"Come on sweetheart, you don't want to be late on your first day at your new school" Alfie's mum shouted up the stairs as she watched the clock turn 8:15am. She was overwhelmingly nervous, but she was doing her best to hide that from Alfie, who was very clearly on the verge of an anxiety attack as he walked down the stairs.
"Don't you look smart" Alfie's mum smiled, grabbing her phone off the counter to take some photographs of her only son.
"Mum" Alfie whined, embarrassed and in no mood to have his picture taken.
"Just one, for my photo album, please" Alfie's mum pestered. She always got her way in the end, so Alfie caved and smiled widely for a few seconds.
"Lovely" Alfie's mum smiled, putting her phone into her bag and turning all of her attention onto Alfie. "This is going to be good for you" she tried to comfort Alfie helplessly.
"I'm sure it is" Alfie replied sarcastically. The idea of starting off at a new school was disgusting, but he couldn't help but be thankful he wasn't going back to his old school. He could still hear the bullies chanting in his head - a sound he couldn't even force himself to forget.
"Don't be like that, Alf. It's a new start. A chance to make some proper friends" Alfie's mum raised her eyebrows, not impressed by Alfie's negative attitude.
"Like that's ever going to happen" Alfie scoffed, picking his backpack up off the floor and throwing it over his shoulder.
"Alfie" Alfie's mum warned sternly.
"You think I'm going to start at a new school and magically I won't be a loser anymore" Alfie snapped back. He didn't like how naive his mum was being. He new he was going to get bullied at his new school just as badly as he had been at his old one, if not worse. The school he was going to was huge, so that just meant more people to make his life miserable.
"You aren't a loser, Alfie. It isn't your fault that sometimes you have accidents" Alfie's mum said, believing her words were more comforting than they actually were.
"Thanks, mum" Alfie rolled his eyes, heading straight out of the door and into the passenger side of his mums minivan.
"Don't forget this" Alfie's mum said, thrusting another backpack into Alfie's lap.
"You're kidding, right?" Alfie questioned, knowing exactly what his mum would've put inside the bag.
"Listen, Alfie. I'm not going to leave work to come and pick you up from school every time you wet yourself this time. We can't afford it, and you can't afford to be missing that many classes" Alfie's mum said honestly. She had packed two spare pairs of tracksuit bottoms, as well as two pairs of underwear and some spare socks. "I've already rang up the guidance councillor and they have agreed to keep it with them until you need it" she continued.
Alfie didn't argue back. He knew his mum was right, no matter how embarrassing that fact was. He wished there was something the doctors could do to help him, but at the moment none of the medications they had offered him had been working.
It took Alfie and his mum 20 minutes to drive to the school, parking in the closest spot to the entrance.
"Look how lovely it looks" Alfie's mum tried to paint a picture of a much more pleasant looking school.
"It's a school, mum" Alfie sighed, gathering his things together in anticipation of leaving the car.
"But don't these people look friendly" Alfie's mum said, pointing to a group of very obvious stoners.
"Very" Alfie said, opening the car door.
"Now listen, you make sure you find out where the bathrooms are as soon as you go inside. Try your best to think about whether you need a wee - we don't want any accidents on your first day. You know I'd come in with you if it wasn't for this work meeting" Alfie's mum said, not realising how condescending she sounded.
"Yes, mum" Alfie said to pacify her, closing the car door behind him and walking somewhat confidently to the entrance of the school.
He knew the school was bigger than his last one, but he hadn't imagined the building would be his huge. He knew almost immediately that he was bound to get lost, and that wasn't a thought he wanted to be thinking at that moment.
"Would you be able to help me?" Alfie asked the woman at the front desk.
"Yes?" She answered coldly, barely even looking up from her computer screen.
"Umm, I'm new here and I wasn't sure where to go" Alfie explained, hoping she would be slightly more receptive.
"The guidance councillor is the third door on the right" the lady bluntly continued, her finger pointing down the corridor.
"Oh, okay, thanks" Alfie said, walking down the corridor, counting the doors as he went.
He found himself standing outside of an office labelled 'Mr Bentley'.
"Are you alright out there?" the man inside the room shouted out.
"Hi" Alfie said softly, taking a couple of steps into the office.
"You must be Alfie. I'm Mr Bentley" Mr Bentley spoke warmly, gesturing for Alfie to sit down in the chair in front of his desk.
Alfie couldn't help but mimic Mr Bentley's contagious smile. As he sat down he placed both of his backpacks down on the floor by his feet, glancing at the door to make sure it was closed before he began talking to Mr Bentley.
"So, I'm the guidance councillor here at Greenfield's. If you ever have any problems or questions you can always come and see me and I will see what I can do to help. I have just got finished reading your file that was sent over to me from your last school. Would you be okay with having a little chat about that before I show you to your first class?" Mr Bentley asked.
Alfie nodded. He knew what was coming, but there was nothing he could do to prepare himself for such an awkward conversation with a stranger.
"It says here that the reason you have transferred schools is because of a situation with a couple of bullies, is that right?" Mr Bentley questioned.
