[Preston] From Jo to Joella (Ch. 36 added 8/27/20)

[Sarah Penguin]

[CynthiaCM]

1 hour ago, Sarah Penguin said:

Thanks.

[CynthiaCM]

CHAPTER 17

There was dead silence after Mom and Dad left the house. You could hear a pin drop, as the old cliche goes. For me, it was an uneasy silence. For Megan, it was… something else. As soon as we heard their car leave the driveway, the realization that I was completely alone with Megan. My aunt and uncle headed out before I even woke up, so they couldn’t save me from what was to come. As wimpy as it makes me sound, I was terrified. Yes, Megan was younger than me, but she was bigger than I was and, more importantly, stronger. That, of course, made it all the more pathetic. What kind of bad-ass tomboy was I when I was practically shaking in my boots just because I was left with my little sister in charge? She had been placed in charge of me many times before, but this was different. Holy shit, was it different! 

For one thing, our parents officially flipped our roles on us. She was now the older sister, while I was very much the “baby” sister. This was made abundantly clear, much to my eternal chagrin. For another thing, she wasn’t really given permission to punish me back then, unless I became physical with her (which only happened once because it ended in my abject humiliation!). And for the final thing, she was extremely pissed at me.

“So,” she started, letting the word linger in the air for a few seconds for dramatic effect, “let’s get some things straight. YOU are the baby and I’M the big sister. What I say goes and if you step out of line, I will not hesitate to punish you. That’s your warning and I hope like hell you choose to ignore it and act like a brat. Pleeeeease give me a reason to spank your ass.”

“What is your problem, Megan? I get that you didn’t want to move here any more than I did, but can’t you just be a decent human being for once?”

That incensed her. I could tell by the intense look in her eyes and her flared nostrils. “Decent human being? You want to lecture ME about being a decent human being? This whole thing — ALL OF IT — is YOUR fault. I didn’t do anything to deserve having to come to this damn town and be owned for the rest of my goddamn life, Joella! We’re here because YOU couldn’t refrain from rebelling for the sake of rebelling! We’re here because YOU had to go out and get hammered and do stupid shit over and over again! You wouldn’t stop, no matter what Mom and dad did! It got worse and worse until they ran out of options! And now? Now we’re HERE! This is on YOU! YOU are the reason I’M being punished!”

What she said wasn’t untrue, as much as it pained me to realize it. I just stood there, looking blankly at her. I mean, what COULD I say? 

Finally, I muttered, “Sorry.” It didn’t seem sincere. Hell, it probably WASN’T sincere.

“Yeah, well you SHOULD be fucking sorry! The whole world revolves around Joella! It always has and it always will, at least in Mom and dad’s eyes.”

“That’s not true,” I countered with a little fire in my voice. 

“ISN’T it??” she fired back. “Do you know how many times I wanted to go to Charice’s house or to Lydia’s house but was told ‘no’ because I had to babysit you and make sure you didn’t go out and get fucked up or get arrested? A LOT, that’s how many! I have never been able to have a normal teenage life because I was busy keeping track of you! And do you know how much pressure that put on me? When you still managed to do stupid shit while in my care, it became MY fault. ‘You should have kept a closer eye on your sister, Megan’, they’d say or, ‘Weren’t you watching her like you were supposed to?’ That’s a lot of responsibility to put on a thirteen-year-old. They knew I was extra mature for my age, so they gave me extra responsibility. I get it, but it’s fucking sad that I couldn’t have had a normal older sister. You know, one who could look after ME, the way older sisters are supposed to do. But, no, you chose to be a goddamn delinquent instead and it really, really sucked!”

I never thought of it that way. I never saw it from her perspective. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

“Good! I want you to cry. I WANT you to feel bad for messing up my life. Does that mean I’m not a decent human being? I don’t know, but right now, I don’t give a shit!”  

I felt legitimately bad. “I’m sorry.” I meant it this time. 

“I certainly fucking hope so, Joella, but make no mistake. I’m going to spend a good long while savoring this baby treatment. I’m going to savor it like a fine wine. And I’m going to be that little voice that whispers into Mom and Dad’s ear. Want to know what I’ll be whispering?”

Sniffling a bit, I said, “I think I can imagine what it’ll be.”

