12:18 P.M., Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Honolulu, HI

It was recess, and Paul Macon was finally able to get his friend Sam Diamond by himself. The favor Paul was going to ask was one he couldn’t ask in front of everyone.

“I know you kind of like Paula,” the little boy told his friend.

Sam’s eyes got big.

“Well yeah,” he said. “Me and George both. But, she’s YOUR girlfriend. I wouldn’t try to kiss her or anything.”

Paul smiled. It wasn’t a cheery smile, but it was the first smile Sam had seen from him in days.

“I want you to do me a favor, while I’m gone,” the boyfriend told Sam. “You see, Paula really likes hugging and kissing and, well, and sex. So, could you do that with her some until I get back?”

“OK, waitaminute, waitaminute,” Sam sputtered. “OK, let me make sure my ears didn’t just go weird. You want me to fuck your girlfriend?”

“Just ‘till I get back,” Paul nodded, “until we’re back together. It’s just, well, I don’t want her to have to do without it.”

Sam looked his best friend in the eye and saw something there he didn’t expect to see in a kid his own age.

“You really love her a lot, don’t you?” Sam said. “Do anything for her, that kind of thing?”

Without missing a beat the one nine year old boy told the other, “I’d die for her.”

Sam felt a cold shiver go up his spine. Paul meant it, and this was more grown-up than Sam was used to dealing with. He wasn’t sure he wanted anything to do with this serious stuff.

But then his thoughts returned to Paula Akron, with her bright smile and habit of giving him (and every other boy) sneaky little down-blouse and up-skirt peeks. And, she did sex stuff, like actually did it. Sam had managed to look at some panties (other than Paula’s), and one girl had let him put his hand up her blouse. Another girl had rubbed his penis through his pants, and that felt good. But Paula did a lot more than that. Paula did blowjobs. Paula did intercourse. She only did these things with Paul, but she did them. And now ... When would Sam have another chance to have sex, like actual SEX SEX?

“I’ll do it,” Sam agreed. “If it’s OK with you, and it’s OK with her, then I’ll do it.”

“Paula Akron, you are out of your blinking mind!”

Jenny Inoguchi couldn’t believe what her friend had just suggested. Her friend couldn’t see what the problem was.

“Jenny,” Paula sighed, “you almost went on a date with a thirteen year old boy, because you wanted to kiss and stuff. You told me you might even have sex with him.”

“I ALMOST went on a date with him,” Jenny pointed out. “I said I MIGHT have sex with him.”

Paula cocked her head. “Why didn’t you?”

“Because a thirteen year old boy who’s gonna date a nine-year-old and make out with her probably isn’t a very nice boy!”

Paula considered this and nodded. “Probably not. But Paul is a very nice boy.”

“But,” Jenny took a deep breath. “But he’s YOUR boyfriend! Do you really want me kissing on him and stuff?”

“Just ‘till we get back together,” Paula assured her. “It’s just that, well Paul really likes all that stuff, and I don’t want him to have to just not do it at all while I’m gone. Besides, you WANT to do it.”

Jenny blushed, and then she blushed deeper.

“Yeah,” she almost whispered. “I’d like doing it with Paul, but, but I really wanna do it with Sam.”

“OK then,” Paula reasoned, “Paul can teach you how to make love, and then you can teach Sam.”

That phrase, “make love,” shot through nine year old Jenny Inoguchi like an electric charge. Her friend could have said “how to do it” or “how to have sex” or even “how to fuck” and it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

“Teach me how to make love,” she whispered. She had almost gone behind her parents’ back to date a thirteen year old boy, because she wanted to learn. Paula had told her so much about sex, but Jenny knew that hearing about it and doing it were two different things. In fact, little Jenny had considered asking Paula to teach her how to kiss, but kissing a girl just seemed weird to her. Also, she was worried that Paula might think it weird, and she didn’t want to weird out her friend.

The young virgin, Jenny, smiled at her equally young but no longer virgin friend.

“I guess,” Jenny said, “that Paul knows all about make ... making l ... making love.”

“Oh yeah,” Paula gushed. “He gave me my first orgasm. He was the first guy to French kiss me. Like, before Genkins. Before Mommy and Daddy got arrested.”

Jenny blinked. “You were Frenching when you were EIGHT?!”

Paula didn’t even hear her.

“And he says such nice things when we get done with the sex,” she continued, “and we’re just laying down next to each other, and we’re about to go to sleep and he tells me he loves me and ... Oh God, Jenny! I don’t want to be away from him!”

Jenny thought it might be weird to kiss a girl, but she didn’t hesitate to hug her best friend. Paula just cried, shaking, for a minute or so. She pulled herself back together, or tried to. She wanted to be tough, for Paul. She didn’t want to say or do anything to make things harder on him, but she needed a cry.

“I’m only nine years old,” she managed to say. “I’m only nine years old!”

Jenny didn’t say anything, because what could she say? She did wonder what in the world was wrong with grown-ups, putting a little girl through this hell. Paula hadn’t cried like this when she told Jenny about Genkins, though she had sniffled a little. Genkins: another grown-up. And all the cops and judges and stuff ... More grown-ups screwing with a kid’s life, for what reasons Jenny couldn’t understand. But neither did Paula, or Paul.

By the time recess was over Paula had managed to quit crying and, while clearly not cheerful, there was nothing in her demeanor which suggested that she was on the edge of tears, though she was.

As for Jenny, she had decided before her friend had started crying that yes, she would play substitute girlfriend for Paul Macon. It would help her friend, and it would allow Jenny Inoguchi to learn about sex without having to take the risk of being with an older boy.