It was awhile before I returned to the mall again. I was 12 1/2 and I went with a group of friends. In the 3 years since my last visit, a lot had happened. I began changing, and although it wasn't easy, I grew up. My feeling about diapers evaporated. I stopped playing around so much (but still some), and I began to look at things quite a bit differently.

Puberty had also very recently began to kick in. From health class and having "the talk" with my dad, I learned a lot about my body and what was happening to me. It was fascinating. Around this time, I began masturbating. One day while I was playing with myself, for the oddest reason, I recalled memories of my experiences at the mall. The diapers, the humiliation, the fun. Oddly enough, all of this turned me on. I thought it was too weird and forgot about it.

On one bright sunny day in July, my friend Gary called me. "Hey Steve," he said. "You want to go to the mall?"

"Yeah!" I answered. "You want my mom to give us a ride?"

"We're not going with your mom, stupid."

"Oh, well in that case I'll have to ask. I'll call you back."

"Yeah, OK."

"Mom, can I go to the mall?" I asked.

"Who else is going?"

"Gary, Carlos, and Jay."

"Well, all right."

"But they want me to take the bus with them. Is that OK?"

"Hmm...this would be the first time at the mall entirely by yourself."

"Please."

"If you stay out of trouble, you have my permission."

"Thanks, mom."

I called Gary back and told him I could go. I then grabbed some money I reserved from spending and was about to walk down to the bus stop when I nearly collided with my sister. "Watch where you're going!" said Leeann.

"Sorry."

"Where are you going in such a hurry anyway?"

"To the mall."

"No way."

"You'd better believe it. Me, Carlos, Gary and Jay are all taking the bus there."

"Wow, so are me, Jenny, Andrea ,and Jill." We looked at each other and laughed. It was a strange coincidence.

Leeann and I walked to the bus stop together with the mutual understanding that once we were at the mall we would pretend we didn't know one another and avoid embarrassing each other. I met my friends at the bus stop and we got on aboard. Gary brought his new CD player along with him.

"What's he doing here?" asked Leeann's friend Jill.

"It's a free mall," I answered. That shut her up. Normally, I'd be scared of older girls but being with my friends gave me some extra strength and confidence.

As soon as we got there, my sister and I parted company. I rushed down to the arcade with my friends. "Hey look," I said. "They have Marvel Superheroes out."

"That's been out!" said Jay.

"I'll play you in it," answered Gary.

"You're on," Jay replied. While those two hot shots spent their quarters on trying to find out if the Incredible Hulk was indeed tougher then Spiderman, I discovered a really cool little game called Die Hard Arcade. It had Bruce Willis's character of John McClaine, and was like the movies.

"Hey, it's two-player," said Carlos. We both put in our two quarters and took down scores upon scores of enemies before getting killed by a bunch of firemen!

Gary all of the sudden rushed over to us. "You have to see this!" he said. "Some kid is taking on Jay." Jay was a video game ace, and I was curious to see who the kid was. I turned around to see none other then Chad.

I decided to play a little joke on Jay by pretending not to know who Chad was. "So you think you can beat me," said Jay.

"I can beat you," answered Chad. "No thought required."

"You're dead. I'm invincible with Magneto."

"We'll see about that."

"Hey, you know that kid?" Gary asked me.

"Yeah, and unless he's changed, he's going to kick Jay's ass. Don't say a word."

There was a lot of fancy button-pressing the first two rounds and it wound up a 1-1 tie between them going into the third. Jay was being excessively cheap with his special attacks and had the nerve to brag about it as well. Chad kept quiet and looked for an opening.

"12 hit combo," said Jay. "Face it, you're gone kid."

"We'll see," said Chad. His health was dangerously low and even I thought he would lose. Then I saw him enter in a complex button combination. Within a minute, his character Blackheart unleashed a massive attack that was worth 12, 13, 14.....25 hits! It killed Magneto almost instantly.

"Blackheart," said Chad. "Is the son of Mephisto, Lord of Hell."

"And who are you?"

"I'd like you to meet Chad," I said. Jay then started at make gaping.

