Riley and Sally re-entered the classroom twenty minutes after the start of class. Mr. Johnson did not shoot them for being late; his priority was to question Theo and Nella, who sat on either side of the desk doing the exercises in strict silence. Ten minutes later, they returned to their seats satisfied and happy with their A's.
"What happened to you?" Theo whispered to his deskmate. (Sally sat in the last row, not the first like them.)
Riley could not tell whether she wanted to answer him or be silent. Her thoughts converged only on Sally. She longed to be her seatmate. To make her feel less lonely and misunderstood. To help her out of that daily torture.
"Riley? Did you hear me?" Theo was worried.
"Today meeting at my house at four o'clock," she told him thoughtfully, resting her gaze on Sally. "I suggest you do your homework before you come, maybe my parents will want to have you as dinner guests."
The friend imitated her movement. Something must have happened while they were gone, he told himself. The tone of his voice did not bode well.
"What happened?"
His seatmate did not look away from her; at that moment she was writing in her notebook.
"Katrine," she replied involuntarily aloud.
"Quiet, Miss Bishop!" Mr. Johnson called her back.
She did not let him repeat it twice.
—
The first thing her mother did upon her return was to check her underwear. After removing her backpack from her shoulders and her jacket, her mother led her to her room and laid her on the changing table.
"I did very little," Riley said as her mother studied them.
"I noticed that," commented her mother. "Diaper or pull-ups?"
"Pull-ups," she replied. "As long as I keep them dry, I don't want you to diaper me."
"If that's what you want, honey, "she slipped them off, then wiped her with a washcloth. "Diaper Trio meeting today? "
"Yes," she replied with a smile. "Can you believe Sally is as interested in diapers as I am?"
"I believe you," she said, then slathered the cream on her. "I expect you to respect her as she respects you."
"Cross my heart!" and she did.
Her mother put her down from the changing table and put the pull-up on her. She concluded by saying, "I knew you would. Now let's go eat."
—
As was arranged at school, Theo and Sally arrived at four o'clock. They were greeted by her mother, with whom they exchanged some small talk. It turned into a discussion about Mrs. Heller, and Sally had to abruptly stop that conversation. Upon reaching Riley's room, the meeting of the Diaper Trio could finally begin.
"Today's session will be dense, so please go to the bathroom before you end up with wet underwear or diapers," Sally announced, jumping on Riley's bed as if she were in her room.
Riley and Theo left, went to the bathroom - first she went, then he went - and returned to Sally.
"Sally, don't you have to go?" asked Theo curiously.
Sally giggled nervously. "I'm fine, Theo. I made it before I left the house."
Riley closed the door and took a seat next to Theo; the two of them were the "audience" and Sally the presenter, as well as moderator, of this meeting. In fact, she was the one who started that session: "Let's start with the hottest issue: we were seen that day. Someone saw Riley with wet pants."
"What?" Theo was shocked. "There's no way anyone saw us!"
"I'm telling you it is!" said Sally. "One of Katrine's henchwomen, she told me it was Toby Marlowe, a seventh grader, who told her."
Theo took on an incredulous expression, hearing Katrine's name gave him goosebumps. He wondered, "What does she and her bully group have to do with it?", "How had that Toby Marlowe seen us?" and "Who is this Toby Marlowe?"
He ignored those questions, then exclaimed with conviction, "There was no one there that day! When I say no one, I mean not a single living soul! She must have told you a lie!"
Sally did not answer him; she did not know how to counter.
Riley intervened. "Telling her lies wouldn't make much sense. Sally is very popular, anything that comes out of her mouth is already on everyone's! I wonder how you spit in them all..."
Sally and Theo gave a disgusted grin, wondering how she came up with such an unhygienic image. Then Theo replied with a resounding "Ew!"
Riley continued. "Anyway, we need to talk to Toby Marlowe. We need to figure out why he started this rumor."
Only Sally nodded. Theo brought his left hand to his chin, then snapped his fingers and gave an enlightened smile.
"I have a plan in mind: I'll meet him at recess," Theo said. Noticing that both Riley and Sally wanted to steal his word, he hastened to clarify, "Calm down! Let me explain first!
"The seventh-graders have a different recess than the ninth and eighth graders; they do it before us, and that can be used to our advantage.
"Here's the plan: I'm going to recap a letter to him saying that I'll wait for him in the bathroom. He will come and I will ask him all the questions, and then I will enter the classroom as if I were late. What do you say?"
Sally nodded several times.
Riley did too, but only once. She stood up, walked to the door, and stopped suddenly. She tapped her left foot hard against the floor.
Silence.
