finally independent.” “We're supposed to be introducing ourselves, Mommy's Girl, not whining about our childhoods,” said the girl next to me. “That's really mean,” said Darla. “I am tired of being teased about my incontinence. Having a mother who is not so discrete about it means everyone in high school knew. I just want to move on. I want to experience stuff. That is what college is for. This scholarship is great. I worried about college and having to hide my diapers from my roommate, but if my roommate also needs diapers I can keep it a secret. My name is Darlene Keene and I am excited about studying engineering at MIT.” “Darlene, not Darla?” I asked. “Darla is my toddler name. I am eighteen and I am an adult. I am Darlene. I have a medical condition called incontinence that I can manage as an adult. I don't need my overprotective mother to change me.” The girl with the teddy bear sat beside Darlene. She spoke up. It was the first time she said anything. “I've never changed myself before. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I've never been so far away from my mommy before.” The girl next to me snickered, but the girl ignored her. “My name is Melody.” Her voice was soft and quiet. “I don't really have friends, so I don't know what to expect. I was home schooled. I scored perfect on the ACT.” In the rear seat, a girl spoke up. “I'm Veronica English. I'm just as normal as anyone else, or I was until the accident. Some drunk ran into my car when I first got my license. It wasn't fair. The drunk doesn't have to wear diapers. That would be fitting justice. Instead, he only got thirty days in jail. I have to spend the rest of my life in diapers.” She pounded her fists on the seat beside her. “My boyfriend took someone else to prom. He was too embarrassed to be with me. I entered my application for the scholarship that day. Ironically, the next day was the last day to get the scholarship application in the mail.” “My name is Bella,” said her neighbor who had just looked up from a book. She wore all black. Even her nail polish and lipstick was black. “People already though I was weird, so knowing about my diapers really didn't change things. I like dressing in black and reading about vampires.” She picked up her book and started to read. “A girl named Bella who reads books about vampires? Can you get more cliché than that?” said the girl next to me. “I'm surprised she doesn't sparkle in the sunlight.” She started laughing at her own joke. Bella looked up. “I'm reading Anne Rice, not that stupid Stephanie Meyer woman. Lestat and Louie would feel sorry for vampires that sparkle in the sun. My mother liked the name Bella. I was born way before Twilight even was heard of. Why don't you tell us about yourself, Loudmouth, instead of teasing us. You pee your pants like the rest of us.” “Fine. My name is Cassie. I am majoring in engineering at MIT. I've dreamed of coming to MIT all my life. I want to fully experience college.” She looked at me. I hadn't introduced myself yet. “From hearing you talk, you wouldn't even know you were incontinent. What gives?” asked Bella. “You're not telling us about yourself.” “I told you my name and my vision. I'm done.” “Cassie doesn't have to say why she wears diapers,” I said. “My promised college fund went away, so I thought I couldn't go to college. I was going to go to Alpen-adria-univeritat Klagenfurt to pursue a yodeling major, but thanks to this scholarship, I will actually get to major in a marketable skill.” I looked around. I was being stared at. I gave a nervous giggle. “Plus, I don't have to explain my special underpants to a roommate. I'm Nora Stevens. I don't have a middle name. Is that weird or what?” I faced forward and looked in my book. Cassie slid next to me. “Why did you turn down a chance to study in Austria?” Her voice was quiet like she didn't want the other girls to hear. “I was living with a family who had a real daughter who was studying in Europe. She was so pretty and she came home to visit for Christmas. She had so many experiences.” She looked across me out the window and sighed. “That was my favorite family.” “Um, yodeling,” I said. That was all the answer I thought I needed to give. I wondered what she meant by having a favorite family. I thought you only got one. “I never thought I could even get into MIT.” She smiled at me. “I hit the jackpot here.” She shifted her legs closed and closed her eyes like she needed to pee. She didn't get the blank stare Kara said I got went I wet a diaper. Chapter Three: The Public Change About noon, we stopped at a McDonald's. I had wet my diaper a second time, which made the pee not feel so clammy, but I wanted a fresh diaper. We all grabbed our diaper bags and stood outside the van as Bets lock it up. “Okay. Here is the plan. Cassie, Nora, and Melody will go into the bathroom and change. Veronica, Bella, and Darlene and I will order our food. When you come out, we will go change while you order your food. Then we will eat together.” I looked at Cassie and Melody. Melody looked back at Bets. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was too shy. Cassie walked toward the building. I grabbed Melody's hand and pulled her with me as I followed. We got inside and Cassie and I took the first two stalls. I thought I heard Melody go into the third stall, but I wasn't sure. I pulled down my pants and looked down at my wet diaper. It was really wet in the back since I sat while wetting. I peeled off the tapes and rolled it up, then wiped myself off with baby wipes. Once finished, I put on the diaper like I had practiced by leaning against the wall of the stall. I got it on semi-decently. I listened as Cassie changed. I heard the toilet flushing, and then heard the rustling of a diaper. We came out together. Melody stood waiting for us holding a diaper. She pushed the diaper to Cassie. “Can you please change me?” “I'm not changing your smelly butt,” said Cassie. “Can't you change yourself? We did it,” I said. “My mommy always changed me. I don't know what to do.” She held the diaper to me. I sighed. “I guess I can help you.” She pulled the diaper change table down and then tried to unhook her overalls. She had trouble. They opened easily to me. Once her pants were down, she lay on the table. Her diaper was swollen. Unlike my purple diaper, hers was white, but it had blocks across the front. I thought my diaper was thick. “Guard the door,” I told Cassie. I didn't want any strangers seeing this. I untaped the college woman's diaper and then cleaned her with a wipe. For her part, Melody lay still and stared at the ceiling. I put the clean diaper under her and then powdered her. I then closed it and taped it up. The tapes on her diaper sucked, but they got the job done. Once she was diapered she stood up and pulled up her pants and then motioned for me to do up her overalls. “Thank you,” she said. “We are going to have to teach you to do this yourself,” I said. “Why can't you get your overalls undone? What do you do when you poop?” asked Cassie. “Mommy takes me to the potty when I have to poop.” “I knew everyone would be in diapers, but she's a fucking baby,” snarled Cassie. “Didn't your mother teach you anything?” “Don't call me a baby,” she said. “I am a big girl.” “You're not a baby. You just let your mother do too many things for you. We better teach you to do things yourself before classes start” I knew I shouldn't have promised. I knew I would regret it. It's hard enough pretending to be incontinent without being a mommy. I just didn't want to be around her if she couldn't learn discretion before classes started. Cassie just rolled her eyes. We walked out to get food. It wasn't real food; it was McDonald's food. I ordered a vanilla milkshake and a Double Quarter Pounder. I supersized it too. Since I am lactose intolerant, I was an idiot, but I thought it wouldn't matter. Ugh. At least Cassie had hers coming. She ordered the same thing as me. I should have had a happy meal like Melody. Chapter Four: Bonding with Cassie. We arrived at the camp just after one. I got up and looked around. The camp consisted of four log cabins that sat on the edge of a forest. A simple gravel track ran between the cabins and a large meadow. We pulled right up to the cabin and we unloaded stuff. The first thing I did when we had everything offloaded into the cabin was make my bed. The cabin was smallish, but much larger than we needed. Bunk beds lined the back wall. There were about ten of them. A twin bed sat near the door. Of course Bets claimed that one. I was surprised that many of the girls openly put their packs of diapers at the foot of their beds. I shrugged and put my diaper back in that location. I didn't even bother to zip it. I claimed one on the edge, but Cassie took the one next to me. She said she didn't want to be near Melody who had taken a bunk in the center. It was funny. Everyone picked bottom bunks. I didn't know why, but that is how it was. I wondered why. My guess was that if an incontinent girl shared a bunk bed, the other sibling would get the top in case their were any leaks. No one wants a golden shower in their sleep. When we were all unpacked, Bets called a meeting. We gathered around. She passed out sheets of paper. I looked at mine and saw we had an agenda. I sighed. It wasn't bad. There were nature hikes, a swimming session at the lake, and sports. I hated sports. There was also free time as well. “So I have lots of activities planned,” said Bets. “We need to get to know one another. I am Bets. I started a scholarship so that girls with incontinence. When I studied engineering at MIT, I was alone. I was embarrassed about having to share a dorm room and explain to my roommate that I had a wetting problem. She teased me and never wanted to hang out. She kept my secret, but I felt like someone who only lived in the same room as me. I wanted a roommate who knew what incontinence was like. I realized that only another incontinent girl would make a good roommate. That's why we are here. We want you to pick a college roommate who you can bond with. There are six of you and that means we have three dorm rooms to fill. You will spend lots of time with your new roommate, so here at camp, I want you to spend time with each of your fellow freshmen engineers. Any questions?” “Um, what's with the swimming?” asked Veronica. “It's stupid. I can't swim anymore. We're incontinent. How's that even going to work?” “I like to swim,” said Melody. “My mommy sent some swim diapers.” “I'm not wearing swim diapers. You can't hide them under a bikini,” said Veronica. “There are many ways to deal with swimming,” said Bets. “Swim diapers are one of them. I have plenty of extra swim diapers for those who don't have any. I usually just wear my regular diaper under soccer shorts though. We are here at this campground where there is a beautiful lake just to the south of us.” “That's what I do,” said Bella. “No one really knows. They do swell a bit though.” “We are going swimming tomorrow,” said Bets. “We will all enjoy it. We have the campground to ourselves, so no one is going to see you in your diapers. That is final. I won't insist that you change your swimming habits. Besides, when are you going to have a chance to swim again.” I was disappointed. Out of habit, I had brought a bikini. I did think about the diapers. I would never be able to swim again. I was upset because I looked good in a bikini. “You guys are just so stupid,” said Darleen. “Stop arguing. It's not important. We are here to bond. Let's not get into an argument about one activity.” “Very good, Darleen,” said Bets. It took an entire hour to get through the agenda. Cassie started fidgeting. My stomach started to cramp and I knew I would have to poop soon. I shifted uncomfortably as well. Some of the girls told long stories. I was in pain. I looked around and then at my watch. I saw Cassie relax. Her face looked blank like she was peeing. She got a scared look on her face and struggled to her knees. “Bathroom,” she squeaked. Everyone stared at her. Was she a faker? I had to go bad as well. We would both get sent home if I revealed myself. “Do you need a diaper change?”ask Bets. She looked a mix of concerned and suspicious. “No,” she whispered. “Yes. I--” She stood and held a hand tightly on the back of her black pants. She ran out the door. “What happened?” asked Melody. I got up. “If she feels like me, she really has to poop.” I grabbed her diaper bag and mine. “Where is the bathroom? I'll find her.” “Oh, yeah,” said Bets. “I should have mentioned that. It's right behind cabin one. None of us are bowel incontinent this year.” I ran out the door to follow Cassie. She was going the wrong way. “Cassie.” She looked at me. “This way,” I said. She came back in my direction and we looked around. I spotted cabin one and we walked around to the back. The bathroom was just around the corner. I was ahead of Cassie and spotted the bathroom. My heart sunk when I saw it. It was a tiny wooden building with a moon carved in the door. It leaned to one side at a ten degree angle. I looked back at Cassie. She had her knees pressed together and she was hobbling by moving just the bottoms of her legs. “I'm not going to make it.” She just stopped. I heard a squishy fart. There wasn't much smell because the diaper blocked most of it. “Come on,” I told her. I needed to go bad as well. “I...,” she said. I saw her almost fall and like an idiot, I rushed forward to catch her. She clung to my neck and hung on me as she bent over and I heard the squishy farting noise again. “Oh God,” she said. I had thought she was just farting, but she really stunk. She had just filled her diaper. Her weight pushed me down a few inches. I lost control myself and made a mess in my diaper as well. I knew I shouldn't have had the milkshake. Usually I would go to the bathroom right away, but I was distracted by needed to change my diaper in McDonald's and dealing with two other girls. We stood together hugging each other as we emptied our bowels in our underpants. It had gone too far. I wondered if it was too late to take up yodeling. I would go to Bets, come clean and give up this nonsense. I was done. “I can't believe I did that,” said Cassie. “I've never had an accident since I was ten.” I looked at her. “I mean pooped my pants,” she said. “This sucks.” She let go of me. “What are we going to do?” “I guess we get changed. I brought our diaper bags.” “Well, we are supposed to be bonding,” she said. “Have you ever changed a messy diaper? What should I do?” “To be honest, I don't have any experience with this.” I looked at the bathroom and started for it. I would get some water and paper towels so I could clean myself. However, when I opened the door, there was only a wooden plank with a hole in the middle. I let the door shut and turned back to Cassie. “What?” she asked. “It's just an outhouse. We need a shower.” “Or a hose,” she said. “At least it's contained in my diaper.” It wasn't running down my legs yet. “Me too, buy I am afraid it will leak any minute. Let's go back and get Bets. She'll know what to do.” “No way,” said Cassie. “I am not going into a room with a bunch of dorks and admitting I just filled my pants. I never should have had that milkshake in McDonald's. It's just McDonald's shakes that make me almost shit my pants.” “Almost?” I asked. “Well, until now,” she said. I opened my diaper bag and took inventory. There were diapers, some powder, and a box of wipes. I didn't really stock it with a lot of necessities being unsure what I needed. I looked at Cassie. “I don't know what to do either. There is no room to change in the outhouse. Hell, there is no running water. Let's just admit our mistake and go tell Bets.” “I got a better idea,” said Cassie. “How about we go skinny dipping?” That was a weird suggestion and just came out of no where. Sure, I'd like a swim, but I had to deal with my accident. I gave her a questioning look. “No, really. We go down to the lake, strip naked, and wash this mess off of us. Bets said there was a lake to the south of us.” “We can't wash in the lake. We'll contaminate it.” I could imagine the next day having to swim in the same water I washed my poopy ass with. That would sure go over well. “Just come on.” Cassie walked or rather waddled ahead of me. She looked into the woods and stopped, but then she saw started forward. I wasn't about to just charge into the woods, but Cassie found a dirt trail and we headed straight into the woods. I think we walked around. The mess was spreading throughout my diaper and I imagined that some was running down the back of my leg. I touched the back of my jeans, but nothing felt wet. I continued to follow for about twenty minutes, when we crossed a little foot bridge across a creek. We turned following the bank of the creek until we found a lake. The lake was pretty big. Cassie walked down from toward the lake and was about to undo her pants when I saw a sign that said the swimming area was around the lake a bit. “The swimming area is around here.” Cassie reluctantly buttoned her pants and we walked the short area to a swimming area complete with a sand beach and a little building at the top of sand. The building had two signs: one said men and the other said women. It was dressing rooms. “Ooh, there might be showers in there.” She hurried forward, not even waddling anymore. I followed as best I could. Inside, it was indeed a dressing room. Even though we were inside, there was plenty of light. I looked up and there was no ceiling. A line of bathroom stalls sat at one wall and sinks occupied another. In one corner was a shower room. Inside was just a pole with a bunch of shower heads like I was used to from gym class in high school. The edge of the room were surrounded by benches for changing. Cassie slipped out of her shirt and bra faster than she could have with help from a high school jock. She kicked her sandals off, but her pants took longer as she didn't want to have her diaper leak when she was getting them undone. She flung her clothes onto one of the benches and looked down to examine the diaper. I didn't envy her and although my description seems like it, I didn't just stand there and watch her change. I was undressed soon after she was. I was caught off guard by examining the seat of my pants. My diaper had leaked and there was an obvious stain at the back of my right leg. I sighed and threw the pants on the floor beneath the bench where my clean clothes were. I then untaped my diaper and slowly lowered it and then pulled it into a loose ball. Cassie kicked a trash barrel toward me and I dropped it in on top of her diaper. She started toward the shower and was about to turn it on when I said, “Wouldn't it suck if the water isn't turned on?” The look on her face was priceless, especially since she was naked and her but and thighs were smeared with poop. “Don't you dare think that,” she cried. She reached the handle to the faucet and gave it a turn. The pipe groaned a bit, but then water started flowing and she adjusted the temperature and stepped under the water. I took a spot on the other side and turned on my faucet. The water felt so good after being dirty for so long. It felt so weird not having soap. I did not feel clean at all when I finished. I knew I was better then when I started. Water and scrubbing work wonders, but it's not the same as soap, especially when I was cleaning poop of myself. We finished and I reached in my diaper bag to pull out a clean diaper. Cassie put a hand on my wrist. “Wait,” she said, “Let's go skinny dipping since we are here.” “But..,” I started to object. “What if I wet?” She smiled. “We will be outside and naked. You can't get wet except from the lake water. If you pee on the beach or in the lake, who will know?” At least she believed I was incontinent. I really wasn't like a lot of the other girls here. Cassie was being pretty cool to me. I just wished she didn't bully the other girls so bad. “Okay, but only for thirty minutes.” We walked naked to the lakes to begin our swim. The water was cool and the sun was hot. I had never been skinny dipping before. It was so much fun. Chapter Five: Facing the Music When we dressed, I could not wear my pants. I washed them in the lake, but I couldn't get the stain out without a washing machine. “I guess you have to walk back pantsless.” She giggled. “It's not funny. I was not counting on messing my pants. This has never happened to me. Ever.” I did not remember a time I had messed myself. I remember the day I wet my pants in kindergarten and again in second grade. I don't remember pooping myself. “It's that stupid milkshake from McDonald's. I'm lactose intolerant but I like to eat ice cream. So far it hasn't caused any problems. Sure, I get the runs, but I always make it to the bathroom for that.” “Well if it makes a difference,” said Cassie, “I messed myself bad when I was ten. I kept telling Lorraine I had to go, but she ignored me. Suddenly I couldn't hold it anymore.” “Who's Lorraine?” I asked. “She was a lady I lived with then. I didn't like her. She raised German Shepherds. I was afraid of them. I'm glad they took me away from her.” She smiled and finished her story. “She was so mad too. I had to ride in the back of the pickup and then when we went home. She then took me into the yard and stripped me and hosed me off with the hose. She wouldn't even let me get dressed or dried off. She just put me in one of the empty dog crates and I had to stay in there for a week until the social worker came and took me away from her.” “Cassie, that's terrible. I hope she got in big trouble for doing that. She should have been more understanding because of your incontinence.” She got a panicked look. “Oh that was before that. I am an adult now and CPS doesn't get to decide who I should live with. I am eighteen now and I'm going to study engineering at MIT.” I wondered if everyone on this trip was dysfunctional. Cassie was the only one I got to really know so far, but Veronica seem very angry, Darleen had an overprotective mother, and there was Melody: the girl who never grew up. Only Bella seemed normal, but maybe that was because I hadn't gotten to know what kind of baggage she carried around. “We better hurry back. They might think we got lost.” “No. They'll just know we decided to ditch those losers. You and me, we are different then the others. I can feel that we have more in common than the others.” “Yeah, we both can't control our bowels. The other girls just have wetting problems.” I turned to Cassie. “They are never going to let us live this down.” “Sure they are,” said Cassie. “We just got hot. Diapers are hot in this weather, so we went for a dip in the lake. No further questions. We walked back up the hill to the cabin and when we emerged from the trailhead at the edge of the woods, everything was quiet. When we left, we could hear the girls and Bets talking in the cabin. Now it was silent. Cassie opened the door and I followed her in. I looked around and noticed the other girls weren't there, except for one girl who let out a squeak. I looked at the source of the sound. Bella was lying on a bunk changing her diaper. “I didn't know you were coming in,” she said. She finished taping her diaper and grabbed her shorts and pulled them on. She looked at me and Cassie and then shook her head. “You two are in big trouble.” “What for?” asked Cassie. “You wandered from the group. You two were supposed to come right back after using the restroom.” Bella picked up her vampire book and walked to the door. “Where were you?” “We went for a swim,” said Cassie. “It's hot.” “Well anyway, everyone else is at lunch in the dining hall. It's that brick building across the meadow. You should come. You two need to face the music anyway, and besides there is lunch.” Bella led the way across the meadow and we followed. “So why were you in the cabin by yourself?” asked Cassie. “I didn't want to leak in my pants. I changed.” She looked pointedly at me for my lack of pants. I blushed and ran in the cabin and grabbed some shorts before returning. I caught up right as they got to the door of the dining hall. Chapter Seven: The Punishment When Cassie and I entered the cafeteria, everyone got quiet. I knew that did not bode well. I knew it was even worse when Bets stood up and almost glared at us. “Cassie, I need to have a word with you in the other room.” She looked at me. “I will deal with you after I deal with Cassie.” She turned and walked toward the kitchen, but turned and waited for Cassie who, with reluctance, followed her. The other girls stared at me. Melody was the first to speak. “You were gone for three hours. Bets is really mad. She wants to send you both home.” “That's not quite true,” said Veronica. “She said that you better have a very good explanation.” I panicked. “But I need this scholarship or I can't go to college. The alternative is yodeling in Austria. I can't yodel.” “Then you better think of a good explanation,” said Melody. “Personally, I hope she sends Cassie home. She is such a meanie.” “She seems really mean, but most mean people are just hurting inside,” said Bella. “Veronica acts cross and angry all the time, but that is because she hasn't accepted her situation.” “This is not about me,” said Veronica. “Besides, if you could pinpoint the person directly to blame for your incontinence, you would be angry at them too.” “Where were you?” asked Melody. “I really like you Nora. I hope you don't get in trouble too.” I was sitting at the table and it took me a bit of time to realize I was being spoken to. I was worried to death and I really had to pee even though I had been earlier. I looked across to Melody. “Thanks.” “No problem. Besides, you promised to teach me to change myself.” I wondered if one of the other girls would help her out. I was sure they would, but I had promised. My thoughts were interrupted as the kitchen door slammed open against the wall and Cassie stormed out. She turned toward the door and yelled, “I hate you, you stupid bitch.” She then ran across the cafeteria and out the door toward the cabin. I caught a glimpse of her face as she ran by. Tears and mascara streaked her face. Clearly she was crying. Bets appeared in the door and I slowly walked into the kitchen knowing I was going to be yodeling soon. “Nora, come on in. I want to hear your explanation.” We walked into the kitchen. It was not just a kitchen like in a house, but an industrial kitchen with stainless steel counters and fixtures and everything. Since it was just the six of us, the kitchen didn't look like it was being used. I followed her toward the freezer which made a buzzing sound. Two chairs sat in front of the freezer facing each other. “Sit,” she said as she took a chair. I sat and looked across to her. “Cassie didn't want to be a team player. She is in the cabin packing. Tell me why I shouldn't yank your scholarship and send you home as well.” “Cassie lost her scholarship?” I asked. “Yes. She told some tale about the two of you getting bored after you went to poop and that you went for a walk to the lake. Yet you were gone for three hours. We almost called the park ranger to find you.” “You didn't believe her?” I asked. “Of course not. She was obviously lying and she didn't seem to care that I knew.” “But,” I started to say. “That is pretty much what happened. We got done in the outhouse and walked down to the lake. I didn't know it was against the rules. Please don't pull my scholarship.” “You two are hiding something, so I don't think I have a choice. Go to the cabin and pack your stuff.” I couldn't lose this scholarship. I didn't even get caught as a faker. How could everything have gone wrong? “Please, no.” She gave me a stern look. I thought about Cassie and how her only way to go to college was this scholarship. I was just faking my way through this. Cassie really had bladder control problems. “It's all my fault. Don't blame Cassie for this. She doesn't deserve to lose her scholarship.” “Cassie made her position clear. She said the two of you went off so you wouldn't have to hang out with losers like the rest of us. Are you the one who convinced her of that.” “No, but it's still my fault. When we went to the outhouse to go number two, I let Cassie go first because she was the most desperate, but I couldn't hold it until she was done. I'm eighteen years old and pooped my diaper like a toddler. I did it right in front of Cassie, too.” “Go on,” said Bets. Her tone had changed. “Well Cassie is pretty abrasive, so I expected her to make fun of me, but she didn't. I still just stood there and balled. Instead of teasing me, she put an arm around me and told me it was okay. However, I didn't feel okay. I was actually overwhelmed and didn't know how to go about changing myself out of that mess. The outhouse didn't have running water and I needed a shower. Cassie suggested that I clean myself in the lake.” Bets eyebrows went up. “You didn't wash that mess off in the lake, I hope?” I shook my head. “No. When we got to the lake, we found the dressing rooms for the swimming area and I had a shower. Cassie helped change me. She was so nice and I was useless. Then the worse thing happened. My diaper had leaked and I had a huge poopy stain on my pants. I couldn't go back like that. I sat and cried and refused to move. It took Cassie a few hours to convince me to come back without my pants. I was unconvinced until she said to tell them I leaked pee in my pants instead of poop. I'm so sorry. I lost Cassie her scholarship all because I had too much pride to let the other girls find out I messed myself.” “You know that scholarship means a lot to Cassie. It's her only chance to go to college. I can probably go in a few years once my dad gets his case with the IRS settled, but Cassie has no money and no family that can help her out.” “Okay, you can stay. Go get Cassie and tell her she can stay too.” Bets then held up a finger. “However, Cassie said a lot of angry things and insulted all the other girls. The two of you will befriend Darla and Melody. Cassie will be in charge of changing and dressing Melody until she learns those skills herself. I don't know what that woman was thinking not teaching the girl those things. You do the same for Darla. Do we have a deal?” “I can't speak for Cassie, but I accept that deal.” “Good. Now go get Cassie and tell her she can stay if she follows the new rules.” “Sure thing,” I said. I rushed out of the kitchen and through the cafeteria. As I left, the other girls were waiting. “Are you being sent home too?” asked Melody. She stood up and came toward me. “I'll really miss you.” She squeezed me into a tight hug. “I explained everything to Bets. Everything is going to be okay. I got to run and tell Cassie before she does anything regrettable.” I pulled myself out of Melody's hug and continued out the door toward the cabin. ### When I opened the door to the cabin, I couldn't see a thing. There was a thick cloud of what could only be described as baby powder. Clean diapers littered the floor, a box of wipes lay broken against the wall and clothes were scattered around. I walked in and found Cassie lying facedown in her pillow. She was crying, but what really got my attention was she was naked from the waist down. There was a slightly damp diaper on the floor by her bed. “Cassie?” I didn't know I spoke, but she sat up and turned to face me. She was white as sheet and covered with baby powder. She must have noticed me staring at her crotch, so she put her pillow in her lap to hid her nudity. “Did you get kicked out too?” she asked. “No,” I said. “I explained everything to Bets and she is going to let us stay.” “Really?” She looked around the cabin and then frowned. She must have been embarrassed. “What did you tell her? I said some awful things. I thought I burned my bridges before I stormed out.” “I just told her that everything was my fault. You were just helping me because I had a messy accident and we were away so long because I was upset and too embarrassed to come back. She bought it.” She looked back at me. “You didn't tell her I messed myself first?” “Nope.” “Good,” she said. I was disappointed she didn't say anything else, but then she must have seen the look I gave her. “I can't live down a messy accident. I'm sorry you had to take the blame. Bets isn't punishing us at all?” “It's okay,” I said. “Yes, we are getting punished. We have to teach Melody and Darlene to be more independent. Both are functionally well-educated toddlers.” “I can see that Darla just had an over-protective mother, but Melody is a piece of work.” “Even Bets is surprised that Melody's mother didn't teach her anything. She is kind of upset about how childish she is. That's where you come in. You are her new best friend.” “Why me?” asked Cassie. “I am not a mommy. I am just a girl with a bladder control problem who wants to go to MIT.” “You said and I quote, 'I hate all these losers who equate incontinence with childishness. We just went away for some adult time.'” “Yeah, I said that and I meant it. I would have tried to break away for some fun time anyway if we hadn't pooped our pants.” “Fair enough. Now we have our tasks to perform.” I waved one hand around the room. “So what happened here?” “I threw the contents of my diaper bag around the room in anger. Do you think Bets will say anything?” “Let's not find out.” I picked a clean diaper off the floor. “Let's get you diapered before you have an accident on the bed.” She blushed, or I think she did under all the baby powder. She took the diaper and proceeded to diaper herself. She looked at me. “Thanks, Nora.” “Don't thank me yet. Let's get this mess cleaned up before the other girls get back.” We never did get the baby powder cleaned up despite sweeping the floor. The cloud dissipated and Cassie got her diaper bag restocked and her stuff put back away. The cabin still had a thin white dust over everything and the overwhelming violet scent of baby powder until we left camp at the end of the week. However, most of the evidence of Cassie's temper tantrum had been eliminated by the time the other girls returned from dinner. The only other consequence we faced was dinner. Both of us were famished from missing our meal. Cassie and I couldn't get a chance to eat until breakfast. I was surprised that I managed to get away with faking incontinence, but I only had been at camp for a day. I had the rest of the week and then four years of college to hide the fact that I was a big fat liar. Bets said we were going on a nature hike and then for a swim in the morning, so at least there would be activities to bond. I still needed to pick out which girl would be my new roommate. Chapter Eight I had such a hectic day with coming to camp and getting yelled at by Bets that I was surprised that we had only been at the camp for one day. After the other girls got to the cabin, it was getting dark. I dug out my cell phone. Although there was no coverage, I could see the time. It was only seven in the evening, but I was tired. Bets was the last one to enter. “Whoa, it's dusty in here.” I gave an embarrassed smile. “Yeah. We had a bit of a mishap with baby powder.” “I kind of need a spare bottle now,” said Cassie. “I'm sure Nora will let you share,” she answered. “Won't you?” I nodded. “And we now have a new rule. No one is allowed to go away from the main campground without telling me. You have the whole meadow, the cabin, and the cafeteria. In addition, there are shower facilities behind the cafeteria building and you are more than welcome to use them at any time. Does everyone understand?” A few of the girls nodded, but Bets was looking at me and Cassie. “We are adults,” said Veronica. “We are not babies just because of our underwear.” “Veronica, no one is treating you like babies. We just have a lot of team building exercises and we are not going to get through them if we have to go all over the camp looking for people.” “I don't mind,” said Bella. “It's only a week and then we have college. I can be adult enough at college.” “At least Bets is not going around checking our diapers to see if we need changed,” said Darla. “In spite of the problems we have, at least she lets us have some autonomy.” I looked over at Melody, but she just sat in silence. She had her bear in hand and was hugging it tight. I wondered how she would adjust to college. I had had my whole childhood to adjust slowly to not having a mother do everything for me. To be thrust from baby to adulthood in one week must be scary and it would be an abrupt adjustment. Of course she hadn't had to deal with bullying or anything like that, but that didn't give her social skills. Cassie and I had our work cut out for us. “So, anyway tomorrow is a full day,” said Bets. “You all might like to get some extra rest. It's 7:30 now, so I will turn the light off at 9:00, but your time is your own until morning.” There was a scramble as six girls stood up and went to their bags. I grabbed the romance novel I was working my way though and curled up in my bed with it. Bella grabbed her Anne Rice novel. We were apparently the only readers in the group. Cassie pulled out a deck of cards and taught Darla and Veronica how to play spades. Melody wanted to play too, but she couldn't follow the game and kept begging to play Old Maid instead. I felt bad that she was left out, but I was too comfy with my novel. I was surprised when she pulled Barbies out of her bag and started to play with them on her bed. I rolled my eyes and returned to my novel. In the novel, Phillipe was hired as a ranch hand after Mayre's husband had died. At first Mayre had hated the man, but he saved her many times. Once he saved her from rattle snakes and then later when her horse got a bur in its saddle and was out of control. He chased down the horse and lassoed it before holding her in his arms. I had the sudden urge to pee and I relaxed and let the inevitable happen. Would a man like Phillipe, or even the average frat boy want to date me while I kept up this charade? Boyfriends were supposed to be part of the college experience. Did Bets realize that wearing a diaper would be a drag on my sex life? Of course I was being selfish. I am sure she experienced lots of rejection from boys due to the diapers. I was stealing a chance from another incontinent girl, so I already knew I was being selfish. I rolled over into my pillow and started to cry. I was overwhelmed. This was too much. It was only one day in diapers and I was ready to be done. I needed the scholarship. I was not going to give it up, but four years of this was going to suck really bad. I tried to keep my sobs silent. The other girls were reading or absorbed in their games. However, Melody looked over at me and saw my blood-swollen eyes. She put down her dolls and walked over and knelt beside my bed. “Are you homesick, Nora?” she asked. I shook my head and tried to think of a way to shoo her away, but she sat down beside me and started stroking my hair. “Don't worry, Nora. I miss my mommy, too.” Angrily I grabbed her arm and shoved her away. “Stop touching me,” I yelled. The hurt look Melody gave me as she fell against the other bunk snapped me out of my morose. I got down on the floor and put an arm around her. “Are you all right? I'm sorry I pushed you.” I saw Bets glare at me, but she didn't intervene. “I'm not injured, but I'm still hurt,” she said. Her voice was still sad. “I was just trying to help. My mommy brushes my hair when I am sad and I thought it might make you feel better.” “It was a nice gesture, but please don't do that again. I am just upset about having to wear diapers. I'm just afraid I won't ever have a boyfriend. I haven't had a boyfriend since I first started having to wear diapers.” That was the first honest thing I had said about my diapers since I got there. I didn't have a boyfriend and I hadn't last week when I tried diapers for the first time. “I was just reading my romance novel and it just brought back the fact that none of the female interest in those books wear diapers.” “Are you saying that I can't get a boyfriend if I am in diapers?” asked Melody. “When I was twelve I asked my mother when I could have a boyfriend and she said when I started college. Why would she tell me that if I can't.” I sighed. “No one is saying we can't have boyfriends. It's just that most boys will be grossed out when we are making out with them and they discover a diaper on their girlfriend.” “But....” “Don't tell me you are that sheltered. All boyfriends eventually want to have sex. They will discover you wear diapers then. They will be surprised to find that you are not wearing sexy panties.” “I've never worn panties,” she admitted. “Weren't you ever potty trained?” She smiled. “Nope. Mommy told me I wasn't able to be potty trained because I am incontinent.” “I had many doctor's visits trying to find the cause of my incontinence after my car accident,” I said. That was the cover story Kara and I devised when I wrote my essay for the scholarship. “Veronica told me she went to the doctor multiple times after the drunk driver ran into her,” said Melody. “I've never been to the doctor's office. My mother doesn't believe in them. She has a spiritual healer we go to instead. Mommy runs a shop that sells hard to find ingredients that spiritual healers use, so we get a discount.” I was appalled. How could have she gone through life with a major problem like incontinence and never been looked at by a real doctor. Did she not have vaccinations either? Was she a religious nut? How would her mother let her go to a college like MIT where they have science if that was the case? “Umm, Melody?” “Nora.” “What about vaccines? You have to go to the doctor to get vaccines. They won't let you start college unless your shot records are up to date.” “Mother's spiritual healer didn't believe in vaccines, so mother didn't either. I never needed them since I was home schooled. We had direct energy transference instead.” I opened my mouth to object, but she interrupted me. “I think DET is nonsense. I still got measles. That was a really itchy two weeks.” She frowned. “Don't worry about the vaccines though. I got a letter from MIT last week that said that I just have to visit the Student Health Center to get them taken care of within the first two weeks of the semester. I am an adult now and can make my own health decisions. That includes going to get my health care needs filled by someone that doesn't buy scary chicken feet and hangs them from the ceiling.” I put an arm around Melody. I thought she was just sheltered before, but now I believe that her mother did her active harm. “So tell me about home schooling.” “Well, daddy used to visit me on Christmas and my birthday. So when I was seven, he brought me some school books and I did all the worksheets. Every Christmas and birthday I got some more and he picked up my worksheets. I went up two grades every year. They got harder and harder the last couple years though. For my sweet sixteen, daddy took me out on a day all my own. We went to a real school, which was weird because it was a Saturday and he left me there to take my ACT. I got a perfect score and we looked for scholarships. Mother was really upset when she found out, but I'm eighteen and daddy said she has to let me go to college. I guess that is homeschooling. I am interested to see how college works because you get teachers.” I was taken aback. She seemed so dumb, but if she home schooled herself with only books and worksheets, she had to be a genius. “Melody, you are going to be in my study group when we start college.” I turned and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled. “I'd like that. I never got to study with anyone else.” Bets walked over to the light switch and toggled it so the lights blinked. “Fifteen minutes, girls.” “Can you change me into a clean diaper before bed?” asked Melody. “I know you promised to teach me to do this myself, but you haven't yet.” I sighed. “Sure.” I helped Melody out of her overalls and then changed her. She just stared blankly as I did it. I taped the final tape and then patted her hip. “All set,” I said and started to get up. “Aren't you going to help me into my jammies?” She sat up and went through her bag and found a sleeper and handed it to me. It was August and hot. I shoved it back in her bag. “No,” I said. “It's too hot for jammies. We are just going to sleep in our diapers and shirts.” I pulled off the soccer shorts I was wearing and folded them and put them at the foot of my bed. I was dry, but I had waited a bit long to wet and it might be suspicious if I conveniently wet right before I needed a change. I had to pee a little bit and I would have gone to the bathroom if I wasn't wearing a diaper. “Are you sure it's okay?” I looked around at the other girls. Veronica wore shorts over her diaper, but Bella only wore a t-shirt like us. Darlene wore a nightie. Cassie got in bed and cast aside her bra and t-shirt before covering up. I was surprised that she would go shirtless in front of the rest of us. My best friend Kara had told me she slept naked unless she was staying at my house. I was a t-shirt and panties girl. I had nighties and even a set of flannel pajamas, but I always found that they were too much. “Yeah, I think it's okay. If you get cold just let me know. I know you don't want to wear a sleeper though.” I left Melody in her bed holding her teddy bear and returned to my bed. As I passed Cassie's bed, she grinned at me. “How was your talk with the baby?” Just then the lights went out, so she didn't see me when I scowled at her. “Don't call her that. Besides, you need to teach her to dress and change herself.” “Don't remind me,” she said. “And I suppose I should be nice since Bets gave me a second chance.” “There's the spirit,” I said. I got in my own bed and lay staring at the ceiling. If Melody the other girls could deal with incontinence, then I should be able to wear diapers continually too. I closed my eyes and relaxed before remembering that I had to pee. I couldn't get comfortable, so I just relaxed letting the wetness fill my diaper. It felt really warm against me and with that feeling, I drifted off to sleep. Chapter Nine: Are You Sure You Belong Here. I woke up and around me all the girls were sleeping. At least I didn’t see anyone moving around. It was light enough with the moonlight shining in the windows so that I could see. I looked around. Bets snored. She lay in the bed by the door, but I could tell she couldn’t know who was coming in or out. Melody sucked her thumb and hugged her teddy. Darla had her mouth open as she slept. I only saw the lump that was Veronica curled up under her sheets. Bella just slept on top of her bed. She was rolled over on her stomach. Her shirt rode up and I could see her entire diaper on display. However, I didn’t see Cassie. My diaper sort of started to feel clammy, so I wanted a change. I changed as quietly as I could and then walked to the trash can to throw away my used diaper. As I passed the door, I heard a noise coming from outside. I stepped out to investigate. Right away things were different. There were usually crickets cricketing and other night sounds but everything was still. We were away from the city and away from electric lights, or at least most electric lights. The only artificial light I’ve seen was in the cabin and it was off. However the sky was brilliant. It seemed covered in stars. I was used to only seeing a handful of stars, but they were clouds of stars. They ran in streaks and patterns around the sky. I was staring so hard at the stars that I almost forgot why I was out here, until I heard a pattering sound coming from behind a tree. I walked over to investigate and Cassie almost walked into me. She was adjusting her shorts, but when she saw me she got frightened. “What are you doing out here, Nora?” “I heard a noise,” I said. “What were you doing over there?” I wondered what caused the pattering sound. If we weren’t all diapered, I would have thought she was peeing, but that didn’t make sense. “Oh, um,” she started. “The stars were really bright so I went to investigate. You know if you wait long enough you can see a shooting star.” “No you can’t. Stars are just big gaseous balls of hydrogen. If one fell to earth, the planet would burn up. No. The whole solar system would be destroyed.