Chapter 9

I awoke to raised voices from downstairs and entered the room ten minutes later, with a naked Rhea on one side of the table shouting at Mum on the other side. "He is an English teacher, don't you have any self-respect?" Rhea shouted and crossed her arms, her clothes that she must have put on to do her newsagent work abandoned on the floor. "I mean ... for fucks sake Mum. Are thing actually that desperate down there?"

"Rhea, go upstairs and get ready for school."

"Mr Russell. I got to look him in the eye today and know that he fucked you last night."

"He did not," Mum snapped. "Not that it is any of your business if he did."

Rhea sighed loudly. "It's sooooo..."

"Go upstairs and get ready for school. And I don't want you causing him any embarrassment today." Rhea swore and was ordered out of the dining room but hesitated as she considered the request. She sneered, crossed her arms and stormed out of the room, and I looked at Mum rubbing her forehead as she sat down over her bowl of muesli and cup of tea.

"OK?" I asked, and Mum nodded.

"Yeah." She took a big breath. "He's not that young," she moaned. "And..." She sniffed and pursed her lips.

"And another thing," Rhea asked as she re-entered the room, still naked. "Just how did you two decide that going out was a good idea? You were supposed to be talking 'bout me at parents' evening."

Mum gulped and leapt up from the chair, pointing accusingly at my sister. "It's because of you," she cried. "After the headteacher said all those things about you, Ken overheard and came and found me crying outside, and he told me what you were like in his lessons. He told me that not everything Mrs Wyatt said was true." Rhea gulped, and Mum snorted. "If you weren't such a nightmare at school, I wouldn't have had a night out last night."

"So it's Rhea's fault," I added. "Totally because of Rhea." I looked at my sister splutter, cry out in anger and then swear again. I waited for my sister to storm up the stairs before asking, "was it?"

"Sort of," she replied and then smiled. "I'd met him before, he lived on Alicia's street. But I'm not going to tell Rhea that. He is back off to see his family over Christmas, but he is coming over for New Year."

I laughed. "Rhea'll love that."

"And another thing," my sister said storming back into the room, doing her best impression of Colombo. "Just what did you talk about? 'Cause it better not have been about me."

"Rhea, for the last time, get dressed!" Mum shouted. "And I am not telling you what we talked about!"

"It was, wasn't it?"

"Rhea, my life does not revolve around you," Mum told her. "Neither does Ken's. We talked about ... we talked about many things and then went for a drink and then..."

"Oh my God, you did fuck him!"

"I did not," Mum shouted. "Now go upstairs and get ready for school."

"But my first lesson is English," Rhea wailed. "And I know he's going to have a massive smile on his face. And I'm going to know, and ... this is worse than coming home and having Abi scream 'fuck me harder.' This family is seriously fucking me up."

I waited for her to leave and looked at Mum. "I'd says she's fucked up without us," I joked, and Mum just chastised me for my use of language with a slightly guilty look on her face. I shrugged and saw an open letter on the table and glanced at it.

"Yeah, and Rhea's been called to a disciplinary hearing," Mum informed me.

"What's she done now?"

"Swearing apparently, when she was a referee."

"Ahhh," I muttered. "Ahhh yes, there was that. She was provoked."

Mum wiped her face and yawned. "She's always being provoked," Mum snapped and shook her head. "I so need to have some serious words with her."

"Yeah," I muttered. "Good luck with that."

Sarah met me outside the Common Room with a deep, loving kiss. "Last day of term," she whispered as we broke our embrace. Zoe and Rosie hesitated in the doorway, and Sarah beckoned them over.

"It's OK," Sarah said. "We won't bite."

"We didn't want to interrupt," Zoe answered, and Sarah gave a sheepish look. "We are off to the café to mark the end of the term after lessons. Wanna come?"

"Got work," I replied instantly. "Promised Mum I would help her sort out the alcohol for the Christmas Party."

Zoe rolled her eyes, and I leant over to Sarah. "Did your mum say you can go?"

Sarah nodded. "Of course." We looked at Zoe who gave a smile.

"Well Rhea said she was going and wanted Simon to go with her, so Mum said he could only go if I go. But we sort of haven't told her..." Zoe trailed off. "Yeah I'm going."

