I woke up Thursday morning feeling, well, strange.

I spent a big chunk of the day with a girl that, three days ago, I didn’t like. And I protected her. And she gave me a handjob. And—and this was the really strange part—I was looking forward to seeing her again. And not because of the handjob, either. Because of how she looked at me while she was giving me the handjob.

But, yeah, I had my mother’s warning ringing in my head, too.

I got up, showered, got dressed, went downstairs. Mom was already there.

"Bacon and eggs?" she asked.

"Sounds great," I grinned. I was just finishing it up when there was a knock at the door.

"Hi, Missy, he’s almost ready," I heard Mom say. She led Missy into the kitchen.

"I keep interrupting your breakfast," she giggled.

"I’m done," I grinned.

"Are you hungry?" Mom asked her.

"No thank you, I ate at home today," she said.

"Are you OK?" I asked her. She didn’t look particularly good.

"Yeah," she said. "Just another blowout with my parents last night, and they were cold as ice to me today. Their big secret is out in the open. I told them last night that I knew about their affairs."

"Oh," I said.

"Anyhow, they’re all pissed off now. But can’t say much to me, because they’ve been caught. Anyway. You ready to go?"

"Yup." We got in her car and drove to school in companionable silence.

We got out of the car and started walking to the undressing area. We were early.

"How’s your face?" she asked.

"A lot better. How about you?"

"Fine, actually. Pain is gone, completely," she smiled.

"Even down there?"

She laughed, "Yes, David, even down there."

"Good." That’s when the idea went through me. And, yeah, I knew I was going to get in deeper if I did it. I didn’t think I much cared anymore.

We got to the entrance. There was a wall there. She was standing up against the wall, and I abruptly reached up her skirt—thank goodness she wore a skirt, made things much easier—and pulled her panties down to about her knees. Then, before she could say a word, I grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her so she was sitting on the wall. Then I took the panties all the way off.

"DAVID!" she gasped. "What are you doing?"

"This," I smiled, and trailed my hand up her thigh. She looked at me in utter shock—but her legs opened. I trailed my hand slowly up her thigh. Then, reaching paydirt, I traced my finger up and down her pussy. She gasped, still looking in shock—but her legs spread wider.

"It doesn’t hurt?" I asked quietly.

"Oh, God no, it’s….I mean…oh GOD!" Then I went up and hit her clit. ‘Oh DAVID!"

She was sitting on the wall, and I was standing in front of her—suddenly, her hands went on my shoulders, and she held on to me as I diddled her pussy. I could feel her upper body vibrate through her arms as she moaned and gasped.

Then, it hit her. I could feel her fingernails digging into my shoulders as she let out a high-pitched wail. I withdrew my hand—and she wrapped me in a bear hug.

"Thank you," she gasped.

"You’re welcome," I said. "It was my pleasure."

She hugged me again, and then said, "Oh-oh."

"What?"

"I think we had an audience."

I turned around, and there stood Frankie and Cassie. To my relief, they were grinning.

"Nice show," Cassie said. "Unexpected, but nice."

"He was just paying me back," Missy said. She explained what had happened yesterday.

"But you were paying him back for helping you. Now he played with you. You guys could extend this payback thing right through senior year," Cassie giggled. We all laughed, but I noticed the happy little look Missy gave at that thought.

I was right. I had just gotten myself in deeper. How did I feel about that? I don’t know.

"I must admit," Frankie said, "this is almost the most surprising thing I’ve stumbled into this week."

Cassie broke out laughing. "Almost?" Missy asked.

"Yeah," Frankie grinned. "When you hung around with Cass, did you ever meet my sister Rosa?"

"Sure," Missy said.

"Well, Mom and the younger ones were out yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to be, but baseball practice got cancelled. So Rosa thought she’d be home alone. Well, she invited Amber Woodard over—Amber is Lily’s sister, she’s in Rosa’s class." Missy nodded. "Well, I came home unexpectedly early, and found Amber and Rosa on the couch in a 69."

"WHAT!" Missy burst out. "You’re kidding. Rosa’s, what, twelve?"

"Yeah, and Amber’s not even 12 yet," Frankie giggled. "They’re precocious."

