Chapter 14: A New School

The little group arrived in the school at 8:15, and Wilma led them to the school office. She told the secretary that she had visitors and needed guest passes.

“These are Jennifer Ritter, Drew Harper, and Connor Martin,” Wilma told the secretary. “They’re moving to Glen Burnie end of spring from Pennsylvania and will transfer here. They need the info for their school records transfer and guest passes; they want to see what the school is like.”

A woman came out from an office behind the counter and came up to them.

“Well, hello, Wilma and Sherrill. You’re showing off your school to your friends? Hi, I’m Dr Petersmith, the principal. Wilma, please introduce your friends.”

She did and Connor explained that they wanted to see the school to get an idea about what a big school was like, and that Drew wanted to meet the soccer coach if possible.

“Our current high school has close to 1200 kids. This looks much bigger,” he remarked.

“It is; we have not quite double that number, Connor. I heard that your family’s moving from Pennsylvania. But you all have different last names?”

“We do, Dr Petersmith,” Jennifer answered. “My parents are the Ritters, but they’re also the legal guardians for Drew and Connor, who aren’t otherwise related.”

“My goodness, there’s a story there,” Petersmith said. “No time for that now; I see that Mrs Carter has your forms and passes for you. Drew, you play soccer?” She nodded. “I’ll let Ms Adcock know you want to meet her. After the last bell today should be good; if not, I’ll get word to you. Wilma can show you to the athletic department.”

They departed after thanking Petersmith, and Wilma and Sherrill led them to their first period class.

“How come the principal knows you guys?” Jennifer asked. “Such a big school, she can’t know everyone.”

Wilma chuckled. “Not ‘cause we get in trouble. Much, anyway. We’re both in the theater and drama club and act in the school plays, even did a musical last fall. That’s how.”

“You both have the same classes?” Drew asked.

“Yeah, we do this year. They do most everything by the alphabet here—even the assistant principals are assigned kids alphabetically. So unless we choose different electives, we tend to be in the same classes. Here we are.”

They went into the classroom and Wilma handed the guest passes to the teacher.

“They’ll be moving to the area and will transfer here, then start here in the fall,” she told the teacher.

The teacher told the three visitors to take seats in the back and gave the passes back to Wilma. The rest of the class sessions followed the same pattern. In one of them, however, a junior civics class, the visitors had a chance to participate in the class discussion. Sherrill had mentioned that the guests would be moving from Pennsylvania and the teacher knew something of the religious-challenge court case against the Program in that state. She asked the guests if they were familiar with that affair. They were, of course, and Drew answered.

“We were kinda in the middle of it, ma’am. We live in the area known as the ‘Pennsylvania Dutch Country’ and a huge number of folks are fundamentalist Christians. Like the Amish and Mennonites, but there are lots more sects. Two of the big churches sued the school districts in two counties to stop the Program. They didn’t stop the whole thing, but they did force the feds to agree to allow religious exemptions to anyone who said that the Program violated their beliefs.”

There were gasps and a little applause from the class members at hearing that.

“More than half of the kids in our high school come from religious families, so they claimed the exemption. And when they did, most every other kid, the not-religious ones, found that when ‘Jesus saves,’ He works in more ways than spiritual...”

Kids in the classroom burst into laughter at that.

“ ... so our region has the largest concentration of Bible-observant kids in the entire country now.”

More laughter. When it stopped, the teacher complimented Drew.

“That was a most excellent impromptu report, Drew...”

Applause.

“ ... and it clearly illustrates, class, the function of the judiciary in its checks-and-balances relationship to the legislature and executive branches. Who can tell the class where this court case limited the operation of the Program at the school level? Okay, Jodie?”

Jodie answered, “Congress was limited a little because I guess that the law was too broad and they didn’t think of limiting it so it wouldn’t adversely affect who we learned are ‘protected classes’ of people. And that Program office—it’s in the Executive Branch—they wrote regulations that were too harsh and restrictive, like we heard that they don’t even allow medical exemptions. So the court made them allow a religious one.”