She looked at me with an intensity that made me shiver. “That’s right. I will be influencing them to increase your baby treatment in ways that will cause you so much humiliation and so much distress. You’ve never really seen my creative side or even my sadistic side, but, baby sister, you’re about to see BOTH of those sides rolled into one. And I promise you, you’ll wish you had never screwed up my life.”

“I said I’m sorry.” I was bawling my eyes out by that point, partly out of regret for being such a bad person and partly out of terror. I had never seen my sister this way.

Megan’s voice transitioned back into her normal — less scary — tone. “Now, back to getting some things straight.”

Megan was startlingly cunning. She turned me into a weeping child before giving me the lowdown of how it was going to go when she was left in charge. I probably would have resisted, or at least backtalked prior to her enraged tirade. But now? Not so much.

She continued. “When you are alone with me, there will be some of my own rules in effect. And don’t worry, I plan to get Mom and Dad on board with this as well, so that these rules will be in place 24/7. After all, that booklet stated that the man who is in charge gets to create the rules of the house as long as nothing contradicts the official laws.”

“What rules are you adding?”

“Don’t interrupt,” she said sternly before clearing her throat and continuing. “To start with, you will always call me ‘Big Sissy’, because I want you to always be reminded of who the older sister REALLY is. Besides, it’ll be official soon anyway. Mom and dad are going to the city office to fill out your paperwork before they go shopping. So in a matter of maybe an hour or two, you will, by law, be my baby sister. So, you may as well get used to it.”

I could do nothing but cry and look at the floor.

“Also,” she carried on, not giving me a chance to recover, “you are never to mention the state of your diaper. I’ll check you regularly and decide if I want you to be changed or not. Spoiler alert: expect to spend a lot of time in wet and messy diapers while I’m babysitting you.”

I was going to interject on that one, but she cut me off before I could.

“Furthermore, as soon as you mess your diaper and I detect it, you will spend some time straddling my knee like a cute little baby sister.”

“But…” I said meekly. Again, she cut me off.

“If my babysitting shift is longer than about two hours, you will HAVE to mess your diaper before the shift is over. Failure to do so will result in some very, very, VERY bad things for you. Believe me when I say that you do NOT want to test that.”

“But what if i don’t have to poop?”

Megan shrugged, “You’d better figure something out. Eat some fiber, push hard… whatever you have to do, because there will be no exceptions. Plus, the earlier in my shift you do it, the easier I’ll go on you.”

“And last but not least is my blanket rule: you do whatever I say, no matter how painful or embarrassing it is. If you obey all these rules, everything will go fine. Do you understand?”

Still looking at the floor, I mumbled, “Yeah.”

That apparently didn’t satisfy her. “Excuse me? Are we going to start this thing off on a bad foot? I think I made it pretty goddamn clear as to how you are supposed to address me. Now… do… you… understand?”

“Yes…” I started, but paused because saying it would be the first time I ever acknowledged her new status as my older sibling.

“Yes, WHAT?” she demanded.

“Yes.... Big Sissy.” Saying it felt like my soul was set on fire.

“Good girl. Now come give Big Sissy a hug.”

I slowly made my way toward her, my diaper rustling with each step. She reached her arms out toward me just as an adult would do to get a toddler to hug them. With no will to fight left in me, I halfheartedly moved into her embrace. I had never felt so small, so insignificant. My sister wore clothes any fifteen year old might wear, while I was still dressed in the awful onesie with teddy bears that Mom made me sleep in the night before. Between that and the big difference in our size, there was no doubt who was the big sister… and who was the baby sister.

It was during the hug that I felt a roiling sensation in my stomach. It was the very same feeling I experienced in the car, on the way to Preston. Dread washed over me as I had to come to terms with the fact that I had to poop.

“I heard that rumble in your belly, baby girl, and I know exactly what it means. You’d better not try to hold it… unless you want to be in big, big trouble.”

Our parents hadn’t been gone more than fifteen minutes and I already had to move my bowels. Megan said that I could expect to spend a lot of time in messy diapers when she was babysitting, so this didn’t bode well for me.

“Come on, baby, make a poopy in your diaper for Big Sissy,” she said in that same obnoxious voice that Mom used when trying to emphasize my new position in the family. 

How could life possibly get any worse? Damn, I probably shouldn’t have asked that.
 

[ppbenn]

Damn! Megan just laid down th law for Jo. This does not bode well for the heroine at all. Greta chapter. I'm looking forward to reading more soon. 

