Chapter 12

That Monday evening, teens across the country were experiencing a wide range of emotions after their first day of going to school naked. As just a few random samples, Mandy, Mason, Darren, and the others could not possibly represent the breadth and variety of the experiences of all the new Program participants. The great majority went through the initial shock, fear, embarrassment, and even panic and finished up the day little the worse for wear.

Some, like Mason, had not come down from their highs. His day, even after the loving humiliation by his sisters when he got home, had definitely been one of the best of his life.

Some, like Mandy, felt like they had broken out of strictures imposed either by their parents, by their own fears, or by conventions and expectations that they had never thought of breaking away from.

Some, like Arden, were forced out of 'hiding'. He had done his best to make himself a recluse, invisible to his peers. His obnoxious father's pressuring had driven him to that personality. Exposing his excellent body had erased any hope of maintaining his low profile. It remained to be seen if he, and others like him, would benefit from the forced exposure and achieve more.

Some, like Darren, Anita, and three others, had chosen not to face the challenge of baring themselves. They were now trying to cope with an unsettled refuge situation and the realization of what lay ahead of them for at least the next nine months.

A very few, like Francie, just could not cope with the exposure and their psyches shut down or sought safety in some imaginary place. Francie had the advantage of Molly's involvement. Others, unknown to Molly and Curt or unreachable by them, suffered in fear and confusion.

The parents of Program students experienced just as diverse a range of emotions as their children. As the Program had matured, its parent orientation and indoctrination had matured with it. Nearly all parents had read the copious promotional literature and/or browsed the Program's website. Public access channels were dominated by Program specials sponsored by the school districts in the months before the start of school.

Districts were required to hold open sessions for parents. These had become very professional multi-media events with Program officials available for Q&A. In some districts with exemptions, the exemptions were only accepted after at least one parent attended a session. It would be hard to imagine any parent being surprised by any aspect of the Program.

For many of the parents, Monday evening was very frustrating. They were curious about what their offspring had experienced. The whole idea was so foreign to them that they were hungry for anything that would let them share in it.

From the kids' standpoint, many were not anxious to share. The Program was a generational differentiator, a unique experience for their generation. Their parents would never live it themselves, so how could they relate to it. On top of the teens' normal inclination to under-communicate with their mothers and fathers, the Program was so unique and so personal that talking about it was something that most avoided.

For some parents, Monday evening was not just frustrating, but agonizing and terrifying. For the parents who had received calls from the refuge that their kids had left home, it was a jolt that no parent should have to absorb. It was even worse for those few who waited, anxious and confused in hospital waiting rooms or beside the beds of their sons or daughters.

Of course, there were parents who rejoiced in relationships with their teens that became even stronger after the unveiling. Many of those families had introduced nudity into their lives so the shock of being naked at school was reduced and did not represent a psychological barrier between parents and children. A fortunate few had built communication with their children that allowed open discussion about even something as personal as what happened in the Program.

Perhaps the most traumatic thing about the Program for parents was the matter of exemptions. It was the kind of decision that they should never be faced with. If they refused to file for exemption, they could suffer enduring anger from their offended student. If they filed, that same student might later blame them for having missed an experience that all of their contemporaries had been through.

One example of a mother and father struggling with the exemption question happened with Bert's good friend Nelson Tellerman.

One week earlier, on the Monday evening before the deadline for filing Program exemptions, Naomi Tellerman had looked at her freshly-dealt hand absently and spoken to her three card-playing friends. "So, none of you filed exemptions for your kids, huh?"

"Are you kidding?" one of her friends replied. "My daughter wants to strut her pussy so bad, she'd kill me if I tried to keep her out of it."

"And it doesn't bother you that she feels that way?"

"I guess it should, but you know, I think I would have wanted to at that age," the friend said. "She really doesn't have much for boobs, but I have to admit, her little peach is really sexy. I can see why she wants to show it off. Problem is, it really, really bothers my husband. God, have we gone around and around about it. I won."

"Well, fathers always think their daughters should be lifelong virgins," another friend joked. "I'm not exempting my son. He has begged, pleaded, and threatened, but I've told him that I think he needs it and it's my prerogative as a parent. I don't think he has had any sexual contact at all, except with his hand."

"Patsy! How can you talk like that about your son?"

"'Cause I wash the semen out of sheets and shorts and towels and carpet and God knows what else. That's why!" It took a few minutes for the laughter to settle down.

