Chapter 3

My schedule was made up and I was assigned a locker. My schooling would resume tomorrow morning. When we got done with the administrative tasks, Mrs. Dean told me to stop by any time if I had questions or problems, then showed me where the buses would be in just a few minutes.

I waited outside, sitting on a bench by the parking lot as the buses continued to arrive, parking three across and at least ten deep!

When the final bell rang, I found the bus I needed and climbed aboard, sitting in the first seat behind the bus driver and pulled out the paperwork they had given me. It seemed like it took forever for the bus to load, but it was probably no more than a half hour.

I was surprised when someone sat down next to me but, when I looked up, Bev was there smiling at me.

“How was your first day?” she asked, looking at the papers I was reading.

“Say hello to Santa Barbara High Schools newest graduating Senior. They tested me again, thinking the standards out here are tougher than Texas, and I scored even better. I am going to graduate this year!” I told her, excited.

Her eyes got wide, “No way! That is so awesome! Wait though, I counted on you for homework help!” She pretended to pout but couldn’t keep it up. “That is so cool. So, what happens after that?”

I shrugged. “The school said they would see if any scholarship money is available. I want to go to UCSB, if I can, so I can live with you guys. Only a couple of days with your family and I am already way happier than I ever was with mine.”

Her expression turned solemn and she laid her hand on my arm. “I overheard dad and Lucy talking about New Mexico. I couldn’t believe that parents would do stuff like that. I am sorry you had to go through it.”

I shrugged. “It’s over now, hopefully. You guys are so much happier than I am used to, that I have to adjust to not being miserable. It will be tough, but I think I might enjoy it.” I gave her a wink and was gratified when she laughed.

“Hey Bev, who’s the dweeb?” a guy’s voice called from further back in the bus.

“Yeah, Bev. Why are you not sitting with us? Who is the kid?” A girl asked.

Surprising me, she actually stood up and faced the rear of the bus, her face red and her voice filled with anger.

“Todd, you jerk, this is my cousin and he is not a dweeb. He just moved here and is staying with us. He’s a senior and a nice guy, so back off.” she yelled.

“Whoa, calm down, I was only joking!” Todd called back. I snuck a look over the seat and Todd was what I thought of as a California type. Blonde hair, tall, good looking, he probably even surfed.

“Bring him back here to sit with us then!” a girl called, laughing. “Don’t bogart the cousin, Bev.” She was cute. She looked shorter than Beverly, slim and dark haired. Her hair was cut in a very short, pixie-ish cut and her smile was warm and friendly.

Bev looked down at me, a question in her eyes. I shrugged and nodded. I might as well try to make some friends, it would make the rest of the school year easier.

At the first stoplight, we both got up and found seats back by her friends, and we spent the rest of the trip telling them about the move, answering questions and even getting razzed a bit about being only thirteen. I played the part and complained that I would be fourteen in May, and that got the expected laughs.

By the time we arrived at our stop, I was at least friendly, if not friends, with a half dozen freshman and a junior. A decent start!

John and Aunt Lucy were over the moon when I told them the results that evening, I think they were more excited than I was! John immediately committed himself to funding my college, but I was adamant. I would get a scholarship or a grant, or I wouldn’t go. I’d cut lawns, gather bottles, do odd jobs for neighbors and pay for community college myself before I would allow them to do that.

John seemed annoyed at my intransigence, but Aunt Lucy seemed to understand.

“John, this is something he needs to do for himself.” she said, laying her hand on his arm.

“Bullshit. He’s thirteen, for god’s sake! Hasn’t he been through enough already?”

I didn’t know what to do. I had never been good dealing with emotions other than anger, and John was mad for me, not at me. On a hunch, I walked over and hugged him. He stopped ranting, frozen in place for a minute, then seemed to relax and pat my back.

“John, I need to do this. I need to prove to myself, and to them, that I didn’t let them beat me, that I can succeed in spite of everything else.”

“It’s not right.” he grumbled, but he stopped arguing, so I let him go and went to my room.

