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 ï>¿The Nude Pioneer by AvoidingRealWork

   The Nude Pioneer Ch.  03a

   Julie makes some final high-school memories.

   I stood behind the podium in the school auditorium.  Behind me was the
rest of my graduating class, the 250 of them that managed to make it
through four years of high school.  I had gone to school with nearly all of
them since ninth grade, and a few since kindergarten.  In front of me was
the audience: parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters of the
graduating students.  Teachers, some of whom had taken me under their wing
and nurtured me as a star pupil.  My guidance counselor, Mrs.  Edwards, who
comforted me when Harvard and Yale turned me down.  The principal, the
district superintendent, and members of the school board.  All eyes were on
me as I gave my valedictory speech.

   "...No, as the word would suggest, commencement isn't an ending, but a
beginning.  This is not the end for any of us, but the beginning of the
next phase of life..."

   The harsh polyester material of my graduation gown rubbed against my
shoulders and my bare breasts.  Unbeknownst to anyone else there, I was
completely naked underneath.  The rest of my body, below my chest, felt the
occasional brush of the gown fabric, but mostly all I felt was air.  Around
my waist.  Around my legs.

   "...But we shouldn't forget all of the memories we have here at Lincoln
High.  The friendships we made, the classes we attended, the clubs we
joined, the events we enjoyed together.  These things shaped us as
individuals, and we can take these experiences with us wherever we go..."

   My nipples were rock hard, both from the friction of the gown and from
the excitement of my secret nudity.  I didn't think anyone could tell, not
from the distance anyone in the audience was from me.  In a few moments it
wouldn't matter, though.

   "...Above all, what I learned, and what I hope each of my classmates
learned, was that we should be honest with ourselves, and present ourselves
honestly to the world.  No secrets, no cover-ups..."

   In one swift motion I reached behind me, unzipped my gown, and let it
fall to the floor.  I was stark naked in front of my entire class and an
audience of several thousand people.  The audience could see me from my
breasts up; everything else was hidden by the podium.  My classmates,
however, could see my entire backside.  My long auburn hair cascaded down
my hourglass figure, stopping mid-back and leaving my round, full ass
completely exposed to them.  For a moment I felt as though I had left my
body and could see myself from the point of view of my classmates.

   There was a gasp, and a loud murmur, as hundreds of camera flashes went
off at once.

   "THIS is honesty," I said as I stepped out in front of the podium,
reveling my full frontal nudity to the crowd.  "THIS is innocence.  If
there is anything I have learned in my eighteen years, it's not to be
afraid of who I am, and to show that to the world!"

   As innocent as I claimed it was, the itch inside my moist sex was
growing exponentially.  My exposure to all of these people had itself
pushed me to near the brink of orgasm.  I had to run off, not out of
embarrassment but to find somewhere secluded - the girl's bathroom maybe -
where I could frig myself in private.

   I heard someone scream.  I turned to see some old lady making the same
piercing, high pitch scream over and over.

   My eyes popped open.  The scream I thought I heard turned out to be an
alarm clock.  I was in bed.  Only after turning off my alarm did I realize
that the graduation ceremony was actually a dream.  Commencement was next
week Tuesday, and I still needed to finish my speech.

   There were two aspects of the dream that were true to real life.  The
first was that I was indeed naked.  I had been sleeping in the raw most
nights since my first outdoor nude experience back in March.  In fact, most
of my time to myself (not that you get a lot of time to yourself when you
live with your parents and two siblings) I had spent au naturel.  Maybe I
was becoming a nudist, or at least an at-home-alone nudist.  Well, alone or
sometimes with my two friends, Sarah and Lana.

   The second aspect of my dream that was true to waking life was that I
was indeed horny nearly to the point of orgasm.  I had heard that guys
could cum in their dreams - wet dreams, I heard them called.  I wondered
what they dreamt about when they had them.  The thought of waking up in a
puddle made me snicker a bit.  Anyway, I thought maybe what I was
experiencing was something similar, but it hadn't quite gotten me there. 
Close...  oh, so close.

   I rubbed my legs together and could feel the slipperiness in between.  I
felt myself, and even my outer lips were wet and slick.  It wouldn't take
much.  I decided to go for it, and quickly, since I needed to shower and
get ready for school.  I pressed down on my clit and rubbed it firmly while
I pictured myself still nude in front of all of those people.

   That was all it took.  My back arched, my toes curled, and my legs
squeezed together, trapping my hand between them.  Heat and wetness washed
over my fingers as waves of pleasure washed over me.  In a few moments I
came back down to earth and my breathing returned to normal.  It wasn't
nearly as good as it could have been, but I didn't want to waste a lot of
time.

   I got out of bed and wiped my fingers off with some tissues.  I drew the
blinds to my window and leisurely stretched in front of it.  It was a
beautiful, sunny day in early June with deep blue skies.  I knew that
during the day, with my lights off, no one could see into my room.  I had
checked this a few weeks ago.  From the outside, it acted as a one-way
mirror.  I enjoyed seeing the bright outdoors and still imagined that all
the world was watching as I sensuously raised my hands above my head,
thrusting my tits up and out.

   It would be awesome to be out there nude, nothing coming between my skin
and the warmth and sunshine.  It was just a fantasy, though.  Oh, nothing
legally could prevent me from going out as I was.  But society would have
something else to say about it.  My parents.  Our neighbors.  Our pastor. I
had already started two summer jobs: one making subs, the other as an
occasional beat reporter for the local newspaper.  Would I be able to
continue either if my nudist tendencies became public knowledge?

   No, fantasies of outdoor nudity in broad daylight would have to remain
just that: fantasies.

   Back to reality.  I had to shower and get ready for school.  Should I
bother with the bathrobe?  I was enjoying being naked so much.  At the
hostel in Madison a few weeks back, I walked nude to the bathroom and back
and no one saw me.  No big deal.  That was in a public place.  This was
here, in my own home.  I should be able to walk to the bathroom in my own
home without covering up, shouldn't I?

   I opened my door and stepped into the hallway.  I had gotten two steps
out when the door to my parents' bedroom opened.

   "Julie!!" my dad shouted.

   "Eek!" I screamed, and went dashing down to the bathroom, slamming the
door behind me.

   I heard footsteps as my dad came down the hall.  "Julie, can you please
think about other people?  You mother and I don't care what you do when no
one else is around, but could you please show some consideration when we're
here?  Do you really want Jim or Janette to see you?" Jim and Janette are
my brother and sister.  Jim was in tenth grade and Janette was in seventh.

   Did Mom and Dad know about my nudist proclivities?  I honestly didn't
know.

   "I'm sorry, Dad," I said.  "I thought everyone else was asleep."

   "Just...  PLEASE...  cover up when other people are around?  Ok?"

   "Ok, Dad.  I'm sorry." I wasn't sorry.  I was annoyed, to tell you the
truth, aside from being embarrassed as well.  But this was my own home, and
I should be able to dress or not dress as I please.

   After my shower I wrapped a towel around me for the trip back to my
room.

   Later that day Lana, Sarah and I were walking home from school.

   "So are either of you going to the senior lock-in?" Sarah asked.

   "Senior lock-in?" Lana replied.  "We're all eighteen, not thirteen.  I
can think of better things to do on a Friday night than hang out at the Y
until six in the morning being 'chaperoned' by Holt and Teasdale.  I mean,
what's the point?"

   "I have to agree," I said.  "Why go?"

   "Well, there's the fun of hanging out, playing games, watching movies,
just shooting the shit with people you're never going to see again," said
Sarah.  "It's something to do."

   "There has to be something better to do on a Friday night," I said.

   "In this town?"

   "That's a good point," said Lana.  "I'm going to visit my mom down in
Alabama, though.  I leave Friday morning and won't be back until just
before graduation on Tuesday.  My last final is Thursday, and I've cleared
it with the school office to miss the rest of the school year.  Those last
few days are kinda pointless."

   "What about you, J.J.?" asked Sarah.  "What else are you going to do on
a Friday night?  Don't you want to blow off some steam?"

   "I'm still working on my speech," I pointed out.

   "Miss state forensics champion?  Honestly, J.J., you could just wing it
and be fine.  C'mon, it will be fun.  You're never going to see any of the
people again after Tuesday, so why not make some final memories we can take
with us to Madison?"

   Sarah was finally able to convince me to go to the lock-in with her. 
She was very excited about having her popular friends and me at the same
event.  I think it was important to her that we all got together at some
point before graduation.  That's typical of Sarah, bringing different sorts
of people together and finding common ground.  I wondered how much cajoling
it took to get her other friends to agree to go.

   I got to the lock-in Friday night at around 7 PM.  Already the pool and
locker rooms were open.  As I've mentioned before, I love swimming and I
love the water (even grossly over-chlorinated water), so the first thing I
did was take advantage of the open pool.  There were about fifteen girls in
the locker room when I got there, including Sarah and three of her friends;
Crystal, Brandi, and Tiffany (ugh, really, what cruel parents come up with
these names?).

   Sarah, as I've mentioned before, is around 173 cm like me, but unlike me
is very thin.  She has long, straight black hair and classic features that
looked stunning either in her "winter skin," which was pale white, or the
luxurious, deep tan she now sported.  Crystal, Brandi, and Tiffany were,
like Sarah, thin and gorgeous.  Both Crystal and Brandi were blondes,
although I had my doubts about Brandi's authenticity.  Tiffany was a
redhead, and by that I mean she had the reddest hair humanly possible.  It
was the color of a newly-minted penny.

