Chapter 12

Sandra yawned entering Peter’s room to wake him for school. Seeing him in such a deep sleep and knowing how tired she was, she was hesitant to disturb him. Teenagers needed a lot more sleep than what he had gotten last night.

She still couldn’t believe what she had done with Peter that kept them up so late. The memory was so vivid and haunting. She had stripped down to her panties and encouraged him to play with her body. And play he did, touching and kissing her everywhere. Often at her direction. Sometimes on his own. Doing things she hadn’t expected. And she hadn’t stopped him doing them. On the contrary, those things had released an inner need she had forgotten she had. And it escalated from there. She had given him his first blowjob, even though it had lasted only a few seconds, and they fucked. How could she have allowed that to happen? But what was worse, she had enjoyed every minute of it.

The most troubling part was that Peter had told her that he loved her. Actually, that was not the most troubling. The most troubling was that, in a fit of sexual passion, she had uttered those same three words to him. In her passion-induced state, she had meant that she loved what he was doing or loved him for doing it, but that’s not what she had said, and she knew Peter wouldn’t understand.

Sandra shook Peter’s shoulder. He grunted but didn’t move. She shook him harder. He pulled the blanket over his head. Maybe she should let him miss a day of school. No! She flipped the blanket down so hard it sailed over his body and landed at his calves.

“Wake up! Peter, wake up!” Sandra said while vigorously shaking his shoulder.

With his eyes closed, Peter blindly reached around for the blanket. Not finding it, he begrudgingly opened his eyes. He didn’t look happy. Not until he recognized Sandra. Then his face broke into a huge smile. He flung his arms around her neck and pulled her down. Sandra gasped and lost her balance. She caught herself with a hand slamming into the mattress, but Peter was already crushing his lips to hers. Her gasp had left her mouth open so Peter’s tongue was actively searching for hers. Sandra jerked her head back and broke free of his hold.

“What are you doing?” she shouted in a whisper knowing the door was open and Madison was either finishing up in the bathroom across the hall or getting dressed in her bedroom nearby.

Peter’s face fell. He looked so sad.

“You need to get ready for school,” Sandra said. “I’ll have breakfast waiting. Hurry up.”

Sandra stormed out of the room, holding back tears. Her heart ached. She had created a mess and didn’t know how to undo it.

At breakfast, Sandra kept avoiding Peter’s stares. Not much was said with Sandra and Peter conflicted and Madison busy texting.

“Oh damn!” Madison said.

“What’s the matter?” Sandra asked.

“Julie is sick. She’s not going to school.”

“So?”

“So we walk together.”

“Walk with Peter.”

“Oh no, that’s not the same.”

Madison quickly turned to Peter. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded. Wanna walk to school with me?”

Peter’s face lit up. “Yeah!”

After breakfast, Sandra kissed Madison on the cheek as she was leaving. She did the same to Peter, although the look he gave her told her he wanted more. She had to talk to him after school to...

To what?

Sandra stood in the doorway watching the two teenagers walk down the block. She had thought raising a teenage daughter was hard, but it was a breeze compared to the task she took on with Peter. What was she going to tell him? She couldn’t tell him that she didn’t love him the way he loved her. Or thought he loved her. That would crush him. He was too young to understand the difference between the love she had for him and a romantic love. What was romantic love anyway? Every time she had thought she had fallen in love romantically, it turned out to be nothing more than sex. That’s probably why she had stopped looking for romance and stopped dating. She had thought she was in love with Madison’s father and looked how that turned out.

Sandra’s love for her daughter was unconditional. But that wasn’t the love she felt for Peter. So what was it? She had felt sorry for the boy, but it was more than pity once she had gotten to know him. She had feelings for him. She felt good when he was happy, bad when he was sad. It had made her furious when she had found out what his mother had done to him. It disturbed her that he was ostracized and made fun of at school. And she felt pride the more he behaved like a man and the more confidence he gained. But last night was different. She had felt something new toward him—lust.

Sandra closed the door and went to the garage to drive to work.

Peter and Madison walked side by side, both with bookbags strapped to their backs. They were living in the same house, but hadn’t gotten close.

“How are the kids treating you in school now that you, um, wear different clothes?” Madison asked.

“The same.”

Madison stopped and gawked at him. “What! You mean they still bully you?”

Peter nodded. After such a wonderful night, today was not going well. For some reason Miss Huxley hadn’t talked to him during breakfast and now Madison was asking him questions about something he hated talking about.

“The boys or the girls?” Madison asked.

“Both, mostly the girls.”

Madison sighed. “Yeah, that’s middle school girls. They’re such babies. They like picking on people, although it’s usually other girls. You should tell them to go fuck themselves.”

“I’d get in trouble.”

