Chapter 1

My Dad was madder than usual, Mom was crying. She always seemed to act like that when things happened. I just hope Dad doesn't start throwing things around.

"April, my poor April, my baby," she sobbed.

"Son of a bitch!" He snarled, pacing around the room. Big sister Kathy just stared at me with wide eyes and open mouth. She, as usual, was gross!

Everybody, and I do mean everybody, kept asking me to explain I'm tired of hearing, "What happened?" or "What's been going on?" And then there's the goofy sympathy thing. "Poor little girl, how could your life be ruined!" or, "But you're so young..."

I tried to tell them that I felt fine and that they should just calm down.

"Get a life!" I thought to myself. Mine was great until everyone got crazy, now they all wanted to help. I never understood adults and big sisters and still don't. Maybe you go insane when you grow up. Pubic hair, that's it, when it grows it somehow messes up you're brain! Well, I've got a little of it growing under my arms and some on my bottom and it's time to say bye bye little curlies! I'm just not interested in growing up and losing my mind... I looked at my family with sad eyes and excused myself. The lunatics started following me around, gross! "Can I go to the bathroom, please?"

"Are you hurt, Sweets, can I help?"

"Son of a bitch!" ...wide eyed stares, Jeez!

Praise the Lord! I'm finally by myself in the bathroom. I saw me in the big mirror on the front of the medicine cabinet.

"Hi, April." I said, and made a funny face. Being eleven years old was tough sometimes. Kathy was a year older and thought she was a lot smarter, probably has lots of pubic hair by now. I know her chest is growing cuz I snuck into the bathroom when she was taking a shower last year and saw! Mine are even growing a little bit. And everybody talked to me, and I do mean everybody, about the periods coming. They talked in quiet voices and Dad was nervous for some reason. What's the big deal anyway? I'm sure Kathy had hers and I'll probably have mine. Heck, it's my job as a girl, isn't it? Granted, it's a little strange. When Kathy told me the hows and whys about eggs and babies and such I thought, "Yuk!"

But I also thought it was kind of interesting, especially after I learned more in sex education class and I started thinking about it, a lot. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, were always telling me that I shouldn't think or talk about it too much. Strange, cuz I was always hearing how holy my body is or whatever and I thought things like that are always fine discussion topics for young 'uns. Well... okay, I can accept that. What I don't understand is why people are so crazed about such a sacred item, seems like I might be getting lied to here. Once, when I was little, I woke up from my nap and took off my pajamas. I didn't see anybody in the house who could help me get dressed. So I walked around in my little Cinderella panties. Hearing a noise outside I unhooked the screen door and went out. The summer heat was gross and I never really liked to get dressed anyway. I saw Mom and Kathy hanging wash on the line but they didn't see me so I decided to go under the porch where the sandbox was. After sliding the lid off, I got in and played in the sand. It felt so cool on my skin and it was neat rolling around and around in it!

I saw Tommy from next door, who was a sortof friend of Kathy's and the same age as her, coming around the side of the house. He passed by where I was, but didn't see me, in fact, nobody saw me yet. What a great secret place! Anyway, Tommy and Kathy started playing hide and seek and thought maybe they'd let me play. I got up all sandy and my bottom was scratchy. I took off my panties and threw them by the basement door so Mom could wash them and walked out to where the other kids were. As I walked I tried to pick the tons of itchy sand out of my bottom. Still, nobody saw me.

Kathy was the seeker hiding her eyes and counting. Tommy was giggling and hiding behind a tree, a place way too easy to find.

"Hey," I yelled. "Can I play too?" Kathy, Mom and Tommy all looked at me and the two kids began pointing and laughing. Mom's eyes got real wide and she shrieked in a way I'd never heard before.

"April, stop doing that! Get some clothes on right away! Boy, was she mad and I wasn't sure why, but I was really starting to like getting the sand out, it felt nice and tingly. To this day, well, I know now what was going on, but I still don't know what the big deal was or is. That night, after supper, Mom and Dad sent Kathy out of the room and scolded me. "People don't walk around naked!"

"Why not when its real hot?" I thought but I didn't say it out loud. I discovered early that it was never wise to disagree or comment when you're getting yelled at.

"Never, never play with yourself like that again!"

"I was only getting rid of sand." I thought. Anyway, Kathy and Tommy whispered, pointed and giggled when they saw me, for years it seemed like! I just gave them a mad look and go someplace else away from them, the jerks! Things have been better lately, maybe they forgot. Its funny, but I like being naked, even now that I'm eleven and I like rubbing myself "down there" even though I've heard the whispers about the evils of masturbation. Its just that I have to be a lot more careful especially around here! Yeah, pubic hair on the brain, that's it. So much for holy bodies, jeez, I was just a little girl!

I looked in the medicine cabinet, and saw some shaving cream and two razors. Hmmmm... should I use Dad's or Mom's? I watched Dad shave all the time, but Mom was kindof sneaky about it, like she is about a lot of things. Who's knocking on the door?

"You alright, Sweets?" asked a deep voice.

"Yeah, go away." I said.

"Okay, but we're out here to help if you need us."

"No kidding!" I thought. I carefully picked up Mom's tool and put it on the sink with the shaving cream. I took off my jeans and carefully folded them before I put them on the pot. Looking in the mirror, I saw my pink tee shirt and my pink cotton panties and thought, "They match pretty good, I look cute!". I started to dance around and pose. It was fun and I looked great! I held my panties up high at the sides, as high as I could get them without tearing them, and looked at myself all over. I pulled them to the side so I could see my vulva. Ugh! Here comes the hair, pretty soon I won't be able to see myself at all! I pulled my shirt up and looked at my little training bra. I remembered some of the boys in my class talking about a magazine that had something called "Playmate of the Month", or something and they were naked, I guess. I stuck my chest out and whispered, "Future Playmate of the Month, April, here she is!" I noticed a little hair under my arms as I unsnapped my slingshot. This has all got to go, but only after I strut a bit more. This is fun!

I pulled my little bra off. Not much here except red marks from the straps. I hate those red marks! My tiny brown nipple thingies were getting bigger and darker and there was a bit of swelling below them like little hills. I crossed my arms and looked in the mirror, lets get to work!

Raising my arms, I slopped shaving cream all over, picked up Mom's razor and started. It wasn't too hard but I nicked myself a bit. I took the washcloth from the bathtub and wiped off the extra white stuff. My little nipple thingies started getting real hard, it felt good! I took the shaving cream and made little circles around them, they looked like those little cookies with chocolate drops in the middle.

"Darling, you okay?" sighed Mom from behind the door.

"Yeah, I'll call you if I need you." I said. I danced around giggling in my panties all decorated with white foam.

With a bit of drama I started slipping my panties off.

"Going down?" I whispered. I pulled them slowly over my bottom, and danced around till they slipped around my knees, ankles, feet... I kicked them aside and thought about how neat it felt to be naked. Looking in the mirror, I really wondered why people didn't like it or thought it bad or strange or whatever. I look very pretty! I looked at my vulva.

"Lets see this." I thought, reaching down and holding it open. It was beautiful, like a warm pink flower, but the hair had to go. There wasn't much of it, but what was there sure was ugly. So I loaded up with shaving cream. Wow, I felt like I was going to explode! It felt so good I decided to move things around a little while I watched my reflection. Picking up the razor, I started to scrape while humming, "Three Blind Mice". Suddenly the door flew open. Rats! I forgot to lock it. Wide eyed Kathy put her hands to her mouth and shrieked, "Moooom!" Give me a break, I knew I was in big trouble now!

Needless to say, I had another problem. There was no way I could make anyone understand.

"Why?" They asked.

"I don't know." I said. They all looked as though they wanted me to cry or something. I really wish I didn't have to hide my thoughts all the time. Anyway here I sit stuck in my room, grounded, waiting for the next bit of hairy adult insanity to hit.

"Honey", I heard from beyond the door. Whoops, here it comes! I opened the door. What other choice did I have?

Yeah, it was punishment alright. I got the big "We know that its scary growing up" talk and the "We know you've had a bad experience" lecture. Dad was concerned about me cutting myself with the razor.

"That really is a weird place to be shaving, Pumpkin." He observed. But they're wrong. I do want to grow up but I want to stay me, I don't want to pretend to be somebody else. I don't know why everyone is so upset about what happened. After Mom and Dad left I thought about it. I was glad Kathy wasn't here but I'm sure she is going to blab.

Anyway the whole thing is about Carl and me and something that happened last week. He is a boy my age that lives a few blocks down, we go to the same school. He's only been around for a couple of years and I didn't really know him until last summer when he was delivering newspapers. We talked a little and after awhile we looked forward to seeing each other but I would never tell anyone that! When school started we had a lot of the same classes and usually walked home together with other kids that were coming this way. It was cute. He asked to carry my books and everything!

Kathy would sometimes follow us with her friends and they would throw snowballs and make fun of us and stuff. What a pain! I wish somebody would tell me why boys and girls can't be friendly when they get older. Most of the boys I've known since kindergarten are like strangers now. They look at me funny and whisper things, its really stupid and getting really irritating. I say hello and talk to them and all but there's some secret or something I don't know about,they get so nervous and all. I was April in kindergarten and I'm still April in junior high. What's the big deal here?

The girls, at least some of them are getting weird too. They giggle all the time and act dumb, guess it's a creeping pubic hair crisis! Well, everybody, and I do mean everybody, is into forming little groups of friends that they do things with and they avoid everyone else. Both Carl and me must have missed something cuz nobody wants to hang around with either of us. Maybe I was absent the day they decided to form these little groups. But I do feel bad about it sometimes, sort of lonesome. I look in the mirror and see my long dark hair deep brown eyes, nice smile. I know that I'm pretty enough. Maybe I'm too smart for them, my grades are always good. I don't think I'm smelly or anything and I don't think I'm boring. I think though' that Carl gets more upset about it.

He told me once that he really doesn't like too many of the kids but he hasn't had enough time here. He really isn't like the rest though. He talks to me and stuff just like normal people would. Anyway, last week, I think it was Wednesday, was dress-up day at school. I wore a lacy white button down top and a short black skirt with lace patterned tights. I had my mom crimp my hair and I even put on a little bit of makeup. Boy, did I look cute! But it was a pain, I was itchy all day cuz it was too hot to wear this stuff! After all, there were only a few weeks left of school and summer weather was already here. Carl asked if he could stop and rest at my house for a minute when we walked this way after the last bell cuz he was real hot with his suit and tie and he had to carry his giant science project home but I had to wait in front of school until he went and got it. I said sure, maybe we could have some pop or something too.

When he finally got it out of the classroom we were the only kids around. He was right, it was huge! I'm glad I wasn't in his science class this quarter. Anyway, between the two of us we were able to struggle it home and leave it on the porch. I turned the doorknob to get in but the door was locked. Rats! So I dug my key out of the inside of my shirt, untangled it from it's chain and popped the lock. We went in and he sat down. I went and got us some pop from the refrigerator and we drank it real fast! Carl had to go to the bathroom so I showed him where it was. He took off his suitcoat and tie as he walked toward the little downstairs powder room that we have. After he closed the bathroom door I sortof snuck over there. I was curious and went to look in the keyhole. I peeked and smiled to myself. It sure was interesting! I never really saw a boy go before. Dad was sortof private about it and, unfortunately, I didn't have any brothers to spy on. Carl probably would've been upset if he knew so I quickly went back to the frontroom and sat down. When he came back I announced that it was my turn and wondered to myself if he wanted to watch too. As I pulled my skirt up I gave a little wiggle just in case but when I came out I saw he was messing with the computer on the other side of the room, too bad! Maybe he didn't know all he could see through the keyhole, then again, maybe he wasn't interested, but that was unlikely! I got us some more pop and some chips and we ate..um...vast quantities while I was destroying him on computer chess.

I remembered how itchy, hot and sticky I was so I took off my shirt. At first I wondered how he would react, after all, a boy had never seen me before other than Dad and doctors. It was cute! I saw how he was sneaking looks at my little sky-blue bra I had just got. Then I slipped my skirt off and I felt much better yet. He was really sneaking looks now and I didn't mind at all. He asked me where everybody was.

"How should I know?" I replied. He said maybe he shouldn't see me with just my underwear but I reminded him that I still had my tights on and said he could look if he wanted, I was just glad to be comfortable.. I had a teacher in grade school that told me curiosity is always good.

"Do you do tumbling in gym?" I asked, trying to make him less nervous. He said "We did that last quarter but I wasn't real good at it."

"Watch this!" I said. I got up and executed a perfect cartwheel the only problem was that my bra got caught on the side of the coffee table and it pulled off. Ouch, it hurt! Boy did his face turn red!

"Are you okay, April?" he asked, trying not to look. I picked it up and showed it to him.

"Sometimes I wish I was a boy so I wouldn't have this problem. I'm supposed to wear this, according to Mom, so my breasts don't sag someday and so my nipple thingies don't show or rub against my clothes." I said. "But I'm sure she's more worried about people seeing them than anything else." I don't know why that should be, what there are of them look very pretty don't you think?" I lifted them up with my hands so he could see that something was there." Don't be scared, Carl, its okay to look, girls are nice and you should at least know what they look like."

He was funny! He said boys aren't supposed to look at naked girls, that it was bad.

"I'm only a little naked." I said. "Besides, its me, April, you know that right? We're friends, we're not idiots. Don't you want to see what I really look like?" I told him I already saw him in the bathroom through the keyhole and I thought he would freak out right there! He stood up real quick and turned even redder.

"April, you didn't!" he exclaimed.

"Carl, I thought you were neat!" I said. Then I had an idea. "Since you see me naked, its only fair that I see you naked too!"

"You already saw me though." he replied. I giggled cuz I still wasn't all naked and he kept saying I was. "Look!" I pulled my tights down to my knees. "Now, your turn!"

Boy, was I surprised, he actually took everything off except his jockey shorts.

"You asked for it!" he yelled, trying to seem tough but I could tell he was really embarrassed. He did it backwards so I couldn't see his front. "Come on Carl...!" I sortof fake crooned. He said he was feeling too funny about it, which I couldn't understand cuz I was fine.

"Oh man, my sister is home!" I yelled. He turned around real quick and I told him I faked him out. I looked and saw that his underwear had a hole in the front. "Pretty neat,... handy" I said. He put his hands down there, but before he did I thought I saw a huge lump. "It didn't look like that in the bathroom..." I said, smiling. "Don't be embarrassed," I said. "It looks nice." The weird thing was, I knew about this erection stuff but I had no idea what I was looking at. Sex education was kindof tell but no show.

I finally convinced him to act somewhat normal. We sat down and I destroyed him on chess again. But I felt uncomfortable with my tights only half off so I got up and slid 'em off all the way. I bet we looked neat sitting there, he in his white shorts and me in my little blue panties.

"That's pretty underwear." he said. Why is there that white part in the middle?"

"I'm not real sure, "I said, pleased that he was finally checking me out without trying to hide it. "I think it keeps me cooler and maybe so I don't leak after I go to the bathroom or something."

"It does get pretty hot down there sometimes." I decided to ask him why he has that huge bulge. I mean, like I said, I had sex class and everything but I never saw one before. My dad usually covered everything up, which never made much sense to me. My Mom too, and Kathy is getting just like her. Too much pubic hair again! He blushed and told me he really wasn't sure but it always felt very good.

"Maybe it's cuz of you, April." he said.

"Really?" I responded, thrilled with the thought that I was actually responsible! I told him that girls had a good spot too, but not nearly as easy to see. Then I stood up and pulled my panties down a little so he could find the little bit of hair I had.

"You have any of this?" I asked. Wow, he pulled his down a little and I saw some! I told him to watch out cuz too much of it drives you nuts, and we both giggled like crazy and started to chase each other around the room.

I ran to the back porch and hid but he found where I was and tackled me. We wrestled around for awhile. Then we got up and had some more pop. I had an idea.

"Watch this." I said while he was still on the floor drinking his pop. I got up and did my little private mirror wiggle dance, pulling my panties up real high and tucking them under so they'd stay that way, then I moved my hands around my nipple thingies and they got real hard. It was cute, he was really bulging out now! My body felt... well, very nice! This was a different sort of feeling... I don't remember having it before. Wow, It came out of the little hole and he turned bright red! I ran over and grabbed his pants and pulled them down all the way.

"April," he squealed trying to pull them back up, "don't do that!"

"Now you're naked." I giggled. I quick jumped up and slowly started to slip my panties down. He grabbed them and yanked. I screeched! He laughed.

"You are too!" I grabbed his arms and tried to wrestle him down,I just happened to look up, Oh no! Mom, Dad, Kathy, and some of her friends were standing on the steps of the back porch holding groceries with their mouths open. I smiled sweetly as I could and said "Hi." My Dad frowned and said. "Looks like we have a problem here."

All the moaning and groaning was incredible! Like I said its still going on now, a week later. But Dad called Carl's dad who came over and they played a game that probably should be called "Who can be the Goofiest". Mom was in tears and Kathy just sat there with a stupid look on her face. Gross! Nobody listened to me or Carl as we put our clothes back on. I felt sorry for him cuz he was nearly crying. Finally, they left and I got the stern talking to I always get when I do something bad, but it also seemed like they all felt sorry for me for some reason. Anyway, I did get grounded and sent to Mom's gynecologist who asked me if I had intercourse. No! He told me he didn't find any evidence, whatever that is, except that my hymen was torn.

"Not unusual for active girls," he commented. Now that was a big load off my mind I'll tell ya'. Later in the week we all went to something called "family counseling" which was more like open season on April! Why blame anyone? Nobody did anything wrong here. Now there's a message to send to America's youth, don't get caught!

Chapter 2

I haven't seen Carl for awhile. He wasn't in school since then, only a couple of days. I wonder if he'd like my new shaved look? I'm still hearing it about that also. Well, tomorrow is Monday, probably the first time I'm not looking forward to going back to school.

I heard the radio click on from the alarm clock I got for my birthday last year and sombody changed the station and a couple of goofs were talking, telling sex jokes or something. Ugh! I just can't understand why adults try so hard to keep sex a secret and then listen to other adults telling jokes about it, why they are so darn embarrassed about naked bodies and then use them in magazines and whatnot to sell things. Another crazy thing... hy are sex words used as swear words? Its not ugly or evil or scary. I like my body, I like how it looks and what it does and what it wants to do... Now it wants to eat! So I got up, stripped off my little nightie and the matching panty part fold them and put them on the dresser. I struggle to make my bed cuz its very close to the wall and I have to bend way over. Finally I stick my p.j.'s under the pillow. I do this stuff every morning, but usually I'm listening to these great tunes instead of some idiots! I change the station and begin to go through my undies choosing some nice boring white ones. I hear the door open and in walks big sister, all dressed for school.

"C'mon April, its time to eat. Why don't you put some clothes on. Nobody's interested in seeing you naked, especially that way!" She points at my shaved vulva. "You look like a baby!"

I arch my back to give her a better look. She raises her eyebrows a little and shakes her head. "Jeez," she says. "Better keep the drape closed in the locker room!" Old Kathy walks off in a huff and I open my closet door and look in the full length mirror.

Strutting about and arching my back I think, "Hi April, you sure are pretty today!" But it's time to get dressed I suppose. I buckle on my boring bra and pull up my panties while sighing. I get out a slip and a typical schoolgirl dress, green plaid, with some typical schoolgirl socks and shoes. When its warm like it is today, I feel like an idiot with clothes on. But we can't walk around naked, can we? Shhhhh... we gotta keep the secret! Ugh! I go downstairs and hear the usual "Hi Honeys" but I've been getting a lot of cold stares lately. We eat more or less silently, take care of our lunches and walk out the front door. Mom and Dad give me a hug and kiss and a nice smile which I didn't expect. "Good luck, Honey."

I smile back and say, "No problem, bye." Going outside was like walking into an oven! Kathy was quiet for awhile as we walked finally she said "You'd better watch it with all this sex stuff! Mom and Dad are pretty upset first with Carl and then that goofy shaving thing."

"It isn't sex stuff." I said and asked her if she told or would tell anybody at school and she said she wouldn't but her friends might so I should be careful. She asked me why I was so into it anyway and I said, "I'm not, its no big deal, but you and everybody, and I do mean everybody else is. I didn't have sex with Carl or anybody else, being naked feels good to me and I shaved because I wanted to. I know all about pregnancy, diseases and everything else. You had the same class last year!" She just looked at me, but in a sortof nice-worried sort of way.

"If you need help, talk to me," she said and we walked through the school entry doors.

I got to my locker and remembered that there was only a little school left and everybody got real lazy. The teachers didn't want to do anything and the kids didn't want to do anything. Except me, I sortof liked schoolwork and all. But its unkidlike, totally unkidlike to say that! So I kept my thoughts to myself as I walked to my nonmath class. Ho-hum. Then sleepwalked to English. Ho-ho-hum. It was sortof strange though' cuz in English I was in class with a bunch of the G.W.G.'s, the "get with it girls." They all thought they were gorgeous and I guess maybe they are and their male partners the G.G.'s, "great guys" who also thought they were hot jocks or whatever. Usually they ignore me, but as I walked in they all started giggling and sortof waving. Strange...

I sat at the other end of the room. Their leader, Dayne Smythe, came and sat next to me. Now all the girls in sixth grade secretly wished to be a G.W.G. even though they would never admit it, I don't know how the boys are but it wouldn't surprise me if they all wanted to be G.G.'s. Actually, Dayne really was a beauty and not in a sixth grade sense. I saw her naked in the gym locker room and am still surprised that she wasn't more... um... modest.. Her chest was big and her little hair was nearly the same color as was on her head, light blonde! She was real tall and very shapely, almost like a high schooler. She always wore makeup and big hoop earrings.

After gym class I watched her slip into her bright red, lacy bra and her high, high cut lacy red panties. I should be that hot! Yeah, I'm a little jealous maybe. Who wouldn't be? Anyway, she whispered, "Mind if I go to the dance with Carl?" She was referring to the end of year all school dance next week. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Who cares. Why ask me that?" She gave me a little tap on the cheek and went back to the G.W.G. area. I didn't like her before and I like he less now. Right before class ended she gave me a thumbs up sign, I shrugged my shoulders again. I knew I probably was banned from the dance by my parents cuz of what happened and besides, even if somebody asked me, I knew I couldn't date. I don't even know if I'd want to. And Carl isn't my boyfriend anyway.

As I hurried to gym, which was at the other end of the building, I started to think about all the trouble I've caused lately and I felt bad. I really want Mom, Dad, even Kathy to like me and love me and I'm afraid that maybe they don't anymore. What can I do? I guess I got a little teary eyed but, luckily, nobody saw. Big girls don't cry, as the song goes. I wonder if there are such things as big girls.

Coach Malone woke us up quick. Nobody told him it was late May I guess. We had to do all kinds of exercises and running. It was weird, though, he kept watching me and growled, "You can work harder than that,Missy!" After class he told me to come to his office cuz he knew I had time before lunch. I went in and... what a mess! There was gym equipment everywhere and I had to move some of it to sit down. Finally, he came in and sat behind his desk. I couldn't see him too well cuz of all the junk.

"How'd you like the phys ed program this year?" He said.

I really didn't have an opinion, but I said, "Okay I guess."

He was moving around a lot behind the piles. What was he doing?

"Stand up and turn around slow so I can see if my program is working. We're trying to keep you kids lean and mean." he said.

"Sure." I said. As I was moving around he asked me a very strange question.

"You like to have fun, April?" He asked. "I understand you like to enjoy yourself."

"I guess so." I answered. I thought I heard a grunt or something and he got up and it looked like he was tucking in his shirt or something. "Fine, hit the showers." He said. Weird!

Boy, I was glad to get out of there! I was definitely ready for lunchtime. I hurried to the locker room, but I was a little late, everybody else had gone. So as I walked I pulled my shirt off, but dropped it in my haste to get to the cafeteria. As I turned to pick it up I saw coach standing there smiling at me. Weirdo!

I got in the shower area, whipped off my gym suit and boring undies and cleaned up. Even though Kathy said to close the curtain, I didn't. Nobody would see me anyway. Who would care? Actually, I wouldn't be the only sixth grader without little curly hairs. I picked up my stuff, jumped on the bench that ran down the middle of the lockers, and wiggle danced to mine. I really like to be naked, it always feels so good! I put my hot smelly regular clothes back on and ran out the door but as I was leaving I thought I saw someone else come out but I wasn't sure.

As I walked into the lunchroom I noticed people were more active then they had been in class. Well a lot of idiots always say lunch is their favorite period! I had to get my food off the rack. Not too many kids were buying the yearend non-lunch they were serving. I walked to the NP, That's "non-person" table where I always sit and plopped down next to Kristina the Kid. I was one of the only people who could call her "Kid" without making her mad. She was the youngest girl in class and I've heard that she has trouble in the locker room cuz she has no chest and no hair on her bottom. Aha! wouldn't she be surprised! Her and I were pretty good friends.

"Hi Kid." I said.

"Hi April", came the reply. "Is it true what they say?" she sortof half whispered.

"What?" I said, but I can guess what was coming next.

"Did you have s-e-x with Carl?"

"No!" I said, much too loudly. Luckily, nobody else was sitting near us. Across the room though, at the G.W.G. table, I could see quite a bit of giggling. And, what's this? Carl, old, friendless Carl is sitting with the G.G.! He slunk down a little when I looked his way. "This is getting way too strange for me, Kid, Let's go outside and eat." So we left among a chorus of giggles, whistles and hoots and set up our eats on the steps, lucky the yellow jackets weren't around yet.

"Kristina, give me a truth."

"Do you like to be naked?"

"What?" she sortof half yelled. I wish she wouldn't do that! I repeated the question and she yelled, "No!" I told her I didn't mean around here but when she was by herself or with friends or family.

"I'm pretty shy." she said.

"Yes, you are pretty and you shouldn't be shy." said I.

"Well, they laugh at me, especially Dayne. You aren't in my gym class, you don't know."

"How about at home?" I asked.

"We're all pretty private, there's just Dad, Mom and me anyways.."

I asked her if she knew what boys really looked like. She blushed and said she sortof did, from health class and all but had never seen one close up. I smiled and told her the whole story about me and Carl.

"Wow!" she yelled. "Why did you do that?" I wish she wouldn't yell cuz we were starting to be looked at. I told her I was just curious and that I wasn't nervous or anything but that I was getting real tired of getting clobbered for it. She didn't say much except that it was almost time for her to go to gym which always made her nervous.

I didn't have a watch but I could tell that it was almost unclass time cuz Mr. Moka, the lunchroom supervisor and 7th grade math teacher, was starting to round up the "outsiders". He was Kathy's teacher. She said that he was o.k. and that they nicknamed him "Mr. Coffee". Cute, No? Anyway, we went back in, walked to the main hall and split up. I guess we were lucky cuz just about everybody had returned to their classes so there was nobody to cause a problem for either of us.

I sat through my last classes of the day and actually stayed awake! Some kids got detentions for "not paying attention in class", but actually they were sleeping. It was too dull for people to even screw around, even the boys were quiet. Strange... I really hated this time of year at school, but I didn't dare admit it. Rrrrringgg! Ah, the exit bell! I went to my locker hoping everything would blow over so that my summer wasn't a complete waste of time, with everybody, and I do mean everybody, watching my every move. I opened my locker and smiled seeing it nearly empty. I had started to clean it out last week and my dear big sister had yet to begin to clear out hers. She was going to have to carry everything home at once in the hot, hot, heat.

I pictured Dad saying, like he always says, "You should plan things out better, little lady." I could see Kathy cringing now! Heh, heh, justice is sweet! Lost in thought, I wasn't aware of anything else going on around me. Suddenly, I felt something, a hand sliding up my leg toward my bottom... I yelled, "Hey!" and turned around quick holding my huge unmath book.

"Tommy Kearns, you idiot!" I yelled. Yep, it was Tommy Kearns, the undisputed leader of the G.G., that marginal friend of Kathy's I was lucky enough to live next door to.

"Sorry," he smirked. "I slipped."

"What's with everyone?" I said. "Why don't you leave me alone?" I was tempted to whack him with my book. He was sortof a large shrimp but I didn't want to be sitting in detention. He slunk off into the crowd moving toward he exit doors before I could do anything. Pervert!

After getting the rest of my stuff, I moved with the crowd. As I left the building, in a huge hurry to get out of there, I tripped on the stairs! Someone caught me before I fell and I looked up.

"Carl," I said, "thanks but no thanks." I looked around and saw that I was surrounded by G.W.G.'s and G.G."s all of whom were yelling, "Ooohhh, Carl! Ooohhh, April!" They kept moving closer and closer and I guess I lost it and started crying. I heard a voice that sounded familiar.

"Get away or we'll tear your heads off!" The Red Sea parted and there was Kathy and her friends Amy, Sue and a boy I didn't know. A little behind them was the Kid. They looked like they meant business! Anyway, the G.W.G. and G.G. people seemed to be impressed by seventh grade anger and they scattered to the four winds.

"Thanks, Kathy." I sobbed. She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. "I thought I told you to watch it, Little Sis." she said. I was impressed. They all looked very heroic, even the Kid. Kathy told me Kristina saw I was getting in trouble fast and went to get help. "Thanks everybody," I said. "a lot!"

We got home and convinced Mom that everything was o.k. She suspected that I had a problem but big sister told her that everything had been taken care of. Mom seemed pretty impressed with Kathy. The girl had never acted so tough before. I found out that the boy's name was Roger and that he'd been hanging around Kath's circle for awhile. Kathy and a boy... Hmmmm... interesting!

Anyway, after Dad came home, we all went out for pizza sortof like a year end celebration. Dad and Mom seemed confused but happy that their two girls seemed to be getting along for a change. Dad didn't look happy about paying for all of us though. We ate a lot! He offered to drive everyone home, but we decided to walk instead. When we got back to our house we split up into our age groups and began to walk friends home.

The days were getting longer and it was still light out so it wasn't a problem. I realized that we'd have to walk past Carl's house to get to the Kid's place, and I was a little nervous, but I didn't mention it. Kristina didn't say much until we got to her place. We did pass Carl's but it was dark and, strangely enough, had a for sale sign in front.

At the Kid's front door I said "O.k., who told?" Her eyes widened but she didn't say anything. I repeated the question and asked if Kathy was involved.

She said "I don't think so." I refused to play guessing games.

"Then who?" I asked. "Dayne, I think," she said. And she told me an incredibly gross story. She said that she was in the office delivering a note from Mrs. Kyle, her homeroom teacher, when she saw my Mom and Dad go into the counseling office.

"Yeah, I have math around then." I added She also saw Coach Malone doing some computer work. Somebody had forgot to close the door to the C.O., as we call it. Kid went back to class. Later, during Gym she saw Coach and Dayne going into the P.E. office and decided to spy.

"Amazing you could see through all that junk!" I said. She seemed upset when I told her the story of my encounter earlier today and said that I should stay away from Malone. She said she saw him standing real close to Dayne and put his hand on her bottom!

Dayne pushed him away and began to leave but Coach said, "I thought you liked to have fun like April." She asked him what he meant and he told her the story but it was different than what I told her at lunch. He described us having sex.

"What!" I half yelled. I realized that the coach must have heard the story and added to it, not only that but he was after me!

"Please look out, April," she pleaded.

"'Malone," I thought to myself, "Malone."

"Not just Malone, but Dayne too!" Well, maybe I can't blame her completely. She spread a lie that she didn't know was one. But still, she should learn to shut up a little bit. Everything that happened today was making more sense now. I went home a little scared and looking over my shoulder. I pretended to be crampy-sick like I might be getting my first period. I felt fine but I got a note excusing me from gym for the rest of the week which just happened to be the end of school!

The last few days of non-class went pretty smooth. I got my usual straight "A" report card with glowing reviews from all the teachers, even Malone! Ho-Hum. Nothing new here. Sometimes I wish school was more of a challenge than it is but I wouldn't ever say anything so unkidlike to anybody.

Chapter 3

The last day of unschool! Tonight I would hope, I would be at my first ever dance! Mom and Dad told me I couldn't go as part of my punishment for what happened. But last night they talked to me and said that since my grades had been so good, (Ho Hum), and I'd been good, (Ho hum again!), I could go! Kathy was real excited cuz Roger had asked her to be his date and the folks said o.k. cuz there was a group of them going. I was excited all day and jabbered like a chipmunk, I even talked to Dayne who was into being sultry and pouty. The Kid, of all people, told me to settle down. I saw Carl and the G.G. and the G.W.G. but I was so happy I didn't care about it at all. Yippie, there's the bell!