[CynthiaCM]

25 minutes ago, ppbenn said:

Damn! Megan just laid down th law for Jo. This does not bode well for the heroine at all. Greta chapter. I'm looking forward to reading more soon. 

Yes, she certainly did. She kind of has Jo right where she wants her: helpless and baby-fied. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

[D503]

8 hours ago, CynthiaCM said:

I appreciate the kind words.

No, "Diapee" is a cutesy babyish version of the word, sometimes used when adults talk down to babies. "Diaper is pronounced "Die-purr", rhyming with "Skyper".

? Indeed, but does the Lexicon have a typo? "There’s even a two-page “Babytalk Lexicon” (their words, not mine) that gives suggestions for words and phrases suitable for Little Ones. “Bottle: Baba”, “Diaper: Diaper”, “Hungry: Hungee”. You get the idea.  "

(BTW another great chapter).

[Sarah Penguin]

Hmm.  Poor megan

[CynthiaCM]

34 minutes ago, D503 said:

? Indeed, but does the Lexicon have a typo? "There’s even a two-page “Babytalk Lexicon” (their words, not mine) that gives suggestions for words and phrases suitable for Little Ones. “Bottle: Baba”, “Diaper: Diaper”, “Hungry: Hungee”. You get the idea.  "

(BTW another great chapter).

Ah, I see. Stupid typo. LOL! I fixed it.

Thanks for the kind words. 

32 minutes ago, Sarah Penguin said:

Hmm.  Poor megan

It's kind of hard not to feel for her, if I'm being honest.

[RoboNarples]

3 hours ago, CynthiaCM said:

It's kind of hard not to feel for her, if I'm being honest.

Actually, it's quite easy. Fuck that little shit, I hate her even more than I already did.

[WBDaddy]

52 minutes ago, RoboNarples said:

Actually, it's quite easy. Fuck that little shit, I hate her even more than I already did.

 

Nah, being put in a weird situation, in charge of your older sister, then your parents deciding to ruin YOUR life in order to "fix" her, yeah, that'd make me pretty ballistic too.  

Is she handling it well?  No, probably not.  But it kind of illustrates that there really aren't any "heroes" in this story...

[RoboNarples]

19 minutes ago, WBDaddy said:

Nah, being put in a weird situation, in charge of your older sister, then your parents deciding to ruin YOUR life in order to "fix" her, yeah, that'd make me pretty ballistic too.

She can justify her need for petty revenge all she likes, it excuses nothing.

[CynthiaCM]

I'm actually quite happy that the story is a bit polarizing. I see both sides of it and fall somewhere in the middle, probably a bit closer to WBDaddy. I would feel much the same way as Megan if I was in her shoes... buuuuuut, as WBDaddy pointed out, she's not handling it well whatsoever. Angry 15 year olds can be pretty vile... admittedly some (such as Megan) more than others.

 

[RoboNarples]

20 minutes ago, CynthiaCM said:

I'm actually quite happy that the story is a bit polarizing. I see both sides of it and fall somewhere in the middle, probably a bit closer to WBDaddy. I would feel much the same way as Megan if I was in her shoes... buuuuuut, as WBDaddy pointed out, she's not handling it well whatsoever. Angry 15 year olds can be pretty vile... admittedly some (such as Megan) more than others.

 

At least tell me that she's going to wake up and turn her ire towards her parents, who are the real reason they're in this town at all.

If not, I'd settle for Jo knocking her the fuck out when her back's turned! 

[CynthiaCM]

1 hour ago, RoboNarples said:

At least tell me that she's going to wake up and turn her ire towards her parents, who are the real reason they're in this town at all.

If not, I'd settle for Jo knocking her the fuck out when her back's turned! 

LOL! I can't give spoilers, but I like the way you think.

[CynthiaCM]

CHAPTER 18

I could have held it for quite some time. Hours maybe. Like I’ve said before, I was blessed with great bowel control. The problem was that Megan knew I had to go and if I purposely held it back, I’d be in deep trouble with her. If only I hadn’t been so close to her that she overheard by stomach making noises! Nothing ever got past her.

She could see that I was in turmoil over the decision I was faced with. She smiled evilly, just like a cartoon villain. She was relishing every second of this.

“Well, little sister,” Megan said, “are you going to obey me or are you going to see what happens when you defy me? I win either way.”

