Mark and Debbie, Naked in School
by Arty

Saturday
========

"It's me." The voice on the other end of the line was a warm
contralto that I knew better than my own. I smiled at her
usual greeting.

"Hello you." She giggled, I loved to make her laugh; her
laugh was cute - hell, she was cute. I loved everything
about her. I loved her.

"Guess." It was going to be one of those calls. I sighed in
mock exasperation.

"I may be a near genius, but I need more of a clue than
'guess'." The sound of a raspberry being blown down the
'phone was all the extra information I was going to get. "I
swear someone has reversed your entropy arrow and you're
getting younger instead of older. Okay, okay I'm guessing."
More laughter. "Let's see now, what are the available
clues?" I ticked them off one by one, it was a short list,
"A strange girl rings me up, says 'it's me' and then
'guess'," I paused dramatically, "oh yes and then blows a
raspberry down the 'phone. Nope, I can't guess; you've
stumped me."

I'm Mark, by the way, and the mad girl on the other end of
the line is Debbie, the love of my life. She's also my very
best friend and I'd like to think that she loves me as more
than a friend, but I'm too scared to find out for certain.
For now I'm content with what we have, and what we have is a
fantastic friendship. Perhaps part of the reason I'm afraid
to tell her how I really feel, is that I'm frightened of
losing the friendship.

"Oh all right then, since you're going to be mean about it,
I'll tell you." It was her turn to do the dramatic pause
thing. "The Programme is coming to our school."

"The Programme? You mean, like, 'the Archers'?" I knew what
she was talking about, now it was my turn to be obtuse and
teasing. There were the forms to be observed, after all:
tease and tease about.

"Har bloody har! It's coming to school and it starts next
week."

"Are you sure?"

"Is the Pope catholic?"

"So, you're not that certain then?"

More giggles. "Don't be mean. I have it on the highest
authority."

"Oh, you mean Andrea told you? Why didn't you say so?"
Andrea was her older sister and she was the PA to some sort
of trouble-shooter type in the Local Education Authority. I
had a question. "Why us? Did she say anything about that?"

"The usual reasons: we're a magnet school, get all the best
equipment and so on. The same old bullshit." Our school was
always the first to have the latest fads and fancies in
education thrust upon us. Now, it seemed, we were going to
try another, albeit more interesting, one. I asked an
obvious question.

"I wonder who will be first?"

"First to get naked?"

"Sharon…"

"… McAlister would be a…"

"… popular choice."

We laughed, most of our conversations degenerated into a
sort of monologue in two voices. We rarely argued about
anything; one more reason to love her.

"So that's the boys taken care of…"

"… the heterosexual ones anyway…"

"… what's the girl's vote going to be?"

The line went suddenly quiet and I wondered if we'd been cut
off, and then Debbie spoke quietly.

"Well this girl's vote is for you."

To say I was surprised is to say that Everest was tall,
true, but not quite getting the scale of the thing across.

"Why me?"

She ignored the question and asked one of her own.

"How would you feel about it?"

"I don't know. After I got over the initial embarrassment
I'd probably be OK. Mum and dad have never made a big thing
about being or not being dressed. Half the time I'm at home
one or more of us is naked. I guess I'd be okay about it.
What about you?"

"We're a bit more prudish, underwear is all right, and some
of ours is a bit risqué, but outright nudity never seems to
happen somehow. I think I'd be okay about it. Actually the
thought of it is quite a turn on." I groaned to myself,
Debbie in a bikini was awesome. One of the reasons that I
went swimming every Sunday was that occasionally she and her
family would go too. Debbie in her red bikini made my heart
stop, the thought of seeing her naked was mind-blowing. I
tried to get the conversation back on track.

"Hey! No fair, you can't just put images of you, naked, into
my mind without warning me. How will I sleep tonight?"

"If you saw me naked, it would only be fair," she giggled
nervously, "I've seen you a couple of times. When I've been
waiting for you to get ready."

"You never said."

"I didn't want you to be embarrassed." Her voice became
quieter, "you have nothing to be ashamed of, you know."

I looked at the clock; it was getting late.

"Are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Shall I come to you, or do you want another shot at seeing
me naked?"

"Hmmm, decisions, decisions. I'll take another shot at you,
I think."

"See you about ten-ish?"

"Yeah. Good night."

"Night."

I put the 'phone down and fell back onto my bed. The vision
of Debbie in her red bikini was fresh in my mind's eye and
then I was peeling off the top and pulling her bottoms down
and off. I groaned and succumbed to my right hand as
imagined licking her and kissing her all over. The sound of
her laughter filled my ears and the vision of her smiling
face, filled my imagination and I came. As always after I
masturbated while thinking of her I felt slightly ashamed.
But after the conversation I'd just had there would be no
way I would've got to sleep and then I'd have been tired and
cranky tomorrow and no fun.

Having thus convinced myself I was doing it for her ultimate
benefit - yeah right - I fell asleep.

Sunday
======

I woke the next day vaguely aware that I'd been dreaming of
her all night. I dragged myself out of bed and into a
shower. I was half asleep and forgot to wait while the water
heated. The unexpected feel of the tepid shower felt like
ice water to my sleep-warmed skin. Somehow I suppressed a
scream. After the first few seconds it felt refreshing, so I
turned the water heat down and finished my shower in
lukewarm water. The cold had shrunk my morning hard-on - so
that was one less thing to do - and I felt refreshed and
awake.

When I got downstairs my parents were sitting around the
kitchen table drinking coffee, eating croissants and reading
the Sunday paper. I grabbed a mug and poured myself some
coffee.

"The croissants are warming in the oven, they should be
done."

"Thanks, mum." I opened the oven and juggled the hot serving
dish from the oven shelf and onto the table.

"If you burn yourself, I'll have no sympathy and if you drop
it and break it you can buy another one." I grinned; she
always complained that I had asbestos fingers. I grabbed a
croissant from the dish; it was warm, flaky and buttery.
Tearing one end off I dipped it in my coffee and ate it.

My father scowled in mock horror at what I was doing and
muttered something about me being corrupted by my aunt.
"Ridiculous French habit, ruining perfectly good coffee and
pastry!" I stuck out my tongue and continued eating my
croissant. I consumed a second croissant by tearing off
pieces and slathering them in butter. He watched me do this
and shuddered. "Think of your arteries, they'll be stopped
up with cholesterol before you're thirty!"

I looked at the remains of his muesli. "At least I'll have
enjoyed what I ate. How can you eat that rabbit food?" It
was a standing joke that one day I would switch the rabbit
food with the muesli and he wouldn't notice. The rabbit
certainly didn't - when we ran out of real rabbit food,
which was fairly often, we would feed him muesli and he was
happy to eat it. I remembered my conversation with Debbie
and decided to broach it with them.

"I heard something interesting from Debbie last night,"
there was no obvious response apart from a non-committal
grunt from dad. "Andrea told her that the Naked in School
Programme was being inaugurated at our school." They looked
up, interested in spite of themselves. "Apparently it starts
tomorrow." Mum was the first to say something.

"I did overhear something while I was on a break last week.
Marcia and Steph were talking about it. They seemed a bit
shocked. I didn't like to tell them that I wasn't sure I
understood what all the fuss was about."

"Me too, I've always thought that the rest of Europe has the
right idea about nudity. The less inhibited you are then the
less problems you have with sex and nudity." He warmed to
his subject. "I mean look at the Victorians and the
Edwardians, they were so bothered about it that they covered
table legs for God's sake…" he wound down, suddenly aware
that mum and I were mouthing the words, silently, along with
him. "Okay, so it's a pet peeve, what do you think, Mark?"