"I’m a little surprised though," Missy said, "because I’ve heard Rosa—and Cassie’s sister, Tanya—giggle about boys a thousand times."

"Oh, Rosa likes boys," Frankie said. "Amber does, too. But the way Amber put it to me was, ‘Neither of us have a boyfriend, boys our age are all clueless right now, so why not have some fun?’"

"The biggest problem was that they invited Tanya to join in," Cassie said, "and Tan wasn’t interested. ‘Sex with girls? Yuck!’ was what she told me. But Tan and Rosa have been best friends for so long, I hope this doesn’t affect them."

"Frankie," Missy asked, "what did they do when you walked in?"

"Oh, I stood there for a good five minutes watching the show," he laughed. "Then I just walked past them, heading for the kitchen, and said, ‘Afternoon, girls.’ They freaked! Rosa was afraid I was going to tell Mama. I wouldn’t. I just wanted to talk to them to see what was up. They’re just experimenting, that’s all."

The conversation quieted down for a minute, then Missy said, "Cassie? I’m sorry. For last week. I’m so sorry I can’t tell you."

Good for her.

"Apology accepted," Cassie smiled. She hopped up on the wall next to Missy. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

"A lot of reasons. Jealousy. Hatred of the program. Petty bullshit."

"Did you really think my scars were gross?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, I did," Missy admitted. "Now, it just doesn’t seem important." She looked at Cassie, who was wearing one of her new belly shirts, scars showing and all. "Look, Cass, it really wasn’t you. Yes, I thought it was gross. And it also pissed me off that, even with all those scars, you naked was still a lot less gross than me naked."

Cassie looked shocked. "I know that you’re self-conscious about your body…."

"Self-conscious?" Missy snorted. "Try self-loathing. I hate my body. Well, I used to. I’m not sure if I do anymore. But, yeah, last week, I hated my body with a passion. That’s where a lot of the jealousy comes in. You had issues, but you obviously didn’t hate your body."

"There was one other thing," Missy said. "I was hurt." Cassie looked at her. "We’re supposed to be best friends. Not only did I not know about the scars, I didn’t even know you’d been in a serious accident. You’d never told me. That hurt."

"You know what?" Cassie said. "You’re right. That was wrong of me. I should’ve trusted you with it long ago." She looked at Missy. "The pictures and stuff. That was Laura’s idea, wasn’t it?"

"No way," Missy said, "I am not playing pass the buck. We were both in on it." I very much admired her for answering that question that way.

"It was Laura’s idea, wasn’t it?" Cassie persisted.

"Yes," Missy admitted.

"I thought so." She turned to me. "She allows herself to be manipulated. It comes from being manipulated by her parents. She’s a bitch to most people—but people that she wants to be close to—parents, close friends—she allows them to manipulate her. Laura took advantage of it quite a bit, but if I told you I never took advantage of it, I’d be lying."

"You would’ve been proud of me last night," Missy said. "Dad was being his usual pompous hypocritical self—and I finally threw his affairs back in his face."

"You’re kidding!" Cassie gasped. "Good for you."

"I’m sick of being manipulated," Missy said.

"Good," Cassie replied. "I’ll try very hard not to do it to you."

"And I’ll try very hard not to dump my shit on you. Because I do that far too often. Including last week. I just wish I could take it all back."

"You just did," Cassie smiled. "We’ll see you later." She got up, took Frankie’s hand, and walked into the school.

I think I just wanted to burst.

First, I had David giving me a fantastic orgasm. Then, I had a wonderful talk with Cassie.

I admit it, David took me by surprise. He really took me by surprise. I didn’t expect it. Even after what I did yesterday for him, I didn’t expect it. And it was wonderful. I didn’t know how wonderful it could be.

It was time to start adjusting my attitude towards sex, I think. Good thing I didn’t ask for that vaginaectomy! It felt so good, and when I hugged him afterwards—well, wow!

And then Cassie came along. And I had the guts to apologize. And she had the class to accept it. And we had a nice talk.

You know what? That morning, sitting on that wall, for the first time in a very long time—my life didn’t look like a complete fucking disaster. My best friend was speaking to me again. I had a good sexual experience. And then there was Dave.