I said nothing, because I hadn’t decided yet. My brain was working as fast as it could to find a solution. But no matter what, it all came down to one of two choices: get it over with and poop myself now or risk blatantly disobeying my sister.

I chose the former. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

I started to waddle off so I could at least have some privacy.

“Oh no you don’t,” Megan said, pulling me back by the rear of my onesie. “You’re not going to slink off and mess yourself without me enjoying your misery. No, no, no. You’re going to stand right here in front of me and do it… and you’re going to look me in the eyes the whole time.”

“Why do I have to look at you?” I whined.

“Because I want to see your every expression as you defecate into your baby diaper. This is payback for ruining my life. I thought we went over that already.”

I stood before her like a helpless child, trying to release the contents of my bowels. I had to go. Quite badly, actually. But doing so while my sister stared at me made it all but impossible. In spite of her orders, I kept my eyes averted, until she sternly ordered me to look at her. I hesitantly did as I was told, which did nothing to help me accomplish my dubious task of sullying my diaper with feces. Looking at her grinning face made it so much harder. I didn’t want to grunt, nor did I want to crouch. That would’ve given her too much satisfaction. But, try as I might, I just couldn’t poop. 

“Squat down a little bit, baby girl. That’ll make it easier.”

My eyes filled up with tears as I complied. I had told myself I wouldn’t crouch down like that, yet as soon as she ordered me to, I wasted no time obeying. Why was I so scared of her? How pathetic was that?

Bending my knees did seem to help, though, as I could feel the poop coming closer to the exit point. I must have been a woeful sight, a nearly-grown woman crouched down in front of her younger sister, desperately attempting to unleash a stinky load into her diaper while being made to look her in the face. This is what I had been reduced to. 

“Come on, little Joella. You can do it.” Her encouraging words weren’t of any comfort, I assure you.

With an involuntary grunting noise or two, I felt the poop leaving my butthole and slamming into the resistance that was the diaper. Damn it! I said I didn’t want to crouch or grunt and now I had done both of them. Worse still, my sister smiled when I did it and commented about my grunt being adorable.

The rest came easy. As the first bit made its way into the diaper, there was no stopping the poop train. It felt like a snake slithering out, coiling as it did so. Somehow, that was more disgusting than it coming out smooshed like it did when I was in the carseat. It was very solid and utterly disgusting!

Finally, the “snake” came to an end and I was left standing there, still looking Megan in the eyes while a truly solid mass that hadn’t been smashed into ooze rested in the seat of my diaper. She was thoroughly pleased by it; by ALL of this. Suddenly, I just burst into tears. It was all just too much for me to handle. I was defeated soundly by my revenge-minded little sister and there was no way to deny it or to roll with the punches. 

Just when I thought the worst was over, Megan gave me a reality check. “Remember my rule about what you’re supposed to do after I’ve noticed that you have a messy diaper?”

I was still sobbing, but managed to squeak out a quick “no” in between the heaving sobs.

“I’ll refresh your memory then. As soon as I have acknowledged your poopy state, you are to straddle my knee.”

“P-please don’t m-make me.”

She wasn’t budging. “Get over here,” she said, patting her knee.

One step. Two steps. Finally three steps. I wasn’t that far away from where she was sitting on the couch, so that was all it took. I hated carrying the snake-like mass in my diaper. It felt so strange and gross everytime I moved even a little.

Having no other choice, I slowly lifted my right leg up, so that I could drape it over the thigh. It was then that I felt the mass start to squish due to the diaper having extra tension placed on it. Yuck! But that was merely a small taste of what came next. With my left leg, I hopped to get up onto her knee and as soon as my butt landed, the feces went “splat”, all over my diaper area. I wanted to hurl! The smell became more intense at that point too.

“Good girl,” Megan said in a praising fashion, even though it wasn’t intended to make me feel good. I immediately wished that I had mounted her knee facing outward though, as I found myself looking right at her. I tried to look away, but she cupped my chin with her hand and physically forced me to continue looking at her.

“By the time I’m done, that mess is going to be all over you down there.” With that, she began bouncing me on her knee, playing “giddyup horsey”, complete with horse noises. The intention was to humiliate me… and it worked. The tears came faster now, as did the sobbing. With each bounce of her knee, the poop found new places to creep into. Megan then grabbed me around the waist with both hands — one on either side — and started grinding me into her knee further, even moving me back and forth a little as well. This caused some of the mess to go up into my vagina!

