Chapter 1

I bounded out the large double doors of the high school and whooped and hollered with the rest of my classmates. It was the last day of school, and we were done for the summer. Everyone was smiling. laughing and joking, relieved that finals were finally over, relieved that most of us could actually sleep in tomorrow morning, if only for one day. My name is Madison Winston; most everyone except my teachers calls me "Maddy". I'm fourteen years old (just turned fourteen two weeks ago), and I have just completed my first year of high school. Wow! It has been a year, that's for certain. I was as nervous as a person can be to begin high school. I actually asked my mom if there was an alternative but she just smiled, told me that there was not, and said I had nothing to worry about. And honestly, I don't know why I was so worried; I had plenty of self confidence. I just remember that two friends told all of us about a zillion horror stories about girls' first years in high school, and that pretty much did it in for me. I suffered through the first two weeks, stopping at the girl's restroom after every class, just so that I wouldn't wet my pants if something scared me. Finally I managed to see that all of those stories were just legends passed on from one class to the next, each class doing its best to terrify the younger one. There really were no gangs of boys lurking in every stairwell waiting to attack the lone girl who was late for a class. There were no doorways, otherwise unmarked, that were secretly reserved for older students. One was not required to stand up for the duration of any class to which one was tardy. Once these truths came to me, the days began to get better. Some of my friends decided to try out for the girl's volleyball team and I said I would give it a whirl too. I was pretty happy when the freshman team was posted on the board in the girls' gym and my name was included on the list. I had never really given much thought to any after-school sport. I guess, when I think about it, I always enjoyed volleyball in grade school, but it certainly was not a consuming passion for me. But I was happy that I made the team anyway; it certainly kept me in tip top shape physically, and it allowed me to meet and make many new friends.

My classroom work did not seem to be so hard, certainly not what I had expected. I was personally quite relieved after receiving my first semester grades; my parents were ecstatic--so was my coach. Our school conference has some really strange rules about student athletes' grades. Not only is each student required to maintain a certain minimum, the team must maintain a slightly higher average. I may not be six feet tall as is one of my teammates, but I certainly did hold up the grade point average. The freshman girls' team plays three games every two weeks, which doesn't seem to be too taxing on our studies, yet gives us enough activity to maintain our interest and our skill sets. My performance on the court is better than I expected it would be. I am much better at defense, because I seem to be quite agile. My only real problem this year began when my boobs decided to finally make an appearance, and I kept running into "me" where "me" didn't exist a few months ago. It was awkward and embarrassing to keep explaining that my arm was just not accustomed to having an obstruction there, and that I needed to allow more clearance when moving my am across my chest area.

The first day of summer vacation, mom did allow me to "sleep in"; I don't think I crawled out of bed until near noon. It was a wonderful feeling, but I knew that I was never going to be happy wasting my summer lying in bed all day. My best friend, Becky, and I found employment at the school. Our job, believe it our not, is to wash out the school buses top to bottom, washing every seat, and even scraping all the chewing gum from under the seats. I couldn't believe the first time I saw a seat bottom. The rules say no chewing gum on the buses. The penalty is getting thrown off the bus for one whole semester, yet the bottom of the seats are filled with wads of gum stuck there by students. It is a job, and it pays enough money that I don't have to pester my parents for spending money all summer, but it is nothing glorious to be sure. The buses are hot inside since they have been closed up and parked in the sun. We always put a fan to blow across the top of the seats, and another to blow across the floor, just so that we didn't get too bummed out by the heat. Some of those buses smelled like vomit too. As soon as we are done (we are only allowed to work four hours per day) we go home and shower and then find the other kids and hang out.

By the end of the second week, our summer group had become more or less of a "pack"--a bunch of kids, both boys and girls, the number varying each day but usually seven or eight of each gender, that can be found in the city park playing touch football, at the softball diamond, or just walking around the side streets of town doing what teen aged kids do everywhere, as little as possible. The age group of the kids in the pack varies, depending upon which kids happen to be there that particular day. All of us are in high school, but there are times when it is mostly kids who will be seniors, and then there are days when all the girls are in my class. I don't get to go with them every day; sometimes Mom has something she needs me to do at home.

Becky and I decided that we would start running -- not far, but running anyway. I think this will help us in volleyball next fall, because it will keep our leg muscles in shape, but it should also help us stay in shape physically, without building up the arm and chest muscles that weight lifting does for you. We now have four girls running together, and we have progressed to just shy of ten miles per day. We run every other day. Some of the kids are talking about having a beach party down at the lake west of town. Personally, I have only been there twice, both times with my parents years ago. I'm not allowed to date yet, but I might get permission to go to this, if it is just a group deal. Becky and I have been talking about this. We are both a little reluctant to go that far out of town, even if it is with a group. I 'm sure it will be alright, but still, it makes me a little nervous. I hope that my nervousness is not so transparent when I ask my mom for permission to go. One good thing is that almost everyone in our group that might be going has already been to my house several times, and my mom has met most of them. I'm not really sure how that matters, but it seems to be important to parents.

