Chapter 2

It turned out swimming lessons hadn’t changed much since he was a child. Holding onto the side whilst they went through various leg strokes whilst the teacher walked up and down correcting movement and posture before the class moved on to swimming widths. It also turned out that having breasts changed the way the body floated. Which made sense, James reflected, as he watched the boy with the water wings thrash about like he was being attacked by wasps and failing to get anywhere. In any direction. The water wings ensuring that the only direction he was capable of going -straight down- didn’t happen.

At the end of the lesson. James, and almost all the boys-baring the two male beginners and the water-winged paddle steamer- lifted themselves out via the side of the pool, whilst the three boys and the girls all swam to the four pool ladders and exited that way.

The girls were quicker to change out of their swim suits than they were to get in them, and James found himself surrounded by naked girls as he himself removed his one piece swimming costume. James had never seen so much pubic hair in one room before, and yet, even when they had finished drying and started to re-don their underwear, James found the sight of the underwear clad bodies even more arousing than he had the nakedness. It wasn’t even as if they were wearing thongs, lacy half cups or anything that could be construed as overtly sexual. It was just plain white pants and bra’s. Maybe a little bit of lace here and there or the occasional pastel colour.

James changed quickly and left the changing room, hair still wet and headed for the school canteen. It appeared that Nadine’s unexpected and unusual appearance at swimming lessons had stoked a lot of male interest in the previously reclusive and unapproachable Nadine. A Nadine that turned out to have a rather desirable and pleasing to the male eye body. Much to James’s consternation. This newly aroused male interest didn’t appear to go down well with some of the girls either, judging by the looks directed towards him from some of his fellow female classmates.

The next lesson after lunch was Art: another lesson James was dreading. Going by the pictures on his bedroom walls, Nadine had been a bit of a demon with a pencil. An ability he had never possessed, and a few attempts in the privacy of Nadine’s bedroom had proven that no matter how much he had emptied his mind and searched for any residual remains of Nadine’s psyche, there was none to be found. The only artistic ability he possessed was his own. Which was, he freely admitted, pathetic.

Matchstick people were his limit.

Again, he followed in last and sat at the empty seat he deemed to be the least troublesome. All the desks bar two, had large complicated looking angled drawing/ painting easels on them. The sort James associated with architects and draughts people. The teacher waited till the class had settled in, then enthusiastically stormed into a passionate lecture that went straight into one of Nadine’s ears and out the other without stopping in between.

“Right, now I want you to get your project pieces and try to encompass those ideas, those feelings into your work.” The room resounded to the scrape of stools as the class headed for the cupboard at the back. There was some shoving, some good natured, most not, as the class retrieved their pieces from the purpose built racks that allowed the pupils sheet based works to hang down without crumpling. James watched the steady stream of artwork coming out of the store room. Piecework in one hand, the pupils medium of choice in the other-paint, pen, coloured pencils, decoupage ... One girl went to a cupboard and pulled out something covered in damp hessian. James had a good idea that his medium would be pencil.

The scrum receded and like a man/woman heading towards the gallows, James entered the room, unsure of what he was looking for.

Shelves contained a variety of works from other pupils from other classes, pottery, papier-mâché, wiry things, each with the pupil’s name on a label at the front. James didn’t think that was Nadine’s style and turned back to the racks of hanging pictures in progress. It appeared that the pieces on the racks were organised by class, as there was a large gap now with one solitary piece surrounded by space, it’s label clearly stating ‘Nadine’. James lifted it out. It was large and heavy. Whilst the other kids had plumped for a mix of A3, or A2 sized canvases for the adventurous, Nadine had clearly decided to ‘go big or go home’. Literally, with an A1 sized piece. A sheet of grease-proof paper both covered and hid the artwork. James carried it to his easel, laid it on the surface and pinned it in place. Full of dread, he pulled the protective sheet back.

“Holy mother of God” he whispered.

The piece was by no means finished, but it had Nadine’s touch all over it. Some bits were just outlines, hinting at what was yet to come, whilst others were filled in with intricate, almost obsessive detail. Nadine had obviously intended to use every millimetre that the A1 size would give her.

