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 ï>¿It Isn't Easy Being a Girl by Sue DeNym

   8.  A String of Teenaged Aphrodites

   "We are not coming out until you boys leave!" shouted Kira.

   "I'm betting that you girls will get cold before we do," replied Zack
smugly.

   Kira scowled and crouched down, letting no more than her head above the
water.

   "He's right, Kira," said Ashleigh.

   "Yeah," Shannon agreed anxiously.  "We have been in this lake, naked, up
to our necks in this water, for the past hour now.  It is getting really
cold."

   Kira glanced around.  Seven girls gazed back at her, faces marked with
increasing agitation, pleading for some kind of relief.  All of the girls
were naked, huddling in lake water growing colder with every passing
minute. Kira sighed.  How did this happen?

   A few hours earlier, Kira and her friends had left their dormitory at
the Penfield Boarding School for Girls, eagerly anticipating an afternoon
of fun at the lake, unwinding after the stress of the semester's midterm
exams.

   After laying out their blankets and picnic baskets on the lake shore,
all of the girls had changed into their swimsuits.  A couple of the girls
wore bikinis, but most were modestly wearing formal one-piece bathing
suits.

   "Let's go!" Kira had shouted, and all eight of the girls dived into the
lake together .....  Within seconds, peals of laughter and excitement
turned into screams of shock and horror as each girl's swimsuit virtually
disintegrated in the water, leaving them all inadvertently skinnydipping.

   Before any of the girls could recover from their bewilderment, Penelope
had shouted, "BOYS!"

   All of the girls instinctively dove under the water, trying to conceal
their sudden and unexpected nakedness from the five boys who had just
walked onto the lake shore.  Kira poked her head up and immediately spotted
her nemesis, Zack, from their rival Stone Academy for Boys.

   Nobody quite knew for sure how the enmity between Penfield and Stone
first began, although the students at each school traditionally insisted
that it was the other that started the trouble.  Whatever the reasons, they
had been competitors for as long as their schools had existed, and this had
led to a particular antagonism between Kira and Zack.  Both were top
students and athletes in their schools, heads of their student governments,
and often regarded as the leaders of their respective student bodies.

   Kira and Zack had competed with each other in virtually every one of the
many competitions set up between the two schools, academic and athletic,
everything from basketball to debating club to charity fundraisers.  Their
rivalry even spilled over to their lives beyond their schools, the two
forever trying to one-up each other with pranks that were sometimes funny,
sometimes childish, and sometimes cruel, and constant verbal sniping. 
Sometimes, their friends would marvel, it seemed like Kira and Zack each
lived to get the better of the other.

   Little wonder, then, that Zack was just about the last person in the
world Kira had wanted to show up at the lake at that moment.  She scowled
as she crouched low in the water, even trying to cover up her naked body
with her arms below the water.

   How was it that Zack, of all people, just had to pick that particular
moment to visit the lake, she wondered.

   "Having a spot of trouble, Kira?" Zack called out to her.  His smug
smirk and the laughter in his voice told Kira everything she needed to
know.

   "What the hell did you do to our swimsuits?!" Kira could barely contain
her rage.

   Zack's smile only broadened as he motioned toward his best friend
Oliver, who handed him a blue cloth.  When Zack held it up, Kira saw it was
a pair of boys' swimming trunks.

   "It's sort of an old trick at Stone," Zack explained.  "This material is
designed to fall apart within seconds after it gets wet.  For the longest
time, boys at Stone would make swimming trunks out of them and switch them
for some poor, unsuspecting new guy's real trunks, so he'd wind up naked."

   Zack laughed.

   "I can't believe that it took us such a long time to realize that making
girls' swimsuits out of this stuff would be a much better use for it.  Kind
of an embarrassing oversight, really."

   Kira ground her teeth so hard that it was a wonder they didn't turn to
dust.

   "All right, fine," she snarled.  "You jerks have had your little laugh,
now get out of here!"

   Zack raised an eyebrow.

   "Oh, sure," he said, shrugging his shoulders.  "We'll be happy to
leave."

   The five boys exchanged looks and burst out laughing.

   "What do you want?" demanded Shannon.

   "Oh, gee, let me think," said Oliver.  "Let's see, we're five teenaged
boys, standing on the shore of a lake with eight sexy girls in the water,
all without a stitch of clothing to cover up their fine, fine curves.  Gee,
I wonder what we could possibly want."

   Kira felt her stomach twisting into knots, even though she had known
perfectly well that this was where things had been leading.  She looked
around, and saw the same expressions on the other girls' faces.

   "Listen, girls, your clothes are right here," called out a weedy boy
named Cole, kicking a few of the girls' backpacks on the shore.  "If you
don't like being naked, why don't you come over here and get dressed?"

   "We are not going to let you see us like this!" shouted the youngest
girl, Melissa, near tears from anger and frustration.

   "Suit yourself." Zack shrugged.  "Hey, guys, I'm feeling a bit hungry.
What do you say we help ourselves to this nice little picnic?"

   The girls seethed as they watched the boys settle down on the blankets
and eat the picnic lunches that the girls had brought.

   After eating their fill, the boys began relaxing on the blankets.  Zack
thumbed through a magazine he had brought with him, Oliver was tossing
pebbles into the lake, Cole and Jacob were playing games on their phones,
and Cooper simply relaxed on the blanket.  All the while, the girls
remained huddled, naked, in the increasingly cold lake.

   "Come on, guys, enough is enough, just give us our clothes!" Ashleigh
called out for perhaps the hundredth time.

   And just like every other time she said it, some of the boys laughed
while others said, "Hey, if you want your clothes, just come over here and
get them!" which made the other boys laugh even harder.

   After about an hour in the water, Kira had defiantly told Zack that the
girls would not come out until the boys had left, to which Zack smugly
replied that the girls would get cold much faster than the boys would. 
When Ashleigh and Shannon pointed out that he was right, Kira could not
disagree.

   "Kira, I think we're running out of time," said Ashleigh quietly.

   "I think we've already run out of options," said Penelope grimly.

   "We can't let those boys see us naked!" protested Gemma, aghast.

   "Well, we can't just sit here and freeze to death, either," said Claire,
shivering.

   "Jordyn, Melissa, did you two find anything?" asked Kira, trying to keep
her desperation out of her voice.

   "Zip," reported Jordyn, as Melissa bit her lip and nodded.  "We swam
around the entire lake.  There's no way out of here, unless you want to try
climbing the face of a mountain."

   "There has to be something," said Kira in frustration, "maybe - "

   Kira didn't get to complete her thought, because at that moment, Zack
walked to the edge of the water and called out to the girls.  When Kira
looked up, her eyes widened as she saw that he had her bags in his hand.

   "Listen, girls, it's getting a bit late, and maybe us guys should go,
after all.  But, listen, if you girls don't mind terribly, we'd like a
little souvenir of this outing, so we'll just take all of your clothes with
us."

   "You wouldn't dare!" shouted Gemma, making the boys laugh and the girls
roll their eyes.

   "Look, girls," said Oliver, chuckling.  "We'll give you ten minutes.  If
you come out of the water, we'll give you back your clothes.  Otherwise, we
leave, and you girls can walk all the way back to Penfield in just your
birthday suits."

   Kira swallowed hard.  She mentally pictured the pathways back to the
girls' school, wondering what the chances were that they could walk all
that way without being seen.  The odds weren't good to begin with, and were
instantly dashed by the next words she heard.

