Story #80: The Cost of Coolness

Story #80: The Cost of Coolness (Part 4 of the 'Cool to Drool' series) (Content Tags: Ongoing story, intellect loss, perceived braindrain, messy diapers, humiliation) The trip from the nurse's office to his classroom was without drama, and without much chatter at all. Angela made a few more snide comments about how far he'd seem to have fallen, but nothing crude enough to bait Jay into an actual response. While the boy didn't fancy the idea of letting the taunting go, he also had already been shown that Angela had no qualms with outright bullying him over his rebuttals. It was better to just let the girl mock him, even if it did make him want to slap her across that smart mouth of hers. He figured that she just needed to get it out of her system, and that by ignoring it, that eventually she'd get bored of it and stop. Whether or not that was accurate at all, he had no clue, but what other choice did he have? "Try not to make any more poopies in your pants, dumb-dumb. At least not in the middle of class." She gave as a final comment, her smarmy grin chafing Jay completely. "...Not gonna." The blond muttered, eyes directed at the floor. "Why don't I believe that? Anyways, at least wait a little while and give the nurse a break. I'm sure she doesn't want to spend all day wiping your dirty butt clean." Entering the classroom after a Summer away, and especially after his incident, Jay couldn't help but feel anxious. Angela was the only classmate who was privy to the extent of his 'brain damage', so the rest of his peers more likely thought he'd just suffered a bad concussion or that he'd even been in a coma! And that was only if they'd kept up with the rumors at all; there were surely some kids in here who hadn't known he'd even had an accident on his skateboard. The bell was already ringing by the time that Jay had come in behind Angela, so he was at least able to avoid any awkward conversations with his peers. Whether or not his teacher was privy to his condition wasn't something he had any knowledge of, and after the nurse had dropped the ball, he thought it possible that she was totally ignorant. Jay took his seat toward the back, hoping that his sweatpants were as baggy as he thought they were. He didn't want to ruin things in the first couple of minutes by the other kids noticing a diaper outline. There were some glances at him, but no snickering yet, so he seemed to be in the clear for now. The class began and the teacher started by explaining what sorts of things that they'd be learning, now that they were in the fifth grade. Some of it sounded interesting, much of it sounded boring, and all of it sounded like it might prove difficult for the addled boy. He wasn't stupid, or at least he didn't consider himself stupid. But he hadn't been a great student before his accident, and the additional hindrances of his brain damage, whether in relation to coordination or cognition, weren't going to be doing him any favors. He'd begged and fussed over being let back into his normal classes, instead of being held back or being put into special ed, but there was a genuine risk that he'd blow it. Additionally, he wouldn't be able to get test answers or copy homework off of the nerds, like he had before, if and when his reputation inevitably tanked. How long could he keep all of this a secret anyway? It wasn't a realistic goal to avoid detection; so he might hope that nobody ever found out, but deep down, he knew it was only a matter of when and a matter of how people reacted to it. The first wave that he'd have to concern himself with was the social circle that he'd been intertwined with last year. He hadn't spoken to any of them all Summer, so there was a good chance that he'd have to deal with them asking what was going on with him. Then there was his 'girlfriend', for as little as that term actually meant at this age. Other than them, there were just the other kids in his grade, who had expectations of how he was supposed to be and act. Cynically, he figured he might not have many friends left, and he definitely wouldn't still have a girlfriend, once he pooed himself in front of any of them. It was just a matter of time; a countdown that he couldn't see. These anxieties gnawed at him throughout the duration of the class period, with his bladder intermittently leaking into his diaper from them. Fortunately for Jay, he made it through the first class without soiling himself or making a fool out of himself. Once the other kids had already started to leave the room, to go next door to their next class, Angela made him stay behind for a moment. In front of their teacher, she pulled back the waistband of his bulky Abena and peered inside. "Good job, Jay-Jay! No poopies!" The girl snidely praised, snapping the waistband back into place. "Did you tinkle?" The lack of surprise on his teacher's face at least made it clear that she had actually read her emails about him, and she primarily had a look of bemused pity on her face over what she was watching. Jay muttered a muted 'yeah', but Angela tugged down his sweatpants anyways, probably because she wanted the teacher to see the full reality of what the 'coolest kid' in school had been reduced to. She stuck her finger in the legband and clicked her tongue, "A little wet, but you should be fine for now, since those diapers are so huge." Angela pulled his pants back up into place and gave him a condescending pat on the bottom. "Let's go to our next class, Jay-Jay. I'm pretty sure that its geography." The next couple of classes went as smoothly as the first. There weren't a lot of notes