The middle of the picture was dominated by an overly ornate four wheeled carriage, pulled by four distinctly evil looking horses. The coach was in the process of leaving a Victorian era looking Street, complete with gas-lamps, and entering the most ominous looking graveyard James had ever seen outside of a horror movie. A shadowy hooded figure was looking out of the carriage. Nadine had clearly not made up her mind yet about the face and had left the space blank. Which somehow had the effect of making the figure look even more disturbing. As though they were an escort- they probably were- a pair of black, murderous looking hounds were following close behind the carriage.

Of course there would be murderous looking hounds...

A cloaked and hidden figure was sat in front of the carriage, whip airborne above the horses. It was a stunning piece of art work in progress, and there was absolutely no way he was going to touch it.

James sat there looking at the piece, bits of it niggling at his memory. He pulled out Nadine’s phone and accessed the camera’s stored photo’s. Sure enough, there was visible correlation between the pictures and the drawing.

James turned the phone back off and slipped it back into his pocket. Carefully replacing the protective cover, he lifted the drawing and it’s attached storage bracket from the easel and carried it back into the storeroom and hung it back up. Collecting his school bag he headed towards the door, aware that a silence had descended the room as everyone watched him.

“Nadine? Nadine, where are you going?” James ignored, didn’t even look at, the teacher as he opened the door and left the classroom. As soon as he shut the door behind him, he set off at a run.

The next class garnered him even more curious looks and a invite to a sleep over from Jodi, one of the class’s Apex predators. No doubt the main gossipers in the class were desperate to know what was going on in his head and had decided the best way to find out, was to lure him into their terrain and ambush him.

At first he had politely declined, but when he thought about his options- being at home in Nadine’s room, in a house with two adults who were supposed to be his parents- it started to sound like a viable and more enjoyable option. Besides what bloke didn’t want to spend the night with a group of teenage girls in various states of possible undress...

He hadn’t really expected Nadine’s parents to allow him to go, as they were still keeping a watchful eye over him and his behaviour, ready to step in should he start displaying any more potentially fatal behaviour. There had been discussions and phone calls from downstairs after he had been politely told to ‘Go upstairs whilst they discussed it’. James couldn’t be bothered eavesdropping. Either they were going to allow it or not.

Nadine’s mum eventually came up to tell him that he could go and that his father would drive him there, having spoken to Jodi’s parents.

It being his first ever ‘female’ sleep-over, James kept as quiet and as unassuming as possible. Not for the first time, he marvelled at the ability of girls to incessantly talk, one subject blending into another without any obvious correlation. It was exhausting just trying to follow them, let alone join them, as they minutely dissected anything and everything. A simple glance from a boy, which James knew from personal experience, to simply be ’Phwar, I would give her one.’ and then be immediately forgotten, along with the girl, by the boy three steps later. Was a long drawn out gaze of passion where the boy secretly wanted to marry you, be the father of your kids and hold you to the end of time. Eye rolling material if ever there was any in James’s view. He was starting to regret coming, truth be told.

They’d already spent hours that evening going through Facebook profiles of various boys at school on Julie’s laptop, checking out the group photo’s, discussing in intimate detail the perceived merits of the boys in the pictures, swapping details via their phones. James dared not bring out his relic for fear of being ridiculed.

Like a numeration of starlings, all the girls, bar James, flocked to the dressing table and James had no idea what caused such change of direction from Facebook to make up. All seemingly done in silence and without a central consensus. James found himself alone, on the bed, with the laptop as the girls discussed, at length, the merits of various make up items.

James stared at Jodi’s Facebook page. He looked over at the girls who weren’t paying him any attention. Pulling over the laptop, he signed out of Jodi’s page and after another furtive look, typed his name and password into the required boxes.

: Do you want this computer to remember your log-in details? :

Fuck no! James checked the deny box.

