Chapter 26

“It’s okay. I’ve done it before.”
—G.S. Jennsen, Relativity

“I DIDN’T ACTUALLY KNOW you were here,” I stumbled. “I’m sure I would have noticed you ... in that.”

“Yeah. Yeah. This is the first day for this outfit. Like it?” Desi said, relaxing as she sat to eat.

“Is that even legal in school?” Beca asked.

“School dress code allows personal expression in mode of dress as long as certain basic forms of decency are adhered to,” Desi said as if quoting the student manual. “Mr. Danielson tried to send me to the office and I was admitted directly back into class without a reprimand. I am completely covered from well above my nipples to mid-thigh. According to the handbook, I could have cut the dress lower as long as my nipples didn’t show. And in no position do my panties or butt cheeks show. I’ve seen lots of girls around in skirts shorter than this. The guidance counselor was very complimentary but suggested that wearing my Victorian cosplay more than once a week might be distracting to the class and that was a different discussion.”

“Cool,” Joan responded. Rachel was just staring.

“Oh, uh ... these are my girlfriends, Rebeca with one c, Rachel, and Joan. Ladies, this is Desiree Whitcomb. I ... uh ... guess ... we’ve known each other...” Hell! What was I going to say? Since 1957?

“We went to Dorsett Junior High together the past two years. He didn’t notice me any more then than he has since the first week of school this year. That was when he noticed I’d sprouted these.” Desi wiggled herself to better display the vast cleavage. Falling into that would be like falling into the Grand Canyon. You’d never get out even if you didn’t die before you hit bottom.

“They’re ... uh ... kind of hard not to notice,” I ventured. I was still noticing them.

“Yeah. Mom was hoping they wouldn’t pop out for another couple of years. So much for that hope.” She turned conspiratorially to the other girls. “You would not believe my mother. Her boobs make these look like pimples.”

“Holy shit,” Rachel repeated herself.

“Yeah. I’d given up hoping jerk-face here would come to his senses and notice me again so I decided to up the game.”

“Well, you got my attention but these are my girlfriends. What is it you want?”

“You’re still the high bidder,” she said.

“Huh? What did I bid?”

She pulled out her phone and thumbed open a text message. I was about to reach for it when Beca grabbed the phone and shared it with Rachel. Beca gasped and Rachel read aloud.

“I, Jacob Hopkins, bid one week of total slavery to Desi Whitcomb.” Oh, shit. V2 was as big a fool as V1.

“What did he bid a week of slavery for?” Rachel asked. Her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline.

“My virginity,” Desi said.

“What?” I squeaked. I thought my voice had finished changing but there were definitely at least two octaves in operation there.

“Why would you auction off your virginity?” Beca asked. I think she was overwhelmed by the daring girl sitting between us.

“Well,” Desi explained, “there is no way I’m ever going to be able to hide these, even if I wanted to. So, I figured if I could let it out that I’d contracted to give my virginity to a guy, the others would back off. I mean, that first week, Billy Daniels walked right up to me and palmed them to squeeze.”

“You should have reported that!” Beca said.

“I didn’t need to. He backed off as soon as he realized I was squeezing his balls. Hard. He cried for about an hour.”

“And now you’re here to collect?” Rachel said. She squinted at me. I held up my hands and shook my head.

“I don’t remember doing that,” I pled.

“Of course not,” Desi said. “You sent me the text message and then stepped off the curb in front of a fucking bus. That kind of ended the auction, you know? We all thought you were dead and no one wanted to touch the black widow. I actually thought you regretted sending the text so much you tried to kill yourself.”

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t put you through that. I don’t think. There was a lot on my mind back then.”

“Well, I want you to renew your bid. And don’t worry, ladies. The big event is not to occur until we’ve both reached the age of sixteen. Fall of our sophomore year,” Desi said.

“You don’t expect him to be a virgin, too, do you?” Rachel said. I thought she might be a bit upset.

“Oh. I thought we might be,” Desi said. It was the first sign of uncertainty I’d seen in her façade since she sat down. “I guess I’m already too late for that,” she sighed looking at Rachel.

“Shit, girl. You’re selling yourself short,” Joan said. She’d been trying to get closer to me all through lunch and was nearly sitting on my lap. “I’ll bid eight days.”