I used the address in the Trig book from JFK to write a letter to Mrs. Allen, the retired teacher turned counselor. In it, I thanked her for everything that they had done for me, for putting themselves out there. I apologized that all of our plans had gone up in smoke, and explained, a little anyway, about my home life and why I thought my step-father had exiled me to California. I also gave her the results of the new tests and told her about my new plans, reminding her that their work laid the groundwork out here and made my new plans possible.

I asked her to give my thanks and my respect to the others. In closing, I asked if she would please deliver the enclosed letter to Alice Graves, a senior who had befriended me while I was there.

Then I wrote to Alice, telling her how sad it made me that I wouldn’t see her again, and thanked her for befriending a new student, even an oddball like me. I explained where I disappeared to and told her about my family, the home-life that I had back there. I told her all about my Aunt and Uncle, about my cousins and the new school. In closing, I asked her to share this letter with the ladies we ate lunch with and tell them all that I missed them too. They had all helped to make a bad time in my life much better.

When I came out of my room to ask Aunt Lucy for an envelope, she assured me that she would mail out my letter the next day, and even offered to return the text books to my old school.

I thanked her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, earning me a hug and a smile.

After dinner with the family, I went back to my room, my head filled with thoughts of the next day, of new classes, new challenges. I laid on my bed, just daydreaming really, and was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in!” I called, not getting up.

Bev was there, cracking the door open and sticking her head in.

“Busy?” she asked.

“Nope, laying here wondering about school tomorrow. New classes, being the oddball, things like that.” I told her honestly.

She came in, closing the door behind her, and sat on the edge of my bed.

“I was thinking about New Mexico. Remember when we went to Carlsbad Caverns, and I was afraid, but you held my hand? We were pretend boyfriend and girlfriend for two whole weeks. You were my first boyfriend and my first ever kiss.” she said with a blush, smiling at me.

“I’ve thought about that summer a lot, as a matter of fact. you were my first too, though I have to be honest and tell you that you weren’t my last.” I said with a wink.

She laughed and admitted she’d had one or two boyfriends since then. She had even kissed, and maybe more, with a couple.

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked, watching her reaction.

She looked surprised, then intrigued. Considering the topic at hand, I had expected as much.

I couldn’t tell her my real secret, but I was going to tell her a real story. The story happened when I was sixteen.

“Before we left England, I had a secret ... well, lover. She was a widow, twenty-four. She married right out of school at 18, was widowed at 19 and had been alone, and lonely. I used to do odd jobs for her, things like taking the trash bin to the street, and raking the leaves in her yard. One day she invited me inside.”

Bev was leaning forward, her eyes wide, and drinking in my story.

“We talked for hours and I went home. The next day, we talked again and we did that for almost a week, becoming closer and closer. She was so lonely and starved for attention and affection. When the topic turned to sex, she admitted that she had a fantasy.”

I paused and stared up at the ceiling.

“Come on! You can’t stop there!” Bev complained, putting her hand on my thigh and squeezing.

“You have to understand, that she gave me permission. I mean, I would never, ever tell anyone but when we found out we were leaving, she invited me over one last time. She took me in her bedroom and told me that it was the final lesson. She said that no girl my own age would want me to tell what I did with them. No girl would appreciate my telling her secrets, and if the girl found out, would never trust me again. She also said that girls tell each other things, and if I blabbed about one girl, the rest would know I had a big mouth and wouldn’t trust me either.”

I sat up, turning so my back was against the wall. Beverly scooted over so she was next to me, our shoulders and legs touching.

“The last thing she told me was that she wanted me to tell people about her, everything but her name. She said that after I was back in the US, she would lay in her bed, playing with herself thinking about the women I would meet and love, and she would get off knowing that she was my first, that she taught me everything I was using to please them. She said she would get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction knowing other women would be grateful.”

“Wow. That is so cool!” Bev gushed. In the corner of my eye, I could see her nipples poking against the material of her t-shirt. That she was not wearing a bra was evident to see.

“So, um, what did she teach you?” she asked quietly.

