Chapter 2

Program Week

MONDAY - Part 1

Tyler Spano

Monday morning. The first "real" week of school ... depressing. I liked it here with these guys that I was starting to consider my friends, but I also knew it was the start of a non-stop 9 months of studying ... ah well, it's not as if I had a choice anyway. I got up, jumped into the shower to wake myself up and then went down to the kitchen for breakfast. My Mom and my sister were already there eating pancakes. Mom was reading a newspaper.

"Hello." I kissed both of them on the cheek and then went to prepare myself a bowl of cereal on the counter.

Mom looked at me, "Hi Tyler, so what's up today?"

"Well, we have a meeting this morning at the auditorium with the whole school. As far as I know, they're doing it to display the school activities and programs that are available for students. I guess it'll probably drag for a few hours so we're skipping a few classes."

"Oh, OK. Well I hope they'll have programs worth participating in," she said with a quick look towards me before going back to her newspaper.

"Yeah, I hope so too. I think they'll probably just be repeating most of what Mrs. Masterson already told us on Wednesday. But, who am I to complain?"

"Well, keep me updated if you find anything interesting," she said with a grin, not moving from her read.

"If you want." I figured there was something funny in the newspaper.

With that I had finished my cereal so I got back to my room to get dressed and came back down to say goodbye.

"Ty! Wait for me!" I heard from up the stairs as I was opening the front door.

"Wait for me what?" I answered.

"Wait for me please!" she shouted. That was Lindsey.

"OK, but hurry up! Don't wanna miss the bus." She came rushing down and we walked out to the bus stop.

When we arrived at school, I waved her goodbye and told her to have a good day.

I've always been pretty close to my sister. We're not the typical kids always fighting. Well, her being 11, she's 4 years younger than me and thanks to that, we've never been in competition. I think she always kind of looked up to me. I sure always have felt overly protective of her. She can be a brat sometimes, but she's a calm and quiet kid most of the time, just as I am. She's also pretty shy. We've always been on the same wavelength.

Today was going to be great. It was a warm day of early September, you couldn't find a cloud in the sky and it was one of those days after the summer where the temperature is perfect.

I went to meet J.R. and the guys, they were gathered next to the front door. After saying hi to everybody, there were about six of us, we started slowly walking to the auditorium when we heard the first bell of the day.

The auditorium was pretty big, probably 1500 seats, with a large stage. A huge white screen was hanging from the ceiling in the back of the stage. In front of it, three rows of chairs had been placed, I guessed for the teachers to sit. In the center, there was a podium for whomever would be speaking.

The room itself looked pretty neat and recent. We went to seat about one third of the way from the stage, where we had seen other sophomores. A good number of people were already seated when we sat down, but I guessed there would be many more if everybody in the school had to be here.

The auditorium was indeed almost full when the bell rang again. Like I had anticipated, the teachers had taken place in the seats, and the lights went down.

All the students went silent. Mrs. Willoughby, the students counselor, walked to the podium.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Good morning. Let me introduce you to Principal Stevenson, who would like to say a few words of welcome."

Principal Stevenson walked to the podium under the applause of the auditorium. He looked positively OLD. He couldn't have been more than 60/65 but he looked closer to 80. He took the microphone.

"My name is Conrad Stevenson, I am Principal of Shermer High School of Hartfield, and I would like to welcome you to Shermer High.

"Most of you already know me, the others will soon I hope. Today is a new beginning, a new year with many new challenges and most important, many new things to learn."

He went on describing the various classes that the school offered and the school activities that we could take part in. He talked about what was new this year, the successful projects from last year and how he hoped we would do even more this year. After about 40 minutes, he was finishing with his speech and I was drifting in my own thoughts.

He then went silent, which made the students quiet again. That got my attention.

"Now that I have described all the wonderful things happening at Shermer, I would like to introduce an important

change this year, maybe the most important in the history of the school. Every student in this room will be affected by it, so listen carefully.

"First, I want to congratulate Mrs. Willoughby and her team for the great results she has had these recent years with the great successes of our Stronger Together anti-bullying program, and our Peace At School program against drugs and violence, which have made us the 2nd most secure high school in the state last year.

