Car Accident

Cece D  •   North Carolina  •  18

I have a really embarrassing one. So I was with my friend that I really don’t like. I kept ditching our plans and felt bad so we went to dinner together. Well... I went to dinner with her and her family and my stomach started to hurt. I went to the bathroom and noticed it there. I didn’t tell her because we're not that close. Anyways I just kept saying that I had to go to the bathroom, but really I was just checking to make sure I wasn’t dripping blood anywhere. We finally left and I was sitting in the back of the car.

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When her family dropped me off at home, a few hours later, she texted me and told me that I got blood in her car. Great! I got home and my parents were at the beach for a weekend so my babysitter was staying with us. I tried calling my mom but she wouldn’t answer.

I wasn’t planning on telling my babysitter because that would make it awkward. But then I realized that I had swim the next morning. I couldn’t go there! I didn’t know how to use a tampon! I finally told her and she said that I didn’t have to go. To make matters worse, my dog got into my trash can and got all of my pads and panty liners. I wasn’t home so my babysitter had to clean that up. It was a mess.

Crime Scene Investigation

Naydeline M  •   New York  •  20

It was the 7th grade, and coincidentally the same year that I was taking my first health class. In our classroom of all girls -- this was back in 2010 -- we discussed everything from body hair to our "growing bodies", boobs, but we hadn't made it to the unit on menstruation on this frightful afternoon, and what I thought would be an ordinary day. 

It was after gym class, and I was sweaty and gross. I had just started wearing a training bra and wore whatever deodorant my mom passed down to me. After changing out of my gym clothes and into my school uniform, I had the sudden urge to pee. I headed to the locker room bathroom, and into a small stall with a gap on the door just a bit too wide. When I slid my underwear down, to my surprise I spotted a small red dot. What was this? Had I cut myself on the vagina? But how? I was in a rush to get to class on time, so I did what many new women in my situation have done before: I grabbed some toilet paper and made a makeshift pad to stop the bleeding until I got home.

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When I got back to my apartment, I locked myself in the bathroom to inspect the crime scene and told my mom what happened. "Mami, I think I got a cut on my vagina." She looked as confused as I was. She quickly realized what was going on and went in her room to grab me pad, handing it to me through the small gap between the door and the toilet. "You're a woman now", she said laughing.

Grandma's Advice

Raquel R  •   Florida  •  24

I got my period while I was out shopping with my grandma. When I walked out of the stall to tell her, she grabbed my shoulders and said, "now you can't let boys touch you."

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It was off-putting. Even then, I knew my grandma was very traditional. Looking back on it, I can see how that experience shaped my early adolescent years.