   Sarah "introduced" me to her friends, which is kind of silly, since we
all had known each other since seventh grade.  I tried to make some sort of
smalltalk about where they were going to school after graduation (all three
were going to NIU), but aside from that their responses to me were so many
variations on "Whatever."

   Also there was Barbara Van Caster, co-valedictorian and girlfriend of
Jason Whitman, our star football player.  Barbara was the Whole Nine Yards
(or maybe the Whole Ten Yards?) - 178 cm (about five foot ten) with long,
cascading blonde hair that fell in layers down around her shoulders.  She
had blue eyes and a model-perfect face.  Her breasts were D-cup, her ass
was round and firm, a perfect "upside-down heart" without being too large,
and her legs went on forever.  She hadn't taken the tough advanced
placement courses I had, but her straight-A record after four years of high
school proved she had brains to back up her beauty.  Don't get me wrong: I
have no attraction to girls, but I knew Barbara was the complete package.
There was no point in being jealous of her; she was like a different
species of woman.  And besides, she was always warm and polite to everyone.

   "You're following Jason to NIU, right?" I asked Barbara as we were
getting undressed.  Despite being co-valedictorians, our paths never
crossed much.  I wasn't in choir, school play, Students Against Drunk
Driving, Teens Helping Teens, Art Club, or any of the other groups she
belonged to, and she wasn't in forensics.  So I really didn't know much
about her plans.

   "No, actually, I'm off to Urbana-Champaign," she said.  "They gave me a
full ride, since you're going out of state." UI gave full tuition to one
valedictorian from each high school in Illinois.  I managed to get full
tuition to UW, leaving the in-state benefit to Barb.

   "I'm glad things worked out that way for both of us," I said.

   I threw my bra and panties into my locker and carried my towel and
swimsuit to the showers.  By now, being nude in front of other women was no
big deal to me.  A few of the girls there saw me nude all the time after
gym, so it really seemed like no big deal.  Some girls, Sarah's friends
chief among them, gasped.

   "Um...  what are you doing?" Crystal asked.

   I pointed to the sign above the shower room: "All pool users must shower
without their swimsuits before entering the pool area."

   "Julia..."

   "Julie," Sarah corrected Crystal.

   "Julie, that sign is like, fifty years old.  And, like, duh, they use
chlorine in the pool, so it doesn't matter if you're perfectly clean. 
Jeez, I thought you were supposed to be the brain."

   I should mention that the YMCA was quite ancient, maybe dating back to
the 1950s, and seemed to be falling apart.  All around the locker room
concrete walls were crumbling away.  It made me wonder if the building was
structurally sound.

   As I began my pre-swim shower, one by one the other girls walked past
me, into the pool area.  Most of them were in one-piece suits, though I
noticed Sarah wore a string bikini.  Oh, it wasn't anything too racy or
revealing, but it was skimpier than anything else the other girls had,
including my own one-piece.

   One girl hadn't yet gone through the shower area, and that girl, or
woman, I really should say, now stood naked at the entrance of the showers.

   It was Barbara.

   "I just thought you shouldn't be the only one following the rules," she
said.

   I glanced at her for just a moment, trying to look like I wasn't
looking. She looked like a Playboy centerfold.  Her body was utterly
flawless.  Huge breasts that seemed to defy gravity.  A flat stomach that
led down to a neatly-trimmed bush.  Her pink pussy lips were clearly
visible just below her pubic hair.  I wondered if she shaved them.  Ok,
maybe I looked for more than just a moment, but I couldn't help it.  She
was what I figured must be every man's...  well, every man's wet dream. 
She was the type of woman kings would go to war over.

   Barbara used the shower next to mine.  She turned the water to hot and
leaned back into the stream, wetting her hair.  "How's your speech going?"
she asked.

   "I wrapped it up last night," I said as I rubbed the liquid body soap
all over my breasts and down my stomach.

   "Really?  I haven't started mine yet," Barbara said as she began to soap
herself up.

   "I didn't want it hanging over my head during the lock-in." I soaped up
my ass, which I suddenly felt was way too large standing next to Barbara. I
washed between my crotch and legs, and rubbed soap just enough over my
pussy to get clean there without giving the impression that I was playing
with myself.

   "I haven't really had time," Barbara said as she ran her soapy hands
down one long leg and then the other.  "Jason and I have been trying to
work things out, figure out how we're going to stay together come this
fall. I just...  I don't think it's going to work out.  I know I should be
more broken up about it, but we've both seen this coming, and we're trying
to enjoy the time we have either way."

   I could have told her about the pass Jason made at me a few weeks back,
but of course I realized that would be tactless and mean.  If they were
breaking up anyway, there was no reason she needed to know.  I chuckled to
myself, though, thinking it was a good thing Jason wasn't a quarterback:
his passing skills left much to be desired.  Ok, I know that was bad. 
Anyway...

   We both rinsed off and got our suits on.  Everyone else was in the pool
by this point.  Everyone except one guy, who emerged from the men's locker
room just after we did.  It was Tony, a guy in my Spanish class.  He was on
the swim team, and certainly had a swimmer's body.  His shoulders were
broad and muscular, his chest was beautifully sculpted, his waist was thin,
and he had a perfect six-pack.  And luckily for all the girls there, he
wore a Speedo.  I don't know about any of you ladies, but I just love the
look of a well-built man in a skimpy swimsuit.  The bulge in front was very
telling.

   "Hola, Antonio," I said.  "Como estás?"

   "Bien.  Muy bien, gracias, y tú?" he replied.  Ok, first-year stuff,
but we didn't really have anything else to say in English, let alone
Spanish..  I still enjoyed looking at him.  His eyes were dark, matching
his dark brown hair.  His skin was quite tan.  All over.  Did he go tanning
in those Speedos or was he always that dark?

   Tony dove into the pool, his muscular body stretching out and piercing
the surface of the water.  I watched him move effortlessly towards the
group of guys and girls standing around and talking towards the shallow
end. Barbara and I joined them.

   "Where's Jason?" I asked Barbara.  It turned out he was at some sort of
orientation in De Kalb for incoming NIU football players.

   We all fooled around in the water for a bit.  There were maybe ten guys
along with fifteen-or-so girls.  Someone had set up a net over the water,
and we played volleyball for a while.  Some people dove.

   Barbara nudged me when Tony was on the high board.  "Not bad, huh?" she
said.  "Look at those shoulders.  Look at that tight little butt!"

   I had never ogled guys with another girl, but I had to admit she was
right.  He was a sight to behold.  He was poetry in motion as jumped off,
did a somersault, stretched out, and entered the water with very little
splash.

   "Do you find yourself wishing that Speedo would slip right off of him
when he dives in the water like that?" Barbara commented.  I just laughed
nervously.  The idea got me excited, but I wans't really comfortable
talking this way in front of someone I didn't know all that well.  Besides,
I had always thought of Barbara as being very proper and poised, and
hearing such lewd comments from her caught me off-guard.  It did make me
wish I had been wearing my glasses.

   I swam over to Sarah, who was laughing it up and splashing around with
her snotty friends.

   "Did you and Busty Barb have a nice shower together?" asked Brandi. 
"Soap down each other's backs?  Wash each other's asses?  Of course, she'd
have to take a while doing yours."

   "Brandi, cut it out," Sarah said.

   "I'm sure she'd suck your cock if you had one," Tiffany said.

   "I heard she's secretly playing for the other team, if you catch my
drift," said Crystal.

   I should have been getting pissed off, but it takes a lot more than a
few bratty, stuck-up little bitches to faze me.  "Oh, trust me, she's
straight," I said.

   "She sure likes showering with girls a lot for someone who's straight,"
Crystal said.  "Of course, so does someone else I could mention."

   That stung a bit.

   "Yeah, who was it who, rumor has it, keeps pressuring her whole gym
class to shower nekkid with her?" Brandi added.

   I shot Sarah a dirty look to let her know how I felt about the company
she kept, and swam over to join a volleyball game in progress.

   Around 9 PM the lifeguard went off-duty for the night and Mr.  Holt came
into the pool area, encouraging us all to join everyone else.  They had
ordered pizza, and some games were being organized in the one of the gyms.
For those who felt like sitting around, someone had called up an Internet
stream of "Freddy vs.  Jason Part Seven: The Final Showdown," to be
projected on the wall of the other gym.

   We all went into our respective locker rooms to shower and change out of
our swimwear.  While we were all rinsing off, I started to think about
Crystal's and Brandi's lesbian insinuations.  It really pissed me off that
I couldn't be myself and go undressed without it being taken as some sort
of come-on.  And even if I were gay, what business was that to them?  I
decided to give Sarah's friends something to really be snide about.

   Right in front of all fifteen girls I peeled my swimsuit off, taking my
arms out and rolling it down to my waist.  For a moment I closed my eyes,
leaned my head back, and let the water splash over my bare breasts.  Then I
rolled my suit the rest of the way off and stepped out of it.  I could feel
all eyes in the room on me as I rinsed my suit in the shower and wrung it
out.  I played up the sensuousness of being naked and having hot water rain
down on my newly bare skin.

   Without so much as a towel, I walked across to the other side of the
locker room to get my shampoo and conditioner.  I take good care of my
hair, and I always make sure to wash the pool chlorine out when I go
swimming.  When I got back to the showers, everyone was still there, and
Barbara had removed her suit and was soaping herself up.  Two other girls
were also now nude.  Once again, it appeared I had started something.

