It's Complicated

Jack Barakat is as normal for a teenager as you can get for one with a medical condition.
Just by looking at him you’d never be able to guess what was wrong.

His morning routine is almost the same as yours. Almost.

The first thing he does after he wakes up is take off his ostomy pouch, cleans it, and if deems it reusable, he’ll reuse it. Today wasn’t the case.

He takes a shower, making sure to be extra careful of his stoma as he tries to be as precise as possible about how clean and if he smells… Good. He’s a very meticulous person about personal hygiene ever since that day.

As he gets dressed, he has to pick out a pouch that’d be easily concealed by his clothes that day.
Usually, it’s sweatpants and a hoodie but he wanted to wear actual clothing today so he chose the nicest looking, non baggy, non medical looking pouch. He got dressed, lifting his shirt as he still not yet that easily hooked up the pouch to his stoma, using medical tape to tape it off.

Usually, to start his day, Jack needs to make something soft to eat that’d be easy for him to digest and won’t ruin his day completely.
He avoided food with red dye because he’s done that once and let me tell you he’s never doing that again. Jack basically thought he was dying ‘cause his pouch was filled with red when in reality, it’s just the food that made that happen. He wasn’t bleeding.
But still, to be on the safe side, he avoids food with red dye.

So what makes Jack not 100% normal?
What makes Jack have to watch what he eats so it won’t cause him pain?
What makes Jack have to be cautious and act like he’s impervious to the looks people give him when he refuses to take off his shirt, or when people go in to hug him and he nudges away?

Jack had a thing called IBS which is short for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. His only option later on was to have a partial Colectomy to remove some of his colon, allowing his body to dispose of his waste properly into a pouch also known as an Ileostomy.

~

Jack frowned as he struggled to fit his pouch under his semi-tight V-neck ‘cause it was a tad too short.

When he changed into black jeans so they could match the color of his pouch, it was more hidden that usual, but if you looked directly at his tummy you’d wonder what is hanging off his side.

He couldn’t tuck in the pouch into his pants cause everything’d possibly spill out and he’s already dealt with that at home and he doesn’t really wanna have it happen at school. His carpet in his room is still stained and currently has a rug over it.

Jack almost dropped his pouch as he was trying to adjust it when he heard a light chuckle at his bedroom door.
Jack saw in his mirror his best friend, Rian, rubbing his shaved head, laughing to himself, full set of sparkling white teeth on display.

"It’s not funny!" Jack shouted, stomping his foot onto the pale carpet like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum.

"What’s funny is seeing how agitated you get from trying to hide your pouch." Rian stated as he walked all the way into Jack’s room.

"You try having to walk around with a bag attached to your stomach 24/7 and figure out a way to have it not fall off if somebody bumps into me accidentally when I’m going down the hall." Jack growled as he found a long stretched out hoodie that looked decent on him.

"Think about it this way: If somebody pisses you off you can just pull a monkey stunt and throw it at them." Rian choked out, slapping his hand on his thigh as he laughed.

Jack kicked Rian’s shin sharply causing him to gasp, cradling his leg as he hissed in pain, “Yeah, and have everyone find out that I’m a freak. Sounds like a perfect idea, Robert.”

Rian’s actions were sent to a halt at the name and statement, “You’re not a freak, Jack. I think it’s pretty sick that your booty is not a booty it’s a… Frooty. Like a front butt. Yeah, frooty!”

Jack delivered another harsh kick to Rian’s leg, “Stop fucking kicking me!”

"Well stop making fun of me!" Jack shouted, tears welling up at the rim of his eyes.

Rian sighed and stood up from Jack’s bed and enveloped him in a tight hug, hips pulled back to keep a safe distance away from the pouch hidden underneath Jack’s hoodie, “Listen, I’m sorry, Jack. I’m just trying to lighten the mood and make you laugh. I’ll stop though.” Rian mumbled against his best friends neck.

"I’m just still getting used to it, Ri. It’s just been a few months, and you’re the only one who knows besides my family." Jack sulked, pulling back slowly so he could retrieve his backpack.

"When are you gonna tell Alex, though? He deserves to know why you were sick for so long." Rian pressed, folding his arms over his puffed out chest.

"He’s all the way in England right now for god knows how long. He just thinks I got the scope and put on some medication." Jack shouted, arms flying up and then falling back down to smack against his legs loudly.

"Well you did have that before your surgery." Rian pushed back.

Jack groaned loudly, kicking his dresser, “I’ll tell him when he comes back home, okay?”

Rian could only nod as he grabbed his backpack, and then making sure Jack had his stuff ready to go.

Notes

Hi, guys! So this'll be a short story. A few chapters or so. I wrote this all during school and I am beyond proud of this so far.
Please for the love of God leave comments. PLEASE.