I got my period today. My first one. I was atop the high diving board at the public swimming pool when I felt a warm patch in my bathers. There was a boy behind me, waiting. I didn't want to dive. Have you ever been up there? It's really high.

The boy accused my bottom. “Your ass is bleeding,” he cackled. But it wasn't my bottom. It was my vagina. I think he knew, but he probably didn't have the courage to shout out the word “vagina” in front of his friends.

I didn't mind. The blood trickled down my leg. Is it blood? My sister calls it vagina sludge. That's a good name I suppose.

It was like that time I lopped off my wart. Except that was on my elbow. And the wart grew back. But somehow it seemed the same. The blood/sludge felt like a tiny motorbike spinning its wheels down my leg. Hot rubber. I imagined a tiny James Dean speeding away from his parents. His mom and pop lived in my vagina and he wanted out. Too many rules I suppose.

And then I dived. Head first. Just like in the Olympics. I'd never done that before.