Chapter 21

I didn’t know what to say. The picture or pictures they wanted were a big leap further into the weeds than I was expecting. It was one thing to take what Mr. Watts called artistic nudes versus a picture you would see in any adult magazine.

“Just think about it, okay?” Stephanie announced. “Let us know tomorrow.”

The three girls strode down the hallway towards the exit, leaving Dana and me standing there watching them go. The shortest one, Jennifer, turned and gave a small wave and winked as the three cheerleaders turned the corner and disappeared from view.

“Josh...” Dana’s voice trailed off, leaving the question unanswered.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“We need to talk, now.” Dana grabbed my arm and pulled me into the classroom.

Laura was already there and looked surprised at the sight of me being literally dragged into the room by Dana.

“What’s going on?” Laura asked, getting to her feet.

“Josh here, is about to bite off more than he can chew,” Dana replied, her tone flat.

“Josh?” Laura asked, turning to me.

“I didn’t do anything,” I protested, looking back and forth between the two girls.

“Not yet, you haven’t...” Dana mumbled. “You have no idea what we are going to be in for if you agree to this. Trust me.”

“Agree to what? What do you mean, Dana?” Laura asked, her voice holding a bit of an edge but not yet in a threatening way.

I just shrugged when Laura looked at me and she rolled her eyes. It was all too apparent that I wasn’t able to answer any kind of questions about girls lately. Not to mention girls who wanted me to take pictures of them having sex. In front of me and Dana! Not that I am going to tell Laura about any of that. Fat chance!

“The sluts want Josh to take a picture of all three of them, together!” Dana growled.

“So what if he ... Oh! Shit, really?” Laura caught on to the meaning a whole lot faster than I did, that’s for sure.

“I didn’t agree to it!” I complained and threw my hands up.

“It’s not like we can say no to them,” Dana responded, sounding a bit dejected. “If they start telling rumors about you and me, what we have been doing ... no one else will want to pose for you.”

“They wouldn’t...” I stated.

Both Dana and Laura gave me sad looks. It was unnerving because they were almost identical expressions of both ‘he’s clueless’ and ‘you’re screwed.’

“They would and will, and you know it.” That was all Dana said before she flopped down in one of the chairs, heaving a heavy, resigned sigh.

“What do we do?” I asked, hoping they would have an idea, a way out or a lifeline I could use to fix the problem I suddenly found myself in.

That night, I talked to Laura on the phone for almost an hour. We talked about football mostly, and the game this weekend against Missouri. I tried to keep the topic away from the sluts, and it worked for the first forty-five minutes.

“Have you decided what you are going to do about Stephanie and her friends?” Laura asked.

I had been thinking about it, all day in fact. The only thing I came up with was treating it just like I did when Dana and I went to Jo’s house. Danny, Jo’s boyfriend, wanted a very graphic picture of her, but we managed to change her mind and that turned out incredibly well. I wasn’t confident that I would be able to convince them to go with my plan, but it was worth a shot, and I explained my plan to Laura.

“I don’t know if that will actually work though,” Laura answered after a few moments of awkward silence as she thought about what I had just proposed. “It might.”

“I’ll just have to see what happens I guess. Thankfully, Dana will be there too.”

“Yeah, Dana seems alright after all,” Laura groaned. I knew it pained her to admit it, but I was glad that she did. “That doesn’t mean I like her, because I don’t.”

That was the biggest baited trap of a statement I had ever heard, and I didn’t want to go anywhere near it. I think Laura expected me to, and when I kept my mouth shut, she sighed and said she needed to go so she could finish her homework and go to bed. I agreed; I still had two assignments I needed to do myself. Laura and I sat on the phone for almost five more minutes, arguing who was going to hang up first. It was stupid, but I still smiled the whole time knowing she didn’t want to stop talking to me.

Wednesday morning Mrs. Peterson handed me a white envelope with my name written on it.

“That’s from Katie’s father. Don’t open it here in class, wait until later. Okay?”

“Okay, Mrs. Peterson. Do you know what it’s about?” She didn’t answer me, only smiled, and shooed me away towards my seat.

When I met Dana and Laura for lunch, I brandished the envelope, waving it in the air.

“What’s that?” Dana asked.

“Something from Katie’s dad,” I answered.

“Do you know what it says?” Laura chimed in.

“No clue, Mrs. Peterson gave it to me in first period.”

“Open it, find out what it says!” Laura responded excitedly.

I slowly, methodically ripped the envelope and pulled out a neatly folded piece of white paper. When I opened it, I saw the letterhead for the university right there across the top with the Art Department right below it. Dana saw it right away, snatched the letter from my hand and read it aloud.

From what Katie had explained to us already, this was a really big deal. The winner getting to have their works displayed for the entire spring semester was huge. I guess I was going to have to enter the contest, and I had almost two months to put together the best three pictures I could.

“Wow!” Laura gasped.

“Yeah, this is really cool.”

“Ahh, I see you got your invitation?” Mr. Watts announced as he walked in the room with his hands full of pizza slices. “Mrs. Peterson’s husband called me last night and asked if I thought you would be interested. So, are you going to submit something?”

“Yup, he is,” Laura and Dana both answered for me before I even got the chance.

“Keep in mind that you are going to want to send in prints and not originals.”

“Shit! I didn’t make a contact copy of Katie’s pictures.”

“I took care of that for you, I assumed you had forgotten. It’s in the filing cabinet with the other one from Josie’s shoot.”

“Thanks, Mr. Watts. You’re a lifesaver!” I replied and then paused, debating on if I should even say anything. “Mr. Watts, I have a question and maybe you can give me your opinion.”

Mr. Watts looked at me with a questioning gaze. Laura’s eyes widened and Dana nodded, already knowing what I was about to ask him.

I ended up agreeing to take the three blonde’s pictures on Friday. All three of them bounced up and down giggling and squealing with delight. Dana wasn’t impressed at all by their display, but I have to admit, when they bounced like that, it was hard not to be impressed. Very impressed.

“Quit staring at their tits for fuck’s sake,” Dana complained, elbowing me in the ribs.

“He can look all he wants,” Stephanie said in an insanely seductive tone, winking at me. “He is going to see all three sets of ours in all their glory on Friday. We might even let him join in.”

“Knock it off, slut!” Dana growled, her fists balled at her sides.

“Don’t go getting all jealous, again!” Stephanie leered.

Jealous again, what is that all about?

“Why would I be jealous of you bitches?” Dana shot back, not backing down at all.

“Remember when she brought her boyfriend to our homecoming party freshman year?” Claire, the middle blonde asked, grinning wickedly and then giggling. “Poor guy didn’t want to turn down what we had to offer at the after-party.”

Oh! Now I get it, but I’m not Dana’s boyfriend, so what’s the big deal?

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