I had had a nice talk with my Mom Monday night—about Natalie. "Just do your best, that’s all anyone can ask of you," she said. Mom always says things like that. That’s why I love her.

Anyhow, I came to school more determined than ever to see this girl get through the week in one piece.

It did not start out encouraging. I met her at the entrance and we had to undress in front of all those people. It was painful to watch. She was visibly forcing herself to take her clothes off. And when she got fondled and felt up afterwards—it was just, I don’t even know how to describe it. It looked like it was just nightmarish to her.

I wonder if she’d been abused. I’d seen that before. I wasn’t sure, though. She was just completely closed off from her body.

We got to accounting second period, and she barely talked to me. I tried to make her laugh, and didn’t.

When I can’t make someone laugh, there’s a problem. Not to brag, but it’s the truth. I could come to your mother’s funeral and at least get a chortle out of you.

Worried, I skipped third period. Went down to see Mr. Tilling instead.

"Hey, Ed," he greeted me. "Aren’t you supposed to be in class?"

"You can give me a note. This is important."

"All right," he said—I think he was surprised to see me so serious. "What’s on your mind?"

"I think we need to call a time-out. The Program isn’t working, not this time. In fact, it might be making a bad situation worse."

"Ed, I’m surprised. Of all the people I thought might have a problem, you are the last…."

"Oh, no," I cut him off, "not me. I’m talking about Natalie."

"Oh," he said.

"Mr. Tilling, she’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

"I know," he said simply.

"You know? And you let her go into The Program?" I was incredulous.

"I didn’t have a choice. You know how parental consent for The Program works. Her mother demanded she be placed."

"I have a strong suspicion that her mother is a big part of the problem," I told him.

"Yes, so do I. Ed, some of us know who Sharon Weinberg is. She works at Doc’s. You know what Doc’s is?"

"Yeah, it’s a bar," I told him. "I don’t drink, but I know some guys that have gone to Doc’s. They’re notorious for not checking ID’s all that closely. The place is a real dive, though, from what I hear."

"Yes, it is. And it attracts the kind of guys who you’d expect to be hanging out at a dive. And it’s common knowledge that Sharon Weinberg isn’t averse to taking those guys home."

"Oh, Jesus," I said.

"Rumor has it that you can buy your way into her bed. I don’t know how true that is, but that’s the rumor."

"Oh, Christ," I said, "And this is Natalie’s mother?"

"Yeah. We had her investigated by social services, but nothing came of it. Natalie, apparently, clammed up. Look, let me tell you something about Natalie Weinberg. Do you know where she’s ranked in your class?" he asked.

"Yeah, seventh, she told me yesterday."

"Ed, the girl is gifted. She could probably be in contention for valedictorian if she had any kind of support from home. You know how gifted Lily Woodard is on the baseball mound—well, Natalie’s that gifted in the classroom. But she has no friends, no support system, no nothing. She’s completely closed off from everything. We don’t completely know what her home life is like, but we strongly suspect it’s not good. Quite frankly, we—that’s me and her teachers and all—are afraid we’re going to lose her."

"Yeah, I see what you mean," I told him.

"I can’t do anything about her being in The Program. I had to put her in. But, I’m going to tell you something—we, Ms. T and I, deliberately chose you to partner her. We don’t usually do that, but Natalie needs help. She needs a friend. And a lot of us remember what you did for Annie Zipelski."

I was dumbfounded. Absolutely dumbfounded. "You what?"

"We all know that you can’t turn your back on someone in need. You got Annie out of hell—some of us know about that."

I took a deep breath. "This is not fair."

"What?" he asked.

"You say you know what I did for Annie. Do you know what that cost me? The only girl I have ever loved, and I lost her." I laughed mirthlessly. "I didn’t get Annie out of the hell she was living in because I’m a fucking good Samaritan, I did it because I loved her. She was my girlfriend, for crying out loud! And now you’ve stuck me in a position where you expect me to rescue someone that, a day ago, I didn’t even know. And as an added bonus, you’ve dredged up all of those memories of Annie—memories I try to bury. Memories of Annie accepting my help, showering me with gratitude, and then walking away. Forever." I sighed. "Mr. Tilling, I am no saint. There is a part of me—a part I deny, a part I’m ashamed of, but it exists. And that part wishes I’d never gotten involved in Annie’s home life, that I’d left things as they were. She might have not left me."

