Chapter 23A

Dan found himself in the guise of Don being collected up by Cindy, Donna, and Susie. They got away from the crowd around the entrance and made their way inside. As they moved on to their lockers he noticed an individual in a uniform and realized that it must be Bart Johnson. He wondered if the Sergeant Major had been watching the strip of the program participants.

They got to their lockers and the four of them changed out the materials they'd taken home overnight and got out the items they'd need for their first classes. Susie was whispering something to the other two while they got their things from the lockers. The four finally had their things collected and closed their lockers. They then went to Mrs. Farris' homeroom.

When they got there the three girls smiled a bit at him and pointed him in a direction away from them. They proceeded to occupy three desks over in a corner, while Dan began to worry a bit about what Susie might tell the other two. He'd not told Cindy and Donna about everything that had occurred earlier in the morning.

Damn! Things could get really interestin' if Susie tells them what we did.

He looked around and noticed that Mrs. Farris seemed to be studying Don's standing naked figure. It was time for him to find a seat. He glanced around the room and recognized someone he'd met on the previous day. It was Antonio, one of three guys who'd spoken to him in the hallway during the previous day. He'd just seen him outside when the stripping program had been winding down. There was an empty seat next to him and Dan decided that would be as good a place to sit as any other available.

He walked over and sat down. "Hey Antonio, how's it goin' this mornin'?"

Antonio smiled with what had to be about the most perfect set of white teeth that Dan had ever seen. "Hey Don. That was an interesting show you put on with those strips you arranged."

"Uh, yeah. We needed to do something to make sure no one got hurt."

"Yeah, you choreographed things very nicely."

"Choreographed?"

"Oh, yeah. I like dancing. I hope to study choreography if I can get into college. You managed the movement of the program participants like you might be a choreographer or stage manager." Antonio smiled at the delivery of his comment.

Dan sat back for a moment. He'd actually thought of the movements more in tactical terms, rather than something like stage management. But still, that seemed like another appropriate manner of conceptualizing how he'd done things. He shrugged and grinned back at Antonio. "Uh, thanks. That's an interesting way of thinking about what we did."

"Hey, it's what I know. How'd you think of what you were doing?"

"Uh, more like football plays. You know - blockers and misdirection. That sort of thing. Oh, in the end — kinda like staging a fake punt, if you know what I mean?" He certainly wasn't going to mention tactical screening movements of a military nature. Or overt force demonstrations to those who hadn't quite yet figured out that the program participants were protecting their own.

Antonio nodded in response to his spoken comments. He then changed the topic. "Hey, that was really good how you talked about those guys who tried to pull off that rape back in the Summer. They really might be stupid enough to try that with one of the girls in the program."

Dan really wondered about that. That little idiot had seemed to be there to get a look at the girls stripping. But, he wondered about whether that was why he'd been there. "Yeah, that needed to be said. I don't know if they're so stupid that they'd try something like that at school, but they might." He shook his head as he reviewed what he'd seen.

There was a snort from the corner where the three girls were huddled together. He looked over to find both Donna and Cindy staring at him with raised eyebrows. And that's when Donna raised her pinky finger up and tilted her head a bit with what could only be interpreted as a question. That raised pinky inferred lots of possibilities.

Oh well. It couldn't last for long. But, I've still got something to confront them with. They really can't accuse me of holding back information when I hit them with what I learned last night. Don's memory was really clear about what happened.

Antonio asked a question. "You in trouble?"

He turned back to him. "Yeah, maybe."

"Your sister got things on you that she's sharing with your two girlfriends?"

"Girlfriends!?" He frowned for a moment while he thought about what Antonio had said. "How do you know about Cindy and Donna?"

"Hey! Word gets around. My little sister heard all about you and Cheryl last year from one of her friends who lived near Cheryl. I didn't believe any of it when she told me about how you had a bunch of girls chasing you. But now, I can see it's true. I only gotta watch those two and the way they look at you and their whole set of expressions to know that they're hot for you." Antonio just shrugged and grinned slightly.

"Damn! Does everyone know about them?"

"Probably not. But enough know. It's kinda funny to watch them escorting you around the halls." Antonio's grin got bigger.

