How JB Became Famous

by Toni B.

Chapters 1-10

 

**Chapter I: JB's accident**

 

Bam!!

My head slammed into the wall clear on the other side of the hall when those two boys raced out of the bathroom just when I was going in.

That was the beginning of all the changes that happened. I mean, who would have ever thought that I'd become famous and the most popular kid in the school back then? But I did.

I'd needed to go to the bathroom between classes, but by the time I got there it was already crowded, and I don't like going in there when it is like that (if you knew me you would see why) so I waited, and when the warning bell rang four minutes later a bunch of the big boys came out, and I started to go in.

Just when I put my hand on the door, it opened real fast. It hit me right in the nose and knocked me into the wall. I grabbed my nose with one hand and the back of my head with the other and tried real hard not to cry.

The two boys were in a hurry to get to class, but as they jogged away they laughed, and one of them said, "Watch where you're going, and you should stay on the baby hall anyway, dummy." He said that last part because at the Junior High I was at all the seventh graders had classes on one hall and the eighth graders on another one.

But he was wrong. I didn't belong there. I was in eighth grade and had turned thirteen just before school started last week. It's just that I was really, really small, smaller than any of the seventh graders for sure. My grandmother, who I used to live with before I got put in the foster homes I used to live in, said it was because of all the dumb things that my mom did before I was born.

But I didn't correct him, that woulda been stupid.

Just then a loud voice filled the hallway. "STOP!" it said, "Sam Magee and George Lawson, come over here. Now! And walk."

I knew that voice. It was Ms. Evens, my history teacher, who was also one of the girl's coaches. I thought even then she was really pretty for a teacher and nice too. I guess I was getting a crush on her already before all this, though I had only known her for a week. She was real tall and thin, and sometimes she wore tight shirts and skirts that only came halfway to her knee and shoes with real high pointy heels, but even when she wore her coach's clothes she was pretty. Right now she had on a blouse with the top buttons open and, when she bent over to look at my nose (that was bleeding) I saw the lace around her bra!

All of this happened in a lot less time than it has taken me to tell you about it, you know. The second bell hadn't even rung yet, and there were people up and down the hall looking at me. I tried to pull away from Ms Evens (even though I could see her bra, and even though she smelled real good) and run into the bathroom. I didn't want the two boys to get a good look at the kid that had got them in trouble or for any one to see the tears that I could feel on my cheeks now. Plus I had been holding my pee since the middle of the last class, and that was getting super urgent too.

But Ms Evens was holding my shoulder, and I couldn't even stand up, much less leave. She said, "Wait a minute, little-one. Let me look at your nose a second."

"Well, all three of you are very lucky; it isn't broken." Her voice was real low and very cross, and I could tell the big boys were kinda scared. You two have five marks." (That meant a detention.)

They nodded and then glared at me. The bell for the start of the period rang, and she asked who their next teacher was. Then she told them to tell him why they were late and to see her after school, and they left.

"I got to go!!" I said, and I was squirming and trying to keep my legs tight together by this time, but she took a tissue out of her purse and started wiping the blood off my nose.

"Don't worry, sweetie," she said, "I'll talk to you teacher, and you want get in to any trouble. You're J.B., aren't you - from my second period History?"

That is what everyone calls me. It stands for Jaden Bartholomew, which is weird enough, but it's not Jail Baby, which is what my grandmother told people it meant because my mother was in prison when I was born.

She was talking in a real sweet voice now, and I nodded. I was happy that she already knew my name.

She stuck a tissue inside my nose then grabbed my hand and pushed my finger up under my lip; she was trying to get it to stop bleeding. "Now, hold that there, honey," she said, "and we will go to my office and get some ice for you head. OK?"

Then she almost picked me up to get me on my feet, and I jerked my hands down to grab my middle as my legs came apart, but it was too late, and I felt the water on my pants and then on my legs and then on my sock, and then I put my head down and started crying even harder.

Here I was, in a brand new school, in a brand new town, in front of my brand new favorite teacher, and now everything was going to be even worse than it used to be!!

"OH, poor thing." she said, "I should have known! Come on; we will go and get you all fixed up. I'm sorry that happened, J.B."

I think she said my name, but it could have been something else. I tried to hide my head in my chest. She wiped my face with a tissue and picked up my books for me, then took my hand in hers and led me toward the gym where her office was.

I didn't know how she was going to fix this; thirteen year olds don't wet their pants - no matter how long they have to wait, right? But I managed to stop crying, almost. At least there was no one else in the halls.

Or so I thought, but as we turned a corner I looked up, and through my tears I saw this girl walking towards us. I tried to hide behind Ms Evens so the girl wouldn't see me, but Ms Evens called, "Amanda, are you the office aide this period?"

"Uh huh," the girl answered and walked toward us. When the girl got close I could tell it was the blonde girl that sat behind me in Math and was also in my Art class.

"I want you to take a note to the office when you turn in the absence slips," Ms Evens said to the girl, then in her soft voice again she said to me, "Wait right here while I talk to Amanda, OK?"

I looked up at the girl and could tell she was staring at the giant wet spot going all the way down my pants, and I turned to face the wall.

The two of them whispered while Ms Evens wrote a note, then the girl said, "Don't worry, J.B., I won't tell anyone about your little accident." Then she smiled at me and patted the back of my head, but that just made me feel tons worse.

After the girl left Ms Evens picked me up, she didn't even worry about getting her shirt wet from my pee as I wrapped my legs around her, and she hummed as she carried me the rest of the way down the hall.

Then she turned to go into the girl's locker room! I had had my head kinda hidden in her shoulder, but I stuck my hand out and grabbed the side of the door. "NO!" I said, "I can't go in there!!"

Ms Evens set me down. Then she got down on one knee, which meant her face was about the same height as mine. She held my chin so I had to look right at her, and said, "Now listen here, JB, I can't help you if you won't let me. My office is right through the door, and you won't be in the real locker room."

She wasn't talking nearly as nice as before, but I kept shaking my head. "But the girls will see me," I said.

"No they won't. They should already be in the gym, and I told you that my door is just inside this one. If you won't trust me then I can't help you. Can you think of another way to keep this a secret? Do you want my help, or do you won't to go to the office and have them call your mom instead?"

"NO! But will you look and make sure first, please?"

"Yes, sweetie." She was talking nice again. "I'll check, but will you do what I tell you?"

I nodded and she said, "Promise; cross your heart?"

I nodded some more, and she peeked through the door. Then she held her hand out for me, and I took it, and we went in. She was telling the truth. From the door all you could see was an entry and then a path down to the doors to the gym. Her office door was only about three steps inside, but we had to wait till she got her key out and opened it.

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**Chapter II: JB in the Coach's Office**

 

It seemed to take her forever to get the door to her office open, and when she did I rushed inside. There was a big window into the girl's locker room behind a couch, and I could see it was empty. She grabbed my hand and lowered the blinds on the window, then she spread a thick towel on the couch and made me sit down on it. She said "First thing let's get your cute face cleaned up. OK?"

She opened the door beside the desk and I saw that it was a bathroom. She came back with a damp wash rag, and I reached for it but she wouldn't let me have it. Instead she began to wash my face herself. "Well, my little one, your nose has stopped bleeding, and I don't think you're even going to have a bruise on that sweet face."

It was weird, because she called me all these little names and cute and stuff, and about the only time I'd ever heard them was when people were teasing me, but somehow when she said them I liked it, kinda.

"Now, how is that bump?" she asked as she felt around the back of my head.

I gasped when she touched it, but she said, "Oh, it's going to be a robin's egg, which is a lot better than an ostrich egg, isn't it?"

I smiled and nodded, and she said, "It can wait until we get you cleaned up, I think." Then she took my feet and removed my shoes. When she pulled on my pants leg I grabbed them and said, "I can do it! I'm not a baby!"

She frowned for a second, but then smiled and said, "OK, but stay on the towel so we don't mess anything up, OK, big boy?"

"Can't I do it in there?" I said pointing at the bathroom.

"No, honey. Do it here for me, so we don't get the wet clothes on anything. Don't worry. It is nothing I haven't seen before, and you shouldn't be ashamed of what you look like anyway."

Yeah, but I was a thirteen years old and she was my teacher!

"Now JB," she said when I still hesitated, "remember what you promised me outside. You're going to help me help you, OK? Don't be so shy, that will just make things a lot worse."

I unbuttoned my pants and slowly pushed them down. When they reached my knees she pushed me back down onto the towel and pulled them the rest of the way off so they wouldn't land on the rug. She just looked at me until I took a deep breath, and I push the underwear down without standing up. She took them between two fingers and pulled them the rest of the way when they reached my knees. I had pulled my shirt down to cover all my stuff. My face felt hot, I guess because I was blushing so much.

Ms. Evens took my feet one at a time and removed my socks, then she said, "Come on I want to wash that shirt too."