"And she might be hopelessly screwed up, or even dead," he said.

"I know that! I said it was the evil part of me." I took a breath. "And now you want me to do it again. And I’m stuck, because you’re right—I can’t turn away from someone in trouble. And since you’ve so thoughtfully forced me to support a person in trouble, I’m stuck." I sighed. "You know what’s worse? I like Natalie. We had a nice talk at lunch yesterday. She’s a good kid, and we have a whole mess of stuff in common, surprisingly enough. I could really like her, I think. And now I can’t, because I refuse to get emotionally involved with another wounded bird. I can’t go through that again."

"Ed, I’m sorry," Mr. Tilling said. "I didn’t realize how much this was going to affect you."

"I can’t even come up with a joke. I’m looking at this situation you’ve put me into, and I can’t even come up with a joke. Me, Ed Bauer, at a loss for humor. How pathetic is that?" I turned away from his desk and abruptly walked out of his office.

Damn. Damn him all to hell.

I wanted to kill him. I wanted to wring his neck. How dare they do this to me? Girl in trouble, we can’t handle it—let’s call in Ed The Girlsaver to the rescue! After all, he saved Annie Zipelski’s life, right?

Almost fucking took his own afterwards—but we’ll just ignore that part. Damn them.

Walking through the halls, I calmed down. I did vow to myself, just this morning, that I was going to try to help this girl get through the week, didn’t I? I guess being set up by Mr. Tilling didn’t change that. It just made it more difficult, knowing that.

I had missed all of third period, and trudged into fourth, which was English. I got a wave from Lily, who shared that class with me.

That’s when I got an idea.

I didn’t have to do this by myself.

Natalie, I discovered yesterday, badly needed a friend. Friend is fine, friends—plural—is better, right? And who had a better bunch of friends than me?

So, on the way into the lunchroom, I rounded them all up, and asked for a favor. They all quickly and happily agreed. Like I said—nobody’s got a better bunch of friends than me.

If it weren’t for my desperate hope for a college scholarship, I wouldn’t have come in today. Or I would’ve walked out. But I wouldn’t be here. I can’t do this.

I made it to lunch, don’t ask me how. Dropped myself into my out-of-the-way chair. And here came Ed. Man, he really was trying, I’ll give him that. It was sweet, actually. I know he was only doing this because he had to—and because he’s a nice guy—but I would’ve given up on me long before this. He saw me in accounting, and I couldn’t even look at him.

But here he came. "Hey," he said, sitting down across from me. "Want some company?"

"Yeah," I admitted.

"Good, cause here it comes." Suddenly there were a pile of people sitting down at the table! Oh, shit, I couldn’t deal with this.

"So, this is where you’ve been hiding," someone said, sitting down next to him. "Give me a french fry," as he stole one from Ed’s plate. I realized it was Mike Kirkland, Ed’s best friend.

"Hi," a beautiful redhead said as she sat next to me. "You must be Natalie. I’m Amanda Frazier."

"Hey, I’m Lily Woodard," the brunette sitting on the other side of me said.

"That stud across from me is Jared Wicklow, my boyfriend," Amanda went on. "The guy on the other side of Ed is Mike Kirkland, Lily’s boyfriend."

"That’s my identity now. Lily’s boyfriend," Mike joked.

"The guy next to Mike is Frankie Gutierrez," Ed said. "And across from Frankie is the world famous Maggie Benson."

"No autographs, please," Maggie quipped.

"We know Ed’s sitting here to help you through The Program," Amanda was saying to me, "but lunch is no fun without Ed, so we thought we’d join you."

"Nothing’s no fun without Ed," said Ed.

"Hey, speaking of fun with Ed, I finished two verses," Lily said.

"Of what?" Ed asked her.

She grinned at him impishly and started singing:

"What’s between Ed’s legs is frightful

It’s no bigger than just a mitefull

And the girls just don’t want to know

So make it grow, make it grow, make it grow!