"Antonio. You better be careful, now. I might start spreadin' rumors about you being some sorta fantastic, muy grande Latin lover. You might find yourself gettin' more attention than you can handle."

"No problema, Don. I AM a great Latin lover. Just send 'em my way." He was grinning very widely as he answered Dan's threat.

"Smartass."

"I'm that, too." Antonio's grin was practically wicked.

Dan shook his head and allowed a crooked grin to show on Don's face. He was saved from further questioning by the ringing of the bell for the first period. He got up and glanced over at Antonio. "See yuh later."

Antonio was standing and grinned. "Yeah. But you're easier to spot."

Dan groaned. "Right! Tell me all about it."

Antonio chuckled. "I don't think I need to. Oh! Your escort is leaving the room without you." He nodded towards the door.

Dan followed his expression and found that all three girls were now headed out the door — without him.

Well, ain't that interestin'! I guess I might be in the doghouse with someone.

He had to wait some number of seconds as the rest of the homeroom class cleared out the door. He looked around a bit and once again found Mrs. Farris tracking Don's naked body. He glanced back to Antonio and realized that the Hispanic guy had noticed how the homeroom teacher was paying attention to Don. Antonio winked at him in recognition of the teacher's apparent focus on Don. Dan momentarily felt like running.

He got that urge under control and stepped out into the hallway. Before he was able to head to his English class with Mr. Jeffers he was stopped by Antonio. "Hey Don, I think Mrs. Farris likes you."

"Don't even go there, Antonio. I've already got enough problems to deal with without having you trying to tell me some teacher is hot for my naked body."

Antonio laughed good-naturedly. "That's good, Don. See you later." And with that the young Hispanic guy turned away and went off down the hall in the opposite direction from what Dan needed to go.

Dan himself strode down the hallway in Don's body. Girls were looking him up and down, checking out his visible equipment. This was nearly as disconcerting for someone of his background as seeing several guys also checking him out. The latter was truly much more disconcerting for him. It was simply the whole atmosphere of being put on display in this manner that was really off-putting to someone raised as he had been.

He managed to reach Mr. Jeffers' classroom without being stopped for some sort of reasonable request. He just hated the whole idea of being subjected to the attentions of strangers. It was made only worse when he had to explain why he couldn't display a normal reaction to the attentions of girls.

An empty seat was awaiting his naked derriere between Cindy and Donna. They were looking at him with odd expressions. Susie was looking on with what might be a ghost of a smile.

Yep. It's gonna be an interestin' day. No doubt about that!

He sat and looked to Cindy. She appeared to be a bit excited. Maybe it was the pink blush that covered part of her chest that indicated her excitement. Or perhaps it was that excited female scent that he was now picking up from her. However, she looked at him coolly. She pointedly looked to his groin and raised an eyebrow. He felt like things were very likely to get difficult as the day progressed.

He smiled weakly at Cindy before turning to look at Donna. She wasn't frowning, at least. But she had only a restrained smile to show him. She too glanced down at his groin and raised an eyebrow in question. "What's wrong Don, can't get it up?"

"Uh, I think you know as long as I take my medications that that's the case." He shrugged in what was admittedly a sheepish manner.

Susie giggled.

He looked over at Don's stepsister. "You have a big mouth."

She grinned back at him. "You should know."

He could not control the reaction with which that Don's body responded to Susie's comment. He flinched. And Donna and Cindy giggled. And he could feel the blush on Don's face.

I'm fifty years old, damnit! I ain't no fifteen year old kid! I gotta stay in control!

"Alright, at lunch — we need to talk. Let's just say that I've remembered some things from when we were all twelve. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Cindy and Donna looked at him a bit strangely, as though they weren't quite sure what he was saying. But Susie reacted to it. Her grin disappeared and she was suddenly staring at him.

Their discussion was interrupted by the bell and the appearance of Mr. Jeffers at the front of the classroom.

"Good Morning, class. I see that we have our program participants with us, first thing this morning." He smiled at Cindy and Don.

No damned way, there ain't nothin' he can ask us to do in an English class, is there?

Things rapidly turned into something mundane for a program participant. Mr. Jeffers turned to Dan. "Don, do you need relief?"

There were giggles from some of the other students in the classroom. Mr. Jeffers frowned at those several kids.

"Uh, no — Mr. Jeffers. I'm fine."