   "Of course," said Cooper with a mischievous grin, "We might just be so
disappointed that we didn't get to see you girls that we could tweet out a
message to the boys at Stone that there are eight naked girls trying to get
from the lake to Penfield."

   "I'm sure a lot of the boys would dismiss it as a joke," Jacob said
thoughtfully.  "But I'm willing to bet at least some of them would decide
to check it out.  The paths from here to Penfield might just be filled with
eager boys before you girls get anywhere even close."

   Shannon moaned.

   "We could wait until dark," said Melissa anxiously.  "Even if the boys
are looking for us, they wouldn't be able to see anything if we run quickly
enough."

   "The sun won't set for another couple of hours," said Ashleigh, looking
at her watch.  "Maybe a little more."

   "There's no way we can stay in this lake that long," said Claire. 
"We're halfway to frozen already."

   "Kira, we have no choice," said Shannon.  "It's either endure a few
minutes of humiliation or spend the next week or two in bed with
hypothermia."

   Kira was silent.  She looked around at the girls' faces, seeing
expressions that ranged from desperation to despair to resignation.

   "Okay," said Kira finally.  "You're right, Shannon, we have no choice."

   There were a few weak moans from the shyer girls, but most simply sighed
in reluctant acceptance.

   "So, um, who goes first?" asked Gemma nervously.

   For a long moment, there was only silence.

   "I'll go first," said Shannon.

   "No," said Kira, straightening up.  "I will."

   "It was my idea," said Shannon.  "I really should - "

   "No, Shannon," said Kira.  "I am the leader of this group.  It's my
place to do this."

   "Time's almost up, girls," said Zack.

   The other boys shrugged and began picking up the rest of the girls'
packs.

   "Wait!" called out Kira, making all five boys look up instantly.  She
sighed as she said, "Don't go, guys.  We're coming out."

   Elated grins spread across all five boys' faces.

   Kira steeled herself and made her way toward the shore, eventually
rising out of the water.  She grimaced at the way all five boys openly
gawked at her naked body, like starving men staring at a plate of filet
mignon.

   Shannon followed Kira, and bit her lip as she endured the same leering
attention from the boys.

   One by one, all of the eight beautiful girls emerged from the water,
naked, like nothing so much as a string of teenaged Aphrodites.

   All of the girls made their way up the shore to the blankets where the
boys were waiting, some of the girls moving quickly in the hopes of ending
the ordeal quickly, other girls slowly in a futile attempt to delay the
inevitable.

   Kira scowled at the way the five boys were staring, enraptured by the
delectable display of beautiful, naked, teenaged femininity only a few feet
away from them.

   Ashleigh and Shannon stood up straight, determined not to give the boys
any satisfaction of seeing how much anguish was flowing through them. 
Penelope, Claire, and Jordyn were alternately sulking and fuming with
anger. Gemma and Melissa were barely holding back their tears.

   "Very nice," said Zack, in a remarkably matter-of-fact voice.  "They
certainly keep you girls in shape at Penfield."

   "Wow," breathed Cooper and Jacob in unison.

   Oliver folded his arms and curled his lips as he ran his eyes across
each one of the naked girls.  Cole's eyes seemed to be everywhere at once,
and he was actually licking his lips.

   "All right, enough." Kira attempted to take control, no easy feat
considering her state of dress.  "You boys have had your cheap thrill, now
give us back our clothes."

   "Not quite yet," said Zack.  He looked at the other boys and said, "I
think we all agreed that we wouldn't give the girls their clothes back
until we see everything."

   The other boys nodded.

   "What are you talking about?" demanded Shannon in irritation.  "You are
seeing everything.  We're goddamned naked!"

   "We haven't quite seen everything," Oliver corrected her.  "You girls
all turn around.  Do a little spin for us."

   "Oh, God," muttered Ashleigh, but she did turn in place, as did the
other girls with varying degrees of haste.  Several girls reddened when
they heard the boys whistling as soon as the girls had their backs turned
to them.

   As the girls turned back toward the boys, Cole held up his phone .....
and that's all he did, because seemingly a fraction of a second later, the
phone was flying out over the lake, landing in the water with a plop.

   "Hey!" exclaimed Cole.  "That was a brand new phone!"

   "Try another stunt like that and it'll be your teeth plopping into the
lake," snarled Jordyn, her eyes flashing with fury.

   "No pictures," said Claire, baring her teeth.  "It's bad enough being
naked in front of you assholes, we are not going to let you have a photo
record of this to hold over our heads, too."

   "Easy!" said Zack, holding up his hands.  He stepped between Cole and
the girls.  "Jordyn, Claire, take it easy, that wasn't supposed to .....  "

   Zack turned and fixed a glare on Cole.  "Cole, apologize to the girls."

   "But - "

   "Do it!" said Zack harshly.  "I warned you before, now don't test me."

   Cole grumbled and then muttered something that vaguely sounded like the
word "sorry."

   "Look," Zack shot another glare at Cole and then motioned toward the
other three boys.  "We all promised not to let this get out of hand. 
That's why we agreed, no pictures.  Let's not push our luck here, boys."

   Oliver nodded at once, followed by Cooper and Jacob.  Cole simply
grumbled again.

   Zack turned back to the girls.  "Jordyn, Claire - Girls - Kira - I'm
really sorry.  That wasn't in the plan, I swear."

   Jordyn growled, while Claire hesitated and then slowly nodded.  Kira
gazed at Zack askance.

   "Now you've seen everything," said Kira, trying again to take some
semblance of control.  "So give us back our clothes so we can get out of
here."

   "Hey, what's the rush?" asked Zack coolly.  "I was actually thinking we
should make a day of this."

   "We'll pass, thanks," growled Penelope.

   "Personally, I think all girls should always be naked for the pleasure
of boys, don't you?" Zack went on.

   "Gee, what a surprise," said Kira sardonically.  "You're a misogynistic
pig."

   Zack tilted his head.

   "You say that like it's a bad thing," he said.

   "You got what you wanted," said Ashleigh impatiently, hugging herself.
"Now give us back our clothes!"

   "We'll give them back," said Oliver.

   The girls looked at him warily.

   "But first," he continued, making the girls groan, "we want one more
thing."

   "You girls have to hug us," said Cooper.

   "What?!" shrieked all of the girls in perfect unison.

   "You girls form a line," said Jacob.  "Us guys will do the same.  Each
of you girls will hug each of us guys once.  Do that, and you get your
clothes back."

   "This isn't fair," moaned Gemma.  "You keep changing the deal."

   "Too bad," said Zack.  "You girls gotta hug us to get your clothes
back."

   "You expect us to hug you like this?" said Shannon, motioning toward the
girls' collective nudity.

   "We're naked!" said Melissa redundantly.

   "Uh, that's pretty much the idea here," said Oliver.

   "You guys know that if we all hug you now, your clothes will get wet,"
said Ashleigh.

   "Small price to pay," replied Zack with a sly smile, running his eyes up
and down Ashleigh's body, making the girl flush.

   "Think of it as towelling off, girls," suggested Jacob.

   "No.  Way." Kira was snarling now.  "We are not letting you guys touch
us.  Just give us back our clothes."

   "Kira, be reasonable," said Zack.  "You girls aren't exactly in a great
bargaining position."

