Chapter 2: Joe

SEPTEMBER, 2003

I stood there in front of my new school, Westport Regional Academy, and could only think one thing: I must be out of my mind.

WRA was, you see, a new school, a magnet school with a new concept--full-time nudity. That and, supposedly, an atmosphere of sexual experimentation. And I was going to go here?

I was 14. I was tall and extremely skinny. I was shy, especially around girls. I couldn't talk to them much less do anything else with them. And now I had to prance in front of them naked! And they were all going to be naked!

As I said, I must be out of my mind.

How did I get into this mess? I gave in. The pressure was subtle, but it was there--and it came from multiple directions.

The first two were my siblings. My sister Maggie was 19; my brother Vinnie 22. They thought Naked High was the greatest thing ever. Of course, they would. I knew that Maggie had been sexually active since she was 12--and, until she met her boyfriend Chuck when she was 17, was very active. Mags had never had any problems relating to the opposite sex, and didn't quite understand how I did. She thought Naked High would "loosen me up".

Vinnie, if anything, was worse. Hey, it's easier for girls to get sex. The fact that Maggie got laid whenever she wanted had a lot to do with the simple fact that she was willing. But Vinnie had just as much luck. He'd escaped the Benson Skinny Curse--he had muscles. (Maggie was as skinny as I, but that's more acceptable for a girl.) And Vinnie was outgoing and charming. And he was so into the Naked High concept that he'd been hired to be a teacher there.

My Dad, too, weighed in. He though the nudity concept was cool, but he especially liked the rigorous academic program. Hey, that part of it I liked. But the nudity?

I didn't ask my mother. It would have been difficult, since I haven't seen her since I was 5.

Plus, there was one other person--Patrick Drouin, my best friend for years. Patrick was all for Naked High and wanted me there, too. But, again, Patrick wasn't shy. He was fairly good-looking--short and dark, but muscular. Plus he had a fun, outgoing, charming personality that girls really liked. He'd do fine at Naked High.

So, with all this subtle 'encouragement', I gave in. I decided to attend Naked High.

God help me.

At least I didn't have to prance in there naked the first day. They led us all to the auditorium for orientation. We wouldn't have to strip until later.

They threw a lot of information at us. I was amazed. It was true, it wasn't just about nudity. I mean, times during the day, and a special place, to have sex? In school? Amazing.

I kept wanting to ask about a special class that would teach me to talk to a girl. I figured I'd need that before I would have use for the pods and the morning fuck-break.

Then there was that thing about teachers having sex with students. That blew my mind! Of course, that included my brother, the teacher. Jesus--that's all I needed--competition from Vinnie! As if the competiton from the likes of Patrick wasn't bad enough!

Then, I found out I was going to have to keep a journal. That wasn't so bad--I liked writing. But they partnered me up with Amber Woodard to do it. I was going to have to meet with Amber once a month. Amber was scary. I'd known her since sixth grade and she would intimidate Atilla the Hun. Jesus, this was just getting more and more nervewracking.

Anyhow, we went through all that, then they led us to our lockers. Time to strip.

Patrick was right by me. "Is this great, or what?" he said. "Naked babes!"

"Yeah. Great," I agreed with absolutely no enthusiasm.

"Come on, this is excellent," Patrick said, quickly stripping off his clothes. Easy for him to say. The girls will be checking out his muscles--with me, they'll be counting my ribs. I managed to get my clothes off. Somehow.

"Damn, I need to gain weight," I said.

"Maybe you can get some from her," Patrick sniggered, pointing to a rather chubby girl down the row of lockers a bit. "She's got enough to spare."

"Be nice," I said.

"Ah, you're right, I should."

"Besides which, she has pretty eyes."

"Whatever you say, pal," Patrick teased. But she did--she might have been chubby, but she had very pretty eyes.

I looked around. Damn, all these naked girls. I almost wanted to go crawl into one of the lockers.

Of course, the worst part was I had a damn hard-on that would not go down. Jesus. This was mortifying. Of course, most every guy there had one--but it didn't seem to bother Patrick.

How the hell was I going to walk around school with my dick hard all day?

And then... I saw her.

Oh JESUS. She was a Goddess. I couldn't believe how gorgeous she was. She was almost as tall as I was--and I'm close to six feet, so that's saying something. She had coffee-colored skin, bronze hair, and deep brown eyes. She had a regal bearing to her that flummoxed me. She was fairly thin, but not too much so--she had curves. Her dark breasts stood out proudly, and the twin globes of her ass were high and firm.

"Oh my head," I hissed.

"See something you like?" Patrick teased. His gaze followed mine. "Ah. Very nice, but you're welcome to her. I prefer to stay away from girls that are half a foot taller than I am."

"Good," I said emphatically. Patrick just laughed. Of course, if I had had a woody before spying this goddess--it was like a metal rod at the moment.

Shit.

After stripping nude, we went down to lunch before we got a tour of the whole school. Patrick and I grabbed our food and were looking for a table when I heard behind me, "Drouin!"

We turned, and Patrick said, "Justin! You're going here? That's awesome!" Patrick was greeting a tall kid, decently built, with jet-black hair and Asian features (I'd find out later that he was half Korean.) "Hey, Justin, I want you to meet my best friend, Joe Benson. Joe, this is Justin Seigler. We met at camp last year."

We shook hands, and Justin pointed to a big blonde kid that was standing next to him. "And I want you guys to meet my best friend, Aaron Bielinski. More commonly known as Moose." I shook the kid's hand. He was a Moose--he was as tall as I, probably weighed double, but wasn't muscular or fat. He was just big. I quickly found out, however, that he was pretty quiet, until he got to know you.

