Chapter 3

That was the high point of the week, at least as far as Mother was concerned. A lot more happened than she was aware of, the normal things a bunch of teenagers can get up to when they're basically unsupervised. She didn't know about it, which was good.

First, we found a place where we could have a little fun, in the Claiborne way. That's a fancy euphemism for we found a part of the Construct where we could get naked and get it on, and nobody would snoop on us. The trouble is you still feel just as horny when you're done. After all, you're only doing it in your head, and feeling horny is more than a mental condition; it's a physical one, too. Cynthia got it on with Alex, and Jared and I were together. That was definitely strange. I mean, he was my brother. But I hadn't known that before. Is it incest when you don't know? Oh, biologically, sure. But this was the Construct, so nobody was getting knocked up. But what about psychologically? I don't know. We didn't live together, and we didn't see each other as brother and sister.

The high point of the week for me came the last night we were there. Alex arranged something, I don't know how, and we got together without supervision. We'd already established that we met and talked. Mother had even spied on us a couple of times. She didn't see much: Cynthia and I sat in the hotel's coffee shop, drank coffee and tea, and talked. It looked for all the world like two girls doing what any two teenage girls would do: talk. And if she overheard us she would have learned that we were talking about classes, boys (a little), and things we liked and disliked, such as movies, books, and clothes.

That last night Mother was on the phone to one of her friends, one of those people who hung around the house, but whose real name I couldn't divulge. We met Alex on one of the floors, and he had keys—from Housekeeping I think—that let us into the rooms. I don't know what Cynthia and Jared did, strike that, I know what they did, I just didn't know the details, but Alex and I got our clothes off and got acquainted for real.

That sounds antiseptic. He turned on just enough lights to set the mood, and we slowly, and with many kisses, undressed each other. We'd seen each other's avatars naked every day at school, but this was my real body, my real butt, my real boobs, my real thighs, and those few pounds I'd love to lose. I got to run my real hands over his very real chest and shoulders. I got to tweak his nipples, feel how hard his butt was, and melt against his lips.

We both felt a certain amount of urgency, not because we had to be out of the rooms, but we had all of this tension built up. I sucked him to completion, and he licked me out of my mind. And then, with me ready like I'd never been before in my life, and him as stiff as a steel crowbar, we got down to what we were here for.

I don't care what the romance writers say, or what the doctor-professors at college maintain. It never feels like you thought it would. I thought I was prepared because of Claiborne, and in a way I guess I was. But these were our real bodies. His arms were around me, warm and strong, cradling me. His lips plundered my mouth, and I wanted more. And his hardness... !

I guess every girl goes through those moments of confusion when you're actually doing it. I was surprised that it felt the same as it did at school, only better. His body was warm and solid, but there was no way to describe what else is going on. Guys have told me about the physical pleasure, but how do you explain the emotional joining you go through with them. I felt completed. Alex had joined his body to mine, and I felt a deeper connection with him than I had with anyone at school.

One thing Claiborne had taught me was how to let go, how to just ride with the moment, and take what happens. Afterward we lay there, noses an inch apart, grinning at each other, lost in a slowly receding haze of pleasure. We didn't move, we just drifted, spiritually joined. I felt more of a woman than I did after all of those times at school.

I could say that the sex at school was shallow, but it wasn't. The emotional parts came through. We just didn't have enough time at school for the afterwards. There was always a class to pull us away. In those moments in Alex's arms I really pitied the girl who'd programmed Claiborne. She had her physical coupling, but she didn't have the emotional meshing. Right then and there I decided I'd find a way to provide it.

Eventually we had to slip apart. We had to clean up, but somehow we didn't get to that right away. We only got as far as the floor, and both of us were tired afterward, and I was worried about rug burn on my butt and Alex's knees. This second time felt the same as the first, but different, as if somewhere in my brain I knew what to expect, and had gone beyond the initial time. It was messy, though, and I suppose we left a stain on the carpet, not that I could tell in the darkness.

We weren't so tired that we couldn't have a little fun in the shower. Alex slipped his fingers into me to make sure I was clean "down there". That got me wound up all over again, and with his help I shuddered through another completion. I made sure the most personal part of his body was as clean as it could be, and nice and empty, too. Afterwards we turned on the shower to rinse off, and I saw the residue of our fun swirl down the drain.

