Chapter 3

Shelly spent the next couple of days thinking about the situation with the twins.

Those two boys, Louie and Teddy, had managed to not only catch her off guard as she was baby sitting them, but also tied her to one of their beds where they tortured the poor girl by tickling her feet with feathers. Then they stripped her, and somehow got some incriminating photos of her in compromising positions, as well as audio tape. Finally, Teddy, the younger of the twins, managed to get her to agree to teach them how to make out--using her for their training, of course.

Shelly thought that it seemed that she'd think these sorts of things at the start of a new chapter, as some way of brining readers up to date. This is so existential, she thought to herself, but thinking like this isn't going to help me with Friday coming up, when I'll be baby sitting them again... overnight! Shelly figured that she knew exactly the kinds of plans that the two boys would have knowing that their blackmailed baby sitter would be spending the night with them.

Shelly knew that she would have to come up with a plan that would allow her to get those pictures and tapes of her, and make sure that Teddy and Louie wouldn't bother her again.

But how?

The answer came to her on Thursday, when she was talking to one of her friends, Beth. Shelly found out that Beth had a younger sister named Joanie who happened to have a bit of a crush on one of the twins: Teddy. Shelly was thinking that if she could get the boys to focus on girls their own age instead of her, she might be able to get out of the bind that she found herself in.

Shelly found out from Beth that Joanie had gone to the local park with a couple of her friends, so Shelly went to the park looking for the young girl.

She found Joanie and two of her friends playing with a beach ball, and Shelly approached Joanie and said, "Hi!"

"Hiya, Shelly. Where's Beth?" asked Joanie.

"She's going to the mall today. She said that I could find you here with your friends," answered Shelly.

Joanie looked at her friends and introduced Shelly. "Sheila and Bobbie, this is one of my sister's friends, Michelle... Shelly."

"My dad used to call me Shelly when I was little," said Sheila, giggling.

"Everybody calls me Shelly. Only Mrs. Sullivan, the English teacher, calls me Michelle nowadays," said Shelly, smiling to the younger girl.

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation, and Shelly turned back to Joanie and asked if she could speak with her in private.

"Sure. Is it something about Beth?" asked Joanie, confused as to why Shelly was showing any interest in the younger girl.

"No. But this would be better if we talked alone."

"Sure," said Joanie. She turned to her friends and said, "I'll be right back in a few minutes. OK?"

She got a chorus of OKs back from her friends, and Shelly and Joanie walked to an empty picnic table fifty yards away from where the girls had been playing ball.

"What's up?" asked Joanie.

"Beth told me that you... sort of... like Teddy Fripp," said Shelly.

"She told you that?" Joanie asked, a bit alarmed.

"Calm down, Joanie. The reason that I'm here is because I baby sit for the Fripps, and I think I may have a way for you to meet Teddy, and maybe get together with him."

"Huh?" asked the younger girl.

"Listen. I'm sitting for the Fripps on Saturday. Do you think that you would like to meet Teddy then?"

The girl looked nervous, and after about thirty seconds, she whispered, "Maybe. What do you want me to do? Show up at his house, unannounced?"

"Well, I just felt that the boys were starting to get interested in girls, and since you felt that way about Teddy, I could help both Teddy and you get together," explained Shelly.

"How?" asked Joanie, curious.

Shelly explained.

"That sounds wonderful, Shelly. But what if Teddy isn't interested in me? That's what's been keeping me from talking to him so far."

"Well, I'll talk to him, and see if he's agreeable. I promise... cross my heart... that I won't set you up for a heartbreak," Shelly assured her.

Joanie thought for a moment. "You know... Bobbie sort of likes Louie. Do you think you could help her, too?"

"I can try," said Shelly, trying to hold her enthusiasm down. "Why don't you talk to her and tell her about my plan?"

"Cool!" said Joanie. She looked over to where her friends were both looking at her and then back to Shelly. "I can't thank you enough for this!"

"You can thank me by being nice to your sister," answered Shelly with a grin, knowing about the sibling rivalries that Beth and Joanie had.

"Well... I can try!" said Joanie, smirking. "But you know Beth... !"

The younger girl skipped back to her friends, leaving Shelly at the picnic table.

This might work out better than I had hoped, thought Shelly.

Teddy spent the four days after Shelly's last sitting job wondering if the older girl would go against her word and cancel the sitting job. When Thursday arrived, he was pretty sure that she'd do it, if only because Shelly wasn't the type to cancel at the last minute, and his parents were so excited over the casino trip this weekend.

He knew that Shelly would be on guard against another attack by Louie and him. And it had taken a couple of weeks for him to convince Louie to do it the first time. Right now, Louie was worried that his parents would find out about what they had done and ground them until they were eighty years old.

Teddy did feel a little guilty about the whole incident, but he was naturally curious, and, he rationalized to himself, Shelly seemed to have accepted it near the end. Didn't that justify the whole thing?

