Chapter 1

Back to school

Jennifer Cardinale, Jenn to her friends, looked around the junior college classroom with open disdain. It was small, almost as small as her high school class rooms had been, and it was definitely much more rundown than the lecture halls at her high school had been. She didn’t want to be here at Lawson State, the small local community junior college, but unfortunately for her she had spent more time as a cheerleader partying and cozening up to the cute football players and coaching staff than she had on studying.

Her high school grades might have looked impressive at first glance, but her SAT, Standardized College Admissions Test told a completely different story. Her SAT score ruled out the big prestigious state university she had hoped for. She had never been a very diligent student and the lack of studying had been enough to cause her disgraceful downfall in the end. After failing the SAT she had dropped down well into the Academic Probation category of student.

She had been hoping to get into a big state university like UAB, or NYU, join the cheerleading team, maybe even the gymnastics team, and become a pledge to a good prestigious college sorority, and live on campus at the sorority house, but Daddy wasn’t willing to fork over any more money on a nearly six figure tuition until she proved that she could buckle down academically.

There was just something inherently wrong and like totally ironic about that, because Jenn knew, just as well as her father did, that unlike her three older male siblings she wasn’t destined for anything greater than being someone’s trophy wife. Sure she was pretty, but there were plenty of pretty girls ... women ... out there to choose from today. Sure she was fit, doing cheerleading, gymnastics, and ballet for most of her life since she had barely turned 4 would naturally do that for a girl ... woman ... like herself. But she admitted to herself at the same time that she was not good enough for the Olympics themselves. OH, she had gone to the Nationals and tried out over and over for the Olympic team over the years, but had never quite made any of the teams.

It was all so unfair, I mean it wasn’t like Daddy would even miss the money. These were supposed to be the best years of her life, and now it was all ruined because of that damn SAT test. Life was just so unfair she moaned to herself. She was over 18 and an adult now and had thought about just quitting school all together and becoming a professional cheerleader like some of her girlfriends had. Like there’s becoming less and less distinction between high school cheerleaders, college cheerleaders, and a professional NFL or NBA cheerleader today. And even the NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic Association, the so-called Big Ten colleges were expanding their cheerleading programs.

Cheerleading is an under appreciated and underrated sport, but cheerleaders are a part of many sports programs today and cheerleaders are athletes in their own rights today Jenn said to herself. Just think about it, millions of people watch high school and college football and basketball games each year, so it’s no surprise that high school and college cheerleaders are a prominent part of these athletic programs and contests today.

Besides college cheerleaders even get paid today, sure it’s a partial or full scholarship, a school stipend, or sponsorships and don’t forget they can even do endorsements. It’s not a salary type of payment. Instead, they may receive additional benefits such as free apparel, travel expenses for competition appearances, food credits on campus, etc. Because cheerleaders are not regulated like traditional college athletes by the NCAA, they can receive financial compensation without losing their competition eligibility. College cheerleaders are only paid cash through endorsements from third-party sponsorships. This is standard practice for many cheerleaders, especially the more established cheer teams competing at the more prominent colleges or cheer stars with large social media followings.

Besides the NCAA colleges there’s the NFL professional football teams today, also there’s Arena football, the Canadian Football League (CFL), and even the United Football League (UFL). For that matter there’s even The National Basketball Association (NBA) cheerleaders. Though here in the states baseball has no cheerleaders the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is an entirely different story. Their cheer squads in baseball-crazed Taiwan actually compete with the baseball teams themselves for fan popularity.

I think the start of the lets say unique Asian Baseball Cheerleading culture was greatly influenced by Japan’s NPB and South Korea’s (KOB) Baseball Organizations which is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in Japan and South Korea. It started with the Samsung Lions back in 2004 when they brought their cheerleaders with them to Taiwan to play a friendly series against the Brother Elephants.

However, the first official Taiwanese team to use professional female cheerleaders of their own wasn’t the Brother Elephants, it was the La New Bears (now the Rakuten Monkeys) instead. They formed the La New Girls, and Uni Lions, in 2005. By 2016, every team of the CPBL boasted a cheer squad of their own. Eventually, former volunteer cheerleaders like Kenta Wu, Lee Ju-eun, better known by the mononym, Jueun, Li Dawei’s successor. and Drama Angel, were being asked to cheer full time and being paid.

