Naked In School

"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.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN MISSY

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!"