Instead of throwing her graduation cap up in the air, as she indicated in her speech notes, Camille instead grabbed her gown, and pulled it up over her head.
Underneath the gown was… Camille. Nothing else.
Loud cheers, hoots, and whistles greeted Camille’s flash. Before anybody could do anything, the gown came back down, almost exactly as it had been before, her arms in the correct sleeves.
Later on, I would find out that there were some noises made about rescinding Camille’s diploma due to her scandalous display during the commencement, but I think that Mr. Yank was secretly amused by Camille’s antics. The coup de grace was when Camille gave him an itemized list of similar events that happened without repercussions in the past, including having a streaker interrupt the ceremony the previous year (the fact that Camille had supposedly been that streaker wasn’t mentioned on Camille’s list). In the end, Camille got her diploma without any problem.
After the commencement, Camille, Lynette, Patty, Toby, Wendy, Gerry, Roy, Jill, Archy, June, Kristen, and I had a party at our apartment.
For this party, we used the standard cheerleader rules: all sex was all right, as long as it was consensual and if multiple couples were involved, they needed to have the approval of all parties concerned. There was a half bottle of wine distributed to each couple (Camille and Lynette being considered a couple), which Kristen had made with a special “CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 1975!” celebratory label. We figured a half bottle of wine per couple would allow celebration but still avoid drunken carousing.
Kristen gave Lynette her freedom for the party, and I specifically told Archy and June that the guest bedroom was theirs for the night and for up to a week, if they wanted it. Kristen made a phone call and found out that the villa on Lake Michigan was available for the week, and when she told everybody, we all agreed it was a wonderful idea, so Kristen reserved it.
Before we left the apartment, Jackie and Maria visited us with their dates. Those two were going to be heading next year’s cheerleaders, with Jackie replacing Lynette as head cheerleader, and Maria replacing Camille as co-captain.
They were “inducted” to their positions by Lynette and Camille where Jackie and Maria were ordered to earn their status as “head” cheerleaders by performing head on all party members, male or female, that wanted to audition them.
Kristen and Camille both asked me if I was going to at least “try” Jackie. I turned them down. This got me a few strange looks, but neither one of them decided to push it.
I was able to spend a few moments alone with Patty, who looked ravishing in a light purple dress that she borrowed from Kristen. “That outfit looks great on you,” I said.
“Thanks, Jim,” Patty said, giving me a warm smile.
We made idle chit chat while Toby was out of sight. Patty knew my unasked question. “He’s in the bedroom with Maria.”
“You don’t mind?” I asked.
Patty shrugged. “We’re not really romantically involved. It would be stupid of me to get jealous over Toby.”
I laughed.
“I saw Kristen and Cammy try to get you to go with Jackie,” Patty said, her face smiling.
“It’s not my thing,” I said.
This elicited a huge laugh from Patty, which drew almost everybody’s attention, since Patty wasn’t normally somebody to burst out like that. “Since the Senior Weekend, people would think that you’d be the last person to turn Jackie down.”
“I didn’t turn her down,” I corrected Patty.
“No,” Patty admitted, looking thoughtful.
A couple of minutes were passed in silence. When Patty thought that people’s attention to us had waned, she said, quietly, “You turned Kris and Cammy down.”
“It’s not the same thing…” I started to say.
“I know, Jim,” Patty interrupted. “It would be different if Jackie asked you herself.”
I shrugged. I knew that Patty knew the way I felt, and could almost read my mind, so I didn’t have much to hide from her. “I probably wouldn’t do it today even if she asked.”
“Sex is special to you,” Patty observed. “I knew that when I saw you in the lingerie store last year.”
This resulted in a laugh from me. “You knew something that I didn’t know, Patty. At the time, I thought sex was something cheap. At least, with my… you know… I could have it at any time.”
Patty nodded, knowing about my magical tickets. “In your own way, Jim, you opened my eyes. I was… I guess I was angry at all guys. I didn’t trust anybody. Then you came out of nowhere and showed me that I could have fun… that I could… you know.”
This conversation was getting uncomfortable for me. Patty had always attributed the fact that she finally got over her rape two years previous from my taking advantage of Camille, Wendy, and her nine months ago. In private, I tried to work out what it was or how I managed to do that for Patty. I had always figured that it was a side-effect of her being given a ticket.
Patty put her arms around my shoulder and started to walk away, dragging me with her. We walked out of the apartment and into my practice room… the one place that was sacrosanct in the apartment.
Once we were inside, Patty said, “I can’t tell you how much you have done for me, Jim. I’ve tried in the past, but the words don’t seem to fit. You think it was the tickets, and maybe the tickets helped, but it was you.”
I shook my head. “I really don’t understand, Patty.”
Patty looked into my eyes and finally nodded. “You don’t. Perhaps some day you will.”
I didn’t answer Patty.
Patty didn’t say anything more. She simply kissed me.
Surprised by Patty’s action, I tried to pull away, but Patty seemed to expect that and pulled me back. Her kiss wasn’t overtly sexy—we didn’t exchange tongues as I did with June, Camille, and Kristen. Despite that, Patty’s kiss was totally erotic to me.
All too soon, Patty pulled away.
I looked at the red head, my mouth was open in shock.
“I shall forever be your friend, Jim.”
The way that Patty said that, I had a distinct feeling that I would never be lonely for the rest of my life.
Back upstairs, I saw Jackie mingling around. She was topless and wearing only panties. I have always admired the nude form—well, ever since I first saw Merry’s not quite a year ago—and smiled at Jackie.
“Hey, Jim,” Jackie said, not the least embarrassed at her nudity.
“Hi, Jackie.”
“One of these days, maybe I’ll beat Cammy’s record.”
I knew that Jackie was talking about her cousin’s legendary sexual exploits, and I also knew that Jackie said it in jest. However, a part of me felt a bit angry that she would talk about my friend that way. I decided to let my anger pass, and after a moment or two, I said, “You seem a lot different than you did back at the villa. Is that what happens when they make you the leader of the cheerleaders?”
Jackie’s face turned serious. “I was a bit of a prude at the party because of my EX-boyfriend, Steve.” Jackie nearly spat the syllable “EX.”
I nodded, not knowing what to say.
“Steve’s the kind of person that if you give him any kind of opportunity, he’d end up treating a girl like a whore. I didn’t realize that about him until we were already at the party. I apologized to Kristen about the beer, you know.”
Mentioning the beer started to get me angry again. I took a deep breath to maintain my composure.
“Jim, I’m very sorry for Steve’s behavior at your party. You and Kristen spent a lot of money for us to have a good time, and the one rule you imposed on us was pissed all over by Steve, and I guess myself.”