Chapter 1: Helen 'n' Me

A Word to the Reader –

Please remember that this is just a silly little fantasy. I mean, what company would actually be in the business of making sex videos with performers as young as 14? Because, I mean, after all, that would be illegal – wouldn’t it...?

I’m just a 14-year-old skateboard rat hanging out at the mall when a well-dressed woman sits down next to me and asks me if I’d like to try out for a movie they were making.

Eighth grade had just ended for the summer vacation, and my 14th birthday was three weeks ago – that was a bust! – and I was already in a hurry for school to start again. With nothing else to do, I put on my board shorts and my Vans and my second-newest Tony Hawk T-shirt and told my mom that I was going to the mall. I got on my Evol board and did the mile and a half to the “old” Riverside Galleria in less than 10 minutes.

I don’t know what made Riverside a “Galleria” – to me it’s just another mall. But I guess when it first opened maybe 10 or 12 years ago it was the place in town to shop. But then the economy slowed, I guess, or maybe it was Amazon and other online websites, but they started to lose stores, and the big hit was when Peavey’s Department Story – they were what I think they call an “anchor tenant” – pulled out. The mall is laid out like a cross and Peavey’s took up one full arm of that cross, so now one whole wing of the mall is vacant, and that’s why I was there. The floors are super-slick and there’s some really nice ramps plus a few small flights of steps to shoot.

But after forty minutes of skating the ramps and jumping stairs – “ollying” – I was already bored. I was sitting on one of the curved concrete benches thinking about what I’m going to do for the next two and a half months when a man and a woman came up and asked if they could sit there, too. So I looked up and said “Sure.” Whatever.

The guy was maybe 30. He was wearing nice tan-colored slacks and what looked like an expensive pullover. Also, I could see he was wearing a nice watch. Not some big clunky gold thing with chains or anything – it just looked like high quality.

The woman was about the same age, and she was wearing a nice cream-colored skirt and some kind of matching jacket, so I guess it mighta been a ladies’ business suit or something. She was wearing high-heeled shoes, but not really high, just – business-high, I guess. I’m not really into women’s shoes.

Anyhow, the lady starts talking to me. She introduces herself as “Janine,” and the man is “Ed,” and Ed smiles nice but doesn’t say anything or go to shake my hand, just this nice smile. Anyway, “Janine” asks me my name, and I tell her Bobby, and she asks if it would be alright if she talks with me, and if I have something to do or have to be anyplace for the next hour or so.

I thought it was kind of unusual, her asking me this and stuff, but almost by reflex I answered that I didn’t, and that’s when she starts explaining things.

“Bobby, Ed and I have a film company. We’ve rented the old Peavey’s Department Store space and were using it for some movies we’re making and, well, Ed and I saw you and thought that you might be perfect for some of the scenes were shooting.”

WTF. I don’t look like a movie star. I’m in my washed-out checkered board shorts and my not-newest Tony Hawk tee, but Janine says, “Don’t worry about your clothes. We’re mostly interested in how you look on film.” Then she stopped to explain, “Actually, everybody records things digitally these days, but we still talk about filming and ‘on film.’”

But then, like she had another thought, she says, “Bobby, you’re fourteen, aren’t you?”

Like a reflex, I answered “Yeah,” and then added, “Three weeks ago.” She and Ed smiled at each other.

“Anyhow, Bobby, people who look good in real life don’t always look good on video. Ed and I thought that you might be one of those people who looks good on video.”

She waited for her explanation to sink in and then she asked, “So, what do you think, Bobby, would you like to give it a try? If nothing else it’s a way to spend an hour or so. You might even find it interesting.”

She was right about that, anyway – that I didn’t have anything else to do for the next hour or two so I might as well. I wasn’t sure about whether I’d find it interesting, though. Anyhow, I grabbed my board and walked with them down the old Peavey wing. Ed pulled out some keys and unlocked a door off to one side and held it open and Janine led me inside. Ed followed and locked the door behind us.

I don’t know what I was expecting to see. It looked like the back rooms – offices and storage rooms and stuff – of an empty department store. Except as I got used to the strange space I realized that we weren’t alone in there. In fact. there seemed to be a lot of people moving around and everybody seemed to have something to do, though I couldn’t figure out what exactly it was that they were doing. I could see a lot of light coming from one of the rooms down the hall, and I could see people with cameras (I learned later that they were actually video recorders) and lights going in and out, and once a young woman with a small aluminum case that could be a makeup case.