To get to where they are today, the cheer squads in baseball-crazed Taiwan needed to do more than just exist on the periphery of their fan’s short term attention span. They had to become part of the baseball culture itself, and after years of intense effort both at the stadium and away from it, the CPBL, KOB, and NPB cheerleaders have done just that. Transforming themselves from luckless morale boosters, into a much-needed baseball fan sensation that has in some ways far eclipsed the popularity of the sport of baseball itself.

Their chants and cheer routines aren’t just a set of three or four choruses on rotation throughout the game anymore, instead they are uniquely designed by cheer captains for every single phase of the game and every player in the game. Some are even purposefully created to match each player’s hitting profile. Chants for speedy contact hitters are often light and quick, while the chants for power hitters when they stride to the plate are deep and powerful. The chants for them are much more thunderous in nature as the crowd yells rallying cries for a grand slam home run from the batter.

Further proof of how far these cheer squads and their cheer captains have come arrived ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. While Taiwanese fans may root for different CPBL clubs, Team Chinese Taipei united the entire island of Taiwan with a fervor unlike anything seen in pro baseball there before. The baseball team’s official roster release only took place after the official announcement of which cheerleaders from each team would be representing Taiwan in the tournament.

But alas the sweet life of a professional cheerleader wasn’t for her. Daddy had threatened to cutoff her allowance entirely, cancel her credit cards, and even take away her car, if she pursued one of those as a career. Daddy even had the unmitigated gall to say she was “too damn prestigious” for that after him marring Barbie a former UCLA cheerleader on the flying squad turned pole dancer/stripper. Barbie’s major claim to semi-fame is she can tie a maraschino cherry’s stem into a knot with her tongue. Yes, it even qualifies as a trick and is actually taught believe it or not on YouTube with many videos Jenn had discovered to her surprise.

Sure Jenn knew she was hot, but at 5 foot 4, 110 pounds, 38-25-36 figure, natural double D cup breasts, and natural platinum blond hair and blue eyes, she was too short and too busty to be a Victoria’s Secret runway model. She had tried drama and acting and found she couldn’t act, and though she thought she had a good voice she wasn’t singer material either she sadly found out. She also wasn’t that smart.

Well that part wasn’t really true. She was really very smart, but refused to apply herself, all the professional headshrinkers Daddy hired, and kept on company retainer, said after they interviewed her. All this could largely be blamed on how much time cheerleading and the associated partying seemed to take away from her scholastic studies, and how easy it had been to pass classes with the help of a low cut deep V-neck top and showing a little boob to her male teachers. If it was a female teacher she just had to show a little boob to the ever-present class nerd and have him do all her homework and cheat off his test paper. It had even worked on that creepy fucking Mister Howwell her last semester of high school.

Honestly, if her last name wasn’t Cardinale, she would have actually considered a career as a professional escort. In fact some of her girlfriends ... women ... that she had gone to high school with had become escorts now that they had all turned a legal 18. It was a good part time gig to ... to ... supplement their income they all told her, and no that didn’t mean they were hookers, strippers, or into porn, but Daddy had already told her he wouldn’t let that fly either. He wouldn’t even consider letting her stoop to being a secretary or office manager, which was super hypocritical of him given that’s how he had met his second wife, ha, ha, ha.

True, his first wife, her mother, April Dryfus, had been from a wealthy old money family, and a Vassar girl, but she had died in a car wreck when Jennifer was only 3. His second wife, Mona, had been his private secretary that he had been banging before her own mother died, and his latest, third wife, had actually been an escort, and professional stripper, who had worked at the exclusive members only Paradise Strip Club that Daddy actually owned a part interest in. Which just seemed to leave trophy wife on the table for her.

The real problem she had right now was who the fuck was going to be looking for a trophy wife at the small rural local community college she was stuck at? It seemed stupid, but Jenn wasn’t in a position to argue with Daddy at the moment. She was here to get good enough grades at studying to get the hell out of here and transfer to a good college or university. All of which meant that she had to get up like super early, at least early for her, and go to her 9 AM chemistry class today.

