Chapter 12

Tuesday, March 26, 2002

When I awoke, I had a hard on buried in JR's ass crack; I'd have done something about it, except my alarm was already going off. I reached up, turned it off, and grimaced. Already five minutes late getting started.

JR moved and lay on top of me, pinning me to the bed, and started to tickling me. "JR!" I said, trying hard not to giggle. "We're already late."

She rubbed her bare pubes against my boner. "And I am dying to have this in me," she told me. "But Penny's period is done, and I told her, unless someone else drops in after school, you and she..."

I found I could rub her clit with my rod, and I did; causing JR to go all dreamy and limp. "Oh... you... rat!" She gasped until I stopped.

"You're the one teasing me, sauce for goose," I laughed at her. She laughed back, and then she and Jenny were off for their shower. I contemplated what watching that would be like; my boner went into overdrive.

Mom appeared at the door, while I was like that. She giggled, and smiled at me. "The girls left you a bit bothered this morning?"

"A little," I shrugged, give me a minute or two in the shower, I thought, and things will be right as rain.

She smiled slightly, pushed the door closed, walked over to the bed and sat down next to me. Without a word, she leaned over, took me in her mouth and started going down on me. I was wrong about how long it would take; I spurted in much less than a minute. Mom sat back up, grinning. "There now, better?"

"Oh yeah!" I eyed the clock, then looked at her, Mom shook her head and laughed.

"Is there ever enough time?" she said. She leaned down, kissed me lightly. "Never, not really." I cupped one of her breasts, massaging through blouse and bra; not very satisfactory for either of us, but God! I was hot and horny!

She smiled at me and shook her head. "Not now, Tom... " She kissed me lightly again. "Friday night. You and me. All night."

I nodded, wishing it was magically Friday night instead of Tuesday morning. She left, and I went and showered; picked up Penny, Shannon and Elizabeth, then dropped off the two younger girls at the junior high and continued on to school.

At lunch, I was startled when Sue Ellen and a number of girls came and said they wanted to talk to me, while I was sitting with Shannon and Tony.

I got up and we walked a few feet away from the tables, out onto the playground. "You're the one who ratted on Keith, Roger and Sam, yesterday?" That was Janey Sussman, captain of the cheerleaders.

I couldn't tell from her tone if she was a happy camper or not; the words tended to make me think not. "The police asked me if I knew any of Sam Reese's friends. I told them their names and addresses."

"Sam beat up his mother, raped her," Sue Ellen said, "They beat up Keith's sister Dawn, the three of them. Broke an arm, her nose... They really worked her over. They all raped her. They were debating which of them was going to get to kill her when the police broke in."

"Dawn was the girl they took?" I asked, and Janey nodded, her eyes on me. "The police didn't say who, just that they had someone."

"I talked to Dawn for a little," Janey said. "She's my cousin, so they let us see her. She won't talk much about what happened; just that she's ever so grateful someone came. She says they were going to kill her, so there'd be no evidence."

I gagged, suddenly faint. "Shit." Could there really be people that stupid?

Janey looked me up and down. "Dawn's a freshman, going out for cheerleader. She and I are friends. Particular friends. Like I hear your sister has friends." Her eyes were drilling into my head. "I hear, you don't think it's any of your business to butt into your sister's business."

"Joanna is a big girl; she can make up her own mind who her friends are, and how close they are," I told her.

"And it doesn't bother you, girls doing girls?" Janey pressed. I glanced at Sue Ellen, kind of wondering why she hadn't mentioned that no, it didn't bother me.

"No, it doesn't bother me."

"Get you all hard and horny, thinking about it?"

"Thinking about girls gets me all hard and horny," I said, and the gaggle of girls giggled.

"We talked about it," Janey went on. "You can have one of us for a little quality time, our way of saying thanks. This is like totally off the record, doesn't count, no one will know what happens. You and her, or him if you're like that."

"I'm not like that, nothing like that. I appreciate the thought, Janey, I do. But I mean, I'm not Roger or Sam or those other bastards. I didn't do anything for a reward." My eyes lit on one of the girls, Gloria Rodriquez. Her eyes held mine only for a second, and then she looked away. She sure seemed to me to be saying, 'Please don't pick me.'

What had my dad said to Mary on Sunday?

"Janey." She looked at me, and I smiled at her. "Hold out your hand, Janey." She blinked, and then raised her arm slowly; I reached out and shook her hand. "Now, simply say, 'Thanks, Tom, '" I told her as she looked at me.

"Thanks, Tom," she said, her voice uncertain.

"That's why I did it, Janey. The only reward I want. Okay?"

Janey nodded, then one of the other girls held out her hand. "Thanks, Tom. Dawn and my sister are friends." After that, one after another shook my hand, until Gloria Rodriquez and Sue Ellen were left. "Thanks," Gloria said, and then smiled. "Cool."