   The two other girls were named Shannon and Emily.  Shannon was petite
and unassuming, with dirty blonde hair.  Emily was a bit taller and Asian.
I didn't have classes with either, so I didn't really know them.  I offered
my shampoo and conditioner to Shannon, Emily, and Barb, who were all
grateful, not having thought ahead.  We made smalltalk about school ending,
plans after graduation, and all that.

   While we were talking, I noticed a part of one of the walls where the
concrete looked to be nearly worn away.  It was off in a corner, and
probably went unnoticed.  Was it cracked all the way through?  I got me
wondering.

   One by one, the girls left the showers to get dressed.  I lingered
around, still naked, trying not to be noticed.  I had to check out that
crack in the wall.  After most of the other girls had either left or were
on the other side of the locker room chatting and getting dressed, I snuck
unnoticed back into the showers.  There it was: a very small hole in the
wall.  I peered through it and I could see right into the guys' showers!

   There were still two guys showering, but both had their trunks on. 
Damn. Yeah, I knew I shouldn't be peeping, but I figured the guys would do
the same thing if had they known about the hole in the wall.  Both guys
left, and I felt sorely disappointed.  But then, just as I was about to
give up and get dressed, in walked Tony in his Speedos.  He chose a shower
on the back wall of the shower room, so his side was facing me as he
showered.

   This could get interesting.  I went to my locker to get my glasses,
discovering that all the other girls had left.  I was alone.  I scrambled
back to the peep-hole in time to watch Tony washing his hair.  He used the
hand soap provided by the Y (ew!).  After rinsing his hair, he took a look
around himself.  He walked out of my field of vision and then back in. 
Facing me (lucky, lucky, lucky me!) he slid off his Speedos, revealing a
semi-hard, and very large, dick.  I thought Kai's was large but this looked
to be twice that size!

   Tony started soaping his face, then his neck and rock-hard arms.  Soon
his whole body glistened with sudsy water, accentuating every muscle of his
exquisite physique.  I found my own hands drifting all over my body as I
watched him.  I imagined they were his hands feeling me instead of my own.
After soaping up each leg, he moved to his package.

   It was at that point that it occurred to me that Tony was completely
shaved.  I wasn't accustomed to seeing nude men, and the fact that his
crotch was completely bare didn't dawn on me until just then.  It left no
detail of his penis and scrotum to the imagination.  It was all right
there. Skin that looked to be smooth as silk, and that was just as tan as
the rest of him.  Actually, his penis was an even darker shade.

   As he lovingly washed himself there, his...  well, his...  cock started
to stiffen and rise from his body.  He continued to wash his cock until it
stuck straight out from him, proud and stiff and straight.  And still he
kept washing it.  I figured it must be clean by n...

   Oh my...  he was masturbating.  He was jerking off, right there, in the
men's showers!

   He stopped for a moment and walked out of my view, then back in it.  He
seemed to be looking around, making sure no one was watching.  Heh, if only
he knew.

   Speaking of no one watching, I ran out of the women's shower room to
make a last, quick check that no one else was in the locker room. 
Satisfied (well, not yet satisfied, but at least assured that I was still
alone), I returned to watching the Tony Show.

   He was now going at it in earnest, his hand a blur up and down his hard,
dark rod.  His head was thrown back in ecstasy.  As I watched him, my hand
moved quickly to my pussy.  I rubbed and stroked myself, trying to match
Tony's rhythm as he jacked himself off.

   I saw his pace slow down, so I slowed down with him.  He was now focused
on the tip of his cock, grabbing it in his fist and then slowly moving his
fist down from the tip to the base of the shaft.  I could tell that the tip
must have been the part that gave him the most pleasure.  He kept doing
this, while I rubbed circles around my clit with one hand and felt my
breasts with my other.  My tits aren't that sensitive, at least not any
more than most women's, but it gets me off to imagine that a man is
fondling them, deriving pleasure from my body.  And right now I imagined it
was Tony feeling me up.

   As he slowly stroked himself...  again, and again, and again...  I
pretended this was a private show he was putting on.  A show just for me. I
fantasized that it was my body that was turning him on like this and making
him have to jack off.  I kept right on working my clit, feeling the sexual
pressure inside me grow, and grow, and grow...

   Tony made a funny face, and grunted...  oh God, he was cumming!  It
wasn't how I expected it to look.  I always pictured something like a
champaign bottle popping, with tons of frothy stuff coming out.  It wasn't
like that.  In fact, with the shower water everywhere, I couldn't even see
any actual jizz.  But it was unmistakable what was happening.  I couldn't
believe it!  He stopped stroking and his hand just clutched his huge, angry
cock.

   And then the dam broke inside my loins.  My body started to shake, my
knees went weak, and I started hyperventilating.  Oh, God, this was going
to be huge...  I clutched myself and leaned back against the wall.  My
fingernails dug into my leg.  Then powerful surges of pleasure hit me,
one...  after another...  after another...  I sank to the floor of the
showers, too weak to stand.  I stifled a scream as my orgasm shook my body
for well over a minute.  With my eyes scrunched closed and a rushing sound
in my ears, my entire senior class could have come into the room at that
moment, and I would have had no idea they were there.

   Luckily, when I opened my eyes I was still alone.

   The shower floor felt cold against my bare ass.  Still panting, I slowly
got up and looked over again at the hole in the wall.  Tony was gone.

   In the haze of afterglow I got dressed and went to look for Sarah.  I
ran into Barb in the game room and she asked me if I'd like to join her,
Shannon and Emily for a game of darts.  I asked if she minded Sarah joining
us, and she got an unreadable look on her face.

   "I...  sure, I don't mind if Sarah plays with us.  I think she and her
friends are watching the movie, though."

   "It's such a challenged movie," I said.  (Yeah, I know using
"challenged" like that isn't politically correct, but we all used to talk
like that, so sue me.) "I can't see Sarah getting that into it."

   The movie was being projected onto a full wall in the gym.  There were
maybe thirty people watching, though not paying much attention.  I heard a
lot of chatter, including one of the guys complaining about all the quality
loss they were suffering by showing the movie on a projector that could
only manage a 10,000-pixel-high picture.  Guys and their tech, I tell ya.

   Finally after scanning the dark room I found Sarah with her three
friends.  They all shot me dirty looks as I sat down next to her.

   "Hey," I whispered.  "Wondering if you guys wanted to play darts?"

   "Who with?" Sarah asked.

   "Well, there's Barbara, and..."

   "No thanks," Sarah said.

   "What, you'd rather stay here and watch..."

   "Yep," Sarah said.  "You go ahead and play.  I'm sure you'll have just a
'perfect' time."

   What the fuck?

   "Fine," I said.  "Whatever.  Catchya later."

   In a huff, I left Sarah and her shithead friends and joined Barb,
Shannon, and Emily in a game of 501.  We talked some more about college
while we played.  Barb was going to study chemical engineering, which I
found interesting given she didn't take any advanced placement in science
that year.

   "I wanted to have fun my last year of school," she said.  "Classes will
always be there, and quite frankly, I'll learn chemistry better in a
college setting than in high school.  I believe in finding balance, and I
can't live a balanced life if all I'm doing is academics.  I wouldn't be
nearly as close to Shannon, for example, if I hadn't been in Art Club with
her.  Or with Emily if I hadn't been part of Teens Helping Teens."

   I hadn't even known Barbara was friends with Emily and Shannon. 
Actually, I still wasn't sure what Teens Helping Teens even was!  I had
been so busy achieving academically I hadn't paid attention to the world
around me.

   For a couple of hours at least, we just hung out and played games.  I
learned that Emily was going to UIC (Illinois-Chicago), and Shannon was
going to a small private school in Indiana.  Tony joined us in a game of
billiards, rotating every other turn with Shannon and Barb.  The way he
handled his cue, moving it in and out of his hand as he set up for a shot,
I couldn't help but be reminded of how he handled his own stick.

   Pretty as he was, he didn't have a lot to say.  I did enjoy the fact
that I could picture his nude body underneath his clothes.  He wore a very
stylish silk shirt and tight pair of black pants that complimented his legs
perfectly.  I could see his bare ass, tight and sinuey, when he leaned over
to make a shot.  And when he turned to face me, I could see his dick, long
and swinging between his legs.

   Needless to say, I enjoyed our game quite a bit!

   When I was off alone grabbing a slice of cold pizza, Sarah approached
me. She was also alone.

   "Listen, J.J., I..."

   "What?  Find a moment to spare from your popular friends?" I snapped.

   "I'm sorry," she said, "it's just..."

   "Just what?  Those assholes finally convince you I wasn't worth your
time?"

   "Oh for cripes sakes, Julie, you know, not everything is about you!" she
shouted.  Then, more quietly, "Let's find somewhere private."

   We went into an aerobics room and sat on the hardwood floor.

   "If you want to hang out with Barbara Van Caster, it's fine by me.  But
don't expect me to join you," she said.

   "What's wrong with Barbara?"

   "She's fake.  She's a fucking phony, and I don't want anything to do
with her.  Everyone thinks she's so nice and considerate and and wonderful
to other people and children and small animals.  Well...  well I know a
different side."

   Sarah sighed.  I looked around me.  The exit lights, the only lights in
the room, gave it an eerie, red glow.  With mirrors on all four walls, it
looked like we were on an infinite hardwood plane, with infinite copies of
ourselves spaced at regular intervals.  I looked again at Sarah.

