It was a Saturday and the family were enjoying a lazy Saturday morning.
It was just Rachel and Emily sat in the garden.
"How are you feeling today Ems?"
"I'm okay thank you"
"Is your tummy feeling better today?"
"Yeah loads better than it was yesterday and on Thursday, but it is still a bit sore"
After starting her periods, Emily was finding it quite difficult to get use to. It had made her really emotional.
"I know you didn't want me to tell Dad, but he's getting a bit worried about you. It is something he'd like to know really"
"Why does he need to know? It doesn't make any difference to him"
"But he's your Dad, so of course he's going to want to know about something like this"
"I don't see why he would, but I suppose you can tell him if you have to"
"I won't if you don't want me to, I'm sure he'll figure it out for himself sooner or later anyway"
"You can tell him if he does want to know, I just didn't think he'd be bothered and it will be embarrassing him knowing"
"No it won't, I'll make sure he doesn't mention anything about it to you"
"Okay then"
They were soon joined by Poppy.
"Mummy can we go to the zoo today?"
"Don't you think it's a bit hot for that? I was thinking we could have a day in the garden, and go in the paddling pool and stuff. Rebecca might come round for a bit with Daisy, Florence and Amy"
Despite the age difference, Poppy and Daisy got on really well.
"Yay can we put up the bouncy castle too?"
"I reckon we can"
The morning passed quickly and it was soon lunchtime.
"I need to go into town this afternoon Em because I want something new to wear to my party tonight. Do you fancy coming?"
Emily wasn't her usual self so Charlotte wanted to try and cheer her up a little bit.
"Yeah okay"
"What you're going to drive in?" Rachel asked a bit surprised
Charlotte had passed her test a few weeks ago.
"Yeah I drove in with Dad last week and it was fine"
"Oh okay, that will be nice. You don't want my company then?"
"You've got Rebecca and Mark coming over though"
"True, nothing too short for tonight though you, I know what you're like"
"Of course not"
After lunch Emily and Charlotte both went upstairs to get ready.
"We won't be too long Mum, because I've got to come back and get ready for the party"
"Okay make sure you text me when you get there, and before you leave"
"We will"
Just as Emily and Charlotte were about to leave Rebecca and Mark turned up with their children.
Emily and Charlotte ended up staying for another 10 minutes and then Mark and Paul headed outside with the kids.
"Right I guess we should get going Em"
"Okay"
Rachel was in the middle of pouring a glass of prosecco for her and Rebecca but quickly came over to have a quiet word with Emily.
"Have you got pads in your bag Em? Rachel asked just wanting to check
"Yes" Emily said her cheeks burning red, she really hoped Rebecca hadn't heard
"Okay have a good time girls"
The girls left and Rebecca and Rachel headed into the garden with their prosecco.
"I can't believe how quickly Ivy is growing up now" Rachel said
"I know, she likes to go in the paddling pool now too like her big sisters"
The children were all in their swimsuits waiting for the paddling pool to be blown up. Poppy suddenly came over to Rachel whilst taking off her swimsuit.
"What are you doing love?" Rachel asked
Even though Poppy had started developing, she wasn't self-conscious at all. Rachel was trying to teach her that she couldn't just take her clothes off wherever now, but Poppy was just not bothered by it at all.
"I don't like this swimsuit, it's uncomfortable"
"Okay, let's go inside and get you changed then"
Rachel took her upstairs to her bedroom.
"Remember what we said sweetheart, if there are other people around and you need to get changed you need to go somewhere a bit more private"
"You said it was okay if we're at home though"
"But not if we have people over"
"Oh"
"Anyway it doesn't matter, pick another swimsuit"
"I want to wear a bikini like Daisy"
"Okay love, that's fine"
Poppy got changed and then they went back to the garden.
The paddling pool was ready so Poppy joined Daisy and Florence in it.
Rachel sat back and relaxed and watched the girls play whilst chatting to Rebecca.
In town, Emily was starting to feel a lot happier especially after having a chat with Charlotte. Charlotte had found a new dress that she wanted to wear tonight and Emily had bought a few new things for their holiday.
"I want to get some new underwear, shall we go to Boux Avenue?" Charlotte said
"Okay"
Charlotte picked up some new underwear.
"Do you need any Em?"
"Urmm do you think Mum would let me get a thong?"
"No I don't think she'd be too happy if you came home with one, why do you want one?"
"Well you wear them"
"Yeah I know but I'm older than you"
"How old were you when you were allowed to wear one?"
"I think I was about fourteen" Charlotte said before finding some other nice knickers for Emily "how about these"
"Oh yeah I like them"
Once they'd both found everything they wanted they went and paid.
"Can we go to the toilet Charl?"
"Yeah I need to go too, and then are you happy to head home?"
"Yeah that's fine with me"
The girls went to the toilet before driving home.
Rebecca and Mark were still there when they got back and they'd all decided to have a BBQ.
Charlotte would have loved to have been there, as she loved chatting with Rebecca and Rachel. She was really looking forward to her party though and wanted to start getting ready.