And how did I feel about Dave? That is one hell of a question. Whatever the feelings were—they were getting stronger, seemingly, by the minute. But I didn’t want to get my hopes up, didn’t want to get out of control. This guy hated me four days ago. I didn’t count on him feeling anything more than friendship—and that might have been a stretch.

But, whatever happened, I was not going to let it get me down.

David sat on the wall next to me. "You OK?"

"Yeah. I’m real OK," I grinned at him. "You have very talented hands."

"It’s all that trumpet and saxophone playing," he grinned.

"Well, wouldn’t that be even a bigger benefit for your mouth?"

"Hmmm. Good question. You’ll have to tell me someday," he grinned. OoooOOOOooooo!!!!! Was that a joke or a promise? I hoped the latter! "Anyhow," he continued, "I’m glad you and Cassie have patched things up."

"Well, we’ve started," I said. "I think it’s going to take more than one conversation. I did too much damage to both of us. But it was a damn good start."

"You know what?" he said. "You are not the same person I knew before this week."

"I hope not," I said. "The thing is, I’ve been naked all week. But it hasn’t just been physical."

"Yeah, I know," he said.

"I used to avoid looking at my body because it repulsed me. I’ve been forced to look at it all week. And one thing I discovered is that the inside was more repulsive than the outside." I sighed. "I’ve been focusing all my self-loathing on my body—and my body was never the real problem."

"Didn’t I try to tell you that?" he grinned.

"Yeah. Go ahead and gloat," I grinned back.

"Missy. There’s a good person in there. You just have to find her."

I thought about that one. I thought hard for a minute. I think I needed help looking for her. But I didn’t say that to him. There was going to be no pushing this, I knew that.

"Anyhow, here comes the crowd, and it’s ten minutes to first bell. Ready to strip?" he asked.

"Yeah, but would you, you know, do me again like yesterday?" I asked hesitantly.

"Only if you do me too," he grinned.

"Gladly!" I stood up, and reached for the hem of his shirt. I stripped it off him, then moved to the pants. Getting them off him, I moved to his boxer shorts. I didn’t have to take them off to realize he was as hard as a rock. When I did get them off, I realized he was really hard!

"You need relief," I giggled.

"I think you’re right," he smiled. "You got me all worked up."

"How did I do that?" I said, standing up.

"The look in your eyes when you came." Wow!

He started taking my shirt off. "I thought you were shy." I said.

"I thought you were a bitch," he replied, laughing.

He was taking off my bra. "I think you bring out the best in me," I admitted.

"Yeah. You might do the same for me," he replied. He was taking off my skirt. My panties had been off for some time.

"You didn’t wear panties?" someone from the crowd yelled.

"Yes, but he took those off earlier, so he could get his hand between my legs," I giggled. David just blushed!

We started walking into school. "Jared and Amanda did that for each other during their Program week," David told me. "You know, undressing each other. Jared told me it was great. He was right."

"Yeah, he was," I agreed. "You made my morning, you know," I told him. He beamed at me.

"Well, Cassie helped," he said.

"True, but it was mostly you." We came to the point in the hall where we had to go to our separate classes. "See you next period."

"See you," and he leaned over and gave my cheek a little kiss. Even with the no-PDA rules!

I walked to my first class, and I could not stop smiling!

I had a lot on my mind as I walked to my first class. The first thing was a very intense need for relief! I requested such, and got it, first period.

Now that my hormones had stopped screaming in my ear, I could think about other things. And I realized Missy was right. We did bring out the best in one another. I had no problems talking to her, my shyness just evaporated around her. And she’d gotten so much nicer in the few days we’d been hanging around together.

I think my mind was still groping towards the inevitable conclusion—somehow, something had happened during this week—and the result was that I liked this girl.

How the hell did that happen?

Anyhow, I got to second period, and there she was. "Did you get relief?" she teased.

"Well, yeah," I admitted.

"Good." We sat in our seats. The class went on, and, at one point, I felt her looking at me. I turned—and, yes, she indeed was looking at me. With a shit-eating grin on her face.