“Excellent analysis, Jodie. And as far as medical exemptions, the media is chock full of reports of legal challenges to the OSA, coming out of many states, seeking to receive such an exemption. Finally, as you all are aware, our own school is the center of a legal battle over providing security and protection for student Program participants against assaults or other kinds of threats. The final hearings on that case are set for this June. Can anyone give us another example of where a court decision overturned either a law or an agency regulation?”

And the class continued as the students answered and discussed the teacher’s questions. After the class, Connor told Wilma and Sherrill that he thought that the teacher was really good and they agreed.

“Lots of the teachers here are pretty much okay. There are a few who are so boring that it’s hard to keep awake in class.”

“Um, Sherrill, about the teachers,” Drew began, “In my first high school—where Connor and I met—we saw the Program in action and a number of the teachers there enjoyed humiliating the naked kids. If the Program starts here, can you think of any teacher like that? But wait a sec before your answer. People like that are kind of sadists but they can keep that part of their character hidden. Oh yeah ... I got to hear all of my pastor’s anti-Program sermons and in one, he used a hundred-dollar word. I liked it so much that I memorized it. Pastor said that some people get off on seeing or causing someone else’s misfortune; he called that ‘schadenfreude,’ comes from German, meaning ‘joyful damage.’ Pastor told me that people like that can dehumanize the person experiencing the humiliation. So, any teachers like that?”

Sherrill looked at Wilma and they both shrugged. “Can’t think of any offhand,” Wilma said thoughtfully.

At their brief lunch period, Wilma and Sherrill got the chance to introduce their guests to more of their friends, and that’s when Sherrill decided to put the voluntary nudity idea out there.

“You guys are always asking us about our nudist resort—what it’s like, what we do there, right?”

They nodded.

“Oh, hey, here’s Danny and Art—sit down, guys—shift some butts to give them room! Guys, these are Jen, Drew, Connor, the guys here are Art, my BF, and Danny, who’s Wilma’s. Guys, we were talking about how you all want to know what we do at our nudist resort. You two especially keep asking—and I keep telling you, you want to know? Just come with us when we go! We love it there and you would too. Anyway.

“What I wanted to tell you all is about that stupid Naked in School Program that’s coming—you know that it’s almost certain that it’s gonna start here next term. I told you about Jen, Drew, and Connor; they’re gonna be transferring here in the fall. So Drew got this rad idea about dealing with the Program from talking to Jen, who also goes to our resort. Last summer at our resort, we got to talking about the Program coming to Maryland schools and one kid put an off-the-wall comment out there that made sense to the kids there who heard it. When she got home, Jen mentioned the comment to Drew.

“Anyway, yesterday the five of us were talking about the Program—they had it in their current school but it got stopped by a court injunction, kinda like what happened here—and we were trying to figure out how to cope with having to handle the dumb thing when it starts up in the fall. And that’s when Drew reminded us of that kid’s remark from last summer—it could definitely be a way to counter the Program’s abuses. You’ve all heard about the abuses, the random humiliation and unwanted groping. See, you guys ask us why we’re not scared or embarrassed to be nude with lots of other people at our resort. It’s simple. Just about everyone there is nude too, so it’s the clothed ones who get noticed, ‘cause they’re different.

“Drew reminded us about what that guy said: it basically was like, ‘why not bring the nudism culture from the resort to the school?’ The Program is nothing like nudism, you know. Our nudist friends who had to be in the Program in the other high schools around the Baltimore area hated it, even though they were very used to being nude in mixed company. They told me that their experiences were simply awful, ‘cause of that groping and fondling and being dragged and shit like that, and by having to do gross sexual poses and in classroom demos.

“Now you know that every single one of you will have to get naked during some week this coming school year. When the school delayed the running of the Program here last fall, they told us that when it does start up, with our class sizes of up to 600 kids, they’ll need to strip a huge number of us each week—and next school year, when we’re all seniors, they need to get through all 600 during the 35-week school year. Yeah, I looked it up ‘cause I was curious. There are five weeks with a one-day holiday during those weeks, so that leaves just thirty full weeks for 600 senior kids to be in the Program. So that means there’d need to be at least twenty seniors each week, plus the underclassmen that get picked—they don’t need to pick as many of those each week ‘cause they’ve got more school years to go. Juniors, they’d need to pick six every week. So they would need to pick maybe thirty kids to be naked each week.”

