Chapter 1

"You're shittin' me," Ed exclaimed. "Katie McEvers!"

"Yep, " Ron replied drunkenly. "You wouldn't think a girl that cute would be such a slut."

I kept my mouth shut. I wouldn't either, but I wasn't going to say anything. I got plenty of feel-ups and dry-fucking but none of the girls I dated would let me go all the way ... not that I really tried past the first "No!" Of course I had no idea what the other two guys really got in the way of sex, only what they said they did.

But this was the first I'd heard anywhere around the school that Katie McEvers, one of the cutest girls in school, did anything beyond kissing. I have to admit it hurt a little to think about it, she was the object of most of my wet dreams. No I never went beyond just talking to her casually, since we ran in somewhat the same crowds, but she always seemed the type to go for the captains of the sports teams.

But Ron wasn't a captain of any team ... while he played reserve basketball and varsity baseball, that didn't get him on a pedestal at our school. In fact, even if he'd been a captain of something that still wouldn't have meant much outside the teams and cheerleaders ... we were an Air Force and factory bedroom town and there were just too many social circles to have one lord it over the others.

I took advantage of that. I had friends in several of the loose cliques which was fairly easy since I grew up there and I tended to befriend new base-brats when they came in, sort of to show them the ropes. Actually Katie wasn't as popular as she was good-looking, she was on the JV cheer squad but didn't go to the parties as much as the other girls did. And I never heard of her hosting one, either. So maybe that was why.

The more Ron went on about his exploits with Katie, though, the more irritated I got. Ed had a big mouth and Ron should have known that. Ron's drunk bragging would ruin Katie's reputation if he wasn't careful. I knew for a fact there was a lot of fucking around went on that didn't get blabbed all over and it wasn't right to put a light on Katie, especially as she wasn't stuck up and always was nice to everyone.

"You know when I can't get over there, she calls me after midnight and we talk dirty and jack-off together."

"No shit!" Ed repeated. I'd had enough, it was after midnight and time for me to get some sleep. "You guys have fun swapping lies," I said "I gotta get some sleep ... big test tomorrow."

I got up off the blanket, grabbed my cooler, and headed to my car. "Hey! Leave the cooler." Ed wailed.

"Bullshit, I brought the beer ... I'm taking it." Ed was a lot bigger than me and on the varsity football team, but we were also cousins and we'd settled a long time ago that I wouldn't take any shit from him.

I won't say I wasn't smug about leaving them suddenly dry, but they'd had enough anyway. Problem was, though; I didn't get much sleep that night thinking about Katie. And although I resisted it, I ended up jacking off while trying to imagine what it would be like to fuck her.

It was even weirder at school, when I saw her she seemed the epitome of cute innocently sexy really built, but nice girl. I tried to act normal when we passed in the hall with the usual "Hi, Pete", "Hi, Katie" but it was different somehow. I turned to watch her walk, the short pleated skirt swishing and hinting at her great ass, which we all knew about from her cheering.

Over the next week, I was a little surprised that Ed didn't say anything about what Ron had said, and of course, Ron said nothing. But that didn't stop me from obsessing.

But the following week, Katie wasn't at school for a couple days and when she appeared on Wednesday, she had more makeup on one cheek and I noticed too much on one eye, as well. Later in the morning, Ron told me Katie had broken up with him.

"So ... then you hit her?" There'd been rumors of Ron getting rough with a girl before.

"No! She just broke up with me this morning, I swear!"

At lunch, Katie took her tray to an empty table and sat by herself, which was a little unusual. I figured I had nothing to lose by butting in.

"Hi Katie, mind if I sit?" She just nodded.

After an awkward minute or so I spoke.

"Ron told me." She just nodded again.

I didn't say anything more; if she didn't want to talk, why force her. Finally just as we were finishing our lunches, she spoke.

"My dad caught us." I just looked inquisitive.

'He caught Ron in my room." I nodded sympathetically.

"Ron didn't hit me." Answering the unasked.

"Sometimes I just want to kill the bastard!" she blurted, then gave me a panicked look... "I didn't mean that." She pleaded with her eyes for me to forget. And again I just nodded.

We didn't speak again for a few days. Then she stopped me in the hall. "You didn't tell anyone what I said, did you."

"No ... you were upset, I understand." She started to walk off, then turned back. "Pete, I have to talk to you ... or someone ... rather it was you. Would you meet me at lunch?"

I was puzzled and excited at once. "Sure, no problem."

At lunch, I was nervous ... but didn't really understand why. I just felt an impending tension. She sat her tray down opposite me and fiddled with her food.

"Pete, I have to tell you something and I want you never to repeat it." I nodded in my usual way. She took a deep breath.

"I think I wanted my dad to catch me and Ron."

"Why is that?"

"Because I knew he would, and I let Ron in anyway."

"How did you know he'd catch you?"

"Because I knew dad would come into my room sooner or later."

I thought about that a while. All I could do was cock an eyebrow, and she nodded her head, then I saw her tear up. And it wasn't the sort of tearing up that you'd see over a lost love; it was tears of shame. Even at my seventeen years of age, I knew the difference.

