Chapter 29: Friday Brings Completion. Perhaps.

When I woke Friday morning, the weather was overcast but the storm had passed. Then I learned that this time of year was hurricane season in this part of the country. Indonesia had similar storms we called cyclones and Japan had typhoons. Can’t escape the nasty weather, right? Apparently the storm yesterday was from the outer fringe of a hurricane. That’s why we got that really gusty wind and all that rain. Go figure; I need to start listening to the weather.

Denise and I arrived at school a little earlier than usual this morning and we were congratulating each other that this was our last Program day. I had decided not to tell her about my discovery because she might get scared; hell, it scared me! The school doors would be opened in about five minutes so we just sat in the car and talked. I mentioned my Saturday PT appointment and about how great the website was doing. Discussion about the website was all over the social media now and not an hour would pass without a text arriving about a particular juicy posting.

Soon kids began gathering at the doors, but it was cool and breezy, so only the hardiest kids waited for the Program students to arrive, which they soon did, but they all had dressed in clothes that could be removed in seconds. We had just joined them as they threw off their clothes and ran into the school before the first syllable of “Reasonable” could be uttered.

When the home room bell rang, Denise and I were asked once again if we wanted relief and we declined. Today’s announcements were short and mentioned that some were being saved for this afternoon’s assembly. And guess what? No one was called to the office.

Civics class was interesting since we were starting a unit on American government and public events, covering news events of the past five years and how government, the three branches, responded to those events. This resulted in lots of interesting debates about whether the issues had been dealt with according to the law or public opinion, whatever that is. As the period ended, my thoughts turned to Biology. What would that class be like today after yesterday’s disaster?

I needn’t have worried. The septuagenarian (he really looked ancient) sub was there again today and he spent the period reading the text to us. And Calculus was always a bright spot in the day; Mrs Evander always found ways to make the class interesting without trying to use naked (in our case, semi-naked) students in the lesson.

Reasonable Request activity happening during class changes had calmed down significantly. The frantic attempts to get in Requests during the past several days had tapered off; the novelty of having naked students in the halls was wearing off and I could see some of the naked kids from our group walking across the commons during class changes without being stopped. Remarkable. I supposed that come Monday, however, the fresh meat of the new naked group would result in renewed interest. Well, we shall see.

Denise did get a Request in the lunch line but a Guardian shut that down; all Requests had to be held until after thirty minutes into the period. When we got to our table for the final time, hooray, all the others were there talking intently.

“Guys, what’s up?” Denise asked.

“The news reports about the website,” Nelson said. “You didn’t hear?”

“No, we’ve been in classes. What’s happening with the site?” I asked.

Barbara answered, “I had a library project last period and some kids heard a report. The major networks were reporting on our website and how the feds were trying to shut it down.”

“Yeah,” said Jane, “I heard it in the commons earlier, too. There’s a report that the feds plan to get it shut it down before Monday. Can they do that?”

I thought for a second. “I don’t see how; its location is hidden and connections are made to it by private lines; I think they’re called VPNs. The only way to reach the server is to connect to a VPN outlet, and there are a number of them. They hide the actual server’s internet address. It’s a cool process. The guys who set it up said it’s part of something called the ‘deep web.’ I don’t know much about this stuff, but I think it’s just the feds trying to scare the operator into doing something that they can detect.”

We spent the rest of the time eating and congratulating ourselves on making it to Friday but careful not to put a hex on us for the remaining several periods. After all, we still had three more periods to go plus assembly. Then the thirty minutes were up and Andrew looked around. There weren’t many people who seemed to be headed our way but a few were.

He joked, “Hey guys, Request time! Anyone up for a repeat of yesterday’s after-lunch fuck-fest? That was a really hot scene!”

Both Barbara and Jane buried their faces in their hands.

Jane moaned, “God! I was so embarrassed!”

And Barbara said, “Hell, I don’t think so! My pussy is so sore today! I think Nelson took off two layers of skin in there!”

“No shit,” said Jane. “I was so sore by seventh period it hurt to walk.”

A few diehards arrived and asked for some Requests. The ones asking for pussy touching were politely declined, and the remaining people gradually drifted away, leaving us alone.

We spent the remaining ten minutes of the lunch period just talking about school and social events, and the others told us about some of their less notable experiences during the week. Everyone thought that their participating was a total waste of effort and the hoopla about becoming comfortable with their sexuality was a joke. Sarah wasn’t a virgin when the week started, and the other girls said that they would have preferred waiting and doing it in a more romantic setting than a school lunchroom table. Everyone did agree that they shared very deep feelings with their partners and they all intended to keep together, so the Program did have that good result.

I expressed my own opposition to the Program as a person who was thrown into the situation cold with absolutely no preparation. I had not even had the exposure as a teen growing through puberty and being exposed to the increased sexualization of society; as I pointed out to their great amusement, I truly was “the man from Mars.”