   "Barbara and I met at the start of high school," she said.  "We both
made friends very easily, and rose the 'popularity charts' quickly.  Like
she is with everyone, she was all warm and kind and caring towards me.  I
was really scared coming out of middle school - I mean we all were - but
Barb made me feel better about it.  Made me feel less scared."

   "I remembered you two used to hang out a lot together when you were with
your 'popular' friends," I said.

   "Oh, you noticed," she said flatly.  "Anyway, early sophomore year, by
then, we were like this," Sarah held up a hand with her index and middle
fingers crossed, "and...  something happened."

   Sarah stopped and stared off into the distance of our infinite plane.

   "What happened?" I said.  "I know you stopped hanging out, but you never
said a word to me about it." I hadn't even thought about it until now.  I
never really gave much regard to Sarah's other friendships, I mean, other
than Lana and me.

   "Barb was dating this senior guy, a real rebel type, you know with the
one-sleeve shirt and the horned-rimmed glasses and the silver chains?  The
whole ball-o-wax.  And, well, she...  did something with him.  And was
feeling kinda cheap, being only fifteen and all.  So she confided in me. 
In me alone."

   Given one of the things Barb was known for, I could probably guess what
she and her boyfriend had done.

   "Anyway," she continued, "a few weeks later I was comforting another
friend in a similar predicament.  I wanted to make her feel like she wasn't
so alone.  So I..."

   "You DIDN'T?"

   Sarah stated crying.  "It just came out.  I didn't MEAN to!  The moment
I told her about Barbara, I knew I fucked up, and wished I could take it
back.  I BEGGED the other girl not to say anything to anyone, that it was a
secret.  Well, within a week, the whole school knew."

   "And Barbara?" I asked.

   "Barbara dropped me from her life.  I spent the whole rest of the school
year - MONTHS - begging her to forgive me and take me back as a friend. 
She wouldn't even acknowledge me.  I had 'ruined her reputation' and that
was all there was to it."

   "Well," I said, "that was a pretty big fuck-up.  That's not the sort of
shit you share with others.  Not when it's in confidence."

   "FUCK!  Don't you think I KNOW that?!  Rich, YOU lecturing ME on social
graces." Ouch.  "But look at it from my perspective.  I made one little
slip.  And Barbara, 'perfect' Barbara wouldn't let it go.  Because of her
stupid fucking 'reputation.' That's why I say, she's all show.  She's fake.
She cares more about her reputation than about friendship.  And you know
what that means?  It means that everything she does - her politeness, her
community service, her seeming to give a shit - it's so everyone will say
how much of a fucking wonderful person she is, not because she really cares
or anything."

   "I think you're jumping to conclusions," I said.

   "The HELL I am."

   "I didn't even know you two were that close."

   "Well, you wouldn't, would you?" Sarah snapped at me.  "You never pay
attention to anything that doesn't concern you."

   I was starting to get really pissed at her.  "And what about those three
little bitches you hang out with?  You say you can't stand Barbara because
she only cares about her reputation, so how can you stand those shallow,
trite, backbiting..."

   "Because they're REAL," Sarah said.  "Because they don't pretend to be
one thing when they're really another.  And they're not always like that,
like how they were acting around you.  They act like that because of
narrow-minded people like you who assume that because they're popular and
they're pretty, they must be shallow and bitchy.  It's a...  what do they
call it?  A self-fullfilling prophesy.

   "Do you know why some people are really popular?" she asked me.

   "Because they're pretty and good at sports or cheerleading," I said.

   "NO!  Because they take the time to get to know other people, and pay
attention to what's happening around them.  Take...  uh...  take Jill
Thompson: overweight, heavy brow, not really all that physically appealing.
Only made J.V.  in volleyball and basketball.  And yet she's one of the
most popular girls in the school."

   "She's not 'one of the most popular...'"

   "She was voted homecoming queen!" Sarah shouted.  "Class secretary.  You
think that was because she was pretty?  It's because if you were having a
bad day, or were going through something painful, Jill would be the first
person at your side, helping you get through it.  Whether she knew you all
that well or not.  And she doesn't do it because she craves popularity, or
attention, or reputation.

   "Now you, you're really pretty..."

   "Not really," I said.

   "Oh, don't give me that, J.J.," Sarah scolded.  "You're just about the
prettiest girl in the school.  But you're not popular, and you only have a
handful of close friends.  It's not because you're a bad person.  You're
really a wonderful person and a great friend.  But you're...  you're
unapproachable.  And you're not INVOLVED in the lives of others.  That's
the difference."

   I knew it wasn't as simple as that.  This was the rose-tinted view of
high-school popularity from the perspective of someone who was popular. 
People like Jill Thompson were the exception, not the rule.  And if you
want to talk about male popularity, no skinny-ass, nonathletic math geek
had ever been popular in the history of adolescence, no matter how outgoing
he was, or how often he offered his shoulder to cry on.

   But back to Barbara...

   "Did you try to reconcile things with Barbara after sophomore year?" I
asked.

   "By that point I didn't want to," Sarah said.  "If she wasn't willing to
forgive, I wasn't willing to be her friend."

   "I bet she's forgiven you by now, if you'd just give her a chance.  She
wanted you to join us tonight to play games."

   "Whatever."

   "Maybe we could all get together and do something," I suggested.

   "We're not children anymore.  We're adults.  And you can't just make a
two-year-old problem go away in one night," she said.

   "No, but we can still have some fun, and put those differences aside," I
said.

   Sarah gave me a skeptical look.

   "I had this idea," I said.  "I've had it since we all left the pool.  I
don't think anyone locked the pool entrance from the locker room when the
lifeguard went off-duty.  And I was thinking we could all go back in..."

   "We've all been swimming already," said Sarah.

   "Yes, we have...  but...  we all wore swimsuits that time."

   Sarah's eyes widened.  The anger and sadness over Barbara seemed to melt
away.  "J.J., sweetie, you're not suggesting..."



   The Nude Pioneer Ch.  03b

   It's fun to play at the...  Y...M...C...A!

   Sarah stared at me in the empty aerobics classroom.  She knew what I was
going to suggest, but was waiting for me to say it.

   "Ever since our weekend in Madison," I said, "I've been wondering when
I'd get another chance to swim naked.  The feeling is incredible.  But..."

   "But you don't want to do it alone," Sarah said, anticipating where I
was going.

   "Well, no.  I mean, if I'm alone and I get caught, who knows what
they'll think of me.  Or what they'll do to me if I get caught by the wrong
person," I said.  "But if it's a group of girls skinny dipping..."

   "...then it's just a bunch of friends having a lark.  Gotcha."

   "So I'm going to get Barb, and Shannon, and Emily, and see if they'd
like to check if the pool is still unlocked, and do one last wild thing
before graduation.  Will you join us?" I asked.

   "Nope," Sarah said, folding her arms.

   "Oh come on!  Why not?"

   "Because I'm not like you," Sarah said.  "I can't...  do what you do. 
For example, I can't imagine just chilling out in front of my friends buck
naked like you always do."

   "But you've been naked in front of other people before.  You've been
naked in front of your boyfriends," I pointed out.

   "Well, yes and no.  I mean, with the guys I've dated we just...  oh,
God, I can't believe I'm talking about this with you...  we just quickly
strip off in the dark and get into bed.  I've never, like, just stood in
front of someone with everything all out in the open.  So, doing that in
front of a bunch of women, that's just not normal."

   "You think I'm not normal?" I asked.

   "No, not really, Naked Girl," she said with a smile.

   "What about Barb?" Sarah's expression soured at the mention of her name.
"What about Emily and Shannon?  They didn't have any problem being nude in
front of other women."

   "That's different.  You were showering."

   "So?"

   "That's one of the things you get naked for," Sarah said.  "In my mind,
you get naked for two things: to take a shower, and to have sex.  And since
I don't really need a shower right now, and I'm not that interested in sex
with a bunch of women, the idea of just getting nekkid is a little weird."

   "Why can't swimming be something you normally do naked?" I asked.

   "Get serious."

   "I am serious," I said.  "I mean, what's the point of a swimsuit,
anyway? You get in the water, it gets wet.  Then when you get out you're
walking around in this wet thing that provides no warmth.  In fact, all it
does is conduct heat away from your body and keep you damp longer than if
you wore nothing.  It makes no sense to me."

   "So you think everyone should swim naked?" asked Sarah.

   "What do you think people did before they had swimsuits?"

   "Um...  not go swimming?" Sarah suggested.

   "My grandpa told me that, back when he was in high school, when the boys
did swimming in gym, they did it without suits."

   "You mean STARK FUCKING NAKED?!" Sarah shouted in disbelief.

   I nodded.

   Sarah got a distant look on her face.  "I just had the most splendid
vision form in my head." I had to giggle at that.

   "So, are you in?" I asked.

   "No.  I just can't," she said.  But then, after a sigh and a pause,
"Well, maybe I could, but you would have to agree to do something in
return."

   This could be trouble.  "It depends on what it is," I said.

   "Well, you know that dream you told me about?  The one where you're
giving your speech at graduation, and you take off your gown and you're
naked in front of everyone?"

   "No." I said.  "No fucking way, Sarah.  Think about it.  That's in front
of everyone in the class.  My parents.  The whole community.  I'd be
disowned.  I'd never be able to return to town again."