"I'm going to go and have a shower and start getting ready for tonight"
"Okay love, what time are you going?"
"Probably about 7"
"And Harry's still picking you up?"
"Yeah"
"Good, because we've all had too much to drink to drive now. Make sure you come back down for some food though, you can't go drinking on an empty stomach"
"I will, don't worry"
Charlotte went upstairs to get ready. Emily showed Rachel and Rebecca what she had bought today before going to put it away. She then came back and joined them outside.
Emily played with Ivy and Florrie for ages. Poppy and Daisy were playing a game together and the men were doing the BBQ.
When the food was ready Charlotte came down for a bit to eat but then went back upstairs to get ready. She was so excited about her party tonight.
She did her makeup and curled her hair and then put on her new dress. Once Charlotte was ready she went and had a drink in the garden.
"Wow Charlotte you look gorgeous" Rachel said
"I wish I still had a figure like you" Rebecca said
It wasn't long before Harry arrived so Charlotte went inside and picked up the alcohol that Rachel had bought for her for tonight and then she left with Harry.
Her friend had a really nice house and everyone was out in the garden.
Charlotte started drinking straight away and it didn't take long for her to be feeling tipsy.
She was trying to take it a bit easy as she was starting to get a bit of a reputation for being a lightweight. Once she started drinking though, she was having such a good time and didn't really care.
Charlotte had made so many good friends at Waterloo Road and felt like she had been friends with them for so much longer than she had.
It was getting quite late and Harry and Charlotte were all over each other. Charlotte took hold of Harry's hand and lead him upstairs. They found an empty bedroom and went into it.
Things got quite passionate between the two of them. Charlotte really wanted to go all of the way. She was still a virgin at the moment, but most of her friends had lost their virginity so she wanted to as well.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry asked
"Yes I need you"
Harry had had lots to drink too and didn't take much persuasion. It wasn't long before Harry was inside of Charlotte.
When it was over Charlotte felt quite weird, she didn't know how she felt. It had certainly sobered her up a bit and now she wanted to go home.
"Are you okay Charlotte?" Harry asked as she didn't seem too happy
"Yeah I'm fine"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes positive. I want to go home now"
"I thought we were staying the night"
"I've changed my mind. I have leftover money that Mum gave me when I went shopping so I'll use it for a taxi"
"I'll come with you"
"No it's fine, you stay"
"I don't want you going in a taxi on your own"
"I'll be fine, if you get a taxi to mine you'd only have to leave again"
Rachel probably would have let him stay in the spare room but Charlotte didn't want him to come with her.
Charlotte was a very stubborn girl and there was nothing Harry could say to make her change her mind.
Harry made sure she got into the taxi safely and that the taxi driver knew her address and then Charlotte went home.
When Charlotte got home she was quite wobbly so staggered into the house.
Bella started barking as soon as she went in through the front door, even though she was trying to be quiet, which woke up Rachel who came downstairs.
"What are you doing back? I thought you were staying overnight"
"I changed my mind, just want to sleep in my own bed"
"Oh right, are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine, really tired so I'm going to go up to bed now" Charlotte said slurring her words a bit
Charlotte was quite drunk so it didn't take her long to drop off to sleep once she was in bed.
Charlotte woke up the next morning and instantly remembered what had happened last night. She felt really bad about it now, she hadn't want to loose her virginity whilst drunk.
She didn't regret losing it to Harry but she did regret losing it at a party. They had talked about it quite a lot before the party and had decided they were both ready, they'd just been waiting to find a time when they could have an empty house.
Charlotte hasn't taken her makeup off from last night and was still in her dress so changed into some pyjamas and then went into her ensuite to take her makeup off.
Once she'd washed her face she sat on the loo. She started crying, she was really sore and was feeling really bad about last night.
When she went back to her bedroom she noticed her knickers on the floor from last night had blood on them. This made her cry even more.
She quickly picked up her clothes before climbing back into bed.
Charlotte didn't know what to do with herself, she couldn't face going down to see anyone. She kind of wanted to tell her Mum, but thought she'd be really disappointed in her so decided she should just keep it to herself.
When she checked her phone she had some messages and a couple of missed calls from Harry but she didn't feel like talking to him yet.
It was getting quite late in the morning so Rachel decided to go and talk to Charlotte.
Rachel knocked on Charlotte's bedroom door. When she got no reply she walked in anyway.
Charlotte turned away and pretended to be asleep.
Rachel went over and could tell straight away that Charlotte had been crying.
"You're not asleep, are you love?" Rachel said as she could tell her daughter was awake
Charlotte sighed, before sitting up in bed.
"What's wrong love?"
"Nothing, I'm okay. Just tired after last night"
"You're crying because you're tired? Are you sure there's nothing else?"
"I'm sure"
"Are you hungover?"
"Kind of, but I'm fine stop worrying"
"I know there's something up love. Did you get too drunk at the party last night?"
There had been a few instances where Charlotte had ended up in tears the next day after a party and getting too drunk.
"No I didn't drink that much"
"Did something happen between you and Harry?"
Charlotte thought for a moment before nodding, maybe she did want to tell her Mum.