I started to shake my head, but she was glaring at me, and I knew I had no choice. The shirt was a pull over and, once my head was hidden in it, she began to take it off me. As soon as it was over my head she said, "Surprise!! There you are again!"

I was shocked and surprised and even more embarrassed, but for some reason I laughed aloud. I couldn't understand it. She was playing peek-a-boo with me, not to mention that I was totally nude, and I'd wet my self in the school hall, but I had laughed.

Ms Evens acted like nothing was strange at all. She pulled on my hand until I followed her into the private bathroom, and said, "Take a shower while I go to the training room and put your things into the washing machine. Stay in the shower until I come back. Can you do that like a big boy for me?"

I nodded to her. I mean what else could I do? She turned on the water and put my hand under and asked if it was too hot, and then guided me by the shoulder into the water. She locked the door on the other side of the bathroom but left the door to her office wide open.

I stood in the shower and just let the water fall on me. Now that she was gone I felt even worse and even more embarrassed, and I knew I was crying again. This was so weird. My life had never been good, and lately it had gotten even worse. She seemed so nice, but that kind of thing didn't happen to me, I really wanted to make her like me but ... Oh, What was coming next?

Then I heard her call as she came into the bathroom. "Is my favorite little fellow all clean yet?" she said. And I felt better some how and smiled; I couldn't help it.

She reached in and turned off the water, and then she took a towel and started blotting it against my skin all over, legs, arms, head, everything. I grabbed a corner of it and started rubbing, but she just hummed a song, and acted like I wasn't even doing that. She even patted the towel around the front of my legs, below my stomach - you know. I put my hands down there to protect things, and she just went around and under them.

Then she wrapped the towel around my shoulders, sat on the toilette and stood me right in front of her. I knew she had something serious to say. "I noticed how dirty your underpants were, honey. You need to start wiping much better, but for now I need to check your bottom so we don't accidentally get any thing dirty."

She said it in a nice voice and like it was nothing unusual. I didn't think I could object and not get in trouble though. I was afraid she was going to make me lie down and put my legs way up in the air, but she just turned me around and then took the wash clothe and rubbed it in my crack. She rubbed it by my bottom hole longest, and I was worried I must have something dried out stuck there. I sometimes did have some of that and it woulda been embarrassing.

I still had the towel over my shoulders and I tried to keep it over my privates when she picked me up again, like she had in the hall, and carried me to the couch. She made me lie on my stomach and got an ice pack she had brought from the training room and held it to my bump while she sat on the edge of the couch. The towel was over my back but I could tell that my butt was sticking out.

She said, "I think that old bump is almost gone all ready. How about that? We need to talk about what to do next. Your clothes are in the wash, but won't be done for a while. What teachers do you have these last two periods, sweetie?"

I told her Mr. Johnson for Shop and then a lady whose name I forgot for English.

She told me she would have another coach take her last period class, and that she would tell my teachers I'd been helping her with a class project. My clothes would be done about the same time as the announcements started at the end of the day.

At least now she was talking to me like I was big again, and I asked her if I could put some clothes on.

She said, "OH, are you cold, little one?" - like the only reason a thirteen year old would want to have clothes on in front of a teacher was because of the weather - but I nodded anyway.

"I don't have anything you can wear. In a few weeks the lost and found box will be full but nothing yet." She told me to hold the ice to my head and got a towel to put over me.

Then she said, "I have a treat for you, hon." and got one of those flat sheets of fruit flavored candy out of a drawer. When I bit into it she said, "Wait, let me show you a better way to do that." She took the candy and wrapped it around my thumb. She said, "Now lick it and suck on it like it is a lollypop. It will last a lot longer that way." I did that, and she grinned at me.

There was a knock at the door. I pulled one of he towels over my head, and tried to look like a bundle of laundry. She went over and opened the door. It was Amanda. She said, "They are done with me in the office, Ms Evens, and I wondered if you needed any help with something."

Ms Evens said, "No, Amanda, and you don't need to butter me up to become the captain of the volleyball team. We will decide that at practice." They whispered a minute before Amada left.

Ms Evens gave me some more of the candy and I put it on my thump and licked it. She sat on the edge of the couch rubbing my back, and I could tell that the towel had moved, but I didn't try to put it back because her rubbing felt good; I just sucked on the candy on my thumb. Then the door open, without a knock this time, and Amanda looked in and said, "They were done so I put everything in the dryer, Ms Evens. Hi. JB."

I didn't say anything. Ms Evens just said "Thank you," and Amanda shut the door. That was just when the bell rang to end fifth period. After that Ms Evens handed me a copy of my History book and told me to do the reading for tonight while she looked at some papers.

I started reading and she sat at her desk but kept looking over at me.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember she was standing by me with my clothes. She told me that my underwear looked so bad she had thrown them away. Then she slipped my shirt over my head and put my arms through the holes. She fastened my pants for me; I didn't fight it. She even put my socks on me and tied my shoes. Then she held me in her lap while we listened to the announcements on the PA.

Before she let me down, she gave me a peck on the forehead. Then I went outside to wait for my ride. I felt pretty sure she still liked me.

§

**Chapter III: JB at Home**

I walked the eight blocks from the bus stop to my house. None of the kids on the bus bothered me. Last Thursday one of he girls announced that I smelled bad, and since then they had made me stay away from them.

My Mom's car was gone. I was kind of happy about that, but it made me sort'a lonely feeling too. My mom was alright, sometimes. At least she never used electric cords when she hit me, like my grandmother used to. I'd only been back with her since last July, and I did cause her problems sometimes, though I tried hard not to.

I hoped that she had gone to the grocery store or maybe the laundry-mat, but doubted that. All the doors were locked so I tried the windows, but she hadn't forgotten to close them all this time. I went into the back yard.

The house was a run down, ugly, brown duplex, with a carport on one side that attached to a carport of another duplex. All the neighbors would be gone except that old lady that screamed every time she saw me beside her fence. There wasn't any grass in the back yard of any of houses, just dirt and mud, but there was a little dog in the yard behind it that would let me pet him.

I sat near the puppy and got the sticks that I sometimes used to dig holes with, and sometimes I pretended were trucks, and (don't tell anyone) sometimes pretended were other kids and talked to and pretended to do things with, or dressed up in leaves.

I realized that I wasn't wearing any underwear still, and that felt real weird. I thought about going to my room and getting some to put on, but didn't. I put my hand inside my pants and rubbed it around for a minute. Then I thought about Ms. Evens; I wondered if she was going to still be nice or start treating me like a creep, and if that girl, Amanda, was going to tell everyone what happened.

I heard the car drive up and went inside. My mom still had her maid's uniform on from the hotel where she worked and was carrying some bags. I said, "Hi," but she carried all the bags into her room so they weren't groceries.

She came out a little later all dressed up and said, "I'm working at the club tonight and need to go. Be sure to lock all the doors when you go to your room, and don't leave you're crud spread all over the place again. If you leave a mess tonight you'll pay for it. I might have a friend come home with me, and I don't want him to think I live with a brat." Then she left.

I got out the jar of peanut butter and the bread. The big jar had lots left, but only one slice of bread and the heels were left of the bread. The real slice had some green stuff on it but not to much, and there was some lettuce that was only partly liquidy. I ate, and then tried to get the TV to work by moving the clothes hangers back and forth, I got one channel good enough to listen to while I did my homework, but then it got bad, so I sat next to the wall and listened to the neighbor's TV; they had cable, and it was a funny show.

I was laughing real hard at one joke and felt something wet on my legs. I remember, again, I didn't have underpants on to catch any drips, and I had made a spot on my pants. I got a paper towel to wipe it off and tried to wipe it from inside the pants too. I did that a long time.

I tried to draw a picture of Ms Evens, but it was awful. Then I felt a little hungry; I wished I had more of the fruit candysheets she had given me. I put my thumb in my mouth and pretend I had a piece of candy wrapped around it like she did it.

When the neighbors turned off their TV I packed up my books, being extra careful to get everything, washed the fork and knife I'd used, and then went out to my room, making sure the door locked behind me.

I had a room inside too but I slept in the little room at the back of the carport. The other room had to be kept real nice in case my mom's parole officer or someone important came over, so I wasn't allowed in there.

I found my driest pair of underwear and put them on, then turned the mattress over and got into bed. I was happy that it was warmer here than in the town I had used to live in because my blanket smelled terrible even to me and I didn't always have to use it.

I pretended to eat some more candy off my thumb until I heard my mom yelling at me through the door.

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**Chapter IV: JB's Breakfast**

My mom always made sure that I got to school on time because, when I had lived with her for a couple of months when I was eight, it was my missing a lot of school that made the parole officer check up on her and send her back to jail.

She was always in a hurry in the morning and always acted mad, but today she was worst. She was late I guess. When she yelled I jumped up and got dressed. I spread the underwear I'd worn to bed out on the floor to get dry, then put on my driest pair and the same pants I'd worn yesterday; I got a different shirt from the pile because sometimes people noticed if you wore the same one all the time.