I walked home pretty much alone cuz, well, I just outran everybody! I ran in the front door and dropped all my locker stuff, what was left, that is, on the living room floor. Mom came in and sortof half complained about the mess I'd left but she saw how smiley I was and I guess she cheered up.

"You're usually not this happy on the last day of school," she said. "What's going on?"

I reminded her about the dance, as if she didn't remember and she smiled like she'd known all along. She asked me to help with supper cuz she was fixing it early to give us lots of time to get ready. While we were doing this she was talking about how she was a little worried about us and boys and all. I tried to tell her I was o.k. in that area but I think she was more worried about Kathy. We had a kindof nice talk about her first dance and how horrible and neat it turned out to be when my sister arrived.

"We have to think about what we're going to wear!" she shrieked. She seemed more nervous that happy, more pubic hair insanity I guess.

"How about our birthday suits?" I suggested.

"You would say something dumb like that!" She snarled. She probably thought I was kidding. She would just die if anybody saw her but I always thought dressing up is a big pain. Anyway, we just jabbered at each other till Mom got tired of listening. She gave us a "Why can't you two get along like the other day" talk and sent us up to get ready to eat the pork chops we more or less destroyed.

"Hi, room." I said as I walked in through the door. I started to dig through my stuff. Yeah, I had to pick up my locker junk so Dad wouldn't trip over it and yell. I dumped it in a heap on the bed and began to take off my school clothes.

Standing there in my undies I couldn't resist posing a bit in front of the long mirror again. I held my hair up over my head and said. "Here's April, the most beautiful girl anywhere!"

I heard Dad come in and guessed it was almost time to eat. Then I had a neat idea... um... eating supper naked! Well, not really. Y'see I didn't really feel like putting on something and then changing again for the dance. I looked at my bathrobe, very short and a little tattered but it would work. I took off my little bitty bra and took off my panties.

Oh no! There it was, growing back again! The hair was scratchy and getting longer and I knew had to do something about this quickly! I put on my robe and giggled as I bounded down the stairs.

"Time to eat sweetheart." Dad said. I noticed he looked tired but he was trying to smile and be nice. "Looks like you need a new robe." He looked at me kindof funny so I looked down and saw that one of my nipple thingies was poking out of a little hole! I smiled, I really didn't care about the hole and I said as much.

"You better re-wrap yourself before Mom and Kathy see." He said. "You know how Mom, at least, feels about that."

So I opened my robe up and re-wrapped it. Dad groaned "C'mon, April, the shades are open!" I told him I already knew that. He just shook his head and went into the kitchen to talk to Mom. I went into the bathroom, locked the door and grabbed the razor.

"Soup's on!" Mom yelled, and I heard everybody moving around. No time to lose! I opened my robe a little bit and scraped the blade around on my little bottom. Ouch! It hurt without shaving cream, I even cut myself a little. So I took a band aid and stuck it on. Kindof a strange place for one, and it felt funny. Anyway, I carefully put everything back the way it was and made sure I was all covered up before I made my way to the kitchen and supper.

We had a fairly pleasant mealtime after all the comments about my robe had stopped. Looks like I'm going to get another one soon. Anyway, we talked about the dance and everything and I started getting butterflies in my tummy. Since I didn't have a "date" like Kathy, I decided to call the Kid and see if she wanted to go with me.

After nearly destroying the dishes I was drying, nerves, y'know, I got on the phone.

"Hi Kristina, want to go to the dance with me?" I asked after finally getting her on the line.

"I don't know." She said. "I get kindof embarrassed at those things, I really don't know what to do at them, Besides, I don't have anything I could really wear."

I told her maybe we could just hang out there and that I had some decent stuff she could wear from last year. I wasn't that much bigger than her. She finally agreed to come, probably pleasing her mom, who was trying to get her to go all week anyway.

"See you in a couple of minutes, o.k.?"

The doorbell rang and I ran to get it. I opened it real fast.

"Hi Kid!" I said.

"Who are you calling kid." said a low voice.

"Oh, hi Roger." I said.

"Kathy ready?" He asked.

"No, You're really early."

Dad came out told him to have a seat. They both sat down and started talking while I went up to tell Kathy that he was here.

"Some people should learn to knock!" Big sister snarled. She was standing there stark naked, and I looked at her amazed.

"Wow, is your chest getting big and you sure have a lot of hair down there!" She quickly pulled her dress up to cover herself. "Should I have Roger come up now?" I giggled.

"Roger!" she shrieked. "Get out of here so I can get dressed." she said. So I went back downstairs and told the boy he had to wait awhile.

The Kid must have come while I was upstairs, cuz when I went into the frontroom, there she sat slumped down in Dad's easy chair, her feet didn't touch the floor! I could tell she was very nervous.

"C'mon, Kid lets go up to my room and see how we can dress for this thing." I noticed that both Roger and Kristina were looking at me funny. Whoops! I was hanging out of my old robe again! I just smiled and left for the upstairs with the Kid in hot pursuit. Kathy met us coming down.

She frowned and snarled, "See you later little ones."

"Okay hairy." I giggled. Kristina was mystified.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"I just saw big sister naked." I laughed, "and she has a very hairy bottom and was real embarrassed when I looked."

"Wouldn't you be?" asked the Kid.

"Nope." I said, "I like what I look like."

We got to my room and went in. I dropped my robe on the bed and started going through the closet. I grabbed a cute little short skirt and top and turned to show her.

"How about this?" I asked. She had her back to me!

"Kristina!" She turned around blushing like crazy.

"April, you're naked!" she whispered. I dropped the suit on the bed and looked in the long mirror.

"Wow, I am!" I said, acting surprised. I told her that maybe I should go to the dance in the emperors new clothes. I danced and wiggled around the room, acting out the shock of everyone seeing me. We giggled and giggled. She seemed real surprised that I could just walk around like that. I said that she might as well try it, cuz she had to change clothes anyway. Well, she kindof liked the suit I'd picked out.

She held it in front of her and said that maybe the skirt was a little short, but that the electric blue color was neat. I always liked it but I'm too tall for it now. If I wore it everybody could see my underwear all the time. Mom was horrified last time I wore it cuz of that, even though I have a pretty little bottom. Adults have strange ideas sometimes. Anyway, it would definitely fit the kid.

She turned around so I couldn't see her again, pulled off her T-shirt and very quickly slipped on the outfit top.

"Nice back, Kid." I said. She started blushing again! "I don't like to change with somebody watching." She whispered. She pulled the skirt up with her jeans still on, amazing! Then, quick-like, slipped the cotton duds off. She smiled. "Got some shoes I can wear?"

"Jeez, Kristina" I'm not trying to peek or anything, Watch this!" I opened my window real wide and climbed out on the flat roof over the front porch. It was great to feel the warm evening breeze on my naked skin. I jumped up, yelled as loud as I could and looked back at Kristina standing amazed at the window. I climbed back in.

"Clothes are for the birds!" I said. She just stared at me as I got out my pinky underwear. "Your breasts are... um... growing." she stammered, "I really wish mine were. But there's no hair on your bottom, just a band aid!"

"You noticed!" I shrieked. "I've got teenie weenies and I shave my bottom and cut myself a little." I said quickly and I told her not to ask why cuz its a long story.

"Well", she said, "you better get dressed or you will have to go naked!"

Hmmm. I put my underwear back in the drawer, deciding that a nice spring breeze would feel good on my bare bottom, and slipped on my yellow dress.

"How about this, Kid?" I pulled my dress up around my waist and giggled.

"April, you are nuts!" she said, but she was giggling too. We were laughing so much I almost forgot to pull my dress back down as we walked downstairs.

Mom was waiting by the front door, she said that she would take us and pick us up and that Kristina was welcome to stay over if she liked. Kid made a quick call. Apparently it was o.k. for her to stay, it was definitely o.k. with me! Dad looked out from the kitchen and wished us a great time. As we went out to the car, Mom said that the Kid looked great in my old outfit and asked why I had worn my plain yellow dress.I told her cuz I look cute in it and after awhile she agreed. Actually it was cuz it was easy to get in and out of. There was a little extra time cuz there was a huge traffic jam so we fixed our hair on the way. Everybody, and I do mean everybody was going to this dance!

We finally got to the front of school, got out of the car, said bye to our nervous driver and headed for the... ah... fun times.

There were a lot of kids hanging around the doorway and sitting on the stairs. We knew some of them and said our hello's. There weren't too many that were really dressed up but most looked better than they did at school though. Actually it was in the rules that they had to dress up a little bit so the school didn't look too gross. Kristina started getting more nervous as we went in but I felt fine. I could feel the movement of fabric on my naked body and it sure was neat! I started to wonder what it would be like to feel so free all the time, but my thoughts were interrupted by the loud music coming from the gym.

As we walked in we found ourselves in the middle of a beehive! Everybody, and I do mean everybody, was bouncing off the walls, the place was electric! I couldn't help comparing it to the way it was last week when school was still on. A few of the teachers, brave enough to volunteer as chaperones were smiling as they tried to keep the dance within some kind of limit.

Uh Oh, there was Malone! Coach was looking around near the locker room entrance. Kristina saw him too and I thought I felt her shrink behind me for a minute. Hey! There were Kathy, Roger and that crowd. I waved, but big sister gave me a dirty look, upper class people were all alike when it came to under class ones. I hope their pubic hair grows so much they can't get their undies on! As we walked around I saw that most of the kids in my grade were confused. The boys were goofing around, and sneaking looks at the girls, on one side of the gym and the girls were standing around in little circles, sneaking looks at the boys on the other side of the gym. It was weird and gross, even the G.W.G. and G.G. were doing it. So much for sophistication. But the joint was decorated with class, and the music was loud and hot so I intended to enjoy myself no matter what.

"Kristina, let's go get us some pop and stuff." I yelled.

"What!" I couldn't hear a word she said. I had to half drag her to the refreshment area which somebody had roped off. There were all kinds of kids wandering around there.

The Kid and I pushed our way through and finally got our stuff, amazingly enough there was a place for us to sit.

"What!" I yelled. I saw Kid's mouth moving but I couldn't hear anything. Suddenly the music stopped. Whoops! I heard what she yelled and so did everybody else.

"I have to go to the bathroom, now!" Her little voice echoed around the gym, apparently it was D.J. break time. Everyone looked and giggled, her face turned bright red. I told some people from my class to watch our stuff while we went where everybody and I do mean everybody, knew was the bathroom. As we moved through the crowd I saw Carl and Dayne talking quietly by the bleachers and started feeling a little jealous and got very angry at myself for it. I mentioned it to the Kid while we were powdering our noses.

"Why? Are you in love with Carl?" She asked.

"I don't really know what that is," I mused, "but I kindof wish he was talking to me like that. I have a few things I'd like to say to him." I was glad she was there with me. We talked a little more about it and then we heard the music start again. It was amazing, though.

As soon as we got out of the john a couple of boys asked us to dance! Class clown, Sidney Charles and his small friend Stubby stood there nervously grinning at us. If you wanted to make Sidney mad all you had to do was call him "Sid". He insisted that everybody call him "Chuck" cuz Sid was his dad's name. Stubby was, well, Stubby. He was Chuck's straight man. Both of them were nice guys, not too ugly but a little strange. We danced a couple of times then went back to the refreshment area to retrieve our stuff. The boys followed us, and got some stuff of their own. We sat and talked about school and summer and things like that and it was really neat cuz it was usually hard to get boys my age to talk to me about anything.

It looked like Kristina was getting interested in Stubby.

"Are we having a good time?" a voice yelled behind me. Rats! It was Dayne and her buddy Carl. As usual she was hanging out all over the place. Then she bent over so her chest was touching Chuck's head and grabbed a drink of his pop!

"Thanks, Bub," I heard her say over the music. Chuck turned red and looked down at the table. I heard him mumble, "Wowie!" I asked him what the big deal was about Dayne. He yelled over the din, "You're kidding aren't you?" He pointed to Kristina.

"Oh, you are Kid-ing!" Stubby the straight man laughed uproariously. Kristina just glared at him. It was the usual appallingly gross moment in junior high. Anyway, we danced with them some more and it sortof lightened the mood a little. I noticed that they were playing great tunes! It wasn't the usual pre-teen dance garbage, some of it was pretty risky, the stuff I usually listen to at home. More kids from my class were dancing than before and, ouch, my dance partner just destroyed my left foot! I glared at him.

"C'mon Chuck!" I said. He apologized but it hurt so bad I had to go sit. The Kid looked at me, worried, but I told her I would be o.k.. After awhile it still hurt and I was afraid it was bleeding. I hobbled to the first aid room near Coach Malone's office and saw him standing outside of it talking to Dayne, I could swear he had one hand on her behind! She glared at me and at Malone as I limped up. Coach had a silly grin on his face as he turned and beheld the wounded student.

"Dancin's a bit too much eh, Missy?" He smirked. "You should work a little harder in P.E., people in shape don't get hurt!" I decided to be the nice little girl everybody, and I do mean everybody, wanted me to be.

"You're probably right, Mr. Malone," I said. "Could you please take a look at my foot?" He brought me into the office, which had a kindof first aid and exam table area in the back. You couldn't see it from the doorway, even if he cleared all the junk! I started to realize that I didn't really want to be alone and crippled back here with Coach, but I was already there.

He cleared a spot on the table and got a bunch of first aid junk out of his cabinet then he turned, grabbed me under the arms and plopped me on the table. I was surprised at how strong he was and how fast he moved and I was more than a little nervous. Strange, though, he seemed to be really concerned about my foot. Maybe he got into injuries, who knows? P.E. people are beyond me a little.

Anyway, he knelt down and removed my shoe. I thought, "Uh-oh, I didn't have a slip or panties on..." Like I said a zillion times, I love being naked, but this wasn't a naked thing, this was a sex thing, something I didn't really know that much about and really wasn't ready to deal with. Why does everybody seem to think that naked and sex are the same? From what I knew of Malone, I didn't trust this at all! I kept my legs closed as best I could. Amazingly enough, my fears were unfounded, seems like he really got into doctoring!

After he was done fixing me up he helped me off the table, told me not to worry and wished me luck. On the way out though', he slapped me on the behind! I turned and gave him my best evil eye. He was just standing there with a goofy grin on his face." You really should wear panties and a slip with that dress, Missy, we like good hygiene at this school."

"Yes, Sir!" I said, but mumbled under my breath, "Pervert!"

When I finally got out of there I really couldn't see anybody. A slow dance was on and a lot of kids were dancing, some closer than the teachers liked. Every once in awhile a teacher would go up and try to separate them. I finally caught up with the Kid. She was real close with Stubby, so I decided to wander around a bit. Ah, there was Kathy! I'm gonna have to ask her why Roger's hand was on her butt! Oh well, I saw Carl and Dayne, 1 and 2, x and y, boy and girl, I was starting to feel unhappy and left out, a strange feeling, kindof happy/sad, maybe a little jealous. I had no idea where Sid was. Yeah, I was getting lonesome. I walked out of the gym and through the front door. The evening breeze felt wonderful! I quick looked around and then I pulled my dress up. "April caressed by springtime." I whispered. Whoops! two shadows were moving a bit on the steps. Sure hope they didn't see me, hey, who cares anyway!

I was curious so I went over there.

"Why, hello April," a woman's voice said, "getting a little air?"

It was Miss Terango, my math teacher and she was sitting with a boy from my class, Irving Tangler. I told her that I just needed a break. It was strange seeing her out here with Irving. I've known him for quite awhile. He was one of those boys who wore ugly glasses and never said anything to anybody or ever seemed to have friends. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, thought he was gross. Nobody knew what he did inside or outside of school and I don't think anybody really cared.

"I was just telling Irving what girls were like and how to ask them to dance and stuff." she said. "Care to join us, it sounds like break time in the gym?" I said that there really isn't much to tell. I mean, we're here, we like to eat and have fun and such, probably not too much different from him. "See, Irv, April's very nice, you don't have to be nervous around her, or any other girl for that matter." She said.

Aha, now I get it, old Irv was feeling bad about the dance and Teach was trying to cheer him up! I looked at him, he had his glasses off. It almost looked like he was crying a little and I felt real sorry for him. I did something I probably would regret.

"C'mon, Irv, I'll dance with you." He got real smiley. "Okay." He mumbled.

As we got up and walked toward the gym, Teach whispered, "I don't believe a word about what people say about you, April." I smiled but started to wonder how far out of control things were getting.

Terrango was a good one. A lot of the teachers around here pretend like they are concerned about you, actually a lot of adults are like this, but all they are really interested in is being a hot shot in their own little world, wherever that is for them. Tiny little worlds! You can see their minds shrivel up as you watch, incredible shrinking adults... actually I feel kindof sorry for them.

"Thanks Miss Terrango." I said. "Thanks a lot." Anyway, I dragged Irving into the gym and on to the dance floor. It sure was strange dancing with somebody who wanted to strut standing on the other side of the gym!

"C'mon Irv, move closer." I pleaded. I finally got him at least in the same room with me and we danced, sortof. After the dance was over I suggested that we get some goodies wondering silently why I always had to do the talking. Irv actually said something!

"Okay." he said. Amazing! We walked over to a couple of empty chairs. Now I knew why they wanted us to wear underwear. These chairs felt so hard it seems like the more material you put between them and you the better off you were. Anyway, we talked a little more and some quieter music came on. He looked at me and put his hand on top of mine. Kindof an interesting experience... even if it was Irving.

"Thanks, April." he said. I asked him why and he told me because I was so nice to him. I looked at his hand and he jerked it away, knocking my pop over. The stuff poured all over me!

"Oh man!" I exclaimed, glaring at a terrified Irv. That's when I heard some nasty comments.

"Nice catch you got there girlie, whatta guy!" I turned around all wet looking into the sweet face of Dayne. I'd about had it! "Why don't you shut up!" I yelled. The rest of the G.W.G. and some G.G.'s were around trading comments among themselves. Dayne was incredibly disgusted.

"Who the hell are you?" she shrieked. She stuck her chest out. "You're just a wet sticky little girl!"

Well, I had to do something. I guess I looked around to make sure no teachers were in the area. There were none but I did see the Kid and Stubby coming this way. Moving quickly, I grabbed the top of Dayne's dress and pulled like those movie tough guys do. Unlucky for her, she wasn't wearing her tough guy clothes and she was wearing one of those front snap bras. Needless to say, after a loud "rrrrip", what was inside was now outside. I could hear the gasps from our audience especially the boys. Even I was impressed with her shapely chest.

I backed off and said "Wow, you're beautiful, Dayne!" She turned bright red and started crying. I couldn't believe what I had done. Everybody else was embarrassed for her and I really couldn't blame them. Carl suggested that maybe she better cover herself. She took the bra with its now broken front snap and dropped it on the floor in disgust and pulled her dress back up, tying it behind her neck. Everyone in the area went back to the dance area It was weird. Even Irving left and I was alone standing there dripping and feeling like an idiot. Kristina walked up to me and said, "The dance is almost over, lets go." So we found all the boys we had danced with and thanked them, then waited outside for Mom to show up. By that time my dress was stained but dry and I felt really horrible.

We heard the last song play and then people began to pile out. Kathy, Roger and her group found us. She asked me if something strange happened, but I didn't say anything, I didn't want to experience the "wisdom of age" as they say. As we all got in Mom's car she smiled and asked me how the dance was.

"Interesting." was my reply.

Chapter 4

When we walked in the front door everybody noticed my dress in the light of the frontroom.

"What happened to your dress, April? Get out of that right now!" Mom scolded, "And don't wear that holy robe!"

I started to unbutton my brownish yellow dress.

"Not here!" Mom yelled. I went upstairs slipped out of the dress, into some jeans and started downstairs waving to Dad in the hall. He frowned.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

I replied, "Huh? What?"

"You want everybody to see you naked?"

Whoops, I forgot. I didn't cover up my little chest! I sauntered back to my room and wiggled into my little blue bra. I thought to myself "It's o.k., looks like a swimsuit," and I bounded down the stairs.

"April, put some clothes on right now!" Mom yelled. In my opinion, I was very overdressed but to avoid Mom type hassles I complied but slow..ly. I was getting the usual wide eyed looks so I decided to go with it, convinced that I was in plenty of trouble already. I sauntered and wiggled up the stairs.

Roger said, "Ah, she's just showing off!"

I heard my dear sister retort, "Show off what? She's got nothing to show off!"

I yelled down from out of visual range, "I heard that!" I took off my little blue bra and tossed it down the stairs. It must have really made an impression cuz all I heard was absolute silence.

After awhile Mom yelled up that she wanted to see me privately and she emphasized after I put some clothes on! I just pulled on an old T-shirt, I didn't feel like being bound up in a bra again. Then I went back where everybody was. Apparently, Mom set up some snacks for everybody and then came up after me.

Dad missed all this stuff, I think he was taking a little nap in front of the T.V. in their bedroom, which was not unusual. Anyway, I got the usual bawling out. She asked me if I was some kind of exhibitionist or something or if I was just trying to shock people and embarrass her or something. I just put my head down and was politely submissive. I really wanted Kristina to stay so I had to watch myself.

Anyway, we finally had a bunch of popcorn, pop and stuff. Mom left with Kathy to drive the seventh graders home. For awhile it was just me, the Kid and sleepy Dad here.

"You think Dayne will do anything about what happened?" I nervously asked Kristina. She answered that she wasn't sure cuz she didn't know her that well. But you never can tell...Dayne was the leader of the G.W.G. and sortof a locker room dictator, one not used to being challenged. "And besides," Said the Kid, "Everybody saw her naked!"

I told her that she wasn't all naked and that everybody didn't see her.

"What's the big deal?" I asked, trying to justify my actions. "She has big beautiful breasts, just like everybody has always suspected and other girls in the locker room probably knew for sure. I was an artist bringing out a wonderful sight, kindof like a pretty flower bursting out of a bud."

"But April, she was naked in the gym in front of everybody!" Kristina whined.

"Is there a delayed echo in here, didn't you just say that?" I whined back. "Kid, the fact that Dayne has breasts is no surprise to anybody, I have them too and so will you. You can see lots of them at the pool this summer and I really wonder why people bother, swimsuits don't really hide 'em anyway. Didn't you see when she tried to drape them down to Chuck's eyeballs at the dance when she grabbed a drink of his pop? Why should they be such a secret? Ah, wait, I know. Hey Kid, how many of those people had pubic hair do you think?"

Kristina turned red. I told her about my hair thing and she thought I was nuts. I asked her if she had any yet but she got embarrassed again and didn't want to talk about it. I guess that was good cuz Mom just walked in the front door. She asked us how long we intended to stay up cuz she wanted us to be awake enough to enjoy the great breakfast she intended to make. Actually she was in a pretty good mood, which I liked. You see I really don't like to be a pain to Mom and Dad, so I keep a lot of my thoughts secret. That may not be such a great idea, but it keeps everybody happy and keeps me from getting grounded or made fun of. You tell your friends secrets, you tell your family garbage. I really wish it wasn't like that though. Maybe some day it will be different. I hope so. There are lots of times I feel very alone, there has to be somebody somewhere that's like me.

I guess I was staring off into space for awhile. I heard, "April, April!" Mom finally got my attention. She asked if there was something wrong, was I real tired or something.

"No, just thinking." I said. She asked me about what. Needless to say I mumbled, "Nothing." She asked me what happened to my dress and I told her a part of the story.

"It's an old dress anyway." She said. "Why don't you get some blankets and make a sleeping bag for Kristina? Then go upstairs and clean up for bed."

I was looking foreword to the night with Kristina, so we went and got blankets, pinned them together and bounded upstairs.

"Okay, Kid, shower time." I said. She said that she didn't have a nightgown or pajamas or toothbrush. I told her I had an extra toothbrush but that I always slept naked. Of course I would put a nightgown in the wash every few days so that nobody would know.

"You aren't going to sleep that way tonight are you?" she asked nervously.

"Jeez!" I exclaimed, "Not you too!"

I asked her why it mattered so much. Actually I knew she was real shy and was really asking if she could borrow one of my things. I told her she could use a nightshirt and some of my panties if she wanted. She asked me, as she was setting up her sleeping bag of blankets, who would shower first.

"Save water, bathe with a friend!" I said, knowing she would be freaked by it! Dad walked by and said hello and how was the dance etc. We talked a little bit then he went downstairs. Mom had rented a couple of movies he had wanted to see while we were at the dance and he said he wanted to watch one again.

I led the Kid to the bathroom, of course not bringing any clothes with. We went in and I closed and locked the door.

"Okay Kid let's go," I said while pulling my T-shirt over my head. "Kristina, you're staring. Do you take showers with your clothes on?"

"No." she whined. I unsnapped and unzipped my jeans and let them drop to the floor. My band aid had come off and there was just a little mark where I cut myself.

"See how pretty I am!" I gave a little wiggle. "C'mon Kid, I don't want to be in here all night!" I reached over and started unbuttoning her, actually my, top, and slipped it off.

I noticed a little swelling under her T-shirt. I felt it with my hands.

"Alright!" I yelled. I pulled the shirt up. She still didn't move, talk or offer any resistance. I pulled her skirt down and noticed that she had cute little flower print panties on.

"Please don't, April." She pleaded. She pulled her shirt back on and shivered a little. I bent over and turned on the water, Ouch, too hot! Ah, that's better... I got in and closed the curtain but I could see Kristina's shape moving around so I peeked out. She was pulling her shirt off, folding it up real nice and putting it on the pot. I could see her little nipples sticking out on top of teeny weenie swellings, very cute! With her back to me she slipped her panties down over her behind and turned around. Wow, she had some little peach fuzz on her bottom.

"Yay Kid!" I said, "Welcome to the big change to womanhood! Are you ready to be fulfilled, meet Prince Charming and have zillions of babies?" She covered up her mouth, giggled and turned beet red, then she got in the shower with me.

"See how great this is, how free you feel. Ever wonder why it's only okay to be naked when you're washing?" I said. She responded that she really liked the way the water from our faucet felt. "You really are very pretty with no clothes on." I smiled. She really did look young though. I had another idea. I put the plug in the tub and got the bubble bath I use sometimes which was right on the soap dish.

"Ooo, a bubble bath!" Kristina cooed. We rolled around in the bubbles, made ourselves bubble bikini's, beards, hairdos and stuff. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. Then we washed each others backs and backsides, rolled around in the bubbles some more, then we got out. There were bubbles and soapy water drips everywhere and we were tremendously giggly!

After drying off it seemed like the Kid was starting to get modest again. She wrapped her towel like a sarong. I grabbed the razor and the shaving cream, I shook it and sprayed a generous amount in my armpits and on my bottom and I went to work.

"Why do you do that part?" the Kid asked as she stared at me scraping my foaming bottom. "Do you want to stay a little girl or what? I can't even get that much to grow on me."

"Kristina, do I have to explain again? I'm a whole lot prettier without, I think, and it feels neat too! I don't know why we can't appreciate it when we're little. You want to try?"

"Maybe..." She said nervously as she turned red again. "But I don't know how." I loosened the knot in her towel and it fell to the floor. I had her sit on the pot and gave her some shaving cream. She just sat there looking at it so I had to do something! I swept a few fingersfull into my hand and started rubbing it on her bottom.

"That tickles!" she squealed. She closed her legs up and covered herself with her hands.

"C'mon Kid.." I pleaded. I had her stand up and told her to be still and went to work very carefully. It was a lot easier than doing mine, nothing to shave but a few whispy curls! "There," I said. "all done." I grabbed the washcloth and wiped her off.

She looked in the mirror and giggled like crazy!

"You are now a member of the baldies!" I announced. We hung our towels on the shower rod after wiping up our mess, and put our undies in the hamper. "Now for our big exit." I said excitedly. I unlocked the door and strutted out naked and proud! The Kid kindof slunk behind me.

We got into my room and sat on the bed and I asked her how she felt. She said good, but nervous.

"What if we get caught?" She asked.

"Doing what?" I said.

"What are we doing?" she whispered, "Y'know, sitting here naked and taking a bath together and all."

"Oh, I forgot about the world out there." I said while pointing to my doorway. "Kid, we are not being bad, believe me." I heard someone in the hall but I refused to close my door. Kristina heard too and she quickly jumped into her makeshift sleeping bag. It was Kathy.

"Hi April," she said, "Where's Kristina?" A hand waved out of the mass of blankets. Kathy grabbed it and shook it. She asked me how things went tonight and such, but as we were talking I noticed she was trying real hard not to notice my lack of nightgown. She said goodnight and as she walked out she said, "Put some pants on would ya?"

I got up and followed her out. She was halfway down to her room when I whispered, "Hey...Kath..." As she turned around I arched my back so she could get a good look at me. She just shook her head disgustedly and went into her room. I could hear her lock the door.

"You okay, Kid?" I asked the blanket pile. No answer. I got in my bed and was off to dreamland. I wasn't fully asleep when I heard Kristina get up, close the door and start to rummage through my dresser drawers. I didn't say anything but I smiled to myself. I peeked through closed eyes and I saw that she had grabbed a pair of my panties and had slid them on. They didn't fit very well but I guess she got what she needed. I was beginning to wonder why I wasn't more self conscious when I heard a noise at the window. It sounded a little like rain which was strange cuz it was supposed to be a warm, clear night. I looked at the clock, two in the morning or thereabout an I wondered what it looked like outside. It's an unusual experience for me, to be awake now. I've been up late for special things, Christmas and such, but this was different. There's that noise again! Careful not to disturb Kristina, I got up,crept to the window and peeked out. Things looked neat! I could see the new leaves on the trees and flowers beginning to sprout up. Our lawn was coming back, poking through the unraked leaves of last fall. Nobody around in the..

Hey! What's going on? Down beneath my window, throwing pebbles at it, Dayne Smythe! I said, "Oh man, gross!" under my breath. She sees me and motions me to come out and gives me the famous finger. What is this! I guess the Kid heard me cuz she stirred and woke up.

"What's going on?' she whispered.

"It's Dayne, she wants me to come down."

"But..." The Kid started. I put my hand over her mouth.

"Shhh...." I said. "We don't want to wake everybody, and I do mean everybody, up!"

I began to think about how strange this was. Here it is 2:00 A.M., and an 11 year old girl is out roaming around. Actually I've been going to school with her for as long as I can remember, and we've never had much to say to each other. I don't really know her at all. I grabbed one of Kristina's blankets, wrapped it around me, opened the window, and began to climb out.

"April, April!" I heard the Kid whisper behind me. I sortof half whispered.

"C'mon Kid, lets go!" As I crept out on the roof I started to think maybe I should have brought a weapon of some sort. After the big dance event, I'm sure not one of Dayne's favorite people.

I got out on the roof of the front porch and noticed that it was slippery with dew. It was still pretty warm and it smelled like soil and plants. I thought I caught a slight odor of rain coming, and it was clouding up. I could see the dark, wispy outlines in front of the half-moon peeking out over the trees. It was neat how dark and quiet everything was. A lot of kids are scared at night. They don't know what they're missing. Our porch roof is very easy to climb down from, lots of places to hold on to so even though it was slick, everything was cool, Dayne included, hopefully. I approached her, pulling my blanket tightly around me, ready for anything. I heard some noise from behind and saw Kristina coming down off the roof. It looked like she had two blankets wrapped around her.

Dayne looked, well, not like the super-model. It was strange seeing her in kindof grungy T 'n' jeans with no makeup, her hair just hanging loose, her eyes reddish, like she'd had a tough night.

"What's she doing here!" She said, pointing at Kristina.

"What are you doing here?" I responded, glaring at her. "Kristina is my best friend. She stayed overnight. She is okay, if you don't like it, we've got nothing to talk about."

She glared at me, her eyes blazing. "We've got plenty to talk about! I want to know why you did what you did! How could you embarrass somebody like that? I've got feelings too! I mean everybody saw me naked! I really wanted to kill you, April, I really did. Some of my friends were ready to get you and teach you a lesson! It's a good thing school's out..."

I couldn't believe it! Even though' she was standing there rattling off threats, I actually felt sorry for her.

