Excerpt from The Cycle, my column at PSYN Media:

I started my period during gym class – I was 13 and 8 months. I had been lying to my friends for three months that I had already started because I was so embarrassed it had taken me so long to start. I thought something was wrong with me and felt left out of the journey everyone else had begun without trying. So, when I did actually start, I couldn’t tell anyone because the absurdity of my lie would be exposed…