Angrily, she made her way to the back of the classroom and chose a desk. Then she put her nerdish backpack on the desktop and pulled out her notebook and pen, which she slapped down on the desk loudly. Then she slumped down into her seat and pretended she was invisible to the rest of the class. The only small blessing so far was that she hadn’t run into anyone she actually went to high school with ... so far.

“Jennifer ... Jennifer Cardinale?” Called a distinctive voice, that she knew all too well, from the doorway. This sent that dream crashing to the ground in flames.

“Shit?!?!” Jenn thought to herself, as she looked up and found herself looking at exactly who she didn’t want most to see, Jeff Gibson. Jeff, was the certified science nerd and social outcast of her junior high school class. Tall, lanky, and uncoordinated, a regular Ichabod Crane everyone that was anyone all agreed. Ichabod Crane is a fictional character and the protagonist in Washington Irving’s short story about the headless horseman and a Walt Disney animated movie, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Ichabod ... means ‘without glory’ in Hebrew, and Jeff fit that description perfectly Jenn thought to herself.

True Jeff had somehow been on the first string basket ball team, and even on the wrestling team. He even managed to somehow letter every year, but he was not very popular because he was a nerd and a loner. I mean he actually continued to wear his gold rimed spectacles ... glasses ... when everyone that was anyone knew about soft contact lens, and even LASIK eye surgery was available. But, he was smart ... super smart ... and had won all kinds of science awards Jenn knew.

The rumor around school senior year had been that his tutoring skills eventually lead to him steady dating and taking C-lister Emma Adams, who was way-out of his social league really Jenn thought to herself, to the senior prom. That put him just one step up from creepy Mister Howwell in Jenn’s opinion. At least he had finally gotten his teeth straightened, well the mouthful of stainless steel wire braces off anyway. and he was wearing thinner wire rimmed glasses since the last time she had seen him. What had he tutored Emma in? English? Math? Science? Yes, yes, that was it, science. Fuck, he might be useful after all she thought to herself. So putting aside her natural distaste for nerds she gave him a warm smile when he came back to talk with her.

“Jeff, like wow, I haven’t seen you in like forever. What are you doing here?” Jenn returned his greeting in her best cheeriest cheerleader voice.

“Graduated a full year and a half earlier than you and the rest of the class Jennifer. I’ve been accepted at MIT on a full ride scholarship, but Dad just had a mild stroke so I needed to stay close to home for awhile to help my parents out. Dad’s almost fully recovered and I guess I’ll be heading to Massachusetts now that he’s better. I’m just here to brush up on my chemistry and use the lab. What about you Jennifer? Didn’t you get accepted to State like you and the other cheerleaders were planning?” He asked out of curiosity it seemed.

“Call me Jenn, Jeff.” Jenn answered back, and felt her smile grow a little strained around the edges, It was an obvious given that she was going to the local community college that her high school fed into not the big state university. True she had known it was very likely she would run into people she went to high school with, but why did it have to be Jeff. She could just hope that no one else would comment on her particular fall from grace, ha, ha, ha, So, she pulled out one of her cover stories.

“The divorce from my latest Stepmom hit Daddy pretty hard, so I stayed home to help keep his spirits up.” She lied to Jeff.

“Isn’t your dad already re-married Jennifer?” Jeff asked.

“Well, yes, but he wasn’t when I made that choice.” Jenn smiled a bit wider while she secretly ground her teeth in angered frustration. Jeff just smiled and nodded as if her made-up excuse made perfect sense, and then sat down in the chair right next to hers. Jenn naturally wanted to chew Jeff out for presumptuously sitting next to her, well at least tell him to sit somewhere else, but at that moment the teacher walked in and she completely lost Jeff’s attention.

Three weeks later.

It was three weeks into the semester and Jenn, to her complete surprise, wasn’t failing chemistry. In fact, her grade point average was sitting at a respectable B, maybe even a A-. Most of that was due to the teacher insisting on each student having a work and lab partner, and invariably Jeff was always that partner. He was still a complete nerd who she wanted nothing to do with socially after the class, but he was a helpful nerd in class she had to admit.

