Eager Beaver

Chapter Fifty-Two - The Red Faced Reindeer

"What!?" I exclaimed. Now I was just as shocked as he was. "Of course not!"

I could feel that my face was burning as hot and red as simmering coals, overcome with a strange mix of utter humiliation and abject furious indignation. How could Zach possibly think that I actually wore diapers? He'd known me for months now, and though he somehow remained utterly convinced that I was only five, he knew I wasn't some pants wetting baby! I grabbed hold of the tabs of the diaper, ripping the crinkling cushiony material away from my butt with a final papery rustle and flinging it down hatefully on the ground. I was so emotional I barely even registered that I was now proudly displaying my too-cute Christmas tree briefs.

"Oh..." Zach sighed, almost in relief. His brow was now rapidly furrowing and unfurrowing in total confusion though, still struggling to make sense of the whole bizarre situation. "What?" he finally exclaimed. "Then why were you wearing a baby diaper?" He wrinkled his nose and curled his lip as he said the last two words, like it was the most humiliating, disgusting, scandalous thing he could possibly imagine.

The look on his face was all it took, my embarrassment and anger crumbling away into pure simple devastated sadness. My vision got all cloudy, tears coming to my eyes again for what must have been the hundredth time that day. These tears were the worst however - more painful and overwhelming than anything Nate had been able to tease from me. How was I ever going to convince Zach I was actually eleven? I couldn't even hold the tears in like usual, they seemed to force their way out streaming down my face.

"I...I...it's not my fault!" I wailed. I covered my eyes with my hands to hide my shame. I didn't even bother to pull up my pants again as I collapsed down onto the scratchy carpet - tears sliding down my painted face.

Zach attended to me right away, rushing over to sit beside me and putting a comforting arm around my shoulder. I slumped my weight against his, flopping my heavy head down into his lap. "It's okay!" my friend insisted, his voice full of confusion and guilt. "I'm sorry, Cooper! Just tell me what happened." Zach gently rubbed my back as I cried.

It took me a few moments to pull myself together before I sat up again, desperately fighting back the deluge of tears and snot with the back of my hand so I could explain. The red nose flickered on and off as I rubbed it. "It was Nate." I started. "He trapped me when I went to get change after the parade, and...and he made me wear one of Harper's diapers!"

Zach's sympathetic frown hardened into a granite determined scowl. He cast his green eyes vengefully towards the abandoned diaper, seizing it up with a vice-like fist and examining it like crucial evidence in a murder investigation. He traced a forensic finger over the cutesy illustration of Pooh Bear, his lips murmuring suspiciously as he took in the little number seven printed on the front and read the brand name: 'HUGGIES OVERNITES'. I watched the process curiously, half-expecting him to produce an evidence bag or a detective's notepad, before he flung the diaper away like trash - meeting my gaze again.

"I wanted to take them off..." I finished explaining, my voice little more than a whisper now. "But he said...he said..."

"Don't worry about what he said." Zach growled. His voice was as low and sinister as thunder, but it wasn't like when he'd got furious at camp or on apple day. This time it was more controlled, like an experienced racer gently revving his motorbike's engine. "Don't worry about anything. I'm gonna take care of it."

"What do you mean?" I mewled. He wasn't going to tell, was he?

"I said don't worry." Zach instructed. He smiled at me, though I could tell there was still a furious storm brewing underneath the surface. "Forget about it. Just focus on the pageant."