Chapter 2

Simon powered through the water, enjoying the burn the resistance created in his muscles. Upon his face, he wore a pair of swimming goggles, which allowed him crystal clear vision through the water. He tilted his head left and then right slightly, staring at all the legs, thighs and groins as he swam.

The water depth would be just above his navel, were he to stop swimming and stand up. Simon had found it to be the perfect depth, any deeper and people would swim instead of standing still, any shallower and the water would be too disturbed by the thrashing arms and legs of cavorting swimmers to see clearly. He tilted his head again to study the groin of an unknown girl as he swam past. She was wearing blue bikini bottoms that clung tight to the outline of her mons. Simon had a flash back to the party and how he had briefly touched the pussy of Katerina Bartikovsky. He continued to swim past. The outline of a cock in trunks triggered the memory of a hard cock and how it had felt sliding into his mouth.

Simon surfaced, taking large gulps of damp air as his lungs protested at having been forced to hold stale air for so long. He swam on the surface for a moment till his breathing calmed, then with a large inhale, submerged again to study the sea of legs.

He didn’t bother drying himself before he changed out of his swimming shorts into another pair of shorts and T in the changing room, as he could still hear the rain falling outside. A typical English summer. Rain till you had to go back to school and then the sun came out and roasted you to death in stuffy classrooms.

His towel and swimming gear were in a disposable plastic shopping bag, which he swung round in circles as he walked. The rain was warm, the air smelling earthy rather than the usual diesely smog that pervaded the streets and open spaces.

It was Saturday. One more free day and the summer holidays would be over, replaced by
tedious educational drudgery. Head down, gaze searching the cracked concrete slabs for the
bio-hazards that were uncollected piles of dog shit.

Simon pulled at the collar of his new and way too stiff school shirt. He had already pulled his tie away as soon as he had left his house, the last thing his mother had done had been to pull the damn thing so tight that he wondered if she were trying to asphyxiate him.

First day back and all the kids were excited. Boasting of all the things they had done or places they had been. With the experience of many such ‘first days back’, the teachers had tailored their lessons to suit their charges excitability and further reduced attention span.

English class had them all writing out what they had done over their holidays. Geography had them write about where they had been. Math had them doing calculations on the distance they had travelled, time spent travelling. Science had them doing the photosynthesis of plants, because Mr Lovett was a cock.

Simon slipped away to his usual haunt in the library at lunchtime. He liked first days back in the library, as the fiction books were usually swapped out for new ones when the kids were away, so that meant new graphic novels waiting to be devoured.

“Hi.” Simon looked up in surprise as Holly sat down beside him.

“Hi.” Nervously he smiled back at her. Like him, she was dressed in new term clothes. Her blouse looked every bit as uncomfortable as his shirt, and was an eye disturbingly bright white. A contrast to her new pleated black skirt, who’s black had yet to be washed and sun bleached to something less, well, black. She smiled shyly, obviously waiting for Simon to fuel a conversation. Which Simon found somewhat ironic, as pre-stay with his sister, he would have inevitably gone bright red and panicked. He wasn’t that innocent child anymore, nor, he suddenly realised, did she have the same hold on him as she used to have.

“You’re very tanned. Go somewhere sunny?”

“Parents rented a villa in the south of France for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh. Nice.”

“Toulon actually.” She paused to see if Simon registered her wit. He hadn’t. “It was okay, I suppose. What about you, go anywhere?

Well, I stayed with my estranged sister for a couple of weeks whilst my parents fucked off to Australia to get skin cancer. Turns out my sister is a high class escort who tricked me into wearing girls clothes and sucking a cock. And just when things couldn’t get any weirder, she took me to an orgy where I met the most beautiful girl in the world who let me touch her bare pussy and quite possibly, would have allowed more, if I hadn’t of panicked and run away, and now I’m besotted with a girl a hundred times more beautiful than you and who will only sleep with clients if you are prepared to hand over at least a cool million. Per night. Came out of his mouth as, “Just played on my PlayStation.”

