Chapter 1: Esther

Simon heard Alex’s horn, so he quickly slurped the last of his breakfast coffee, pecked Miriam on the cheek and reminded her, “You’ll talk to Esther today?”

“Yes dear,” his wife confirmed.

He hurried out to meet his neighbor. They lived on the same street and worked in the same office, so it made sense to share a car most days. Today was Alex’s turn to drive.

“How’s Esther these days?” Alex asked.

“Excited and nervous. Excited at her birthday and becoming an adult. Nervous before her first CAP test.”

“Yes, it must be difficult for all of you. Her especially.”

“True, true,” Simon agreed. “It’s all so different from when Miriam and I were young. Miriam’s going to talk about things with her today, but Esther probably knows more about it than we do really. She’ll be an adult at fourteen; we had to wait a lot longer.”

“Yes. I’m not looking forward to Holly’s next birthday. Hers is only six weeks after Esther’s.”

“I’ll let you know what seemed to work. Though I suspect Holly will interrogate Esther directly. Those two will talk about anything.”

“Anything and everything,” Alex confirmed.

Miriam sat down to talk with her daughter. They were both dark-haired; Miriam had hers cut shorter and styled while Esther let hers grow long and straight. “I’m nervous about this, Esther.”

“Nervous, mom? Aren’t I meant to be the nervous one? You’ll talk about boys and rubbers and I’ll get really embarrassed,” the thirteen-year-old said with a smile.

Miriam gave a faint smile back. “It’s all so different now, not like when I was young. I want to give you good advice, but I don’t know what advice to give. Some things haven’t changed – boys and condoms are still the same – but all the new Confederation stuff...”

“It’s Confederacy, mom,” Esther corrected.

“See, that’s what I mean. I don’t know enough and I don’t have any experience, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Stick to safe subjects then, like boys.”

“Okay, boys. Though some of them definitely aren’t ‘safe’ by a long way,” Miriam advised. “They always want more than you want. Even if they don’t really want it, they think they have to pretend to. You tell them to stay above your waist, and they’ll try and go below.”

“Yeah, some of them have more hands than an octopus.”

“But it does let you see what they’re like. How do they take it when you tell them to stop. Do they stop, do they push gently, or do they try and steamroller over you?”

“I slap them and don’t date them again,” Esther said.

“Dates? You’ve been on dates!” Miriam exclaimed.

“Well ... sort of. Some of those times I said I was visiting Holly, I was really dating.”

“Esther Goldsmith!” Miriam said, annoyed.

“I’ve got to learn mom, and Holly was always there as well with her boyfr...” She covered her mouth, realizing she’d dropped her best friend in it.

Miriam took a calming breath. Both Holly and Esther seemed sensible girls, mostly, and things were very different these days. Girls needed to grow up a lot earlier than when she was a teenager. “Okay. I know everything starts much younger now. Back in prehistory I didn’t start dating until I was sixteen. You didn’t go too far, did you?”

“No, mom, I’m not that stupid. Anyway, Wil is nice. He doesn’t push too hard.”

“He seemed nice when I met him that once. Was he really helping you with your math homework?”

“Yes, he helped me with my math and then with my pickup studies,” Esther explained.

“Pickup studies? What’s that?”

“I think you called it ‘making out’ back then,” Esther grinned. “I need to learn what to do if there’s a Confederacy pickup.”

“I’d wondered. You aren’t bad enough at math for it to have taken that long.”

“Sorry mom.” Esther tried to look contrite, but didn’t really succeed.

“Do you know Wil’s CAP score? That’s important these days, isn’t it?”

“You mustn’t tell anyone, except dad of course.”

“I won’t,” Miriam agreed.

“He can take two, like dad can,” Esther said.

“Stick with him, dear. He seems to be a nice boy, better than some of the football stars were in my day.”

“Some of the jocks are OK. Now it’s mostly the loud boys with a sponsor score who get all the girls chasing them. Louis has got at least four girlfriends on the go and he can only take two with him.”

“Sounds like one to avoid.”

“I do. He’s too full of himself,” Esther told her mother. “A real idiot, even if he does have the score. Wil is one of the quiet ones. I think his score embarrasses him a bit.”