Still, her grades were liable to drastically change given that the first in class written test was approaching and Jenn wouldn’t be able to copy off Jeff’s work like she had on so much of the homework assignments. More damning was the fact that the chemistry teacher was a woman and seemed completely immune to low cut V-neck tops and/or boobs. In fact, she wasn’t that old and had a nice pair of boobs herself Jenn had found out, not that Jenn was into girls ... women ... herself that is.

“Well if you’re worried about the test, we could always do some study sessions before the test.” Jeff offered when she brought up her worry in class to him. Jenn nearly slapped Jeff before she realized that being a nerd he probably actually meant to study during their study session, ha, ha, ha. Being a nerd he seemed completely unaware that “study session” was code for “make-out-sessions” in the deserted library for the more popular members of the student body like her and the other cheerleaders. Jeff had actually tutored a lot of the people she knew in high school she remembered when she thought about it.

“I’m free this afternoon Jeff? My last class lets out at 2:30.” Jenn found herself saying instead,

“Great! We can meet after classes at the college library!” Jeff told her, and Jenn sighed with relief. A public place like the library was ideal? She couldn’t possibly invite him home, and there was no way she would be caught dead at his house. Besides none of her real friends ... her peers ... would ever think of visiting the local public library to actually study. It also would make sure Jeff didn’t do anything too creepy or weird, and she would make sure him and her father would never ever have to meet.

Later at the college library.

At 2:30 PM when Jenn and Jeff met up at the public library it was almost deserted, and they had quickly found a table and chairs in a out of the way corner of the science section to do their studying at.

“Chemical bonding is just like playing matchmaker Jenn. Each of the atoms have a number of bonds they’re looking for, this is based on how many unpaired electrons they have, and they make connections to fill in the gaps.” Jeff explained pointing at a representation of a molecule drawn on the paper. Jenn laughed despite herself, pointing at the mess of C’s, H’s, and O’s on the paper,

“I think if dating was half as intertwined as that mess Jeff, there’d be a lot more drama, ha, ha, ha.” Jenn laughed.

“I suppose Jenn, but if you think of each chemical’s letter like a family and the unpaired electrons it contains like kids, or parents, or even grandparents, who are single and looking for connections with other families, it might make more sense to you.” Jeff told her, and laughed back good naturedly.

“I guess Jeff, but all the molecules Dr. Kreutzer has been showing us haven’t had any unpaired eleketrons,” Jenn tilted her head, vaguely trying to make sense of what he was saying, but it didn’t quite click.

“Electrons Jenn. Electrons.” Jeff corrected her patently.

“Yeah, yeah, those thingees. How are any new connections going to be made?” She questioned.

“Ah. Those are the end results Jenn, we’re talking about how we get to the end results now Jenn. How those, uh, I guess you could say, “families”, fit together in the first place. Perhaps a practical example might help Jenn.” Jeff blinked and smiled then nodded slowly as he answered her question.

“And... “ She started as Jeff reached into his nerdy backpack on the table and fumbled around in it for a minute before pulling out a clear glass spray bottle like some perfumes Jenn has come in.

“And this is a new chemical compound I’ve been working on Jenn,” Jeff told Jenn proudly as he held up the clear glass spray bottle for her inspection.

“You can make chemicals Jeff?” Jenn questioned Jeff skeptically looking at the clear glass spray bottle and its murky off color contents.

“There’s a lot more to my new chemical compound than what we are studying right now Jenn. For one thing at the end of my chemical compound there’s a few unpaired electrons. These unpaired electrons are your metaphorical single members of the family hunting for a match Jenn, ha, ha. Now, when this chemical compound is released into the air those unpaired electrons will seek out and latch onto other unpaired electrons and form a completely new chemical compound.” Jeff explained, drawing some letters and lines between the symbols on the sheet of paper and completely ignoring her comments for the moment,

“But where are those unpaired electrons they are going to latch onto Jeff?” Jenn inquired with skepticism and some interest.

“Oh, they can be anywhere! Some are already in existing relationships, unhappy relationships, ha, ha, ha, and looking for new ... well better ... connections, ha, ha, ha. Others are just free and hanging around waiting for a connection to show up, ha, ha. That’s what Dr. Kreutzer was referring to when she was talking about free radicals Jenn, but these in my spray are specifically designed to only interact with certain molecules in the human brain Jenn.” Jeff patently explained to her.