   "Fine then.  You can skinny dip without me."

   "Sarah!"

   Sarah just sat there with her arms crossed.

   "Sarah, all I'm asking you to do is be naked for a short time, with just
with a few people who are also naked.  What you're asking me to do would
end my life as I know it.  Can't you see that's a bit disproportionate?"

   "Well, I'm very shy.  You obviously are not."

   "Can't you think of something else?" I pleaded.

   Sarah sighed again.  "Ok...  If I agree to go nude with you, you and I
both go to Lake Winnetonga."

   "What's so special about Lake Winnetonga?" I asked.

   "Have you been living under a rock?  Oh, that's right, you have." I shot
her a dirty look.  "Lake Winnetonga State Park has a clothing-optional
stretch of beach established by naturists...  you know, nudists?  They did
that several years ago.  You and I go there together.  You have to get
naked the moment we get there, we spend all day there, and you can't get
dressed until we leave."

   "Will you be naked too?" I asked.

   "HELL no!  You're the one who likes to be nude, not me.  Besides, my end
of the deal is I'm getting naked now.  So, what do you say?"

   It didn't take me long to think it over.  I had been fantasizing about
enjoying the sun and warm air in the buff for a while now, but I knew that
under normal circumstances it was inpossible without facing a lot of nasty
consequences.  But in an environment where nudity was tolerated?  Where no
one I knew would see me?  And where there might be cute naked guys to look
at?  The idea still made me a little scared, but not nearly as much as it
made me excited.  "Fair enough," I said.  We each spat in our hands and
shook on the deal.

   As we left the room to find Barb, Shannon, and Emily, Sarah added, "Oh,
one more thing.  If I can get Crystal, Brandi, and Tiffany to go naked as
well, will you agree to do something else?"

   I was annoyed Sarah was trying to amend our pact, right after we had
agreed.  "What?" I said flatly.

   "Getting back to your graduation dream..."

   "SARAH!  I told you, there's no way possible!"

   "Wait," she said.  "Hear me out: If all three of them agree to skinny
dip, you have to go though the entire graduation ceremony in your cap,
gown, and shoes...  and nothing else."

   That was a bit more realistic.  The idea of being secretly naked under
my gown got my juices flowing...  and no one had to know but Sarah and me.
It still had its risks, but frankly, the chances that Sarah could have
gotten Crystal, Tiffany, AND Brandi all to strip off seemed less than nil.
Especially given their reaction to my showering nude in front of everyone
earlier that evening.  I agreed to the deal.

   Passing through the lobby, I noticed that Mr.  Holt was sound asleep on
a couch.  We looked in a game room and saw Mrs.  Teasdale similarly
comatose.  Some chaperones.  It was after 1 AM at this point, so I suppose
it was getting late for the old folks to stay up.

   We found Barbara, Shannon, and Emily still playing pool with Tony.  I
whispered our idea to Barb, who shared it with the other two.  It didn't
take them a whole lot of convincing.  Barb practically jumped at the idea,
which got a raised eyebrow out of Tony, who didn't know what we were
whispering about.

   I secretly wished we could share our plans with Tony, but I knew the
other girls would never agree to go naked with a guy around.

   "...and Sarah will be there as well?" Barb asked with apprehension in
her voice.

   "Yep, Sarah too," I said.  Barb got a bit of a shy smile for a moment,
but then stared at her feet.  Both she and Sarah stood there awkwardly for
a moment.

   "We'll meet you down in the women's locker room in a few minutes," Emily
said.  "There are a few other girls I think'll be interested." Then, she
added, "It is just girls, right?"

   "Oh, yeah, of course," I said, secretly disappointed.  I looked at Tony
who, oblivious to our conversation, simply looked disappointed that their
game was getting cut short.

   Sarah and I went to find her three friends.  We found them up in a
stairwell outside the indoor track, which was a level above the gym, but
looked down on it.  They all had plastic cups of soda, and were huddled
together, just chatting.

   "Hey, Sarah, hey Shower Girl," Tiffany, the redhead, said.

   "You wait here," Sarah said.  "I'll do the convincing."

   I stayed at the bottom of the stairwell while Sarah whispered to her
friends.  Aside from a "No way!!" I couldn't make out anything they were
saying.  Finally, after a few minutes, all four came down.

   "They agree," Sarah said.  And then she whispered, "And just in case it
comes up, this whole thing is my idea, not yours.  Otherwise I don't think
they would have agreed."

   We started making our way down two floors to the locker room.  I
whispered back to Sarah, "How did you convince them, anyway?"

   "Let's just say that each of them owes me, and now that school's done,
I'm cashing in." She wouldn't elaborate on that, and I decided not to press
her.

   We got to the locker room to find it was already occupied by five naked
girls.  There was Barbara, still looking stunning and flawless, despite her
hair not being done since the last swim; Emily, who was Chinese, with
shoulder-length black hair, small breasts, and a sparse patch of jet-black
pubic hair that contrasted with her rather pale skin; Shannon, brunette and
petite, with conical breasts that jutted out and were capped with large
dark pink nipples.  They didn't look as though they were anywhere near done
developing, despite the fact that she was eighteen.

   The other two girls were both in my gym class.  Natalie was black, a bit
shorter than me, but with a very curvy and very muscular body (for a girl).
Her skin was an even chocolate color all over, and the effect was quite
amazing.  Her butt and thighs looked especially firm and muscular. 
Finally, there was Jill Thompson, the class secretary, who was very popular
in spite of being rather heavy set.  Her body was barrel-shaped and she had
definite folds around parts of her figure, but she didn't seem bothered in
the least at there being more shapely, attractive girls around her.

   I scanned all of them in a matter of seconds, all while trying not to
look like I was doing so.  I knew I shouldn't have looked, but curiosity
got the better of me.

   Nonchalantly, I took off all my clothes and tossed them in a nearby
locker.  Sarah and her three friends said they were going to go find
lockers of their own and change into their swimsuits.

   "Swimsuits?" I said.  "I thought..."

   "We just, you know, need time to get used to...  this," Brandi said,
gesturing towards the six of us.

   We six left the others to go into the pool.  Nobody took a shower, since
we all had done so a few hours earlier.  We all immediately jumped into the
lap lanes.

   "Oh wow," said Natalie, "This is incredible!" She swam underwater for a
bit, surfacing about a quarter of the way down the lane.  "I feel like a
fish!" The other girls made similar comments about the freedom of swimming
nude.

   I looked around me.  All of the lights were on.  There were no outdoor
windows into the pool, only skylights, far above.  There were observation
bleachers for swim meets and a window behind them.  I'm wasn't even sure
how you get to the pool observation room, and I doubted any of the other
students would be up there.

   A few minutes later, Sarah, Tiffany, Brandi, and Crystal all came out in
their swimsuits.  Sarah wore her string bikini, and the other three were in
more conservative two-piece outfits (I think they were the only girls at
the lock-in who weren't in one-pieces earlier).  I watched Sarah, her hands
trembling, reach behind her and untie her top.  She took it off and lay it
on a bench.  Her bare breasts were a shocking white, in contrast to the
deep tan of the rest of her body.  They were quite small, maybe an A-cup,
but her obvious tan lines emphasized them all the same.  Her bright pink
nipples stood out in contrast, small but obviously very stiff.  She turned
away from everyone and removed her bottoms, revealing a similarly pale ass.
Then she quickly streaked over to the pool and jumped in.

   The other three girls all jumped in with their swimsuits on, eliciting
groans of disapproval from everyone else.

   "Well, I guess I'm off the hook for graduation," I said to Sarah.

   "Just wait," she said.

   One by one, Tiffany, Brandi, and Crystal all took off their tops and set
them on the edge of the pool.  Then all three dipped in water slightly and
removed their bottoms, which they also tossed up on the pool's edge.

   "That hardly counts," I said.

   "Hey, they are naked, aren't they?"

   I splashed Sarah, and she responded by splashing me back.  In the
process, Brandi got hit with water and she retaliated by waving her entire
arm across the surface, hitting several others.  Next thing we knew, we
were, all ten of us, laughing and splashing one another and having a great
time.

   "You were right, Sar, this was a great idea," Tiffany said to Sarah. 
"It feels so good...  and so naughty."

   "Hey, where's the sauce?" Brandi, the blonde, asked.

   "Tiff, you were supposed to bring it over," said Crystal, the other
blonde among Sarah's three friends.

   "I left it in my locker," Tiffany said.

   "Well, go get it!" Crystal told her.

   Tiffany was about to grab her bottoms from the edge of the pool when she
said, "Ah, fuck it.  What's the point anyway?" and climbed out of the pool
without bothering to put anything on.  As she walked towards the locker
room, her bright red hair clung to her thin, glistening wet body.  Most of
her skin was a ghostly white - paler than Sarah in mid-winter.  Her arms
and legs were a bit freckled and tan, though.

   A few minutes later Tiffany returned with a two-liter bottle of Coke in
one hand and a stack of plastic cups in the other.  What really shocked me,
though, was when I took a quick glance between her legs.  Just like Tony,
she was shaved completely bare!  The snow-white skin of her flat stomach
just continued right on, uninterrupted, into her bald mound.  And besides
being completely shaved, her prominent inner labia protruded from her outer
lips.  I couldn't imagine walking around with so much of my sex blatantly
on display.  I thought about what I would look like shaved.  Would my inner
lips show?  Would my clit stick out when I got excited?