“Damn, you think that they’d do that?” Danny asked.

Sherrill replied, “Almost definitely—they chose lots of seniors when the Program began in the other schools where our friends go, and I also heard that on the first week, they made the first group of kids strip on stage in front of the entire school. At least they can’t do that super humiliating on-stage stripping here—all four grades of students can’t fit in our auditorium at the same time...”

“But they could in the field house...” Chuck, one of the boys at the table, interrupted.

“Only if they brought in maybe 2300 to 2400 chairs, like they do when they use it for graduation. Can you imagine the mob scene with 2400 kids milling around and they tried to get some of them to go up to that little platform and strip there? That’d never happen.”

“Um, guess you’re right.”

“So back to Drew’s idea that Wilma, Jen, and I were thinking about. Maybe we can even preempt the way they pick kids to be in the Program. Since everyone will have to be nude at some point, why not make nudity so common in the school that it’s normal? Um, you know, it’ll be neat to make nudity the new normal now.”

She emphasized the “n”s to highlight the alliteration and the others laughed.

“Good slogan, Sherrill.” Wilma chuckled. “Nudity’s the new normal now. I like it!”

“Yeah, well, if we do that, we can take control of the Program ourselves, right?” Sherrill went on. “If there are large numbers of naked kids hanging together, the group can protect its members. There wouldn’t be a chance for anyone to do those stupid ‘reasonable requests’ that I heard such bad things about, ‘cause bystanders would have no idea who the Program kids are. A lot of naked kids in the classrooms can completely disrupt any demos a teacher tries, and all those kids can cover for each other too. Same with the opposite-sexes in the lockers.”

The others got thoughtful looks, and one of the girls, Rachel, asked her, “It’s a radical idea, Sherrill, but it’s challenging for me to even think about my getting naked. How did you do it for your first time, anyway?”

“My father and uncle grew up in a nudist family and our families kept it up. So I was always a nudist. But noobs who come, when they see everyone nude, they just join in and in no time at all, they’re comfortable in their birthday suit. Say, Wilma, what about this idea? We can see if the resort can give special passes for teens who will have the naked Program in their schools. Then ... ah... these tentative textile teens ... ha, ha, get that one? ... will get a chance to experience nudity the way it’s meant to be? Guys, what do you think of that?”

Laughter, then among the group there were lots of nods of approval, but some kids were still uncertain.

“Remember, you’re a senior coming this fall, so, guaranteed, you’ll have to be naked when your name comes up, and then you’ll have to deal with it alone. With this idea, everyone’s together to support each other.”

“Great suggestion, Sherrill,” Wilma told her and the others agreed. “Guys, the bell is about to ring. Spread the word about this. We’ll thwart the Program by overwhelming it. We won’t submit to it—we’ll simply take it over!”

When the bell rang, Wilma and Sherrill said their good-bys to Danny and Art, and they all left for their next classes.

Two of the kids, Rachel and Lois, were among those who were a little uncertain. While they walked along with Sherrill, Wilma, and the others in the direction of their next classrooms, they asked for some more reassurance about how they could face the impending public nudity.

Rachel asked, “I’m sure you’re right about all of us eventually having to be naked, but it’s still a difficult thing to do. I’m still not sure...”

Jennifer broke in, “I’m still kind of an outsider here, so I don’t know how this suggestion will fly, but I know of some kids in my school who were scared of the idea of the nudity of the Program before the religious exemptions became the thing to do. They started sleeping naked and spending naked time in their house or even just their room. I heard that kinda helped them a bit.”

“Huh. That’s a good suggestion,” Rachel replied. “Maybe I’ll try that and see. The resort idea is kind of intriguing too; Wilma, you guys are always talking about all the dope things to do there.”

“It is a lit place. I hope this idea of overwhelming student nudity will work.”

Lois was walking along with them too and she also agreed that trying out private nudity just might help her, and then they split off to go to their own classrooms.