"These great results have allowed Shermer to be selected by the Federal Office of Secondary Education to be amongst the first schools to take part in a new Program that has been thoroughly designed to revolutionize the lives of American youth. I have great hopes for this Program, and for it to be a success I will need the help of everyone of you. I know I can count on you.

"But without further ado, to unveil what will be a new way of life in school, I would like to introduce you to the newly appointed Program Representative, Ms Brown."

He slowly turned around and welcomed Ms Brown, who was my Health teacher, under the applause of the audience.

She took the podium and started, "Good morning students of Shermer High, I am Elaine Brown, the "Naked in School"

Program Representative, and..." when she said that, a clamor rose in the audience and students started to talk to each other. That had surprised me as well.

"Please, be quiet! Be quiet and listen to me." She said, thumping her hand on the podium. After a few seconds, the murmurs stopped.

"Well, since it will probably be difficult to explain this myself, let's watch the video now." With this, she gestured to the back of the auditorium and the screen lit up.

A pretty bad guitar ballad started and an image appeared on the screen. It was a big picture of two adolescents naked hand in hand. A voice-over started to explain the basic principles of the Program. There was an uproar growing among the students. After a few minutes, a big guy came to the podium to ask for silence. He looked angry and everybody shut up again. He said he didn't want anyone to talk anymore or else. He was scary.

J.R. told me he was Mr. Wilson, the assistant Principal.

The rest of the movie went without a peep, but it was obvious everybody was floored over what was onscreen. Myself included. We all had understood very well what was explained, the whole room was hanging on every word.

So, that's how it went. The Naked In School Program was pretty much self-explanatory, and the main rules were simple.

Two students, one male, one female from each grade was to be naked a whole week for school and all school related activities. Only shoes and safety equipments for sports are allowed.

Students become eligible for the Program if their parents sign them up for it, and then each week's participants are selected randomly. Students not selected can volunteer.

Program participants must never hide any part of them to anyone, and become the subject of sexual requests by other students that are deemed "reasonable". They gave some guidelines as to what should be considered reasonable, and what shouldn't.

Participants can request relief at the start of each class if they feel sexually aroused. They can relieve themselves or get help from other students. For the rest of the class, they can be asked by teachers to participate and display themselves to help the lesson. Apparently, teachers can ask more of a participant than students with reasonable requests. Only on breakfast time and bathroom breaks are participants exempt from reasonable requests.

Last but not least, they talked about the sanctions applicable to participants failing to comply with the Program's rules. They went from having an additional week of Program to expulsion from school to even failing one's grade. For students not in the Program, inappropriate behavior towards a participant can get you enrolled in it for one day.

At the end of the movie, Ms Brown came back to the podium.

"As you can see, the Program is going to profoundly change our lives," I swallowed a chuckle at that, but the room

kept quiet.

"I know this looks scary right now, but trust us, this is a change for the better. You will all benefit immensely

from the Program.

"For it to work, and for us to evolve towards being better persons, which is the purpose of the Program, there is a word that you will have to keep in mind at all times: Respect.

"From this moment on, you have to adopt Respect as the most important value in your life. the Program is designed for young people to better respect themselves and others around them, and to open up to one another."

"Look at the people surrounding you. These people that you see every day are just like you, people with feelings and a desire to reach out to others.

"One of the biggest tragedies in this day and age is the lack of communication and understanding between genders.

Divorce rates are a prime example of that. Rape statistics as well.

"The Program is our answer to this dreadful situation. It's purpose is to eradicate these facts of life that we take

for granted today.

"Now that strides in the medical field have allowed us to enjoy a sexual life without restrictions, we have to seize the opportunity to be more in touch with ourselves, and open to others about love and sexuality.

"Only then will we be truly in synch with who we are, who we want to be, and whom we want to be with.

"This, is the goal of the Program." She took her breath.

"The Program is new, but you should know that it is the result of thorough behavioral studies and careful planning by the authorities. We are here to prevent any potential problem that may arise from this peculiar situation.

"As a matter of fact, let me clarify something. At any point in time during the Program, if you do not participate, you should NEVER consider a participant to be a sexual object for your own pleasure.

