"Tami, are you up there?" Cynthia Craig called out as she stood on the third step of the circular spiral staircase.

The T-shirt clad seventeen-year-old was a member of the high school's library squad. The object of her search, Tamika Ryan, was one of the squad's Lieutenants.

"Tami," she repeated as she moved up a few steps. "there's someone down here to see you."

"I'll be down in a minute," came a voice from the second floor storage room.

The long-haired redhead climbed back down the stairs and turned to face the girl on whose behalf she had been searching for Tami. There was an obvious animosity between the two girls, evident in both the way they looked at each other as well as the inflection in their voices.

"Tami will be right down," Cynthia said with disdain.

"Thank you," Laurie Murdock said with insincerity.

Ignoring the intended slight, Cynthia turned and left Laurie standing alone among the rows of books and periodicals. It was the first time the tall brunette had ever been in this part of the library and simple curiosity led her to check out some of the titles on the shelves.

The sound of sneakers on metal steps caused Laurie to look up and see Tami coming down the winding staircase. For the tenth time that morning, Laurie tried desperately to think of another way to solve her problem. As she had the previous nine attempts, the eighteen year old came up empty.

Stepping off the bottom rung, Tami turned and saw Laurie. If she had to pick the last person she ever expected to see in the research section of the library, Laurie Murdock was it.

"What do you want?" Tami said in a tone that clearly showed she shared Cynthia's opinion of Laurie.

"I need to talk to you," Laurie said, coming right to the point. "In private."

Tami's first thought was to tell Laurie to go to hell. Curiosity then got the better of her and she decided to see what the taller girl had to say.

"We can use the office in the back," Tami said. "It's about as private as you can get around here."

As the door to the office, which doubled as a lunch room for the squad, closed behind them, Tami jumped up onto the long desk and faced Laurie. It was obvious that the brunette was a girl with a problem.

"Okay, you have five minutes," Tami said, glancing down at her watch to emphasize the limit of her patience.

Despite the time limit, Laurie seemed in no hurry to get to the point. Instead, she took long moments to just look at Tami, getting the nerve to ask what she had to ask.

To an observer, Tami and Laurie were about as opposite as two girls could get. Laurie had long dark brown hair and stood five foot nine. Tami was four inches shorter with very short reddish brown hair. Laurie was also very full bodied with a bust that drew attention the minute she walked into view. Tami on the other hand had a small athletic form with modest, firm breasts. The final physical difference between the two was that Laurie had a tanned Mediterranean complexion while Tami had almost porcelain white skin, the result of her Amerasian heritage.

As great as they were, the physical differences were minor when compared to the difference in their personalities and lifestyles. Laurie was one of the most popular girls in school. Possibly the most. Captain of the cheerleader squad with a social calendar that read like a high school who's who, she was the odds on favorite to be crowned Prom Queen.

Tami on the other hand, kept to herself and a small circle of friends. Academically successful to the point where valedictorian seemed almost a given, she had also earned a reputation for being just a bit strange.

"I'm in trouble!" Laurie finally said.

"The rabbit died?" Tami asked, wondering if Laurie would even understand the reference in an age of instant pregnancy tests.

"Not that kind of trouble," Laurie quickly shot back, an unbidden memory of worrying about just that a few months previously came to mind.

"Three minutes," Tami said, attempting to bring the conversation to a point.

"I'm in Mr. McKenzie's American History class," the brunette said. "and I have a research paper due tomorrow. If I don't turn it in, I'm going to fail the class. Mr. McKenzie counts the end term paper as fifty percent of your grade."

"Laurie," Tami said. "I don't know if you've ever noticed, but I sit four rows behind you in American History. I know that there's a paper due tomorrow. I've had mine done for over a month now, but obviously you haven't finished yours."

"Actually I haven't even started it," Laurie admitted.

"You're right," Tami grinned, "you are in trouble. But tragic as that is, what does it have to do with me?"

"Originally, Mike Russell was helping me with the paper," Laurie went on.

"In other words, he was writing it for you," Tami interjected.