   Zack casually gazed around the lake shore as he said, "What I see here
.....  Five boys, all in our clothes, and eight girls, totally naked.  Now,
which gender would you all say is superior here?"

   "And if we do hug you," said Kira after a moment, "what are you going to
demand from us next?"

   "Nothing," said Zack, holding up his hands.  "You have my word, Kira. 
This is the last of it.  You'll get your clothes back once we're done with
this."

   Kira glanced at her friends.

   "Sidebar?" she said to Zack.

   "Make it quick." Zack sighed.

   Kira grabbed Ashleigh by the arm and pulled all of the girls together
toward the lake in a huddle.

   "We could make the boys give us back our clothes," said Claire.  "We've
got them outnumbered."

   "You really want to get into a naked wrestling match with the boys?"
asked Penelope with a raised eyebrow.

   "It'd be like mud wrestling with a pig," said Shannon.  "You'll both get
dirty, but the pig will like it."

   "I don't even want to hug the boys," said Jordyn.  "The last thing I
want to do is wind up rolling around in the sand, all tangled up, writhing
naked with one."

   "Thank you, Jordyn," sighed Ashleigh.  "That was .....  graphic."

   "Zack promised that if we do this, it'll all be over," said Kira.

   "Do you think we can trust him, Kira?" asked Gemma.

   "Yes," said Kira after a moment.  "I don't know why, but I believe him."

   "Let's get it over with," said Ashleigh, as the other girls reluctantly
nodded.

   The girls returned to the boys, who had already formed a line.

   "Glad you've decided to be reasonable," Zack said after the girls told
him their decision.  "Let's not waste any more time."

   "I'll go first this time," said Shannon, stepping toward Jacob.

   Within seconds, Jacob's eyes were closed in bliss while Shannon was
scowling as the two pressed their bodies together.  The boy revelled in the
feel of the shapely, naked curves up against him, while Shannon tried with
little success to pretend she was rubbing a towel against her body.

   Shannon went down the line, followed by Ashleigh, and then the rest of
the girls.  As the boys received their hugs, they soon began to let their
hands wander.

   When Penelope felt Cooper's hands cupping her rump, she resisted the
urge to drive her fist into his head, knowing it would drag this out even
longer.

   Claire forced herself to stay still when Oliver slipped his hand between
them and fondled her breasts.

   Unfortunately, the boys seemed to take this as encouragement to let
their hands explore the girls' bodies even more.  Several times, a boy
managed to brush his lips against a girl's.

   "Don't touch me!" Melissa shoved Jacob away, her eyes brimming.

   "Isn't the idea here for me to touch you?" asked Jacob.

   "You know what I mean!" said Melissa furiously.

   "Just c'mere," said Jacob impatiently, grabbing Melissa by the shoulders
and pressing her up against him as the girl moaned.

   But the breaking point came when Kira finally hugged Zack .....  and he
did something very naughty to her bottom.  She let out a shriek and, almost
by reflex, threw out her palm toward his face, only to have Zack catch her
wrist in his hand just before the slap connected.

   "I advise you not to do that," said Zack, now with a menacing edge to
his voice that Kira had never heard from him before.  "Or I might just get
pissed off enough to go back on our deal and let you girls go home naked
anyway."

   Before Kira even knew what was happening, Zack had yanked her back into
his arms and was kissing her deeply on the mouth.  For an instant, she was
too shocked to even react, but even when she began to struggle and protest,
Zack pinned her flailing arms and seemed to take delight in her muffled
outrage.

   Suddenly, Kira found herself falling to the sand and landing with a thud
on her rear.  She scowled up at Zack.

   "All right, a deal's a deal, I guess," said Zack.  "You girls get your
clothes and get out of here."

   "You'll pay for this," vowed Kira, glaring at Zack as she grabbed her
bag.  "I swear, Zack, every one of you boys will pay for this nightmare."

   Zack folded his arms, smirking as he got in one last good ogling of
Kira's naked body.

   "It'll be real tough for you to ever one-up me again after this, Kira,"
he told her.

   "Just wait," snarled Kira.

   "I'll be counting the minutes, hot stuff," he chuckled, giving Kira a
hard smack on her derriere.

   The girls all hurriedly left the shore, some of the girls wiping their
mouths, others wrapping their arms around their breasts, still others
rubbing their bottoms .....  Kira was, more or less, doing all three.

   The boys watched as the girls departed, enjoying what remained of the
view as it disappeared into the trees.

   "Man, I'm going to miss seeing that," sighed Cooper.

   "Oh, I don't think you will," said Zack smugly.  He called out, "Okay,
we're all clear, guys!"

   With that, two boys emerged from the far trees, one on each side of the
lake shore.

   "Grant, Harrison, come on over here," Zack beckoned to both of the boys.
"Did you get it?"

   "Oh, I got it all right," said Grant with satisfaction, putting his hand
on his digital camera.  "Every second of it."

   "And whatever he didn't get, I can promise you I did," said Harrison,
holding up his own camera.

   "Holy crow," said Cooper, looking wide-eyed at Zack.  "You had the guys
filming that?  All of it?"

   "Wait, what was that whole thing about no pictures, then?" asked Jacob.

   "A diversion," said Cole.  He glared at Zack resentfully.  "You owe me a
phone, man."

   "All right, fine," Zack shrugged his shoulders.  "Jeez, how was I
supposed to know Jordyn would be so touchy?"

   "You mean we can watch it all again," said Jacob, his eyes gleaming. 
"We can see those girls naked again, any time we want."

   "To heck with that," said Cooper.  "Who has time for watching videos
when we can have the real thing?  Those recordings are gold, we can use
them to blackmail the girls into going naked for us any time we snap our
fingers."

   "We can make them do anything we want," breathed Cole.  "Eight gorgeous
girls as our naked slaves .....  "

   "Take it easy," said Oliver.  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Zack?"

   "Right," said Zack.  "This is a .....  delicate .....  situation we got
here, guys.  We need to proceed carefully.  We don't want to blow it.  I
had Grant and Harrison make those recordings as insurance.  They're our ace
in the hole in case something goes wrong, but I don't think we'll need
them."

   "What do you mean?" asked Cooper.

   "Well, I've got something else in our corner that - "

   Zack was interrupted by a beep from his phone.

   "Speak of the devil," said Zack with a satisfied grin as he gazed down
at the text message he had just received.  "There she is now."

   "There who is?" asked Jacob.

   "My special little friend," said Zack.

   "What does she have to say?" asked Oliver eagerly.

   "She says that all eight of the girls are getting together tomorrow
morning .....  to work out a plan to get back at us for what we did today
.....  Kira's in charge of it, naturally .....  Okay .....  "

   Zack looked up.

   "My friend says that she'll go to the meeting and then let me know as
soon as she has details of what the girls are planning."

   "Wait, you have a mole in Penfield?" said Cole incredulously.

   "In Kira's squad?" asked Jacob in disbelief.

   "Who do you think it was who sabotaged the girls' swimsuits?" replied
Zack, his eyes twinkling.

   "You mean - "

   "This morning, I gave my friend the prank swimsuits," explained Zack. 
"She switched them for the girls' real bathing suits before they all came
out here to the lake."

   "So one of those eight girls is really .....  "

   Cole, Cooper, and Jacob were thunderstruck.

   "Who is it?" asked Cole.

   "Yeah, which one?" asked Cooper.