She wasn’t mooning. I’d seen mooning. There are times when Jared looks at Amanda, or vice-versa, and it looks like someone worshipping at the Madonna of Lourdes, or something. You know, that’s them two—that’s how they are. But, since I was still working out how I felt about Missy, if she had looked at me like that, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been spooked.

But she didn’t. She looked at me as if she was sizing me up, and liked what she saw. That I could deal with. I even enjoyed it. I gave her a big grin back.

After that class was out, we got called down to Mr. Tilling’s office. We looked at each other.

"I wonder what this is about," I asked.

"Maybe about what happened yesterday, or the day before," Missy said. We headed to the office. Not only Mr. Tilling, but Ms. T was there.

"Sit, you two," Mr. Tilling said. "First, Missy, I want to know how you’re holding up."

"OK," she said. "Today has been good, actually. I had a nice long talk with Cassie outside before school."

"Now that is good news!" Mr. Tilling enthused.

"I apologized to her," Missy added.

"That’s even better news," Ms. T added.

"I agree," Mr. Tilling said. "Now, the first thing I want to say to you is that your experience has made us rethink things. You needed to be punished for what you did last week, but putting you through The Program as punishment was a mistake. We’re going to look at other ways of dealing with problem students."

"Well, it wasn’t a total mistake," Missy said. I looked at her in surprise. "The abuse and assault and stuff, yeah. But a lot of the rest of it—well, it’s helped. It’s helped me take a long look at myself."

"That’s good, but it should’ve been less painful," Ms. T said. "How are you, by the way, down there? Is it better?"

"Oh, yeah, it’s way better," Missy giggled with a little glance at me. I had to stifle a laugh myself. I don’t know if Mr. Tilling spotted anything—but Ms. T, I think, did. "No, I’m fine. Doesn’t hurt at all."

"Good," Ms. T said with a little chuckle. "And how’s your face, David?"

"Fine. It looks worse than it is. Then again, that’s normal for me," I quipped.

"Your face looks fine," Missy replied. "Better than fine. Well, not now, but, you know, normally," she giggled.

"You don’t like my badge of honor?" I laughed at her, pointing to my black eye.

"Well, since you got it defending my honor, yes, I like it a lot," she giggled. "But you’ll look better when it’s gone."

I noticed Mr. Tilling and Ms. T giving each other a little grin during this exchange!

"Now, Missy, the bad news is, we still have no idea who assaulted you on Tuesday."

Missy nodded, resigned. "And I’ll bet you never find out. You know what? If I knew who did it, I don’t know if I would’ve turned him in. Well, I might now, but not before."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Tilling said.

"Before you said what you said about The Program and punishment, I would’ve assumed that, if you caught him, you’d use The Program to punish him." Missy took a big breath. "And, quite frankly, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. It has done me some good. Maybe if you had done it privately, without letting the whole school know I was in it as punishment."

"I did that because your offense against Cassie was public. I can see where it was a mistake, though. I did want to see you out of it after Tuesday," Mr. Tilling said.

"Yeah, and that’s another problem," Missy said. "Parents have far too much control in dealing with The Program. You saw what happened Tuesday, and your decision should’ve been allowed to stick."

"Well, that’s complicated," Mr. Tilling said.

"My father threatened your job, didn’t he?" Missy asked.

Mr. Tilling looked startled. Then he said, "Yes, Missy, he did. But that’s not why I relented. He could’ve tried for my job. I work for the superintendent of schools, not the city council. He would’ve had a hell of a fight on his hands if he tried for my job when I was acting in what I felt were the best interests of a student under my care." He took a breath. "Unfortunately, what I couldn’t ignore is he threatened to sue the school system. And the case history about schools usurping ‘parental control’ lead me to believe that your father would have won, and easily. That’s one drawback of openness in school, like the Naked in School Program. Because of this, the courts have swung full-force on the side of parental rights. That’s a battle we’d lose."

"I see your dilemma, and I understand why you had to give in," Missy said. Then she started to cry.

"What?" I asked her, as Mr. Tilling and Ms. T looked on with concern.

"There are just times when I wish I had someone on my side," she sniffled. "And, no offense, Mr. Tilling, but I mean someone who could win one for me."

"What are you talking about?" Mr. Tilling. "You mean win one against your parents?"

