Joey knew something was wrong as soon as he heard the front door slam, as well as the pounding footsteps followed by cursing and another slamming of a door. He twisted his mouth to the side and closed the book he was reading, stretched, and got off his bed in search for the newly hormonal teen that was going to make the walls fall down.

“Knock knock,” he called, knocking on the doorway of the bedroom.

“Hey Joe,” Mack grumbled, pulling off a shoe and throwing it across the room.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, watching her yank off the other one, throw that as well, and flop down on her bed with a long sigh.

“Justin,” she replied automatically.

“What’d he do?”

“He’s living.”

Joey laughed. “No, really. What’d he do?”

“He’s such a…a…boy!” She grumbled.

“Well, that’s one thing that I like about him. I don’t have to worry about him being disgusted by my burps or farts or anything.” He frowned when she didn’t laugh. “What’s so wrong that he’s a boy?”

“Are all boys that stupid?” She demanded, sitting up and glaring at him as if blaming him for being a boy himself.

“Not all of them,” Joey replied slowly. “What’d Justin do this time?”

“We were playing Nintendo, right? And we were playing Mario Kart and Justin was being a sore loser ‘cause I was always winning just because I’m that good and he’s a little whiny weenie.” Joey stifled a laugh at her choice of insult words but managed to regain his composure. “So I won and he kept saying that he let me win, which wasn’t the case, so I threw the controller at him.”

“You threw the controller at him!?” Joey cried out.

She shrugged. “Not hard,” she added nonchalantly. “And besides his head’s too thick for it to have hurt.”

Joey crossed his arms and leaned in the doorway. “You’re fourteen, right?” She nodded. “By any chance did you…” he paused and she lifted her eyebrows. How was he going to put this? “Um, did your Aunt Flow visit?” He finally asked.

“Whatsitooya?” She demanded.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he sighed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Right, like I’m going to talk to a bunch of boys about my uterus falling out of my butt,” she said with an eye roll. How she managed a straight face while being so sarcastic was lost on Joey because he burst out laughing. “It’s not funny!” She whined. “I don’t want this to happen to me. I don’t want to have boobs or a butt.”

“You want to look like a board?” He asked once he stopped laughing.

“I don’t want to deal with the others treating me funny, especially Justin,” she sighed. “They wouldn’t get it. I don’t want to be different. I just want to stay the way I am.”

“Unfortunately we all have to grow up, toots,” Joey said, ruffling her hair.

“Know a way that makes it easier?” She grumbled.

Joey grinned. “I do, actually. Get your shoes on and meet me at the car.”

“Why, where are we going?” Mack asked, tilting her head inquisitively.

“You’ll see.”

-----

Joey chuckled under his breath at the look on her face. He had just pulled away from the nearest grocery store to get her feminine products and since he bought them she avoided the plastic bag they were in like the plague. He didn’t get why she was so adamant about growing up, most girls embraced it.

The car ride was silent other than music playing on the radio and Joey’s fingers tapping on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. Finally they pulled up to the destination that he had in mind all along.

“Joey, why are we here? I can’t play baseball. I suck at it,” Mack grumbled as Joey led her over to the batting cages.

“Because it’ll make you feel better,” he replied. “It helped my mom. It helped my aunt. It helped my cousin. It helped my sister. And now, it’s going to help you.”

“But how?”

“By helping you get rid of your frustrations about everything changing,” he replied, picking up a helmet and dropping it on her head. He laughed when it fell over her eyes because it was so big. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest as he apologized and put a better fitting helmet onto her head. “Trust me,” he added, shoving her into the batting cage. “Now, baseballs are going to come flying at you so you should try and hit them. Don’t be afraid, if they hit you it won’t hurt that much.”

“That much!?”

Joey smiled patiently. “It won’t hurt that much,” he repeated. “Don’t be afraid of them.” She sighed and brought the bat over her shoulder. The first ball flew at her and she shrieked and backed out of the way. “I said don’t be afraid.”

“You try having a ball flying at you!” She shot back.

“Just try again,” he sighed.

She let out a breath and swung at the ball the next time but missed. She gritted her teeth and swung again and again and again but kept missing. She started to get really frustrated and wanted to throw the bat at Joey. It wasn’t helping at all. She was even more annoyed and she still had cramps. “Joey, can we just go?” She asked.

“Why?” He called from the other side of the gate.

“Because this sucks!” She yelled. “I’m freaking growing up when I don’t want to. Justin treats me like crap. I have bad cramps and I can’t hit a damn ball!”

“Why don’t you try again?” Joey suggested.

“There’s no point. I’m not going to hit the damn thing,” she grumbled, turning to face the ball machine. She grumbled a string of curse words under her breath and turned back to the ball machine. The ball flew out of the machine and this time she hit it. A tiny smile pulled at her mouth and she hit the next ball, and the next one. Her smile got bigger and bigger after every hit ball until she did a victory dance after hitting the last one.

“Feeling better?” Joey asked as she pulled off her helmet and left the cages.

“Yes!” She replied. “That was so much fun. I don’t even feel annoyed with J anymore.”

“That was the point,” Joey said as she spun his keys around his finger. “Gotta get your anger out somewhere and I feel the best way for women to do that is to hit some balls.”

“Thanks Joe,” she laughed as she got into the car.

“So why’d you talk to me about it? Why not Lynn or your own mother?” He asked as she pulled out of the parking space.

“Because Lynn would’ve made a big deal about it hugged and kissed me and kept saying I was a woman and blah blah blah,” Mack said with a wave of her hand. “And Mom would’ve been ten times worse and those two together!? Pure torture. You know a lot about women, I thought it was fitting.”

“Well, thank you for trusting me with something so important, but be sure to tell your own mother as well, deal?”

“Deal.”

They hooked pinkies and shook on them and then sang along to the songs on the radio until they pulled up at the house. As soon as they walked in through the door Justin commented immediately (albeit randomly) on her short stature.

“Hey Joe, do you know where my field hockey stick is?” She asked, glaring at Justin’s retreating back.

“Why?” He questioned, closing the door behind them.

A wicked grin spread on her face. “I have some balls I want to hit.”