Sarah laughed. "Your mum would never, ever, have let you go to a nightclub for a private party a year ago."

Zoe giggled nervously. "And you wouldn't have gone," Sarah told her.

"Well finding out that Andy and Rhea both lived above a nightclub was a bit of a shock really, but she doesn't mind too much now." Zoe shifted nervously. "She's always liked Andy, and she thinks..." Zoe trailed off as she spoke and shifted nervously. "Well, it was a big shock to find out about the club."

Sarah looked at me, and I squeezed her arm, still around my waist, with a wry smile. "And the Mathesons thought you were such a nice sweet boy!" Zoe gave a tense giggle at Sarah's teasing, but I immediately suspected that it was not too far from the truth.

I briefly told Zoe and Sarah about Rhea and Mr Russell the previous evening and guessed Rhea would be moaning about it to Simon. "It's good that your mother has found someone," Zoe announced. "She deserves a bit of happiness in her life. Be good for her to get some peace with someone." I looked at her with a degree of incredulity: as Sarah and I had found out, Rhea never allowed peace to break out if she didn't like the partner of a family member. "Well putting up with you and Rhea, and bringing you up on her own. It can't be easy."

Ray entered the small common room before I could reply, to a few cheers and he revelled in his stardom, twirling as he came in. "Yer the man," Jez told him and high-fived him as he came passed him. "Porn star. What it is wiv you, man?"

Ray didn't blush and sat down next to Zoe and me. "So how was Lucille?"

"Fantastic!" Ray cried and gave a grin. "I think I'm in love." Sarah and I both choked on our drinks, and he looked a little hurt.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "But you only met her a few days ago."

"Know that," my friend snapped and rubbed the corner of his eyes. "Know that but we got on so well. And I spent all evening on the 'phone to her and after I got that money I got a mobile with Mum and rang her and went passed the Welly on our way to the station. She said she'd stay the night if I booked it, but she paid in the end. But man, she's just incredible. Always smiling and ... what a body! Tits to die for, and that tongue..."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Am I the only one here who isn't a sex addict?"

Ray snorted. "I'm not a sex addict. In fact, I had sex with her for the first and only time last night." His voice wavered slightly. "Well five times last night, but we never left the bedroom. She does these wonderful things with her..."

"I don't want to know," Zoe interrupted loudly and crossed her arms.

"And I spent Saturday and last night at her house." Sarah raised her eyebrows at him, but he just giggled. "Honestly, we've just been doing..." He saw a steely glance from Zoe and shrugged. " ... All sorts of things."

"We like to see you happy," Sarah told him with a smile. "It's good. Eh, Zoe?"

"Yeah," my friend muttered and Ray beamed.

"She's cool. Just wish Donna wasn't a bitch."

"Yeah, 'bout that," Sarah started. "Donna's not too happy with you," my girlfriend said firmly, which was a massive understatement, but Ray just shrugged, and Zoe glared at him.

"Don't care. She's just a spiteful cow."

"She'd be a bit less of a 'spiteful cow' if..."

Sarah didn't get to finish as the Head of the Sixth Form College strode into the room and clapped his hands loudly to get our attention. We were all summoned to the hall and told to be seated as the Headmaster strode onto the stage. "What's this about?" I asked, and Sarah shrugged.

"Anyone who was not at the Christmas Disco last night can go," he shouted abruptly and about a third of the room emptied. I saw Sarah bite her lip and look ominously at me; had they found the Sunny Delight carton?

If they had then they wouldn't able to prove that it was me, would they? They could do blood tests on the traces of saliva and maybe have proved that it was me but wasn't that a bit drastic over a drop of booze?

"We run the Christmas Disco for you ... not us or me, but you," he lectured. "And we don't normally have any problems from it, but I have some seriously unhappy people at the moment having to clear up your mess from the week before." He strode from one side of the stage to the other and looked at all of us, his eyes and gaze piercing through every student. "You are all adults, and I do not like what I am going to say, but we've found cigarette butts and the ends of illegal drugs. I think you call them spliffs, we call them jail time. Someone has been smoking pot on the premises, and I want to know who. And we've got vomit stains in the girls toilets and which amorous girl has been in the technology classroom?" My heart skipped a beat, and Sarah bit her lip. "Eight condoms? And if you need eight guys to..." There a smattering of laughter.