"Dayne," I sighed, "I didn't mean for your bra to come off, or even to rip your dress, but I had to stop you from bothering me. I just couldn't handle it any more! I mean, I know I'm not as pretty as you, or as grown up, or as popular but I deserve to be treated nice sometimes. I mean we all can't be Get With It Girls, some of us are just regular, normal people. I've heard about how you and your chums treat Kristina in the locker room. What gives you the right to do that? She can't help what her body looks like, none of us can."

The Kid kindof shrunk down when I started talking about her.

"Kristina is really very pretty."

"Well you don't have the right to strip me naked in front of everybody either, no matter what I said or did to you or anybody else! She snarled.

"Dayne," I said looking her in the eye, "You are always trying to let people see what you've got, you strut and hang out all over the place, you wear all those teeny bikinis and such. I mean, what's the point? Everybody knows that you've got those nice breasts. I'm starting to get mine too, so is Kristina. We all get 'em! It makes us pretty, it makes us girls. and people will see 'em sooner or later." I was starting to get a little tired of standing here. Who knows? Maybe cops would come by and arrest us for being out so late.

I suggested that maybe we should go in the back yard and sit down. I started walking back and they followed, probably wondering what was going to happen next. Noticing that we hadn't put our summer lawn furniture out yet, Dayne complained.

"I'm not sitting on wet grass!" Jeez! We stood there for awhile. Kristina said we should go in and get some more blankets. I realized we couldn't keep going in and out getting folding chairs without waking somebody, so I unwrapped the blanket I was wearing and put it on the ground.

"April!" Kristina whispered. Dayne gasped, put her hands over her mouth and turned her back to us. I wondered what everyone's problem was.

"Aren't you a little cold?" whispered Dayne, with that evil voice tone of hers.

"What?, Why?" I asked.

"Do you always stand around naked in your back yard?" She snickered.

"Oh, I forgot." I said.

"That's why I was calling you upstairs, but you kept on going!" Kristina exclaimed.

I told Dayne that it was okay for her to look at me, that I'd rather talk face to face. I tried to be confrontational but it felt very nice to be outside like this, too nice for a fight. She did turn around, but didn't look directly at me. She kindof stared over my shoulder at the back porch. I'm sure that, if it was daytime, she would be blushing pink. She said that I must have something wrong with me.

"Animals run around naked, not civilized human beings, but, then again, you're not that, are you?" Dayne interjected, drawing on her vast philosophical training as a modern American suburban girl.

"Why don't you go put some clothes on, I can't talk to naked people!"

"I can't talk to clothed people!" I said with a grin. "C'mon, Dayne, let's be honest with each other, it's hard to lie when you aren't wearing anything to hide behind."

She was freaked out. "You want me to strip right here?"

"Why not, nobody's watching." I said. "We've already seen your... um... muscles."

"What about her?" She pointed at the Kid. I was surprised as anything when Kristina said that she would if Dayne would.

"You first!" Dayne whined.

With more class than I thought she had, the kid slowly unwrapped her blanket and she stood there with my overly large panties barely clinging to her body. With no support, they were soon around her knees. She stepped out of them. Our own beauty queen shot her hands up to her mouth in horror.

"Need help, Dayne?" said an embarrassed but smiling Kristina. Dayne started crying! "I can't take my clothes off here, it's just not right!" she moaned. "What if someone sees me!"

"We're the only ones here, and we've already seen." I reasoned.

"Yeah, I know, thanks to you, you little bitch!"

The Kid got down on her back and rolled over to her side pushed her hair back and motioned with her hand for Dayne to get on with it. She really looked neat lying there, beautiful, an artists dream come true! Even our beauty queen seemed impressed.

"Doesn't she look great!" I commented. Kristina was embarrassed at all our attention and covered herself with the blanket. "C'mon Kid, you are the flower of womanhood, you don't need to do that."

"I'm a little chilly, April." She said. I guess I can't object to that.

"Wait a minute," Dayne said, "Why are you so interested in seeing me naked, are you guys gay or something?" I started to realize that our mark was scared and ashamed. Neither of which made any sense to me at all. I decided to change the subject when she began to slip off her T.

"Okay, happy now?" People continue to amaze me. This red hot lady had on a very boring white bra with a back snap and no lace. The Kid motioned for her to keep going. She snarled, unzipped her jeans, slipped them down and stepped out of them. I noticed her shiny nylon pink panties were cut high, but were laceless and really weren't very hot at all. I told her that I was disappointed cuz I always wanted a look at catalogue-sexy underwear and what I got was standard kid stuff. Jeez, was she embarrassed standing there with her hands in front of her bottom!

"I feel very weird." She said with a kindof whimpering tone, "I don't know why I'm doing this." I asked Kristina if she still felt cold. Knowing what I was getting at she removed the blanket and stretched like a cat. She was incredibly gorgeous! She giggled, stood up and started doing cartwheels! Obviously she paid attention in P.E., unlike some people I know! I started doing somersaults, foreword and backward. Dayne stood there shaking her head but I saw her smile.

"I saw that!" I exclaimed. She started laughing.

"You're such little kids, you don't even have pussy hair!" she giggled.

"We don't have what?" I said. I never head that expression. What a strange term. She answered with a bug eyed look and a gesture which can only be described as... um... grabbing one's crotch.. "Oh." I said, feeling somewhat inferior. Kid saved the day.

"Hey, April," she said, "maybe that's why Dayne won't take off her undies!"

"Oh no, I'm not perverted!" came the instant reply.

We both jumped her and we all started laughing and wrestling around. Uh-oh, a light just went on in Tommy's kitchen next door! "Shhh...!" I whispered and motioned everybody to quickly go under the porch. I actually remembered what a great hiding place it was. Dayne giggled, "Hee-hee, Tommy come on out to play!" I put my hand over her mouth real quick. I didn't need any more problems like this. Somebody came out on their back porch, it looked like his dad. He walked down the stairs and looked around, saw the blankets and stared at them for awhile. We all wished he'd go in, mainly cuz there wasn't much space under here. I was sitting on Kristina's lap and Dayne was facing me, her knees pressed against my bottom. It was kindof fun though and it was hard to keep from giggling.

He finally went in! We waited till the light went out and went back to our blankets.

The first thing Dayne said was, "Hey, how come you guys don't have any hair down there?" She pointed to our exposed bottoms.

"Cuz we like it." I said.

"Well, it itches a little." said the Kid scratching around the area in question.

"You look like babies!" she exclaimed. "Take a look at a real woman!" Okay, we looked as she lowered her panties.

"Where's this woman at?" I chuckled. The hair on her bottom was there all right, but it was real light colored and very fine, almost transparent. She looked at us and said that she must be out of her mind. She stepped out of her undies and popped her bra open. Slipping it off she took both items and... threw them into Tommy's backyard!

"Dream on little man." she said. Then she started wrestling with us and we were all giggling and rolling in the grass. I stopped for a minute. "Hey, Dayne, it's pretty late. How come you're still here?"

Well that question definitely dampened our festive mood. We sat on the blankets and found out things about her that maybe we didn't want to know. She told us that her dad abused her when she was little and that now he was in a psych hospital somewhere and was not in contact with her at all. She was living with her mom and stepfather, neither of which really cared about what she did. Her older brother, a college student, was really the only person who really worried about her. He was gone a lot during the school year but now he was home for the summer. She had talked to him and told him she was coming over here to give me a major problem.

"Can I stay with you guys tonight?" she asked.

"I don't know how I'd explain it to anybody, but I guess its okay." She said that she would call her brother so he wouldn't be concerned.

"Wait a minute, I'd get clobbered if anybody knew I was up this late!" I observed. "Besides, have you thought about your underwear at all?"

She pondered that for a minute and I noticed how beautiful her and Kristina looked sitting naked in the dim light of the cloud-shaded moon. Even though it was drizzling a little, it was warm and spring smells were everywhere, carried by a light breeze. I wanted this to last forever! Lost in my experiences, I missed the conversation Dayne and the Kid had. I guess the real woman was going home. It started to rain harder so I asked her how she would get home without getting soaked.

"Didn't you see my bike out front?" she asked. I had a great but insane idea.

"Hey Kid, let's ride Dayne home!"

"What?" she yelled. "How can we go back in and get our clothes?"

I giggled, "We don't."

Dayne chuckled, "April, you're crazy. What an absolutely gross idea! I love it!"

She decided that Tommy could keep her underwear and she headed out front stark naked carrying her other clothes. I went into the garage and hauled out the bikes. We started off giggling like crazy.

"Riding bikes like this is fun!" said Kristina.

"Wheee...!" Dayne squealed.

"Nobody'll know were naked unless you guys tell em." I laughed. The wind and rain driving in our faces dripping down our raw selves we pulled up to Dayne's place.

"Thanks for a great night you guys!" I apologized again for what happened at the dance and I was surprised at how easily she forgave me, being naked does strange things to people sometimes.

"I should've punched you out, April, but I just don't feel angry anymore." she observed. She even gave us both a little kiss before wiggling up to her porch. Kristina and I rode back, put the bikes in the garage and wiped them off.

"Boy, I'm glad nobody was out driving around!" Kid observed. I realized right then what a disaster it would have been if we'd gotten caught and I sighed with relief. There was something sticky on my bike seat but I didn't think anything about it, just wiped it off with the soaked panties the Kid had worn.

Finally, back in my room Kristina freaked out.

"You're bleeding, are you okay?" She pointed to my bottom.

"Guess what, Kid?" I said. "I think I finally got my period."

Chapter 5

For the first time in awhile, I slept with underpants on so I had somewhere to put Big Sister's pad I grabbed out of the bathroom. Mom used tampons, but after going over the instructions with Kristina I decided I wasn't ready to start inserting things in there, too weird and gross. Maybe when I'm older I'll feel better about it. I was standing there dripping red all over and she had this tampon applicator by her little peachfuzz bottom trying to show me what she thought one was supposed to do with it.

"Kristina!" I moaned, grabbing a pad "You're playing doctor and I'm bleeding all over the place! I'm taking this." We only got a few hours sleep and I really hope we could pull off breakfast not to mention the rest of the day without doing any heavy explaining.

I heard a knock on the door, then it opened and someone came in and plopped down next to me.

"C'mon lover girl, time to wake up!" It was an already dressed Kathy. I flipped the covers down smiled and said I'd be ready in a minute. She looked at me, grinned and said "Well, were halfway there, you've got panties on, finally!"

Then she noticed the big wad between my legs.

"Oh my, now that's interesting!" she said. Kristina jumped up in the knick of time. "Hi, Kathy!" she giggled.

"Oh no!" Kath shrieked as she beheld the little bitty, shaved bottomed, flower of womanhood. She left in her usual disgusted huff. Kristina, taking a hint from me, followed her out in the hall, strutting and wiggling like crazy! I stayed back this time, afraid I'd start dripping my insides out again.

I heard Dad's voice, "Oh, hello, Kristina, forgot to bring a nightgown I see," and a nevous "Hi, Mr. Anders."

Jeez. I heard the running of little feet and an out of breath and very pink blushing 11 year old shot into my room and closed the door.

"Your dad saw me!" she panted. "I was completely naked and showing off and he saw me!"

I told her that he's seen me do crazier stuff and that he was usually pretty cool unless Mom found out, then he switched to her side. Strange but true.

"I really wish I had brought some clothes," she said. I dug through my closet and found some of my old stuff and handed it to her. Then I hit the undie drawer, grabbing a nightgown to put in the hamper.

"Here." I tossed her some undies. She liked the red on pink flower pattern a lot and slipped them on. Whoops, a little loose! They slipped down around her knees but she said maybe it would be okay once she got the rest of the clothes on. I handed her an itty bitty bra and watched her struggle with it.

"Here, watch." I giggled, showing her how to do it. She and I both knew she didn't need it but she really was cute, with the itty bitty bra and the April-sized panties down to her ankles! We finished our business, including my dressing, went to the bathroom and bounded down the stairs, pretending that we weren't as sleepy as we actually were.

It smelled really good in the kitchen! Mom had done a terrific job with breakfast and we all ate lots of pancakes, bacon and stuff. Dad looked at Kid and told her that he was glad she found some of my stuff that would fit her. She blushed like crazy with the comment. Mom thought the whole thing was kindof strange, apparently she hadn't been told about this morning's show. Kathy was giving me the evil eye.

"What's your problem?" I said, glaring right back. "Some people around here should keep their ideas to themselves and leave everybody else be normal."

She snarled. Dad asked us to please be civil to each other, especially with company at breakfast. We smiled at each other with clenched teeth.

"Speaking of company," Mom said, "My brother's family are coming for a visit next week and will stay for about a month or so. I really hope you make them feel welcome this time." A dark cloud suddenly hung over the table, even the Kid noticed our immediate reaction. Kathy and I looked at each other, and for once, had the same thought.

"Gross!"

"I'd like to meet them. Where are they from?" Kristina asked. Mom told the whole story while me n' Kath sat and sulked thinking about our own version. Uncle Jon and Aunt Ellen and their brats Gilbert, Illana and Marisa were one huge pain in the butt! He was some kind of high paid U.S. government trade representative in France. He and Auntie and Gillie or Fish Gil, as we called him were all from here or born here. Illpaina and Monsterisa were born or crawled out from under a rock in France or should I say Fraunce. Last time they came they brought their obnoxious customs and all and they didn't want to or didn't know how to speak English. We didn't enjoy having them in our rooms or anything! Ugh! What an ugly bunch! Now they were coming back!

Needless to say, we cleaned up the breakfast stuff in silence. All I could say, and I'm sure Kathy would agree: "Oh no!" Gil was a year older than Kathy, Ill was the same age as her and Mar was a year younger than me. They were here about five years ago on an overly long visit. Even though I wasn't looking foreword to all of this I couldn't help but be a little curious. What are they like now? I guess I'll find out next week. Anyway, we had a few more discussions and began to clean up.

Kristina's dad called and said he'd be over to pick her up in about an hour, so we really didn't have to hurry. There was a knock at the front door which Dad answered, probably nobody important. He never did come back to the kitchen.

We finished K.P. and went upstairs to straighten things up. Dad came in and held up a soaked bra and panties.

"Know anything about these? Tommy's dad found them in his yard this morning and he said he thought he had heard a noise outside very late last night."

He didn't look happy and I thought the Kid was going to choke! It was, of course, Dayne Smythe's underwear! I thought one word, "blankets"!

"We really had to get them out of the garage, quietly! I smiled sweetly at Dad and said "Looks like wet undies to me, maybe they're Tommy's mother's."

I was trying real hard not to react. He said that the bra looked too small for her, but who knows. He said if we ever saw anything odd or any strangers hanging around at night we should report it. It was hard to keep from giggling and I absolutely refused to look at the Kid!

Dayne's a stranger, all right, and her prancing around naked in our back yard was something odd! As quick as we could we finished up and hightailed it out to the garage. We had a hard time trying to figure out were to dry the blankets out, where nobody could see 'em. Settling on our rickety garage loft, I climbed up there and hung them from the rafters making a mental note to retrieve 'em tomorrow when Mom was at her women's club tea and Dad was golfing. Kristina acted as lookout, watching to make sure nobody saw us. The secret job done, we went back in and dabbled with the computer. I started to teach her how to program it and eventually I had a bigger audience. Everybody, and I do mean everybody was joining in! They were surprised that I actually knew how to program it. No big deal, I think I was born knowing how to do it.

We hadn't got very far when the Kid's father showed up. I gave her a big hug, kiss and smile. I whispered. "Thanks, Kid, it sure was great!"

She flipped her wheatstraw hair out of her eyes.

"Call me soon, okay?" She thanked Mom and Dad for having her and the visitors left.

I sat at the computer thinking about how intense the whole thing was and decided that I liked Dayne, even though' she may still be a pain. Hey, that rhymes! But I think I'm in love with Kristina. I wasn't used to these feelings. It was like sad and glad at the same time. I was looking foreword to an end to this sleepy, weird, spring Saturday. My eyes were getting heavy.

Chapter 6

It was nice out today and everybody that was in here is out there doing this or that. Y'know, I guess you could call it spring cleaning. Anyway, they decided not to golf or anything. Dad, Mom and Kathy were usually really into it, but I don't know, I'm just not that interested in clean and organized. It seems like a waste of time. More to keep myself awake than anything else, I decided to volunteer.

Maybe I'm nuts, pubic hair's probably growing in again. I wonder if Kathy told Mom about my period? Since I as already on my way out the back, I decided to check my situation in the powder room which was connected to Mom and Dad's place near the back door. I went in and as I passed by the desk in their room I noticed a large envelope with a sticker on it that said "Anders, April Amanda." I wondered why I was not informed of this mail. The return address was Dr. F. Sanders, the alleged family counselor we talked to after my "horrible experience" as they say. I had to take a look at this! I brought it into the bathroom with me. I looked around for another pad first. Ah, here's one! Replacing it was a bit of a problem cuz I had to look out for drips, wipe myself off, wrap up the old one to dispose of and such. Gross! But it worked out okay, now to look in here! Hmmm... I read it from beginning to end.

No wonder they didn't share it, the doc said I was sexually normal for my age, unusually imaginative and very curious. He said that I was a, get this, "budding genius" and I should be more extensively tested. He also said that unusual behavior is not uncommon in people with my intelligence and that I should be encouraged "within the limits of safety" to follow my ideas. Jeez, he sure didn't sound like that in our sessions! What's this sexually normal stuff? He seemed to be as horrified at me as everybody, and I do mean everybody, else was. Sometimes I think it's a bigger problem than hairy insanity. I think that adults, at least around here don't like or understand their bodies and they don't like or understand what they do either. Am I all alone here or what? Maybe I can get a bunch of kids who know what I mean and we can teach the adults.

Nahh... they'd never listen. They think they've got everything all figured out. Well I can run around naked and show them how ignorant they really are. Embarrass the heck out of all of them in an area they are too scared to deal with. I don't mean to be bad, but I've just about had it with all this goofy stuff. Yeah... that's it! The baldy bottom club, the BBC! Kristina, me, maybe Dayne and some boys, maybe a few others will change the world! I'll have to make a few calls soon. I put the doctor things back in the envelope, adjusted my new pad and returned my... um... mail to the desk. "I'm no genius," I said to myself, "I'm just a regular girl, April."

I went outside and did some busywork. Later I told Mom about my period and everything went as I thought. Mom more or less freaked out, Dad didn't want to talk about it and Kathy smiled at me. "Welcome to the world of real womanhood." I thought, "Ugh!" I kindof missed sleeping in my birthday suit, but I guess blood is kindof hard to wash out. I left my panties on and went to bed. After a fake busy day, I was tired. G'nite, see ya in church tomorrow.

Ah, Sunday! I can tell by the hustle and bustle everywhere that everybody, and I do mean everybody, is running around like crazy so they aren't late for church. Its always nice to eat first and everything, so I guess I better get moving. I don't remember it, but I must have had a great dream. I feel warm and fuzzy and not at all like getting up and moving around.

Oh well... I do anyway, starting with my usual morning stuff.. I decide I might as well wear all my underwear today cuz I have my sweet and girlie frilled lacy dress out and someone might see my not quite there chest. I don't think it would bother God that much but it would probably drive his devoted followers crazy.

Last year I found religion a little.. no, a lot, boring. This year though, for some reason, it's beginning to interest me. It seems to be one of the reasons why people are the way they are. Its funny, but the things I read in the Bible, stuff about what Jesus said and all.

Well... I just don't see very much similarity in what religious people say he said, if you know what I mean. I just don't see it. I can't understand why people are so crazed that I like being naked. I think that He would think it pretty neat too. Maybe he would even join my someday BBC which would be good, we could use a few boys.

Anyway, I put on all my clothes, go downstairs, everybody eats and scurries around, ho-hum and we go with our usual Sunday routine. I notice everybody looking at me and smiling.

"Hey, April's got all her clothes on today!" Kathy exclaimed. I really believe they're all thinking it. Its funny, but all during church I keep thinking that sometimes the most religious people I know seem to be the least likely to give other people a break. Strangely enough, this is what today's readings were about. Gross how we turn things around and seem to always twist the real meaning of it. Hey, way out here are the suburbs, we really are pretty isolated and we're all pretty much the same kind of people. It's not hard to imagine things being different, but, then again I'm still a little girl, really. I'm sure its a lot harder to break out of things when you're a whole lot older. Knowing how tired Mom and Dad get, its easier to just go ahead and do what you've always done the same way you've always done it. But then everything stays the same, which is really sad, especially if nobody has any fun anymore. Well, that's not going to happen to me, I hope.

Whoops, Church is nearly over. I guess I get lost sometimes wondering what God thinks of all this. As we got up and walked out I couldn't help but notice that most of the people seemed to be relieved that it was over and I can't help but wonder why they bother to come in the first place. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, now can carry on with their regular boring Sunday stuff. Ho-hum!

After we got home I decided to take a walk. One of the good things about being 11 years old is that you don't have to do a lot of work around the house other than keeping your room clean, your stuff picked up and specialty things like yard work or dish duty. So I went upstairs to change. It felt good to get out of my clothes and what a surprise, I had to change my pad again. I really hope the bleeding stops soon. It's easy to learn about this stuff in school but its another thing to have it happen to you! As I looked at my dripping bottom I wondered where the unused egg was and I felt a little sad cuz this could have been somebody. I guess I should be grossed out, but I don't feel that way at all. I looked through my undie drawer and selected some pink. My chest was a little tender so I even wore my little slingshot bra. Actually, the whole thing isn't as bad as I'd heard. Is everybody happy? Probably.

I pulled on my jeans and a sweatshirt and prepared for my walk. I went downstairs and noticed everybody was busy with the Sunday paper. I usually read it every day, cover to cover but I just didn't want to hang around the house now.

"I'm going for a little walk." I announced. Dad grunted and Mom said to be home by lunchtime, Kathy, absorbed in the comics, never knew I was there in the first place.

I went out the front door and noticed it was getting a little cloudy, maybe a spring shower on the way. Oh well... a little rain never hurt anybody. Tommy next door and his parents were outside getting into their car. The jerk, he blew me a kiss! "Hi April." his folks yelled. I waved and turned to walk the other way. I didn't feel like talking to them. Walking without paying attention to where I was going I found myself in front of Carl's and I remembered what happened and started to feel funny about it. No! No regrets, girl! It was not a sex thing like everybody thinks. "Hi!"

"Huh"? Oh nuts! "Carl, you snuck up on me!" I said. He said he saw me just standing around and figured I might like some company.

"We need to talk about a few things." I said with a touch of anger in my voice. "Why did you use me to get in with those people? Why did you let everybody think we had sex? Why are you buddy- buddy with Dayne?" The more I talked the madder I got.

"Cuz I tried and nobody believed me, not even Mom and Dad." He said. "And I still feel bad cuz I really like you, April, I really do."

"Then why," I said, "didn't you try to talk to me or see me about it?"

He told me this long story about being scared and that his folks told him to stay away and that they were moving anyway etcetera, etcetera. I did feel bad for him. I believed that he was telling the truth, but I kindof wished he wasn't such a chicken about it. I grinned.

"It was fun though' wasn't it?"

"Neato," he smiled.

"Then, Carl, just remember and enjoy it wherever you go and don't ever regret it or let people think it was something it wasn't,okay?"

He smiled again, gave me a little kiss on the forehead, turned and went back to his house. Wow, Now that was something!

As I watched him go I whispered, "Bye, I really wish you were staying, I'm sorry I got you into so much trouble." It started to drizzle a little, which somehow fit how I felt. I wandered home, my eyes a little wet. "Gross, You are not going to cry about this, April!" But it seemed like I had lost something, I had no idea what.

By the time I got home I was more than a little wet, but who cares! I grabbed some lunch out of the fridge and kindof ate in a daze. It was amazing! Everyone ignored me, lost in reading the papers or whatever. Mom came in, commented on my wet condition and sat down across from me.

"Is something bothering you, April?" She asked, and I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was really concerned.

I looked up and began crying a little. Jeez! She came over and held me for awhile.

"Sometimes things are very hard for girls, and we don't really know what or why or how or anything, and I do mean anything!" I giggled through my tears. "Where'd you get that expression?"

"Somebody sweet that I know." She said. "Everybody here loves you, if that helps."

"Thanks, Mom, thanks a lot, I love you too." I said.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful except at suppertime. Mom and Dad told me that I had an appointment on Thursday to see the family counselor. I was thrilled as you could guess but I didn't feel like arguing. I didn't even ask why but I did grunt a little. When I went to bed I started thinking what a strange weekend it had been. I bet I'm going to get more tests like the secret envelope said. Sounds like a wonderful summer!

I'd really rather be in school, you already know that but shhhhh...don't tell!

Chapter 7

The rest of the week was boring, except my bleeding stopped and I could finally wear my proper bedclothes again. Kathy and I both spent a lot of time talking about the yucky situation of our summer visitors, Fish Gills and company from Fraunce. I forgot about the tests. Whoops, here's Thursday! I heard Mom from downstairs telling Kathy to come up and get me.

"Right this minute!" She yelled. Ugh! I heard running on the stairs. I ducked under the covers when my door flew open and Kathy made Mom's wishes known to me. "Get up you idiot, If I have to be up, so do you!" she shrieked. She walked over to my bed and grabbed the blanket. "You're not sleeping naked again are you?" She yelled and yanked.

"Never," I said, "I'm no pervert." The covers came off and there I was again. "Whoops, my nightie mustof sortof slid off!" I grinned.

She turned around, wrung her hands and said to nobody, and I do mean nobody, "Why does she do this? Why is she naked in here all the time?"

She walked out groaning as Mom walked in.

"April, will you please wear some clothes sometime, nobody likes to see you like that and we don't want nervous breakdowns by anybody right now."

She walked out unhappy. Ah well, time to get moving. I decided to wear my light blue undies, the Carl memorial ones, since that whole incident was the reason I have to get going now in the first place. I also got out some neat purple shorts and a top to match, socks and shoes and some little purple bead earrings. I decided I wanted my hair to hang loose. Hair flowing I bounded down stairs and hit the Carl memorial bathroom. We did all our family morning stuff. Dad was still here which surprised me. He was going to work late so he could be with when I went to be tested.

We drove there in silence. It was weird and I had no idea what to expect. After I was done I decided that there had to be a better way to spend the summer! I should've stayed home. For one thing I was there past lunch. Also, it was a whole bunch of the strangest tests I ever had! I don't know who they'd get to ask such stupid things. Who makes up these tests anyway? I had lots of moral support. Yeah, right! Dad, Mom, friendly family counselor, Dr. Sanders and the test giver, Dr. Whoosis or Whassis or something were all loaded with enthusiasm, so was I as you probably noticed. I was hungry, tired and very crabby when we finally left.

"Looking foreword to seeing your cousins?" Dad asked. Jeez, What a summer!

I knew I only had a few days left until our visitors came and I was not going to let the entire vacation waste away. It was time to call the Kid cuz I hadn't heard from her all week.

"Hi, April, wanna go to the pool?" said the meek voice on the phone.

"The pool?" I asked. Oh, I forgot, they open it now. Yippie! I told her that this was a good idea while carefully hiding my enthusiasm. But, if wearing clothes when its hot out was dumb, swimsuits were even dumber! I held my tongue.

"My Mom will take us if you want." she said. I wasn't thrilled with that idea but it was much more likely that my folks would let me go if this was the case.

"Okay, come by in a half hour and, if I can't go I'll call you."

We said our goodbyes and I asked Mom. She thought it was too early in the year for the pool but Dad intervened, talking about the stresses from the tests and all and that maybe swimming would be a benefit. Good boy! Then, disaster! Kathy wanted to go too. What could I say?

We got our swimming stuff ready and ate lunch. Big Sis was unhappy cuz we didn't have time change at home and she always hated taking her clothes off where somebody might see her. I asked her once what she did at school in the locker room and she walked off in a fit. My guess is that she keeps the drape closed in her stall. Who knows what she does in the shower, how much can you cover up with your hands and arms? This is the girls locker room! We all look the same, Kath, any boy caught in here would be expelled on the spot! So much for freedom of inquiry, gender equity and all that, not to mention the enormous waste of space for two separate but equal locker rooms! I think it would be real cute to run a male tour through the girls locker room next year when it is being used. Of course I would expect the boys to return the favor.

Mom was yelling that the Kid's mom was here, so we dropped everything, grabbed our stuff and flew out the door. Of course Kathy was whining non-stop about having to change at the pool. Well, when we got there it seemed the place was jammed. Heavenly! We walked into the girls locker room only to see... no girls! Some idiots had done some new construction and now there were stalls in here too, gross! Oh, you could hear changing noises behind closed doors. But where was our feminine beauty, grace, charm? Hidden in back of curtains and stuffed in swimsuits that really never hid anything when they were wet anyway. Luckily, they had left the changing benches by the lockers. I really started tearing at my clothes. Finally getting to my undies, I jumped up on the bench, slipped out of them and yelled, "Yes!"

"C'mon, April, stop goofing around and get your suit on," Kathy said while handing me my very modest blue swimsuit, with a little skirt no less! I jumped down and headed for the door to the pool carrying the girlie suit.

"April!" Kathy shrieked. I got as far as the doorway of the pool itself and I saw all the people. A boy around my age and his little brother happened to be walking by.

The little one giggled and said "Look, Bobbie, a naked girl is there!" Bobbie looked up, saw my beautiful and hairless if you please, bod, and I swear, turned white as a sheet even though I smiled and waved.

His little brother said, "Gee lets go talk to her, huh?" as he began pulling on old Bobbies arm. Old Bobbie must have some problems cuz he left very quickly yanking his baby brother along. At least the little one was curious. I decided I'd better get my suit on. I walked back to see that more people were here. Couldn't tell whether they were boys or girls, out of sight out of mind I guess. Apparently the cubicles were very popular. Kristina was standing and waiting for me.

"April, you can't just go out and swim naked in front of everybody."

"Never tell me I can't do something, Kid, and besides we've had this discussion before. You remember my backyard the other night?"

I noticed her suit. It was a hot pink one piece number but way too loose.

"You've got a nice suit there, Kid, hope it stays on for modesty's sake." I said. She just smiled that sweet smile of hers. Maybe she didn't want to wear one either and hoped it did fall off. I was getting impatient and yelled for Kathy, who was in some cubicle somewhere, to hurry up.

In spite of Kristina's effort to stop me, I ran up to the stall I thought big sister was in and pulled the curtain away as violently as I could. Swish! Oh... Hello. I was looking at, well. I'm not sure but she sure was looking at me! Lots taller then I was, she had what must have been waist length bleach white hair with patches of green running through it. Yep, green. Her face was absolutely breathtaking! This was one boy killer here! I was nearly hypnotized despite being firmly committed to girlhood. Even though' I'd caught her with only her undies on she didn't seem horrified or changing skin color or anything. She calmly unhitched her bra and let it drop. I smiled with pride and actually stuck my exposed teeny tinies out more. She was built only slightly better than me and I was able to equalize the.. um... advantage. She slipped her almost normal flower print panties down to her ankles to reveal a shaved bottom! Well almost. She'd left a few honey blonde strands deliberately carved in the shape of a cross.

A hand grabbed me. It was Kathy.

"Sorry about my sister, she's a little nuts!" Big Sister said kindof apologetically, acting normally herself. I could tell when she finally saw what I was seeing. Her jaw dropped and her eyes were bugging out! The mystery girl shrugged her shoulders and turned around to pick up her suit. Jeez, she had a spider web tattooed on her butt!

She brushed by us with a "Pardon me" only to be looking into the face of a somewhat shocked Kristina. She smiled, got a locker, went and got her clothes and stuffed them in.

"Wanna swim nude?" she said. "Let's go!"

Not waiting for a response she headed for the door. Unlike me, she kept walking, while swinging her suit around her head like she didn't have a care in the world. I watched as she walked out to the pool, completely naked and jumped in. Wow! She swam a little, got out and walked back smiling at us.

"I thought you were coming in." she said.

We were all absolutely speechless. and it sounded like there were a whole lot of people gathering around the pool door. A female blue suited lifeguard walked in scowling. "If you want to swim here, you'd better wear a suit!" Mystery girl pointed to the posted rules stuck to the wall.

"Hmmm, it doesn't say anything about that here, I suppose I need a tie too." She stretched out and arched her back giving us a great look at her glorious little cross. It was then that I noticed that this girl was all muscle. Her entire body rippled when she stretched. It looked like, even though she was a lot younger and smaller, this lady could tear the head off of the bluesuit. The modesty assurance officer seemed as impressed as the rest of us and her tone of voice definitely softened.