"OK. Ms. Richards, do you need any relief?"

Cindy smiled at Don for a fleeting moment before she answered the teacher's question. "Yes, Mr. Jeffers. I need relief."

There was a series of gasps and low whistles from perhaps half of the twenty-odd students in the classroom.

Dan managed not to tear Don's head off his neck as he cranked his eyeballs around to stare at Cindy. He found her smiling back at his startled expression. And she looked more flushed. And that scent was stronger.

Damn! It's the revenge of the jilted teenaged girls! What the hell has she got planned?

Mr. Jeffers seemed slightly surprised by Cindy's response. But, he adjusted quickly. "OK, Cindy. Give me a moment to clear off a portion of my desktop for you." He did so as the naked blond girl got up from her seat by Don.

The teacher quickly had a clear space available for Cindy to sit atop. "OK, I think I need to ask if you want to achieve relief on your own or if you want assistance. What will it be, Cindy?"

"I need some assistance." She smiled at the teacher almost shyly. Which was in contrast to how she herself appeared to Dan. She seemed to be getting more excited. He thought that he could see some moisture glistening on her pubic hair, much as he had seen some on Monday morning.

"Oh, OK. Who do you want to help you?" Mr. Jeffers was now looking at the other naked student in his classroom.

Dan knew it before Cindy spoke. "I'd like Don to help me, Mr. Jeffers." She had turned her smile to her former lover. Dan managed not to groan. But, he certainly could have groaned. He wanted to groan. Public exhibitionism and sex were not part of his personality makeup. This was going against practically everything he felt.

The teacher spoke to him. "Well, Don. I think you need to get up here and help out Cindy."

"Uh, Mr. Jeffers... Dan paused. "Uh, as much as I'd like to help Cindy, I'm really not all that comfortable with doing something like that — well, not in front of others." He gestured around to include the rest of the class.

Mr. Jeffers just chuckled for a moment. "Well, Don. That's not my problem. You're required to comply with reasonable requests and I think having one program participant ask for assistance from another program participant represents the most reasonable of all possible requests." He finished up his reply to the boy with a grin and a beckoning gesture indicating that he expected him to join Cindy at the front of the classroom.

There were giggles from several of the girls in the classroom as Dan pondered his response to this quandary. He checked the expressions of Donna and Susie and found them beginning to look a little bit concerned. They might be wondering if he'd reached his point of no return and would rather be kicked out of school rather than undergo what he found to be so uncomfortable.

That's when he noticed Susie ever so slightly jerk her head towards Cindy. Her eyes flashed at him. She appeared to be demanding that he do for her friend what he'd done for her earlier that morning. Another shift in attention brought his gaze to meet that of Donna's. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she too minutely jerked her head towards Cindy.

Oh well. That's a pretty damned strong indication of where things stand.

He turned his eyes upon Cindy and found an even greater indicator of where he now stood with these three girls. She was yet more flushed from her face down onto her chest. She was staring hard and insistently at him. Not too much interpretation was needed — Cindy wanted him between her legs.

Damn! Am I able to do something like this!?

"Well, Don? Are you going to sit there all day? You either comply with your fellow program participant's request or I send you to the office and I suspect that you end up at home for awhile. What's your choice?" Mr. Jeffers' expression was getting to be tight and was now wholly unsmiling.

Dan looked at him and let his grim sorta smile show on Don's face. Then, it was Dan speaking in his most honest assessment of his situation. "Sorry, but it's a real contest between two equally attractive outcomes. First, there's Cindy. No explanation needed, I suspect. But, then — there's the attraction of being free from this damned insanity that I've been thrown into. I'm really thinkin' that I'd rather be free from this idiotic program. But, then I'd have to deal with a couple of mad parents and some very upset young ladies. It's a real problem that I'm having to think about in too much of a hurry."

The teacher appeared to be surprised by what Don Nichols had stated. And there was an outburst of gasps and grunts from the other students in the classroom. It seemed that a number of students might be realizing that he was having some real problems with going along with the dictates of the program.

He again looked to Cindy. She was looking confused and maybe a bit hurt.

Ah, damn! I can't really do that to her. She wouldn't have a protector and even Jan and Susie might be targeted by some more assholes. Damn! I guess I've gotta do this!