"I'm not sure. Like I said to Debbie, our family has never
had a problem with nudity - at least in the home - and I
thought once I got over the initial embarrassment I'd
probably be OK. That's if I was to be chosen, of course. If
it was just seeing other people I don't think it'd be any
big deal. I mean, I'm sitting here talking to you and you're
naked."

At this the two of them started to laugh. I couldn't
understand this; I didn't think I'd said anything that
funny, had I? After a while they got themselves under
control.

"What's so funny?" My mum answered me.

"You are. You're naked too and you didn't even realise it."

I looked down and I realised that she was right. Mum
continued.

"See? We're not particularly strange as families go, I'm not
sure what they hope to achieve by importing The Programme?"

"Better sex education?" This was my dad, "They can hardly do
worse than they are at the moment." He was right. The UK had
the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe and had, had them
for decades. I excused myself and went to get ready for
Debbie.

I opened the door for her as she rang the doorbell. She made
a moue of disappointment.

"You might have slept in, so I could see you get ready for
me."

"You only want me for my body!"

"Well it is a very nice one."

With that she linked her arm in mine and we started on our
favourite walk. We chatted about this and that. I told her
about my conversation with my parents. She laughed. "You
mean, there you were telling your parents how good you were
being, treating them as normal even though they had no
clothes on and you were naked too?" She cracked up again.

"Hey, what can I say? Like I said, being naked at home is no
big deal."

"So you'd have no trouble with the 'outreach' element of The
Programme then?"

"Obviously not."

"What about me?"

"How do you mean?"

"If I was naked in school?"

"Slobber, slobber, drool, drool! Try keeping me away from
you." Debbie blushed, this was as close I had ever come to
admitting how I really felt about her. I took a breath, now
was the best chance I would ever have of telling her how I
felt about her.

"Debbie?" She turned to look at me a speculative smile on
her face. And all at once I just couldn't do it. I smiled in
return, trying to mask the searing anguish that I felt as,
once more, I felt the opportunity slipping from my grasp.
The silence grew as I struggled with my insecurities. "Did
Andrea tell you anything else about the how The Programme
was going to work?"

Jesus! How lame can you get? Still Debbie didn't seem to
notice anything, just widened her smile into a grin and
teased me. "Mr. Nonchalant-I'm-okay-with-nudity isn't
getting worried is he?"

"Nah, just wondering if your big sister let anything slip,
that's all."

"We didn't spend the whole time talking about The Programme,
she just slipped it in at the end of the conversation. Sort
of, by the way you know that Naked in School thing they have
in the States? Well it's coming to England and your school
will be first to try it in this area. Oh and it starts next
week. By the time I'd processed what she'd said I was
listening to the dialling tone." Debbie grimaced at me, "I
really, really hate it when she does that, and I know she
just does it wind me up."

We walked for a while in companionable silence, stopping
occasionally to admire the view. After about half an hour or
so we reached a clearing in a small copse, that stood on a
wide ledge just below the ridge of an escarpment. We sat
back to back and looked through the gap in the trees at the
flood plain below. The fields made a patchwork of greens of
various hues. Occasional pastures were dotted with sheep or
cows. The sun was well on its way to noon and the morning
was pleasantly warm. We sat in dappled sunlight. Debbie
sighed in contentment.

"This is just so…"

"… peaceful …"

"… and the view is …"

"… stupendous."

"I suppose it would have been different if I'd have been
naked and surrounded by everyone else wearing clothes. I
seem to remember reading something about Anglo-Saxon
cultures …"

"… having a very strong nudity taboo. Wouldn't it be better
if we could separate nudity from sex? Naturists have always
said that they're two different things …"

"… but when people make money out of nudity, it's in their
interests to link it with sex as …"

"… sex sells!"

I looked at my watch, Sunday lunch beckoned. We stood
together and ambled back to our road via a short cut that
knocked about an hour off the time that we had taken in
getting to our vantage point. We reached Debbie's house
first, not for the first time I wanted to spend more time
with her, "Do you want to have Sunday lunch with us?"

"Will you be naked?" She smiled broadly.

I blushed, but stared her in the eye. "I will if you will."

It was her turn to blush. We held each other's gaze and she
laughed. "It's tempting but I have an essay to finish and I
haven't eaten a Sunday meal with my family for weeks, mum
and dad reckon I'm only a weekday daughter." Reaching out
she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Usual time tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you then." And with that she turned and went into
her house. I wandered, disconsolately, back to my house and
an afternoon spent staring morosely into space. I couldn't
believe that I hadn't said anything! I was dimly aware of
the 'phone ringing, but I ignored it. Mum must have answered
as she shouted to me that I had a call. I picked up and
waited for the sound of the downstairs handset being
replaced.

"Mark, speaking."

"Hello Mark, this is Anne Thomas," her voice sounded
familiar and I was just about to place where I'd heard it
before when she continued with, "I'm Mr. Edwards'
assistant." D'oh! Of course!

"Hello, how can I help you, Mrs. Thomas?"

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "I have to
read you an official notice, don't worry it's nothing bad,
at least it's nothing of a disciplinary nature, but it is
official and I have to read it to you. Can you wait until
I've finished and then you can ask questions?" I felt a
terrible yawning sensation as I linked the news of The
Programme and then this strange, to put it mildly, 'phone
call. I blurted out what I was thinking.

"You're putting me in The Programme aren't you?"

"How did…" she stopped herself. "It's better if I read the
notice and you ask questions."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make it difficult for you."

"Well, anyway, here goes: Mark Thomas, I am informing you
that from 8:45 on Monday, the 24th of June, and for the
following six days you will be required to be naked while on
school property or during school activities wheresoever the
said school activities take place. You must make no attempts
to cover yourself during this period, such attempts will be
penalised by extensions to the original seven-day period.
You will be required, while you are naked or on school
property, to undertake to perform reasonable requests from
other students and from members of staff. During this period
you will, at all times, use the female changing facilities
and the female toilets. Do you understand the notice that I
have just read?"

While she spoke my mind was racing and I almost didn't
realise that she had asked me a question.

"Sorry, do understand what you just read out? Yes, yes I
understand."

"Good. We want you to come to a meeting for 8 o'clock on
Monday. Everyone who's in The Programme will be there and
we'll try and answer your questions and you will see that
you aren't the only one in this situation. Until then,
please don't tell any of your friends or other students
about this."

"What about my parents?"

"Oh, I didn't mean them, just don't tell anyone else at
school."

"Can you tell me who else us in The Programme?"

"Sorry, but you'll find out before everyone else though,
because you will be at the meeting. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, but I think I might as well wait until tomorrow."

"That's the best thing. I'm sorry to spring this on you like
this, but this is as new to us as it is to you. Cheerio."
Yes, but you won't be naked tomorrow will you?

"Uh, bye." I sat and listened to the dialling tone; almost
catatonic as a million half-formed thoughts and questions
vied for my attention. All I could think was: 'I'm gonna be
naked in school! I'm gonna be…' round and round. Zombie-like
I replaced the handset. In a daze I wandered downstairs and
found mum and dad sharing the rest of the wine as they
cleared away the evening meal and chatted about this and
that. My appearance must have been worse than I thought
because mum immediately pulled out a chair and sat me in it.

"Sit down, Mark, before you faint. Are you all right?"