Good news! My mom said I could go as long as Chloe and Becky went as well. Chloe is two years ahead in school but just lives three doors away and my mom knows her mom. Anyway, we need new bathing suits if we are going to a beach party, and that necessitates a road trip to the mall. Chloe is the only one with a driver's license so we will get to ride in the most decrepit vehicle on the road, one that her father drove to work for fifteen years before he gave it to her, and she says that he bought it used when he first got it. It is old, it has rust all over it, and the seats have big wear spots, but it is a car and it does run. It's just a little embarrassing to be seen in it.

The three of us went to the mall yesterday afternoon after we got home from work. We had a blast. I think we tried on every swimsuit in the store, believe me. Becky bought one that has a padded bra, because she is still pretty small on top. I told her that she better think about shaving or at least trimming if she is going to wear it though, because her pubic hair sticks out when she twists and turns around. Chloe has far more courage than either Becky or I do. She bought an unlined suit that is very pale blue. She has pretty big boobs, at least a "c" cup, and enormous dark nipples. She better hope that it doesn't become see-through when she gets it wet. The one that I wanted was a very pale yellow (it WAS lined) bikini, but the store only had a medium and a small but no extra smalls. The "small" bottom would have fallen completely off me. I am still only five feet four, and usually wear a size "0" or "1", depending on the designer. I settled for a suit that I could by as separates. The top (32B) is dark blue with lots of white stars. The bottom, extra small, is bright red and white vertical stripes. Becky said if I lay down in it, I will look like a flag, which is pretty much what the designers were thinking too. It's a pretty neat suit. My mom may think it is a bit too skimpy here and there, because it is cut a little tight now that I think about it, but I am pretty sure I can hide the fact that it comes perilously close to exposing my nipples. I will have to be very careful around her. I'm not sure why the colored part of my nipples grew so large, but they sure are. They are almost bigger than Becky's entire breast, but I would never say that around her. At least I don't have to shave my crotch. I have a little hair so far, but it is very light and only at the very top of the split of those lips.

I still don't know who all is going to this thing Saturday. The good part is that we don't work on Saturdays, so I won't be tired, and we don't run this Saturday either, so that's cool too. I am hoping that Brandon decided to go. I have tried to get his attention all summer, but he seems to be immune to my efforts. He is tall, really good looking and has longer blond hair. I think he is going to be a senior. I first met him one afternoon when we were all playing touch football. He was on the other team and the one time that I got to carry the ball, he was the one that "touched" me. It's just for fun and nobody ever gets hurt. His idea of "touching" was to pick me up, hold me over his head and shake me until I let loose of the ball. I was screaming the entire time, but everybody else thought it was hilarious. When he set me down, he twisted me around so that I was facing him and then let me slide down his chest while he kept his arms wrapped around me. I thought for sure that I was going to snag my bra on his belt and have it come flipping up, but it didn't. I think he did that just so that he could feel my boobs as they slid down his chest. But that's the last time I have had any one-on-one contact with him at all. He is always involved with talking to his buddies, and I know he works somewhere a couple of afternoons every week too, so that may explain why I don't see him too much.

Chloe has a boyfriend whom she has been dating for nearly a year. When we were driving to the mall to buy our swimsuits, she was telling Becky and me about him and them. She didn't come right out and say it but I got the idea that she has slept with him several times. She kind of implied that the guys pretty much expect that if you are going steady. Becky, good old "go right ahead and ask it" Becky, didn't let that escape notice. She kept pestering Chloe until she admitted that she had allowed him to open her blouse and remove her bra when they were making out on their third date and then she said that a girl has to perform oral sex on her date by then or he won't ask her out again. I'm not sure if I believe that or not, but she isn't the first girl that I have heard that from. I know one thing. When Brandon slid me down his chest, I felt like I had electricity sparking all over my body. I have never felt that before, and if that's what comes with being with a boy, then wow!

Becky told me while we were running that Brandon had asked her if I was coming to the beach party and then she added that he got a big smile on his face when she told him that we were. I still think it is a little weird that the girls don't have to bring any food or make any snacks or anything. The guys are taking care of everything. When we got back from running today, everybody else was in my back yard playing volleyball. My parents were surprised (so was I) but they made some snacks and brought out a cooler full of soda. Brandon was here too, so I introduced him to my folks, just to sort of single him out from the crowd. I am getting excited about tomorrow night.

Mom let me sleep in this morning. I didn't get up until past nine o'clock, and that's pretty late for a Saturday morning in our house. But I flew through my chores and had all the clothes washed and dried and separated by two. Mom told me I was too wound up and I needed to calm down a bit. Easy for her to say. I finally decided to go running, just to work off some nervous energy. I called Becky and she was just as nervous and excited, so we ran half of our regular route and were home by five. We stopped at Becky's on the way home so that she could shower and change. I reminded her about shaving.