: This account has been memorialised. You can’t add any new content or message Facebook users ... Do you wish to continue?:

James clicked ‘Yes’. It didn’t look as if he had much choice in the matter.

Apparently he was dead, judging by the pictures of his funeral, attended by his family and workmates. Cremated and either scattered to the four winds or languishing in an urn somewhere, he couldn’t quite make out. He had wondered if he and Nadine had switched bodies and she was running around in his body and unable to cope with James’s life and body. He looked at the dates of his funeral, trying to work out his death date. He found a post stating when he had died. Working back, James tied his ‘death’ in with roughly when he had awoken as Nadine. If that was the case, he wondered, then where had Nadine gone? Was she truly dead?

He had three hundred and Eighty four unread messages in his inbox. Holy shit! He hadn’t thought he was that popular. He opened up his inbox.

: Murdering cunt! : Was all the first message said.

The next couple of messages he opened were all a variation of the same theme. That he could rot in hell. He scrolled down the list, picking messages out at random. All basically wishing that he was rotting in hell, in different choices of words. It was obvious that he had done something bad, but there was no indication as to what. He logged out of his Facebook account and logged back into Jodi’s, the laptop filing in her password for him.

Opening up another tab, he put his name and town into Google and hit search. He was top of the list of suggestions, which wasn’t a good sign. James opened up an online article from the local newspaper. The article was headed by a picture of two totally mangled cars. James felt the blood drain from his face as he read on. It turned out that he had spent the afternoon drinking with his mates from the garage and had decided, in drunken wisdom with one of them, to drive to a nearby fast food joint for a kebab.

He had been travelling at nearly ninety miles an hour, in a thirty, when he had collided head on with another car, killing himself and his pal instantly, along with the occupants of the other car. Two parents and their three young children, who had been travelling back home from a visit to the seaside. The collision had been heard streets away, with many saying it had sounded as though a bomb had gone off.

The laptop was pulled away from him.

“You’re always so morbid Nadine!” Jodi said as she closed his tab and brought the tab with her Facebook page back up to full screen.

James moved back as the other girls crowded back around the laptop, commenting about the comments on their pictures that they had just uploaded from their phones. So obsessed over the online reactions to their photos, that they had failed to see how white James had become.

It was easy to let himself be gently pushed to the outside of the friend circle around the laptop.

James considered packing his overnight stuff and heading home. It wasn’t too late and the incessant chatting off the girls was starting to grate against his depressed mood.

Six people. He had killed six people. And himself. The lives of several families ruined because he had one too many and not one of his other ‘mates’ had taken his keys from him. He stopped, realising that he was starting to blame others for what was essentially his fault and his alone.

“What are you doing Nadine?”

James looked up, kicked out of his inner turmoil, surprised to find that subconsciously, he had left the bed and had indeed, started to collect his small amount of possessions together.

“Err,” Shit, what was her name? “Just tidying up, Luna...”

“Oh. It just looked like, for a minute, that you were about to head home.”

James glanced to the other girls, who were now raptly engrossed in some YouTube music video.

Yes, I was... “No.”

Jodi looked up and over at the two girls who weren’t one with her flock. “Stop being unsociable Nadine, and get over here.”

James sighed and reluctantly headed back to the somewhat crowded bed.

Once you join the coven, you can’t leave the coven ... He thought, in an over dramatically ominous mental voice, as he was shepherded into a position he wouldn’t easily be able to slip away from.

The girls were all singing along to some foreign bloke with big eyes. Since he neither knew the ‘artiste’ nor the words, and in an effort to make things a little more interesting, James considered various torture techniques he would rather suffer than partake in whatever it was he was supposed to be getting excited about. He set the bar fairly low at waterboarding and tried to look interested, along with the rest of the girls, in the particular way one of the boys in the video had his hair.

Toe-nails. You don’t really need toe-nails do you? James set about removing various items of his anatomy. He could lose at least one kidney, couldn’t he?

“What say you, Nadine?”

“Uhh! What!” There was a picture of a dress on the computer screen, so they must have asked his opinion on it. “Err, not really my colour...” The other girls burst out laughing and James got the impression it wasn’t anything to do with his witty comment about the vibrant colours of the dress and Nadine’s love of all things black.