Madison giggled. “Yeah, probably, but it would be worth it. C’mon, let’s get to school.”

When they were walking in the parking lot, nearing the front entrance to the middle school, a group of middle school girls started calling Peter names. Madison stopped and glared at them.

“Oh look,” one jeering girl said, “Peter pecker-face needs a babysitter to take him to school.”

The other girls burst out laughing.

“Hey, cunt, are you calling me a babysitter?” Madison shouted. The girls stopped laughing and stared at the older girl with her hands on her hips. “You think Peter needs a babysitter? You’re such a bunch of babies. Peter here is more of a man than any of you will ever get.”

Madison turned to Peter and pressed her lips to his. He automatically grabbed the back of her head and thrust his tongue into her mouth. Before Madison knew what was happening, they were passionately French kissing. When she pulled away, she was panting.

“Wow!” she whispered to Peter. “Where’d you learn to kiss like that? Wow!”

Madison turned to the stunned girls. “Peter is my friend, a friend with benefits if you know what I mean. So go run to the toilet and finger your virgin pussies while thinking about what I’m getting from Peter and you’re not.”

Madison leaned next to Peter’s ear and whispered, “‘Friends with benefits’ means a boy and girl are not in a romantic relationship, just friends, but they have sex. The sex is the benefits.”

Madison kissed Peter on the lips and stormed off, leaving the girls with their mouths hanging open and Peter stunned. All the girls turned and stared open-mouthed at him so he hurried to the school and his first period class.

Once again, gossip about Peter spread through the middle school like a wildfire. But this time, no one was shoving him or calling him names. All he got were stares wherever he went, and a lot of fingers pointed at him and whispering. It was unsettling and Peter dreaded what was to come. He always expected the worse because that’s what he had always gotten.

At lunch time, Peter sat in the cafeteria in his usual place, off to the side away from the other kids like he always did. A girl carrying a tray stopped at the end of the table where he was sitting. She had a cute face with a light brown ponytail that was tied high on her head so it stood up before hanging down to the back of her neck. She was short, maybe 5’3”, with a tiny waist, boyish hips, and small pointy tits that required a bra for only one reason, to hide the nipples.

“Can I sit here?” the girl asked, hovering her tray above the table across from Peter.

In a panic, Peter looked around trying to see what prank was going to be played on him. But there was no one there, other than the girl.

“Okay,” he said with trepidation.

The girl lowered the tray onto the table and sat. “I’m Julie. You’re Peter, right?”

Peter nodded.

“We had some classes together last year,” she said. “You’ve changed.”

“I have new clothes.”

Julie tilted her head to the side. “It’s more than that. You’re more grown up.”

Peter’s eyes dropped to her chest and then shot back up. “So are you.”

Julie blushed. “Yeah, I have boobs now,” she said with a nervous giggle. “But that’s what I mean. You wouldn’t have noticed that last year. I like that you noticed.”

Not used to talking to girls in school, or anywhere else, Peter didn’t know what to say, so he sat there in silence, staring at the girl.

“So you have a girlfriend in high school, right?” Julie asked.

“No, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s, um...”

Julie waited for Peter to finish. When he didn’t, she blurted, “So it’s true! She’s your ‘friend with benefits.’ That’s so cool.”

“I’d rather not talk about her,” Peter said.

“Oh, that’s cool too. You don’t kiss and tell. Not many boys like you in school. They can’t wait to brag.”

“And they probably make stuff up all the time.”

Julie’s forehead creased. “What do you mean?”

“I mean they probably lie, say they did things they didn’t.”

“Really? They lie about it? Holy crap! That’s just like a boy.”

“Not all boys.”

Julie gave Peter a warm smile. “Okay, present company excluded.” Her face turned serious. “You wouldn’t lie, make up stuff about what you did with a girl, would you?”

“No.”

“And you wouldn’t tell what you did do?”

“Never. It’s nobody’s business.”

“You’re so cool. Do you like me?” Julie asked.

“Yeah, I like talking to you.”

“Would you like to do more than talk?”

“Like be your boyfriend?”

“I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend yet. My parents say I’m not old enough. But that’s bullshit. They treat me like a baby. A lot of girls I know have boyfriends.”

“Then what?”

Julie blushed and looked down. “I was thinking about the benefits part.”

“With me?”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’ve been with a high school girl. So you know what you’re doing. Can we meet after school?”

“Where?”

“I don’t know,” Julie said. “Do you have a place to go?”

“No.”

Julie frowned, but then her face lit up. “We can go to the band room!”

“We’ll get caught.”

“The band room has a small soundproof room next to it. It’s used for storage, but also if someone is having a problem they can go in there and practice while the class is in session. We can go there. It’s locked, but I have a key.”