Chapter 10: Experiment Begins

The speculation had been flying around St. Dunstan's and Buchanan about the nature of the "experiment" that the Board had in mind. The first to hear was St. Dunstan's just after lunch, with Buchanan having assembly instead of the final class of the day.

Mr. Gregg laid it out for all to hear: Up to now, they had used an opt-in process where if parents wanted their children to participate sans restrictive attire they could sign a permission form (Mr. Gregg being either ignorant of or ignoring the fact that the regular swim classes had neglected to obtain signed forms for the rest of the students, but rather let them decide for themselves); effective immediately it would be treated as opt-out, with parents having to state they wished their child to wear workout gear or swimsuit. At St. Dunstan's, the clothes-free exercise program was to be extended to include all gym activities. The Board was investigating fencing that would avoid exposing the tender eyes of the prudish to the unwanted sight of naked humans, yet also minimize exposure of tender taxpayer pocketbooks. That could prove an issue as the sports fields around the school were quite flat and highly visible to the houses backing up on two sides.

Mr. Gregg also confirmed that any team competing indoors at St. Dunstan's would face the prospect of being unclad themselves, and surrounded by an audience of naked teenagers. "Why should Gymnos have all the fun?" he joked.

At Buchanan, which was coming into the field slightly later than their feeder school did, the immediate priority was the volleyball team — no other team at either school would face Gymnos for another week. Another issue was that the Buchanan boys' basketball team was training for a meet and needed the court to work out after class. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, there was enough space in the gym for both teams, but times now were not the old normal. The plan worked out between the two schools was to send the volleyball team over to St. Dunstan's and have the St. Dunstan's boys' soccer team practice outdoors for the rest of the week at that time. That way, the girls of Buchanan would have only the girls of St. Dunstan's to mentally deal with.

So it was that at the end of the day, eleven nervous vixens of the volleyball club and a dozen equally nervous champions of the cheerleading squad made their way to St. Dunstan to doff their duds.

Penny, Leona and their squad stood in the girls' locker room preparing to undress. Eileen and Ginger walked in, wearing running shoes, sports socks and whistles on lanyards, and carrying clipboards. Penny stared at them a second and gulped. "You know, up until now I don't think I really believed what you said," she informed them quietly. Then she turned to the assembled students and, taking her shirt off, asked, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"An engraved invitation," suggested a wag in the back.

"You've got one, now move. Sooner we strip, sooner we get to dress again."

Ginger took over from here. "OK, girls, keep getting changed, but listen up. When you get out there, you'll find the only others in the gym are also girls — we've made sure the boys are cleared out already. Our volleyball team is already waiting for you. Because it just won't be fair to have Buchanan versus St. Dustan's because of size and skill, we've decided to mix the two teams together. Go out there and get your stretching and warm-up exercises done. Have a good practice." She looked at the terrified teens. "And relax. We don't bite. It's not a full moon."

They emerged into the bright lights of the gym to find a squad of comparatively tiny teens, three of whom were shooting some hoops as they waited. As Rebecca lined up her shot, Linda and Marcia yelled encouragement. "Miss this shot, Becky, and you have to ask Kevin out!"

"Yes, in the nude!"

Just then they noticed the squad emerging from the locker room.

"Oh, don't stop on our account!" Ginger called. "I want to see if Becky makes this!"

Rebecca blanched and obediently turned around. She muttered to Linda, "No pressure."

Of course she bobbled it. Everyone began laughing as she stared at the basketball. "How could I miss that shot?"

"So," Ginger called, "Should I call Kevin in, or are you going to go to him?" She turned around with the question unanswered and called for order.

"Maybe we can see a movie..." a blushing Rebecca mused as they gathered around.

After about 15 minutes, even the most prudish of Buchanan's beauties had completely forgotten she was nude. The merged volleyball squads made the most of the time. The cheerleading squad experimented with a few routines to see what worked butt-naked and what were best avoided. They also discussed with Eileen what the Gymnos cheerleading squad had done in terms both of dress and routines.

At the end of the workout: "OK, 30 minutes free swim. Go through to the pool, have a quick shower first, and dive in. No street shoes in the pool!!"

Penny went over to Eileen and Ginger. "Swim after a training session? They usually don't want to have to wash both their swimsuits and their workout gear."

"And that is the advantage of having the workout gear and the swimsuit being the same thing," Eileen pointed out, "and can be washed out in an ordinary shower stall."

"My only problem is my workout gear needs ironing," Penny joked, indicating her middle-aged face.

"Mine too," assured Ginger. "Mine too."

At Buchanan High the next day, the volleyball team and cheerleading squad members were both on a bit of a high. They'd done something that seemed sort of naughty, they weren't going to get in trouble, they'd had a good time, they felt relaxed afterwards, and they were going to do it again after class today. To Penny's amusement, several whispered to her they were actually looking forward to their next trip.