Chapter 1: Friday

" ... hope they don't get some ugly girl to do it," Todd was saying and the other guys were grinning and nodded their heads.

"Do what?" I asked.

I didn't like Todd very much, or his friend Mike, but I wanted to sit with Josh like I always did during lunch and my best friend had saved me a seat. I noticed Penny right away too. She was sitting with her friends on the girls' side of the cafeteria and watching us, but Josh had his back to her, so that was cool. There wasn't any real reason to have a boys' side and girls' side; that was just the way it worked out for some reason. I didn't mind, except I didn't want to sit at the same table as Todd and Mike.

"Hey," Josh smiled at me as I sat down. "Mr. Singer told us about that Naked in School thing."

"Maybe Sam's gonna do it!" Mike said and he giggled like a little girl even though he was even taller than Josh. Bigger around too, like old Mrs. Whiting would have called him husky or something.

"Shut-up," Josh told him as I sat down with my lunch tray full of fish sticks and French fries. That was the only bad thing about Fridays; I hated fish.

"Of course I gotta do it," I said. "What are you guys talking about?"

"That PTA meeting," Josh explained. "They had to tell everybody's parents what's gonna happen and get permission or whatever."

"You mean those consent forms?" I frowned and stabbed some crispy French fries with my fork. "I got one this morning."

"Some kids aren't gonna do it," Todd said. "But they have to move to another town or something."

"Shut-up!" I rolled my eyes.

"No it's true. Duh!" Mike made a face at me. "That new guy, he knows all about it."

"All about what?" I shook my head. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Forget it," Todd said. "Your mom's a stripper anyway."

"So?" I stared at him like I was gonna punch him.

"Reasonable Request," Mike grinned, changing the subject without even realizing it. "That's gonna be so cool!"

"No doubt!" Todd was grinning too. "And like whoever the girl is? She can't cover herself up or anything."

"Handcuffs!" Mike laughed and I narrowed my eyes at them.

"You guys are sick," I decided, as much as I hated saying anything to either of those two dorks. "They can't handcuff you anyway."

"Mr. Singer said they can," Josh shrugged. "If you try to hide your pussy or whatever? The teacher can handcuff your hands behind your back."

"Yeah right," I waved at him with my fork. "They got some other thing. That collar thing."

"Tits too, Samantha!" Todd said with his mouth full and it was useless trying to have a normal conversation. "Can't cover your tits!"

"Don't call me that," I frowned.

"Somebody said, that Ryan guy said, that they did this naked in school thing at his old high school," Todd looked around all excited. "And like the really hot chicks had to help with sex education and stuff."

"That's stupid," I said with a roll of my eyes. "What's the point of that?"

"I dunno," Josh shrugged.

"Like for practice!" Todd giggled. "All the boys got to try it!"

"I hope it's Penny," Mike grinned at us. "That would be so cool."

"She's totally hot!" Todd agreed.

"Totally illegal is what it would be," I said. "You can't make a fifteen year old girl have sex with a bunch of boys."

"They can if her parents say it's okay," Mike told me. "That Ryan guy said everybody had to do it at his old school."

"Yeah," Josh agreed. "That's what Mr. Singer said too."

"Everybody?" Miles Milbourne squeaked and we all stared at him. Miles never said anything to anybody.

"Shut-up, Miles!" Mike told him and then we ignored him again, which was what Miles wanted, believe me. That boy was terminally shy.

"I don't think they can make somebody have sex though," Josh decided and I nodded at that.

That Ryan guy was a senior who'd moved here from Minnesota or someplace; who knows what they did there? He was probably just playing a big joke on the whole school. But if Mr. Singer said it was true ... No way!

"Sex is like one of those inalienable rights," I said, but maybe that was the wrong way to say it. "Or what's that other word? Anyway, they can't make you do that. It was on the video tape."

"Sex isn't a right!" Todd laughed. "And it's just in school anyway."

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "You gotta have permission too."

"You think your mom's gonna make you have sex, Samantha?" Todd grinned at me and I was digging out that consent form and unfolding it.

"You sound pretty happy about it," Josh said. "You wanna get naked in front of all the girls?"

"Hmmm..." I frowned because there was a big check box, two of them, one agreeing to let me have sex, the other one saying I couldn't. Sex, I read to myself, is defined as fellatio, cunnilingus, analingus, vaginal and anal intercourse. I guessed masturbation was something else.

"No," Todd admitted and he frowned because he'd only been thinking about all the girls being naked in front of him. What a dope.

"Yeah!" I snorted, putting my paper away again. "You can show off that little wiener you got!"