"Well, inexperience is not the problem with Nelson," Naomi said. "He and Collete have been having sex for a year now. My problem is that I don't like to see him locked in on just her at such an early age. I'd like to see him get some broader experience."

"So you don't like her very well?"

"Oh, that's not it. Actually, I like her a lot. But they're just going to be juniors," Naomi complained.

"What does your husband say?"

"Tel? Remember, he was the campus stud. I think he feels disgraced that his son is monogamous at sixteen. We've read lots of material and we've been to all of the seminars at the school. We'd really like to see Nelson have this experience."

"So what's the problem? Just make him do it."

"Well, he's made some pretty scary threats, and he seems awfully serious," Naomi explained. "He's not one to make many threats, and he pretty much does what he says he'll do."

The fourth woman, so far not heard from, spoke up. "You see, that's just the kind of thing the Program is trying to correct, all this tying of sex to relationships. Our kids shouldn't think that their bodies have to belong exclusively to their boyfriend or girlfriend. If they are meant to be together, it should be for deeper reasons than just sex, and some experimentation shouldn't hurt anything."

"Sounds like standard Program doctrine. Sounds good to me. Say, when we get together Saturday night, can I check out your husband and see if that bulge in his crotch is the real deal? Maybe I can check out his output volume, too. I've been curious for a long time."

"That's not fair," the fourth woman shot back. "You know I wasn't raised that way and neither were you. I admit, I couldn't handle what should be just innocent adult fun. I want better than that for my daughter."

"Um, who dealt this hand?" the hostess asked timidly.

Tel was in bed reading when Naomi got home. She showered quickly and joined him. He soon figured out that he was not going to get many pages read. The fact that she came to bed naked tipped him off, but in their little innocent control games, he had to pretend not to know her intentions. Her expert fingers working eagerly on his member left no doubt about her intentions, though.

When she kissed him, he detected a modest hint of alcohol, which was normal for her nights of cards with her friends. The little she had probably imbibed should not put any kind of damper on their love-making. Pretending resignation, he put the book aside, knowing full well that the blood stiffening his penis betrayed his true eagerness. When she straddled him and moved her pussy up over his face, he forgot about control games and dove right in.

Naomi and Rupert (Tel) Tellerman were proud of the way the excitement and the vigor of their sex life had endured for the eighteen years of their marriage. Both had been very active in their younger years, and the decision to be monogamous had not been an easy one. Both were intelligent and disciplined, and they both committed to making sure the other had no need to look elsewhere. With only a few rough patches, it had worked for them.

The bedroom set had a convenient, decorative bar for Naomi to hold onto in her current position. Soon, she was holding on for all she was worth as his accomplished tongue drove her higher and higher. His hands were not idle, either, as his attention to her breasts fell just short of mauling.

Part of a solid, long-term sexual partnership was the ability to both convey and understand the needs of the moment. Naomi's signals were few and brief, but they clearly screamed 'blow me away!'. Some other night, maybe even later that same night, they would cuddle, caress, and tantalize. For right then, the key word was 'stimulate', and he went at it vigorously.

When she went into spasms in a few minutes, he flirted with cramps in his neck muscles, but he kept enough contact to let her finish a strong climax. While still shaky, she slid down on him, moving back until she felt his rigid protrusion against her sex. Finding enough energy to use her hand, she positioned him for entry and slid back far enough for him to be securely seated.

Then he did much of the work. Her hips made a lush handhold as he pushed her down all the way onto himself, then began pushing and pulling on her in time with upward thrusts of his pelvis. As the stimulation brought her back to life, she put more of her own energy into moving back and forth on top of him. The feeling of her nipples rubbing against the hairs on his chest provided a unique source of arousal. In that position, they had the maximum amount of flesh moving against each other.

She had barely receded from her previous peak, and he was able to hold off just long enough so they came together. Through the years, they had worked to perfect their techniques for maximum mutual pleasure. They were proud of what they could do together.

After the energetic first union came the gentler caressing and the conversation. "What about the exemption?" she asked.

"I haven't changed my mind," Tel told her. "He needs to experiment some while he is young. If we exempt him, he will be sorry later that he missed an experience that all of his friends went through."

"You're right about that. None of the other parents we know are exempting their kids," she said.

"Except for the one that matters most to him," Tel reminded her.

"Yeah. Collette's mother," she agreed. "I guess we really don't know her that well. Say, come to think of it, I haven't seen Collette for a long time. Think that might have anything to do with this exemption business?"

