Chapter 8

So, from that evening on, none of our friends could mention one of our names without saying the other. It was always "Ray-and-Melissa", as if we were one person instead of two.

And perhaps we were. The "I" had almost automatically become the "We", with no regrets on Missy's part or on mine. We were in love, and it seemed like the entire school knew about it almost as soon as we did. Her parents had accepted the fact that I was important to Missy, and treated me with cautious respect. I, in turn, grew to really like both her mother and her father, and even Megan lost interest in being adversarial after awhile.

We went to a New Year's Eve party at Brad's house a few weeks after the Snowflake Dance, and we sneaked up into Brad's room and were making love at the stroke of midnight, for only the second time in our lives. By then I had bought some condoms (that first time at the drug store is always a nerve-wracking adventure for a teenager), and we were looking forward to using them all up. Missy discovered a taste for sex, and her limber body served us both very well over the rest of the school year.

For her birthday in May, her parents invited me to the family party. There were about 20 people there, all members of her extended family. I lost track of all the names, having only eyes for Missy. I got her a little gold locket on a golden chain, and gave her my class ring to wear on the chain. Then I brought out a boombox and slipped in a karaoke tape of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" and sang loudly and badly to her, in front of her family and God and everybody. She claimed she was mortified, but she still couldn't hide the absolutely delighted smile on her face as I made a fool of myself for her.

All that summer, we were hanging out together. We would go to the beach with Brad and Lindsey, or head down to Fabrice's in the evening to meet up with a bunch of friends. She ate dinner at my house nearly as often as I ate over at hers, and we spent hours on the telephone when we weren't together, talking about whatever came into our heads.

Football practice and cheer practice started about the same time later in the summer, and by then I had bought my own beater to drive around, so I picked Missy up every day and drove her to the high school for our practices, then drove her home, usually via the Dairy Queen or McDonald's, afterward. We inaugurated the back seat of my car on the first weekend I owned it, crawling into the back with a blanket and a box of rubbers at the start of the triple-feature, and crawling back to the front, tired and sated, by the middle of the third movie. By the end of summer, for my birthday, she got me a couple of CD's and wrote a note on a small slip of paper and put it inside the card she had gotten me. The note said that she had visited her doctor, and had convinced her to write a prescription for birth-control pills, which she had been taking for a month. That night we experienced, for the first time since THE first time, the closeness of intimacy without latex intervening. It was the best birthday present I have ever gotten.

But then the hard truth of the old expression "No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished" revealed itself. It was Labor Day weekend, and Missy's family was taking advantage of the long weekend to visit relatives out of town. A big group of us new seniors, mostly guys on the football team with their girlfriends and a few other friends, headed down to the beach at one of the lakes nearby to picnic and take advantage of the hot weather before school really kicked in for the year. There were maybe thirty of us scattered along the large beach and camping area. Kids started arriving by midmorning on Saturday, and a lot of us were planning on staying at least until Sunday evening, as long as the weather held. Marcus Delaney's older brothers, both in college, joined us with a bunch of their friends, and they picked up a couple of half-barrels of beer for everyone to enjoy.

Brad, Jared, Marcus and I all pitched our tents around a fire pit near the edge of the park. Lindsey was coming up Saturday afternoon with Mattie to spend the night. Marcus and I were bachelors for the weekend, so we made sure our tents were a little separated from Jared's and Brad's, so they would have a little more privacy. After setting up our campsite, the four of us ran down to the beach and into the water, tossing a football back and forth. Pretty soon we had enough boys and girls to organize a touch football game, so we moved up to a grassy field and played until we were all exhausted, hot and thirsty. On our way past our campsite, I stopped and picked up some Gatorade for the four of us to chug down before we started in on the beer.

We ran down to the beach and jumped in the water to cool off. Most of the guys were wearing either swimming trunks or cutoffs, and we had shed our shirts during the game. The girls usually had on a tank top and shorts or a bikini, and they didn't hesitate before hitting the water either. There was an extravagant amount of tempting female flesh exposed, and most of the unattached guys were hovering around the girls with their tongues hanging out, like hound dogs in heat. Even some of the attached guys couldn't help looking, me included. Most of the girls were there with a guy or with a group, but that didn't stop the guys from acting like they had never seen a female before. It was kind of funny to watch.

There was a fire going and hot dogs on the grill, so we all loaded up on hot dogs, chips, cookies and beer after cooling off in the lake. Some of the kids were starting to get a little sloshed, not being used to drinking beer in quantity, or the heat and the sun, or not eating enough. I saw a couple of girls flirting pretty heavily with some of the college guys, but didn't think much of it at the time. One of the girls was Micki, a tiny sophomore who made the varsity cheerleading team, a very cute little thing with big, pouty lips that almost seemed to beg for a cock to suck. I personally knew of about 10 guys who had, indeed, had those lips wrapped around their dicks, as she tried to fuck her way onto the cheerleading squad as a freshman. She was hanging onto the arm of one of the older guys, looking like she was never going to let go. He sat there by the fire next to her, feeding her sips of beer from his cup and letting her demonstrate her talents by holding a hot dog up to her mouth for her to eat, with a shit-eating grin on his face. For some reason, it bothered me. I wasn't too concerned about Micki. She was experienced enough, I reasoned, to take care of herself under most circumstances. But these college guys that came with Jerry and Ev, Marcus's brothers, were unknown to us. Just because they brought the beer did not make them part of our circle of friends, after all.

