As soon as the fight starts, she throws her best attacks at me. I knew she would. She’s so competitive, which is why Samus is the perfect character for her, but I’m just laughing because she’s about to be so mad.

Jigglypuff falls asleep, and she makes the mistake of stepping into my area. That’s all it takes. I blast her into the air and win the round.

She turns to me stunned. “Did you…did you just rest smash me?”

I can’t help it. I burst out laughing. I don’t have to look at her to know she’s seething with rage, but I can’t stop cracking up. There’s nothing more embarrassing for someone who takes the game seriously to lose by Jigglypuff falling asleep and then knocking you into space.

“I did.”

“I’m gonna kill you.”

“Don’t talk about it, be about it. Let’s go.”

Turns out, Samus is no match for Jigglypuff. Not when she just keeps walking into my traps. And yes, I have items on but that’s because the game is a lot more fun with them. There’s no shame in my game.

“I hate you.”

“You could never.”

“Whatever. I gotta pee. Be ready to lose when I come back.”

I’m not sure what happened in the bathroom, but the Olivia that comes out is not the same one that went in. She’s fidgety and refuses to sit back down on the couch.

I try to get her to go back to playing with me but she refuses. “No, you go ahead. I’m gonna take a break.”

“Are you sure?”

She hugs herself tight without looking at me. “Yeah, I’m good.”

I can’t help but feel like I did something wrong here. Is she that upset about the Jigglypuff thing?

Should I apologize? I don’t know what to do. She bites her bottom lip and turns toward my front door and that’s when I catch it. The small red splotch on her pants. I turn to where she was sitting on the couch and there’s no red there, but I’m sure she’s still freaking out.

“I’ll be right back.” I jump off the couch and run to my parents’ room. They’re lying in bed watching a movie. “Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?”

She and Dad share a look, but Mom gets right out of bed and comes to my side. “Sure, sweetie. What’s up?”

“Could you come help Olivia? I think she just got her first period.” We learned about periods in health class, and Mom told me it was important to pay attention to that stuff because I have a younger sister who might need my help one day. Olivia doesn’t have her mom around to help with these things. That’s fine; she can share mine.

“Oh goodness, that poor girl. I’m on it.”

I put my hand out to stop her from going out to the living room. “Just…don’t tell her I told you.” I don’t want her to be embarrassed.