Chapter 11

I finished high school and walked across the stage and since I was not valedictorian, I did not have to speak. I did hear a few cheers when I picked up my diploma. My mom, dad and the grandparents were in the audience. Afterwards we went to dinner at the club. Most of the kids in my class were heading to the beach for the week, but due to my age, I decided not to go. All of my friends were eighteen and would be heading to the clubs and bars at night. Besides that, I was going to college and needed to get ready. I started my summer by taking some college classes in summer school. My plan was to take two classes so I could get the feel for the University of Florida campus.

Robin did stop by to say goodbye. She was going to be playing tennis for the University of South Florida Bulls in Tampa. She had broken up with Scott. He was going to UNC to become a Tar Heel. She still had her necklace on and unclasped so I unzipped, and told her to get busy. I am not sure if she was a submissive or more likely a thrill seeker and exhibitionist. She was the dominant one with Scott but she always enjoyed when I played with her and dominated her.

I left for school about two weeks after I graduated from high school. Mom took me up to the campus and we had some back and forth discussions about where I would be living. Although I had signed up to stay in a dorm, I was still only fifteen years old. The school had some concerns about my age and with me living with a bunch of eighteen year olds. There were RA's in the dorms, but they couldn't watch me 24/7 and the school was concerned that some of the older students would pick on me.

To resolve the standoff, I offered a suggestion that they did accept. There is a dorm on campus for graduate students. They were older, more mature, and less likely to hang me out of the third floor window by my underwear. I know I was young but had just pushed through 6' 2" and in good shape. The other thing about North Hall was that they had some private rooms that would allow me to sleep without worrying about my roommate or the school worrying about my roommate. Therefore, we all agreed that they would provide me with a private room in the dorm across from the baseball field and I would live with a bunch of twenty-two to twenty-four year olds who wouldn't beat me up.

I moved in and Mom took me to dinner before heading home. Everyone expected me to cry and call home but I didn't. Most of the other people in the dorm were pretty nice. The thing about the dorm was that all the residents were older. They didn't have or need an RA. They did have a dorm head elected by the others on the floor. Our floor's dorm head was a chemistry major named Brett Miller. His roommate, Reggie Dawson, was a shorter black guy who was working on his Law degree. He came into the room while I was talking to Brett and gave me a nod. He asked if I played basketball and I said I could play but I was more into pickup games and not into organized leagues. He nodded again and said that they played most nights for a couple hours after dinner and that if I wanted to play to let him know.

The next day was for settling into the dorm and going over all of the rules. I was in North Hall. Brett came to my door. "Britt, I am here to talk about the rules. I am not your mom. Pick up after yourself. If you have a problem with another resident go talk to them nicely and if you can't work it out come talk to me. Don't leave dishes in the kitchen and if you smoke pot, put a towel under the door so it isn't too obvious in the hall. Any questions? No, good. Sign here."

Now what was I to do for the rest of the day? I went out to the lawn behind the dorm. There were girls lying out getting a tan, guys throwing a football, a girl, and two guys throwing a Frisbee and doing some tricks and funky throws. I sat down to watch and they asked if I wanted to play. The triangle turned into a square and off we went. I only knew how to throw one way but could throw it straight so they didn't complain or ask me to leave. We played for about an hour until one of the guys had to leave and since it was his Frisbee, the game was over. The girl came over, said "Hi," and introduced herself as Karen. She asked if I lived in Tolbert. (She asked this since we were on the lawn between the two dorms).

I pointed as I said that I had just moved into North. She said that she lived in North but that I didn't look old enough.

"Karen, I am working on my MD. I am going to be a gynecologist."

She looked at me and then started laughing. "What is this?" and she started pointing to some bones.

"Clavicle, Scapula, Tarsal, Metatarsal, Patella, Femur". When she pointed to her sternum I said, "Heaven."

"Close but not quite. What are you really studying?"

"Karen, don't you trust me?"

"You do know some bones but I am a 2nd year med student. I know everyone in the program or have at least seen everyone. I also am the TA for Dr. Howard."

"What if I had just transferred in from another school?"

"Then Dr. Howard would have approved it and I would have processed the paperwork, including the ID badges for the hospital."

"Ok, you caught me; I am just an amateur gynecologist. I am still learning but I don't get too many complaints."

She smiled at that and we walked back into the dorm. "Were you lying about living here as well?"

"No, I am here in Room 105. I overlook the field. Do you want something to drink?" I was asking while unlocking the door.

She poked her head in but didn't come into the room. "How did you get a single? I have been on the waiting list since I got here."

"I was highly recruited and the higher ups at the school had to meet certain demands for me to attend. I can't be practicing medicine with a roommate. It would break doctor-patient confidentiality."

"OK, Doc, I will see you in class." She said as she walked toward the stairs.

