✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

72. Call for Help

As Tess felt her bladder start to relax, she almost cried out in frustration. But she had more self control than that. She could feel the first stream start to escape, but she was still standing between the trees, and everyone who was out so early in the morning was on their way somewhere, not loitering in the park. If she ran across to the tiny building, she would be visible to everyone driving past, but if she stayed in the tiny patch of trees she might just escape being seen.

She gave up on trying to hold it, knowing she had no chance now. Instead she grabbed the edges of her skirt to lift it out of the way, and squatted down between the trunks. They weren't big trees, mostly just birch, and when winter had stripped them of their leaves there was very little she could hide behind. But there was nobody in sight on either of the playing fields, and the cars on the little parking area now all seemed to be deserted, so there was a decent chance that nobody was looking in this direction. She was out of sight, at least as far as the passing traffic was concerned. There was nothing to hide her from view, but perhaps distance was all she needed. She knew she would need to change her socks again, but that wasn't such a big deal. After the last time this had happened, she had made sure to put a small roll of freezer bags in the bottom of her school bag. It wasn't a perfect solution, but they were plastic bags and probably leakproof. Taking a careful look around to make sure nobody was close enough to see, she sat down somewhat unsteadily on a low birch stump barely wider than her arm, and took off her shoes one by one. Her underwear and socks were bundled inside a little bag, padded with tissue paper, and then she rolled the top of the bag over and sealed it with a big clip. If she was lucky, the paper would absorb her pee, and her clothes would be dry enough to add to the regular laundry when she got home.

She had sprayed deodorant into the little bag of pee-soaked clothes as well. If any scent escaped, hopefully that would be enough to mask it. And then she reached down to the very bottom of her school bag, where the divider between two sections wasn't quite stitched on correctly, and slipped the bag inside it. Nobody would be able to find her biggest secret. And then she hesitated.

Already concealed in that same secret compartment was a last resort she would never possibly need. One of the night-time diapers, advertised as looking like real underwear, but in reality obvious even to a cursory inspection. She didn't even want to consider the possibility that she would wet herself again; but she hadn't believed that it could happen once. She balanced the danger of an accident when she couldn't hide so easily, against the embarrassment of someone discovering that she wore diapers. And there was only one answer there, as much as she wanted to deny it. These things were obviously diapers as soon as you looked at them, but she couldn't think of any situation where someone at school would be looking at her underwear anyway. And the chance of her losing control of her bladder, while incredibly low, was obviously not zero.

Tess told herself that it was okay. That it was just being sensible, and taking precautions. That there was nothing embarrassing about doing the practical thing. But no matter how much she repeated the mantra in her head, she just couldn't believe it. After a little hesitation, she left the diaper in her bag. She stood up, walking away from a puddle that was already vanishing into the ground. She could run to school now, maybe still arrive on time if she was very lucky, and nobody would ever know what had happened here.

* * *

Tess made it to school without further incident. Annette asked why she was running, but she just shrugged it off. It wouldn't be the first time she had needed to get a lift after missing the bus, and it was completely possible she could have been on the last minute for school. Thankfully she didn't see Tami again before class started; she wasn't entirely sure what excuse she had blurted out as she got off the bus, and might not be able to keep her story straight. Working something out before the journey home, just in case it was still on his mind, meant the problem could be put off until later.