After about five minutes of this, Megan grew bored with the game and told me to get up. I obeyed.

“Time to go watch cartoons now,” she announced as if nothing traumatizing just occurred. Just business as normal. That’s easy for her to think. She wasn’t the one with feces literally gluing the inner surface of the diaper to her skin! I tried pulling the diaper away from the flesh, but she scolded me for “messing with the diaper”. 

With the diaper still stuck to my skin, I followed her into her bedroom. Megan’s room had already been arranged to her specification. The bed’s headboard was up against the south wall. At the foot of the bed was about a 4-foot space and along the north wall was her entertainment center, atop of which set her 43-inch television. 

“Up on the bed, baby,” she ordered before hoisting me up there herself. It made no sense to even say it if she was going to place me there to begin with. Then again, nothing around here made sense, so it was par for the course.

I laid on my stomach to avoid having to smoosh the feces around further. To my surprise, she didn’t correct me. She turned on the TV and quickly found a mind-numbingly childish cartoon for me to watch. The only cartoons I enjoy are the adult-oriented anime stuff. You know, blood, gore, sexual situations and all the other good stuff. However, I wasn’t about to argue with her. Watching this puerile crap was at least a break from her acts of cruelty, so I decided I’d suck it up and watch it.

She sat on the bed beside me and was doing who-knows-what on her phone. Good. As long as her attention was on that, she would be able to harass me. 

I spent the next two hours watching cartoons while my butt got itchier and the mass in the diaper became clammier. I dared not complain, though, because I remembered the rule about never mentioning the state of my diaper. I didn’t want to incur her wrath again.

It was Megan who broke the silence. “I’ve been texting Mom and Dad. They wrapped up the paperwork for your age change. You, my baby sister, are officially two years old and will continue to turn two years old with each passing birthday. Isn’t that wonderful?” She couldn’t even stifle her laughter.

Yeah. Wonderful.

Two years old?? I figured they would have gone with something like five or six. But TWO?? I guess I should have figured as much, what with the diapers and frilly baby dresses and all. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. I don’t know. What I DID know was that I was NOT happy about it. Not that I had any say in the matter, mind you, but I was not happy regardless. The worst part was that I would never advance in age and eventually get to be a “big girl”. No, I was to be stuck in full-on fucking babyhood for the rest of my miserable life.

“Oh,” Megan added as an afterthought, “and wait ‘til you hear the big news Mom and Dad are going to give you when they get home. You’re going to shit!”

She paused and then smiled. “Oh, wait… you already DID shit.” Her laughter echoed through my head as I pondered what this big news could possibly be. Life really, really sucked.
 

[Sarah Penguin]

[BabySofia]

I'm guessing she's not going to be able to do anything but nurse at that comment... Not surprised that they aren't going to let her age, I am a little bit surprised they went that 'old' with her though!

[Sarah Penguin]

10 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

I'm guessing she's not going to be able to do anything but nurse at that comment... Not surprised that they aren't going to let her age, I am a little bit surprised they went that 'old' with her though!

Yeah kind of surprised about her being 2 as well but if she tries to run away again she can get demoted to  crawler or being a newborn which seems kind of inevitable.  Also thinking she's going to nurse.

[D503]

Wow, Megan mustn't mind the smell for the payoff... maybe she's starting a nice little photo or video diary.

Hmmm... I wonder if an orgasm or a breast milk decision. I kinda hope for a two year old she gets "yummy" baby food.

[kerry]

Joella is definitely in deep shit (pun intended) here. As a rational and compassionate human being, I keep hoping that, when all of this is finally over, she escapes this twisted world. Unlike some, I have compassion for Megan as well: she's a fifteen-year-old girl, just starting to assert some personal independence and think about her future, and suddenly—because of her older sister's actions—she is forced to move to a place where her best-case scenario would be to be a loved wife owned by her husband. No wonder she'd pissed off. And she's too immature to place the blame where it lies—her father—so, like a wronged child, she takes it all out on her sister, whom she reasonably (given her parents' actions and statements) perceives to be at fault. At some point, I still hope that she will grow so sick of her own treatment that she turns her attention to escape...and perhaps takes Jo with her.