Before I had my shoes on, she pulled the door open, which she never usually did, and said, "Come on, brat, get a move!!! Ghod it stinks in here, you little pig."

I grabbed my shoes and books, and got in the car. I didn't even try to go inside. There was a big truck in front of the house, so I knew someone was in there.

When I got to school the breakfast line was still open, and I ran to the cafeteria (that was the other reason she wanted me to get to school early - I got free breakfast, and that saved her money.) Only real poor kids got free breakfast, and no one ever talked to anyone unless they lived close to each other, and everyone ate real fast to be done before the busses got there. It was like that way no one else would know they qualified for the free food.

Just when I had put my juice on my tray, these two kids pushed me out of the way. I think they were seventh graders, because they were smaller than some of the other kids, but still way bigger than me. They were also the only two people that always made a lot of noise during breakfast.

They knocked my juice off the tray, and it landed on one kid's foot. He yelled, "Aww Shit! Stupid ef-er, look what you did, ay-hole!'

I said, "Sorry," and got some napkins to wipe it up, but one of the cafeteria ladies said, "No! No! You two get down and clean that up. It is your fault," and then she gave me my cereal.

I ate it as fast as I could and didn't look at the boys that were in trouble. When I went to put my tray away they were gone.

I went out into the hallway just as the busses were pulling up outside, and the boys were standing on both sides of the door, and each was holding a glass of water in each hand. They threw all the water at me, and hit the top of my pants.

One of them said, "Teach you to mess up my shoes, kid!"

The other one yelled, "Look!! That kid wet his pants like a baby!!" and it looked just like I did

I ran back into the cafeteria, and one of the ladies said, "Too late, get out," but the other one, the one who had made the boys clean up the spill said quietly, "No, he's had an accident, Vera," and they laughed at me.

I hollered, "No I didn't! They threw water on me!"

"Sure they did," the lady said, "Come on I'll show you where the nurse office is." Then she grabbed the shoulder of my shirt and started pulling me along.

She steered me right through the front hall where all the bus kids were. I heard them say, "Look, he peed his pants," and meaner stuff. I kept shaking my head because I hadn't, but couldn't get myself to yell out the truth.

Amanda walked over and said, "Oh-oh, again, JB?"

I said, "No, it was spilled on me." and she said, "OH, OK," and went away grinning.

There was a line at the nurse office of people trying to get sent home or out of PE. I asked the cafeteria lady if I could go to Ms Evens office instead, but she just tugged me to the front of the line and into the office.

One of the girls in line said, "Hey, there's a way to get out of first period."

And her friend said, "Yuck, too gross; even you wouldn't do that," and then both of them laughed.

When we got in the office the cafeteria lady let go of me, and the nurse said, "Oh, gee. What is your name?"

I told her and tried to tell her it was just water, but she just said, "Go into the second door and take your clothes off."

There was a bed in the room and I sat down on it. When I had peed myself only one person had found out (maybe), but now the whole school thought I had when I hadn't. It was so unfair!!!

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**Chapter V: JB and the Nurse**

It wasn't until after the end of homeroom that the nurse came in to see me, which meant that I was missing first period already. When she came in I was still sitting on the bed, still dressed, and crying again. You must think I was a real crybaby. Well I wasn't - bad things kept happening. I bet you would have cried too!

She said, "I told you to get the clothes off. Now hurry."

I said, "But it isn't pee!! Those boys threw a bunch of water on me!"

"It doesn't matter, Jaden. You still can't wear wet clothes around school all day, now can you? AND I Will be able to tell once you have them off."

"But what will I wear?" I asked, sniffling.

"Oh, just take the blanket off the bed for now. You're going to have to wait here anyway, and no one will see you."

I pulled the blanket in front of me and pulled off my pants and underwear, and she demanded the shirt too.

She sighed and frowned and said, "I'll be back as soon as these are in the washer. Where are your books?"

I told her I had dropped them in the cafeteria, and she told me I'd have to look for them later and wouldn't have anything to look at while I waited. "Don't think of leaving this room," she added.

I nodded to her. Where was I going to go without clothes anyway? But I heard her lock the door when she left.

The nurse was a lot different from Ms Evens. She was shorter and a little plump too. She wore slacks, and just regular trainers, and a baggy shirt, but you could tell that her breast were real big and round, not so pointy as Ms Evens'. Also, she hadn't acted nice like Ms Evens at all. She just told me what to do and didn't care at all how embarrassing all this was. I started to think she might be real mean.

I sat there with nothing to do but hide under the blanket. I looked around the room and noticed there was a window in the door. It had blinds but they were open. I thought about getting up to close them but was afraid I shouldn't or that someone on the other side would see me. There was also a shelf with some books and some little kid's toys, like a teddy bear, a little truck, some dolls and a top.

As I laid there I heard a girl go up the hall outside the door and then walk back again. I peeked out from under the blanket and saw she glared into the room as she passed. That decided it. I jumped out of bed and tried to close the blinds. They were the tricky kind, and one side went down before the other, but I got them to where only one bottom corner wasn't covered. As I ran back to the bed I grabbed the teddy bear off the shelf. Then I hid under the covers and petted her head. Well it was just something to do; honest.

It seemed like forever before the nurse came back. Before she had closed the door she said, "Sit up, Jaden." The nurse closed the door and fixed the blinds, and didn't get mad about me messing them up.

"We must talk, Jaden," she said. "I looked at your pants and know that was just water. Do you know who threw it on you?"

I shook my head, and she said, "Then why did they do it to you?"

She was real serious sounding, so I didn't try to not tell her. She said she would find out who it was from the cafeteria ladies. I didn't ask her not to, but knew it was going to make those boys madder, and everyone would still think I had wet my self anyway.

Then she said, "Even though the pants were wet from regular water it seems, can you tell me why your underpants were damp all over and so dirty, Jaden."

I shrugged; I didn't want to tell her that I still wet the bed sometimes. It's not like I did it every night, lots of times I didn't, really. But she kept asking, and I thought she would get mad, so I told her about it and about my mom not being able to get to the laundry mat all the time, though she washed her clothes at the hotel where she worked.

"And how did the spots get on them?" she asked.

I told her that sometimes I kind of leaked, but just tiny bits, I guessed. I didn't know if she meant the skid marks in back or the dots around the front, but that answer worked for both. I'd seen other boys underwear in the locker room and when I had lived in group homes, and mine wasn't a whole lot worse than some others if you didn't count the night pee, at least I didn't think so.

"I see," she said very matter-of-factly. "More boys than you think have all those kinds of problems, Jaden, but now I do need to examine you. Give me the blanket and lie back. Remember I am a nurse."

Even though she asked me to give it to her, she pulled the blanket off as she spoke. I covered my thing with my hands.

Then she said, "Put your hands up by your head." She ran her hand up my legs - all the way up them. Then she did that to my arms, then had me roll on to my stomach and rubbed my bottom and my back like that. I knew she was just doing nurse stuff, so I let her. Also, it felt kind'a nice, though I didn't think it was supposed to.

She asked me lots of questions too, like if I did anything to keep the hair off my legs, and if I ever got pimples, and if I had any sores. The answer to them all was 'no', except for the scab on my arm she had seen, and I told her I took a shower about three times a week (although really I usually forgot.)

"Now I need to take you temperature and get some things. Oh, but I think you should have a treat for being so good for me."

I smiled really big! It was the first nice thing she had said, and it had been real hard to act good all that time.

She got one of those fruit sheets and started telling me it was best to eat it by sticking it to my thumb and keeping it in my mouth. I didn't tell her I already knew about that. It must be better for your teeth or something, and that's why teachers wanted you to do it that way or, maybe, everyone eats them like that in this town, and we had just never heard of it in my old city. I didn't care because I had started liking them a lot that way.

She got a thermometer and told me to get on my stomach again. Then she spread my cheeks apart (yeah, the back ones.) and started to put it in back there! I rolled over fast (I didn't even know you could do it that way!). I just stared at her; I couldn't find the words!

She looked very stern, but with a smile to, which is a weird look. She said in just the same flat voice that she always used, "I prefer to take temperatures that way because it is far more accurate," then with an almost nice voice and a better smile she said, "besides, Jaden, it won't get in the way of your candy this way, well it?" That, at least, was a good idea I thought, and I knew I was going to lose an argument, so I let her put the thermometer where she wanted.

It felt really weird at first, but it wasn't so bad. What was worse was she had left, saying she would be gone for three minutes, and left the door wide open. I couldn't move with that thing in me, and now I didn't have the blanket over me. All I could do is lie there licking my candy and hope that girl didn't walk down the hall again.

I heard the nurse talking to the girl as she came back, and I was really worried, but she made the girl stop before she could see in, thank goodness!!

"I was worried you were going to bring that girl in her," I said.