I looked at them both they looked concerned, which made me
feel better; at least I knew I had someone in my corner
whatever happened. "Sorry, I just had a bit of a shock,
that's all."

"Who was on the 'phone?" Dad was ever the practical one.

"Anne, I mean, Mrs. Thomas, the Head's PA. She rang to tell
me that I'm in The Programme tomorrow and I have to go in
early to go to some sort of meeting."

"Are you all right about it?" Mum asked.

"I don't know, I suppose in one way it's better than going
all year wondering if I'm going to be next. On the other
hand, I'm going to be naked in school all week!" I couldn't
help it; I started to giggle, slightly hysterically. "It's
going to be an interesting week." I said after I had calmed
down.

"It's an old Chinese curse: 'May you live always in
interesting times.'" That was my dad, a fount of useless
knowledge; useless, that is, until it was time to enter the
village quiz and then his team would romp home in first
place. Suddenly I felt tired, it had been an emotional day
and this news put the tin-lid on it.

"I'm tired, I think I'll turn it. 'Night, mum, dad." I
trudged upstairs and got undressed, too tired to stick my
clothes in the wash-basket I just let them lie in a heap by
the door. Fuck 'em I'll do something about them tomorrow.
Before I drifted off I reset my alarm an hour earlier, if I
was going to this meeting and being naked for the rest of
the day I'd better make sure I was squeaky clean! I
wondered, vaguely, who else was in The Programme but I was
too sleepy to think coherently and my thoughts scattered
like frightened pigeons and the next thing I knew the alarm
was beeping insistently and it was Monday.

Monday
======

I looked at the alarm and tried to remember why I had set it
so stupidly early. Something about being clean... shit! I
remembered the 'phone call from Mrs. Thomas I was going to
be naked in school for the next week. I pulled the covers
over my head and moaned. Why me? What had I done that was so
bad that I deserved this? Oh well, lying in bed whinging
about it wasn't going to make it go away and once I was
awake I had never been able to loll about in bed anyway. I
did the shower and shave thing, making a special point of
ensuring that all my nooks and crannies were squeaky clean,
even to the point of sticking a thoroughly soaped finger in…
Well perhaps that's too much information, you can guess the
rest.

Getting dressed was different, I was aware that all of my
clothes were going to be on view at some point, so I made
sure that my underwear was completely clean and hole-less.
Luckily I'd bought some new only last week. I donned the
obligatory year 11 uniform of jeans and a tee-shirt. I
looked out of my window and though the sun was shining there
was still some mist about, so I grabbed a sweatshirt just in
case. I was too nervous to eat anything so I just drank a
glass of milk. As I was leaving the house, I realised it was
far earlier than I had intended. I shrugged mentally, Debs
wouldn't mind and if she wasn't dressed she might think I
was trying for payback.

To my surprise Debs was waiting for me, even though I was
much earlier than usual. Had I not been preoccupied with
thoughts of the upcoming week, I might have made more of it.
Debbie seemed excited, I made some comment - I can't
remember what exactly, something inane, I wasn't on top form
and she said something about the weather being nice. All too
soon we had arrived at the main entrance. Strictly speaking
we weren't allowed to use it - it was only for teachers and
years 12 and 13, but because we were usually early no one
ever said anything. Anyway, with exams over, we only had a
couple of weeks before the end of term and then it would be
official. Why was I thinking of this inane stuff, I
wondered? Mrs. Thomas saw us and waved.

"I'm glad I caught you both, the meeting is in the old gym."

It took us a while and then we turned to each other and
spoke simultaneously. "You're in The Programme?"

"Yes!" Then we laughed, delighted in the unrehearsed chorus.
We walked towards the old gymnasium, a wooden building that
should have been demolished seventy years ago and was now so
old that it had a preservation order on it and hence we were
stuck with it. Nowadays it was only used for meetings and a
place for pick-up basketball games. Underlying my overall
disquiet about being naked; was the fact that I would be
unable to hide the consequences of my attraction for the
girl next to me whose hand I was now holding. It was too
late now for further thoughts we were at the meeting and
Debbie gripped my hand as we found our seats.

An impromptu raised stage had been constructed and the
headmaster, his PA and is deputy - Miss Moore made their way
onto the stage. The subdued, but excited chatter stopped
almost instantly.

"Right. You all know why you are here. No, it's no a bad
dream. No, it's not a particularly convoluted end-of-term
practical joke. Yes, it is real and yes, you will be naked
when you leave this meeting." The silence was absolute at
this point as it dawned on everyone what would be happening
to us. "Anne here, has read you the official notice and a
written version should have arrived in the post this
morning, though most if not all of you would have left to
soon to receive it; hence the 'phone calls. From today and
for the next six days, that's this Sunday coming, for the
calendrically challenged amongst you." There was a nervous
giggle at this small sally, quickly stifled. "So until this
Sunday you will naked at all times when on school property
and during school activities, school trips, sports matches,
that sort of thing. For today, as I said, you will strip
here, to give you a chance to get used to things a little
bit, but tonight and from tomorrow onwards, you will dress
and undress outside in front of the steps up to the main
entrance. There will be members of staff on hand to collect
clothes boxes and to ensure that order is kept." A small
sigh swept the audience; we'd all read horror stories from
the US about mobs that had got out of hand. "This would seem
like a good time for you all to get undressed. You will find
clothes boxes by the wall bars."

The silence was absolute; for a while no one moved, then
Debbie looked at me, stood up and walked to the wall bars. I
followed. I had no choice really; she had my hand in a death
grip. She whispered to me. "Help me out will you?" I nodded
and slipped off my tee shirt. Then, with my hands visibly
shaking I started to undo the buttons of her blouse. She
smiled beatifically and mouthed 'thank you' at me. Once I
had started it seemed churlish not to finish. And there
before me was the girl of my dreams, naked. The reality was
so much more arousing than in my imagination.

"Wow!" Was all I was capable of saying.

"My turn." Her hands went to he fastening of my jeans. Oh
shit. Seeing her naked had given me the hardest erection of
my life and she was going to see it! Too late, she skinned
by jeans and underpants down in one motion. "Oh my, Mark, is
that for me?"

"I don't see anyone else naked around…" for the first time
since we started, I became aware that the rest of the
meeting was shedding their clothes. She laughed as she saw
my consternation. I shut up and slipped my jeans, pants,
shoes and socks off in one motion. Yesterday I'd decided
that I wouldn't be wearing shoes and socks, even though we
were allowed to. After seeing pictures of naturist resorts
I'd realised that there is nothing more ridiculous than a
naked man wearing shoes and socks.

I put everything in the crate provided. Evidently the women
on the management team had, had the same thought as Miss
Moore spoke up as it became obvious that most people were
dithering over whether to wear shoes or not. "There are a
supply of flip-flops for those of you that feel, as I do,
that there is nothing as undignified as a naked person
wearing ordinary shoes and socks. That mostly applies to the
boys, by the way." This comment decided the ditherers and
almost to a man we stayed barefoot. The women were more
evenly divided, but then I'd always thought that, the
classic women's shoe was designed solely (hah) to fulfil the
desires of men who liked their women naked wearing them.