"Yes," she admitted.

"So what happened?" Tami asked, now a little curious.

"Mike had a computer crash last week and lost both of our reports," she explained. "He's spent the last seven days just rewriting his own."

"Gee, you'd think someone as bright as that would've learned to back up his data," Tami mused. "But you still haven't explained what any of this has to do with me."

"Mike said that originally you and I were both writing reports on the New Deal, but that you later changed your mind and wrote about the Japanese Internment instead."

"Actually, I finished a first draft of the New Deal paper, then changed my mind," Tami explained. "But I still don't know what any of this..."

"I want to buy your paper so I can turn it in as my own," Laurie said.

Tami's response was both instantaneous and explosive, her laughter filling the small room. This had to be the funniest thing she'd heard all year.

"Damn it, I'm serious!" Laurie yelled.

"I know," Tami said, unable to stop laughing. "That's what makes it so funny."

"If I don't get a report by tomorrow I'm not going to graduate," Laurie yelled. "And if I don't graduate I don't get to go to Europe this summer."

"And that would be such a shame," the short haired girl continued to giggle.

"I should've have know better to think that someone like you might help me," Laurie snapped as she started to storm out.

"Wait a minute," Tami said, finally bringing her laughter under control. "Maybe we can talk about this."

Laurie stopped and turned back around.

"Then you'll sell me the paper?" she asked.

"Let's just say I'm willing to discuss it," Tami replied. Laurie thought about it a few seconds then walked back to the table. After all, what choice did she really have.

Now it was Tami who sat silent as she composed her thoughts. Laurie kept staring at the large white letters on Tami's pink shirt. Large letters that spelled out BITCH, and smaller ones that read Babe In Total Control of Herself.

"So as a starting point," Tami said. "How much are you offering for the report? I'll admit it's just a first draft but I think it's at least a B minus paper."

"I was going to pay Mike twenty dollars."

"Twenty dollars huh," the Amerasian girl said. "Doesn't seem like much in exchange for helping you graduate. Are you sure there wasn't something else involved?"

"Like what?"

"Well, I seem to remember Mike telling me about this girl he was helping with her grades," Tami said, "and what she had promised him in exchanged for his help."

Laurie let out a deep breath.

"All right, I did promise him something else," she said.

"And what would that be?" Tami asked.

"Do I have to say it?" Laurie asked in return.

The expression on Tami's face said that she did.

"Okay, I promised him a blowjob," she admitted. "Are you happy now? What did that accomplish?"

"Well if nothing else, we've helped establish the value of a term paper in history," Tami smiled. "Or at least a starting value since it stands to reason that a paper would become more valuable the day before it was due. Especially to someone who didn't have one at all."

"So how much do you want for the paper?" Laurie asked, deciding to cut to the chase.

Tami, however, was enjoying the game and not about to let it end so soon.

"You're dating Jerry Simon, aren't you?" Tami abruptly asked, seeming to go off on a tangent.

"Yes, I am," Laurie said, wondering why Tami had asked. Jerry Simon was the Captain of the football team.

"Knowing your reputation, I assume you're sleeping with him," Tami went on. "Is he a good fuck?"

Laurie suddenly figured out where this was all going. With a wide grin, she said.

"He's a fantastic fuck!"

"That good huh?"

Laurie felt on solid ground for the first time since she walked into the library. Tami had something she wanted, and now the brunette knew she had something the Amerasian wanted as well. Tami wasn't an unattractive girl. In fact, Laurie had heard guys refer to her as being very cute. However, those same guys had also made mention of her perceived strangeness as a reason why they wouldn't ask her out.

It was entirely possible that Tami was still a virgin. Who better to lose her cherry to than the Captain of the football team. Laurie could see herself on the plane to Paris now.

"Why don't we just lay our cards on the table," Laurie said, feeling very good at having the situation turn into a tradeoff. That was something she could deal with a lot easier than going to someone she normally wouldn't even be seen talking to and asking them for help.