Sue Ellen stepped up, grinned at me. "If you think I'm just gonna shake your hand," she said forthrightly, "you're out of your fucking mind." She stepped close, hugged me tight, grinding those imposing mammaries into my chest for a long few seconds, before letting go.

"You're welcome," I told her, and everyone cracked up.

"No PDA's," a voice interrupted. I looked up and saw Mrs. Jenkins, the sixty-year old woman I'd had for English Lit the year before.

Sue Ellen turned to the old bat and grinned. "That was a display of personal gratitude. If I was displaying affection, I'd really have gotten in trouble." That brought more laughter from the other girls, and Sue Ellen went on, waving at me. "Tom Ferguson helped the police rescue Dawn Driscoll from being raped and murdered yesterday." With that, Sue Ellen turned and walked away, followed in quick order by the rest of the cheerleaders.

I glanced at Mrs. Jenkins; decided I was glad I'd had her last year, because if I was in her class this year, my grade would have just gone in the toilet. I nodded to her, and walked back to Shannon and Tony.

"What was that?" Tony asked.

"The cheerleaders being grateful for my help getting Dawn free."

"Shaking hands?" Tony laughed, "Wow! I could have thought of something better than that!"

"Actually," I said, not sure why I felt so sure about it, "they offered me my choice of them. For a little quality time. I said no."

I saw Shannon looking at me, and I shrugged. "It didn't seem right."

Tony shook his head. "Doesn't seem smart to say no to an offer like that."

I looked at him, and reflected on what Sue Ellen had said. At least once, he'd had an offer like that, one he hadn't refused. Yet I had. Weird.

"It wasn't hard at all to say no." I was puzzled, inside. Why had I said no? I hadn't even contemplated saying yes. I'd meant it when I said I didn't do anything for a reward; at the time, I didn't even know about Dawn, or what they were doing to her. I wanted the police to find Sam and put him in jail. That was all. So he couldn't hurt Jenny or anyone else, ever again. And I'd almost been too late. But it wasn't me who rescued her, it was the police. All I had done was tell them where to look for Sam.

Shannon put her arm on my shoulder for a moment, and I was grateful. A lot to think about.

The bell rang, and Shannon zipped off to her next class, Tony and I walked slowly towards ours. Tony waved at where Shannon had gone. "Maybe she's giving you enough, so it doesn't matter, eh?" He laughed.

I rounded on him, angrier with him than I could ever remember being. "Last fall, Shannon dated Roger Parker a couple of times. Not even three weeks; she decided she didn't like him and broke up. All the stories you've heard about Shannon putting out were from Roger. Consider the source, Tony, consider the source!"

He held up his hands. "Chill!" He looked at me for a second. "You're different, since you and Marsha. Way different."

"You bet," I told him.

"But you've been in Shannon's pants. I know."

"No you don't," I said firmly.

"Look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong."

I looked him in the eye. "Tony, the first time Shannon and I went out we kissed, I touched her breasts. Second time, I got a hug and a quick kiss. It wasn't wham, bamm, let's fuck! Okay?"

"Third time lucky, eh?" He saw me start to wind up and he backed up a step. "I'm being an asshole, aren't I?"

I didn't say anything at first, working on holding my temper in check. "Tony, from last fall until the other night at the basketball game, Shannon's been refusing to go out; not that she doesn't get lots of offers, sometimes five or six guys a day ask her out."

"Lamers," Tony said. Abruptly he held out his hand. "I'm sorry, Tom."

It was such a microcosmic reversal of the cheerleaders, I wanted to laugh. I shook his hand.

"Speaking of lamers, we're both late for class," I told him, and we grinned and split.

I spent a lot of time during the afternoon staring into space, until finally, the last bell rang. Instead of seeking out Shannon and Elizabeth, I headed for the girl's PE room, found someone going in and asked if she'd tell Janey I wanted to talk to her.

After a minute, Janey came out; now dressed in her cheerleading outfit. Not a bad looker, long slim legs, dark blonde hair. Breasts probably about Marsha-sized, not the huge wealth of Sue Ellen. She saw me looking, smiled slightly. "Change your mind?" she inquired softly.

"Ah, no. Doesn't mean I'm blind, though," I told her, getting a grin back.

"I've been thinking about what you offered at lunch. Not how you'd expect." I hurried on, knowing I was going to piss her off. "I think what you're doing with the cheerleaders is wrong. Today was wrong. Yeah, you said everyone agreed, but really? It didn't seem that way to me. There were girls there who agreed because they didn't expect to be chosen. Didn't want to be chosen. They agreed, but it was peer pressure." That dark monster our parents and teachers were eternally invoking, and we never discussed amongst ourselves.

I was right; I could see it in Janey's eyes.

"And what," Janey said, her voice tight and angry, "gives you the right to tell me that I'm wrong? We're wrong?"

I shook my head. "I gave you my opinion, Janey. I'm telling you that I, Tom Ferguson, in my opinion, think you aren't much better than Sam and Roger and Keith. That you use coercion to get the others to do what you want." I held her eyes. "Including sex."