I did see Reggie and he asked if I wanted to have dinner and play some ball. I said "sure," and changed into some gym shorts and a t-shirt. I started walking to the cafeteria in the basement of Tolbert Hall and he was walking towards an exit door. I turned and followed him. I figured he was going to grab a bite at a restaurant and I had the cash. Grandpa had also gotten me a credit card from the trust with my name on it, to insure that I had as much money as I needed for school. I jogged to catch up with Reggie and we walked toward the stadium. It is just catty-corner across the intersection. He walked down some steps and he opened a door. It was the athletic cafeteria. The food looked much better. I asked Reggie if it was OK for me to be in here and he said "It was open to all students except when it was closed for certain pre-game meals."

Since he looked very fit, I asked if he played on one of the teams. He replied that he wasn't on any teams but worked here for his student work program. I grabbed a chicken breast and a Caesar salad and put them together. He had a burger. After the meal, we walked over to the indoor courts next to the stadium. Everyone knew him when he walked in. There were four black guys already there, and with us we made six, perfect for a three-on-three. I was with Reggie and another guy named Tony. We were skins so I took off my shirt in case they couldn't tell the one white guy. Reggie took off his shirt and he looked pretty ripped, but the thing that stood out the most was a scar on his arm. While we were warming up and just shooting around, I asked what had happened to his arm.

He answered me saying "The same thing that happened to him," as he pointed at Tony who had the same scar, "And those guys," as he pointed to the guys wearing shirts. It turned out to be a brand they wore for being members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. It looked painful.

We played three games and I did OK. I hadn't played in a while so my shot was off some but I was in good shape and did well in the later games when the others were tired. On the way back, I asked if there was a place to swim on campus. He led me to the gym across the street from the dorm. We walked around back and into a door. He showed me where he worked out in a small gym. We walked past that and into the locker room. We walked out a door at the other end and entered into the main swimming pool for the university team.

I later learned that Reggie was the former president of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and when he graduated he moved out of the house and into North Hall. He still stopped by from time to time and many guys stopped by the dorm to see him. The pledges would stop by as well because the fraternity brothers would send them over to do things for him as part of their pledge tasks. Many times, some of the little sisters would stop by as well.

The next morning I was up early and went for my run. The campus had more hills than I was used to, and North Hall was on top of the hill. No matter where I ran, it was always uphill on the way home. After the run, I grabbed a towel and some trunks and followed the trail that Reggie had led me down and jumped in to swim laps. The pool was Olympic length and I enjoyed swimming without having to turn so many times. I swam 10 laps down and back or 1,000 yards. It was a little longer but I was fine. I had done my pushups and sit-ups before the run so I was done with my workout. I walked back to the dorm, took a shower and got ready for orientation. They talked about everything. I listened with one ear and looked at the different girls in the auditorium.

My hormones were kicking in and I was horny all of the time. I was whacking off three times a day. I needed to find a girl. This might prove to be difficult since I was younger than the entire campus and about eight years younger than most everyone else in my dorm. When I was a senior, the freshmen would just be a year younger. I guess my goal will be to date freshmen for all four years. Not a bad plan.

The next week we started classes. I was taking Calculus for Business and Photography. The first class was so I could get it behind me and the other was to see how far I wanted to go with my photography and find out what I didn't know. Calculus was just what I expected. I would go to the lecture, and then go to the breakout class with a foreign exchange student from India trying to explain what you didn't understand in the lecture, and then meeting with a nice person in thick glasses, who would finally help me to understand the work in the math lab after hours. I should just hire "coke bottle lens" to teach me the entire class. I did well but had to work hard. I was studying and spending a lot of time in the math lab to make sure I finally understood the work. I guess the extra work paid off because I received an A in the class.

Photography was a much smaller class and it was definitely not a required course for a business major. There were sixteen girls and four guys in the class. It was a beginner's class and the first day the teacher asked us to stand and introduce ourselves and tell the class what type of experience we had if any in photography and why we were taking the class.

I was one of only two freshmen in the class. Most had taken classes in high school. Most were art students in other areas like drawing or painting.

Then it was my turn. "My name is Britt. I am brand new to the school as an incoming freshman. I am taking the class to learn more about photography. I have been self-taught and with the help of a friend, I know the basics. My friend also has a dark room so I am comfortable developing negatives and prints. I enjoy photographing landscapes, nature, action shots and the human body, preferably nudes. I only have experience with black and white and have not done any color work."

The teacher, Ms. Widener, asked how old I was. I told her I was fifteen and would be sixteen in a few weeks. She asked if I would be willing to help others in the dark room if anyone needed help. I said that it depended on my schedule, that taking Calculus was like taking three classes instead of one. That got a laugh. She asked if I had brought any photos to school with me, that she would like to see where I was before we started class. She asked other students that had done work before to bring theirs in as well. We started into Chapter 1, Getting to Know Your Camera. I actually learned a few things so I was happy to sit through the rest of the stuff I already knew. I could also understand the teacher, so that was nice too.

When I entered the class the next day there were several students with albums on their desk. I had my backpack, like I always do, and just set it on the floor. When class started, Ms. Widener walked around and flipped through the albums. She would hold up any interesting shots and would ask the student about the techniques used or what they were trying to achieve when they took the shot.