Again, Alfie nodded, not sure what to add verbally to the conversation.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear about that. Bullying is something we don't tolerate here, and if anything like that was to happen again we would be quick to address it" Mr Bentley explained, feeling sympathy for the new student sat in front of him.
"Now I can also see that your attendance was very sporadic. I understand that that was due to your medical condition and after having a brief conversation with your mum I believe we have come to an arrangement that would help you stay at school" Mr Bentley continued. It was clear that he had these kinds of conversations all day with other students, as he didn't even flinch when mentioning Alfie's bladder problem.
"Yeah" Alfie replied, glaring down at his backpacks down on the floor.
"Did you remember to bring those spare clothes with you today?" Mr Bentley asked.
"Here" Alfie said, picking one of the backpacks up off the floor and handing it over to Mr Bentley.
"Okay, brilliant. So, I will keep that in here with me and if you ever need it you just come and ask and I will give you some dry clothes" Mr Bentley outlined for Alfie.
"Upon your mum's request, we are going to keep track of days that you stay dry and days that you have an accident. This is purely to monitor your progress and to see if there is anything else we need to be doing to help you" Mr Bentley went on as it was clear that Alfie wasn't going to speak.
"I know you also find it difficult to ask teachers to go to the toilet during lessons, but I do just want to make it very clear that the teachers here at Greenfield's High are very understanding and if you did need to ask to go to the bathroom they would, of course, let you go" Mr Bentley said, before closing Alfie's file and putting it back onto his shelf.
"I'll show you to your homeroom if there isn't anything else you'd like to ask me" Mr Bentley said.
"No, thank you" Alfie answered, picking his backpack up and standing up.
"Your homeroom teacher is Mr Tyler. He will pair you up with somebody who has a similar class schedule to you so they can help you out" Mr Bentley spoke as they both walked down the hallway.
Quickly they arrived outside of Mr Tyler's classroom. Alfie looked inside, seeing around 30 other students chatting, with the teacher was flicking through emails on his computer.
"Sorry to interrupt" Mr Bentley said, knocking lightly on the open classroom door.
The whole class silenced and turned to face Alfie, who could already feel his face blushing pink.
"Alfie, isn't it?" Mr Tyler smiled as he walked up to the door.
"Yes, sir" Alfie replied politely.
"I'm Mr Tyler. I'll be taking you for Math and Homeroom this year" Mr Tyler continued to smile widely.
"Did you manage to read my email?" Mr Bentley asked Mr Tyler.
"Oh, yes. So, I'm absolutely fine with you leaving to go to the bathroom whenever you need to during my lessons" Mr Tyler said in a hushed tone so the other students couldn't hear.
The fact that Mr Bentley had emailed all of Alfie's new teachers about his accidents was beyond embarrassing. He came for a fresh start, not to be labelled as the boy who wets himself on the first day.
"I was just working out who would be the best to pair you up with if you'd like to come to the front with me" Mr Tyler said.
Alfie obediently followed Mr Tyler's instructions, taking a seat next to his computer.
"So, as most of our classes are based alphabetically on last name it looks like Logan would be best for you to buddy up with" Mr Tyler decided after carefully looking at each of his students schedules.
"Logan, could you come here for a second" Mr Tyler instructed.
Alfie watched as a tall, very strong looking boy stood up and made his way to the front of the class. He had the school jersey on, so it was obvious that he was on the football team. Alfie couldn't think of anybody worse to be partnered up with.
"Logan, this is Alfie. He's just transferred over here from Parkview. I was thinking you could help him out a little and show him around" Mr Tyler explained to Logan.
Logan eyed Alfie up closely. Just as Alfie had thought, Logan didn't think Alfie was his type of friend at all. He looked at the skinny, pale boy in front of him and notably clenched his jaw.
"Yeah that's fine" Logan reluctantly said.
"Great. You both have Math with me first period, so get Alfie a seat next to you please" Mr Tyler told Logan.
Logan did what he was told, with Alfie following nervously behind him. Alfie could tell that Logan was looking over to his friends and pulling unkind faces, and that made him even more anxious about the whole situation.
"Sit there if you want" Logan pointed at an empty desk to the right of his own.
Alfie quickly sat down, opening his backpack to get out a pencil and some paper.
"You look like somebody who'd be in AP Math" Logan stated.
Alfie knew that was a sort of back handed compliment, implying he looked nerdy.
"I'm not that smart" Alfie replied.
"Evidently" Logan said harshly.
It wasn't that Logan intended to be rude, he just couldn't help but think that he and Alfie were far too different to be actual friends.
"How come you transferred?" Logan asked Alfie.
Alfie wasn't about to admit that he was relentlessly bullied, so he decided to lie.
"I got expelled" Alfie lied unconvincingly.
"You got expelled?" Logan questioned, looking Alfie up and down.
"Yeah" Alfie continued to lie.
"For doing what?" Logan asked.
Before Alfie could reply Mr Tyler began talking at the front of the class and handing out textbooks for their new algebra module.