She started to turn away, and I called after her. "Tell me Janey, why did Sue Ellen quit the squad?"

She glanced back at me, but stopped. "Her grades were hurting. Tony, the squad, school, she was having trouble keeping up." She looked at me. "Her parents would have made her quit if her grades dropped any more."

I shook my head. "I've never talked about someone's sex life before," I said quietly, "and I'm wrong for doing it now. Janey, Sue Ellen likes sex, but I don't think girls are her first preference.

"But even more than that, Janey, what she really doesn't like is sex potluck; with football players or cheerleaders or whoever, picked at random. She decided to quit because she didn't want to do it except with people she knows and likes. How many others have dropped out or quit because they didn't want to do the things you do?" I pressed on, "How many of the people still on the squad do it because they want to be a cheerleader, and while they don't like what they're made to do, go along so they can be part of the squad? Doing things they'd have never done without being forced?"

"What gives you the right to be judgmental? To tell me what's right, what's wrong?" Her face was red, her voice angry.

I shook my head. "I told you my opinion, Janey. Like a friend would do at Thirty-one Flavors if you were wondering if you wanted two scoops or three of super duper chocolate on your ice cream cone. 'Take two Janey, ' 'Take three Janey, we can burn it up at practice.'" I shook my head. "This is just my opinion, Janey. That's all." I waved towards the parking lot. "I have to go, you think about it."

I turned and left, found Shannon waiting impatiently, Elizabeth patiently waiting; I picked up JR, Jenny and Penny.

We dropped off Shannon and Elizabeth first. I walked Shannon to the door, and Mary greeted us. "I start tomorrow," Mary told us, grinning. "Thanks for being a chauffeur."

"No trouble, Mary."

"I told Ellen we'd come over tonight for some Scrabble, after dinner," Mary went on. I grinned, nodded.

"Kim's going to pick up Penny at our place after work." JR said before I got the car going. I nodded, remembering I was scheduled for a little quality time of my own with Penny. We drove home, JR smiled and led Jenny away towards her room, and Penny and I went up to mine.

We sat on the bed, talking for a bit, then Penny wanted to make out, so we did that for a while. It wasn't really passionate at first, just soft and gentle; it was nice.

She smiled at me. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch, Friday." I shook my head.

"You weren't."

"Yes I was." She kissed me a little more hotly, "God! I was so horny I wanted to climb the walls!" The kiss picked up a little more steam. "What's the point of having a boyfriend, if you can't do it with him?"

I put my tongue in her mouth, and she sucked on it, and when I started rubbing her breasts through her blouse, she moaned, and started working the buttons on her blouse. This was, I learned, not a good use of resources, I spent a few seconds fumbling with her bra; only to learn that it undid in front. But then we were both bare, kissing and stroking each other.

Penny was very much more into touching me than any other lover I'd had; her hands ran up and down my back, my sides. She cupped my balls, stroked my rod, touching everywhere and missing nothing, while I did the same thing to her. Like so many of the women I'd been with, she wanted to be on top; I was getting so I really liked the position. If I was on top, it was difficult to reach all of the places I wanted to reach; when the girl was on top that wasn't so. Penny, in particular, loved having her clit rubbed, and the two of us moved together for a long, beautiful time before I came.

"Oh, how I needed that!" Penny murmured. "I like Joanna, Jenny. Your dad is like wow!" She giggled. "I suppose I shouldn't compare people." She looked at me, smiled. "You and Dave have spoiled me."

I raised an eyebrow, and Penny went on. "I thought Roger was a great lover, but even the first time with you, I knew he wasn't even mediocre. Dave is a lot like you; he makes love to you, focuses on your pleasure, letting his own come when we're both ready for it. Roger was fuck, fuck, fuck; get off. 'Wow baby, that was good! Really good!' Even if I hadn't gotten off at all." She kissed me lightly. "You want me to come as much as you want to."

I nodded, "I'm figuring it out. When I'm going down on someone, that's what I pay attention to; I'm not counting minutes and seconds until I can get off. My partner is who I want to make happy. But when we're like this, both of us together..." I shook my head. "God, that's good too!"

"But you aren't focused on getting off to the exclusion of the everything else," Penny said. "It shows."

"Oh," I replied, "when someone's going down on me; trust me, that's about all I think about. Actually, about not getting off in the first few seconds."

She giggled, and that felt odd, wonderful on one particular piece of my anatomy. "And you like to lay here, in me," Penny said, wiggling atop me. "You have no idea how nice that feels, warm, loved; knowing that you're still horny. Me too."

I glanced at the clock, four twenty-five. Penny saw my glance, laughed. "Rules suck."

"Yeah, but if we didn't have a time out, this is what we'd all be doing, all the time. We'd starve, flunk out of school." She got up, and we dressed, kissing once again, before going out into the family room.