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me across the meadow to a clear spot. Her blanket lay in the grass and I watched her lie down on it. “Lay beside me and we can watch.” I decided to play along and got down on the blanket beside her. I looked at the brilliant star field and tried to find the big dipper. That was the only constellation I knew. “There.” Cassie pointed at where the streak was. “Did you see the shooting star?” “It was a flash,” I admitted, “but I doubt it was a star.” “Of course not, you dolt.” She punched me lightly in the arm. “It’s a meteor. Just a piece of space rock. It’s just called a shooting star. The basically fall all the time.” “Meteors land on the earth constantly? You’d think you’d be able to find meteors everywhere if they are constantly falling.” “Meteors don’t land. If they did, they’d be meteorites. Besides, most are the size of sand and just burn up to show the streak you saw.” She pointed at the sky. “Ooh, another one. They are not all over the place.” “So how do you know all about this?” I asked. “When I lived with Felix and Elisa. Felix was an astronomer and he took me to the observatory all the time. I got to look through an eight inch telescope a few times. I really like that family a lot. Well he taught me a lot of astronomy stuff.” “What happened?” I asked. “Did they lock you in a cage too?” “No, they weren’t like Lorraine. I screwed this one up.” She looked at me and smiled. “I sort of beat up another girl in high school pretty bad, so I had to live in juvie for six months. They didn’t want me back when I got out, so CPS assigned me to another family.” She slurred the last few words as she started to cry. I put an arm around her. “It’s okay,” I said. “No it’s not. I wet the bed every night and then they made me wear diapers.” She cried even harder. “The other girls made fun of me and I got beat up all the time.” I held her and patted her back. “No one is going to make fun of you for your diapers.” “Thanks,” she said. She sounded a bit sarcastic. We were bonding and her tone just kicked me out of it. I thought maybe I was imagining it and I didn’t want to think bad of her after she opened herself up to me. Was Cassie a trouble maker? Would she hurt any of us? “We better get back to bed before Bets thinks we are breaking more rules. I don’t want to lose my scholarship,” she said. “Yeah, go ahead. I will follow you in a little bit. We shouldn’t come in at the same time. If we wake someone, they’ll notice both of us.” “Good idea.” She picked up her blanket and walked toward the cabin. When she went inside, I listened but didn’t hear anyone stirring. I turned and walked a different direction to the place I first saw Cassie come from behind the trees. I took out my cellphone and used it as a light to find what was making the splashing sound. There was wetness beneath the tree trunk. I knelt close enough to smell if it was pee and it was. Cassie was peeing back there. I walked slowly back to the cabin and tiptoed back to bed. No one except Cassie was awake. She looked at me. “You don’t tell anyone,” she hissed. Did she know I suspected her? That I discovered her pee puddle in the woods? She slid beside my bed and held one of my hands. “I don’t want the other girls to know about me being sent to juvie. They already hate me.” She looked me in the eyes and moved my hand so our pinkies were interlinked. “Pinky swear.” I was surprised she used such a childish gesture, but she had a look of panic on her face when I hesitated. “Pinky swear.” “And don’t tell them about me crying.” She turned and scooted off to bed. I lay back and stared at the bunk above me. Cassie was a girl of contradictions. First I thought she was going to beat me up for discovering that she was peeing outside. However, she thought she got away with it, so that was not what she was hiding at all. Instead of beating me, she did that little girl pinky swear thing. I was seven the last time Kara and I pinky swore. She had beaten up another girl in the past, so why was I different? Maybe her meanness was just a cover for her being afraid. I still had to worry if she was a threat to me. She was in juvie for hurting someone. Six months must mean she hurt the other girl bad and I wondered if she would do it again. However, she seemed to like me. She confided secrets that I wouldn’t have had the courage to tell. If she was really incontinent, could she have been able to pee outside? I doubted it. She had to walk quite a way from the blanket she lay out in order to pop a squat. It wasn’t right for her to fake this just for the scholarship. However, I was a faker and who was I to judge Cassie? I couldn’t see the splinter in her eye with the plank in my eye. I rolled onto my side. Experimentation had shown that wetting in this position meant a leaky diaper, but I was not going to sleep on my back or stomach. It was more comfortable and I was in no danger of wetting in my sleep. I closed my eyes and relaxed. Chapter Ten: The Nature Hike I woke to Bets yelling at us to get up. “It's morning and we are going to go swimming,” she said. “You can't lie in bed all day. It's nine o'clock already. You don't want to sleep away the day when there is so much nature to see.” I rolled to my back and stretched before looking around. Cassie had a blank look on her face, but she had her hands over her eyes as if she was rubbing them. Melody just jumped out of bed walked over closer to Cassie and I. Veronica's hair was everywhere. She was already going through her stuff and when she bent down, I could see her sleep shorts were wet. She grabbed a clean diaper and threw it angrily onto her bed along with her changing supplies. When she looked my way, she seethed with anger. Darlene just sat on her bed and looked at her feet. Bella stood and stretched. Her t-shirt rode up to display her wet diaper. Bella was the first to speak. “Where can we shower?” Bets smiled. “There are shower facilities across the meadow. Get you stuff and lets go.” Five minutes later, we all trooped across the meadow. We must have been a sight since we were all in our pajamas. Cassie did put on a shirt, but the rest of us wore what we slept in. Veronica was still cross and I heard her and Bella talking. “Did you leak last night?” asked Bella. “Are you wearing Depends?” “Of course I'm wearing diapers. They just suck for sleeping in.” Veronica still wore her soaked shorts. “I meant that you don't really have good ones,” said Bella. “I don't want them to show under my clothes. I'm not wearing thick ones with blocks on them like that girl.” She pointed at Melody's diaper. “I don't know about the blocks, but thicker is better.” She lifted her t-shirt to reveal her diaper. “No baby blocks, but they are thicker and my nightie is dry. I'll loan you one for tonight if you want to try. You'll feel better in the morning.” “I'd feel better in the morning if I didn't have to wear diapers at all.” Veronica bore her teeth and it looked like she was going to snarl at Bella. Darleen grabbed Bella by the arm and pulled her toward me. “Don't mine Veronica. She looks like she needs coffee.” “Or an enema,” said Cassie. “She has something up her ass.” I elbowed her in the ribs. “Shush.” She gave me an angry look and I remembered what Cassie was capable of. Was she going to beat me now? I turned to apologize, but she just smiled. “Geeze, it was only a joke.” “Remember,” I said. “You are supposed to be nice.” She frowned. Melody stood on my other side. She looked a bit worried and reached to grab my hand. I let her hold it until we got to a door in the back of the cafeteria building. It had a woman's bathroom symbol and another symbol indicating showers. We walked and the other girls race toward the showers. I found a bench and threw my bag on it before stripping down to shower myself. Melody stood quietly beside me and just stood there. She looked worried. I looked at her. “Are you all right?” “I always take baths. I never took a shower before.” I sighed. Did she have to be that helpless. “Well there are probably not any bathtubs in the dorms either, so get used to it.” “But...,” “Just get undressed.” I took off my t-shirt and diaper and then wrap a towel around me. I looked over to Melody and she saw she was doing the same. At least I didn't have to undress her like a baby. I put a hand on her shoulder. “It will be okay.” There were only four position in the shower and Bets, Cassie, Veronica, and Bella were first, so Melody, Darlene, and I had to wait. I looked into the shower. Most of the other girls were finished. I took Melody by the hand and pushed her under the shower and then took my position under the other shower head. I cleaned the best could and then returned to my towel and started to dry off. Melody was still under the shower soaping up. She looked happy in there. I imagined how her life must have been before camp. Her mommy probably bathed her like a toddler. I dried off and then pulled my bikini out of my bag. I kept my towel around my waist and put on the bikini top. Before I grabbed the panties and put them on, Bets voice rang out clearly. “Girls, hurry up and get dressed. We are going on an hour long nature hike on the way to go swimming. Be sure you bring some extra diapers. We are going to be gone from the cabin until noon.” I grabbed a clean diaper and taped it on. I found some clean shorts in my bag and pulled them on and stuffed the bikini bottoms in my pocket. Melody came out of the shower naked and wet. I tossed her a towel and she started to dry off. “Can you diaper me please?” she asked. I shook my head. “Cassie is supposed to do that from now on,” I said. I motioned over to Cassie and she came over. “Hurry and get dressed, Baby,” she said when she saw Melody wasn't ready. I sighed. “We talked about this, Cassie. You need to help her. Besides, she's not a baby. She's really smart if you get to talk to her.” Cassie frowned. “Well, Smarty Pants, lay down on the bench.” She put one of Melody's building block diapers under her and pulled the front up between her legs. She was about to tape it up, but I had to tease her. “You must really like changing diapers,” I said. “No, I don't. Bets is making me.” “She's making you do it until she learns how to do it herself,” I said. “If you don't teach her, she's not going to learn and you'll have to keep doing it.” She scowled, but looked at Melody. “See, you lay on the diaper and then you pull the front up to the same level.” She described the process as she did so. I was enjoying Cassies discomfort until Darlene tugged on my arm. “Can you give me a hand?” She held a untaped diaper between her legs and she looked cross. I helped her down on the bench. “I always tape the bottom tapes first,” I said. “Then you can make sure the top ones go over your hips so your diaper doesn't sag too much.” I taped them in place. I never thought I would be changing diapers. I was glad Kara made me wear them and change myself in the week before camp. I would have looked stupid if I didn't know what I was doing. When I was done, I brushed my hair the best I could and tied it in a pony tail. Toothbrushing followed. I decided to skip the whole makeup thing. It was just us girls and it would wash off while swimming. Cassie and I were the last to leave the bathroom when all was said and done. I smiled at the group. “Shall we be moving?” asked Bets. Melody took Cassie by the hand and they followed Bets and the other girls. I was surprised Cassie let her hold her hand. She looked back at me with a look of discomfort. I smiled and walked beside Darlene. We walked into the woods and Bets pointed out all the trees and what types they were. After about twenty minutes, she pointed out some mushrooms growing on a tree like a shelf. I thought it was pretty cool, but the other girls were bored. “Nora, what is your room like?” asked Darlene. “I bet you have a cool and more adult-looking room. Mine has pink walls and a stupid canopy bed.” I frowned. “I'd actually like a room like that. Mine has a boarded up window and black scorch marks on my carpet.” “Really? What happened?” “My house got raided by the IRS. They came with guns. It was scary because I was still in bed and they smashed through the windows. They wouldn't let me get dressed until they were done searching the house.” “Whoa. That sounds embarrassing. Were they nice about your diapers?” I had to stop and think about it. I hadn't been in diapers then. I wondered what would have happened if it was the case. “No.” I remembered the SWAT team teasing me about wetting myself when the flashbang grenade flew through the window. I don't they would have been very nice if I was in diapers then. “They even handcuffed me so I wasn't able to pull my shirt down and I was obviously very wet.” Sitting in wet panties for three hours was embarrassing. Wetting on my carpet because I was still in handcuffs was even worse. “Oh my,” she said. “I though I had it bad with a mother who won't leave me alone. You have it far worse than me.” I felt bad. I was gaming these people for free college and Darlene felt bad for me. I felt disgusted with myself. “Well, it's good you got the scholarship since your money dried up,” she said. I nodded. “So tell me more about yourself.” “Well, I have four brothers. I'm the only girl. I'm the youngest.” She looked around. “Nothing really exciting happened to me. Well that I remember. I was in a car accident between first and second grade. I don't remember it at all. I do remember coming home from the hospital and having to wear diapers again. My mother is a stay at home mom, so she could make sure I have anything I want. She writes all the time”. “I had to be quiet and play with my toys or read a book in her office so she could keep an eye on me. I really didn't need constant supervision. The only freedom I got was when mother dropped me off at school and there I had to deal with people who bullied me.” “Oh wow,” I said. “I thought she was over the top when she dropped you off at the van.” “I was surprised by that too. I thought I'd get a reprieve now that I am eighteen, but I think she is a habitual meddler in my life.” She sighed. “It worked out. I didn't have anything to do at home but do homework. At least mother didn't hover over me and second guess me on school work. Everything else was hovering.” She twirled around. “Do you see how I dress?” I did look at her. She wore nighties to bed, which was just personal preference, I thought, but she also wore weird looking clothes. Her jeans were just a bit like mom-jeans. I mean, sure she would need the extra room in the seat, so I never expected anything. However, her shirts were a bit dressy. I hadn't really seen her wear a t-shirt the whole trip. She only wore button-down blouses. “It's not that bad,” I said. She pointed to Melody just ahead. She wore a pink t-shirt with a Disney princess on the front. She wore a short white jeans skirt and I swear I could see her diaper peaking out as she walked. “At least I am not as babyish as she is.” “Well, from what I hear, her mother makes yours seem normal. You know she never had a vaccination in her life?” “What? My mother wouldn't let up about the vaccine thing. I think I had to get a flu shot at least twice a year. My shot record is meticulously recorded in volume eighteen of my baby book.” “Volume eighteen?” I had a book with baby pictures and scrapbook items, but it stopped getting updated when I was three. “I do have a shelf with all my participation trophies, but I don't care about those. I got my softball trophies for sitting on the bench.” “My brothers had some of those. They never kept them. They only kept their championship trophies. I never got to play sports. It wasn't safe for someone with my condition.” She shook her head. “I only have a severed nerve from where a pen impaled me during the accident. It's only the nerve that tells me when I have to go pee. It's not like I am in danger of hurting my back or jarring something if I get hurt doing sports.” “So why couldn't you do anything?” “I think mother feels guilty because she thinks she couldn't protect me,” she said. “I have to be watched over so no more harm will come to me. You know, I am not prepared to be on my own. Mother didn't even teach me to change myself. It's ridiculous.” “We'll work on that,” I said. “I appreciate it.” She looked at me. “You know, I noticed you are pretty together. You step up and help out. I don't know what you did to Cassie.” She pointed at Cassie and Melody holding hands as they walked. “She was so mean before. Bella told me Bets was going to throw her out of the program.” “Bella was wrong.” I didn't want to tell her about our messy diapers. I didn't want to have the other girls find that out about me. “Well, Bets just asked Cassie to help out Melody. She wasn't in trouble.” “We all heard Cassie's outburst,” said Darlene. “Something went down.” “It's a private matter,” I said. “Bets said it was over and forgotten.” I must have appeared angry. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry.” “Forget it,” I said. “So what made you choose engineering?” I asked. “I had the grades for it. We don't have much money because there were a lot of medical bills and mother quit her job to take care of me. I couldn't get any other scholarships because you have to be involved in extracurricular activities to actually be awarded most scholarship. I don't even know what I want to do when I grow up. Never had any experience that would help me decide.” “I actually wanted to teach English,” I admitted. “I want to write an awesome bodice ripper with Fabio on the cover.” “Ick,” she said. “Fabio is pretty dumb. He can barely speak English. Mother got to meet him when he was in a photo shoot for her cover.” “You're kidding. Your mother wrote a book with Fabio on the cover?” “Yeah, ick.” “I love him,” I said. “I used to lay in bed and read his books with one hand under the blankets.” I blushed. “Eww,” she said. “Oh, come on, surely you have. Everyone does it.” “I don't. You really missed the part where my mother supervises every aspect of my life.” She looked at me. “Just eww. That was too much information.” “Oh look,” I said, desperate to change the conversation. “Bets is pointing out a deer. Be quiet or it will run away.” The deer came closer to us and I saw that it had an orange tag in its ear. It saw us and turned and bounded away. “Are they domesticated?” I asked Bets. “What's with the ear tags?” “No,” said Bets. “It's a state park. They mark them to manage the wildlife. Some people like to hunt here in the winter.” “Oh, no,” said Melody. “Someone would kill that sweet little deer? It's like when Bambi's mother got shot.” “Stop being a baby,” said Cassie. “There are too many deer anyway.” Bets glared at Cassie for an instant and then we resumed our march. “That was weird,” said Darlene. “Cassie had to grow up too soon,” I said. “She doesn't have the patience to deal with Melody tactfully.” We walked a while longer and then came out of the woods behind the locker rooms by the lake. Cassie and I had been there earlier. Behind the building was a picnic table and on it was a basket. “Oh good. The food is here,” said Bets. “We can have out picnic after our swim.” Swimming would be fun. I didn't know how much it would reveal about me or the other girls. I've never been so humiliated in my life. Chapter Eleven: Humiliation “I am not going to swim,” said Veronica. She held her arms crossed to emphasize her flat refusal. I stared at her. Her one piece swimming suit lay on the bench of the dressing room and she refused to even pick it up. The colors were still bright. In fact, it still had the price tags on them. Darleen sat on the bench in her suit. She wore a swim diaper instead of bikini bottoms. Melody wore a one piece, but it was obvious she had on swim diapers beneath them. Cassie was naked. She still wore her diaper, but she hadn't started to put on her bikini top. “I don't know why you don't want to swim,” said Cassie. “Nora and I went swimming yesterday. The water was nice.” “It's because I'm wearing a diaper. It reminds me of my incontinence when I swim. There is no way to hide the diaper. Look at these two.” She pointed at Melody and Darleen. “It's just us girls,” said Darleen. “No one else will see our diapers.” “I will see them,” said Veronica. “I will see what that drunk turned me into.” “Don't wear a diaper,” I said. “You are outside and it's a lake. Besides, before I was incontinent, I peed my bathing suit lots of times.” “Eww,” said Darleen. “Nora and I were skinny dipping yesterday. We took off our diapers for a swim.” Cassie turned a bit red. “Are you sure it's okay?” asked Veronica. I nodded and she shed her clothes and diaper and pulled on the new swimsuit. She looked in the mirror and smiled. Cassie and I dressed in our bikinis as well. We walked out and Bets stood there. “Swimming without protection?” Cassie nodded. “Yep. I peed in the pool before I was incontinent. Besides swim diapers don't really hold pee.” Bella came running out of the locker room. She wasn't diapered either. Bets smiled. “Okay. That is a valid and discreet option. Have fun.” She then turned to me and quietly said. “Nora, I think you do need a swim diaper. You had issues with messing yesterday. I don't think we want to swim with you if you have another messy accident unless you have swim diapers on.” Veronica was probably too close and she definiately heard. “Eww. Nora messed her pants yesterday. Make her wear a swim diaper. Eww.” The other girls all stared at me. I couldn't believe what Bets had revealed in front of the other girls. Only Cassie had known about the incident and now everyone knew. “Oh, that's why you came back without pants,” said Bella. I turned and fled into the bathroom where I sat on the bench and started to cry. How could Bets embarrass me like that? I was going to just go home and pack for Austria. At least no one in Austria would know I messed myself and I wouldn't have to wear diapers. I wondered what kind of job I could get with a yodeling degree. Bets came in. She had a swim diaper in her hands which she handed to me. “Nora, it's for the best. You don't want to contaminate the water.” I wanted to yell at her for embarrassing me, but I couldn't get any coherent words out. I was crying too hard. However Cassie came in behind her. “The other girls think I'm mean,” she said. Bets looked at her. “This is hardly the time.” “It's exactly the right time. You revealed something Nora was embarrassed about to all of us. Don't you see you humiliated her? The other girls think I'm mean, but I am never that mean.” “I didn't know Veronica was close enough to overhear. I'm sorry.” Bets sat beside me and held me against her and patted my back. I was still sobbing and I pressed my face against her shoulder. I still couldn't say anything understandable. “Bets, let me take her to the cabin,” said Cassie. “We will behave ourselves, I promise.” “We are going to stay together,” said Bets. “You two need to get to know the other girls. You just can't stay by yourselves the whole time.” “But she is humiliated and just needs to be alone to cry it out. Please let us go. I know she'll have to face the other girls later. However, she not ready for that.” I stopped sobbing a bit. “Yeah, I want to go back to the cabin.” I could barely speak, but I managed. Bets looked at Cassie and then back at me. “Okay, go. We'll be back after our picnic. There are sodas in the cooler in the cafeteria kitchen and there are frozen pizzas in the freezers.” She touched my shoulder. “I'm really sorry I revealed your accident to the other girls.” Cassie took my hand. “Come on, let's go.” I got up and then picked up my diaper bag. Cassie took hers and we walked back to the cabin. We had just gotten out of sight of the lake when I felt the need to pee. I was almost ready to start peeing, but then I realized I was still in my bikini. “Oh crap. I forgot to put on a diaper.” Cassie got a panicked look. “Oh yeah.” She grabbed a diaper from her bag and lay right down on the grass and put one on. She then turned to me as I was sorting through my bag for a clean diaper. “Would you like me to help?” “I think I can manage,” I said. I pulled a diaper out of the bag and started to change myself. When I had my diaper on, Cassie was ready to go. “Hurry up.” “I need to put on shorts.” “No we don't. I am just going to wear my diaper and bikini top. We can go to the meadow and lay out.” She grabbed her diaper bag and began to walk toward the camp. I hurried to follow her. When we arrived at the campsite, he dropped our bags on our bunks and then Cassie left the cabin. I followed her to the middle of the meadow where she threw her towel on the grass. “I still think that was mean that Bets outed you. And Veronica is going to hear from me.” Cassie balled up her fist before bending down to straighten the towel. I laid my towel down and joined her. “Thanks, Cassie. Veronica is still more to blame. I don't think Bets meant to shame me.” “Still, a bit of discretion goes a long way.” She looked at me for a while and though for a bit before speaking. “When I got out of juvie, I got a new family. I was the only foster kid. They had a child of their own and I didn't have to share a room with her, but the diapers weren't a secret. My foster sister teased me and shamed me for needing diapers. It was awful.” I reached over and took her hand. “It's okay. You don't have to hide the diapers from me.” I twisted my fingers. “We are this close. We can share anything.” Cassie frowned. “Well--,” she started. She cut off what she was going to say abruptly. I guess she still had secrets and to tell the truth, I was lying to her then. I was a big faker and she had to endure teasing because of diapers when she was growing up. I had parents that loved me and I wouldn't have to deal with parents that didn't understand. We lay out for quite a while. We pointed out clouds and made up shapes from them. We talked about our dreams for college. At one point Cassie rolled over on her stomach and unhooked her bikini top. “My front is tanned enough.” I rolled over next to her and we stared into the woods looking for the other girls. “Are you going to try to find a boyfriend in college,” I asked. “Of course,” she said. “Although, I've never really been in anyplace long enough to have one. It will be a first for me.” “I thought you'd be a bit more experienced,” I said. “My rough and tough exterior?” she asked. “You got to be rough and tough to get through foster care.” “Especially with diapers,” I said. She paused and then sighed. “I guess.” I heard a noise and saw two cars driving around the lane from behind the cafeteria building. “Someone's coming,” I said. “Let's go before someone sees us.” Cassie squealed and then got up. Her bikini top started to slide, but she grabbed the ties in one hand in her towel in the other and ran toward the cabin. I grabbed our other stuff and followed. When we got to the cabin, we scrambled to find shorts and t-shirts. Once dressed, I looked out the window. The cars pulled up by the cabin and stopped in the lane. One of the cars was a cop car. The other was a Prius. Cassie joined me on the bunk by the window as we peered out. “It's the police. We got to hide.” “No, we don't,” I said. “We didn't do anything wrong.” However, the police man got out of his car and headed toward the cabin. The woman in the Prius followed and stood by his side. “No, there is a woman with the police man. That usually means it's social services. I need to hide.” She looked around nervously. “I thought you were eighteen. They can't get you, can they?” I was more worried that it was the IRS coming to take my new source of college funds. I wore diapers to get this one and I was not going to lose it after going through the humiliation of wearing diapers. Cassie looked around for a way out, but there was no back door. Instead, she hid under the bed. There was a knock at the door and I sighed and answered it. The police officer stood there and looked at me. His utility belt held black weapons. His gun looked so big, but he also had a taser and a heavy flashlight. I involuntarily let out a bit of pee into my diaper as I thought of what the SWAT team had done to me at my home. The woman next to him seemed out of place. She wore a flowy skirt and a peasant blouse. Around her neck was a pentagram necklace. She looked at me and a full body shiver flowed through me. She was a middle aged woman, but she scared me to death. She scared me more than the police man. The police man spoke. “We need to ask you a few questions.” From under the bed, I heard Cassie whimpering in fear. The police man looked around for the source of the sound. Cassie wasn't good at staying hidden. I bit my lip as the police locked his eyes on Cassie's bare foot sticking out from under the bunk. Chapter Twelve: I'm Not a Baby The policeman knew that Cassie was hiding under the bed. He looked at her and he looked pissed. “I see you under there. Come out now.” He took out his flashlight and shined it at Cassie under the bed. It was a big, black six cell Maglite and I knew they were used to force compliance as well as providing light. Cassie slowly backed from under the bed and sat up facing the police officer. She was scared. “I... I... didn't... do it. I... I... swear.” The cop ignored Cassie and turned to the woman with the pentagram necklace. “Is this her?” The woman shook her head. “No, it's not. I told you she was blond.” The cop shrugged and waved a hand at Cassie. “Who knows what color her hair was originally. I had to ask.” He turned to Cassie. “Now why were you hiding from me?” “I don't know.” She said it like a little girl who got caught taking a cookie from the cookie jar. It reminded me of the joke on Bill Cosby's stand up routine where he talked about how children were brain damaged. Her father played the tape in the car on every road trip. “Why'd you do it?” asked Bill. He then switched to a little girl voice and said, “I don't know.” Then he'd address the audience. “See? Brain damaged.” Cassie didn't think it was a joke and neither did the police officer. He looked at her. “Never hide from a police officer. If I wasn't so busy I'd arrest you for obstructing a police investigation.” He turned to me. “Now I have a few questions I need to ask you.” Cassie spoke up. “We demand an attorney while we are being questioned.” “I am investigating a kidnapping. Do you think you're a suspect?” He glared at Cassie. “We are just at a camp for the girls in a certain scholarship to get to know each other before we start college,” I said. “We don't know anything about a kidnapping.” “Is Elizabeth Jones the head of this scholarship committee? Do you know where she is?” “Her name was on the paperwork,” said the woman. I nodded. “She and the other girls are swimming at the lake. I didn't feel good, so we came back here.” “Do you know which road leads to the lake?” the lady asked. “I think you just cut through the woods on the trail.” I looked at Cassie and then back at the woman. “We didn't drive down there, although I guess there should be a way since there was an RV parking area by the lake.” “What's this all about? What would we have to do with a kidnapping? We haven't seen anyone as we've been alone on the campground since we got here.” “Someone stole my baby,” said the woman, “and someone will have to pay when I find them.” She pulled a chain from beneath her blouse and stroked a chicken foot suspended on it. Cassie spoke. “There are no babies here. We are all college students.” The woman just glared at Cassie and held the chicken talon tight in her hand. It was really creepy. Fortunately, the police officer turned to the woman. “We'll find your baby. Let's go down to the lake and interview this Elizabeth Jones woman. They were about to leave when I heard voices coming from the woods behind the cabin. Bets and the other girls were returning. I wondered what I should do, but I couldn't warn them without alerting the police. Besides, they were missing a baby. Maybe someone's baby disappeared at the McDonald's and they were asking because the van was marked and they thought Bets might have seen something. The girls walked into the cabin. Violet was first with Melody close behind. Melody looked at the woman and ran up to her and gave her a hug. “Mommy, what are you doing here?” The woman rubbed Melody's back and then showered her with kisses. “I missed my baby so much. I'm glad you are safe.” “Is this your daughter, ma'am?” the police officer asked. “Yes, yes, she is. Thank you so much.” She looked at Melody. “You are safe now with Mommy. I'll take you back home.” She looked at the cop. “How soon can we leave?” The cop was about to speak, but Melody interrupted. “No, mama. I got two more days at camp, then I am going to college.” “Nonsense. You are coming home. Who is taking care of you? Who is changing you and helping you get dressed. Did your father just leave you with these people without telling me instead of taking you back home when his visitation was over?” The cop looked a bit uncomfortable, but Melody went on. “I am dressing myself now, and I am learning to change myself. I am not a baby anymore. And yes, daddy dropped me off.” “But I am your mother and you have to do what I say. I am telling you that you need to come home with me.” So this was it. We were not going to deal with Melody anymore. She was pretty weird, but I had really grown to like her. “But, mommy, I am not a baby anymore.” “You'll always be my baby and I am not letting you go.” The whole interchange took place in front of the threshhold of the door, so Bets couldn't get in, but she finally got in past Darlene and Veronica and finally stood up for Melody. “She's starting college now. Surely you want the best for your daughter's education.” “Stay out of this,” said the woman. “Don't you dare try to tell me how to raise my child.” “Mommy, I am eighteen now. Daddy said it was my decision if I should go to college since I am now an adult. I'm not a baby anymore, Mommy.” “You lost that privilege when you didn't come back and you left home without telling me.” “But I left a note because I knew you'd be like this. I am eighteen and I am going to college. You can't stop me.” Melody turned to storm to her bunk, but her mother spun her around and held her by both forearms. “Listen. We are going now. Pack your things.” Melody stared back. I could see her legs were shaking. “No, mama.” “You are my child and I will make you if I have to.” The policeman finally spoke up. “No ma'am. She is eighteen now. You can't make her go back with you. She is an adult now.” Bets looked at the policeman. “Please make that woman leave. She is disturbing my students.” The policeman looked at her. “You got to leave now. She's an adult and she can make her own decisions. You have to let your children move on.” Melody's mother looked at Melody. “Fine. You can stay, but when you can't handle college, don't cry to me about it. If you don't make it through, I will not send you to college when you are ready for it. You will learn to do your own laundry, and make your own bed, and deal with homework and everything without help.” She turned and walked out the door. The police officer turned to Bets. “I'm sorry. I didn't know she was an adult. I thought I was looking for a missing child.” He looked at Melody and just stared. “She is awfully childlike though.” I looked at the policeman. “I honestly thought she was going to cave and go home. She is grown up today.” “Well, I'm done here.” He turned to Cassie. “You, young lady, need to keep your nose clean. Not every police officer is out to get you.” He turned and left. “Well, girls,” said Bets. “We had enough excitement for today. Free time until supper.” The other girls ran out of the cabin. I went to my bed. I was wet and I wanted a change. As I was l changing, I saw Melody lay down on her bunk. She wasn't changing herself, but she was lying face down. I quickly took off my old diaper and cleaned myself with a wipe, before putting on my new diaper. I heard sobbing and looked over at Melody. I had planned to go join the others. Bella had a Frisbee and Veronica and Darleen had ball gloves, so they were going out to have fun. However, I just felt bad for Melody. Why was she sobbing. Instead of going out to have fun myself, I walked over and sat beside her on her bed. I started brushing my hand through her hair. “It will be okay.” “No, it's not. My mommy is mad at me. I never disobeyed her before.” I rubbed her back. “Don't you want to go to college?” I asked. “Yeah,” she said through sobs. “It's just that she is mad at me and wants me to fail.” “Well, you will have to make sure that you don't fail then.” I rubbed her back and smiled. “I'll try not to.” “Good,” I said. “You will be in my study group because you are smarter than me.” “I'm glad you have such faith in me.” “Now let's go play Frisbee with the others.” She reached in her bag and pulled out a clean diaper. “Change me first?” I shook my head. “You know what to do,” I said. “Cassie showed you what to do.” She managed to change herself. I did take the time to tighten the tapes though. I looked at the cartoon Teddy bears on the front of her diaper. “Where did you get the diapers with the cartoons?” “Mommy gets them online,” she said. She pulled on her shorts and we headed out the door to join the others. Chapter Thirteen: Breaking Camp After all the earlier excitement, the rest of the camp activities just weren't eventful. Aside from swimming and hiking, we really didn't do much except get to know one another. I thought about who I wanted to live with and I really couldn't choose. I liked Melody and Cassie seemed pretty cool as well. I knew we should be picking roommates and I was frankly just torn. Cassie and I got along pretty well, but she had that violent past. However, Melody was really smart, but she was too childish. It was the last night before camp ended and we would be headed back to MIT. We all sat around a campfire. I sat between Cassie and Melody. Veronica and Darlene had gone off to talk and Bella was sitting by herself reading. Cassie scooted closer to me. “So who are you going to choose?” I thought about it and then I shrugged. “I still haven't decided.” I looked over at Bella and yawned. Sitting next to the fire was making me a bit drowsy. I wondered how she felt. She was sitting by herself. I stood and walked over to her. I looked at Cassie, but she gave me a hurt look. That was too bad. I had to find out. “Bella, may I sit here?” I asked. She smiled and put her book by her side. “So Veronica and Darlene seem to want to be roommates. Who do you want to room with?” She gave me an uncomfortable look. “Well, I like almost all the girls,” she said. “I really don't mind, but I don't want to share a dorm room with one girl.” I looked over to Cassie and then back at Bella. I smiled at her. “The thing is, I am trying to decide between choosing Cassie and Melody. Since Veronica and Darlene have decided to be roommates, then if I choose Melody, you have to live with Cassie, and if I choose Cassie, you get Melody. I wanted your input. Beside, both girls have different downsides, but they are both awesome.