Chapter 14

We woke up with plenty of time to clean up before Mom and Dad got back with my delinquent brother, Joe. In fact, we were sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a late breakfast together when Joe burst through the door from the garage and headed straight upstairs for his room, shooting us all an evil look.

Mark got up with a grimace and headed after him before Mom and Dad came into the kitchen shaking their heads.

“Where’s Mark?” Mom asked as she came up to the table. Dad let out a heavy sigh as he stalked into their bedroom off the kitchen.

“He went to talk to Joe,” I said. “How’d it go?”

“Well, I wish Joe had been as responsible as Mark,” she said. “Your father and I weren’t really comfortable with you two going to the beach in the first place, but Joe promised there would be proper supervision and no drugs or alcohol.”

“We were all surprised,” I said, trying to preserve a little bit of freedom I’d been given. “I heard Camden Fletcher say it was just going to be a few friends hanging out at her family’s beach house.”

“And where were her parents?” Mom asked, crossing her arms under her breasts. “Joe said there were supposed to be some adults there keeping an eye on things.”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “We hung out playing beach volleyball for a couple of hours when we first got there. Once we saw what was going on, both Joe and Mark decided we should head back rather than stay over.”

“What about the fight I heard about?” Mom asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Shit! I kept my expression neutral as I scrambled for what to say. Mark came back in the kitchen just then.

“That was all on me,” Mark said to Mom. “I didn’t like the way one of the guys was acting toward Steph and Bethany. He was out of line and I took care of it.”

Mom’s expression thawed and she dropped her arms. “Mark, I don’t know how to thank you for taking care of the girls.”

“You don’t need to,” he said as his cheeks pinked. “I was happy to help.”

“That said, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to ask you to leave. Joe can see you at school, but he isn’t allowed to go anywhere or have anyone over for the next month.”

A cold chill filtered up from my guts. I knew Mark well enough now to see his frustration at Mom’s comment in the little wrinkles around his eyes. If Mark couldn’t come over to see Joe, I’d have a hard time seeing him. His brother, Mason, would make being at his house impossible. The cold chill boiled to steam at the unfairness of not seeing Mark because Joe was a horn dog.

“Sure, I understand,” Mark mumbled and glanced at Bethany and me. “See you around.”

“Bye,” I giggled, even though I didn’t feel it. Before he could turn away, I ran to him and gave him a quick hug. When Bethany did the same, I saw Mom grinning at us like she thought we were being cute. I died a little when Mark closed the front door.

Bethany headed home after we finished breakfast. It was only two blocks to her house, but Mom drove her anyway, probably to explain about what happened over the weekend to her parents. I grabbed my bed sheets out of the dryer and made my bed while she was gone. Then I climbed up and crawled into a ball on the covers.

I cried softly. Tears leaked out and I quickly wiped them off my cheeks and nose. A roller-coaster took me through confusion, fear, pain, and envy. The image of Bethany sliding down Mark’s cock was playing on an endless loop in my head. I wanted to talk to her about what it meant and how it felt, but Mark had been around and I didn’t want him to know I was worried about it.

All morning I kept wondering if Mark secretly liked Bethany more now. Sure, he’d been mad last night, but he had smiled at her more this morning. I just knew it. And she had laughed and flirted the whole time.

Joe had just screwed up everything. I’d never get time with Mark now that Joe was going to be home all the time. And even doing stuff with Bethany would be harder because Joe usually hung out over at Mark’s house over the weekends.

At least the endless parade of what’s-her-names would stop. Mom said she was going to be calling the kitchen phone at random times after school. Joe had to answer the phone within two rings or he would get another week. That meant he couldn’t go to his room and shut the door and I wasn’t allowed to answer unless he was in the bathroom.

It was so screwed up. I was a basket case. Eventually, I fell asleep and woke a dozen times from bad dreams. In the morning I woke up with stomach cramps and a little gift from my uterus in my panties. No wonder I was so emotional.

My first period started a couple of years before. At first, it was just a rusty stain in my panties every couple of months and a feeling like I needed to poop really bad. That lasted a year and then things got much worse.

The cramps were unbearable, but no one had ever warned me about the smell. Geez, it was like someone rolled around the nasty floor of a fish market and slaughter house. Mom had me wearing pads at first, but after the brush handle incident, I got myself some skinny tampons to plug the leak at its source.

Five days I suffered with it. Five miserable days watching Mark from a distance while Bethany chatted up my brother Joe after school. Five days I waited for the cramps to stop tormenting me. Five days of mood swings that went from crying jags to being so horny I lay under the bathtub faucet until I groaned out Mark’s name. Five days until my Honey Bee stung me so hard I couldn’t stand her anymore.