The nurse put the things she was carrying down, went to the hall to get some more stuff from the girl, then she closed the door and said, "I'm not here to embarrass you, Jaden, just to help you. But Abby has a brother so I don't think she would be all that interested, and you have nothing to be so modest about."

Then why had the girl walked up the hall twice; and why did the boys always make fun of my thing being so small if they ever saw it in the locker room or bathroom or just saw my underpants even; and why did people at the foster homes get mad if we ever left the bathroom in just our unders? But I didn't say any of that to the nurse.

She pulled out the thermometer and said, "Well, at least that is normal. Roll back over and fold your knees up as close to your head as you can."

I figured she was checking how flexible I was, so I didn't worry about doing it, I am real good at that stuff and thought she would be impressed. When I had both knees where I could lick them she pulled them apart and said, "Very good, Jaden. You are starting to get a rash, and I'm going put some medicine on it."

__________

**Chapter VI: JB's School Day**

 

She put her hand right there! Right between one thing and the other, if you know what I mean, and it was real cold, and I jumped.

 

She said, "Now Jade, this is going to make you feel much better. You should see how red you are down here, love. Doesn't it burn and inch?"

 

I had to admit that sometimes it did do both of those things, but still!! "I can put it on myself though," I said.

 

"No, you can't; not and get it spread just right. I know it is cold, but it is good for you. Now, lie back and put you legs back like you had them. NOW, Jaden."

 

I hadn't even thought about what she was looking at from that end of the bed, but now I did, and I put my hands over my things.

 

"Move your hands from your little pieces, Jade. Keep sucking on your candy. It will make you feel better. See, doesn't that feel good. I'll get this cream all around the red spots. And then some oil to make it soft. You're going to feel so good..."

 

She kept talking like that, lots nicer than before, as she rubbed all over the place, even right on my thing, and she pulled the skin back on it, and she did around both sides of my crack and right around my hole. I guess she talked to distract me from what she was doing, and it worked sort of for a while because I just kept working on the candy on my thumb. Until she put her finger right inside me! In the place the thermometer had been! Really! When she did that I sat up again, but she didn't get mad.

She gently pushed me back down, and said, "And now some powder, Jade, and we will be all done. You did very well. Now let's get you dressed." She pulled my legs down so I could sit up, and I noticed she had brought my gym clothes in with her; she must have a key to the gym lockers.

Then she guided my arms though each of the t-shirt sleeves and did the same thing with my legs for the shorts. She said, "There wasn't a strap in your gym locker. Don't you use one?"

"My mom won't buy one."

"Why not? It is on the supply list."

Maybe it doesn't sound like a big deal after what she had just done, but it was still embarrassing to say it. "Mom says it'd be a waste of money for something so small. You've seen lots. Is it that small?"

"Well, Jade, people grow up at different speeds. You'll catch up someday and do fine. Don't be in to big a hurry though, because there are advantages to being as cute as you are."

The way she had just gone about all she had done I didn't think she liked me, it was like it was just a job to be put up with, so her saying that did make me feel good and like her better too.

It made me smile, and as she tied my shoes I said, "My name is Jaden, not Jade, and everyone calls be JB anyway, you know."

"Why would you want to use initials when you have such a pretty name? And I'm going to shorten it to Jade because that is a stone that is almost as precious as you are. Do you mind so much?"

I liked what she said, but still worried. "Well, it sounds kind'a girly and people have made fun of even 'Jaden' all the time, but OK, but not in front of other kids, 'K?" (Of course they make fun of JB too, but I didn't go in to that.)

"I'll try really hard not to do that, but now I have some bad news for you, Jade. Anytime I have to but something on someone's bottom I charge them for it."

"But I don't have any money! Ever! And you never told me."

"The price is one hug." She was grinning real big because she had tricked me.

I put my arms around her and gave her a hug. I mean what else could I do?

I had almost decided that the people in this town must be a lot different from the people in my old town, or at least the grown ups, or at least the teachers, or at least the lady teachers. In my old town when I had an accident or a wreck in my pants no one acted like Ms Evens or the Nurse did. They would all get disgusted and mad. Even, especially the teachers and the people that ran foster homes, and my mom went ballistic during the car trip down here last summer.

When I let go the nurse said, "That hug was so big you get some change back." And we hugged again. (That was silly, right? 'Cause she had been hugging me back anyway.)

As we walked to the outer office I told her that everyone was going to think that I had really wet my pants, and I was going to get teased all day.

That girl was still in the outer office, and I blushed when I saw her; she smiled at me. The nurse said, "That is why I have Abby as my aide, Jade - en. She is the biggest gossip in the whole school. She will make sure that everyone knows what really happened by lunch time. Want you, Abby?"

"I sure will, Ms Marks. So don't worry, Jaden."

"And, Jaden," the nurse, Ms Marks, added, "she is also too scared of me to say anything to anyone about something she shouldn't talk about. Right, Abby?"

"Yes Ma'am, Ms Marks."

Ms Marks wrote a note for me to show all my teachers and other grown-ups that ask why I was wearing gym clothes to class. Then I went to find my books. Abby came with me, and she stood right up to the cafeteria ladies when they didn't want to let us in.

It turned out that it was still first period, I thought all that had taken a lot longer, but I got to second period on time; that was History with Ms Evens, and she smiled when she saw me.

Ms Evens read my note from the nurse first thing. Only problem was she put her arm around me while she read it. That would have been nice if all the big kids hadn't been watching. Some of the kids giggled as they walked by me. Ms Evens gave me a hall pass so I could put my books in my locker, because I still had my whole backpack. When I got back the class was real, real quiet, and my desk had been moved to the front, next to Abby's. No one from that class said anything else, even out in the halls.

After that I had Math, and Amanda said 'hi' as I came in for the first time. Then she walked with me to Art and made lots of silly jokes.

After lunch I had Spanish. I had that with the seventh graders because I didn't have to take it at my old school, and they hadn't heard what really happened this morning, but the teacher had and was on my side. After that was PE today. Since I didn't need to change, I helped the coach set up. They played floor hockey, but the coach let me just chase the out of bounds balls without having to get run over three times first. Before the end of the period, Ms Marks came in and ask if I could come with her.

Back in the same little room as before she made me get on the bed. The little bear was sitting on the pillows this time and she asked me to hold it while she did her work. Then she pulled my shorts off for me, and she put the medicine on me just like before, she rubbed me with the cream and the oil and the powder (yeah, she put her finger in there again too) but I knew what to expect this time and didn't mind so much.

She had thrown my underpants out, just like Ms Evens had, and I told her that my mom would get mad if she ever noticed (which she would if she ever did.), and she promised to get some new ones for me. Then she said, "That bear's name is Holly, and I think she could use a special friend. Would you take her home and take care of her."

"My mom wouldn't like me to. But thanks; is she always such a nice bear?" I said, just joking around.

"Oh, she is special, Jade. She is only nice to very nice people, and she always knows. That is how I know you must be nice, because she likes you so much. She can be yours, and I'll keep her right her, and you will have to come visit her, OK?" (We were both being silly. That felt weird with a grown-up and a teacher too.)

She asked if my mother would help put my medicine on at night. That scared the h-e-l-l out of me! So she didn't make me take any home, but told me to come see her before breakfast in the morning.

She also gave me a new t-shirt that was in a plastic bag, and told me to stop wearing my briefs to bed, but to just wear the extra big shirt with nothing under it. I should bring the shirt to her inside the bag if it was wet. That would be good for the rash and my unders would not get so ruined either. That was a good idea! She said it was only the second best answer but would have to do for now. I wondered what the best is.

As I was leaving she said, "Wait, Jade; you forgot to pay me." I remembered the price and gave her a hug. Then she gave me my change too. The girl that was the infirmary aide that period (it wasn't Abby) was giggling real loud, but I didn't even care, neither did Ms Marks.

Last period was English. When it was almost over the office aide brought a note saying I should go to Ms Evens office just before announcements. I got there just as Ms Evens finished with her gym class, and she said she had had something for me that I needed before going home. At first I thought it was extra homework, or a letter to my mother, but it was some more of that candy, and she put it on my thumb for me. She set me in her lap to listen to the announcements while I ate it, like we did yesterday, and we made jokes about them and the way some of the announcers sounded.

After announcements she gave me some candy to take home, (and pecked me on the nose! I giggled!).

The bus kids all just ignored me like usual, so I guess they had heard what really happened this morning too. I rode home sucking on some more of my candy and realized I felt really happy! In spite of the awful start it had been a not bad day. In fact it was, maybe, one of the best ever school days ever - for me.

__________

Chapter VII: JB's New Clothes

"Hi, Ms Marks" I said when I saw her walking towards the infirmary door where I was already waiting.

"Why, hi to you too, Jade. You're bright and early this morning, aren't you?"

"You want help caring stuff?" She already had a tray from the cafeteria even though its doors weren't open yet.

"Sure can you hold this while I get the door."

"I've got your breakfast here to too, Jade. Would you like to eat in here?"