Yeah, the thing that Ed’s got hangin’

Is a bit too small for bangin’

You’d do better with his left big toe

So make it grow, make it grow, make it grow!"

I have to admit, I was howling. Everyone was. Even Ed.

"Woodard," Ed told her, "Here’s the scenario. One to nothing, us. Bases loaded, one out, top of the ninth. Tailor made double play ball to Ed. Right through his legs. On purpose. Runs score, Lily loses, Ed laughs."

"You’d never. You like winning too much," Lily told him.

"I think you just lost me," I admitted.

"Baseball. Lily’s our star pitcher."

"Really?" I said, surprised. A girl was the star pitcher?

"Yup," Mike put in.

"I love baseball," Lily told me. "And, yeah, I’m good. Mike’s on the team too, he’s our catcher. Frankie’s one of our other pitchers and center fielder."

"Let me understand this," I said. "You’re a pitcher, Mike’s a catcher, and you guys are going out?"

"Makes for an interesting locker room, I’ll tell you that," Ed butt in.

"Ah, we’ve never done a thing in the locker room, and you know it," Lily teased him. "Right field, that’s a different matter." Everyone else chuckled, and she turned to me. "The first time we ever made love was in right field."

"You’re kidding," I said.

"Nope. It’s now become a running joke on the team. Mike kissed me the other day while we were standing on the sideline at practice, and Ty Christopher—that’s our first baseman--yelled, ‘Take that crap out to right field!’"

"Frankie keeps joking about putting up a sign," Ed said. "Mike and Lily slept here."

"There wasn’t any sleeping going on, Frankie," Lily said.

"OK, Mike and Lily fucked here?" Frankie joked. "Mike and Lily came here would work, too, I suppose."

"Oh, you bet your ass it worked," Lily said.

I was dumbfounded. Just the way the conversation had gone, it just dumbfounded me.

"How’s the program going, Natalie?" Amanda asked me from the other side.

"Uh, not well," I admitted.

"It gets easier," she told me. "I had a lot of troubles too."

"You did?" I said. I knew who Amanda was, and she had always been known as outgoing.

"Yeah. I was pretty repressed when it started. I was also a virgin. The whole thing terrified me. Turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me."

"It did?" I said.

"Yeah. I got unrepressed in a hurry," she laughed. "Lost my virginity, and found a boyfriend," she told me. "Jared and I started going out then, but gave each other the rest of the week to experiment, because we’d both been repressed."

"You started going out, but you experimented? With other people, I take you mean?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jared told me. "We even had a threesome—the two of us and another girl."

"And I got gangbanged shortly thereafter," Amanda said.

"You’re kidding," I was shocked. "Did you like that?"

"It was fun. Once, mind you. I’ve never done it again and don’t really want to. But I’m glad I did it once. Jared’s a lot more fun." She grinned at him. The way those two looked at each other! "Anyhow, what I was saying about The Program—it loosened me up, let me discover myself sexually, got me a boyfriend. Discussions about it also led to my mother loosening up. Which was a small miracle. And that just about saved my parents’ marriage—to the point where I’m going to have a little brother or sister in July."

"Wow," I said.

"How’s your Mom doing, by the way?" Mike asked her.

"Great. She’s had amniocentesis—she is 42, after all—and everything looks great. My parents are over the moon about it. Mom’s five months along now and starting to show. I thought that would, you know, bring her down—but she’s glowing."

"I bet you’re thrilled to be the handy live-in babysitter," Lily teased.

"Ah, only for a year or so, before I go to college. That’s the only thing that really sucks, actually, is that I won’t be around for a lot of the kid’s growing up. So, for that year I’m there—and when I come home on breaks—I’ll probably be volunteering to baby-sit." She grinned at me "I’ll just have Jared help. Feed the kid, change the diaper, put it to bed—and then find other ways of amusing ourselves."

They seemed so into sex. Which just amazed me. I really am a freak.

"Hey, Natalie," Mike asked. "You’re in Trig last period with Ed and I, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Ed says you’re a brain." I giggled at that. "Did you get what Mr. Frey was saying at the end yesterday?"

"Sure." I explained what Mr. Frey had talked about at the end of class yesterday.