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “So what do you think?” “I'll take Melody. You stay with Cassie. You two are best suited for each other.” I nodded. “Okay. I'll fill out my preferences and give them to Bets.” I took the little ballot Bets made us and circled Cassie's name. I then put it in the hat she had on the picnic table and then I returned to my spot between Melody and Cassie. Cassie grabbed my forearm. “What were you two talking about?” she hissed. I tried to pull my arm from her grip, but it was too strong and it hurt. “I asked her if she wanted to live with you or Melody. I couldn't decide and Veronica and Darlene chose each other.” I tried to pull my arm away. “Let go. You are hurting me.” She let go and then rubbed my forearm where her grip had squeezed it. “I'm sorry. I got too excited. Besides, I thought you were going to dump me in with the baby.” She frowned and looked over at Melody and then stuck her mouth to my ear. “I'm sorry. I'm a terrible person.” I whispered back to her. “You aren't terrible. You are my friend and we are going to stick together.” She gave me a hug. “Thanks. I need someone who can put up with me. I usually don't get along with others.” “I would have never guessed.” The sarcasm was evident. I just sat and relaxed. After enjoying the campfire, it wasn't long before Bets took the hat and then began writing. She then stood up. “It looks like we decided on our roommate situation here. I think this is the first year everyone got their first preferences. Veronica and Darlene are together in the double Melody and Bella, and Nora and Cassie are going to be in the quad.” “I thought we were just two to a room,” said Bella. “You are,” said Bets. “The quad has a shared bathroom and sitting area, but the double is just a bit larger. You'll see. They are both nice.” “So I guess we are sharing a bathroom with the baby,” said Cassie. “You get to bathe her.” “Be nice,” I said. “She is going to bathe herself. Remember, we are teaching her to be independent.” “Fine,” said Cassie. “Shush, I'm trying to hear Bets.” Bets continued talking. “… so I expect you to be ready at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. We want to get you girls settled in your new rooms. We will give you a chance to go shopping. Your scholarship includes an allowance for incidentals and school supplies, so we are going to Walmart.” “Oh joy. Walmart,” I said. “Where do you shop for school supplies and stuff?” asked Cassie. “Some of us didn't grow up filthy rich.” I frowned. I felt guilty. I had been rich before Dad's IRS problem. I had two reasons to feel guilty now. Although I didn't feel as bad about this as I did about faking incontinence. Walmart? Really? I said nothing and Cassie took my silence as me being called out as snobbish. After a while, she whispered to me. “I'm going to head to bed. A quick change and some rest will do both of us some good. I nodded and followed. I was getting uncomfortable from being wet and wanted to change and maybe get back into the romance novel I was reading. “I can't wait for college to start,” she said. “I'm looking forward to it myself,” I said. “I hope I have the perfect outfit for the first day of classes.” “Yeah,” she said. “I need to pick out an outfit myself. What I usually wear won't work because I don't want my diaper to show.” “Cassie, what do you mean that you usually wear?” I asked. She got a panicked look on her face. “Well, um,” she started. “I, um, ripped my favorite jeans last week. I wear them everywhere I want to make an impression or I did. You can see my diaper through the rip.” “Okay,” I said. “I just think you should wear a short dress and let all the haters screw themselves.” “I wish I was brave enough to do that, but I think discretion is better.” “I know. It was one of the first things I had to give up after becoming incontinent,” I said. “And printed panties,” she said. “I was at Walmart and saw they had Marvel panties and I was upset I couldn't buy them.” “Really?” I asked. “I didn't see you as a comic book reader.” “Well, I don't read comic books. I like the comic book movies though. I don't have the patience.” “It takes patience to read comic books?” I laughed. “I could read one in ten minutes.” “Fine, laugh. I'll just take your romance novel and give you ten or fifteen pages every month. I'll be sure the last page is at a critical point. You see how much patience you have then.” “You wouldn't dare,” I said. “No, I wouldn't,” she admitted. “But if I did, you would know what a comic book is like.” “So why were you looking at little girl's Wonder Woman panties?” I asked. “I was in Walmart and they were on a display by the aisle. Besides they were for women our size and I said Marvel, not DC. Were you even listening?” “Wait. What?” “Wonder Woman is a DC Comics character. The panties I was talking about had Iron Man, the Hulk, and Thor. They are characters in Marvel Comics. And they were in our size, not little girl sizes. Okay?” “I get it now.” I didn't. I just rolled my eyes. “Good. As my roommate you are going to be exposed to my love of nerdy science fiction stuff. Besides, we are going to be MIT girls and that means we get to study nerdy stuff like science and engineering.” “I still don't know about comic book movies, though.” We arrived at the cabin and Cassie grabbed her changing supplies and changed. I took the time to do so as well. When I finished, I turned toward Cassie. “Cassie, have you ever had a boyfriend?” She started snoring and I didn't have the energy to wake her up.” ### The next morning, I woke up to a gentle shaking. “Wake up, Nora. Everyone else is ready.” I rolled over, but Melody persisted in her attempt to wake me. “Wake up. We are going to college today and we are leaving in ten minutes. I sat up. “Ten minutes. Why didn't you wake me sooner?” I had to pee pretty bad and my diaper was still dry. I reached for my shorts and pulled them on and then franticly set about packing. “We tried to wake you, but you kept going back to sleep,” said Cassie. “I am going to be left behind in the woods,” I said. “Oh, you're finally up,” said Bets. “Hurry and get your stuff packed in the van.” I grabbed my toiletry bag and started for the door, but Bets stopped me. “No time for that. We got to leave now.” I turned around and packed. This was not good. My hair was tied in a pony tail, but I got sweaty during the night and I wanted a shower. Besides, I needed to wet my diaper and have a diaper change. Instead I put my suitcase in the back of the van and got in with everyone else. As soon as I sat down I wet. The purple diaper I had worn to bed handled my wetting well enough, but I was afraid I was going to leak. However, these diapers held up pretty good and I had been in a wet diaper constantly so I guess it wasn't too bad. Soon after I wet, we were on the road and headed back to MIT. My adventure was about to begin. I had worn diapers constantly for three days with other girls watching. I could fake this pretty well. What remained to be seen is if I could fake this for four more years. I lay my head against the window as we drove back toward Boston. Chapter Fourteen: Settling In We decided to stop at McDonalds on the way home. Bets decided. I would have preferred anywhere else, but anywhere with a bathroom would be good. I wanted to change and I couldn't stand it after sitting in a wet diaper for three hours. We finally pulled in and I grabbed my diaper bag got out of the van and headed inside. “Wait up,” said Casey. She ran after me and matched my speed when she caught up. “Okay, let's go.” I headed toward the lady's room and Cassie followed me. We got stalls next to each other and I started to change. I got the old diaper off and carefully wrapped it up so it wouldn't drip on my shorts. “Eww. Yuck,” I heard from the other stall. “What's wrong?” I asked. “Nothing. I'm just changing.” I just ignored her and finished changing and getting dressed. I then picked up the dirty diaper and dropped it in the trash. When I looked in the mirror, I was a mess. My hair was everywhere and I felt sweaty. I just smoothed my hair the best I could and waited for Cassie. She came out of the stall and didn't look happy. She stuffed the diaper in the trash and washed her hands. “Let's skip the milkshakes today.” I blushed but then we walked out and ordered our food. Cassie and I just shared a twenty piece McNugget meal. I was in no mood to have a messy problem that couldn't be taken care of until after I was able to move into my dorm room. That would have sucked. We sat over in the corner away from the other girls. Darlene and Veronica, and Melody and Bella had each taken separate tables away from each other. Being together in the van and all weekend had been a bit much. “I can't wait to go to Walmart,” said Cassie. “I am going to love this. I am going to buy the good folders. I think I might actually buy a Trapper Keeper.” “Really? They still make those?” I wondered why she would want one. I couldn't imagine a use for one in college. “I'm just getting plenty of copy paper and a spiral notebook for each class. And gel pens. I don't know if I will be doing that either because we are going to have laptops and I'm probably going to take notes in Word, not on paper. We are engineering students, not English majors.” I winced slightly when I said that. I still wanted to write my romance novel. “Well, they were too expensive for a foster kid, so I never got one.” she said. “I had an old binder that said JamesSoft Human Resource Department on it. All my classmates had Trapper Keepers. If we needed crayons I would get a 64 pack with a sharpener instead of just eight crayons.” “I think I had a 96 pack of crayons,” I said. “Because you were rich and privileged,” she said. “Every time I colored it looked like they had Simpson skin.” “Anyway,” I said, “you probably don't want to carry more than you need for class each day. MIT is bigger than the campus at highschool. You won't have a locker.” She sighed. “I guess that is true.” She pulled the tray closer to her and and grabbed a hand full of fries. “McDonald's usually means something in my life is changing in a major way.” I smiled and almost laughed. I am glad I didn't because she said something personal and it would have been mean to laugh. “Yeah, my social worker took me to McDonald's before dropping me off with a new family. It was nice arriving somewhere after having eaten because I usually wouldn't be fed until the next meal.” I walked to the other side of the table and squeezed next to her so I could give her a hug. “Cassie, I'm sorry. That makes me so sad.” She hugged me back. “Well, I am a college girl now.” She smiled. ### We were back on the road for another few hours before we finally arrived back at MIT. The parking lot was full now. However, the few of us who drove had spots up front and there was a spot reserved for the van. Bets parked and then turned back to us. “Okay we are here. Go check into your dorms and then you are all set. I will meet you back here for supper and then I will make sure you can get your shopping done, then you are all set.” “What about the roommate assignments,” asked Veronica. “I e-mailed those in while we were connected to the McDonald's wi-fi,” she said. “What time do we meet you?” asked Bella. “Five o'clock,” said Bets. We all unloaded our gear from the van and entered the dorm building for the first time. I have to say, I was nervous. What if our rooms weren't as private as we thought? What if this scholarship was a known thing and our diapers weren't exactly a secret? I shuddered at the thought, but then realized we wouldn't have been warned about keeping quiet if it were known. Inside was a desk with the sign, “Resident Assistant” at the front. A poster said, “New students, sign in here.” A college girl sat at the desk behind a laptop. “Name?” she asked. Darlene and Veronica were at the front so they stood at the desk first. “I am Darlene Keene and this is my roommate Veronica English. Do you have our room ready?” she asked with a polite, but nervous tremor. The RA typed. “I got you in 401A. It's on the end, so it's a double. You two are lucky. There are only four doubles per floor and one of them is the RA's room.” “What's that mean?” asked Veronica. “You don't have to share a bathroom with anyone except for your roommate.” I started to feel worried. We were supposed to be protected from the other girls in the dorms from finding out our situation. “I'm Nora Stevens and this is my roommate Cassie…Cassie, what is your last name?” “It's just Cassie,” she said. “You got to have a family name,” said the RA. “I have to have a family to have a family name. I don't.” “Cassie, stop being difficult,” I said. “Tell her your last name.” “Fine,” she said. “It's Nova.” “I got a Cassie Nova here,” said the RA. She snickered. “You two are in 308A. That's on my floor. I am at 328A if you need me. And no sneaking in the dates after hours, Miss Cassie Nova.” “Is it a double?” I asked. I did not want to share the bathroom with anyone. “Not likely,” said the RA. I looked at Bella and Melody standing behind us. Melody hefted her teddy bear and frowned. “Do you know who our quad mates are then?” She looked down at her sheet. “Some girls named Melody and Bella.” “That's us,” said Melody. “That works,” I said. I took my key from her and Cassie did the same. We both headed to the elevator. ### The dorm room was tiny. It was a quarter of the size of my own bedroom at home and I had to share it. There were two tiny twin beds, two nightstands, two decent-sized desks, and that was it. Along one wall were two doors that led to closets and a third door to the bathroom. I threw my stuff on one of the beds and Cassie claimed the other. “Whew, I thought we'd be sharing the bathroom with strangers,” I said. “Yeah, not fun.” She lowered her voice. “Juvie was bad. We had common bathrooms and everyone knew. The other girls would steal my pants when I was showering and I had to walk back to the room with just my diaper and shirt. I can share with Melody and Bella.” I took the box of clothes from my bed and dumped it out. I had another box of hangers and I started to hang my clothes. I stuck them all in my closet. Cassie watched me and frowned. “Did you bring all your clothes?” She opened her suitcase and I could see that she maybe had twelve outfits. “No, I just brought my warm weather stuff. I'll bring my winter stuff when I go home for break.” She gave a look of shock at me and then I could tell how different we were. “Oh, that is all you have,” I said. We looked about the same size. I knew what I needed to do, but I didn't really know if I wanted to share my wardrobe with an incontinent girl. I sighed. “You can wear any of my stuff.” “Thanks,” she said. She looked at my unused hangers and gave a pleading look. “There is not much drawer space in here.” She opened the drawers in the bottom of the closet. She dumped socks and bras in the drawer, shorts in the middle one, and shoved her diapers in the bottom drawer. I gave her enough hangers to hang her stuff and we were pretty much settled. I still had one more box and I opened it. It had my desk stuff. I had a little clay cup I made in pottery class which I used as a pencil cup. I had painted flowers on it and it was girly and whimsical. The other thing I had was a Dr Who TARDIS USB hub that somehow stayed in my possession without being seized with the rest of my computer stuff. I also had a little bound book with my Internet passwords. By some miracle I had left it at Kara's house the night of the raid, so I still had it. The last thing I took out was my coffee mug. It had an open book on it and the caption read, “Hopeless Romantic.” Cassie's desk was mostly empty. I saw she pulled out a plaque that read “First Prize – North Senior High Science Fair” on it. “Wow, you were in a science fair?” I asked. She nodded. “I got lucky. The judges graded the entries before Ailina Mathiue sneaked into the gym and smashed my exhibit.” She frowned. “I took a Raspberry Pi computer and hooked it to motors. It was supposed to move a telescope to point at any object in the night sky. I used an astronomy program, but I controlled the motors with Python script I wrote myself.” “That sounds really cool,” I said. I had no idea what she was talking about. “I'm sorry someone ruined your exhibit.” She sighed. “Well I beat Ailina with her majorette baton. After I was through with her, she couldn't twirl a baton for the rest of high school.” She smiled. “And she looked like a raccoon with her two black eyes.” “That's terrible,” I said. Would she take her wrath out on me? “I thought I was a bad ass back then,” she said. “I never would have beaten her up if I knew I would get kicked out of school and sent to live with some real mean girls.” She shrugged. “I am in college now, so I don't have to worry about that anymore.” “It's nice that they still gave you the plaque,” I said. A tear ran down her cheek. “Felix brought it to me when I got out of juvie. That was when he gave me the news that he and Elisa wouldn't take me back.” Her talking turned into a sob and she turned and ran into the bathroom. “Wait,” I said, but she had slammed the door and locked it. I sat on my bed and opened my book bag. I sighed and then emptied the twelve novels I had out on the bed. I then stacked them on the shelf above the desk. I took the one I was reading and laid down and began to read. About twenty minutes later, I heard a knock at the door followed by frantic pounding. I got up and looked around and made sure no diapers were visible in the room and then opened the door. It was Bella and Melody. Melody had her hand held tightly onto the back of her pants. “Hurry and let us in. Our bathroom is locked from our side and Melody is about to crap her diaper,” said Bella. I let them in and then knocked on the door to the bathroom. “Cassie, come out. Melody needs the bathroom.” “Go away,” she yelled. Melody was bent over and she was breathing hard. “Please, no. I can't do this at college. I haven't done this since I was a little kid.” I thought of my incident at camp and blushed. I didn't wish that on anyone. I took out the bobby pins from my hair and bent one into a torsion wrench and the other, I straighten except for a little hook on the end. I stuck both pins in the lock and wiggled them a bit until the doorknob turned. Cassie had her head in the sink. Her eyes were red and splotchy when she looked at me. “How'd you get the door unlocked?” she asked. “Melody is pooping her pants,” I said. Melody rushed past me and pulled down her pants and diaper in one motion and sat on the toilet without waiting for Cassie to leave. She was not quiet as she pooped. Bella was not happy. “We were trying to get in for over ten minutes. How can you be so inconsiderate? You should be required to poop your pants so you know what she almost went through.” “You don't know what I was going through,” said Cassie. She still rubbed at her eyes. I lowered my voice. “I accidentally squirted perfume in her eyes. It's my fault.” I looked toward the open bathroom door. “We are sorry, Melody.” “It's okay. I made it all right,” she said. “Bella, can you go into our room and get me a dry diaper. I tore a tape getting them down and I will leak if I use this same one.” Bella went through the bathroom and came back with a diaper. I watched as Melody tried to change herself. She did a pretty good job fr not having done it before this week. Cassie pulled me aside. “Thanks for covering for me about crying. I am supposed to be tough, not a crybaby.” I nodded. “No problem.” She grabbed my forearm. “And you got to show me how you got that bathroom door open.” “What? A bad girl like you can't pick a lock with a bobby pin?” She smiled. “No, but that's why I like you.” Melody ad Bella returned to their room and Cassie and I just talked until it was time to go to Walmart. Chapter Fifteen: Shopping at Walmart “I found a Trapper Keeper,” said Cassie. She held up a puke green binder that said Trapper in white letters. She also had a handful of pocket folders. She also had a box of 96 crayons. “I also found crayons with a pencil sharpener.” She squealed in delight. I looked at her “Can you imagine any use case for crayons in college?” I just stared at her for a while before she sighed. She frowned. “I guess not.” She took the crayons out of her cart and put them back on the shelf. I showed off my stash. I had two separate stacks of six things each: pocket folders and spiral notebooks. In addition I had two packs of jelly pens, a pack of mechanical pencils, and some paper. I thought my current backpack was good enough. Cassie, had a new Jansport backpack, a ream of paper, some lined paper, spiral notebooks, and of course her Trapper Keeper. She had a big pack of ordinary Bic pens. “School supplies, check. Now we need some toiletries,” I said. We moved our cart over to the health and beauty section and Cassie went over to the lipsticks. “Of course I am stocking up on makeup. We got a $100 budget here.” She grabbed a few cheap items. They were about a tenth of what I paid at the department store. I didn't need makeup, so next we went to the other aisles. I grabbed a new toothbrush as mine was kind of getting gross. I picked up some toothpaste and shampoo and looked around. Cassie was gone. I walked up and down the aisle and then found her. She grabbed a box of pads and stuck them in her cart. I walked up to her. “Cassie, what are you doing?” She shrugged. “Nothing. Just getting toiletries.” I pointed at the pads. “Yeah, I started my period. What's the big deal?” “Cassie, we wear diapers. We don't need pads.” I waited a few seconds and then the light came on in her eyes. “Well, I…,” she started to say. “Cassie, you don't really need diapers, do you? You are faking this just for the scholarship.” She clapped one hand over my mouth and then gave a blank look as she stared at me. She held that position for almost a minute and then let go of me. “Nora, let's go to the bathroom right now.” She grabbed my hand and almost pulled me over. I pulled away from her and grabbed the pads out of the cart and put them back on the shelf. Veronica entered the aisle and I had put back the pads before she came around the corner. “What are you doing here?” asked Cassie. Veronica gave an angry look. “I'm low on Depends,” she hissed. She walked down the aisle to the incontinence section and grabbed a pack and then made a tent of folders and notebooks around it to hide the fact that she was buying diapers. “Well we are running to the bathroom for a change. Watch our carts,” said Cassie. She pulled me to the bathroom at the back of the store. We got in and went into a stall. She took down her jeans and showed me the front of her diaper. “I'm really incontinent. See?” She pointed at the yellow patch on her diaper and then frowned when she saw the diaper was also stained with period blood. So that was what she was doing when she held my mouth in the feminine hygiene aisle. She was wetting and on purpose to prove she was wet. “I saw you wet on purpose when I called you out as a faker.” She changed tactics. “Okay. I am faking incontinence. I stopped having daytime accidents about a month after I got out of juvie. I still wet the bed occasionally when I have a dream about juvie.” She shrugged. “So what are you going to do? Before you tell Bets on me, just know that this is the only chance for a science-loving foster kid to go to any college, let alone my dream school of MIT. Please don't take that away from me.” “I'm not going to tell,” I said. “How do I know that?” She had a feral look in her eyes. I think she was about to snap. I imagined Bets finding me dead in this stall. “I am faking too,” I said. “The IRS took my college fund and this was my only hope. Okay. We are both faking, so you don't have to hurt me to shut me up.” I pulled down my pants and diaper and sat on the toilet and peed. “See?” She smiled. “It's good you are my roommate. I was worried that I couldn't hide this all semester long without being reported.” I sighed with relief. “And you are right. Buying pads is a habit.” She looked down at her stained diaper. “Diapers do work as pads.” She pulled a clean diaper from her purse. “I'm going to change now.” We changed and straightened our clothing and returned to our carts. I was a faker and I was a lot worse than Cassie who had overcome legitimate issues. However, having a co-conspirator really did assuage my guilt. Chapter Sixteen: More Walmart After leaving the restroom, Cassie and I rejoined Veronica at our carts. "You guys took long enough," said Veronica. "You left me in this aisle of all places." She waved her hand to point to the diapers on one side of the aisle and the feminine hygiene products on the other. "What were y'all doing here anyway.?" I shrugged. "It's just in between where we were shopping," I said. "Cassie was looking at the makeup in the next aisle and I was getting a new toothbrush in the other aisle." "Well next time look around you before abandoning your carts for me to look after." She drove her cart away from us. We took our carts the opposite direction. "Do you suppose she suspects anything?" asked Cassie. "Not a chance." I said it louder and harsher than I meant to. In a quieter voice, I said, "She'll be even more resentful and most likely to go to Bets if she finds out, so let's keep quiet around her. He is content to hang out with Darlene, so we only have to deal with Melody and Bella." "Yeah, and we have the added bonus that we need to keep Melody from blowing our cover to everyone else about what this program is all about." Cassie looked around, but then shrugged. "At least she is willing to try to be a grownup." I nodded. We had all the items on our list, so we just walked around the store. As we passed the toy aisle, I saw Melody standing in front of the Lego display. She waved when she saw us. "What are you doing Melody?" I asked. "Just looking at toys," she said. She pointed at her cart. "I got everything on the list, so I thought I'd just kill time until time to leave." I looked in her cart. She had pens and pencils and notebooks and paper like I did. There were no crayons either. The only thing I thought was out of place was here Frozen backpack. I was concerned about how childish it was, but I decided to let it go rather than make a scene. She was the one who would have to carry it after all. Cassie looked on. "I love Legos. If I had any extra money I would get some," she said. “Felix and Elsa had Legos at their house. I used to build robots out of them and control them with a Raspberry Pi.” Melody shrugged. “My mother didn’t want me playing with Legos, so they were kept at my daddy’s house. I mainly had Lego Friends, not Lego Mindstorm, so I didn’t get to play with robots.” I felt completely lost. “Wait, what?” “We are engineering students,” said Cassie. “We all played with Legos.” “I haven’t,” I said. “I didn’t even know I wanted to be an engineer before Bets called me and told me I got the scholarship.” Cassie looked worried. “Did you take a computer programming course in high school?” I shook my head. “What about doing science fair? Popsicle stick bridges? Video games? Did you watch science fiction shows and wanted to be a rocket scientist?” I kept shaking my head. “I’m good at math and I love to read romance novels. I got a 33 on the ACT. I was eleventh in my class which disappointed me because I didn’t get to graduate first with the top ten. I had to wait all the way at the end with the rest of the S’s. I was supposed to major in English at Ohio State.” I looked at Melody and Cassie and they were just staring at me. “I though you were kidding about the whole yodeling thing,” said Cassie. “No,” I said. “I really had a choice between studying yodeling in Austria or engineering at MIT.” Melody smiled. “I’m just home schooled so I have no expectations of college. I didn’t do those science fair things either. Don’t worry. We can catch up on new experiences we didn’t have. You try so much to solve our problems that you never really tell us much about you.” I thought back on this whole adventure. Camp was so hectic and I did intervene between Bets and Cassie and teach Melody life skills. I shrugged. “I just went to school and enjoyed it. I wasn’t in sports or other extra curricular activities. I was just about going to prom.” Bella walked around the corner. “Oh there you are. Bets is ready and waiting to check out. Come up front.” We followed and went to the front where Bets paid for our purchases. Chapter Seventeen: Cassie Saves Us Money on Textbooks Cassie was shuffling stuff nosily on her desk. I woke up after my first night in the dorm and I quite frankly was not ready to get up. I was tired, but she was too busy moving around to notice she was waking me up. “What are you doing?” I asked. I had to pee badly and when I noticed the diaper I was wearing, I let go and wet. “I’m trying to figure out what to wear for our trip to the book store.” She put on a pair of white pants and looked behind her to see if her diaper was visible. “Don’t wear those,” I said. “I can read the wetness indicators through those pants.” Her face turned red and she hung the pants back in the closet. “Crap. I guess I shouldn’t even have these pants.” She grabbed a jeans skirt and pulled it on. She looked backward at herself and then bent over. “Can you tell?” “You aren’t going to be bending over in public. You wouldn’t do that if you weren’t wearing diapers.” I got up and put on my bathrobe. “I’m going to shower.” I started for the door. “Hurry up,” she said. “We got to get our textbooks.” I showered and then came back in the dorm room wearing only my diaper. I grabbed a bra and some soccer shorts and a t-shirt that had hearts on it. I pulled on some sneakers and sat on the bed to tie them. I then pulled my hair back in a messy ponytail and then grabbed my big purse. “I’m ready.” “Good,” she said. “We have $1000 each to buy our books. After that we got to go to the student computer store and pick up our new laptops. I am so excited.” We walked to the bookstore. It was quite a walk across campus, but it was a nice day. Cassie kept pulling down the back of her skirt and it was starting to bug me. “Stop touching your butt. Your skirt is long enough.” She took her hand away and we continued walking. We entered the bookstore and went into the engineering section. There were hardly any used books at all. When we had all the books we added the price up and it was well over $1200. “I can’t afford these,” she said. “I thought our book money would be enough.” I sigh. “Who would have thought that a Chemistry book would be $329?” I asked. “No one,” she said. “That is ridiculous. Put the books back.” I hesitated and put the chemistry book away. “No put them all away. We can get them cheaper online.” I sighed, but I complied with her. “We still can pick up our computers. We will need them to get our books online.” We walked over to the campus computer store. This semester, the computer was required for classes, so our financial aid covered the cost for freshmen. Since our financial aid was the scholarship, that meant the computers were waiting for us to pick them up. We got in line and after standing their for about an hour, we left with two brand new laptops and a huge debit on our financial aid account. Back in the dorm we had the computers set up. Cassie went online and got the list of textbooks and we were in business. Unfortunately, going online was not a better plan. It seemed like the edition of our textbooks we needed were new editions, so there was no deals on used books. I sighed. “Maybe we can share the books,” I said. “Or there are e- versions of our textbooks that are cheaper.” Cassie pulled up the information about the e-versions of the books. “They expire after one semester and I know we need that calculus book for Calculus I, II, and III. No. These people are thieves and I know how to deal with thieves who overcharge for textbooks.” “You are going to get us in trouble, aren’t you?” I asked. “No, but I know how to get some e-textbooks that never expire.” She closed her laptop and put it in her backpack. “You and I are going to Starbucks.” “Wait, why?” “We need to used the Internet.” I looked at my laptop that was connected to the Internet via campus Wi-Fi. “We have Internet.” She shrugged. “I’m not taking a chance of getting caught misusing the Internet my first day in college. We need off-campus Wi-Fi.” # We sat together at a table in the Starbucks. I sipped on my grande smoked butterscotch latte and watched as Cassie downloaded an IRC client onto her computer. She then found a warez chatroom and soon was downloading pdfs of all her textbooks. The two of us were taking the same classes, so we she copied them on a thumbdrive and gave them too me. “Why not e-mail them?” “Because. You can’t.” I sighed. “So I’m going to sit around with my computer to read my textbook?” I asked. “Well, with the money we saved on books we can get a tablet.” I was dubious, but we went back to the MIT computer store. They had tablets there and we were able to use the funds that were earmarked for textbooks on the tablets. I had a brand new $150 tablet with icons on it for each of the textbooks. I clicked an ICON and lay in bed flipping through my English text book. History, Calculus, and Intro to Engineering were the same. We did have to go to the book store and buy the lab book for one class that had tear out pages of assignments to turn in. “You are smart, Cassie.” I said. “I would have never thought of getting our books from a chatroom.” “Our generation missed out on the early Internet. It’s not just Facebook and Bit Torrent.” I grinned. “Yeah, our computers have Windows 10 and 1 Terabyte hard drives.” She tapped a few buttons on her computer. “And it’s a waste to give Windows that much drive space. I partitioned the hard drive and now I have Windows and Linux on my new computer.” “I don’t know Linux. I only use Windows.” I suddenly felt stupid. What if I put on diapers and then went to a school that I was unprepared to excel at? She laughed. “You have a lot to learn about being an engineer.” Chapter Eighteen: Melody’s Medical Diagnosis I was going to retort about Cassie lording her knowledge over me by using computer jargon to make me sound stupid, but Melody came through the bathroom door connecting our dorm rooms. “Hey, Nora. I have to go to the student health clinic to get my vaccines. You promised to come with me.” I stood up and adjusted my soccer shorts. “Yeah. Let’s go.” We walked to the clinic. Melody’s face looked white as a sheet. I rubbed her back as we walked. “Melody, it will be okay. Shots aren’t really that bad.” “Won’t they hurt?” “Just a little,” I said. “It hurts worse to get a paper cut.” “Oh, I hate those,” she said. “I’ll be with you,” I said. We got to the health center and sat in the lobby. There were about twelve students in the waiting room. Most of them looked like international students. They talked among themselves and didn’t come near us or try to make friends. I guess I could have initiated contact, but I just sat beside Melody as she filled out the health survey they asked her to fill out. “Should I put my bladder control problems down?” she asked me. “I thought it was supposed to be secret.” “Yes,” I said. “Answer everything truthfully and completely. The doctors and nurses can’t share the information with other people.” She started writing and then stopped when she got to the end. She got up and turned in the clipboard. While she wrote I got out my tablet and started reading ahead in my textbooks. The English textbook was interesting to me and I almost got lost before I heard the nurse call out a name. “Melody Franklin.” “That’s me,” said Melody. We went into the room. The nurse looked at me, but Melody smiled. “Nora is here for moral support. I’ve never had a shot before.” “Yeah, you will need quite a few shots. Well, let’s go.” She led us into an exam room and directed Melody to sit on an exam table. I sat in a chair in the room and we waited. In no time a nurse came in with a tray with about six shots on it. She held Melody’s arm and took the first needle. Melody stared at the needle and tensed her arm muscle. I knew it would hurt worse. “Hey Melody, it won’t be that bad. Just look at me and it will be over soon.” She stared at me and then let out a squeak as the nurse gave her the first vaccine. The needle didn’t bother her at all, but I know she felt a major discomfort when the nurse pressed the plunger on the syringe. “You did it,” I said. “Just five more.” I will say that Melody was pretty brave. She didn’t cry or act like a baby at all. When the shots were over the nurse looked at me. “Okay, Nora, I need to talk to Melody about something she wrote down on her medical survey sheet. I think she will want privacy for this. Wait in the lobby and we will be out shortly.” I left Melody in there alone. I wondered if I should have. In the long run she was fine. I walked out of the room and waited. I thought it would be about ten minutes to talk about whatever she wrote, which was probably about incontinence. However, I sat down playing games or reading from my tablet. I thought she would never get out of there, but she finally came out after two hours and she did not look happy. “Are you okay,” I asked. She didn’t answer, but left the clinic. I followed and she took my hand. “What’s wrong, Melody?” She pulled me behind some trees and just started balling? I held her against me and let her cry on my shoulder. “Was it the shots? They are over now?” “It’s not the shots,” she whispered. She sobbed and hiccuped before being able to talk again. “They asked about my incontinence and then ran some tests. They couldn’t find anything wrong and my lack of medical history meant there were no medical records. There is nothing wrong we me other than weak bladder muscles. My mommy told me all my life that something was wrong with me and that is why I needed diapers, but I think she was trying to keep me as her baby.” She sobbed and then sniffled. “Why would she do that?” I was appalled. “Are you saying your mother just didn’t potty train you?” She nodded. “I could have been a normal girl and gotten a boyfriend.” “No one says you can’t still be a normal girl,” I said. “Now that you know, you can train yourself.” She looked at me. “But the scholarship….” “There is no question you need diapers,” I said, “but I won’t tell Bets if you want to try to put diapers behind you.” She gave me a hug. I smiled. I wondered if any of us would have an actual need for diapers before four years were up. Chapter Nineteen: A Cute Boy and I’m Wearing This I was fully prepared to wear diapers for all four years of college. However, I hadn’t thought a situation where I could get a college boyfriend. I knew college boyfriends weren’t like high school boys. We were now adults and adults sometimes have sex. If I got a boyfriend, he would find out about the diaper and I couldn’t have that. But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Melody and I walked back from student health after I got her calmed down from her cry about what she found out her mother had been doing to her. She looked at me. “What was potty training like?” I stopped suddenly. “Seriously? I was like three.” Honestly, I didn’t know how old I was when I was potty trained. My earliest memories involve me using the toilet by myself. I didn’t remember having a potty chair or anything. I had a little wooden stool that I used to climb up high enough to sit on the regular toilet. “I know it’s something three-year-olds are supposed to master, but my mother lied to me and said I couldn’t, so I don’t know what it was like. That’s why I am asking.” She looked angry, like I was holding back information from her or something. Maybe I was a bit dismissive in my answer, so I took her by both hands. “Melody, I don’t remember. I was three. Do you remember what you did when you were three?” She looked down. “I guess not. I remember my birthday. Vaguely. I had a My Little Pony birthday cake.” She looked down. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.” I shrugged. “I’m an only child, so I’m the wrong one to ask. Don’t mention this to Veronica at all.” “Oh yeah,” she said. “She would be mean instead of being happy for me.” I nodded. I wonder who said she was no good at social interactions. We continued around the tennis courts and were going to turn the corner when a hard form struck me and sent me sprawling onto the ground. I tried to suck in breath but it hurt to breathe in. “Are you all right?” I looked up and a really big student was kneeling over me. I slowly got my wind back and then just panted. “Why are you running around knocking girls down?” asked Melody. I sat up and looked around. My backpack lay on the ground about ten feet away. I looked down to my waist and fortunately, my diaper was covered. I landed hard on my arm, but it wasn’t broken. It was a little bit scrapped up. I looked up at the big man’s face and saw he was about the age of the rest of us. He wore a shirt that said Beavers. He was covered with sweat and I could tell he had just been running. He was also hot. “Yeah, I think I will be okay,” I said. He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet and I swear there was a surge of electricity as he touched me. “Well I feel awful about knocking you down. Can I make it up to you by taking you to dinner? I got a gift card for the Olive Garden.” I smiled and then I stopped because I thought I was making myself look like a crazy person. “Yes. That would be nice. What time should I be ready.” “I’ll get you a seven.” He looked down. “Um, I am not carrying my phone since I am running. Do you have a pen and paper?” I grabbed my lost backpack and checked inside. My laptop was still in my dorm room, but the tablet was fragile and I checked it before grabbing out a pen and paper. The screen was intact. I wrote my number down. “I am living in the dorm next to Kesge Auditorium.” He smiled. “I know the one. I’ll pick you up then.” He waved and then continued his run. Melody looked at me. “Did you just get a boyfriend?” “I got a date,” I said. “It remains to be seen if he’ll want to be my boyfriend.” I tugged at my soccer shorts. “He’ll run away the second he sees my diapers though.” As we walked back to dorm, I wondered if I should cheat and skip the diaper. It’s not like Cassie would say anything if she saw me put on panties for my date. Chapter Twenty: The Date Cassie was missing most of the afternoon. I couldn’t find her anywhere since I came back from Student Health with Melody. She wasn’t in the dorm, nor was she in the common area. I shrugged. I had the room to myself. I sat down on the bed and started to program my class schedule into my new tablet. At about 4:30, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize on my phone. “Hello?” “It’s Jonah Grueber. We ran into each other earlier and I asked you out. I am looking forward to sharing some Olive Garden with you.” “Oh, hi. I was hoping you would call.” My face burned with embarrassment. I hope I didn’t seem too eager. I wanted to date that guy so bad. I also wanted some Olive Garden. I hadn’t eaten anything except McDonald's and camp food since I began this adventure. “I was hoping to talk to you to,” he said. “It was fate that I ran into you.” “I was just in the right place at the right time,” I said. I smiled and then moved my phone from my right ear to my left ear. “So why were you running around out there?” He laughed on the other end of the line. “I was working out. I’m on the football team and was trying to improve my endurance so I can get more playing time.” “Cool, football. What position do you play?” I wouldn’t know a fullback from a shortstop, but I didn’t want him to think I was an idiot. “Umm, I’m kind of a bench warmer, but I am still a freshman and I may get some playing time. Until then, I am just paying my dues until I get more seniority on the team.” “I’m a freshman too,” I said. I then tried to steer the conversation to something I could follow a bit better. “What’s your major. I am engineering.” “Me too,” he said. “Cool that we have that in common.” I shrugged. “It’s more common at MIT then other colleges, I suppose.” He laughed. “Well I will give you a chance to get dressed for our date. I will pick you up about six.” “I am room 308A,” I said. “Well, see you. Bye.” He hung up. I put down my phone and then flew into a panic. It was now five o’clock and I tore open my closet door and the sifted through my dresses. I chose a blue one that went down to my knees and then I lay it on the bed. My bra was too thick and white, so I grabbed a sexier colored bra. I then opened my panty drawer and then remembered what I was wearing. Kara and I had a panties-burning party before I left and I didn’t have the appropriate foundation garment for my date. Instead, I pulled out a clean diaper and threw it on top of the clean bra and dress. I grabbed a pair of sandals with blue stones on them and put them by the pile. I didn’t have time to do my hair, but I wore a wet diaper and I wanted a shower. I hurried in and then started the water, being careful not to get my hair wet. I paid close attention to my diaper area and made sure I didn’t smell like pee and that my legs weren’t hairy. Satisfied, I returned to my bed and put on my clothes and underwear I had picked out before realizing that I could not zip up the dress. I turned my back to the mirror, and the diaper was clearly visible beneath the zipper closure on the dress. “Hey, Nora, I hope you aren’t hogging the bathroom,” called Cassie as she ran in. “I have a date tonight with a real boy.” “A real boy?” I asked. “Are you sure he is not made of wood?” Cassie laughed. “He better be made of wood.” She tossed a pink shopping bag on her bed and then tried to pull me from the bathroom. “Okay, I’m almost done. Just zip up my dress first,” I said. I turned and let her zip me. She closed the door and I heard her undress and then water start to run. The little pink bag on her bed looked familiar. She needed a better bra if she was going on a date. Hers were pretty sad. I checked one more time to make sure the diaper wasn’t showing. That’s the last thing I wanted the new boy to find that his new date still wore diapers. Still I shoved two clean spares into my purse and then got ready for my date to arrive. I had no plans of wetting, but I knew that if I used the toilet, I couldn’t retape a diaper. There was a knock at the door and I froze. He was here. I looked around and then kicked the dirty diaper that I had left on the floor into my open backpack and zipped it closed. I went to the door and looked out. A boy was there, but he wasn’t Jonah Grueber. He was tall and skinny. He wore glasses with thick brown frames and he actually had a pocket protector full of pens in his pocket. In the hall behind him was a dolly with a long wooden box balanced on it. “Hi, I’m Milton Jones. Is Cassie ready?” I was speechless. This was her date? He looked like such a geek. I looked over to the bathroom and shook my head. “She isn’t ready yet. I will tell her you are here. I shut the door and ran over to the bathroom. “Cassie, your date is here.” She came out of the bathroom naked and wet. She grabbed some clothes from the upset clothes basket on her bed, then ran back to the bathroom. She was only in there fro a little bit longer before she came out again, fully dressed. She wrapped her wet hair in a pony tail. “Is he on the way up?” she asked. “No. He is right outside the door.” She opened the door and let Milton in. He smiled, oblivious to her drowned rat hairstyle as he carted in his long box. Once she shut the door, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed Milton on the lips. He put his arms around her and held her close. “So, what’s in the box?” I asked. “It’s a ten inch reflective telescope,” he said. “Milton built it himself and he offered to take me out to look at the stars.” she said. There was a knock at the door and I opened it. It was Jonah. He looked at Milton and got a hurt look in his eyes before he saw that it was Cassie and not me that was hanging all over him, I grabbed my purse off the bed and smiled. “I’m ready Jonah.” I gave him my hand and we started on our date.