   I shook myself out of my daydream.  From the edge of the pool I shouted
to Tiffany, "You went all the way back to your locker to get soda?"

   Sarah, Brandi, and Crystal all turned towards me.  Brandi and Crystal
started laughing.  Even Sarah was snickering.

   "Yeah, Julie," Brandi said.  "She went to grab some soda."

   "Hey Tiff, why don't you pour Shower Girl a big cup of 'soda'!" Crystal
shouted.

   Sarah giggled at me, then put her arm around my shoulders.  "J.J., I'm
sorry, I love you girl, but you can be SO naive sometimes."

   Tiffany set the soda bottle and cups at the edge and jumped back in the
water.  She filled a cup about half full and handed it to me.  I took a
sip. It tasted like Coke-flavored nail polish remover.

   Ah.

   Sarah whispered to me, "Take it easy with that stuff.  It's probably
more than half rum."

   I took another small sip.  I could barely get to it, it was so strong
and astringent.  "I don't think I'll be able to drink it all that fast
anyway."

   Tiffany offered cups to everyone there, and most of the girls took her
up on it.  Natalie and Jill got out of the water to set up the volleyball
net again.  I watched them as they walked over to the equipment closet. 
They both walked very gingerly, sort of on their tiptoes, like they were
sneaking about.  It was amusing to me how being naked seemed to affect the
way people walked.  They also seemed a bit uncomfortable getting each side
of the net in place.  They were clearly not at ease just doing ordinary
things in the nude.  As soon as the net was in place, Natalie and Jill
immediately jumped in the water.

   We had a blast playing nude water-volleyball.  I don't think it was a
very competitive game, and as a lot of us started to feel the effects of
the alcohol, the volleys got shorter and shorter.  I only got a little bit
into my cup, and I could feel myself stop caring so much about winning
every point.

   Just as Natalie was about to serve from the shallow end, the door from
the men's locker room opened.  Shannon noticed first, and squealed.  We all
swung our heads around to see Tony standing there with a towel wrapped
around his waist.  All of the players on the shallow side of the net were
exposed from the breasts up, and Natalie, back at the shallowest point,
almost from the crotch up.  Several more girls shrieked as everyone quickly
sank into the pool to cover themselves.

   "He must have figured out what we were up to," Sarah whispered to me. 
"I guess he's smarter than he looks."

   Several of us swam towards the edge of the pool, where Tony was
standing.

   "You ladies aren't..."

   "Skinny dipping?  Yeah," Barbara said.  "How did you figure it out?"
Then she added, coyly, "You didn't see any of our private bits, did you?"

   Tony blushed through his tan.  "Yeah, maybe a bit.  But, well, I was
wondering if...  maybe I could join you?"

   "You realize you'll have to be just as naked as we are," Sarah said.

   "I assumed I would," Tony said with a grin, and reached to undo his
towel.

   Shannon quickly figured out what he was about to do and screamed.  All
heads turned towards her.  "I'm sorry everyone...  I just can't deal with
this.  PLEASE, can Tony just, like, go back and give me a chance to leave?"

   Emily, hiding in the water very close to the edge of the pool and with
her arms wrapped around herself, added, "It's no offense, Tony, it's just,
we're not all comfortable with this."

   "Anyone else need to leave?" Barb asked.  There was silence.  "Ok, Tony,
you can join us, but first prove you have at least a shred of decency by
letting Shannon and Emily leave.  Go into the men's locker room and count
to 100."

   Tony nodded and turned to walk back to the locker room.

   "You better be naked under that towel!" Sarah shouted at him.  I turned
to her and grinned.

   After Emily and Shannon had left, we shouted for Tony.  "Tony!  You can
come out now!" I wondered if the rest our classmates there at the Y would
hear us.  I think discretion was starting to fly out the window as we
became more and more intoxicated.  I know I felt different.  I felt
looser...  freer...  somewhat giddy.

   Tony emerged in his towel.  "Well, here goes nothing," he said,
unwrapping himself and tossing his towel on a bench.

   We all erupted in catcalls and cheers.  "Nice package!" Jill shouted.

   He was absolutely beautiful and flawless, from his dark eyes, square
jaw, broad shoulders, muscular chest, six-pack abs, and sinewy legs.  He
was by no means beefy, just well-defined and very, very manly.  And of
course, there was his completely bald package.  His dick I guessed in my
lack of experience was completely soft, yet still it hung down,
impressively long and thick.

   "He looks like a little boy," Tiffany whispered.

   "There's nothing 'little' about him," Brandi said.  "And besides, if he
looks like a little boy, you look like a little girl." Tiffany turned
bright red at the mention of her personal grooming.

   Tony jumped in the pool, and Tiffany poured him a cup of booze.  For a
few moments there was awkward silence, as none of us really knew how to
interact.  There really isn't a good social protocol for a mixed group of
naked eighteen-year-olds.

   "I could tell he was hung in those Speedos," Sarah whispered to me, "but
I never would have guessed he was shaved!"

   "Oh, I knew," I blurted out.  Stupid rum.

   Sarah stared at me.  "Ok, how did you know that?"

   "Oh, just a guess.  Hey, I'll race you to the other side of the pool," I
said, trying to change the subject.

   "Tell me.  I want to know how you knew he was shaved."

   I sighed.  We got a good distance from the other girls and I told her
about the hole between the locker rooms, and about how I watched him
shower. I left out the detail of my pleasuring myself, but I did tell her
about how I watched him jack off.  Sarah's eyes went wide, but her
expression quickly turned to one of indignation.

   "I can't believe you.  I just can't believe a friend of mine would do
something like this," she said.

   We were both silent for a moment.  "I'm...  I'm sorry," I said.

   "I want you to listen to me, and listen carefully.  The next time you
are in a position like this, where an opportunity arises to watch a hot guy
shower and play with himself...  are you listening?"

   "Yeah, I'm listening," I said with fear in my voice.

   "When that opportunity arises," she continued, "and I am ANYWHERE
nearby, you are to FUCKING FIND ME SO I CAN WATCH TOO!!"

   Relieved at not being chewed out for being a Peeping...  Tammy, I
laughed out loud.  Soon we were both laughing hysterically and splashing
one another with water.

   As we calmed down, I said, "Still, though, I feel like I should let him
know I was watching.  I mean, should I?"

   "Only you can know what is right for you," Sarah said in a
mock-Eastern-mystic sort of voice.

   Jill suggested we start up a new game of volleyball.  "We don't have
even teams, though," Natalie pointed out.

   "Tony could switch sides every point," Crystal suggested.  No one was
really fond of that idea.

   "I'll referee," I said, getting out of the water.  Secretly I wanted to
show off the fact that I wasn't afraid to be naked out in the open.  Also,
I liked the idea of Tony being able to see my entire body.

   For some reason the girls insisted Tony play on the shallow side of the
net.  He was teamed with Tiffany, Crystal, and Natalie, who were the least
experienced at volleyball.  When he was back to serve, the base of his dick
would rise out of the water.  I think he won several points on serve simply
because the girls on the other team were watching him and not the ball. 
Meanwhile, Tony missed several easy volleys while taking quick glances at
me.

   A ways into the game, another girl emerged from the lockers.  It was
Susan, a girl I knew from forensics.  She was tall, thin, and very pale,
with medium brown hair that she wore down over her shoulders.  She had a
long face, with a large nose and thick, red lips.  She was completely naked
already, not even bothering to carry a towel with her.  There was nothing
particularly wonderful about her body that I could see, other than that she
was thin.  She had very small breasts, and not much in the way of hips or
ass.  But she carried herself with an icy confidence as she approached the
volleyball game.

   "It looks like you need someone to even out the teams," she told me.  No
mention of how she knew there were nine naked seniors in the pool to begin
with.

   "Where's Bill?" I asked.  Bill was Susan's boyfriend, an unassuming
sandy-haired kid.  I think Susan mainly liked Bill because he was easy to
push around.  He was also a senior, and I was pretty sure I saw the two of
them together earlier in the evening.

   Susan rolled her eyes.  "Oh, who knows, off in some corner of the
building with Jake and Gary, I guess."

   We decided I'd play on the shallow side, and Susan would take the deep
side.  Jumping back in, I found myself just a bit disappointed that Tony
couldn't see all of me anymore.

   While we finished up the game, I noticed Barbara and Susan spending a
lot of time whispering to one another.  After the game both of them swam
over to me.

   "We've decided we're going to try to get a 'rise' out of Tony, if you
know what I mean," Susan said.

   "Um...  I think so," I replied.

   "Susan here thinks he might be..." Barb made a limp-wristed gesture. 
"But I disagree.  So we've decided to find out."

   I raised an eyebrow in response.

   At this point, several of the girls and Tony had decided to do some
diving.  Natalie was especially talented at it: I saw her leap straight up
from the low board, do a double flip, and straighten out into the water. 
Tony responded with a fancy dive of his own.  It was so elegant, seeing the
nude human body engaged in such physical artistry.  Olympic diving really
ought to be done in the nude.

   I saw both Crystal and Brandi out of the water for the first time. 
Crystal was definitely a genuine blonde, but my suspicions about Brandi
dyeing her hair were confirmed.  She had a neatly trimmed, but very dark
patch of pubic hair.

   Barb and Susan got out of the water and both confidently strode towards
the diving boards.  They were quite a pair, almost exactly the same height,
but Barb with a warm, luscious body and light tan skin, and Susan with her
harsh, thin, curveless body and pink-toned, icy pale skin.