"OK. I get it now. Thanks, Natalie, you made more sense than Mr. Frey. Ed’s right, you really are smart, aren’t you?"

"Yeah, he told us you were seventh in the class?" Lily said.

"Yeah," I said sheepishly.

"That’s awesome," Jared said. "I’m pretty proud of being twenty-third. Seventh is awesome." I just blushed.

"So, you ready to play third base in the nude?" Mike asked Ed.

"No, I am not. But I figure if Lily can pitch in the nude, I can handle it."

"I was in The Program the week of tryouts," Lily told me. "Me and this gorgeous talented catcher, who helped me out."

"I taped her boobs," Mike laughed.

"They were getting in the way of me throwing, and sports bras were forbidden, so he came up with this ingenious solution involving an ace bandage," Lily laughed.

"So, you went to tryouts wearing nothing but an ace bandage around your chest?" I asked.

"Well, they let me wear socks and my cleats," she laughed. "And not just tryouts, but out first game. Which I pitched."

"And won," Mike jumped in. "And scored the winning run."

"And tore my entire right leg up sliding into home with said winning run," Lily laughed.

"You guys on the baseball team seem to have a lot of fun," I commented.

"We do, it’s a blast," Ed said. "We’ve got a home game today at 3:30. You should come."

"I don’t know," I said.

"Sure, come on," Amanda told me. "You can sit with Jared and I, we’re going."

My mother would be furious. Did I care anymore? "I’ll think about it," I said. Changing the subject, I said, "It seems like those of you who have gone through the Program actually enjoyed it."

"I think we all did," Mike said. "At this table, it’s just the four of us, Lily and I and Amanda and Jared—well, now we can add you and Ed."

"Yeah," I said. But what I thought was this—you all enjoyed it. But Ed’s not. He brought you all over here to help me out. He’s spending this entire week—which normal people, apparently, enjoy—watching over a terrified mentally-scarred hopeless case. It’s not fair. It’s not fair to him.

I think that’s when the light started to dawn on me.

Ed was being so nice. And his friends were being nice, too. I now know why he valued his friends so much. I had a feeling he asked them to come sit with us. And they were friendly, they included me in the conversation, Mike asked me about Trig. I realized, it was like talking to Ed yesterday. I forgot, for a few minutes, how naked I was.

That’s when I made a decision. No more ‘woe is me’ stuff, not about The Program. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I was going to stick it out. I was going to try to relax about it as much as I could.

I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy it, per se, but Ed deserved to. He didn’t need me bringing him down.

Anyhow, lunch was over, and it was time to go to Bio. Ed, Jared, Amanda, and Maggie all walked with me.

The guys were stopping me, as usual. I was getting felt up, as usual.

After one, Amanda asked me, "Why do you get all stiff and vacant when they do that?"

"I don’t like it much," I admitted, blushing.

"Really? That’s a pity. When I was in the program, I loved it," she giggled.

"I thought you said you were repressed at the beginning," I said to her.

"Yeah, and having a few fingers in your pussy will unrepress you in a hurry," she laughed.

"Doesn’t seem to work for me," I said. "I just feel like I’m being used." I’m surprised I admitted that to her.

What she said surprised me more. "Used? Natalie, that’s your pussy. If they’re using it, it’s to get you off. If they really wanted to use you, they’d be whipping out their dicks."

I never thought of it that way.

Anyway, bio was fine. Ed made me laugh. But I was dreading gym. I got in and out of the locker room in a hurry. We were outside, playing tennis, which was an interesting thing to do in the nude. I think I pulled every muscle in my chest from those things bouncing around. But it was all right. It was the shower I was dreading.

On the way into them, I saw Ed. He grabbed me, and I noticed, also standing there, was this huge black kid. I’d seen him around, but didn’t know who he was.

"Nat, I want you to meet Ty Christopher. He’s the first baseman on the baseball team, and a good friend."

"Pleased to meet you, Natalie," he said I shook his hand. Wow, what a voice!

"Ty’s gonna watch out for you," Ed told me. "He’s going to take care of you in the shower. And he’s safe. If he lays a hand on you, Emma will kick his ass."

