As the Minutes Go By

Go!

Dear diary,

I honestly never thought I would end up using a diary, but here I am I guess. My belly hurts, my back hurts, I'm pooping a lot, and I can't stop thinking about Dakota. Mom and dad are watching me and think I don't notice right now, and it's actually kinda funny. I'm glad that they're worried, but it's also kind of annoying.

It's almost time for school to end, so Gene and Tina should be getting back soon. Gene has been acting a bit weird recently. For some reason he acts like Dakota is the worst person in the world, and he even acts like Dakota is out to get me 24/7! But I know Dakota, and he isn't like that!

Tina has been acting really supportive, which makes sense. She has to go through this stuff too. Ugh, I'm surprised she hasn't ended up losing all her blood. Wait a second.

~~~~~~

"Mom?" Louise nervously asked, using one arm to cover what she'd been writing in her journal.

"Yes, my sweet baby?" Linda cheerily replied, turning her attention from a customer to Louise.

"I'm not gonna… bleed out… am I?" Louise asked, paling at the very thought. "Like, hypothetically speaking, say I suddenly bleed so much that my heart just… stops."

"Don't worry, Louise. You won't bleed out." Bob assured through a fond chuckle. "Your body won't let you."

"And neither will we." Linda chirped. "We'll show that blood what for!"

"Oh, my God." Bob groaned.

"We're home!" Gene loudly announced as he and Tina walked into the restaurant. The duo tossed their bookbags on the floor next to the counter, ignoring Bob's exasperated sigh.

"Hello, my other babies!" Linda cheered, taking a moment to turn in the order slip for Bob before pulling Gene and Tina in for a kiss attack. She hugged them as tight as possible, only stopping when she noticed the pink paper in Tina's hands. "Oh, Tina! You got detention?"

"Really? Why?" Louise asked, both proud and upset by the fact. The proud portion was completely expected, as Louise always loved hearing incidents when her older siblings would get in trouble. The upset portion was new, one that Louise refused to look into for fear that she would likely start brooding like some angsty teen.

"It's not a detention letter, it's a letter from Mr. Frond that's calling for a mandatory meeting between us and the Madenheims." Gene muttered, sitting across from Louise with a low huff.

"Wait, why does Frond want to have a meeting with us?" Bob asked.

"Gene was acting crabby and got sent to Frond's office today." Tina replied. "Then we had to explain why, told Frond that Louise was going through puberty, and he decided that it would be best for all of us to have a 'collective meeting' in order to help Louise better understand her feelings and thoughts about puberty and periods and growing up."

"YOU TOLD HIM ABOUT MY PERIOD?!" Louise screamed, absolutely mortified by the very idea.

"No! We didn't tell him about your period!" Tina hurriedly assured.

"Just about your obsession with weiners." Gene hummed. "More specifically, Dakota's."

Louise went silent and stiff for an uncomfortable amount of time, leading her family to share a worried glance. Soft whimpers accompanied a twitching eye, which then started to push out tears of genuine sorrow.

"Louise-"

"I HATE YOU!" Louise wailed, snatching her notebook and racing out of the restaurant. She cried even as she raced into the apartment and up to the room, not even bothering to slam her door closed as she climbed onto her bed and hid under the covers.