Amanda S • New York • 24
My first period was a terrifying experience for myself and my boyfriend at the time. I got it pretty late, in eighth grade, so I was about 14 years old. That day, I woke up with awful pain in my lower stomach, which I attributed to nervousness for the state test that I was taking in school that day.
After school, I went to go play softball. I was a very aggressive kid, and playing softball was a major outlet for me. On the way there, the pain in my lower abdomen was so bad that I leaned all the way over in my seat and had my chest on my knees.
My mom was immediately worried but after a few minutes, the pain subsided, then was gone. I played my game (we won!) and then went to go “hang out” with my eighth grade boyfriend.
At the end of the night, I stood up from the couch and was horrified to see that I left a stain on their couch. At first, I was so confused, until it finally hit me what just happened. Mortified, I started crying and apologizing to my boyfriend’s mom and ran out of their house to my mom’s car.
I avoided my “boyfriend” for two weeks after that, until we ran into each other and I broke up with him out of mortification. So awful!