"'K," I said. I mean why not, and I'd be less likely to get teased too.

I sat at the desk in the rolling chair. The table was too high, so I had to kneel to reach it; I'm use to stuff like that. She took the milk out of my hand as I was opening it and fixed the cereal for me. She only had to open the juice far enough to get a straw in it because she kept straws in her desk.

Then when I leaned forward to take the first bite, the chair rolled backwards, and the whole bowl and some of the juice flopped all down my shirt, and I fell out of the chair on to the desk.

I guess I started to cry. Ms Marks came over and helped me up. "Oh, Jade, I'm sorry about that old chair. It wasn't your fault at all. Let's go into your room and get you cleaned up. There, there. It's going to be fine."

"But I messed up my clothes again. I - doing that - al - the time."

"Well, this time it is OK, because I have some new things for you."

She had carried me into the room I went into yesterday, but now there were kinda purple sheets and a flowered cover on the bed. Holly the Bear was sitting on the pillows instead of on the shelf now.

She put me down on the bed and took my shirt and pants off. There was a sink right in the room, and she wet a wash cloth and washed my chest and stomach. She said, "Stay right there and play with Holly while I clean up the mess out front. Be right back!"

I picked Holly up and hugged her. This was awful! - again!! I threw the stupid bear onto the floor. Then put my head in the pillows and just cried. Why was all this always happening to me? I had always had a way of getting into trouble, but for the third day in a row some lady was having to wash my clothes. And she had undressed me like a baby too! Or at least a little kid.

But both of the ladies had been nice about it, hadn't they? It wasn't like what my grandma or foster home people or my mom would have done at all. I felt sorry for Holly and went and picked her up and held her while I sat curled up on the bed.

I tried to stop crying. Why were the ladies here so different - nice - to me? I thought about the candy that Ms Marks and Ms Evens both gave me and started licking my thumb. That's what I was doing when Ms Marks came in.

She said, "Does that thumb taste good, Jade." She was smiling, and I wasn't sure if she was teasing or not.

"I was pretending it had candy on it," I said, still sobbing though I tried not to.

"That's OK, but I think it is still to early for real candy. Let's get your medicine on you now, since you're almost ready."

I lay down on my back. I knew this routine by now, of course.

She lifted my butt up by raising my legs then spread a towel under it before she put me down. She pulled my underwear off and told me to pull my knees way up again.

This time the first medicine she used was real sticky. But other than that she did everything like she did it yesterday. I said, "Ms Marks, can't I try to do it myself. This is like getting a diaper put on, and I'm too big."

I had had my hands on my privates, and she pushed them away and started rubbing oil all around and on them. "Jade, lots of big people do have to wear diapers sometimes you know, and it isn't their fault when that happens. When there is something wrong there is nothing wrong with doctors and nurses doing their jobs. So don't be ashamed. OK?"

I nodded and asked if I was going to have to wear my gym clothes all day again.

She said, "Nope, like I said, I have some new clothes for you to wear at school. I will keep them, and keep them clean for you. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, guess."

Ms Marks pulled some things out of a shopping bag and said, "First thing is some new underclothes. I got you a different kind. They are thicker at the front, because you said you had little drips sometimes." She showed me a pair of underwear that was white with little blue, red and yellow dots all over it, and slipped them up my legs.

I said, "Hey, these are too small." Even lying on the bed I could tell they didn't come to the top of my crack, and also the elastic part around the top was way thinner than any I had worn before.

Ms Marks told me to stand up and then looked at me and pulled on the unders. She said, "Nope, Jade, that is just like they should fit. Put your hand on the front and feel how soft and thick they are. That will be good for your rash, and so will having them tighter and higher on the legs too."

"Are you sure boys wear these?" I asked.

"Of course they do, but girls do too, girls leak like that too and they care about it more than boys. That is why they wear them more often. Maybe when you have PE we will have to think of something."

She picked up a pair of bright red shorts and a pair of bluish-green ones. "And you also have these," she said.

I picked them up. The legs were shorter than usual, but I was use to hand-me-downs at foster homes, so them being small on me wasn't a big deal. Both of them had cuffs, like at the bottom of pants, but the red ones didn't have a fly, just a flap to make them look like they did.

"Ms Marks, how could I go to the bathroom in these? You got to pull them down or something. The boys would see my butt if I did that."

"Oh, just a bit. You could go in the stalls."

I rolled my eyes. I had decided she was nice really, but she sure knew nothing about boy's rooms.

"There aren't any doors, and people tease you if you sit down in there, especially kids like me."

"Oh, OK. I guess we will go with the green ones. Now for a top." She meant a shirt. There were four. Two of them were those knit kind, with just three buttons and a collar, one white, one bright yellow. The others were regular shirts, T-shirts. The first she showed me was light blue and had a teddy bear on it! The second was yellow again, but pale yellow and it had a star with a bunch of different points and the middle was bluish-green like the shorts.

Ms Marks might be nice and smart, but how could she work at a school and not know that boys didn't wear teddy bears, or that yellow was a girls color? I guess she saw the look on my face because she said, "You think people would tease you if you wore the bear? Well I picked that because it looks like Holly, but we can save it for another time too. I didn't have a lot to pick from, I'll look at some other stores sometime."

I said, "Does the school pay for this? You shouldn't buy me stuff, my mom might get mad."

"It's not new really, Jade. I got them at a second hand store. I just cleaned them up real well, is all."

They felt a lot nicer than all the stuff I got from used clothes stores before, which was all most all I got. She must have been good at cleaning them.

I thought the pale yellow might not get me teased too much and I couldn't hurt her feelings too much, could I? So I picked it up and started to put it on.

Ms Marks took it from me and said, "Tell you what - let's not put them on until after breakfast, OK. Just in case."

I guess I couldn't fight that, I mean I already had messed up some clothes. Also, I'd figured I wasn't gonna have breakfast since I had spilled mine.

"You mean you can get me some more?" I said with a smile.

"I'll just let you have mine. I can get more any time because I'm the nurse," she said.

She took my hand as we walked back to the front office. I didn't even think about the fact that I only had on skimpy polka-dot underwear and socks. I mean she just made it seem so regular.

When I finished eating she said, "Scoot back to your room, Jade, and I'll come and dress you as soon as I get this cleaned up."

And I did. Scoot, that is, about halfway down the hall, before I thought about her coming in to dress me. Then I walked slowly the rest of he way, sat on the bed and held Holly.

I wondered if she thought I was really just a little kid because I was so small. And I thought Ms Evens must too. Both had called me sweetheart and stuff and helped me do stuff that even little kids could do alone. And they held and hugged me too. And I didn't mind, which made me feel real weird too. But everyone had always told me I was weird, or lots worse things than that, so maybe it didn't matter.

When Ms Marks came in I said, "You know I can dress myself."

"Well. Of course you can!" she said, "But I thought you might want help because they are a bet different is all. Just let me give you a hand."

I got off the bed, and she picked up the green shorts she said, "You know this color is called jade, just like your name, that's why I picked them. I'm glad you like them." Then she held the shorts open down near the floor. I guess she thought that was giving me a hand, but at least I wasn't being dressed lying down this time.

I put my hands on her shoulders and stepped in to them. Just then a voice said, "Hi Ms Marks. I'm here."

I tried to jump around behind the nurse, but she grabbed my waist and held me. She said, just like nothing was strange, "Good Morning, Abby. Are the busses here already? I guess I better hurry, hadn't I?"

She had left my shorts around my knees while she said that. I leaned forward and hid my head on her shoulders. When she had them up, she said, "Stand up, so I can zip them, Jade. Can you get the maize socks out of that bag, Abby?"

Abby handed the socks to Ms Marks and said, "Don't be shy, JB. I have a twin brother who runs around the house in his boxers all the time, and he's not nearly as cute as you."

But her brother probably wasn't being dressed by the school nurse at the time, and probably wasn't as small as me, and probably... I just looked down at my feet.

After putting my socks and shoes on my feet, Ms Marks demanded her usual payment for the treatment. I gave her a hug; she gave me one back; Abby grinned at us. This day had started off even worse than yesterday; but the hugs still felt good.

__________

**Chapter VIII: JB and the Awful, No-Good Day**

I was feeling really sad when I left the infirmary and had wanted to keep on hugging but Ms Marks and Abby had to get busy. I remembered that yesterday had started off bad too. But even the things that made yesterday good were things I wouldn't have wanted to talk about. Like the nurse being nice when she changed my clothes, or just because people didn't think I'd wet my pants. It was all weird.

I was trying to get through the crowded front entry when a girl grabbed me and said, "Wait, don't run away." It was Amanda. "Is that a new top? It's very pretty, JB. Oh and your shorts match. That looks so sweet. Look, Suzy, isn't JB's top cute?" And I had thought Amanda liked me!