"C'mon, I don't know who you are, but please don't swim naked, okay." Mystery lady grinned.

"Okay." and she slipped on a fire-red, barely there suit. This was an astounding piece of clothing which had to be seen to be believed! It looked like a shiny "x", wrapping over each shoulder, her chest just sticking out a bit on the bottom rather than the top like in a regular bikini, and going to almost a thread width at her bottom. This suit hid absolutely nothing. The life guard was also stunned and stood there staring, finally mumbling "Thanks" and quickly heading for the doorway.

The new one looked at us.

"I asked before, aren't you going in the water or are you going to spend your afternoon in here?"

She smiled at me. I was standing there naked and hairless and actually began to feel embarrassed!

"They won the battle, darlin', but we'll win the war. I think you better put your suit on, or they may have you executed!" I smiled back and blushed, pulling on my stupid, juvenile modesty suit and all us mute ladies issued forth into the pool area.

It was a riot! Every male eye looked our way and the mystery girl strutted like crazy!

She said, "See, I'm a whole lot more noticeable with my suit on." She was still wet from before and didn't seem to have a towel, so I gave her one from our bag. Kathy noticed some of her friends in the refreshment area and lopped over there in a daze. We sat down and watched as the new girl stretched out luxuriously on my towel almost like she was trying to deliberately expose as much of herself as possible.

Suddenly, a male voice, "Lana, Lana, where in hell are you?" The girl jumped to her feet and I couldn't help but notice the spider web on her butt, actually, you could see her entire bottom from this vantage point and her impressive muscles.

"Hey!" she yelled and waved.

Aha! three handsome males are approaching. I figured that they had to be her brothers. Their faces were similar, all had weird colors in their hair, and finally, each had a very muscular body squeezed into a very small suit. The largest of the three said, "Who are they?" Pointing at us like we were animals in a zoo or something.

"Fast friends," she said, "leave them be." A voice, vaguely familiar, came from the great beyond. "Lana, Lana King."

I groaned inwardly as Coach Malone ran toward us. What was he doing here? He smiled at the Kid and me and asked how my foot was. I just smiled at him, gritting my teeth behind my lips. He shook each of her brothers' hands and said he was happy to see the King boys, whose names apparently were Bryan, Victor and Sam.

Then, almost as in worship, he fell on his knees to shake Lana's hand. He said that he was thrilled that she was coming to our school in the fall and that he'd always admired her basketball abilities. Sure, that's why he put his hand on her thigh and was trying to look under the top of her suit.

Pervert! Actually if he looked under the bottom, he would have seen that this Lana was indeed a girl, but he was apparently not used to this kind of... um... swimwear. She glared at him, smiled in mock sweetness and formed a potent fist with her left hand.

"Are you right handed, coach? If you are, you won't be shortly."

"Sorry, said the deviate, I was trying to steady myself." She smiled again "I won't let you fall, coachypoo!" She pointed to all of us. "These are my bodyguards, I would treat them and me nicely if I were you."

Coach was obviously getting angry. He pulled his hand away and said that he'd see us all in the fall. He grimaced at me.

"How's the foot April?"

"As fine as it was a couple of seconds ago." I said. Jerk!

We sat and talked, finding out that Lana was unbelievably 11 years old and that her brothers were all in high school. Apparently she was some kind of basketball super star. They had all just moved here from New York City. Actually I had notice a kindof strange accent, but I thought they were putting us on. The Kings were moving into Carl's house once the remodeling was finished but for now were living in the local motel. It was kindof an interesting conversation. We didn't come to chat though and I suggested we all get wet.

It was great! We swam and goofed around in the water for the rest of the afternoon under the watchful eyes of everybody, and I do mean everybody in the entire place! I'm sure they were just waiting to see whose suit fell off first. Mine, of course, was well secured but the others, well, they were getting heavy with water and came close a few times. I noticed an old guy moving close to the pool and watching the Kid, whose giant pink suit moved to one side, exposing her little bottom every time she jumped in. Sam noticed too and I saw him go over. I heard him tell the guy that if he didn't stop looking under little girls swimsuits he would tell the "missus". Needless to say, he left and didn't come back.

"That's why swimsuits are stupid," He told me later. "People are always trying to look under 'em. There'd be a whole lot less trouble if there were nothing to look under. In a way, I kindof feel sorry for that guy. He was obviously raised the way most people are, the wrong way." He said that everybody was curious also but if you grow up used to naked people, it doesn't bother you at all. Hmmm.

We began to gather our stuff cuz It was nearly time for Kristina's mom to come get us. Bryan offered us a ride and understood why we refused.

"We really don't know each other yet." I said. We snatched Kathy away from her fellow eighth graders and headed for the locker room. As we passed our lifeguard friend, Lana gave her a big smile and the bluesuit smiled back. Spider Butt proceeded to undo the side of her suit and the whole thing fell away! Dazed, we walked the few feet to the locker area. Kathy immediately ran into a stall and whisked the drape shut.

Kristina went into a stall but didn't close the drape. Lana and I sat on the bench across from it and dried ourselves off. Lana beheld our bare bottoms with interest.

"What's with the hairless?" she asked.

"What's with the cross? I countered.

"Touch!" she exclaimed, caressing the area in question. "I like to decorate a bit."

"Well we like ours too" I said and gently touched my bald spot. Kristina came out and planted her naked bottom on the bench next to us. We sat and talked a while longer until Kathy was done.

Big sister came out and scowled.

"Dammit, get your clothes on will you, we have to go!" The bluesuit came back in and looked at Lana.

"Okay, miss bod, get dressed and get out! Remember what I said if you come back."

"Yes maam!" Lana exclaimed. We squeezed into our jeans and T's which seemed so much tighter cuz it seems that no matter how well you dry off you are still wet enough for everything to stick a little. I mentioned that I was a little disappointed cuz there wasn't enough time for me to really cruise the pool. Lana said there would be plenty of time for that, after all, the summer had just started. She invited us all over when they moved in and gave us her phone number.

"Be absolutely sure to call before you come over." She said. "Please, call first!"

Great timing! As soon as we walked through the exit, Kristina's mom was pulling up. We said our goodby's to Lana. Her brothers were still not out but I wondered if we should've hung around awhile. Malone, swimsuit and bod still dripping wet sauntered over and began to talk to her, following her around like a puppy. I wasn't worried, our new chum looked like someone who could take care of herself.

We didn't talk much on the way home. Kathy turned to us and said, "Disgusting, disgusting!"

"That girl should be ashamed of herself, and you aren't much better!" Kid's mom asked her what she was talking about. Wisely, big sister didn't elaborate, but she glared at us all the way home. We drove by Carl's place and I noticed that there was some construction going on. Lana's family was definitely not interested in getting stared at.

One of the new improvements was a 10' high, closely spaced, wooden stockade fence. Interesting... maybe a bit of big city paranoia. Who knows? I do intend to talk to Lana a whole lot, so I decided to keep an eye out for the day they move in and I mentioned it to Kristina. I believe that Lana kindof scares the Kid a little cuz she looked nervous when I mentioned I'd like to see the lady again. Kathy regarded the fence with suspicion.

"Probably criminals." she said.

We pulled up in front of our house and I asked Kristina's mom if Kid could hang around awhile. Unfortunately, she had to go get a dentist checkup. What a fun summer this is turning out to be!

"Later." I said.

Kathy just grumbled, "Thanks for taking us, etcetera."

Chapter 8

Mom greeted us as we walked in and the smell of the spaghetti we were having for supper rolled over me like a sensuous cloud, mmmm! "How was the pool?" she asked. Big sister glared at me.

"Great," she mumbled.

I smiled sweetly and said that we all had a wonderful time.

"Oh, April, you have a visitor outside," Mom indicated.

"Boy or girl?" I asked. Mom kindof wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I think it's that Dayne Smythe."

Hmmm... I wonder what's up? Even though we'd had our little experience here the other night, I never expected Dayne to actually come for a visit. Maybe she's really had a change of heart and come down off her high horse. I walked out the back door and saw her lying down in the new grass just looking at the clouds.

"What are you doing here, Dayne?" I asked.

She sat up, smiled at me and asked if we could talk.

"Why me?" I said. I mentioned that I never considered myself to be one of the people she felt was worthy to talk to. She said that what went on with her, me and Kristina made her think about what people were really like and that after talking to her regular friends had decided to get to know other people besides them. "Talking to me won't gain you much popularity." I said. "In fact, some might be scandalized and shocked, depending on what they think they know about me."

"I don't care about that much anymore." She smiled. "I haven't been a real nice person."

"I'd be happy if you'd just stop being so nasty to everybody, especially Kristina!" I said.

She admitted that she was really sorry about snubbing people all these years. When she got home after our naked bike ride she started to think about how good it was with us and she talked to her brother about the whole thing. I told her that I wasn't too happy cuz I didn't really relish the idea of Mom and Dad knowing about us running around naked in the back yard. The fewer people who knew, the better.

"Aren't you glad we didn't get caught?" I observed. She started laughing like crazy and I joined in.

"My brother, Phil's, cool," she assured metaking a deep breath between chuckles. "Besides, I've got a lot of information I could fry him with, and he knows it!"

She wrinkled her nose. "It's amazing what boys do sometimes!"

We just kindof let that statement hang in the air, staring into space for what seemed like hours. I started to say something but Dayne blurted out, "Did you really screw Carl?"

"What?" I shrieked.

"Y'know, have sex with him? I've heard that you did."

I glared at the person who may be the source of all my grief.

"It's a lie!" I told her but I didn't want to go through the whole thing again. I was tired of having to explain it so I said that what happened was a lot like what we did in the backyard. A huge question suddenly occurred to me.

"Who told you this?" As soon as I asked the question, I knew the answer.

"Coach," she said. I told her that Kristina had suspected this from the beginning.

"Try to stop this rumor about me okay?" I pleaded.

She said that she was still amazed. "Carl's a boy!" she said. "Boys aren't like us, they could never, ever handle anything like what went on in your back yard, they'd go berzerk!" She went on to say how oversexed they were and were always getting erections and stuff.

"I know, Carl had one." I said.

"Really?" she giggled. I asked her if she'd ever done it with anybody.

"Yes." she whispered, her eyes darting around like somebody was watching or something. "And it wasn't fun at all, it was gross! Remember, I told you about it the other night."

She never told me the details, but she said that if I was interested... It was just as well, though, I wasn't that interested. "When you think about it, Dayne, we don't know that much about boys, do we?"

Suddenly she turned white as a sheet!

"April, did you see that car that just went by?"

I told her I really don't notice them, usually.

"I think someone has been following me," she whispered. I felt a little chill running up my back. She told me that everybody, and I do mean everybody, thought she was nuts but she keeps seeing the same car everywhere and she can't tell who's inside cuz it has that smoked glass. It started a few months before the end of school and is still going on.

"Try to get the license number." I suggested.

"I know all that stuff," she moaned. "But, April, I'm scared! I haven't been able to get the license yet, and really, that's why I came to talk to you."

Mom interrupted by yelling that supper was almost ready. Dayne said that she had to go home. I touched her cheek with my hand and looked into her haunted eyes.

"Please be careful, will you Dayne? There's been some things in the newspaper lately about people disappearing." That statement didn't seem to help at all. As she opened the gate and guardedly started to walk home, I realized that I never asked her about her strange relationship with Coach Malone. Where did he get off touching her like he does?

I was pretty quiet during supper. I really didn't feel like dealing with Kathy and her disgust with me. She kept trying to get me going but I pretty much ignored her. Mom seemed pleased that I seemed to be trying to get along better with Sis, little did she know! Dad seemed quite taken by Dayne. He smiled and mentioned how pretty she was several times.

Truthfully, I was a little shocked by this. He seemed a bit too interested in her, but like I've said, she really is quite a beauty. Men and boys are funny things, I really wonder if they're all here sometimes. Sounds to me like a, taa-daa, pubic hair crisis rearing up again! I wonder how hard it is for men to shave it off? Supper was delicious!

While we were cleaning up Mom once again mentioned our guests from France and how we should welcome them, etcetera, etcetera. Spare me! The evening wore on and I was getting tired. Would this day ever end? It seemed like summer vacation days were either loaded with stuff or absolutely empty and boring. Today was sortof both.

Ah, bedtime! I slid out of my clothes, studied my reflection in the mirror and wondered if I was pretty for Carl or just an object for study. Is this a sexual body? Will I ever have sex with someone? As the softness of the sheets embraced my naked self, I noticed the rumble of thunder outside. Pictures of boys, erections, touching, kissing and the rest of it drifted through my head. My vulva began to feel very wet and tingly. I put my finger near the little opening at the bottom and moved it in a little.

"Naah, I'm not ready for it yet," I thought to myself as I withdrew my intruder, "but definitely getting there."

Mmmmm... beautiful early summer night. I began to drift off to sleep accompanied by the sweet images of my friends completely naked and a shadowy figure behind the wheel of a car with smoked glass silently watching.

I'm having a real hard time getting into summer, here it is, my last free weekend before our favorite relatives make their gross appearance and I just can't get going. But, then again, church today wasn't very inspiring and everybody and I do mean everybody, is buried in the newspapers again. Ugh! I told everyone I was going for a walk, again, and there was no response, again.

"Hey, Hey! I'm leaving for California in five minutes, my cab is here, I'll see you in the fall, Bye!" The lumps moved! I thought I heard someone say "Okay," but I'm not sure who. I pulled my shirt up over my white itty bitty bra.

"I'm dressed good for my trip, no?" I said.

"Very nice, April," I heard a Mom lump mumble. I giggled and tied my shirt to expose my flat little belly and sauntered out the door. It was a nice day, sunny, grassy smelling breeze, I felt great out here and began to walk toward the pool.

Naturally I couldn't go swimming, not without a suit. Who would think of such a thing! But there was a park there which was a great place to hang around. Walking past Carl's, now Lana's, place, I noticed that there was no construction going on. It looked like it was all done. I was going to stop by, but I remembered Lana's strangely powerful order to call first, and I wondered why. I heard some noise behind the enormous fence but I kept going. Strange that I never saw Carl's family move out.

Goody, here's the park! I walked around smelling the fresh air and looking at the new leaves on the trees and the budding flowers. Beautiful! I picked one and slid it into my flowing hair. I was starting to feel pretty in an earthy sort of way, just sortof wandering around in a daze not really knowing where I was going and not really caring very much either.

"Hey April, c'mere! " A familiar voice out of the fog made me realize I was near the paved section, the basketball court in the middle of the park. The pool shined in the distance. Looking up I saw Lana standing in front of a picnic table occupied by the G.W.G. and a few of the G.G. including my idiot neighbor, Tommy Kearns. The girls all giggled like crazy. Even the boys were chuckling.

"Hiiii April!" they said in an oozy kind of way. One of them asked me if I'd seen Dayne today and when I replied that I hadn't she said that she thought she was probably at Carl's. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, started ooohing and ahhhing. Jeez, not this again! Tommy didn't seem to want to participate in this stuff for some reason. It almost looked like he was uncomfortable even being here, a very odd attitude for a G.G. leader.

"C'mon, lets play some ball!" suggested Lana.

One of the girls, Lauren, stood up and said, "Okay, weirdo, what are the sides?" I knew Lauren. She was one of the G.W.G., pretty, well developed and tall. Lana had to look up to talk to her and she towered over me! She was our grade's premier basketballer and basketball was really it in our school, in fact, statewide interest was generated by a bunch of sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Unbelievable. Apparently the New York mystique was entertaining cuz we were drawing a crowd.

"Kid, what are you doing here!" I yelled as I noticed a little hand waving toward the rear of the assembled horde. I made my was back there and we started talking, losing the thread of what was beginning to occur here.

Before we knew what happened, we had been recruited for Lana's team along with, can you believe it, Chuck and Stubby!

"Lana, we are in for it!" I said. "That's the school varsity over there, the varsity! Besides, none of us are very good. New York squatted down.

Wow! She wore a ragged T-shirt and shorts that were so high cut you could see her spider web and little pale pink undies. Her glorious hair, stirred by the summer breeze, flew around her head and the boys stared at her in amazement.

"Holy sh...!" Chuck began to exclaim until Stubby poked him. I heard Chuck whisper to his sidekick, "She's very hot, whoa!" They both made some weird noises, the meaning of which eluded me. She ignored their.. um... comments and began to give us an idea of what basketballers do. We actually understood, I think.

"You guys ready or what?" came Lauren's voice from beyond our huddle.

"Okay," said Lana, "Skins or shirts?"

"Huh?" Came the reply. "Skins or shirts?

"Look, weirdo, we are not doing that." stated Lauren. "It's okay for boys, but not for us," she explained, "they don't have anything... um... that people shouldn't see."

"What's that," Lana replied, laughing. "Ugly pimples?"

The big girl glared with eyes full of hate and disgust.

"Let's flip a coin." Kid suggested, moving between the two of them. Everyone gathered around as she took a quarter out of her pocket and flipped it up.

"Call it." said Lana.

"Okay, heads."

"Heads it is."

"Our ball." said Lauren.

"Yes!" yelled the big team.

"Let's go folks." said Lana, pulling off her top.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lauren screeched.

"We lost the toss, so we're skins," she replied, scratching under her exposed left one.

"That's not what it was for!" superduperstar yelled. Lana ignored the comment and instructed us to remove our lids. We were too stunned to argue and promptly doffed our duds much to the amazement of the capacity crowd who had gathered to watch the bloodbath. There was the Kid standing there half naked, her little chest obviously beginning to grow. There was I in my bra. Spider Butt regarded my attire with surprise.

"I didn't know you wore one of those." she said with a hint of disgust in her voice. The boys, their eyes bugging out, revealed whatever it was they could reveal.

And there was beautiful Lana, brushing her hair away from her pretty breasts. Wow, this was unbelievable! The gathered masses stood there stunned. The G.W.G. and G.G. gawked.

"My God!" said more than a few.

"Since you won the toss, we get the ball first." Lana said. I was astonished! She had taken off her shirt like it was no big deal, completely ignoring the increasingly restless crowd.

We all took up our positions. Kid passed the ball in to Stubby, who dribbled around for awhile and flipped it to me and I promptly brought the ball toward the waiting defense. Just like Lana said I threw it up toward the basket, "Over the top, April. Make sure you flip it over the top."

I couldn't see her but I did it anyway.

Lauren smugly watched and said, "Air ball, idiot!" She moved toward the basket, getting ready to intercept the obvious miss.

Then, out of nowhere, Lana soared up over the basket, and, in one clean motion, powerfully slammed it down through the net! Bare-chested, her platinum/green hair wildly flying, her muscles rippling, she looked like an avenging Greek goddess or something. For good measure, the ball banged off Lauren's head and rolled into the bushes.

"Ouch, Dammit!" she yelled. She turned and accidentally knocked Lana into the support pole and my teammate fell hard on the concrete. When she staggered to her feet I noticed a large bleeding gash on her leg. Her shorts had torn badly. She limped up to Lauren.

"I don't suppose I get a foul shot for that." She slipped her shorts off tied them over her cut, and got back on defense." Ready or not, here they come." She said as we stared at the girl with the teeny pink panties that were slowly turning redder. I moved over to her to ask if she was okay, but she waved me off.

Just as Lana said, it looked like they were going to Lauren in the middle so she could post up inside. They passed it around the court a few times and we all drew in toward the middle boxing the big girl out. It was very apparent that they were looking to get it in. Finding out that they couldn't get it there, they played with it some more outside. Kearns, deciding to play with the good guys after all, got the ball and the Kid ran up to defend. He switched hands and drove to the hoop. Everyone except Lana moved toward him, she was pushing and shoving in the middle with our superstar. Everyone expected Tommy to lay it up, instead he sortof dropped it to Lauren who was right near him. Despite great coverage by Lana, the big girl did a kindof double pump fake and sunk the shot.

"Nice move, babe." Lana commented.

"I've been playing for awhile, weirdo," Lauren retorted as she acknowledged the applause from the vary partisan crowd.

As we continued to play, it seemed to become a personal battle between the two "L" girls. Things became tougher and tougher but we held our own, finally deciding to take a break at twenty all. Everybody, and I do mean everybody was sweaty and limping around. Needless to say, Lana was getting the eye of players and spectators alike. The boys were acting like either crazed maniacs or shy fools sneaking looks. The girls were either shocked, angry or jealous. New York loved every minute of it.

"Aren't you embarrassed walking around like that?" Lauren asked. "Some people are beginning to talk."

"Wassamatter, Juno, haven't you ever seen these before?" Lana said pulling her shoulders back to show off her... um... charms. She looked at "Juno" and then added, "No, I guess not."

"Well, they shouldn't be put on display," Lauren said. Spider Butt walked up to Stubby and tweaked one of his nipple thingies!

"Hey...!" he yelled.

She asked him if he ever walked around sans shirt.

"Sure," he replied, rubbing the injured area, "all the time."

She grinned at the big girl and stuck out her tongue "Well, I think mine are prettier." All the boys applauded.

"Sorry, Miss, but you'll have to put some clothes on now." said a new and unfamiliar male voice. I turned around and found myself looking at a huge holstered gun attached to a man in a blue uniform. Yep, the cops were here! The gathered crowd was attempting to sneak off giggling and pointing all the way. Lana strutted up to the officer.

"Why?" she asked. The cop, raising his voice, insisted again that she get dressed because "public indecency is against the law around here". Pointing to Chuck and Stubby she asked why he wasn't directing his comments to them. He said that they weren't violating the law. Then he noticed Kristina and me.

"I recommend that you two comply also." We quickly slid into our shirts.

"Now wait a minute, sir," Lana said, "Why am I and the other girls indecent and not anybody else?"

He replied by saying, Okay, missy, get dressed now!"

"No, not until you tell me why I'm indecent!" Lana replied, "I always thought everybody had to be treated equally, they are where I come from."

The cop took his handcuffs off his belt, informed Lana that she was under arrest for indecent exposure, told her her rights and locked the cuffs around her wrists. He walked her to the parking lot and shoved her into the back seat of the squad car, covering her up with a brown blanket as he buckled her seat belt. We just stood there astonished as they drove off.

"Lets talk about this, team." I said. "I vote that we go to Lana's and tell her folks what happened."

"We can't just go up to somebody's parents and tell them that their daughter stripped naked and played basketball." Chuck said.

"That's right!" echoed Stubby, the shadow man. Kristina said she really didn't know what to say, except that she was afraid we were going to get in trouble too.

"She wasn't indecent, Sid, I said," we all know she wasn't indecent!" Chuck winced. "Don't call me that! She did take off her clothes, April, we all saw her bazooms."

"And a whole lot more! Stubby grinned.

"Hey, Sid, everybody saw yours too!" I replied.

"I still see 'em. A little small, aren't they?" He walked away from me with disgust, muttering about how he should change his name and how weird this all was.

"Well, I'm going to her house, see ya." I started to walk across the grass and everyone followed me. When we finally got there, we saw that a squad car was parked in front. The cop, Lana, who was fully dressed, and two other tall people, probably her parents, were all having a nice little chat.

Hmmm, I wonder what's up. We decided that it was now none of our business. I waved and Lana waved back, maybe everything was okay. I invited the big team over for some pop and stuff and I noticed that Stubby was holding Kristina's hand. I smiled and the Kid turned bright red!

Chuck, however, was stuck in his own thing, muttering about how much he hated being called "Sid" and stuff, anyway, we sat around for awhile and had our goodies. We didn't discuss the events of the afternoon because the grownups and Kathy were too close for comfort, and everybody, and I do mean everybody could figure out what their opinion would be! We just talked the usual Jr. high junk. They all called their folks and Kristina's mom, who always seems to get stuck with the job, offered everyone a ride home. So much for Sunday!

As I got ready for bed I started to think about how creepy things were getting. I really needed to talk to Lana, Kristina and Dayne about some of the things that've been happening but tomorrow is Fraunce day, as is the day after that and so on and so on. Ugh! Actually I hope we all get along better this time. Maybe I should give it a chance like Mom suggested, it was hard to forget what pains in the butt they were last visit though.

Chapter 9

I woke up with a start! Maybe it was the delicious smelling breeze wafting in through my partially open window. Who knows? Anyway, I felt... well, different. My whole body felt electrified, like I was plugged in to the wall socket. Very strange. My little nipple thingies were hard and standing straight up and my bottom it was, well, wet and I could see a slight stain on the sheet under me. I crept out of and looked at naked me in the mirror. "Hi, April, what's going on?" I mean I've never felt anything like this, it's almost scary. I felt my bottom. The little button under the skin hood was hard and almost sticking out. I gotta admit that I've touched myself there lots of times, like all girls do, but this was different. Y'know, it kindof felt good before but this was something else! Wheeee! I did a headstand, flipped on my bed and did one of my famous cartwheels. This was great! How can I feel this good all the time? I laid flat on my back, raised my legs up so my feet were flat on the wall and pulled my bottom apart, exposing everything to everybody and noticing that everything down there was sortof slimy wet.

"Ooooo...!" I cooed, "Ahhhh...!" This was some wowie-zowie thing! I threw caution to the wind and stuck my finger up there as far as it would go. "Wheee...!" Uh oh, I heard a knock on my door.

"What'r you doin" in there?" saith Big Sis. I didn't know what to say. Should I mention... um... masturbation,... um... self abuse, stroking off, fingering myself,... um... sinning?

"Bouncing around." I finally said, hiding under the covers. I was afraid I'd start them on fire and I had the feeling that I still had a long way to go before I was done. "C'mon in."

She came in talking about the arrival today of Uncle John, Aunt Ellen, Fish Gills, Illpaina and Monsterisa without really looking at me. Suddenly, her eyes moved up.

"April, are you naked under there again?" I can always count on her to say that. I asked her why she was always so embarrassed by me. "Well, you can't just run around like that!" she responded. "By the way, something smells funny in here, what's going on?"

I wondered whether I could level with her or not. She is, after all, pubic hair crazy! Smelling imaginary odors? Hmmm... sounds like Sis needs to see Dr. Whoosits. She walked over closer to me, sniffed and felt the bed.

"Hey, this is wet!" she said pointing at the blanket. "April, what exactly have you been doing in here?" she asked and I thought I saw a little smirk pass over her face. Jeez, I felt like some kind of criminal or something. The awesome sensation was replaced by nervous guilt.

"Kathy, I don't know what's going on, maybe something's wrong with me and I don't know if I want to talk to Mom and Dad about it." Her expression softened and she sat down on the bed. I was getting kindof upset. I felt a little like crying. Very strange. Like being on a roller coaster, which I never liked! I put my head on her lap and the tears came. Big sister stroked my hair.

"April, I won't tell anybody."

"What's wrong?"

"What happened to you?"

She blushed a little and smiled after I told her about earlier.

"I thought there was something mighty familiar about that smell," she said. She told me that my little event is something sex ed. class really doesn't cover very well and that it would be a hard thing to do. What happened was, she thought, my first experience with real orgasm. I mentioned, through my tears, about how scary it was how nice it felt and everything and how much stronger it was than before.

"Welcome to womanhood," she smiled. I couldn't believe it, I felt like she and I were like coconspirators!

"Do you feel it sometimes, Kathy?"

Her reply was a shocker, she always seemed... um... so normal.

"As long as I can remember, even when I was little, and now it's there most of the time. April, sometimes it drives me nuts! It seems like nearly everything sets it off! If I tell you something, promise not to say anything to anybody!" I agreed, absolutely stunned that she would tell me about these things. She told me that it got out of hand, so to speak, a few times at the pool last year. "I started getting really excited and lubricating like crazy and I'm glad I could go in the water so nobody could see or smell what was going on, and, April, I had no idea why. I wanted to pull my suit down and play with myself right in front of everybody!"

She could tell how astonished I was and blushed a little.

"Was I there then?" I asked. She giggled nervously.

"Don'cha remember when I pulled your swimsuit bottom off and tickled your butt underwater and you thought I was just goofing around? "Well, you didn't have a clue then, but you know now!" She started tickling me under the covers and squealing. Suddenly, I was entirely exposed and very excited. I arched my back, pushing my hairless, but stubbled vulva high in the air.

"Tickle, tickle me!" I giggled and squealed.

The view had a strange effect on Kathy. She gave me a very weird look and said we'd better settle down. I sighed, covered myself and let the excitement calm down again. We talked awhile longer and I felt better knowing I was at least a little normal.

As she walked out the door she turned and said, "April, maybe I get upset about you being naked is cuz I'm jealous."

"Huh?" I muttered."

"Well, you look so pretty like that, and you aren't afraid."

"You shouldn't be afraid either, Sis." I said.

"Put some clothes on," she smiled. "Time to go eat and get ready for the Fraunch."

"Okay." I giggled. "Will we do this again sometime?"

"No," she replied with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

The doorbell rang when we were just about finished with breakfast. I ran to look out the window of the front bedroom and saw Uncle Jon unloading luggage from the trunk of what must've been a rented car. Four shadows moved about on the front porch. I heard Mom say "Hi, everybody, We're all glad to see you. How was your trip? Dad'll be thrilled that you're here!"

Mom always called Dad, "Dad", it drove me nuts! I heard a whisper behind me.

"April, April...C'mere..., You're not going to believe this!"

Kathy and I snuck over to the door frame and peeked around. "What was she getting at?" I wondered. Then I saw. The adults looked normal, very tan and healthy. Illana was tall, very tall and had more than a few pimples. She smiled and I saw she also had every kid's nightmare, braces! Marisa was, well, she was beautiful! Kindof like me, half grown up and half little kid. Her soft brownish hair and delicate features were really something to see. She was tall too! A year younger than me, but at least 3 inches taller... well... maybe not that much. She was still "Little Marissa". But the piece of resistance, or however they say it, was Gilbert, he was a man! He was impressive, a monster, a beauty. He reminded me of those pictures you see in mythology books.

Kathy was funny, she was just gawking at him, her eyes looked like saucers! Whoops! Bam! Somebody lost their balance and we went tumbling noisily to the floor.

"Oh, there you two are!" Mom observed, smiling. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

We all said our hello's and stuff, welcome back, how've you been, etcetera. I looked at Kathy with disbelief and saw my feelings echoed on her face. They were being nice! They spoke English! We were actually enjoying talking to them as we hauled in their bags. When we were done moving, we discussed sleeping arrangements.

Kathy and I did not want to share a room. We told Mom this was not negotiable. No problem. Marisa moved in with me, Kathy got Ilana and Gill would have a small, sortof unfinished room Dad had built in the attic. Jon and Ellen would have the spare room that looked out on the front lawn.

As we were talking, I noticed a small column headline toward the bottom of page two in our local newspaper, Mom apparently had just began to read it when our visitors came. It said. "Local Girl Missing, Feared Abducted, Cops Baffled." I didn't get to read any further because we had to help unload everything and put it were it needed to go. It was cute! Kathy was being real helpful, especially with Gil's stuff. She either fluttered around him like a butterfly or stared at him with wide eyes. She was a goner!

Amazingly enough, everybody, and I do mean everybody was very nice. We sat down and had a great lunch and it was a happy time. Things never went this well with the Fraunch before and I was starting to feel bad about slamming them to all my friends. We talked about how things were both there and here. It seems that they were living, at least most of the year, in a town in the South of France, Courebette or something like that and that it was always nice there. Mom just said that it had been an interesting year at our house while both her and recently returned from space Kathy kindof glared at me. Luckily nobody caught that. I was getting very tired of defending myself. I gotta admit, though, the relatives still talked funny, not as bad as last time, but still funny.

We were interrupted by the phone.

"April, its for you, Kristina." Mom called. I excused myself and went to the phone in the hall, the kitchen one was too public, if you know what I mean.

"They're here, Kid!" I exclaimed.

"Who?" came the little voice. I told her all about the cousins and how they'd changed and all and Kathy's reaction to Gilbert. Her voice got strangely serious.

"Something's going on." she said. "Have the cops called you?"

"The cops!"

"Wait, is this about Lana?" I quickly remembered the indecent exposure issue at the park.

Kristina asked me if I had seen the local paper yet. I hadn't, really. "Check out page two." she said.

I put down the phone and went to get it.

"Aha, bras and panties on sale I see and I'm in desperate need of both!" I joked.

"April!" she moaned. Then I saw. I had to read it several times. The missing girl, Dayne Smythe!

"Oh man!" I exclaimed.

I heard Mom's voice.

