SubscribeStar Story: Raven’s Fall, Chapter One

Chapter One

‘Not again.’

This was the third night in a row I had wet the bed.

I was eighteen years old, for fuck’s sake. Way too old to be having overnight accidents. The first time had been absolutely mortifying. It had been a random Thursday morning, which meant I couldn’t blame drinking too much the night before or anything like that. Waking up in soaked sheets was absolutely mortifying, not to mention disgusting. Stressful, too, when I had to wash them without my family realizing what I was up to or questioning why I was throwing my bedding into the washer before school.

Then it happened again on Sunday. It didn’t make any sense. For a moment, I suspected my younger sister, and went so far as to set up a hidden camera in my room in case she tried the gross prank a third time. Not that she had ever messed with me like that before; Rose was only a brat in that she was a total copycat when it came to my fashion and extracurriculars. However, everything would have been much easier if she was the one making this happen.

But she wasn’t. I woke up to another accident on Tuesday morning and, after showering and dealing with the mess, I checked the video footage and saw that no one had been in my room since I went to bed. For whatever reason, I was having semi-frequent bedwetting incidents, even when I tried to cut back on fluids after dinner.

Fast forward two weeks, and I was wearing pull-ups to bed every night.

No one knew. I had made a doctor appointment for myself, claiming that our cheerleading coach wanted all of the varsity girls to get an updated physical. My parents were fine with me doing stuff like that. I had my own car, and my busy social life meant that I came and went as I pleased most of the time anyway.

The doctor was useless. When her tests didn’t show anything, she simply advised me to keep a journal of both my bathroom trips and my overnight accidents. That, and to start wearing protection to bed. Then she referred me to my school’s nurse, who would log the data I collected for the next month.

That was exactly the opposite of what I wanted. The whole point of discreetly going to the doctor was to distance myself from anyone in my actual life finding out about the humiliating problem. While I didn’t know Nurse Tessa personally, I hated the idea of having to check in with someone at my school on a regular basis. Though Tessa assured me that she would keep everything from my parents if that was my preference, I was still required to actually track my bathroom trips. And every week, I had to tell her how often I wet the bed.

According to her, it was potentially stress-related, which was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. I was one of the most popular girls at our school. Head cheerleader, life of every party, and all that. The only thing causing me stress was the fact that I was wearing protective padding to bed, and using the pull-ups more often with every passing week.

Monday morning was bad enough by itself, and now I had to start the day in wet pull-ups. Seconds after I rolled out of bed, Rose gave a single knock to my door before letting herself in. “Hey!” she exclaimed, sounding annoyingly cheery for 6:30 AM, “Mom’s making pancakes. Do you want blueberry?”

“Oh my God, get out!” I snapped. My pajamas were tactical, though I was still nervous about the waistband of the babyish underwear sticking out of my waistband, or the bulk being somehow noticeable in the loose pants I wore to bed. The one perk of sleeping in pull-ups was that my sheets were dry, though the trade-off was that it took me forever to drift off; after years of panties, the padding was awkward and uncomfortable and had me constantly tossing and turning. That, and it wasn’t just about my underwear. Knocking didn’t mean that someone could just waltz into my room without waiting for me to respond.

“Sorry, Raven,” she muttered, “But, Mom said-”

“I don’t care!” I cut her off, “I’ve told you a thousand times. Knock first. Got it, brat?”

She blushed, muttering another apology before closing the door.

I sighed, rolling my eyes at Rose’s immaturity. In my current state, I had no patience for her. I desperately needed a shower, then had to go through my usual routine of quadruple bagging the dirty pull-ups so I could stop by a dumpster on the way to school and get rid of them without anyone seeing me.

Rose was also getting annoyingly close to my height, even though she was barely fifteen. I could only be so upset about my dimensions, when it made me the perfect size for the top of the pyramid. Smaller girls got to do all the fun flips and tricks, and no one would dare tease the head cheerleader when they had seen how ruthless I could be when other girls crossed me.

After rinsing off, I proceeded to make myself picture perfect for school. I was barely a B cup thanks to my petite frame, so I pretty much exclusively wore push-up bras and used inserts to give myself a bit more swell up there. My long black hair was easily one of my favorite features, and it didn’t take much work to make my dark locks look good. Finally, a cute crop top/skirt combo showed off my septum piercing and plenty of leg. While I had a boyfriend, I wasn’t below turning some heads whenever I walked into a room.

Blueberry pancakes did sound good. After stuffing the thoroughly wrapped pull-ups into their own section of my backpack, I went downstairs for a quick breakfast.

By now, Rose knew the drill. I’d ‘drive her to school’ to keep up appearances with our parents, but always dropped her off a quarter mile away from the parking lot. She knew better than to tattle on me, when I could do a lot worse to her if she tried to get me in trouble. Especially since she was on the JV squad, and I had tons of pull as the head cheerleader. Besides, it was better for both of us if we arrived separately. I could still have my independence, and didn’t have to be seen as responsible for my younger sister’s rides. And Rose could have her own arrival to school and do whatever with her friends before class. She’d get her license soon enough, and maybe her own car. Until then, she would have to either keep following my rules, or get a ride from a sophomore like I did when I was her age.

Pacific Grove High School was my kingdom. I was its queen. One of its queens, anyway. It was only natural for cheerleaders to be top of the social hierarchy, and seniority meant that basically everyone worshiped me and my squadmates. Girls wanted to be us. Guys wanted to fuck us. It was a good life, which is all the more reason ‘stress’ being a factor in my secret problem was ridiculous.

