✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

49. One Step Forward

Tess sprang out of bed at the first screech from her alarm clock, and immediately checked her diaper. It was dry! She'd done it, solved the most embarrassing problem ever. Now there was nothing to stop her; she would excel in school without worries, and sooner or later she would be able to grow up again, back to being taller than most of her friends. It was one little victory, she told herself, but it was the first step on a long path to being accepted as an adult. She would get there eventually, no matter how many short steps it took.

She pulled on her uniform quickly, but a weird impulse from the back of her mind stopped her changing her underwear just yet. Waking up in a dry diaper was her proof that the hypnosis had really helped; and she wanted to be reminded of that for as long as possible. She was going to take if off anyway after breakfast, of course. But right now the big-girl underwear with the smiling face of Ariel was her little treat to herself, a reminder that she had made it today.

"Morning, baby!" Gabby called as soon as Tess stepped off the stairs. And for once, she was too cheerful to explode at the provocation. "How many pancakes do you want?"

"Two. And I'm not a baby. I didn't wet my diaper today."

"Well, I guess you're growing up then. You think the hypnosis worked? You sure seem happy about it."

"Yeah. I..." Tess thought for a second, and started to realise how strange that was. She'd woken up with a dry diaper dozens of times since she was forced to start wearing them again. And she'd told herself endless times that they weren't really diapers. So why was today any different? She didn't wet the bed most nights anyway, so there was no proof that she would have done so even without the hypnosis. It was too early to declare it a success yet. And then the realisation struck.

"She told me I'd feel proud of it," she said. "Attaching an emotional response to a suggestion makes it easier for your subconscious to understand. And I guess my subconscious thinks that being proud of a dry diaper is a childish thing, so I get excited in the way a child does. Damn,"

"Well, if it makes it effective, I guess it's a good thing. Do you mind if I tease you about that a little? Because it'll be hard not to when you're being so freaking adorable."

Tess didn't know. But then she thought back to Gabby being a baby, and how obnoxious she'd probably been while she was acting as her cousin's big sister.

"Well," she said, "I guess I teased you a bit on Saturday. So it's probably my turn now. Do I deserve teasing?"

"Maybe a little. But for today, perhaps it would be better just to let you enjoy your pride. If you feel good about it, that always makes the hypnosis stronger. You need to feel good about it, to make the suggestions sink deeper into your mind. Or that's what I understand. So I'll let you feel good."

"Thanks," Tess mumbled, not quite sure if she should be grateful or annoyed. When she felt this good about her achievement, she didn't think she would even mind being called out on her childishness. She was quickly distracted by her breakfast, which was always a treat. By the time she'd finished eating she was feeling properly grown up, and she knew that she didn't need to think any more about it. She returned to her room, changed into big girl underwear, caught up with the overnight slew of new bumps on Clatter, gave the contents of her school bag a last minute check, and headed downstairs again.

"Want a lift to school?"

"Well, if you're going that way..."

A ride in Gabby's truck meant that Tess arrived at school a good ten minutes before she normally would, so there was no mad panic to get to her first class. On the other hand, it meant that she didn't have the normal moments of relaxation on the bus, chatting to her similarly-bored friends on Clatter. Pros and cons; there was never a perfect choice.