\ ### The Olive Garden wasn’t really busy on a Wednesday despite being move in day at the university. I wore a lilac corsage that Jonah had made for me and presented to me in his minivan on the way to the restaurant. He was so sweet. No one had ever arranged flowers for me. The only corsage I have ever been presented was for senior prom and that was store-bought. Jonah was so nice. We had to sit for a while to be seated, but when we were, he pulled out my chair and adjusted it for me to sit. He also held every door. “You’re so polite,” I said, after the waitress had seated us and left us breadsticks. He only smiled. “I’m big and mean, so I have to be extra careful to be gentle. Besides, I already knocked you down once, so I am already at a disadvantage. I really hope I am doing okay on this date.” “You are doing fine,” I said. I picked at my breadstick and nibbled on it. I was trying to avoid bread. As it was, the carbs from the lasagna I planned to order would make me full, heavy, and disgusting. “Good,” he said. “I’ve never been on a date before. I’m kind of new at this.” Most guys had dated by college and most expected a college girl to put out. Jonah seemed different. He wasn’t pressuring me to have sex. He seemed to just enjoy sitting with me. I had to reward him, so I was totally going to have sex with him. I thought about the diaper I was wearing and how I was going to hide it. Maybe I would just go commando once I got to his house. That would work. “So what are you thinking?” he asked. No way was I going to answer that question. “I’m just thinking about college. I didn’t know I wanted to be an engineer until I decided to go to MIT.” “Really? What else is there besides math, science, and engineering?” he asked. I shrugged. I think STEM also includes technology. It’s one of the big parts about MIT.” He laughed. “Yeah, I guess.” “So why no high school girlfriends? How were you a football player and not have a cheerleader to date?” All the football players at my high school dated cheerleaders. He shrugged. “I could only stay on the team if I kept my grades up. My mother said I had to quit the team if I got an A-. I was too busy with football practice and school work to date.” I looked at Jonah. I was so dumb. I didn’t belong at MIT. Everyone else was so smart. Cassie’s date built his own telescopes, Jonah held an A in every class while being a football player, Melody home schooled herself, and Cassie won first prize in a science fair. They would all know what a faker I was. I wasn’t just faking incontinence, I was faking at being an MIT student. “What’s wrong? You look upset.” I looked at him. “Sorry. Everyone I met so far is so much smarter than me. I don’t think I have what it takes.” He took my hands. “Yeah, you do. Just have faith in yourself and do all the homework exercises. My brother went here before me and he said if you do the homework even though they aren’t required, you will know how to answer the test questions because they are set up the same.” I was about to say something negative, but the waitress came back with our drinks. “Are you ready to order?” I nodded and Jonah said, “Yes, ma’am.” He waved to me and I took it as a signal to order. “Lasagna.” “Grilled chicken piadina,” he said. She left us and we started talking again. So what do you like to do when you aren’t studying?” I smiled then frowned. I could talk about what I liked to do, but then he would think I am stupid. I wasn’t sure what to do. I was omitting the diaper-wearing part of me, so I had a feeling that I should be honest about some things. “I like to read. I like to read trashy romance novels. I know they are all formulaic, but I don’t care. I love them and just want them to come true for me sometime.” He smiled. “I like to read too. I am a science fiction fan. It’s how I got a love for engineering. I wanted to be the one to build the space stations in 2001, A Space Odyssey. I’m not a Star Wars or Star Trek fan because there is no science in those stories, but 2001 had accurate science.” “Really?” I asked, my tone doubtful. “Well maybe not the giant space baby.” “A giant space baby?” I asked. “I’ve never seen the movie.” “I got the DVD,” he said. “You want to watch it with me?” I wanted to understand more about Jonah and I bet I should have the science fiction repertoire of the average MIT student. “Sure,” I said. ### The meal was delicious. I had eaten way too many bread sticks and I had eaten the entire plate of lasagna. My stomach was distended and I looked down at my belly and thought about how fat I looked in my dress. Jonah didn’t seem to mind. He drove us to a local park and we got in the back of the minivan together. The headrests contained TV screens. He put in the 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD and I cuddled up next to him as we watched the movie. His hand touched my bare thigh and I put my hand on top of his. We watched the movie and gotten past the apes and past the moon mission. We were to the part where the Discovery One crew was being interviewed when his hand crept slowly up my thigh. I froze. I wanted this, but I didn’t have a chance to change out of my diaper. I wondered what he would do and I didn’t want to find out. I grabbed his hand with both of mine and pulled it away. “Oh, sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?” I took his hand in both of mine and pressed it hard against my chest. “I’m just not ready today. Let’s just keep the hands above the waist.” I was feeling wet from the stimulation on my inner thigh and I wasn’t really prepared to explain my underwear. The movie continued on and we both watched it. He still held me in his arm, but he never again touched my legs. My boobs got touched quite a bit it honestly felt really good. I never had been touched there before. I don’t think he would have dared to touch them if I didn’t specifically moved his hand to cup them to distract him from discovering my diapers. The movie continued all the way to the giant space baby. Honestly, I was unimpressed. What was the space baby even there for? I thought about my special underwear and thought that the only baby in the minivan was me. The credits began to roll and my phone rang. I hit the back button to send the call to voicemail and looked at Jonah. “So what did you think?” he asked. “I enjoyed it, but I didn’t understand the space baby.” “It’s explained in the next movie.” He paused. “Sort of.” Another pause. “Well, not at all. It’s human’s next evolutionary step forward.” I gave him a kiss and my phone rang again. I sent the call to voicemail and looked who was calling. It was Cassie. I had six text messages and I looked and they were all from her. The last one said, “Help. Come get me.” I called her right away. “What’s wrong?” “Finally you answered. Why didn’t you pick up?” She did not sound happy. “Um, I’m on a date.” I looked at Jonah who looked left out. “Nora, you got to come get me. I am all alone and I am uncomfortable.” Cassie sounded panicked. “What happened to your date?” I asked. I was annoyed she was keeping me from Jonah. “We had an argument. He left me here alone. You need to come get me.” “Where are you?” I asked. “At a gas station. I’ll text the address.” “He left you at a gas station?” “Yes. Oh, and stop at the dorm and get me a change of clothes.” “What happened, Cassie?” She just started crying on the phone. My phone binged and an address came up on the screen. I copied the address into a mapping program and found out how far away she was. I hung up the phone and texted, “We’ll be there.” I looked up to Jonah. “Hey my roommate got in a fight with her date and he left her in the middle of nowhere. Can you please take me to get her.” I then explained that we had to stop at the dorm for clothes for her. I wondered what she did that she needed extra clothes. I wondered if her boyfriend got aggressive and tore her clothes and left her because she wouldn’t put out. Suddenly I hated Milton, her nerd date. ### I sat in the passenger seat of the minivan holding a pair of blue jeans wrapped around a clean diaper and a clean t-shirt. The minivan powered onward down the highway, a small two lane road going through the country. We drove a bit until we got to a small town. The town wasn’t that large and the only light that was turned on was from a gas station. The gas station was closed and a young woman sat on the curb in front of the building. Jonah pulled in and we got out. Cassie looked up from where she sat on the curb and then stood up. She had a sheepish look on her face and as I studied her and why she needed new clothing, it looked like her pants were very wet. Jonah looked shocked as he noticed her wet pants as well and Cassie began to cry as she noticed Jonah had noticed the state of her clothing. I went up to her and pulled her into a hug. “I’m here, Cassie.” “Let’s just make this night go away,” she said. I broke away from her and grabbed her stack of clothing. I then looked at Jonah. “Can you look away for a while while Cassie changes?” He nodded and started walking down the street. I took Cassie by the shoulder and guided her to the lee of the front door of the minivan. She wasn’t happy and but she pulled down her pants and panties and stepped out of them. I looked at the panties with disapproval. “What happened?” She looked down. “I peed in my sleep.” She took the diaper I brought and frowned, but put it on. She then pulled on the dry pants. “And the panties?” I asked. I grabbed a grocery sack from the minivan and picked up her dirty clothes and shoved them in the plastic bag. “Well we finished looking at the telescope and we cuddled. I was so comfortable I kinda fell asleep in his arms. I woke up with a very angry Milton waking me. He just packed up the car and left me alone in the middle of no where. I had to walk two miles to get to a gas station.” “Why were you wearing panties?” I repeated. “You know the other girls might find out we’re faking it.” “I was on a date, Nora. If Milton acted this way when I peed myself, how do you think he would have reacted if he discovered my diapers?” She grabbed the bottom of my dress and yanked it up, exposing my diaper. “How did your date react to your diaper?” “I didn’t tell him,” I said. “And shut up. Here he comes.” Jonah was walking back to us and I waved him over. When he got to us, I pulled him into a tight hug. “Thanks so much for doing this. I know this isn’t the best date misadventure to have happen.” “It’s not,” he said, “but I think it was terrible her date left her in the middle of nowhere.” He leaned in close. “No matter what you do, I won’t leave you in the middle of nowhere.” “Can we please go back to campus?” asked Cassie. “Um, sure,” said Jonah. I got in the van and rode shotgun while Cassie took one of the seats in the back. When Jonah got into the driver’s seat I leaned over to him. “I’m so sorry I ruined our date. I promise I’ll put out next time.” He blushed furiously and I smiled at him. I had picked a winner. ### Cassie lay on her bed and started to cry. I sat beside her and just rubbed her back and tried to make her feel better. “I’m so gross. What guy wants a girl who occasionally wets in her sleep?” she asked. “Is it just occasionally?” I asked. She looked up at me. “Of course it is. The last time was the night before I left for camp.” I touched the plastic of my wet diaper. I had made it through dinner and through that long movie, but I couldn’t hold it on the drive to get Cassie and I just wet my diaper in the car. I sighed. I wondered what Jonah would have though if I had let him discover the diaper under my dress. I got Cassie to get ready for bed and then I went to bed myself. My diaper was wet, but I wasn’t really in the mood to change, so I decided to go to bed wet. I took off my dress and replaced it with a t-shirt and soon fell asleep thinking about warm and pleasant thoughts. Chapter Twenty-One: The First Day of Classes After the exciting events of our mutual date night, Cassie had disappeared. I had no idea what had become of her and I was starting to get worried. I tried messaging her, but she didn’t answer. I asked around and she neither told Bella nor Melody where she was going. Melody had seen her with a dufflebag. After deciding that she had given up after her humiliating date and gone home, I gave up and got in bed the night before classes. When I woke up in the morning, there was a Cassie-sized lump in her bed and I sat up excited. “Cassie!” I sat up and went over to her bed. She rolled over and scowled at me. She looked tired and I had gone to bed shortly before midnight, so she had to have come home late. “What time is it?” she groaned. “It’s 6:03 am. Classes start today. And where where you?” “Oh yeah.” She threw off the blankets and got up. I looked down and she was diapered again, but it looked like she was dry. “Did you pick your outfit already?” I looked at her. “That’s it? You disappeared for two days and you are asking about outfits? Why didn’t you text me when I was texting you over and over for two days? I was getting worried.” “I didn’t get a text.” She walked over to her desk and opened the drawer and pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and looked at it a bit and then grabbed the charger cord and plugged it in. “The battery died.” “So where were you?” “I was hanging out at my boyfriend’s house?” she said. “I’m sorry I forgot the phone and made you worry.” “You will have to introduce us later,” I said. “You met Milton,” she said. “The same guy that left you out in the middle of no where?” “I know what you are going to say. We met up again near the planetarium and he walked over to me and apologized. I’ve been at his house rewatching Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.” “And explaining the situation we are in?” I asked. “No. I am not going to explain that to him right now.” “So besides watching two movies and not telling him about the diapers, what else did you guys do?” “We cuddled mostly and we watched way more than two movies. We watched six Star Wars movies and three Lord of the Rings moves.” I frowned and then walked over and gathered up my toiletries to get ready. “There are six Star Wars movies?” I put them down again. “Never mind. I know everyone here has seen those movies, so why watch them all again?” “I never saw the prequels before the original trilogy. It changes your perspective on the movie. And I also read a theory that Jar Jar was an evil Sith mastermind the whole time and I wanted to know if that theory fit into the narrative of episodes four through six.” She looked at me “Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.” “The movies are beside the point. If Milton hurts you again, you need to call this off. Leaving you in front of a gas station out in the middle of no where was inexcusable.” I grabbed my clothes, a clean diaper, and my toiletries and went into the bathroom. # When I finished showering and dressing, I heard a knock at the door from the other side. I opened it and Bella came out of her room. “Are you done? I have an eight o'clock class.” I nodded and left the bathroom and threw my stuff on the bed and then started sorting my stuff. “Listen,” she said. “Milton and I have so much in common. We like the same types of things: space, stories about space, and hobbits. I know he was a jerk, but all guys are jerks sometimes.” “So, let’s change the subject,” I said. “Does this outfit work for the first day?” I spun around. I wore a brown knee-length dress and white Converse. I had transferred my purse stuff to a white canvas bag that was the exact color of the shoes and had plenty of room for the extra toiletries I needed to work around this scholarship. Cassie giggled. “Well not if you spin around.” I froze and the ran to the mirror and turned around and tried to bend over. The mirror was too tall to see if I was flashing people because it was just for brushing hair, not a full length look at an outfit.” Cassie giggled again. “It’s knee-length. It covers you diaper. Just don’t spin or bend over: dress wearing 101. It’s not different in diapers.” “I know and I nagged you about this.” I walked over to her closet and grabbed a dress and tossed it to her. “Here is your outfit.” “Fine,” she said. She took the dressed and then opened her dresser. She took out her pink shopping bag and started to unroll it. I grabbed her wrist. “Just because you are faking, doesn’t mean you can wear panties. You are putting on a diaper.” She frowned but nodded. “Yeah. All I need is Bella or Melody to rush in here by mistake and this will be over.” She grabbed one of her diapers and wrapped the dress loosely around it. She took a bra and her toiletries and ran to the bathroom only to find the door locked. She knocked. “I’ll be out in a little bit,” called Bella. Cassie turned toward me and shrugged. “Well it could be worse. I had to share a bathroom with ten girls when I lived in the group home.” She did a little pee dance and then just stopped and relaxed. I watched her wet her diaper. When she finished, she smiled. “Yeah. Long lectures won’t be a problem for us.” “I’m done,” Bella called from the bathroom. We heard the lock click open. Cassie hurried to get ready. Chapter Twenty-Two: The First Class I had walked our route from class to class before the morning classes began, so I was already to go. Cassie had not. “Are you sure this is the right way?” she asked. “Of course it is. Instead of watching old movies I saw before, I made sure I was ready for classes. I mapped out our course. I was a Girl Scout. Our motto was ‘Be Prepared.’” “That is the model of the Boy Scouts,” said Cassie. “They both have the same motto,” I said. She took out her tablet and started tapping. “Scouting is expensive and my foster parents said it was only for their real children.” She found what she was looking for and said. “I just assumed the mottoes would be different.” “We are here,” I said. We walked into a mostly empty classroom. There was a guy in the corner wearing headphones connected to an iPhone that was on his desk. He wore sunglasses and had a cap pulled low. Instead of a sports team it was decorated like R2D2’s dome. We selected desks in the second row of the classroom. I sat down carefully and I watched as Cassie took the seat next to me. She carefully pulled her skirt under her and tried to cross her leg over her knee. She blushed and I realized the bulk of her diaper kept her from crossing her legs. She gave up and just sat with her knees close together and crossed her legs at her ankles. I sat in the same mode she did. She took out her tablet and her Trapper Keeper and then started writing in a notebook. “This class is a waste of time,” she told me. “I wanted to major in English, so watch it,” I said. I took out my new computer and then turned it on. I then started a file folder for English and then opened a Word document for my notes. I then shut the lid of my laptop. “Well, I knew I would have to take the same classes in college as I did in honors classes in high school. I just don’t care to write about what I did last summer or a persuasive essay on whether someone should vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.” “I am hoping we will have essays of more substance than those topics.” I didn’t want to write about being humiliated by the IRS swat team and then having to take a scholarship that required me to wear diapers. “Like what?” She fumbled through the syllabus she picked up by the door. “Write a story based on a poem by Keats or Shelly. I don’t even know who Shelly was?” “He is a romantic poet and he was married to the woman who wrote Frankenstein.” Her interest peaked. “Really? I love the old monster movies. Felix and I used to watch them before I was sent to juvie.” Some nerd in the next row gave her a weird look. He then picked up his bag and moved to the other side of the class room. She got a hurt look on her face. “Everyone is a nerd here. They aren’t used to being around people that were in juvie or talk about it openly.” I said this in a whisper. She nodded and then tried and failed again to cross her legs. She leaned over and whispered to me. “Tomorrow, you and I are going to skip diapers and wear panties. Tonight we are going to Victoria’s Secret.” I groaned. This again. We were going to get caught for sure. Then I thought about it. I didn’t really care to be sitting around in my own waste. It’s not like the other girls in the scholarship program would be looking in our pants to make sure we were diapered. “Okay, but we still wear them around the dorm. We do share a bathroom with Melody and Bella.” “Do you think they will say anything? “Bella might, but it’s doubtful. Melody already feels cheated and lied to, so I’d wait and see on her.” “What is her deal. She went out shopping and wouldn’t show Bella or I what she bought.” “She got bad news. I won’t betray her confidence by telling you.” She nodded, but class started before anything else was said. # o not Cassie. nd I will bring them."pants and one of my diapers from the room."bout it. I didn'r side of the class room." “We just had three classes and we already got loaded with homework and it’s only the first day,” I complained. “And we got two more classes tomorrow,” she said. “Let’s go to the mall so we got time to get back and study.” I nodded, but my phone rang. “Hello?” It was Melody. She wanted me to find her. “Where are you?” “In the library bathroom. Bring some pants and one of my diapers from the room.” “Okay. Cassie and I will bring them.” “No not Cassie. I don’t want her to see me like this.” I didn't know what to make of her. She was never shy about leaks before. She never said she had a leak, but I assume that is why she needed a change of pants and an extra diaper. “Okay. I’ll get them and bring them to you.” “And don’t look in the Hello Kitty bag on the floor of my closet.” “I promise,” I said, although I wondered what she was hiding in the Hello Kitty bag. “See you in about ten minutes.” I hung up. “What was that about?” asked Cassie. “I don’t know. It will just take me fifteen minutes to bring Melody what she wants. Stay at the dorm and I’ll meet you in time to run to the mall with you.” Cassie and I went to the dorm and I went through the bathroom to Melody’s room. I didn’t know which closet was hers, but I knew that she had a Hello Kitty bag on the floor. Upon finding it, I grabbed a pair of pants from her closet. I then found a pack of diapers. It was a plain white pack with only a green block with an M on it. I wrapped the diaper in the pants and then took off to the library. I climbed up the stairs and then texted Melody to ask what bathroom she was in. “The girls room next to the Athena computer lab.” I climbed higher and then entered the bathroom. Inside, a trail of pee lead to one of the stalls. “Melody?” “Nora, I’m in here.” A stall door opened and Melody emerged with a large pee stain running down both legs into her shoes. I looked at her. “Melody, what happened. It looks like you are not wearing a diaper at all?” She frowned and held up a Potty Training for Dummies book. “I’m not. I made it all day and then I couldn’t make it to the bathroom after my last class. I peed right as I walked in the bathroom.” There was a lot of pee on the floor. The puddle expanded out into the stalls on either side of the stall Melody was in. “How long did you hold it?” “About three hours. I peed in the potty at lunch and then held it until just before I got in the bathroom. The book doesn’t say how to clean up peed in pants. Toilet paper doesn’t dry it out.” I was impressed. “You are potty training yourself?” She nodded. “My mommy told me I was incontinent and I just wasn’t potty trained.” She looked down. “Maybe I am just too naïve to use the toilet.” “Well let’s get you changed and back to the dorm.” She pulled down her pants revealing Super Girl panties. She then took those off too and then changed into the diaper I handed her. However she had to exit the stall to pull on her jeans to avoid dipping them in the puddle. I helped her dress, and then put her peed in shoes on over her peed in socks. “Thanks, Nora.” She looked at me. “Do you think I should give up the potty training?” I shook my head. “No, keep it up. You deserve to wear panties again. Just don’t try to hold it three hours.” She nodded. “I thought I could make it. I was only squirming half an hour.” I laughed. “When you are squirming, it is an emergency. Go pee. Ask the professor if you can go to the restroom, or better yet, you are an adult: just excuse yourself and go pee in the toilet.” “So is that when you go potty? I mean before you were incontinent?” I nodded, feeling bad about lying to her. She followed me back to the dorm as the two of us bonded. I held her hand as we walked back to the dorm. Cassie was waiting. “What happened? It’s been twenty minutes, not fifteen.” “I didn’t bring enough supplies and I leaked,” said Melody. She squeezed my hand. “Yeah, I brought her a new diaper and extra pants.” I said. Cassie hugged me. “You are the designated pants and diaper bringer, I guess.” She giggled. Melody looked confused. “Nora brought me a diaper and extra pants already,” she said. “Shall we go to the mall, Nora?” I nodded. Melody waved at us and went into her room. “I got to do laundry,” she said. I took Cassie to me car and we went to the mall. I looked forward to wearing panties again. I wasn’t even a bed wetter, yet two others in our group were back in panties and I was still in diapers. I meant to correct that and getting new panties at Victoria’s Secret was a step in that direction. Chapter Twenty-Three: Shopping at the Mall I drove us to the mall. It had been a few months since I went to the mall, which was awful for me because the mall was my usual haunt. Armed with my dad’s credit card I could buy enough clothes to dress in style. This time I had no credit cards and was using my meager allowance that came with the scholarship to do my shopping. I was satisfied with the little bit of cash every month I had saved by just eating in the dorm’s cafeteria and not going out to eat. At least it wouldn’t be tracked like dad’s credit card would have been. All that stuff was gone until the lawyers and the IRS figured out whatever they had to figure out. I looked around the mall. Oh how I missed Hot Topic, Aeropostal, and Macy’s too. I also missed Victoria’s Secret and I missed underwear that didn’t need to absorb two cups of liquid. Cassie took my had as we went into the mall. “I’m really glad you are doing this with me,” she said. “I know you are faking too, but you have actually been faithful about diaper wearing. I don’t want to be caught by Bets as the only one.” I shrugged. “Melody is going to have problems in that regard too.” “But she has a good reason. I can’t believe her mother purposely tried to keep her a toddler.” Today Melody was all grown up. “She managed to toilet train herself, not to mention, she basically home schooled herself with educational materials her father left with her during his two weeks of visitation.” Cassie laughed. “I didn’t know that was her home schooling experience, but it’s no wonder that woman was divorced.” We walked along the halls of the mall toward Victoria’s Secret. However, when we walked by the shoe store I got excited. “Look at those sandles.” I looked at the price. They were $40.00, but there was a 75% off sign on them. I steered Cassie toward the store. “Don’t tell me you want to forgo panties for a pair of sandles.” She leaned closer to me. “I know you are still wearing a diaper.” “It’ll only be a few minutes,” I said. I was still wearing the same slightly damp diaper since lunch time and I was ready for my trip to Victoria’s Secret, but I wanted those shoes. I held up the display shoe to the clerk. I want one of these in an 8.” I sat down and waited. Soon the shoes were brought and then after I was satisfied that they fit, they were bought. I carried them in a shopping bag and we left the shoe store. “Besides, if someone asks us what we bought we can say shoes.” Cassie nodded. “Well it didn’t delay us that long from Victoria’s Secret.” She pointed at the displays of panties. “Have at it.” I entered just as some other girl was leaving. She set off the alarm and the clerk stopped her. Cassie grinned. “Imagine trying to steal panties,” she whispered to me. “If I were going to shoplift, I wouldn’t steal panties,” I said. “What would you take? I mean if you knew you wouldn’t get caught.” I thought about it. “I’d just take the cash from the till. We are only talking hypotheticals here.” I went to the bin that had my size. I didn’t know what I wanted. Should I go with bikini, French-cut, or boy shorts. I wasn’t going to wear a thong because they ride up more than other panties. I decided I had some money to spend so I selected some of each. I made my selections and then paused. One of the panties had a matching bra. I decided that I had to have it. I grabbed one my size and went to a fitting room. After trying on the bra, I decided to buy it. I took my purchases to the cashier. “I want this bra and these,” I said. I laid the panties on the counter next to the bra. “That will be $48.97,” the clerk said. I handed over my money and watched as she packed my purchases in the signature pink bags. “All set.” Cassie handed the clerk a naughty teddy. “Milton said he wanted to see me in something like this,” she said to me. She handed over a Victoria’s Secret credit card and paid. I was shocked. How did she get a credit card being an orphan? “Where did you get the credit card?” She smiled. “Milton got it for me to make up for leaving me behind at the gas station. I get the underwear and he gets the bill.” She smiled. Her purchases were bagged and we were ready to go. As we left, the alarm rang. I looked at Cassie and she looked at me, but she looked as surprised as me. A manager walked over. “Ladies, can we check your bags?” I reached into my pink bag and pulled out the receipt. “Everything I bought is paid for.” “Go through the sensor one at a time please.” Cassie went first. I am sorry to say that I expected the alarm to go off when she went through because I thought she might actually have tried to shoplift something. The alarm was silent. I walked through and the alarm blared again. The clerk left her cash register and stood between me and the entrance to the mall. I stood frozen. I handed over my pink bag to the manager. She went over the items I bought and compared them to the receipt. Only the bra had had a sensor and the clerk had removed it when she put it in my bag. She put my items back in the bag and then looked at my bag from the shoe store and my purse. “Hand me your other bags.” I hesitated. “We can call the police if you don’t let us look.” I remembered the sounds of the flash bangs and then being pulled roughly from my bed and thrown on the floor. I remembered the hot flush of urine soaking my pajamas. As I remembered wetting myself the night of the raid, I realized I was wetting my diaper in the store. I didn’t really want to deal with the police, so I handed her my purse. I only carried my tablet, my phone, my money, my ID, and two extra diapers. As the manager emptied these items on the counter, I heard the cashier giggle. The manager looked at the diapers. “Why do you have these?” I tried to think of a lie, but saying I had them because I was incontinent wouldn’t work. I was buying panties which I wouldn’t need if I had to wear diapers all the time. “It doesn’t matter why she has them,” said Cassie. “They are not stolen merchandise, so it is none of your business.” She took my shoebox from the shoe store bag. “She has a receipt for her new shoes too.” She waved the shoe box over the alarm sensor and the alarm went off.” The manager and Cassie looked like they had a lightbulb going on over their heads. Cassie examined the shoe box and peeled a sensor off the bottom of the shoe box. “This is what set off your alarm.” “I guess I owe you an apology,” said the manager. “You owe her more than that,” said Cassie. She motioned to the diapers. “You embarrassed my roommate in front of the whole store.” I looked around, but the store was pretty empty. I gathered the contents of my purse so the diapers were out of sight. Why I gathered my items, the manager was tapping something on the cash register while Cassie glared at her. “Let’s go,” I said when I had everything. The sales girl was still suppressing a giggle and I wanted to leave. But Cassie waited. The manager finished typing and then she handed me a pink card. “Just so there are no hard feelings, here is a gift card to the store.” I took it, but I wanted out of there. My diaper was really wet and I wanted to change. I walked out of the store and walked strait toward where I thought the bathrooms were. Cassie was right behind me. She was smiling. “You spent less than fifty dollars and you walked out of there with a $100 gift card. You made out great.” I pulled close to Cassie and put my mouth near her ear. “I just had an accident when she threatened to call the police. If I was wearing my panties, this would have been even more embarrassing. I am too overwhelmed to change right now and I am about to leak.” Cassie took my hand and lead me to a family restroom. Although I had my new panties, I let her change me into another diaper. ### I was still shaking so it took me over an hour of sitting in the car before I was able to drive. “I’d like to help, but I’ve never driven a car.” “Never?” I asked. “Would you trust a foster kid with the keys to the car? This one family locked me in the trunk every time we took a car trip.” “Your stories are so sad,” I said. “I can’t believe you got that scared though,” she said. “That lady couldn’t have done anything to you.” I frowned. “It’s not that. As soon as she mentioned the police, I felt like I was in my room when the IRS raided my home. It was awful.” I shook again and had to pull over and park in a parking lot. Cassie reached behind me and started rubbing my shoulders. “It will be okay.” “Thanks,” I said. “No problem. You’re my best friend. I owe you a lot. I mean, who else would drive to the other side of the state just to help me out after I had an accident?” She paused. “Besides, you admitted to messing your diaper just to keep me from being embarrassed for doing the same thing.” I thought about how we went swimming together at camp. Getting to meet Cassie was worth losing my college fund and having to take this Weird Scholarship. ### We arrived at the dorm and Melody greeted us. “Doing laundry sure is hard,” she said. “Why? What happened?” I asked. “I was dumping everything in the washer and someone said I needed to separate my colors and wash them in separate loads.” “So?” asked Cassie. “I knew you had separate colors since I had to start washing my own sheets.” She blushed. “Well there are just so many colors,” said Melody. “I did my white clothes and then I did my blues. I still have to do my reds, my grays, and my greens. And then I have this one yellow shirt that I have to wash by itself.” Cassie and I both started laughing. Cassie crossed her legs tight, like she was trying to keep from peeing. I couldn’t cross that tight in my diaper. “What’s so funny?” asked Melody. “Melody, you don’t have to separate each color of the rainbow. You just need to do two loads of laundry: white clothes and colored clothes.” I just shook my head at the idea of her separating her clothes in rainbow order. “I was starting to run out of quarters,” she said. “You would,” said Cassie. “Well Nora and I bought some new clothes and we need to wash them. Since you have just a partial load of colors left to do, we can maybe through ours in with yours.” I glared at Cassie. “No. We can’t. Melody will find out.” “Find out what? That you aren’t incontinent either?” I looked at Melody with an worried look. She smiled. “Cassie told me. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” “Why’d you tell her?” I asked. “We caught each other in panties and I mentioned that you were being faithful and wearing diapers even though you didn’t need them.” She turned to Cassie. “She is still wearing diapers right now. Isn’t she?” I felt the warmth of a blush coming on. “Well that is half of us,” I said. “You don’t suppose there are any others in our group of six?” Melody shook her head. “There is no way Veronica or Darlene are faking. And as nice as Bella is, she would have totally come out to me once she figured out I was trying to potty train myself.” I nodded. So Bella knew about Melody, but we had all seen how Melody’s mother treated her. I knew Bella would understand in Melody’s case. Probably not with our own. “So let’s see what you bought.” Melody smiled. “I got new underwear last night. I ran out because I didn’t do laundry until today.” She ran into her room and came back with a Walmart bag and dumped it on the bed. Every single pair had a cartoon character or a superhero on it. I couldn’t help but giggle. She looked hurt. “What’s so funny?” “Nothing,” I said. “She thinks you are being childish because you like superheroes,” said Cassie. “Nora doesn’t know any better. She is nerd-impared.” “I’m not nerd-impared,” I said. I thought of my experience so far at MIT. Everyone had awesome backgrounds and I had nothing like that in my past. “Okay, maybe I am nerd-impared.” “Well, let’s see what you bought,” said Melody. I poured my panties out of the Victoria’s Secret bag. The pastel-colored panties spread all over my sheets. They were pretty much the same cut as Melody’s superhero panties, but they were a marked difference. “Can you believe Nora got all her purchases for basically free?” said Cassie. “How?” asked Melody. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said at the same time Cassie told the story. “Awesome. Maybe you can take me to Victoria’s Secret sometime if I ever get a boyfriend.” “It’s a deal,” I said. “And here is my purchase,” said Cassie as she spread out her teddy on the bed. “Isn’t it so slutty?” Melody just shook her head. “Wow. That is fancy. How do you pull it down when you need to pee? You got to take off your top as well as your pants.” She smiled and lightly punched Melody in the shoulder. “You don’t wear clothes over it, silly. You wear it in the bedroom with your boyfriend. An help me get out of it when he needs to.” The look of shock on Melody’s face was priceless. I giggled. I was a virgin, but I wasn’t really this naive. I loved Melody and I felt bad that we were corrupting a child, although a late-blooming one, and turning her into an adult. We packed up our stuff separate stuff and got it all put away just as Bella walked in. She had a big box in her hands. “They came. They came,” she said. I looked from Melody to Cassie and back again. “What came?” I asked. Was she going to reveal that she was part of the conspiracy? She laid the box on my bed and opened it. She then pulled out a pack of diapers and ripped them open. “I finally found diapers that come in black.” She looked back and forth between me and Cassie, as if to figure out why we weren’t as excited as we were. “That’s really interesting,” I said. She smiled and then pulled out three diapers. “I am going to put on one now. You two got to try them.” She looked at Melody. “You don’t have to try one,” she said. “I know you are training yourself.” “Okay,” said Cassie. She seemed like she didn’t know what to say. Bella thrusted the diapers into our hands, grabbed her box and went to her room, before she left she looked back. “I am going to put mine on now. I’ll be back and you can tell me how you think they feel.” I took the diaper and started to lay it out on my bed. “It looks like I’ll have to wait a bit longer to wear panties.” I preceded to change myself. Cassie laid down on her bed and did the same. Melody just smiled. It was safe to bet that Bella didn’t know we were fakers. I looked longingly at my panty drawer before taping on the black diaper. Chapter Twenty-Four: Bet’s Visit I woke up in the middle of the night needing to pee. I put my hand between my legs and prepared to flood my diaper, letting the cushion of my diaper expand beneath my hand. When I reached down, I instead felt my panties and sat up. I was going to have to get up in the night to use the bathroom. I smiled. At least I hadn’t become reliant on the diapers I needed to maintain my scholarship. Instead I waited to wet my diaper until I really had to go. And I always woke up before I had to pee at night. I got up and went to the bathroom and peed. When I came back the lights were already on. ¨Shit, not again,” yelled Cassie. She pulled her sheets off the bed and threw them to the floor. The plastic on her bed may have protected her mattress, but a visible puddle reflected the rooms light. I squinted against the light and walked back to the bathroom and returned with Cassie’s towel. I tossed it to her. “Again?” I asked. “This is the second time this week.” She nodded. “What am I going to do if I do this at Milton’s house. I am supposed to stay with him this weekend and wear my new teddy.” I let her vent as she dried up the puddle with her towel. I then helped her make the bed. “I’m not sure. You will probably have to talk to him about it before you surprise him with a wet bed.” I thought of her accident where Milton left her at the gas station after she wet on their telescope date. This was not going to go well. Cassie glared at me and then pulled her half of the top sheet tight across the bed before tucking it under the mattress. “Or maybe I will just wear my diapers to bed with him so he can change me like the big baby I am.” I sighed. “We aren’t babies,” I said. “We are incontinent engineers,” I said. “Besides, you are just under stress. It’s just a phase.” Cassie frowned and then pointed at my dry panties peeking out from under my long t-shirt. “Half of us aren’t even incontinent. Besides, these phases get worse before they get better. After Loraine, it was a month before I could stay dry. After coming home from juvie, it was almost six months before I was consistently dry at night. It’s only a matter of time before Milton finds out.” She threw her pillow on the remade bed and straightened it out, then pulled the sheets open to get back in bed. “Wait, Cassie, you are still in your wet things.” She looked down. “Dammit.” She grabbed a clean t-shirt and some panties and started to change. I frowned. “How about you let me change you into a diaper,” I asked. She nodded and lay on the bed. I quickly changed her, the first time either of us changed the other since we went panties shopping at the mall. “Just wear diapers to bed,” I suggested. “We got to use up diapers. I have three whole packs stockpiled since I started wearing panties again.” “I only have the one pack,” she said. “Melody comes and gets my extra supplies every weekend.” “What for?” I asked. “She stopped wearing them too. Besides, she has to buy her usual supply or Bets will see she is not buying diapers anymore. The scholarship reimburses us for diapers and we need to keep sending Bets reciepts.” Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know what she does with them, but she gives me a dollars a diaper, so I don’t really care.” She pulled the dry sheets around her and I returned to my own bed. “I care,” I said. “I have the trunk of my car full of diapers and then what?” Cassie laughed. “See if you can get the same deal.” She rolled over and went to sleep. I lay awake wondering what Melody was doing with all those diapers after she started wearing panties. ### I lay in my bed with Jonah next to me. Cassie was gone for the night, presumably to Milton’s. I hope her date would go okay. She’d had wet nights three of the four nights since the first time I helped her with her bed. “I can’t believe you never saw The Princess Bride,” said Jonah. He held my tablet so we could both see the movie and his other hand rubbed my thigh. I squeezed in closer and put my one hand that wasn’t holding the other half of my tablet on top of his hand. “Too much too soon?” he asked. “No,” I said. I pulled his hand higher and ground it into crotch. “Boo! Hiss! Boo! Hiss!” I was shocked at first, but then realized the sound was coming from my tablet. I pressed pause and set the tablet on the night stand and turned to kiss Jonah. “Don’t you want to finish watching the movie?” “We can watch it after I put out like I promised.” My heart beat heavier and heavier. I was a bit scared. He helped me out of my shorts and then out of my top. Soon I was had my underwear off and I focused on undressing Jonah. He lay me down on my back and I squealed. “Wait.” “What?” he asked. I reached over to the night stand and got out the condom I bought for our date. “Oh yeah. We need that,” he said. “Are you ready to have sex?” I asked. I trembled with readiness. I was scared and I knew it would hurt the first time, but I thought Jonah was the one who should have me. He looked at me and kissed me, but then scooted a bit away. “Actually, I’m not ready.” I looked at him with surprise. I wondered if something was wrong with me. I gave him a hurt look. “Listen. I just want it to be a special time when…,” he paused. “Well, when I do it for the first time. I’m sorry. I am not really experienced. Can we get dressed and just make out?” “Yeah, sure,” I said. “I am actually afraid that it would hurt me the first time.” I grabbed my panties and pulled them on and then pulled my t-shirt on. I left my bra and shorts on the floor. “You’ve never done it either?” “Nope. Kiss me and let’s finish the movie.” That night I didn’t get lucky but I did find out what true love means. I hoped Buttercup and Wesley were getting lucky. And that morning I woke up alone. ### I woke up in my shorts, t-shirt, and a dry diaper. I had encouraged Cassie to wear diapers to bed and I promised to wear them to bed when I was in the dorm. My phone had rang and I ignored it, but then I looked at my text and froze. “Just arrived for a visit. The staff let me upstairs. -Bets” I froze. The message was from tree minutes ago. I opened the bathroom door and found Melody in there. She was dressed for the day already. “Are you diapered? Bets is coming.” “That’s not funny, Nora.” “I’m not kidding.” I ran through her room, grabbed one of her childishly printed diapers and pulled her into my room. “Lay down.” I diapered her as quickly as I could just as I heard a knock on the door. I picked up her panties and threw them in my laundry and then push her shorts to her. “Get them on. Quick.” I went to the door and peeked through the peephole. It was Bets.” I had to pee badly from the night before, so I just relaxed and wet my diaper. Then I opened the door. “Good morning, Nora. I thought I would take you girls to breakfast and see how you were all doing.” She looked over at Melody. “Hi, Melody. How are you doing?” “Much better,” she said. “I had to get twenty-five shots just to start classes.” “Oh you poor girl? Why so many?” My mother didn’t believe in vaccines, so I needed them all to be able to start classes.” Bets shook her head. I think she looked angry. While they were talking, I grabbed my phone and texted Cassie. “If you are coming, stop by my car and get a diaper on. Bets is here. I’m dropping the keys out the window.” I then opened the window and dropped my keys outside. “So, Nora, did that woman ever show up here?” I shook my head. “Well thank goodness,” said Bets. I looked at her. “I need to freshen up for the day. I just woke up and I am wet and smelly.” I grabbed some clothes and a diaper and took them into the bathroom and showered quickly. I got dressed in the bathroom and then check my phone. “We are here and it’s awkward. I couldn’t hide this from Milton, so thanks.” “You want to keep the scholarship?” I texted back. “Yes.” I pocketed my phone and left the bathroom. Melody passed through and then I returned to the room with just Bets. “Where is your roommate?” she asked. “Um, Cassie had a date and didn’t come home.” I wanted to look at my phone, but Bets was watching. “She said she’d be back after breakfast. We didn’t know about the surprise breakfast you had planned.” “That’s okay,” said Bets. The door burst open and Cassie stormed in and threw her bag on her bed. She looked angry, her eyes were red and black streaks of mascara ran down her cheeks. Milton followed. “What do you think I am supposed to think? First you pee all over my bed and then you wear diapers. I can’t take it.” Cassie turned to Bets and then looked over to Milton. “Milton, just go. Please. I’ll explain later.” He shut the door and left. Cassie looked at Bets and let the tears flow. “Nora, do you want to step out so I can talk to Cassie?” asked Bets. “No,” said Cassie. “Please let her stay.” “So what happened Cassie?” She looked at Bets with tears flowing. “I cheated on the scholarship. I didn’t want my boyfriend to know about the diapers so I bought sexy lingerie to wear instead. I understand if you want to kick me out. I really loved MIT so far.” “And what happened when you did wear diapers with your boyfriend?” She hung her head. “I peed all over both of us in his bed” “And then he learned about your diapers anyway. So did you learn your lesson?” “Um,” she said. “I really wanted to go to MIT. I’m sorry for getting regular underwear.” Bets laughed. “I did the same thing. I tried to go on a date without being diapered, but I peed all over myself in his car before we got to the restaurant. You need to sit down your boyfriend and be honest with him. You need to ease a boy into dating an incontinent girl. It’s not something you want to spring to him after you wet your pants because you were too prideful to wear the diapers you need.” It then began to dawn on me that Bets didn’t realize Cassie was a faker. She actually thought Cassie had tried to hide her diapers from Milton by wearing panties to bed and had an accident. I walked over to Cassie and rubbed her shoulders. “Everything will be okay, Cassie.” I looked at Bets. “I’ll get her cleaned up for breakfast and then we’ll join you and the others soon.” Bets looked at Cassie. “It will be okay.” She left. Cassie looked at me. “She knows and I am getting kicked out.” I shook my head. “She doesn’t know you are a faker. She just thinks you didn’t wear a diaper and wet yourself because you are incontinent, not because you are a bedwetter.” She smiled through her tears and laughed. “Bedwetter is hardly an upgrade.” “But now that Milton knows you have diapers, just wear them for bedwetting if you spend the night with him.” She sighed. “Well if he wants to sleep with a smelly diaper baby, then I will sleep with him.” “Now go wash up so we can eat breakfast. I am hungry.” “Me too. Apparently Milton didn’t want me cooking him pancakes in a wet teddy.” I laughed. “That is his loss then.” “Don’t you know it?” she said. ### Breakfast was weird. At least Cassie got her pancakes. She didn’t have to cook them at all. The restaurant did it for her. I had bacon and eggs. Sullen Violate and carefree Darlene were doing well in classes and had become best friends. Bella couldn’t stop gushing about her black diapers. Melody couldn’t say much and neither could I. I had worn panties during the day for about a week and I was back in diapers again. I hoped Bets wasn’t going to come back and surprise us again. “This is really yummy. When are you coming back to do this again?” “I usually come the second Saturday of the month,” she said. I took a bite of my bacon strip. “Awesome.” Cheating was fine when it came to wearing diapers and Melody and Cassie deserved to be happy. I just hoped Melody could be grown up and Cassie could have a little less stress in her life. Chapter Twenty-Five: Accepting Diapers “Milton, you’re a jerk, but Cassie likes you, so that is why we are here.” I picked up my donut and took a big bite, pausing to suck out some of the pudding. Cassie sat beside me in the booth at Linda’s and Milton sat across from us. Between us was a box of a dozen donuts that I insisted that Milton pay for. Milton yawned. “It’s 6:30 am. I don’t know why you wanted to meet here in the first place.” “Because you avoided Cassie all week. It’s Friday already and you haven’t even called her. She’s worried you don’t like her anymore.” “I like hanging out with her, but she...” I didn’t let him finish the sentence. “She embarrassed herself in front of you and you did nothing to reassure her. Instead you yelled at her and humiliated her further.” I waited while that sunk in. “Let’s just go,” said Cassie. “It’s obvious that he is disgusted by me.” She stood up to leave. “Sit down, Cassie,” I said. “We are not done. I want to hear Milton say that he wants to stop doing astronomy with you and watching Star Trek characters cut off each other’s hands with laser swords.” “It’s Star Wars,” Milton and Cassie said together. They laughed. “Okay, Star Wars,” I said and then lowered my voice. “Do you want to give that up because of a little pee?” Milton sighed. “It’s not the first time she did this, you know,” he said in a lowered voice. “I know,” I said. “Last time you left her across the state and my date and I had to drive out and get her, so she was not only humiliated in front of you, but also in front of my date. Yet she dated you again. I wouldn’t have given you a second chance.” “It’s kind of gross to be peed on by your girlfriend,” he said. “Listen, Milton,” I said. “I am sure she didn’t pee the bed with you in it to make it a better experience. College is stressing Cassie out and causing her to wet the bed. Maybe you should help her out instead of make her feel worthless.” “What about the diaper?” he whispered. “That is just weird.” Cassie looked at him. Her eyes glistened and I think she was about to cry.” I kicked him under the table. “I wear them for my own wetting,” I said. I could feel my face grow warm and hot. “When she started having problems I gave her some of mine and told her to use them to deal with the problem. I thought she would explain it to you, but you aren’t really that understanding, are you?” He looked at the box of donuts. I think he was thinking about taking another donut, but I glared at him. Instead, he looked up at me. “So what do you want me to do, Nora?” “How about you accept your girlfriend for who she is? Give her another chance. She was more than forgiving when you left her at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.” I chomped on my donut and enjoyed the maple frosting as it mingled with the pudding in my mouth. “What if she wets the bed again?” he asked. “I don’t want wet on.” “I won’t do it again,” said Cassie. “How will you react if she does?” I asked. “Are you going to humiliate her again? Because I am already unhappy with how your treat her.” “It’s my fault. I’m sorry,” said Cassie. “No, it isn’t. Milton is the one acting like a jerk. So this is what is going to happen. Milton, you don’t want wet on when you are sleeping. Cassie, you can’t predict whether or not you will have a wet night. So when you are staying over at Milton’s, you will put on a diaper before you go to sleep. Milton, you will not tease her about her diaper or her wetting. And you will not tell anyone about this arrangement.” Cassie looked at Milton and then me. Her face was bright red. I have never seen her that embarrassed. “I like hanging out with you, Milton. We have so much in common. Are you going to let this one thing come between us?” “Well I did like the sexy teddy you wore last weekend. And we both like space and the same movies and stuff. I don’t want to give that up.” “So,” I said. “You’ll put up with her unwanted costume change before she falls asleep with you? That’s all we are asking.” “Okay, but I don’t want to have to change her.” He made a weird face. I laughed. “Is that what your problem with the diaper was? That you don’t want to change your girlfriend that you see naked anyway?” He nodded. “Yeah, Messy diapers are gross and they smell.” “Listen. A. She’s not going to poop in them and B. She is capable of changing herself. Besides, she’ll only be wearing them while she is sleeping. In the morning she will shower and put on her regular underwear.” Milton nodded. “Okay. I think that is okay. Cassie, do you want to do this? I promise I won’t humiliate you again.” She stood up and walked around the table and sat next to Milton. She then grabbed a donut and put it on a napkin in front of him. “I saw you eying that chocolate sprinkles one.” I grabbed my third donut. “I need to work on my freshman fifteen,” I said. I took a big bite of a chocolate long john and let the flavors mix in my mouth before swallowing. I wasn’t wearing a diaper that day, nor did I have a bow and arrow, but I sure felt like cupid as we ate donuts together. Chapter Twenty-Six: The Cheese-E-ist Restaurant Ever It was Saturday and I had a date later that night, but I had the afternoon free. I was one of those students who did my homework right away after school and then could spend the later evenings reading or otherwise enjoying myself. Although I hadn’t finished everything Friday night, I had plenty to keep me occupied on Saturday morning. I had just finished the last math problem in my calculus homework when Melody came bursting in through our shared bathroom. “Nora, do you want to come with us? We are going some place awesome.” “Slow down. Who is we again? And I can’t. I am starving.” I really was hungry and looking forward to the cafeteria fare in the dorms. Melody looked disappointed. “But my father is here and we are going to lunch. Please come with us.” “Sure. What kind of food do you have in mind?” I shuttered at the thought of going to McDonald’s again. Apparently Melody thought it was wonderful. I didn’t want to get sick when I couldn’t resist the urge to order one of their caustic milkshakes. “Not McDonald’s I hope.” She was still beaming. “Better than McDonald’s. We are going to Chuck E Cheese.” I was about going to say, “Taco Bell?” in my Sylvester Stalone tone, but then Melody was excited by it and I hadn’t had pizza in a while. And Jonah said I needed to learn about video games. So I said, “Why not?” We went through the bathroom to her room and I met Melody’s father for the first time. He was younger than my own father. Her dad had a very distinctive mustache. The corners were twisted up on the ends in points, like reddish flames, much darker than his very light blond hair. He smiled. “So this is my daddy, Jack Franklin,” said Melody. “And this is Nora Jones, one of my good friends. We share a bathroom.” I waved. “Nice to meet you, Nora. Melody said you helped her learn how to do a few things that her mother didn’t teach her.” “Yep. I taught her how to do her own laundry,” I said. “Good,” he said. “I don’t have a washer and dryer and could never teach her the basics.” “No washer and dryer?” I asked. “Well in my work, I travel a lot, so I am usually on the road.” “Well, let’s go,” said Melody. “I still have tokens from last year.” She grabbed a purse and flung it over her shoulder. “Do you have everything you need?” he asked. “Of course,” she said. We walked out to the car. His vehicle was a Jeep, but it had a tow bar on it like it was usually pulled behind an RV. My parents weren’t big on camping, but Kara’s family were big RV enthusiasts. I looked at it. “Do you go RV-ing a lot?” He nodded and started the Jeep and we pulled out of the dorm parking lot. “I am in the RV delivery business. I just delivered an RV to a family in Boston, so I decided to see Melody since I was in town already.” “So how often do you do this?” I asked. “It depends on how far from the factory it needs to go, but usually about one or two a week.” I couldn’t imagine driving all over in an RV. Kara’s family usually stayed at RV parks. “My best friend’s parents have a Fleetwood RV.” He frowned. “They are a major competitor of ours.” He laughed. “They keep us innovating though.” He kept driving. It only took about twenty minutes to get to the pizza place. We walked in and it was like it had never changed. “I haven’t been here since I was eight,” I said. “Daddy takes me here at least once a year,” said Melody. “I am a ski ball expert, so you better watch out.” “Food first, then games,” said Mr. Franklin. I giggled. “Yes, sir. I am starved anyway. We found a seat in the dining room without the big stage of animatronic singing animals and we sat and talked. “Melody gushed about classes and how she was becoming more independent. “Did you know Mommy hunted me down at the scholarship camp and tried to make me go home?” “Really?” asked her father. “How did she know about everything?” “I think she found out when I got the letter about my vaccinations. I had to go to student health and get all the vaccines I should have had over the years.” Melody continued. “Anyway, she went to the campground with a policeman and tried to get me to go home, but I told her that I was going to stay and go to college. The policeman said I could do what I wanted because I am eighteen.” “Good for you, baby,” he said. “Your mother unfairly held you back because of your problem.” Melody looked thoughtful, but didn’t say anything, so I was free to open my own mouth. “That’s not a problem anymore. Student Health told her there wasn’t physically wrong with her and Melody figured out her mother just didn’t teach her and she learned to use the bathroom by herself.” “Nora, no,” Melody said, but it was too late. Mr. Franklin’s face turned bright pink. He had been pale to begin with and it was easy to tell when he was angry. “That woman lied to me and you. She stole your childhood so she could keep you under her control. I am calling your mother and letting her know how despicable she is for what she did.” Melody looked alarmed as she looked out into the restaurant. “Quiet, our food is here.” A waitress laid a pizza on the table and we took time to pass out some slices for us. I took a bite of my pizza and looked at Melody. “I am sorry for bringing that up.” “Well, I am eighteen and don’t have to talk to Mommy again. I am so angry about what she did to me, but Daddy, don’t confront Mommy about this. I don’t want her to know that she doesn’t have power over me anymore. Besides, she can stop me from going to college just by telling the scholarship coordinator that I am not incontinent anymore. Then I would have to go back to her. I don’t want that to happen.” Her father’s normal color returned to his face and Melody relaxed. “I will not call your mother,” he said. “Now we came here to have fun, not argue about your mother. “Goody,” she said. She grabbed two slices of pizza from the pan to her plate dragging a stream of cheese across the table. I smiled and grabbed a few pieces of my own. “I haven’t been to a pizza arcade in years,” I said. “How did you know they still had them?” “Daddy took me to Chunk E. Cheese for every birthday. It was the one chance I got to have the kinds of fun Mommy didn’t want me to have.” “Oh?” I asked. “Melody’s mother didn’t want Melody to have fun if she wasn’t the center of it,” he said. “Or do anything, apparently,” I said. “Maybe that why she kept you in diapers?” Melody frowned, then nodded. “If my talking Barbie didn’t require a computer, I would have never been able to use a computer. Mommy couldn’t figure out how to make her talk and she left me alone with the computer for hours. I just had to change Barbie’s speech every now and then, so she thought I was only doing that.” We quickly ate and then when we were finished, we each got a cup of tokens. “Let’s play Ski Ball,” said Melody. I got up and followed her out into the game room. It was black lit and filled with flashing arcade machines and electronic noise. I went over to the ski ball machines and put in my tokens. The nine balls rolled down the chute and I begin to play. By the time I finished the first game, I only had one ticket print out. I looked over to Melody and she had ten tickets. I was jealous, but she had scored much higher than me. She smiled. “Don’t worry. We’ll pool our tickets and get something fun to share.” She popped in another token and we started a new round. We played Skee-Ball until it was time to leave. “Well, let’s redeem our prize,” she said. We walked to the counter and looked around. There were really awesome prizes, but we didn’t have near enough tickets for a MacBook or a LCD TV. Instead we spent our tickets on a cheap plastic Slinky. She looked a bit disappointed, but I just shrugged. “We just had fun playing.” “And we’ll have fun playing with the Slinky at the dorms. We didn’t have stairs at Mommy’s house.” Melody’s father drove us back to the dorms and then I came back to see Jonah walking away. He wasn’t happy. He was clinching and unclinching his fists. He stopped and looked at me. “Did you forget about our date? Cassie said she didn’t see you all day and Bella said she saw you leaving with some guy.” “Sorry, I kept her our too long,” said Melody. “My father stopped by and took us both to Chuck E. Cheese for my birthday.” She held up the Slinky. “See what Nora and I won at Skee-Ball.” “But you didn’t answer your phone or my texts or anything. I thought you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.” I grabbed my purse and reached for my phone, but it was gone. I grabbed my keys and went inside and found my phone still on my bed. I grabbed and started scrolling through the messages. I turned to Jonah. “I left my phone. I am sorry I forgot about the date. How late am I?” “Just half an hour,” he said. “I hope our plans aren’t time sensitive,” I said. He shook his head. “We can see the next showing of the movie.” “Let me get dressed and I will be ready.” I grabbed some clothes and threw them on my bed and then pushed him out of the room and was able to get dressed. I thought about a dress, but I decided that I needed to make sure that Jonah wasn’t like Milton. For that, I needed to wear light colored pants. I dressed in a cute blouse and khaki pants that I couldn’t really wear with diapers. I then packed some more suitable clothes in an overnight bag. I came out of the dorm with my purse and my bag. “Let’s go,” I said. Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Movie: the Test The movie was educational for me. I had never been to a superhero movie before and Jonah had to explain things now and then. However, I enjoyed it. I drank my large soda and some of Jonah’s and didn’t take a bathroom break because I was afraid to miss any of the movie. By the time the credits rolled, I was bursting. I stood up and tried to leave, but Jonah grabbed my arm. “You got to stay for the credits or else you’ll miss what the next movie is going to be about.” “Really?” I asked. I had to pee and I regretted not wearing a diaper, but I was not going to wet and then walk out in front of all these people. I squeezed my thighs together as the credits rolled. “I really had no idea that it took so many names to make a movie. They had separate credits for the caterers and craft services. They are pretty much the same job too. Both of them serve food to the actors. I later looked up the difference, but I though I was going to soak the theater seat and I was too embarrassed to tell him that I was desperate. What I planned to do was more embarrassing, but I wasn’t ready yet. Finally a scene came up on the screen and the characters interacted. The audience laughed and then started discussing as everyone got up to leave. “We got to go. I need to pee,” I said to Jonah. He guided me to the bathroom, but the line was so far out the women’s room door that I knew I was not going to be able to hold it. “Jonah, I can’t hold it with this line this long.” “Okay, let’s go,” he said. He led me out of the theater and into his minivan. We drove across the parking lot as I held my crotch and then pulled into the gas station on the other side of the parking lot. I got out and started to go into the gas station. I decided it was a good place to have my accident, but the clerk gave me a dirty look. Instead I hurried into the bathroom and locked myself inside. As soon as I saw the toilet, instinct took over and I pulled down my pants and panties and sat on the toilet and peed. After peeing, I realized what I had done. I missed my chance to test Jonah. I wiped and got dressed and then saw my phone sticking out of my pocket. I picked it up and called Jonah. “Jonah,” I said in a weepy voice, “I didn’t make it.” “Are you okay? Should we try somewhere else?” he said over the phone. “No, I mean I got into the bathroom and started peeing down my legs. I’m soaked and embarrassed.” “Are you serious? You wet yourself?” I let out a sob into my phone. “Well, don’t cry. These things happen. I shouldn’t have made you stay for the credits. Come on out and I’ll take you home.” He was so nice and I suddenly felt guilty for lying to him. I went outside and then got in the minivan. “Now, don’t be too embarrassed to date me again, Nora.” His hand touched my upper thigh and then he gave me a confused look because I was dry. I looked back at him. “Sorry,” I said. “I had to test you. Cassie’s boyfriend humiliated her twice over something like this.” I leaned forward to kiss him. “You passed.” “So you didn’t have to pee at all?” He sounded more annoyed. “You don’t trust me to treat you right?” Now I was on the defensive. “I’m sorry. You always treated me perfectly. And I really would have peed my pants in the theater lobby if you didn’t drive me to the gas station. I thought I was going to die. I was really counting on going during the credits. But I couldn’t help thinking, what you would do if I didn’t make it. I didn’t plan this out really well. I trust you completely.” He frowned. “We had this discussion earlier when we went and got Cassie on our first date. I knew she wet herself and that’s why she needed the extra clothes.” I looked at him. “I’m not being honest with you,” I admitted. “You see, Cassie and I are roommates because we both wet the bed. I just can’t really break it to a boy in a good way. I understand if you don’t want to see me again. Just don’t tell anyone about me and Cassie’s problem.” He reached over and kissed me. We made out a bit and I felt so wet. “Okay, now I am a different kind of wet. If you are ready, I’ll let you do me.” “I’m not ready for that yet,” he said. “I am waiting until I get married and I am not ready to think that far ahead until I graduate.” I kissed him hard. “You are such a keeper. I will respect your wishes in that area. I hope you still want to date me after all the mistakes I made today and what I revealed about myself.” He held my hand. “Nora, I still want to date you. You are okay and that won’t change even after I graduate and want more in a relationship.” “Then I declare this date a success. Now why did the superhero carry that old-fashioned relic with him?” “Well in the first movie...” Chapter Twenty-Eight: Driving Home Thanksgiving break was soon and I was exited. I liked my time so far at MIT, but t was really weird pretending to be incontinent so I could keep my scholarship. At least Cassie was also faking it, but she had genuine issues. I packed my suitcases and then Cassie walked in. She looked at my bags and frowned. “Getting ready to go home for Thanksgiving break?” she asked. I didn’t answer because I was getting ready for break and it was obvious. She must have realized she asked an obvious question so she went on. “The dorm said I they are closing for break and I can’t stay here. We are supposed to go home and enjoy the week with our families while they fix the bathrooms.” She frowned and walked over to the bed and sat down. “I don’t really want to take Bets up on her offer of a place to stay for the week. Can you imagine?” I laughed. “Could you even go 24/7 again?” She thought about it for a little bit. “I probably could. I mean, it would be easy, but I can’t deal with the paranoia that Bets would discover that I was faking. A week at camp was bad enough and you basically caught me out at Walmart right after camp.” “I actually caught you peeing in the woods that night we looked at the stars and looked for meteorites” “Meteors. They are not meteorites until they hit the ground. But, wait, you caught me peeing? I had kind of just changed into a clean diaper and didn’t want to wet it yet.” I nodded. “She paced back and forth. “Oh Bets is so going catch me since it will just be the two of us in the house. At least at camp there were six of us girls.” “Don’t worry about Bets. You are coming home with me.” I grabbed two packs of diapers and threw them in a duffle bag and put it with my stuff I was taking home. “So pack,” I said. “I want leave in half an hour.” She went to her closet and packed about four outfits. She then packed enough socks and underwear for two weeks. She didn’t pack any diapers. She brought her laptop and table since we both had a paper due. “Bring diapers. You’ll have to sleep in my room and I’d rather you didn’t pee in my bed.” “What were the diapers your brought for then?” “Because I promised I’d wear them to bed as long as you needed them. I didn’t embarrass myself in front of Milton for nothing.” She packed some diapers in her diaper bag. “Good idea. I don’t want your mother to throw me out on my butt in the middle of Pennsylvania.” We were all packed and I rushed us out the door of the dorm. The room was clean. Our beds were made, and our valuables put away. Most of what we owned was our laptops and clothes and we brought most of those with us. We went out to my car and soon we were one the road. We had driven for four hours when Cassie looked at me. “Can we stop soon. I have to pee.” I decided to tease her. “Just go in your diaper. I went in mine an hour ago.” I resumed driving. I also picked up my bottle of Mountain Dew from my cup holder and drank it down. She shifted her hips in the seat and then grabbed her crotch. “Nora, I’m serious. I am about to wet right in your seat. Besides, I am not diapered and it will make a mess.” “You really have to go. Well, we arguing to run out of gas soon, so I guess we can stop. Besides I am out of pop and I was just teasing when I said I was diapered.” I took the next exit and we stopped at the gas station. I didn’t even pull up to a gas pump. I just parked because I needed the bathroom as well. We went in, used the facilities and then I left to fill up the car while Cassie bought treats. She came out as the car was filled up. I got my receipt out of the gas pump and we were on the way. “Everything come out all right,” I asked. She nodded. “So does your mom know you signed up for a scholarship for incontinent girls?” I almost swerved I was so panicked. I got control of the car and then looked at Cassie. “Don’t do that again. My parents would freak if they knew I was doing this. Let’s not tell them. In fact, we only wear diapers for bed all week. We don’t have long classes to sit through and we can stop at a rest area any time we need to pee.” Cassie nodded. “Okay. The family doesn’t know. Anything else?” “Most of my family is Republicans. Don’t get involved in any arguments.” “Are you a Republican?” asked Cassie. “What?” I thought about it. I really didn’t know. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.” Cassie sat back and thought silently for a bit. “I would be a Libertarian, but I don’t want dope legalized.” I shrugged. “Why not? It doesn’t hurt anyone else.” She looked at me a second. “I lived with this one family and they fed me graham crackers and Kool-aid for an entire semester. I only got to eat real food when I bought school lunches because they spent the grocery money on dope. It just breeds irresponsible people.” “Oh,” I said. I sat in silence for a while. “But we get a big meal with turkey and stuffing and mash potatoes and yams and green bean casserole, and for dessert we get pumpkin pie with Cool Whip on it.” “What will I get to eat?” she asked. “The same stuff as me,” I said. “Doesn’t turkey and stuffing sound good to you?” She game me a funny look. “When I lived with Cathy and Peter, they said Thanksgiving dinner is just for family and you don’t share it with anyone who is not a blood relative. I had to sit in my room by myself because they had relatives over. They brought me a bowl of popcorn and some pretzels and that's all I had.” “What kind of blockhead said you can’t share Thanksgiving with people who aren’t your relatives?” I asked. “You lived with some terrible people.” “Well after Loraine, I went to live with Cathy and Peter for three years, then …” She listed off a bunch of names before she got to her favorite Felix. She then mentioned a few more names. “None of them had me during Thanksgiving except Loraine and Cathy and Peter.” “Loraine is that awful woman that caged you with the other animals in that puppy mill?” She nodded, then shuttered. “In November too. Do you know how cold it is in a cage, especially when you wet your pants?” “Well, no cages, no wetting our pants, and no shutting you up in a room. Just be yourself and be polite and everything will be fine.” I shook my head. “You are going to enjoy a real Thanksgiving dinner no matter what.” “Thank you, Nora. You are the best friend ever.” I drove the rest of the way home. Cassie read her textbook on her tablet and I listened to the radio and drove. Then we got to my house. ### I pulled in the driveway and got out. I tried the door and it was locked. I had not brought my house key with me when I left for college. I rang the doorbell. My mother answered. “Oh, Nora, you made it back already. Come on in. Your grandparents came yesterday and are occupying the guest room. Your cousin has taken the foldout bed in the study.” She leaned in to whisper to me. “I didn’t know you would be bringing a friend. We don’t really have the room unless you want to put sleeping bags on the floor of your room?” “What’s wrong with my room?” I asked. I took Cassie by the hand and dragged her to my room. My room was missing. What had been my room was an empty shell. The carpet was missing. The walls were gone too. You could see the studs. Even though the carpet was gone, you could see a scorch mark on the floor near the window, which was boarded over. Over by where my bed used to be was a water-damaged area were I had peed. My stuff was gone, but where they used to be was piles of new Sheetrock, a brand new window, and lots of construction supplies. Cassie looked around. “Looks like they are doing a major remodel.” I nodded. “But why now? I lived here all summer like this because we couldn’t afford to fix anything.” I walked back down stairs. “We can’t stay in my room,” I said. “There is no furniture and it’s not habitable like this. And I brought my roommate Cassie.” “Nora, calm down. It’s been arranged. Kara said you can stay over with her. Just call her and ask if your roommate can stay too.” I calmed down. Of course my mother would have figured out a plan. She looked at Cassie. “You are very welcome to our house. Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. The house is in chaos and construction work never got finished.” She went to the computer and printed out two sheets of paper. She handed one to me and one to Cassie. I took it and looked over the “Steven Family Thanksgiving Week Itinerary.” Cassie looked at it with confusion. “I’ll explain later,” I said. “You don’t want to miss any events my mother has planned.” “Cassie, do you have any food allergies or religious restriction we need to know about.” “No. I can eat whatever I am served,” she said. I smiled. “We get along great. Cassie is a fun roommate. She has lots of stories from before college.” “I’d like to hear some sometime.” I shook my head so only Cassie could see me. “Let’s go to Kara’s so we can get settled in. I will be back in time for….” I looked at the itinerary. “…Monopoly or Uno and light refreshments at seven.” We walked out of the house and got into my car. “That was weird,” said Cassie. She held her Steven’s Family Thanksgiving Week Itinerary. “I never had an itinerary planned for me in such detail.” “My family is not weird. No one gets locked in cages or told to hide in a room during Thanksgiving dinner.” “Fine,” said Cassie. “My family experiences are way more weirder than yours. But I had a lot of families and not one had a printed itinerary.” She sat in silence for a while while I drove to Kara’s. “Although some of them were so disorganized they could use an itinerary,” she admitted. “See,” I said. She nodded. “So what is on the list for right now.” I looked being especially careful since I was driving. “It says Nora driving to Kara’s house.