Chapter 1

I am an eighteen-year-old girl living with my mother. My name is Alison. Dad was killed in an industrial accident four years ago. Dad's life insurance policy was only enough to cover burial services.

Since then everything has gone downhill financially. Mom couldn't keep up with the bills, especially the mortgage. The bank has already sent one foreclosure warning in the mail. The credit card companies call constantly, trying to collect.

Lately, Mom has started to drown her sorrows by drinking. She passes out almost every evening. At first, I thought this was to my advantage. I could do what I wanted to do with my free time. But soon, I really started to worry about my Mom's health.

When I hit puberty, I was self conscious of my body during the physical changes. I developed sooner than most of the girls my age. At those times, the boys at school stared at my body in a way that made me uncomfortable. That is why I've always worn three layers on top and never anything short on bottom.

Now that I'm in my late teens, things have changed. I'm noticing a trend. Some girls I see are not afraid to show off. They definitely get the most attention from the boys. My emotions wanted some of that attention.

I went to a house party this past Summer that had around sixty people my age and a little older. Once I made my way to the kitchen, my attention focused on a girl from my homeroom class.

Susan is a rather tall girl and has long blonde hair that's usually in a ponytail. She was randomly wandering through every room and sometimes moved about the back yard too. I followed at a distance.

When she wasn't sipping her drink, she had a big smirk on her face. The reason for the smirk was the fact that she was only wearing short denim cutoffs and sandals. Even though she had smallish breasts, every male that wasn't with his girlfriend tried to talk with her.

She was polite with them, but she moved on within a few moments each time. No one said anything negative to her or about her. Nobody tried to grope her. I was fascinated.

She finally caught me staring at her. Her smirk broadened to a grin. Then, just like she did with the boys, she walked away.

A short while later, Heather, the girl that gave me a ride to the party approached.

She said, " I need to leave now. If you want a ride home, let's go".

At that moment Susan also approached. I looked at her, then back at Heather. Heather saw my questioning look.

"Susan overheard that I was leaving and asked for a ride home", she explained. I looked back at Susan and this time I lowered my gaze enough to see she was holding her white top against her hip.

"Oh", I replied.

Heather started walking towards the front door followed by Susan. I brought up the rear. Heather opened the door and walked out. My jaw dropped when Susan simply held her top against her chest with one forearm and followed Heather. As soon as Susan was seated in the back of the car and closed her door, she promptly let her top drop into her lap.

Susan's house was closest so it was the first stop. Her house was set back from the street a ways with a long driveway leading to it. When the car stopped, Susan thanked Heather for the ride and hopped out. I looked with amazement as she walked to the front door holding her top bunched up against her hip.

When she opened it, she turned and waved goodbye to us. Then she went inside as is. I looked at Heather and she looked at me and answered my unasked question as we turned around to leave.

"I have visited Susan here about five or six times. She never wears a top at home. Her little sister doesn't wear any clothes at home. Their parents are very liberal minded and just let them be themselves. It's a different lifestyle, but it seems harmless", She added.

I had an epiphany at that moment. I wasn't ready to go out in public with a lot of me showing. But, I still wanted to try something like Susan had just done and home seemed like the safe place to do it. By the time Heather dropped me off, I had a plan to make it okay with Mom and get her sober as well. A win/win scenario.