"In fact, this is quite the contrary. You are here to help THEM evolve towards a greater openness about THEIR sexuality. If you understand that, they then may in turn be able to help you understand yourselves better.

"And remember, it probably won't be you that will be selected this week. But over the course of the school year, it WILL at one point be you. The parents of every student in this school have been contacted, and I am happy to report that only a handful have exempted their children.

"So now you know what the deal is. Program participants are NOT sexual objects, this needs to take place in openness and understanding. Any abuse will be SEVERELY punished. Some of you may have seen that we have placed surveillance cameras in the corridors, the classrooms and pretty much everywhere. If there is ANY problem, we will know and your academic future will suffer GREATLY.

"As some of you may have noticed, there have also been several changes in the educative personnel over the summer, to make sure everyone agrees with the Program. That is to insure that at any moment, the teachers will be there to support you and help you any way they can.

After a moment of silence, she started again, "Alright. Now that we took care of the core values of the Program, I will be announcing the participants in the first week of the year. That is, the week starting today." There were whispers in the audience.

"I understand some of you might feel like this is a bit of a short notice, but this is how the Program has been designed.

"As was explained in the video, two students from each grade are going to be selected. That means eight students overall. For those who haven't been selected, we encourage you to focus primarily on the Program participants of your own grade. This is from a logistics point of view, to manage the number of Reasonable Requests."

She flipped a page in her speech and added,

"The students whose names are going to be announced now are to join me on stage."

That's the moment everybody dreaded. Ms Brown took a deep breath.

"For the Ninth Grade, the male participant will be Joshua Hernandez."

We suddenly heard a very loud "FFFFFUCK!!!" somewhere at my right. That was weirdly hilarious.

Ms Brown shook her head, "Mr. Hernandez, come join me on stage please."

A few seconds passed and nothing happened, then I saw two security guards, that I hadn't noticed before, walk towards Hernandez. Before they could get to him he raised his arms and said "OK, OK, I'll do it, chill out man." He rose, and started walking slowly to the stage. When he finally stood next to Ms Brown, I could see that he was a skinny guy, uneasy in his movements, kind of goofy. He didn't strike me as a bad kid. I think he was just startled.

Ms Brown started again, "For the Ninth Grade, the female participant will be Alicia Delfino."

Just like before there was a scream, but it was actually a collective scream this time, just behind me. Looking in its direction, I saw a girl with her head buried in her hands. Around her, a group of girls were looking at her trying to comfort her. I think she was merely trying to register what was happening. After a while, she stood up and started to slide out of her row, her face still in her hands. While she passed them her friends patted her. As she was coming up on the stage, I was still hearing girl chatter behind me.

When Alicia reached her spot at Ms Brown's right side, Ms Brown pat her on the back as well and spoke a few words to her ear. Alicia finally let her hands down and I could see she was sobbing. She was pretty cute, tall and slender, she must have been 5"9. She was a brunette with pretty short straight hair and light olive skin. She seemed a little tomboyish in her attitude, but I like tall girls and she was my type.

Ms Brown went back to her microphone. "OK, now that we are done with Ninth Grade, let's get to Tenth Grade." I was starting to wonder if she was deriving pleasure out of this.

"For the Tenth Grade then, the male participant will be Tyler Spano."

Whaaaaat???? Oh ... My ... Fuck...

Not for one second had I imagined that it could be me that'd be called up. It should have been someone that everybody knew, right? It couldn't be me! I was out of breath. Everybody was turning towards me. I think the guys were as surprised as I was. It took a moment to sink, to realize that it wasn't just a bad dream, it was totally real. Coming to my senses, I reluctantly stood up and walked to the end of my row. After climbing a few steps, I stopped on stage next to Hernandez.

I didn't really understand what was happening to me.

Buried in my thoughts, I didn't hear the next name to be called. It should have been a girl in my grade.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, and to my rescue, Ms Brown called the name again, "Jennifer Coughlin? Are you here?" She scanned the room, as did I, and then we saw some movement at the far back of the auditorium.

Just like the rest of us, the girl didn't look too pleased to be called up on stage, she looked like a zombie walking towards us. She finally stopped next to Alicia Delfino, the 9th grader. Ms Brown went to talk to her a little bit.