When she came to me, she asked if I had brought any prints. I reached for my pack and brought out an accordion file. I blushed and said I didn't have an album like all of the girls. She gave me a warm smile and asked how I had arranged the file? I told her that I didn't have a system; that they are more in chronological order. I just remember around when I took something and can quickly find it.

She started in the front of my folder with the shots in the park. Next she was onto the early action shots, and then she moved to the people shots and all the things you would normally find on the coffee table album in any home. Next were the pictures of Robin. She slowed down and studied them closely. She asked me some questions about taking nude photographs. She asked me if being so young made it hard to get over the feelings and properly concentrate on the pictures.

I was trying to gather my thoughts when I started to speak, "It was hard..." before I could pick my next word the whole class was laughing. I just smiled and said, "That too." They laughed some more but it was funny. "If you look at the picture, what I was GOING to say was that it was hard to get her to relax. I did not want a posed shot of a Playboy model on a set. I wanted a natural person doing natural things in a natural way, just without clothes." I got a few more giggles and the teacher asked if she could pass a couple around? It was Robin so I said sure. She picked out the ones of her making sandwiches and licking the mustard off her finger. She also pulled out the goose bumps shot. I enjoyed the looks on people's faces as they looked at the photos.

She went through a few more, and the ones of Robin with my cock in her mouth or Sheila with her hand up her cunt went right back in the file after she had looked at them for artistic value. Then she came upon some pictures of the downtown buildings, a track meet and then Courtney. These had been more posed and more anonymous. There was no face, just the body. She asked about these and the difference from Robin fixing lunch.

I explained that my subject, due to her age and shyness, wanted to pose for me, but feared having the pictures get out later. To support her needs, we did more posing and experimenting with light and shadow without her face being in the pictures. She pulled out three with the same pose and held them up. "What do you see class?"

One of the girls in the front row said that they were the same but had different looks. Another said the contrast was different. Another thought I had used different exposures while developing. Then she asked me to tell the class how I had gotten the same picture to look so different.

I answered the question by telling them, "In the picture on the left, that is her natural dry skin. I loved the pose because the light and shadows highlighted her tight muscles and the light silhouetted her nipples. I had to keep them hard for the next shots. For the middle picture, I used a misting bottle to spray water lightly on her skin to give it a sheen, like a light sweat or after a round of lovemaking. For the last shot, I oiled her body with baby oil. This gave her a high gloss finish that really made the contrast from light to dark that much bolder. I thought the first was good when I took it. I thought the second one was great and then the last, well it is one of my favorites."

Ms. Widener looked through some more and she looked at me when she saw Robin skiing without bottoms on and then the optical illusion of my cock that I did for Beth. This got me a raised eyebrow and a smirk. One of the girls asked what it was but she did not respond. She looked through some more and pulled out a picture of my mom walking on the beach at sunset. "What is the meaning behind this picture?"

"That one is kind of personal. I love that picture as well."

"I can tell. It comes through on the print. You don't have to tell but I want everyone in the class to be able to take pictures like these, adding what goes into these pictures beyond point and click."

I made up my mind quickly and then just let it flow. "My mom had been addicted to drugs and was in a bad relationship with my dad. I took her away and stayed with her for two weeks while the drugs purged from her system. I held her though the puking and the cold sweats, and through the agony and the moaning, and when she came out the other side she was better. She had on a white sundress and we went down to walk on the beach at sunset. I took this at sunset and I know it is sunset but although it represents that part of her life ending, I see it more as a sunrise with the new life beginning a new day with everything new. I was very proud of her and with the white dress on, she looked fresh." I wiped a tear from my eye and looked at my desk.

Ms. Widener spoke softly, "I knew there was a story behind this picture. A picture is worth a thousand words, a thousand emotions. Britt just opened up to help you all become better at photography. As you leave I want you to stop by the picture hanging on the board and I want you to see what he saw when he took it and what he still sees on that page."

It was very somber, and a handful of girls stopped to say thank you for sharing my photos.

I was the last to leave. Ms. Widener thanked me for sharing and apologized for putting me on the spot. She knew there was something behind the picture but if she had known how personal it was she wouldn't have pushed. I shrugged and told her it was OK. It was a sad time that turned into a happy time.

I quickly fell into a routine. I was up in the morning around 6 am then did my pushups and sit-ups, my five-mile run and 1,000 yard swim, and finally finished with a shower. I would then walk to the news shop for a local paper and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), walk back to the cafeteria under the stadium for coffee and breakfast, and read the papers. I had my first class at 9 am. It was calculus. At 1 pm, I had photography so I would spend the time in between by having lunch and figuring out the calculus in the lab or at the lunch table. After 2:30, I was done for the day. I would study if I had anything else that would require attention. I would play basketball with Reggie after dinner. If I saw Karen, I would play Frisbee with her. I had a lot of free time and didn't want to sit around in my room doing nothing, so I met new people, and when invited I would do different things. If I saw three guys from the dorm going to play golf, I would ask if they needed a fourth. If they did, I went golfing with them. I did go to practice with Karen one afternoon to watch them play Ultimate Frisbee, and they asked me to play since it was summer and they were short of bodies.