It was Sally who asked that question, "Are you all right?"
Riley turned around annoyed. "I'm fine."
"Don't talk back to us like that!" replied Theo annoyed, Sally's look immediately made his nervousness go away, and his tone softened dramatically. "Did you do it without realizing it?"
I've done it now. There's no use getting around it.
Riley had to admit to herself that her friends knew her better than they did themselves, looked down between her legs She spoke in a disappointed tone, "Yes. Ugh...that's the fifth time in two days!"
"Fifth?"
"Yes!" replied Riley saddened. "I went to the bathroom three times yesterday, and all of them I had peed in the pull-up! The other two... today."
She pulled down her jeans, lifted her sweatshirt slightly. The pink pull-up with a smiling princess and the crystal slipper symbol had almost disappeared completely, part of the heel and toe remained. She asked, "Do you see? The slipper is almost gone!"
Sally nodded to Theo who got up and left the room.
"What does this mean?" asked Riley putting back on her jeans.
"Before we came to you, your mother asked us to tell her if you had an accident," Sally revealed to her honestly. "She told us about the three pull-ups yesterday."
Riley stepped back embarrassed and looked away from Sally, they knew and she had to accept it. "She told you about that, but not about Dr. Heinz's visit?"
"What visit?"
"I will explain in detail later."
"Theo and I also have something to tell you, but I'm waiting until he is here and you have been changed," she announced to her.
"Okay," replied Riley suspiciously, "I hope it's nothing bad, very bad."
Sally waved her arms undaunted. "No, no, no! It's nothing bad! It's something very close to our hearts. I wanted to let you know right away."
Her mother and Theo arrived a few moments later. He stayed outside so that Sally could go out and Helen could change her in complete privacy.
The change was quick and took place completely on her feet; before she left Helen gave her a kiss and reassured her. It was only the second day; progress would come in the next few days or weeks. "No change comes right away," Riley reminded herself. "Consistency and results will come."
The meeting picked up where they left off.
"Do you intend to lose the first two hours to meet with him?" asked Riley skeptically. "What if your parents find out?"
"I'll make up a lie," replied Theo confidently. "I have good grades and exemplary behavior, so I can't get too upset."
Riley intervened again, this time slightly impatient. She found that idea was outside any logical conception. "And let's hear it, what lies would you tell him? Let me remind you that you are not good at lying!"
"That's why I will need your help," Theo adjusted his glasses. "Sally's going to give me some tips, and you're going to test me."
"When? Now?"
"Later, if that's okay with you."
Riley said nothing, preferring to hear Sally's opinion first. The rebel reflected on it with a hand clasped to her right temple, she sentenced decisively, "All right, after we've told each other everything we'll get down to business."
A minute of silence followed.
"So... shall we move on to the next topic?" asked Sally
"All right, but I'm going to the bathroom first," said Riley and ran off.
Confident that they were left alone, Theo gave a smile. He asked his friend curiously, "So? What's it like?"
"Do you want to know?" asked Sally skeptically.
"Do you want to tell when Riley is here?"
"Yes, beak closed mind you," and made the gesture of closing her lips with an imaginary zipper.
"Beak closed," said Theo and repeated the gesture.
Riley returned with a smile on her face. The two sensed that she had made it to the bathroom and not wet the pull-up.
"Well," she began as she sat down next to Theo, "what shall we talk about now?"
Sally cleared her throat, then spoke excitedly, "We have three topics to choose from: your doctor's visit, how to keep secrets, and a mystery topic. You choose, Riley."
Riley assumed a puzzled expression. Of course, it was her turn to choose, and she had no idea what the second and third topics were. She could take Sally's place and tell about the visit, she could also close her eyes and say the mystery topic. Yes, she wanted to say the mystery topic, so she did.
Theo widened his eyes pale, Sally blushed and covered her thirty-two-tooth smile with both hands. Judging by their expressions, she had made the most interesting choice.
"I can't believe you chose revelation!" Sally jumped off the bed and stood in front of Riley.
Instinctively, Riley stepped back. She became angry, saying, "Watch out! You could have fallen on me you know!"
After that, she noticed two things: first, Theo who was standing next to Sally and second, she was holding her skirt with both hands.
"Stay seated!" said Theo to her. "We want you to see them better."
See them better? But wha-
Theo unbuckled his belt, opened his jeans and and let them fall to the floor. Sally, on the other hand, lifted her skirt.
Was Riley dreaming? Had she just witnessed Sally and Theo, in a coordinated and immediate move, uncover their diapers to her? And why was Sally's slightly bulging?
Flabbergasted, she exclaimed, "For... all... the... diapers!"