Chapter 17

I staggered through the front door and straight into the waiting arms of Mum, metaphorically speaking not physically, though that might have been interesting, not that I had much chance to dwell on that thought.

"Have you had a good time?" she asked, a knowing smile plastered all over her face.

"Uhh, uhmm," I replied going red as I remembered how much fun I'd had on the journey home.

"Did Kirsty enjoy herself?" asked mum seemingly amused by my response.

I nodded, "She seemed to," I replied remembering how hard my girlfriend's nipples had been when I'd had to get out of the car.

"So, have you got any plans for seeing your new girlfriend tomorrow?"

I looked at Mum and shrugged, "She's got to meet her Auntie tomorrow," I replied. "She's coming over from America to stay with them for a bit."

Mum chuckled at something I'd said, or maybe it was the way I said it that set her off.

"How long will it be till you get to see her again, then?" she asked.

"I'll see her tomorrow at school, but that's not really the same," I said, I felt my face going red as I realised what I'd said.

Mum was almost laughing at me now, "I don't suppose they let you cuddle up during lessons, do they?"

I managed to shake my head negatively, speaking was too risky, I'd probably put my foot in it even further if I did.

"Any chance Kirsty will be free over the weekend?" probed Mum.

I remembered the invitation I'd been given to Sunday lunch; something must have shown on my face because Mum looked at me inquisitively.

"I was invited to Sunday lunch," I said, "So that I can meet the Aunt."

Mum chuckled again, "She's already inviting you to meet the family, is she?"

"No," I said vehemently, "It was her mother who invited me." I shrugged, "To be honest, I'm not sure if Kirsty wanted me to be there. I think she has some issues with her Aunt."

"Anything serious?"

"I don't think so," I said, "I think it's more that Kirsty's a bit insecure."

"Why?" asked Mum in surprise.

"She doesn't think she's good looking for a start," I replied.

"She doesn't!" Mum's answer was accompanied by raised eyebrows, "Why ever not?"

"I don't suppose the fact that she hangs around with Natasha helps," I said. She's not exactly a plain Jane." I grinned at Mum who was giving me one of those looks, "Don't worry, Natasha would chew me up and spit me out," and if she didn't, Johnny Rogers would, I thought.

I continued the original conversation; "I think Kirsty's insecurity might also have something to do with the fact that her mom and dad got divorced." I shrugged, "I don't know her well enough to do more than guess though."

"It takes some kids like that," said Mum who then turned serious on me. "Don't go doing anything that could cause her problems."

"Mum..." I mean what sort of trip was that to go laying on me? I had enough problems thinking about me let alone anyone else.

"I don't mean to say you need to be a psychologist or anything," explained Mum. "Just be careful if it looks like things could be getting more serious than you want them to be. It's better to let her down early than continue with something that you're not sure about and let it get out of hand."

I nodded but Mum's words went in one ear and out the other. Kirsty was a big girl and could look after herself, besides I was having too much fun to worry about how anyone else would react if things came to a halt.

"I'm off to bed," I said and carefully made my way past Mum and up the stairs. I was tired but I had a more pressing need to take care of and talking to Mum hadn't taken that away, I just hoped she hadn't noticed.

School was boring, I mean, like really tedious.

Natasha was off with the rest of her friends mainly due to the fact that Kirsty was taking the day off to collect her aunt, something I'd forgotten when I was talking to Mum last night. Lessons were pretty humdrum and I couldn't concentrate on what was going on in those I attended. There ought to be some mechanism for opting out of school for the day when you couldn't be bothered without it counting against you, but there wasn't so I had to suffer.

Anyway, by the time I arrived home I'd had about as much as I could stand of trying to be a good student, hence the bag containing my homework was lobbed in the direction of bedroom corner and forgotten about. Deep down I knew I'd catch up over the weekend. I was too 'goody-goody' for my own good sometimes but just now I wasn't interested.

I powered up the computer and looked around as it burped and spluttered into life. I grinned as I took in what had once been my world. I'd spent so much time in here alone that I'd almost become afraid to leave. Now I wanted to be out of here more than I wanted to stay, even if all of my old toys were still here.

I guess I was growing up.

I passed an hour surfing the web and planning out future dares, or to put it another way, ogling pictures of scantily clad women and dreaming of Kirsty, Natasha and the rest dressed the same. If the idea I had for the next dare panned out, I could see the girls making several trips to the fancy dress shop over the coming months before parading around in very revealing outfits.

My daydreams were interrupted by the shrill warble coming from the phone on the windowsill; I picked it up and checked the caller ID. I'd kept my old phone plugged in ever since I'd started having fun with the girls and it was the only one I'd used to call Helen on. She didn't have my main number yet.

