Foxglove Lee - Embarrassing Period Stories: Twenty Totally Awkward Tales of Preteens and Periods

Embarrassing Period Stories 2016 by Foxglove Lee

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Cover design 2016 Foxglove Lee

Embarrassing Period Stories/ by Foxglove Lee. 1st ed.

Summary: We get them at school. We get them on vacation. We get them at dance recitals and piano lessons, at theme parks and on tennis courts, during pool parties and volleyball games and math tests. We get our periods at the worst possible moments, but at least weve got funny stories to tell. In this inclusive book, youll find twenty embarrassing period stories as hilarious as they are mortifying. If youve ever felt humiliated by leaks and layers and secrets and stains, feel free to laugh along!

[1. Juvenile Nonfiction / Health & Daily Living / Maturing. 2. Juvenile Nonfiction / Health & Daily Living / Personal Hygiene. 3. Juvenile Nonfiction / Humor / General.]

Embarrassing Period Stories

Twenty Totally Awkward Tales of Preteens and Their Periods

Foxglove Lee, Editor

School Stories

Volleyball Pad Fail

Joselin T.

I n sixth grade I made the cut for the school volleyball team, but only just. I was technically second string, but more like a substitute. There were a lot of games when I spent the whole time on the bench.

Periods were fairly new to me and they werent yet regular, so when I left for school that morning I wasnt expecting to get it. At first I thought it would just be light, because my first day was usually very light, but it got heavier throughout the day. All I had in my bag was a panty liner. By the end of the day I knew I had to change it. The problem was that my sixth grade was in an elementary school that didnt have tampon and pad dispensers.

After school, my team had a volleyball game. I just wanted to go home, but I was afraid the coach would cut me if I did. It was an away game, so parent volunteers drove us to the school we were competing against. Fortunately that school went up to eighth grade. Their restrooms had pad dispensers, so I bought one.

I was expecting to get the kind of pad I usually used: absorbent but thin, with wings. Thats not what came out. I got one pad in a cardboard box. Id never seen anything like it. It was more like a pillow than a pad. It was huge, and it didnt have wings at all.

When I pulled off the backing and stuck it to my underwear, it started peeling off right away. It must have been old, because it had lost a lot of stickiness.

So great, Im wearing a pad as thick as a pillow with no wings and its barely sticking to my undies and now Im supposed to play volleyball?

And our uniform was a red top and white shorts! Whose bright idea was that? Why couldnt it have been red shorts and a white top? Why???

I was the weakest player on the team and I was hardly ever called on to play. My hope was that the coach wouldnt put me in the game. Still, I had to participate in warm-ups with everyone else. I did a really bad job for two reasons: a) so the coach would think I was too terrible to play, and b) because I could feel my pad shifting around in my undies every time I moved.

There were a lot of really strong players on my team. We were beating the other school by a huge margin, so the coach figured shed give me a chance. Any other day I would have been so happy. Not that day! As soon as I stood up from the bench, a huge gush of blood spilled onto my pad.

Once I got on the court I didnt know which would be worse: to play really badly or risk my pad shifting so much that Id leak through my white shorts.

I stood with my legs together even though my coach kept calling at me to keep them apart. I kept my movements minimal, hoping my coach would take me out. The other team must have noticed I wasnt as good as my teammates, because suddenly the ball kept coming right at me.

The other team wasnt the best, so when the ball came my way I was actually able to bump it back pretty easily. The ball went back and forth from them to me, and I kept bumping it over the net.

For one bump, I bent a little lower than usual and stretched way out in front. Suddenly I heard snickers from the bench, and then giggles in the stands. There was more laughing from the other team, then from my own team too.

My ears started ringing. I knew what had happened: my worst fears had come true. Id leaked through my shorts.

But how could everyone see? There was nobody behind me.

Then I thought: oh no, I must have leaked down my legs. Thats the only way theyd all be able to see it. I tried to be subtle as I looked down, but I couldnt see any blood.

I arched around see my backside, and thats when I spotted it: my wingless pillow pad had fallen out of my underwear. It was flat on the gym floor like a big bloody diaper.

For a few seconds, I actually thought I was going to die. I really believed I would drop dead on the volleyball court. My ears were ringing so loudly I literally couldnt hear anything else.

As soon as my legs would move, I rushed out of the gym and spent the rest of the game in the bathroom. My coach came and found me after. I guess it was obvious where I would run to after losing my pad. All she said to me was: Come on. Its time to go.

When we got back to our school my mom was there to pick me up and my coach told her what happened and said maybe she and I should have a talk. Thanks, coach.

* * * * *

One Time at Band Practice

Iris C.

W hen I was thirteen I was big-time into conservation and the environment. My mom had bought me these maxi pads that were really long, and I noticed that my period only got in the middle of the pad, not all the way to the ends. So I thought: heres a clever idea, Ill cut the pad apart with scissors. That way I could use the middle part one time, and then when it was time to change pads I could use the two ends.

Of course, when I stuck the ends into my underwear, there was a line in the middle where blood could get through. So I overlapped the middle part. Problem solved!

That day I had band practice before school. I was wearing my favourite green jeans and my knitted purple and green sweater. I sat on my stool in the band room and took out my trumpet. I was always one of the first kids there, since my carpool got me to school extra early, so I was sitting on the stool for a while.

Band practice was going okay, but I noticed that when I blew my trumpet, I could feel my period coming out, just like if you sneeze or blow your nose more comes out than usual. I sure was glad Id overlapped those pads, because I knew I was bleeding a lot.