   They chatted with Tony for a few seconds, but I couldn't understand what
they were saying.  Then, suddenly, the two women faced one another and
started kissing!  Susan ran her hands through Barbara's hair, and Barbara
wrapped her arms around Susan's thin waist.  They affectionately smacked
lips together for about thirty seconds.  Tony gaped, open-mouthed, but his
dick made not a twitch.  The girls made a friendly wave at him, jumped back
in the water, and swam back towards me.

   By that point everyone in the pool had seen what had gone on.

   "I told you he was gay," Susan said to Barb.

   "Just because he didn't get turned on at two women kissing?" I asked.

   They both looked at me like I was from another planet.

   "Here, let me try," I said, and climbed out of the water.  I waited for
Tony to emerge from his latest dive.

   "Hola, Julia," Tony said to me.  His hard, dripping-wet naked body was
just divine.  He might have had the personality of a brick, but he was sure
nice to look at.

   "Hi Tony.  Listen, I have something to confess to you."

   "Oh?"

   "Um...  how can I say this?  There's this hole between the men's and
women's showers.  And you can kind of see from one into the other," I told
him.

   "Uh-oh," he said quietly.

   "What?"

   "Nothing," he said.

   "Anyway...  earlier this evening, I kind of...  well, I watched you
shower."

   Tony's face turned red.  And his dick started to visibly grow!  "You
mean, you saw...  everything?!"

   "Yes, I did.  And I know it was wrong to watch you like that, but I just
couldn't help it.  I just hope you have it in your heart to forgive me," I
said with a batting of the eyes.

   Tony's penis grew to full size and started to rise from his body. 
"Well, yeah, I guess I do forgive you.  It's kinda weird, but..."

   "Oh, thank you, Tony.  It was such an amazing show you gave me.  I
really appreciate it." I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

   Now his cock was rock hard and stuck straight out.  Tony was mesmerized
for a moment, then shook himself out of it.  "I...  I have to confess
something too," he said.  "I sort of watched all you girls shower earlier
tonight."

   I thought back to earlier that evening, remembering how Tony entered the
pool area at exactly the same time as Barbara and me.  That sneaky bastard!
He must have also watched Emily and Shannon, who were clearly not
comfortable being seen by the opposite sex.  That was not cool.  But then I
had watched Tony without his permission, and without checking whether he
was cool with being seen by the opposite sex.  So I suppose I had no basis
for condemning him.

   I looked at his raging hard-on and chuckled.  "Watch it, you could poke
someone's eye out with that thing," I said.

   Tony blushed and was about to jump back into the water to conceal
himself when we were both distracted by Sarah and Barbara, walking towards
us and arguing loudly.

   "How can you just make out with another girl?  Doesn't that tarnish your
'reputation,'" Sarah said.

   "Oh, will you get off it already?" Barbara replied.  "Can't you get it
in your head that I'm past all that?  I'm sorry you still carry all this...
this guilt around with you, but really, why don't you believe me when I
tell you I'm not the same person I was two years ago?"

   She almost ran into Tony and his amazing rod.  She saw his erection, and
a smile lit up her face.  "Here, Sarah," she said.  "I'll show you how much
I give a rat's ass about my reputation." She grabbed Tony's hand and
dragged him to the shallow end of the pool.

   "Sit on the edge," she instructed him.  He obeyed.  She got in the water
and positioned herself between his legs.

   "Is she doing what I think she's doing?" Sarah said quietly to me.

   "Oh, I hope not, because that's just..." I trailed off as Barbara
grabbed Tony's cock and started stroking with her hand.

   "We've got to stop her," Sarah said.  "This is getting out of hand."

   "Looks like she's got it well IN hand, if you know what I mean," I
joked, jumping in the water and following Sarah over to where Barbara was
stroking Tony.

   Sarah tried to grab Barbara away from Tony.  "C'mon, Barb, clearly
you've had way too much to drink, and I don't want you to..."

   "I'm stone cold fucking sober," she said, breaking free of Sarah's
grasp. With that, she sank into the water, lowered her head into Tony's
lap, and put her mouth around the tip of Tony's cock.  Tony did nothing to
discourage her.

   "Oh my God," I said in disbelief.

   By now, everyone in the pool could see what was going on, and gathered
around to watch Barb go to work on Tony.  She licked up and down his shaft,
pumped him with both hands, then lowered her mouth onto him again.  Tony
balanced himself by bracing his hands on the edge of the pool, then spread
his legs apart.  Barb bobbed her head up and down on him while
simultaneously stroking him with his hands.

   "Told you she was an expert cocksucker," Tiffany, standing behind me,
said loud enough to be heard by everyone.

   Barb seemed to respond to this by seeing how much of his dick she could
get down her throat.  From my vantage point, a bit off to the side, I saw
her take him all the way in, wrapping her lips around the base of his
shaft. I started to get sympathy gags.  "How the hell..." I said.

   "This just isn't right," said Natalie.  "Someone needs to put a stop to
this."

   "Why?" asked Brandi.  "We're all eighteen.  Hey, Rolodex," she said to
Jill, "is anyone here still seventeen?"

   "Might be one or two in the class, but no one here at the Y," the class
secretary responded.  She stood there with her cup in hand and a silly grin
on her face.  Clearly she found the proceedings entertaining.

   "That's not the point," I said.  "This is just plain...  wrong."

   "But it looks so right," Crystal said.

   At this point Barb's head was bobbing madly up and down Tony's huge
erection.  "How the fuck is it he hasn't popped yet?" Brandi wondered
aloud. "That is one A-1, first-class Hoovering he's getting there." Tony's
head was thrown back in ecstasy, but he showed no signs of impending
orgasm.

   Sarah nudged me.  "Of course, you and I know the reason why," she said
to me.

   "Huh?" I responded.

   "Why he's having so much trouble cumming?" she clarified.

   "Why is he having so much trouble cumming?" I asked, sincerely.

   Sarah rolled her eyes.  "We really need to get you a boyfriend. 
Seriously."

   Tiffany just stood there transfixed, staring openly at the public
fellatio being performed at the pool's edge.  "He's so...  beautiful." She
stood there absent-mindedly playing with her hard nipples, and her hand
drifted under the water, towards her crotch.

   Tony wrapped his legs around Barbara.  His body seemed to tense up.  I
assumed it meant he was about to cum.  Suddenly, though, Barb pulled away.
She grabbed his dick and held onto it tightly.  "Sorry," she said, "but
that's all I have time for tonight." She then swam back off towards the
deep end.

   "That fucking evil bitch," Brandi said.

   Tony just sat there, fire in his eyes, breathing heavily.

   Tiffany suddenly put one hand on my shoulder, one on Sarah's.  "Do you
guys mind?  That's the hottest thing I think I've ever seen, and I just...
can't...  leave him like that."

   "Mind what?" I asked.

   Sarah chuckled.  "Oh, you'll see."

   Tiffany swam up to Tony and lifted herself out of the water.  She
pressed her nude body into his, and whispered something into his ear.  Then
she kissed and nibbled on the same ear.  She got out of the water and
offered him her hand.  He took it, and she pulled him up.  Both standing,
they kissed and felt each other up.  Tiffany grabbed his erection and
slowly stroked it with one hand.

   Someone had brought an air mattress into the pool earlier that evening,
and it was still there, lying discarded but inflated at the side of the
pool.  Tiffany led Tony to the mattress and lay down on it.  Sarah and I
got out of the water to see what was happening.

   It was at this point that I realized Susan was gone.  She left just as
suddenly as she had arrived.  Very strange, I remember thinking.

   Tiffany was lying on the mattress, her arms stretched out above her head
and her legs spread wide open.  Her inner lips may have been visible
before, but now they were just obscenely open and on display, like a flower
in bloom.  I could even see her tiny clit jutting out of its hood.

   She looked straight out of a porn flick.  Her face was so young, so
angelic, with blue eyes and a tiny nose.  She had freckles across her face,
adding to her youthful appearance that seemed discordant with her "come
fuck me" expression.  Her breasts were very small and, like the rest of her
body, shocking white.  Tony stood above her, and she beckoned for him,
reaching out a hand towards him.  He looked nervously around him, wondering
if this was taking things too far.  For the most part, there were looks of
enthusiasm from the other girls.

   "Go for it!" Jill shouted.  "Woo!"

   Tony moved forward and knelt on the mattress in between Tiffany's legs.
He put his hands on her thighs, then moved them forward to cup her breasts.

   "Holy shit, this is messed up," I said.  "Sarah, aren't you going to DO
something?"

   "Like what?" she said.

   "Like stop them?  She's your friend!" I said.

   "Yeah, so?"

   "And she's DRUNK!"

   "So?" She said.  "So is he."

   "Don't you think she might regret this later?" I said to Sarah in a
harsh whisper.

   Sarah put her arm around me.  "Relax.  I know her.  I know her morals.
She does this kind of thing all the time.  There won't be any regrets."
Then she added, "It is really sweet of you to show such concern for my
friends, though." She hugged me and planted a kiss on my cheek.  "Oh, and
in case you were wondering, she gets her birth control shot every six
months, and of course we all got our HIV vaccine."

   I realized Sarah was now completely at ease standing out of the pool,
stark naked.  Alcohol may be the world's greatest enabler of nudism.

   "There are still a lot of things besides pregnant and AIDS that you can
get, even in this day and age," I pointed out.