“In the brain Jeff?! In the human brain Jeff?!?! Can’t that be dangerous Jeff ... like ... like they are always warning us about the lasting effects of pot and LSD ... or ... or... “ Jenn became somewhat alarmed and demanded. She was becoming more and more upset with Jeff’s attitude and way too casual explanation of his chemical spray.

“Potentially Jenn, potentially.” Jeff agreed with her as he put his neatly folded white handkerchief over his nose and mouth before spraying her directly in the face with a fine mist from the clear glass spray bottle in his hand. After that Jenn didn’t ask any more questions, or have any more thoughts on the subject for that matter as she passed out. As she fell face forward limply Jeff caught her before her head hit the table.

A short time later

Jenn blinked her eyes open and straightening up looked around as she regained consciousness again. Had something just happened? She couldn’t really seem to remember what had happened. They had been sitting at the table studying in the library and ... and ... at that moment Jeff seated next to her looked up from the sheet of paper he was doodling on. When he noticed she was looking at him he pushed the paper he was working on in front of her.

“Here, Jenn, try figuring out how these molecules are connected.” Jeff directed her, sliding the paper over in front her. Jenn dutifully took the sheet of paper and looked at it. She immediately recognized the first compound as C2H4. C2H4, also known as ethylene or ethene, is a colorless, flammable gas with a faint “sweet and musky” odor. It is the simplest alkene, which means it has a carbon-carbon double bond. The chemical formula for ethylene is H2C=CH2. She mumbled to herself as she worked it out in her mind.

She then wrote out two carbons, each hybridized with four unpaired electrons each. Then she drew out the hydrogens with one electron each. From there it was just a game of ‘Connect the Dots’. Everything had to be tied together, each atom connected to the greater molecule. Once all the atoms were connected, the carbons still had one unpaired dot each, which meant they formed a double bond. She then took her sloppy drawing and redrew it neater on another piece of paper.

“Perfect Jenn!” Jeff complimented her. Hearing him praise her like that made Jenn feel really happy, or maybe it was just the fact that she was finally getting this chemistry stuff that made her so happy.

“You take this sheet home with you, and try the rest of them. I’ll double check them when we meet up at your house tomorrow.” He said, as he gave her the new paper,

“Wait, meet up ... my house...?!?!” Jenn started to object, but Jeff was already getting up to leave.

“Oh, heck. Look at the time. It’s nearly 6 PM. I’ve got to get home. See you tomorrow Jenn!” Jeff told her as he rushed by her leaving a shocked and stunned Jenn in his wake. All Jenn could do was just nod numbly before looking at the clock on the wall which showed 6 PM? They had met up at 2:30 PM where had the time gone she asked herself in confusion? Her curiosity about the missing time was easily, almost too easily, brushed aside and forgotten by her mind as she started to work on the new interesting problems Jeff had given her. She soon forgot all about they were meeting at her house tomorrow.

“Shit, I’m late for dinner.” Jenn thought to herself as she looked at the wall clock. With that she hurried off to home, forgetting, or just ignoring, the lost time and the new meeting place.

The next night.

The next night was Thursday, which was traditionally when Jenn had the house to herself. Her Daddy liked to go to the local Concert in the Park and then stop by the Club that Barbie, her newest Stepmom, used to work at before she married Daddy. Him and his old friends ... buddies ... cronies ... actually had lifetime memberships there. Daddy always insisted that her newest, 3rd Stepmom, had to come with him. Granted, that as a given her 3rd Stepmother made Jenn herself look like a budding genius. Barbara ... Barbie ... was there to look pretty, giggle happily at Daddy’s lame jokes, and be a good little fuck toy whenever Daddy could get it up. Daddy had even had her “fixed”, where she couldn’t have puppies, as part of the binding marriage agreement he made her sign before the marriage. Jenn herself, as a liberated woman, thought it was humiliating, sexually demeaning, and sexist, to ... to ... force a woman to sign a binding prenuptial agreement and be “fixed” as Daddy put it.