As I approached the school, I smirked when I caught a glimpse of Maxine crossing the parking lot. Speaking of girls who wished they could be more popular. Maxine’s short blonde hair was hardly doing her any favors, nor was the stack of books and binders in her arms. Her lack of confidence was painfully obvious, which is what made her amusing to mess with. She always folded so easily and, like Rose, knew better than to cross someone like me.

Quickening my pace, I made sure to stay just out of Maxine’s sight, eventually sneaking up behind her as she neared the edge of the parking lot. Sneaking up behind her, I waited until just the right moment to catch her back foot with my own as she stepped onto the curb.

The result was lovely. Maxine stumbled forward, and she was left with the choice of either dropping her books to catch herself on the way down, or crash completely. She kind of did both. Abandoning her armful of belongings at the last second, she ended up having a rough landing while simultaneously dropping her books and binders in a way that caused them to explode onto the pavement. I don’t know which part was more satisfying–the way her things skidded everywhere, or the awkward squeal she made upon falling.

I laughed at the sight for a moment, only to snap into bitchy cheerleading mode when she started to get up. “Ah, ah. Stay down, Maxie.” Pretty much all of us on the squad were able to flip that kind of switch; sometimes a bit of intensity was called for. “Don’t move, okay?” As if it were a question.

Kneeling down, I unzipped her purse and pulled out her clutch. Shame. Only thirty dollars in cash. Guess that wasn’t the worst, when most of us were using credit cards and mobile payments these days. Still, it was a disappointing amount that would barely cover the cost of half a bra. To punish her for the weak ‘donation,’ I took her student ID as well. I didn’t really have a plan for it; mostly, it was for the inconvenience of high school life without that card, and replacing it would take at least a few days.

“Aren’t you going to apologize for being in my way?” I asked, “What if I’m late to class because of you?” As if I cared that much about being on time. I was a solid A/B student, which was more than enough to get into whatever state school I wanted with my cheerleading talents.

Sure enough, Maxine mumbled an awkward, “Sorry, Raven.”

“Was that so difficult?” I teased, “Now, stay there for another minute. Until I’m gone.” Without waiting for a response, as I knew a girl like her wouldn’t dare go against such a demand, I strutted away.

Maybe it was some cliché mean girl energy, but Maxine totally deserved it. She wrote some article for the school paper a couple years ago that implied some annoying shit about how the school gave preferential treatment to football players and cheerleaders. As if that was a bad thing. We were the ones who brought in funds via game tickets, program donations from our parents, and all that. Even as a student who didn’t know the inner workings of the administration and all that, I had to assume their budget would be fucked without girls like me.

Tossing Maxine’s ID in the trash on the way inside, on the slim chance she decided to try and get me in trouble, I headed to my locker. As usual, it took forever to get there when I stopped to chat with a number of fellow cheerleaders on the way. And, of course, Adrian’s locker was rather close to mine. Ever the faithful boyfriend, he was basically always waiting for me near mine, or knew to make his way to me if I ended up getting to school before him.

Greeting him with a solid kissing, appreciating the way his hands immediately started roaming my body, I pulled back in the usual teasing manner and had him take my first period books. Most football players weren’t chivalrous like that, but I had trained Adrian well. He knew that a happy girlfriend meant a better time for him when it was just the two of us.

Lately, things had been a little more complicated thanks to the underwear I had been wearing to bed. It would seem out of character if I suddenly started leaving in the middle of the night after our fun, and there was no way in hell I was going to stay over when dealing with my current situation. Adrian was way too handsy, and it was highly unlikely I’d make it through the night without being busted. Not to mention how he usually wanted a quickie before breakfast, which I would often indulge. Sleeping over was absolutely out of the question.

Honestly, it was a miracle that the first accident hadn’t happened at his place, considering how often I stayed over. His parents were always out of town, and it was simple enough to tell my family that I was hanging out with one of the girls on my team.

My absence had turned me into a bit of a tease over the last week or two, which was only so sustainable. So far, I had gotten away with it by saying that I wanted to focus on the upcoming cheer competition. As a football player, he kind of understood my fake desire to not totally screw up my sleep schedule. But he was also a guy, which meant I had to go out of my way to make it up to him by doing stuff like skipping class to get him off in a secluded stairwell. Whatever it took to keep him from asking questions.

Normally, I’d let Adrian walk me to class, or go kill some time with my squadmates before First Period. However, Monday morning meant that I had to do my weekly check-in with Nurse Tessa. While I didn’t have to go there first thing in the morning, that was my preference. She probably got more traffic around lunch, or whenever students stopped by to take care of something unexpected. At this time, anyone with some health issue would have just stayed home instead of going to the school only to head straight to the nurse.

Similar to the precautions I took with the pull-ups, which were in a locked box hidden somewhere neither my sister nor mother would stumble upon them, I had my bedwetting notes in a hidden folder on my phone. No one ever touched the device but me, but it still made more sense to be more safe than sorry.

After triple checking that there wasn’t anyone else in the nurse’s office, I reported the five nights of the last seven that I had wet myself overnight. Tempted as I was to omit all but one or two, I was hoping that an accurate summary would make my doctor more inclined to take me seriously. Frustrating as it was, this clearly wasn’t some fluke that just happened the one time. The sooner I could prove that, the sooner I could get something better than whatever simple tests she had run.

It helped that Tessa was all business, without a trace of judgment despite my age and the humiliating information I was giving her. As soon as she noted down those evenings, as well as the times I relieved myself properly during the day, I was off to class.

What I didn’t know was that this was going to be my last normal school day for quite some time.

Turns out, all it takes is one girl to complicate everything in a popular cheerleader’s life. Before long, wearing pull-ups to bed was going to be the least of my problems.

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