"Screw you," Todd glared at me. "It ain't little and how would you know how big my dick is anyway?"

"Lucky guess," I shrugged and everybody laughed at that, but then Todd got me back.

"Well, at least I got one!" he said. "I don't have to pretend I'm a guy. I hope they make you go first."

"No doubt!" Mike nodded eagerly. "Do you even got tits, Samantha?"

"My name's Sam, bonehead," I stared at the boy.

"You do, huh!" Todd grinned at me and I was turning red as a half dozen boys stared at my chest.

"You got hair on your pussy yet?" Mike asked me and he didn't wait for any kind of answer. "Prove it!"

"Show us your pussy, Samantha!" Todd laughed and I gave him the finger.

"We're gonna see it anyway!" Mike was grinning, kinda looking at me like I was naked already.

"Shut-up," Josh was frowning.

"Did you hear about the after school stuff?" Mike asked, still kinda teasing me, I thought.

"No," I replied. "What after school stuff?"

"Like if there's a school thing at night?" he said. "You gotta go naked there too."

"Todd said it was just in school though!" I said, feeling dumb because what would Todd know about anything?

"That is part of school," Todd laughed. "Like if they have a football game on Friday? Even if you just go to watch it, you gotta be naked."

"That's crazy," I decided and looked at Josh. "That's not right, is it?"

"That's what Mr. Singer told us," Josh said. "Like if it's your week, then the after school stuff is mandatory."

"What's that mean?" I asked him.

"It means the naked chick's gotta go! Duh!" Todd said. "Next week is the Halloween party too, so whoever has to do it has to go to the dance."

"They're doing it next week?" I blinked at that, because this was Friday!

"At least she won't need a costume!" Mike said with his girlish giggle.

"Mr. Singer didn't say when it starts," Josh shrugged. "But they just had the PTA meeting for it last night, so maybe like next month or something."

"Maybe," I said, but that only sounded a little better than next week.

"They're gonna take pictures too," Josh said. "Like for the yearbook? So if that Myers guy wants to take pictures, the naked kids have to let him."

Ronnie Myers was a junior and he was always running around with his stupid camera taking everybody's picture. He was like the president of the photography club, and on the school newspaper, and the yearbook photographer. He tried to take my picture sometimes, but I always ignored him. I didn't want him taking my picture if I was naked! He'd probably put them on the internet or something! He looked like one of those kinda guys to me.

" ... and girls have to use the boy's locker room for gym," Mike was telling me happily, but I hadn't been paying attention.

"And you can only use the bathroom like three times a day," Todd said. "For five minutes, so you can't hide in the bathroom all the time."

"But what if you have to go more than that?" I wondered, not believing that stuff at all. It was just stupid. "Like being naked all the time isn't enough? What's the point of using the other locker room?"

"It's just the rules," Todd grinned.

"So you're gonna use the girl's locker room?" I asked him and that shut him up, but not for long. All they could think about was the stuff girls had to do. Boneheads.

"Maybe they'll let you jerk off, Sam," Mike said a few minutes later and I had no idea what he meant.

"Maybe they'll let Sam jerk me off, you mean!" Todd laughed and then he sat back quickly because Josh leaned forward with his hand curled into a fist.

"Alright, whatever!" Todd said with a scowl. "I'm just kidding!"

"Josh got a girlfriend!" Mike grinned, teasing me as much as Josh. "That's like being a fag, right? Kissing Sam?"

"Shut-up," Josh said and his face was getting red.

"Make me!" Mike said right back and he wanted to fight. Todd was kind of a wimp, but Mike wasn't, despite his stupid giggle. He was always getting on my case for some reason and Mike was just a bully wannabe anyway. I'd known him since third grade.

"Just forget him," I said to Josh.

"Yeah, listen to your boyfriend," Todd kinda sneered. "Go fuck his butt or something!" and then he fell halfway out of his chair. "Ow! Fuck!"

Josh had punched him right in the head, like in the middle of Todd's forehead, and now my best friend was shaking his hand cause that must have hurt. I kinda blinked at that, just because I hadn't seen it coming. Neither had anyone else, especially Todd, and he'd regained his balance and was sorta bent over the table holding his head. Josh had nailed him good.

"What'd you do that for?" Todd whined, looking at Josh and he already had a knot starting. "I was just kidding!"

Everybody in the cafeteria was looking at us and I didn't feel much like eating anymore. I just wanted to be someplace else and I started getting up. I liked it that Josh had hit the other boy, but I sorta didn't like it too. I mean, Todd had been teasing me and I should have been the one to hit him, not Josh. It was like Josh treated me like a girl when he did that. Or something. I didn't know what it meant and so I was just going to leave.