Just at that moment, Lindsey and Mattie showed up. They had also brought three other girls from school, Bridget, Natalie, and Allie. They gathered up Brad, Jared, Marcus, me, and Antonio to help them set up their gear, so I forgot about Micki and the college kids and walked back to the parking area with the rest of the group.

By the time we got done rearranging our campsite to accommodate three more tents, the sun was on its way down toward the horizon, and it was starting to cool off. We each paired up with one of the girls and walked through the woods, gathering sticks and small logs for our own campfire later that evening. Allie and I took the area by the parking lot, and we chatted and laughed as we gathered wood. Allie was one of the starters on our girl's basketball team, a senior, and had always been a jock. She had never ever shown any interest in dating, and in fact had turned down every invitation she had gotten, but she was an open and friendly kid, tall and attractive with long dark, almost black hair. I'd known her since about the third grade, and we were pals through and through. She knew Missy well, and she had told me early on in our relationship that she thought we made the perfect couple. Allie and I could sit next to one another, hold hands, and talk of the deepest personal things, and there would still be absolutely no hint of any sexual attraction between us. It was very weird, believe me, having a girl friend who wasn't a girlfriend, if you know what I mean.

Around sundown, Jared and Mattie hopped in Jared's car and trekked back into town to pick up some pizzas for our dinner. When they returned, they jumped out of the car, triumphantly holding up their prizes: they had brought back with them marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars for making S'mores, along with more chips and popcorn and sodas and beer. We all gathered around and feasted in a junk-food frenzy until we were too full to move. Of course, with the beer, this brought on a burping contest among us guys, to the disgust and giggles of the girls. Allie outdid us all, however, with a monumental burst that must have started in her legs, coming out deep and sonorous and resonating throughout our campsite. Marcus suggested a farting contest, but we all declined. We weren't THAT drunk.

We could see that a lot of the other campsites were starting to quiet down also, though there was still a big, raucous crowd around the college campsite. One half-barrel was empty and lying on its side like a giant's discarded beer can, and the second one had been tapped. Brad and Lindsey said their good-nights and headed for their tent, and Jared and Mattie followed shortly after. Marcus, Allie, Bridget, Natalie and I sat around our campfire, adding wood occasionally, and swapped scary stories and urban legends. Finally, the activity combined with the sun and the beer caught up with all of us, and we said good night to each other and headed for our respective tents.

Sometime later, I'm guessing about 2 hours after I had fallen asleep, I woke up desperate to take a piss. I crawled out of my sleeping bag and unzipped the tent, slipped into my tennis shoes, and padded softly through our silent campsite toward the woods. I entered into the trees and started to relieve myself, when I heard some voices in a nearby clearing. As I was finishing, I suddenly heard a female voice cry out in fear or pain, followed immediately by a sharp male voice. I headed toward the sound of the voices, crouching down and moving as quietly through the pine needles and deadfall as I could, until I got to the edge of the clearing. There was about a 3/4 moon out, and it was a clear night, so I could see my surroundings very well.

In the clearing were three of the college guys, standing around a moaning, limp form on the ground. One of the guys knelt down and slapped the body on the ground, and growled, "Keep your mouth shut, bitch, until we tell you to open it."

The body on the ground rolled over into a fetal position, covering her head with her hands to try to ward off any more slaps, but she was in no shape to be effective in her defense. Her elbow moved out of the way for a moment, and I could see it was Micki on the ground. She sounded hurt, and her movements looked like she was either passing-out drunk, or she was injured. Her tank top was torn, and her bra gleamed whitely through the torn fabric. The kneeling kid reached for her shoulders and pulled her roughly around and onto her back, and then rudely shoved his hand down her pants.

"I'll get her lubed up for us," he said with a smile as he looked up at his friends. "Man, she's been asking for it all night long. It's time she got what she deserves. She'll be walking sore tomorrow, right, guys?" he said with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah, I can't wait to get into that tight little ass," said one of his friends. "And those lips! I'll bet she can suck the chrome off a tailpipe!"

The third guy looked hesitant. "Uh, guys, this isn't right. Jimbo, let her go. She's practically passed out. Just let it alone."

Jimbo looked up at him, his hand still buried in her pants. "Hey, Carl, if you don't want any of this, just walk away. Nobody's stopping you. But I'm going to enjoy myself here. This bitch has been hanging all over me all night, getting me all worked up, and I'm going to give her what she's been asking for. If you want to pass on it, that's up to you."