Chapter 8

The weekend was a series of highs and lows as I tried to get my head around what was going on.

One thing was for sure; if I wanted Kirsty as a girlfriend all I had to do was ask. Why she'd want a geek like me when she could have just about anyone in the school was one of the things I couldn't get my head around and that had me thinking that she might be playing games with me.

But if all she was doing was playing games why was her mother joining in?

And what about her mother, was that a come-on she'd given me on Friday night, or some sort of trap?

I'd gone for a walk around the mall on Saturday and had ended up in the same coffee shop I'd watched the girls do the dare from. I sat there watching the world go by and thinking deeply about the future and me.

To date I hadn't decided what I wanted to do with my life and part of that had been a reluctance to take a chance with girls. I'd seen what happened to my friends when they were shot down after plucking up the courage to ask a girl out and I didn't want that to happen to me.

Thinking about it now I realised that in most cases the result was a foregone conclusion, the nerd propositioning the cheerleader wasn't going to work. On those occasions when the guy had asked a girl who had the same sort of expectations as we did he'd been received enthusiastically.

I suppose it just went to show that like should mix with like, but if that was the case why did Kirsty want me?

If we took it that Kirsty was being honest and she really did want me as a boyfriend we came to the matter of the dares. Did I really want my 'girlfriend' flaunting her all for the world to see?

Who was I trying to con? Of course I did! The kick I got from watching her blush as she exposed herself was simply out of this world. If that weren't going to be part of our relationship I'd feel short-changed and would end up pressing her to go ahead and do things like she'd already done. If I did press then we would, no doubt, end up with her holding me responsible for making her life a misery and causing the collapse of whatever relationship we had.

I was banging my head against a brick wall of my own making. No matter how I looked at it I didn't know enough of how she felt to decide how she'd react. The only thing I could do was press ahead with the dare game and, when I got the chance, ask her to go out with me.

Walking home the long way I decided I wanted a dare that was just for me, a dare that we could do at school, that was relatively safe, but possibly embarrassing. By the time I reached home I'd come up with an idea, one I'd run by Helen tomorrow and see what she thought.

I managed to hold out until just after three o'clock on Sunday afternoon before I gave Helen a call, hoping as I keyed in her number that she'd be available.

She picked up quickly and seemed happy to hear from me though she was surprised when I said, "Hi, Helen, it's Kevin."

"Kevin?" she asked.

"You know who I am so there's no point pretending otherwise, is there?"

"I don't suppose there is," she admitted. "What can I do for you, Kevin?"

Rather than jumping straight to the dare I told her that I needed some information from their side of things. I started asking questions about a few of the things that had been troubling me for the last couple of days.

"What does your husband think about what's going on?" I asked.

There was silence for a good ten seconds before Helen replied, "He's not even noticed," she said and then sighed. "Alan is wrapped up in his work and his weekends are spent networking with potential contacts," she paused, "So today he left at eight and won't be back from the golf club until six at the earliest."

I didn't know what to say and was taken by surprise when Helen said, "Thank you for worrying about me but there's really nothing to worry about."

I decided there and then that Alan Young was a plonker, no matter how good he was at whatever it was he did.

"Will Rosa be having any problems?" I asked.

"Oh, no," said Helen, "she's divorced and has been for five or six years now. Her ex-husband couldn't live with the pressure." Helen snorted, "If he'd pushed back he'd have been surprised at the results but he didn't, preferring to run off with his secretary."

It was my turn to respond with, "Oh."

Helen chuckled in my ear, "Given that we're not going to get into any trouble by carrying on," she said. "What is it you want us to do?"

"I was thinking of a dare for the girls but... ," I paused as I considered making it a general dare. "Helen, what do you do when Natasha's at school?"

"Work of course, what did you think I did, laze around all day?"

To be honest I hadn't given the matter any thought at all up until that moment and I admitted that. "To tell you the truth, Helen I hadn't even thought about it," I chuckled, "I guess I figured someone as good looking as you wouldn't need to work."

She barked a laugh back at me, "Pack it in, I'm old enough to be your mother."

"Maybe," I replied, "but that doesn't answer my question. What do you do?"

"I work part time in Dunwoody and Bradstreet, the solicitors, as a legal clerk," she said, "Why?"

"Just a minute," I said as the expansion idea took hold, "Do you know what Rosa does?"

I had a mental image of Helen looking to the ceiling as she answered me. "Yes, she's a team manager with the Abram Financial Advisors. That's why I pick Kirsty up after school as Rosa doesn't finish until five at the earliest."

I grinned, "So it wouldn't be unusual for either of you to wear a white blouse to work then, would it?"

"Nooo," replied Helen cautiously.

"Then the dare is to go to work or school tomorrow without a bra on." I paused to see if there was any immediate reaction, when there wasn't I continued, "The blouse you wear must be thin enough to display your charms if someone looks without being so shear that you end up getting you into trouble over it."

"Uhmm," was all Helen said when I finished.

I chuckled before adding, "In the case of the girls I will inspect them at home time and if the blouses are not of an acceptable style they will have to remove the offending item before they leave school. In your case I will inspect you outside when you pick them up and if it fails the test you will have to remove the blouse before you can drive home."

"Ohhhh," gasped Helen. "I like it," she added softly, "but what about Rosa?"

"How about I meet her somewhere on her way home?" I said.

"I'll have to check where, but that sounds workable," said Helen.

"Glad you like it," I said.

"Oh, I do," said Helen.

"You don't think it's too risqué for school, do you?"

"No, if anything it's too tame," said Helen firmly. "The girls will probably keep their blazers buttoned all day."

"Uhmm, that's not really in the spirit of the game, is it?" I said. "How about we add something like they have to hold their jackets open whenever they see me?"

"That's not going to look right if you're sharing a class, is it?" replied Helen. "But we could make it that they have to open their jackets whenever you ask them too?"

"Great," I responded, "We'll do that then."

Helen chuckled happily, "I'll tell everyone and let you know where Rosa will meet you after work."

"Thanks," I replied before hanging up.

For once I was really looking forward to going to school on a Monday.

I was that keen to get to school that I overslept, which put me late starting my paper round and from then on it was a struggle to make up time. Instead of my usual leisurely stroll to school, with time to catch up on my notes, I made it with about two minutes to spare before the girls were due to arrive.

I was still puffing as Helen's Trailblazer pulled up by the school gates. Three doors were flung open and as Helen stepped out carefully from the drivers door Natasha and Kirsty burst out of the back.

I was not surprised to see that the girls had their blazers fastened but what was more intriguing was that Helen was wearing what I'd describe as a business suit. You know the sort of thing, short dark skirt and matching jacket. What made it interesting was that she didn't have the jacket fastened and when she spotted me she casually waved, an action that caused the jacket to flap open and her breast to appear. Yes a thin white layer of material covered it but there was no way that it could move like that if it was encased in a bra.

I managed to wave back before she shooed the girls away and hopped back into her car.

As she drove away I turned my attention to Natasha and Kirsty, who in turn were approaching me slowly.

Kirsty looked at me shyly when she got close enough to talk, "Mum said she'd see you outside the mall at six o'clock this evening."

"Thanks," I replied.

"My mom said that we have to open our jackets for you whenever you ask," said Natasha. "Do you want us to do it now?" she asked with a grin.

Before I could answer the first bell sounded and we all looked towards the school.

I sighed, "Yes, I would, but we don't have time unfortunately." I managed to smile at Kirsty, "I'm glad you're playing along," which caused her dark complexion to take on a cherry glow. "I'm really looking forward to having a look at your ... blouse."

Kirsty's blush got brighter and Natasha choked out, "I bet you are!"