"April, could you come here a minute please?"

I told the Kid that I'd call her back. Mom was standing at the front door with a cop. He said that they had spoken to Kristina and that she had sent them over here. Needless to say, he wanted to know all I knew about Dayne. I told him, of course omitting the part about us naked in the backyard.

"Does she have any enemies?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

"I don't like her much either, she's a popular girl."

He left, apparently getting all the info he thought he could get from me. A thought about Coach Malone entered my head.

"Naah!" I thought to myself. "He's a pervert alright but not that weird." I thought about a car with tinted windows but I'd never seen one around here.

Anyway, I got involved with visiting and I even forgot to call the Kid back. Dad came home a little early and we all went out for pizza. Dad is always thrilled about spending money, ha! But he didn't complain much this time cuz I guess seeing everybody put him in a good mood. We came home and played this awesome game of Monopoly. It was real cute to see Kathy, normally a "kill em all" type of Monopoly player, sit there smile at Gil, and gave away the store! This whole situation is going to give a whole new meaning to sisterly harassment, I can't wait! At the end, which was later than everybody wanted it to be considering traveling and all, Illana and I controlled the board.

It was fun but everybody, and I do mean everybody, started yawning. Ah, bedtime! I was kindof looking foreword to my time with Marisa.

"You want a bath, Milady?" I asked.

"Okay," she smiled. I made a general announcement about anybody wanting to have a bath.

No response.

"Good night!" we yelled in unison.

No response.

We bounded up the stairs and as we got to my room we finally heard some goodnights, faintly yelled from beyond. In my room we talked about sleeping arrangements, finally deciding it would be very nice to both sleep in my bed, very snugly and warm. Something we could all use anytime and all the time. We heard Kathy and Ilana come up discussing pimple cream.

"Try this!" I heard big sister exclaim. "It works great!" She offered Ilana a nightgown to use after showers and continued to talk about pimples as the door closed.

"Home free." I said. "Let's take a bubble bath."

We zoomed out of my room, removing bits and pieces of clothing as we ran and by the time we arrived... well... a whole lot more skin than cloth was showing.

I started the water running, dumped a healthy scoop of bubble stuff into the stream and swirled it around till the foam rose to an unbelievable height.

"Look at this, Marissa!" I yelled. I turned to see her expression, but all I saw was a pile of clothes. Guess I was so intent on my activities, I lost track of her... hmmm. Since flooding the bathroom was out of the question, I decided it was time to turn the water off. Stepping in front of the long mirror, I slowly removed the ovies and undies that still tortured this beautiful flesh of mine. My reflection smiled.

"Kiss me," it said. It was hard not to smile back and as I moved my lips closer to the glass I saw Marissa emerging from beyond carrying a little box. I turned and pointed to her accusingly.

"What are you doing in my mirror and where exactly are your clothes? You can't walk around like that in here!" She thought I was serious! I could see her eyes droop and her lip tremble.

"I'm sorry, April. I just went to get my scent box for us to use after we're done." She looked so sad, I had to go over and give her a huge hug. The feel of her warm skin was...w ell... I can't describe it. I don't think there's anything in the world that can be compared to it.

We both giggled at the shocking touch of our bodies and looked at each other.

"I was just joking," I said.

"Ooooo, look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the bubbles. There was just no way to avoid it, the time was right and we hopped in! Marissa was so... um... natural it was kindof spooky. Bathing with me was almost like a normal thing with her. She wasn't embarrassed or nervous or anything, even when we washed each other all over and played games with the vast amount of foam. It was fun! The bathroom was so steamy and bubbly it was like jumping around inside of one of those big, white fluffy clouds you see on warm summer days.

I watched her dry off.

"You are very pretty, Marissa." I said with a smile. "Do you have any hair coming in down there yet?" I asked pointing at the area in question.

"A little," she said, arching a little to give me a better look. "But my breasts are coming in good, don't you think?"

I looked at the little brown areas on her chest and nodded, being well aware that I was quite a bit ahead of her with this. She pushed up and pulled out and whatever, but she had a hard time making something out of nothing.

"What's in that box?" I asked, trying to politely change the subject. In answer, she opened it up and held it to me as I dried myself off more. It looked like powder of some kind. She grabbed some and began to rub it all over me, giggling like crazy. I absolutely swooned with the smell of this stuff. It was delicate, subtle, beautiful!

"My turn," she said. I massaged the powder into Marissa, covering her whole body with it.

"Lilly of the Valley," she sighed, "that's what it is. Like it?"

"Mmmm," I whispered, patting her on the butt, "it's great!" We were interrupted by an angry knock on the door and an irritated voice strongly suggesting that it was time for someone else's bath. It was, of course, my dear sister. I couldn't help but wonder if she and Illana would get wet together. No way!

My little cousin opened the door to Kathy's furious gaze.

"Whoa," Sis exclaimed, "it's like a steam bath flower explosion in here!"

We both giggled and pushed our naked selves through the doorway. Old Kath never was big on the sensual side of life, then again, she was never big on the intellectual or spiritual sides of life either. She's a good suburban girl, practicing moderation and good taste in all things, being normal in every way and proud of it. She groaned and shook her head.

"At least wrap your towels around!" she mumbled. Marissa shrugged, a gesture I learned was typical of everybody and I do mean everybody visiting from France. Anyway, we made it to my room without any further encounters and began to discuss sleeping arrangements. Actually, Marissa just plopped down on my bed and slithered under the covers.

"Well, come on, hop in!" she said, beckoning me with a nod of her head. I smiled to myself thinking about how free and unashamed she seemed, exactly how I wanted to be. I jumped in, what else could I do? Of course I shut the door and turned out the lights first.

We rolled around a bit, finding our unique comfort levels, talked some, hugged and said our good nights. I decided right then and there that sleeping with someone was the best! I remembered when I was little and scared of the dark. Feeling the sense of warmth and comfort when I climbed into bed with the old folks or Kathy was... um... very neat.

I started to drift away to dreamland. Suddenly I got a very scary picture of Dayne getting snatched up by some people in a car with black windows. I shivered a little. I still wasn't crazy about her but everybody should get respect even if they're idiots!

"You have to call Kristina as soon as you can," I said to myself. I must have dozed off again, but I really don't remember doing it. I rolled over and banged into somebody! I opened my eyes wide in surprise. The sun was streaming in my window and my door was open. Oh yeah, that's right, Marissa and the arrival of morning snuck into my hazy world.

My pretty 'lil French girl smiled sleepily and stretched.

"Hi," she said. She got out of bed and headed for the hall and, I assumed, the bathroom. I heard her talking to someone.

A few minutes later, she came back and lay down and I went to do my stuff. When I returned she asked me what was wrong with my sister. "I saw her in the hall and she just stared and stared." I shrugged my shoulders and giggled. Marissa did the same and then she started tickling me! We were rolling around having a grand old time.

"Tell me about Illana and Gilbert." I said, "What are they like?"

She got up, put her hands on her hips and rotated around.

"Hot stuff!" she responded. "No, actually they are very nice." She said that her brother was studying to be an engineer of some kind and that Illana was a little scared cuz she starts at secondary school this year. The more I heard the more impressed I was by how much they had changed! I told her how much we hated their last visit.

"We were little then, and unhappy about travelling. But this time we decided to learn English better and enjoy ourselves more."

"How come you walk around naked so easy?" I asked. I don't have to tell you she shrugged her shoulders, do I? Suddenly, superman appeared at my door!

"April, Marisa, come down for breakfast, okay?"

"I'm hungry!" What's going on here? For some reason, Gil didn't mention anything about our state of undress, nobody was embarrassed. It was like nobody even noticed or cared! I felt kindof funny though. After all, other than my Dad, Carl is the only other boy to see me like this at least since I've gotten bigger. I didn't feel rebellious anymore, just naked and unnoticed.

"Marisa, why didn't Gil say anything about us having no clothes on?"

She naturally shrugged and said, "He's seen girls lots of times and he likes them that way, it's no problem for him."

I didn't really understand the response but I smiled. Marisa sighed and said that maybe we should get dressed and go eat.

"Okay, we'll slip into something less comfortable," I said. I selected my Carl memorial underwear and told her the grim story.

"People got mad about that?" she asked.

"You betcha." I said, "and they're still upset!"

She shook her head in disbelief. She asked me why and I shrugged.

"I've done things like that lots of times," she stated very matter of factly, "but when I was a little younger."

"Hey, I'm hungry!" she exclaimed, "Let's go downstairs."

She dressed in plain white undies, just bottoms, and pulled a cute little white short suit that was just frilly enough to be interesting.

"Neat outfit!" I said as I buttoned up my own rather boring things. She just smiled. We met the bigger girls in the hall on our way down and said hi but they ignored us. I rolled my eyes. Marisa caught my subtle gesture and shrugged.

Chapter 10

We had a very good breakfast. Mom and Aunt Ellen coordinated their efforts. I saw Dad's dishes in the sink and commented to nobody in particular, "Dad didn't miss this I hope." Mom assured us that everybody and I do mean everybody, had been up for awhile and had a nice chat with him. He said that he was sorry he had to work and missed seeing us but that it was probably good for us to rest now. So, what else is new, I don't usually see much of him on his work days. I noticed Kathy looking at Gil again, but kindof sneaky like. Maybe Illana talked to her about her obvious passions. Who knows, who cares? It was getting a little boring anyway. During a lull in the conversation I mentioned that maybe we could all go to the pool. Uncle Jon put a large damper on my afternoon when he said that the family had to go to the city and meet some people. Gross!

"Do we have to, Daddy?" Marisa whined.

Aunt Ellen patted her on the head. "It might be interesting," and besides, there'll be plenty of time to go swimming," she said.

Marisa shook her head. "Maybe, okay," she said.

Mom said maybe I could call Kristina.

"Ah!" I slapped the side of my head. I better not forget to do that today! Kathy was obviously a bit unhappy so I decided to twist the knife a little, smiling sweetly, of course! "Hey, Kath, nobody'll be here, you'll have all day to yourself. Why don't you call Roger?" She gave me one of those looks and left for parts unknown.

I made my way to the phone after seeing the cousins out the door. Her mom answered. She said that the Kid had a guest but thought it would be okay if I just rode my bike over. I asked who else was there.

"Some boy," she said with a note of disbelief in her voice.

"Hmmm.." I thought. I told her I'd be coming right over and hung up. I told Mom I was leaving for Kristina's on my bike.

"Be careful," she said, "You heard about that Dayne Smythe I'm sure."

She made kindof a weird facial expression when she said the name, expressing her dislike for the person. I replied that I would and she went back to doing whatever it is adults do to take up time. I zoomed to the backyard to get my bike.

"I'll always remember you, backyard!" I smiled to myself. "What a great warm day, it's a crime to have to wear clothes outside or inside when its like this. I could get a gnarley suntan!"

I pedalled over to the Kid's place, remembering and smiling. My smile turned backwards when I got there only to see Kristina giving Stubby a little kiss on the cheek while walking him to his bike! Stubby, ugh, gross!

"Hi, Kid, hi Stubby," I muttered.

"I'm glad to see you, April!" Kristina said.

"Hi, April," said Stubby dreamily. He seemed to be elsewhere, grinning from ear to ear. He kindof floated over to his bike and rode off.

"Drugs?" I asked. Kid just gave me one of those cute smiles of hers.

"Are you jealous, April? C'mon... tell the truth!"

"Jeez.!" I replied, but maybe I was! I felt funny about what I saw and I didn't understand why at all. Things get way too complicated sometimes. But I knew I didn't like jealousy and would try to get rid of it, forever!

Kid's expression darkened as she changed the subject.

"I think I know where Dayne is," she whispered.

"What!" I said much too loudly. "Did you tell the cops?"

She told me that she had but that they said they already looked into it. I asked her where and she said, "At Malone's, not in the house though." She said that there was a heated loft in the garage with a lockable door. I asked her how she knew this and she said her dad, a building contractor, did some of the work and was always complaining about it.

"We have to check it out," I said. "Lets go after lunch."

I called home and told Mom I wanted to stay at Kristina's for my noon meal, maybe bike ride for awhile and I got her permission. We went in and made some peanut butter with jelly, a little kool aid, some chips, cookies and all. Her mom fussed around us for awhile and then went outside.

"Let's call Lana," Kristina suggested. "We might need a lot of help with this."

I had tons of respect for her, especially after our friendly basketball game so I agreed. I was sortof surprised cuz I thought the Kid really didn't care for New York much.

We ate, we called, we got... Sam.

"Yeah, I remember you guys," he said. "Lana's busy out back, but I think its okay if you drop by."

We thanked him and got on our bikes, after cleaning up and saying bye to mommy, of course. And here we are at Fortress King, with its great wall of China.

"What's with the fence?" saith the Kid.

I shrugged, French style. Lana answered the door wearing a light blue bathrobe. She didn't look happy.

"I thought I told you to call first!" she grumbled. We explained the whole situation. "Don't ever tell Sam anything!" she exclaimed. "The boy's a real ditz! Who's Dayne Smythe?"

We gave her a description and she asked why we wanted to help out somebody who always dumped on us.

"Saveable, definitely saveable." I said in explanation. She invited us in to discuss the matter further.

Wow, what a place! Just about the wierdest house I've ever seen. There were drawings on the wall everywhere and sculptures were also scattered around accenting the odd looking furniture placed at strange angles. The place was great! It looked like the Kid was about to swoon. Lana smiled.

"Pretty neat, eh?"

We got some refreshment and went outside. The whole house was, um, different. Going out the back door I saw why the fence was there. It looked like they took a whole gym and moved it out here, complete with sports equipment, a super basketball area, a swimming pool, hot tub and, get this, a shower! Lana grinned at our surprise. "Yeah, it cost a lot, but Dad and Mom are real big on giving us young'uns what we need, to do what we have to do.

Kristina, turning into a little kid again, said, "Wow, are you guys millionaires?"

"Do the names, Missy and Artemis King mean anything to you?" Lana asked with a bit of pride. I rattled my brain. "Oh... I know!" Jeez, I felt like I was raising my hand to get called on. "Were they on the news last year?"

"Yep!" she replied.

"Well, who are they?" Kristina asked and Spider Butt told all. Lana's parents were pretty famous artists who got in trouble. They were accused of "kiddie porn", whatever that is, and had all their art taken away.

"They are not pornographers!" Lana insisted. "A few of their works are of me and I think I'm pretty cute, actually."

"You mean they do dirty pictures of children?" the Kid asked.

"No, not at all!" New York responded. She went on to say that the courts declared them innocent and returned everything.

We saw Sam and Bryan come out of the garage and waved. Amazing, this is bathrobe U.S.A.! They were wearing them too so I asked why this was the case. She grinned.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Depends." I said.

"I won't tell you then," she declared.

"C'mon, April!" said the Kid, every bit as curious as me.

"Okay... what about it!"

"We don't usually wear anything around here," she whispered.

"Nobody?" Kristina and I said simultaneously.

"Nobody!" All three of us started giggling. I knew about the fence and the phone calling now. She looked at us seriously all of a sudden.

"That bother you?" I rolled my eyes. Jeez, from one extreme to the other!

"We love it!" I yelled, but Kristina didn't look so sure.

"They're okay, boys!" she yelled to her brothers. Sure enough, they dropped their robes and jumped into the pool nearly splashing us! Wow! The Kid was turning red like a tomato!

"You o.k., Kris?" Lana asked, using a nickname I've never heard applied to the little lady.

"I guess... sortof." The Kid replied.

It was cute! The Kid kept trying not to look at the pool even though it was right in front of us! New York was getting concerned and I suggested that maybe Kristina had never seen a boy before. Lana cocked her head.

"Have you?" I told her to give me a break. She said she would take care of that problem.

"Hey guys, c'mon out so I can introduce you to these folks again!" We smiled and giggled in anticipation. Kid turned even redder when the boys got out all drippy. I was amazed at their bouncing you-know-whats. They looked very muscular, you might even say beautiful. Kid put her head down between her arms.

"April and Kristina, meet Sam and Bryan, brothers lucky enough to have a fox like me as a sister!"

They said together, "Our pleasure, Madams," and bowed.

I got up and curtsied.

"I believe we've already met, Sirs.

"I've seen you guys before but not quite this much of you," mumbled Kristina, showing she still had her sense of humor.

She raised her head and looked at two very naked and very handsome boys.

"Kid, you're staring..." I commented.

"If we make you nervous, darlin', we'll cover up," Sam said.

"No, don't do that!" she said with way too much intensity turning bright red again.

"Thanks, babe, I take that as a compliment," Bryan observed. He walked over and tenderly brushed Kristina's hair away from her eyes. He mentioned that he and Sam were supposed to meet their other brother in a bit and they said their goodbyes as they headed indoors.

Chapter 11

Needless to say, both Kristina and I were speechless. I pretended to be unmoved but these were not 11 year olds! I mean, they were... um... men. Carl was nowhere near as big or hairy.

"You're brothers are neat!" I said. Lana gave me a wink and a broad smile.

"I know!" she replied. She apologized but said that she was feeling a little uncomfortable. She got up, removed her robe and hung it on the back of the chair.

"Ah... that's better. I'm not used to wearing anything out here." I noticed that she had sculpted her pubic hair. The cross was gone, replaced by a design that resembled thin whisps of smoke rising toward her belly button.

"Wow, that's really neat," I observed. "Look, Kid!" I told her that she was really terrific with a razor. It looked like she was shaved completely unless you looked real close. I asked if she could teach me and she agreed, maybe after we took care of this Dayne situation.

I started to unbutton my suit but she told me to save it. Kristina agreed that we didn't have a whole lot of time cuz coach lived across town and it would take a while to get there. We talked for a bit longer and decided that we really couldn't have a strategy cuz we didn't know what we were facing. Lana went in for a bit and came out carrying what I'd laughingly describe as clothing. As she squeezed into it she said, "This I call 'skin number two', its black spandex. Like it?" We sat there amazed as she strutted about.

"You look like a superhero!" I observed. Kristina looked her over.

"Y'know, you can see every teeny bump with that!"

"Well, we can't have that can we? This is America, land of the free, home of the brave, where decency rules, right?" She said.

She went back into the house for a short time and emerged carrying something.

"We can't embarrass anybody in our lives by actually having bodies, so, ta-da!" She twirled a very pretty pastel rainbow striped piece of cloth around, folded it and wrapped it around her "nasties" as she called those parts we absolutely must cover up.

"Aren't you hot?" I asked.

"Yep," she said, "but when I wear this its very hard for someone to grab me, all they get is a handfull of rainbow." This was a point well taken.

We got on our bikes and began to pedal toward whatever fate awaited us.

"I hope she's still alive." I said "Don't even think it!" the Kid exclaimed. I noticed a clock in a gas station a few blocks away from where Kristina said Malone's place was. It was getting very close to dinner time. I commented on this loud enough so everybody, and I do mean everybody, could hear. Lana shrugged her shoulders in a definite non-French way, smiled and blew me a kiss. The Kid, well, it wasn't like she was ignoring me but she was strange... spacy, like she was somewhere else.

We stopped in front of a large old house. I asked if this was it, then I saw the mailbox name, 'Malone'. There were no cars in the driveway leading to the garage built by Kid's dad. The house was dark and I noticed that evening was approaching, aided by some very nasty looking clouds that seem to have come out of nowhere. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "One of those quick spring showers you get here?" Lana whispered.

"Spring tornado is more like it," I said. "I don't like this at all!" We took pains to hide our bikes around the other side of the house. A little girl, who had forgotten her diaper, was looking at us and smiling out the window of the house next door. I looked at her, wrinkled my nose, smiled and gave a little wave.

"Better get some pants on, little one, I thought, cuz mom's gonna have a fit seeing you walk around that way, take it from one who knows."

As we walked around the house to the back, I noticed how well coach kept the place. Actually it was pretty nice, if you didn't consider the resident. But was there a horror here to spoil it? We went in the side door to the garage, noticing that there were no cars.

"This should be easy," Lana observed. Her words were accentuated by a loud crash of thunder.

"Uh-oh..." I whispered. The wind was beginning to roar driving the rain against the garage. I was worried about Kristina cuz she hadn't said a word since we left. "What's up, Kid?" I asked. She turned and looked at me with such intensity and concentration that I shrank back almost instinctively. I have never seen anything like it, her short gaze actually terrified me!

"Be quiet, April." Lana whispered. We walked quickly and silently up a small stairwell toward the back of the place Kristina pointed out to us. I tried to open the door that loomed ahead, but it was locked. Boy, the storm was really at fever pitch now! I was scared and wishing that the cops had believed the Kid so we could all be home eating supper. It was getting very dark and the only way we could see anything was the white glow of the lightning flashing out.

"What do we do now?" I whispered, straining a little so I could be heard over the storm's roar.

"Anybody know how to pick a lock?" Lana replied. We all pushed and shoved at the door, but it wouldn't move. I felt along the bottom to see if there was an opening, maybe enough for a light from inside the room to shine through, Maybe... please...

"Could be we're wasting our time, could be I was wrong," Kid stated. We tried the door a few more times. We couldn't see anything and, jeez, with the storm outside, we couldn't hear anything.

We turned and began to head down the stairs.

"Wait, did you hear that?"

"What?" I bounded up the stairs. "Dayne, is that you?" I yelled, ignoring the possibility that someone might hear. "There it is again, sounds like a groan!"

Of course, it being so dark, I banged my ankle going up the stairs. Gross, it hurt! I banged on the door and put my ear up against it. There was something in there...

"Move,April!" Kristina yelled. The Kid did something I've never seen anybody do. She crouched down on the stair before the door with her head in her hands covering her face.

"What are you trying to prove, Kristina?" Lana questioned.

"We've got to get through that door!" The Kid hopped up to stand on one leg. How she was able to balance on the dark stairs I'll never know. She jumped and kicked the door with her other foot. The door splintered and cracked down the middle. Kid kicked it again, following the same proceedure with the other foot. Wham! The door came down, shattered into a useless pile of firewood.

"Amen!" Lana shrieked.

"Wow, that was amazing!" I said. We crawled as quietly as we could through the rubble. "Anybody here?" I whispered, trying to see some kind of detail in the dark room.

"Hey, something's moving in the corner over there!" Lana said. I thought it was kindof strange that Kristina hadn't said a word, but I wasn't going to worry about it now.

We made our way to the corner in the darkness. I noticed kindof an odd smell here. I couldn't identify it but it wasn't real pleasant. "Hey, it really stinks in here... ouch, I think I just got a splinter!"

"Quiet, April." Lana commanded. A groan came from the corner and I, startled, lost my balance and bumped one of my chums. I reached out and touched something, it felt like... Nah, couldn't be. A female breast? It was strangely cold, I could feel the nipple distinctly. I felt some more down the belly... Ugh, something sticky! Suddenly the lights went on! I turned and saw the Kid by a wall switch and she was looking my way, but she wasn't looking at me. I saw a look of horror in her eyes that I'll never forget. I saw Lana too, staring over this way.

"What the hell is this!" she screamed and turned away in shock. I rotated slowly and saw my hand buried in a huge bloody gash in the belly of what was once a woman. Someone had slashed her from her navel all the way to her bottom and had cut out her vulva. I wretched and pulled my hand away. What, it moved! What is going on? I saw a touch of blond hair under the dead flesh.

The light blinked off and on. Kid was still standing by the switch, paralyzed and Lana was on her hands and knees sobbing, "My God, my God! I summoned all the strength I had and pushed the woman's corpse aside and I saw... Dayne, or what was left of her. Her mouth was sewed shut and she was chained naked and spread eagle on the floor. She stared at me with dulled eyes.

"C'mon you guys, help me!" I yelled.

Finally they came over to where I was and we looked at her. She had red, black, and white marks over her entire body and she was bloody from the waist down. It appeared that one of her breasts had been deeply cut into. Lana knelt down.

"Hey, there is only one lock holding these chains, and its a wimpy one too!" she said, her voice trembling. She took off one of the boots she had worn and whacked it.

"Gee, Lana, nice boots!" I observed." I didn't see you put 'em on." She rolled her eyes.

"Let's just get done and get out!"

We unchained the prisoner and I used a piece of metal from the lock to cut the thread on her lips. Dayne seemed to be drugged or something, she didn't react to us at all and the moans she made from deep inside her throat terrified me.

"Hey, is that a car?" Lana asked. We all heard it in the driveway below. "Oh ma..." Wham! A flash of lightning, a huge noise like something being blown apart and then.. the lights flickered once, twice... darkness. Dayne screamed. A scream that told all of the terrors of hell. We heard footsteps and a male voice and I began to wish Dayne hadn't made such a racket. Everyone froze as the noise got closer and closer. We seemed pretty well trapped. Kid told Lana to hide in the shadows near the door and told me to take Dayne and stand near the door so we would be hidden when they came in, and have access to the exit.

"You and Dayne run when I give the word, get help, fast." She said. Any kind of plan was good enough for me Kristina planted herself right in the middle of the room and stared at the door as the lights flickered and went on. The storm outside was now a mere trickle. I wondered how the little girl with no diaper was doing then, suddenly, a male voice! "Your old man doesn't know what he's missing!" And another! "Yeah, I think he does, but we've gotta save this one for the master."

"Ah!"

"He gets all the good ones!" Their footsteps kept getting closer and all I could think about was Dad, Mom and the French waiting for us to come home and eat. I wonder what we're having?

"Get ready!" Kid whispered, glaring at the door.

I took a look around the room. There were a couple of sleeping cots, the dead person and a cabinet of some kind. The place was pretty dingy, even for a garage loft. Hung on the wall, oddly enough, was a picture of a clown. Someone had scrawled a stylized 'J' on its face. Hmm... where have I seen it before? Suddenly, I knew what we were in for. This was the symbol of a street gang, the Jesters, a very nasty bunch that everybody and I do mean everybody had warned us to avoid.

"Hey Malone, what happened to this damn door?"

"Dunno, Jimmy, do I look like a genius or something? Jeez!" It was the coach's son, Kerry and the famous Jimmy 'Krack' Carns! These were gang members?

I suddenly realized something. Jimmy got a car last year, one with smoked windows! Both of them were high schoolers, much too strong for us to fight. Needless to say, things weren't looking up. I saw the Kid standing very still in the center of the room and I thought I saw Lana move and pick something up over in the shadows.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Malone said. "A nice little girl come to visit! " He began to move toward the Kid. Kristina, eyes blazing, rose up on one leg again and dangled the other in front of her. She stood staring directly into the eyes of her attacker and she didn't move a muscle.

"You'd better think about this, Kerry." Jimmy warned him. He told him that Kristina really was dangerous. Dangerous? I'd known Kid for awhile and this is not how I would describe her. Quiet? Maybe. Shy? For sure! Dangerous? Uh-uh, no way. Kerry was as surprised as me. Kristina didn't look like she could hurt a fly, but, then again, I remembered what she did to the door of this place. I wondered where Lana had gone, I didn't see her and obviously, our visitors didn't either. The smiling boy continued to move toward the Kid.

"Watch it, man." Jimmy commented. He reached out to grab her and Kid executed a move that was beyond belief! She jumped backward on one leg, avoiding his grasp and at the top of her leap, she brought her other leg up. Whack! You could hear her foot hit the side of his face. On the way down she hit him on both sides of the neck with open hands and brought the other foot up to snap back his chin. It was awesome! The entire scene took about a second. Kerry Malone lie still on the floor, a little trickle of blood oozed out of the side of his mouth.

The little girl began to move toward Jimmy.

"Can we talk about this, Kristina?" He pleaded. I wondered how he knew her. She finally spoke.

"April, Lana, Dayne, meet Jimmy the 'Krackman', slime of the earth." He seemed very surprised that there were others in the room after we all stood up to greet him. What an idiot! I don't even think he saw that Dayne wasn't chained up anymore. She said that he should let us go without causing any trouble and wait here for the cops. He got a real stupid grin on his face and said that there was no way he could do that. The Kid rose up on one leg again.

"Wait, wait, Kristina!" he pleaded frantically. Lana emerged holding a beer bottle she had picked up from somewhere. That's when it all came apart. I'm not really sure about this. But I think the recovered Kerry grabbed Kid's leg and as he stood, picked her up, flipped her over and ground her head into the floor. Before Lana had a chance to act, Jimmy kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her flying across the room, to eventually smash into the opposite wall with a loud, "Thud!" New York wilted like a little rag doll, unconscious. The beer bottle crashed almost at my feet, the brown glass scattering everywhere. "I'll kill you you little bitch!" Kerry screamed as he continued to pound Kristina into the floor. Jimmy began to move on Lana, who had began to stir. He crushed her face with a heavy punch and tore at her spandex with his other hand. I heard the Kid mumble.

"Run, April, get help!" Crying and screaming, Dayne and I turned and flew out the doorway. We nearly fell as we ran down the stairs. Luckily we made it and headed for the door out.

The garage was a shambles! The big overhead door was partially caved in and the small side door was blown apart but we could see a dim light outside. We made it! I turned to look at the stairs and heard the noise of the battle getting louder. We ran to the small exit, where we first came in. Suddenly... Bam! I staggered and Dayne actually fell. Had we run right into the doorframe? I looked up to see a mountain of terror. This guy looked like a giant! So large that we couldn't see around him, dressed in black leather like a motorcycle rider and on his pocket, a Jester emblem. He glanced at Dayne who looked naked and defeated lying there in the garage floor oil.

"Got out, eh?" He glared at me. "And who the hell're you? Watcha doin' with my girl?" He slapped me across the face and I went down, then he reached in his jacket and pulled out a very big gun! "Get up and get your 'lil pussies upstairs!" he growled. He reached into his jacket again and pulled out something on a chain and dangled it toward us. "We're going to have a little of this tonight!" He chuckled.

When we saw what was on the chain I gagged and threw up and Dayne sobbed loudly. Dangling back and forth in front of our eyes was the dead woman's missing body part. He put the gun back in its hiding place and started to toy gingerly with the disembodied vulva.

I was very scared! I was sure this creep intended to rape, maybe even kill us and I wondered how anybody could be this evil, this horrible. We turned and walked toward the stairs but there was nowhere we could go. Dayne wasn't in any shape to run or fight or anything. Maybe the Kid and Lana were ok upstairs but I didn't hear any noise now. Was that good or bad?

"You got a sweet 'lil butt, darlin'!" the creep whispered, "I can't wait to see it spread out in front of me!" Dayne shrieked and began moaning again. "I wasn't speakin' to you!" He exclaimed. "I can see all your ass right now."

"I meant yours, baby girl!" And he whacked me in the designated area.

"Hey!" I yelled, "Let me alone!" I swung at him with my fist and missed. I was really starting to feel like a helpless little girl, a feeling that would do nobody any good right now. The monster giggled and grabbed me by the crotch, picked me up and through me over his shoulder. I hit hard and could feel the iron stud on his jacket tear my shirt. I was sure I was cut and bleeding. He grabbed Dayne by the arm and forced her to walk right in front of him and began feeling my bottom with his free hand. I started praying, "God, please, please get us out of this!" We started up the stairs and it was very quiet up there. What did this mean?

His exploring hand brought me out of my thoughts. It was going deeper and deeper toward the area I least wanted it to go.

"Mmmm...I know you love it 'lil girl!" He slobbered, "Ya all do!"

Jerk! I was beginning to feel faint and my eyes were getting funny, but I fought it like crazy! I saw Dayne, who was leading the way, sadly look back. As our eyes met I saw a terrible sadness. She turned back and began to step up. Things were starting to fade and I was getting weird, seeing Mom and Dad worrying about me, saving my supper, Kathy getting hysterical, the French wondering what was going on. I whispered, "Marissa, Marissa, I want to see you again... Marissa..."

"No!"

"No!"

"Hey!"

"Huh?" Another male voice brought me back to now." I thought I told you assholes to stay away from my son!"

"Isn't that your car out here Jim Carns?"

"I'm warnin' you, get out or I'm comin' in!" Who is this? The voice sounds strangely familiar... "Blam!" God help us! Somebody's shooting a gun! I felt myself falling, dropped like a sandbag and I saw Dayne try to run up the stairs. She wasn't in any shape to do this, halfway up her legs seemed to collapse and she rolled down almost in slow motion, ending up close to me, a motionless bleeding pile of flesh. I saw the creep reach into his pocket, pull something out and spit fire at the doorway.