Mr. Edwards cleared his throat noisily, so we all hurried to
sit down and the hall was filled with the barely suppressed
gasps of shock as our bums hit the cold seats. "I see you've
discovered one of the disadvantages of nudity. When you
leave we will provide you with your kit. In it, you will
find The Programme booklet, flip flops and a small towel for
you to sit on." His voice grew serious. "Don't use the towel
to cover up. To remove the temptation, put it in your kit
bag when you are not sitting on it. Which brings us to
covering up in general, you will be tempted, but don't. Each
witnessed incident of covering up will result in one further
day in The Programme for the offender. There are suggestions
in the booklet on how to combat the temptation, but to
summarise, the main suggestion is that when you are not
carrying something or doing a reasonable request, then you
clasp your hands behind your back. You don't have to do it,
but it might help. This brings us to 'reasonable requests'.
In keeping with the original US version of The Programme,
we're being deliberately vague. You might think that this is
unfair, but if you think about it beyond the superficial,
you will see that if we try and impose restrictions on what
is reasonable all that this will do is encourage the
'barrack room' lawyers to try and find loopholes and ways
round the restrictions. If we allow everything, then you
will find that, common sense will usually prevail. Anyway a
member of staff will be on hand to adjudicate disputes. This
brings us to the question of 'relief'. Unlike the US version
we will not be introducing this bureaucratic notion, if you
can't manage to find relief during your normal break-times
then you are sadly lacking in initiative." There was a
ripple of nervous laughter at this. "Finally, since The
Programme is so new and we are almost at the end of term
anyway, programme members are excused from having to do
coursework and homework this week, you still have to attend
the lessons, but you don't have to lug your bags with all
your books around with you." He looked around at us and
finished with the usual plea, that guaranteed total silence
from an audience. "Any questions?"

Miss Moore stepped forward. "The later versions of The
Programme in the US introduced the concept of 'buddies'. We
have adopted this idea and have made pairings. Where
possible we have paired up people that know each other and
that are in many classes together. If you have a problem
with the pairings speak to me at lunchtime and we will see
what can be done. We've started by pairing boys with girls,
beyond that I'd like to see the older pairs taking a younger
pair 'under your wings'." I listened with half an ear to
some of the pairings in the lower school, "Mark and Debbie."
There were a few knowing catcalls, someone heckled, "Like
that's a surprise." Miss Moore smiled at the interruption
then continued reading. Then she looked at her watch and
wound up the meeting. "It's just before quarter to nine, so
collect your kit as you leave and good luck."

With enormous trepidation, but less anxiety than I'd have
thought we all filed out. More than one of the pairs was
holding hands, taking a leaf out of Debbie and my book. For
some reason, even though we weren't the eldest, Debbie and I
seemed to have been elected the unofficial leaders of The
Programme and so we were the first out of the entrance and
into the waiting throng. The first few minutes were frenetic
with many requests to touch and to stroke. After a few
minutes Debbie and I were separated, I looked over at her
but she seemed okay as she caught my eye and winked at me.

Soon it was time to get to classes and the crowds lessened
and eventually disappeared.

"Wow. That was different." I looked at Debbie she was
flushed and her nipples were erect. Her pussy lips were
swollen and looked very moist. She looked adorable. "Do
Programme participants get to make 'reasonable requests' of
other Programme participants I wonder?" I followed her gaze
as she stared at my erection and I blushed at the intensity
of her stare.

"You're very cute when you blush, you know." She shook
herself and grabbed my hand. "Time to get to class."

Classes were a mix of normal boredom and excruciating
embarrassment. Traditionally during this three or four week
period after the public exams had finished we all took the
timetable of the year-group above us. For our year this
meant choosing which subjects we would like to take for our
IB and then trying to see what classes were available. It
was all a bit hit and miss. Since everyone knew that there
was no real work being done the teachers would take
advantage of the naked students to try and encourage a bit
more interest in the classes.

I didn't see Debbie after lunch and we met when school had
finished, as we got dressed. She seemed preoccupied. We
talked of this and that, shying away from our experiences so
far. As we parted I saw that she was looking particularly
attractive, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were slightly
flushed. I commented on it.

"The Programme seems to suit you, I don't think I've see you
look this good in, well, ever really."

"Umm, yeah."

"Penny for 'em."

"Oh sorry, I'm just trying to come to terms with it all, I
suppose." She leered at me to emphasise the pun. I groaned.

"Got to go, see you."

"Yeah, bye." I watched her as she hurried to her house. I
really, really loved the way that she walked.

Later I realised that we hadn't agreed a time for tomorrow,
I wondered if she wanted to go in at the same time or maybe
wait a little later to minimise the time we spent naked
outside school hours. Surprisingly her 'phone was engaged
and stayed engaged for a couple of hours. I shrugged
mentally, I wasn't her keeper and she was entitled to a life
away from me - still, it was intriguing. I fell asleep
wondering what tomorrow would bring.

Tuesday
=======

I was late, Debbie had cavorted, naked, through my dreams
and I'd missed the alarm going off. There was no time to
'phone and to take my extended shower routine. Still there
was no reason to suppose that we weren't meeting up. Apart
from illness, we'd walked to school together from almost the
first day. I slipped on any old jeans and a tee-shirt I
almost skipped underwear, but old habits die hard and I'd
put some on before I realised it. I grabbed a couple of
slices of toast for now and a bottle of orange juice for
later and I was out and jogging to Debbie's house. I checked
my watch; good, I was late only by a couple of minutes.

I said 'Good morning' to Debbie's mum as she opened the door
for me. I could see Debbie in the kitchen, she was just
putting the 'phone on the hook. I wondered vaguely whom she
had been talking to. The half-formed question died on my
lips as she walked through into the hallway and picked up
her bag. She looked as good as she did last night. Who'd've
thought that Debbie would be so turned on by The Programme?

"I see you're still enjoying The Programme? Who'd've guessed
that you'd like it so much?"

Unusually, she didn't rise to the bait, but just smiled a
Mona Lisa smile. Then she stuck her arm through mine and
dragged me from the house. Shouting a cheery 'cheerio' over
her shoulder. She remained eager and I found myself hustled
through the more than usual numbers of school students. The
Programme looked like it would, at least, reduce the level
of lateness. Of course the reason they wanted to be early
was to witness the grand unveiling. I felt my heart race at
the thought. Yesterday we'd undressed with only other
Programme members as witnesses and, as I discovered, most of
us would have been too preoccupied to take much notice of
what the others were doing. Today would be different; today
we would start as one of the throng and end up naked. It was
thrilling and scary and it loomed in my mind, bigger with
each hurried step that took me nearer to the school.

All too soon we were standing in front of the steps and I
watched as one of the lower school pair walked up the steps
and through the main entrance. One of the benefits of being
naked was being allowed in through the main entrance. The
idea was to give Programme members a small respite after the
ordeal of undressing, or being undressed, which appeared to
be the theme for today. An impromptu queuing system seemed
to have been introduced, with each pair being dealt with
separately. Even though there were a couple of other pairs
in front of us, when the crowd became aware that Debbie and
I had arrived, the cry went up for us to be next. Debbie
dragged me into the space, boy was she eager - who'd have
thought it?

I watched as some year-thirteen boy, that I didn't know all
that well ask Debbie if he could undress her. She smiled at
him and eagerly agreed. I tried to think of his name. Steven
something, he'd transferred in a couple of years ago. I'd
not had much contact with him. It felt strange watching her
being undressed by him and for a while I couldn't identify
the feelings that I felt, and then I knew.

I was jealous.

Absently I agreed to a request to be undressed, but my whole
attention was on Steve and Debbie as a burning,
all-consuming jealousy filled my thoughts. I hated the boy,
Debbie was my friend, my love, and it should be me
undressing her. I became aware that a skilful hand was
bringing me to erection despite myself. I looked at the girl
who had undressed me for the first time. Good grief, it was
Sharon McAlister!