“She taught me about erogenous zones. Like behind the ear and the side of the throat; like that little hollow at the base of the neck and how just tracing the outside of the breast, especially underneath where it touches the torso, could make a woman squirm. She taught me about soft touches along the belly, about kissing and licking that tender crease where the hip meets the groin and even the back of the knee and the feet, how they could make a woman squirm.”

Her nipples were getting more pronounced and I could actually smell her arousal.

“She taught me about being soft with a woman’s breast especially in the beginning, suckling gently on her nipples. She taught me about touching and caressing and licking her pussy, first outside and then, as she got aroused and her pussy began to swell and open up, about sucking and licking the lips, nibbling as I worked my way up. She taught me about dipping my tongue between her folds and tasting her nectar, and about how some women’s clits were too sensitive for direct contact, but rubbing or licking around them, over the hood, was enough to drive them wild.”

Inside, I grinned and Bev’s thighs started to move, her scent becoming more distinct, more arousing.

“She taught me about reaching inside of her with my fingers to find that special spot that drives a woman crazy while I sucked on her clit. She showed me that licking, kissing and even inserting my tongue or finger into her ass would make her heart pound. When we made love, she showed me a dozen different positions, and even showed me how to take her ass and make her love it. Mostly, she showed me that a woman’s pleasure is more important than my own, if I ever wanted to make love with her again. She taught me everything!”

Bev was absent-mindedly rubbing her breast now, her fingers lingering over her nipple and teasing it. Her eyes were closed and her breath was coming faster. One hand was in her lap, applying pressure to the top of her pussy. Not rubbing, yet, but I could tell she wanted to.

“Is ... is there more?” she gasped, her eyes still closed.

“Oh yes. She showed me about blowjobs, how she could please my cock with her hands and her breasts, with her lips, her tongue and even her throat. She loved swallowing my seed. She was very submissive and liked for me to be in charge. She loved to meet me at the door wearing nothing but a velvet choker. She would call me Master and she would suck my cock the second I arrived. Sometimes I would tie her to the bed and tease her for hours and when I finally fucked her, she would scream out her pleasure. She would sometimes do or say something she shouldn’t, just so I would spank her and fuck her in the ass. She loved to be used that way, for my pleasure. She said it made her feel loved and wanted.”

Beverly was squirming, her hand openly crushing and mauling her breast while the other hand slipped down inside her shorts and I could see her touching herself.

“Sooo fucking hot...” She moaned.

I was quiet for a couple of minutes, just watching her. When she finally realized what was happening, she flushed bright read and pulled her hand out of her shorts, embarrassed and confused.

I just smiled and reached for her hand, smelling first, then sucking her two fingers into my mouth. Beverly looked shocked at first, then she groaned and pulled away, rolling off the bed and to her feet. I saw her eyes glued to my crotch, where my cock was making a nice tent.

“I ... I ... I have to go.” she said, turning and running from the room.

I just smiled and followed her tight little ass with my eyes, then followed her footsteps out the door, stepping into the bathroom and locking the door behind me. I fisted my cock and just two or three strokes later, I came all over the floor, my orgasm so intense that it buckled my knees. Jesus, that was so hot!

The following morning as we ate breakfast before school, Bev was quiet. She kept sneaking looks my way, but every time I would meet her eye, she would blush and look away again.

Lisa, of course, was oblivious and she chattered on about what she was going to do in school that day, about her friends and her new boyfriend. Aunt Lucy, on the other hand, had a speculative look in her eye and she watched the two of us. John seemed oblivious, reading the paper. At least, until I asked for the financial section.

He peered at me over the top of the paper for a moment as if to be sure of what he had heard, but he shrugged and handed it to me.

As I sipped my coffee, I read the articles, looking for anything familiar. The age of desktop computing was on us and Microsoft was mentioned in two different articles. MS-DOS was a hit. I knew that if I had any money, I would sink some into Microsoft ... It would be a long-term investment, but it would pay well.

“Time to go, kids. Bus will be here soon.” Aunt Lucy told us, chivying us along to the door. I asked for, and got permission, to take the business section with me. I could read it in study hall and at lunch.

