All My Mother's Rules

Chapter 44: 28 Days Later

I winced slightly as I felt a sharp jab to my ribs. Couldn't they leave me be? Still, I didn't stir from the position I was resting in, with my head drooped forward and tucked into my arms. Just please let me keep my eyes closed a few more moments longer. Pretty please.

I felt another wave of drowsiness settling in when it was rudely interrupted by a series of rapid pokes to my side.

"Wake up," Samantha whispered urgently as she gave me yet another poke.

My head bobbed lazily after I jerked it upright from my school desk.

"What's wrong with you? I'm tired," I replied back to her in a low whisper.

"What's wrong with you?" Samantha whispered back. "You should have taken the iced coffee I offered earlier instead of sleeping in class."

Before I could think of a good enough retort, the teacher's eyes moved from the whiteboard to the back of the class, where Samantha, Desi, and I were seated. I hastily shut my lips and used all of my remaining willpower to look up at what I needed to copy down into my notebook. Three more classes left. How was I supposed to stay awake until I got home?

Yesterday had been the fourth day in the past four weeks that Mom had kept me home from school. Supposedly, it was because I was sick, which was what I overheard Mom telling the school nurse when she called her in the morning. Actually, I had been held home from school each of those days because I had wet my pull-ups twice the day before, resulting in Mom putting me back in diapers for the whole day.

And the diapers weren't the worst of it. Mom insisted on treating me completely like a baby, making use of Emilia's old highchair, bottles, sippy cups, and other leftover baby paraphernalia. And Mom had Emilia playing along with it as well, using my now-potty-trained sister to check my diaper, hand her wet wipes during changes, and even spoon food into my mouth during meals.

I shifted a bit painfully in my seat as I struggled to keep my eyes focused on the whiteboard. The teacher's monotone voice did nothing to aid my tentative attentiveness.

The combination of missing school and missing sleep as I was staying up later to catch up on homework was resulting in poorer grades than I, almost exclusively an student, would typically get. Those poor grades had been accompanied by spankings at home. On my bare bottom, of course, as the only time I would want my mother to put me in a diaper or pull-up would, of course, be the only time she would have it off.

My eyes were almost completely shut again when the jarring sound of the bell went off to mark the end of the class period. I felt like a zombie as I shuffled my feet through the door and into the hallway. At least it was lunch period. Eating a sandwich while half-asleep was a lot easier than trying to pay attention in class while being this drowsy.

"I think someone needs to stop playing Fortnite past midnight," Desi said as she followed me into the hallway.

"I'm not," I muttered back while rolling my eyes.

"Oh really," Samantha said.

"I would know if she was online that late," Lisa interjected.

We all turned to look at Lisa. I hadn't noticed her join our group as we were walking toward the cafeteria.

"What?" she said. "My aunt and uncle don't care if I'm up late, as long as I'm up on time for school. And I never see Sarah online that late."

"I'll join you guys in the cafeteria in a bit," I said, as I started to split off in a different direction. "I need to go to the bathroom."

I hadn't liked the direction that conversation was going. While Lisa had been able to save me from some of the inquisition, I wanted to get away before it resumed. That, and I did really need to pee, even though I really shouldn't have.