Starting School -- in the Nude
By Claire

Last night (Sunday) was my first night in the dorm. I came up 
myself with just a few boxes of things, my laptop and a couple 
of plants. It's a quad, which is four dorms (two girls dorms and 
two guys dorms) surrounding a courtyard. My room is a triple 
and both my new roommates, Amy and Steph, were already there 
unpacking. Steph was not really unpacking much because she
told us she'd actually be living with her boyfriend day-to-day 
and just keeping enough stuff in the dorm so her parents would 
think she was living there. So it would really just be me and 
Amy with the extra room of a triple. 

I really like Amy because she's very nice and has a good sense 
of humor and we hit it off right away. Plus one of the first things 
she said to me was, "I imagined you showing up naked" because 
of what I'd said about being a nudist. She didn't really expect me 
to do that, of course, but it was just an image in her head and 
it kinda broke the ice on the subject (but her saying that made 
the crazy part of my brain feel all tingly and I wanted to rip my 
clothes off right then and there). 

But there were still lots of parents and big brothers and grand-
persons running around the hallways carrying stuff.

And right about then there was a knock on the door and it was 
our floor's RA (that's resident advisor, a grad student who mother-
hens us youngsters) and her name is Emily and she had a 
clipboard with our names on and she looked up at me and said
"ah, you're my nudist, aren't you? Don't worry, it'll all be clear in
an hour or so."

And then she was gone again to the next room checking on her 
little chicks and pretty soon we were all unpacked and it was 
dinner time so the three of us went out and found one of the 
cafeterias and talked some more. The subject of my nudism 
came up again, this time Steph asked if I grew up as a nudist 
and went that way around my family. I was honest about the 
fact that no, I was not brought up as a naturist, and that I haven't 
had all that much actual experience doing it. It was a really 
good conversation, probably the first time I'd really talked it all 
out and I was SO relieved that they were still so cool and 
accepting about it all.

So then we go back to the dorm and all the parents are gone 
and things have settled down. It's like 7:30 or something and 
I decide this is the moment to get naked. So I announce that I'm 
going to take a shower and I get undressed gather up my shower 
stuff and my towel. I fumbled around a bit at this point because 
my brain was debating whether to put the towel around myself 
or carry it. Carrying it won and I went out the door naked with 
the towel over my shoulder and holding my little plastic bucket 
of bath stuff and as I started to close the door I made eye contact 
with Amy and she was grinning back at me like "go girl." 

I walked down the hallway and at first there was nobody else 
but then two other girls came out of a room and were walking 
towards me and I tried to be really casual as we passed and 
I said hi cheerfully and they said hi and we introduced ourselves 
and I remembered their names because I always remember 
people's names when I meet them (one of my popularity skills), 
and nothing at all was said of me being naked. 

So then I went on to the bathroom, got in the shower and got 
all clean. I was feeling pretty excited and very tempted to 
spend extra time washing certain body parts but I resisted 
(mostly) that urge. And then a few minutes later there I am 
walking back down the hallway very naked and all damp 
from the shower carrying my wet towel over my arm. But 
NObody was in the hallway this time which was disappointing. 

But the important thing was establishing the "normalness' of 
me being naked in the dorm room. So back in our room I hung 
up my towel and blowdried my hair, still naked of course as Steph 
and Amy went about their preparations. Then when I was done 
with my hair I just sat down at my desk and started sorting through
my class stuff. I looked up and Steff was looking over her things 
too like nothing was unusual and Amy was also but she glanced 
over at me with a big smile that made me feel SO good about the 
situation. Here I was, accepted by my new roommates as a nudist! 
This was just what I hoped for and I thought of how every day I'd 
just be nude in the dorm room, hanging around, etc. 

But then I heard some conversation in the hallway and -- feeling 
so confident now -- I said "I hafta go pee" and went out the door. 
This time I was naked and without even the towel but just walking 
down the hallway towards the bathroom again and eager to meet 
people this way. Unfortunately the voices I'd heard were from a 
bunch of girls walking away from me and now far down the hall 
with their backs to me, not seeing me at all. I walked fast hoping 
they'd turn around and want to chat me up, but they disappeared 
down a stairwell. 

I was standing right next to the bathroom door again so I went 
ahead inside and peed a teeny bit because, well, I was there and 
that's what I said I would do. Then I stood in front of the mirror 
a bit all alone and got myself a little hot hardly even touching myself 
(though I did a little) but mostly just by the awareness of what I was 
finally doing. 

Then, feeling all tingly, I started back down the hallway to my 
room, but now suddenly there were a bunch of girls in the 
hallway coming my way. Cool. And I saw Emily the RA knocking 
on doors calling "floor meeting!" And Steph and Amy were coming 
out of our room and heading in my direction. Everyone was headed 
in my direction and I was going against the stream and then 
Emily was in front of me and I guess I was stammering about 
whether I needed to get a robe but she turned me around by
the elbow with a smile, saying "you're fine," and sort of pushing 
me in with the flow. 