By the time we turned off the shower I felt a little tired, but totally charged up. I was a little tender between the legs, which was kind of a new sensation. I'd had plenty of sex in the Construct, I'd just never really had it for real, well except for one of Mom's friends who'd shown me a few things about being a girl. Lucie had told me that a girl's body had to get accustomed to guys because of the penetration. That certainly wasn't the case with two girls, as she showed me. I liked Lucie, and I'd learned a lot from her, not the least being that while I preferred guys, I was also attracted to girls, at least a little bit. Lucie wasn't.

"So sad," Lucie murmured, stroking my cheek. "You'd be someone's accomplished lover." We were in her room in the Annex, the set of rooms that had been built next to the bomb shelter and that never appeared on any plan of the house, even the ones filed with the city.

"I'm sorry," I shrugged. "I just don't..."

"Hush." She put her finger across my lip. "It was just not meant to be."

"I wouldn't say no to seeing each other again," I began.

"But no," Lucie said. "You're more interested in boys. I can tell."

"But—"

She shook her head sadly. "I hope boys appreciate you." She caressed my cheek one more time, and we kissed, just a light brushing of the lips. It sent a shiver down my spine, but that stopped the moment Lucie pulled back.

"I'll always treasure this evening," Lucie said. She got off the bed and handed me my robe. "I hope you'll do the same."

"I will," I said. "I'm sorry that it ... that I..."

"Don't let it bother you," Lucie said. "Things are what they are." She tied the belt around my waist, and with several smoldering looks, escorted me to the door. I left for my room with my body worked up. I wanted a guy in me, something I wasn't going to get at home.

Alex and I were pretty much that way. We traded heated looks, we kissed and fondled, and we generally goofed around. Eventually we managed to get ourselves put back together. I'd never needed help putting on my bra, but suddenly my boobs just didn't seem to fit in the cups. My panties seemed to hang loose until he helped with them. My skin burned where he touched me, and I got worked up all over again. I could see the lumps in my bra from my nips, and I felt loose and, well, squishy down there. I wanted to take him one more time, but I knew we couldn't, at least that night.

It only seemed proper than I help him dress. I wasn't satisfied with the way his shorts fit, so I had to reach in and adjust things. It would have been easier if he hadn't stiffened up under my touch. He shifted uncomfortably as he pulled on his jeans, and there was a prominent lump in his crotch.

"I do wish this was more like Claiborne," I said when we finally stopped touching each other.

"Oh? In what way?"

"You'd be ready to go again. The girl who first programmed the place didn't know that in real life a guy needs a little bit of recovery time."

"Look at it from my point of view," he said. "In Claiborne I can do it three times in an hour, and be ready to go again an hour later."

"Yeah, and..."

"It's that 'three times in an hour'. You don't get to cuddle afterwards."

I suddenly felt closer to him than I had while we were on the bed. He'd liked the cuddling, too!

We'd straightened up the room, though it still smelled of sex, and tried to look nonchalant as we walked back to the elevators. We passed a middle-aged couple holding hands, but they were so involved with each other that I don't think they noticed us.

"I think we all agreed that she subconsciously extended her sex drive onto the guys at Claiborne," I said when we reached the elevator.

"I'd like to have the endurance and recovery that I do in school," he said, "but this is special in its own way."

The elevator was empty, and when the doors closed I plastered myself against his body. Shoulders, arms, chest, legs, I wanted to feel it all once more. This was my first time doing it for real, and I wanted to tuck this evening away in my memory for a long long time.

We had to break apart when the elevator reached the lobby. I pushed my hair back into some semblance of shape. I was still charged up. Correct that. I was burning up. I wanted to drag Alex off into the corner so we could have our wicked ways with each other. That wasn't to be, alas, because of the crowd of people in the lobby. Instead we settled in the coffee shop, drank tea, and grinned foolishly at each other.

Eventually I had to return to my room. I hoped I didn't smell up the place. Mother would detect that in a heartbeat. Fortunately she was in bed reading when I got in.

"Well?" she asked. "Any startling breakthroughs doing whatever it is you want to do?"

"I think we have things worked out," I said. "We know who's to do what, and I think we have a plan of action."

"Good. We're leaving on a 9:30 flight tomorrow morning. That means we have to be at the airport by 7:30, so set your alarm for 6:00."