   I looked back over at Tony, who was cradling Tiffany's upper body in his
arms, kissing her passionately.  She grabbed a hold of his manhood, and was
slowly guiding him towards her pussy.

   "I think I've seen enough," Natalie said.  "This is just too crazy." She
walked around the pool and into the locker room.

   I was tempted to do this same.  "This still seems just wrong," I said to
Sarah.  "I mean, this is a private thing, a special thing between two
people.  It shouldn't just be out in the open in front of everyone like
this."

   "It can be a private thing, and it can be a special thing," Sarah said.
"But sometimes, hey, it's just fucking."

   I stared at her in disbelief.  I was about to turn and follow Natalie's
lead to the lockers when I caught a glimpse of Tony entering Tiffany.  I
couldn't NOT look.  I was mesmerized.  Tony's perfectly smooth, tan skin
contrasted so well with Tiffany's perfectly smooth, snow-white skin.  The
large, purple head split apart her lips and shoved its way inside, followed
by the rest of the phallus.  How did all that cock manage to fit inside
her?

   Tony and Tiffany started bouncing in rhythm on the air mattress, and I
found my breath getting short watching them.  My nipples got hard, but I
didn't mind - no one was looking at me.  All eyes still in the room were on
the couple fucking on the mattress.  There was nothing particularly
artistic or creative about what they were doing: it was just good,
old-fashioned, missionary-position...  boning.  Still, it got me hotter and
hotter the more they went at it.

   Tiffany started clawing Tony's back.  And by clawing, I mean, she was
leaving big, red marks all up and down it.  Suddenly, she clutched at his
back and let out a scream.  She pulled him in close and he grunted loudly.
It was the same noise he made when he came earlier that night, so what was
happening was unmistakable.

   I was panting, on the verge of orgasm myself.  I didn't know what to do.
I could see that everyone was watching them, not me.  Should I?  I decided
I didn't have a choice; my body needed release.  Making sure once more that
no one was looking at me, I quickly stuck my hand between my legs.  A few
seconds of rubbing my clit was all it took.  My body shook silently, and I
bit my lip to keep from shouting out.  I did whimper slightly.  It was sooo
good, and felt sooo wicked, cumming in front of all these people, while
watching another couple fuck.

   Sarah heard me breathing heavily and turned to look at me.  She said
nothing, but did raise an eyebrow.  I laughed nervously and jumped into the
water.

   We all seemed to sense a giant amount of sexual tension had been
released from the group.  After that, it was just good fun in the water. 
Maybe half an hour later, we all got out, showered off the pool water (Tony
showered with us in the women's locker room, because, well, we didn't see
any point in sex-segregation at that point), and got dressed.  I noticed
Sarah and Barbara chatting just a bit, but it was no more than a few
nervous words exchanged.

   I also noticed that Sarah left the pool area still nude, and never
bothered to pick up her bikini.  She must have gathered it sometime before
morning.

   Later that night I asked Sarah if things were cool again between her and
Barb.

   "I wouldn't say they're exactly 'cool,'" she told me, "but we are on
speaking terms again." It was something.

   ***

   Graduation Day finally came.  I picked up my cap and gown from the
office between classes.  I also picked up Lana's cap and gown, since she
wasn't getting home until that afternoon.  There would be no problem
telling them apart: I had a different color tassel, and special cords for
my gown, being valedictorian.

   Up in my room that evening I got undressed and threw the gown over my
nude body.  I checked myself over in the mirror.  I supposed my breasts
might have looked flatter and lower than with a bra on underneath, but
certainly no one would be the wiser.

   As we gathered at school before the ceremony, Sarah and I reunited with
Lana.  I quickly demonstrated to Sarah that I was keeping up my end of the
deal by letting her look down the front of my gown.

   "How was your visit with your mom and stepdad in Alabama?" I asked Lana.

   "Terrible.  Really awful," she said.

   "Do you want to talk about it?" Sarah asked.

   Lana sighed.  "Not right now I don't.  But maybe later.  I especially
want to talk about it with J.J." That got me curious, but she didn't
elaborate further.

   The ceremony was interminable.  One scholarship award after another.  A
big to-do about one of the students who was off to the Naval Academy in
Annapolis.  Another big to-do about Jason Whitman going to play football at
NIU.  It didn't even dawn on me until then that his relationship with Barb
must have really been over after the night at the Y.

   Finally, it came to the co-valedictory speeches.  Barb went first, and
was eloquent and touching, bringing tears to several students eyes.  It was
basically a long goodbye to everyone who had been such a huge part of her
life, and taught her so much about friendship and love.  I thought there
might have been a couple of subtle nods Sarah's way, but I couldn't be
sure.

   Then it was my turn.  I had forgotten up until that point that I was
naked under my gown.  Suddenly, as I stood up, it hit me.  The gown flowed
so loosely around my nakedness as I walked to the podium.  I had only notes
to my speech, an outline, as I wasn't going to read prose verbatim.  A
couple of times I lost track of my line of thought, stopping and stuttering
in front of everyone.  I thought I was doing horribly, though when I look
back on it, I'm sure it wasn't as bad as it seemed to me at the time.

   "...No, as the word would suggest, commencement isn't an ending, but a
beginning.  This is not the end for any of us, but the beginning of the
next phase of life..."

   I suddenly could think of nothing other than my dream.  I felt the air
flowing freely under the gown, just as in my dream.  All eyes were on me,
just as in my dream.

   "...But we shouldn't forget all of the memories we have here at Lincoln
High.  The friendships we made, the classes we attended, the clubs we
joined, the events we enjoyed together.  These things shaped us as
individuals, and we can take these experiences with us wherever we go..."

   I actually thought about doing it.  For one swift, glorious instant, I
was about to move my trembling hands to my gown and unzip it in front of
everyone.  But sanity took hold, and I finished my speech.

   "...So we now go forth, prepared to face a world that needs a new, young
generation to show them the way.  Thank you, Lincoln High School!"

   And that was it.  The crowd and my class applauded me, and I took my
seat.  It was...  anti-climactic.  I felt kind of a let-down, and a bit
disappointed in myself at not "shocking the world" when I had my chance.

   After the ceremony, we all gathered in the gym for a reception, all the
graduates still in their caps and gowns.  There were hugs, and tears, and
pictures being taken, and yearbooks being signed.

   Barbara came up to me.  "That was a wonderful speech," she said. 
"Better than mine.  You really put things into perspective." She gave me a
big hug.  Then she got a strange look on her face.  "Julie...  um, what
exactly are you wearing under your gown?"

   I smiled.  "Nothing at all," I said.

   Barbara suddenly got a wide-eyed, freaked-out look on her face.  "Oh,
no! Oh, no no NO!  Julie!!  Don't you know?!"

   "Know what?" I asked.

   "Julie, the principal is having everyone line up in the hallway and turn
in their cap and gown!  If you don't turn them in right there, you don't
get your diploma!"

   I must admit I did get a bit of a flutter in my stomach, but at the same
time I found Barb's reaction a little silly.  I wasn't planning on this,
but it could be kinda cool.

   "Don't worry about it.  I'll figure something out," I told her.  She
looked at me skeptically.

   I noticed Susan not far away, with her boyfriend, Bill.  She caught
Barb's attention blew a kiss towards her.  Then Bill did the same.  They
both smiled and waved.  I wondered what that was about, and what Bill had
to do with it.  Oh well.

   I found my parents for one last goodbye.  They were going home, while I
was planning on running over to Sarah's house, where a change of my clothes
awaited.

   Then I found Sarah and Lana.

   "Ohmygod, J.J., you are in really deep shit," Sarah said.

   I ignored her.  "C'mon, guys, let's line up to turn in our caps and
gowns and get out of here." I already had my tassel and cords, which we got
to keep, gathered up in one hand.

   "But...  but..." Sarah stammered.

   "What?  You want to say more goodbyes?  We can do that later at
Crystal's post-graduation party," I pointed out.

   "No, it's just..."

   The line was swiftly moving forward, as Mr.  Davis, the gym teacher,
collected each graduate's outfit and checked them off on a list.  Before we
knew it, it was my turn.

   "Here you go," I said.  I handed him my cap, and then, like it was no
big deal, unzipped my gown and let it fall from my naked body.  There was a
collective gasp as everyone in the hallway, including maybe thirty
classmates and a few parents, turned to look at me.

   "JULIE JOHNSON!  You...  you...  how DARE you..." It was Principal
Harris.  He had briefly stepped into the hallway to observe how the gown
check-in was going.

   Sarah, Lana, and Mr.  Davis both stared at me, looking like their jaws
had come unhinged.  "Well, that takes care of my stuff.  Are we getting out
of here?"

   "How DARE you?" the principle continued.  "After everything this school
has done for you?  After all the opportunities you've been given, you... 
SULLY the school this way!" I looked behind me, the only time I
acknowledged his presence.  His face was bright red, and it looked like a
vein was going to burst on his bald head.

   Sarah and Lana handed their outfits to a stunned Mr.  Davis.

   "Well?  Shall we?" I gestured for my two friends to join me as we walked
towards the school exit.

   "JULIE JOHNSON YOU GET BACK HERE!  You get back here THIS INSTANT so I
can have a word with you!!"

   We ignored the principal and kept walking, two fully-dressed women, and
one wearing nothing but a pair of shoes.  Laughing, arm-in-arm-in-arm with
Sarah on my left and Lana on my right, we left Lincoln High School for the
last time.