Sucking Up, by Clinediap

Chapter 16
Chapter 16

Chapter Description: by Clinediap

"See?" Diane said, glancing over at Alicia in the seat next to her. "It’s a good thing you didn’t wear your regular panties, or you’d be wetting all over my car, and then I’d have really been mad."

"I’m not peeing!" Alicia protested, face turning red as she squirmed. "I’m just trying to get comfortable!"

"Aww..." Diane smiled. "What’s the matter? Got ants in your pants?" She reached over with one hand, patting the girl’s crinkling crotch through the shorts and the dress. "Because that’s not what it feels like you have in there."

Alicia glared at her unhappily, sure she couldn’t really feel that she was wet, not with the small amount she’d went, and that she was just trying to get her riled up, and annoyed that it was working so well. "Fine, so I peed a little," she admitted.

"Don’t worry," Diane told her. "We’re almost there."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, they were pulling into a parking lot, where, before getting out, Diane pulled up the hem of Alicia’s dress and yanked down her shorts to examine her pull up beneath. "I guess it isn’t that bad..." she said uncertainly. "I didn’t pack you a diaper bag because you promised me you weren’t going to leak."

"I’m not," Alicia insisted. Diane gave her a skeptical look, then unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car, waiting for Alicia to follow. She held out her hand, and, obediently, Alicia walked over to take it, following close at her side as she led her across the parking lot, to the playground.

"Maybe we’ll go for a walk on one of the trails later," Diane told her, "but for now, go have fun."

Alicia uncertainly moved forward, looking unhappily at all of the children playing. Had she been wearing her normal clothes, she might have tried to pretend she was a babysitter, or an older sister, watching one of those kids, but in this outfit she knew it would be hard to convince anyone she was in charge of anything. She was sure she was going to stick out like a sore thumb, but as she stood there, unsure what to do, a pair of boys taller than she was ran by her. A little surprised, she turned to watch them, assuming they were her age, or a little younger, technically there to do what she would have liked to have pretended she was doing.

As they stopped to catch their breath, however, she could see that wasn’t the case. They were definitely kids, likely not even teenagers yet. She stared at them, stunned, wondering if children these days were that much taller than she remembered them being, when she was passed by another group of kids, this time girls, also bigger than her. She wasn’t the best at judging ages, but she couldn’t imagine that they could be more than fifteen, if that.

"Excuse me!" she called, trailing after them. "Hey, wait up!"

One of them - the leader, it seemed, a girl who was sure to grow up to be a heartbreaker, with black hair and a heart shaped face - turned and looked her up and down before scoffing, "We’re not babysitters. Buzz off."

Alicia took a step backward, feeling almost as if she’d been slapped. How dare this... child... speak to her like that? "Hey, I just wanted to ask you a question!" she said angrily, stomping up to the girl. "You don’t have to be a..."

To her surprise, the girl shoved her. Not ready for that, and still feeling clumsy anyway, Alicia stumbled, falling down onto her ass, tears springing unbidden to her eyes. "I said leave us alone!"

"Jeez, Jan, there’s no need to be so mean about it," one of the other girls, a shortish, slightly plump redhead, said.

"Whatever," Jan rolled her eyes. "Come on." She walked away, taking most of her posse with her. The redhead started to go, then turned back, bending down to offer Alicia her hand.

"Thanks," Alicia sniffled, getting back to her feet.

"No problem," the girl shrugged. "And sorry."

"It’s not your fault."

"I’m Angela."

"Alicia."

"That’s kinda funny," Angela giggled. "We have the same first and last letters in our name."

"Yeah... Hilarious," Alicia started to roll her eyes, then reminded herself that this girl was being nice to her, even if she did seem like the sort of dweeb she’d have had nothing to do with back in high school. Truth be told, she knew she’d been much more like Jan back then.

"She’s not really that bad," Angela said, nodding towards Jan, who was perched on a picnic table now, with the other girls sitting around her, looking like a queen holding court. "We’ve been friends since first grade."

"Uh-huh," Alicia nodded. "And how old are you now?"

"She’s just been on this whole... fashion thing lately," Angela continued, seeming not to hear. "I’d rather just wear what seems comfortable, but she’s so obsessed with having whatever’s hot in... Munich, or wherever."

"Milan," Alicia corrected automatically.

"I mean, I’m sure when we were your age, she still dressed like that," Angela looked over at Alicia’s clothes, then changed her mind, "or not too much younger than you, anyway... But now, if you dare wear anything like that around her, she just tears you apart."

Alicia bristled at the implication that she was younger than the little diva, though she supposed she preferred that they think that, rather than that she was older and still dressed this way. She wanted to ask just how old they were, but that hadn’t gone so well the first time, and she was feeling a little pang of guilt as she listened to Angela. "Know that from experience?"

Angela’s cheeks darkened slightly. "She didn’t mean anything by it... She just wants to help me be more popular."

Alicia wanted to tell her that would only get worse, that she’d never be popular enough for Jan, and eventually the other girl would realize she’d outgrown her old friend and abandon her, pretend she’d never existed, that they hadn’t spent so many weekends together when they were younger, had so many late summer slumber parties, went to so many movies together... But she doubted Angela would listen to her, or believe she knew what she was talking about. And maybe she didn’t... Maybe this Jan was different than she’d been.

"Oh, but why am I telling you all this? You don’t have to worry about this stuff yet. Enjoy it while it lasts, Alicia. Middle school sucks. I really hope high school turns out to be better."

Alicia’s mouth fell open at those words, but she couldn’t find her voice again until Angela had already run off over to the picnic table, where Alicia could see Jan berating her. Middle school?! Were they seriously only in middle school?! But... How could that be? They had to be older than that... She had been smaller than maybe one of them! She could understand if one or two of them had been tall for their age and were already bigger than she, as an eighteen year old, was, but almost all of them?!

And as she looked around at the other kids on the playground, she saw that, rather than sticking out as she’d been sure she would, she fit right in. There were plenty of children shorter than her, of course, but almost just as many who were taller. Feeling disoriented, scared, and a little sick to her stomach, she started to run towards the bathroom, only to trip on her own feet and fall again before scrambling back up.

She slammed the door behind her, hurrying over to the sinks and staring at herself in the mirror, trying to look beyond the freckles and the curly hair that she’d always thought made her look younger anyway. "What the hell?" she breathed, shaking at the sight. She looked down at her body, smoothing the dress down over it. Her breasts were still there of course, though much smaller than they should be, as she realized she should have figured out from how much she’d been needing to tighten her bra straps lately, but her hips were almost completely flat. She was scrawny, not like someone who had been losing weight because of stress, but like a pre-teen.

"Oh, God..." She stumbled into one of the bathroom stalls and threw up. She weakly walked back out a minute later, trying her best not to look at herself in the mirror as she splashed water on her face. It had all happened so gradually, she’d just assumed she was imagining it... But now she, standing back, looking at it, she couldn’t deny that it had to be something more than that. But what? And, more importantly, how?