"Cards on the table huh," Tami smiled. "Okay, since you seem to have this all worked out, why don't you go first."

Laurie was more than willing.

"It's pretty obvious that you want something more than money for that term paper," she began. "That something being Jerry on the other side of your bed. I can arrange that. You get laid, and I get my paper."

Tami had to suppress a smile. This was going along much easier than she could have imagined.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly," she replied. "In exchange for my unused term paper, you send your boyfriend to my bed and I get to sleep with him. This is what you're saying?"

"Exactly," Laurie confirmed with a smile. "And believe me, it's an experience that you wouldn't regret. Like I said, he's a fantastic fuck."

"And you're okay with that?" Tami asked. "Having your boyfriend fuck another girl? Just like that?"

Laurie shrugged her shoulders in response.

"He was never that much of a boyfriend anyway," she admitted. "Just a great fuck. It just looked good to be dating the Captain of the football team. I was going to dump him after graduation anyway."

"And he'd do this for you?" Tami inquired.

"Of course," Laurie said. "The thick headed jock would do anything I asked him to. And I'm telling you, the head that goes under his helmet isn't the only one that's thick," she added as an incentive. "Do we have a deal?"

Tami dropped off the table and walked over to the small window, looking down into the courtyard. Laurie thought she was considering the proposition, but then the shorter girl seemed to go off on a tangent again.

"Do you remember at the start of the school year when some of your friends were spreading little rumors about me?" Tami asked.

"God, the guys were right," Laurie thought. "She is strange. All of a sudden she's talking about ancient history."

"Oh I'm sure you weren't one of those spreading those nasty little stories," Tami said as she turned around, a strange expression now on her face. "But I'm sure you heard them."

"I'm afraid I don't remember," Laurie lied, hoping Tami would get back to their deal.

"Yes you do," Tami insisted as she took a few steps closer to Laurie. "Think about it a little. How they began to tell some of the other students that I took a little too long in the showers after gym class and how they thought I was taking an unnatural interest in the bodies of the other girls. I'm sure you remember now."

Laurie did more than remember. She had been one of the girls who had made up the stories. At the time, she had thought it was a pretty funny idea. Laurie swallowed hard as she hoped that little joke didn't backfire on her now.

"They went so far as to suggest," Tami said when she was just a foot away from Laurie. "That I might have..."

She paused for a breath, then added in a stage whisper.

"Lesbian tendencies."

"Oh God," Laurie thought as she imagined the deal she thought worked out minutes before now falling apart over some forgotten prank. "She would have to remember that."

"But you know something," Tami concluded, "I really wasn't that angry with those friends of yours, because for once they got it exactly right."

"I don't understand," a confused Laurie said.

"You don't?" Tami smiled. "Well it's actually very simple. If you really want my paper to turn into Mr. McKenzie, you're not going to be able to buy it with Jerry's cock. You're going to have to pay that bill with your own assets."

As if to illustrate her words, Tami reached up and caressed Laurie's nipples through the material of her blouse.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Laurie cried out as she felt Tami's hand on her breasts and jumped back.

"Just checking the merchandise," Tami smirked. "I once heard a nasty rumor that a certain head cheerleader filled her bra with more than nature gave her. It's nice to see that rumor at least was wrong."

"You're out of your fucking mind if you think I'm going to let your dyke hands touch me," Laurie went on in the same angry voice.

"Well that's always a possibility," Tami said, the tone of her voice as calm as Laurie's was excited. "But then again, between the two of us, I have nothing to lose."

"What if I told people about you," Laurie shot back. "Told everyone that you were a dyke and that you tried to make a grab for me."

"Go right ahead," Tami smiled as she leaned back on the desk. "Who's going to believe you. They'll think it's just another lie you're spreading about someone that everyone knows you don't particularly like."

Laurie didn't know what to say. Tami was totally right about that. No one in this entire school was going to believe anything she said about Tami Ryan. Not with her track record and the bad blood everyone knew was between them.

"Look, I'll make it a hundred dollars for the report," the dark haired girl finally said. "That's five times what I originally offered."