Miriam took a breath. “Despite all the changes, some things are still the same. Don’t get drunk. And if you do, make sure you’re protected. Talking of which, do you want me to set up an appointment for you with Dr. Molnar?”

“Yes please, mom. That would be sensible.”

“Like I said, so much has changed that I don’t really know what the right answers are now. But if you want to ask about something, then please do come and talk to me, don’t bottle it up. At least we can discuss it.”

Esther hugged her mother, “Sure mom, I’ll definitely do that.”

Traffic was moving slowly, so Alex could talk. “Holly asked me if she could talk to Miriam about things now that she’s approaching fourteen.”

“Of course she can. Miriam’s been acting as a sort of surrogate mother for her, since Carla...” Simon paused, embarrassed.

“Since my wife died. You can say it, Simon,” Alex replied. The wound still hurt, but he could at least talk about it.

“I don’t know how much help Miriam can be. She’s having a talk with Esther today, but she’s worried her advice will be out of date or plain wrong, given all the changes.”

“Yes, it must be difficult for her. I have the same problem with Holly. I can’t answer some of the questions she asks because everything’s so different from when I was a teenager. Even apart from being male and not knowing which boy-band is which this week.”

“Miriam was the same about talking to Esther. Too many changes since us old folks were young.”

“Talking of the way things have changed, are you going to take Esther?” Alex asked.

“I’d rather not. I’ve talked it over with her and with Miriam. We’re all sure she won’t score enough.”

“Yes, it’s difficult for girls, women rather, to get a good score.”

“Assuming she’s a concubine, then she’ll look for her own sponsor,” Simon said. “I’ll only take her as a last resort. If her options at an extraction are me or some Hell’s Angel type, then I’ll take her. What are you going to do about Holly when she hits fourteen?”

“With my score I can’t take her, so she’ll have to find someone else. Her first choice will probably be whoever takes Esther, those two want to stay together. Her second choice...”

“Am I going to like this?” Simon asked, worried.

“She knows you, she likes both you and Miriam. To her it seems obvious.”

“I’m not sure. A fourteen-year-old ... So young.”

“Is that really worse than leaving her behind? You’d take Esther if you had to, wouldn’t you?”

“Only if I had to, but it’s still difficult. There’s no guarantee that we’ll be together when the Confederacy turn up anyway.”

“True.” Alex decided not to press the point. He didn’t have the score to extract Holly, so he wanted to make sure he did the best he could for his daughter. She could do a lot worse than Simon.

Holly and Esther were in Holly’s bedroom, talking. Holly was taller, blonde with blue eyes, smallish breasts and long legs. By contrast, brunette Esther had bigger breasts and shorter legs. Each was jealous of her friend’s nose: Holly wanted hers to be smaller, like Esther’s, while Esther wanted a larger one, like Holly’s. They’d jokingly agreed to get simultaneous nose-jobs when they grew up.

“Hayley was at a pickup!” Holly told Esther.

“No! She was at a pickup? Wow!” Esther squealed excitedly. “Tell me”

“Like, Hayley was in KFC with Eddie when the Confederacy arrived. She’s still only thirteen, so they put her off to one side and she saw everything. Just like on the net, only for real. Not one of those stupid porn vids.”

“Awesome! What about Eddie?”

“I don’t know, Hayley didn’t say,” Holly told her friend. “He’s old enough, so he could have tried. He doesn’t have a good score though, so maybe he didn’t bother.”

“What did people do?”

“Everything! Mouth, pussy, ass, DP, spit-roast. Even airtight!” Holly explained breathlessly.

“Airtight?”

“Three dicks at the same time, one in each hole.”

“Oh, I get it. Airtight. Yeah,” Esther laughed. “Mmmm ... could be fun. Perhaps I should try it?”

“You’d need to find two more boys, one with a small dick for your ass,” Holly said. “A big one might hurt too much back there.”

“The women on the net seem to be able to take big ones.”

“Yeah, but they’re porn stars, Esther, so they’re used to it. You’re not.”

“True. I’m still a virgin.”

“Me too. Are you going to keep it for when you’re in a pickup or do you want to lose it before?” Holly asked.

“I’m still thinking about it. Doing it before gets it out of the way. I don’t even need a boy, my hairbrush will do.”

“You could always ask your mom for a vibrator for your birthday,” Holly said with a grin.