"I wondered when you'd notice me."

"Sorry. It's all a bit stressful."

"Let's see if I can relax you a bit then."

I moaned as her ministrations began to make my hips flex.
Her touch was both firm and teasing, she slipped my foreskin
backwards and forwards across the sensitive ridge around the
head of my cock and extracted more vocal sounds of approval.
Her free hand came up to my chest and she circled her
fingers lightly around my nipples.

"Oh God! What're you doing to unnggg me?"

"It would seem I'm driving you crazy. You like?"

Just as I was about to answer the sounds of female passion
filtered through the pre-orgasmic haze that Sharon had
placed me in. I looked across to see Debbie being skilfully
fingered. She cried out again and looked across at me, her
expression was beatific, her face was flushed and her
breasts heaved delightfully as Steve drove her relentlessly
to her first public orgasm of the day. Then my thoughts were
scrambled as Sharon extracted the same response from me. She
caught some of my semen in her hand and, when she saw that
she had my attention again, she dipped a finger in it and
placed some in her mouth.

"Mmm! Delicious." Then she leant forward and kissed me, for
all her reputation the kiss was surprisingly chaste. "Thank
you, I've wanted to do that for you, for a long time."

There was a light smattering of cheers and the next pair of
victims was ushered forwards. I looked around for Debbie,
but she must have gone on ahead of me and so I climbed the
steps on shaky legs and pushed my way through the doors.

"So you got to live the dream of every boy in the school?"

"I guess so."

"What was it like?"

This was embarrassing; talking to one girl about how another
girl had just masturbated me. I struggled to think of
something to say. "It was very… um… exciting."

"Come on, time to re-enter the lion's den."

After that start, the rest of the day was a bit of an, if
you will excuse the pun, anticlimax. The younger girls
seemed to have had their fill of just looking and now wanted
the full 'hands-on' experience, as a result I was a little
sore by the time that school was over. However I didn't
really take much notice of what happened to me, as I seemed
to spend most of the day with thoughts of Debbie on my mind.
Visions of her in the throes of orgasm kept invading my
thoughts.

Eventually I made a decision. Ironically being naked for the
last day and a half had banished a lot of my timidity and I
was determined to tell her how I felt about her. Once my
decision was made I felt happier and I looked forward to the
end of the school day. I'd just finished getting dressed
when Debbie arrived.

"Everything all right?"

"Oh, yeah, just chatting."

"Can I help you dress?"

"Is that a reasonable request?"

"If you want it to be?"

"Okay, it'll make a change I suppose." She grinned at me and
leant forward to let me slip her bra on. I had a few
problems with the bra hooks, to which she expressed the
opinion that it was obvious I was no Casanova.

"Look I have experience in undoing these things, not doing
them up."

"I can tell."

Once we had negotiated the bra, the rest of the dressing
went swimmingly and I experienced for myself the erotic
potential of dressing a beautiful girl.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

We walked home each preoccupied with our own thoughts. Not
that this was unusual, just that in my heightened state of
awareness I realised that she was slipping away from me. I
grasped the nettle of opportunity and broached the subject
just before we reached her house.

"Can I see you later? I have something I need to talk to you
about."

She looked at me pensively and then came to a decision.
"I'll call you, in about an hour, we'll go for a walk and
we'll talk?"

"Yes, see you."

Once home I changed and paced in my room until the 'phone
rang, it was her.

"I'll meet you. We need to talk."

It was obvious that she felt that things were coming to a
head; perhaps I needn't be so apprehensive after all? We met
halfway and turned, by common consent, up the short cut to
our vantage point. The silence was almost absolute and we
sat, each in our own cocoon of deep thought, then she turned
and spoke to me, and for the first time I began to doubt.

"I think you have something to say to me."

It's now or never. That was the title of the song, I reached
back to the courage that I had felt not so long ago and
blurted out the words that I had longed to say for so many
years.

"Debbie, I'm desperately in love with you. There isn't a
night that goes by when I don't dream of you. You fill my
every waking thought." I looked at her and was surprised to
see a mixture of tenderness and sadness there, but I carried
on regardless; the pressure of my emotions once released
would not be stemmed. "I'm sure that we could be happy
together. I've felt like this for years, but I was too
scared that I might lose your friendship. Today at school I
realised that I needed more than what we have. I need to
make love to you, to show you how much I adore you…" I
tailed off there were tears in her eyes and they weren't
tears of happiness.

"Oh Mark, I'm so sorry. I guessed how you felt and I do love
you, but not that way. You're the brother I never had." Her
tears were infectious and I cried with her, numb with the
pain that her words were inflicting on me. She drew a
shuddering breath. "There's no easy way to say this, but
there's someone else. It's been so quick, but I know that
he's the one."

"Steve." I knew with certainty.

"Yes."

"Oh Debs…" I couldn't say more. I felt like my heart was
being ripped from my chest. Breathing seemed difficult;
there was a lump in my throat that prevented further speech.
And then we were together, sobbing, in each other's arms.
Somehow we were kissing; a frantic solace for the hurt that
we had inflicted. She moaned into my mouth and then we were
tearing the clothes from each other. Her nipples were solid
nubs of arousal and they rubbed my chest leaving trails of
fire wherever they touched. There was little finesse in our
coupling; just the desire to assuage a deep emotional wound.
Finally we came and then we rolled apart and I knew then
that my years of desire were an illusion and I cried, great
heaving almost, silent sobs wracked me, what had we done?

"Oh God, Debs. I'm so sorry."

"Mark, it's okay. We needed to do this, otherwise we would
always wonder." Her speech degenerated into wordless
comforting sounds and eventually the storm of emotion
subsided for both of us. It was late.

"We have to get home, or our parents will be worried."

I nodded unable to speak. I couldn't think. We'd made love
and it had been the worst mistake of my entire life. I was
lost; the centre of my existence for three years had turned
out to be just a dream; a nightmare. What was I going to do?
Even as I thought these things, the selfishness of my
thoughts appalled me and I sank deeper into the blackness.

We parted and there was no joy in our parting, no
expectation. In my room I wept for the lost years. Sleep
came and there was no peace. All too soon it was morning and
the day ahead was bleak and unwelcoming.

Wednesday
=========

I hadn't arranged a time to meet Debbie last night and, for
the first time in almost five years, I walked to school
alone. Shit I missed her. I missed the banter; I missed the
closeness; I'd give anything for last night not to have
happened, but it did and, somehow, we'd have to get past it.
Only right now, this instant, I couldn't see how. I arrived
at the undressing area and all I could see was the spectacle
of Steve and Debbie in deep conversation. Even from here I
could see that she was crying and the pain that I felt was a
physical thing, tying my chest in knots. She smiled and
suddenly her tears didn't matter and if anything I felt
worse. Then they hugged and kissed, I couldn't stop
watching, and the stuff that I'd scoffed at, the stories
that I'd read where someone dies of a broken heart; I knew
then that they were all true.

I watched Steve approach and there was nowhere for me to
hide. He held out his hand to me and smiled engagingly.
Automatically I took it and he shook it, all the while
looking at me in a concerned fashion. It was all too strange
and for the second time in my life I learnt another literary
truth. The truth about the phrase 'struck dumb'. It became
obvious that I wasn't going to say anything and Steve
continued to hold my hand and led me over to a convenient
wall slightly away from the crowds.

"Hey, Mark. It's a tough break, I know and I'm sorry." I
shrugged unable to force the words past the enormous tennis
ball sized lump in my throat.