"Evening, Helen, what can I do for you?"

"Hi, Kevin," was the brisk reply and then, without any build up she asked, "I've been speaking to Natasha and she's telling me that you're considering another dare?"

I chuckled, "Feeling a little neglected are we?"

"No," she replied forcefully. "Well maybe a little," she admitted after a momentary pause. "Are you going to stop playing now that you've got a girlfriend?"

"I would if that is what she wanted me to do," I admitted, "but she seems happy to continue playing our games so I'll be continuing for now."

"Good," replied Helen. "Now about this new dare you're thinking of, what is it and more importantly when is it?"

"The where and when are undecided at the moment," I said. "But the idea is pretty much sorted."

"Ohh," came a sound of frustration from the phone, "Are you going to tell me what it is or do I have to come over there and pull it from you word by word?" she growled.

I chuckled again, "Now I might find that interesting but I think my mum would object to you coming over here and committing violence to her poor innocent son," I said.

"Not once I told her why I was beating up her 'poor innocent son' she wouldn't," was the rejoinder.

"You might have a point there," I agreed. "OK, the dare is a variation on the one you did at the mall but it's a lot more exposed and you begin dressed in a way that is more likely to get you noticed."

"It does," said Helen, "How?"

"How do you feel about buying an outfit for a dare?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"How much will it cost?" she asked, her tone sounding suspicious.

"I'm not sure," I replied, "I checked on the net and they don't seem that bad but you may want to see what you can find without going to a fancy dress shop."

"What's the outfit?" growled Helen, getting aggressive again.

"I kind of thought it would be nice to see you all dressed up as schoolgirl's, so that's the outfit for the dare..." I said, my voice fading away as I held my breath waiting for a response.

After a very short pause Helen asked, "I take it you're not thinking of the sort of thing that Natasha wears to school everyday, are you?"

"No," I admitted, "I was thinking of something more along the lines of the uniforms worn in the St. Trinian's film."

I was happy that the idea hadn't been squashed out of hand. "If you could find something suitable around town that would be fine," I added, "just so that all four of you looked the same."

"It could be anything, then?" asked Helen, "as long as it looks like a school uniform?"

"That's right," I replied, "and you would have to end up naked, or as close as made no difference after removing four items," I said. "That would make me happy," I concluded and then blushed as I realised what I'd said.

Helen snorted, "I'm sure you would be," she said.

"I mean, I uhhh," I stuttered then tried again. "I was looking at four items, a blouse, a skirt, a bra and knickers," I said. "Shoes would be required and it would be up to you whether you wore stockings or socks."

"And we'd be taking these things off one at a time?" pressed Helen.

"That's my idea though I need to check out the location before I can say anything for definite."

"And when are you going to run this dare?" asked Natasha's mother. I pictured her frowning as she contemplated her diary in her mind.

"I'm not sure," I said. "Rosa has her sister over from the States and may not be free until she goes back. If she can get away I'd like to do it on Sunday but it all depends..."

"I'll speak to Rosa and find out if she's going to be free," said Helen. "You do what you need to do and I'll call you tomorrow night and well decide what's happening then."

"Make it a bit later than this," I said. "I won't be able to get everything done and be back here before, say, nine o'clock."

"All right, I'll call you then," she said, "Bye."

"Bye," I replied and returned the phone to the windowsill and its charger.

All I had to do now was make sure that the girls weren't going to be too exposed when they carried out the dare. It's strange isn't it. Here I was setting challenges that put the girls at risk but I was constantly thinking of just how severe that risk was and doing my best to minimise it whilst still making things entertaining. I'm sure it would be easier if I just gave out dares and then stood around to watch the consequences, but I'm not that type of boy.

I suppose our town is like most towns these days, its old centre has lost all of its large stores and consists of small shops catering to specific needs alongside places of entertainment and I use that term loosely. It describes places to meet, eat and drink or in other words pubs and diners, as the Americans call a cafe.

Can you tell I did Business and Commerce last year? I'll probably end up doing a business-based degree when I go to college, as that seems to be the way to go these days.

Anyway what this means in our case is that the 'there' is now a ring road around the outskirts of the town with various malls and retail parks off it. The mall we'd already used was one of these areas and it was by far the busiest, however there were others, alongside business parks that were practically deserted over the weekend.

I'd managed to borrow Mum's car for the evening and was quietly cruising around the ring road looking at the various car parks and their associated buildings. What I was looking for was somewhere that was accessible but reasonably private. In addition I didn't want any sort of CCTV coverage and it was that which was causing me the most difficulties.