"I aced all the math courses too," Tami replied. "I could've figured that out for myself. But you could make it a thousand and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. I told you the cost of my help, and it's non-negotiable."

Laurie's face dropped. There were few times in her life when she had to face the fact that money couldn't cure any problem.

"Of course you could always buy a report off the Internet," Tami suggested. "Then again, I seem to remember two students trying that last year in Mr. McKenzie's class and getting caught. They not only failed his class, they were expelled. Oh they eventually got a diploma from another school, but it's not exactly the type of thing a good college wants to see on your record."

Laurie knew that story about the bought papers was true. One of the students involved lived two doors away from her. He was planning to go to Northern Tech and wound up at City U instead because of the incident.

"I have to think about this," she finally said.

Tami had to try hard not to smile as she saw the first chink in Laurie's armor appear. It was a chink that she was sure would spread quickly as the deadline grew closer.

"Think about it all you want," Tami said sympathetically. "I realize it's a big decision."

"What exactly would I have to do?" Laurie asked, a note of defeat in her tone.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't make you go out with me in public or anything like that," Tami said. "That would be too cruel."

The Amerasian girl could see the wave of relief sweep over Laurie's face. One more chink in the armor fell away.

"Basically, you'd spend the night with me in private," Tami went on. "Being my lover in every way. Doing everything you could to make me a happy woman. You can't just lay there and let me play with your boobs and such, you have to be an active, enthusiastic participant. Think of it as an acting performance. You've been in the school plays, I've seen how much you like to act."

"Wouldn't it be better if we went away for a weekend, maybe after the school year was over?" Laurie suggested. "Wouldn't that be a lot more fun than just one night?"

"Well if we had a weekend, I might say yes," Tami countered. "But since we don't, I'd have to settle for a night. Tonight in fact since you need the report for tomorrow."

"You could give me the report now and we could go away later," Laurie said.

"Like I'm really going to believe that," Tami laughed softly. "Take it or leave it, tonight's the night. My parents are away on business so I have the house all to myself. You have until eight o'clock to make up your mind. At five after, I'm going to throw that extra report into the paper shredder."

With that, Tami turned and began to walk out of the room. She got to the door and turned back to Laurie.

"Remember," she said, "that's eight o'clock, not eight ten. And if you do decide to come, wear something hot. I'm sure you have plenty of choices in your closet."

By the time Laurie followed her out the door, Tami was already back up on the second floor. A now bewildered Laurie quickly flew out of the library, passing Cynthia without a word.

"So what did Miss Cunt want from you?" Cynthia asked as she stepped off the circular staircase into the second floor storeroom.

"Nothing important," Tami smiled, still stacking books on the shelves. "She wanted my help with the history report that's due tomorrow."

"Talk about your nerve," Cynthia said as she handed a few of the books on the pushcart to Tami. "After the way she and her friends have treated you. One of these days I'd love to see her treated the way she treats other people. See how she likes it."

"You never know," Tami answered as she stacked the last book. "Maybe someday you'll get your wish."

"Don't I wish," Cynthia said as Tami walked around the pushcart.

"Oh, by the way," Tami said as she stood next to her. "Something's come up so we're going to have to cancel our study plans for tonight."

"No problem," Cynthia replied. "In fact, that works out great because Doris Warner asked me if I could help her study for the Chemistry Finals. Tonight would be a perfect time for us to get together."

"I don't think the chemistry you have in mind for Doris Warner is the kind that comes out of a book," Tami noted. "I've told you before, I don't think she plays that way."

"I can always dream can't I?" Cynthia laughed, picturing the well proportioned, dark skinned girl.

Tami smiled. Back in Junior year, the two of them had dated for a while. At first it had gone along pretty well. Then after a few weeks it became obvious that Tami still had a roving eye and found her excitement in a constant variety. Cynthia, on the other hand was forever looking for Ms. Right and the perfect relationship.

"Hey, if it turns out that I'm wrong, no one is going to be happier for you than me," Tami said as she leaned over and gave Cynthia a soft kiss on her lips.