"It's Ray's bitch," Donna cried from the other side of the hall. "His date would screw everyone."

"Fuck you!" Ray shouted from beside me; there was a collective gasp in the room: Ray was the last person who would shout and swear in school. "And I guess we should know it wasn't you as no-one got pissed enough to want to go near you."

"You fuckin' screwed her," Donna screamed. "We all know you did. I heard you bragging about it today."

The headmaster tried to call order, but Ray was standing up and openly shouting at his ex-girlfriend. "Not at College," Ray shouted back. "It was last night. But what 'bout that guy who you were with? Skanky little runt like you would definitely have screwed him, and all of his friends like you did before." Tears rolled down Donna's cheeks, and the Head of the Sixth Form tried to restore some degree of order, but Ray and Donna traded insults across us. "You screw anything," Ray shouted and Donna burst into tears. "Desperate enough!"

"Well I went out with you..." Donna and Ray were ordered out, and the exchange between the ex-lovers had certainly taken a lot of the tension out of the room. Ray had always been remarkably calm and quiet, had come out of his shell with Donna, but these last few days had seen him become almost aggressively violent – particularly with Donna.

This distraction aside, the teacher was determined to have some answers: he wanted to know who threw up in the girls' toilets and who was smoking illegal drugs – neither of which was down to me and Sarah.

There was silence and no-one admitted to any indiscretion. I was certainly suspecting that Lucille may have had the spliffs; I didn't see her light up, but I knew she was a pot smoker, and from the stench in her house, she was quite a heavy one at that!

There was a hand emerging from the other side of the hall. "I threw up in the toilets," a voice uttered, and Ingrid stood up. "It was me. And I was responsible for one of the condoms." There was an outbreak of chatter in the room and she wiped her eyes, turning to the girl behind her. "He's my boyfriend, Lin. I know you used the room as well, and Peter wasn't at the Disco."

The Chinese girl looked across to the other side of the room and shook her head. "I didn't," she cried.

"Liar. I gave you one," Ingrid replied. "You're much worse than me." The Head of the Sixth Form told Ingrid and Lin to report to his office. There were no further admissions – especially about the drugs – but we got a lecture about the use of illegal substances and were sent on our way. Zoe gave us both ominous glares, and I squeezed Zoe's hand. "What?"

"If there is sex around, you were definitely involved," she told us as we filed out of the hall. We disagreed with her, and were scandalized by her suggestion, but she was far closer than she realised.

I was a little sad to miss my friend's celebrations for the end of the term, but Donna joined Sarah and Zoe, and with Donna came trouble. Helping Mum sort out the alcohol wasn't an unpleasant task, the little store room was lined with thousands of pounds worth of booze, and she had a giant bucket on wheels that she put the unwanted drinks into. I layered them gently, ensuring that their bottles did not break, and Mum gave little sneering comments with each of them.

"Rep said this would sell at twenty five quid a bottle, couldn't shift it at fifteen. Lying bastard." I just grinned at her, and she fished out some beer to go with the wine and alcopops, and we had filled up the bucket in just half-an-hour. Mum glanced down at them, most of the drink were where she had just a few bottles left and didn't intend to order anymore, but there were a few lines which she had bought that just didn't sell as well as she had expected.

It all looked like a lot of money, but then I realised how much she charged for drinks and realised that the normal mark-up on the overpriced drinks more than covered the few ranges which didn't sell. Mum wasn't that bothered about it, she made a note of everything that went in and how many bottles of what and mentioned something about "tax" when I asked; I somehow suspected from her laissez-faire attitude that she would not be significantly out of pocket.

Zoe joined me for the team meeting. There was some moaning from some of the girls – the Christmas and New Year closure dates affected the Friday and Saturdays for two consecutive weeks, and these were the days when the club was busiest – but for many they were just happy to have some time off.

We were re-introduced to Elena, who was working Gemma's old shifts. Mum had been relaxed about finding a replacement for Miss Edwards, but Elena was shy and went red as Mum made her the centre of attention; she had covered in the Summer for a few weeks and then disappeared, but I remembered warming immediately to her. She came across as a little vulnerable and shy, and I noticed a crucifix around her neck.