"Emma’s my girlfriend," Ty laughed.

Oh, man. How sweet was this? But I felt compelled to point something out. "Guys, I really appreciate this. But I can’t say no, remember? Reasonable request and all that."

"Yes, but I can say no," Ty said. "Hey, if worse comes to worse, we’ll go in a corner and I’ll pretend I’m doing something to you. That’ll keep ‘em off."

"What if word gets back to Emma?" I asked worriedly.

"HEY, EMMA!" Ed yelled. A tall brunette came running up. "Hey, Em, if you hear any scuttlebutt about Ty messing with someone in the shower, don’t believe it. This here is Natalie, she’s my Program partner this week, and she needs a little help fending off the jackals."

"That’s fine," she smiled. "Having a tough time?" she asked. I nodded yes. "Ty will watch out for you. He’s good at that," she giggled. She leaned up and kissed him. "And if you hear any rumors about me messing with Ed in the shower, believe every word." She sashayed off to the showers at that, throwing a kiss back at Ty, while Ed followed her making like a lovesick puppy. Ty just laughed.

"Come on," he chuckled, and led me into the shower. And he did watch out for me. We huddled in a corner. I actually let him wash my chest, for cover—and, you know what? I didn’t mind. Probably because he was being so respectful about it. I knew he wasn’t doing this for a cheap thrill. And he pretended to stick his hand in between my legs to throw the scent off. I didn’t get bothered by anyone else at all.

We talked while we showered. Somehow the subject of art came up, and he told me that Emma was a talented sculptress.

"I draw," I told him.

"Really? I’m surprised. You don’t seem to tote a sketchpad around, like every other artist I know," he laughed. "Emma always has one—she sculpts from sketches sometimes."

"I never felt comfortable doing that."

"You should," he maintained. "Lots to draw around here."

After that, we left, and I went to my last two classes. It was better. After school, I made a decision. Going out to the entrance to fetch my clothes, I saw Ed.

"I’m taking you up on your invitation. I never go to any school functions around here, so I’m going to come watch you play baseball," I said.

"That’s great! Come with me, I’ll walk you over."

"Great. Just let me get dressed," I told him.

"Oops. Sorry, Nat, you can’t." I just looked at him. "This is a school function. You have to stay nude."

"Oh, shit," I said.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I knew I had to play nude, so I just forgot." He looked at me hopefully. "Are you going to come anyway?"

I decided to go. Ed even bought my ticket, the sweetie, and showed me where Jared and Amanda were sitting, before he went into the locker room.

"Hey, I’m glad you came!" Amanda said.

"Yeah," I told her, "but I forgot I was going to have to sit here in the nude."

"Ah, it’s not that bad," she said.

"Easy for you to say, you have clothes on," I teased. Suddenly, Jared and Amanda grinned at each other and nodded. Next thing I know, they were taking all their clothes off! I was stunned. In a minute, they sat back down, as naked as I was.

"Feel less self-conscious now?" Amanda asked. I just sputtered. Amanda laughed. "Ever since we went through the program, we’ve discovered a liking for nudity. On a nice day like today, why not? It’s very freeing."

I was amazed. Then I happened to look over past Amanda at Jared. You want to talk about amazing? I think my eyes popped out of my head. Amanda noticed. "Hey, honey. I think somebody just discovered Jared’s Secret," she giggled.

"She must have not been paying attention in September when I was in the program," Jared laughed.

"I must not have," I admitted. Jared was huge! Between the legs, I mean.

"Now you know why I love him," Amanda teased.

"Oh, is that all? See this, Natalie? I’m being used. Shamefully used. I feel so cheap," he mock-sobbed.

"Hey, is this the nudists section?" I heard. It was a young girl of about eleven or twelve. She climbed in the bench behind us.

"Hey, Amber, how are you?" Jared asked. "This is Natalie. She’s going through the program this week and she’s a little uncomfortable. Nat, this is Amber. She’s Lily’s sister."

"Hi," Amber said. "So these two decided to keep you company?"

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Cool. The more the merrier," she said—and started taking off her clothes! All right, now I’d seen everything. Amanda laughed.