   "I can't tell you that." Zack held up his hand.  "I promised her that I
would keep her identity a secret.  If the other girls found out, she'd be
in big trouble."

   "But - "

   "Guys, don't bother," said Oliver.  "I'm Zack's best friend, and he
won't even tell me who his little friend is."

   "Wait," said Cooper.  "That means this girl had to get naked in front of
us herself.  Why would she ever agree to that?"

   "Hold on," said Jacob.  "Are you blackmailing this girl?  What could you
have on - "

   "No, it's not like that." Zack shook his head.  "I'm not forcing her to
do anything.  She's doing it voluntarily.  In fact, a lot of this was her
idea to begin with."

   "But - Why - "

   "I can't tell you that," said Zack firmly.  "It's got to be kept
secret."

   "Oh, jeez," said Cole suddenly.  "I .....  I was groping every one of
those girls.  Man, if I'd known one of them was really on our side - "

   "It's cool, man, don't worry about it," said Zack.  "She knew that would
happen, and she was prepared for it.  It's okay."

   "At least you guys got to hug those naked girls," Grant said sourly. 
"Harrison and I didn't get to do anything but hide in the trees."

   "Just hang on," Zack told them.  "You guys will get what's coming to
you, you can trust me.  Tomorrow, we'll find out more about what the girls
are planning, and then we'll figure out our next step, with some help from
my little friend.  And we'll have those recordings to fall back on in case
things get messy."

   Zack smiled at his friends.

   "Guys," he said, "You can count on this .....  We've got a very
interesting few weeks ahead of us."



   9.  Vignette - It Was Only Fair

   "Uh, Mr.  Parker, may I have a word?"

   "Certainly, Miss Mahoney.  What can I do for you?"

   The principal slowed his pace so that his assistant could catch up to
him, but he continued looking through the sheaf of papers in his hand.

   "Mr.  Parker," said the young vice-principal hesitantly, "there have
been some .....  concerns .....  raised about the second-year student
physicals that were conducted the other day."

   "Oh?  What sort of concerns?"

   "Well, the fact that you had all of the second-year students given their
physical examinations in the gym simultaneously."

   "Ah, that." Mr.  Parker looked up at his worried assistant.  "Well, we
were pressed for time, I regret, so I decided that it would be prudent for
all of the second-year students to be given their physicals at the same
time."

   "Sir," said Miss Mahoney lightly, "did you not feel that it might be
considered, by some, to be somewhat inappropriate to have over a hundred
15-year-old and 16-year old boys and girls undressing down to their
underwear in front of each other?"

   "Oh, pish," the principal waved his hand dismissively.  "Must we always
be so puritannical about this sort of thing?  Besides, have you never heard
of the Internet, Miss Mahoney?  By the time any child reaches the age of 15
or 16, they are certain to have already seen plenty of images of attractive
people in undergarments in one form or another."

   "Well, that may be so," said Miss Mahoney hesitantly.  "Still, there
have been some .....  Well, anyway, there is another matter that seems to
be drawing some attention."

   "And that would be?"

   Miss Mahoney cleared her throat.

   "I have been told that when the boys entered the gym, you did not, in
fact, require them to undress in front of the girls."

   "Well, the boys seemed uncomfortable removing their clothing in front of
their female classmates, so I decided that I could allow them to maintain
their modesty.  Is that an issue, Miss Mahoney?  Just a moment ago, you
were concerned that it would be inappropriate to require such a thing."

   "Yes, well, I suppose that I am compelled to agree with your wish to
maintain propriety with regard to the boys in this matter, Mr.  Parker
..... although, as a practical matter, having the boys remain clothed did
make the physical examinations a trifle difficult, I am told.  But the
larger issue seems to be the state of dress that you apparently required of
the female students."

   "Oh, now, really - "

   "Sir." Miss Mahoney adjusted her glasses as she shook her head.  "In the
time since the physicals were finished, I have been approached by a very
large number of the female students who had .....  questions ..... 
regarding .....  this matter."

   Mr.  Parker sighed.  He looked at Miss Mahoney in the eyes, and when he
spoke, it was with the tone of an adult explaining something to a small
child.

   "Miss Mahoney, it is really very simple.  If the boys are to remain
fully clothed, then it seems only fair for the girls to be completely
naked."

   With that, the principal turned and headed into his office, leaving his
assistant standing in the hallway, blinking rapidly.

   "Of course," she said after a long moment.  "What was I thinking?"

   Miss Mahoney followed her superior into his office.

   "Uh, Mr.  Parker, may I have a word?"



   10.  Master Oscar

   "Allison, come on over here."

   Oscar beckoned to his older sister from the kitchen table, where he was
sitting down with his other sisters, Phoebe, Gillian, and Emma.

   "But I have to finish washing the breakfast dishes," said Allison,
sounding a bit nervous.

   "Yeah, I'm sure that's why she doesn't want to join this." Gillian
rolled her eyes.

   "The dishes can wait, Allison," said Oscar, ignoring Gillian's remark.

   Allison sighed and turned off the sink.  She brushed her long blond hair
self-consciously out of her eyes as she sat down at the table with her
siblings.

   "Now," said Oscar briskly, "as you girls all know, Mom and Dad left on
their trip a few hours ago.  They'll be in Paris all weekend, and won't be
back until late Monday afternoon.  While they're gone, there are going to
be plenty of chores to be done around here.  So I've worked out an agenda."

   "I'm sure you have," murmured Phoebe.

   "So," said Oscar, brandishing a sheet of paper, "Here's the list for
this afternoon .....  Phoebe, you will clean my room.  Allison, you will
bake me those little cookies I like.  Gillian, you will wash all of my
laundry."

   "Who does he think he is?" Gillian scowled.

   "I hate it when Mom and Dad leave Oscar in charge while they're gone,"
grumbled Emma.

   "That's MASTER Oscar to you, Emma," said Oscar coolly.  "And I will
expect you to cook my lunch as soon as we're finished here.  A nice beef
soup with potatoes and vegetables, and fresh bread."

   Emma buried her face in her arms.

   "Oscar," said Phoebe lightly, twirling a strand of her dark hair in her
fingers.

   Oscar cleared his throat.

   "Master Oscar," said Phoebe through gritted teeth, "When Mom and Dad
said that you're in charge while they're gone, I don't think this is what
they had in mind."

   "Your opinion will be considered, Phoebe," said Oscar in a dismissive
tone.

   "I've got a few opinions for you to consider," growled Gillian before
Allison hushed her.

   "And, of course," said Oscar, quite matter-of-factly, "all of you girls
will be naked for the entire weekend."

   "AAAHHH!!!" Now, Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian all buried their faces in
their arms, just like Emma.

   Emma's face was still hidden, but she held up her right hand with a
thumbs-up gesture.

   "Do we really have to do this every time Mom and Dad go on a trip?"
asked Allison, looking up.

   "Ask Master Oscar," came a muffled response through Emma's light brown
hair.

   "I trust that you girls all know my rules by now," said Oscar, getting
up from his chair.

   Phoebe wrapped her hand around her forehead.  Allison sighed and folded
her arms, gazing at the ceiling.  Gillian rapped her clenched fist against
the kitchen table.  Emma finally lifted her head from her arms and looked
around the table blankly.

   "I said," said Oscar pointedly, "I trust that you girls all know my
rules by now."

   There was a dangerous pause, and then all four of his sisters said in
unison, "Yes, Master Oscar."