Another girl said, "Oh, I saw that in the store, but my mom wouldn't let me have it. She hates cleaning shirts with sparkles on them. You're so lucky, JB"

There were two boys next to them, and they were laughing. I said I had to go and pulled away. I didn't think they should'a made fun of Ms Marks shirt, among other things.

During Science class the teacher was doing an experiment with us standing around the table. When she saw me at the back she picked me up and sat me on the table cross legged. Everybody in the whole class laughed about it. On the way out of the class I heard someone say, "JB the baby." I hadn't heard that one at this school yet and had hoped no one would think it up.

Next period was History with Ms Evens! She was standing at the door when I got to the room and, without thinking about it, I kind of leaned against her. She looked down at me and said, "Are you having an awful, no-good day, JB?"

I nodded, and she put her arm across my back. One of the boys walked passed and said, "Hey, teachers can't have pets."

I realized what I was doing and tried to pull away, but Ms Evens held on to me and said, "We certainly can, Hal. Just because I'm nice to one student doesn't make me any nicer or meaner to the others. Do you need a hug real badly today too?"

The boy blushed and shook his head and went to his seat.

I was blushing too now. That had been a dumb thing to do I thought. Ms Evens walked with me over to my seat next to Abby, and Abby said, "Did you see JB's new clothes, MS E."

"Yes, I sure did. You look very nice today, JB." I blushed way more. I was afraid Abby was going to say something about my new underpants too, but she didn't.

The boy behind Abby whispered, "'You sure look nice, baby.'" as soon as Ms Evens was behind her desk. After sitting in the room for fifty minutes with Ms Evens I still didn't feel any better. After class I waited 'til everyone had left and asked her for another hug, and I got one, a bigger one, and a smile.

Then just before Math Amanda said something else about my shirt being pretty, and I said, "Shut up and stop teasing me!" I must have been too loud because the teacher told me to sit down even though the bell hadn't rung.

About ten minutes into the lesson, Amanda poked me in the back, then about five minutes later she did it again. I yelled "Stop it!" and I got sent to the office.

I had to sit and sit in the office. I had to write down why I had got in trouble. I was already missing Art when this lady called me into her office. She talked and talked - about paying attention and letting others learn, and the proper way to deal with kids bugging me (tell a teacher; yeah, right.) - but maybe she believed what I said in my letter, because she didn't yell and only gave me two marks.

Since it was already first lunch I went and got my food. I didn't want to go to Art with that Amanda again.

This day was a lot worse than yesterday, and it did not look like it was going to get any better. I mean Ms Evens and Ms Marks were still nice, but even Amada, who had been nice yesterday, was teasing me now, wasn't she? And I wasn't too sure about Abby.

I went by the infirmary but there was a note on the door saying go to the office because the nurse was teaching a health class.

I went to Spanish class and we had a quiz, which I think I flunked.

On my way to shop; which is always bad, worse than PE even; those two kids that threw water on me saw me, and one yelled, "Hey, it's that little kid that got us in trouble."

The other one yelled even louder, "Look, it's the little sissy that wet his pants yesterday."

I started to run, and they chased me pushing people out of their way. When I reached the hall by the shop class one of them jumped and tackled me. The other caught up and said, "Let's see if the fairy pants wetter can fly," and he tried to pick me up and throw me, but he only got me about three feet. Then his friend tried. I was swing my arms trying to hit them but it didn't help. Some of the big eighth grader boys were coming now and they were laughing and one of them said, "Here, let me try." He grabbed me and tossed me to another big boy. I was trying to kick 'em and hit 'em now.

There were girls coming to the Home Ec and Band rooms and stuff, and they laughed too or just watched. Mr. Johnson came out and said, "Hay Gerry, throw him to me!" All the big boys thought that was real funny. Mr. Johnson caught me and lifted me real high. He carried me like that into the Shop room before he put me down. To the boys in the hall he said, "OK, that's enough everyone. Game's over. Get to class." Then he told me to go to the back and stop crying. "I was all just in fun, JB. No big deal," he said.

See why I hated Shop already? At least he didn't make me do anything during class. About half way through class someone brought a note, and Mr. Johnson announced that I was to go to the infirmary. As I walked to the door a boy hollered, "He's probably got to have his diaper changed!" and the whole room burst into laughter.

At the infirmary I just walked straight back to the room I always used. Ms Marks followed me. I grabbed the bear off the pillows, and Ms Marks had spread a towel under me before she said, "Have you had a hard day, little Jade?"

I nodded, and she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?" as she took off my shoes and pulled down my shorts.

I shook my head real slow. At least I wasn't crying.

Once my shorts were off, she sat on the bed and picked me up and put me in her lap. She pulled my head close to her breast and rocked back and forth saying, "There, there," over and over.

After a while she asked if I felt a little better, and I did. She started stroking my hair and said, "When we're done, I'm going to brush you hair, and we'll see if that helps. I bet it does. It usually does with little girls. But tonight I want you to be sure to wash it really well, two or three times. Can you get some conditioner from your mom?"

I nodded. My mom had lots of bottles in the bathroom, some of it stuff she didn't like.

"Then use that too, sweetheart," she said, "but let's get you fixed up now," and she sat me down on bed and took my shirt off, then my underpants, and she spread the ointment and the oil and the powder all over. This part was beginning to feel nicer and nicer, at least when I was this sad.

When she was done she said she would be right back and went to get a brush even before she dressed me. She sat me on her lap and started brushing. She was doing a lot more than I ever did to it. My hair was a little ways past the bottom of my ears, almost to my collar on the sides and almost to my shoulder in back, because I hadn't had a hair cut since I'd come to live with my mom. It was also kinda straight, so I didn't think it need much but she kept wrapping it around the brush and twirling it I guess.

Some times it pulled, and each time she said, "ouch" for me and kissed the spot. While she was brushing her other hand had fallen in my lap, and she just left it there. Then after a while she started rubbing my tube back and forth at the same time as she stroked my hair.

Then she picked me up and carried me over to a mirror and said, "OK, Jade, it would be better if it was cleaner, but look in there and tell me if you recognize anyone."

I looked and instead of the limp and tangley stuff I always had on my head, it was all wavy and soft looking. It was parted in the middle but there were like little waves of bangs over each eye. I smiled; it had really made up for this day but it did look nice. "Well, I recognize Ms Marks," I said and she kissed cheek.

"And when you clean it it will look even prettier." She sat me down on the counter top and pulled a yellow and pink bow out of a bag She stuck the bow in my hair on one side and made me look again. "See how pretty you can be, my piece of Jade?"

I nodded but said, "But boys don't wear ribbons!"

She said, "I don't see why not. Anyway that doesn't mean YOU can't sometimes."

She was being silly again so I giggled.

Then she said, "But now we need to hurry, or I'm going to be late for my last period class. Come on into your old clothes, Shady-Jade."

I said, "I think I should wear those others for the rest of the day or lots of people will notice I've changed and tease me. Would that be OK for me to wear them home?"

"Of course, but won't your mom wonder where they came from?"

"I can get them changed before she sees me."

"Ok, sweet, bring them back to me tomorrow."

I let her lay me down on the bed to dress me, she did put some different underpants on me. Ones more the old style, but thicker in the middle part. They didn't seem as comfortable to me as the new kind.

Once I was dressed we went into the front office, and I gave her a hug before I went out the door. I wanted to even though that girl at the desk could see, and I had already 'paid' her in the other room.

There were lots of kids talking and laughing when I went down the hall to the English class. I heard lots of "JB Baby" and "He caught him and held up", so I knew it was about me. I went into the classroom early and just sat at my seat and tried to ignore everything. I had felt a little better in Ms Marks lap but that had all disappeared during the walk down the hall.

The teacher told us we could spend the last part of class doing our homework, and I asked her if I could leave to go see Ms Evens about a project. I found Ms Evens in the gym; she blew her whistle when she saw me and told the girls to run five laps. She came over and took my hand, and we walked through the girl's locker to her office. She sat me in her lap. She had heard all about the tossing thing and I told her about some of the rest of my day.

She said she had been trying to reach my mom about some ways to help me, but not about my wetting accident or about being thrown. I said the best time to call was about six thirty or just before.

She hugged me tight and I took her hand and but it down on my shorts, between my legs, and moved it back and forth until she started to do it alone like Ms Marks had. We sat like that until the end of announcements.

__________

**Chapter IX: JB Has a Visitor**

When I got on the bus to go home one of the kids grabbed me and got ready to throw me but the driver came in and screamed at them about roughhousing on the bus. I had to sit right behind the driver for the ride and people kept throwing things at me and laughing in the back, but that wasn't so bad. When I got off I just took off running as fast as I could go and got away before the others got off.

My mom wasn't home, so I changed out of Ms Marks' clothes and went and played with the puppy. Then I dug a hole with my sticks, then I held a stick and pretended to rock it for a while. I still felt really bad. I wished there was someway I could just spend the whole day with Ms Marks and Ms Evens, but schools didn't work that way. I felt really mad, and then I started to make the sticks be cars and trucks and have great big crashes with each other, and wished certain people were in them.