We got the tour, and I ended up walking behind the goddess I had noticed earlier. I was, of course, staring at her. "I think Joe found someone he wants to take in those pods," Patrick joked.

Justin followed Patrick's gaze and said, "The tall one? Don't waste your time."

"You know her?" I asked.

"Yes. Moose and I are from Newburgh, as is she. Her name's Darcy Iniglia. Like I said, don't waste your time. There might be a more stuck-up person in the universe, but I haven't seen it."

"Damn, really?" I said.

"Yep. Unless you're the most goregous guy in school, a sports star, or filthy rich--and, preferably, all three--she won't give you the time of day."

"Damn," I said--but I had the funny feeling that information wasn't going to make me stop dreaming. This girl was just too fantastic.

Anyhow, we got the tour. The pods were something else--a perfect place to go have sex in the middle of the school day. Justin and Patrick were all excited. I was resigned--I wasn't going to be doing anything in these any time soon. Moose must've agreed. "I wonder if we can use those things to jerk off, because I think that's going to be the extent of my sex life." We all laughed at that.

"You'll find someone," Justin assured him.

"Nah. I can't get girls. I'm too Polish."

Justin laughed--Patrick and I just looked at him. "You'll get used to him," Justin said. "One long Polish joke."

"I can't help being Polish," Moose said. "It's a cross to bear."

Well, that was a good thing about the first day--meeting Justin and Moose. They were cool.

The first week progressed. Classes were OK--challenging, good teachers. I liked that. Having the teachers in the nude took a little getting used to. Geometry was the worst. The teacher, Miss Peterson, was a babe. Plus, the girl who had invaded my dreams, Darcy Iniglia, sat right next to me. And math wasn't my best subject to begin with.

I'd walked past the pods a couple times during my break periods, and it seemed that people were already pairing off. There was kind of a waiting area, to wait if you were looking for a partner, but I never had the guts to wait there--or to approach anyone waiting. I saw my journal partner, Amber Woodard, there a few times. I was kind of stunned--she was having a problem getting hooked up? That surprised me. Maybe I wasn't the only guy she intimidated.

Of course, certain other people had no problems getting hooked up. My pal Patrick, for instance. I saw him entering the pods one day with this stunning brunette. He winked at me and escorted her into one of the pods.

"Jenna Zambrano," he told me at lunch that day. "She's a babe--plays on the girl's soccer team. And, boy, can she fuck."

"Fine, make me jealous," I said.

"Don't worry, buddy, you'll get yours. You just got to come out of your shell." He grinned. "I saw Amber Woodard down there waiting to get picked up, you should try some of that. Of course, if you don't satisfy her, she'll probably bite it off."

"Bitch?" Justin asked.

"Big time. That girl needs taming, as in Of The Shrew," Patrick said. "I don't have the intestinal fortitude for that. And Jenna tells me she's even worse on the soccer field--a complete martinet, thinks she's God's gift to soccer or something."

"She's in a couple of my classes," Moose said. "She seems OK to me."

"Wait until you get to know her," Patrick warned. "And wear protective gear."

That's how the first couple of weeks went--me feeling awkward and jealous and left out. And exposed, very exposed. Luckily, it seemed like Moose was a bit of a kindred spirit. Even if I wasn't Polish!

And the damn hard-ons still kept making themselves known, at the most inopportune moments. There were times it hurt. And, despite Moose's crack, I wasn't going to go into a pod by myself and jerk off. I had to wait until I got home.

The only person I really had to talk to about this really did try to understand. And she did try to help. It's just that we had completely different mindsets. I'm talking about my sister, Maggie.

I was glad that Maggie was there, though--at the very least, she was a hell of a listener and let me vent. And I appreciated what she had done--she decided to stay home for me, because of our mother leaving. She figured she needed to be around for my high school years. It was really quite generous, and it did cost her. Maggie attended East Carolina University, which was in decent commuting distance. But she lost out on some of the college experience by commuting. What was more, she lost out on time with Chuck, her boyfriend. Chuck attended North Carolina State, for its architecture program. But he lived there--that was too far to commute. Maggie only saw him on the weekends, and not every weekend at that.

And it wasn't just Chuck, either-most of her friends lived at school. Chuck was joined at NC State by a lot of them--Frankie, Cassie, David, Missy, Michelle Ingemi, Eric Andrews. Ed Bauer and Natalie Weinberg were at UNC-Chapel Hill. Maggie's best friend Amanda and her boyfriend Jared were all the way at Princeton. And two other friends, Amber's sister Lily and her boyfriend Mike, were way out in California, at USC. (They played baseball--led USC to the College World Series championship last year.) That was Maggie's whole crowd in high school--and none of them were around. And Maggie was here because of me. There were days I felt guilty about that.

So, one day during the second week of school, I came home. She was sitting on the couch, the phone to her ear. She grinned at me and pointed to the chair. "Yeah, Braden, I love you too, you big mushball. See you Friday." She hung up the phone and grinned at me. "That's the problem with a long-distance relationship. I've got to listen to Chuckles get all gooey and romantic over the phone."

"And you love every minute of it," I teased her.

"True, true. Just don't tell him that. Anyhow, how's it going? How's Naked High?"

"OK, I guess."

"Well that was remarkable in its lack of enthusiasm, little brother," she grinned.

"I'm thinking that it was a mistake."

"Naked High, you mean? Why?"

"I don't fit in there," I said.

"Why on earth not?"

"I'm skinny. I'm shy. I'm surrounded by beautiful naked girls and I can't even talk to them. Patrick already hooked up with someone. I see people hooking up all the time. And my dream girl sits next to me in Geometry and I can't even say hello."