"Sam! Wait up," Josh called me.

"Yeah, wait for your boyfriend!" Mike said and he was trying to get back at Josh for hitting Todd, since they were best friends and all.

"Shut-up," Josh told him.

"You shut-up!" Mike challenged him, "You wanna fight?"

Mike said more stuff, but I was already gone. Josh was coming after me too and the whole school was going to be talking about it now. All I ever wanted was to be left alone, like be unnoticed, you know? Pretty much everybody ignored the fact that I always dressed like a boy and hung out with Josh and some of the other guys. Nobody really cared before, but now they would. Now they'd remember I was really a girl in disguise and they wouldn't like it. Nobody in high school liked anything that was different and they were just waiting for an excuse to give me a hard time. That's what I was afraid of anyway.

"Sam!"

"What'd you hit him for?" I looked at Josh, stopping by the doors to the band room and leaning up against the wall. "God! I can take care of myself."

"What?" Josh shrugged. "He was being a jerk, that's all."

"So? He was being a jerk to me, not you!"

"You're my best friend," Josh almost laughed, but he didn't. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Nothing!" I stared at him and then frowned, looking down at my feet. I didn't know what I wanted.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I snorted.

"Just leave me alone," I pushed myself off the wall and it was almost time for the bell to ring anyway.

"Sam! What? Come on..." Josh wasn't happy and probably he figured he deserved a medal or something for saving me.

He was going to ruin everything though. People teased me sometimes. I mean, it wasn't the first time a kid had given me a hard time about being a girl and mostly I ignored it. It wasn't the first time I'd been teased about being a fag boy either, but that didn't happen too often. Yet. And almost never when Josh was around, because it was like teasing him too.

I usually ignored that stuff pretty good though, because arguing only made it worse. I just really hated being called Samantha the most. Being called a fag was almost sorta cool, except they meant it in a bad way. But I'd rather be a fag boy than a regular girl, I thought. Of course, Josh wasn't ever gonna see it like that and so he'd had to hit the guy in front of half the school. Like he really was my boyfriend or something.

Josh was so dumb sometimes!

"Hey," Pam leaned over just before our Health class started. "What did Josh hit Todd for?"

"I don't know," I shrugged without looking at the girl.

"I heard it was because Todd wanted to lick your pussy," Stacy giggled.

"Ew! Shut-up!" Penny said and all three of those girls sat close to me. I hated Health class.

"He did not!" I rolled my eyes and I had to remind myself to just ignore them, but it was hard.

"You're so sick, Stacy!" Pam giggled.

"Did you hear about that naked in school thing?" I overheard another girl, Valerie, asking someone else. "I heard it's starting on Monday.

"Yeah, that's just a joke," the other girl replied and that's what most of my classmates were talking about, but none of us really believed the rumors were true. Monday was way too close and we wanted to put it off forever!

"Quiet down, ladies." Ms. Owens was closing the classroom door.

She taught Female Health to all the tenth grade girls and since there weren't enough of us to fill more than two class periods, she taught Social Studies the rest of the time. Likewise Mr. Singer taught two periods of Male Health to the boys and American History for the other four hours during the day. I didn't know why they split the boys and girls up though. I mean, Josh had the exact same text book I did. I guess it was because of the sex education part and the school didn't want to embarrass anyone or something. Like having a man teach a girl about her period would probably make some of those girls cry.

Some people thought tenth grade was a little too late for sex education, and it probably was, but that's when we got it. It didn't bother me one way or the other because my mom made me get a birth control shot everytime she got one. That was kinda embarrassing though and I didn't really want anyone to find out. So yeah, I knew a lot about sex. Too much probably and it wasn't a big deal. My mom had explained everything and more than once.

Some of her friends, her male friends, weren't exactly shy about touching my mom or kissing her, or just walking around naked if they had to use the bathroom. I mean, these were guys that Mom brought home from work, you know? Not very often, but once in awhile and they were usually kind of drunk and not really interested in anything but having sex with my mom. A lot of times they didn't expect me to be there at all and I was usually sleeping anyway, or tried to be. The textbooks didn't say anything about it, but in my experience sex could be a little noisy sometimes.

I knew we needed the money, but I was happier when Mom had a steady boyfriend. She wouldn't bring those other guys home then and I didn't have to worry about some stranger walking into my bedroom by mistake or walking into the kitchen with his dork hanging out while I ate my Wheaties. Mom didn't like worrying about it either, so don't think she's a bad mom or anything. Nobody ever molested me. None of those guys ever tried to touch me. Mostly they just went to bed and had their fun and fell asleep. So yeah, I knew about sex, but I wasn't interested in it at all. The whole subject seemed kind of boring really, and that's mostly what Health class was about for some reason.