"There's nothing I can say at this point to make you feel
better, but just so you know, Debbie told me about last
night. I understand, I can't say I'm thrilled, but these
things happen and I'm not about to screw up the best thing
that has ever happened to me with stupid jealousy. So I'll
say this, she misses you, you're her best friend and I don't
want her to lose you over a stupid mistake. Okay? I love her
and I want the best for her and if that means having you as
a friend I'm going to do my damndest to see that she gets
you."

He stared at me for a long time and then nodded as I
acknowledged what he'd said. Further conversation was
precluded when the school bell rang and it was time to get
undressed. Somehow I ended up with no clothes on, but I
couldn't say afterwards if I'd undressed myself or if
someone else had done it for me. I do know that I was
fondled quite a lot, but for the first time that I could
remember I didn't get hard. Perhaps it's true that sex is
all in the mind, because the last thing on my mind was being
sexy.

Afterwards though was much different, somehow, I don't know
how, the whole school seemed to be aware that I had a
problem, because I received less attention than I had on the
first day and those girls that did, were soon the subject of
whispered instructions to leave me alone. Perhaps it was
just as well. I doubted that I would have been able to
fulfil all but the most basic of requests. Lunchtime arrived
unexpectedly and I couldn't remember a single thing that I
had done that morning.

I sat at my table, my grief plain to see and stirred the
food on my plate. I'd never felt less like eating. All at
once I felt my face crack into the rictus that precedes the
most helpless sobbing and I was unable to stop the pent up
emotion. Not here! I couldn't breakdown here!

"Hey you! No blubbering. There is nothing that puts a body
off their meal more, than watching a boy sob into his food."

I looked up through teary eyes and saw Laura.

"Laura, what are you doing here?"

"Taking you somewhere where you can cry and no one will
notice." With that she grabbed my wrist and dragged my away
from the table and towards the swimming pool. Once there she
shucked her clothes and eschewing her costume she pushed me
through the showers and the footbath and into the pool.

"Okay you can cry now, no one will notice your tears with
all this water around." She put her arms around me and
pulled my head onto her shoulder. It was too much like last
night and I sobbed helplessly. She rubbed my back and
crooned wordless comforting noises into my ear. Eventually
the storm passed and she pulled away from me.

"Better?"

"Some"

"Let's swim then, the exercise will make you feel better."
And with that she was off with an easy long-limbed stroke
that was deceptive in its efficiency. I was a pretty good
swimmer but I never came anywhere close to catching her.
Afterwards in the changing room we sat and talked.

"I don't get it."

"What?"

"I haven't been touched all day. It's almost as if everyone
knows."

"They do."

"What do they know?"

"That you've been in love with Debbie for the last two or
three years and have been afraid to do anything about it.
More importantly, Debbie has known too."

"But if she knew why didn't she do..."

"Exactly. It's been tearing her up that you might confess
how you feel and she'd have to tell you that she didn't feel
the same way. The whole school has been waiting for it to
happen."

"How? Why would anyone care?"

"You're a very popular guy, Mark, and Debbie is a popular
girl, and what makes it great is neither of you know just
how well-respected you are."

"Well I know that most people like Debs, but me? Popular?
You're having me on?"

"I rest my case."

"I suppose everyone thinks I'm stupid?"

"No way!"

"I think I'm stupid."

"You're a boy, being stupid comes with the territory." She
hugged me and spoke softly to me, all seriousness now. "Most
people just feel very sorry that one of the best-loved,
couple of best friends had to get through this stage. It was
obvious that both of you were going to get hurt. No one
thinks that you're stupid. Don't worry, I can confidently
predict that tomorrow, things will be different."

After the swim and the time in the changing room I was
feeling better. The pain was still there, but now I could
think that there'd be a time that it wouldn't hurt. As luck
would have it I didn't see Debbie for the rest of the day.
And the word seemed still to be out, so I was left alone
when I got dressed. Walking home on my own really sucked and
I knew I couldn't go through the rest of the week alone. But
it did give me time to think about how I really felt and the
things that Steve had said to me started to make a lot of
sense. Time to see if we could fix things.

I picked up the 'phone and dialled the number I knew so
well, that I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was: I
dialled the number from muscle memory.

"It's me."

"Hello you."

"I'm sorry, Debs."

"Me too."

"I'm sorry for being a lovesick idiot around you."

"You were never an idiot."

"I've been clued in about how much you were hurting and all
the time I was parading my own feelings to everyone and
ignoring yours. That makes me an idiot."

"If you insist."

"I'd still like to be friends, if you think we can."

"I'd like to try, it sucks having to say everything to
completion. I mean who else..."

"... would finish your sentences for you? I know what
you..."

"... mean."

We laughed and I knew that we were going to be all right,
eventually. I realised something else too.

"I'm going to tell you something and I want you to let me
finish, will you do that"

"Yes."

"I love you," she gasped but held herself in check, "but I'm
not 'in love with you', I realised that on the way home when
I thought about what Steve said to me. He's a hell of a
bloke by the way. Anyway because I love you, I want the best
for you and the best for you at the moment is Steve. Okay?"

"Yes, I love you the same way, too. There is someone out
there for you, Mark. I'm sure of it, just don't let
opportunities pass you by. You did that a lot when you
thought you were in love with me and that used to kill me.
So don't do it any more right?"

"Yes, dear. Usual time tomorrow?"

"I suppose, don't you want to talk to me any more?"

"Yes, but you have a boyfriend and though he's a pretty
special guy, you need to spend time with him, so go, ring
your boyfriend and make sure you tell him I told you to. I
need all the brownie points I can get with him after last
night."

"Yes, dear. See you tomorrow."

I replayed the conversation in my head; I'd missed
opportunities had I? I wondered who they had been. With this
interesting thought bouncing around in my head I wandered
downstairs to talk to my parents. One thing today had shown
me, was that I was not as inscrutable as I had always
thought myself to be and it followed from that, that my
parents would have been worried about me. So I owed it them
to let them know that things were getting better.

It was a good evening and we had a few hugs and a few tears.
Afterwards I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my
chest. I laughed; another literary cliché was shown to have
some truth in it. I slept well and woke early the next
morning feeling inexplicably happy. Perhaps my subconscious
knew something that I didn't? Oh well I'd find out in good
time.

Thursday
========

The contrast with yesterday served to mask any residual
awkwardness between us. We'd never been ones for idle
chatter, just to fill silences, so we walked to school in
companionable silence. As we approached the turning for the
road to the school, we were suddenly surrounded by a gaggle
of giggling girls, Laura chief amongst them. They dragged me
away from Debbie.

"Help me, I'm being kidnapped!"

"It looks like a great way to go!"

"Some help you are, I thought we were friends again?"

"That's why I'm letting you go. See you later pal, if you
haven't gone blind that is!"

The girls continued to hustle me along and we arrived at the
undressing area much earlier than I had planned for.

"Why all the hurry?" I asked Laura, as she seemed to be the
ringleader.

"We have a reasonable request, well a series of them
actually. But first I want to undress you. May I?"

I nodded and Laura started by kneeling down and removing the
sandals that I wore. They were more substantial than the
flip flops and didn't make me look stupid when I wore them
naked, as long as I didn't wear socks that is. Next she
undid the snap to my jeans and pulled them down and off each
foot, one at a time. She was careful to leave my underwear
undisturbed. Then she stood up and lifted my tee shirt over
my head. Before she took off my one remaining garment she
ran her hands over my chest and stroked my nipples to
hardness. I groaned at the unexpected stimulation and there
seemed to be a direct connexion between my nipples and my
cock, which grew in size and hardness as she finished by
kissing each nipple in turn. Finally she knelt once more and
slipped my underpants down and off. As she rose I was
suddenly engulfed in a warm and willing mouth.