“Oh.” She paused. “It must have been a heavy controller...”

“Why?” He asked perplexed.

“Your shoulders are bigger. More ... muscley ... It suits you.”

Ahh, the swimming, of course... He nodded towards her. “You must have been swimming a lot.”

It was Holly’s turn to look perplexed. “Why?”

Simon smirked. “You’re boobs look bigger!”

Holly gasped in mock outrage. “Swimming doesn’t make your boob’s bigger!”

“Oh, well then maybe it was all the French boys rubbing sun cream into them...”

“I fucking wish!” Then she blushed at what she had just said. Simon laughed good naturedly.

Simon lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulders, pulling her closer. He didn’t know why he did it, he just did it without thinking, so used to the shared intimacy with his sister. Holly didn’t resist and leant into him.

By the time his brain caught up and he realised what he was doing, she was leaning against him and her hand was snaking around his waist. It felt so good. Unexpected, but good. He looked into her hazel eyes, it seemed so natural just to lean his head closer to hers, so he did. Her eyes widened as he drew closer, and not just because the distance was being reduced so that they looked larger. He felt her fingers tighten against his hip. Simon had spent so much time kissing over the previous few weeks, that when Holly’s eyes closed, it seemed perfectly natural to touch his lips against hers.

She was hesitant, unsure at first, but quickly warmed to his lips pressed against hers. He felt her other hand come round his front, her hands meet, then she was squeezing him passionately. Simon chanced a bit of tongue and she yielded, allowing him inside. Holly made little faint moans as they kissed, stirring him on. His left hand fingertips traced the outline of her bra through her blouse, following it up to her shoulder, then back down. His right hand was clamped tight onto the edge of his seat, the only thing stopping the pair of them from falling over.

It was not a bad kiss, he had learnt so much from his sister. In fact, had it been his sister, he would probably be enjoying the feel of her breast in his hand by now. He chanced his luck, bringing his left hand slowly round. He could feel the side of her breast, his thumb gently stroked the underside of her boob, then drifted over her nipple. Which was already hard.

Simon cupped her breast fully. It was smaller than his sisters, but given the difference in their ages, it wasn’t really much of a surprise. Holly broke the kiss and pushed his hand away.

“Not here...” She whispered, looking quickly around the deserted library.

’Not here’. Which implied to Simon that there was a place where he could. Simon let his hand fall onto her lap, where she quickly held it with both of hers. She smiled nervously up at him. He smiled back. She blushed and looked down at the three hands in her lap. Simon let go of the chair and slipped his arm round her waist, hugging her close. No words were said. He pondered the situation. Did this signify that they were no longer ’just friends’, but an ‘item’.

Was it too soon for it to be called ’going steady’? This moment was what he had been dreaming about for years. Now that it was here, it was all a bit ... anti climatic. His mind kept slipping from the girl beside him to memories of his sister and Katerina. Holly’s hair was in his nose, tickling him. Her hair smelled of ... something. Something that was probably expensive with a picture of a woman showering under a waterfall, or something similar, on the outside of the bottle. Simon kissed the top of her head, because it seemed like the sort of thing you did in this situation.

He looked down a little regretfully at the comic book open on the table and then mentally kicked himself for even thinking about the comic’s existence when he was experiencing one of his life’s goals.

Holly broke the silence. “Your sister is very beautiful.”

Simon wondered how two people in such an intimate moment, could be thinking of two completely different things. Comic books and siblings. “So are you, Holly.” Because it seemed the right thing to say.

She looked up at him as she squeezed his hand tightly. He felt ashamed as he said it. He thought back to how it felt when Katerina Bartikovsky had placed his hand between her thighs. His pulse raced, his throat become suddenly dry. He was painfully hard under his boxers and school trousers. He thought of his sister’s lips, enclosing him, sucking him into her mouth ... Simon coughed pulled his hand from hers and pulled at his tie and collar trying to give his throat and windpipe a bit more room.

