✅ Over Protected

51. Everyone Gets Wet

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Jen-Jen, with thanks for all your support. Thank you!

I should have known what a water park was; I know we'd been to one at some point before. But that afternoon my head was full of joy and empty of understanding. I was so excited, and having other excited people around me only enhanced that. I was grabbing for everything I saw as we came towards the turnstiles; even the cartoon animals painted on the glass dividers between the lines. I didn't pay attention at all to what Mummy said to the lady behind the counter, but I remember that they laughed. And then we were through the gates, and it looked like there were just more corridors and more doors. But Mummy knew where we were going, and Mummy and Monique both seemed to be taking charge. They'd got a group changing room, so we could all go in together and they could help me get changed. When Mummy told me that, I was happy. I wasn't good at changing myself, and I didn't want to feel like a big girl today.

There were some boys with Monique as well. Maybe one of them was Jinny's daddy, or big brothers, or something like that. They had to go in a different room, so Monique gave one of them a ticket. Scott was the only one separate from the group, because he said he would rather get changed by himself. I thought that was a bit sad; he wouldn't be able to chat and laugh with everybody else while we were getting changed, and I thought he might be a bit lonely. But I understood that he didn't really know anybody else, and he didn't need his mummy to help him.

The changing room was just a box with tiles on the floor and walls, and benches all around the walls. There were a couple of lockers at one side, where Mummy and Monique started putting their coats and bags as soon as they had taken them off. I thought it was funny that the lockers were just little ones, and they were on a kind of pedestal thing, which was almost too tall for me to reach.

It took a while for me to realise that Mummy wasn't just changing my diaper. We were all changing our clothes too, and I squealed in delight when I saw that we were putting on swimming costumes. She had a really cute one for me, and Jinniver and Bernie and Alanis all looked super pretty too. Sarah had a different kind of costume that let you see all of her tummy. It was just two little strips that hardly covered anything at all, and I could see that Mummy really wished she was wearing a bit more. She didn't say anything, though.

"Oh, Sarah," Monique said. "That costume makes you look so mature. Are you sure you want all the boys to be staring at you?"

"I don't mind," she said with a shrug. "I mean... it's not like I'm the hottest girl here or anything. Nobody's going to pay that much attention. Except Scott, and he's so sweet."

"Still, it might be more fun if you were to wear something more like your sister. Maybe next time we could have matching costumes, yes?"

"Maybe," Sarah said with a smile. She was happy enough, and she didn't need to think too much about this conversation. But I thought I could see that she was trying to give Mummy some hints she really didn't need.

It wasn't long before we were all dressed, ready for going swimming. And I couldn't wait to see what this park was actually like. Monique and Mummy took the keys for the two lockers, and put them in little tiny purses that they were both carrying. And as soon as they took them away, shutters came across in front of the two lockers, which zoomed upwards behind the glass like they were in a special kind of elevator. I went "oooh", and then realised that was why there were only two lockers there. They must be able to send different ones down for the next people to use the changing room.

"They've gotten all high-tech here," Monique said, clearly impressed. "I heard that there's no waiting for changing rooms, you can have your stuff sent to whichever room you're in, but I didn't think it would be so slick."