"Oh God, Laura."

"Hey, no cheating!"

This last exclamation had more effect than mine and Laura
reluctantly relinquished my cock. I felt my breathing return
to a more normal cadence and was able to ask her.

"What are these reasonable requests then?"

"We want to hold a blow-job contest..."

"... with me as the judge I suppose?"

"Something like that." Laura grinned at me and she and the
rest of the gang cheered when I bowed to the inevitable and
agreed.

What followed was the most excruciatingly arousing thing I
have ever experienced. For almost half an hour the girls
kept me at the peak of excitement, as each of them seemed to
be doing their best to make me groan out loud. As a judge I
would have been rubbish, as I had no idea who was who, nor
when one girl finished and another started. However, I
gathered that the contest was simply: who could get the most
reaction from me, and for that I didn't need to have all my
faculties. Dimly I heard the school bell ring and I noticed
that the quality of the blowjob I was currently experiencing
changed. Startled out of my sexual stupor I looked down to
see Laura at work on my cock.

"Laura, I'm…"

I was too late. I screamed my release and my prostate
attempted to empty itself and the rest of my internal organs
through my cock. My vision darkened and if I hadn't been
leaning against a wall I would have fallen for sure. As it
was, it was a very close run thing. After a while my senses
returned and I became aware of a whooping cheering audience
surrounding us. I looked down at Laura who was suckling on
my rapidly shrinking penis. With a last lick, she
relinquished it and stood up.

"I think I won."

"No, if anyone won, it was me."

She smiled beatifically at my remark and all at once I had
my arms around her and I kissed her. I'd intended just a
congratulatory kiss, but something changed and the kiss we
actually shared brought me to a new understanding of the
phrase 'soul searing'. After we had finished kissing,
Laura's gang dragged her away before she could say anything.
On shaky legs and, in somewhat of a daze, I made my way into
school.

As Laura had predicted, today was a complete contrast to
yesterday. All day long I was bombarded with 'reasonable
requests'. At first it was just from Laura's friends but as
word spread, other girls would join in. Not for the first
time I was glad that I had instituted a 'squeaky-clean'
policy for this week, as there was not a single part of me
that was not examined, nor a single orifice that wasn't
poked. The youngest were the worst, what is it about anuses
that have a fascination for girls of thirteen?

It was lunchtime before I realised it and I collapsed at a
table with Debbie and Steve, sighing with pleasure at the
knowledge that my time was my own for an hour or so. Steve
laughed at my expression of relief.

"Busy day?"

"I think there's a conspiracy."

They both laughed and I realised that I was happy for them
both. I was also surprised to find that I had gone the whole
morning without thinking about Debbie once. This confused me
for a while, but Debbie and Steve didn't seem to notice and
I gave myself a mental shake and joined in the banter.

"Hey, stop mooning over each other and eat something."
Debbie grinned at me and stuck out her tongue at me. Steve
pounced on it. I made fake retching sounds, "It's enough to
put someone off their food." They stopped kissing.

"You and Laura seemed to be having fun this morning." This
was from Steve.

"Hmmm." I wasn't sure what it was, but 'fun' was too mild a
word. Debbie joined in.

"I noticed a definite shakiness in the leg department as you
walked into school."

"Definitely, a distinct wobbliness I'd say."

It was my turn to stick out my tongue at them. I changed the
subject a little, "How do you feel about this? Debbie being
naked and everything?" Debbie frowned at me. "Sorry, I
shouldn't have asked. It's just that it's something I always
wondered when I read the reports about The Programme from
the States."

"I can't say I'm overjoyed about it, but without The
Programme, Debs and I wouldn't have got together, so I guess
I'll have to take the rough with the smooth. Anyway the shoe
may be on the other foot there's still a couple of weeks of
term to go and I volunteered to help out as a teaching
assistant, but I'm still a student so I may be picked."

Debbie spoke up, "I think that's a certainty, if they want a
couple from each year group. Most year-thirteen's have gone,
now that their exams are finished." There was a certain
dreaminess in her expression and I knew that Steve was going
to be enjoying himself when it was his turn. The thought did
not provoke jealous thoughts and this surprised me, welcome
though my new equilibrium was.

By now we had collected our plates and dumped them at the
collection point. At this point in the term Thursday
afternoons were given over to sports or free periods for the
top three year-groups. So I grabbed my Badminton rackets and
shuttles and made my way to the sports hall were I had a
long-standing engagement to play with Laura. Usually we
played mixed doubles together. We were pretty good, to the
extent that we represented our county in various youth
tournaments. But today it seemed that she had arranged for
us to play each other. This was, necessarily, a handicapped
match and, as usual, I spotted her eight points.

"I thought we'd play a match. I've booked the court for an
hour."

We'd not played each other for a while and Laura had been
steadily improving, it was going to be a tough match.
Badminton is an interesting game; total beginners can play
it with only a few minutes practise. The shuttle moves
slowly enough, that novices can achieve rallies of ten or
more strokes with little or no effort. Compare this with
tennis, for example, where you need a reasonable skill level
before you can even serve, let alone play a rally of more
than a couple of strokes. However Badminton is also the
fastest racquet sport in the world; hit properly, a shuttle
can achieve initial speeds of 150 mph. Watch a match played
at world championship level and the only time you will see
the shuttle sometimes is when the server is holding it and
when the loser of the rally is picking it off the floor.

Laura and I weren't that good, but we were amongst the best
in the school and also in the county. The first game was a
rout on Laura's part, I was still getting used to playing
naked and she was shameless in aiming the shuttle at my
exposed genitals. Each time I frantically covered up she
laughed her socks off.

"Right, you little minx! This is where you get yours, the
gloves are off now."

"Ohhhh, I'm so scared."

The second game was much more evenly matched and I
ruthlessly exposed her weaknesses to lobs and high drives.
Even so, it was closer than I remembered it being, the last
time I'd played her seriously. The final score was 15-12.

"You rat-bag, you know I hate those driving lobs of yours."
She grinned at me to show that she wasn't too upset.

"Oh, you want us to play pat-a-cake style? Just about your
speed I'd say." She blew me a raspberry.

"Okay buster, prepared to be spanked."

We squared up to each other and started the final game. It
was brutal. We gave no quarter and part of me was astounded
at the sheer brilliance of the shots that we were forcing
from each other. Laura was a total terrier, she chased down
every shot, and nothing was left if there was even the
slightest doubt that it was going in. Occasionally I was
aware that the rest of the games in the hall had stopped and
everyone was watching us, but such was the intensity of our
game that I couldn't spare any thought over the matter. At
one point, as she was replacing our third broken shuttle - a
record in itself, I realised just how large our audience had
grown. Any thought that it was because I was naked, was
banished when I realised that Laura might just have well
been, as her sweat-soaked sports kit was virtually
transparent. In the end my superior stamina won the match
and we collapsed underneath the net in complete exhaustion
as my final drop shot crept over the net and Laura tripped
and fell as she attempted to retrieve it. The hall erupted
with a roar of approval and applause.

"32-30." I managed to gasp out the score line.

"Best of five?" She managed to get out between pants.

"In your dreams." We laughed exhaustedly.