"That’s exactly what I mean."

"But they’re your parents!" Mr. Tilling said. "I don’t necessarily agree with your father’s methods, but he’s a well-regarded member of the community."

"You don’t understand," she sniffled.

Mr. Tilling and Ms. T looked at each other. Then Ms. T went to Mr. Tilling’s desk and rummaged around, finally finding a business card. "Missy, I think you need to talk to someone, and not either of us." She handed Missy the business card. "You know Mike Kirkland, right?" Missy nodded. "His mother, Ellie, is one of the best child psychologists in the country, and she works mostly with adolescents. I want you to call her, and make an appointment to talk. Tell her the school sent you, we’ll pick up the tab. "

"As soon as you can," Mr. Tilling said. "And during school hours is fine, you can come here and get a note. In fact, would you like me to call and set up an appointment?"

Missy looked at him, then at Ms. T, then at me. "From what I’ve seen of your mother, at least—well, you know, I don’t think it could hurt."

Missy took a deep breath. "Do it," she said. Mr. Tilling smiled, and made the call. Missy got an appointment for tomorrow morning.

I was a little shook up after that meeting. But, you know what? I did need someone to talk to. And I knew Mike Kirkland’s mom had a good reputation—in fact, I knew that Cassie had talked to her about something that was bothering her, and that she had helped. I didn’t know what at the time, but I’m guessing it was the scars. But Cassie said that Ellie Kirkland was great and easy to talk to.

David was right. It couldn’t hurt. I was so confused at this point that not much could hurt.

After our meeting, I had to go to art. Dave gave my hand a little squeeze before he headed off in the opposite direction. That was nice and reassuring.

I got into art. We’d not done any drawing this week so far, we’d been discussing the life drawings we had done last week. Now, I wanted to take all the horrible drawings I had done of Cassie and burn them. I wanted a do-over. Ah, well. Anyhow, we were discussing something about angles and bodytypes and stuff, when Natalie Weinberg, the best artist in the class—probably in the school--said, "You know what? I’d like to draw Missy."

WHAT?!?!?

"I think that’s up to Missy," Mrs. Taylor, the teacher, said. "This hasn’t been an easy week for her. Why would you like to draw her, Nat?"

"Because she’s got a completely different bodytype than Frankie or Cassie," Natalie said. "There’s a lot more interesting curves and shadows. I think I could do a bang-up job drawing her, and I’d like a crack at it. "

Why? Just draw a blob with a head on it. I didn’t say that, though. I turned to Natalie, and said, "You want to draw me?"

"Yeah, I want to draw you," Natalie smiled.

"I do, too," Cassie piped up. "I haven’t gotten to draw a naked girl yet, since the only naked girl that’s posed is me," she giggled.

Did I dare? There were probably people in this class who were looking at the opportunity to draw me as an opportunity to further humiliate me. I knew that. But Cass, after this morning, I don’t think was one of them. And I knew Natalie wasn’t. She was too good, and it was too important to her. If she said she wanted to draw me, then she did.

I sighed, and got up and walked to the front of the class.

"Let me think of a pose," she said. I ended up on the couch. Lying, profile, which didn’t thrill me—but Natalie said it was perfect. I was on my back, my head propped up by a pillow up against the arm of the couch. My left side was to the class. My hands were folded over my stomach. My right—back—leg was bent at the knee, but my left leg was straight on the couch. I was looking straight ahead—in other words, up. It looked like I was lying deep in thought.

Which I was. I kept thinking that I hoped I didn’t regret this.

Then she had an idea of another one. And oh my GOD where did she get this one? She had me lean against a wall that she had on the platform. My left forearm was up against the wall, bent at the elbow. She had me put my right hand on my right hip. Then she had me jut the hip out. And then she had me tilt my head slightly towards my bent left arm, look out at the class, and smile.

Jesus! This was a come-hither pose! Well, it would’ve been if I were capable of such a thing! What was she thinking?

"You need to look alluring," Mrs. Taylor said.

"You want alluring, you need another model," I laughed.

"Oh stop it," Cassie yelled out. "Here’s a trick—just think of David," she giggled. "That’s your bedroom door, and Dave’s walking in."