[CynthiaCM]

15 hours ago, BabySofia said:

I'm guessing she's not going to be able to do anything but nurse at that comment... Not surprised that they aren't going to let her age, I am a little bit surprised they went that 'old' with her though!

 

15 hours ago, Sarah Penguin said:

Yeah kind of surprised about her being 2 as well but if she tries to run away again she can get demoted to  crawler or being a newborn which seems kind of inevitable.  Also thinking she's going to nurse.

Originally, I was going to have them make her younger. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that two was the age they would have chosen.

7 hours ago, D503 said:

Wow, Megan mustn't mind the smell for the payoff... maybe she's starting a nice little photo or video diary.

Hmmm... I wonder if an orgasm or a breast milk decision. I kinda hope for a two year old she gets "yummy" baby food

The smell, in her mind, is a minor inconvenience to her in her misplaced aggression-fueled revenge scheme. As for the other stuff, you'll have to wait and see.

4 hours ago, kerry said:

Joella is definitely in deep shit (pun intended) here. As a rational and compassionate human being, I keep hoping that, when all of this is finally over, she escapes this twisted world. Unlike some, I have compassion for Megan as well: she's a fifteen-year-old girl, just starting to assert some personal independence and think about her future, and suddenly—because of her older sister's actions—she is forced to move to a place where her best-case scenario would be to be a loved wife owned by her husband. No wonder she'd pissed off. And she's too immature to place the blame where it lies—her father—so, like a wronged child, she takes it all out on her sister, whom she reasonably (given her parents' actions and statements) perceives to be at fault. At some point, I still hope that she will grow so sick of her own treatment that she turns her attention to escape...and perhaps takes Jo with her.

Very astute observations. Thank you. Your opinion on Megan mirrors my own. She's completely wrong for what she;s doing, but she has all this rage and has no idea where to go with it. It's easy for us to forget what being 15 is like. When I was about that age, I started many physical fights with people as a way to channel the rage I felt because I was living in a small Midwest town in the 1980s where I was unable to come out as being transgendered. I projected my pain that way and, to this day, it makes me sick to my stomach that I did that. At the time, I lacked the maturity to grasp WHY I was doing it. But when I was able to live as my true self at the age of 20, that anger went away like magic. It didn't take me long after that to put two and two together. So that's where I'm drawing my inspiration from when I write Megan. I understand her pain and anger even though I know she's handling it as poorly as I did.

[WBDaddy]

I'm kinda confused by the number of people thinking somehow that age 2 means baby food and breastfeeding.   

My son was done breastfeeding (and bottle feeding) by 12 months and 100% table food by 16 months.  

[BabySofia]

10 minutes ago, WBDaddy said:

I'm kinda confused by the number of people thinking somehow that age 2 means baby food and breastfeeding.   

My son was done breastfeeding (and bottle feeding) by 12 months and 100% table food by 16 months.  

I'm cluing into that just based off of the intro text she read through. It sounded like in this version it was either breastmilk, or breastmilk and baby food... I read through the original tale this afternoon and saw that normal table foods were allowed if the parents wished. 

Gut feeling... Her mom is kind of psycho, she's going to choose the breastmilk option. Not because it's age appropriate, but it makes her happy to have her 'baby' back.

[RoboNarples]

11 hours ago, kerry said:

Unlike some, I have compassion for Megan as well

Hey, I would too, if she would get it into her thick skull that Jo is just as much a victim as she is and actually fight the real enemy here.

But she hasn't (not yet, at least), so she and their parents can go fuck themselves with a cactus.

[CynthiaCM]

CHAPTER 19

I was never more thankful that Megan was a phone addict than I was that day. She was either texting or talking to her friends for hours. During that time, she had completely forgotten about me. For my part, I did nothing to change that. I didn’t even mention it when I had to pee. I just went in the diaper, so as to not upset her. 

All good things come to an end, however, and this was no exception.

“I’m going to get some food for your little belly,” she said to me, “but I have one more call to make first.” The way she overemphasized “one more call” gave me pause. That was her I’m-getting-ready-to-fuck-up-your-day voice. I had heard it a thousand times before. This time was different, though, because she wielded great power over me now.

“Hey there, Charice,” I heard her say.