“We weren’t talking about the dress silly, we were talking about snogging. Which do you prefer, the soft yielding touch of lips, or the more aggressive tongue invasion? No tongue?, More tongue...?”

“Err...” When had the topic of conversation changed...?

“I bet Nadine’s never been kissed by anyone other than her mother.” Piper noted acidly. “Asking her about what makes a good kiss, is like asking an Eskimo for advice about building sand castles...”

The girls laughed with Piper. Mentally, James rammed a flat headed screwdriver into to her eye and twisted the handle.

“Her and Claire, I bet neither have been kissed.” Pointed out Autumn and the girls all shifted their attention to Claire.

“Have you Claire?” Gianna demanded smugly. “You should try Elijah, mmm he is just divine...”

“I thought Lucas was better...” Arya broke in.

“Ugh! Not Lucas! kissing him is like kissing a dead fish!”

Hearing or sight? Hearing. For a start, it would save me from having to listen to this hell. Tell me again how you thought that this would be an erotically good idea...

His gaze caught Claire’s and she went bright red and looked away. What is that all about? James continued to look at Claire but she studiously avoided returning his look as the girls around them continued to trade ideas on who they thought were the best kissers in both class and school.

From his male point of view, James would have more than happily fucked every girl in the room. Including Nadine, who had an intriguing darkness about her, the possibility of an exploration into something more bondage related possibly, since she gave the impression that she might have lent that way. James had never been interested in that scene but he wouldn’t have let that stop him if it had meant the chance to bury his cock into her cunt. Granted, the personalities of some of the girls in the room would ensure that it would be a one night only affair, another notch on his proverbial bed post. Though he decided that he would probably have to be pretty drunk to fuck Piper. He was starting to get the impression that she was the type to continually moan about some perceived slight she thought had been done to her by one of her many ‘friends’, whilst you were balls deep inside her.

Jodi beckoned to James “Come over here Nadine.” The girls between them parted like they were the Red Sea. James shuffled over, not really having much choice in the matter. He stopped at the indicated spot as Jodi swept her long brown hair behind her ears. She did the same to James’s loose black hair before she leant forward and gently placed her lips against his.

Well, you don’t get boys doing this. For a start you have to get them to stop playing FIFA on the console first. Good luck with that... James was more than happy to play along and opened his mouth and met her tongue with his eyes closed and wrapped his arms round Jodi, who after a moment’s hesitation, copied him.

As kisses went, It was definitely ‘all right’ and the most interesting thing to have so far happened this evening, as far as he was concerned.

James felt the stirrings of arousal within him and wondered if he could steer this sleepover into an impromptu orgy. It was certainly worth a try.

Breaking the kiss, Jodi pulled back, letting her arms fall from James and breaking his hold on her. “You sneaky bitch! You’ve done that before! You really are a dark horse Nadine! Who have you been making out with?”

James looked at all the girls staring at him. The only one not looking at him with surprise, was Claire. Who looked pained. That one definitely has a crush on you James...

“Let me see.” Piper pulled James round to face her and planted her lips against his.

I’d rather kiss a dogs puckered ring... But James still returned the kiss. Piper was a very aggressive kisser. Her tongue demanded entrance and then proceeded to explore the inside of his mouth as though it was a police drugs and alcohol search team.

It was as arousing as a tax audit. James pushed her away. “That was shit.” He stated. There was a collective gasp from the girls and a strangled laugh from Claire. “Who have you been kissing? The family dog?”

“I don’t have a fucking dog...” Piper shot back.

“Luckily for canines everywhere...” There were a few titters from the girls as Piper glared daggers at him. You’ve made an enemy there James. Fuck her. I didn’t like her anyway. No loss...

“What about me?” Autumn shuffled over, a mischievous glint in her eye as she took her place against James’s lips. Autumn was definitely a girl for all seasons “Well?” she asked when they parted.