I did so, and got ready for bed. I lay facing the window, surreptitiously running my hand over my body. My nipples stiffened up again. I smiled, remembering how Alex had teased and sucked them with his lips. I touched myself between my legs just once; I was wet enough down there to float a boat. I'd have to wait until we got home before I did anything. It was going to be a long day.

Mother eventually turned out the light. I slid my fingers into my panties, then pulled them back and sniffed. I could smell a little of Alex on them. A man's sperm can live in a woman's body for up to 48 hours, so for the next two days I was going to have some of Alex with me.

Claiborne gets into your head. I realize that now, but when we left Denver I could only think about the next term. I'd learn new things, I'd meet new people, and I'd see old friends. Those were all things to delight any educator, and they were what I told Mother.

The thing I didn't tell her was that I was horny. I knew full well what that meant, far more than I had after three terms at Claiborne. I wanted a boy to wrap me in his arms. I wanted to close my legs around his naked thighs. I wanted to feel his skin against mine. I wanted to feel him inside me. And I wanted to surrender to my passions, to cry out as I soared beyond all control, to lose myself in that moment of pure physical ecstasy with a boy. And yet he'd be there with me, cradling me, letting me surrender completely, and be safe because we'd be together.

I know a girl's not supposed to say raunchy things like that, though we may think it secretly. A proper girl is supposed to be a little aloof. She's not supposed to give into her basest desires. She's supposed to make sure she has the ring on her finger before letting the boy in her pants. And then she's supposed to reward him with sex, but only when it's convenient for her. Sex is the tool she's to use to get her way and control her man.

Bull.

The woman who came up with that, and I'm sure it was a woman, certainly had a cynical view of life. She was probably a controller, and a dried up prune who experienced pain when she had sex. She probably lay there, staring at the ceiling, waiting for it to be over so she could do something else. She almost undoubtedly did not let go and have fun with things. Why she probably never even touched herself. That would be wrong. Life is hard, don't you know, and even self-pleasure goes against that.

Alex had awakened something in me. I knew more about sex than I'd learned in three terms at Claiborne. I wanted that feeling of a guy entering me. I wanted that rising feeling as he pushed me higher and higher until I couldn't stand it any longer and I came in a wild rush of feeling. And I also wanted that moment when our souls merged, and we were a unity, joined body and spirit.

Say what they will about proper behavior, I was horny, and I couldn't wait for school to relieve some of it.

On Tuesday after we returned, Mother spoiled it.

I thought we were going shopping. Imagine my surprise when we got in my step-Dad's car and she took me to a regular high school. "You're not going back to that school," she told me as we pulled into the parking lot.

"What? You're kidding!"

She shook her head. "No I'm not. There's too great a risk ... things are ... you can't go back there."

"It's because of Jared, isn't it."

"No," she said with another shake of her head, "it isn't. Now get your stuff, we're going to be busy for a while getting you enrolled."

I wasn't old enough to tell her where to go and what to do about it. Instead I followed her inside and grimly smiled at the Girl's Counselor as she reviewed my transcript.

"She went to an unconventional school," the Counselor finally said.

"How do the grades compare?" Mother asked. "Will she have to be set back a grade?"

"Actually she may be too advanced for most of our classes," the Counselor said. She looked something up on her computer. "I'll know more after a placement exam, but this school she attended is one of the top schools in the country. She's probably well into her freshman year at college."

"The law says she has to attend school," Mother said, her voice turning flinty, "and we can't afford to send her to a private school."

The Counselor pursed her lips and played games with her computer. "Well, there are a few classes she could probably take here."

"Good. Let's get those placement tests out of the way, and then we can get her properly enrolled."

The Counselor shrugged. The school was going to get credit for a student, which meant more money from the Federal government. My worry was that if I turned out to be too advanced for the school, they wouldn't let me go on to other things. The money from the Feds was more important than my education. I hadn't known that until I'd attended Claiborne. That was the sorry state American Education was reduced to. Congratulations, Shannon, you are now a victim. Officially. And a statistic. And a money source. Again Officially.

The result of the placement tests was about as I'd expected. From her expression, they matched what the Counselor expected, too. I'd recognized the tests when they were put in front of me: these were the tests high school seniors in Oregon had to pass to graduate. And I did well enough on them that I should not be attending high school. The Counselor had been right: I should be in college.