   "I hate it when Mom and Dad leave Oscar in charge while they're gone,"
Emma grumbled again.

   "All right, then," said Oscar.  "Let's not waste any more time.  Girls,
off with the clothes."

   "Here?" said Phoebe.

   "Now?" said Allison.

   "All of them?" said Gillian.

   "Yes, yes, and yes, obviously," said Emma in a bored tone.  She looked
at her three older sisters with slight incredulity.  "How many times do we
have to ask the same questions?"

   "You girls could learn something from your sister," Oscar told Phoebe,
Allison, and Gillian.  "Now, don't make me repeat myself."

   The four girls exchanged looks, and then sighed heavily as they rose,
more or less simultaneously, from the kitchen table, already beginning to
unbutton and unzip.

   Oscar smiled in satisfaction as dresses, blouses, and skirts started to
come off.  Allison asked if she had to take off her socks.

   "Everything off," came the expected response.

   The girls got down to their bras and panties, and then there was a
general hesitation.

   "If I don't see four very pretty and very naked girls in the next
minute, you're all getting a spanking," said Oscar.

   That ended the hesitation.  Within seconds, four bras came off, followed
by four pairs of panties.  Phoebe scowled as she dropped her underwear onto
her chair, trying to cover herself up with her hands.  Allison's face was
bright red as she practically clamped her arms over her private parts.

   Gillian, on the other hand, dropped her bra and panties on the table and
stood with her hands on her waist, not covering up.  The spunky redhead was
determined not to give her brother the satisfaction of getting to her.

   Oscar was the only one who even seemed to notice that Emma had forlornly
dropped her undergarments on the seat of her chair and simply stood there
with her head lowered, neither covering up like Phoebe and Allison nor
showing herself defiantly like Gillian.

   "Well," said Oscar, after gazing silently at Emma for a moment.  He
looked around at his sisters, smiling as he drank in the sight of so much
beautiful naked teenaged female skin.  "My, my, I must say, we are looking
particularly luscious today."

   "Oscar, we're your sisters," protested Emma, shaking her head.

   "A beautiful girl is a beautiful girl, Emma," said Oscar with a shrug.
He locked eyes with his youngest sister and said in slow, deliberate tones,
"And you are very, very beautiful, Emma."

   Emma's eyes widened, and then she lowered her eyes again as she blushed
intensely.  Oscar was sure that he saw a hint of a smile on her lips.

   Oscar looked at the other girls, who were gazing at him, and Emma, with
a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

   "You're all very beautiful," Oscar went on.  "I think this weekend is
going to be a lot of fun for all of us."

   "I wouldn't count on that," muttered Gillian.

   "Are you going to tie us to our beds every night again?" asked Allison
despairingly.

   Oscar simply smiled.

   "Could you at least not tie my gag so tight this time?" griped Gillian.

   "Well, maybe if you didn't mouth off quite so much, Gillian," said Emma
lightly.

   "Oscar .....  Master Oscar," said Phoebe, "When Mom and Dad said that
you're in charge while they're gone, I really don't think this is what they
had in mind."

   "But I am in charge," replied Oscar, picking up his papers.  "Now, you
girls all have your chores to do, so let's hop to it, shall we?"

   "I bet he'd love to see us hop," growled Gillian, as Allison
self-consciously wrapped her arms around her body.

   Oscar gave each of his naked sisters another good look before walking
out of the kitchen with a self-satisfied smile on his face.  As he was
leaving, he heard Allison wonder aloud, "How did all of this start,
anyway?"

   A few minutes later, Oscar was sitting down at his desk and booting up
his computer.  He turned on the cameras that he had hidden in the kitchen,
dining room, and living room, and smiled as he took in the sight of his
naked sisters.  Not one of them was doing the chores he'd assigned them,
but he had expected that.

   "Give the girls a spanking for not finishing their chores," Oscar wrote
on his "To Do" list.

   As he gazed at the screen, the thought of Allison's question, "How did
all of this start, anyway?" filled his head.  For a long moment, Oscar
smiled as he reflected on that fateful Monday morning, about a year and a
half earlier, when his parents returned home after the first weekend that
they had left Oscar in charge.

   .....

   "Son, we need to talk." Oscar's father ushered him into the den.

   "What's going on?" asked Oscar.

   "Honey," said his mother seriously, "Your sisters had some ..... 
complaints .....  about your behavior during the weekend while you were
left in charge of the house."

   "Oh?" asked Oscar innocently.  "What complaints?"

   "Oscar," said his father, "The girls claim that you made them clean your
room, do your laundry, cook your meals, wait on you hand and foot, and call
you 'Master Oscar.'"

   "Lies," declared Oscar.

   "Sweetheart." His mother locked eyes with him.  "The girls say that you
had them spend the entire weekend in the nude."

   "Blatant lies," declared Oscar.

   "Son." His father grimaced.  "The girls told us that you tied them to
their beds at night so that they wouldn't be able to do anything to you
while you were asleep, and you gagged them when they complained about it."

   "Awful lies," declared Oscar.

   "Oscar." His mother bit her lip.  "The girls have said that you spanked
them whenever they didn't do what you said."

   "Shameless lies," declared Oscar.

   "They also said that they've got video recordings on their phones, and
that if we examine your computer, we will find a master recording of
everything from some video cameras that you installed throughout the
house."

   " .....  Crud," said Oscar.

   "Why don't we take a look at your computer, son?" said his father
stonily.

   Minutes later, Oscar was silently making his peace with the universe as
his parents watched the master recording of the entire weekend on his
computer.

   "Uh, dear, why don't you go check on the girls to make sure they're
okay?" His father had suggested to his mother.  She nodded and left the
room, not looking at her son.

   "Son, come over here," said his father.  With a gulp, Oscar obeyed.

   For a long moment, Oscar's father stared at the computer screen.

   "Wow," said his father finally.  "Your sisters have been working out, I
see."

   Oscar blinked.

   "Well," he said uncertainly.

   "Son," said his father, managing to pull his eyes away from the computer
screen long enough to look at Oscar, "Can you give me a copy of this master
recording?"

   Oscar blinked again.

   "Uh, no problem, Pop," he said, even more uncertainly.  "But what - "

   "I'll tell you what." His father leaned in toward him and spoke in a
conspiratorial whisper.  "You give me a copy of this recording, and I'll
make sure that you don't get punished at all AND you'll be put in charge of
the house every time your mother and I go on a trip from now on.  The girls
will be told, in no uncertain terms, that they are to obey you when you're
in charge."

   Oscar was stunned.

   "Uh, that sounds great, Pop," he said.  "But .....  Why would Mom ever
go along with that?"

   "I'll take care of that, son."

   When Oscar regarded his father dubiously, the older man smiled and said,
"Trust me, son, I've got this.  Do we have a deal?"

   "Deal," said Oscar at once.  "I'll make a copy of the recording for you
right now."

   "Perfect." His father smiled at him and clapped him on the back.  "Us
guys gotta stick together, after all, right, son?"

   "You got it, Pop."

   After his father walked out of the room, Oscar let out a long sigh of
relief, gratitude, and disbelief.

   "See?  What did I tell you, Oscar?"

   .....

   "Emma has finished preparing your lunch, my liege," came a bitingly
sardonic voice.

   Oscar looked up to see Gillian gazing down at him.