"Did you have a falling out"
"No but we had sex" Charlotte whispered
Rachel only just made out what she said. She instantly wrapped her arms around Charlotte.
Charlotte immediately relaxed into her Mum's embrace, she couldn't believe she wasn't cross.
"How do you feel now?"
"I don't really know how I feel. I regret doing it last night but I think I was ready. Aren't you cross?"
"I'm not cross darling, you are 17. I wish you'd talked to me about it if you thought you were ready"
"I know, I'm sorry. I can't believe I lost my virginity at a party in someone else's bed" Charlotte said before bursting into tears
"I know it seems horrible now. The thing is I think all girls imagine losing their virginity to be this very special thing. But quite often, girls lose it and do end up regretting it afterwards. I'm sure for a few days you are going to be feeling really emotional about it all, but you will be okay"
"I guess"
"Having sex for the first time is never the best anyway, I can tell you from experience that it certainly does get better"
"Okay Mum I don't need to hear about your sex life thank you"
"Okay, it's probably best if we get you on the pill. You did use contraception last night didn't you?"
Charlotte's face suddenly dropped as she shook her dead.
"Oh Charlotte, how many times have we talked about safe sex?" Rachel said to her daughter
"I'm sorry, it just didn't cross my mind last night" Charlotte said with tears rolling down her face
"Right, well you're going to have to take the morning after pill"
"No Mum please don't make me it will be so embarrassing, I'm sure I won't be pregnant"
"How can you be sure?"
"Well it's just unlikely"
"It only taken one time to get pregnant Charlotte and if you weren't sensible enough to use protection I'm afraid you're going to have to face the embarrassment"
"Where will we go?"
"We'll go to Boots"
"What are you going to tell everyone else that we're doing? You're not going to tell them are you?"
"I'm sure I'll think of something"
Charlotte was so pleased that she had told her Mum, she wouldn't want to be going through all of this alone.
"I'm really sorry Mum"
"You don't need to be sorry, making mistakes is all part of growing up. The important thing is that you learn from it"
Charlotte nodded before giving her Mum another big cuddle.
"Right, you go and jump in the shower because I'm sure that will make you feel better and as soon as you're ready we'll go into town"
Charlotte had a shower and washed her hair. Once she was out she sent Harry a quick text saying she would talk to him properly later, but she was okay. She could tell Harry was feeling really bad.
Once Charlotte was ready she went downstairs.
"Do you want some breakfast love?" Rachel asked
"No I'm not hungry"
"Someone a bit hungover?" Paul said smiling
"A little bit"
"You should eat, it will help"
"No I really don't want to just now"
"Right well me and Charlotte are going to nip to Boots and pick up some holiday stuff"
"Can I come Mum?" Emily asked
"No you stay here love, I thought you were going round to Gaby's"
"I'll just go later"
"Can I have a quick word outside Em?"
"Em you know how sometimes you need some time just me and you, well Charlotte is feeling like that today so do you mind staying here for me?"
"Okay, what's wrong with Charlotte?"
"Nothing really I think she just needs some time with me"
"Okay"
Emily could tell there was something going on, but she knew if Charlotte had asked her not to say anything then Rachel wouldn't.
Charlotte and Rachel headed into town. Charlotte was feeling really nervous.
"You're not going to make me say what I need, are you Mum?"
"No but if you do it again young lady, then you will be saying it yourself"
"Okay"
They parked the car and headed straight to Boots.
They went over to the pharmacy.
"Hi, my daughter needs the morning after pill"
"Okay, take a seat and someone will be with you in about 10 minutes. What's your name?"
"Charlotte"
Rachel and Charlotte took a seat. Charlotte hated this, she felt so sick.
Finally a woman came over and said her name.
Rachel and Charlotte both stood up.
"Hi my name's Wendy, let's go in here" Wendy said before leading them into one of the consultancy rooms.
Charlotte nervously sat down.
"Right, I just need to ask you some questions and then I'll give you the pill to take"
"Thank you"
"How old are you?"
"17"
"When did you have intercourses?"
"Urmm, late last night"
"Did your contraception fail or were you not using any?"
"I didn't use any"
The lady was really nice but Charlotte was still feeling e-mail.
"Okay Charlotte, when was your last period?"
"Probably about 2 weeks ago"
"Okay, that does mean the the risk of pregnancy is quite high because of the point that you're at in your cycle"
Wendy asked a few more questions.
"Right so I'll give you the pill to take now. If your next period is late, then you will need to do a pregnancy test"
"Okay"
Charlotte swallowed the pill. This was not how she imagined her Sunday morning would turn out.
"Make sure you use contraception, it would be a good idea to go and speak to your GP about it"
"Okay, thank you"
Once they were done Rachel and Charlotte walked out.
"I never want to do that again"
"Well make sure you don't get yourself into a situation like this again then"
"I won't, don't worry"
"Let's forget about it for now though"
They went and picked up some stuff they needed for their holiday next week, as they did need to do that anyway. They then went to a cafe as Charlotte was hungry now so wanted something to eat. Once they'd finished they headed home for another chilled day.
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