"The week Lily and Mike were in the program was the week of the school carnival," Amanda explained. "Mike and Lily brought Amber. They had to go nude, of course. We met up with them and decided to go nude ourselves. Amber felt left out, so she joined us."

"And I found out how much fun it is," Amber declared. "I wish they had The Program in middle school. I go nude all the time. I love how the wind makes my titties perky." I almost swallowed my tongue at that one!

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"I’ll be 12 next month," she said. Amazing. A 12-year-old likes going nude—and I’m paralyzed by it. Why hadn’t I noticed the wind on my—er—titties? "Who’s your partner?" she asked.

"Ed Bauer."

"Oh, you’re cavorting nude around school with my boyfriend?" she asked. BOYFRIEND? "No, I’m just kidding," she laughed. "That’s our little joke." She sounded older than 12.

"Amber’s pretty precocious," Amanda whispered in my ear. You ain’t kidding! "Ed showed her a good time at the carnival, and now she’s got a crush on him. But she knows he’s too old for her. She’s quite a kid."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Hey," I said, just thinking of something, "do either of you have a cel phone I can use?"

"Sure," Amanda said, and dug hers out of her bookbag, and handed it to me.

I dialed. "Hello?" I heard.

"Mom, it’s Natalie."

" Where are you?"

"At school. I’m staying to watch a baseball game. I don’t know when I’m coming home."

"YOU GET HOME THIS INSTANT! You have chores!" Yeah, like every chore in the house. Wouldn’t want you to stop drinking long enough to wash a dish.

"Mom, I’ll do them when I get home."

"You will do them NOW."

"Listen, I just called to tell you where I was. That’s where I am. I’ll be home when I’m home." I was fed up.

"NATALIE, YOU WILL GET YOUR ASS…." I hung up on her.

"That sounded pleasant," Amanda said.

"It always is," I sighed. Just then, the players came out into the field. Ed walked over to where we were seated behind third base.

"Hey! It’s the nudists’ section! How’s my pint-sized nude girlfriend?" he said to Amber, kissing her on the cheek.

"I’m fine," she blushed.

"Hands off my sister, Bauer, you reprobate," Lily laughed as she walked by.

"Oh, go away, Lily," Amber spouted, to laughter.

"How are you doing?" Ed then asked me.

"Fine. Everybody else decided to go nude, too. I’m feeling less self-conscious," I admitted.

"Jared and Amanda need less of an excuse than that to go nude, believe me," he laughed.

"True, true," Jared agreed.

After that, they went to warm up, and then the game started. It was a lot of fun. We won by something like 9 to nothing. Ed even hit a home run. And Lily really is good. Jared and Amanda helped me with some of the stuff about baseball I didn’t really know. I had a great time.

I’m really glad I went.

After the game, I ran over to where they were sitting. "We’re hitting the Burger Hut afterwards. Who’s coming?"

"I can’t," Amber said.

"Ah, well, I’ll just have to get another date then," I teased.

"You’ll live," Amber teased. "Anyway, my Mom’s here." She kissed me on the cheek, and waved goodbye to the rest of them, then ran over to her Mom’s car. Still naked. I think Natalie was completely stunned.

"We’ll be there, but I already have a date," Amanda giggled.

"Fine, be that way," I said. "How about you, dear Natalie. You wouldn’t force a poor, defenseless, naked third baseman to show up at the post-game Greasefest sans date, would you?"

She giggled. "Do most people go to the post-game Greasefests with a date?"

"Well, no, not really, but forget that part," I grinned. She giggled again. Finally the vaunted Bauer wit was working. "Come on. You can even get dressed for this."

"I really should go home. My mother’s pissed I was even here," she said, then thought for a minute. "And I don’t care anymore. I’d love to go," she said.

"Great. Wait here, while I shower and stuff."

I went in, got cleaned up, and got out in a hurry. Natalie had dressed. She was wearing something a little less armor-like than her usual get-up—a mid-calf chino skirt and a blue polo shirt. I walked her to my car.

"You sure this is all right? Your mom and all?"

"No, but I don’t care," she said. Then she giggled. "Of course, I should’ve decided to get rebellious on a night she was working, then I’d get home after she went to work. But I don’t care."