You have to understand that was in the early sixties. Sex abuse wasn't unknown, back then, but it was only whispers and jokes and families moving on short notice. And rumors then abounding about some secret shame.

I had no idea what to say, though. I was shocked at the thought, so I only nodded sympathetically and forced myself to eat.

Katie, though, didn't eat anything, she only pretended to; but I didn't force the issue or say anything until she had composed herself.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I've never heard anything about you telling things you shouldn't and I can't tell the other girls, or a teacher either."

"Your mom?"

She just shook her head. "She knows, already."

I couldn't get my head around that. I just kept quiet, as usual.

"Thanks for listening, Pete. I'm sorry to unload on you, but ... oh, anyway, just thanks."

She smiled at me and got up. I didn't hear a thing the teachers said the rest of the day.

And for a week, I didn't feel like jacking off. And once I did, it wasn't to mental images of Katie. Not that I no longer thought she was sexy, it was that I felt guilty because I couldn't get the image of some faceless, shapeless father climbing between her legs out of my head.

But a few weeks later, with Katie and I exchanging nothing but pleasant greetings, and smiles, she surprised me by asking me to meet her for lunch again.

"Pete, are you going to the Prom?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Have you asked anyone yet?"

"Ummm ... no." I came clean. "I'm trying to figure out who wont turn me down."

I grinned as if I were joking.

She smiled, but I don't think it was at the poor joke.

"Will you ask me ... please?"

I'd had a forkful of food on the way to my mouth, and I'm not sure which dropped quicker, the fork or my lower jaw.

"Why me?"

"Because my dad said it would look funny if a cheerleader didn't go to the prom, and he doesn't want anyone talking about me. Or him."

"But why me?"

Katie now looked a little uncomfortable. She didn't want to answer that, obviously.

I decided to take another tack. "Katie, will you go to the prom with me?"

She nodded. "NOW ... why me?"

"You wont get mad?"

"No."

"He wants me to go with someone harmless."

I'd always considered myself a nice guy, but never 'harmless'. Though in retrospect, I guessed I was.

"Oh? What did he say exactly? It's alright, you can tell me."

"Well, what he actually said was 'a skinny, glasses wearing, bookworm'" She looked at me as if she expected an explosion.

"Well, I certainly look the part." And I did. Six feet tall, 130 pounds, nearsighted, you do the math. At least I was a farm kid and stronger and tougher than I looked. " But do you think I'm that harmless?

"Actually, I don't know. I know you date a lot but I never hear anything juicy."

I thought about how to respond to this without breaking my well considered image.

"Ummmm ... well, I know my way around girls."

"I figured that. That makes you perfect, the other girls wont wonder about it too much. I guessed that the girls you date know they are safe, whatever you do."

"Figures, they never talk about me."

"Oh, they do. They say you're a really nice guy, and they don't say it in a nasty way."

Ah, well. Small comforts.

"One more thing, Pete." Uh-oh.

"You have to meet my dad first."

"Sure ... when I pick you up on prom night."

"No, before that."

"He wants to meet you now ... or like he said well before prom."

I had thought, already, about how hard it would be to face this creep when I picked up Katie for the Prom, but this was unexpected. I didn't know if I could get through repeated exposures to him.

"Can we go to a movie Sunday afternoon?"

"I suppose"

"Is that a yes? I know you probably don't really want to go with me, since I'm in such a family mess." She looked almost like she was going to cry.

"No ... that's not it. No one knows and I don't think it's your fault. It's just that it's going to be hard to get through meeting him."

"I see"

"Ah, don't worry. I'll figure out how to act."

"Thanks, Pete. You don't know how much this means to me."

Sunday afternoon, I picked her up at 2:30. When I rang the bell, I steeled myself but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Her dad was ordinary looking enough, fairly good looking though I thought I saw shifty beady eyes. He obviously didn't like my car, though, a nine year old Ford with a custom grill and patches of primer.

Of course my nervousness could be explained by my 'harmless' image. Like a bookworm on a first date with the cutest girl in school. I got through it, though, and responded with a courteous "Yes sir" when I was told to have Katie home before dark.

I don't remember what the movie was ... but we had a nice time and Katie actually acted like she enjoyed being with me. In fact, she initiated holding hands about halfway through the movie and by the end of it, she had pulled my arm up around her shoulders.

As we were leaving the movie, I asked if she wanted to go to Frisch's for something to eat.

"I'd like that. But can we go somewhere else?"

That struck me the obvious way, Frisch's was where everyone hung out. She obviously didn't want to be seen with me. In the car, though, she explained why.

"I want to talk, and we wont be able to at Frisch's"

So we went to another restaurant across town ... one where families went, thus no HS kids.

"Pete, I want you to treat me like any other girl you're on a date with."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you're a nice guy but I don't think you usually wait an hour before holding a date's hand."

"umm ... well ... I don't want to seem like I'm pushy. Or taking advantage."

She smiled at me and took my hand that was on the seat between us.

"You're not taking advantage. If anyone is, I am. Besides I always got the impression you sort of liked me."

This was a pretty good compliment, for her to notice that. "Yeah, but if you weren't in a situation, would you have gone out with me if I asked?"