Then the bell rang. It always seems to ring when the conversation has completed. Have you ever noticed that?

Health class was next and on Fridays it was Psychology. Our homework readings were on biofeedback; this should be an interesting class since my Eastern Arts training had taught me how the mind and body work in complementary ways to achieve goals like inner peace and self-regulation of the mind in all kinds of ways. It would be interesting to compare this approach with the Western, scientific idea of doing the same thing.

Miss Herndon was in the Health classroom when we arrived, fiddling with a strange electronic apparatus. It looked like an old-style stereo console (my folks had one with knobs, buttons, and displays) with a batch of wires coming out of it, some were connected to a computer. The remaining wires were quite long; some had straps or loops and others terminated in snaps or cup-shaped objects.

The classroom was filling up and the bell rang.

“Students, quickly take your seats; we have a lot to cover, and I need our Program students up here right now.”

She stared at Denise and me when we stood and walked to the front.

“You’re supposed to be naked...”

I held up my hand. “Miss Herndon, you weren’t told? We have an exemption that allows us to wear these,” I indicated the garments.

“But the demo—we need to access your sexual organs.”

Denise gasped and I pushed her back to her desk.

“Sorry. That’s not possible. Exemption for that too.”

“But participation in class demos is mandatory for Program students. You have to do this.”

“Ma’am, we really don’t. But we’ll try to see if there’s a way we can participate in a limited way. Please tell me what you intend to do and I’ll see if I can accommodate you. But only me. If Miss Roberts thinks she can do it after me, then we’ll see.”

“But this requires a boy and girl at the same time...”

“I’m sure you can make allowances. Or you could ask a different boy and girl to volunteer.”

She did, and no one volunteered.

“Perhaps if you explained what the demo is about, you may get a volunteer,” I suggested.

“Very well. Your assignment was to read about biofeedback. This device here is a sensitive amplifier that can detect the tiny electrical signals the body produces and other bodily physiological events and amplify or otherwise detect them so that they can be displayed using this computer. It displays pulse rate, respiration, skin conductance and resistance, body temperature, and several other factors. The results are stored and can be played back. What I planned to do was to demonstrate the physiological signs of sexual arousal in the male and female at the same time, showing how tactile, visual, and verbal stimulation translates to measurable bodily responses, in a side-by-side comparison to see if any apparent differences can be detected. Basically this allows us to observe the way the mind and body interact in response to arousal. And the students need to be naked for the demo and be connected to the biofeedback amplifier.”

She held up the wires.

“Naked why?”

“The first part is tactile, and the person’s entire body has to be accessible.”

“I’m willing to do this, but my tights must remain on. And no contact with my groin.”

“That’s impossible; we need to show stimulation of the penis as well.”

“Ok, unless you get a volunteer or two, I guess you’ll have to describe the results without a demo. I’m sure you have a record of the results from other tests,” I said as I sat down.

Herndon dropped the wires and looked at some papers in a folder.

I had kind of been watching Denise during my speech and she had a really strange expression. Then she suddenly seemed to shake herself and tentatively raised her hand.

“Miss Herndon? I’m really interested in what that thing can show. How do you do the tactile stimulation of the person that the device displays?”

“I have an additional boy and girl from the class come up and they follow my instructions for each step, using the Program students. The demonstration requires that the boy and girl touch the Program subjects everywhere on their bodies, including their sexual organs, as the demo progresses.”

“Uh, like Kevin said, I think I could participate but only if I keep my suit on, but the touching part of my privates, no,” she shivered, “uh, no, I don’t think so. But, well, I could do it if Kevin were touching me, I think.”

I broke in, “Miss Herndon, you might be able to partially rescue the demo if you give in a little. You might get some useful results, maybe a little limited, but at least it will show how biofeedback works. If Denise lets me, I could do a little of what you want with her.”

“But then we’d have no boy...”

There had been a flurry of whispering behind me. Sammy, a Guardian in our class, had been in the Program last term and was whispering to a girl in back of him. Then he turned around and raised his hand.

“Ma’am? I did the Program last term; I don’t have a problem with being naked and my girlfriend just agreed to be my helper. If I’m the boy subject and Denise does the girl, would that work?”

Herndon’s expression turned to one of wary relief. “Yes, that will at least salvage part of the demo and it’s better than nothing. Can we get started, please?”

Sammy stood and stripped off his clothes at his desk. He had a nice body (for a boy), trim and athletic. He walked to the front, following Denise and his friend whose name was Wilma. Sammy and Denise sat in the designated chairs and Herndon assisted them in getting the wrist bands, arm cuffs, and finger clips in place. She slid bands around both kids’ chests and connected some electrode pads to various places on their chests and temples. Then she went to the table and flipped a couple of switches on the device; the computer chirped and a multicolored graph appeared on its screen.