Still, he didn't know if his idea of the five "dates" would actually happen. Shelly had lots of time to think about the situation before Friday came up. He started to work out contingencies in the event that Shelly started getting second thoughts about the whole thing.

Shelly woke up Friday morning, knowing that she was due at the Fripps at 10:00 AM. They'd be driving to the Indian casino with the Fergusons, the Fergusons having won some a free night's stay in two of the rooms there. The Fripps were anxious to get going.

Shelly didn't really see the attraction of a casino; it seemed about as stupid as those silly video games that the twins always played, but the baby sitting money was good, especially since she'd be making some of it while sleeping.

Shelly was pretty confident that she would be able to resolve what she referred to as "the problem with the twins." Over the last four days, she had thought everything through very carefully. She realized that the only reason that Teddy seemed to hold the upper hand before was that he had thought everything out in advance. Well, now SHE had been thinking things in advance, and she now even had a couple of surprises of her own. She grinned at that thought.

The idea is to not allow Teddy to run things. The Fripps put her in charge, and that was what she had to do. Be in charge. Be firm. And don't forget: don't let Teddy run things. Louie might be an ally, but she had been surprised last time how he had stuck with his brother. She was going to have to work on Louie. Divide and conquer, so to speak.

"Hiya, Shelly," said Mrs. Fripp, warmly as she opened her door. "You're a few minutes early, and Dave and I are still doing some last minute packing."

"No problem, Mrs. Fripp," said Shelly. "I just wanted to make sure I got here in time."

Mrs. Fripp went over all the details of her sitting assignment, including what to make for meals, and numbers where she and Mr. Fripp could be reached. Shelly assured her that everything would be all right.

It was about 10:15 when the Fripps were ready to leave. They called the twins downstairs and sternly warned them that they were listen to Shelly--she was in charge. Shelly noticed a bit of a smirk on Teddy's face, and forced herself not to react to that. They kissed their sons good-bye and left.

Shelly watched the Fripps pull their car out of the driveway and head on down the street. When the car was out of sight, Teddy decided to start in on her.

"Remember you made a promise to us," Teddy said.

Shelly was ready for this. "I did. But you made me make that promise through force. So I think we need to renegotiate things if you don't want to get in trouble."

"We got pictures of you naked. We'll show them around school. We'll show our parents. We'll--"

"You'll do no such thing, Teddy," warned Shelly. "Not unless you want to find yourself in jail!"

"Jail?" Teddy laughed. "We're too young to go to jail. And what for? We haven't done anything!"

"Oh, yeah? You tied me up. You made me undress. And now you're blackmailing me. Last I heard, the first is assault, the second is close to rape, and the third is definitely a felony. Even for minors!"

"If you turn us in, everybody will see the pictures. And we have the tape where you said that you would show us your titties," said Teddy, defensively.

"You know," Shelly lied. "I talked to a lawyer a few days ago. He said that he could have those pictures sealed under a court order. And since the tape you made was obviously edited, an expert witness would testify to that, as well!" Shelly hadn't really talked to a lawyer; she had learned most of these things from watching television shows.

Teddy was stunned. This wasn't the girl that had cowed so easily just a few days ago.

Louie had been standing there with his mouth open. "I don't want to go to no jail, Teddy," he whined.

"We won't," said Teddy, trying to reassure his brother. "She's bluffing. There's two of us, and only one of her. People will believe us, not her."

"Wrong, Teddy. If necessary, I'll take a lie detector. You'll be afraid to, since you'd be lying. Then we'll see who people will believe."

Teddy's hopes for a couple of days of sexual debauchery were going out the window. He hadn't really thought that Shelly would so easily call his bluff. But here she was, doing just that!

Louie said softly, "Shelly... we didn't really want to hurt you. We just wanted..." He looked to his brother, unsure of what to say. "We just wanted to see you naked."

Shelly said, "As I said a few days ago, there are much better ways of getting to see a girl naked than attacking and torturing her!"

"We didn't torture you," said Teddy.

"Tickling a person mercilessly is torture," Shelly informed him.

"We was just kidding!" Teddy protested.

"I don't think the police will see it that way. What you did crossed the line of propriety. It was illegal, immoral, and... just plain wrong!"

The boys didn't answer her. Louie was looking down at his feet, looking very apologetic; Teddy was giving Shelly a challenging look.

Teddy remembered what had worked the last time with Shelly. "We have other stuff, too. Not just the pictures and cassette tape."

"Yeah, right," said Shelly dismissively. "I notice that you never mentioned to me what your 'other stuff' was. And you don't mention it today. You probably said it just to make me more nervous last time." Shelly turned to look at Louie. "Didn't you?"

Louie looked up sheepishly and Shelly knew that her analysis was correct.

"So... the two of you are looking at reform school at the least, and jail at the most. And from what I see on television, jail isn't going to be a happy experience. You know, instead of seeing girls naked, some guys might be seeing YOU naked!"

Teddy's eyes were less challenging now. He seemed less sure of himself. Louie seemed completely mortified.