Elena gave a muted wave of the hand and I smiled at her, remembering her photo shoot with fond memories. Her long brown hair and hazel eyes were alluring and warm all those months ago, and Zoe whispered in my ear. "She looks lost!"

After the meeting, Zoe and I made a bee-line for Elena; she was reticent and indecisive as we spoke to her, not quite sure who Zoe was even after we had introduced ourselves. Zoe had spotted the crucifix as well and wanted to invite Elena to her church, something which Elena wasn't quite sure about, but the German girl began to open up to us when I returned from the bar with three lemonades.

Elena was from Hannover: she worked in a couple of residential care homes but had found the pay and conditions to be lower than when she was in Germany and had sought to supplement her income from work at the club. I suppose I never seriously thought that the girls could have other jobs, but it also seemed reasonable, and Elena was happy to accept the invite Zoe gave her to visit the church the in two days time.

Zoe seemed to be at home as they conversed and I excused myself with the paychecks from Zoe and myself to pay into the Midland Bank a few streets away. I returned to see Zoe still animatedly talking to Elena, and Mum smiled as I entered. "Most conversation anyone has got out of her," she muttered. "But the punters love her. It's her accent, really gets 'em going."

I gave a little titter, but I could tell Mum was serious. "Perhaps you could do a European night. Abi can do Scotland, Elena Germany, surely you can get some Scandinavian, French, Italian, Russian girls in." Mum snorted and just smiled.

"You have quite an imagination," she just told me and left the room to walk to the office.

Elena left a few minutes later after I gave Zoe the stamped proof of paying-in and watched as my friend came up to our flat; she was meeting Simon there. "It was a nasty thing to do!" Simon cried out at Rhea who sat with her arms folded.

"Of course it is, it's Rhea," I told them interrupting the argument they were having. "What's she done now? Burnt down the school? Blackmailed a homeless man?"

"She's..."

"Shut the fuck up!" Rhea cried, and my heightened interest was piqued. I looked at my anxious sibling, her brown hair brushed back, and she scowled at her boyfriend. "You should be glad," Rhea spat and then stared at Zoe. "Just so you know, I have done nothing to Simon."

"Nathan," Simon told us, pre-empting the question from us and Rhea crossed her arms.

"He did it to himself," Rhea told us and then groaned, running her hands through her hair. "He's a moron. A total and utter moron. I just videoed the proof of his stupidity; nothing really and no harm can be done."

"Rhea, I am used to you lying, but even by your standards that sounds like a total fabrication." She gestured towards us, and I hummed. "Well you are big enough and ugly enough to sort this one out yourself."

"Andy!" Zoe cried. "Don't you want to know what's bothering them?"

"No," I replied instantly. "Rhea will do her own thing no matter what I say. I am not her parent so just let her do her own thing." I shook my head as I walked past them, dumping my bag on the floor and getting a drink from the kitchen. Zoe tried to eke out what my little sister had done, but neither Rhea or Simon were prepared to tell her; I knew I would hear eventually, but Rhea would do what she wanted to do regardless of what anyone told her, and it was far safer for me to be able to be ignorant.

I convinced Zoe to join us for tea, and we ambled off to the bowling alley after eating before having to settle on the cinema when the bowling was too busy; we were not the only people who fancied celebrating the final day of the academic term with a night out!

Zoe and I bickered over paying for everything until we just agreed to split the cost 50/50; she was obstinate! We sat down in the small cinema auditorium, placed our coats on a seat next to us and had a good few minutes to talk. She moaned again about Rhea until I pointed out that the person she needed to complain to was Mum or Rhea herself, and not me. "But Grace can't do much, and Rhea won't listen."

"Then give up then," I told her with a smile. "Just please, stop trying to be everyone's mother. You are not."

"I am not trying to be everyone's mother," Zoe replied and gave a huge sigh. "I just ... I just worry about Simon. Don't you worry about Rhea?"

"No," I told her instantly, but she knew I didn't mean it. "OK, a bit." Zoe passed me back the popcorn and adjusted herself in the seat, rubbing her back.

"Sorry, bra is digging in."

"Take it off then."

"I can't."

"Sure you can. It's dark, and there's no-one that can see." Zoe turned to look around, and as she did, I instinctively put my hands to her back and unclipped her bra through her cotton T-Shirt.