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Let’s say we just go to Kara’s later and go to McDonalds and get some milkshakes. I haven’t had one since—.” “—since we had some on the way to camp and both pooped our diapers. Never again.” “But those were vanilla shakes. I was thinking about egg nog shakes since it is almost Thanksgiving.” “So you want us to lose bowel control for the entire week then?” “Well, no. But I love egg nog and I love shakes from McDonalds.” She looked longingly out the window at a McDonalds we past. She was silent for a bit. “I bet we would have never become this close of friends if we hadn’t had that major accident together, but you have a point. So what about this Kara person and can she be discreet about my night thing?” I laughed. “She is the one who made me buy the right stuff. I would have shown up in pull ups and been totally outed as a faker. “Lol, that is what the other girl did,” said Cassie. I looked at her with surprise. I didn’t know about another girl. “Yeah, you don’t know because you weren’t at the pre-summer get-together. Neither was Melody for that matter. Anyway, she wouldn’t wet the pull up anyway and Bets accidentally walked in on her in the single person bathroom, so she got caught. Also, she didn’t bring any changes. That is such a rookie mistake.” “I was well supplied. Kara burned my panties and I had to wear diapers for two weeks before camp started.” I thought back about that bad ideas. Panties should never be burned. Thrown away would have been fine, but not burned. She frowned. “Yeah, about that. I pretended to wet the bed and told my foster parents the bed wetting started again and what they used at the last place. They weren’t really impressed with me and I think they were happy to see me go to college.” Chapter Twenty-Nine: Arrival Home and Alternate Sleeping Arrangements I pulled the car into the driveway of a little suburban home and we got out. I walked up to the door with Cassie by my side and I rang the doorbell. Kara answered. “Nora!” she yelled and gave me a big hug. I hugged her back and she whispered in my ear. “Who’s the other girl.” “My roommate,” I whispered back. “Be nice.” She released me and smiled. “Welcome to my parent’s house. Nora and I are best friends. Any friend of Nora is a friend of mine.” Cassie looked at Kara. “Don’t I know you?” I looked confused and Kara bit her lip. Kara looked embarrassed. “Yeah, I met you on senior skip day when I was looking at a college and you were there.” Cassie looked at me. “Well, that is how she knew.” Kara looked confused now. “Well, let’s go in and I’ll show you where you will be sleeping and then you two can freshen up.” We walked up to her bedroom. Her queen sized bed sat in the middle of her small room flanked on either side by nightstands. “Well you two can have the bed. I have an air mattress so I will sleep here.” She motioned to the floor. Cassie looked dubious, but I smiled. “It will work. We haven’t had a sleepover in ages. Thanks for taking the floor.” She smiled back. “Anything for my best friend.” “Do you want to get our luggage,” I asked Cassie. “Sure,” she said. We went out to the car and carried our bags upstairs. When we came back up, Kara was waiting for us. “So Nora, I got the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special on DVD. We always had to watch it. I thought we could see it as soon as you get ready.” “I’ve never watched that. Is it good?” Cassie smiled trying to be friendly. “Of course it is good,” I said. “It’s a classic. I can’t believe you never watched it.” “Well, I’ll go get it ready on the VCR while you two get changed.” She ran off. “What do we wear for watching a DVD?” asked Cassie. “I think she meant that we should change our diapers. She thinks you are incontinent and I am wearing one as a faker.” I shrugged. “So do you want to wear one?” “Sure, but we could have had the egg nog shakes if we were going to wear diapers anyway.” “You don’t remember camp very well, do you?” I said. She shuddered. “Well anyway, remember in the car how I talked about the girl with one pull-up faking incontinence?” I nodded. “Well she was your friend Kara.” “What?” I asked. “No way.” “Way,” she said. “She is pretending to not remember me, but we sat together at the get-together.” “That might be why she was so adamant about making me wear and use diapers for two weeks before I left for camp. She was the one that decided to burn all my panties.” I looked down the hall making sure she wasn’t coming. “Maybe that is why she knew what to do diaper-wise.” “At least she learned from her mistakes,” said Cassie. She walked over to her diaper bag and pulled out a diaper. Then she undressed and taped it on, then put her panties back in her bag and pulled her jeans back on. I wore a skirt, so I only had to pull my skirt up to change from panties to a diaper. Once diapered we went downstairs. We sat down on the couch and got ready for the show. “Wait. We need drinks. Nora, come and help me pick something out.” Kara grabbed my hand and took me to the kitchen. “Whoa. What’s up.” I knew Kara dragged me in to talk, not to pick drinks. “So, what is it like wearing diapers all the time?” she asked. “Is this why you dragged me in here?” I asked. ”So?” “It feels like a soft pillow between my legs,” I said. “But when I wet, it kind of bothers me because it shouldn’t feel good. But I have to worry whenever I am with my boyfriend that he will notice I am wearing them. He doesn’t really know.” “Wow, you tried dating in a diaper. You are brave.” “Well anyway let’s get the drinks. What do you have?” “Just Mountain Dew,” she said. We returned with six cans of Mountain Dew. Cassie was none the wiser that we were gossiping about her, but she was gossiping about Kara earlier. I wonder what Kara’s deal was. I didn’t know she had signed up for the scholarship too as another faker. Since she got caught, that opened up a space for me. I would have been yodeling in Austria if not for her. I was familiar with the rolling mountains of the Appalachians, but had not traveled overseas to see the Alps. I knew they were different mou, because I am not an idiot, but I tried the yodeling in Appalachia when I realized that was what I was probably going to end up doing. Fortunately the MIT scholarship opened up. I had Kara to thank for the opening and also for her coaching me on how to blend in, mostly based on her own failure to blend in. The movie started as usual. Again, as is everytime I watch it, I was laughing at Snoopy and Woodstock’s efforts to set up table and chairs for Thanksgiving. By the time the poor meal of toast, pretzel sticks, and popcorn was served, I was still giggling. “Is this where my foster parents got the idea to feed me that for Thanksgiving?” asked Cassie. I stopped laughing and it an arm around her. “This year, you will have turkey and all the fixings.” “Even though I am not family?” she asked. “You are my friend and Friendsgiving rules,” I said. “What is your family doing for Thanksgiving, besides inviting us to sleep over?” asked Cassie. Kara smiled. “We are all going over to the Stevens’ house and eating with them. Now quiet, this is the best part.” The cartoon cut to the closing scene where Charlie Brown invited his friends over to spend Thanksgiving at his own grandmother’s house. The children sang a song and then the cartoon ended. “So do you want to watch the Mayflower Voyages,” asked Kara. “No,” I said. “Let’s watch the Christmas ones.” “We can’t because Thanksgiving hasn’t passed. You can’t do Christmas stuff until Santa’s sleigh stops at Macy’s at the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade.” Kara retrieved the DVD and put it away in its sleeve and put it on the shelf with the Christmas and Halloween DVDs. “I never heard of these rules,” said Cassie. “They are quite well known,” said Kara. “They are completely arbitrary,” I said in return. “Kara and I had special rules we made up for everything. What did you think we did at all the sleepovers we had? Had pillow fights in our underwear?” Cassie thought for a minute. “Besides that I think we do each other's hair, give each over makeovers, and steal the underwear of the first person who goes to sleep, dip them in water, and put them in the freezer.” We looked at her with confusion. “Well that is what I think happens at them.” Cassie shrugged. “I’ve never been to a sleepover and foster children aren’t allowed to ‘invite their criminal friends over to case the place.’” Kara laughed and I reached under the blanket and pinched her hard in the leg. “Ouch,” she said, but the pinch got her the hint. She stopped laughing. “So if you want to do the pillow fight thing, we can,” said Kara. “I don’t think you want to with your problem.” I frowned. “We don’t need to go there. We all know about my scholarship and why Cassie and I got it.” I was going to let her think Cassie was genuine for a while. I wasn’t sure if I trusted Kara to keep Cassie’s secret. She would keep mine, I thought, but maybe she changed. “I’m sorry,” said Kara. “I shouldn’t have said that.” “It’s okay,” said Cassie, “but I am not really comfortable with people knowing that I am wearing a diaper. My boyfriend doesn’t even know.” “How do you—?” Kara started to say. “Easy,” said Cassie. “We do it in the hot tub.” She smiled and then I started to giggle. “I got the boyfriend who wants to wait until he gets married, so that is not an issue.” I thought of Jonah and how I wanted him and wondered what he would think of it he knew about the scholarship and how I wore diapers, but really didn’t need them. “Well that is an issue,” said Kara. “What’s the point of having a boyfriend if you can’t have fun with him.” “So did you get boyfriend at Penn State,” I asked Kara. She stood up and twirled. “Do you think a college boy could pass up this bod? In fact, I’ve had three boyfriends since the semester started. Just one at a time though.” “She was always the popular high school girl,” I told Cassie. “So we have talked about boys,” said Cassie. “When do we do each other's hair?” She took a notebook out of her pocket and put a check mark where it said, “Talk about boys.” I laughed and grabbed her note book. It really was a list of stereotypical things that girls do a slumber parties. I looked at the list. “Ooh, there is truth or dare,” I said. “Kara, truth or dare.” “Truth,” she said. “What a copout,” said Cassie. “Name a kinky thing you did with a boy,” I said. Kara blushed bright red. “No way,” she said. “Way,” said Cassie. “You picked truth so no take-backs.” “Fine,” said Kara. “My current boyfriend likes to spank me and I love it.” “That isn’t that kinky,” said Cassie. “I got spanked a lot of times.” “Well I have to drag a big wooden paddle to him with my teeth.” “Well that is kind of kinky,” I said, “But it’s just a playful smack I am guessing.” “No,” she said. “The paddle has holes in it and it leaves welts and it hurts to sit down in class for the next couple days.” “You really need a safe word,” said Cassie. “I have one,” said Kara, “but I never use it.” “Okay, your turn Kara.” “Nora, truth or dare.” I decided to be daring, “Dare.” “Show me your diaper.” I looked at her with a scowl, but lifted my skirt revealing the purple diaper I wore. “There. Still dry.” Cassie smiled. “While your holding your skirt up, I dare you to wet your diaper for us.” The Mountain Dew had gotten to me and. I went ahead and relaxed letting the wetness soak into my diaper. The wetness indicator disappeared and I felt it swell around my crotch, but it wasn’t really that noticeable. “Okay, I am done. Cassie, it is your turn.” “This is for Kara,” she said. “I double dare you to go put on one of my diapers and wear it until you wet it.” Kara shook her head. “No. I am not wearing one of your diapers. I don’t have a wetting problem.” “That’s the point,” I said. “Maybe you need to learn what it is like for Cassie.” She looked at me for a bit more than made me comfortable, so I added. “And me. Learn what it is like for me.” “I don’t know how to tape a diaper on,” she said. “I’ll go upstairs and do it for you,” I said. “I’ve changed some of the other girls in the scholarship program and Cassie and I have changed each other. She’s actually pretty good at it.” “Fine, but please don’t make me wet in it?” Cassie smiled. “We could all get egg nog shakes and then see who needs to be changed first.” “No,” I said. “I’m joking,” she said. “Well, come on.” I pulled Kara to her feet and led her upstairs. I looked at Cassie. “I’ll just change her in the bedroom since she doesn’t need both of us as an audience.” “Fine.” I walked with Kara into her room and we closed the door. “So take off your pants and panties and I will change you.” She slipped out of her jeans and then dropped her panties. They were purple with little black bats on them. She held her shirt down to cover her. I opened my bag and pulled out one of my diapers. She walked to the suitcase and held up a pair of my panties. “Why do you have panties in your bag?” “Because I am not letting my parents know that their college aged daughter now wears diapers. What do you think?” It was as close to the truth as possible. “Won’t your roommate realize you are a faker if she sees them?” “She won’t see them. Besides I am diapered now.” I flipped my skirt revealing my wet diaper. “Doesn’t that feel gross after awhile?” I smiled. “It actually feels really good,” I said. “You might try wetting while sitting down. That makes it warm you in more places at once. Why are you so squeamish? You taught me to wear diapers and be convincing.” “Because, I didn’t want you to go all the way to Austria,” she said. “Well, lie down.” She lay down and I opened the diaper and sat in front of her. “Lift your butt. Right there. You can put your butt down now.” I pulled the diaper between her legs and then taped her in it.” “This feels really secure,” she said. “You should be able to wet about three times before you are sufficiently wet to call this exercise over.” I slapped her leg, stood, and then pulled her to her feet. “Besides, why didn’t you tell me that you tried to get the MIT scholarship but you weren’t convincing at all.” “Would you admit you had to wear diapers?” “I don’t like to,” I said. “So far my boyfriend doesn’t know, but Cassie’s boyfriend saw me and was quite frankly a bit immature and stupid about it.” “To be honest, I filled out every scholarship app I could find and the incontinence one just hit for me. It was either that or go to State. Although I have to admit that State is hard enough. I don’t know what your grades are like at MIT, but I barely am going to sneak by with a 3.2 at State.” She reached down and picked up her pants to pull on. “No,” I said, “you need to leave your pants off so Cassie can tell you did her dare.” I then thought about my grades. My exams were all A’s except, ironically, in English where I struggled to get a C. College papers are hard. I will probably make five A’s and a C,” I said. “Wow, is Nora who studied all the time getting a bad grade in a class?” That wasn’t true. I hardly ever studied. I just did my assigned homework and made sure I had an overall understanding of the material. I knew grammar and the parts of speech and how to write a paper, but college English was really different. Our papers had to be about something. “Yes, I am bad at something. Let’s go and show Cassie your new underwear.” We opened the door and Cassie came in. She smiled. “Twirl around.” Kara did, but then she started to blush bright red. “I don’t think I like this.” “Well leave it on. Cassie and I haven’t changed since we got here.” “But Cassie… …and you,” she said adding me at the last minute, “actually need diapers.” “Thanks. I don’t know that already,” said Cassie. “Now, relax everyone.” I wanted to avoid a confrontation. “Let’s just watch stuff on Netflix.” We went back down to the living room and started watching romantic comedies. Most of them sucked, but there was one where Melissa Joan Hart gets robbed and decides to marry some guy for the wedding gifts that she met at the singles table of a wedding. It was pretty funny, at least to Kara and me. Cassie wanted to watch some science fiction series, but I had enough science fiction just from my semester at MIT. I wanted to watch a show I picked. Usually it is, “You never saw blank? Well we are going to sit you down to watch blank this weekend.” Blank either meant the Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The one thing I really enjoyed was Ice Pirates for all its cheesiness. However, we had to stop the movie ten minutes in, because Kara’s parents were going to be home soon. “I don’t want to get caught in my diaper. I am taking it off.” “You never wet it,” said Cassie. “But at least let me put pants over it,” she said. “My parents will freak if they catch me.” “Just tell them you started bed-wetting,” said Cassie. “That actually works.” “Yeah, no.” She went upstairs and came down wearing pants. I slapped her on the butt to see if she was still diapered. She was. “Hey,” she said. “Yeah, still diapered. No start the movie. I want to find out if Melissa Joan Hart falls in love with the guy.” “Of course she will. Romance is so formula,” said Cassie. However as we watched she was totally crying by the end of the movie. Inevitably, Kara had to pee. “I have to pee,” she said. “Then pee,” said Cassie. “I did a little bit ago.” “Eww, won’t it smell bad?” “Are you saying we stink?” asked Cassie. “No, she is not,” I said. “She just doesn’t know how good a wet diaper feels. Well until it gets cool and gross.” “You’re not going to smell like pee right away,” said Cassie. “It needs awhile to get that gross ammonia smell and that is usually after you throw it away. Nora and I have a Diaper Genie so we don’t smell up our dorm room, but if I wet during my first class, I can usually wait until lunch time to change unless I have to use the toilet, then I just change afterward and I carry baby wipes in my purse.” “That sound good?” I asked. “Besides, how do you think Cassie and I feel about needing diapers?” Veronica is the person she should really ask, but I didn’t really like Veronica and Darla and here were friends, so I didn’t really need to try to bond with her. Her parents came home at that time, so her chance at bladder relief got delayed. “Oh, Nora, you’re here,” said Kara’s mother. “Yeah, I bright my roommate. I hope you don’t mind.” I put an arm around Cassie. “Mrs. Drake, this is my roommate Cassie Nova.” Kara giggled, and Cassie blushed. “It’s just Cassie. When you use my last name, I am Cassandra Nova. The people who named me were idiots.” “Well we are glad to have you here. Were your parents too far away to meet for Thanksgiving?” Cassie shrugged. “I don’t know. I never met them.” I did a shushing motion and the she said, “Well I am sorry. You are welcome to be part of our family this year.” “Thank you, Mrs. Drake,” said Cassie. “Well I am getting supper ready, but the Stevens are going out to dinner tonight or I would invite you to stay for dinner.” “Once Mom makes plans on the Steven’s Family Itinery, it is pretty much set in stone,” I said. “We should probably be getting ready,” said Cassie. “I want to make a good impression and be on time. Will you come upstairs with us Kara so you can show us where everything is.” “Sure,” said Kara. I walked upstairs with Kara and Cassie. We went into Kara’s room and then Cassie shut the door. “Did you pee yet?” Cassie asked. “No, but I really got to go,” said Kara. “Tickle fight,” said Cassie. She tackled Kara onto the bed and started to tickle her. I stepped besided her and held her kicking freet while Cassie dug her fingers into Kara’s armpits. I freed a hand and used it to tickle Kara’s feet. We had her held down and laughing for a good two minutes before Cassie let up. “Are you peeing?” she asked. Kara sat up. “OMG, it felt so warm. How do you stand this?” She got up and unbuckled her pants. Her diaper was very wet. “Okay you did the dare. Now Cassie and I have to get ready for dinner.” “Okay. I am going to take a bath now.” She ran off. I opened my bag and pulled out an outfit. I looked over at what Cassie was wearing and frowned. “You are not wearing that to my parent’s dinner.” She had picked skinny jeans and big black t-shirt that had Bill Nye on it. I rooted through her bag and didn’t find anything, so I went in my own bag and gave her one of my casual dresses. “Put this on.” “That is so not going to hide my diaper,” she said. “Duh, we are wearing panties.” She got the hint. Our diapers came off and went in Kara’s wastebasket. I’d let her deal with our wet diapers. We used wipes to clean off and soon looked ready to eat at dinner someplace nice. I twirled and my dress came up. “Don’t do that in front of Kara or she’ll think I know you are a faker. I hope we are keeping it a secret that I don’t really need diapers because I don’t trust her.” Cassie straitened the skirt of her dress and then the two of us went down stairs. “Goodbye, Mrs. Drake,” said Cassie. “We’ll see you before it’s too late. I understand we are going someplace nice to eat.” “It’s a local restaurant that your mother loves. It’s too pricy for me,” she said. “Have fun.” We went out to the car and got in. I started it and Cassie confronted me about my family. “I thought you were poor because the IRS raided your family’s bank accounts. However, they have money to remodel their house and to go to fancy restaurants. What gives? You had to pretend to be incontinent because of this.” I thought for a few minutes. “I’m not sure. I am sure my parents have a good explanation for this.”
  3. Hi all, I recently continued one of my stories, but realised I have totally forgotten the login particulars of both the account and email address of the original account I used to publish it. So I had to create a new account and, so as to retain control over the thread, I'll repost the whole thing here. The original post is at the link below. I've also made really small editorial changes here and there. Chapter 1 Daniel was forced to shade his eyes as he stepped out of the shelter of the train station into the noontime sunlight. Looking around, he spotted a vaguely familiar figure a short walk away, waving at him. “Daniel! Over here!” “Uncle Phillip!” Daniel walked over and shook hands with the middle-aged man, who was standing next to a beat-up old car. “Thanks for picking me up.” “No problem at all,” Phillip opened the trunk for Daniel to stow his small suitcase. “You're one of the earlier ones, we're expecting the rest to come late in the afternoon or in the evening. Harriet and Ellie will only be coming tomorrow and will stay overnight for the funeral. Jason's out of the country and so won’t be joining them. The folks from the funeral parlour's supposed to come by around four. Your mom's cooking up a storm and your dad -” “Yeah, Dad's under the weather, so won't be coming. Thankfully I was able to sort things at work out quickly so I could get here earlier.” Phillip and I got into the car, which pulled out of the parking space in short order “Glad Harriet can make it, considering Ellie's only... four?” “I think so, four or five. Yeah, not easy to have to handle a child that young outside of home. Anyway, it's good to see you again.” Phillip pulled out of the carpark into a break in traffic. “Same back to you. It'll be good to see the rest of the family too. It seems the only time we get together nowadays is at weddings and funerals.” Daniel relaxed into the seat as the vaguely familiar scenery passed by. “Sounds about right” Phillip dryly chuckled. “Speaking of which, my wife and your other aunts will want to know – when are we going to able to attend your wedding?” Daniel snorted. “Jesus. Considering Aunt Maggie's messy divorce, why are they all so eager to see me married off?” “Women love a wedding, and it gives them something more to gossip about” Phillip commented. “Plus, you're the eldest unmarried niece-slash-nephew. You're what, thirty?” “In a few months.” Daniel shook his head. “I'm very happy being single, thank you, and am in no rush to get attached at all – particularly not to the wrong woman. If the 'right woman' never comes along, I'd be happy to spend my dying years in some cheerful home with other grumpy old men.” “Heh. Well, good luck convincing the women of that.” The rest of the ride passed with small talk, and some periods of silence where Daniel stared out of the window and replied to emails as his uncle drove. Before long, they turned into a street full of small retiree cottages, all painted in pastel colours. Phillip turned into the driveway of one of the cottages but didn't turn off the engine. He cleared his throat. “Daniel?” “Hm?” Daniel looked up from his phone and blinked a few times. “Oh, we're here.” “Yes, but...” Phillip cleared his throat again. “Before you go in... well... you should prepare yourself.” “Oh... yes, of course. I suppose my mother and aunt Rose are taking it hard.” “No, that's not what I mean – I mean, it's a sad situation, but Dad – your grandpa – was old and we all knew he had a weak heart. It was really a matter of time. We've been mentally prepared for years.” Phillip paused and swallowed uncomfortably. “No, you should prepare yourself for something... um... unexpected. Talk to your mother about it.” With that, he killed the engine and stepped out of the car. “O...kay?” Daniel was surprised, but as Phillip was clearly unwilling to talk about it. He shrugged, got out of the car, accepted his suitcase from Phillip with a word of thanks. His uncle opened the gate for him, and Daniel walked up the path to the house. As he walked, out of the corner of his eye, he saw some sudden movement, and paused. Turning his head, he saw a little girl he had never seen before, standing right next to the fence, staring back at him with large round eyes. The girl was dressed in a simple black short-sleeved dress, white socks, and patent leather shoes. Her caramel brown hair, which reached her shoulders, was unconfined, and some stray hairs floated in the gentle breeze. She held a spray of blue flowers loosely in her hand as she stared at him, open mouthed. She held her stare on him, and he stared back at her, not knowing entirely why he did so. After a moment of eternity, she spun around and raced away to the back of the house. Daniel blinked and shook his head. Turning back to his uncle, he asked “Was that -” before realising that his uncle was out of earshot, having entered the house and was holding the door open for him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Daniel quickly trotted to the door and entered with a word of thanks. Before he could repeat his question, however, his uncle called loudly “Marge! Daniel's here!” “Thanks Phil! Daniel! I'm in the kitchen! Come here and say hi!” Daniel's mother's voice floated back. Daniel quickly took off his shoes and put his suitcase out of the way, before walking towards the kitchen, which he recalled was towards the back of the house. Strangely, he saw no sign of anyone else in the house. “Daniel!” his mother was alone in the kitchen, chopping onions, so he walked over and kissed her proffered cheek. “Glad you could make it! Were you able to clear your schedule?” “Yes, thankfully my boss is a good man, he told me to leave everything with him and just go”. Daniel replied. “Hey, by the way, I saw a little girl on the way in – was that Ellie? Is Harriet here already?” Daniel's mother paused and sighed deeply. “No... that's not Ellie,” she said reluctantly. “She's... well...” she paused and glanced into the air “That girl is... how do I phrase this..." A few seconds passed as she tried to think of the best way to convey it. "Well...she's your grandfather's child.” Daniel blinked. “Say that again?” “She's... your grandpa's secret daughter.” “...Huh?!” For the first time in his life, Daniel's jaw literally dropped as he stared at his mother. Daniel's mother saw his expression and sighed heavily. “Apparently, your grandfather – my father – at eighty-three years old – was having a relationship with someone, and... well, somehow...” she waved her hands helplessly. “I really don't want to think about it, but I guess things happened and...” “But... wait... what?” Daniel's mind was recovering quickly, although still shocked. “So grandpa... in his late seventies... well done grandpa!” He shook his head in amazement, before another thought occurred to him. “So that makes her my aunt... and your sister?” He started to laugh. It was Daniel's mother's jaw's turn to fall, before she closed it and smacked Daniel's shoulder. “Daniel! It's not funny! It's – it's – stop laughing! This is a serious matter!” Daniel's laughter intensified as his mother's face turned bright red. “It's... you... she... arrgh! Get out! Shoo!” Daniel fled the kitchen, laughing at his mother's reaction. Once outside the kitchen, his composure quickly returned. Well. I've got to give it to the old man – I can't believe it! “Daniel, go find Rose upstairs! She'll let you know where you'll be sleeping! Then help her get the rooms sorted out, and get changed into something formal before the body comes at around five!” Daniel's mother called after him. “Alright!” And hopefully Aunt Rose can give me more details... Chapter 2 It turned out that the little girl's name was Chloe – surnamed Young, like Daniel's grandfather. She was probably five years old. No one in the family had known of her existence before Daniel's grandfather passed away. The neighbours had known knew she was around and had helped look after her for the short time before family arrived, but they did not have any information either. Most curiously, no one knew who, or where, her mother was. The neighbours didn't recall anyone living there apart from Grandpa, or any regular guests. The little girl's existence was a mystery. According to Daniel's mother, the little girl spent most of her time in an unobtrusive corner, staring out at the garden, or playing silently with a few toys in Daniel's grandpa's room. However, shortly after Daniel's arrival, she started a new activity – following Daniel around. Daniel had just filled a basket with musty sheets to be washed so the guest rooms would be usable. When he turned around, she was standing a few feet behind him, hugging a stuffed rabbit close to her chest. He met her eyes for an instant before she quickly looked down at his feet. “Hello, Chloe.” Daniel greeted her. She didn't respond. “Hi, I'm Daniel, your relative.” it seemed wrong to describe her as his aunt, or him as her nephew. “What are you doing here?” The little girl still did not react, continuing to stare mutely at the ground. “Are you okay? Can you talk?” Daniel didn't know how to interact with a child who didn't respond to anything he said – and for that matter, he was unsure if she understood anything he said. “Well... um... sorry, I have to bring these sheets to be washed, so see you later,” he picked up the basket of sheets and let the room, walking around the little girl. As he walked out and down the stairs, he heard the soft patter of little feet behind him. The little girl continued to follow Daniel as he moved around the house, cleaning. She would disappear for brief moments, presumably when she went to the bathroom or got a drink, but would reappear before long. Nevertheless, she failed to respond to any of Daniel's sporadic attempts to engage her and whenever Daniel looked at her, she was staring at the floor and not meeting his eyes. The first and only time that day Daniel got a reaction from the little girl was after he happened to use the bathroom. As Daniel was washing his hands, he glanced at the dustbin, and was surprised to see a colourful piece of cloth in there. Is that... a diaper? He wondered, bending over to examine it closer. It was indeed a diaper, in a pull-up style, and furthermore, appeared to be wet. Don't tell me... Daniel opened the door and saw the little girl waiting outside, quietly. “Chloe...” the little girl didn't react as always. Daniel paused, unsure of how to broach the subject, before deciding to tackle it head on. “Chloe, there's a diaper, a pull-up, in the dustbin there. Is that yours?” For the first time since he entered the house, the little girl's eyes flashed up to meet his, before looking down again. She slowly nodded yes. Huh, so she can understand me after all. “Well... are you wearing a diaper now?” she shook her head. “I mean – a pull-up?” this time, she nodded. “Why are you wearing a diap – pull-up?” Daniel asked in surprise, realising the stupidity of the question only after he asked it. In any case, the little girl just stared at the floor, unresponsive. “Never mind the last question. Okay, since It's a pull-up, do you know how to use the potty?” the little girl nodded slowly. “I see, but you have accidents sometime?” she nodded again. “Well, if you need help to use the potty, you can let me know, okay? I can ask my mother or aunt Rose to help you.” She didn't respond to that, continuing to stare at the floor. Daniel stood up and sighed. He glanced at his watch, which showed around half an hour past four. Time for a quick shower and to wear something a bit more formal. “Chloe... I'm going to take a bath now, so can you go and look for aunt Rose? It'll take some time before I go down.” she gave no indication she heard him. “You can't follow me into the bathroom, so you should go find Aunt Rose, alright?” He stepped back into the bathroom and closed the door. A few moments later, he heard small feet thud on the staircase, heading down. The guests - more distant relatives, family friends, and neighbours – started arriving shortly after the coffin was placed in the garden, under a large white tent. Dressed in a black suit and tie, Daniel helped to welcome the guests, shadowed by the silent little girl. Daniel didn't understand why the little girl followed him around, despite only meeting earlier that day. He only realised the reason why after he bumped into a guest as he turned the corner to the entrance hallway. The guest, an old lady, stared up at him in shock. “Arthur? Arthur?!” she gasped. “Sorry... what?” Daniel was puzzled as the old lady backed away from him, eyes wide, with a hand on her heart and another covering her mouth. Just then, Rose rushed in, and gently took the old lady's shoulders. “No dearie, this isn't Arthur, this is his grandson, Daniel,” she explained. “But – he looks just like Arthur! A young Arthur!” the old lady protested disbelievingly. “You're right, we've always said that, but this is Daniel, not Arthur... Daniel, why don't you see if your mother needs help?” Rose shooed Daniel away as she tried to settle the old lady's distraught nerves. Daniel bemusedly took the excuse and turned around, and saw the little girl standing behind him. A sudden realisation struck him. So that's why she's following me around! Daniel was suddenly filled with compassion for Chloe, who was alone, and to whom the only familiar face in the crowd was that of a stranger. Over the course of the evening, as various relatives arrived, it became clear to Daniel that no one really knew what to do with the little girl. Most of the relatives intentionally ignored her presence, refusing to look at her direction or to acknowledge her at all. They greeted Daniel with smiles and engaged him in the usual conversational questions, but ignored the tiny shadow following in his wake. She has just lost a parent, but no one seems to care, Daniel thought at sometime during the night, as he sat at a table listening half-heartedly to his mother talk with some old family friend. The little girl sat quietly on the floor beside him, playing with her stuffed rabbit. Has anyone even properly explained death to her? Did I understand what death was when I was her age? I can't remember... The little girl, on her part, remained silent as she clutched a stuffed rabbit toy, keeping her eyes down as she followed Daniel around the forest of giant legs. From time to time, she would quietly walk off to use the bathroom or get a drink, but would always return to Daniel’s side. On the rare occasion when someone noticed and tried to engage her, she refused to respond, continuing whatever she was doing without looking at that person, and the adult would inevitably leave awkwardly thereafter. The only person she reacted to in any way was Daniel. But throughout the course of the night, she never made a single sound. Later on, Daniel caught his mother for a quick conversation. “Mum – is there something wrong with Chloe? She hasn't said a single word the entire day.” he asked. “I don't know. We don't have much information on her at all,” his mother replied matter-of-factly. “She may be a little slow, or maybe just shy. Thanks for keeping an eye on her and keeping her out of the way.” “Well, she kind of just follows me around, like a little ducky. Anyway, do you think she could be autistic? She won't meet my eyes, doesn't respond to anything – and did you know that she's wearing diapers?” Daniel's mum was surprised “Diapers? I thought she was five? How did you find out?” “I saw a wet diaper in the trash – it's a pull-up, so she must be able to change herself. She nodded when I asked if she was wearing one.” “Well now...” his mother looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don't know, maybe she is autistic. There's no way to find out now though. We should let whoever looks after her after this know. For now, just make sure she's no trouble, okay?” Despite his misgivings, the little girl was largely able to look after herself the whole night. She ate the bread, stew, and potatoes – a family recipe which Daniel's mother had cooked – without complaint, keeping herself reasonably clean. Apart from that, she was content with shadowing Daniel quietly. However, despite her small size, her presence was an elephant in the room. No one talked about her, few even talked to her, and no one who knew of her circumstances showed any of the affection that would usually be shown to little children, The fact was, that no one knew what to do with the quiet little girl. After all the guests had left, the only persons who remained were Daniel, his mother, his uncle Phillip and aunt Rose – and the little girl. Between them, they would hold the wake. The original purpose of a wake wasn't clear. Daniel had heard from some that the family would set a guard so that no one would steal the body or grave goods, and from some others that it was supposed to be a vigil for the soul of the departed. Some people online also speculated that in the past, pronouncements of death were not always reliable, and the deceased would occasionally “wake” up. Whatever it was, the wake had long lost its original purpose. Still, it was tradition, and it just felt right to ensure someone was awake through the night. Daniel and Phillip took the first watch. Daniel sat on the couch in the living room, watching Netflix on his phone and enjoying a cold beer. He had changed into a t-shirt and shorts, though he carried a jacket in case it got cold. Phillip sat in another old, squashy armchair and stared at whatever was playing on the television, also with a beer next to him. The ladies had headed to bed early in anticipation of having to wake up to take over the second shift of the wake. The little girl sat quietly beside Daniel, cuddling her toy bunny and staring at the television, dressed in baby blue pyjamas and smelling fresh after a bath. Before long, Daniel was disturbed by a soft bump against his side. Glancing over, he saw that the little girl had fallen asleep, and was now leaning her head against him. Poor thing, she must be exhausted. I'd best get her to bed. “Hey Chloe...” Daniel gently shook her shoulder, and she stirred and sat up, opening sleepy eyes and looking directly at him for an instant before looking down again. “You don't have to stay up. It's late and you're tired, you should go to bed. Does that sound good?” Surprisingly, she shook her head no. “No? Aren't you tired?” She shook her head again. Daniel chuckled “Chloe, you're very tired, and little girls should have gone to sleep a long time ago. I tell you what – do you want to sleep with my mother, Aunt Margaret?” Again, no. “How about with Aunt Rose?” No. “How about...” “I want to stay here,” a tiny voice interrupted Daniel. Daniel blinked in surprise. “You can talk? I mean – did you say you want to stay here?” the little girl firmly nodded. “Are you sure you want to stay here? There's no bed and I'm sure it’s not as comfortable as upstairs...” Daniel was surprised. The little girl nodded her head vigorously. “Just let her,” Phillip grumbled “She's young, sleeping on the couch won't hurt. You can bring her upstairs when you go up.” “I guess so” Daniel acquiesced. “Chloe, do you want to get a pillow or a blanket?” But the little girl was clearly not inclined to move any further. Instead, she curled up on the couch, her head next to him, and closed her eyes, falling instantly back into slumber. That was fast! It isn't that cold tonight, but I should make sure she's warm. Daniel took off his jacket and covered the little girl's small body. He watched her sleep awhile, before turning back to his phone and resuming his show. A few hours passed in that way, before a gentle rumble penetrated Daniel's Airpods. Looking up, he realised that Phillip had dozed off in his chair. The snoring slowly grew louder, and the little girl stirred. “Uncle Phillip,” Daniel paused the show, walked over and tapped the sleeping man on his shoulder, who awoke with a start. “You've got to pick a few more people tomorrow morning, so why don't you head up first? I'll stay here until Aunt Rose or my mother come down.” “Hmm? Ah... well... that makes sense, so if you're sure...” Phillip stood and stretched, yawning hugely. “Yeah, go ahead.” Daniel muffled a sympathetic yawn. “I can sleep in tomorrow – oops, today.” “Alright, good night.” Phillip tramped up the stairs, and the sounds of doors opening and water running came from upstairs for sometime before the house fell silent again. Daniel got another beer from the fridge and turned back to his phone. A few episodes later, Daniel caught some movement out of the corner of his eye as the little girl stirred. He noticed that her leg and part of her body was sticking out from under the jacket, and so he picked the jacket up to place it properly. However, as he lifted the jacket up, he noticed that the little girl's pyjama pants had turned a dark shade. Oh dear – Daniel touched the cloth and confirmed that it was indeed wet. Her diaper must have leaked. “Chloe –” he gently shook her shoulder. the little girl stirred, but didn't open her eyes. “Chloe, wake up – your diaper leaked, you need a change.” The little girl opened her eyes more fully and sat up, her hands flying to touch her wet pants and confirm the wetness for herself. Her gaze swung to Daniel's face, and their eyes met for a second before she looked away again. Despite not seeing her face, Daniel somehow knew she felt sad. “It's alright, these things happen” Daniel awkwardly reassured her. “Why don't you go change into a new diaper – I mean pull-up – and pants?” The little girl nodded and started heading out of the living room. However, after a few steps, she paused, turned back, walked back to Daniel. One small hand reached out and hesitantly grabbed the hem of Daniel's t-shirt. “Do you want me to come with you?” Daniel asked. Still looking down, the little girl nodded. “Alright.” The little girl let go of Daniel's shirt and walked out of the room and up the stairs, Daniel following behind. He followed her into his Grandfather's room, and watched as she pulled some wipes, a new pull-up, and pants from a set of drawers. She then ran into the attached bathroom and closed the door, coming out after a minute in the new pants, presumably wearing the new pull-up underneath. She held the wet pants out to Daniel, who took them gingerly. I'd better wash these, or they're going to stink by morning. Daniel brought the pants back into the bathroom, the little girl following in his footsteps, and rinsed them in the sink before hanging them on the edge of the bathtub to dry. He then noted a clearly soaked purple pull-up in the bin and tied off the bin liner to prevent the smell from spreading. Finally, turning back, he caught the little girl in the middle of a huge yawn, which set off his own yawn as well. “Okay Chloe, time for you to go to bed,” Daniel declared. However, the little girl shook her head. One small hand reached out again and grasped his t-shirt, but this time so tightly that the knuckles turned while. Daniel looked at the hand in surprise, then understanding. Think, dumbass, he scolded himself. She's a little girl whose home is suddenly full of strange adults, most of whom don't want to admit she exists. She's scared and lonely and you're the only person she has any familiarity with. You can't leave her alone. “Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?” Daniel asked her. The little girl looked up at his face and slowly nodded. “Alright then – why don't you get into bed while I use the bathroom.” She nodded again and crawled into the room's queen-sized bed. She sat in bed, staring at the door to the toilet until Daniel emerged and walked over to sit down on the edge of the bed, next to her. “Why don't you lie down and close your eyes?” he suggested, and the little girl did so. Daniel awkwardly stretched the blanket over her, and watched as her breathing slowly grew deeper and drifted into sleep. After a few minutes, the little girl appeared to be sound asleep. Daniel stood up and walked to the room door, opening it as quietly as he could. “No!” a soft, pleading call arrested his steps, and Daniel turned around, surprised to see the little girl sitting up in bed, staring at him. “Stay here!” she whined. “Sorry, I have to go back...” Daniel began. Just then, he heard a door open behind him. “I heard the noise. Why don't you go ahead and stay with her, Daniel, it's about time I took over.” Daniel's mother yawned, but smiled at him. “I can't sleep with all the people moving around, anyway.” “Are you sure?” Daniel checked his phone and noticed that it was almost four in the morning – the pre-agreed handover time. “Alright, thanks – I'll get some rest then.” he paused, and looked back at the little girl, who was still looking at him pleadingly, hugging her stuffed rabbit toy. “Um... I think I have to sleep here tonight.” His mother smiled sympathetically. “That's fine. I'm sure Dad won't mind you using his bed. Based on what I saw today, I don't think that girl would be able to sleep otherwise.” “OK then, thanks and good night.” Stifling another yawn, he closed the door and turned back to the little girl. “Alright, I'll stay with you tonight. Why don't you lie down and go back to sleep?” She nodded and lay down again, curling up around her toy. Daniel walked over and tucked her back in, then paused and considered. There was really no other option available for sleeping that on the bed, next to the little girl. The girl, apparently reassured by his presence, had closed her eyes and was rapidly falling asleep again, and there was more than enough space on the other side of the bed. It should be fine. He carefully lay down and turned off the bedside light, plunging the room into darkness. He lay still for awhile, listening to the slight howl of the wind outside, and the soft, deep breathing of the little human being next to him. He couldn't help but wonder about the future of the little girl. The funeral would take place in a few more hours, and afterwards, the family would decide on her care arrangements, and she would leave to join a brand new family, a brand new household. He wondered if she knew what would happen, and what was going on. How do you explain death to a five year old? Daniel was sure that he wouldn't get any sleep – but before he knew it, he woke up to sunlight streaming into the room, and the sounds of activity from downstairs. Chapter 3 “...Amen.” The minister concluded. “Amen.” everyone else murmured. “I now invite all relatives and friends present to pay your last respects to Arthur Joseph Young. If you wish, you may take a flower