“You look so alike, she looked so happy.” To Simon, that sounded like a weird thing to say. Was that a hint of jealousy? Was the trip to France nothing like she had expected it to be? “She was so calm, so composed, when she had that spider in her hand. I would have been screaming the place down had it been me.” She moved a hand to his leg just above his knee.

“Me to.” Simon admitted and she squeezed his leg in revulsion? horror? Simon wasn’t quite sure. “I would have drop kicked the fucking thing into next week. Though knowing my luck, it would have landed in the intersternal gap of some woman who’s boyfriend was built like a brick shit house and who showed his displeasure by tossing me into the lion enclosure...” Simon had managed to get a bit of slack around his neck and dropped his hand down. He had been aiming for her lap again, but since she had a hand on his leg, he decided to mimic her and diverted his hand at the last moment to the same place on her leg that her hand was on his. The feel of the nylon against her smooth skin felt really good. He loved how nylon felt against his hand. He gently stroked the area above her knee enjoying the sensation.

Holly didn’t move.

Simon couldn’t really help himself and slowly slid his hand higher till he reached the hem of her pleated skirt. Unlike some of the other girls, Holly hadn’t rolled the waistband of her skirt up to reduce the length of it, keeping it at the length proscribed by the school rules. The skin under the nylon was hot. Simon slid his hand higher. He was well under her skirt now, he couldn’t be far away from her panties. Simon wondered if she would allow him a brief touch. Maybe a long touch. He was almost there...

“No!” She stopped his hand, pushed it back down. Simon didn’t resist. “Not here, someone might see...”

’Not here’ again. So did that mean in the right place she would? He had to find this place.

She pushed his hand back to her knee, entwining her fingers in with his, ensuring that it couldn’t easily go wandering again. Simon had a sudden urge of devilment and lifted their joint hands and placed them straight onto his own groin and held them there.

She let out a little squeak of surprise but made no effort to disentangle their fingers and recover her hand. Holly didn’t look at him, but Simon believed she could feel how hard he was, knew what the hardness was. To ensure no doubt, he rubbed their hands across his bulge.

The sound of the school bell made both of them jump, their fingers separated and Holly clutched both her hands together in her lap, laughing nervously. Simon sighed, where had the hour and a half lunchtime gone? He replaced the comic book back on its shelf and collected his things, smiling mischievously down at Holly.

“What!?” She demanded.

“You’d better put your blazer on.” He said, looking pointedly down at her chest.

Holly looked down and let out a little gasp of horror at how proud and obvious her nipples were. She hastily pulled her blazer out of the straps of her bag and slipped her arms through the sleeves.

First day back at school, there was no homework. The chances of it staying that way involved snowballs and lit furnaces. Simon switched on his desktop computer. It was ‘getting on a bit’, being his dad’s old one. He had asked his parents for a newer graphics card to put in it, and they agreed to it -if he paid for it. It did still play the latest games on their lowest graphical settings though, which was “better than nowt, lad.” as his grandfather was want to say, and it would have to do till such time as he could find money from somewhere for a new card, or at least, a better second-hand one.

Simon started up Facebook. He had a lot of notifications -probably Amy induced. A friend request -probably Amy induced again and a private message -probably about Amy, but hopefully from Holly, though he wasn’t holding his breath on that one.

He looked at the friends request. It was from a profile that had just a jumble of words and numbers for a name, and didn’t have any content. A scam profile then. He clicked on the ‘Reject’ icon and moved to the message. It was from the profile he had just deleted.

: Si, it’s Amy, don’t delete the request or I’ll put up that picture you don’t like as my profile pic... :

“Fuck!” Simon quickly clicked back on Amy’s account name and sent a friends request. He followed it with a message.

: Sorry! Thought the request was from a scam profile. Deleted it before I read your message. Sorry!!! PS. Please don’t post that pic!!! :

Simon moved to his notifications. Lots of people liking the photos with Amy in them, not so much the ones with just him in them. “Cunts...” A notification that Holly had updated her status. Simon clicked on it.