Esther paused, cutting off her immediate ‘no way’ response. After their talk maybe, just maybe, mom might say yes. “Wil would be nicer. He can talk to me; a vibrator can’t.”

“So, you’ll let Wil take it?”

“I think so. Probably. Not too soon though, I want to wait a bit. It should be special, not hurried. Wil’s a nice boy, I’m sure he’ll wait.”

“Don’t make him wait too long, Esther. He’s got the score, so a lot of other girls are after him.”

“Don’t I know it. Some of them are real bitches.”

“That’s good. Wil won’t put up with a bitch,” Holly advised.

“Yeah, that’s one reason I love him. What about you, Holly? Will you keep it or lose it?”

“Lose it before I think, maybe with Ron. I like him, but he doesn’t have the score, which sucks. From what Hayley said, a pickup definitely isn’t the right place. Stand around naked while half-a-dozen guys take turns to stick a finger in your pussy and maul your titties. Then suck and fuck some of them with everybody else watching. Gross! And the older women all have bigger boobs than we do, so we might not even get picked after all that.”

Esther didn’t have to ask her mom for a vibrator, Miriam got her a small one for her birthday! She went upstairs to give it to Esther, away from Simon. He knew of course, Miriam had discussed it with him beforehand, but she knew giving it to her daughter in front of Simon would have embarrassed Esther horribly.

Esther tried it and enjoyed herself a lot. She decided that she didn’t want to lose her virginity to a piece of plastic and a battery, so she didn’t go too deep. Her clit definitely loved it. Now that she and Wil were both fourteen they could do it legally. From what Wil said, his dad might even let them use his house for it. She wasn’t ready yet, but she would be soon.

At least the vibrator, and the thought of doing it with Wil, were better than her CAP score: 5.2. Not really a surprise, she hadn’t expected to be a sponsor, though it was still a bit of a disappointment. Getting a good score was a lot more difficult for girls than for boys. She’d have to be very nice to Wil and stick close to him until they got picked up together.

Friday evening, Wil and Esther were out on a date, having pizza in Trattoria Toscana. They were in one of the more discreet booths and had allowed themselves a small glass of wine each. Esther thought her mom’s advice about not drinking too much was good, and the large glasses here were practically half a bottle. With fourteen-year-olds effectively allowed alcohol these days, the restaurant offered small glasses as well as big ones.

She knew she’d give Wil her virginity soon, but not tonight. She could put out feelers though. “Can I ask you a really personal question, Wil?”

“You can ask, though I might not answer if it’s too personal.”

“Are you a virgin too?”

“Oh...” He paused, thinking. “The question isn’t so bad, but the answer is very embarrassing.”

“Now you have to tell me,” she said, fascinated.

“You must keep it secret. You can’t tell anyone, not even Holly,” he insisted.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Esther replied, crossing her fingers. She told Holly everything, and this seemed as if it should be well worth telling.

Wil paused, gathering his courage. “You know what my father’s like?”

“Yeah.” Esther had met the man a couple of times.

“Well, once he gets an idea into his head nothing short of a Confederacy Marine can stop him.”

“I can believe that,” she agreed. Mr. Chambers could be very forceful.

“He decided that I needed to lose my virginity when I turned fourteen. And, being like he is, he arranged it for me.”

“He arranged it? You mean he...”

“God, it was so embarrassing,” Wil explained. “I tried to stop him, but he didn’t take any notice of me. He made an appointment at a ‘Massage Parlor’ – you know what that means?”

Esther nodded silently. Poor Wil, she could easily imagine his dad doing that. And on top of Wil’s embarrassment, Mr. Chambers probably thought he was helping!

“The girl, woman really, was nice and tried her best. I did it, but I was so worried and uncomfortable that I didn’t do it very well. She smiled and told me I’d done good, but I’m sure she was just saying that.”

Esther put her arms round Wil and hugged him. “You poor thing.” She was moving in for a kiss when the restaurant lights suddenly turned bright and a loud voice announced, “Apologies for the interruption, everyone. I am Sergeant O’Brien of the Confederacy Marines and this is an extraction.”

“Wha...” Wil said. He’d been looking forward to the incoming kiss.

Esther recovered from her surprise the more quickly of the two teens. “It’s a pickup Wil. Can I be your concubine?”