"It's too bad we never worked out," Cynthia said as they broke the brief kiss. "But if I can't have you as a lover, I'm glad I still have you as my friend."

"Me too, babe," Tami said. "Me too."

Stepping off the bus in front of the townhouse complex where Tami lived, Laurie looked at her watch. The time read seven forty-five. It had taken longer to get over here than she had figured.

Public Transportation definitely wasn't her thing, but there was no way she could ask anyone to give her a lift without explaining where she was going. Laurie silently cursed the fact that in a fit of anger over a letter from the school about her declining grades in Math and English, her father had taken away the car she had gotten for her sixteenth birthday. His thinking was that such a loss would motivate her to bring those grades back up. It had worked, but he hadn't reinstated car privileges yet.

All afternoon, she had continued to try to come up with an alternative. At one point, she had considered offering Mr. McKenzie money or something more substantial to try to pass his class.

As disheartening as the idea of offering to suck off the fifty-four year old teacher was, even more so was the certain belief that he would turn her down. Ian McKenzie had been a bachelor all his life and Laurie had once heard some of the female teachers talking about him, making the comment that the man had absolutely no interest in sex. Laurie couldn't conceive of a life without sex, but if anyone could live without it, it would most likely be someone like old man McKenzie.

Money was a consideration as well, but she doubted there was enough money in her savings account to buy him off. Besides, if she used all her money, what would she have left for Europe.

The hand on her watch now read seven fifty, it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, the tall girl walked away from the bus stop and started down the walkway.

"At least it's a nice house," she thought to herself.

Nice was an understatement. Tami's parents were both well paid professionals and lived in a luxury complex. There was even a checkpoint at the gates where a security guard checked to see if you belonged in the complex or were expected as a visitor.

Thankfully, they were predicting rain tonight so no one would question why Laurie was wearing a long raincoat. She'd just die if she had to go up to the guard with only the outfit she had on under her coat.

It had taken Laurie over an hour that afternoon to decide just what outfit Tami would consider hot enough. Not that she wanted to admit to herself that she was actually going to go through with this. She'd finally decided on a pair of cut off shorts and a much too tight blouse that knotted around her stomach, showing off her bare skin. Keeping in mind the image she wanted to project, she had left her bra and panties behind.

Walking up to the guard post, she gave her name and whom she was there to visit to the forty-something rent a cop. Maybe it was her imagination, but it seemed to Laurie that he was taking his sweet time looking for her name on his clipboard. It was almost as if he knew what she looked like under the coat. He'd checked her out enough times as he kept looking up from the small pad of papers. Finally, he waved her through the small accessway and into the complex.

Tami and her parents lived at the end of Dorchester Road, two blocks into the development. Laurie had no trouble finding it and was reaching for the doorbell a few minutes later. Looking up and down the street, she made sure there was no one around to see her. Then she took off her raincoat and draped it over her arm. As her boyfriend often told her, it didn't hurt to show off the goods.

The door opened wide a moment later, revealing a smiling Tami behind it. She was wearing a Japanese yukata, red with white birds. It was open just enough for Laurie to see she was probably wearing nothing else beneath it. Her short hair was just damp enough to suggest she had just gotten out of a bath or shower.

Before she could say a word, a wall clock behind Tami chimed the hour. The dark haired girl glanced back over her shoulder to note it was exactly eight.

"Well I do have to say," Tami said as she turned back to the girl at her doorstep. "that is a hot outfit. You certainly outdid yourself, but then I knew you would."

The smile on Tami's face irritated Laurie to no end. Even more so was the fact that she hadn't told her to come in yet. Was she waiting until someone saw her standing out on the walk, dressed as she was.

"May I come in?" Laurie finally asked.

"Not yet," Tami replied unexpectedly. "I just want to say something first. When you walk through this door, the game begins. I expect you to play according to the rules. You break the rules and our deal is off. Understand?"

