Anything for a Friend

Piper R •  Oklahoma •  17

I'm actually gonna tell the story of one of my friends. We were in church one day and she was wearing this beautiful white dress. When we stood up to sing, I noticed that there was a big red stain on her butt. Obviously, I let her know right away and she started freaking out. I took her hand, led her to the bathroom, and I told her to go into a bathroom stall, take off the dress, and give it to me while she formed a makeshift pad out of toilet paper. 

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You might think it's gross to clean out someone else's blood, but not for me. I was able to get most of it out and all that was left was a small orange spot. I gave her my jacket to wrap around her waist. And to this day, we’ve never talked about it again.

Testing, 1 2

Maryam M •  Pakistan •  16

I had this little brown thing on my school uniform... Many friends told me that, but I brushed it off as something that got stuck on me. I checked my panties and it was there too, but I just changed and never thought of it again. Literally the next day, my mom gives me a talk about this whole woman thing. Mortified, I don't tell her anything. That little brown thing never came again.

Months later, I sat in a row of boys and girls to take my finals. I was so damn stressed, I didn't notice. But after another hour, I got really anxious and thought I might've peed. My uniform shirt was long, so I pulled it down and walked briskly to the bathroom. And there it was.

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It was more embarrassing when I found out that some of the stain was on my shirt and an immature boy who sat behind me saw it. All I could think to do was cry. But with some little luck, our teachers had made us put our bags outside the class, so I ran to my bag, pulled out my coat and wrapped it around my waist. I sat back in my chair and noticed it had a smudge on it.

The whole day, I sat sulking and not moving knowing I was going to damage the furniture more. At the end of the day, my friends noticed but it was my mom who taught me everything and let me chill the whole week.

Dr. Period

Neha S •  Punjab, India •  20

I'm from India and from a Hindu family. In India, periods are shameful and you try to hide them and not to tell anyone about it at all.

So I got my first period when I was in 8th class. I was at my home during summer vacation and I went to the washroom to free up my tummy from old foods and suddenly I saw my toilet seat was red. I screamed, "daddy, come here! Look what's happening in the washroom!"

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My dad took me to the doctor and the doctor said that "she's having periods." After coming home, my mama gave me a pad and told me how to use it. After 1 hour, I changed it and carried it in my hand from its end part in front of my neighbors and they were like, “has she gone mad?” But I was just a kid, so it's all okay.