Janine led me into one of the first rooms, and I was kind of surprised, ‘cause there wasn’t anything in the room, except that one of the walls was covered with a light green cloth. Janine saw my confusion.

“This is a room we use when we just want to see how a person looks on video, and also under movie lighting. Why don’t we get started, OK?

“Here, first, just stand right here in front of this wall – that’s right, the green one,” and she guided me over to the center of the wall, “ ... and look this way – see where Carl is, with the camera? – that’s right, look toward him.”

I wanted to be sure I was doing things right so I looked straight at Carl, the guy with the camera, but I guess I was trying too hard to “look” at him and I was practically staring or glaring at him. Janine saw this and smiled and told me, “You don’t have to try so hard, Bobby – just look over ‘toward’ Carl – he knows what to do to get the right pictures.”

I tried to relax a little and do what Janine said, and she was right, it was easier, and Carl was moving around and holding the camera different ways, and he seemed to be satisfied with the shots he was getting.

And then out of the blue I got this idea, this business-like idea, which isn’t usually like me.

“Hey, isn’t there some kind of paper you need before you can take pictures of me?”

Janine smiled, but not in a mean way. “I guess you know your movie business, huh, Bobby? Yes, we’ll need some documents from you, what’s called a ‘photo release,’ but only if we want to use any of the recordings we’ve made and show them to other people. But just to do what we’re doing here, just taking pictures of you, all we need is your consent to do it, and you’re here, right? So I guess we have your consent for today, don’t we?”

I’m no lawyer (not by a long shot!), but what she said seemed to make sense, at least as far as I understand these sorts of things. So I said “Okay – what’s next?”

Janine smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “Now Carl’s going to ask you to face different ways so he can record you, and maybe he’ll ask you to poses for him different ways.”

“Posing? Posing like supermodels do?”

She laughed. “Not exactly. More like he’s going to ask you to do things like smile certain ways, or turn around, or maybe kneel or squat down, or maybe look at him certain ways.”

Okay, I can do that.

So Carl tells me to turn this way, and then the other way, then straight ahead, then look back over one shoulder, then the other. Then kneel down, then on the other knee. Kinda boring stuff, but not complicated But all the time he’s doing it, I’m thinking, “I hope they like this,” ‘cause I was thinking that for some reason I’d like to do this some more.

Then Janine, who all the time was watching this and talking with Carl, walks over to me and says, “Carl asked me if you could take off your T-shirt. He says it looks like you’ve got a nice chest and that it might look good on camera. Would you have any problem with that, Bobby – a few shots with your shirt off?”

I wondered why anyone would want to take pictures of my chest. But I couldn’t see anything wrong with it, so I said “Sure” and peeled my Tony Hawk up over my head and stood there. Janine reached out and took it and draped it over a chair back next to Carl.

So I do a lot of the same poses as before, but this time shirtless. Also, it’s kind of cold in the room – maybe they keep it that way because of the hot lights – and I notice that my nipples are sticking out, and I’m kind of embarrassed by this and hope it doesn’t mess up the pictures Carl is taking, so I ask for a pause and I apologize to Janine for my nipples sticking up and ask her if they’re messing up the pictures. Janine, she almost laughs, but then she smiles and grabs my arm gently and says, “No, Bobby, dear – they aren’t messing anything up – at all.”

So Carl takes a lot of shots with me with my hard nipples, and then Janine points over to a table off to the side and says that I might be thirsty and would I like a fruit water or an energy bar or something, and while I’m drinking some kiwi water she tells me that the shoot is going great and she and Carl are really happy with what they’re getting and that I’m doing a great job, “almost like a pro.” I thought maybe they were exaggerating some, but also, it make me feel good, that they thought I was doing a good job.

So after maybe five minutes Janine comes to me and says, “Bobby, you’re doing so good, Carl and I were wondering if you’d be willing to try something different?”

I didn’t know what she meant by “something different,” but I was kinda liking doing the pictures and the videos so far, so I said, “Sure – I guess so.”