"You set me up, Steve. You know, the two of you could have made a lot of money if I decided to bet."

"Be glad you didn't," said Chad.

"Whatever, let's go somewhere else," answered Jay.

We ended up visiting the music store, the sports store, and several other interesting stores (including the toy store) before breaking for lunch at Burger King.

"Hey," said Carlos. "Why don't we go to Macy's?"

"Are you nuts?" I asked. "That place sucks."

"Not the young adult department," said Gary. Jay kept on looking at me with a strange smile.

We did indeed visit Macy's. As we passed through the women's department, I shuddered. By the time we hit the baby department, I was almost immobilized with fear.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Gary.

"Nothin'."

At long last, we had arrived in the young men's department. I was amazed. It wasn't too crowded, and they had clothes I wouldn't be too ashamed to wear. In fact, I spotted a shirt that would look really good on me. It was a very sharp Nautica button-down. Unfortunately for me, it cost $35 and I only had $30.

"Any of you have $5 you can lend me?" I asked my friends.

"What do you need it for?" asked Gary.

"So I can buy this shirt."

"In that case, no."

"Awe, come on. I really want the shirt."

"So take it."

"But I don't have the money."

"You can still take it," said Jay. "Five finger discount."

"You're crazy."

"I do it all the time."

"And you never get caught?"

"Never.

"I don't know..." I started.

"Give it a try," said Carlos.

"Look, even I've done it once," said Gary. "I was real worried, but I tried it and I got away with it fine. And it's not like stealing money or robbing somebody's house. This is a shirt."

"Well, I guess...."

"Do it," said Jay.

My moral conscience couldn't hold out any longer and I gave in to peer pressure. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Good," said Jay smiling. "All you have to do is take off the stickers and stuff." He showed me where to look for them and I removed each and every one. I then went into a dressing room and put the shirt on under the shirt I was wearing then. Luckily, their cameras weren't working.

"OK, let's go," said Jay. As we started to leave, I felt a million eyes staring at me. I couldn't do this, it was wrong.

"Sorry guys," I said. "It's just wrong."

As I stepped back into the store, I removed my hand from my pocket. As I did, I stared at it in horror. There was a sticker stuck right to it and the alarm went off. Two salespeople confronted me and asked me to wait for a security officer. I stood there scared while my friends left. I was screwed.

Things got worse when the officer arrived. "What do we have here?" he asked.

"We caught this kid shoplifting," said one of the clerks.

"This true, son?"

"No. Well yes. Well, I was going to give it back."

"Oh were you. You'd better come along."

By this time, there was a large audience outside of Macy's. It was a flashback to my previous experiences in the mall. All that remained was for me to wet myself, and judging from how scared I was, that wasn't too far behind.

"Did you hear what I said?" asked the officer.

"Yeah," I answered. "yes sir." He cleared a path for us and herded me through the crowd. We kept walking, none of us saying a word until we reached the security station (which was essentially a secluded area of the mall).

"Caught another one, captain?" asked another officer when we approached.

"Yes I did. Claims he didn't do it."

"That's what they all say." Both men just began laughing. It was at that point that I began to wet my pants. As if my day couldn't' get any worse.

We entered Captain Donner's office. He spread a towel out on a chair and had me sit down. He also handed me a tissue so I could wipe the tears from my face.

"Now," he said. "I would like to hear from you exactly what happened, no lies. I'm going to ask the Macy's people later, but I want to hear your story first. From start to finish."

"I was at Macy's in the young men's department...."

"Was anyone with you?" As much as I didn't want to incriminate my friends, I couldn't stand to be in any more trouble.

"Yeah. I was with my friends."

"Then what."

"Then I saw this shirt. It was really nice and I wanted it real bad. It cost $35 and I only had $30."

"So you took it?"

"Yes," I said shamefully, then added. "But as I was leaving, I felt really bad and went to give it back. That's when the alarm went off."

"Hmmm..." said the officer. "I've heard a lot of stories before and that sounds about right. You don't look like the type of kid to do something like that. This your idea, or did your friends put you up to it?"

"Mine," I said. He knew I was lying.

