*Lilia's P.O.V*

I woke up to sharp pain in my abdomen and it didn't take me long to realise what it was. Aunt Flo had come for her monthly stay. I quickly got out of bed and ran into my bathroom to sort myself out. Luckily, I didn't make a mess of my bed but I did need a change of underwear and a new set of pyjamas. Another cramp struck as I was pulling on my blue Snow White pyjama top and I let out a groan of pain.

Zoe, who happened to be in the hallway just outside my bedroom having just got up, must've heard me as she knocked on my door. I answered her with another groan.

"Lils?" She slowly opened my door looking concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just-" I couldn't even finish my sentence before I was in pain again.

"That time of the month?" Zoe guessed with a small, knowing smile. All I could do was nod as I clutched my stomach.

"You can stay home if it's that bad." She said.

"Can I?" I asked, looking at her hopefully.

"Of course you can." She gave me a gentle smile, "Now, get your bum back into bed, I'll be back in a minute with a hot water bottle."

"Thanks, Zo." I weakly smiled back at her, crawling back into bed and settling down as she left my bedroom. As promised, she came back about ten minutes later with my bunny hot water bottle, some ibuprofen and a glass of water.

"Thanks, Zoe." I said again, taking two of the pills and downing them with the water.

"What are sisters for?" She smiled, "Try and get some more sleep, okay? I'll go and call the school." I mumbled an "okay" as she kissed my forehead before leaving my room, gently shutting the door behind her.

~~~

It was now about midday and I'd emerged from my bedroom to the living room. I was curled up on Alfie's lap on the sofa as that was the only position I could be in without it feeling like their was an axe wielding maniac living in my uterus (lovely mental image for you there) and we were watching Stranger Things on Netflix.

"F*ck." I muttered, another cramp hitting me when I tried to change position slightly.

"You okay, love?" Alfie looked down at me and frowned.

"Just peachy." I replied sarcastically, "I mean, it feels like someone has stuck their hands in my stomach and is waving a knife around in there, but yeah, I'm absolutely fine." Alfie chuckled at my descriptive complaint.

"What?" I snapped.

"Nothing, it's just you and Zoe are literally the same person when you're on your periods." He laughed. I just rolled my eyes and turned back to the TV.

Unfortunately, about an hour later, Zoe and Alfie both had to leave because they had a meeting so I was left all by myself to just die. Actually, I wasn't alone because Mark and Connor were still in the house and, okay, I might have been a little over dramatic when I said I was going to die, but I'm in pain, okay?! Leave me alone.

About half an hour after Zoe and Alfie left I needed to go to the bathroom so I managed to crawl off the sofa and just about made it to the bathroom without dying. I opened the cupboard under the sink to get a new tampon, only to realise I was completely out.

"Oh, sh*t." I cursed. What the hell was I supposed to do? I'd left my phone in the living room so I couldn't text Mark or anything to go out and buy me some more. I decided I'd have to do it like they did back in the day...

"Mark!" I yelled at the top of my voice, receiving no answer, "MARK!" I yelled again, louder this time. After several attempts, nothing happened so I stuck some toilet paper in my underwear for the time being and exited the bathroom. I looked all over the house, in Mark's room, in the cosy room, in Zoe and Alfie's room, in the attic, but Mark was nowhere to be found. And neither was Nala now that I think about it...

"Where the hell is your brother?" I asked, barging into Connor's room.

"Ever heard of knocking?"

"I don't have time for you smart arse remarks, Connor. Where is Mark?" I growled.

"Okay, first of all, chill. He's taken Nala for a walk." Connor said.

"When will he be back?"

"What do I look like? The Mark Monitor? I have no idea when he'll be back."

I screamed in frustration and Connor looked taken aback as he obnoxiously asked me, "What on earth is wrong with you?!"

"I'm on my period and I'm out of tampons, that's what!" I shouted and Connor's eyes widened, his face turning red. I rolled my eyes. Typical boy, getting squeamish at the smallest mention of a period.

"Okay, well, have fun with that... I'll just leave you to it..." He said, slowly walking towards the door.

"Not so fast," I grabbed his arm and stopped him from leaving, "I need you to go and buy me the tampons."

"What?! No way!" He yelled.

"Please, Connor, everyone else is out! I wouldn't be asking you if you weren't my very last hope!"

"But what will people think?!"

"It doesn't matter what people think, Connor. I need those tampons otherwise I'm going to be bleeding all over this house, is that what you want? No, I didn't think so. So stop being baby, pull your head out of your arse and go and buy me some f***ing tampons!"

Connor looked genuinely scared after my little outburst, but it worked because he finally agreed to go and buy me what I needed.

"How do I know which ones to get?" He asked me as he put his coat on so I told him the type and brand and everything before he finally left.

After twenty minutes of anxiously waiting, Connor returned with my tampons and he got the right ones as well.

"Thank you! You're the best!" I squealed, wrapping my arms around his neck as soon as he walked through the door. Connor seemed surprised but hugged me back. It wasn't until we pulled away that I realised what I'd just done and for some reason I found myself blushing. It was probably just my hormones going crazy.

"Yeah, whatever, you owe me big time." He said, before walking away. I chuckled and rolled my eyes as I went back into the bathroom and sorted myself out.

Later that day, I was in my room on my laptop, when my phone began ringing. I smiled when I saw it was Callum and picked up instantly.

"Hey, Ca-"

"Why weren't you at school today?" He snapped and my shoulders slumped, my heart dropping. He was in one of those moods again.

"Oh, I just wasn't feeling well." I replied calmly.

"Why?"

"I was just having really bad period cramps so Zoe-"

"Seriously?" Callum laughed down the phone, but it wasn't a friendly or funny laugh, "That's it? God, you're pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"You're not the first girl to have a period, Lilia. Stop being such a needy little bitch, alright?" And with that, he hung up.

I sighed, tears stinging my eyes. Now all I had to do was wait for an apology text. He usually said sorry after he spoke to me like that, because believe it or not, it wasn't the first time Callum had treated me less than right. It wasn't his fault, though, he just had a bad temper.