Ah, jeez. This one is both embarrassing and awkward as hell.
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I was in year 7 or 8 at the time (age 13 or 14)
We had a huge swimming carnival that would go all day. It was compulsory, so everyone but the kids who couldn't swim or physically couldn't go would be there.
We all had to have something of our house colours on it. Mine was yellow, which I was bummed about because I wanted to be in green; my favourite colour.
The best thing was that there was a blow-up course that would be for everyone to go on.
It almost took up the whole pool and started with a flat part with pillars on it you had to weave between before it got to a giant wall with holes in it you had to slip through. After that was knobbly inflated rocks, and a slope you had to climb up to where a little ledge was at the top. If you got there, a huge slide had to be slid down that went into the mid part of the pool just before the shallow end.
We were going to do a competition where everyone would race across this thing at once from each house, and whoever had the most come out the other side would have the most points and win.
I was so excited for this thing. They had people with hoses on the sides of the pools to try and make it slippery enough to make kids fall off.
It was the best day.
I wore a cute one-piece that I had found at the Op shop. It was a light purple. I thought it was so adorable that I wore it without shorts (I usually wore shorts because I was self- conscience about my butt)
I never did that, but I felt pretty.
My bullies were at the pool too with thier friends. The four of them took the chances to glance up and snicker at me when I was eating my sandwiches my mum made me, obviously talking about me. I was up in the podium beside the pool with my friend, and put my towel over my lap so they would stop looking at me.
They liked to talk about how poor and weird I was. Even shit I couldn't control, like my pale skin that burnt so easily, or my hearing-aid in my bright green I loved. I was one of the palest kids (and the only partially-deaf one) in the school.
I couldn't afford the things they had, and I lived so far out of town that I couldn't enjoy the things they did. My mum didn't drive, I got clothes from op-shops, and didn't have any income unless it was from gifts or money I was given.
Thankfully, this was a time when phones weren't common things. You'll understand why later.
Phones were pricey and mostly didn't have cameras or Bluetooth. Bluetooth was very new, and texts still cost 10 to 15 cents per one to send. The hot thing at the time was Bebo, since Facebook was still new.
I didn't have a phone at the time.
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Eventually, my main bully and her group got sick of watching me do nothing and went away to enjoy themselves.
Everyone was getting ready for the run across the inflatable.
I scoffed down my food and went over to get ready with my house. I left my towel with my bag in the toilets so no-one could take it while I was gone.
I waited in the sun with everyone else. My friend didn't want to run, so I left her behind to join everyone else.
I was so determined to get to the top and slide down the other side. Only the best kids could do that.
There was a pain in my side, but I ignored it. I knew I hadn't waited long enough between food and running for the inflatable, but I was too excited.
The whistle went and we all rushed across. There were so many kids that I was one of the many that was thrown over the side.
The adults and house leader teachers let us get back on, telling us to hurry so we could score the most points.
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It was great. There was screaming and cheering and just a great time overall. Every time I slipped off, I rushed over to get back on.
I weaved and slipped through the hole to make it to the slope.
Im scared of heights, so I was a bit hesitant and lost all my confidence trying to climb it.
The hose got me and I slipped off into the water.
Our houses turn soon finished on my way back. I was coming past the adult hosing down the course when they asked me if I wanted a go.
I said yes and was so excited to try and blast off the other kids getting ready to race across the course.
I had a tonne of fun making the slope extra slippery and getting kids into the water. I made sure I got the ones at the back too by stepping up onto the side of the pool and on my tiptoes to get as far as I could.
I heard giggling behind me and ignored it. I knew it would be my bullies saying something about me again.
Stepping off the side of the pool in case they tried to push me in, I kept hosing and stretching, thinking I was so cool being the one to help make the rival team lose.
Eventually, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to it while still hosing the kids.
It was one of the nice girls who had made friends with the main bully. She liked to keep us seperate so that the main bully didn't target me.
"Lamington, you're bleeding."
I just snorted and kept hosing for a bit longer.
I thought she meant I had cut myself on the course. There were some sharp edges from the inflatables, so I wouldn't have doubted it.
Another tap.
"No, Lamington, you've got your period."
My face fell instantly and I looked to my main bully behind me laughing behind her hand with her group she was talking to.
There were no phones, so nothing was recorded to humiliate me further. But, they had all seen it.
I handed the hose to the adult and ran off to the toilets to make sure it was true.
Mine weren't small either. Sure enough, I got to the toilets and saw the whole back of my swimsuit had a massive ugly red stain across it.
I had been slipping through the holes and running around the pool in front of the whole school. I had bent upwards for my bully to see right behind me.
Looking back now, I most likely would have got it while on the course. That means my whole house saw it behind me, as well as all the younger years I had to run past to get back around the other side of the pool to the entrance.
I waited until the girls talking in the toilets were gone so I could run out and grab my bag and towel. Then, I cried loudly while trying to figure out what to do.
I had girls asking me if I was OK and what happened, but I just told them I was fine. I wasn't going to tell them what happened.
Drying off with the towel and wrapping my undies in a huge wad of toilet paper, I decided to leave the carnival.
I wasnt one to skip events, but I was too embarrassed to go back.
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My brother was in the primary school just up the road and was always asking for me to come by, saying it was OK for me to.
So, I walked there, through the school grounds awkwardly with my stuffed pants and shame, to his room.
Everyone was asking why I was there. Even I was wondering why I had come.
I just told them that my brother said i could, and that was that.
It was so awkward being the only highschooler in a room of Year Five/Fours (about 11 or 10 years old)
They played on the computers there and watched Polar Express.
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When the movie was still going after about two hours of being awkwardly in thier classroom, I left to walk back to school and wait for the busses to take us home.
I thought I had escaped it all and was convincing myself no-one had saw what had happened.
No-one said anything to me when we lined up for the busses, and Noone said anything when we boarded to go home.
I thought I was in the clear until the two boys behind me (one of which particularly liked to also make fun of me in sports until I deliberately spiked a volleyball into the back of his head) leant forward so I could hear them and talked loudly.
"Isnt that the girl who got her period at the pool?"
I glanced at them and glared before turning around.
"Does that mean everyone was swimming in her period blood?"
"Eww, that's gross."
I was so embarrassed because I couldn't do anything.
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They didn't make a scene, thankfully, but I had a little cry to myself while looking out the window so no-one else could see (my main bully and her other friends also caught my bus.)
This wasn't a time of phones, so nothing i know of was shared around. It was only the gossip that spread through the school and nothing else.
I'm thankful we didn't have the technology we have now, otherwise everything would have been much worse.
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