"You don't have to cover for them," he said. "I can't nail them for stuff they stole awhile ago."

"OK. They told me to do it."

"I wouldn't listen to everything your friends tell you from now on."

"Am I going to go to jail?"

He chuckled. "Well, shoplifting is an offense, but I hardly think you're liable to get into any trouble over something like this. It is just a shirt and you did make an attempt to return it, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Kid, I appreciate the respect, but don't ever call me sir. Not even my men call me that. Call me Captain Donner, or Fred if you prefer."

"OK, Fred."

"What's your name, son?"

"Steve. Steve Mattel."

"Is your mom here at the mall with you, Steve?"

"No."

"Then I'm going to have to call her."

"Please no!"

"Not much I can do on that one if you're here alone."

"My sister's also here," I said.

"How old is your sister?"

"14 1/2"

"Well, she's under 18 so I can't remand you into her custody. But I can have her come down here and talk to you, if that'll help."

"She'll be pretty mad at you."

"Hey man, if it's your sister, she'll understand. Now what's her name?"

"Leeann."

"Hey Barney," Fred called. "Go page Leeann Mattel and have her come down here please. Also, keep an eye on him for awhile, I'm going up to Macy's."

"Sure thing, Captain."

I felt very helpless as I was left alone waiting for my sister to show up. It got worse when she did. "What the hell did you do?" she asked. Before I could answer, she continued. "I was having a good time when all of the sudden I hear : Leeann Mattel please report to security. That got me all scared so I come down here and find out you got arrested for stealing. You have any idea how embarrassing that is for me?"

I got pretty annoyed with her at that point. "First of all, all I did was steal a shirt. A damn shirt! And I gave it back, too. Second, I'm not arrested, I just have to stay here for now. It's not like I'm going to jail. And third, if you think it's humiliating, try getting dragged off by security in front of everyone while your friends split on you!"

Tears began pouring out of my eyes again, and Leeann looked more sympathetic. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Me, too."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Wait till Fred...I mean Captain Donner gets back, then call mom."

"Call mom?!" exclaimed Leeann. "She'll kill you."

"I know," I said. "I wish there was some way I could get out of this."

"Maybe there is," said Leeann. "All you need to do is find somebody whose 18 that you know. Too bad there isn't anybody."

"Yes there is!" I gasped. "Felicia."

"Who's Felicia?"

I sighed and realized I'd have to re-cap a rather embarrassing story.

"You remember back when I was 9 and I got suspended."

"Yeah."

"Well, as part of my punishment, mom dragged me to the mall and made me wear diapers in front of everybody."

"Oh my God, that must have been awful for you. I was trying out for the school play and didn't get a chance to see it."

"Yeah, it was. Anyway, she found this girl to baby-sit for me. Her name was Felicia and she was pretty nice. She was 16 then."

"And that's 3 years ago."

"Making her 19 now."

"One problem: how do we find her? We don't even know if she's here, and I don't know what she looks like."

"Well, her little brother Normie is probably with her, and he wears diapers."

"Gee Steve, it seems like every kid you run into at the mall does. Anyway, so I should look for a 19 year old girl and a boy with diapers."

"Yeah. Thanks so much for doing this, I owe you."

"Oh, I know you do."

I waited for awhile while Leeann commenced her search. I figured I had a narrow chance of getting out of this mess in one piece. After what seemed like an eternity, Leeann finally returned, Felicia and Normie at her side.

"Up to no good again, Steve?" asked Felicia. Her tone was mock-angry.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Your sister told me everything, and it turns out you've been a very bad boy." My eyes widened. Could she be serious. "But, I still think your a cute kid and fun to talk to, so I'll be willing to help you out. On one condition: you do as I say. I'm the adult here, and I expect you to obey me."

"Fine," I said. "I'll do anything."

At that point Fred returned. "Who do we have here?" he asked.

"This is my sister Leeann, and this is Felicia. She's 19."

"Who's the little fella?"

"That's my brother Normie," said Felicia. "Isn't he cute."

"Yeah, reminds me of my kid Richie. Now, what's your relation to Steven over here?"