After the bell ending their final class period, Wilma and Sherrill led the visitors to the athletic offices and found Coach Adcock waiting for them, and immediately her eyes lit on Drew.

“Hello there, I’m Coach Adcock. Dr Petersmith told me that you’ll be transferring schools from Pennsylvania—I do recognize Sherrill and Wilma. Hi there to both of you, too. These gals are pretty capable volleyball players but we weren’t able to convince them to try out for the team. So, Drew, is it? You’re clearly athletic.”

Drew nodded. “Yes, Coach. My guardians—Connor’s too...” she took his hand, “are moving here in June. I’ve been playing soccer since I was nine, both community leagues and varsity. My usual position is in D, a fullback, but since I have great speed and fast reactions, my coaches use me as a stopper or center-back. Wing-back in some formations ‘cause I can attack on breakaways. Here’s a sheet with my stats.”

Drew handed her the copy and she read it.

When the coach looked up, her face wore a surprised expression.

“Drew, these are top stats. I can see from them why you were picked for first team all-state, and why the Prep-to-Pro site named you one of the top five top defensive players in the state. Your stats are simply amazing.”

“Well, we were a strong team in a comparatively weaker region. We did have a harder time against the schools from bigger cities.”

“What kind of stats does a defensive player have?” Wilma asked. “I only know about goals, assists, and goalie saves.”

“Okay, Wilma, maybe this will get you out to see some soccer games next year then. Defensive players have different metrics based on their control of the opposition. Drew’s first stat is pass completion percentage, that’s 79 percent, which is astounding. That’s passes completed divided by passes attempted. Like a batting average. The next is similar, her dribble success rate, which is 81 percent. That means she has an outstanding ability to keep control of the ball and not lose it to the opponent. Two other super numbers are her ability to steal the ball—her successful tackle rate is an incredible 73 percent, which shows that she has great reflexes, and she averages interceptions at just over four per game. And for a D player, her goals scored of 0.9 per game and assists at 2.4 per game would look awfully good for a mid-fielder.”

“Connor says she’s fast too,” Sherrill added.

“She certainly is. Drew, you must wear a soccer tracker, right?”

“Sure, that’s where they got those speed and distance metrics,” Drew answered.

“Okay, Sherrill, Drew’s really fast. She’s been timed sprinting at 23.3 kilometers per hour and running longer distances at 19.8 kilometers per hour. That running speed, kept up for a mile, converts to, ah, something like a five-minute mile. Sprinting, she’s close to a four-minute mile.”

The others looked at Drew in awe.

Drew laughed. “C’mon, guys, I can’t run a whole mile that fast. That’s just my sprinting speed.”

“Let’s put this in soccer perspective,” the coach told them. “The distance a fullback would need to run from their penalty area to the opponent’s is about 80 meters. Drew could run that distance in nine to twelve seconds. She could easily outrace her opponent’s midfielders with her speed. Drew, that must be the source of your goals and assists?”

“Sure, Coach. I do it on steals and interceptions and I’m traveling past the centerline before their midfield players can reach me to mark me.”

At the girls’ curious looks, she explained what “marking” meant.

“Coach, I have some videos on my phone of Drew playing,” Connor told her and showed her some clips of Drew’s play.

Adcock watched and her smile grew to a broad grin as she saw how some of Drew’s moves left her opposition either flat-footed or sprawled on the pitch, having tripped over their own feet trying to recover from Drew’s dribbling moves and fakes.

“I rarely see a high school girl with your dribbling talent, Drew. Some of those moves—that Zidane roulette I saw, for example—are hard to master, and in those clips, you were doing them at your running speed. You could be a great striker too, but with your dribbling, passes, steals, and interceptions, you’re more valuable at playing D. Killing an opponent’s attack gives your O more possession time, after all.

“It would be fabulous having you play on the Glen Burnie Gophers team. We’ll need to certify your eligibility, so let me get you the eligibility verification form that our state high school athletic association uses; you’ll need to complete it and get it signed by your current school’s athletic director. Okay, it’s been a real pleasure meeting you and our conversation’s been great. Keep in touch—here’s my card—and we’ll see you when you get here to register in the school.”