1

The Exchange

Chapter One

1

Intro, no sex

Betsy Bryant sat in the second to last row in the auditorium. The pretty 15-year-old watched, without much interest, as the seats around her filled with her fellow students. All the kids at the high school dressed almost identically. This was quite a difference to how the auditorium looked just two weeks before when it was obvious amongst the riot of color just who belonged to which clique. That assembly had put a stop to that because it was then that Mrs. Dowling, the principal, had announced to arrival of the Uniforms.

Now all the boys wore black slacks, burgundy shirts with a black blazer and a black and burgundy striped tie. The girls’ uniforms were less simple. Like every girl in the auditorium, Betsy now wore a burgundy band holding back her blond hair. She also wore a burgundy blouse and black blazer, but instead of slacks, Betsy wore a short, pleated, black and burgundy kilt.

A little too short, Betsy thought, it was bad enough when she was standing up and the hem of the kilt extended barely past her blazer. This left her thighs mostly uncovered (instead of panty hose, girls were now required to wear white socks that reached to their knees and patent leather shoes with fiddly little buckles; Betsy hated those as well). However, when she sat down it was even worse. Betsy attempted to sit in a position that would not cause the kilt to ride up and reveal the burgundy colored, thin cotton panties that the uniform rule mandated. If she succeeded this morning, it would be a first.

Betsy had been horrified at the end of the previous assembly at the announcement of the new uniforms. She was also surprised that her mother had not told her about them. She had wondered what the special “parents meeting” the night before had been about. This must have been the reason, she concluded.

At the end of that day Betsy had complained to both her mom and dad about, as she saw it, the grossly unfair rule. Her grievances had fallen on deaf ears. Only Betsy’s older sister, Candace, had listened. Candace allowed her little sister to complain, smirking in the knowledge that since she was already in community college, she would not have to put up with the humiliating outfit.

The uniform had been only the latest in a number of changes in the school since lessons had resumed after Christmas. Mrs. Dowling even dressed differently now. She was no longer comfortably dressed, but rather she was adorned in clothes with a dramatic flair and she seemed to move much more gracefully in them. Her frequent changes to the school had begun with the arrival of her new look.

Betsy wondered what this assembly was intended to change.

Almost all the seats in the auditorium were full now. Betsy scanned the crowd and spotted her friend, Colman. She waved at him when he looked up from the poetry book in which he was engrossed. Coleman smiled shyly and made his way towards the second to last row.

Betsy watched her friend approach. She had to admit to herself that the new uniform looked pretty good on him. For all his shyness and nerdy exterior, Coleman looked quite handsome in the boys’ uniform. The color of the shirt made his deep brown skin look like ebony. Betsy again tried to adjust her kilt so that she looked respectful.

Coleman sat awkwardly in the chair next to Betsy. “H-hi, Betsy” he said quietly, then looked away.

Betsy sighed. Colman was such a good friend, but his shyness was annoying at times.

“Hi Coleman” she replied, “What do you think this one’s going to be about?”

Coleman kept facing front “I think we’re about to find out”

Down in front of the stage, the entire faculty was taking their seats. Once every teacher had settled, the sound of Mrs. Dowling’s heels echoed around the room as the principal entered the auditorium from back stage.

Betsy sat back in her chair and waited to see what was to be announced.

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