"Ahhhh... I"m hit!" I saw some more fire spit back. My captor spun around and fell to the ground on top of me. He held his weapon steady and took aim at the dark shadow in the doorway. I felt something wet and sticky on my face. I knew I had to act to help the dark form moving toward us believing that this was our way out. I prayed that this would work. I brought both my legs up hard and I felt my knees make contact.

"Sheee....it!" the creep screamed.

"Yes!" He slammed his body down on me groaning with pain, my head hit the concrete.

"What happened?" I mumbled. It took me awhile to remember. Then the memory made me sit up with a start. Hey, what happened to the monster that was on top of me? Somebody grabbed me and I screamed as loud as I could!

"Easy, April, April!" I felt myself being shook hard by the shoulders. I looked and I saw...

"Coach Malone!" I exclaimed. Realizing who this was, I backed off in fear and revulsion. My stomach felt funny. I jumped up and shrieked at him to leave me alone! It was then that he saw Dayne. I was amazed. Even in the dark I thought I could see tears in his eyes.

"April, what happened here?" I felt something move at my feet, it was the creep. I started to cry and couldn't stop, I just couldn't stop! He took off his raincoat and covered Dayne, who twitched a little with the contact. She was still alive at least. Then I really remembered what was happening!

"Upstairs, We have to check upstairs!" Strange, but as soon as I said that the light blinked up there and I noticed that there were no moving shadows visible through the shattered door at the top of the stairs. Coach pulled a gun from his pants pocket or somewhere and reached out to me.

"No, don't touch!" I sobbed.

We carefully went up the stairs. Coach went through the shattered doorway first and I thought I heard a muffled throaty sound from him. I stepped through the rubble and the place looked like a bomb had hit. I saw the bodies strewn around. I saw the Kid slumped in a corner, eyes open, bleeding, not moving.

"God Kristina, Kristina, Lana, everybody's dead!" I slumped to the floor, head in hands and knew I would never stop.

Chapter 12

Things aren't real clear. I remember the cops coming, the ambulance and the paramedics. The lights were so bright they hurt my eyes. There were the newspeople... I still see them carrying bodies down from upstairs on stretchers and I noticed that only one had its head covered. "My name is April Amanda Anders," I remember telling anyone within hearing range. I repeated it over and over. I was a robot. I giggled. What is wrong with me? I look down and my shirt is ripped my nipple thingies hang out, Mom won't be happy, well, I know for sure they won't put this on T.V., my chest is bleeding, I have the red stuff all over me.

I see Dayne and I shreik! She is just wandering around like a naked zombie, covered with blood, a lot of her pretty hair has been torn out. She has the dead girl's eyes. I see Kristina, she has Kristina's eyes. Kristina! Lana, beautiful spider web butt! In the web I see a trapped clown's face with a 'J' drawn on it. Kid's foot slams into it and it bleeds. "Better put some panties on, Dayne before someone in the gym sees you!" I scream. Giggle, giggle. Jimmy, Kerry and the monster man, I think I am your biggest fan, you stuck me in the frying pan, return the favor? You know I can! It blinks and goes out.

Mom told me that they had to give me a shot and tie me up to calm me down. When Dad, her and Kathy came to see me I was still strapped to the bed. They were, of course, overjoyed to have found me even though I was in the hospital and probably would be for a few days. Y'see, I wasn't seriously hurt. A few pretty good cuts scarred my beautiful bod, and I had a mild concussion, not to mentioned the pyschological damage. Nobody could tell me about what shape my friends were in. I was relieved to hear that nobody was dead, except the poor soul that I discovered that they cut up.

I pretty much told them the whole story as best as I could. Dad asked me why we didn't go to the cops and I said that we, actually Kristina, had tried but they said they'd already been there. Actually I'm not surprised that they didn't. Not many people knew about the garage loft, and kids don't know anything anyway. Right? Kathy, trying to make me feel better, told me to get well soon so we could go back to the pool again.. They brought me my food and I ate while talking some more about unrelated things. They asked me if I wanted to go for a walk or anything. Actually this was not a bad idea, but I tried to get up and plop, back on the bed I fell beginning to realize how draining the whole thing was.

"I really need some rest!" I said, "Sorry." I could see the tears in their eyes as they left and I felt bad for them.

My peepers started getting heavy so I turned on the T.V. to see if anything interesting was on cuz I wasn't in the mood for sleep yet. Wow, the 10:00 news, It was that late already! I was really surprised that I had lost my conception of time. I guess I dozed off for a few seconds but I perked up when I heard, "Three heroic suburban girls freed a recent abduction victim this evening. The kidnappers were members of the Jesters street gang. Both the girls and the criminals are at St. Michael's Hospital under heavy police guard. The incident occurred in the garage of a local gym teacher, whose role in the situation is currently under investigation. Police spokesmen tell us they will keep us informed of any new developments in the case. More news after this..."

Ugh! Now we have a body lotion commercial where the lady smears the stuff on all the socially approved surfaces. Thank goodness everything nasty is covered with a giant towel. I swear you could cover the Empire State Building with this garment! Hope the garbage stains the heck out of it. I can see all the perverts out there licking their lips.

"Ah...I wonder what's under that towel!"

"Ooooh...Aaaahh!" Ugh! C'mon, welcome to the turn of the century, Jerks! Its amazing, we have made no real social progress for decades!

Whoops, Somebody at the door. "Hi!" A smiling man in a grey uniform waves. "How are things?" I saw the name in red letters on his pocket. It said, "Earl".

"So-so, Earl," I replied. "How about you?"

He smiled again. "Nuthin' that a little more hair and the right outfit couldn't fix. You need anything? By the way, my name's Bob, my uniforms haven't been delivered yet."

I smiled and said, "Nuthin' that a little rest and a new life couldn't fix."

"By the way, my name's April, my official uniform is right here." I whipped away the bedsheets to show my hospital gown. As it was I showed a whole lot more than that cuz my gown had ridden up around my waist which, based on the design of it, didn't surprise me. Whoops! I saw his eyes shift focus so that he wasn't looking directly at me, nice to see he wasn't a sex crazed maniac but I was a little uncomfortable and readjusted the garment.

"Your uniform is much prettier than mine!" he exclaimed.

"Just remember that it's light fabric, okay, and sometimes its not where you think it is. They are designed for the convenience of the medical staff but other people might get funny ideas, you never know." I asked him if he ever got funny ideas and he replied that he didn't.

"I've been around bodies just about forever!" He replied. "It's no big deal, not to say that you aren't very pretty, because you are."

He putzed around continuing the work he had come to do, cleaning and straightening the room. Happily, I was the only one in there at this point. I definitely liked this guy! He said that they weren't real busy now, so I'd probably be by myself for the whole time I was here. I shrugged as best I could with a bra-like bandage restraining me. I felt a little sad as he turned to leave.

"Come see me tomorrow, ok, Bob?" I asked.

"Sure." he said, "Bye."

I don't know. There's something about this man... I really like him! He has way too many wrinkles and not enough hair, but he does smile a lot.. Bob... I wonder what his last name is? Smith? Jones? Whoosits?

Well, I sat around, laid around actually, and started to get very bored, then I started to get sleepy. My eyes were getting heavier but I jumped up with a start! Some white suited guy I didn't recognize came barging through my door followed by some nurses. They all were looking around checking on things. Then they began checking me!

"Hey! Who are you people anyway?" I sortof half yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the guy said. "I'm Doctor Allen and these are my assisting nurses." He looked at them. "Say hello, girls!" He insisted with a stupid grin on his face. They just kindof grunted, not a happy bunch at all. I was probed and touched nearly everywhere. "You're in great shape, sweetums," he said, "you can go home tomorow." Then he patted me on the butt! Idiot! Why didn't he tweak my cheek too? I really felt like telling him how I felt about his invasion of my privacy and I couldn't help but compare him to Bob. He started to leave and nobody, and I do mean nobody, even pulled my gown back down or anything! Not that I really minded cuz there was one benefit, I was able to see that it was almost time for a few licks with the razor. To heck with it! I decided to just slip off the stupid thing and sleep in proper attire. Ouch! It hurt to move but the mission's accomplished and I feel much better now.

Something the jerk said to the nurses bothered me. He kindof half whispered. "Good, this is the best one." I thought about Dayne, Lana and the Kid for the first time since I've been here and I really wonder how they are. An image of them lying on the floor of that garage loft flitted through my brain but I tried to ignore it, just too scary. I have to remember to ask Mom or Dad about them tomorrow. I swallowed down the itty bitty orange pills that were left on my little table, g'night all.

Bam! I sat up quick and looked toward the door. Blinking the sleep out of my eyes I saw good old Dr. Goodwrench and his wrenchlings advancing toward me, tools in hand. I tried to smile.

"Hi, Dr. Allen." I said. No response, but what did I expect from such a friendly bunch? These were, after all, typical stuck-in-their-thing, hairy bottomed, important and highly skilled adults and I was just a sweet, inexperienced young thing in distress. In other words, they deserved all the grief I could provide! I got up and demanded breakfast but they took me out of bed and removed my gown. Actually, I don't ever remember putting it back on, those pills are heavy, man! Let the probing begin. Jeez, I felt violated. Heck, even a rapist would have something to say whilst doing the ugly deed! These people just mumbled stupid medical terms to each other. Finally, one of the wrenchlings tossed me my gown and told me to follow her to x-ray. Everyone walked out of the room and scattered to the four winds. I was alone with my own personal tool who was in the process of making a few notations on a clipboard.

"Follow me," She said, without turning to see if I was still alive or anything.

"Okay, jerks," I thought to myself, "you asked for it!" She walked out the door and headed for the patient elevators down the hall. I giggled, threw my gown on the bed and followed her out in my favorite outfit. Good, the pediatric hall was very busy. A whole bunch of kids were around and, wow, did they react, I was immediately the center of attention! The little ones giggled and pointed so I waved to them.

Right near the elevators a couple of boys, who were maybe my age, sat up in their wheelchairs watching and grinning. One actually had the guts to yell, "I love you, Beautiful!" I blew him a kiss.

The other guy said, "Hey, where's her wheelchair!"

My nurse must have heard, cuz she turned around muttering, "Dammit, I forgot!" As she beheld me in all my glory her mouth flopped open and she dropped her clipboard. I bent down and got it for her.

"You might need this." I said. I had quite an audience by now. The boys started cheering and clapping and were joined by the curious little ones. There was a speedy attempt by all the wrenchlings present, maybe even a few Dr. Goodwrenches to put down this horrible rebellion. This was, after all, a hospital and glee was uncalled for. You had to be sad and sick here! I gave a little wiggle and walked into the open elevator.

"What floor?" I asked my personal nurse.

"Huh?" she said, still outside the doorway. Finally coming to her senses, she got in.

"Six, Right?" I commented.

She started giving me a lecture on what a nasty little exhibitionist I was and how bad I was to disrupt and ignore hospital proceedure. I'd about had it. I've been through quite a bit lately and I didn't need this. Looking her square in the eye, sortof like I saw the Kid do to Jimmy in Malone's garage, I clumsily got up on one leg raised my hand up and slowly extended my middle finger. I don't like to curse, but it seemed appropriate right now. She frowned, turned bright red and mumbled something.

Then she said "Okay, you little whore, you damn well better stay in this elevator until I get you a gown and a wheel chair from x-ray! One more thing, put the damn gown on! What's wrong with you anyway?" I just smiled. I'm glad I could make this tool finally react to me. I had a human being here! The elevator stopped so she pushed a button to hold it on this floor and left to get the mentioned medical gear. I giggled, pulled the button out and went back down to the second floor. The door opened and I saw there was still a little mayhem going on. The big boys were, happily, still there! They saw me and smiled.

"Who are you?" The bold one yelled and I took a bow.

"April Amanda Anders at your service!" I yelled back. I blew them both huge kisses and went back to six.

The door opened and there to greet me was you-know-who.

"Where were you?" she asked with a mean look on her face.

"Oh... I was in the elevator." I smiled sweetly and put my thumb in my mouth. She just rolled her eyes.

"Put this on and put your butt in the chair!" She exclaimed. I complied and we rode down the hallway in silence. When we were finished, a different machine brought me down to my room where Mom, Dad and Kathy were waiting.

"Get dressed, Honey," Dad said. "you've been released." He handed me a bag with clothes in it. Everybody, and I do mean everybody gave me big hug and walked outside the door. I noticed with a smile that they had brought my Carl Memorial Underwear.

"Can we have breakfast now?" I whined as we zoomed home.

"Jon, Ellen and the kids are making it right now," Dad stated. "April, you seem to have quite a fan club!" Dad exclaimed. He told me that a bunch of kids had gathered outside my room when I was up in x-ray and that they wanted to meet and talk to me. When he told them that I'd been released they seemed sad.

"April, we are all very glad you're okay," Dad said quietly, but don't do anything like this again. We had no idea where you were and things were getting frantic at home. If something is wrong or there's some kind of problem somewhere, please let us know so we can take care of it."

I really couldn't think of anything to say. I decided to tell them that I was glad it was over.

"That's another thing, nobody's certain of that," Dad replied. "The police have assigned a live-in undercover officer to us for a few weeks to keep an eye on you."

He told me that the Jesters may try to retaliate and we may all be in a little danger. He said that Jim, Kerry and the pig the coach shot were all alive and able to talk.

"They all will remember who messed up their fun," he said grimly. "There are a lot of Jesters still around and they'll definitely remember what you did to them. In a way, I'm proud of you, April. You risked your life to save a friend, just like they say in church." I asked him about my friends and I saw him give Mom a questioning look. A shadow passed over her face as she shook her head, yes.

Dad said that he wasn't absolutely sure of anything. The only knowledge he had he had received from the parents of the other girls, who, of course, had been around a lot.

"Why weren't they on the same floor as me?" I asked.

"Hold on and let me finish," Dad said. He said that Lana was pretty beat up, but not seriously damaged. She had some bad bruises and a few cuts that needed to be sewn shut. She would be out in a few days. He was curious about the Kings. "They're kind of a strange bunch," he commented. "I wonder how they'll feel about a live-in police person?"

Without going into detail, I told him about Lana et al. and how I came to meet them but I had to smile. It's great that ole' spider butt would be back soon! But my smile was cut short when he told me that things aren't so good with that 'pretty one', I assume he meant Dayne. He said that she had been physically and mentally abused to the point of insanity and that she was at a different hospital that specialized in psychological trauma.

"What about Kristina?" I asked. He said that nobody wanted to talk about her situation but as far as he could find out, her injuries are severe and she may be in a coma. I heard a sob from the back seat and saw that Mom and Kathy were quietly crying. I had to hold back and try to forget but it was hard. I rode the rest of the way home in silence, wondering about my little friend.

Chapter 13

We were greeted warmly by our relatives as we walked in the front door. It was neat that they were so concerned about me. It was then I noticed the other person. She was standing in back of everyone, smiling but looking us over closely. Dad asked her to come and meet me. She emerged from the shadows cast by the housefolk.

"April, meet Detective Jennifer Larson."

This did not look like a cop, this was a fashion model! She was young, tall and slim. Her honey blonde hair fell loosely down around her shoulders and down almost to her waist. Needless to say, the males in attendance, Dad and Gibert, were all smiles, the females... well... cordial, but I thought I saw a bit of jealousy. To tell the truth, I could care less. Everybody and I do mean everybody, has their pretty side.

"Call me Jenny, April," she said with a grin. I shook her extended hand and for some reason began to cry a little. She gave me a hug and assured me of my safety. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Kathy glaring at Gilbert. I smiled through my tears. "Nothing like a little female competition eh?" I thought to myself, "Is this dumb or what?" Jeez, Mom was glaring at Dad too! Sometimes I wish I was from a place where there was no gender, or at least a place where gender really didn't matter that much. You say things wouldn't be as much fun? If this jealousy exhibition is fun, I might as well go skateboarding in heavy traffic!

All of a sudden I noticed everybody, and I do mean everybody staring at me.

"What did you say, April?" Mom asked. Whoops, mustof been thinking out loud again. I did the most appropriate kid thing I could think of, I shrugged my shoulders. The little imp, Marisa, noticed my gesture and started giggling. Pretty soon the whole mood of the moment lightened and we made our way to the breakfast table. Time to eat, yum!

After the considerable clean up I excused myself and asked if I could make a few phone calls. Dad asked who I was going to call and I told him that I really wanted to know what was gong on with my friends and I was going to call their parents. He said it was okay but I shouldn't be pesty. I decided to use the hall phone cuz it was a little more private. I called Lana's and got Victor. I was all smiles when he said she was coming home tomorrow and then he proceeded to yell at me for not telling his brothers about our little journey. I interrupted him and asked how he liked his new live in cop.

"Ah, she's okay," he said. "I don't think she'll be into the natural life, though." I asked what he meant. "She won't go naked."

"Oh, that's too bad." I replied. Talking about this seemed to put him in a better mood. He said that if I wanted to I could come visit tomorrow afternoon.

"Maybe," I said. I told him I had more calls to make and he understood. I was grinning when I hung up.

"Yesss!" I exclaimed. Now for the hard part. I dialed Dayne's number and heard the phone being picked up. "Hello, my name is April Anders..." I thought I heard a muffled sob at the other end.

"Yeah, April, I've heard of you." A shaky male voice said. "I'm Dayne's big brother. If you want to know how she is, all I can say is that she's as good as could be expected based on her foul experience. I'd better never see those responsible for this!" He didn't seem to want to talk much. I got all the info as to where she was and was pleased to see that it wasn't too far away. He asked me if I knew any of the girls who saved her. I smiled and said that I did. Apparently not everyone knew who was involved which, in a way, was good.

"Give them my love, will you?"

"I'll do that." I said. "Bye."

Finally, I had to make the hardest call. I dialed the Kid and I got her Dad. He said that they were finally able to talk about this a little but it was very rough. Kristina was in a coma. She had a lot of internal injuries and a bad bruise on her brain. She had been operated on to relieve some of the skull pressure and the doctors believe that she will recover but weren't sure when. He then told us how stupid we were but that he was impressed with our courage. One thing still bothered me and I asked him about it.

"How did she know that creep, Jimmy, and why was he scared of her?"

"Scared of her?" He replied. "I didn't know that, but I guess I'm not surprised." He then told a story that amazed me.

"Kristina's been a martial arts student since kindergarten."

"She's a master now and Jimmy was one of her students." Wow, I almost fainted at that one! I stood there in silence. "You there, April?" he asked, a little confused by my... um... state.

"Yeah..." I replied.

"You can visit her if you want, but don't expect her to respond to you," he said. I told him I really wanted to do that and we said our goodbyes. I hung up the phone real quick and ran to give everyone the news. I got to the kitchen and started to feel funny, like I was losing my balance. The next thing I knew, Dad was holding my head up off the floor.

"Take it easy, Sweetheart," he said sternly. "Don't forget that you have a mild concussion."

I told him about the calls and asked if I could visit.

"Maybe in a few days," he said. "Go upstairs and rest."

I decided that he was probably right. I wasn't ashamed of the flood of tears and the little whispered prayers I was mouthing, but some things really are meant to be private and I went up to my room to lie down. As soon as I opened the door I noticed it was different and I kindof forgot about everything.

"Looks a little crowded in here." I said to nobody. There was a cot and a suitcase adding to the general mayhem that was my humble room and I wondered who I was getting. Praise be, it isn't Kathy! I kindof looked in the suitcase, opened accidentally of course, and knew instantly that I was getting Officer Larson. There was a very scary, very large gun half hidden under some fairly hot undies. I held up a pair of itty bitty, lacy red panties. So this is what cops wear, eh? I heard a knock at the door. A sweet female voice said, "Are you okay, Miss Anders?"

"Call me April." I said, hurriedly putting the suitcase back in order.

The door opened and Officer Larson smiled. "Been doing a little investigating, April?"

I blushed. It looked like she had me red handed.

"Please be careful and let me handle the detective work, okay?" She told me that the reason she was here was because the police felt my family needed protection and they were interested in hearing my version of the story. Most of the Jesters were still around, maybe interested in revenge, and I might have to testify at the trial of those involved. Thrilling. Nice thoughts to accompany my 'rest'. She assured me of my safety.

"Good night, little heroine." She said softly as the door closed. I smiled, realizing I was pretty tired after all.

When I woke up it was dark out. Rats, I hope I didn't miss supper! I heard a knock at my door and it was Dad and Mom with eats. Great!

"We need to talk with you, April," Dad said.

"Sure," I commented, "but can I eat now?" He smiled.

"Go ahead, chow down!" As I shoveled food in he told me that the cops have kept our names from being in the paper, Kristina, Lana and me.

"Nobody knows about this and we want to keep it that way!" he said. They are trying to protect us from gang retaliation."

"Duh... good idea." I groaned. They went on to tell me pretty much the same things Officer Larson did.

Then, out of the blue Mom says, "How would you like a little vacation, honey?"

"What?" I asked. She told me that our relatives were going back in a couple of weeks and invited Kathy and I to stay with them for awhile.

"Wow," I exclaimed. "Let's let Kathy stay home!"

Mom rolled her eyes and said she thought we were finally getting along.

"You want to go?" Dad asked.

"Awesome!" I yelled. They said that Kathy agreed to go, but after a whole lot of convincing. I was reminded that I'd better behave and be nice to sis. "C'mon," I said. "I'm always nice to dear Kath, as nice as she is to me, that is."

They both glared at me and said they would tell Jon and Ellen about my agreement.

"Remember that things are a little different in France." Mom said. "So don't be surprised by anything."

"Oh, I'm pretty versatile." I smiled. Dad chuckled. "That's an understatement!"

They apologized for the crowding in my room and volunteered to move Marissa.

"No!" I said. "I love having her with me!" They both smiled and said they were glad I've got a new friend. "Two of them!" I said, patting Jennifer Larson's suitcase. I finished eating and decided to go downstairs for awhile. I began to rummage through my drawers for clothes.

"Hey, wait a minute," I said to myself. "I went to sleep and never put on my favorite nightgown, I must really be losin' it!

I really don't know why I bothered. The "boys" were on one side of the room and the "girls" the other side, each having their own private discussions about who knows what. Marissa was asleep on the sofa. I had to look twice cuz she reminded me so much of the Kid. I just didn't want to remember all of that stuff but it started going through my mind, almost like a bad dream. I lay down next to her. She stirred and peeked out.

"Wanna take a bath, Babe?" I said. She smiled and whispered, "Nice to have you back, April, I was really worried."

We both got up together and made the good night rounds. Jennifer Larson said that she was getting a bit sleepy and would be up with us soon.

"Join us in the tub then!" I giggled.

"It'd never be big enough," she responded. We made our way upstairs and began the usual awesome bubble bath. Marissa pointed at the black stubble violating my bottom, regarded me with interest as I did my razor bit and giggled when I did under my arms. The bathroom smelled like a fertile forest after we powdered each other with lilly of the valley. We sauntered off to bed laughing like crazy! It felt good that everything was back to normal. It was great to be naked and free again!

Falling asleep was a lot easier for my chum than it was for me. For some reason I was having a hard time. Marissa was snuggled very close to me and I shivered with delight feeling the touch of her body on mine. I started to think about myself. Why do I like girls so much? I've heard creepy whispering at school about things like this and began to wonder what is going on here. Am I a weirdo? My musings were interrupted by the sudden little light flash of someone pushing my door. A person came in and I pretended to be asleep. Opening my eyes a crack, I saw Jennifer Larson going through her suitcase and pull out something bathrobe-like and put it on the cot. She hesitated, walked over and looked at us.

"You guys asleep?" She whispered. Smiling, she made her way back across the room kindof shaking her head and began to slowly remove her clothes. I was really impressed by the way she moved, strong and catlike, a whole lot like Lana! She reached behind and popped her bra straps and I could see her chest dimly outlined in the mirror.

"Too pretty to be a cop!" I thought. But wait a minute, I'm thinking like an idiot here, you just have to be able to do the job. What you look like doesn't matter. Maybe I'm more a victim of this stupid, hairy adult world than I think, gotta watch myself! I saw her look over at me.

"Are you really asleep?" she whispered. Ms. Larson was moving toward the bed so I tried not to move a muscle, and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard what was probably a robe being put on, my door being opened and closed. After a short time the water in the shower echoed throughout the dark upstairs, mingling with the soft mutterings of downstairs discussions. Marissa stirred and her eyes opened.

"What's going on, April?" she whispered as she snuggled close to me again. I felt the familiar electricity when our skin touched but I pulled away and wondered why something so simple and nice as body contact was making me suddenly so uncomfortable.

The little girl seemed worried by my reluctance. She sat up and asked if everything was okay.

"I don't know," I said, and tears of uncertainty began to form and roll down my cheeks. She touched my face, almost as if trying to absorb and understand my distress through my tears, but we were interrupted by a flash of light. The cop was done with her shower.

"So, you were awake!" Jennifer said with a slight tone of adult irritability. She pulled her robe around her more tightly.

"Just let me do the spying around here,okay?" She flipped the light switch on and her eyes widened as she beheld our beautiful pajamas. "You always sleep like that?" she asked.

I felt funny being stared at by a robed adult female stranger and I did not like the feeling. My first reaction was to do a Kristina-like retreat under the covers, but I fought the impulse and stood up.

"I'd do everything like this if I could!" I said. "What do you have against clothes? I think that they're very nice and we should all wear 'em." she said.

The hostility in her voice I detected earlier was gone. She seemed really curious.

"Oh, they're fine in the winter, I guess," I said, "but in the spring and summertime it just feels so good to go without!"

Marisa sat up and smiled. "Why don't you try?" She said with the cutest French accent.

"What?" She sortof yell-whispered, "I'm not going to expose myself to children, it's against the law, and besides, I'm not a pervert!"

I decided to go on the offensive here. I get real tired of adult goofy logic sometimes. I smiled sweetly.

"You're a girl, so am I and so is Marisa. What will we see that we haven't seen before?" I think she was embarrassed by the truth of that one! She hesitated, then glared at us.

"Pubic hair for one thing!" she said.

"Talking to you, Officer Larson, I don't doubt that in the slightest!" I observed. Marisa giggled, probably remembering my feelings about this subject. Our hairy cop, saints preserve us, walked over and switched out the light.

"You have a nightgown?" I asked her.

"Huh? Yeah, I have a nightgown," she replied.

"Leave it in the suitcase." I said.

"No!"

"Why?"

"No!"

"We won't tell."

"Good night, girls. "C'mon, Officer Larson..."

"Good night, girls!"

"What does everybody have against feeling free, Marisa?" I asked. You can guess the response. Even though it was dark, I could feel the shrug.

Chapter 14

I awoke with a start! The rain was really pouring down, it sounded like the roof would cave in any minute. I noticed that my little chum was missing but I wasn't worried cuz my door was open. Probably went for a wee-wee. Wee-wee, what a strange term... Just thinking about it made my bladder full. I got up quietly. Jennifer Larson was still asleep and significantly hanging out of her nightie. I was amazed, as I always am about what beautiful bodies we have and how ashamed we are of them for no reason at all. Jeez! It's perverted to hide all the time! I slipped out the door and ran into Marissa on the way to the john.

"I don't think your sister likes me, she gave me a bad look at the bathroom," she whispered. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't let it bother you, she does that to me too," I whispered back. "Did you see Jennifer?" She giggled. "Yes, she decided to sleep like us by accident!"

"She's beautiful!" I exclaimed. "Oui!" I remembered what I had to do, yeah, wee-wee! I giggled. When I got back, Officer Larson was up with that same old robe on combing her hair. When I told her how great she looked, she got all defensive again and pulled her robe tighter.

"You guys are going to dress aren't you?" She commented, frowning.

I stuck my finger in my mouth and grinned, April the little girl, "Maybe... maybe not."

"I'm sure your parents would love to have you eat breakfast like that! She exclaimed. My little chum said that her family probably wouldn't mind. Our cop shook her head, picked up some clothes from her suitcase and stormed out of the room. "Adults are very strange." I said. "I will never stop shaving my bottom!" Marisa smiled and gave me a little kiss,telling me that she was very hungry.

Suddenly realizing that there was a mighty good smell coming from downstairs, I knew it was about that time. I shrugged and began to dig through my drawers for some drawers. Funny, no? Marisa giggled and got dressed in a pretty but typical girl outfit. I heard lots of noise out in the hall. Jeez, the place was jammed! Everybody and I do mean everybody was heading down for breakfast at the same time. Ms. Larsen smiled at me and gave the "okay" hand sign but I just rolled my eyes.

It was a busy breakfast. Lots of conversation and commotion none of which involved me and Kathy was making eyes at Gil again. I mentioned that I was going over to Lana's, cuz she was coming home today. The only one who heard me was the cop, who said she'd be happy to drive me. "Oh man, what a drag!" I thought to myself. I told Marissa that I really wanted to go by myself. I felt bad cuz she really wanted to hang around with me and looked sad that I wouldn't be around.

"Hey, we can go to the pool when I get back!" I exclaimed. I guess Mom heard that cuz she pointed out the window at the rain still pouring down. "Oh, it'll clear up by this afternoon." I said with a smile. Mom brightened up.

"Hey, why don't we all go to the mall?" She asked. Ilana looked puzzled.

"What is that?" Gil came to the rescue, "Oh, it's a great big shopping place." Kathy gave a long explanation with Larson, the modest, interrupting with occasional flashes of brilliance. Sis has a way of making spending money seem exciting, but it never worked on me and it makes Dad very nervous. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, was now up for a trip. Mom insisted, of course, that breakfast be cleaned up before anybody went anywhere.

It wasn't long before Mom, Jon, Ellen and the kids were loaded into the family sedan while I sat glumly in the cop's boremobile waiting to be exported to Lana's. Actually I was very excited about seeing old spider butt, but I was very unexcited that I was going to have a partner, probably two of them. I remembered the Lanacop as Jennifer slid in next to me.

"Sorry I was a little rough on you guys last night, maybe I forgot what it was like to be little, or should I say, medium sized." I was amazed by her apology so I told her that she was forgiven without even thinking about it. "We take most things adults say only sortof seriously." I mentioned, giggling a bit. Adults seem to like it when girls giggle, boys too! Actually, we're really laughing at them and feeling sorry for them at the same time. Pubic hair seems to turn you to concrete, you can't move, can't change, can't think.

"Well, here we are!" I heard a voice from somewhere say. Jennifer Larson, Aprilcop!

"Wow," she exclaimed, "what's with the fence?" I didn't feel like getting in to this whole thing again.

"They had a big dog, but it died," I said.

"Oh."

We got out and headed for the front door. Whoops, it opened before we even got there. It was whatsizname, the hospital guy! I had a very strange feeling inside when he said, "Hi, April Amanda Anders." I went up to him, smiled and stuck out my hand to shake.

"Howdy partner!" I drawled. Amazing, he bent down and kissed my hand and I didn't know what to do!

"They're still talking about you at work," he said. "Your nurse took a few days off after her encounter with you."

"I'm bad aren't I?" I joked. He suddenly got this very serious look.

"Not at all, I think you are quite a lady!" He exclaimed. I wish I could remember his name.

We said our goodbyes and he headed to his hospital issue car.

"A little old for you, April," the cop said, smiling and shaking her her head. I giggled and shrugged but I still felt very, very odd kindof like out of control or something.

"Hi again, April." I heard a familiar male voice through the fog created by whatsisname. "Who's your friend?" Ah, It was brother Sam!

"Oh, Hi Sam, This is no friend, this is Officer Jennifer Larson," I said.

"How's Lana?" he said that she had just come back from the hospital, assisted by the guy who just left.

"She's tired and a little slow, but it's nice to have her back." I asked who that guy that just left was and he said it was Bob, the hospital man. That's it, Bob! I knew it was a simple name.

"Yeah, I remember him from there too." I said. "Can we come in? "

He said that we could, as long as I brought Jennifer. He winked at us and went upstairs.

"Quite a place," the cop observed, looking at the... um... decor. We sat down on the weird furniture and the cop asked me what Lana's parents did for a living.

"Art," I said.

"I don't doubt it in the least," she smirked. We heard a voice from beyond.

"C'mon back!"

We walked back and went outside on the deck, Jennifer was suitably impressed. Frankly, so was I, but not by the surroundings. There was Lana. Her face was all bruised and cut. She was sitting in a wheelchair being pushed by one of the nastiest ladies I've ever seen! It wasn't that she was ugly, she just had one of those like, constantly scowling looks some people have. Lana stuck her hand up and gave a little wave.