Alfie was grateful that the class went smoothly, with no more questions from Logan. After 55 minutes the bell rang and all of the students began packing up their bags.
"Remember, I want your algebra homework on my desk by Friday" Mr Tyler reminded the class.
"He wishes" Logan scoffed to his friends.
"Come on" Logan turned so he was talking to Alfie.
Alfie quickly picked his things up and followed closely behind Logan as he left the classroom.
"We're got double gym next" Logan told Alfie.
"I don't have any gym clothes" Alfie said, jogging slightly to keep up with Logan.
"You can borrow some of mine" Logan told Alfie.
Once they arrived at the lock room Logan threw a football shirt and a pair of shorts at Alfie.
Alfie then tugged off his own shirt.
"What's that?" Logan asked, pointing to a long scar that started at Alfie's belly button.
It was from one of the many operations Alfie had had to try and fix his bladder problem, but he didn't feel like that was something Logan needed to know, so he just shrugged, pulling the football shirt over his head.
By the time Logan and Alfie were out on the field Alfie realised that he hadn't asked Mr Bentley to show him where the bathrooms were. He became aware of this as he began feeling like he needed to pee.
"What's wrong?" Logan asked Alfie, who was very clearly completely zoned out.
"Nothing" Alfie answered, shaking his head slightly.
"Today we're going to be running track" Mr Dylan, the gym teacher, spoke to all of the students.
Both Logan and Alfie began running laps around the field, with every step Alfie becoming more and more aware of his need to use the bathroom.
"How long do we have to do this for?" Alfie panted.
"Can't you keep up?" Logan replied slyly.
Logan then sped up, leaving Alfie behind, hardly able to run as it was.
Of course, Alfie was at the back. And this didn't go unnoticed by Mr Dylan.
"You're the new boy, aren't you?" Mr Dylan asked jogging up beside Alfie.
Alfie nodded, feeling quite intimidated.
"I was hoping for another star athlete" Mr Dylan mocked. "Speed up" he continued.
It was official. Alfie hated his new school. He couldn't imagine things being worse than at Parkview, but somehow he felt like this was going to end tragically.
The gym class dragged on for another agonising 90 minutes, with the students doing nothing more than running in repetitive circles.
"Hit the showers, guys" Mr Dylan said once the bell had ran again.
Alfie scoured the field in search of Logan, but he couldn't seem to see him anywhere. He opted for following the group of boys headed back to the locker room, rather than staying in Mr Dylan's company.
Alfie sat himself down once inside the locker room, hoping Logan would turn up. The rest of the boys were each showering and getting changed. The noise of the water really wasn't doing Alfie any favours.
"Why aren't you getting changed?" Logan surprised Alfie from behind.
Logan looked Alfie up and down. He looked very uncomfortable, his body stiff and his teeth gnawing on his bottom lip.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Logan asked. This was the first time that Alfie had heard genuine sincerity in Logan voice, so he was slightly taken aback.
"Yeah" Alfie lied, not wanting to announce to the whole room that he needed a wee.
"Well stop being weird" the old Logan was back.
The locker room door then opened, revealing Mr Bentley.
"I just came to check everything was going okay and that you had a good morning" Mr Bentley smiled as he spoke to Alfie.
He immediately clocked the difference in Alfie's mood compared to this morning.
"Buddy, have you been to the bathroom today?" Mr Bentley whispered to Alfie.
Alfie shook his head, totally embarrassed.
"Do you need to go?" Mr Bentley kept on whispering.
Again, Alfie shook his head. He didn't feel comfortable at all admitting he needed the toilet.
"How about I show you where they are and maybe you can have a try" Mr Bentley suggested.
"I'm fine" Alfie lied.
"Come on" Mr Bentley encouraged.
Alfie looked at Logan who was obviously trying to listen in to the conversation.
"Alfie's just going to come with me for a moment and then he'll be right back" Mr Bentley told Logan cryptically.
"Where are you going?" Logan asked.
"Just my office" Mr Bentley answered dishonestly.
Alfie then followed Mr Bentley out of the locker room in search of the nearest bathroom.
"Here we are" Mr Bentley stated, holding the bathroom door open for Alfie, but he didn't go in.
"Like I said, just have a try" Mr Bentley encouraged.
Having thoroughly read Alfie's file that morning he knew that if he didn't make Alfie go to the bathroom that he would eventually wet himself, and that was something he was desperately trying to avoid.
Alfie listened and went into the bathroom. Thankfully there were no other students in there, so he was able to quickly have a wee, wash his hands, then come straight back out. He was also thankful that Mr Bentley was so understanding, because there was no way he was going to ask Logan to take him to the bathroom.
"Did you have a wee?" Mr Bentley asked Alfie childishly once he had came out.
Alfie nodded in embarrassment.
"Good boy" Mr Bentley praised.
"Now let's go and find Logan so you can have your lunch" Mr Bentley smiled happily at Alfie, glad he had followed his instructions and went to the bathroom.
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Okay, okay, okay. I LOVE writing this story!
I hope you guys love it just as much as I do.
Lots of love,
B Xxx