from the table and place it on the coffin.” The minister stepped away from the graveside as, by some unwritten custom, friends and more distant relatives stepped forward to pay their final respects, with the immediate family staying seated as the last to say farewell. Daniel sat in the second row from the front, with the little girl sitting quietly next to him. Ellie, Harriet's daughter, sat next to her. Daniel had hoped that the little girl would respond to another child, but the little girl failed to respond to Ellie in any way. Ellie, after attempting to engage the little girl multiple times, grew bored and turned to her mother instead. As the relatives waited patiently in the chairs, Ellie fidgeted until she became bored again. Without anything better to do, she attempted to engage the little girl again, by turning to her and holding out a colourful bracelet in front of the little girl's face. “See my friendship bracelet? It spells my name on it! I made it myself with my friends in school! See, it spells E-L-L-I-E - spells Ellie!” She beamed proudly. “My favourite colour is pink and so I made the words pink, but my friends favourite colours are blue and yellow and so I put the colours there too!” As happened previously, the little girl ignored Ellie's monologue entirely. She sat unresponsively in her chair, staring down at the ground, kicking her legs back and forth. Ellie, clearly frustrated, turned to her mother and began complaining loudly. “Mummy, that girl doesn't want to talk to me! Is it that she cannot talk? She's the same age as me right? How come she cannot talk? I want to play with her but she doesn't say anything!” Harriet, clearly embarrassed, shushed her, but at the same time glanced up at Daniel with the same questions in her eyes. “She can talk, she's just shy,” Daniel told both Ellie and Harriet. Furthermore, he thought, she's learned how to control her volume – unlike someone else! “Then how come she doesn't talk to me?!” Ellie yelled. “Ellie! Be quiet! Use your inside voice!” Harriet chided her. “But we're outside, not inside! Why must I use my inside voice?” Ellie replied indignantly, at the same volume. “I mean... er... by the way, do you need to go potty?” Caught flat-footed, Harriet decided to change the subject. Ellie nodded and slid off the plastic chair and Harriet stood up. “I'll be right back” Harriet excused herself. “Hold on” Daniel interjected, and Harriet paused. “Chloe, do you need to go use the potty?” he asked quietly. The little girl, without looking up, shook her head no. “Can you go and try with Ellie and Harriet?” Daniel asked again. She again shook her head no. “Mummy, I need to go potty bad!” Ellie announced, tugging on her mother's hand and squirming a little. “It's alright, go ahead,” Daniel told Harriet. As Harriet left, he lowered his voice and whispered to Chloe “Chloe, is your pull-up wet?” Chloe's legs froze, and she slowly nodded her head. “It's okay, we'll get you a new pull-up soon,” he reassured her, reaching over and gently patting her back. Slowly, her legs began swinging again as she seemed to relax a little. “Relatives and friends, please make your way back to the sanctuary, where there are some light refreshments. The family will join you shortly.” after some time, the minister herded everyone else away, leaving the family alone for them to bid their final farewells. Daniel's mother and her siblings stood up, each taking a flower from the small pile of white lilies and chrysanthemums left on the table. They gathered together, staring into the grave, and tears sprang into all of their eyes as they regarded their father silently. After awhile, Daniel's uncle tossed his flower into the grave, and his sisters followed. It was now the grand-children's turn. Daniel stood up, but paused and turned to the little girl, who had not moved. “You should go and say goodbye to Grandpa too,” he advised her. The little girl's kicking legs stilled again, before she shook her head no. “Don't be like that. Come on, I'll go together with you.” Daniel offered his hand to the little girl. The little girl slowly reached out a small hand and grabbed Daniel's hand, before sliding off her chair. Hand-in-hand, they walked towards the grave. Daniel's grandfather lay in an open casket in the grave, dressed in a dark suit, his body strewn with white and yellow flowers. Daniel and the little girl stood by the graveside, looking at the body. “Come on, let’s get a flower to give Grandpa,” Daniel said after awhile. He led the little girl to the flower table. Picking up a lily and a chrysanthemum, he asked the little girl “Do you want a white one or a yellow one?” The little girl shook her head. “Don't you want to give Grandpa a flower? Grandpa loved flowers, you know,” Daniel encouraged her. She shook her head, more vigorously this time. She raised her head and looked around. Suddenly, she took off, running away from the grave. “Chloe!” Daniel called after her, startled, and began to run after her. The little girl ignored him and ran to one of the flowerbeds lining the church. Squatting down, she began pulling at the flowers. “Chloe! Stop! Those are -” Daniel caught up with her and reached his hand out to stop her, but paused when he noticed what she was doing. Grandpa's favourite flower. Blue irises. The name came back to him, and he remembered that she had been holding one of those flowers when he had first seen her. She's really Grandpa's daughter. “I see – you want to give Grandpa his favourite flowers, right?” he squatted down next to her as she continued pulling at a flower. He reached out a hand towards the flower and helped her break it off close to the ground, before picking a flower for himself as well. Holding her flower in both hands, the little girl stood up and walked with Daniel back to the grave. Harriet, Ellie, and Daniel's sister Rebecca were standing by the graveside when he returned. Harriet and Rebecca were wiping tears from their eyes, while Ellie stared curiously into the grave. “Mummy! Why is Great-Gramps not moving? Is he sleeping? Why is he sleeping in the hole?” Ellie shouted her questions loudly, oblivious to the solemn mood around her. Stepping up to the graveside, Daniel regarded his grandfather's face again, before throwing the iris in. The little girl threw her flower into grave immediately after, then stood quietly staring into the casket for a long moment. Daniel stood by her, in a bubble of respectful silence. “Is he not going to wake up any more?” softly but clearly, the little girl asked, still staring at the old man's face. Daniel half-knelt next to her and put a hand on her small back. “No,” he replied quietly. “He's not.” Tears immediately gushed out from the little girl's eyes and ran down her cheeks, as her face twisted in terrible, heart-rending anguish. Her breaths turned to gasps as she blindly turned towards Daniel, and gripped his shoulder with one tiny hand. She raised the other hand and rubbed it against her eyes, attempting to hide her tears as she fought against her sobs. Daniel reached out with his other hand and softly began to pat her back, wordlessly offering what comfort he could give. That soft pressure was enough to crack the dam of her self-control, and she flung both hands around Daniel's neck as she buried her face into his shoulder, weeping piteously as her shoulders shook in grief. Kneeling by the grave, Daniel gently embraced the heartbroken little girl, his jacket slowly dampened by bitter tears. Late in the afternoon, the family gathered back at the old man's house for a serious discussion. The adults sat in the living room in a rough circle. Ellie sat in a corner, distracted by some show she was watching on her mother's phone, and Chloe sat quietly by herself in the garden. Her back was to the living room, as she stared at the patch of irises waving in the gentle breeze. Perhaps she knew when she was not wanted. “Seriously, dad should have told us about this earlier!” Daniel's aunt Ruth complained. “Personally, I'm amazed that none of us noticed any sign of her being around when we visited,” Daniel's uncle Jacob declared. “I visited him at least once every two weeks, and never saw any sign of the girl!” Margaret, Daniel's mother, chimed in. “How did dad keep her hidden for so long?” “More importantly, who and where is her mother?” Maggie, Daniel's other aunt, scoffed. “I cannot believe that dad raised that little girl all the way from infancy on his own! He barely did anything when we were children – the only thing he was good for was calling for Mum to handle everything! We should just give the girl back to her mother and be done with it!” Jacob quickly stepped in to interrupt the forthcoming tirade. “Alright, Maggie, I understand what you're saying, but the fact is that we have no clue who her mother is at this time. For now, we have to decide – what do we do with her? “Well, don't look at me,” Maggie sniffed. “I hate children, and since my dear ex-husband ran off with that... that prostitute, there's no way I'm going to be able to look after that … that retard!” “Mags! Watch your language!” Ruth gestured at Ellie, sitting in a corner. Unfortunately, Maggie misunderstood Ruth's intentions. “No? You don't think there's anything wrong with her?” Maggie dramatically gestured at the garden, where the little girl sat quietly. “Look at her! She hasn't said a word to anyone the whole time, doesn't respond to basic courtesies, doesn't look at anyone!” her voice steadily grew louder and shriller. “She just sits around staring at the sky or God-knows-what! Also, unless I am very mistaken, she's the source of all the wet diapers in every toilet in the house! How old is she, five? How does a five year old still wet herself?!” “Maggie!” Margaret shouted loudly over her ranting younger sister. “That's entirely uncalled for!” “Tell me which part of anything I've said is untrue! Can you?” Maggie shouted back. Daniel could not believe his senses as his mother and aunt kicked off a shouting match, which Ruth and Jacob tried to stop at first but got sucked in before long. His eyes flicked to the little girl, who must have heard the commotion and who he knew understood far, far more than she let on. He thought he saw her hunch up defensively, shielding herself from the ruckus in the house. “SHUT! UP!” Phillip had a booming voice capable of shattering stone, which he employed now. As everyone stared at him in shock, he sat back, and in a normal volume, stated “I understand all of you are angry that your father somehow gave you all a sister” – all four siblings flinched at the word – “a half-sister who could be your grandchild, and even hid her existence from everyone until he died. Fine and dandy, and that sucks, but that's not what we should be discussing now! Focus!” “Yes, you're right of cause, dear,” Ruth was the first to speak up after Phillip's scolding. “Maggie, I think you've made your views abundantly clear, and no one's going to ask you to do something you don't want to do. Phillip and I, we have our hands full helping with Ellie as it is. We don't have the time or the energy to give that girl the attention she needs.” Phillip nodded brusquely in agreement. “I can't as well,” Jacob said. “As you know, Susan's mother's health hasn't been good lately, and I have to run the business. Neither of us have the time to look after her as well, especially not with the twins both in college – it’s expensive to put two through at the same time, you know!” Excuses, all excuses, Daniel couldn't help but think, somewhat uncharitably. All eyes turned to Margaret. “I can't possibly do it either, my place isn't suitable for child-raising! Besides, I'm getting old, I don't have time to be looking after a baby or a child either!” “Come on, Mum,” Daniel spoke up. “It's not as if you do anything else for most of the day either. Can't you look after her for awhile at least?” “Daniel! This is none of your business!” Daniel's mother whirled on him. “I'm busier than you know! You don't know anything! And you have no idea how difficult it is to raise a child! You have no idea how much I had to sacrifice, no idea at all!” “Unless you're going to volunteer, you should just keep quiet, brother,” Rebecca chided him as his mother continued to rant. “I'm not able to do so either,” she continued, addressing the family at large. “I just started working and haven't even found a decent boyfriend yet – besides, can you imagine me as a mother?” Rebecca's love for partying was well-known in the family. “Obviously I can't as well,” Harriet added. “My hands are full enough with this one – how am I going to handle two! Especially since she's... well...” her voice trailed off. “Yes, it's not fair to the child if someone was to care for her unwillingly,” someone commented. “It would be one thing if she was normal, but she's... special, it’s not going to be easy to handle her.” “Honestly, I can't imagine her as being related to us at all!” “Are we even sure she's dad's child? He had to have been in his late seventies when she was born, is that physically possible?” “Good point, we should do a DNA test to confirm this!” Daniel listened to the discussion with disbelief. Wasn't this meeting to decide who would look after Chloe? What kind of discussion is this? “Where's her mother anyway? Maybe we should ask the police to help find her? She can't just abandon her child, right?” Looking around, Daniel realised something. They're all angry. They're angry at Grandpa for keeping this huge secret and dumping it on them. They can't take it out on Grandpa, so they're taking it out on Chloe. They just don't want to be saddled with her. No one actually cares for her. “Daniel,” Rebecca asked, “is she really still not potty-trained and in diapers?” Daniel didn't respond, losing himself in thought. He recalled the sound of light feet on wooden floorboards, thudding quietly behind him as he walked. “Mummy, why does Chloe wear diapers? Is she still a baby?” He thought of a little form curled up on the couch, covered by his jacket. “Doesn't the government usually step in in cases like these? Lord knows, this can’t be the first time something like this has happened. That's what the foster system exists for, right?” He saw in his mind's eye fear-widened eyes staring at him from a bed, pleading with him to stay. “Maybe we should put her up for adoption. You see people adopting those disabled Chinese kids all the time, surely someone can take her in?” He remembered a terrible face, covered in tears, fighting to bottle gut-wrenching sobs even as she blindly reached out for comfort. Fuck them all. Enough. “You know what?” Daniel stood up abruptly, cutting through the chatter. All eyes fell on him. “That girl – Chloe – is capable of far more than you think.” He walked to the door between the living room and the garden and turned around to face his shocked relatives. “And even if she isn't – she's definitely going to grow up to be a far better person than any of you.” He turned around and stepped out into the garden, ignoring the stunned silence from his relatives. He walked over to the little girl who was staring at the flowers, her back still hunched defensively, and stepped to her side. He noticed her twisting the stem of an iris flower in her fingers as she sat. “Hey, Chloe,” he asked, slowly but clearly. “Would you like to live with me?” “Daniel! What are you doing!” “Bro! Are you insane?!” he heard his mother's and sister's exclamations behind him. He ignored them as the little girl slowly looked up at him, meeting his eyes. For the second time, an eternity passed in a moment as the little girl stared at the man, and the man stared at the little girl, and each seemed to read the heart of the other. Then Chloe stood up... ...swung around, dropping the flower... ...and sprinted to him. The little girl flung herself into a tight hug around his legs, and held on like she would never let go. Daniel woke up at home the next day, as he felt someone shaking him gently but insistently. He blinked his eyes blearily in the morning sunlight, and as the cloudiness of early-morning vision dissipated, saw a little girl, long oak-brown hair mussed and messy, sitting by his side and staring at his face with large dark brown eyes, dressed in a white nightgown. “Eeyargh!” he shouted, recoiling in surprise. Surprisingly, the little figure was unperturbed. “Uncle, uncle,” she said softly but clearly. “I need a pull-up.” Daniel blinked again, and his memory returned in a flash. “Good morning, Chloe... ah, hold on...” He clambered out of bed and went to a small suitcase on the floor nearby, opening it and taking a pull-up out from the almost-empty pack inside, along with a pack of wipes. He turned back and handed them to Chloe. “Uncle, where's the toilet?” she asked. “Ah, right, I'll show you – but first, don't call me Uncle!” I should be calling you aunt! “Just call me Daniel.” Chloe blinked and looked into his eyes. “Okay... Daniel.” Chapter 4 Bread, butter, cheese, ham, bread. Daniel assembled a decent looking sandwich using the last of the ingredients in his fridge and sliced it diagonally. He placed it on a plate in the centre of the table He heard a door opening, and looked up as Chloe appeared around the corner, holding her wet overnight pull-up. “Daniel, where to throw this?” she asked. “Just throw it in the kitchen bin over there,” he pointed, and Chloe complied. “You should wash your hands after changing your pull-ups,” he reminded her. “Okay.” She walked back to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Daniel poured two glasses of apple juice and set them on the table. Chloe emerged again with clean hands and clambered up onto a chair, which Daniel pulled out for her. She reached out and grabbed her glass, drinking thirstily, before starting on her sandwich. Daniel picked up the other half and nibbled at it. “Is it good?” he asked. “Uh huh,” she answered. They ate silently and awkwardly. Daniel studied Chloe as she ate, observing the way she ate her sandwich crust-first before eating the centre, how she ensured she ate neatly and over the plate, and her exaggerated care as she held the glass with two hands when drinking, before setting it down carefully. After Chloe finished her sandwich, she looked at the empty plate, then at Daniel. “Do you want more?” he asked, and she nodded. “Well, we still have bread, but I'm out of everything except butter...” “Butter,” Chloe agreed, grabbing the bag of bread and pulling out a slice. Daniel handed her the tub of “I can't believe it's not butter!” and a spreader, and she deftly picked up a blob of butter, spread it on the slice of bread, and neatly folded it in half. Daniel was fairly impressed at her carefulness and dexterity. Chloe tore the bread into half and held one half towards Daniel. “Here, Grandpa, for you!” she exclaimed. Daniel sputtered on his apple juice. Grandpa?! “Uh oh! Sorry Daniel, for you!” she reached over and tried to push the piece of bread into his mouth. Daniel intercepted it amusedly, and she looked pleased, settling back in her chair to eat the other half. Huh, so she calls Grandpa 'Grandpa', even though he's her father? I guess it would avoid the need for awkward explanations to others... “We'll be going out after breakfast,” Daniel told Chloe. “I need to buy groceries, and we should buy you more clothes, and other things as well.” “Okay,” she responded, munching on her sandwich. Before he had left his grandfather's house, his mother had helped him search for and pack all of Chloe's belongings into a small suitcase. “I can't believe this is all that she has,” Daniel's mother frowned as she looked at the half-empty suitcase. The stack of clothes was barely a few inches high. “You need to go shop with her once you get home. She needs a lot more clothes than this, especially if you're only still only doing laundry once a week – and she'll need warmer clothes as the temperature drops. You also need to get her some more toys, or she's going to get bored, and drive you crazy too!” “Yes, I will,” he promised. “Call me if you need any advice or help! Even if you're only looking after her for a short time, raising a child is still a lot of work.” “Yes, yes...” “I've put some important documents for her next to your bag. Keep them safely and read them as soon as you can.” “Okay, thanks.” Daniel sighed and stared at the contents of the suitcase. It looked like all of Chloe's possessions amounted to the stack of clothes, two pairs of footwear, a few well-used activity books, some toiletries, a small backpack, and an almost-empty pack of pull-ups. He noted the distinct absence of any actual underwear in the bag. “I'm sure we'll find more of her things around the house as we clear it up. We'll let you know if we do.” Daniel's mother shook her head as she stared at the suitcase. “Whoever the girl's mother is, she's clearly out of the picture. No mother would have left her child with just this stuff! I'll send you a list of things you're going to need to buy.” “Okay, mum, whatever you want.” Daniel replied. Privately, he intended to disregard it. After all, how much did a single kid need? As it turns out, little girls did need a lot of things. Daniel read his mother's messaged list, and realised it contained a lot more items than he had thought. Thankfully, most of them were likely to be available at a strip mall not too far from his place. First, and perhaps most importantly, clothing. As Daniel worked in the regional headquarters for a large clothing chain with many stores, he had a generous employee discount which he fully intended to make use of. Hence, for the first time in his life, he entered the children's department of a branch of his store. The atmosphere in the children's department was... confounding. Shelves were covered in bright and pastel colours, with cute designs and pictures of various cartoon characters splashed boldly around. Parents, usually mothers, with children in tow flitted from shelf to shelf, with varying degrees of interest and resignation on the part of the child. Even the store scent seemed more child-like somehow, reminiscent of baby powder and lavender. The juvenile atmosphere assaulted Daniel's senses as he walked into the store, holding Chloe's hand and feeling very out of place. Chloe appeared to be attracted by the many colours and designs available. It didn't take long before she pointed at a rack and tugged at Daniel's hand, saying “That one!” Daniel walked over and picked up the light blue long-sleeved tee, sporting some similarly-coloured cartoon horse on the front. It looked unfamiliar and slightly threatening to him, but Chloe was clearly attracted by it. “The price looks alright. What's your shirt size?” he asked “I dunno,” she shrugged. “How tall are you, then?” “I dunno...” “Well, how do I check if this fits...?” Looking around for inspiration, Daniel happened to notice a mother in another aisle bending down and stretching out the shoulders of a shirt against the back of her own child. Enlightened, he had Chloe place her small backpack into the shopping basket, then carried out the same exercise. Looks like a good fit, but I think I should get a size larger in case she starts growing again. He pulled out a shirt with the desired size and put it into the basket. “Alright, one down... what else do you need?” he asked, not actually expecting an answer. “Pyjamas, pants, shirts, socks, jacket,” Chloe offhandedly replied, while craning her neck to look at the many selections surrounding her. Daniel was pleasantly surprised at her sensible answer. “Sounds good! Let me know if you see anything you like, I don't do laundry very often so you can get more.” “Okay!” she agreed happily, and tugged Daniel's hand towards the next location. On their way to the cashier, Daniel paused as they walked by a row displaying children's underwear. “Chloe, let's get you some panties as well. You can wear them after you learn to use the potty better, okay?” “Okay.” Chloe seemed pleased with the idea. “Go and see which ones you like.” Thankfully, children's underwear was sized by age, so all he needed was to pick the right boxes with the designs Chloe pointed out. “That reminds me – it’s been quite a while since we left the house, do you need to go to the toilet?” Daniel asked. Her face fell as she shook her head. “I peed in my pull-ups already,” she quietly explained. “Oh dear, when did that happen?” “When we were choosing clothes,” she replied embarrassedly. “Was it an accident?” Daniel was slightly concerned. Although she had claimed to be able to use the toilet, the only time she had actually used it was when she was at Grandpa's house – and even then, it was clearly hit-and-miss by the number of pull-ups he had seen in the bins. “No,” she admitted. She tugged at his hand, prompting him to bend down, and whispered into his ear “I don't like using the potty outside. It's dirty and scary.” “Oh.” Daniel was surprised at her candour and sighed. “Not all toilets outside are dirty, and you need to tell me when you need to go potty. So how wet are you? Do you need to change?” He turned her around by her shoulders, looking at her pants, noting that while they appeared slightly puffier than normal, there were no wet spots on the front or back. “I dunno,” she shrugged. “Well... we'll go and pay for these items, then we'll go to the toilet to get you changed, okay?” “Okay...” she replied quietly, looking slightly downcast. Daniel took Chloe's hand and walked towards the cashier. Now that he knew she was wet, he noticed that Chloe's gait was slightly different, a little wider than normal. I guess I've got to be more vigilant on bringing her to the toilet. At least I now know how to tell if she's wet. Almost two hundred dollars poorer, Daniel brought Chloe to look for a toilet. Thankfully, Daniel knew the store manager, who allowed Daniel to leave his purchases in the employee break room so he didn't have to carry them around. Daniel made sure Chloe was carrying her backpack, which contained wipes and spare pull-ups. For once, the mall bathroom didn't have a queue as it was still the middle of a working day. “Chloe, go and change in the women's bathroom. I need to take a leak as well, so we'll meet again outside here. If I'm not around, stay here and wait for me. Okay?” The little girl shook her head. “I don't want to go,” she told him quietly. “Chloe, we're gonna be here for a while longer, so you have to get changed,” he explained. “I don't want to go myself,” she looked up at him beseechingly. “Can you come with me?” “I can't go into the ladies, though...” he looked around, and spotted an unoccupied handicap-accessible bathroom separate from the two main bathrooms. “How about we use this one then?” He stepped in and looked around in slight dismay. The bathroom wasn't dirty, but it clearly wasn't very well-maintained either, and had suspicious puddles in the corners. Chloe stepped in after him, took one look at the commode, and pressed her back against the opposite wall. “I don't wanna to use that potty,” she said, with a little fear in her voice. “Yeah, I can see why. Never mind, you don't have to use it. Just change your diaper, okay?” “I don't wanna sit there,” she complained. “Sit? Oh, I see.” Daniel recalled that she would sit down when wearing or taking off long pants, which she would need to do to change. Sitting on the floor was clearly out of the question. “Since it’s like this, shall I help you change?” Daniel asked. Chloe nodded, and immediately unbuttoned her pants, pulled them down, then pulled her shirt up to fully expose the pull-up. Daniel reached out to change her, before a thought occurred to him. “Can you try to pee now, before I change you?” “Okay.” She froze for a few seconds, before announcing “I'm done.” Daniel reached for the sides of the pull-up and tore it away. As the pull-up fell open, he noted that almost half of the pull-up was dry. Good to know – it can probably hold at least another wetting before it needs a change. He also noticed a bit of redness around the edges of Chloe's diaper area. “Chloe, are your... private parts painful?” he asked. “No, it's itchy,” she replied. “I think you have a bit of a rash. Have you been cleaning yourself properly when you change?” “Uh huh,” she said, pulling out a wet wipe and demonstrating. Daniel watched and shook his head. “Chloe, you need to clean more than just that part, you need to clean the whole area which got wet. Here, let me help you.” He grabbed Chloe's hand, which was still holding the wet wipe, and guided her to wipe a higher and wider portion than she had done before. “You also need to wipe between your legs, and your bum if your diaper is very wet, okay? Here, take another wipe and clean again, properly.” “It's not a diaper, it's a pull-up,” she complained as she wiped herself more thoroughly. “Fine, pull-up. Much better, now let's get your new pull-up on.” Daniel discarded the wet pull-up into the bin, took the new pull-up, and opened the Velcro on the seams. He put the back half through her legs and pulled it up the back, while aligning the front of the pull-up so it was level. “Hold the front please?” Chloe did so, and he used his free hand to fasten the Velcro pieces on each side of the pull-up. “Done. Does it feel good?” Chloe shifted around and tugged at the pull-up a little. “It's good,” she stated as she pulled her pants up. “Now, I need you to do me a favour – I need to use the bathroom too, so can you to go to that corner, face the wall, close your eyes, and not turn around until I say you can?” “Okay,” she did so, so Daniel was able to relieve himself with some privacy. “Thanks,” he said once done. She turned around, came to the sink, and both of them washed their hands. “Thanks, Daniel,” Chloe surprised him with a spontaneous hug around one leg. He smiled, reached down, and ruffled her hair affectionately. “You're welcome, Chloe. Let's go get lunch.” Chapter 5 Daniel pushed a large trolley around the supermarket, with Chloe sitting in the main compartment. Most of it was filled with various groceries, with some snacks and chocolates thrown in for good measure. He turned down the next aisle, which was filled with colourful packages on both sides. “Chloe, what brand of diapers do you wear?” he asked. “Pull-ups!” she said, a little indignation in her voice. “Yes, but which one? Point it out to me?” “There,” she pointed, and he walked over and examined the packs. “Oh, it's actually named pull-ups. I thought that was a type of diaper, not a brand,” he commented. He pulled out a pack of girls designs in the largest size they had. “Says 17-25 kg – looks about right.” “Grandpa buys that one,” Chloe informed him, pointing at the jumbo boxes of pull-ups. “Makes sense, I guess,” Daniel mentally estimated how long a box would last. “I think we better get 2 boxes. We could also use some more wipes, and I guess we had better get some diaper rash cream and powder.” He picked out the items and stowed them in the trolley. He pushed the trolley to the next aisle, which now surrounded him with colourful pencils, coloured pencils, activity books, and toys. “Chloe, I want you to get yourself some fun activity books, and a toy you like. Can you do that?” Daniel asked her, and her eyes widened with a smile. Daniel lifted her out of the cart, and she took a few steps down the aisle, entranced by the many things around her. She picked up a stuffed toy and studied it at arm’s length, before hugging it close to her chest. Daniel observed her for a while, enjoying the sight of clear delight on her face. After awhile, he idly scanned the other shelves in the aisle. Activity books, board games, more toys, school supplies, colouring equipment, paints... School supplies! It was as if a thunderbolt hit him. Holy crap – I need to find her a school! After a long day of shopping and a few more hundred dollars poorer, Daniel pushed two fully laden supermarket trolleys towards the main entrance of the mall. Chloe was walking quietly beside him, holding on to the hem of his shirt and walking slowly, rubbing her eyes. Daniel noticed that she was walking a little awkwardly as well. “Chloe, are you wet again?” he asked her softly. “Uh huh,” she replied. “We're going home now, so are you okay if we wait until we reach home to change you?” “Okay...” she yawned. “I'm tired,” she complained. “We'll take an Uber back, so you can sleep in the car, alright?” “Okay...” she rubbed her eyes more as she walked. Thankfully, the Uber driver was helpful and not only had a car seat for children, but even helped Daniel load everything into the car once he had set up the car seat. “Daniel,” Chloe whispered as Daniel was fastening the seatbelt around her. “My stomach hurts, just a little bit.” Daniel paused. “Do you need to poop?” he asked, and she nodded. “Oh no – is it urgent?” “No, it’s ok now,” she said. “We're only around 20 minutes away from home, so can you hold on until then?” “Okay...” she yawned again, and shifted in her seat, her eyes slowly closing. Daniel patted her head, then closed the car door. However, halfway through the ride back, a sudden smell spread through the car, jolting Daniel awake from a light doze in the back seat. A second later, the driver glanced at him through the rear-view mirror. “You smell that?” the driver pushed a button and all the windows wound down a little. Daniel winced in embarrassment. “I'm sorry, I think she pooped. In her pull-ups.” The driver laughed. “I have kids too, I know the smell. I hope they didn't leak though... pull-ups are not good for poop, especially for older kids.” Daniel appreciated the driver's delicacy in not asking why she was in pull-ups. “I'm so sorry – if it leaked, I'll pay for the clean-up.” he offered. “No worries, that's why I keep a plastic cover on the seat. Isn't the first time and won't be the last.” Thankfully, they arrived at Daniel's home not long later. He lived in a small, two-bedroom apartment in a relatively good part outside town, with an underground private car park and drop-off bay. The apartment belonged to his father, who let him stay without rent on the grounds that “Eh, it'll be yours someday anyway.” In exchange, Daniel helped his father manage his other rental property, a similar-sized apartment in the same building, and paid for maintenance, utilities, and taxes. Daniel got out of the car, crossed over to the other side, and opened the passenger door next to Chloe. She stirred in her seat as he did so. “Hey, Chloe, wake up, we're home,” he shook her gently as he unbuckled her. “Uh huh...” Chloe blearily opened her eyes and looked at him. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she came fully awake, and one of her hands shot to her pull-up. She touched the back of the pull-up, and her lower lip started to quiver. “I know, you pooped while you were sleeping. Come on out and let's see the damage.” Chloe didn't move, but began sniffing and rubbing at her eyes, which were turning red. Daniel reached under her legs and back, being careful not to disturb the diaper, lifted her out of the vehicle, and placed her on the ground where she stood up. As predicted by the driver, two dark arcs stained the back of her pants. He pulled back the hem of her pants and peeked down, noting brown stains on the back of her legs as well. “Oh Chloe... your pull-up leaked.” Chloe was valiantly, but unsuccessfully fighting back tears. Daniel knelt, reached out and gently wiped a few tears tricking down her cheeks with his thumb. “Chloe, it's okay, accidents happen. You were sleeping, right?” she nodded. “I'm definitely not going to be angry at you for an accident while sleeping. We'll go upstairs and get you clean again, okay?” Chloe nodded again, sniffing hard. One of her hands went to her bottom and touched it softly, but backed off as even that small pressure caused the poop to shift around. Daniel stood up and turned around, and saw that while he was settling Chloe, the driver had not only helped unload everything from the car, but had magically produced a flatbed trolley from somewhere, and was loading the boxes and items onto the trolley. “I'll help you bring your stuff up, so I can take the trolley back once you're done,” the driver told him before he could say anything. “That's incredibly generous of you, mate,” Daniel was deeply appreciative of his consideration. “I would usually decline, but in the present circumstances...” “Don't worry about it,” the driver cut him off, locking the car and pushing the trolley into a waiting lift as Daniel carried the rest of the items which could not fit on the trolley. Chloe, still sniffling, waddled into the lift behind Daniel the driver. The lift door closed, and for a few moments, both men held their breath to avoid being overwhelmed by the noxious fumes emitting from the little girl. “Thank you so much again, man,” Daniel shook the driver's hand. "I'll give you a generous tip for the trouble,” he promised. “Won't say no to that,” the driver smiled as he walked off as Daniel closed the door to his apartment. He took out his phone and gave the driver five stars and entered a twenty-dollar tip. Then he remembered the poop stains on the child seat, winced, and increased it to thirty dollars. He put down his phone and turned to Chloe. “Alright, let's get you – oh dear.” Now that the door was closed, Chloe had broken down into a full meltdown. Facing away from Daniel, she covered her face with her hands, but her distressed sobs were clearly audible as her shoulders shook. Daniel reached out and gently patted her back, and Chloe abruptly spun around and pressed her face into his shirt. Daniel held his breath to avoid gagging even as he enfolded her in a hug. “Chloe, it’s okay... shh...” Daniel awkwardly patted the little girl's back. “You'll feel better after we have you cleaned up, so I'm going to bring you to the bathroom, okay?” Avoiding touching her poop-covered diaper, he carefully carried her to the toilet. Daniel gently laid Chloe down on the toilet floor. He pulled off her pants and saw to his dismay that the brown stains had spread and now covered a good part of her upper legs not covered by the pull-up. “That must feel horrible, huh?” He put the stained pants aside, and gently tore open the sides of her pull-up, revealing a huge mess within. He reflexively gagged as the foul smell hit his nose, but held his breath and soldiered on, carefully removing the soiled pull-up, dumping its contents into the toilet bowl, and flushing. Turning back, he realised he had made a mistake – Chloe's poop-smeared bum was now directly resting on the toilet floor, leaving a stain behind on the tiles. In a flash, he realised one reason most parents carried changing mats around. “Ah – crap, sorry, hold on,” he stood up and ran to the kitchen, grabbing a plastic bag and an old clean towel. He returned and dropped the emptied pull-up into the plastic bag. He was going to place the towel under poor Chloe's bum to protect the floor, before cleaning her up with wipes, but then reconsidered. “Chloe, I'm going to give you a bath, okay? You'll feel a lot better after that, I promise”. Chloe, still crying softly, didn't respond, so he lifted her by her armpits – making sure he didn't step on the poop stain – and put her into the bathtub. Daniel turned on the shower and used it to spray Chloe clean, noting again the redness of the rash. Using the towel, he gently wiped all the poop off her, before wiping the stains off the floor and discarding it with the pull-up. Her crying slowly faded into sniffles as the water washed her clean, and she began to stare at her feet. Daniel somehow got the sense that she was ashamed, and perhaps expecting a scolding. “Chloe,” the little girl flinched as Daniel reached over. He gently lifted up her chin, so she was looking at him. “I'm not angry, okay?” He smiled understandingly at her. “I think you're still tired, so let’s give you a nice bath, then you can take a nap. Does that sound good?” Chloe nodded and relaxed, and for the first time, she met his eyes and smiled back. One warm bath later, Daniel had helped the little girl apply a layer of diaper cream, put on a new pull-up, and a nightgown. Chloe now sat before Daniel, who was using a newly-purchased blow dryer to dry her hair. “Chloe, can I ask you some things about the accident?” he said. Her back stiffened a little, but immediately relaxed as she nodded. Her body language clearly said that she trusted him enough to discuss this with him. “When was the last time you pooped?” The amount of poop in the diaper had been massive, much larger than he expected from a small child. “I dunno,” she said. “Did you poop yesterday? You remember, we woke up, got you dressed, went to the church...” She thought for a bit. “Nope,” she replied softly. I guess that explains that huge poop, Daniel thought. “Do you normally poop in your pull-ups?” he asked. “No,” she replied firmly. “I poop in the potty.” “Okay... When was the last time you pooped in your pull-ups?” he probed further. “I dunno,” she replied. “Did you poop in your pull-ups any time last week?” he tried again. “No!” she stated definitively, her body language showing she was becoming upset about the questioning. Daniel sighed. “Its fine. I believe you. However, pull-ups are not meant for pooping, so if you poop in your pull-ups some more, we need to get you real diapers, okay?” “No! I poop in the potty!” Chloe turned her head and glared at him. “Don't turn your head while I'm drying your hair! It's okay, I said I believe you,” Daniel really didn't see the difference between her wearing a pull-up and a diaper, but she clearly felt otherwise. “Okay,” she turned her head back to the original position, apparently mollified. “All right, we're done. Let's put you to bed.” Daniel turned off the hair dryer a short while later. Chloe stood up and yawned, rubbing at her eyes. “Can you go and pee in the potty before the nap?” he encouraged her. “Okay...” she slowly walked to the toilet. Daniel followed her, partly in case she needed help, but mainly to see if she really knew how to use a toilet. He watched as she pulled her pull-up down, but stopped and looked at the toilet seat which was a little too high for her – the step stool they bought still being in its box. “Daniel...” she turned to him for help. He picked her up and sat her on the toilet, holding her steady as she found her balance. He heard a stream of pee hitting water shortly after, lasting for a few seconds before trickling off. She hopped off the toilet seat, pulled some toilet paper and wiped herself, then threw it into the toilet. She pulled up the pull-up, flushed the toilet. and washed her hands. So, she really can use the toilet after all – that's good. Daniel was also relieved that she had no problems using the toilet at his home. He resolved to clean the toilet more thoroughly as soon as he could. “I'm done!” Chloe told Daniel proudly. “Good job!” he praised her. “Alright, time for your nap.” Chloe ran back into the bedroom and crawled into the centre of his king-sized bed, her eyes beginning to close the moment her head hit the pillow. Daniel tucked her in, pulled the curtains almost shut while letting a beam of light still enter the room, and turned off the room light. “Daniel, stay here,” a little voice pleaded as Daniel turned to leave the room. He paused. “Well... okay, I’ll stay just for awhile, but when you’re asleep I'll go outside to get some things done, alright?” Daniel walked over and sat on the bed next to her. “Okay...” the little girl's tired eyes closed, and before long, her breathing deepened into the regular rhythms of sleep. Daniel marvelled awhile at her peaceful face, before he quietly got up and left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar as the little girl slumbered. Chapter 6 Daniel felt that he was exceptionally productive that day. In the space of just over an hour, he had quickly cleaned his house, started a load of laundry, thrown away some R-rated magazines, and generally tried to make his house a bit more welcoming for a 5 year old girl. Now, he picked up his phone and called his