: Just had the best first day back ever!!!! : The post was covered in little red hearts. There were a lot of comments. A heck of a lot of comments at the bottom of the post, all asking who ‘he’ is. Holly hadn’t answered. Yet. But any thoughts Simon had of keeping the relationship quiet appeared to be blown completely out of the water. In fact, she was probably on the phone right now telling all her mates.

Simon groaned. “What the fuck have I done...”

: Friends request accepted. :

A chat box opened up. : Hi little bro... : with a smiley face.

: Hi Amy :

: How was your first day back? :

: I think I have fucked up :

: You don’t hang about, do you? How? :

: You know that girl you knew I fancied, but who I never told you about? :

: They one I’m not quite sure actually exists? :

: Yeah, her :

: What about her? :

Simon paused : I kissed her, today, at school... :

: And she reported you? :

: What? No! :

: Well, what’s the problem then? :

How on Earth did he tell Amy that he had developed a crush on her during his stay.

Gimboid IV is typing a reply ... appeared at the bottom of the chat box.

: Katerina Bartikovsky? :

: Yeah... :

: I told you to forget about her! She’s so far out of your league it’s, well, quite funny actually ... It’s never going to happen, get over it :

: It’s not just her... :

: You’ve fallen in love with yet ANOTHER girl? :

: Yes :

: Do the two know each other? Are they best friends? :

: No. They’ve never met. :

The digital silence stretched on. Last message received four minutes ago. Gimboid IV is typing.

: It’s me isn’t it? :

Simon was surprised at how astute she was. There was no point in denying it. : Yes. :

: Oh Simon, you hormonal idiot. I’m your sister dipshit! :

: I know. But I miss you. Like, really bad. : Simon typed again : Like really, really bad :

: So why on Earth did you kiss the girl? :

: I couldn’t get you out of my head. And Katerina was in there as well, and I thought that if I kissed Holly. You would both leave me in peace. :

: Didn’t work I take it? :

: No, it just made me miss you even more :

: You can’t string her along Simon. It’s not nice. In fact, it’s a pretty shitty thing to do. :

: I know. It’s just. It’s just that I do like her. Just not as much as I like you and Katerina :

: You’re an idiot. :

: Yeah I know. I’m so confused... :

: I put you in a dress Simon... :

: And I... : He paused, but sent it unfinished anyway. He closed his eyes for a moment as he thought. Simon sighed and started typing. : And I enjoyed it. I want nothing more than for us to put on matching dresses and cuddle up on your bed... : And he did. The more he thought about it, the more he desired it.

There was still no reply from his sister. The green dot was still there, telling him that she was still logged on.

Simon typed. : I would even willingly suck cock if I could be with you again... :

: You would? :

Simon thought about it. Really thought about it. The answer was surprisingly agreeable.

: Yes. :

: Simon, are you straight or Bi? :

: I don’t know. Confused. :

: But you like girls? :

: Yes. I just have to think of you and I get hard. Hard, like, really hard... : There was no reply to that, but Simon felt he had to say something. : And I loved wearing your clothes. I liked feeling ... girly. :

A new notification popped up. Holly Hayridge and Gimboid IV are now friends.

That wasn’t good. Simon wondered if Katerina had a Facebook account. He was too scared to look in case she had.

: Amy? :

: Hmm? :

: Do I disgust you? :

: What! why would you disgust me? :

: You know, for dressing in girls clothes. Doing ... that ... to a man... :

: No. It’s kinda like having a sister to be honest. It’s nice. And I enjoyed your company. :

: Oh. :

: And you do look kinda hot in lacy panties... :

: Umm, thanks, I think. :

: So you really like wearing girls clothes? :

: Not at first, but now ... I miss it. When I kissed Holly... :

: Yes? :

: I had my hand on her leg. It felt. She felt. Really good. Part of me wanted to be like her. Be her. I wanted to be wearing those tights, that skirt... :

: Ask her nicely, she may let you... :

: Oh God no!!! She’ll think I ‘m a freak! :

: Maybe. Maybe not... :

: I’m not taking that chance. :

