Chapter 2

Jesse Marks, August 26

I had an early morning practice, and by the end of it, I was starving. I went to the dining hall with the couple of guys from the team. I noticed that I was the only naked kid in the room.

“So how often are people naked around here?” I asked Alex Hampton, one of the seniors.

“People go skinny dipping in the Miskatonic a lot when it’s warm enough, and they’ll sunbathe nude on the banks or on the quad, but you Hawthorne guys are the only ones who make a regular habit of it.”

“So I won’t get funny looks?”

He shook his head. “Everyone will just know you’re in the naked dorm.”

“Cool, so what about in town?”

“I mean, people might be a little surprised to see you naked but its legal anywhere in Dunwich.”

“Cool.”

A few minutes later I noticed Sean, my roommate, and Gabe from next door walking into the dining hall. They were both fully clothed.

“Hey, that’s my roommate,” I said, and waved them over. I was actually somewhat relieved when they sat with us. Sean and Gabe were both clearly unhappy living in a nudist dorm, and I wasn’t sure if they liked me or not. They seemed perfectly happy to see me, although they did ask if anyone was looking to switch rooms.

We had back-to-back orientation lectures about sexual assault starting at 9:30, so we walked over to the auditorium together. They didn’t seem to enjoy the lectures, although, honestly, neither did I. I guess there’s really no way to do that sort of thing without coming across as condescending. It probably didn’t help them that they were the only ones fully dressed, either.

Sean tapped me on the shoulder coming out of the lecture. “Hey, we’re going into town, you want to come?”

“Nah, I’m going to hang out back at the dorm.”

I ended up hanging out at the dorm for most of the rest of the day. Around 3:00 I got a text from Sean asking if I wanted to go to a party at one of the frats.

“Is it cool if I go naked?” I texted back.

I got a response a few minutes later. “They’re chill with it if you are.”

Justin and I went over around 10:00. Our dorm was right next to the frat houses, so it was a short walk. We ended up standing in the back of a really long line or beer, until Gabe came over and tapped us on the shoulder.

“Hey, they’re playing pong upstairs, you want to come?”

“Sure.” I followed him upstairs, where one of the brothers was explaining the rules of beer pong.

“Alright, this is strip pong. Any time you miss a cup, you lose an article of clothing. Once you’re totally naked, you do a forfeit or quit playing.” He looked at us. “I guess you two already lost.”

Not wanting to test the frat guys’ creativity in designing forfeits, we decided to sit out. I grabbed a beer and sat down on the room’s couch to watch the game. The couch got gradually more crowded as players, mostly girls, lost all of their clothing. This would have made a good floor mixer, if Julie would let us have beer.