"Hi April, it's great to see you again!" Did I say she, and Sam, who was fishing junk out of the pool, were both fully dressed? I wasn't surprised at all.

We introduced our cops to each other. Hers was named Officer Maclin, wotta guy! She reminded me a little bit of elementary school experiences I've had.

"Did you ever teach around here, Officer Maclin?" I asked.

"No, I've been a policeman all my working life." I swear it looked like she was going to lean over and spit into the foliage! Lana rolled her eyes.

"Could everybody please leave us alone for awhile, maybe go compare blue notes or something, thanks." Jennifer smiled and said that might be a good idea. Thanks, Jenny, I owe you one.

Everybody and I do mean everybody left. Great! I went over and gave New York a huge hug and tears started to roll down my cheeks, as I saw her and remembered why she was hurt.

"If you guys hadn't listened to me everything would've been okay," I whimpered. She said that when somebody is in trouble you have to help them out, no matter what. "Yeah, and you wound up getting clobbered!" I said. She shifted around in the wheelchair and said a few "ouches".

"Well, thinking about it now it was kindof interesting," Lana commented.

"Interesting?" I responded.

"Listen to this!" I told her what happened after I grabbed Dayne and we tried to escape. I was talking very quietly, not real keen on getting the cops in on this.

"Wow," she exclaimed. "You almost got raped or worse!" Her eyes got wide and she excused herself a minute. She wheeled herself over to a poolside table and returned with a newspaper. Now it was my turn to be wide-eyed! A small article on page 3 jumped out at me.

"Local teacher takes leave of absence." I read on. "'Coach' Thomas Malone, physical education director at the junior high, citing severe mental distress, is taking a leave of abscence from his duties. The coach was involved in the recent rescue of a student abducted by a local street gang. He is being replaced, temporarily, by Mr. Robert Randall, a new addition to our local teaching team. Police spokespersons have not ruled out formally charging Malone with illegal handgun possession and criminal child sexual abuse."

"Wow!" I exclaimed, "I always thought there was something gross about the way he always touched people, but I never thought it was anything that serious." I thought about his hand on Dayne's butt and me called into his office. It made a little more sense now.

"I wonder about this Randall guy," Lana said. "I still want to play ball this year. Well, he won't coach the girls team anyway, nobody pays any attention to the girls team."

I giggled and mentioned that her participation would change that! She shrugged my compliment off and stared into space for a minute.

"So, what happened?" I asked. "When?"

"In the garage after I left." She went through the whole story. It seemed that Jimmy knew Kid pretty well and that they spoke to each other a lot while fighting.

"She was awesome!" Lana observed. "We would have won if Kerry hadn't blind sided Kristina with a chair."

This was starting to sound very weird to me, discussing what happened. Kindof like playing some video game, almost like we were talking about somebody else. She finished talking and just sortof sat there and stared again.

"Things were pretty bad, April," she whispered. "I never want to deal with anything like this ever!"

She started crying and told me that Kid went down and stopped moving and that the last thing she saw before blacking out was the dead woman's face.

"I was the last to go down," she said. We talked a little longer. I really wanted to discuss something else, going to France for instance. It was hard to get excited even about that.

"Let's go see the Kid and maybe Dayne," I suggested. She perked up and said what a great idea that was. I suggested maybe Monday, the day before we get on the airplane to Europe. She was very excited when I told her about our trip.

"Be sure to wave at the Big Apple for me when you go over it!" she exclaimed. But as we made our plans, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye.

"Done visiting, girls?" Crooned the raspy voice of Lanacop. New York just rolled her eyes. The rain had been slowing down and as we walked down the front steps, I saw the sun peeking out, maybe its an omen!

"Hot," I thought to myself, "It's pooltime! The sun was really shining now and I asked Jennifer if she swam. She said she'd rather work on her suntan and this would be the perfect opportunity. I asked her if she brought a swimsuit.

"Of course I have one!" she said. "What do you expect?"

I gave her a little girl grin and didn't say anything else. Larson shook her head, confused by my comments, I guess. We pulled into the driveway and everybody and I do mean everybody, was waiting for us! Well, actually Kathy, Illana and Marissa were.

"Gil's busy with the computer trying to understand how your spreadsheet works." Illana explained. I told everyone to hold on we'd just be a minute and we went in to get our suits. I noticed Gil sitting staring at the screen.

"Having trouble?" I asked. "Watch..." I did my this'n that with the keyboard as he looked on.

"How'd you do that?" he asked, looking amazed. I told him that I'd modified the program so that it was easier for our family to use. "You can't modify a commercial program!" He exclaimed. "They're protected from alteration." I just smiled and shrugged.

I went to my room and got out my modesty suit and some undies, which I rolled up in my neat pink beach towel. Officer Larson held her suit up and shook it out. It was a simple, black one piece deal.

"Can't get much of a tan with that," I said.

"Enough to be interesting," she commented. "Yours covers up even more than mine!"

I said that I really didn't care that much about swimsuits, that they were kindof a waste of fabric. Apparently, she didn't want to discuss the philosophy of swimsuits.

"Let's get moving," She said. I saw her slip her gun into a large beachbag. It made me shiver a little.

Chapter 15

The pool wasn't really that far away so we decided to walk. Everyone was very excited and chatty.

"Gil's really good with computers," Illana said. "He loves working with them."

I didn't comment. My modification was really very simple and I don't know why he can't work with it.

"How was the mall?" I asked. Illana said that they never went. Maybe the next rainy day... Anyway, we go through the pool entrance carrying our stuff and there are some kids there from school going in too. I stop to intriduce everybody.

"And this is my youngest cousin, Marissa." I look... no Marissa. I hear Kathy saying "Hi Roger!" in her giddy boy crazy voice. Where is Marissa? I expressed my dismay to my partners.

"Oh, she was so excited to go swimming, that she just went to the pool," Illana said.

"She better change into her suit," said Jennifer, pointing to the girls locker room door. I knew someone was in trouble when I saw the confused look on IIllana's face. What's a locker room doing here at a swimming place?" she asked. I told her that was where you changed into your swimsuit. She said that Marissa was probably already changing. We all left her standing there shrugging and we hurried to the pool.

"She's not supposed to be in the pool area in street clothes," Jennifer said, coplike. I smiled and assured her that she probably wasn't and I was right! Standing poolside with a confused look on her face was a very pretty and completely naked Marissa. She was getting some pretty heavy stares from poolpeople. Kathy pushed her way up from the rear and shrieked.

"Marissa, get over here!" I think I understood. She is so comfortable with her body, even I was amazed, and people around here don't seem to like that idea. Jealous maybe? Understandable. She was as pretty as anyone I had ever seen! Someone started to laugh and the merriment spread. Someone else pointed then they all pointed. Monkey see, monkey do. Everybody, and I do mean everybody was just standing frozen, like in shock. Jeez, how can I stop this!

Out of the blue, a savior! We were walking to her in a daze, when suddenly some guy emerged from the depths of the pool, got out and stood by Marissa, his eyes blazing, raking over the spectators.

"O.K. folks, party's over! Time to mind your own business." Some idiot continued to point and laugh. I should have known, my good neighbor, Tommy Kearns. Still making fun of girls just like he did to me when I was little. The hero goes near and knocks the jerk into the water! Kearns came up sputterring.

"Hey!" he gurgled. The Man smiled. "Hey, sorry!" He held out his hand as if to pull Tommy out and as the stupid jerk reaches for it, the Man pulls back and looks at a very irritated Tommy.

"You did come here to swim didn't you?" he said. He tenderly brushed back Marisa's hair and put a towel around her.

"I'm sorry they did that to you."

"People here laugh and make fun of what they don't understand, mostly because they are afraid." Marissa flashed that beautiful smile of hers through the tears that started running down her cheeks. She hugged him and gave him a little kiss. You could almost see his heart flip over! Marissa gives people feelings like that, take it from me. We finally got to the site of the action.

"Thanks very much, Sir," I said.

"Hey, April! he smiled broadly. I smiled back.

"Hey, I know you! Aren't you Hospital Bob?"

"Yep, that's me!"

Grumbling and nasty comments emanated from the hostile crowd as they slowly withdrew to their own pool activities. Illana hugged her little sister and said something in French which Marissa seemed to agree with. Everyone calmed down and I prepared to learn more about my health worker chum.

"Ready to go, Bob?" I looked up and saw a lady wearing a plain one piece suit with an attached skirt like mine. She looked tired, but I'm sure she would be pretty if she got a different suit and spruced up a bit. There were two very cute little girls with her. My heart kindof sank cuz I knew this had to be Missus Bob and I knew he had to go but I was happy to see his kids.

"It's about time to pick Bobby up from summer school." Old Bob got up slowly. "Sure, Marcy, g'bye, April, g'bye all, nice seein ya'."

As they sauntered over to the locker rooms, gender proper, I started to get that funny feeling again, I wanted to go home and see what their life was like.

"Hey, Bob!" He turned around and I waved goodbye, so did he. Actually I wanted to blow him a kiss but I felt odd with his wife and family there. Gross! Anyway, everybody and I do mean everybody went into the water and were swimmin' around, after changing in the right place and in the appropriate stalls, of course, except our favorite cop. She was hanging on to her purse and staring off into space. I walked up to her.

"What's wrong, officer?" She gestured with her head and I saw a couple of older boys standing by the refreshment stand watching us.

"Know 'em?" She asked.

"Nope."

She told me to stay away from them and when I asked why she changed the subject.

"Why did they treat her like that?" She glared at me.

"She didn't know how things were done here."

I had my chance to philosophize about hairy insanity, and of course I'd never pass it up talking to an authority figure. When I was done she told me I didn't belong on this planet, but that maybe... maybe I was right. Suddenly, she was all business.

"April, is that your sister over there?" I looked. Sure enough there she was, heading for the refreshment stand with old Rog in tow. She was dressed in what she called her "daring" suit. Daring, my behind! It was a very modest brown two piece, guess it was sortof daring for this pool though. I saw she had company. The strangers Jennifer had pointed out to me began to move toward her from the rear. I thought I saw one grab her by the arm! Larson looked carefully around the pool. She stood up and in one smooth motion, pulled the gun out of her purse, pointed it at them and yelled, "Stop, police!" The boys had grabbed Kathy and had turned her around to shield themselves. I was very scared!

I'm not really sure what happened next. I heard a loud explosion near my head and one of them dropped to the ground holding his shoulder, the other one started to run toward the fence. I heard someone yell, "Freeze, or you'll join your partner!". He stopped and Officer Larson walked slowly toward them. After she got there she had them lie face down on the pool deck.

"April, bring my purse over here, please!" I was dazed. "Hurry!"

I slowly picked it up and brought it over. Kathy was out of her mind, I'm sure glad she didn't come on the Dayne Smythe mission. Jennifer fished around in her bag and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Actually they were pretty neat, clear blue plastic and she used 'em like a pro. She ordered the boys to stand up and go to the mens locker room, I wasn't sure why.

"April, go in and make sure nobody's there, please."

"Goody!" I giggled to myself. "I get to see the boys place!" I walk into the shower area.

"April, what are you doing in here?" It was old Bob. He moved quickly to cover himself up with his hands, but I got to see what a grown man really looks like and I was fascinated! Smiling, I tried to explain what was going on, but I got all garbled up. I guess he got the message cuz he left and said he would tell everyone in the locker room part to clear out too.

"OK," I called out. Jennifer and the boys came in and I started to leave.

"Wait, April," She said, "I need a witness in here."

She told them they were under arrest and reminded them of their rights. She asked them if they were members of the Jesters. They said they never heard of anybody going by that name. Officer L. then told them that the group always had a clown tattoo somewhere on their body and that she was going to look for it, which she did.

"There's nothing I can see yet, April." She then informed them she would have to remove their swimsuits. They smirked and mentioned something about that they were minors and this was sexual assault. "And what did it look like you were doing to the girl outside," Jennifer responded. "Dancing?" She grabbed one boy's trunks and pulled them down. She did the same with the other. "They're getting cute, April, look at this!" I did. Clown tattoos, the mark of the Jesters, decorated their groin areas.

"Okay, you've had your fun, ladies," the bleeding one said, "How about pulling our pants up?"

Jennifer smiled. "All in good time..." she said as she cuffed them to the shower pipes. We went back to the pool area and Officer Larson left to use the office phone. The crowd that had gathered spread out and all the Anders relations were together along with old Rog. We were talking about how exciting it all was. Big Sis was still a little shook up which was not surprising.

"I can't wait till we leave for France," she said with a heavy sigh. Rog seemed unhappy about that statement and asked her to tell him when we got back.

Eventually, a squad wagon showed up and two male officers walked the prisoners, pants up, to the rear and shoved them in. That, I guess, is that. Our cop, after talking to the new arrivals, came back with her dangerous purse. I felt very secure with her there, safe enough to find Tommy and yell at him about his making fun of Marissa. He was goofing around by the refreshment stand with the GG's. Big Lauren was sitting on her towel next to her best friend, Elaine, another basketballer. They were having a great time laughing at the goofy antics of the GG's. They were both wearing those thong bikinis, deep magenta colored. Actually, I kindof wished I owned a shocking suit like that but I wondered if I would ever wear it here.

I walked up to Kearns, who didn't notice me at first. I gave him a shove.

"Hey Kearns, you jerk!" I yelled, "What's the idea of you laughing at my cousin like that?" He readied a fist to swing at me and then realized who I was.

"Cuz she was stupid, standing there naked and all," he said.

"She shouldn't do that, she's starting to get her titties, not such a little girl anymore!"

"You don't give anybody a break, do you, Tommy?" I yelled. I turned my back and walked away. What a mistake that turned out to be, suddenly I was soaked! Someone had dumped ice water on my head and I turned to look, ready to scream at the criminal. I saw Lauren holding a now empty paper cup. The big girl, her friends and everybody, and I do mean everybody, were all laughing hysterically. Lauren stopped just enough to say, "That's one hot suit, April!" Elaine giggled and pushed her chest out, apparently trying to impress me.

"What'r you talking about, Lauren?"

"It's a perfectly good suit for a little girl!" I absolutely refused to comment here. I am not going to be self conscious. Y'see, I'd rather not wear a suit at all. What's really funny is that these idiots would be terrfied to swim that way even tho' their suits don't really hide anything. The least I could do is embarrass them a little. "I think you brazen beauties better shave, every time you move around, a little hair pokes out by your crotch."

I stated with a smile. It was amazing to see how fast they covered themselves up with their towels and completely forgot about me! Idiots, I knew they just had to be pubic haired, but, heh-heh, I didn't really know for sure cuz I didn't really see any! To tell the truth, it was hard to leave a scene so typically suburban American. Y'know, the boys trying to catch a glimpse and the girls covering up. Pretty boring, I must say, so I took my leave.

I made my way, wet and proud of my lovely joke, back to our crowd. I really wish that Lana and the Kid were here, we really could've zapped 'em! I noticed everyone swimming and goofing around in the water. I jumped in and we had a great time, even Jennifer got into it! Time was passing much too quickly. It was time to go already, seemed like we just got here. We made our way to the girls locker room. It was cute! When Kathy and Rog separated, I saw him give her a little kiss!

"Hey, Kath, remember Gilbert's at our house waiting for you!" I chuckled. She rolled her eyes and glared at me. Would you pass up an opportunity like that?

It was kindof crowded in the locker room. Larson and Kathy quickly zoomed into two empty stalls.

"Looks like you two have to wait," Jennifer observed.

"Looks like it," I giggled and peeled my suit off. To my amazement, Illana stepped out of hers too!

"Lets take a shower and wash our hair," she said. We bounced and wiggled to the shower area, as girls do. Would you believe we were the only naked people in the shower? How can you wash with your clothes on? Illana was very confused. She looked and shrugged her shoulders. I pointed out that this was another example of American magic.

"We can become squeaky clean just by thinking about it, without even undressing!" I exclaimed. She just stood there bouncing her shoulders some more and giving me a funny look.

Everybody, and I do mean everybody was staring at us as we washed each others hair with this delicious flower-smelling shampoo she had with her. Jeez it smelled good! Seemed like all my cousins had neat stuff for the nose. I pointed at her hairy bottom.

"Ever tried shaving that?" I asked, figuring I'd get a rise out of her.

"No, but then maybe I wouldn't have to shampoo it! Actually, quite a few people in Europe do that now," she giggled, unfazed. We had a great time scandalizing the other showering ladies, washing each other all over, laughing, giggled and such. I discovered that Illana was neat, a whole lot more fun than...

Kathy poked her head in and stared for long minutes, finally saying, "Time to go you guys!"

We ran out naked and wet to be greeted by Larson and Kathy in their street clothes not to mention several other people. Needless to say, everybody and I do mean everybody had a shocked look. Well, then again, there were a few younger girls who were really getting into it. They were all smiles and giggles! One said, "Aw, Mom, do we have to change in those stupid booths?" I love it! Is it any surprise that they probably aren't inundated with pubic hair!

"Hey, where's Marissa?" I asked. As an answer to my question, the sweetie came plodding out of the shower area carrying on an animated conversation with three other girls her age or younger, all of whom were holding, not wearing their suits. I wondered why we hadn't seen them when we were in there until I remembered there was a separate area where little kids could go.

Suddenly, a booth door opened, nearly wiping out the little ones! A pretty but very crabby lady nearly fainted.

"What?" she screamed.

"Mary Pat, Jean, Beverly get your clothes on, right now, we have to go! What if somebody sees you?" She grabbed one of the girls by the hand and pulled. The old 'dislocate the shoulder' routine. To my surprise, Jennifer stepped in. "Pardon me, I don't mean to be rude, but they're just little girls, 'maam."

"Little girls get murdered and raped every day, lady." She retorted, "Besides, what gives you the right to interfere?"

"Well, 'maam, as a police officer, I see things like that on the average of, say, twice a week. They're usually just picked up off the street fully dressed, sometimes even by an acquaintance or a relative." That shut her up for a minute.

Jennifer continued, "They are yours, though, and you do know what's best for them, but they're little so try to be gentle. I know it's easy to forget sometimes," the lady smiled with an obvious change of attitude.

"Thanks for reminding me, officer. Do you have any children, yourself?"

"I hope to someday," Laron responded. The mom hugged one of her clothless brood. "Be sure to remember your own advice." she said as she organized their departure.

All the naked ones put on their street clothes, but very slowly, despite admonitions by an impatient parent. Marissa said that she invited the girls over. Just what we need, more people around! But it's nice that she made some friends here.

"They were just amazed and upset by what happened to me earlier. We were talking about it a lot," Marissa said.

"So was I," said the cop, as if she couldn't believe her own concern. Kathy just had to get her two cents in! Gross!

"Where would we be if everybody swam naked and was naked any time they wanted to be, huh? We'd all be raped or worse!" she shrieked. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, including Jennifer, smiled. Nobody responded. Apparently this issue is dead for the day. I started thinking, it's about time for my period again, but it hasn't shown up. Well, you can't expect a bare bottomed little girl to be regular, can you?

When we finally got home it was pretty near suppertime. The heavy rain had not soaked in and there were still puddles everywhere. The cop ran to phone, probably to talk to her boss about what happened at the pool. The other adults were all in the kitchen talking, and by the smell of it, making supper. It got pretty quiet when Jennifer started quietly talking to whoever. It was nice to hear that Dad was home. Kath ran up to her room like she usually does but, strangely enough, Illana stayed here and turned on the T.V. Marissa, still a bit shook from the the pool incident, sat down next to her sister.

Gil was still at the computer! This was the most interesting event in the place right now so I decided to check it out. He looked at me in total frustration.

"April, what in hell did you do to this?" I walked up and patted him on the cheek.

"Only this, my deah!" I drawled. I plunked my little bottom on his lap, giggled and pecked away at the keyboard. He was quite impressed.

"Who taught you how to do this?" He asked.

"I had three of the best teachers anywhere," I said.

"And who might that be?"

"Just me, myself and I."

He shook his head. "You're some kind of genius, April," He commented.

I turned around on his lap and was facing him. I guess I was being... What was it Dr. Whoosits said the first time I saw him? Oh yeah, too bold. I was being too bold.

"Nope, I'm just a reg'lar kid," I said. He shook his head again and said something in French. I smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Time for supper, kids!" I heard Mom's voice emanate from the kitchen. Computer off.

We chatted while we ate. The only worthwhile bit of info I got was that my test results came back. Dad and Mom were all smiles and Dad commented that I would be an interesting person to sit back and watch. What did he mean by that? It was about the dumbest test I had ever taken! Whoops, I felt something wet on my bottom. I guess my somewhat clockworklike period had arrived. I quickly excused myself and went to the bathroom, glued a pad to another pair of boring panties and washed out the bloody ones. Wow, this was a monster! I gave myself a few licks with the razor and returned to finish eating and cleaning up.

We all felt a little drained from our day and just goofed off till bedtime. Actually I was kindof wondering about what my bedmate would think about me sleeping in my underwear after being so comfortable with her naked. It was funny, she didn't even seem to notice, but Larson certainly did! She made her curiosity known after we did all our bathroom stuff.

"What's with the modesty, April?" she asked.

"I'm getting used to you parading your little bottom around here." She said it nicely, like she really did miss it but didn't want to admit it. Why don't adults ever say what they really mean? She was still wearing that stupid robe!

"It's not about modesty, actually," I replied. "My period is here."

Jennifer smiled. "Oh. Do you need any help with anything?"

I thanked her nicely and declined. We said our nighty nights and... lights out!

I stirred and woke up. Someone was crying very quietly and I looked over at Marissa. Even in the dark I could tell she wasn't the one cuz she wasn't moving or anything. There was only one other person here.

"What's wrong, Officer Larson?" I whispered.

"Being a cop is very hard sometimes, April, you get nightmares all the time," she whispered back. I told her that when I have trouble I take off everything I have on and feel free and relaxed.

"Why don't you just try to sleep without the nightgown and robe. I can't see you in the dark anyway."

She told me that maybe I was wiser than everybody thought. I heard some movement and I thought I saw her breasts silhouetted against the mirror. I smiled.

"Goodnight, young beauty," she said.

"Goodnight courageous cop," I responded. "Thanks for saving my sister."

"Don't mention it. Its my job."

The next few days were filled with activity. It seemed like everybody, and I do mean everybody, was really getting in to packing things for the trip. Well... I'm sorry, but I just can't get that excited, it's just... too tedious. I really hate hustle and bustle! Jeez, can Dad and Mom do without me till August? How 'bout Kathy? Ugh, No comment! I was tired, bloody and bored. Did I say ignored?

Anyway, I snuck outside to the backyard, only to see that idiot Tommy Kearns, sitting in a lawnchair. He was apparently suntanning, wearing one of those goofy, ugly, below the knee swimsuits. I was not surprised.

I said very loudly, "Well, at least when I go to France, I'll get some new neighbors for awhile!" I guess I startled him. He jumped, nearly falling off the chair. Strangely, he quickly slid a magazine under a towel lying next to the chair, then regained his balance and pulled his knees up to his chest and twisted his arms around them.

"Hi, April," He said nervously.

"It's okay, Tom, I'm not armed," I said. When I saw him outside I decided to get on him about his rotten behavior toward Marissa at the pool, but the way he was acting now was so odd I instantly became curious. "What's with you?"

"Huh?" He muttered. I told him I'd never seen him react to me any other way except obnoxiously.

"What are you hiding, Mr. Kearns?" I asked coyly. He shrunk away like he was involved in some criminal act. "C'mon, Kearns, gimme a break, will ya'?" Idiot. I don't like mysteries! It was time for some radical action here. I grabbed the top of the fence, hoping that jerko wasn't aware of what I had in mind. Watching him, I knew I had nothing to worry about. He was too caught up in himself to be aware of anything else.

I began to flex my arms and shoulders. Here we go! I kindof vaulted the fence... Ouch! Somehow, I caught my left leg on the top and felt the skin tear as I tumbled down and landed on male flesh. Blammo! Everything, including Kearns, went flying and I found myself flat on my gut, face to glossy on what is commonly called, "Boytime Magazine". Based on what met my eyes, I was still a nursing baby, mouth to just about the biggest breast in history! Boytime's owner stood up, rubbing his butt as he glared at me. I heard him mumble, "...pain in the ass!"

Then his eyes got wider and his skin got pinker when he saw me pick up his mag and page through it.

"Give me that!" He yelled, and made a grab for it. I did a bleeding backward sommersault to escape his clurtches. Amazingly enough, it worked! I stood up and continued to look. Wow, what fascinating literature!

"Your Mama and Dada know you have this, Kearns?"

He lunged at me, yelling, "Dammit, April!" I shifted out of the way and he landed on his head, poor guy.

"Jeez, this looks yucky, but interesting," I said. I held it up so he could see what I was looking at. Actually, I was beginning to feel very strange... very good, but very strange... aroused, maybe.

"C'mon, April..." he pleaded.

"You like to see nude women and sex things?" I asked. "So do I," I said, "but naked men are sometimes better to look at." I rubbed my finger over a very large picture penis.

He started lecturing me about how girls shouldn't see things like that etcetera., etcetera. Actually, it wasn't so much my virtue that concerned him. It was the fact that I'd caught him with his pants down, so to speak. Was I shocked at such an assault on common decency, terribly offended by the blatant sexuality, embarassed by the stark nudity, upset by the open display of lasciviousness? Sure, so much so that I wanted to take it home and check it out more carefully! I was more disgusted by the fact that I didn't find it first! How come boys have all the fun? I told him I'd like to have a long talk with him someday, when he grows up.

"Maybe then he'll learn to share." I thought to myself. I started limping toward the gate, turned and tossed him the rag. "Real girls don't really look like that," I said. "I would've been happy to prove that except for your actions toward my cousin at the pool showed me that you're still too little. How can you look at this and laugh at her?"

I limped home, not knowing what the idiot was doing and not really caring either. I mean, I've seen a few of these publications before, too few, really. The women always look fragile to me. I wondered how such skinny young things could hold up such enormous chests. But Boytime was something else! I'd never seen sex pictures before. They weren't actually doing anything, but close. I really wonder how they do that. The way I'd feel is "let's go!". Even in this mag, though, everybody and I do mean everybody looks fragile, maybe even fake. Strange... And why aren't girls supposed to be interested? I'm sure if anybody in my house saw me looking they would be as horrified as Kearns was. Is this a conspiracy or what? I really gotta start the Bare Bottom Club so maybe we can get rid of all this goofy stuff.

Anyway, I walked in the front door to be greeted by everyone's fake sympathy regarding my bloody leg and I got washed and bandaided. When I told them what I did, excluding the mag part, Mom and Dad shook their heads and clucked about how girls my age shouldn't be flipping fences. Kathy, amazed, asked me why I went to see Kearns. Ah, playtime! I winked at her.

"I think I'm in love!" I whispered. I giggled "tee-hee." and thought to myself, "Fat chance!"

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, unless you count my pad slipping. One more pair of red panties to add to my collection. I decided I should try tampons as soon as I get the guts to actually stick something up there. Its probably the same way first time contact lens users feel.Actually, aside from the mess, periods are not a big deal. I never really believed all the horror stories I heard anyway. G'night all.

Chapter 16

Absolutely nothing going on lately. We went swimming a few more times during the week without incident and did packing, packing, packing. Lana called and said she set up a visit with Dayne and the Kid! Luckily they were both in the same hospital across town fairly close to Malone's house.

"Get your cop to drive," she insisted. "Mine's a real pain in the butt!" Jennifer agreed to do it and I went from boredom to excitement. We were going the day before France!

It always seems that time goes very slow when you are looking foreward to something. I was really wanted to see my friends again! The waiting and the lack of any interesting activity around here was really getting me down, but it was finally Sunday. The rest of the week could only be great! The packing and clucking regarding France, was done. We all went to church, the usual stuff. Gross. It seems like religion kindof gets put on hold in the summertime, or, at least switches to "boredom" mode. The priests recycle their old sermons, summer reruns. Ugh! My mind began to wander. I started thinking about the long plane trip. Wow, I've never been on an airplane, never even talked to anybody about it. I try to imaging the sensation, but I have nothing to compare it to, I don't think.

I started to wonder what France was like and I must've been daydreaming for awhile cuz, all of a sudden, the priest, in his usual monotonic voice, said those magic words we all love to hear, especially in the summertme, "Go, the Mass has ended."

When we walked outside it was obvious that a little rain had fallen, the air was cool and fragrant. I made me hungry. We went home, had a nice breakfast and the visiting adults showed us some pictures of their house while telling us as much as they could about culture, food, behavior, etcetera. Dad smiled and said, "I have confidence in my girls, they'll be fine."

"It's just for a month or so anyway." Mom added, trying to reassure an increasingly nervous Kathy.

It was kindof an interesting afternoon, lots of visitors! Marisa's new pals from the pool, Mary Whatsername, Jean and Beverly dropped by. Everybody and I do mean everybody, marveled at how nice it was for her to have made some friends and how cute they all were. I made them some popcorn. Kearns, of all people, made the long hike from next door. He furtively glanced around and whispered in my ear, "You didn't tell anybody, did you?

I glared at him. "About what?"

"The magazine."

"Oh." I asked him why he was so concerned about it and he rolled his eyes. He asked me what my parents would do if they caught me with a dirty magazine. "All my stuff is squeaky clean," I said, but thought, "except for my undies, maybe."

"Well..." He said. "If you snitch on me, I'll tell your folks what you did with Carl!"

Jeez, here we go again! I told him, to make a long story short, "I did absolutely nothing with Carl and I did not tell anyone about your alleged dirty magazine!" He seemed very relieved. "In fact, I'd like to borrow it sometime, after all, a girl can't see enough penises!"

I had him! He turned bright red and sheepishly slunk out the front door. I really was serious though, it was an interesting publication. Heck, I knew what anyone would say around here if they saw me with it. I'd get a lecture and then they would connect it to all the other behavior they don't like that happened in the past and I'd say "Here we go again!". I wonder what Marissa would say? I doubt if she'd know that much about it. To tell the truth, neither do I after what I saw. I didn't know you could do all that stuff! Seems to me, everybody and I do mean everybody, should be more open. Might prevent a few teenage pregnancies and shut a few people up!

Anyway, we had a nice dinner. Dad flipped for take out pizza without concern for expense which is absolutely amazing! Marissa's teenyfriends hung around and ate with us. Whoops, trouble! I should've seen it coming. The little ones wanted to stay overnight and we had no place at the inn. I really liked them so I came to Marissa's aid right away. I reminded the entire household that the French were going home the day after tomorrow and my cuz may never see them again. You could cut the adult guilt with a knife! I then suggested a campout in the backyard to relieve the house of its excessive females and invited all of same to participate. The little ones oohed and aahed, the older ones yucked out and Officer Larson had the look of a convicted prisoner. She was quick to mention the fact that parents had to be contacted and we just met these three today, and so on. But I knew parents, boy, did I know parents! I was sure, if they came over to bring the girls' stuff, they would agree, especially if they met our own personal bodyguard, Larson! Uncle Jon raised an eyebrow.

"Can we be certain of their safety?" I pointed to a shrinking police officer.

"Yep, we have Officer Jennifer Larson!"

I grinned. "I'll go borrow Kearns' big tent."

I knocked on our neighbor's door and "guess who" answered.

"What?" he yelled, obviously distressed. I giggled.

"The jig is up, Thomas, I've come to rat on you!" He prepared to slam the door on me but it didn't move.

"Hi, April," a husky male voice said, "What did Tom do now?"

I ignored the question and explained the situation.

"Sure, you can borrow it, but its heavy," he looked at his nervous son. "Tom'll help you," he put his hand on a trembling shoulder. "Son, go get the tent and put it up for the girls, okay?"

Thomas stuttered, "Bbbut..." His dad glared at him.

"Now, son!"

I said my thanks and waited for such a helpful boy. Soon he emerged from the garage, snarling. I did a little wiggle dance and stuck my tongue out. He rolled his eyes in response.

"It's not often you get to help a beautiful lady," I commented.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "where is she?"

I decided I'd really get him now! Luckily it was dusk and getting harder to see. I pulled off my t-shirt, exposing my Carl memorial slingshot, which was getting a mite too small.

"Right here," I said quietly. I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life! The idiot dropped the tent on his foot tripped over it and landed on his head. He righted himself and rubbed the injured areas as I walked over and sat down next to him. "Sorry, Tommy, but I had to do that." I brushed some of the dirt out of his hair. He just looked at me, smiled and shook his head.