After a little while longer I managed to stand and I helped
Laura to stagger into the changing room. I undressed her and
pulled her into the shower. She stood listlessly as I washed
her. As I did so I realised just how gorgeous she was. I'd
known her almost as long as she had been at school. She'd
accosted me after I'd played an exhibition match to
demonstrate the range of sports that were available to the
new year-nine intake, and demanded to be taught this 'cool
game'. I'd obliged her and our mixed doubles team was born.
When did she turn into a beautiful woman, I wondered? I
looked into her eyes and was shocked by the burning need
that I saw there. I pulled her to me and we exchanged
another soul-searing kiss.

And then something snapped in me. Laura was my friend, was I
making the same mistake twice? I groaned and pulled away
from her. She looked upset. "I'm sorry Laura, I can't do
this to you, it's a mistake." With that I scrambled from the
shower and literally ran to the dressing area and out of the
changing room.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was a complete blank
to me. I found myself in bed with no recollection of how I
had got there. I remembered the devastated look on Laura's
face as I left the shower. I remembered how she looked in
her sweat-soaked badminton kit. I remembered the kiss…

Sleep took me and I woke the next morning vaguely aware that
I'd been dreaming, but of what, I couldn't remember.

Friday
======

"Penny for 'em?" It was Debbie's turn to make the
traditional enquiry.

"Just thinking."

"About us?" Debbie looked concerned.

"A bit."

"I hurt you a lot, I'm so sorry. I just hoped and hoped that
you'd fall for someone else. But while we were just friends,
life was so good. I was being selfish I suppose." She looked
anguished, "there's something else, that I'm not
particularly proud of, and I'll understand if you hate me
over it, but I enjoyed being the object of your devotion. It
did me good to feel that there was someone that loved me
like that. I should've told you earlier and saved you the
hurt. I'm sorry."

I gave her a quick hug, not trusting myself to do more.
"Debs don't beat yourself up about it, we both made
mistakes. If I'd been braver I'd have found out sooner. It's
done now and perhaps it's made us stronger, we'll see." She
smiled, but still looked unsure and unhappy. Fuck that, she
was my friend, my best friend. "C'mere." I gave her another
hug; a proper one this time.

"Steve's a lucky guy and I'm not jealous. I told you I love
you, and it's true. I want you to be happy and Steve makes
you happy. If you're happy then I'm happy. Something'll turn
up for me if, as you say, I've been ignoring offers. Anyway
you're my best friend and a girl, to boot, so it's gonna be
your job to get a girl for me!"

She laughed, almost back to normal. "I'm not your personal
pimp!"

"Who says?"

I ducked a punch then we carried on walking to school,
laughing and joking, like normal. Just before we reached the
gates, Debbie stopped me one last time. "I meant what I
said, you know, afterwards. I'm glad that we made love, I'm
only sorry that it came with all the hurt." Then her mood
changed once more and she dragged me towards the waiting
crowd.

As we approached a cheer went up.

A tradition of allowing oneself to be undressed appeared to
have been started and today was no exception. I was
double-teamed by a couple of younger girls that I knew only
vaguely. I looked across towards Debbie and saw that Steve
had her in the throes of a highly vocal orgasm as he drove
her wild with his lips and tongue. Unlike the last time I
witnessed it, this time I was highly aroused. The girls that
were undressing me were in raptures. But even as their
gentle investigations were having their inevitable effect, I
realised that I was missing Laura.

This thought was as surprising as it was unexpected. I
drifted through morning classes distractedly, while I tried
to come to terms with this revelation. Being the model in
biology did little to affect my preoccupation, and not even
when the teacher directed the girl helping her with the
demonstration, in the finer points of the male sexual
response was I distracted from my thoughts of Laura.

Could I do this again? Was it another mistake? I really
needed to talk to someone but the only person I could think
of was Debbie and our new temporary class schedule meant
that we wouldn't see each other until after lunch.

As it turned out I didn't need to. I sat down at an empty
table and started to eat the pasta dish, which was the
normal fare for a Friday. Debbie had brought a packed lunch
and I ate alone, the rest of the diners were careful to give
Programme participants privacy if it seemed that they needed
it. I'd just finished my lunch and drunk the last of my
water when someone sat next to me. I turned to see who it
was and I felt a rush of joy as I saw that it was Laura.

"Sit still and say nothing." I nodded and was rewarded with
another of those soul-stirring kisses that seemed to be the
only ones that we could share. And then there was nothing,
but the feel of her lips and her tongue. We broke the kiss
and the dining hall broke into a loud cheer. Laura blushed
bright red then took hold of my hand and pulled me from the
table. "We have to talk, come on." And with that she led me
from the hall and out onto the playing fields and towards a
secluded corner. We sat down and she turned to me, holding
my hands in hers.

"I can't carry on the way we have been. I know how you felt
about Debbie and I know what it feels like to be in love and
not to have your love returned in the same way."

"How…" Laura continued speaking, unable to stop now that she
had started.

"I've felt that way about you for almost a year. I've waited
and waited for you to notice me, but you were too wrapped up
in Debbie. I've been desperate to say something, but I
didn't know how you would take it and so I've been willing
to accept friendship, but since yesterday in the shower I
can't carry on like that."

"But…"

"Look, I'll accept it if you say you don't love me like
that, but I want more and I'll take any sort of relationship
I can get as long as it's more than just plain friendship.
God, I'll even be your 'fuck-buddy', anything…"

There was no way I was going to get a word in edgeways, so I
kissed her. It was everything and more that our previous
kisses had been. This time, since we were sitting, the
effect was stronger and we fell backwards, still kissing
until she was stretched out on the ground alongside me. Her
hands stroked me and everywhere that she touched me she left
a trail of fire. One hand came up the back of my neck and
her fingers played with the hair there. And the feelings of
being possessed and being loved just washed over me. I
moaned into her mouth. I did the same to her and she pressed
her body to me and I felt her groan. Eventually we parted
lips and I stared into her eyes from a few inches and I
drowned in them.

"I love you, Laura." "I love you, Mark."

I remembered my dream and I shivered. Laura looked
concerned.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I dreamt about this, last night. I dreamt that you said you
loved me. I just remembered after you said it."

"Déjà vu."

"Yes."

"Do you remember anything else from your dream?" She placed
her hand on my erect cock and began to stroke me gently,
slowly building my arousal.

"Shall we take this somewhere more private? I know just the
spot."

Laura stopped what she was doing and looked serious, "No.
I'd guess that it's a place that you and Debbie use to go
to." She paused as I nodded confirmation, "we'll find our
own favourite spots, together, from now on. Besides, this is
private enough for what I have in mind."

She sat up and started to remove her clothes. I stroked her
breasts and generally did my best to distract her. She
gasped and giggled, but did nothing to stop me as I explored
the flesh that she exposed to me. Then we were naked
together and kissing once more. She pulled away from me,
pushed me flat on my back and straddled me. Once she was
settled properly she leant forward and kissed the tip of my
nose.

"Tomorrow, we'll make a fresh start."

I was about to agree when she drove all rational thought
from my head and it was a long while before I could think of
anything but the feel of her; the heat and the moisture. The
silkiness of her skin, the bounce of her breasts and the way
that she gasped and groaned as I rolled her nipples in my
fingers. We came together, her climax inducing mine. As we
lay with her weight resting on me all I could feel was joy.

"Oh, what a fresh start shall we make!"

Laura laughed and I looked forward to tomorrow, very much
indeed.

-Fin-

--
http://www.asstr.org/~arty