“No, you don’t, girlfriend,” Rachel said. “I’ll go nine.”

“Ten days,” Beca said.

“All right,” I practically shouted. “Two weeks. But that is absofuckinglutely as high as I’ll go. Any of you bids again, you’d better be ready to grow a dick.” Everyone was silent. What the fuck? What did I just do? Didn’t I learn my lesson in V1? All the girls started to grin at me.

“I think you should get that in writing and close the auction,” Beca said. “Unless you’ve got your eye on someone else you want to have as a sex slave.”

“No. Uh ... Text it to me, Jacob. Auction is closed. Sold to the highest bidder.”

“Oh, God,” I moaned. “What have you all done to me? I’m not giving up my three girlfriends.”

“No one agreed she’d be your girlfriend. You pop her cherry and serve two weeks as her sex slave. End of deal,” Joan said. Beca and Rachel nodded. Desi looked a little disappointed.

“Um ... It would kind of look better and more genuine if we hung out a little. You know? Would that be okay?” Now she really looked uncertain. I think she was fishing for more than what she got.

“You’ve got a seat at our table,” Beca said. “We often go out on the weekend together, though Rachel gets most of the necking and petting. You should expect that those bazookas on your chest are going to get handled some, though. By, um ... someone.”

“And we’re going to want absolute confirmation that you’re a virgin on the night of the consummation or he doesn’t have to pay up,” Joan added.

“And, frankly, I’d like to get to know you better before I help Jacob strip you out of all that armor,” Rachel added. “Are you in or were you trying to fake it?” Desi looked around at us. The girls stared at her with determination. I was thinking I’d just possibly put a major event in my life on replay.

“I’m in,” Desi said. “But the contract can be voided at any time up to penetration.”

“Nobody forces a girl to lose her virginity,” I said firmly. “I agree to those terms.”

“We love you, Jacob,” Beca said. “Any other teenage boy would protest that a deal was a deal. Desi needs to join our weekend study sessions. And what are we going to do for a date this week? We need to make it special to welcome our new girlfriend.”

I wasn’t sure Desi caught the fact that Beca said our.

Rachel didn’t hold my hand on the way to class after lunch. I found that I really missed it. I guess, looking back at the past half hour, I could understand. But she’d goaded me on, too. That was a petulant fifteen-year-old talking. My eighty-year-old head told me I just got carried away thinking of V1’s time with a different Desi in a life that was ancient history.

“Are you mad at me, Rache?” I asked. “I got carried away back there. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Huh? Oh. No, not that, really. I just need to think.” She glanced down at our hands and reached out to take mine. “I didn’t mean to shut you out. We’re not breaking up or anything. I just really reacted to her like a jealous bitch and it threw me.”

“I understand a little. I mean not all. But ... We said we weren’t really ... um ... steady, right? But I feel like I’ve got something with you I don’t want to lose.”

“That’s what threw me,” Rachel said. “Damn it. We don’t have time to talk about all this before class. Will you go get a Coke with me after school?”

“Hell, yeah. I’d love to,” I shot back. We settled into our seats for another exciting Geometry lesson.

I almost forgot that I already had a ride home and texted Em just at the final bell so she wouldn’t wait for me. I caught up with Rachel at the back doors and we went to her car. The parking lot was always chaos after school. When V1 went to school only about a dozen kids drove cars to school and they were all worked on in the auto shop. It seemed like every kid with a license had a car and there were twice as many students.

“Ruby’s?” she asked. I agreed and we headed to the mall where the diner was. When we got settled into a booth, I talked her into splitting a chocolate shake.

“Chocolate? Are you trying to woo me? You know there is a direct link between a girl’s vagina and chocolate? I have to be careful around you.”

“Why?” I asked. She looked at me curiously.

“Later. First, I really need to talk through what I felt and I know guys don’t want to talk about feelings and all that girl shit, but you’ve indulged me so far and are feeding me chocolate, so that makes it like my right to talk about my feelings and to ask you about yours, okay?” she rushed.

“Very okay, Rachel. That’s why we are out together about to get horny over a chocolate shake. Seriously, I’m all nervous about what you’re going to say and what I might have to say but I want to get it out,” I said.