Then Maggie told me what they had talked about last night. And was very happy to see we had come to the same conclusion. Damn, I love that girl like a sister. And, yes, I finally told her that. And, yes, she finally told me that. We almost started bawling in the middle of the damn mall.
Then, as I said, we watched some football at Jared’s house. Jared said that watching it wasn’t as fun as watching high school football.
"But these are pros," his Dad said. "I mean, I like high school football, too, but this is a different level."
"Ah, screw that," Jared said. "Who cares about the game? I’m looking for the gorgeous red-headed naked cheerleader. I don't see any."
I had to laugh. His mother threw a pillow at him!
So, that’s the story of Jared and me going through The Program. Yes, we’re still together. We’re still crazy in love. We’ve restricted our extracurricular activities to the odd friendship fuck with a very small list of people-and that’s rare. We do have a great capacity for sharing, but we use it sparingly-because we prefer sharing with each other.
And, yes, we still enjoy nudity. We go to school nude quite a bit. We’ve made a few more nude appearances at The Mariner. And I’ll go over his house and we’ll spend all day long with no clothes on. Even when we’re out of bed! And, yes, I still spend the night at his house, a couple times a week. We try not to really abuse that privilege, but we’ve discovered that if we go too long without waking up in each other’s arms, we get antsy.
And, I don’t think my parents mind too much. (I know his don’t-they keep telling me I’m like their daughter. I love his parents!) Because it’s given them more time alone to repair their relationship. I thought they were talking it through. I guess they were doing other things besides talking-because one of my Christmas "presents" was that I found out that, in July, I’m going to have a whole new role in my life. I’m going to be a big sister! Yup, Mom’s pregnant. What a complete shock that was. But Mom and Dad are over the moon about it. And I’m happy, too. It’s pretty weird that my first sibling is going to be born right in the general vicinity of my 17th birthday-but it’s cool, too.
The Program did continue, thank goodness. And many of our friends got picked. Actually, we didn’t have too many close friends get picked over the winter, but in the spring it seemed like one after the other-starting at the end of March with Mike Kirkland, a pal of mine whose best friend is Ed Bauer. And what a week Mike had!
But, that’s his story to tell.
MIKE AND LILY NAKED IN SCHOOL
PART ONE MONDAY
Shit, hell, and damnation.
I had come into school on the Monday of my most important week since I came to Westport High, and I got called down to the office.
And I knew what it was. The Goddamn Program.
I’m Lily Woodard. I had only been in Westport since Christmas-and it was the end of March, so it hadn’t been that long. We moved here from the Boston area-where, at my school, I had been Big Chick On Campus. Being uprooted in the middle of my junior year was no fun, but Dad got a great job opportunity here that he couldn’t turn down. I understood.
But I was a nobody here at Westport. You move in mid-year, and nobody knows you. The friendships and the little clubs and the cliques had all been formed, and you were on the outside looking in.
That was fine. I knew who I was, what I was capable of. I knew I’d have my chance to shine. And that chance started this week. But not if I was going into The Program!
Look, I have nothing against The Program. When I came to Westport, and heard about it, and read the brochures, I thought it was a neat idea. We didn’t have anything like it in my old school. Now, don’t misunderstand me, Boston’s always been a pretty liberal place, and with the recent loosening of society’s mores, it’s a really liberal place. Walking past two people fucking on Boston Common in the middle of the afternoon isn’t unheard of. And you’d occasionally stumble past a mad boinking on the grounds of my old school. But they didn’t have anything specifically like The Program there.
And, like I said, I thought it was a great idea. I’d seen how it worked. I had the program director, Ms. T, for biology first period, so any time we had a participant in class, I’d see how it worked. I even got asked to give one of my classmates some relief one morning, which I gladly did, and thought it was fun. I’m not a prude, nor am I ashamed of my body. I’ve had sex, enjoyed it, and can’t wait to do it again. And I wouldn’t mind at all participating in The Program.
But not this week.
Which is what I tried to explain to Mr. Tilling, the principal.
"Look, Mr. Tilling, I’m not asking to get out of this, at all! I want to do The Program-just not this week! All I’m asking for is a postponement."
"Lily, the only acceptable excuses for postponement are illness, or something important that’s going to keep you out of school for most or all of the week."
"What about a very important school activity that I can’t do in the nude?"
"What can’t you do in the nude?" he asked.
"Throw a baseball. Tryouts are this week for the team. I’m planning on trying out. I’m a pitcher. And I’ve never tried to pitch in the nude, and I don’t see how I can do it with these things flapping around!" I poked at my boobs.
"Baseball? You? A girl has never played baseball at Westport High."
"So, I’ll be the first. I pitched for my old school. Varsity. Both years, that includes freshman year. I’m good, and I aim to prove it. But I can’t see how I can do that if I can’t at least wear a sports bra during tryouts to retain these things."
"Sorry, Lily. No sports bras. Look, this is a high-level baseball team. The competition in our conference is incredible. Why don’t you try softball, instead? That’s next week."
"Because I don’t play softball, I play baseball!"
Just then, the door opened. A guy walked in. I didn’t know him, but I’d seen him around school. "Hey, Mr. Tilling," he said. "Don’t tell me, let me guess. The Program?"
"The Program. And this is your partner. Lily Woodard, Mike Kirkland." He came over to me, big smile, and shook my hand. I forced a smile and shook back.
"OK, you two. Let’s go. Off with everything."
Damn. He wasn’t going to let me off the hook. Damn his stupid rules-and damn his prejudices. This was because I was a girl.
Look, I didn’t expect smooth sailing. I knew there’d be resistance. I was lucky-the guys on my old school’s team were largely guys I’d played with since Little League. I didn’t have to prove anything to them, because we moved right up the ladder together. But girls playing baseball past Little League-especially with the explosion in softball programs-was a novelty. But I figured I’d prove myself. Until this.
I stripped off my clothes in a huff, rolled them in a ball. I practically threw them at Mr. Tilling. I stormed out of his office. The other kid-Mike-was right behind me.
The usual crowd of gawkers was out in the halls, clapping and cheering. I knew the rules. They were going to watch. If they were going to grope, I had to let them. But the crowd must have picked up the waves of frustration rolling off me, because they pretty much kept their distance.
Mike caught up with me. "Hey, you seem really upset with this."