that needed to be written on the first day back, so Jay didn't have to strain his brain all that much. By some miracle, he'd kept his diaper clean for both of those classes too, which was a new personal best for time spent in a clean diaper. Once it was time for lunch, Jay was back to having to worry. There would almost certainly be expectations about what table he should sit at, and unless he took his time, he'd be stupidly stumbling over his own words in any conversation. He decided the most important thing would be to downplay the extent of his damage; if he could cogently explain that he was dealing with a few issues after the accident, while completely glossing over the worst of it, then perhaps he could acclimate people into thinking it wasn't such a big deal. He waited in line with Angela, who was making this more of a hassle than it needed to be. She was loading his tray up for him, as if he couldn't tell the cafeteria workers what food he wanted, or manage the tray himself. He kept making snippy little comments about it in a bid to convince her to stop, but she wasn't listening. Once they each paid, she turned to him and smirked. "So, does Jay-Jay need help feeding himself? Does the dummy need a bib, or a sippy cup? Does Angela need to make his food into an airplane, or a choo-choo train?" Jay's face got as red as a tomato and he did a quick glance around to make sure nobody heard her. "N-no..! I dun' need yur' help at lunch. Go sit with sum'one else!" She pondered his request for a moment, "Hmm...Alright then. I'll let you sit by yourself today, but if I see you need help, then I'm going to do my job. We'll check your diapee after lunch and see if you left any poopies for me." The blond quietly groaned and seethed at his 'helper' and the colorful way she liked to put things. Why'd she have to be such a pain? And why did he have to be stuck with her? He carefully balanced his tray in his hands and started to walk away, looking around at the different tables as he went along. "Hey, Jay! Over here!" A voice suddenly called out to him. The boy looked over and saw a hand waving at him from a nearby table, where several kids were already sitting. A few of them were familiar faces of kids that he'd hung out with last year; much like him, they were the 'cool' kids, the popular ones. Jay gulped and gave a nervous smile as he headed toward them and took a cautious seat at the table. "H-hey.." "What's up, man? Didn't hear anything from you all Summer. Just heard you hit your head pretty hard at the skate park. You look pretty okay now though." Chris said, one of the kids at the table. Jay gave a quiet nod and started to open his milk carton, "Uh-huh...M'still, uh...g-gettin' better." If he kept his use of language simple and reserved, then maybe nobody would notice how stunted his speech had become? He would aim for stoicism to retain his cool factor, and hope that all these kids were too shallow to realize what was going on. Conversation rattled on around the table, but Jay focused primarily on his lunch. It was bean burritos today, which he hadn't even been the one to select; if Angela hadn't been so pushy, he would have gone for an option that was less volatile on his tummy. He had to really take it slow while eating; his fine motor skills were still messed up, and he was still making a mess when he ate at home. With a steadying hand and an abundance of patience, Jay was managing not to dribble on himself or miss his mouth with the fork. Meanwhile, he'd give curt and simple answers to any questions that came his way. The kids at the table were so self-absorbed, that they didn't even seem to catch that a few of his comments had seemed slurred or that he'd lisped a handful of times. In such a casual space, he was doing perfectly! Maybe he *could* maintain his popularity! Maybe nobody had to find out about his less savory changes! But then he laughed at one of the jokes being told, and halfway through his giggling, he could already feel that something warm and sticky had slipped past his buttcheeks and settled in the back of his diaper. It wasn't a large lump by any means, and after the massive dumps he'd been taking in his pants, it was but a pittance of poo, but it immediately killed his confidence. Here he was, sitting at the 'cool' table for lunch, with all the other popular kids, and he'd just pooed in a diaper. There wasn't really any odor yet, which was unsurprising, since the Abena was such a thick diaper and it trapped in his fumes really well. Still though, it was all he could think about, or rather worry about, for the rest of his meal. Lunch soon came to an end, which was a mercy for his nerves, and Jay went to go scrape his tray and put it away. He'd said goodbye to his 'friends', many of which he thankfully only shared a handful of classes with, and Angela was coming back up to him. She examined his shirt and took a napkin to his mouth, "Hmm, well that's surprising...You're actually pretty clean! Well, for a boy that is. What about your diapee?" Jay groaned, "N-not here.." The girl cackled and took him by the hand, "Oh, right. We wouldn't want anyone seeing the 'cool kid' getting a diaper check, huh?" She led him to a secluded spot near the vending machines and let go of his hand. "So, let's look at that diapee, unless you have anything you want to admit before I check." The boy turned his freckled face to the side, "...I-I pooed.." He meekly murmured. "What was that, Jay-Jay? You need to speak up." "I-I pooed. I pooed my diapee." He repeated more loudly, which elicited another cruel snicker from his helper. "Oh, did you? Well, that's