Waiting at the bus stop were four other kids, two Lisa’s age and two high school students. Both were older than Bev and me, juniors or seniors, probably.

The boy was tall, over six feet, but rail thin and wore glasses. He had an unruly shock of black hair that seemed to resist gravity, sticking up in half a dozen places. The girl was shorter, but still tall at about five feet nine. She had a nice figure but was about twenty pounds overweight. Her sweater didn’t conceal her prodigious breasts but did help hide the extra roll at her waist. She smiled at us, but didn’t speak at first, her eyes on me.

She turned and whispered to the boy, a brother I was guessing from the similarities. He shrugged, glancing our way, but otherwise ignored us. The girl turned back and seemed to make up her mind about something.

“Are you new to the neighborhood? I don’t think I have seen you before.” she asked me softly, her voice timid.

I smiled warmly and held out my hand. “Wayne Moore, just registered yesterday.”

“Welcome to the neighborhood. What school are you going to?”

“Santa Barbara High, I’m a senior. How about you?”

She looked shocked, doing a double take and staring at me.

“You are a senior?” she asked, then blushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound like that, it is just that you look, well, kinda young. Oh! I’m a junior and my brother is a senior too. I’m Anne and this is Davis.” she shook my hand, just grasping the tips of my fingers. Her brother was looking down now, having heard the conversation, and staring at me with interest.

“Wayne is only 13, but he will graduate this year.” Bev said brightly, smiling at me.

I just nodded, then shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“Thirteen? How the hell does that work?” Davis asked, his voice a surprisingly low basso rumble.

“I like to read.” I said, grinning up at him. I was only five foot, four inches and he towered over me.

“Huh.” he grunted, watching me as if I were some particularly fascinating insect.

“What classes are you taking?” he asked curiously.

“I still need a language, Health, PE and an Art class to graduate, so I am taking Spanish, Sex Ed, Swimming and Photography. To fill out the schedule, since bussing all the way over to SBCC for just two periods would be a waste of time, I just chose Library Science and a study hall.” I told him.

He looked surprised but nodded. “I’m taking Spanish III and I thought about photography, but I liked creative writing last year, so I am taking Short Stories instead for my elective.”

“Guess we won’t be in any classes together then. Too bad, then at least I would know one name in my classes.” I joked, rolling my eyes.

He seemed to relax a bit, nodding.

The bus arrived for the younger kids and they piled on, our bus arriving just as the first bus was pulling away. Bev grabbed my hand and pulled me on to the bus, choosing a seat near the rear of the bus. Anne and Davis followed us, Anne choosing a seat in front of us but Davis heading to the last row to sit alone.

There were only three other students on the bus, two boys were talking near the front and a lone girl, a schoolbook in hand, was sitting about midway down the row in the other side.

Anne turned in her seat, getting up on her knees to look over at Bev and me.

“So, where did you transfer from? Are you boyfriend and girlfriend? If you graduate, can you go to college so young? Where do you want to go to school?

I laughed. It was as if someone had stuck a quarter in and turned the crank, she was on fire!

Bev was scowling at the girl, but my laugh seemed to thaw her a bit. She looked over at me and smiled.

“Let’s see ... England by way of Texas, no, yes, UCSB.” I replied, answering her questions in order.

Anne looked at me for a second, confusion written all over her face, then a light came on and she smiled.

“Wayne is a cousin by marriage, my father married his Aunt, and he came to live with us this past weekend. He was my first boyfriend back when I was nine.” She said, laughing at the expression on Anne’s face.

“Awww ... that is so cute! Like rekindling an old flame, except you are kinda, well, almost, related now.” Anne said, looking thoughtful.

“What did you mean England by way of Texas?” she asked, backing up a bit.

I told her about living over there for a few years, then moving back to the US to live in Texas but coming out here after only a month and a half.

I could tell Anne wanted to ask the whys of it all, but she seemed to see in my face that it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. Instead, she chatted with Bev about school, about people they knew and they both filled me in on teachers and staff. Who was cool, who was a jerk, about the school social hierarchy.