It took a burst of willpower for Laurie not to tell Tami to go fuck herself. How dare she treat her this way. Then she reminded herself that she had a lot riding on this. Of course it never occurred to her that Tami was treating her no differently than she herself had treated so many others.

"I understand," she smiled, a façade that hid her true feelings.

"Then come on in lover," Tami smiled, an expression more real. "I'm always happy to see one of my girlfriends."

As the door closed behind them, Tami took Laurie's raincoat and hung it on a coat tree behind the door. She stepped up close to Laurie and leaned forward to kiss her. It was a brief kiss, almost chaste. The kind Laurie hadn't gotten since the sixth grade. It was just a portent of things to come.

"Would you like a drink?" Tami asked as she led her guest into a large living room.

"Definitely," she answered.

"White wine okay?" Tami asked as she stepped behind a small bar in the corner of the room. "Or would you want something a little stronger?"

Laurie considered asking for something a lot stronger. Anything to make this night go easier. Then she reconsidered, deciding there was such a thing as being too loose.

"White wine will be fine."

As Tami opened a bottle she had taken from the small refrigerator beneath the bar, Laurie noted the large painting hanging on the wall. It depicted a young couple, obviously Mr. and Mrs. Ryan when they were first married. Mr. Ryan was a handsome man, with a carefully trimmed beard and mustache. Mrs. Ryan, the former Miss Tamaguchi, was a very attractive Japanese woman. Both were major participants in community activities and Laurie remembered her mother once saying they had met while Will Ryan had been stationed in Japan.

Beneath the painting was an 11 by 14 photograph of the couple, showing as they looked today. Mr. Ryan had a strong gray streak in his beard, but was still ruggedly handsome. Yukiko Ryan on the other hand, looked like a woman at least ten years younger than Laurie knew her to be.

That was something else she remembered her mother saying. How unfair it was that Asian women aged so much better than most American women. Laurie wondered for a moment if Tami would look so good when she was her mother's age. Certainly, Laurie wasn't looking forward to resembling her mother in twenty years time.

"Here you go," Tami smiled as she handed Laurie her glass of wine.

Laurie took a quick drink. It was much too fast and she choked a little on it as it went down the wrong pipe.

"Easy," Tami cautioned. "I wouldn't want you to choke. Although it might be fun giving you mouth to mouth," she added with a grin.

"So what do we do?" Laurie asked as she got her voice back, having an image in her head of being made to get down on all fours and licking Tami to orgasm.

"I thought we could loosen up a little with a nice soak in the hot tub," Tami offered. "We just had it put in last month and it's to die for."

"I didn't bring a suit," Laurie said off the top of her head.

"Don't be silly," Tami said as she took a sip of her own drink. "It's much more relaxing if you don't wear one."

Giving in to the inevitable, Laurie followed Tami out through a large sliding door into the yard. She was surprised how large the backyard was. From the outside, it didn't look half as big.

The hot tub was also quite large, with room for at least six. When you walked out of Tami's house, you stepped onto a wooden deck. The tub was built into the deck so you could sit and just slide into it. Laurie also noticed that between the high custom made fence and thick foliage up against it, the yard was a very private place.

"There's a little shower over there in the corner where you can rinse off," Tami said as she pointed to the simple showerhead. "I've just gotten out of the bath."

Laurie handed Tami her still half full glass of wine and stepped over to the shower area. It was a simple thing really, the sort of thing you'd see at a beach. Just enough to rinse off your body. Laurie had taken a shower earlier when she was getting dressed, but it was only good manners to at least rinse off. After all, the hot tub was for relaxation, not washing.

The tall dark haired girl took off her socks and sneakers laying them on the shelf built into the wall. She undid the knot of her blouse and began to undo the buttons. Reminded that she had nothing on beneath it, Laurie paused when she reached the middle button. She suddenly felt self conscious.

"This is silly," she thought as she glanced over her shoulder at Tami, wondering if she was watching her undress. "She's seen me shower every week in gym."

The difference, Laurie then realized, was that in the school showers, no one was looking at her with lust in their eyes. At least no one she was aware of — until now.