Naked In School

"My Daddy’s the best," I told him, "but we kind of lead separate lives, too. Less so, now, but when Mom first ran off, well, he was upset himself. And he had to worry about Joe more."

"Does he know what you’re like?" Chuck asked me with a chuckle.

"A little, not the whole thing," I laughed back. "He knows I’m responsible, though. Vinny’s the only one that really knows what I’m like. He worries about me."

"Why?"

"Mom. Y’see, Mom couldn’t handle being with one man. That’s why she left. She got bored with Daddy. Vinny worries that I’m like that. Honestly, I worry about it, too. Leaving a man is one thing-leaving three kids, one of whom is only five, is another."

"Have you ever had an actual relationship?"

"Well, I’ve had steady fucks, but it’s never been exclusive."

"I don’t know if it has to be. I know Jared and Amanda aren’t completely exclusive."

"I couldn’t do that," I told him. "Believe it or not, I’m the jealous type. Look, I’m very good at giving my pussy away. I’m less good at giving my heart away. If I ever do it, I’d better be getting the other person’s heart back in return, and I mean completely. Because I think if I ever do fall in love, it’ll be with everything I’ve got. I’m not a halfway type of person."

"No, you are not," he laughed. "Have you ever come close? To falling in love, I mean."

"Once. Well, twice, almost. The first was Rick Ronning. We had one of those steady non-exclusive fuck relationships last year. I was thinking about asking him if he wanted to make it exclusive. I liked him a lot, I know that much. Before I worked up my nerve, he came and told me that he couldn’t be with me any more, because he was going out with Amy Purcell."

"Damn. Who was the other one?"

"That’s the tough one," I said. "It’s not that I almost did, it’s that I know I could, if circumstances were different." I took a deep breath. "Mike Kirkland."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But he’s never, ever thought of me that way, and I know it. We went to bed once, it was great, but that was it. And now he’s got Lily, and that one’s for life-even I can see that." I took a breath. "How about you?"

"Tara," he said sadly.

"Oh, damn, Chuck."

"I’m over it. Well, mostly. It’s hard to think of what if when you’re the one that blew it, you know?"

"Yeah."

There was a moment’s silence, and then he said, "Do you like it?"

"What?"

"Being the junior class slut."

I cracked up laughing. "Look, I like sex, I’m not going to lie."

"Yes, you do," he agreed with a laugh.

"Yup. But it has its disadvantages. Look, Rick Ronning’s a good example. I don’t think he ever even entertained having something with me other than a fuck buddy, because people don’t think of me that way. Even if I did want an actual relationship with someone, I don’t know if anyone would believe me. Including the guy I wanted the relationship with."

"That bothers you," he said.

"Yeah. I also don’t know if people think they can trust me."

"In other words, a guy would think that you’d be cheating."

"Exactly. My only consolation is that I’m young. Which is one of the reasons I am the way I am. I’m only 17-this is the time to sow wild oats, right?"

"You’ve sown enough for eight people," he laughed.

"Oh, thanks," I laughed back. "What about you? You looking for a steady relationship?"

"Here? With my reputation? I don’t think so. That, I think, is going to have to wait until I get out of high school, and get to college, where nobody thinks I’m The Mouth That Roared."

"I’m sorry for my part in that," I said sincerely.

"It wasn’t just you, and the first mistake was mine."

"I’m surprised to find you’re really a nice guy," I admitted. He laughed. "I’m not used to this, you know."

"Used to what?"

"Cuddling after sex." We were still wrapped around each other in the middle of the football field, my head up against his chest. "I usually get shown the door right after the event." I took a breath, and said, softly, "It’s nice."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I always thought you were hell on wheels. You’ve got a soft side."

"Keep that to yourself," I said. He laughed. "At least we’re friends now. It’ll make the rest of the week go better."

"Absolutely. Don’t tell Mr. Tilling, though, we don’t want to give him the satisfaction."

I cracked up laughing. "Good point. That’s all he needs. With all the program partners that have hooked up this year, he probably thinks he’s the matchmaker of all time."

"Yup," he agreed.

I took a deep breath, and said, "Chuck? I’m usually not Miss Discreet, but could you not tell anyone about this right away, please?"

"Sure," he said. "Like I said, I’ve learned my lesson."

"Well, like I said, I usually don’t care, but-well, it’s funny. It’s going to take a lot of people by surprise, and I’m not sure I want to deal with that. Plus-well, I think I have to tell Tara, and I don’t want her to hear it from somewhere else."

"OK."

"Thanks." I started to get out from his arms. "I have to go, now, though."

"OK." He stood up, and helped me up. "Maggie? Thanks. That was something else."

"You were something else yourself. Thanks for asking. It meant a lot," I admitted. "And thanks for afterwards. That meant a lot, too." I leaned up and kissed him. "See you tomorrow."

"I’ll be there."

I didn’t even bother to go back to the box to get my clothes. I’d get them tomorrow. I just wanted to get home. I got lots of cars honking at me on the way home, though! And when I walked in, I got a series of comments from Vinny. I just told him to shut up.

I grabbed some clothes up in my room, went down and ate dinner, then went back upstairs. I had to talk to someone. I called Amanda.

I told her what had happened. "You slept with Chuck?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you hated him?"

"So did I," I told her. I went into some of the things we had discussed about his reputation and stuff. "I believe him, you know. I think he made the one mistake with Tara, and it got out of hand."

"So, how was it?"

"Fantastic. And, afterwards, we cuddled and talked for quite a while. That’s new for me. And he told me he wanted me, not the other way around. This was not my usual experience, at all."

"You sound like you enjoyed it," Amanda pointed out.

"I did. It also confused the hell out of me."

Amanda gasped from the other end of the phone. "You like him!"

"I think I might. I don’t quite know yet. But I think I might."

"Now, this was unpredictable. After you bit his dick in bio, I figured that if you ever got together, it’d be with weapons."

I cracked up laughing. "Oh, you figured out what I did?"

"Yup," she laughed.

"It was bad of me. I apologized. I was just trying to score points."

"I take it that it was still working even after you damaged it," she cracked up.

"Oh, it was working just fine," I laughed back. "His tongue was working even better."

"So, you had a good afternoon," she told me.

"Yes I did. Now I just have to figure out what it means."

CHAPTER TWELVE CHUCK

I walked back out to the school entrance, fetched my clothes, and drove home.

I ate, then went up to do homework. I got some of it done, but found my mind wandering quite a bit.

Damn, she got under my skin. It was funny. I thought she was Miss Experience. In a lot of ways, of course, she was. But she doesn’t get cuddled after sex? I thought girls pretty much demanded that! This time, it was me that coaxed her into it. I’m glad I did, because it made her relax.

You see someone in school every day for a number of years. You hear about them. You know certain things about them. And then, in one afternoon, you find out how erroneous, or sketchy, or incomplete the knowledge is. Her about me, of course-with all the rumors about me, she had a wrong impression of me. But I found out a lot about her, too. It wasn’t that the information in her case was wrong, just incomplete. Woefully incomplete. She really is a lot softer than I ever would have guessed. And, though I wasn’t going to say this to her, a lot more vulnerable. And complex. Very complex. There were depths to this girl that I’d only seen the surface of.