: Look Si, I have to go and get ready for a client :

: Okay. Is it Daddy? :

: You know I don’t discuss clients :P :

: Okay :

: And Si? :

: Hmm? :

: Don’t fuck Holly about. Don’t Break her heart :

Chat disconnected

Simon sat back and just stared at the screen. Did he really still have feelings for Holly? He pictured her naked and almost instantly developed an erection. He thought back to the library. How good she felt against his hands, against his body, against his lips. He imagined them together, no longer in the library but in her room, his room, it was all a little hazy like fantasy’s were want to be. Dream Holly reached up under her pleated skirt, rolled down her tights and pants, handed them to him, gave him. He was suddenly naked, she nodded her head, giving him permission to put them on ... God he wanted Holly. He wanted to wear her underwear. It was all so fucked up. He leaned forward, clicked on Holly’s name, opened the chat box.

: Hi :

Maybe she wasn’t on, and he could log off. She might even feel differently about the whole thing by the morning. Like it had never happened, maybe she wished that it hadn’t...

: Hi : Followed by a smiley face and a love heart.

Bugger. What the fuck was he going to put now...

Another heart popped up on the chat screen. ‘Don’t fuck her about’ Amy had said. She was right, Katerina was way, way out of his league and Amy, he couldn’t realistically have a lasting relationship with his sister, could he? What if Amy wanted kids...

The indecision was killing him. Another chat message appeared.

: What’s up? :

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, Fuck... He didn’t know what to type, Shit. He wished he hadn’t of sent anything now.

: Holly... :

: Yes?... :

‘Honesty is the best policy.’ Amy had told him once at her house.

: Sorry. I don’t know what to say. I can barely type. I’m all over the place. :

: Me too... : She replied.

Do I tell her I love her? Is that too soppy? Do I say it’s all a mistake? Is it?

: I miss you... : Now that he had sent it, it looked really lame. Pathetic. Why do people bother with relationships?

{br}

: Me too... :

Simon thought of several responses. Even typed a few of them out, only to delete them before he hit the enter key.

: See you at school tomorrow? : He finally posted.

: Yes :

: Okay :

: Okay :

: Bye : Simon quickly logged off and screamed. “Arghh...” It sort of made him feel better.

“Are you okay love?” His mother called out from downstairs.

Fuck “Yes mum. I’m fine. I just died stupidly in a computer game. That’s all.”

“Okay. Tea’s out in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

Simon didn’t get that much sleep last night, had even seriously considered faking an illness to avoid going to school. On his walk to school, he felt like a death row inmate on his final walk to the room where they did whatever it was they did to kill inmates. She was waiting for him at the school gates.

“Hi.” She said with a smile so bright she could have powered a solar panel.

“Hi”

They stood nervously staring at each other as pupils streamed past either side.

What the fuck do I do! What the actual fuck do I do!

Holly slipped her arm though his, initiating the walk together into school. Simon took a hasty step to follow. What else could he do. Then the whistling started. That was it. It now was as official as things officially became in school. She leaned against his shoulder and hugged his arm tightly, taking refuge behind her hair as she let it obscure her face. Simon had no such cover, his hair still bound securely in its ponytail.

Girls stared and some took sly pictures of the ‘new’ couple. Some weren’t so sly in their picture taking. The boys just called out disparaging remarks. Simon now had an inkling as to how it felt to be famous. He didn’t much like the experience.

It also turned out that being the other half of a couple also had other requirements, like sitting next to each other in class. A paper ball bounced off the side of his head and landed on his desk. There appeared to be writing on it. Simon unrolled the ball.

: We give you one day :

He glanced over in the trajectory the paper comet had travelled, to a group of sniggering boys. Holly peered over his arm to read the note and laid a calming hand upon his.

“Josh, something you wish to tell the class?”

Josh looked up. “Err, no Sir...”

“Then less talk and more studying.”

“Yes Sir...”

The new classroom pairing did have at least one unexpected bonus. She was way more academic than he was and would frequently lean over to quietly correct his mistakes, whether it be spelling, mathematical or something else. Which was often, as he was finding it very hard to concentrate.