So then Janine gives me one of her kind, reassuring smiles, and she takes my arm and guides me back over to the green wall again, and then she says, “Wait here a moment – there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” She goes out of the room and in a few seconds she comes back and she’s leading a girl by the hand. The girl is about my age, maybe five inches shorter than my 5’-9”, and she has shoulder-length hair that’s light brown, or maybe dark blond, and she’s got bangs. Normally I don’t like bangs on a girl, but with her blond-brown hair they looked good – kinda soft and nice.

She’s wearing an all-white plush robe. Also, for some reason she’s wearing a fuzzy pink and white bunny-ears headband.

Janine says, “Bobby, this is Cindy – Cindy, this is Bobby. He doing a test shoot today, deciding if this is something he’ll want to do more of, right, Bobby?”

I just nodded dumbly. And part of the reason is that I know Cindy. I mean, I didn’t know her, but I recognize her ‘cause she’s in my grade at school. Our school’s really big and there’s over 400 kids in our grade but I still recognized her. It’s just that we’ve never been in a class together or have any of the same friends.

But what I didn’t recall was her being this pretty. Or at least as pretty as she is today. Whenever I saw her at school she always looked nice and stuff, but it was always in kind of a low-key way – not flashy or with lots of makeup, and she didn’t dress sexy or stylish. But the name – “Cindy” – didn’t seem right. I always thought her name was “Hazel” or “Hannah” or something like that. Anyway, like I said, she looked really pretty today.

I guess I was lost in my thoughts and forgot to say anything, so Cindy was the one who talked first.

“Hi, Bobby. I know you – you’re in our class at Teddy Roosevelt, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, and yeah, I seen you around school.” Eloquent, huh? Then I had a thought. “But I didn’t think your name was Cindy.”

She smiled. “It’s not. My real name is Helen, but the video company thinks that I should be Cindy. Except they spell it S-i-n-d-e-e, like “sin.” I guess they think that “Sindee” is sexier, kind of wicked, and that way it’ll sell more videos.

I didn’t know what difference that should make, but at least now I had the name thing straight. So I told her she looked really nice, and that made her get kind of shy, but then she surprised me when she said, “You look nice, too, Bobby.”

I didn’t know what she was talking about. I mean, I’m standing there in my washed-out boarding shorts and my not-new T-shirt ... and then I remembered that I’d taken off my tee and that all the time I was talking with Helen – “Sindee” – I was bare-chested. And she hadn’t made me feel self-conscious about it. In fact she looked down toward the floor a little and said, “I think you look real nice without a shirt.” All of a sudden I felt about ten feet tall!

I wanted to know more about Helen – “Sindee” – especially now that I knew she thought I looked “nice” without a shirt. Also, I wanted to know how long she’s been involved with the video company and, well, just exactly what it was they did. But then Janine came and says, “Are you ready to try those different kinds of shots that I told you about?”

I still had no idea what she had in mind but I said, “Sure,” and I think Helen smiled a little smile when I did.

So Janine says, “What we had in mind, Bobby, was to see how you look with another model, and we thought of Sindee. She’s your age and a good size match, and it looks like you already know each other...” (well, sort of) “ ... and we thought that you’d photograph well together. How does that sound?”

What could I say? “Alright.” And besides, it wouldn’t be bad, working with Helen – “Sindee.”

So this time it was Janine who told us how to pose. First, just standing next to each other, then switching sides, and then, “Bobby, why don’t you put your arm around Sindee – no, around her waist – like that, yes. Now, Sindee, why don’t you lean against Bobby, you know, and put both hands on his shoulder – you know how.”

So Helen turns toward me and she puts both her hands on my shoulder – my bare shoulder. But then she looks up at my face, and all of a sudden I felt like a million bucks. I mean, here was this pretty girl, all freshly scrubbed and smelling terrific, and she’s wearing this soft plush robe, and she’s pressing herself against my bare chest, and she’s looking up and into my face like I’m a movie star!

Janine must’ve liked it too, because she told Sindee to hold that, and maybe even get in a little closer – Janine actually used the word “snuggle.” They took a few more shots, and then Janine says, “Now, Bobby, I want you to get behind Sindee – that’s right, right behind her – and put your arms around her, like you’re hugging her – not tight, but ‘close,’ if you know what I mean.” So I moved behind Helen and put my arms around her, and she really felt good in that soft robe. But then I realized that I didn’t know exactly were to put my arms and my hands, and I didn’t want to do anything, you know – “inappropriate,” so I called out to Janine, “Where?”