✅ Over Protected

3. A Baby Tells Lies

I woke up and stretched, trying to remember if there was anything I needed to do today. Like every day this week, I was distracted mid-stretch by the unfamiliar bulk of the diaper pressing against the inside of my thigh. It wasn't particularly uncomfortable, but the padding was thick enough that I couldn't bring my legs quite so close together as I was used to. It surprised me every morning, but the more I got used to it, the more I realised that the soft padding wrapped around me was actually quite comfortable. Once I'd reassured myself that nobody I knew would ever see me like this, there really wasn't any reason I should be uncomfortable with it.

I went to the bathroom as always, and pulled up the diaper again with a little smile before heading back to my room. I knew that I should probably have changed it and put it in the bin with all of the others, but I was feeling lazy. I would put off changing for a while, and play silly games on my phone. Maybe I'd change into proper undies before breakfast, or just throw a robe on and rush to get changed later, once I was full of Pop-Tarts and mango juice. It didn't really matter to me, so I didn't see any need to do things before I absolutely had to.

In the end I decided to get changed, because I was hoping to chat with Lise and Penny before school, and getting dressed after breakfast always meant we were on the point of being late. I could do things quicker when I really wanted to; that just wasn't a common thing. Today was only different because Lise might have a new boyfriend, and she wasn't sure whether what he'd said meant anything or not. That was the kind of thing any girl would want to talk to friends about, and I made it a priority. Even if I was sure I didn't have any idea how to think about dating, and Penny probably didn't either.

Breakfast was ready; Mum grabbed the Pop-Tarts right out of the toaster and handed them to us, along with glasses of juice that she insisted we drink for the essential vitamins, and then she was rushing off to tidy upstairs or something. I didn't know why she was always rushing; she didn't ever seem to have time to relax.

"You're up and dressed early," Sarah said it like an accusation. Like any deviation from my usual lack of routine was cause for suspicion. "Did something happen?"

"Want to talk to Lise before school," I said with a shrug, and bit into my breakfast. There were no secrets between me and my sister. She could know everything about my life if she cared.

"Sarah!" Mum called as she breezed down the stairs. "Are you okay? Feeling under the weather at all?"

"No. But Alice managed to get dressed under her own steam. Don't you think that's a bit weird?"

"Maybe she's taking responsibility. But when I bought diapers for us, you promised you would tell me if they turned out to be necessary. If you've caught the virus, we can't just stop when the package is empty. We need to keep on taking precautions."

"Right. But I haven't got the virus. I'm fine."

"So why was there a wet diaper in the bathroom bin when I went to empty it?"

"Why are you blaming me?" Sarah snapped, getting angry and defensive now. "Alice is younger than me, she's barely old enough to stop wearing diapers. And she got dressed this morning. How often does that happen? She's wet the bed again and she's trying to put the blame on me."

"I didn't!" I protested, but I knew my sister had some good arguments. There was no way I could prove to Mum that I'd changed out of a dry diaper; even the one in the bin in my room could have been an extra one to sell the lie.

"A good argument," Mum said and drummed her fingers on the counter as she looked at us. "Should I be impressed, or disturbed by how good you are getting at lying?"

Sarah started to say something, but didn't get a syllable of her protest out before Mum cut her off again: "I bought three packs of diapers last weekend, Sarah. One pack each, because we're all different sizes. And different colours, too. Now, you might think I'm senile, but I assure you I can tell the difference between purple and green."

Sarah was quiet then, and I wondered what she was thinking. Had my big sister really wet the bed? Did that mean that I'd brought the virus home from Lyra's sleepover, and somehow not even felt under the weather myself? I'd heard that the virus was okay for kids, but could be really serious if you got it after you finished growing up, and Sarah was old enough now that I started worrying about her when I heard that. I really hoped that she was going to be okay.

"It's just a disease, okay!?" Sarah raised her voice again, angry and defensive at the same time. She was like that a lot lately; some of her friends had a lot of secrets, and if she'd been somewhere with them she would get angry as soon as Mum said anything at all about her day. I didn't know if that was a sign of something wrong, or if my big sister was just growing up now and needed more freedom. But it always worried me when I saw her upset over what seemed to be nothing. Especially when I could see how much it was upsetting Mum to see her like that. Sometimes, I wondered if Mum's comments under her breath were right, when she thought nobody was listening. If Sarah really would be better off without that particular group of friends. But right now, I thought there was just a little reason for her to be upset. She was way too old to be wetting the bed, and she was getting all excited about it as she tried to hide how embarrassed she felt.

"I know it is," Mum answered softly. She never raised her voice at all, and I think it made her seem stronger. "It's just a virus going around, I know a lot of people whose kids had the same problem. But I need to know, okay? Because there are some things you will need to cope with that illness, and if you didn't tell me, I wouldn't know that you needed more. That's the only reason I'm asking. And trust me, the only reason I'm disappointed in you now is because you lied to me. And worse than that, you tried to get your little sister in trouble for something she didn't even do. Would Alice have treated you like that? No, of course she wouldn't. She's a good girl, like you always used to be before you started hanging around with –"

"Mum!" she really was yelling this time. "You just don't listen, you don't understand what it's like. Do you have any idea how people would talk to me if they found out you're making me... I'm not a baby, okay? It's a sickness, that's all, and it won't happen again."

"The novel pubococcygitis virus weakens certain parts of the pelvic floor muscle with its toxins," Mum said, clearly quoting some news story again. "Even once your immune system gets rid of the virus, which may be indicated by a slight fever, it can take up to a week for that muscle to start operating normally again. You admitted that it's an illness. So you just need to follow the doctor's orders on how to deal with it. And that means telling me when you had a little accident. Okay?"

"Okay!" Sarah yelled, and for a second I thought she would have been happy to hit someone, if there had been anyone else she could blame for her situation. I knew she'd been rebelling more against Mum's control since she started hanging out with Bella Langtree and her gang, but this was the first time I had seen this kind of anger from her. "Okay, I wet the bed. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Don't worry," Mum said. "I'm still here to look after you. Just let me know, okay? The virus can hang around for a week, and the effects of the virus can take a week or two to fade, so we'll all have to keep using a little protection for ten days. That means I'll buy one more pack in each size, just to be sure. And if it turns out not to be a one off event, if it's weakened your muscles, then I'll keep on buying them until we can go a whole week without any problems. Does that seem fair?"

"It won't happen again!" Sarah snapped.

"Then after a week and a half to make sure the virus is gone, we can all go back to normal underwear. Does that seem fair? Is that okay with you, Alice?"

"Yeah," I nodded, after barely a second thinking. "Better safe than sorry." Sarah grumbled under her breath, but she didn't want me to look like the mature one next to her. She just had to agree to Mum's terms.