That's what I was doing when I heard Ms Marks call my name. I jumped up. I felt embarrassed about being caught playing like a little kid for a second but, since it was Ms Evens, I decided it didn't really matter.

She told me it was all most six thirty and asked if my mother was still not home. I had thought she was just going to call, not come over. She sat right on the ground where I had been crawling around and asked if she could be one of the drivers of the sticks.

We did that for a few minutes, and we talked about my mom's work and when she was home and stuff. The truth is I never really like talking much, so mostly I shrugged and nodded my answers. Some how I wound up sitting in her lap out in the backyard. When I noticed I didn't mind, I leaned my head on her shoulder and then took her hand and put it on the front of my pants the way I had in her office that afternoon, but this time she pulled it away real fast and asked if we could wait inside, but the doors were locked of course. When she found that out she suggested we walk to the gas station two blocks away and buy a drink.

She wrote a note and stuck it on the door for my mom and, as we walked down the street she held my hand, and I hoped no one saw me. When she saw a hopscotch game on the side walk she made me do it, even though I told her I was too big for that, and she did it her self to prove it was OK for big people.

She wouldn't let me get a cola though, but made me get a fruit juice drink. When we got to the hopscotch thing on the way home my stomach felt funny, and when I made a funny face Ms Evens asked me what I was doing.

I said, "I needed to go to the bathroom, but I pulled it back inside me."

"What! JB, you should never do that. It can make you very, very sick, and you will start not being able to go."

"But I got to lots 'a times cause there is nowhere to go until my mom gets home. I can't do two in the bushes, you know."

"No, I guess you can't, but this time we can go back to the store and use theirs."

"They want let me."

"We will see about that!"

We walked back to the store and when the man said that the restrooms were only for people that bought gas, Ms Evens got a huge frown and took out five dollars. She said, "This is for gas. Put it in your car. Now give me the damn key."

The man looked like he wanted to get mad, but he decided he wanted the money more and gave Ms Evens the key. Problem was he gave her the ladies key, but she just grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back of the building, then she walked right into the bathroom with me.

It didn't have stalls or anything like that, just a toilette and a sink, and I said, "OK, I'll go. Wait outside."

Ms Evens smiled and said, "Don't be a silly-nilly, JB. If I go back out there I might get so mad I'll yell at that man. Besides it's nothing I haven't seen." Then she unbuttoned my pants and pulled them and my underpants down.

As soon as I sat down there were two plops into the water, then I started to push hard because there was more in me.

"Don't strain, JB. Relax. Close you eyes, take a deep breath and let it come out."

I did that and soon I could feel a long rope come out of me. I said, "I'm so dumb I don't even know how to go right."

"Don't you ever call yourself that, JB! You go poo the way a lot of people do, even grown-ups. It's just that it can cause problems. Now take another breath and see if you can pee too."

A little stream came out, and Ms Evens asked if I was all done. I nodded and started to take some of the toilet paper, but she took it and wrapped it around her fingers.

"Lean forward, sweetie," she said, and she wiped my butt, she did it kinda hard, twice. Then with a third piece she was softer all around back there. I remembered being dirty back there that time so I let her. She told me to stand up and she took a little piece of TP, pulled back the skin on my penis and wiped off the head. She pulled up my pants for me too, and she rubbed the soap on my hands and, then she picked me up and carried me out.

I let her do that even though I wasn't tired or anything; I don't know why; I just did. About half way back to the duplex I asked if I wasn't too heavy, and she said, "Not at all. Remember I am a coach, and I exercise a lot, so carrying you will be part of my workout."

When we got close to the house my mom's car still wasn't there, but when we got even closer I could tell that the note Ms Evens left was gone. I tried the door and my mom had left it open this time. There was a note from my mom in the kitchen saying she had to leave for work and would see Ms Evens tomorrow. I explained to Ms E that my mom worked a split shift at the hotel, mostly in the day, but sometimes at night, and that she also worked at a club if they called her.

Ms E asked what I'd do for dinner, and I was happy that my mom had got some cereal and some bologna yesterday. She looked around and saw my inside room that mom kept real nice, then she asked where I really slept. I wasn't supposed to talk about that, but Ms Evens had noticed that it was dusty but neater than all the rest of the house. So I showed her my room outside. When she went in she made a face; even I knew it stunk, and I was real embarrassed and it made me cry. Ms Evens got down on her knee and hugged me tight. She asked me if I'd like spend the night at her house tonight and she would come and talk to my mom in the morning.

She wrote another note and put it inside my outside room this time.

I got Ms Marks clothes and stuffed them in my backpack to take to school tomorrow, and went to Ms Evens car. It was big and nice with four doors and a back part to carry stuff.

Ms Evens made me get in the back seat because that was safer, and she reached over me to find the seat belt and hooked me into it.

We drove a long way and she asked me what my favorite dinner was (Mac and cheese with those little hotdogs.), and about movies and TV shows and video games (I didn't know much about any of them.). Then she stopped at a store and again she carried me as she walked inside. She took me to the magazine row and told me to stay right there while she got some things real quick.

There weren't any good books but there were some toys, and I was looking at them when she came back and told me she was ready to check out and asked if I wanted something. I said some thumb candy and she said she already had some, and she had meant did I want any of the trucks or cars.

"I'm too old," I said.

Ms Evens got down on a knee like she did when she had something serious to talk about, and said, "My JB, how many trucks have you ever had?"

I shook my head and said, "'Can't remember. Not many, 'guess."

"So it is fine for you to play with them now to make up for not having them when you were younger, right sweetie? A red one, or a green one?"

I pointed to a brown bear that looked just like Holly and said, "Would it be all right if I got that instead?" She kissed me (I didn't know why) and took the bear down, and said I could have one more thing. I pointed at the blue-green pick-up. She took the tag off to give to the cashier, and let me hold the bear while I waited on a bench near the check out.

When she had paid, she put me into the basket so I could ride back out to the car. Once she had me buckled in and we were going again I said, "Ms Evens, don't people think it is weird when they see me holding a teddy bear or riding in a basket or being carried and all that stuff. I am thirteen and all."

"I could hear her sigh even over the radio. She said, "JB, some people who don't really know you, but do know you are thirteen, might think it is unusual. But the people who don't know how old you are, just think you are the right age to do those things; and the people who really, really know you, all think that those are the right things for you to do, if you want to do them. I don't think you've done them much before in your life; it is just like with trucks and bears. You're chance just came a bit late. Do YOU like doing them, little one?"

"Yeah, 'guess; sometimes anyway."

"Then, sweetheart, the thing for us to do is just keep doing those things. Sometimes anyway. OK? But we will be careful around people who only sort of know you."

"Like school."

"Like around certain parts of school. Some people there will understand."

She pulled into a driveway. Boy, you should see her house!!

__________

 

**Chapter X: JB's Very Wonderful Night**

 

The house was right on a sharp bend in the street. It was only one level but looked real big. There was a garage with a door that opened when she pushed a button from the car. I tried to open the car door, but she had to come around and do that.

 

She but all the bags down in the kitchen and said, "JB, do you know it is almost eight thirty, and we have lots to do tonight. Bring your toys into the den, and let's get a move on."

 

I just followed her and put the truck on the floor of a room that had a big TV and fireplace and a real nice-feeling, thick carpet.

 

Then I followed her down the hall to a big room that had a giant bed in it. "Climb up on the bed, little one," she said, then she asked, "Are the backs of my pants as dirty from sitting in your old yard as yours are?"

 

I nodded, and she said, "Yuck," and she took off her shoes and then she pulled down her warm-up pants right in front of me! I started giggling. My mom wouldn't never do that in front of me. Then she pulled off her t-shirt ight there too. She laughed at me as she stood there in her panties and bra. Both were beige and both had lace all around the edges.

"You think I look silly? Is that why you're laughing, huh?" she said.

I shook my head but kept laughing.

"You're turn. Those clothes are going to get my whole house dirty in no time," she said and sat on the bed and grabbed my feet to take my shoes off. Then she did my socks and pants and shirt too, but left me in my underwear. The unders were the ones Ms Marks had put me in this afternoon, they were y-fronts, and were yellow and red. "Did your mom buy you new clothes finally, JB?" Ms Evens asked.

"No, Ms Marks got me these," I said.

Ms Evens did not look very happy about that, she bit her lip and then asked me about all the things that Ms Marks had done with me..

Finally she said, "JB, do me a favor. Don't tell Nora, Ms Marks, that you are staying with me. -- Tell her you stayed with your godmother - Mrs. Gardener, June Gardener, if you have to. OK?"

"OK, Ms Evens," I said.

"Don't worry, baby, what you did was not wrong, but Nora and I will have to talk, and that could be hard. Also, when we are alone from now on would you call me Marnie or Aunt Marnie.