As the bus filled, Bev’s friends from yesterday and some of Anne’s friends took the seats around us, and slowly got filled in on the new kid. Being the center of attention was not comfortable, but it was bearable since everyone was being nice. The one exception was Todd, the joker from yesterday, who seemed to be interested in Bev.

“Bev, come sit on my lap, we’ll talk about the first thing that pops up!” he called, taking an empty seat. He patted the open spot next to him, but Beverly ignored him, chatting with Charlene, the pixie from the day before.

“Bev, you know you want some of this, baby. Don’t play hard to get!” Todd was still going, getting some glares from the girls around Bev and me. I could tell Beverly was getting pissed off though, she kept looking out of the corner of her eye at him, her mouth tightening into a white line.

“Want me to go over there and make sure he never has children?” I whispered into her ear.

She looked shocked, then burst into laughter. The girls around her were clamoring to know what was so funny. She whispered to one and they started telling everyone else, the girls all looking towards Todd and laughing. He looked pissed though, and each new girl that started laughing made him get even redder in the face.

“Fuck you bitches. None of you are worth my time. Fucking cunts.” Todd yelled, flipping them off.

I was over the seat and standing in front of him in a flash. He had me by about an inch, maybe fifteen or twenty pounds, but I was right there in his face.

“That’s my cousin you called a cunt.” I said, my teeth bared. Todd looked surprised, his eyes darting from side to side, but there was no escape except past me.

“Dude! Relax, I was just fucking around. I didn’t mean nothing by it.” Todd said, holding up his hands.

Beverly, Anne, Charlene and two other girls were all in the aisle, standing and watching.

“Wayne, don’t. You will get in trouble and he is just a jerk. He talks big, but no one listens to him.” Beverly said, pulling on the arm that held his hair.

“He needs to apologize to you. I won’t have some asshole insulting people I care about and getting away with it.” I told her, not backing off.

“Please, Wayne?” she pleaded, looking scared.

“It’s okay, Wayne, really.” Charlene said, not looking happy either.

I glared at him again, letting him see the anger in my eyes, but I let him go and backed up a step, staggering when the brakes were applied to the bus. I heard an adult yell from the front, “Sit down back there! There best not be any trouble or all of you will be reported!”

We all scrambled back to our seats. I let Bev get the inside and I took the aisle seat, keeping my eye on Todd.

The rest of the trip was pretty quiet, though a lot of whispering was going on up front and behind me. I had overreacted, I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to stop it at the time. It was like Martin all over again. I felt bad, the kid was just mouthing off, but it struck a nerve inside of me.

No one was more shocked than I was when, as we all stood to get off the bus at the school, Todd stood up and blocked the aisle.

“Look, the new guy was right, I was being a jerk. I’m sorry I called you those names.” he said, his face red as he turned and hurried off the bus.

The rest of us exited silently, several of the students giving me a wide berth. Davis stopped beside me, looking down and shaking his head.

“I don’t know about England or Texas, or anywhere else, really, but they are death on fighting here so unless it is, you know, life and death? You might want to be careful.” he said quietly, tapping me on the shoulder as he walked off.

Bev walked with me up to the front of the school, but grabbed my arm before we entered, pulling me off to one side.

“Wayne, I appreciate you standing up for me, but that was kind of scary. I know you had it hard, you know, back home, but you have to be cool here, okay? You can be my hero without getting suspended.” she finished with a grin, giving me a kiss on the cheek and running inside.

I had a map and a schedule, so finding my first class wasn’t difficult. I had Spanish 1 first period, a freshman level class, and it was about half full when I got there. The teacher was a middle-aged woman with a kindly face, and she smiled when I approached with the admittance slip the office had given me.

“I just transferred in.” I told her, handing her the paper.

“Yes, I was told to expect you. I am Mrs. Fernandez. You will have some catching up to do, but this class is mostly vocabulary and pronunciation, with a bit of conversational use. I don’t expect you to have any problems catching up. Still, if you need a little extra help, just ask. Now, you can choose any open seat, there is no assigned seating here.”

