Chapter 40
I’m so shocked that I fumble the phone.
I swallow and compose the least cringe reply I can muster, meaning that I type and erase the following while idling in the parking lot:
Supppp
Hellooo to The kiranator
It’s me Sam
I settle on
hi kira
How’s it going
waterwingluna16
Help
sam help
samantherpanther
What’s wrong?
You okay??
waterwingluna16
no
I got my period
I’m radiating exclamation points, honored beyond words to be the recipient of this message on such a momentous occasion. What have I done to deserve this?
samantherpanther
cool
Welcome to the club
waterwingluna16
im in the bathroom
at parkour class
idk what to do
Parkour? Damn, when I went to the rec center after school I mostly tried to avoid playing youth league basketball by pretending to have a twisted ankle.
samantherpanther
wait how are you texting me?
are you ok? do you have pads?
waterwingluna16
on my tablet
No!!! its on my legginggs
can’t go out there
samantherpanther
can you call your mom?
waterwingluna16
She’s in cincincncatti for her job
dad cant get here til 5:15
can you help me
I feel like I’ve been selected by the child version of the cat distribution system. This is my moment.
samantherpanther
hang on ok?
I’m not far away and I have plenty of pads
I can bring you a change of clothes
where’s parkour? the rec center?
just sit tight for a few mins
waterwingluna16
ok
I’m sitting on the toilet
hurry
I’m a liar.
I have zero pads—just the wholesale club–size box of super tampons, the same kind of box I’d hoped Nick hadn’t noticed when he fixed the leaky bathroom sink in my mom’s apartment.
I start to call a Lyft. Then I remember that I’m literally at the wheel.