"I don't see why it should. Guys usually spend more time at the girl's house, you know," he reminded her.

"It just seems a little strange, is all. If we don't exempt him, will he think it's because we're trying to break them up?" she asked.

"Well?" he replied. "Aren't we agreed that sixteen is too young for him to be paired for life?"

"Yes, we're agreed on that. I hope afterwards that he'll think about exploring a bit more. What about his threats. I'd hate to see this come between us. We've always been pretty close," Naomi worried.

"Do you really think that will happen?" he asked.

"No ... no I don't. He will probably be angry for a while, but he will get over it," she answered.

"This Program really sounds great," Tel mused, "but I wish they hadn't allowed the exemption. It isn't fair to put that pressure on us parents. We need to make a decision, and we have to stick with it no matter what happens when we tell him. I say we make him do it, but we both have to agree."

Naomi paused only a minute before saying "I agree. It's the best thing for him."

"Then it's settled," he said firmly. "I'll tell him in the morning. He deserves that."

Nelson had a summer job, so he had to eat and leave the house before eight o'clock. He knew what the reason was when Tel was at the table instead of already at work. Without saying a word and not having eaten anything, he got up quickly from the table and hurried out of the house. He was not quick enough for his parents to miss the tears in his eyes.

"He ... he was crying," Naomi said when he was out of earshot. "I didn't expect that."

"We knew he would be angry," Tel reassured her. "He'll just have to work out of it. Are you changing your mind?"

"N ... no. It's just tough seeing how it hurt him."

"Well, if you're having second thoughts, now is the time to talk about it," he said kindly. "Remember, we have to agree."

"I guess I'm just being too emotional," she said. "We went through it all last night. We made the right decision. We just have to tough it out."

Tel was not home yet when Nelson came into the house late in the afternoon and went right up to his room without even looking at Naomi. He came back down several minutes later with two bags.

"Nelson, we need to talk," she called to him as he tried to hurry past her.

He stopped and turned toward her. "Talk? I've talked and talked and it did me no fuckin' good. Here's the car keys. Most of my stuff is already at Collete's. If I need more, I'll arrange to pick it up."

"At Collette's? Why? What do you mean pick it up?"

"Isn't that obvious? I'm moving out." he said grimly.

"Oh, God, no! Nelson! Don't do this. We need to talk!"

"I'm too angry to talk. Goodbye, Mother."

The 'Mother', rather than 'Mom' cut her more cruelly than anything else he had said. He was barely out the door when she tore into the study and scrambled frantically for the exemption form. She filled it out with a shaky hand and drove very dangerously to the school board office where it had to be filed. Finding the office closed, she looked for a mail slot, but there was none. In desperation, she slipped it under the door and staggered back to her car in tears.

Tel was home when she got back, and he knew immediately that it was big trouble. Still, he was completely blown away when she told him what had happened. Both of them looked at the car keys on the kitchen counter, neither one willing to touch them for fear that might make the whole thing real.

"Come on," Tel said. "We've got to go and see him?"

When they arrived at Collette's house, Chelsea, Collette's mother opened the door, then stepped out onto the porch, closing it behind her. "I'm sorry, but Nelson specifically asked me not to let you come in. He is not ready to talk to you, yet."

"But ... but this isn't right!" Naomi sputtered. "He can't just run away over something like this!"

"Something like this?" Chelsea asked in surprise. "Don't you have any idea how important this was to your son?"

Neither Naomi or Tel could think of any reply to that. It was becoming painfully clear that they really did not have any idea.

"Naomi, as a mother, I can't even imagine what you are going through," Chelsea said as gently as she could. "But you have to understand the position I am in. My daughter is deeply in love with Nelson. I love him, too. It hurts Nelson and it hurts me that you don't care for Collette. I had to..."

"What?" Namomi almost screamed. "What do you mean we don't care for Collette? Whatever gave you that idea?" It suddenly occurred to Naomi that the exemption definitely was the reason that Collette had not been at their home since Nelson had first asked them to file the exemption and they had tried to talk him out of it.

"You knew that it would hurt her terribly to see Nelson exposed and pawed over, yet you refused to exempt him," Chelsea charged.

"But ... but it's not right for them to be that possessive. It's not healthy," Naomi cried. "They're only sixteen!"

With a catch in her voice, Chelsea said "My husband and I were together since fourteen. It's just that forever didn't last long enough." He had been on a doomed airliner. "Maybe we were throwbacks. Maybe Nelson is a throwback. It's a sick society if we have to be considered weird or deviant for that.