I just smiled and nodded, accepting the paperwork back and chose a seat about two-thirds of the way back, near the aisle to the door. I might need those extra seconds trying to get to my next class, it was on the far side of the building.

As the rest of the students trickled in, Mrs. Fernandez brought me a text book and had me sign for it. I thanked her and looked around, checking out my classmates. The class was about evenly split, boys and girls, and a couple of the girls were real lookers.

I got a lot of looks, and more than a few whispered exchanges, most likely about the new kid, but I just sat and watched.

When class started, Mrs. Fernandez got a big black mark in my book when she asked me to stand up.

“Class, we have a student who transferred in, Wayne Moore. Wayne, please stand up and tell us a little about yourself.”

I swallowed my grimace and plastered a smile on my face as I stood.

“Well, not much to tell. I transferred here from Texas, living with my Aunt and Uncle. I have three brothers, two sisters still in Texas. I am not much into sports, but I like to swim and read a lot.” I smiled at the class and sat down.

Mrs. Fernandez was obviously trying to get on my dead pool list because her next comment made the class erupt.

“Wayne, you can do better than that. There are not many thirteen-year-olds who will graduate in May and are up for a scholarship to the University of California here in Santa Barbara for this fall.”

I let my head drop to my desktop as the class broke out into a minor roar. People were asking questions, talking back and forth and even standing up to get a better look at me.

“Okay, class, settle down. I am sure he would be glad to tell you all about it during break or at lunch. Now, open your books to page seventy-eight. Last week I assigned twenty vocabulary words and we went over them in class yesterday. Today we are going to use those words in simple sentences. Who would like to go first?”

The rest of the class was spent ignoring the sidelong glances, the deliberate stares and even the two notes that made their way through the student grapevine and ended up on my desk. I just stuck them in my book without reading them.

When the bell rang, I was out the door like a shot, not running, but moving as fast as I could. I made it to my next class with a couple of minutes to spare, finding only three students already inside.

This was Sex Ed with Coach Mills, and the walls were covered with diagrams of the reproductive system and similar teaching aids.

I walked to the front, handing the Coach my paperwork. He grunted and made a check mark on his clipboard, then looked up at me. “The Dean thinks you are going to get the school some good press.” he said thoughtfully. “You aren’t going to be a Prima Dona, are you?”

“No way, Coach! I want to keep my head down and just do the work, honest. Heck, Mrs. Fernandez announced the whole thing in front of my first class and I just wanted to hide under the desk.” I admitted, shaking my head.

He grunted again and nodded. “Good. Sign here, grab a book from the shelf and have a seat, son.”

Sex Ed was technically a sophomore/junior level class, it generally being offered to students sixteen or older, but there was no rule saying that younger students couldn’t take it. It sounded better than the alternative choices though. I had no desire to learn 80’s nutrition. The food pyramid was debunked in the 90s and by the 2000s, no two doctors could agree about eggs, butter, wine, red meat and a host of other food items.

For the final choice, I might have been laughed out of class if I had chosen Reproductive Health, a class designed for young women and focused on health issues near and dear to them. So, Sex Ed was the lesser of three evils and I expected it to be an easy A.

Swimming was next, and I had brought my trunks. I headed out the front doors and across the quad to the building that fronted the swimming pool. I found Coach Deal, a twenty-something woman with one of the hardest, most physically fit bodies I had ever encountered, standing by the doors to the locker rooms.

“Coach, I am a transfer in.” I said, handing her the paperwork.

“Yep, they told me about you. Not much I can do to help except see that you don’t drown. You can swim, right?” she asked, amusement in her tone.

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“And you brought swim trunks? Speedos are discouraged.”

I chuckled and repeated myself. “Yes, Ma’am!” adding that I had regular trunks.

“Good. This class is pretty basic. I will get a baseline on you this morning, see how you swim, what strokes you know etc. You have to show at least a twenty percent improvement in the timed swim and proficiency in all the strokes taught, plus an easy ten-minutes of treading water to pass the course. Sound good?”