"Well, I used to babysit him."

"Oh, OK. So if I were to call his mother and mention your name..."

"Well, it was a long time ago, she might not remember right away."

"I see. I'll trust you on this one. Usually, 19 year old girls with cute little brothers don't turn out being kidnappers."

Felicia giggled and thanked the Captain. Before we left, he informed me of one more thing. "Because you removed all of the labels, the shirt is now unsellable. The store won't press charges if you come up with $35."

"But I only have $30."

"They said they'd let you work the rest off by handing out fliers and coupons from 2:00 to closing time."

"Anything to get me out of this mess."

"OK, Steven, your off the hook. But remember this: I catch you or any of your friends pulling something like this again, and it won't be this easy." I was sure not to forget that.

"Thanks again," I told Felicia.

"Don't be so quick to thank me," she said. "As far as the law is concerned, your mine till 2:00 at least. That gives me a half hour to do what I want." If she was a Nazi war criminal, I'd be worried, but she was just a 19 year old extroverted girl.

"I'd better get back to my friends," said Leeann. "I'm sure they'd love to hear this." I turned pale white. "Just kidding," she said. "But you will owe me for this."

"Would you mind watching Normie for a little bit," said Felicia. "I can't handle 2 babies."

"I'm not a baby," Normie protested. Leeann ignored him and readily agreed.

"So what do you want me to do?" I said.

"The first thing we have to do is get you out of those wet pants." I blushed. "I know, it was an accident and you were scared."

She grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the pharmacy. "Umm, what are we going in here for?" I asked nervously, though I had some idea. I was dead certain when we walked into the diaper isle.

"We wouldn't want to risk another accident, would we?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure..."

"Shut your mouth and follow me into the bathroom," she scolded. "Or would you rather I called your mom?"

I headed into the bathroom and waited. Felicia entered in a few minutes with some diapers and other supplies. "OK, now take off your pants," she said.

"I can put one on myself," I said.

"Not properly you can't," she said. "Besides, it's not like you're the first kid I've seen naked."

I sighed and pulled off my soaked pants and briefs. I wish I had worn boxers, as I was getting an erection from all of this and it became visible. Felicia took a disposable diaper and spread it out on the lowered toilet seat. She had me sit down in it, then she taped the sides shut. I stood up and she adjusted it a bit. I was surprised. It fit pretty close to a real baby diaper.

"What kind of diaper is this?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Attends small," she answered. "Why, you like it?"

"No..." I began, before confessing. "Well, yeah."

"Good, cuz your going to be wearing it for awhile. Come on, you have fliers to hand out."

"I can't hand them out like this."

"You can and you will."

I sighed and we made our way towards Macy's. People wouldn't take their eyes off of me. I had become infamous. Well, we finally arrived at Macy's. One of the assistant managers stepped out to meet me. He was a little shocked at my lack of pants.

"OK, young man, as long as you are sorry for what you did, we will allow you to work this off."

"Thank you," I said, and handed him the $30. He gave me a stack of fliers and told me to hand them out to customers entering the store. I nodded and he left em to do my job.

"Be back in a sec," said Felicia.

"Your just going to leave me here?"

"I think you can manage," she said. "Or can you?"

"I'll try."

"Welcome to Macy's," I greeted entering customers. "Help yourself to our vast savings." I tried to smile even though people thought I was crazy. I was intent on getting out of this place alive, and if that required humiliation, so be it.

After awhile, there was a small crowd out in front of the store. I am pretty sure they weren't there for the spectacular savings. I was sweating nervously at this point and trying desperately to ignore the many comments. Worst yet, I had to pee and this job had no bathroom breaks. I shifted form foot to foot and at last released a small stream into my diaper.

"Look, he's wetting it," someone shouted. I thought I was going to faint.

My friends finally returned, and at the worst possible moment. When they saw me, they began cracking up. After a few minutes of laughter, they asked me what happened. "Long story," I said. "Let's just say I won't be shoplifting anymore and neither should you."

They laughed some more and placed themselves upon a bench to watch me. I felt like dying. At that moment, Leeann and her friends showed up. They too were all giggling at me. Was everyone against me?