There, Shelly thought to herself. How does it feel to be blackmailed? Huh?

"Teddy. I don't want to go to no jail!" said Louie again.

"Quiet! She won't send us to jail. She would have done so already!" Teddy answered.

"Well, I didn't want to spoil your parents' weekend. But when they come back, they are going to be informed of your little blackmailing activities. And I'm going to tell them that I'm going to the police!"

"You can't tell Mom!" protested Louie.

"You should have thought of that when you attacked me," Shelly answered. "I'm through with the both of you. Go to your rooms."

The kids just stood there, shocked. Neither of them had realized the seriousness of their little "game" from a few days ago.

"NOW!" said Shelly. "Go upstairs! And I don't want to hear no video games!"

Dejectedly, the two boys slowly left the living room and started upstairs.

Louie turned around. "Shelly... ?"

Shelly dismissed him. "Upstairs. NOW!"

They both went upstairs.

Over the next hour, Shelly could hear the two boys whispering frantically to one another. Most likely, Teddy was trying to calm Louie down.

Shelly had no intention of reporting them to the police, but she knew that they had to realize the seriousness of their actions.

Besides, she HAD promised them that she'd teach them how to date. She might not be willing to "make out" with them... much... but she had made plans with Joanie and Bobbie. The boys didn't know it, though.

Shelly's analysis of the two boys' conversation was mostly correct. Louie was blaming Teddy for getting the two of them in trouble. Teddy was saying that Shelly was just bluffing; she really wouldn't go to the police.

But Louie could see that his brother wasn't as self-assured as he had been the last time.

"Listen, our only hope is to try to get Shelly to not call the police," Louie said to Teddy.

"I tell you... she won't do it. It will create a scandal, and she'll be part of it," said Teddy.

"She said that she'll tell Mom and Dad. That may be worse!"

Teddy had no reply to that.

"What if we went downstairs and apologized to her?" asked Louie.

"Stop that! I'm not apologizing to her. If she tells anybody, we'll just tell everybody that she's the town slut!"

"Who will believe us?" Louie asked.

"We've got the pictures!" Teddy said.

"She said that she could get them--what did she say? Sealed? Under a court order. Can she do that?" said Louie.

"I said, she's bluffing about telling the police!" said Teddy.

"If she's not going to tell the police, why did she see a lawyer, then?"

"Maybe she didn't see a lawyer," said Teddy.

"She sounded like she did. She seemed pretty sure that we'd get in trouble, you know."

Teddy felt his resolve start to melt when presented with Louie's arguments. But he wanted to let his brother know that he wasn't worried. He wasn't... well, not really worried, at least.

"She just wanted us to think she went to a lawyer. She probably didn't go to one," said Teddy.

"And if she goes to the police, Mom and Dad will find out."

"I tell you, she ain't going to the police!" said Teddy, exasperated.

"Then why didn't you say anything when she sent us upstairs?" asked Louie.

Shelly was impressed. The boys had been upstairs for over an hour... just because she told them to do so. Teddy may not be willing to admit it, but she had them over a barrel.

She was actually surprised when she heard soft footsteps on the stairs. Shelly refused to turn around; she wanted them to come to her.

Louie went into the living room, and called, softly, "Shelly?"

Shelly turned to see that the older twin was standing there, looking very sheepish. "Yes?"

"Listen. I'm... I'm sorry... for making you get naked the other day..." he said, not exactly sure how to go on.

"That's it? You apologize? For torturing an innocent girl? For stripping her naked and hiding her clothes? For making me kiss you? You apologize?"

"We didn't mean any harm! We were just having fun!" Louie protested.

"Fun??? You have a rather depraved idea what 'fun' is!" Shelly answered.

"Well, I didn't really intend to have it go that far..."

"Bull shit! Weren't you expecting me to take you out on a 'date' today?" Shelly asked.

Louie looked sheepish. "Well..."

"You did! You did intend for it to go that far! Don't go telling me that you didn't mean it when you did."

Louie looked down at his feet, not knowing what to say.

"So, you think you can just apologize to me? I'll just forget it? Is that it?" Shelly asked.

"Well..."

"You still have those pictures of me. I bet that the two of you have been salivating over those pictures the past few days, haven't you?" she asked.

"No! I haven't looked at them since... since... we showed them to you. Teddy has them. Not me!" Louie protested.

Shelly was amazed at how pliable Louie was. "Right. I'm supposed to believe you. The two of you planned this pretty much in advance, didn't you? This wasn't something that just sort of happened a few days ago, was it?"

Louie fidgeted with his hands, not answering her.

"If you are really sorry for what you did, bring those pictures here to me. If not, then don't insult my intelligence by telling me that you didn't mean it. And I'll take that cassette and anything else you have on me."

Louie realized that he would have to convince Teddy to give up those pictures and cassette. That wouldn't be easy, he knew. "If I give those things to you, you won't tell Mom and Dad?"