Katie • Essex, UK • 23
From the minute we got to secondary school, the girls had this thing about "if you don't get your period by 13 it means you're going to die" or something like that. All of my friends had gotten theirs in primary school or during the first two years of secondary.
On my 13th birthday, we were waiting for my dad to get home to take me to Currys to pick out my first iPod with my birthday money when I just knew I needed to use the loo. I sat down and there it was and I was pretty unfazed by it all.
I was also excited because my mum had always told me (due to how panicked I was about the no period/death thing) that the day I got it, I'd be allowed the next day off of school. She didn't realise I'd remembered this, so I ran downstairs to tell her my news, grabbed my first pad, and planned my next day off playing with my new iPod. All in all, a wonderful birthday.