"Man, this must really suck," said Chad.

"How did you find out?"

"It's all over the mall by now. Your sister told me what happened."

"Leeann!" I shouted.

"He would have found out anyway, and it's better me telling him then your friends."

"Hey," said Jenny. "You look pretty cute like that Steve."

"Yeah Steve," said Andrea.

I blushed a bit which gave my friends something new to laugh at. "Go get her number, Steve," said Gary.

"Make sure you change before you go out on a date," said Jay. They were starting to piss me off. Thankfully, Felicia returned.

"Now why do you have to make fun of poor Steve like that?" she asked, putting her arm around Jay. He was now blushing. "It's half your fault he's in this mess."

"Sorry Steve," he said.

I continued to perform my act of delivering papers for quite awhile. When it got close to closing time, the store manager came out again. "Well, I'd have to say this has been a nice turn of events. Thanks to your little spectacle out there, we've had double the customers today. I think your entitled to a pair of pants, too." He chuckled a bit obnoxiously and let me pick out some jeans. I thanked him kindly then left.

By this time, my friends, Leeann's friends, Felicia, Normie and Chad had all become very well aquatinted. They were exchanging phone numbers when I walked over. I was out of breath and nearly collapsed onto the bench.

"Hey, nice jeans," said Gary.

"Where'd you get them?" asked Carlos.

"Gift from Macy's management," I said. "They also gave me $10"

"Son of a bitch," said Jay. "Maybe I should start selling stuff in my underwear."

"You guys aren't going to tell anybody about this, are you?" I asked. Everyone reached in and grabbed one of my ten dollars.

"Of course not," they all answered. I felt much relieved. We said goodbye to Felicia, Chad, and Normie and all piled onto the bus home. I was the main topic of conversation all the way home.

"Did you have a nice time at the mall?" my mom asked me. I shot a long glance at Leeann, who smiled in response.

"Yeah," I answered.

"Definitely," said Leeann.

"I even got this new shirt at, um, discount rate," I said.

"That's nice, dear."

"Thanks for not telling," I told Leeann at bedtime.

"You're welcome," she answered. "Now it's time for you to hold up your end of the deal."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"You still wearing that wet diaper?"

It just dawned on me that I was, after all this time. "Yeah."

"Well, let's get you changed."

"Changed?"

"Don't ask, just go along with it."

I shrugged my shoulders and walked into my room. Leeann told em to lie down on the bed and wait. While I did, she rummaged through my purchases until she came across the bag of Attends. She took one out and slipped my jeans off of me. I was now wearing just my wet diaper. She untaped that, wrapped it up, then threw it away. "Ew, you're getting a rash," she said. Indeed I was. She got some powder from the bathroom and began to sprinkle it all over me. As she was, I was getting turned on. "Looks like you grew down there," she commented. I nodded, somewhat embarrassed and she finished diapering me. "Now sleep tight," she said. "And don't take it off until tomorrow."

While there in bed thinking about my day, an itch came over me. It was unlike any itch I had before. The more I thought about diapers, the stronger the itch. I finally began to try to soothe it by rubbing the front of my diaper. Hey, that flat pretty good. I kept it up, this time rubbing more vigorously. I became very hot and began to tremble slightly. I thought I was going to explode down there.

Then, suddenly, I felt myself releasing some sort of liquid and I became soft again. Curious, I peeked inside my diaper. There was some sort of sticky white stuff. Wait a minute, maybe this was that jerking off thing my friends were telling me about and my dad mentioned during his "talk." But usually, most guys get it when thinking about girls. I'd gotten hard thinking about them recently, but now I was getting equally as turned on thinking about diapers. What was going on?

Since I was too embarrassed to talk about this with my parents, I called Chad and asked him for his view. He explained I had what was known as a fetish, and while it was unusual, it was still OK. He said he had similar thoughts and feelings about diapers, and so did plenty of other guys. He also said that I'd still be getting more and more of these feelings about both diapers and girls as I grew older. Interesting. I was further into the throngs of puberty then I had originally thought I was.