I looked at her in absolute shock.

"Don’t give me that," she laughed. "I saw the look in your eyes this morning. Now pose! And think of David!"

My God, was I that transparent? Well, apparently I was, at least to Cassie. I guess best friends know you best. So, I took her advice. I thought of Dave. I don’t know if it made me look any more ‘alluring’, but it certainly felt nice!

Anyhow, we got done, and I got off the platform, and was able to look at the class’s drawings. Yes, some people took out their resentments of me on the paper. There were a couple of drawings of blobs with a head. Fuck it. It was better than getting whacked in the pussy.

Frankie’s, actually, were nice. Cassie’s were more than nice! Cassie’s not a great artist, but she’s good. I looked at the second one, and said, "Did I really look that happy?"

"Yes, you did," she grinned.

Then I came to Natalie, and I couldn’t breathe. The first one was stupendous enough. But the second one? Somehow, she did make me look alluring—but it still looked like me.

"How do you do that?" I gasped in wonder.

"I don’t just draw what I see, I draw what I feel," she smiled at me. "When Cass told you to think of David—well, I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like some kind of new-age hippie, but your whole aura changed. And that’s what I drew."

"I am stunned," I said. Then I noticed she was still drawing. She was making a copy of that second drawing.

"What’s that for?" I asked.

"You’ll see," she grinned. "Actually, the copy’s for me. It’s the original I need for something."

I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. Just then, the bell rang. Time for lunch.

I headed down, found a table, and Dave quickly joined me. Then Jared and Amanda joined us. Then Frankie and Cassie! Cassie sat down right next to me.

"Do you mind?" she asked.

"Of course not!"

Then the whole gang of theirs crowded around the table! Mike, Lily, Ed, Natalie, Maggie, all of them. I was absolutely stunned.

"Hey," Cassie said to me, "tell Dave what just happened in art."

"Oh," I blushed. "Cassie and Natalie talked me into posing."

"That’s great!" Dave said. "Did it go OK?"

"Yeah, it went really well," afraid to say anything more. Well, I didn’t have to.

"You should’ve seen it," Natalie told Dave. "Mrs. Taylor put her in this come-hither pose, and told her to look alluring. She said she couldn’t. So Cassie told her to think of you." Dave blushed at that! "You know what? It worked," Natalie grinned. Then I saw it in her hands. She wasn’t. She was! "When she was thinking of you, that is what she looked like," Natalie continued, and handed over the drawing she had just made. "Since that look was for you, I figured you should have it. I made a copy for myself."

David stared at the drawing for a good long couple of minutes. Then he looked at me. Then he looked at the drawing again. He was swallowing furiously, like he had a lump in his throat. Then he looked at me again! I couldn’t identify the look in his eyes. Then he looked at Natalie. "Nat," he croaked, "would you mind signing this for me?"

"My pleasure," Natalie smiled, and produced a pen, and signed the drawing. Dave smiled at her, and stared at the picture again. Then, suddenly, clutching the drawing, he got up. "Be right back," he said to me, and flew out of the cafeteria.

"What got into him?" Jared asked.

"I don’t know," I said, but I was afraid of the answer. Luckily, he was back in less than five minutes, carrying a cardboard tube.

"It was going to get ruined," he smiled at me, "so I went down to ask Mrs. Taylor if she had anything to put it in until I got home. She rolled it up carefully for me and put it in this. I want this on my wall."

He DID?

"If you’re going to hang it, you want to mount it on board and cover it with acrylic, so it doesn’t smudge," Natalie told him. "I’ve got both, if you need it. And hang it in a place that doesn’t get a whole lot of direct sunlight."

"I’ll take you up on that," Dave smiled. He handed the tube back to Natalie, who promised to get it to him soon.

"You’re really going to hang it up?" I said softly.

"Yes," he smiled. "You were really thinking about me?"

"Yeah," I blushed. He just grinned at me.

All right, things had been kind of building in my mind for at least the past couple of days. But the picture—well, that’s when I knew.

I had seen that look. It was the look she gave me right after she came under my hand this morning. But, you know, that was post-orgasmic and all that good stuff. This wasn’t. This was just from thinking of me. And to see it on paper like that? Drawn by someone as talented as Natalie Weinberg? It was like a punch to the gut.