A Prenuptial, or Prenup, is a Binding Financial Agreement (BFA), it is a legally binding contract that governs property interests in the event of a separation during a marriage, or a de facto relationship, better known as a common law marriage. Daddy would have liked to have had her completely sterilized, but her lawyer and the judge both agreed that having her tubes tied was sufficient. Whereas sterilization is permanent, “getting your tubes tied”, technically tubal ligation, is reversible since the fallopian tubes and ovaries themselves remain intact.

Jenn thought it was demeaning to have Barbara spayed like some adopted puppy, where there would be no more unwanted quote-unquote “puppies”, but that is what she had overheard Daddy explaining to his old friends ... buddies ... cronies ... in the den one night as they drank too much and played poker.

Surprisingly, Jenn had done the extra practice worksheet Jeff had given her and felt very confident about how well she had done on it. She hadn’t done her own science homework since? ... since? ... she couldn’t really remember when? But she had really wanted to do this one by herself for some odd reason? She also found herself wanting to do whatever Jeff told her to do. She actually got a rush from obeying Jeff. Jeff knew best after all some new part of her whispered to her.

This might actually be the first homework assignment she felt confident in doing. At 2:30 PM, the next day the doorbell rang and she made her way to the front door. Jeff was standing there when she opened the front door, looking nerdy as fuck with his backpack slung over his shoulders and those prominent glasses on. He gave her a once over with his deep blue eyes and she barely fought down the urge to get offended and slap him for taking advantage of her like this, but she needed him to pass this upcoming test she told herself and kept her cool. If he wanted to look at her in her baggy sweats that she lazed around the house in, he could just go right ahead she told herself.

“Jeff, come in.” She said, stepping out of the doorway to let him pass.

“Thanks, Jenn, before we get started can you tell me where the bathroom is?” He stepped past her and asked as she was closing the door.

“Yeah sure Jeff, it’s down the hallway, first door on the right. Anything else?” She said, pointing down the hall and then turning back around from shutting the door. When she turned back around she found herself facing Jeff who had a clear glass spray bottle in his hand.

“Just this,” He said, as he put the folded white handkerchief over his nose and mouth and sprayed a fine mist of something into her face. That was the last she knew as she passed out.

Later

Jenn gently shook her head as she came back to herself naked in the shower. She found she was just finishing up shaving her legs and pussy. As smooth as a baby’s bottom she congratulated herself as she ran her long manicured fingernails over her newly shaved pubic mound and then teased her clit causing a sexual shiver to run up her spine. Of course she knew that most of her cheerleading girlfriends shaved, or at least trimmed the hair on their snatch. Heck, some even used a depilatory cream that broke the disulfide bonds of the keratin molecules in the hair itself and removed the whole hair, root and all. She had tried Nair once back in high school on a dare from the senior cheerleaders, but she had an adverse allergic reaction to it. In fact, until just recently, she couldn’t seem to remember exactly when for some odd reason, she had believed in going au naturel and had quite a naturel bush down there. But she knew ... didn’t she? ... she shaved now? ... some men didn’t like body hair on their women she knew.

When she actually thought about it she couldn’t quite remember how she had gotten here in the shower, or even when she had started shaving her pussy for that matter, but she easily, almost too easily, brushed that arrant nagging thought aside and promptly forgot it. Jeff was on his way over and she wanted to look her best for him. Well, not for him exactly, after all Jeff was a bit of a nerd, but she prided herself on always looking her best. As she stepped out of the shower and she noted the time. 3:15 PM. She had 45 minutes to finish getting ready, which should just barely be enough time she said to herself.

She dried her long silky blond hair and then carefully gave it that blownout look she liked. She then added some makeup, just enough to enhance, but carefully avoiding some of the more enticing reds for her lipstick. She might want to look nice, but she wasn’t about to let the nerd get any ideas. Granted it would be a delicate line to walk given that the only outfit that seemed anything resembling acceptable for the evening was a light red spaghetti strap summer dress. In itself it wasn’t really a risque wear, but given that she had to wear a push-up bra and thong with it, it might push things a teensy-weensy bit more than she might be comfortable with someone so ... so ... Jeff-ish.