   "Have you ever heard of knocking?" asked Oscar, a bit annoyed that his
reverie had been interrupted.  "You know, I could have been naked."

   "Don't threaten me," retorted Gillian.

   She shook her head and walked out of Oscar's room.  He tilted his head,
admiring the view, as he called after her, "You know, Gillian, you look
even prettier from this angle."

   Even though he could not see her face, he could perfectly picture her
scowl at the remark.

   Oscar had just turned back to his computer screen when his phone rang.

   "Hello? .....  Oh, hi, Pop .....  Yeah, everything's fine here ..... 
The girls are all okay, Pop.  I'm looking after them .....  Yes, I know,
but you don't have to worry about the girls, Pop.  I'll take good care of
them.  They're safe .....  Okay .....  Oh, yeah, they're naked, all right
.....  Sure, Pop, I'm recording it all.  I'll have your copy ready by the
time you come home .....  What's that? .....  Really? .....  Are you
serious? .....  Wow, that's awesome .....  Sure, I'll tell the girls .....
"

   .....

   "What do you mean, you're going to be in charge of the house next
weekend?" said Phoebe in confusion.

   Oscar had just come down to the living room to deliver his father's news
to his sisters.

   "Just what I said," replied Oscar.  "You know that Pop's taking a trip
to New York next weekend, and he's leaving me in charge while he's away."

   "But only Daddy is going away next weekend," protested Allison.  "Mom's
going to be staying here."

   "That's right," said Oscar.  He suppressed a smirk, taking a sneaky
pleasure in the bewildered expressions on his naked sisters' faces.

   "Mom's going to be here," Oscar continued after a suitable pause, "and
she'll be joining you girls."

   "What are you - "

   "Pop has decided that from now on, I'll be in charge of the house
whenever he's not here, end of," said Oscar.  "Because I'm the man of the
house when he's away, after all.  Next weekend, Mom is going to be joining
you girls, like I said .....  and she'll be naked, too."

   All of the girls could only stare at Oscar, shocked and speechless.

   "Why would Mom ever agree to this?" Gillian finally managed to find her
voice.

   Oscar shrugged.

   "Beats the heck out of me," he said.  "Pop didn't say, and I didn't ask.
Maybe she finally came around to his way of thinking .....  or maybe Pop
just didn't give her a choice about it.  Either way, that's how it's going
to be."

   The girls all looked devastated.

   "Look on the bright side," said Oscar.  "You girls will have more
company next weekend .....  and speaking of company, we're going to be
having some.  Rory and his parents are coming to dinner tonight."

   "What?" broke from all four girls at once.

   "Rory can't come here now," protested Allison.  "We're .....  "

   Allison gestured helplessly toward her sisters and herself.

   "We're .....  " she repeated.  "We're .....  "

   "I think the word you're looking for is 'naked,'" said Gillian.  "And
there is no way in hell that I'm letting Rory see me like this."

   "Oscar," said Phoebe urgently, "What happened to not letting any other
boys see us this way?  You said that, remember?"

   .....

   Phoebe walked into the den to find her brother on the phone.  She didn't
know who he was talking to, but it didn't take long for her to see what the
conversation was about.

   "Yes, my sisters are all naked," Oscar was saying.  "And no, you can't
come over here or bring your friends.  If I see any of you creeps at any of
our doors or windows, you'll be going home in a body cast.  Understand?"

   Oscar slammed the phone down on the hook.

   "Well, thank you for that at least," said Phoebe quietly.

   Oscar whirled around, seeming to notice Phoebe for the first time.

   "You're welcome," he said after a moment.  "Don't worry, Sis, I won't
let .....  I mean, I wouldn't .....  I wouldn't ever .....  "

   He fell silent.

   "Thank you," said Phoebe sincerely.

   Oscar smiled weakly.

   "Hey, look," he said, "Nobody torments my sisters except me!"

   .....

   "That was just a month ago," said Phoebe.  "Don't tell me you've
forgotten .....  "

   "No, I would never forget that," said Oscar.  "I meant what I said back
then, and I still do."

   "Well, then - "

   "I promised that nobody would torment you except me," said Oscar.  "Rory
isn't going to torment you.

   In case you've forgotten, the guy I was talking to on the phone that day
was that jerky, stuck-up guy, Nigel, who wanted to bring all his friends
over to the house once he found out you girls were naked here.  None of us
ever liked him or his friends.

   Rory's been our friend for almost as long as Emma's been alive.  He's
always been nice to you girls, hasn't he?"

   "Of course he has," said Allison.  "We love Rory.  But that doesn't mean
we want him to - "

   "Besides, his parents are coming to dinner with him," Oscar continued.
"I'm sure he wouldn't do anything out of line with his mom and dad in the
room."

   "Yeah, that's terrific," grumbled Gillian.  "It'll be three people
coming over and seeing us naked instead of just one.  That's much better."

   "And Emma," Oscar looked at his youngest sister.  "I thought you and
Rory liked each other."

   "We do," said Emma softly.  "But .....  We haven't even had an official
first date yet.  Don't you think it's kind of early for him to be seeing me
naked?"

   "Oh, fine, then," Oscar threw up his hands.  "I'll go call Rory and tell
him he's not welcome here.  Of course, he'll be really hurt.  I mean, all
this time, he actually thought you girls liked him."

   "Ah," said Phoebe.  "Guilt."

   "Good call," sighed Emma.

   "All right, fine, let them come over," said Allison heavily.

   Gillian just groaned.

   "Excellent," Oscar said approvingly.  "Now, let's get this house all
cleaned up for our guests.  And listen, girls, when Rory and his parents
arrive, I want all of you on your very best behavior.  I expect you girls
to be polite, friendly, naked, courteous, and present for our guests at all
times.  Understood?"

   "Yes, Master Oscar," said all four girls glumly.

   .....

   "Very nicely done, girls." Oscar looked around the living room and
dining room approvingly.  Both were immaculate.

   "Thanks, Oscar," said Emma.  She suddenly reddened and lowered her head
as she said, "I mean, Master Oscar."

   "It's okay, Emma, don't worry about it." Oscar cleared his throat. 
"Now, girls, Rory and his parents will be here in a few hours.  I want all
of you to go to your rooms and get yourselves ready.  When they arrive, I
want four smiling, naked, and radiantly beautiful young women here to greet
them."

   Oscar paused, and then shrugged as he added, "Not that being radiantly
beautiful could ever be all that difficult for any of you girls."

   He looked around at his sisters, and felt pleased to see that Emma was
beaming at the compliment, and even Phoebe and Allison seemed to be smiling
a little, while blushing.  Only Gillian was wearing her trademark scowl.

   "And," said Oscar.

   "Sometimes, I knew there was going to be an 'and,'" murmured Phoebe, her
smile fading.

   "Just this.  You girls are going to be the hostesses here tonight, so I
want you to greet Rory when he gets here in the way that a hostess should,
by giving him a warm hug."

   Four pairs of eyes instantly went wide.

   "A hug?" said Allison incredulously.  "You want us to hug Rory naked?"

   "I don't believe I stuttered," said Oscar coolly.  "And to make sure it
goes well, I think it would be a good idea for you girls to practice a
naked hug a little.  Why don't you all give me one?"

   He smiled as he held out his arms, but not one of his sisters made a
move.  They all seemed frozen to their spots on the floor.