That’s when I knew. Something was happening between us. I wasn’t quite sure what, but it was something.

You bet your ass it was going on my wall. Nobody had ever looked at me like that. Even if it was by proxy.

The bell rang, and we headed for Bio. I reached out for her hand as we walked. She happily accepted it. I could hear Jared and Amanda giggling behind us. I didn’t mind.

The rest of the day passed nicely, and we went outside to get dressed. Missy offered me a ride home again.

"Do you drive?" she asked.

"Yeah, but we only have one car, so I have to fight Mom for it," I laughed.

"Good. So now I get to play chauffeur."

"You keep volunteering!" I teased her.

"I know," she laughed. "You’re good company."

"So are you," I said. She shot me a grateful smile. We got to my house.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked her.

"I’d love to, but I really shouldn’t. I’ll walk you, though," she said.

"Isn’t the boy supposed to walk the girl to her door?" I laughed.

"Who cares?" she giggled, and took my hand as we went up my walk. "I’d love to come in, but unfortunately I have tons of homework I’m behind on. And I want to get a good night’s sleep before I see Ellie Kirkland in the morning."

"Yes. Good luck with that, by the way." She just smiled. Then I did it. "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?"

"YES!" she shouted. Then she giggled. "Oops. Was that too eager?"

"No," I laughed. We were at my door. I looked at her. "Missy, is it all right if I kiss you?"

"I really wish you would," she whispered. So I did. A nice long one. I’d kissed the odd girl or two, but not like this. I felt it from head to toe.

After we broke the kiss, I saw it, for real. That look. And then she stared laughing.

"What’s so funny?" I asked.

"You asked for permission to kiss me, but you didn’t ask permission this morning!"

"You’re right," I laughed. "Then again, you didn’t ask for permission yesterday, either."

"True," she giggled, then she leaned up and said, "Do I need to ask permission to kiss you again?"

"No," I smiled, and so she did. It was as good as the first.

Reluctantly breaking it, she said, "Oh, I wish I didn’t have to go, but I do."

"I know."

"See you later," she said, heading down the walk. "Oh, and don’t forget, I won’t be there in the morning so you have to take the bus and strip by yourself."

"I suppose I’ll live," I grinned. She grinned back, waved, got in her car, and was gone. I went into the house.

"Nice show," Mom said, grinning, the minute I walked in.

"Were you spying on me?" I said in mock-horror.

"Absolutely. I heard the car door and was coming to the front door to welcome you. Good think I looked out the window first, to make sure it was you. And saw some serious kissing," she laughed.

"Damn nosy mothers," I laughed.

"So, what’s going on?"

"Something. Not quite sure what yet." I told her about all the events of the day.

"Wow, that picture hit you hard, didn’t it?" she said.

"Wait until you see it."

I helped her make supper, we ate, and we were just lounging around, chatting, when there was a knock on the door. I went to open it. "Hey, Nat!"

"Hey, Dave. I didn’t want to lug this into school, so I brought it over." She had the picture with her, properly mounted and laminated.

"Wow, that was fast!"

"I knew you wanted it," Natalie grinned.

"Hey, Mom, this is Natalie. Nat, this is my Mom."

"Nice to meet you," Mom said. "Is this the artist?"

"This is she," I said. I held up the picture for my Mom to see.

"Wow. WOW!" she said. "That’s two wows for a reason. One is because you are incredibly talented, Natalie."

"Thank you," she blushed.

"The other wow was for that look! David, you weren’t kidding, were you?"

"Nope."

"Well, I’ve got to go," Natalie said. "Ed’s waiting for me at his house. And he gets very impatient," she giggled. "I just wanted to drop this off."

"Thanks a lot, Nat. See you in school tomorrow."

"See you," she grinned, and she was off.

"Ed Bauer?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, Nat is Ed’s girlfriend."

"This is something else," Mom said, still staring at the picture. "You, my son, are in big, big trouble," she grinned.

"You know what? Somehow, I don’t seem to mind." She laughed, and I took the picture upstairs and hung it.

--end of part four—