Chapter 1

Paula rolled over.

This may not seem like a momentous event, but it was the high point of my day so far. I watched as she rolled off her stomach and onto her back. She arched her back for a second or two, pushing her chest high and straining the fabric of her bikini, then settled back on the beach towel and relaxed.

I knew I was staring, and a second before Tami slapped the top of my head I sensed she knew it too. We were sitting on our own towel, backs propped up against the fence.

It was a beautiful September day, two clouds played tag in the blue sky. A lite breeze was blowing, just enough to make it comfortable to sit in the hot sun. Not too hot, not too cold. A perfect day, marred only by the realization that it was our last day of freedom.

I turned my head to grin at Tami. Then I blatantly looked down at her right breast. She cuffed the back of my head again. "What?" I complained. "I thought you just didn't want me checking out the other scenery."

"You're incorrigible."

"Yep," I agreed. I glanced up and then leaned down and gave Tami's breast a quick kiss.

Tami glanced up, then giggled and pushed me away. "You do realize that my mom is in the house?"

"It's her house. She's allowed."

"Yeah, but it's a house with windows. You know, glass, see-through."

"Did you have a point?"

Tami looked up at the sky. I wondered if she was beseeching a deity. And if so, which one and for what.

"The only good way to shut him up is to kiss him," came a voice from the other side. I looked over and saw that Paula had risen to one elbow and was watching us.

Tami blushed, then leaned over and kissed me. I mean she really kissed me. Not that it was our first kiss, but usually in public all I got was a quick peck. Tami put her soul into this one. Her tongue shot into my mouth like a bullet, and I could almost feel every one of her taste buds as they rasped over mine.

She broke away almost a minute later, quickly looking toward her house to see if she'd been observed.

"You two are sickening," Paula observed in a disgusted tone.

"It was your idea," Tami pointed out.

"Get a room." Paula lay back and closed her eyes.

"What's with you today?" I asked just before the light dawned. "Gary!" Paula's eyes shot open again. "He dumped you."

Paula propped herself up on her elbow again. "So what?'

"I'm sorry," Tami said softly.

"He's an idiot. Only a fool would dump you."

"You did," she accused.

I was confused.

Tami came to my rescue. "No he didn't. You two only fooled around. You never went together, so he never dumped you. He wouldn't have. If you two had been going together, I wouldn't have stood a chance."

Paula looked mollified. "So how is he? Does he fuck good?"

I almost choked.

I figured that Tami was turning bright red and trying to disappear.

"He's awesome."

I spun my head to look at her. She was smiling without a trace of embarrassment.

"Damn! I was afraid of that," Paula said with a grin.

I stood, strode to the diving board, and jumped up. You know that old saying about discretion and valor. If Paula and Tami were going to discuss my virtues as a stud, I was going to give them room. One part of me wanted to listen, but I knew from experience that two girls discussing virtues could become two girls discussing faults in the blink of an eye.

I stepped to the end of the board and took an experimental jump. It was a lousy board. I knew that. But I always tested it. I guess I hoped it would get better. As I checked my bounce, Mikee and Kelly stepped out of their trailer and started walking toward the pool.

I waited until they got in the gate and waved. They ignored me so efficiently that the temperature dropped at least five degrees. They set down their towels and other stuff and tested the temperature of the pool with their toes. I swallowed and stepped backward to the end of the board. The two sisters hadn't said more than a dozen words to me since I'd clobbered their brother Kenny.

I looked around. Tami and Paula were still talking intently, and Mikee and Kelly were ignoring me. It was like having the whole pool to myself. I stepped forward, hurdled to the end of the board, and launched myself as straight up as I could. I flipped one-and-a half times and came almost straight back down.

My old diving coach used to say a perfect dive would take off a layer of skin as you passed the board. He did point out that you had layers to spare.

I didn't take off any skin, but I didn't miss the board by more than a couple inches. My entry was as close to perfect as I ever came. One bucket. My old team used to judge water entries by the number of buckets of water you kicked up, and it was a small bucket.

As I broke the surface I was grinning. Then my grin slipped away. Tami's friend Tabby was standing at the door to her trailer, and Tami's mom was leaning out and pointing this way. I pictured a three way conference of Tami, Tabby, and Paula and wondered if I should just sink to the bottom of the pool and try to set a world record for staying underwater, say two hours.

Then I remembered that my mom, bless her heart, had been nagging my dad for a month to build an awning over the back door of our trailer. We had all the lumber. I pulled myself out of the pool and walked over to Tami and Paula.

I grabbed my towel. "Got to run. Chores." I was heading for the gate before they realized I was leaving. I nodded to Mikee and Kelly, who turned their backs on me, and held the gate open for Tabby. As I closed the gate, I wondered where Alana was this afternoon. Add her and Allie and you could have a hell of a conference.

I wondered what virgins thought about as they were hurled into the volcano.

"You left in a hurry," Tami said as she sat on the back steps.

"I had to get this done," I said as I nailed the second to the last board to the framework for the awning. I'm not really a handy guy at construction, but we'd already poured the concrete for the footings. The rest was pretty much nail board A to board B, attach board C, repeat.