Steph and Amy were at my sides and everyone else was coming 
out of rooms and joining us as we filed into a big common room 
with sectional sofas and loveseats and heavy tables and chairs 
The room filled up quickly and there was noplace for us to sit 
but on the floor.

As everyone settled down I was mostly thinking "Holy shit, I'm 
naked! This is great!" And Steph and Amy were grinning at me 
because they knew how totally major this was. And I started 
looking around at everyone's faces in the room and most of 
them were looking right at me. Many of them were making eye 
contact but some were focused a couple feet lower and it occurred
to me that I was sitting in a normal, comfortable way but not 
paying any attention to how exposed I was. I tried to be more 
modest but discovered that there really aren't many good positions 
to sit on the floor without flashing my wet parts to the whole room
(and yes those parts were getting wet).

Emily led the meeting telling us about all the dorm rules, visiting 
times, laundry facilities and so on. Male visitors, for example, are 
permitted between noon and 7 p.m. on school nights and til 9 p.m. 
on weekends. That kind of thing. 

And then we did the bit where you go around the room and all
say something about yourself. Like I always do I tried to remember 
everyone's names and something about them. That's something 
I'm good at -- I'm very social by nature and always get to know 
everyone around me.

When it came around to me I was nervous because of being 
naked and self-conscious about making sure I was sitting the 
right way. I had decided to totally ignore the fact that I was 
naked and just gave my name and hometown and stuff. But 
some girl on the other side of the room yelled, "so are you 
really a nudist?"

And I said what I told Amy and Steph -- that I didn't grow up 
in a naturist home or anything, and haven't actually been a 
practicing nudist before coming here and Emily said "but she 
wants to get in more practice with us!" and everybody laughed. 
Then it went on to the next person.

When the meeting was over and we were all filing out of the 
room some girl edged her way through the crowd to me and 
said "I just want to tell you I think you are SO cool," which 
made me feel really great. 

And I was able to say, "thank you Katie, I think you're pretty 
cool too -- studying criminology and all." She was flattered 
that I remembered what she'd said and we stood there in the 
hallway in a little knot of girls having a conversation, me naked, 
and as I looked around at each of them I tried to call them by 
name. 

Then we were back in our room and it was 10 p.m. Steph took 
off to go to her boyfriend's and me and Amy sat up talking for 
a while and I felt so comfortable just lounging around naked 
(and not bothering about how my legs were positioned). 

At about 11:00 we both had a chocolate craving (and I had a 
wander around the dorm craving) and so we gathered up our 
change and dollar bills and went up to the kitchenette/laundry 
room on the next floor up that Emily had told us about during 
the meeting. I thought she'd said there were vending machines 
there also but there weren't. But it was pretty nice anyway. 
There was a sign on the fridge explaining that milk, coffee, 
margerine and a few other basics were provided and that if 
you brought your own cereal and stuff you should label it. 

"I'm pretty sure the are vending machines in the lobby," Amy 
said, glancing down at me with a grin. "You up for that much 
... travel?" 

"You bet I am!," I said and we went down the stairway to the 
first floor. I was nervous but also really excited. I could hear 
lots of voices as we pushed our way through the door way. 
Amy stopped and kind of held me back. 

"Claire, there are some guys over there," she whispered. 

Supposedly no guys were to be in the building at that hour, 
but there they were sitting around the lobby with some girls. 
That was way across the room, but if they looked up they'd 
see me. 

"It's okay," I insisted and walked straight to the vending 
machine area. Nobody noticed and once we were in the 
little vending room we couldn't be seen from the lobby 
-- though there was a big dark window that took up a 
whole wall, which meant I was on display from outside 
if anyone was looking.

We both bought dark chocolate Hershey bars with almonds 
(we have so much in common) and then I led us back to the 
stairs. 

The elevator was right next to the stairway and I hit the button 
and then just stood there facing the group in the lounge as I 
waited for the elevator just standing there in plain sight feeling 
a little miffed because nobody was noticing. 

But then one of the guys looked up and stopped in mid-sentence 
and then without taking his eyes off me he said something to 
the others that I couldn't hear but now everyone was looking at 
me and the elevator still wasn't there. Amy was more panicked 
than I was even though she was wearing clothes and was hissing 
"let's take the stairs" at me but I was frozen with a piece of 
chocolate sticking out of my mouth. The guy called out 
something to me, something friendly but I didn't make it out 
over the rush of excitement in my head. 

"Ting." The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside, everyone 
still looking. As the doors closed I waved and then Amy and I looked 
at each other and squealed with laughter, hugging each other and
jumping up and down.

Back in our room we talked a while longer and then climbed in our 
beds and put out the lights. I couldn't sleep, thinking back on all 
that had happened and touching myself a little as I listened to Amy's 
breathing across the room. And then I realized she was breathing 
kind of fast and I peeked over at her in the moonlight and saw the 
lump of her hand under the covers between her legs, moving 
just a little.