   "Come, come," said Oscar.  "Give your beloved Master Oscar a hug, girls.
Or, if you don't wish to give me a hug, I could give you all a spanking
instead.  That might make dinner a bit uncomfortable, though."

   Phoebe let out a heavy sigh, and then stepped up to her brother,
reluctantly wrapping her arms around him.  She gasped a little as Oscar
pulled her in tightly, pressing their bodies together.

   "Very nice," Oscar said softly into Phoebe's ear.  He quietly pulled his
right hand from Phoebe's back and slipped it between him and his sister. 
He smiled when Phoebe let out a small yelp at her brother's hand caressing
her breasts.

   "Okay," said Phoebe, pulling away from Oscar, her face crimson.  She
glanced at her sisters, and could tell from their expressions that they'd
seen what Oscar had done to her.

   "Allison, you're up next," said Oscar, making the blond girl gulp.

   Allison hesitantly hugged Oscar, and bit her lip to keep herself from
crying out when she felt Oscar's hand squeezing her thighs.

   When Gillian grudgingly hugged Oscar, he kept a firm grip on her back to
keep her from jumping away when he cupped the firm cheeks of her rear.

   None of the girls were able to see what it was that Oscar did to make
Emma exclaim, "Oscar!" and they weren't quite sure they wanted to know.

   As Emma stepped back to join her sisters, Oscar smiled in satisfaction
that all of his sisters had now been (in)appropriately groped.

   "Well done, girls," he said.  "I'm sure that Rory will be most pleased
for you to greet him like that."

   "I'm sure he will," muttered Gillian.

   "Let's hope that he keeps his hands to himself," said Phoebe sourly.

   "Um, should we greet Rory's parents like this, too?" asked Allison
timidly.

   "I doubt that Rory's mother would care for it," said Oscar.

   "Yeah, and I really don't think she'd approve of her husband getting
naked hugs from four teenaged girls," observed Phoebe.

   "Very well." Oscar nodded.  "So you don't have to hug Rory's parents
this way, just Rory himself."

   Suddenly a mischievous smile crossed Oscar's face, which set off alarm
bells in all four girls' heads.

   "But, look, just to make this evening really memorable for our friend
Rory .....  "

   "I'm pretty sure it's already going to be memorable," muttered Gillian.

   "I want each of you girls to kiss Rory when you hug him, and by that, I
mean a proper kiss - not on the cheek, but on the lips."

   Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian all groaned.

   Emma was conspicuously silent, even for her.

   "Oscar," she finally spoke up, in a very soft tone.  "Please .....  I
don't want to kiss Rory."

   "What?  Why not?" Oscar looked at her in confusion.  He could understand
why the other three girls wouldn't want to, but .....  "I thought .....  I
thought you liked Rory."

   "I do," said Emma, still softly and sincerely.  "Which is why I don't
want to kiss him, not like this.  I want our first kiss to be something
special.  I want it to be something that just Rory and I share, the two of
us alone, something that we will always remember fondly.  I don't want it
to happen this way.  Please, Oscar."

   Oscar was silent for a long moment.

   "Okay, fine," he said.  "If that's really how you feel, Emma.  All
right, I still want all of you girls to hug Rory, but none of you have to
kiss him."

   "Thanks, Oscar," said Allison in relief.  Phoebe nodded, and then smiled
at Emma.

   "That was really sweet, Emma," said Phoebe, as Allison nodded, beaming
at her little sister.

   "I don't want to hug Rory," said Gillian.  "Does that mean we're off the
hook for that, too?"

   "Gillian!" said Phoebe and Allison simultaneously, both girls irritated
by their sister's lack of empathy for Emma's heartfelt plea.

   "Emma, are you okay with hugging Rory like this?" asked Oscar, ignoring
Gillian completely.

   Emma hesitated, and then nodded.

   "I can do that, Oscar." She summoned a brave smile to her lips.  "I
think Rory would like it."

   "Peachy," muttered Gillian.

   "But, listen," continued Oscar, "even though it's not going to happen
tonight, I think it might still be worthwhile to practice a naked kiss, you
know, for the future."

   "You've gotta be kidding me," said Gillian in disbelief.  "There is no
way - "

   "Now, really, do I have to make that little threat about a spanking
again?" asked Oscar ominously.  All four girls fell silent.

   "I'll tell you what," he continued.  "I'll offer you girls a little
incentive .....  Each of you kiss me, and whichever girl proves to be the
best kisser will get to wear a dress to the dinner tonight."

   That got the girls' attention but good.  Phoebe and Allison looked
intrigued, Emma seemed more startled than anything else, and Gillian was
gazing at Oscar warily.

   "You know what?" said Gillian.  "I don't really believe that you'd let
any of us wear anything to this dinner, Oscar, but even if you did, I think
I'd rather be naked in front of Rory than kiss you."

   "Suit yourself, Gillian." Oscar shrugged.  "Any takers?"

   In the very next second, Phoebe and Allison were both rushing up to
Oscar.

   "Girls, girls, please, one at a time," said Oscar in a suave tone. 
"Phoebe, you're up first."

   Phoebe wrapped her arms around her brother and pressed her lips into
his. She couldn't quite believe she was doing this, but the prospect of not
having to be naked in front of the dinner guests proved a powerful
motivator.  She made sure that the kiss was a long one, all the while
teasing Oscar with her tongue.

   When the kiss finally broke, Oscar was wide-eyed and slightly out of
breath.

   "Wow," he managed to say, staring at Phoebe as if he'd never seen her
before.  "That .....  That was incredible, Phoebe.  Your future boyfriend,
whoever he is, is one lucky guy."

   Phoebe blushed, feeling rather pleased with herself.

   "Allison, your turn."

   The blond beauty stepped forward without hesitation, pulling Oscar close
to her and mashing her lips with his.  Oscar let out a muffled yelp, which
only made Allison deepen the kiss.  She seemed determined not to be outdone
by her sister.

   "Um, this is going to be hard to choose," Oscar gasped when Allison
finally let go.

   "Amateurs," Gillian suddenly said, shaking her head.  "Here, I'll show
you how it's done."

   Before anyone knew what was happening, Gillian was pressing Oscar's body
against hers, their mouths seemingly glued together.  Oscar was astonished
at the passion with which Gillian was kissing him, especially since she'd
said only the previous minute that she'd rather be naked in front of Rory
than do this.  It appeared that the only thing that could overcome
Gillian's revulsion at kissing Oscar was her competitive streak toward her
sisters.

   When Gillian let go, Oscar practically collapsed into a chair.

   "This may have been more than I bargained for," he murmured, trying to
catch his breath, as the three older girls all folded their arms
expectantly.

   "Well?" said Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian, nearly simultaneously.

   "I think there's one more," said Oscar, looking at Emma.  "Um, you don't
have to, Emma.  I mean, I understand, since you and Rory .....  "

   "I'll do it," said Emma softly.

   Oscar forced himself to get to his feet, gulping slightly at the
prospect of another kiss like the three he'd already gotten.  But when
Emma's lips touched his, it proved to be very different from her sisters'.
Instead of the fierce passion of Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian, Emma kissed
him very gently and sweetly, her soft lips seemingly melting slowly into
his.

   "That was nice," said Oscar, gazing at Emma in wonder.  He looked at the
other girls.  "Uh, sorry, but I think Emma wins."

   Phoebe and Allison groaned.  Gillian looked thoughtful.

   "Was I at least better than Phoebe and Allison?" she asked, making her
sisters stare at her in disbelief.