"OK, then." We headed to Burger Hut, got our food, and grabbed a table with Mike and Lily, Jared and Amanda. It was fun. Natalie was really loosening up. I congratulated myself on a great idea—getting the Ed Posse involved in helping her. It really did help. Natalie and Amanda really hit it off.

We got back in the car and I said that to her. "Yeah, I like Amanda," she told me.

"She and Mike are my best friends, have been forever." I looked at the clock. It was plenty early, but I said, "I suppose you need to go home."

"I suppose. Why?"

"Well, I do still owe you that date."

"I thought I was your date at the Burger Hut," she giggled.

"No, I meant the date. Singing In The Rain."

"Oh, yeah. Yeah! Let’s do it," she said.

"Are you sure?"

She got serious for a minute. "Can I tell you a secret?" she asked. I nodded. "The later I stay out, the more my mother will drink. The more she drinks, the better chance that she’ll be passed out on the couch before I come home."

"Oh, shit, Natalie," I said.

"That’s my dirty little secret. Well, one of them." She visibly collected herself. "Anyway, spending time with you watching old musicals is vastly preferable to dealing with a drunk. So, please, take me to Gene Kelly, kind sir," she smiled.

I did. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but she clearly didn’t want to go home. I was thinking that I didn’t blame her. She was enjoying herself, and didn’t want it to end. I got the impression that ‘fun’ wasn’t a word much in her vocabulary.

Anyhow, we pulled up, walked in, and Mom and Dad were there.

"Hey, Ed, how’d the game go?" Dad asked.

"We romped. Nine-zip. I went two for four with a dinger, and Lily was her usual unhittable self."

"Great. Any problems with the nudity?" Mom asked.

"No, Lily didn’t let them hit any line drives at my exposed ass." They laughed at that. "Mom, Dad, this is my friend Natalie Weinberg. Nat, this is my parents. Natalie’s my program partner this week."

"Hi," she said. Dad came over and shook her hand.

"Come in, come in," Mom smiled. "What are you two up to?"

"Well, I was wondering if we could commandeer the TV."

"What for?" Dad asked.

"Well, Natalie here fancies herself to be an old film buff, and she’s never seen Singing In The Rain," I said.

"Well, we can’t have that, can we?" Dad said, smiling at Natalie. "That’s a travesty."

"That’s what I said," I grinned.

"Well, of course, how can we deny that kind of educational opportunity?" Dad said. "It’s all yours. We’ll go upstairs."

"Thanks, guys," I said. I went over to find the DVD.

"Ed, you want me to put some popcorn in?" Mom asked.

"Thanks, Mom, that’d be great." I looked at Nat. "Sit," I smiled, pointing to the couch. She grinned back, and did. I got the DVD out, put it in the player, and let the opening stuff run while I went to check on the popcorn. I grabbed it and a couple cokes and sat down next to her.

"Your parents are really nice," she said.

"Yeah, they are," I agreed.

The movie started, and, as always, I got into it. As I expected, Natalie got into it, too. We were sitting side by side, the popcorn bowl in between us, munching away and laughing. After Donald O’Connor did his "Make ‘Em Laugh" bit, Natalie turned to me and said, "Now I know why you like this movie so much. It’s got your philosophy of life in it."

"You got that right."

After the dance scene in the soundstage between Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, she turned to me and said, "You’re right. This is great."

The popcorn was gone by then, so I put the bowl on the coffee table in front of us. And she moved closer to me. We were practically touching, side by side, on the couch.

So, I did what seemed natural. I put my arm around her. She sighed, smiled, and snuggled up to me. I must admit, it felt nice. Of course, part of my brain was screaming "Danger Will Robinson Danger!" but the part that liked snuggling up to a sweet, warm girl told the danger part to shut up.

All right, dammit, I admit it. I liked her. God save me, but I liked her. I was in big fucking trouble.

I’d deal with that later. Who cared about that when you’re snuggled up to a gorgeous sweetheart watching the greatest movie ever made? Who cared about memories of getting your heart put through a shredder, when Gene Kelly was dancing up a storm on a wet soundstage, and the lovely curled up by your side was enjoying it as much as you did? Yeah, I thought about Annie. A few memories crept up. I just let Gene’s dancing feet stomp all over ‘em.