"Did everyone get one of these this morning?" the teacher asked, holding up one of the yellow papers they'd handed out in homeroom.

Ms. Owens was a young, bright-eyed blonde, like 23 maybe, cute and kinda perky and partial to short skirts and loose blouses. It made her about the most popular teacher in school, at least with the boys, and she did okay with the girls too, just because she had a friendly personality. She acted more like our older sister than a teacher sometimes, at least in Health class. In Social Studies, Ms. Owens was like all the rest of the teachers, except younger. I liked her okay, but at first I was afraid she was going to get on me for not looking like a girl. She never did though.

"I didn't get one," Hillary Parker raised her hand and she was that kind of girl. There's always one kid in every class who slows everything way down, ever notice that? "I had to go to the dentist this morning and..."

"Okay, Hillary," Ms. Owens nodded and gave her a Parental Consent Form. "Anyone else? Yes? No? Okay, I want to talk to you girls about this, because last night your parents learned about the new program..."

"Naked in school?" Stacy offered with a sweet smile and I snorted at the little brown noser.

"That's right, Stacy. Thank you." Ms. Owens liked to walk around the classroom while she talked. "You've all heard of it, we watched the video, and we've discussed it a little over the last few weeks, haven't we? But we couldn't really say anything specific about it until we had a chance to meet with your parents. Now that the meeting is over though..."

She picked up a marker and started writing on the white board in big blue letters. N I S

"Let's start at the beginning. NIS stands for Naked In School and it's a special program, brand new to Seattle. We're the first school in the city to get NIS, so it's kind of like a test. Okay? The school board is going to try it out here and if it works, then they'll use it in other schools as well."

"What if it doesn't work?" Katie Norris wondered and Ms. Owens wasn't much of a stickler for raising hands in that class.

"Then..." the teacher shrugged, " ... I guess the other schools won't use it until we figure out why."

"What's it for?" Janey Pearson asked.

"I heard we have to go to school naked for a month," Lisa Cavanaugh offered and a lot of girls were whispering.

"Not a month," Ms. Owens smiled. "Only for a week, just like in the video. One boy and one girl from each grade will remain naked in school for the entire week. That's six students, right? Those of you who don't participate this year will participate next year. Everyone has to do it at least once before they can graduate from this high school."

"But what about the seniors, Ms. Owens?" Penny asked.

"Some of the twelfth grade students won't have to participate," the teacher admitted. "They'll still graduate with an exemption, but for the juniors and especially for you freshman, there won't be any excuses. At some point during your three years at Redmond High, you'll be active in the program."

"But what if we don't want to?" Katie was frowning and she didn't sound very enthusiastic, like who would be? All of us were looking at each other nervously.

"You have to," Ms. Owens said matter-of-factly. "The school district passed the resolution and state law supports the program for schools that want to use it. Eventually, every public school in the city, even in the whole state, will require students to participate."

"You can't make us get naked," Katie said and there were some murmurs of agreement and a lot of nodding heads.

"What if our parents won't let us?" Janey asked with a little grin. "My dad won't even let me wear a bikini!"

"Your parents can refuse to let you participate," Ms. Owens nodded her head and some girls smiled at that good news. "But ... They'll have to transfer you to another school. A private school. You won't be able to go to a different public school just to get out of it."

"What?"..."That's not fair!"..."I'm not gonna get naked in front of a bunch of boys!" Everyone was talking all at once and I was just doodling on my notebook.

Ms. Owens let her class go on like that for a few minutes, just letting the girls get it out of their systems, and then she held up her hands.

"It's not that bad," she said. "It's scary at first, yeah. But it teaches you a lot about yourself. You girls will learn to be as comfortable with who you are..." she looked around the room, " ... as you are with what you wear. We live in a world where you can't be cool if you don't wear the right clothes. Where we tell ourselves that if we don't look like fashion models, we must be ugly. We think we're too fat or too skinny, or too short or too tall. We get the same message over and over that we have to drink this and eat that if we want to be popular and attractive and happy."

Ms. Owens stared at us, but nobody said anything.

"Some people want to change that," she continued. "Some of us want to live in a country where it's okay to feel good about who we are and not spend all our time and money trying to be somebody else. It's like trying to fix what isn't broken, have you heard that expression before?"

Some kids nodded, but most of us just shrugged.

"Well, nobody in this room is broken. Okay?" Ms. Owens looked around the classroom. "And the Naked In School program is one way to help us understand that."