Shit! I knew where this was headed. Age-wise, Charice was right in between my age and Megan’s age. In fact, she started out as MY friend. Eventually, she tried hanging out with both of us, but Megan’s need for control kicked in and the next thing I knew, I was kind of left in the dust. Charice was always friendly with me and never treated me rudely or anything like that. But it was clear whose company she preferred. Not that I blame her, really. Charice was academically inclined, steered clear of trouble and obeyed her mom’s rules. So she had a lot more in common with Megan. 

“Remember how I told you about all the stuff with Joella and how we’re making her a baby?” 

I couldn’t hear Charice’s response, but it clearly wasn’t what Megan was hoping for, because she obstinately explained, “It is NOT!”

More speaking from Charice, followed by my sister saying, “Considering all she has put me through, she deserves everything she’s getting. I don’t care WHAT you say. Besides, she looks so fucking cute… and Mom and Dad haven’t even come home with all her super baby-ish clothes yet. But I did get her a super adorable baby dress for her and she had to wear it to the steak house. It was great.”

There was a pause, “No, I’m not!” She then laughed and said, “Here, let me put you on video chat so you can see her.”

I buried my face in the bed, not wanting to see her reaction to me dressed in that ridiculous onesie. 

“See? Isn’t she precious?”

At least I could hear Charice now. “Oh my god!” she said. “That’s just mean as hell.”

“No, it’s not. She has it coming. Besides, Mom and Dad were the ones to make her dress this way. I’m just… reveling in it. But you have to admit, she looks cute like this.”

“I don’t know, man. I mean, I guess she does, but I just don’t think it’s fair to her, you know?”

“Don’t be such a goody-two-shoes,” my sister said, ribbing her.

“Okay, yes, she looks cute, okay? But I’m not on board with all this. I know you’re pissed because of the laws in that backward-ass hillbilly one-horse town, but you gotta put most of the blame where it belongs. And I think you know where I’m talking about.”

“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about that stuff in front of the baby.”

“Don’t call her that, Meg. Be cool.” Then, she raised her voice to speak to me. “Yo, Jo, you okay? I can’t see your face.”

“I’m embarrassed,” I said, but it was muffled because my face was in the blanket.

“Don’t be embarrassed, kiddo. You can't help having to dress like that. Besides, it’s just me. I ain’t gonna make fun of you. Let me see that pretty face, huh?”

Megan started to complain that Charice was being too nice to me, but Charice shut her down. “You wanted me to see her, so I’m seeing her.”

I reluctantly lifted my face and looked at the phone. My eyes were still a little puffy from bawling earlier and my cheeks were beet red.

“That’s better,” Charice said with a genuine smile, “How about a smile?”

I mustered one up, but it was forced. I didn’t really have anything to smile about. At least Charice was being cool.

“Yeah, much better. Look, I know all this shit sucks balls. But don’t lose your smile, okay? Hang in there and do what you gotta do to get by. And if you ever need someone to talk to…”

Before she could finish, Megan took it off video chat and said, "Jesus, Charice, you’re supposed to be on MY side. I gotta go.” With that, she hung up.

“Come on, you little brat. Let’s get you some food.” She picked me up off the bed, making extra sure to smoosh the foul contents of my diaper with the palm of her hand. She was not happy with how that went. Not even a little. And when she gets grumpy, the world had better watch out.

Once we got to the dining room, she plunked me down in one of the hardwood chairs that surrounded the table. The mess spread even more. I don’t think there was an inch of skin in my whole diaper area that wasn’t covered in filth.

“Wait here,” she ordered before stomping off into the kitchen.

I was actually glad that Charice got to see me like this. She made me feel slightly better about my situation. Slightly. I should have known she would never be cruel to me the way Megan has. Thinking about how supportive she was gave me a little inner peace somehow. I can’t really explain it, but it did. I didn’t feel so alone, as dumb as that sounds… like I had someone in my corner.

Megan placed a plate with a turkey sandwich in front of me as well as a baby bottle full of milk. “Bon Appétit,” she said with a tinge of venom.

I had never drank from a baby bottle before. At least not since I was an actual baby. It felt weird. I had to lift my head up further than I normally would and it wasn’t easy getting very much liquid at a time, due to the tiny hole in the nipple. I got the hang of it pretty quickly, though.

I made my way through the half-assed meal while Megan was texting. 

“Mom and Dad will be home in a little while, so I need to get you out of your messy diaper, even though I think you should spend the rest of the night in it.”