Hey, like us guys didn't need support? That pissed me even more than I already was.

Jennifer was a blonde, rosy skinned, shorter than Alicia but more full figured, she had a nice rack. She was dressed in pink, with flip flops and butterfly pins in her hair. She wasn't that bad looking but she had bad skin. She kinda reminded me of Miss Piggy somehow. I'm sorry to say, she didn't look too bright.

I had come to my senses now. I was utterly pissed off. I just couldn't believe something like this was actually happening to me.

Ms Brown started again, "Here we are, halfway done. Don't you think my participants look great so far?" She asked with a grin. She WAS deriving pleasure out of this, the bitch.

A few voices answered in the audience, but not many. I don't think we looked great at that moment anyway.

"Now, to the Eleventh Grade." She took a breath, "For the Eleventh Grade, the male participant will be Matthew Finch."

With that I heard some guys grunt "eeeewwww" with large smiles not too far from the stage. They high fived each other. They were looking at a guy that hadn't moved except for his head tilted backwards on his seat. He came back to his senses after a few seconds and stood up with a forced smile to his buddies. After high fiving them all, he went up to the stage and stood next to me. I nodded and he answered with a forced smile.

He was shorter than I am but he looked ripped from what I could see. He was probably a jock type, but he didn't look like an asshole. If half of what we were told was real, we would probably share very humbling situations in the week to come. It'd probably be beneficial for the both of us if we'd get along.

"For the Eleventh Grade, the female participant will be Charlotte Aoki."

I heard a few gasps scattered across the auditorium. I heard Matthew whispering "Oh. My. Fucking God." I turned to him with a questioning look. As a response, he gestured to me with his head to look in her direction.

Pretty far up the aisle, I saw a small silhouette advancing. As she came closer to the stage I saw she was tiny. She then came on stage and I saw her. I felt like repeating what Matt had just said. The girl actually didn't look a day over 10 years old. There was absolutely no way they had enrolled a girl this young in that Program of theirs. I couldn't believe my eyes. Who the fuck was this girl?

I turned to Matt and asked him silently, "Who the fuck is this girl?"

With a nonchalant smile he answered, "She's some kind of genius who skipped I don't know how many grades. I think she's like 12 or something."

I frowned.

"Don't look at me, I don't know why they put her in the Program." He retorted.

I was not the only one disturbed by this.

Ms Brown seemed shaken as well. Well here's your Program for you, Ms Brown. She went over to talk to Charlotte, AGAIN, and then came back to her podium. Well, that didn't seem to shock her so much after all.

Charlotte looked like a robot without a soul. She didn't shake, she didn't ... Well, she didn't do anything, really. She just looked straight in front of her, not moving an inch, not letting anything through.

Ms Brown continued, "Now for the last two participants. For the Twelfth Grade, the male participant will be Jared Hamilton."

There was a "Fuck yeah, Man!" on my left. The guy jumped out of his seat with a wide smile and came to us with a determined walk. He seemed to be perfectly happy. He was a little shorter than me, skinnier but still athletic. He didn't look like a sports jock at all like Matt though. He had long light brown hair and skinny jeans. He shook Matt's hand and then smiled at us waving his hand. I said hi back to him.

I really didn't understand his reaction, maybe he thought he was gonna see some "action" this week, I don't know.

"And finally," Ms Brown said "For the Twelfth Grade, the female participant will be Melissa Woodruff."

Again there was a small group of girls shouting, and Jared shouted as well "Fuck yeah, Melissa!"

Melissa climbed slowly on stage and walked next to Charlotte. She was what I would call absolute average. Straight brown hair with bangs, average height, average build, she looked like any girl you find on Facebook. I hope there was more to her than that. Anyway, she looked pretty shocked by all this, of course, but she didn't react too bad to it.

I'm sure Jared's reaction made her a tiny bit more comfortable. Seemed like he was taking all this as a huge joke.

Ms Brown now had every participant in the Program at her sides, the guys to her left, the girls to her right.

She took the microphone again. "Alright. Participants, I am going to ask you to pair by grade, boy, girl, boy, girl