"OK, Marnie."

Ms Evens - I mean Marnie - put on a big t-shirt but didn't give me one. She said, "I bet you're hungry enough to eat a horse, sweetie?"

"No, only a pony; I'm real small," I said. She laughed and picked me up and jogged to the kitchen.

"I'll make dinner. You get on your homework! How much do you have?"

"A ton of questions in History and two sheets of 'rithmetic problems and a Spanish worksheet," I said.

She said, "I think you can get an extension for the History. Start on the others."

While the food was cooking she got my clothes and put them in the washing machine she had right in her house, just like a real big group home would have had.

I only had half a page of arithmetic done when she brought the plates over, mac and cheese with tiny hotdogs (Yumm) and broccoli (yuck). Then she brought me a drink. It had a top on it with a little square thing sticking up like I'd seen little kids use. I picked it up and looked at it and she said, "Just try it for me JB, so we don't have spills."

"I don't spill so much," I said.

"I know you don't, love, but I have other reasons too, use it just for now and see how it works, OK. If you hate it, we don't have to use it."

I put it in my mouth. It was milk and it came out real slow, but if I sucked on it it came faster. After a real long drink, Marnie said, "See, not so bad, is it?" And I shook my head because it really wasn't, and it would be a secret between us anyway I knew.

When I was eating Marnie told me to slow down, we had to hurry but not choke. After I'd eaten half the plate she made me sit in her lap and she started putting one bite in my mouth each time she put a bite in her own. I knew, of course that this was even babyish-er than using a sippy cup, but somehow I didn't mind. She only had one hand above the table when she ate, and after a few bites she put the other on my underpants and moved her fingers around my pieces. Then I didn't mind being spoon fed at all.

After I finished, broccoli and all, Marnie brought me some blueberries for desert and another cup of milk. I had to eat them alone while she cleaned up, then I asked her for some thumb candy. She made me finish the second cup of milk then wrapped a part of a fruit sheet on my thumb. I sat in her lap, with a thumb in my mouth and filled in the answers as she told them to me. (She promised to make me work harder when we had more time. Not a good kinda promise.)

As I put my stuff away, I asked what all we still had to do, and Marnie said, "You have to have a very, very good bath..."

"And I got to wash my hair at least twice, and do you have conditioner?"

"Those are Nora ideas, aren't they?" she said without a smile.

I knew she meant Ms Marks and that she didn't like her at all. I nodded and mumbled, "Yeah, sorry."

"It's OK, sweetheart. We will do those things. Is the bag from her to?"

She had seen the bag with the nightshirt that Ms Marx had leant me for tonight, and I told her about it, but I didn't tell her why yet. I guessed I needed to tell her about wetting the bed, but didn't want to yet.

"OK, you should wear it too. After the bath you need a little time to play with your new toys, don't you? So let's get going. I don't know if you're going to get into bed before eleven tonight. What time do you usually go to bed, JB?"

I shrugged and said, "When the people next door turn off the TV."

She picked up a bunch of the bags from the store and said, "To the tub! Charge!"

The bathtub was huge! I mean like a swimming pool almost, and it was sort of a triangle too. She told me it could make the water spin around too, but we didn't have time to do that tonight.

She picked me up and sat me beside the sink and opened a new toothbrush and had me hold my mouth open while she brushed my teeth for me. It was the first time I had done that since I left group homes, I figured she wanted to do it real good. Then she held a cup while I took a sip of water to spit out.

She added bubbles when she turned on the water! She pulled off my underpants and sat me down in the water. She took a duck and a boat out of a bag and handed them to me, and told me she needed to put the laundry in the dryer.

I sat there, holding the duck and thought about what other kids would say about a thirteen year old playing with it - and about what they would say about lots of other things too. I slipped down under the bubbles, with just a hole for my eyes and mouth. I pulled on the tube between my legs. I realized I didn't even think about one of my teachers seeing me naked anymore, while a few days ago I hated the boys in the locker room seeing my unders, actually I still hated that.

I wiggled my thing and rubbed my sac. I didn't even mind that she had seen how small those things were. I thought about what some people would say about my playing with that, or letting other people play with it

And I remembered that tomorrow I'd be back at my mom's in that outside room, and this would be over. That made me cry. I hated how much I cried. And then I sat up and decided I didn't care. It was all a secret and Marnie didn't care, so I could just do the things I liked, just for one night.

The duck and the boat were having a race all around the huge tub, and I was following on my hands and knees when Marnie came in and said, "I see JB's butt in the middle of all those bubbles, but where did the rest of him go?"

I said, "OH, I haven't even started to wash yet, I forgot to hurry."

"I do the washing around here, JB. You were just supposed to play and soak while I was gone, and you did that very well. Now come over so I can do my job."

And she bathed me all over, and she scrubbed really hard too, on my back and legs and arms, tummy, face, ears, even bottom. After she opened the drain she told me to stand real still and she took my tube between two fingers and rubbed it with a washcloth and pulled the skin back and squeezed soapy water over it. Then she rubbed the soapy wash clothe in my crack and around my back hole.

I sat in the disappearing water and she took the shower head right off the wall and I had to hold my hands over my eyes for a long time while she washed my hair three times - a little stream of pee got out while she was rinsing once, but I hope she didn't notice. I reminded her of the conditioner too, but she hadn't forgot.

Then she wrapped a towel around my head so it wouldn't come off and then dried me off and wrapped a towel around me that came all the way up to my arms. This time she carried me across her arms rather than with my legs wrapped around, but I didn't mind that.

When I was on the bed she unwrapped me, and I said, "Ms--Marnie, I got to tell you something."

She stopped what she was doing and said, "Yes, sweetie."

"I wet the bed - sometimes - and don't want to mess up you stuff, so if you have shower curtain - or I can just sleep on that or on some towels that can be thrown out."

"OH, little one. You are sooooo sweet," she said and kissed my nose. "I suspected that when I saw your dirty underwear, honey. But when I smelled that room you slept in, I knew it. Your mom shouldn't have made you sleep like that, and I am prepared."

See pulled a big blue package out of a bag from the store.

"Diapers!?" I said.

"Sure, honey. That is the best way to protect my 'stuff' and it will also keep you felling better too. You know they make these for children much bigger than you. Lots of people have problems at night, and it shouldn't be something to be ashamed of. I also have some things that pull on like underpants, but these will be easier to change so we'll save the others for other times, OK?"

"Other times? Am I going to get to spend the night with you more? Really?"

"I'm going to talk to you mom, but yes, I think it will work out, sweetheart."

That made me so happy!! Really, I mean it, it did. So I didn't worry about the diaper so much.

I lay back on the bed and pulled my knees up to my head and then spread them apart. Marnie leaned over and kissed me on the belly button. She put that sticky medicine that Ms Marks used on me; she put on cream, including inside my hole; spread oil all over, especially on my penis and sac; and then she powdered me all the way up to neck. Then she pushed on my legs so my bottom came up and she slipped the diaper under me and pulled it between my legs and closed it up tight with the tapes.

I noticed that I was pretending to eat some of the candy that we wrap around my thumb while she did that and hadn't even noticed when I had started to.

She got Ms Marks' t-shirt and showed it to me. It was just a white regular shirt, but unlike the one Ms Marks gave me yesterday, which was a school gym shirt, this one had a picture of a little girl with great big eyes surrounded by flowers and butterflies. Marnie asked if I liked it, and I said I thought it was cute, and that made her grin.

When I stood up it didn't cover the bottom of my diaper in front. Marnie said, "Playtime, but a very short one, sweetie."

I grabbed my bear, and she asked me if I had named it. I thought, and then said, "Howie." that was a good name for Holly's brother wasn't it?

I put the bear on top of the truck, he barely fit, and gave him a ride around the den. Marnie sat on the floor with me, just watching. She was still just wearing a t-shirt over her panties too, and I tried to drive the truck over her legs and into her shirt. She laughed at that.

Then I stopped. "I got to go to the bathroom," I told Marnie.

"Doh - we just got you dressed, sweetheart, and we are having a goodtime. Tell you what, go ahead and go, and we can keep having fun, and I'll clean you up in a bit. All right."

"But..." I started.

She pushed on my back and said, "Just lie down and relax and let it happen, JB. It's OK, my love."

I lay down, and it started coming out. "Marnie, it's number two," I said in time to get it to stop, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Yes, we can clean you up at bedtime."

I could smell it, but Marnie acted like she couldn't. We rolled the truck back and forth and made the bear walk around. When I yawned she went to the kitchen and came back with a new sippy cup and told me it was time for bed.

"Where do I sleep?" I asked.

She said, "We will have to share a bed for tonight, cutie. Is that all right?"

I nodded and walked in and climbed onto the towel that was still on her bed. She handed me the cup and I drank lying back. She re-did my diaper, wiping me real well and then started all the same steps as before and didn't seem to mind at all. I fell asleep before she finished, I think.

  

  

  

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