"April, you are nuts! You can't take off your clothes out here, especially in front of me!"

I promptly undid my bra and let it fall to the ground.

"April!" He sortof whisper screeched. He stood up, leaving the tent and me to our business and started to walk home. I suddenly realized that this was one big piece of canvas! I picked up the teenybra, stuck it in my pocket and slipped my shirt back on.

"Okay, Kearns, I'm back together, lets do some tenting."

While we worked I noticed some strange adults regarding our efforts and I heard Dad's voice saying everything would be alright. The others, it seemed, mumbled agreement. I figured these were the owners of our new guests.

When we were done assembling this huge tent I smiled at my helper.

"Do everybody a favor, Tommy, and loosen up. Learn a little more about girls before you roll around with 'em," he giggled conspiratorially. "A...pril..." he crooned. "I'll tell on you if you tell on me!"

"You got a deal, macho man!" I declared. He wandered off shaking his head. Rare experience for a boy, this. He got to see live thingies. Not just a picture, they do look pretty fake in the magazine anyway. Hey, I wonder how they do that, I wonder why they do that! Reality might be dissapointing if one lives by the magazines. I touched the little swelling hills under my shirt and decided I liked having them. I wonder if Kearns even saw, he was so crazed about me disrobing. Pubic hair madness again! Something happens, but they don't know what cuz they are so bowled over by their own emotional response to notice. What would I do with someone like me? How would I react? Ask Carl, he knows.

Anyway we had a great time! The girls all decided that I was their den mother or something, it was cute! They even started calling me "Mommy April"! We played a bunch of games and I set up some computer stuff so that everybody, and I do mean everybody could have a turn. Gil watched me do it, fascinated.

"How are you able to make the machine do this?" he kept asking, Gil, the computer whiz...

"They always do exactly what you tell them, within the limits of the hardware," I said.

"I know that!" he said.

"Then do it!" I ordered, with an equal amount of sarcasm. I turned it over to him, knowing he'd be working for the rest of the night. The little girls were smiling and giggling, I was their hero. I guess it's unusual for a girl to be better at something than a boy. I really hate all this gender war type stuff! Everyone does what everyone does. Who cares who's good at what? Seems like we humans are always trying to find ways to hold ourselves back from what we really can be. So stupid!

Mom was making faces and she kept hinting that it was lights out time. I peeked out the window and saw that Larson had brought some blankets out and was making herself a bedroll.

"How about a bubble bath?" Marissa sortof shrieked. The adults looked thrilled...

"All of you?" Mom asked. Marisa commented that it was big enough for herself and yours truly. Mom's face was unreadable, Dad kindof rolled his eyes but Jon and Ellen smiled a little. I quickly stated that I, being the eldest, would supervise. The adults didn't react so I quickly began to usher everybody, and I do mean everybody, upstairs. Another looming pubic hair crisis! It seems that adults just sit and react. So easy to cross them up! They're actually surprised when somebody just gets up and does something. Finally they get nervous, amazing! But we were long gone.

By the time we were at the bathroom, Marisa was holding her clothes and dropped them in a heap by the door. She scampered over to my room searching for her delicious bath powder. Mary... um... Pat, that's it, Mary Pat! Apparently the oldest visitor, started to make up a bathing order.

"Hold it," I yelled, "we all go in together, if we don't, we'll be here all night!" They stared at me.

"Really?" M.P. asked. In answer, I stepped into the bathroom, started the water and loaded it with bubble bath. The little ones were wide eyed.

"Why does it do that?" Beverly, the eight year old, asked while pointing at the growing bubble pile. I tried to explain the nature of the phenomenon to her as best as I could and she seemed satisfied. I began to disrobe, pulling my shirt off.

"What are those?" I was looking at three little girls staring wide eyed at my chest. Unbelievable! "You've never seen 'em before?" I asked, wondering what they were looking at when we were in the locker room the other day. Apparently they weren't very observant.

They shook their heads nearly simultaneously, still staring.

"Well," I said, very adultlike, sticking my chest out proudly." They have lots of names, but actually they are called breasts."

"All girls get them some day." Marisa walked in holding her box of powder, perfect timing! "See, Marisa's getting hers right now. " My French chum giggled as I pointed to the afflicted area.

"Why?" The middle girl, Jean, asked.

"Y'feed babies with 'em." I smiled. They all looked at me as though I was insane.

"No," Mary Pat emphasized, "you feed them with a bottle!" I rolled my eyes, too many questions! I tried to explain the entire thing. They all took their shirts off and examined themselves and us.

I couldn't wait for what came next. I took a deep breath, turned the water off, felt the temperature and slipped my pants and panties off. My razor stubble was clearly evident. Beverly got within inches of my vulva and before I could say anything, rubbed her hand across its sandpapery surface. Wow, it was sensitive! I kindof jumped.

"Why do you have some hair on your pee-pee?" She asked. The other girls, especially Marisa, were giggling like crazy.

"She shaves it off!" Marissa offered, helpfully.

"Just something that happens when you get older," I said. Mary Pat pulled her pants down.

"Look at me, April!" she said, and scooped some bubbles up. She dabbed them over her vulva. "Now I'm like you!" Beverly promptly slipped out of her pants yanked her undies down and mimicked her older sister. Jean seemed reluctant to undress.

"It's okay, Jean," Mary Pat crooned, "It's bath time."

I gave her a hug of encouragement and a tug on her pants eventually pulling them down. Phew! Now for her undies. I reached and she pulled away. Everybody else had climbed into the tub offering Jean words of encouragement. Jean put her hands in front of her bottom and began to cry.

"I don't want them to see me," she sobbed. I wasn't sure how to react to this. I had a sudden flash of realization. One good thing about adults is that they usually know how to handle things that cause problems.

"What does your mom do about this?" I asked M.P.

"Somtimes Jeannie takes a bath later," she replied. I looked at Jean, smiled and suggested that she and I get in after everybody was done. She tearfully shook her head in agreement. Wisdom.

It worked! When all the Lilly of the Valley smelling naked girls retreated to my room, the little girl slipped out of her pastel pinks and took a bath with me. We happily played in the tub and powdered each other up after washing. Uh - Oh, I just realized that nobody brought any nightwear. Maybe their parents figured they'd sleep in their clothes or not sleep at all! I dug up some little panties of mine out of the closet that might fit the younger set. Beverly's kept slipping down so I tied them in a knot at the waistband. Ingenious no? Actually they looked pretty neat like that. I decided to just put on my holy old robe and we paraded downstairs.I waited for comments from the adults as we passed them, especially since Marissa had just enough chest to bounce a bit, but they just smiled and said goodnight. We went out the back door under the protective umbrellas of Kearns' tent and Larson's purse.

It was a warm, dry, wonderful night. As I walked down the back stairs I opened my robe and let the summers' eve breeze caress my soft skin. I tumbled down to the grass and said hello to the half moon and the stars. Enjoying the moment, I pretty much ignored the chatter of my young companions, who were very anxious to get into the tent. Carried away by all the terrific sensations, I sat up, took off my robe and tossed it toward the fence imprisoning Tommy Kearns.

"This is real girlbody, Idiot!" I whispered. "Forget about that goofy magazine and join me!"

"Watch where you throw things, will ya'?" I turned with a start.

"Huh?" Larson was standing there holding my robe.

"I'm kindof jumpy out here, April, and your robe just hit me on the head, I was asleep!" I told her I was sorry and prepared my response for... "Don't you feel a little funny being out here like that? Somebody could see you, y'know."

"Officer Larson," I said, " I'm really beginning not to care, it feels so great!"

I promised to go right into the tent, which I did, and I heard Larson getting back into her bedroll outside. I hafta admit that I admire the job she is doing to protect us. The little girls squealed in delight and surprise when they saw me enter, carrying my robe.

"Gee, April, is it okay if I sleep naked too?" I mentioned that I hadn't seen any nightware and figured that they would sleep in their clothes.

"That's what we usually do," Mary Pat responded, "but we don't really like to, you always feel dirty after."

Little Jean came up and gave me a hug.

"We wanna be like you, April!"

Ah... who was I to stand in the way of progress!

Eventually we had a tent full of giggling nude girls, all of whom agreed that this was the best way to be, even Jean the modest! They asked me to tell them a bedtime story and I made one up on the spot. Three female superheroes and their victorious struggle against horrible monsters. The princess was rescued, all was well. We said a little prayer... and, goodnight pretty little ladies.

Chapter 17

Later I had a dream. Kristina, Lana and me. Everything would be okay.

"Wake up, April!" A familiar voice echoed through the fog and I felt something on my face. Oh no, It was Mom, caressing my forehead! I looked around and saw all the others still sleeping. I realized that I had no idea where my robe was and I was not wearing one of Mom's favorite nighties!

"In a minute," I said as I spotted my robe on the other side of this Kearns camporama and noticed Beverly's little girl bottom sticking out from under it.

"Well, Officer Larson and that Lana King are sitting in the kitchen waiting for you to join them!" Mom whispered energetically. I hate when she does that! Like she's really excited. I never thought she was thrilled with ole spider butt.

"Okay, Mom, give me a chance to get organized here, please." I crossed my fingers under the blankets. Good! She eased her way out of the tent without noticing anyone's attire and without waking anyone else. As quick as I could I grabbed my robe, wrapped it around and left the sleeping beauties. I wondered why I had this early company, then I remembered, it was hospital visitation day, the day before our French excursion. Today I would see how Dayne and Kristina were doing. It's funny, though, I'm a little nervous about it and I still don't want to think about all the horrible things that happened. As I walked into the kitchen, I pulled my robe a little tighter, for protection, maybe?

"Hey, babe..." Lana smiled. It was amazing, she was actually wearing a dress! She noticed my eyes widen with surprise and said that she felt the need to go a little formal. "After all," she said, "I don't really know these people that well."

Larson was dressed in her normal attire. I was kindof wondering what she looked like in a police uniform, but I guess she has to stay disguised so we don't draw any attention to ourselves. Anyway, I went upstairs and put on a white shirt and navy blue pleated skirt, typical schoolgirl stuff for me today. I decided to add a little pizzaz by pulling on my Carl memorial, itchy pattern tights and a neat multicolored vest that had just enough navy blue to match. My mirror told me, "April, you look okay, but do something with your hair, please!" Hey, how about a pony tail, held in place with a lacy holder? Good. I went down and had a nervous breakfast. Nobody else was up except the people I already mentioned and Dad who was in the process of leaving for work. I hugged him.

"Bye, Dad."

"I love you sweetie." He replied and gave me a little pat on the bottom. I frowned at him.

"Dad...!" A lot of times I make a fuss when he taps me on the butt, but I don't really mean it and I think he knows that. Actually it's neat that he cares about me and the pats feel sortof nice.

Mom was putzing around in the kitchen, as she worked she reminded us not to be pests at the hospital. Glaring at me she mentioned that I should get home in enough time to check out my stuff for the trip to France, "just for kicks". "Ugh," I thought. "more packing!" Lana and Jennifer got up from the table.

"Time to go," Larson observed, looking at her watch. These two seem to be getting along great and, believe it or not, I was feeling a little jealous! Gross, if there's on feeling I really hate, this is it. It's kindof like friends sharing a secret but not letting you in on it. Even though I was trying hard not to, I was a litttle snappy toward them, luckily they pretty much ignored me.

It took a while to get across town and we were complaining passengers.

"Sorry, girls, but I'm a policewoman, and I can't go faster than the limit," Jenny stated several million times.

Finally, when we got there, both Lana and I were going to pieces. As we entered the hospital our hands were trembling. What were we about to experience? I mentioned that we probably should have called ahead to make sure everything was okay for a visit. Jenny showed her i.d. at the desk and we were pointed toward the elevators. I remembered a different hospital elevator at a different time and giggled. My partners looked at me as though I was insane.

"April...!" Lana exclaimed, "What's with you?"

"Long story," I replied.

We arrived at our destination, the tenth floor. Looking down the hall, past the nurses station, I saw a door over which was printed, "Pediatric Psychiatry." A couple of large, uniformed and scowling cops stood framing the doorway. Jenny approached them and began to pull out her i.d., but one cop pointed to his walkie-talkie and said gruffly, "Yeah, we heard about you already, keep it short!" Here it is, room 1020.

Smiling nervously at my companions, I knocked hesitantly. I heard movement and a bit of rock music emanating from within. I couldn't help but notice the hospital's strange attempt at cheery decor, yellow and orange walls, very bright lighting, etcetera. Do... um... children like this? Well, I was one, I suppose, and I found it yucky. The door opened to reveal Dayne, beautiful again! She was dressed in jeans and T., very, very pretty, this lady. My companions were visibly stunned. The only hint of problems, some small, dark circles under her eyes, which were now shiny with tears.

"April," She spoke with a tremble in her voice. She moved close and hugged me. "Thank you for what you did." She looked past me to Lana. "Thank you too, Lana, we've never met, but I've heard about you." She moved and hugged Lana too.

"I'm just their bodyguard," Larson said as Dayne approached her with curiosity.

She invited us in and I figured she'd have tons of gifts and flowers but I saw hardly anything.

"Not much, is it?" she said as she noticed me looking around. "Seems like everybody just about wrote me off." I responded that maybe nobody knows about her being here. "Oh, they know," she said, "but they don't seem to care much!"

She told us all about her abduction and the torture she had to submit to and even Jennifer was shocked. I expressed amazement that she was still sane.

"Well, I'm getting there," she responded, "but I still don't sleep well, I have nightmares and daymares sometimes. I nearly lost hope, I thought I was dead like the other girl in there."

I commented that I was surprised she could talk so easily about it and she responded, "I'm just starting to remember, accept it for what it was, but it's very difficult and I hurt in lots of ways."

"Will you be back to school?" Lana asked. Dayne said that she wasn't sure and shook her head as though she was trying to get rid of something caught in her hair. She asked if I had seen any of her friends around and I told her of our encounters with Lauren et al.

"Be careful around her," Dayne replied. "She's not a sweetheart!"

"She's not so tough," Lana interrupted, "She can dish it out, but can't take it." Ole spider butt told her the basketball game story and the pretty one smiled, even chuckled a little.

"Did the cops lock you up for life?" Larson shook her head in amazement and mentioned that we've all been very lucky. "You guys will get in real trouble one of these days!"

Dayne asked if we had seen Kristina yet. When we replied that we hadn't she suggested that we all go up there. As we headed toward the elevator she said that one good thing to come out of the whole situation was that it brought her family closer together, more so, than she could ever remember. Lana moved close to me smiled and squeezed my hand.

"I have a hard time seeing Kristina, but I'll come with you anyway," Dayne whispered as we walked past the nurses' station. She went on to mention all the times made fun of the Kid and treated her badly. "And now, because of me, she's in here!"

Larson showed her i.d. to the cops in front of the Kid's room, I knocked and Kristina's Mom answered. When she saw who we were, she broke down completely, hugging each of us tightly. It was very strange and very sad. When we entered it was like a different world. Unlike the rest of the hospital, it was lit dimly, and undecorated and Kristina was just lying there full of tubes. It was our turn to break down, we all felt the tears come and I alone had the courage to aproach the bed. I knelt down and held Kristina's hand, it was horribly limp. She just stared into space as I began to whisper to her.

"Kid, we love you, please come back to us!" Dayne and Lana, hands intertwined, finally came to my side and we all hugged each other and the Kid.

We cried and cried. I heard a female voice yelling behind me. Suddenly, her mom was with us.

"Huh?" I sobbed.

"She blinked!" her mom shouted. I shrugged my shoulders. "She responded to you, she hasn't done anything like that since she's been here!"

Things were pretty chaotic after that. Nurses and doctors or somebodys were rushing around doing all kinds of things. Jennifer said that she thought it was time to go, we seemed to be in the way. I agreed, this was getting to be too much for me anyway. I threaded my way thru the crowd and touched Kristina's face, I gave her a little kiss and I think saw her smile a little.

"C'mon, Kid, show us how tough you are!" I whispered in her ear and I swear I saw her smile again! We went back down with Dayne, and, as we said our tearful, but happier goodbyes, she handed Lana and I each a little box tied with red ribbon. I began to talk but she pressed her hand gently over my mouth and waved goodbye with the other.

Suddenly, we were back in the sunlight and warm air outside. The contrast was astounding! We sat in silence as Jenny slowly drove to my house. When we finally arrived, I noticed with relief that the tent was packed up and the girls were gone. It just wasn't a good time for me to engineer a camp break. Lana and I went up to my room, smiling at all the t.v. watchers, computer devotees and legal guardians as we climbed the stairs. I closed the door.

"Can I do this here?" Lana asked as she began to remove her clothing.

"By all means! I do, however, have to state for the record, that you look beautiful dressed... um... like a girl," I commented as I did the same. "You're still a little bruised," I said as I regarded her from head to toe. "Hey, you're hairy!"

"Yeah, I know, but I've had it!" she said, "It all comes off tomorrow!"

"All... Right!" I exclaimed and gave her a little hug. We both got out our little boxes from Dayne.

"She's stunning," Lana commented as we rattled the gifts to see if we could figure out what they were. "I'm glad I could help her!"

I told her the whole Smythe story, well, I ommitted a few things. "She wasn't always neat," I commented, "but she's getting there." We toyed more with the little boxes, almost afraid to open them.

"Turn around so I can see your butt!" I said.

"April!" she giggled, "Since when do you like looking at girls' rear ends?"

I regarded the spider web with awe, as well as the rippling muscle on her legs and back. It was real and true, comforting for some reason.

"Thanks, Beautiful!" I said. I noticed she had opened up her box. She shook her head in amazement and handed me a note and a ring. The ring was big, gold and had a large red stone. The name of our Jr. high was incorporated in the design as well as a basketball. It was inscribed "District champions" and dated 8 years ago. The letter said:

Lana, I don't really know you, but Coach Malone has been lusting after your basketball talents for a long time. I'm giving you my brother's championship ring with his full approval. I had to do something for you. I owe you my life, thank you thank you thank you... I hope you like it.

Love,
Dayne Smythe

I gave them back to her, and she held the ring to her chest.

"I'd do it again in a minute for you Dayne," she said, smiling. She was impatient for me to open mine. I tugged at the ribbon and yanked off the top.

"What'ya smiling about?" Lana asked. In response I removed a note, a lacy red bra and some high cut matching panties. I put 'em on and they almost fit! I got up and did a little wiggle dance and read the letter out loud. "April, you have done so much to me and for me, I could never equal it! I remember a while ago, that you admired these. I'm so sorry that I made fun of you and Kristina. Now I know we are all beautiful, we are all hot! Wear them with the pride that you deserve. You have helped me more than you know. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much! Love, Dayne Smythe

"You admired her underwear? Jeez, what's next? You are getting very weird, Babe" Lana asked.

I proceeded to tell New York the entire Dayne Smythe story. She listened with interest and said that she was very much touched by her own gift.

"Dayne seems like an A-O-K gal, especially after spending time in your backyard. But how do you know if she will return to Ms. Basketball and those other people?"

I admitted that it was hard to say, but her recent experiences would cause her serious "fit in" problems with the GWG's, who are very much social nazis. We sat in silence for a while.

"Hope Kristina gets better," Lana said. She looked almost tearful, probably the first time I've ever seen her like that.

"Yeah," I kindof smiled. A knock on the door interrupted our shared thoughts. I jumped under the covers on my bed and Lana grabbed my dress and held it in front of her, it didn't hide much!

"Come in." Illana entered my domain. "Two boys are downstairs to see you," she announced. We Americans looked at each other quizzically. Who could it be? Illana smiled and winked as she left. Needless to say, we dressed very quickly, after all, I, at least, am not used to much male attention! It's strange how curious we are about boys, they seem to be just as curious about us. Something that definitely should be satisfied!

Chapter 18

"Hi guys." It was. Guess who? Stubby and Sid, I mean Chuck! Jeez, why couldn't it be somebody interesting like Bob whatsisname? "Hiyuhyuhyuh!" Chuck was visibly shocked by Lana. He was stuttering and staring. Stubby was just doing the latter.

"Cut it out,Sid!" I snarled, smacking him on the shoulder. He ignored the obvious attempt to get his goat.

"Ugh, I, ugh, ugh..." Stubby came out of his stupor long enough to say that they just were at the hospital earlier and heard that we were there and what did we think about Kristina.

"You must have just missed us," I said. Lana, aware of the effect she was having on our hormonal happy guests, tried to settle things down. "You guys want some pop or something?"

"Huh?" said crazed Sid, uh... Chuck. Then I noticed we had curious visitors. Everybody, and I do mean everybody in the entire house was now in the frontroom listening and watching intently.

"Why don't you introduce your friends to your overseas visitors?" Mom said.

Rats, I really hate this introduction stuff! I did it anyway, hoping that they would all leave. They didn't. Luckily, Lana returned and asked Mom if it was okay if we grabbed pop out of the refrigerator. Even though she'd never been around here before, she knew where the kitchen was. People always know where the kitchen is! "Sure, have some and go outside." Mom said. She was really giving Lana the eye! My guess, it's the green streaks in her hair, maybe her muscles, whatever. All the men present seemed intrigued.

"Let's go!" I exclaimed, and headed toward the exit. "C'mon!"

"You guys are really embarrassing!" I said when we finally arrranged ourselves on the former tent site. "What'll you be like in class if Lana is with you?"

They looked at each other and rolled their eyes. New York quickly grabbed Chuck and put him in a headlock while smiling at Stubby and saying, "Oh, I'm sure they'll be just fine!" She released the amazed and struggling Chuck. He must have enjoyed the experience, cuz he was beaming.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, huffing and puffing and stuttering.

"You're strong!" Lana smiled at him.

"But you smell w-w-wonderful!"

She patted him on the cheek. "Why, thank you," she cood, "I washed for hours getting ready to wrestle you!"

I was getting real tired of all this.

"Shut up and sit down!" I yelled. getting a lot of surprised looks, but they all did as I commanded. I asked the boys what they thought about Kristina. Stubby looked sad and said that she seemed the same as last time. Last time? Chuck informed us that Stubby should bring a cot and sleep at the hospital, he was there so often. I grinned inwardly and hoped it didn't show. The straight man glared at his companion. I was well aware that there was some kindof thing going with the Kid and Stubby, and the way he's been acting, it's probably obvious to lots of other people.

I smiled at the boy and said "Kristina moved a little today."

"Really?" He replied enthusiastically. Chuck interrupted the bliss and asked how this whole thing came to be. I didn't want to go into it. Lana told him a bit of it and as she was talking, I could tell that he was just getting mesmerized. He sat there and watched her while Stubby bounced around the yard grinning.

"Waddaya think, Chuck?" I asked. "Are we tough or what?"

"Huh?" I rolled my eyes. "Forget it!" Y'know, it's getting hard to be the only undesirable girl anywhere, I was getting real tired of it. I felt the whip of jealousy, female competition, the comparison game. Ugh, I'm not going to play it today!

Oh man, just the person I don't want to see! Tommy Kearns leaned over the fence, clearing his throat to get everybody's attention, and said, "Hi, having fun?"

He was looking at me when he said it and bounced his eyebrows, Jerk!

"Yeah, we are, Kearns!" I replied, "Done any interesting reading lately?" I thought I saw him blush a little.

"Carry any tents lately?" he asked, referring to an incident that he probably thought would cause me embarrassment.

I smiled sweetly, bounced my eyebrows and went on my merry way.

Lana, who had been goofing around with Sid, ummm... Chuck, got up and walked toward Kearns, actually she kindof vamped, y'know, the hipwiggle, pouty sortof thing and she was pretty good at it too. He really hadn't noticed her before cuz he was so intent on getting a rise out of me. It was funny! Boys are really transparent sometimes, suckers for this hot stuff. His jaw dropped when he saw her and he quickly pulled away from the fence catching his hand on the top in the process. He was bleeding all over the place!

"Um... Hi," He stammerred. "Um... um, who're you, huh? You play ball, right?"

Lana shook that beautiful hair of hers, some of which brushed against the amazed face of my bloodied neighbor. She raised her hand and touched the tip of his nose with her finger. The big, strong boy fell back, almost falling on his head, pushed by a teeny digit!

"Lana King m'man!" she drawled. "Come in from NYC, jus' fer you!" She scared the heck out of him, it was great! She winked at us and I thought I heard a little giggle. Tommy grimly regarded his hand.

"Hey, I'm bleeding!" he whined.

"Hey, boy," Lana replied, "me 'n April have that effect on men... er... boys, sometimes. It's okay, Momma has the remedy!" She gave him a kiss on the forehead and walked away smirking.

Kearns kindof drifted back toward his house.

"Don't strain your eyes reading too much!" I yelled but I don't think he heard me, loser!

"Tommy like books?" Lana asked incredulously.

"In a manner of speaking," I replied.

We began to talk about Dayne and the boys were amazed that Lana and I, especially I, considered her a friend.

"She hangs around with all the hot shots," said Chuck, with a bit of jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, Lauren and them, the in crowd," Stubby added, "in for trouble! And don't forget what happened at the dance!" He began to blush, Sid began to blush, it was gross! Lana mentioned that she'd never met Dayne before today and that she seemed nice enough. The boys were stuck on the dance event, they were giggling and blushing and goofing around.

"C'mon you guys, don't tell me you're embarrassed by seeing breasts, are you?" I moaned and rolled my eyes. "How about the basketball game in the park the other day?" They stared at Lana and turned beet red! New York smiled at them.

"Go ahead and look," she said. "I don't mind't all, in fact I think we should all take everything off and roll around in the grass, this would soon be a non issue."

I smiled and agreed. I mentioned that we are all nearly insane with curiosity about each other and that Lana and I would be just as interested in seeing our guests as they are in seeing us.

"Some day we'll do this!" I said. The boys were speechless.

Chuck muttered, "This is getting too strange for me!"

"I'd be scared to," Stubby added. I told them I wasn't surprised and gave them my whole Bare Bottom Club concept, but briefly cuz I really wasn't too sure about how it would be organized.

They both stood up at once, almost like they planned it.

"We gotta go, you guys, nice talkin' to ya." They exited out the gate to the front. I looked at Lana and shrugged, she smiled and did the same. Someone else came outside.

"Boyfriends gone?" I glared at big sis.

"Gone... yes, boyfriends... no." Lana started tickling me and we goofed around.

"Kids!" Kathy exclaimed and walked back into the house steaming.

Lana mentioned that she should probably go home. She frowned and said she really doesn't understand my hangup about being naked.

"If you want to be just come on over to my house, most of us don't dress in the warm weather," I suggested that we go right now.

"Not until that damned cop leaves!" came the reply.

"Exactly my point!" I said. "What you... what we do, is just not accepted."

"So it's acceptance you want?" she asked.

"I think so, yeah." I answered.

"By everybody and you do mean everybody?" I giggled.

"Maybe I'd settle for tolerance and understanding."

She shook her head.

"You're out of your mind, April, but, then, I've been accused of that too!"

She gave me a big hug and said she'd see me post-France. As she walked away, she turned, gave me a big grin, jammed her fist in the air and yelled, "Go get'm champ!" I blew her a kiss and smiled as I watched her walk toward her place. I sat alone, kindof sad realizing that it's really hard sometimes to recover from the emotional high you get when you really interract with people, when you have a full day.

The smell of dinner wafting from the house brought me to my senses a little.

"My last American dinner for a while," I said to nobody in particular. I thought about France and that I was stuck with Kathy for a month, ugh! One good thing though, I realized from past experience, Big Sis was a lot of creepy things, but she wasn't a tattle-tale about most stuff. I'll be able to be pretty crazy, I think...

Supper was... ah... interesting. Everybody and I do mean everybody was nervous, each for their own reasons although nobody talked about it directly, it was easy to guess everyones' motives. Dad and Mom were just plain worried about how sis and I would be. They kept glaring at me and telling me that I should do what I'm supposed to do and behave. Hey, I always do that! They told Kathy several times to watch over me and I couldn't help but giggle at the big eighth grader rolling her eyes.

Our cousins were excited about going back home. Marissa was particularly bouncy and told me how beautiful it was and how much I'd like it. My adult relatives were the calmest of all. Strange, though, they looked at us and said some French to their offspring. It looked like a question cuz they raised their eyebrows at the end. Gilbert and Illana shrugged, typical, while Marissa waved her hands and shook her head while saying something about me. I heard "April" in there somewhere and it sounded very pretty in Frenchspeak. Dad and Mom's eyes met as though they were trying to figure out what was going on but they didn't say anything. Kathy, seemingly losing interest in Gil, at least for the time being, kept moaning about Roger. This got real old real fast! Mom lost patience and told sis to shut up and eat. Dad, a little calmer, told her to call and maybe visit ole Rog for a little while after supper. I didn't say much, I think I was more worried about the airplane than anything else. Uncle Jon told me all about 747's and that I should get used to the idea cuz we'd be on it a long time. Officer Larson pretty much just sat there and grinned at us.

Things were getting just a little too weird. I was feeling funny, so after helping with the cleanup, I went out back to enjoy a warm summer dusk. Sis took off for Roger's, very excited after he invited her over on the phone.

I couldn't believe it, my relatives and parents all went to bed!

"I hope you guys get to sleep soon," Dad said. "The plane leaves pretty early and you have a long trip."

My musings were interrupted by some noise out in front. I snuck a peek around the side of the house and saw a car full of boys going very slowly down the street like they were looking for something. They were being very loud and obnoxious, but as noisy as they were, the car radio nearly drowned them out. They slowed nearly to a stop in front of our house and I thought I saw something fly out of the car. Something hit the sidewalk and shattered with a loud crash.

I suddenly got so scared I could feel the waves of fear travel up and down my backbone. A touch on my shoulder made me turn around and quickly raise my hands in defense.

"Easy, April," Jennifer said. I noticed she had her gun tucked in her pants as she quietly began to sneak around the side of the house. I heard the car accelerate, go down the block and fade into the distance. It was gone. I tiptoed out to see what was going on and saw her kneeling down with a flashlight looking at what seemed to be broken glass.

"What's up, Officer Larson?" I asked.

Without looking up she asked if I could go in and get a paper bag. She carefully began picking up shards of broken glass and placing them in the container I handed to her.

"It's just a beer bottle," I said.

"Yeah, but there was a note attached from some people who don't think very highly of you," she replied.

"Can I see?" I asked.

"Absolutely not!" she said she had to bring the stuff to the police station but would return quickly. "Go back in the house, April, and stay there!" I had no problem with that after hearing the tone of her voice. "Don't tell anybody, okay?" she continued.

I nodded in agreement thinking about how glad I was about going to France soon! I went back in the house and ran into Kathy.

"What happened to you?" she asked. I lied and said I was nervous about our trip. Well... not really that much of a lie, was it? She heard a car outside and I said that Larson had gone to check in with her boss.

"She usually does that on the phone," she remarked.

"Yeah, but I guess she had some new and important info," I replied. I asked how Roger was and she told me he was weird, more worried about Gilbert than about her, obviously jealous.

"I kept reminding him that Gil's my cousin!" she exclaimed, "But it didn't seem to matter."

"Boys really are weird!" I agreed. She said that maybe we both better get some sleep, I also agreed with that.

"Still scared?" she asked.

"A little," she smiled. "G'night, April."

"Nite Kath." We made our way upstairs in a house that seemed so big and eerily quiet.

Everybody and I do mean everybody was sound asleep. I snuck into my room, good old room, and saw Marissa. She had kicked the sheet off and was lying on her back, naked as usual. She looked like one of those goofy little angels you see in old religious paintings, um... Yeah, cherubs, that's what you call 'em. I wonder why the kiddie porn police don't burn all of them. Stupid, look what they did to the Kings! Actually, I think posing for an artist would be sortof neat, something I'd like to try someday. I bet the KPP are just jealous, I mean, looking at Marissa, she is just... well... beautifull! Maybe that's the problem. Her hairless little bottom reminds them how ugly and hairy they think they are. I slipped my hand under my pants and felt my own smooth bottom and smiled. I wiggled out of my clothes and looked at me in the mirror, waved and smiled again. Yep, I'd be a terrific model!

"Come back soon, my love." I whispered. I hung up my clothes and snuck into bed next to the angel. It was hard getting to sleep worrying that I might have nightmares about plane crashes or the battle with the Jesters or something, but I didn't.