"Andy," Zoe screeched and turned to face me. "That's out of order."

"What?" I asked with a cheeky smile, but Zoe was not laughing. "You said..." Zoe raised her hands and pushed her shoulders back.

"Oh, you are such a pain. I gotta go to the toilets now and..." She glared at me as I shrugged. "I can't be in public without a bra on. I'm not ... I wish you'd ask before you do things like that. I am not a doll for you to play with."

"You said it was uncomfortable," I countered as the film started.

"Not as uncomfortable with having a bra on but not done up."

"Then take it off." Zoe hissed at me and shook her head, but I squeezed her hand. "OK, sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Sarah and Abi might go around in public without proper underwear on, but I am not Sarah, and I am not Abi."

"No, you are Zoe. But come on, let's just watch the film." Zoe sighed and relented, taking her bra off underneath her T-Shirt and putting it in her coat pocket. There was nothing sexual to it, and we just watched the comedy we had paid to watch. Zoe stopped sighing at me and cuddled into the chair, and I put my arms around her, my hand resting on her unfettered yet covered bosom.

At the end of the film, I just passed her, her red coat, and she slipped it on and was outside the cinema before she realised she was bra-less. I wouldn't let her go back into the cinema to the toilets, and she whined that if she went home without a bra on, her mother would be most disgusted.

I walked Zoe home, and we shared a cuddle at the end of her drive before I returned back to Castle Street. I stopped at the top of the road as I saw Mum and Ken laughing, hand-in-hand. They were heading towards the club and stopped outside. I waited back, around fifteen metres away and out of sight in the darkness as I knew if I arrived, Mum would get extremely self-conscious.

"Go on," Ken pleaded. "I've never been in one."

Mum laughed, and she turned to face him. "I never take my dates into my club," she told him and kissed him on the cheek. "And anyway, you got a very long drive tomorrow. Do you no good to..." He scoffed and Mum crossed her arms. "I am not sure how I should take it that my date wants to see other girls naked when he is supposed to be with me!" Ken spluttered, and Mum kissed him again. "Next time," she promised. "And I might even take you to a VIP room!" Ken gave a hollow laugh and held her hands.

"I s'pose I better get home then and pack." Mum nodded, and I walked off to go in the back way via the fire escape; I had no desire to watch my mother kiss her date, but if Ken and Mum were getting close I could only see Rhea getting extremely annoyed with them.

But then, she would have to accept it. One day, my sister was going to have to grow up.

Zoe had forgotten about Rhea the following day, happily discussing Elena who was a little evasive when they had met again, but eventually opened up. Zoe and Elena had a chance meeting as the stripper was returning home from a night shift at the care home, and they had had a long chat. Elena and Zoe had a number of things in common, and although Elena only spoke English as a fourth language, between Zoe's German GCSE (Grade B) and Elena's good English they could converse happily.

Elena had promised to visit Zoe's church, and as Elena lived at the top of Zoe's road, above the hairdressers on the small parade of shops and was actually quite relieved to have found someone in the local area, apart from her English boyfriend.

"She's kept the true nature of her night-time work a secret," Zoe shouted across the club as we cleaned it. "She reckons her boyfriend will chuck her out if he sees her. That's why she stopped when they got serious, but she needs the money, so she's back again."

"Better hope he never comes in then," I shouted back and Zoe hummed. Zoe never hid the fact she disliked the nudity and "morally bankrupt" element of the club but was not naïve and understood why the club was so popular. She often teased me and said that with my sex drive, I would be a regular, but I never really rose to it. It had been a few days since Sarah and I had had sex and the slowdown in my sexual activity over the past few days had left my body exceptionally horny especially as I could not give in and play with myself.

"Is she coming to the party?" I asked after some silence and Zoe shook her head.

"No, she is out with her partner," Zoe replied back and walked over to get some more cleaning fluid from the trolley. "She said she wanted to though."

I grunted and thought of the party the following day. "Sarah is staying the night," I eventually said. "Why don't you stay also?"

Zoe grinned. "Because Mum says no."

"Simon wants to."

Zoe grinned. "I'm sure he does. But the answer is still no. Your sister is teaching him too many bad tricks."