something that babies do a lot. They go in their pants while they're eating, just like you did!" She pulled back his diaper again and looked inside, "Hmmm...Not too much in here. I think you can wait a while for a change. We don't want to overwork that poor nurse, do we?" "B-but there's p-poopie.." "That's right, there is, but we need to wait until there's more. I'm sure you still need to go potty, so let's wait until you do." She led him back into the hall and escorted him to their next class, which was English and literature. Jay again took a seat in the back of the class, though this time he had to feel the little lump in his diaper get mashed against his rump. Nobody had seemed to pay him much mind, except for one kid. Luke. Luke was a dorky, chubby kid. He was into geeky stuff and wasn't all that charming, but that didn't stop him from thinking he could be one of the cool kids. Luke was a hopeless hanger, which was to say, that he tried to hang on to people and social groups, in the hopes that it would improve his own social standing. Jay had dealt with him before, many times in fact, and it was never pleasant. With Jay being the coolest boy in their grade, Luke targeted him as the one he needed to get an 'in' with to become cool himself. Time after time, Luke tried to insert himself into being Jay's 'friend', even after Jay had quite clearly shown he found the boy obnoxious and repugnant. Perhaps the worst part was how desperate Luke was; the kid was deluded into thinking he deserved to be popular, so no amount of open resentment would deter him, and now was the worst time for Jay to get what amounted to a groupie. After a few introductory moments in class, the teacher said that they would head to the library for rest of the period, so that each kid could find a book to start a report on. Down the hall they marched, and already, Jay could sense that Luke was staring at him. Once they made it inside the library, the children scattered, except for Angela who told Jay that she'd help him find a book that was on his 'level'. The blond snarled at her and rolled his eyes, "I can still read..." "You sure, dumb-dumb? We don't need to go to the Kindergarten section for you and pick out a picture book?" "No! Jus' lemme' alone!" He huffed, storming off away from her. The girl smirked and shook her head, but decided that she'd let the dummy run solo for a few minutes, at least while she found her own book. Jay went towards one of the many rows of books, mainly wanting to avoid having to be around anyone, and he started to scan the titles on the shelves. He wasn't much of a big reader before the accident, so he wasn't all that jazzed about this assignment, but he also wanted to prove that he wasn't some kind of special ed retard, so he needed to pick something impressive. While he looked, he was ignorant to the fact that a certain dork was heading his way. For Luke, this seemed like a golden opportunity to catch Jay alone and to pitch himself as he had done time and time again. Maybe this time would be different? "What's up, skater boy? How's it hanging, dude?" The husky lad suddenly asked, his tone as fake and clunky as ever. He had not a single 'cool' bone in his body. Jay sighed once he heard the voice, and he turned his head around to give Luke a cold stare. "..Go 'way." Luke let out an awkward laugh and he crossed his arms, "Haha, don't be like that, bro. Just thought I'd come say hi. I heard you got hurt over the Summer and I wanted to make sure you're okay!" "M'fine.." Jay grunted, turning back around to look at the books, with the hopes that Luke would get the hint. Oblivious to the social cue, Luke didn't retreat. Instead, he started to lean against the book shelf. "That's awesome to hear. So, I was thinking, maybe we should get together to hang out. Maybe after school? We could go to your house and play some games or something. Or maybe you could teach me how to do some stuff with your skateboard..." What a nightmare that sounded like. Between his little brother's blatant contempt for him, and all the diapers in the room, as well as the fairly full pail, he didn't even want to bring people he *liked* back to his house. He needed to nip this in the bud, before Luke tried to worm his way in even further. "No. Yur' a loser. Yur' not good 'nuff to be my friend." He wasn't typically so frank, or so rude about it, but Luke would never get the message if he kept playing nice. It seemed to have an effect too, as Luke genuinely looked taken aback by the bluntness of the rejection. "B-but I..." Jay had stopped listening, instead he'd started to squat down in front of the shelf to look at a few more of the possible books. Unfortunately, as he got on his haunches, he suddenly let out a juicy sounding fart in the back of his diaper. **SSPPPLLRRRT!** Luke gawked at the abrupt eruption, but the sound was only the prelude to what would come next. The thunder before the lightning, as it were. Jay realized he needed to stand back up, before the gas transformed into something more solid, but he was too late. The pressure in his bowels wasn't under his control anymore, and that meant that a turd was already beginning to snake its way out into his Abena Junior, and the rock-solid python was crackling quite noisily. "A-are you...Are you crapping your pants?!" His mouth should have stayed shut, but it wasn't something he could control. Whenever he was pooping, he had that tendency to start acting and talking like the retard his diaper was meant for. "Nngggh...M-makin' p-poo-brownies.." His relationship with Luke was about to see some big changes, none of which would be good.