"I really wish your family was not in so much much trouble," Chelsea went on, "but I have to think of my daughter, first. It may be unusual at their age, but I think they are meant to be together. It's ... it's beautiful if you would just let yourselves see it that way.

"I promise that I will do everything I can to persuade Nelson to reconcile with you. I'm afraid it may take some time. He is very hurt."

"But ... but we were trying to do what was right for him. All the experts are saying..."

"I know, I know. It's difficult to know what to listen to. We've been telling Nelson that it's not all your fault. Hopefully, he will come to understand that. Many schools don't even have exemptions. Can you imagine that?" Naomi could absolutely imagine that, longingly. It would certainly have kept them out of this mess.

"Will ... will they ... will he be in her room?" Naomi asked.

"Yes, they will. They are both very upset and they need each other. It's been over a year, you know."

With all of the other stresses and problems, Hawkins was in no mood to accommodate any late exemption submissions. She, like nearly all other Program employees was firmly against the whole idea of exemptions, anyway. She tore up the form that she found on the floor near the door without even looking at the name.

Two days after he walked out, Nelson agreed to go back to his home and talk with his parents. They asked him to bring Collette, but she was too hurt to be around them.

"Please, Nelson. Come home," Naomi said as soon as they were seated in the living room."

"This doesn't really feel like home any more," Nelson said softly, trying not to hurt them any more than necessary. He failed, and his mother disintegrated into tears.

"How can you say that?" Tel demanded. "We've always done everything we could for you. You're our pride and joy."

"But not enough to listen to me," Nelson snapped.

"Couldn't ... couldn't we all see a family counselor?" Naomi asked.

Nelson snorted derisively. "Every one of those idiots is nothing but a pimp for the Program. I'd probably end up being committed for what I think about it."

"But we honestly thought it would be good for you to be in it," Naomi sniffed, unable to get the tears under control.

"But we've talked and talked, ever since the damned thing was approved," Nelson protested. "Nothing has changed."

"Sometimes, Son, parents have to make hard decisions about what is best," Tel said.

Jumping up quickly, Nelson barely kept from shouting as he hissed out "If you think that is what's best for me, then we have no basis for living together. I don't want to be a slut like you two were. I've found what I want for my life. I don't need or want anyone or anything else. Now, you're going to make me diss what is most precious to me!" He hurried out of the house for the bike ride back to what he considered his new home.

Back in the present, Gwen had only dozed fitfully for the two or three hours since she went to bed. Real sleep just would not come. Curt's attitude about Molly's wealth disturbed her greatly. She had never met a girl that impressed her as much as Molly did.

Not even conscious of how she got there, she found herself at the door of Curt's room, looking at him in the dim light as he slept. She wanted to talk about Molly some more. According to Curt's teasing, she always wanted to talk, talk, talk until he eventually gave up and she won. Maybe if she could do that now, he would give Molly an honest chance to become his girlfriend.

Gwen walked into the room and slid into Curt's bed with him. They had always been close and affectionate, and they had shared a bed a few times when they were in difficult circumstances. This time, she did not want to sleep. She knew his day had been exhausting, but she hoped that he might waken when he sensed her presence. It didn't happen, but just the comfort of being close to him allowed her to drift off.

He actually woke first, and she did not wake until he was returning from a relief trip. It was no secret to him why she was there. He could tell how his attitude toward Molly upset her, just from the brief chat the evening before. The rare times when they disagreed strongly about something were his least favorite times. The love they shared was not damaged, but the normally relaxed, easy way they lived together was definitely strained.

Her presence in his bed told him that he had misjudged how strongly she felt about Molly. Apparently, she had not picked up the strength of his feelings, either.

Actually, he had conflicting feelings. From the moment of his impromptu rescue of Molly at the motel, he had been attracted to her. Being naked with her on that incredible Thursday would always rank as one of his most thrilling experiences, but also one of his toughest because of the way he felt about her. His mother was right. Molly was a young woman with many, many positives, sex appeal not the least among them.

Curt harbored no hatred of the rich. He was just convinced that their world - Molly's world - was very different from his own and that he could never really fit into theirs - hers.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he felt a familiar wave of love for the wonderful woman who had given so much for him. Not really intending to wake her, he very lightly brushed a stray lock of hair back from her cheek. Her sleep must have been very shallow, because wake her it did.