“I wouldn’t kick you out of bed.” James admittedly truthfully. Most of the girls laughed, Claire and Piper conspicuous by their sour faces.

There followed a period of humorous mass kissing between the girls that would have fuelled the night-time fantasies of every straight boy in school for weeks.

Unfortunately for James. The girls themselves just seemed to see it as a bit of harmless fun and his dream of it descending into a debauched orgy quickly dissipated.

Claire looked like she was feeling the way James had felt earlier and looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but here. James had noticed that she somehow, deftly, managed to avoid locking lips with any of the girls on the overcrowded bed.

“So Nadine, we know who you think is the worst, “ Sycophantic laughter, “ Who do you think is the best? “ Asked Jodi, ever the ringleader.

“Hmm...” James turned his gaze to Claire, who looked alarmed at his attention. “I’ve not tested Claire... “ Claire frantically shook her head, as the girls did the parting Red Sea thing again. Claire tried to escape but the girls around her blocked her escape.

“Noooo...” She begged, a look of panic on her face.

“Duh-ruh-Duh-ruh” James said as mimicked the slow ominous beat that preceded the shark’s attack in Jaws, speeding up the tempo as he drew closer. Claire reached out to fend him off and he took hold of her hands and held her close as he moved in for the kiss.

“Nooo...” she begged again.

His lips touched hers as he continued to move forward. Like his previous kisses, he slid his arms around her back, holding her tight as he kissed her. Her mouth stayed firmly shut at first, then she resigned herself to the embrace and her lips parted, allowing James to slip in with his tongue. He was still moving forward and overbalanced Claire, forcing her to fall back onto the bed. James kept their lips locked as he controlled the speed of her topple. Claire was now trapped underneath Nadine’s equally slight build. James ignored the laughter around them and moved a hand to cup Claire’s breast. At his touch, she broke the kiss, yelped loudly and slapped his hand away as the other girls laughed at her plight.

Claire was breathing hard, her face flushed bright red, a reaction at odds to what was supposed to be a little frivolity. She met his gaze defiantly, a little angry, a little hurt tinging the edges of her eyes.

“No second base for the lads with Claire.” He said. The other girls laughed and just like that, the kissing was over and the subject moved on.

A full bladder woke him at daft o’clock in the morning. The dawn sun powered through the flimsy curtains lighting the room and the inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags scattered across Jodi’s bedroom floor. James pulled aside the flap of the sleeping bag and cautiously stood, trying to stand on carpet and not on any of the many out-flung limbs.

Opening the bedroom door, he crept to the bathroom. After emptying his bladder, he flushed the toilet and cupped his hands under the cold tap for a mouth full of water, drying his wet hands on one of the many towels on the rail, as he waited for the sound of the refilling cistern to quieten a bit before he opened the bathroom door.

He had almost made it to Jodi’s bedroom door when it was opened by a still sleepy Claire, who was so busy rubbing a knuckle into the corner of an eye, that she failed to see James at first.

“Oh!” She yelped startled.

“Morning Claire.”

“Hi.” she replied with a shy smile.

They were standing next to each other now and James stopped his movement as did Claire. The pair of them looking into each other’s eyes.

Fuck it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained... James kissed her. Claire didn’t push him away. His arms wrapped around her waist as did hers around his. Her return kisses were a little frantic, a little desperate, as though she thought that this was her only chance and that she had to make the most of it.

He slid his hands down, cupped a curved cheek in either hand, his fingertips digging a little into the soft flesh there. He felt her hands move down and cautiously mimic his actions. It felt good to have another’s hands against his flesh.

He left his right against her bum and moved his left up and round to attempt another touch of her breast. This time she didn’t push him back or slap his hand away, though she did slide her hands up under his sleep T to touch and caress his panty covered bum.

Someone in the room beyond the closed door coughed. Clair pulled her head back. “I really need to pee...”