The behaviour of the other boys was understandable. Had he been in their place, he would have been mocking the newly spoused boy as well. Mocking his pathetic weakness at falling into the evil clutches of ’The Girls’. The enemy.

The boys, he understood. It was the girls. They stared at him with unreadable expressions. Whispered to each other behind concealing hands. Scrutinised him. Assassinated his character by a thousand whispered cuts.

They went for a walk at break time. The boys went outside to play football, yet a small group of interchangeable girls followed Simon and Holly like a bad smell. Whispering. It was like they had an invisible rota, already agreed and arranged that their own would always have a group of them, like a satellite, hovering nearby. Just in case.

In case of what, Simon didn’t know, but they were there, loitering. Just in case. He thought he might have had some alone time with Holly, in the library, like yesterday. Maybe they could have chatted, possibly kissed. But the ever present gaggle, or was it coven, of girls took up residence, nearby. In sight. It was getting tiresome.

Holly didn’t seem to mind, seemed to revel in the attention. Simon wanted to scream. Wanted his old, simple, life back. The bell denoting the end of the school day couldn’t come soon enough. When he got to the school gate, he was prepared, ready, to run home, away from the cat-calls. The scrutiny.

“Will you walk home with me?” Holly asked. The nightmare looked to continue. He couldn’t deny her, there was no logical excuse. She didn’t live a bus-ride away in the opposite direction. He didn’t have someplace else he needed to be.

“Sure.”

And their walking oestrogen satellite followed. Whispering, giggling.

He glanced back at them. “Do they ever give up?”

“Just ignore them.”

“Half of them don’t even live this way!”

“Just ignore them. They’re just jealous.”

“Of who? You or me?”

Holly just rolled her eyes.

They stopped outside of Holly’s house. Awkward.

“See you tomorrow, at school?”

“At school.” Simon agreed. Like he had a choice. Their satellite had also, coincidentally, stopped.

Holly lifted herself up onto her toes and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “Tomorrow then.” She said and slipped her hand from his and headed inside. Simon turned to the girls, who as one, suddenly found something of interest in any direction that didn’t involve him. Simon shook his head and headed home.

He dumped his bag on the floor at the foot of his bed and fired up his computer. He knew he was going to regret what he was about to do, but couldn’t help himself. It was like prodding a sore tooth with your tongue. You knew you shouldn’t, but you still did it anyway.

He had an absolute shit load of notifications on Facebook. Most pointing out that he had been tagged in various photos. Knowing full well that he would regret it, he opened the link to the first photo. It was on someone’s page he wasn’t a friend of. But the privacy of the post was set to ‘Global’ and a mutual ‘friend’ had tagged him in it. Facebook was asking if it was him and did he want to be tagged. He was about to click on ‘Decline’ but decided at the last moment that it would be pointless. A ‘King Canute’ effort.

Simon didn’t bother reading the comments, moved on to the next notification. There was even a picture of Holly’s kiss outside her house. Taken with an sense of timing and picture clarity that suggested the girl who took it, had a very good career prospect in tabloid photography. There were a heck of a lot of heart emoji’s attached to that picture. Including one by his sister. He glanced at the comments. The majority were by girls, some of whom he knew, most saying how sweet or cute the picture was. A few girls pointing out that Holly had let the side down and that there were better prospects out there. The few male comments basically slagged him off. Simon considered deleting his account, for the sake of his mental health if nothing else.

His computer ‘binged’ and the chat box popped up. It was Holly.

: Hi : Heart emoji.

: Hi Holly. :

: What are you up to? :

: Trying to avoid reading all that shite about us. :

: Ignore it. They are just jealous. :

: There you go again. :

: What? : She replied.

: Being all mature and shit. :

Shrug emoji : I can’t stop it, them, neither can you :

: I suppose we can’t :

: They’ll get bored soon enough if we ignore them. :

His computer ‘binged’ and another chat box appeared. His sister.