THE CLUB
Chapter 1

Their parents had sold their city condo and moved to the country "to be healthier", as they put it. To Meg and her twin brother, Mark, it wasn't healthy, it was boring! For over 12 years they had lived in the city and now they were stuck in what they thought of as the middle of nowhere. Their mom was now home schooling them so no classmates and no friends. The town they had moved to only had a population of a couple of hundred.

To make matters worse, there were only 3 or 4 their own age in what seemed like for miles around and they were all girls. Not really as bad for Meg as it was for Mark though. He wasn't sure if there were any boys his age. Their parents had met the neighbors, or at least the people who lived closest, about a half mile away, and they had 2 daughters, ages 13 and 11. They also mentioned another girl, also age 11, who their daughters played with.

Meg was sitting on a swing, or what she supposed was a swing. It wasn't one of the ones she was used to. She had only used ones that were held up with chains to a metal frame. This was ropes hung from a tree branch. She wasn't swinging, just sitting, deep in thought, wondering how she was going to survive a lifetime of this place. A voice startled her.

"Hi. I'm Gail from down the road. My mom told me to come and say hi to you, so I'm here," the girl announced.

Seeing a friendly face that wasn't family made her smile. "I'm Meg. We just moved here from the city."

The two began chatting. Meg told her all the things she used to do when living in the city, then asked, "What do you do here?"

"Well, we don't have all the stuff like in the city, but it's not so bad. Mish, well, actually Michelle, but everybody calls her Mish, she's 13 too, lives on a farm with an old hunting shack on it. No one uses it, so we made a clubhouse out of it. There's a little pond next to it. We use it a lot. The pond isn't big enough for a boat or anything, but you can swim in it. No one is anywhere around, so we can do anything we want there,�"Gail explained.

Meg's interest was somewhat peeked and the two talked about the place. After talking for a while, Gail asked if Meg wanted to go see it after explaining it was about a mile away. "Sure! It beats sitting doing nothing. Is it OK if my brother comes too? He's inside. He's my brother, but isn't really that bad anyway. He was real popular where we came from."

Gail hadn't expected that, so thought for a moment before answering. "Well, I guess he can come, but we can't go inside the clubhouse. You can look around and look in the window if you want though."

“Meg jumped off the swing, ran into the house, and a few minutes later came back out with her brother following. After introductions, the three started walking down the road to the clubhouse. As they walked, they chatted.

At first it was just the usual things 12+/- year olds talk about. "It's strange having a boy around," Gail giggled. "Before you moved here there was just us 4 girls. Now there's 5 girls and you. Sorry, but there's no boys in town," she explained. Mark sighed, but tried to make the best of it. At least she wasn't his parents or sister, the only ones he had contact with since they had moved in. He hadn't even been able to call his friends. Putting the phone in was a major project, they had to run lines from the closest neighbor about a half mile away, and still wasn't hooked up. Forget internet or cell phones as well.

Finally they came upon the clubhouse. It was just a small, one room shack, but hidden in a grove of trees. Next to it was a little pond with a surprisingly sandy bottom. It was supplied by a brook which entered on one side and exited on the other. Meg loved it. It could have been a postcard picture. The shack, while obviously old, was in quite good condition. There was glass in the windows. The trio looked in one of the windows. Inside was an old wood stove, which Gail told them wasn't used, a sink with a hand pump, which Gail told them did work, and two benches lined up in front of a single chair. Gail explained that was for their club meetings.

"Hey!" a voice shouted from behind them.

All three jumped, but Gail recognized the girl. She told them it was Mish and went over to talk to her. Meg and Mark couldn't hear what was being said, but the conversation started somewhat animated and then seemed to calm some. After a few minutes, Gail nodded and both girls approached.

After introductions, Mish spoke. "Gail told me you two just moved here and were thinking of joining our club. It's only supposed to be club members here, but seeing you're thinking of joining, I guess it's OK, but you can't go inside the clubhouse."

"I told them that already," Gail blurted. "I told them they couldn't go in, but that they could look in the window." Mish nodded.

"How do we join the club?" Meg asked.

"We have to have a meeting of the members first. We then decide if we'll invite you. Gail said she'd bring it up. We have a meeting tomorrow, so we can talk then," Mish answered and then walked away.

Once out of hearing range, Meg whispered, "She not too friendly, huh?"

"Actually she is. She's just pissed because I brought you here. It's only supposed to be club members, so she was mad about that. She has her reasons... Anyway, once you get to know her, you'll like her. She's really nice," Gail explained.

"If you say so... She seemed like a bitch to me," Mark added.

"No, she really isn't. She's just mad. I'll explain it all tomorrow after the meeting. I guess we better go. I'll come by after the club meeting tomorrow. I'm sure they'll let you join," reassured Gail.

The trio again chatted on the way home, but Gail avoided talking about the clubhouse or the club telling them she'd explain everything tomorrow. Meg and Mark thought it strange she wouldn't talk, but just let it pass. Gail walked with them until they knew where they were, and then left them for her house.

The next day Meg couldn't wait for Gail to come by. The day dragged, but late afternoon Gail knocked at the door. Seeing who it was, Meg started to get her brother, but Gail stopped her. "Let's just us talk first... outside," Gail suggested. Meg nodded and then followed Gail to a tree some distance from the house, where they couldn't be seen, and then sat down and Meg sat next to her.

"So?" Meg quizzed.

"Well, we had our meeting..." Gail began. "There's never been a boy in our club. At first they seemed against it, but I convinced them it was OK and that he was the only boy around. It would only be fair to let both of you join."

"Thanks... I expect if we were doing girl stuff Mark would just leave anyway," grinned Meg.

"Well... Um... Ah... It's not really that..." and then Gail paused. Meg said nothing, waiting for Gail to continue. "You see, we kinda do things naked..."

"Oh..." Meg murmured, but didn't know how to respond.

"One of the girls said maybe we should change our rules, but the others said no. Rules are rules. That's why you couldn't go inside the clubhouse, ' no clothes allowed'. One of the girls said she didn't want a boy seeing her, but I told her she'd see the boy too, so it was fair. She kinda agreed then. Um... are you OK being naked with us? ...and ...um ...ah ...do you ...um ...do you think your brother would too? We'd all see him, but he'd see us too. I guess you too, if you joined," continued Gail.

"I've never done anything like that..." Meg mumbled.

"We don't do everything naked, just some stuff. It's kinda fun being naked," blushed Gail. "No one is near so no one sees us anyway; it's just us. That's why Mish was mad yesterday. Only club members are supposed to be there. Her parents don't even go there," Gail explained.

Meg thought for a moment. It seemed so daring, but they all did it and they were the only ones around. If she wanted friends... "OK, I'll join, but I'm not sure about Mark. Do you want me to get him and we can talk?"

"You think he'll join? You don't think he'll say anything to anyone, do you? We'd all be in trouble..." Gail questioned.

"I don't know if he'll join, but he is a boy, so probably he will even just to see girls. ...and he won't say anything, I promise," Meg giggled as she stood and ran to the house.

Mark soon joined the two girls and Gail explained everything again. Mark wasn't sure about being naked with girls around until Gail got to the part where she said they would see him, but he would see all of them. Seeing five naked girls, even if one was his sister, convinced him.

With all agreed, Gail told them she would be back tomorrow after lunch and they would go to the clubhouse and be sworn into the club then - inside.