James smiled and Clare giggled. He dropped his hand from her breast and stood back, allowing her to dash into the toilet. Slipping back into his sleeping bag, James decided that the sleepover hadn’t been a complete disaster after all. He wondered if Claire would have a change of heart later when her passion cooled a little, but the sly glances she kept giving him as the girls all changed out of their sleepwear in the morning, hinted otherwise.

James was the first to leave, mainly because it was the time Nadine’s father had said that he would be round to pick him up. Overnight bag in one hand, sleeping bag under the other, he was about to leave when Claire stopped him at the door.

“Do you want to sleep overnight at mine tonight?” Claire asked somewhat nervously.

James looked at Nadine’s father, who shrugged. “Fine by me, and I’m sure your mother won’t have any qualms either. Now I just need to get rid of your brother as well...” He said with a smile that implied some intimate parental time if he could farm Toby out to one of his pals for the night.

“See you then, tonight?” Claire asked James again.

“I’ll see you Claire.” James decided a kiss might be a bit to publicly intimate so just took Claire’s, hand and give it a squeeze instead.

James and Claire sat in front of the TV, ate pizza and drank diet coke. The film on the fifty inch flat screen mounted on the wall, was some cloyingly tedious American song and dance feel good teen fest. Claire really seemed to like it, singing along to the songs whilst James cursed his vastly improved hearing. He tried to hide his disdain as much as he could, as he didn’t want to be a downer on her good mood.

As the end credits finally started to roll, James prayed that there wasn’t a sequel. He suggested that maybe they should retire upstairs. A suggestion heartily endorsed by Claire’s parents, who appeared to have as much love for Claire’s movies of choice as James had.

Claire’s bedroom lacked a TV, her parents didn’t want her staying up late watching reality TV, apparently. Seemingly not understanding that the laptop in her room could play those, and a lot worse, via the WiFi in the house.

They sat on her bed and chatted about nothing complicated or controversial in the slightest. James listened to what was not being said. There was no talk of the boys at school, in fact very little about males in general, unless it was in the animal kingdom. As the evening slowly progressed. Claire became more nervous and excitable.

James could see that she wanted to say something, or ask something but she didn’t know how, filling in the space with verbal diarrhoea. James eventually stopped her the simplest way he knew how that didn’t involve his palm across her face. He leant forward and planted his lips against hers. She squeaked into his mouth but didn’t push him away or otherwise retreat. Snaking his arms around her back, he embraced her as his tongue slipped into her mouth. It was what she had really wanted out of the night, he knew. Her hands lifted nervously, her hold around him tentative, insecure.

James pulled back, breaking the kiss, but not the cuddle, intrigued to see what she would do, what her reaction would be.

“I was babbling, wasn’t I?”

James pursed his lips and nodded his head.

Claire went a bright shade of red. “It’s just that ... Since last night. I just can’t get you out of my head. You’re in my every waking thought. I never even thought about you, or any girl, like this before...”

James smirked but didn’t say anything “I’m so confused, my heart feels like it’s about to burst, like I have just run a mile and still missed the bus. I want to cry. I want to laugh. I want to sing. I want to eat. I’m so messed up inside. I’m trembling. I need a wee. I...”

James kissed her again, stopping only to run his tongue around her lips, causing her to tremble violently in his arms. He pulled back yet again. She really was trembling, as though she was sat on a vibrating plate. Crossing his arms, James pulled the bottom of his T-shirt over his head and then tossed it onto the floor. Claire’s eyes went saucer wide as she looked briefly at James’s breasts. Her throat rippled as she swallowed the saliva pouring into her mouth. James smiled as she looked pretty much the way he felt the first time he and a girl had gotten ’a little bit adventurous’. It was even more amusing to James, as he considered that he had nothing she didn’t already possess, nor hadn’t seen before.

His first time had been a voyage into the unknown, his only knowledge of female anatomy learned through adult mags and internet porn. Even now, he was still learning via Nadine’s body. James lifted Claire’s hands and placed them against his sports bra clad breasts. Claire did that amusingly cute squeaking thing and leaped from the bed, running over to her door. He thought he had pushed her too far, too soon and that she was fleeing from him and the emotions roiling within her.