sister. “Hey Daniel, what’s up?” Harriet’s voice came clearly through Daniel’s airpods as he finished stowing the last of the groceries. “Hey Harriet! Quite a lot, but don’t really have the time to go into it now. Listen - do you have any advice on how to find a school for Chloe?” “A school?! Wait - you really brought her home?! Is everything alright?” “Yeah, it’s alright for now, I guess?” “For now… oh my word…” Daniel heard Harriet taking a deep breath, and hurriedly forestalled the flood of questions he was sure was coming. “Yeah look, I don’t have much time, sorry. Chloe’s napping now and she’ll probably wake up soon. Anyway, I need to go back to work tomorrow – I was in the middle of some projects and I’m sure they’re waiting for me to get back. How do I enrol her in a school – or is there a daycare, or childcare, or something? Do I just turn up at the nearest one and drop her off?” “Ah – er, she’s five, right? So, I suppose she’d be going to a kindergarten, or a childcare. You may not be able to get her into one straightaway though, most of them require an application process, and you’re of course going to want to research them before sending her to one…” “Wait – how long’s the application process?” “Could take up to a month, but first you need to find one which you’re comfortable with, so it could take longer.” “A month?!” Daniel began, ever so slightly, to panic. “Oh my lord, what am I going to do then? I can’t take any more days off!” “Ellie – wait – I’m on a call – wait, don’t do that – “Daniel could hear a young high pitched voice in the background, demanding attention. “Sorry Daniel I’ve got to run. Try looking online for short-term childcare services or call social services and get recommendations. Call me again tonight after 9 if you need more help!” “Wait, what – “unfortunately, Daniel realised the call had ended. No way I’m calling social services – God knows what they would do! Google gods, please be kind… Just then, the door of his bedroom shifted, and a sleepy little girl stood in the opening. “Hey Chloe, slept well?” “Mmhmm,” the little girl rubbed her eyes. “I’m thirsty.” “Oh let me get you some juice. But first, do you need a new pull-up?” Chloe pulled up her nightgown and stared at her clearly faded stars. “Mmhmm”. “Let’s get you changed first then,” he walked her to the toilet, which he had packed earlier. “I’ve put your pull-ups and wipes in the bathroom cabinet, so you can take them from here yourself when you need clean pull-ups. After that, throw the dirty ones into this special bin, then wash your hands. Is that ok?” The special bin had a foot press and a lid on it, to contain the smell of wet diapers. “Okay,” she immediately pulled down her wet pull-up, threw it into the bin, and pulled out some wipes. Just then, Daniel remembered the rash. “Hold on – you also have to put the diaper cream on. See, what you do is you squeeze a bit on your hands, then rub them all over your… your diaper area, the places which get wet, and rub them in. Can you try?” “Okay…” Chloe attempted to do as instructed, but Daniel soon realised that she was not able to apply it properly. “Never mind, I’ll help you with the cream for now, until your rash gets better, alright?” He took over and gently helped her apply the cream. After that process, she grabbed a fresh pull-up and put it on. “Now wash your hands!” She did so, standing on the newly purchased stepstool. “Great job Chloe!” The little girl smiled a little at the praise. Should I really be praising a 5-year-old for changing her wet diaper? Daniel wondered. “I’m thirsty,” She reminded him, “…and a little hungry.” “Alright, let’s get you something to drink, and I’ll make you a little snack, yeah? You can play with your toys, watch TV, or draw in the meantime.” “Okay.” About an hour later, after a lot of google searches and reading, Daniel was staring at 3 options for childcares, each of which provided the required emergency care services. All seemed to offer a decent standard of care, (not that he knew much about what that meant), had decent reviews, and were reasonably affordable. The final choice came down to two factors – closing times, and distance. Option A – Surprisingly close to my place but closes at 7pm on the dot. Yeah, that’s not going to work – I’ll count myself lucky if I’m out of the office doors at 7pm! Option B – Close to the office, but only provides emergency care for up to 2 weeks, and closes at 8pm… that timing’s workable, but 2 weeks is far too short! I’d have to find another option soon, and Chloe would have to get accustomed to a whole new social group and teachers… nope, not a good option. Option C – it’s out of the way but is one of the few which provides “overnight care” if needed, and can accommodate late pickups. It would almost double my travelling time though… It seems like C is the only real option here. Sigh… Daniel made sure that Chloe remained engrossed in the colouring book and ducked into his bedroom. He found the number for “emergency care” on the website and dialled it. After a few rings and clicks, a cheerful voice responded. “Sunshine Park Childcare, emergency care line, this is Tiffany, can I ask who is this?” “Hi, my name is Daniel, and I was calling about whether you would be able to look after a 5-year-old girl for a few weeks on an urgent and emergency basis? Starting tomorrow?” “Hi Daniel, um… one moment please, let me check availability, please hold!” A canned hold-tone came on for about a minute, before the voice came back. “Sure, we have the capacity to do so. Before accepting her, can you help me understand why you need emergency childcare? For the usual legal and insurance reasons, you know.” “Great! Wow!” Daniel couldn’t believe his luck at the availability. “As to why… well, a relative of mine passed away over the weekend, leaving a 5-year-old daughter behind. The other parent’s not in the picture, so I’m looking after her. I just need emergency childcare for maybe a month so I can find a more suitable permanent childcare!” “Thanks Daniel, appreciate your sharing! That would be no problem at all. Next, does the child have any special needs?” “Nope, she’s perfectly healthy! She’s a bit quiet and shy, especially after the recent funeral… but that’s understandable.” He then remembered “Oh, but she’s basically not potty trained – she wears pull-ups and seldom makes it to the toilet. Would that be a problem?” “Thanks, and no problem at all. Our staff are well trained and very experienced at changing diapers.” “Oh no she doesn’t need any help – except maybe a reminder to change before she leaks. She can change herself.” “Okay then, sounds good. Does she have any allergies, dietary restrictions, medical conditions, or suchlike?” “Um – I don’t think so? I don’t really know her all that well, but she eats everything I put in front of her?” Daniel remembered the documents he took home and continued “She has some kind of a health book which I’ll look at and let you know.” “That’s fine, please do and in fact, bring it along when you bring her over, along with all the other admission documents we will need,” Tiffany chirruped. “And yep, based on your responses, I think we will have no problem enrolling her, subject of course to on-site confirmation of documents and information – sorry, our lawyers make us say that” she laughed. “No worries at all! Thank you very much – you guys are lifesavers!” Daniel gratefully replied. “So what does she have to bring along?” “Well after this, I’ll need you give me your email address and phone number. I’ll email you some paperwork, and a list of items she needs to bring. As she’s a temporary student, we won’t need you to buy the uniform -although you can if you want, it’s very cute! Also, as she’s still in diapers, we would need you to bring some packs over – at least 30 pieces – and keep it stocked. If runs out, we will charge you for using our reserve diapers at a rather high markup. Sorry, I mean pull-ups, of course.” “That is perfect.” Daniel gave Tiffany his particulars, confirmed the likely drop off time (early) and pick-up time (late), and ended the call. He couldn’t resist giving himself a congratulatory pat on the back once he was done. He flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling a huge weight taken off his shoulders. Damn, I’m tired. Shopping, cleaning, arranging for schooling… I am really getting old, he mused to himself. Still, the kid is happy, fed, clean, and still alive… not a bad job at all! He let his mind go blank for awhile as he stared at the ceiling, until after some time, the door creaked open and Chloe cautiously peeked in, looking slightly worried. “Everything alright, Chloe?” “Mmhmm,” her expression eased, and she ducked out and went back to whatever she was doing. Daniel checked his watch, and realised it was nearing 6pm. Aaaand time to get dinner started. No rest for the wicked – or was it that the reward for work well done is more work? That night, just before she slept, Chloe helped Daniel pack her bag for the childcare, according to the packing list sent. Daniel discovered that even at 5, Chloe clearly knew what she wanted to wear, favouring pants and shirts over dresses or skirts – notwithstanding Daniel pointing out it would be easier for her to change her pull-ups if she was in a dress. She also insisted that pull-ups to be added to her pack, even after Daniel explained that he would leave a full pack at the childcare. “Chloe, try to use the potty at childcare, ok? You can ask the teachers to bring you at any time.” “Okay.” She hesitated, and asked timidly “will the teachers be angry if I wet my pull-ups?” “Oh no, I don’t think they will. They appeared very nice when I spoke to them! But, if they do, you tell another teacher to call me immediately, and I will scold them!” Daniel put on an exaggerated angry face and mimed wagging his fingers at an invisible teacher. “Okay,” Chole smiled hesitantly. “Also remember to change your pull-ups when they are wet! We packed 2 extra spare sets of clothes, but if you get both dirty, you’ll have nothing to wear the rest of the day and will only wear a pull up!” Daniel joked. Seeing Chloe’s suddenly worried expression, he explained “I’m kidding about just wearing a pull-up, but please keep your clothes clean!” “Okay, I definitely will” Chloe replied, not looking too reassured. “And no pooping in your pull-ups!” “I won’t!” Chloe flicked him an irritated look, as Daniel grinned. After the bag was packed and set by the door, Chloe crawled into the bed hugging her rabbit. She had, sometime over the past few sleeps, picked a side of the king-sized bed as “her” half, and she snuggled in there while Daniel carefully laid the blanket over her. “Set an alarm, Daniel!” she reminded him. “Yes, I’ve already done so,” he replied as he turned off the light. “I’m going to leave the toilet light on, and the door open a bit, so the light comes in and you don’t get scared, alright?” “Can you stay here?” she pleaded. “I will, until you fall asleep. Is that OK?” Daniel walked back into the room and sat on what had now become “his” side of the bed. “Okay,” she turned and faced him, hugging her bunny, and closed her eyes. “Goodnight Daniel.” “Goodnight, Chloe.” Daniel started scrolling through emails on his phone, until after around 20 minutes, he noticed that the breathing from the other side of the bed had regularised. He saw her loosely holding her bunny, with her eyes closed, dead to the world. He carefully stood up and left the room, closing the door softly behind him. After listening at the door and ensuring that there was no noise from within, he finally relaxed. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he threw himself on the couch, turned on Netflix, and cracked the beer open. For some reason, he felt like he needed to stare at some natural beauty, so he found a documentary voiced by Lord David Attenborough – whose voice he found to be very comforting – and stared at the screen. After about half an hour, in the middle of his second beer, the door to his bedroom cracked open and Chloe pattered out. Without saying a word, she clambered onto the couch, next to where he was seated, and curled up next to him. “Chloe, what are you doing out here – “he checked himself as he noticed the slight tear tracks on her cheeks, even as her breathing quickly deepened back into sleep. “Well I guess there’s no harm in letting you sleep here awhile…” He continued watching the documentary as she slumbered beside him, barely stirring. When it ended, he turned off all the lights in the house, picked her up – while she remained in deep sleep, dead to the world – and carried her back to the bed, before hitting the sack himself shortly after.
  4. Millie stood alone at a poorly lit bus stop near the school she attended classes in. It was a late hour, most of the people who would be out and about right now were at home, comfy in their beds, or snuggled up to their loved ones watching netflix, with a few lucky ones doing other activities with their loved ones. Some were in clubs and bars, dancing or drinking the night into morning. Then there were the people like Millie, standing at a bus stop deep into the late hours of the night. Some of these standers were just waiting to get home from a long grinding day, others on their way to begin their day, and then their those like Millie. She had stayed late because one of her professors asked for help. She had not expected the project he needed help with was to see one of his best students naked, and then to stick his penis into her. Her curly red hair, the emerald green a-line dress, both showed some of the signs of her resistance. Her wool gray coat hid the rips to the dress, while also protecting her from the cold of the night. She didn't need to wait here, she was a gifted student, and could just as easily blink to her apartment, something she would of done any other night, but tonight, the young woman was afraid of a trace, or an intercept. She brushed one of her curls out of her face, which drew her attention to the crack in her glasses. She took the round glasses off, the silver frames were in good condition, which would make it hard to believe that they had been in her family for nearly 100 years. Her grandfather had worn them when he studied the hidden world of Japan, the first western magician to do so, with an invitation at least. The frames had absorbed some of the ghost magic of those regions, and had become valuable to Millie's family. The problem with them was that you needed to actually need glasses in order for them to work, which lead Millie to being a master of "life" as they liked to call the discipline, but was forced to keep the crappy eyes she was born with. The young woman popped the lens out of the frame, and held it up to the moon, then uttered a few short syllables, not words per say, but sounds that had been discovered the resonated with magical energies, and called forth the energies she then shaped with a few well practiced hand motions. The crack in the round lens was gone, and soon the glasses were all one piece, and returned to her freckled face, providing a thin glass barrier between her steel blue eyes and the world around her. The ghost sight, as her ancestor had called it, did not reveal ghosts as one might expect, instead it tapped into a realm in which the near future, present, and past, all blended, and with a skilled, and honed mind, someone who was always tapped into that realm could move forward and backward in brief snippets. That is what had saved her from her professor, he had successful fired his memory charm, but he had not accounted for the fact that Millie's mind, thanks to her glasses, was not completely in the present, but split between the present past and future. The charm was quickly broken, and Millie performed a simple gesture that send the professor flying into his own wall. Millie left before the professor got up from that. Which led her to standing here, in the cold, her feet dry only by the grace of knee high leather boots, and a ruined dress. What annoyed her most was that she had realized 10 minutes ago that their would be no more buses tonight, but she also realized that it didn't matter because she had no idea how to get from a back water town in Maine, to her home outside Boston with the public transit system anyways. That was the problem with magic, Millie decided. You get so used to the conveniences of it, that you forget how to function. She wished she could be like the blind, the normal people who never uttered their first chime, magic word, whatever you wanted to call it. She could've been one of those people, but she had to be born to a long line of magicians, ones that could point at legends and make a reasonable claim that that legend was about one of their ancestors. Nope, she didn't get to be a normal person. She never had a chance. With a sigh, Millie finally resigned herself to a quick blink. It was unlikely anyone was to follow her anyways, most magicians avoided shadow and phase magic at all costs. They were too new, and were not even a product of magical study, but a mistake made by blind scientists who had no idea what they were tapping into with their quantum physical studies. The Shadow in particular, a bad name for the practice of shifting gravitational forces in ways current science could not understand, to create spaces within spaces, was dangerous to most minds. It was Millie's ghost sight training that gave her the ability to maintain her sanity there. Of course, blinking was not shadow magic, just simple phase magic, a dimensional jaunt where she picked a point in another reality of this earth, one as close to the one she was in now, but her current location in that world would be her apartment, then it was like plucking a rubber band, pull the other reality into this one for just a moment, let it snap back, and then she just lets go before crosses over, and when things normalize, she is standing in her apartments living room. Sure sometimes she brings a gremlin, or a weird other-dimensional thing with her, but they rarely last more than a few minutes out of phase with their own reality. She took her coat off, and tossed it onto the couch in her living room, the lights detecting her movement and slowly turning themselves on. That was not a trick of magic, just simple technology. The same technology that turned her music on, turned her tea kettle on, and started reading the news headlines to her, all as she stripped her dress off, boots off, leggings off, and shook her hair out of its messy pony tail. In just a plain white bra, and equally plain white panties, she walked into her kitchen, her back marked with tattoos of a geometric shape, in which all the designs linked back to what looked like an Escher design tattooed into the small of her back. The tattoo itself was extremely colorful, and seemed to gradually shift, colors, shape, even position. In truth, it was always shifting because it was Millie's anchor into this reality, a complex magical structure she applied to herself allowing her to travel in and out of this reality, and not lose herself, nor lose the way back home. It was what got her into the school she currently attends. The Danford Academy of the Magical Sciences was one of the best places to study and perfect magic in the world. It was also one of the most dangerous places in the world, due to the whole learn by doing mentality the school took. This night was probably her last night there. Even though defending herself was justified, the spell she used was probably a mistake. If the professor even woke up from it, his mind would be schismed across multiple pocket dimensions that Millie had created on the fly. It wasn't that he didn't deserve that, but that the nature of the spell could of had serious repercussions, one of which being a collapse of reality in the area, or has physicists like to call it, a thermonuclear event. To be fair, Millie would be lucky if they just expelled her. The woman just poured herself a cup of tea from the kettle, and walked over to her glass kitchen table, her feet squishing into the thick, soft, wet carpet. Of course, her carpet was not supposed to be wet, but it still took her a moment to realize that something was off, and once she did, she realized her legs, and her panties were also wet. "Damn it, fucking bleedthrough," she muttered to herself, writing off the problem. In her mind, it was obvious, she flew to close to herself in another reality, and the two were bleeding through. Other reality Millie had just gone to the bathroom, and so this reality Millie peed her panties. Annoyed, Millie cast a small spell that wiped out the other Millie's bodily control, and than sealed her reality away, to prevent bleedthrough from continuing. *************************************** "Mills!," Christa shouted, seeing her red headed friend come out of the bathroom, then waved for Millie to come over to her. Christa was out hunting tonight, and the short hemline, and deep plunging neckline of her dress broadcasted that fact far and wide, although despite the blonde blue eyes, skinny body, and hooker dress, Christa was just striking out. Part of the problem was that the skinny body was not result of diet, but of intense exercise and personal fitness, and it turns out guys get turned off by girls with more visible muscle tone than they possess themselves. To Millie's credit, she was similarly built and toned, although she naturally carried her body fat in such away that she would never achieve those washboard abs, or perfect thighs, not without reducing the fat in her body into unhealthy extremes. "Any luck?" Millie said, plopping her purse on the table, pushing away the drink she had ordered before she left for the bathroom. She'd have to get another one now. "None at all," Christa replied, a little defeat in her eyes. "Maybe challenging them to an arm wrestling competition is the wrong approach?" she added, laughing at her own joke as she finished saying it. "Maybe tell them you are gymnast? That makes the guys jump after the girls in movies?" Millie said, a mirthful little smile on her freckled face. "By the time they figure out you are a champion Kung Fu master, it will be to late!" Christa gave her friend a sharp look, "Its Taakwondo, and you know that miss green belt." "Karata, kung fu... tomato tomato..." Millie continued on, still smiling, "I need to get a new drink Daniel-san, I will be right back." Millie grabbed her purse, and walked towards the bar before Christa could come up with a good comeback. Once Millie got the bar, she risked a glance back to Christa, who was staring daggers her direction. Millie just giggled, and told the bartender, "Sprite please, in a tumbler." "Trying to convince your friend you are drinking?" the bartender asked. "No, trying to convince these idiots," Millie responded, gesturing to the men in the bar, "That I am so that they will come hit on me and I can redirect them to my friend." "How is that working out for you?" the bartender said, filling the tumbler with sprite. "About as well as you would expect a sitcom set up to work in reality," Millie said, flashing the bartender a smile, and putting a ten dollar bill on the counter, before walking back to Christa, "Got a come back yet?" "Shut up," Christa said, then started to laugh, her blue eyes lighting up with mirth. Millie soon caved in and started laughing herself. "Ok, I am driving," Millie said, as Christa stumbled out of the bar, "Where are your keys?" Millie asked, as she searched through her friends purse. "Psh, you are as drunk as me," Christa said, "More drunk! I havn't pissed me pants yet!" she continued on, pointing to the growing puddle under Millie. Millie had felt herself start peeing, but she was far more concerned with something else that was happening in that moment, and she was very happy, and unhappy, that she had worn bicycle shorts under her dress. At least the mess was contained. She tried to stop it, pinch it off, but the more she tried, the more it seemed to push its way out, and when the smell finally hit Christa, Millie was already in tears. "Did you just..." Christa started to ask, and Millie just nodded. "It just... I don't know... I had nothing but sprite," Millie answered, now doing a waddle walk towards Christa's car, trying not to spread the mess around more. Christa sighed and tried to comfort her friend, "Maybe someone managed to slip something in your drink? There are a lot of weird fucks out there that would like to torture women? Did you ever lose track of one of your drinks?" Millie shook her head as they got to the Jeep that Christa drove around everywhere, despite complaining about its gas mileage, "Just the one from when I went to the bathroom, and I didn't touch that one." Christa shrugged, "Maybe just bad food then," then opened her side door, and pulled a towel out of the back of the jeep, tossing it to Millie, "Come on, put that down, and drive us home, we can get you cleaned up and some pepto, I am probably to drunk to remember this tomorrow, so shiny, right?" "You're not that drunk," Millie said, realizing that once she sits down, the mess is going to get a lot worse. "But thanks for the sentiment." Christa just nodded and climbed into the Jeep.
  5. Sorry for posting this again, just trying to figure things out. ------- The smilodon took a deep breath. It had been months since she had gone out to a club. Even longer since she had felt confident enough to do so wearing a diaper and onesie under her dress. This was going to be a fun night. It had to be, at midnight she would be turning twenty-six and leaving the first quarter of a century behind. Once past the bouncer, who almost didn’t accept her ID as authentic, she strolled… well… waddled her way to the bar. Her dress threatened to show her “little” secret to anyone who glanced her way. The saber tooka seat and ordered her first drink. Looking down the bar she saw a mouse looking her way. She couldn’t help but blush and drop her gaze to try and hide her grin. Moments later she was sipping her drink when she heard“Are you old enough for that?” She looked over stammering about how she was twenty-six and just wanted to have a nice night. As she turned to see the mouse was looking amused. “Calm down, little one, I was just making a joke. You’re okay.” Little one? She quickly adjusted her skirt,blushing more than before. “I… I… ummmm…. Wha? H-hi? I’m Ko! Nice to meet you!?” She blurted out trying her best, and failing, to sound like a rational adult. “Well, hello Ko. Sorry to throw you off so bad. Are you okay? I’m Nozomi by the way.” She offered with a smile. She gave off such a nice vibe that the feline found herself easily calming down. “Well, uh, nice to meet you Nozomi.” She shuffledon her stool and the moment she heard a crinkle she could’ve sworn she saw the mouse’s ear twitch slightly. If she had heard the diaper then the fresh set of red cheeks wasn’t going to help things. Instead of saying anything Nozomi just smiled and signaled the bartender for another round. A few drinks and plenty of pleasant conversation later, Nozomi got up from her seat. “I’m headed to the bathroom, do you need a change little miss.” Ko’s ears went flat and her jaw dropped. “What?” “You didn’t think I picked up on the cute little waddle as soon as you walked in? Brave of you not to bring your diaper bag with you though. Hmmm. We could actually go back to my place if you’d like? If not, maybe I give you my number and we can meet again another time?” The little sabers mind was spinning. She knew. She knew and she was into it? And they had been having such a great night, what could go wrong? Without even thinking she had reached out to Nozomi. https://toofplaypen.wordpress.com/2020/09/16/displayed-page-1/ Nozomi sat looking around the bar. The last of her drink swirling idly in her glass. No one was catching her eye and she had so hoped to have some kind of fun tonight. As she was set to finish her glass and head out she happened to glance at the door. In walked a little sabertooth tiger, smaller than any adult of her kind the mouse had seen before. There was something to her though. She looked nervous, but only if you were paying attention. Watching her take her first steps through the room and towards the bar Zomi picked up on a waddle. She wouldn’t have thought anything of it if she couldn’t see a recognizable paw print design peeking out from under her dress. The poor thing had no idea her snapped up crotch was visible. The smilodon took her seat. Her dress pulling up gave the mouse no mistake of what she already knew, it wasn’t time to leave just yet. This kitten needed someone to help her out. As the girl got her drink Zomi made her way over to her. She couldn’t help but look her up and down. She was cute and it wasn’t just because of the onesie or the, now obvious, diaper. In fact, she looked too young to be here, but she knew Jack took his job more seriously than to let someone underage in. Striding up behind her Nozomi made her presence known with a joke. “Are you old enough for that?” The small predator started stammering and babbling about being an adult, wanting to have a nice night and something about being twenty-six. “Calm down, little one, I was just making a joke. You’re okay.” The little, as Nozomi had guessed her to be, straightened her skirt hastily, not that it did much. “I… I… ummmm…. Wha? H-hi? I’m Ko! Nice to meet you!?” The sabertooth managed to babble out. She was even cuter than the mus had at first noticed. “Well, hello Ko. Sorry to throw you off so bad. Are you okay? I’m Nozomi by the way.”, she offered to the kitten with a pleasant smile. She could visibly watch as Ko beganto calm down. That was a good sign. If the night went well she may have found someone to share it with. “Well, uh, nice to meet you Nozomi.” said the kitten as she shuffled, s giving a distinct crinkle. Zomi’s ear twitched slightly and Ko was beginning to blush. She was so precious! It was tough for the muridae not to scoop her up and head home that instant. But that wouldn’t be the way to go about tonight. Instead she signaledAlexa for another round for the two of them. After several hours of drinking and a lot of wonderful back and forth, Zomi knew she would be able to connect with Koneko on more than just her apparent lifestyle. This was the moment. To the world she looked perfectly calm, but inside she was all nerves. She really wanted this to go well. She got up out of her seat. “I’m headed to the bathroom, do you need a change little miss.” Ko’s ears went flat and her jaw dropped. “What? You didn’t think I picked up on the cute little waddle as soon as you walked in? Brave of you not to bring your diaper bag with you though. Hmmmm. We could actually go back to my place if you’d like? If not, maybe I give you my number and we can meet another time?” Nozomi held her breath as she waited. She hoped she had been getting a good read. After a moment Koneko reached her paw out to her with a little blush and she accepted it, helping the little to her feet. https://toofplaypen.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/displayed-page-2/ As she took the hand of a woman she had just met Ko’s mind went wild. What was she doing? This was insane! Everyone said you should never just go home with someone you had just met, but how could she pass this up? This was everything she had dreamed of, had fantasized of honestly. And she was getting a chance to give in and let her little self explore? She wasn’t going to pass that up. Nozomi could see that the kitten was struggling with her own thoughts, so to try and help she pulled her closer and gave her a squeeze. “We can not, little one. There is no rush. We just met and that can be scary, I know.” “NO!” The saber blurted out, far louder than she would’ve liked. Several other patrons turned to look at her and she felt Zomi’s grip on her hand loosening. She quickly held tighter and made sure she pulled close again. “I’m sorry… I just. I’m okay, just… this is a first time for me. I’m really excited though.” Nozomi couldn’t help but smile. She was so cute when she babbled like this. She glances around to make sure no one was around as they walked. “Calm down baby girl.” She pulls something sparkly and pink from her bag and puts it between the kittens lips. It took Ko a moment to realize she had a pacifier in her mouth. She pulled away yanking it from her mouth and hiding it. Her eyes dart around in fear with a tinge of anger. “You.. why… why did you do that?” Zomi reaches out to pull her back, but the smilodon turns away. “Ko, I’m so sorry. I thought it would be cute and fun for you. I made sure we were alone… but you’re right, I need to make sure you’re comfortable with something before just doing it.” Koneko looks at her for a long moment. “I’m sorry. I know you didn’t mean anything wrong, but… I think… maybe it was just a sign we’re pushing to fast? I have your number. I’ll call you okay? I just need some time to really think about this okay?” She reaches out to give her the paci back. The mouse takes the pacifier. She tries her best to mask her disappointment, but a shake to her voice gives her away. “I really hope you call, but I’d understand if you didn’t.” https://toofplaypen.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/displayed-page-3/
  6. A/N: Feedback and comments are appreciated, especially if you see continuity errors. As this is a work in progress, changes may be made to earlier chapters at any time without notice. Chapter 1 Daniel was forced to shade his eyes as he stepped out of the shelter of the train station into the noontime sunlight. Looking around, he spotted a vaguely familiar figure a short walk away, waving at him. “Daniel! Over here!” “Uncle Phillip!” Daniel walked over and shook hands with the middle-aged man, who was standing next to a beat-up old car. “Thanks for picking me up.” “No problem at all,” Phillip opened the trunk for Daniel to stow his small suitcase. “You're one of the earlier ones, we're expecting the rest to come late in the afternoon or in the evening – and Harriet and Ellie will only be coming tomorrow, and will stay overnight for the funeral. Jason's out of the country and so wont be joining them. The folks from the funeral parlour's supposed to come by around four. Your mom's cooking up a storm and your dad -” “Yeah Dad's under the weather, so won't be coming. Thankfully I was able to sort things at work out quickly so I could get here earlier.” Phillip and I got into the car, which pulled out of the parking space in short order “Glad Harriet can make it, considering Ellie's only... four?” “I think so, four or five. Yeah, not easy to have to handle a child that young outside of home. Anyway, it's good to see you again.” Phillip pulled out of the carpark into a break in traffic. “Same back to you. It'll be good to see the rest of the family too. It seems the only time we get together nowadays is at weddings and funerals.” Daniel relaxed into the seat as the vaguely familiar scenery passed by. “Sounds about right” Phillip dryly chuckled. “Speaking of which, my wife and your other aunts will want to know – when are we going to able to attend your wedding?” Daniel snorted. “Jesus. Considering Aunt Maggie's messy divorce, why are they all so eager to see me married off?” “Women love a wedding, and it gives them something more to gossip about” Phillip commented. “Plus, you're the eldest unmarried niece-slash-nephew. You're what, thirty?” “In a few months.” Daniel shook his head. “I'm very happy being single, thank you, and am in no rush to get attached at all – particularly not to the wrong woman. If the 'right woman' never comes along, I'd be happy to spend my dying years in some cheerful home with other grumpy old men.” “Heh. Well, good luck convincing the women of that.” The rest of the ride passed with small talk, and some periods of silence where Daniel stared out of the window and replied to emails as his uncle drove. Before long, they turned into a street full of small retiree cottages, all painted in pastel colours. Phillip turned into the driveway of one of the cottages, but didn't turn off the engine. He cleared his throat. “Daniel?” “Hm?” Daniel looked up from his phone and blinked a few times. “Oh, we're here.” “Yes, but...” Phillip cleared his throat again. “before you go in... well... you should prepare yourself.” “Oh... yes, of course. I suppose my mother and aunt Rose are taking it hard.” “No, that's not what I mean – I mean, it's a sad situation, but Dad – your grandpa – was old and we all knew he had a weak heart. It was really a matter of time. We've been mentally prepared for years.” Phillip paused and swallowed uncomfortably. “No, you should prepare yourself for something... um... unexpected. Talk to your mother about it.” With that, he killed the engine and stepped out of the car. “O...kay?” Daniel was surprised, but as Phillip was clearly unwilling to talk about it. He shrugged, got out of the car, accepted his suitcase from Phillip with a word of thanks. His uncle opened the gate for him, and Daniel walked up the path to the main house . As he walked, out of the corner of his eye, he saw some sudden movement. Turning his head, he saw... … a little girl he had never seen before, standing right next to the fence, staring back at him with large round eyes. The girl was dressed in a simple black short-sleeved dress, white socks, and patent leather shoes. Her caramel brown hair, which reached her shoulders, was unconfined, and some stray hairs floated in the gentle breeze. She held a spray of blue flowers loosely in her hand as she stared at him, open mouthed. She held her stare on him, and he stared back at her, not knowing entirely why he did so. After a moment of eternity, she spun around and raced away to the back of the house. Daniel blinked and shook his head. Turning back to his uncle, he asked “Was that - ” before realising that his uncle was out of earshot, having entered the house and was holding the door open for him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Daniel quickly trotted to the door and entered with a word of thanks. Before he could repeat his question, however, his uncle called loudly “Marge! Daniel's here!” “Thanks Phil! Daniel! I'm in the kitchen! Come here and say hi!” Daniel's mother's voice floated back. Daniel quickly took off his shoes and put his suitcase out of the way, before walking towards the kitchen, which he recalled was towards the back of the house. Strangely, he saw no sign of anyone else in the house. “Daniel!” his mother was alone in the kitchen, chopping onions, so he walked over and kissed her proffered cheek. “Glad you could make it! Were you able to clear your schedule?” “Yes, thankfully my boss is a good man, he told me to leave everything with him and just go”. Daniel replied. “Hey, by the way, I saw a little girl on the way in – was that Ellie? Is Harriet here already?” Daniel's mother paused and sighed deeply. “No... that's not Ellie,” she said reluctantly. “She's... well...” she paused and glanced into the air “That girl is... how do I phrase this..." A few seconds passed as she tried to think of the best way to convey it. "Well...she's your grandfather's child.” Daniel blinked. “Say that again?” “She's... your grandpa's secret daughter.” “...Huh?!” For the first time in his life, Daniel's jaw literally dropped as he stared at his mother. Daniel's mother saw his expression and sighed heavily. “Apparently, your grandfather – my father – at eighty-three years old – was having a relationship with someone, and... well, somehow...” she waved her hands helplessly. “I really don't want to think about it, but I guess things happened and...” “But... wait... what?” Daniel's mind was recovering quickly, although still shocked. “So grandpa... in his late seventies... well done grandpa!” He shook his head in amazement, before another thought occurred to him. “So that makes her my aunt... and your sister?” He started to laugh. It was Daniel's mother's jaw's turn to fall, before she closed it and smacked Daniel's shoulder. “Daniel! It's not funny! It's – it's – stop laughing! This is a serious matter!” Daniel's laughter intensified as his mother's face turned bright red. “It's... you... she... arrgh! Get out! Shoo!” Daniel fled the kitchen, laughing at his mother's reaction. Once outside the kitchen, his composure quickly returned. Well. I've got to give it to the old man – I can't believe it! “Daniel, go find Rose upstairs! She'll let you know where you'll be sleeping! Then help her get the rooms sorted out, and get changed into something formal before the body comes at around five!” Daniel's mother called after him. “Alright!” And hopefully aunt Rose can give me more details...
  7. [If this belongs somewhere else, please let me know. I want to follow correct protocols] Hi everyone! I am looking for someone to RP with online only. I have Kik, Discord, the forum, all kinds of ways. I am IRL in a relationship and looking for someone to help me let my little side run wild online. Looking for someone to RP as a Caretaker, Mommy, Daddy, so that I can RP as an Infant. I'm up for any scenario, just PM me if interested.
  8. Before I start this roleplay I shall state some rules and requirements. I want a roleplay partner of my tier, not someone who already has trouble writing two lines. To truly give the both of us maximal immersion, we will both have to be competent and passionate. Rules: 1. No one/two/three-liners. I expect at least a proper amount of text. This means of course that I in the first place also have to supply you with enough material to produce a reply of similar volume. 2. No controlling my character. I've had people before who thought they could decide what my character feels for some reason. Don't do that. Whatever ideas you have, they'll surely have their time in our roleplay. And you can always tell me out of character that you have an exciting idea for which I require a little bit of your guidance.  3. Please do not use bad grammar. This includes words such as 'u', 'ur', et cetera. I just cannot stand how some people on here seem to fail at even implementing the basics of grammar. It's really not hard and will significantly improve your performance. This of course excludes typo's and other accidental grammatical mistakes. I'm not THAT horrible. Roles: My character: Name: Lena Gender: female Age: 26 Species: demon Personality: very loving and sweet, strict when needed. Passionate about protecting her beloved ones Your character: Name: Y/N Gender: male (femboy/trap) Age: 18 Personality: very submissive, a bit lewd and constantly desires for attention Basically I want to you get the personality part right. If you can be a clingy but submissive baby boy, I shall be your loving and protective mommy. Aside from that it now is time for the starter. I'll keep it rather short. Starter: 'Honey, it's time to wake up!' Standing next to a rather big crib, I look down onto into the sleepy eyes of my beloved son. After a long night's rest it was time for you to get out of bed, like usually. The thing is that you need my help with that, as you're not only tucked in nicely but also not permitted to get out of bed by yourself. This is because we are in a caregiver relationship, in which you are my little and I am your mommy. I have dedicated myself to making sure you'll always be loved and pampered, in exchange for you giving up your life as a big boy. As usually I am met with a happy smile, followed by a big yawn. You're just too adorable, it makes my heart melt. I reach down, patting your head. 'Hey sweetheart, it's time to get out of bed. Did you keep your diaper clean this night? Or has my little baby made a stinky again?' You then... As I already said, it's a rather short and simple starter. But I want all the effort to go into the roleplay and not get too busy by making this starter way too big as usually would happen to me. If there are any questions or requests you have left, don't be afraid to ask them.
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