Monday morning brought dark clouds and a cold wind. Most people bustled to work or school in thick jackets and with umbrellas at the ready for the inevitable rain to follow. It was the chatter of children that woke Kim up. And the second she was awake, Kim already knew that this was going to be an especially infuriating day. There was a sharp pain in her lower stomach and everything felt tense. Kim sighed sharply and curled up on her side. She seiously could not be bothered going anywhere today, not with cramps like this. She was just glad that she had foreseen this the night before and was wearing a pad.

The thought of waiting for the bus, getting on said bus, sitting on an uncomfortable seat, going into a noisy building full of irritable people and boring subjects? Not to mention the fury she’d receive from her headmaster for not “fixing” her hair. No thank you! Kim had half a mind to just stay in bed today. Or forever. Bottom line, she was completely fed up with all of this! Putting her covers over her head, she squeezed her eyes shut in hope she’d just drift off again…

“Get up!” 

Kim swore as she heard Trudy’s voice outside her door. She turned to face the wall as she heard the door open and she could already feel Trudy’s angry aura radiating from her.

“I said get up!” Trudy barked. Kim hunched her shoulders and glared into the wall.

“No.” Kim growled bluntly, “I’m not going.” There was a second of silence.

“What did you say!” 

“I said I’m not going! I feel sick and I’m not going!” Kim curled herself up further up into a ball. What was this woman’s problem? Had she never gone through a cycle before? That would explain a lot.

“You don’t look sick, get up now! I’m not driving you if you miss that bus!” 

“Are you deaf!” Kim snapped, even taking herself by surprise, “I don’t feel well! Now go away!”

“What could you possibly be sick with!”

Kim wanted to rebut that she barely ate the day before as the fumes from the hairdressers pulverized her appetite and she was on the cusp of falling asleep where she stood. Instead she turned to face Trudy.

“I’ve taken my period, okay!” Kim snapped, “and it bloody hurts so please leave me alone!” She threw the covers back over her head, but they were suddenly snatched and yanked away. Kim shuddered and she felt goosebumps as the cold air hit her skin. Trudy glared down at her.

“I didn’t need to know that, keep that filth to yourself! Now get up or I’ll drag you out of that bed myself!” 

Kim looked at the door as Tristan, who seemed to have stopped to watch, coffee in hand. She noticed that Trudy eemed a little alarmed that he was there.

“Dad!” Kim pleaded, standing up, “Please, I don’t want to go to school, tell her to let me stay home!” she watched him anxiously, praying that just for once he would stand up for her! Tristan looked between his daughter and Trudy and sipped his coffee in thought.

“I dunno, Truds, she does look a bit pale. Is it bad?” He finally asked, his brown eyes looking into his daughter’s. 

“Oh you know what women are like,” Trudy cut in before Kim could respond, “we like to make things sound worse than they are for attention. Some paracetamol and she’ll be fine.” 

“Nooo…” Kim groaned as a fresh punch of cramps hit her in the lower stomach, “please I really-!”

“Oh come on, honey,” Trudy’s voice raised Kim’s hackles even higher with that name, “come lunch time it’ll all be better, now get dressed before you miss the bus, I’ve got your lunch sorted downstairs.”

‘Liar.’ Kim thought. She knew full well she would have to make her own lunch and she was also sure that Trudy had purposely used the last of the strawberry jam for Fraser’s lunch. Tristan gave one last look to his daughter before shrugging and heading down the stairs. The second he was out of sight, Kim snapped her glare back onto Trudy. Was she serious about this?

“I am not-!” Kim started but was instantly cut off as Trudy rounded on her again.

“Listen very carefully,” She spat, “This is a dictatorship, not a democracy! When I tell you to do something, you do it! Don’t argue with me!” 

Kim felt the back of her neck grow hot at this and again, she forced herself to suppress the impulse to point out that every dictatorship in history had ended the same way- complete and utter failure. 

“Listen very carefully, okay? I’m. Not. Going!” Kim snarled, “And you can’t make me!” She would be damned if Trudy expected her to go to school and put up with all of their nonsense while also being eaten from the inside out! There was no way! 

***

The cold wind blew harshly and Kim could not tell whether or not she was shivering from that or from the fury that coursed through her veins. Rubbing her arm where she had been hit, she watched as the bus rumbled up and hissed to a stop. Grabbing her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and stomped aboard. After a wordless exchange to the bus driver, she threw herself into a seat, trying to control her furious breathing. How was this fair! If Fraser so much as sneezed he would be kept off school for about a week but she felt as if something was gnawing at her lower abdomen and she had to go to school because it was “not that bad”? Kim huffed through her nose and took out one of her school books, hoping to distract herself. All she could do was just get through today so she could collapse in bed again. In her stewing frustration, she did not notice the loud snap of the bus doors as they suddenly clamped shut on some poor fellow about to board, spilling coffee all over the windows. "How was this going to get any worse?" was a thought unknowingly shared between both disgruntled parties.