"Would Rhea do a thing like that?" I teased but already knew the answer.

Abi laughed as she collected her bowling ball from the ball return; I had been discussing Sarah's "no touching" rule for me, and my girlfriend had been "out and about" with her family for the last couple of days. It was a tough time, and Abi listened to my desperate moaning. "So how long?"

I tried to count in my head. "Ummm five days and seventeen hours," I fabricated with a smile on my face. "But I've not been counting."

"Course not," Abi replied with a smirk and then sat down as her ball rolled into the gutter. "But you're desperate."

"Of course I'm desperate," I told her. "She said no touching, I've tried cold showers, tight underpants, loose underpants, not thinking about sex, thinking about sex. It's just hellish."

"Ahh, well." Abi licked her lips as I bowled a strike and sat back down. "How often normally."

"Well since I was twelve, maybe four or five times a week on average. Course, if I was with you or Sarah or whoever, maybe a little more. OK a lot more. But when you wake up with a boner it needs addressing. And Paula ... well you get the idea."

"Ah, no wonder. Have you talked to her."

"Yeah, Sarah doesn't believe in Blue Balls. She thinks it's fiction dreamt up by horny boys." Abi laughed loudly and picked up her bowling ball and rolled it down the alleyway; we were one of the only people in the bowling alley and were able to talk quite freely. "I've tried telling her it's hell, but she won't listen. And she is going away over the holidays so I won't get to see her then, and she has jobs to do and family to see before she goes."

"Ahh well, you just need to find an outlet..." She trailed off as she bowled her second ball and got a spare.

"Well that's just the point, she says no wanking and then makes herself unavailable. That can't be fair."

"It isn't," Abi agreed and adjusted her jeans as she leant over the ball return. "So maybe you need to do something else."

"Like what? Take up origami?"

Abi snorted and rubbed her eyes. "Dry orgasm?"

"What the fuck's a dry orgasm?"

"It's ... OK ... next time you go for a pee, stop the stream and then start it, and stop it again. Those muscles you use are Kee-garls."

"Kee-garls?" I repeated with her pronunciation, and she just nodded.

"Yeah, them. Now, go home, lie on your bed naked and close your eyes. Think about Sarah, sex, whatever you want and just flex those muscles, slowly and then hold it. And keep doing that. You can come doing that."

I looked her sceptically, and she just smiled and passed me my ball. "Your turn."

I didn't believe her, everyone knew you needed to have stimulation to come but thought it was too good to be true; I could get relief without breaking my promise.

We played out two games, and I walked Abi home; I was glad to have spent some time with her and asked her about her love life which she claimed was depressingly flat, but I knew this was probably her own choice in not dating rather than not finding someone who may be suitable.

I skipped home, had some tea and was up in my bedroom by 8pm. I just had to try Abi's suggestion. I lay on my bed and looked up at the ceiling, closing my eyes and thought. I could see Sarah, naked, underneath the tree and smiling at me. I loved her smile, and she pouted, giggled and threw me a moue. I could see her sensational curves as they traced her body and she leant back against the bark and opened her legs to show me, her shaved mounds.

I stiffened the muscles and again and again; my cock was already hard from my imagination, but I began to feel a tension at the base of my testicles. I moved my legs apart wider and moved my hand to touch my cock but put it back.

I was now exceptionally horny and fidgeted; flexing the muscles and keeping them tense for a few moments before releasing them. It felt good and highly arousing, and what I wanted was a warm mouth or a tight pussy to close over the top of it, but I had to grip the sides of the mattress to stop myself from giving in and touching my twitching member.

It was difficult not to relent, but I kept tensing and releasing. It felt good, but a little weird, and I wasn't getting much build up in my testicles. After ten minutes, I got bored and went downstairs.

I tried again a bit later, but it was the following morning when I started to feel something.

The morning erection I always suffered from was present and I was desperate to do something.

I felt a strong desperate longing in my perineum and my entire shaft tingled; I tensed my Kegel muscle, held it and then released it, repeating this and lifting my buttocks at the same time.

I was thinking of Sarah and her naked body covered in baby oil and looking seductively towards me. I grunted, and held the tensed muscle in position. I began to feel real arousal, and my cock twitched. Instead of tensing the muscle I began to pulse it, and it felt glorious.