Like I said—big fucking trouble. After Amanda went through her sex-drenched Program week, she told me she had discovered a few things. First of all, that there were certain acts that were more intimate than sex. Kissing. Undressing each other. I think cuddling would qualify. I agreed with her—which is why, though I had sex a lot—I didn’t cuddle. And here I was, not only cuddling—but cuddling with someone that I was not going to have sex with. And enjoying it. She looked up at me and giggled, "that’s awesome!" right after Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor’s stunning "Moses" routine.

Annie didn’t like old movies. She never got "Singing In The Rain." Now, why did my brain dig up that little factoid right at this moment?

Damn, my brain was out of control. Good thing I know this movie by heart.

When it was over, she sighed, and looked up at me happily, "You were right. That’s one hell of a movie."

"Told you," I said. I took my arm from around her shoulders and stretched. It was harder to stay cuddled without Gene’s dancing feet. "I’d better get you home."

"Yeah," she agreed sadly. We got up and trudged to my car.

"Ed?" she said right after I started driving. "Thanks. For everything. I haven’t had this much fun in ages."

"You’re welcome," I said. "I had fun, too."

We headed into town. "You can drop me off at the bowling alley."

"You live at the bowling alley?"

She giggled. "No, but I just live right around the corner."

"Where do you live?"

"Just a little ways up Gorham street."

"I can take you."

She sighed. And then said, very softly, "Ed, I don’t want you to see where I live."

"Look, you’ve told me enough about your mother that I didn’t guess that you lived in the mansion on the hill. And none of this is your fault. I won’t hold where you live against you. And the way I was brought up, a gentleman always escorts a lady to her door."

"OK," she sighed.

We got to her apartment building—dingy and run-down, as I suspected—and I insisted on walking to her door. She let me. She grabbed her key and started fumbling with the lock, when we heard, "NATALIE! Issat you? Finally fucking come home?"

Nat opened the door, and there stood this drunken woman. "WHERE THE FUCK YOU BEEN?"

"Out," Natalie said. "We went to the game, and then out to eat, and then Ed took me to his house to watch a movie."

"Movie?" the mother slurred. "Yeah, right. So," she said right at me, "didja fuck ‘er?"

"Excuse me?"

"Didja fuck ‘er?" Then, to Natalie. "Is he rich? Bag yourself a sugar daddy? Or did he just pay you for tonight?" I was recoiling in horror. This was one of the most disgusting things I’d seen in a long time.

"We watched a movie!" Natalie maintained. "Ed likes old movies, too."

CRASH! That was this crazy woman’s glass! It had crashed against the wall—and had missed Natalie’s head by three inches! "DONCHOO FUCKIN’ LIE TO ME!" she was screaming. "And you!" to me, "Fuckin’ nobody fucks my daughter for free, you unnerstand? You better be paying!"

The next thing I know, Natalie was shoving me back through the door. She followed me out, while her nutcase mother ranted and raved back in the apartment. "Ed, you need to leave," she said firmly.

"Leave? How can I leave? She just threw a glass at you!"

"Usually it’s plates," she said matter-of-factly. I was just stunned. "Look, if you leave, I can get to my bedroom. I have a lock, she can’t come in there. Please. I don’t want you to see any more of this. Please." The last one was a beg.

"Natalie, I’m really worried about you," I told her.

She actually smiled. "It’s nice to have someone worrying about me for a change. I never have anyone worried about me. But I’ll be fine."

"What’s going on?" I asked her.

She knew what I meant. "Meet me in the parking lot an hour before school tomorrow and I’ll tell you the whole thing, OK? But now you have to go."

"OK," I said. "I’m going. Be careful."

"I will." She smiled, and then re-entered the apartment.

Damn. This girl’s in trouble. Her life’s a mess. And, when she lets down her guard, I find her delightful. I liked her.

As Yogi Berra once said, "It’s déjà vu all over again."

What I didn’t know was how bad. I’d find out tomorrow, hopefully. If it was Annie Redux, I didn’t know if I’d cope.

I didn’t sleep all that well that night.

--End of Part Two—