   "Well, a deal's a deal," said Oscar, ignoring Gillian again.  "Emma, you
can pick out a dress to wear tonight.  Try to make it something a little
formal - "

   "No." Emma shook her head.  "I'll be naked."

   For a moment, the room became dead quiet, all four of Emma's siblings
staring at her, thunderstruck.

   "You will?" Oscar finally asked.  Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian were
still speechless.

   "Yes." Emma nodded.  "I'll be naked.  I don't want my sisters to go
through this alone.  I'll stand with them."

   She smiled at her sisters, and within a few seconds, Phoebe and Allison
smiled back at her gratefully.  Gillian just shook her head.

   "Besides," said Emma, suddenly blushing deeply, "I think .....  I think
Rory would appreciate it.  I'm pretty sure he'd be disappointed if I was
the only girl here who wasn't undressed."

   "Well, that's it, then," said Oscar thoughtfully.  "Now, all of you
girls, go on upstairs and get yourselves ready for tonight.  Remember what
I said, I want Rory and his parents to be greeted by four smiling, naked,
and radiantly beautiful young women, and I want Rory to get four naked
hugs."

   The girls let out a collective sigh, and made their way up the stairs.
Emma was the last to cross the threshold, and as she did, she glanced back
at Oscar.  He gave her a smile and a coy wink, and she winked back at him.

   .....

   Oscar straightened his tie as he checked himself in the mirror.

   "I guess this is about as good as it's going to get," he murmured.

   He had showered, shaved, combed his hair, dressed in his best suit, he
didn't think there was much more he could do.  Anyway, he rather doubted
that the guests would be looking at him very much tonight.

   Oscar glanced at the clock, and saw he still had half an hour or so
before Rory's family was due to arrive.  He sat down at his desk, and found
that his head was once again filling up with the memory of Emma's cute
little wink.  Soon, he was reminiscing once again about that fateful day
when his parents returned home after his first weekend in charge of the
house, and in charge of his sisters.  Only this time, he reflected on what
he hadn't been able to before, the moments after his father had left the
room.

   .....

   "Perfect." His father smiled at him and clapped him on the back.  "Us
guys gotta stick together, after all, right, son?"

   "You got it, Pop."

   After his father walked out of the room, Oscar let out a long sigh of
relief, gratitude, and disbelief.

   "See?  What did I tell you, Oscar?"

   Oscar whirled around.

   "How did you get in here?" he exclaimed as Emma stepped out from behind
the curtains near the window.

   "I figured Mom and Dad would bring you up here to check your computer,
so I decided to slip in before they did."

   "I hope you realize what you put me through," said Oscar in a slightly
severe tone.  "I was having a near-death experience in here when they were
looking at that recording."

   "Oh, come on," said Emma, folding her arms.  "Didn't I tell you that
Daddy would let you off the hook the second that he saw that video of all
of us girls naked?"

   Oscar stared at her.

   "You were the one who told Mom and Dad about the master recording,
weren't you?" he said, his voice rising.  "Emma - "

   "If I hadn't done it, you would be dead," said Emma matter-of-factly. 
"The recordings that Phoebe, Allison, and Gillian sneaked with their phones
weren't clear enough.  We needed to give Daddy a chance to see everything
perfectly, to make him want to go along with you on this."

   Oscar was silent.

   "Well, you were right," he admitted.  "I really didn't think he would,
but like you said, Pop let me off the hook."

   He shook his head.

   "I can't believe he'd actually want to see his daughters - "

   "Oh, you're one to talk," said Emma in a scolding tone, but with eyes
twinkling in amusement.  "I can tell how much you enjoyed seeing your
sisters naked."

   "It was incredible," breathed Oscar after a moment.  He looked at his
youngest sister.  "All of it was incredible."

   Emma blushed.

   "You were right about everything," said Oscar.  "I can't quite believe
it.  I just .....  "

   Oscar lowered his eyes.

   "What's the matter?" asked Emma, tilting her head curiously.  "I'd have
thought you'd be happy.  You got to see your sisters naked for an entire
weekend, made us do everything you wanted, Daddy let you off the hook, AND
you're going to get to do it all again every time our parents go on a
trip."

   "Yeah." Oscar nodded.  "But there's a downside.  Phoebe, Allison, and
Gillian .....  They all kind of hate my guts now.  I'm not thrilled about
that."

   "Don't worry, big brother, they'll get over it," said Emma.  "Just give
them a little time.  Even Gillian doesn't really hate you, even if she acts
like she does."

   "Are you sure?"

   "Haven't I been right about everything so far, Master Oscar?"

   "Emma, we're alone, you don't have to call me that."

   "I kind of like it," said Emma, her eyes twinkling again.

   Oscar shook his head.

   "I'm not sure I'll ever understand you, Emma.  Why did you do all of
this, anyway?"

   "I have my reasons," said Emma softly.

   "Do you like being naked in front of me?"

   "No way." Emma shook her head emphatically.  "It's humiliating."

   "Then why did you - "

   "Like I said, I have my reasons.  And I'll tell you about them when I
feel the time is right.  For now, the only thing I want you to know is
..... "

   Emma gazed into her brother's eyes.

   "You're the only person in this family who's never, ever made fun of me.
Did you know that?"

   Oscar stared at her.

   "No, I didn't," he said.  "I know that our sisters make fun of you, but
aren't siblings supposed to - "

   "That depends," said Emma cryptically.  Oscar could tell from the
finality of her tone that he wasn't going to get any more of an answer from
her than that.

   "And truth be told," continued Emma, "I didn't mind seeing my big
sisters getting taken down a peg, even if I had to be embarrassed along
with them."

   She paused thoughtfully.

   "And I knew that you'd enjoy seeing three beautiful girls - "

   "Four," said Oscar firmly.  "I remember that weekend vividly, and by my
count, there were four."

   Emma smiled.

   "All right, if you insist, four," she said.  "Four beautiful girls
naked, so I figured I could do this for you, too.  I love you, Oscar."

   "I love you, too, Emma," said Oscar, hugging his sister gratefully.  She
rested her head against his chest.

   "Um, Emma," he continued, "you've admitted that it's humiliating to be
naked in front of me .....  You realize you're going to have to go through
that every time Mom and Dad go away from now on."

   "Yes, I do," said Emma softly, looking up at him.  She smiled, her eyes
shining.  "Oh, well .....  It isn't easy being a girl."

   .....

   "Master Oscar?"

   The words were softly spoken, but it still startled Oscar into opening
his eyes.

   "Oh, uh, what is it, Emma?" Oscar sat up in his chair, self-consciously
adjusting his tie.

   "Rory's father's car just pulled up outside.  Rory and his parents
should be ringing the doorbell in just a few minutes."

   "Okay," said Oscar, getting to his feet.  "I want you to answer the
door, Emma.  I think Rory will appreciate it if you're the first girl he
sees, especially .....  "

   Oscar slid his eyes down Emma's slender, naked body.

   "Got it," said Emma.  She gave her brother a coy smile and asked,
"Looking forward to the weekend, Master?"

   "Always," Oscar returned Emma's smile.

   Emma turned and headed down the hallway.  For a moment, Oscar watched
her, once again admiring the view.

   He plopped himself down in his chair and let out a heavy sigh.  Looking
up at the ceiling, he said, "Well .....  I think, sometimes, it's good to
be a guy."