All My Mother's Rules

Chapter 25: Practice Makes Perfect

Lisa gave me a smile as I took a seat next to her in the computer lab, which I returned. As much as I enjoy playing Fortnite, just being able to get out of the house for a bit on Saturday was a huge relief in and of itself.

My diaper had been even wetter when I woke up this morning and Mom checked it. And Mom didn't even act mad or disappointed in me. She just had this smug, I told you so, look on her face as she cleaned me up. To make matters worse, Emilia had managed to wake up dry overnight for the third time this week, and Mom made a big show of praising my younger sister in front of me.

At the tryouts last week, Lisa and I had been the two best players, though Lisa's Fortnite skills were far beyond my own. I'd never asked her how often she played, but I had to guess that it was quite a lot more than me. I'd arrived about ten minutes earlier to practice. I'd told Mom that it was important for her to drop me off early so that I'd for sure be on time for the first practice, but really, I wanted time to change into my sister's pull-ups prior to getting started.

It was rare for Lisa to initiate any conversation between us, so I took the initiative to ask her about her Halloween plans.

"Are you going to the Halloween Party on Friday?"

"Yeah, I have to, since my uncle is the chaperone."

"You have to? Don't you want to go?"

"I don't know. I've never actually been to a Halloween party before."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, um, my parents didn't think Halloween was appropriate for kids, so I never dressed up for trick-or-treating or anything like that."

"Wow, and here I was thinking my mom was strict for making me stop going out trick-or-treating once I turned thirteen. What are you going to be dressed up as?"

"I mean, I guess. But I don't know what I should dress up as."

"That's OK. I haven't chosen a costume yet either."

We sat in silence for a bit as I turned on the computer and got logged into my Fortnite account. What could I be for Halloween? Mom wasn't going to buy a fancy costume for me, and that wasn't something my measly allowance could afford. I'd probably have to go with something simple or makeshift.

"Do you... Do you think we could do matching costumes?" Lisa asked.

I hadn't talked with Desi or Samantha about what they wanted to wear for their Halloween costumes. I knew Desi wouldn't mind if I teamed up with Lisa, but I was worried about how Samantha would react. She's someone who jealously protected her friend group and didn't like other people coming into it. I decided to go for it, but there was one thing left to discuss. I had to figure out what Lisa wanted to go as, first.

"Maybe, but I'm all out of costume ideas. Do you have something in mind?" I asked.

"We could go as Thing 1 and Thing 2, from Dr. Seuss," Lisa said. "That should be an easy enough outfit to put together."

"So.. which of us would be Thing 1, and who was going to be thing 2?"

"It's up to you. I don't mind either way."

"You could be Thing 1, then, and I'll be Thing 2."

Coach Olson walked into the computer lab right as it was time for practice to start.

"You guys excited about the updates to the Fortnite map?" he asked.

"No," Lisa said firmly.

Everyone turned to look at her. It was just a bit out of character for Lisa to speak up like that.

"I hate all the vehicles they added," she said. "They're so gimmicky and exploitable."

Well, Lisa wasn't wrong about it, that's for sure.

With the Fortnite map having got a massive update a couple days back, Coach Olson spent the first thirty minutes of the practice going over the changes and pointing out the best spots for us to make our initial landing on the island. I always preferred to land toward the outer edges of the map and work my way in, but he was encouraging us to be more willing to land closer to the center. Even with more players there, the reward of getting better items was worth the risk. Or so he said, at least.

Next, he introduced us to a couple of websites that have practice games where you could hone your FPS skills by rapidly clicking on a variety of moving targets. My index finger actually began to feel sore after a half-hour of those exercises, and I had even brought my fancy, ergonomic gaming mouse with me.

"Girls, we've got a five-minute break," Coach Olson said. "Be sure to be back in time.

I had managed to make it through the first hour of practice without an accident, though any attempt to hold my bladder much longer would be pushing it.

Everyone but Lisa shuffled out to either go to the restroom or get a drink of water. I felt prouder of myself than a teenager should feel about the fact that I had managed to hold my bladder for a whole hour, though any attempt to hold my bladder much longer would be pushing it.

Lisa was still at her desk when I returned to my seat. I noticed something askew when I pulled up my chair and took a seat next to her.

My backpack, which I had left face-down, was now lying face-up. Lisa had been in the room by herself, but surely, she wouldn't have searched through my backpack. No one else would have had the chance to move it though, since everyone but Lisa had left the room to either go to the restroom, get a drink of water, or just walk around and stretch.

First Claire and now Lisa. Why did everyone have to be so interested in the contents of my backpack? I thought about confronting Lisa about it, but I didn't want to make a scene, or make her suspicious if she hadn't seen the pull-ups. Before I could make up my mind about asking her, a few of the other girls on the team ambled into the room. I guess I'll have to let the issue drop for now.

The remainder of the practice went by quickly. We focused on solo matches, so I didn't get a chance to play any rounds with Lisa. I tried to stay calm. Lisa wasn't anything like Claire. She wouldn't say anything if she had noticed the pull-ups? Besides, I'd taken to burying them even deeper in my backpack anyway, so there's no way she would have noticed them even if she had opened her backpack. I tried to go back to focusing on my Fortnite match. Really, there's no need for me to be this paranoid.

As soon as practice was over, I grabbed my backpack from underneath the desk. All the zippers were tight and where I had left them, or at least how I remembered it to be. I must just have been imagining things. Lisa tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention just as I was getting ready to walk out of the computer lab.

"Um, Sarah, I have a question for you?"

Another one? I felt my heart stop. I couldn't open my mouth to say anything, so I just nodded.

"Hey, so do you think you would be able to come over to my place sometime so that we could work on that history project together?"

My initial reaction was to say no. Not because I disliked the idea of spending time with Lisa, but with all my bladder issues, the idea of spending more time away from home than necessary didn't seem like a good idea. I couldn't think of a polite way to refuse. Lisa took my silence for acquiescence and continued with her proposal.

"I'm sure the project won't take all that long, and, when we're done, we could play a few rounds of Fortnite together. We could do it on my PS4 so we could see each other's screens as we play."

I made a feeble attempt to turn her down.

"I mean, I'd like to come over, but I'm not sure if my mom would be OK with that. Maybe we could use the library instead?"

"I'm sure it won't be a problem. My uncle was a teacher, after all. I'll have him give your mom a call about it."

I was trapped. Lisa had ignored all the off-ramps I had set up and had instead plowed ahead with her plan to have us work on the project at her house. At least it was not a sleepover, so I'd probably make it through despite my bladder issues.

"I guess that would work with my mom."

"Perfect! And we have our first Fortnite matches next week as well, so you can just come over straight away after that."