Read UN-RELATED (UN-RELATED SERIES) for Free Online

nothing like them, and I didn’t want to hear him use those words. “I’m sorry. Look, I’m going to go get Brianna…or her mother…for you.”
    “No, I don’t want…just tell me. Am I going to be okay?” I asked.
    He touched my cheek and said, “Yeah, you’re fine. It’s just…it’s normal…for girls…oh, I can’t explain this to you. Trust me, it’ll be better if Brianna or her mother explains…”
    “Kellan, please, you’re my only friend. Please don’t ask a stranger to tell me what’s wrong with me,” I pleaded.
    “There’s nothing wrong with you, Abby. It’s just your period…”
    “Period?” I asked again.
    “Oh, God. Every month now…you’ll…bleed, like this.” He looked away.              
    “Every month?” I asked, not looking forward to that.
    “Yeah, I guess.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. Something about being able to have babies…or something. I don’t know. I didn’t pay that close attention in health class. But, I know you’ll have it…every month from now on…until you’re like 50 or 60 and it stops again.”
    “Why?” I pressed, confused.
    “I told you, it has to do with being a woman. Now you can get pregnant…or something like that…I don’t know, Abby. I’m not an expert on this. I’m a guy, we don’t have periods.”
    I sat down on the toilet seat and said, “So, what do I do?”
    “Nothing…it’ll stop on its own in a few days, I guess.”
    “I mean about…I mean, now? What do I do about it, now?”
    “What?”
    “It’s…gross!” I said, feeling uncomfortable wearing bloody panties and wadded up toilet paper.
    “Oh, um…I guess you need some…tampons…or something. Oh, Abby, please just let me get Brianna for you…please?” he begged. “She’ll give you what you need and then we’ll stop and buy whatever she says on the way home, okay?” he asked.
    I knew he was almost as embarrassed as I was. And, I knew I couldn’t stay in the bathroom until the bleeding stopped, so I finally nodded okay.
    He walked out of the bathroom and was gone for a few minutes. I paced the confines of the bathroom, waiting for help from the one person I really didn’t like. Finally, I heard a soft knock on the bathroom door.
    “Hi. Can I come in?” Brianna asked softly.
    “Yeah, I guess so.” I was so embarrassed, but I knew I needed help, so I stood back.              “Um, actually, why don’t we go to my bathroom, okay? Follow me.”
    I followed quietly behind her, looking down as I passed by Kellan, still mortified. She took me into her pretty sunshine yellow bathroom and told me to sit down on the edge of the bathtub. I did as she asked and sighed, waiting for words of wisdom from the girl who was stealing the only friend I had, the only person in the world I loved.
    She opened the cupboard under the sink and rummaged around for a few minutes, “I was sure I had some pads down here. I could have sworn I didn’t use them all.”
    “Pads?” I asked, finding my voice.
    “Yeah, maxi pads. I use tampons now, but I think you’ll be more comfortable using pads to start. A-ha, I found them.” She pulled a box out from under the sink and walked over to me. “This should do it. You can take them with you. I don’t use these anymore.”
    “You don’t have…periods anymore?” I asked.              
    “Oh yeah, all girls do. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s your first one, so you may not even have another one for a few months. Or, you may not be so lucky. But, once they’re regular, you’ll have a period about every 28 days and it’ll last about five days.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s Mother Nature’s curse on us girls,” she giggled.
    I wasn’t amused.
    “Look, I know you don’t like me, and I know you think I’m trying to steal Kellan from you, but I’m not. I love him. I’m not making him go to Yale. He got in because he’s so smart and he deserved it. I’m just following