Her name is Nicole...or "Nice Nicole" as she was known by the pool staff because of her natural sweetness, genuine caring, pleasant voice, and gentle ways. For an eighteen-year-old high school senior, Nicole was an anomaly of her generation and especially for her prestigious private high school that was known for its affluent and upper-crust snobby student body.
To counter this negative image, her school decided that all seniors should have a real-life experience to better prepare them for the future. Each senior was tasked to perform a semester's community service project as a graduation requirement. While most of her classmates elected cushiony service or easy projects that required the least amount of commitment or effort, Nicole volunteered to be a Physical Therapist (PT) Helper at the rehab agency where I worked
Before I go further, my name is Nick, and I've been a PT Assistant for a couple years. I messed up in high school and on a lark, enlisted in the Army as a medic. I grew up fast during my front-line combat tour of duty and realized my desire to help others with their injuries, disabilities, and recovery. Using a part of my GI Bill, I put myself through the two-year PT Assistant program and landed this sweet steady job at a rehab agency's pool program that specialized in aqua-therapy as a means of helping patients recover from their injuries or ailments.
While the job and its benefits were good, the pay sucked even when my VA disability was thrown in. So, being a physically-active type of guy, I began mowing my landlord's lawn for spending money and eventually ended up maintaining different yards on the weekends. Doing two to three yards each weekend, I brought in just under two thousand a month in pure unreported cash and still have enough free time to kick around. With my beat-up old truck and one-bedroom cottage, my life was pretty comfortable. The only thing missing was that special woman who makes a man's life complete...that is until I met Nicole.
When I was informed that a high student from this high-mucky-muck school would be doing her senior community project at the pool and that I, as the senior PT Assistant, had been assigned to me to show her ropes, my first thought was, "Damn it!" I envisioned a rich spoiled brat who had no work ethic, viewed herself as entitled, and was going tan herself while lounging around the outdoor pool for a semester. Boy, was I in for a surprise?
"Hi...Nick?" said this soft voice behind me as I inputted a patient's data into the pool's iPad. "I'm Nicole..." I turned around and looked into the sparkling brown eyes of a pretty Japanese-American girl.
"Nice! Nice looking!" flashed immediately through my amazed brain as I quickly scanned the lovely teenager standing before me, "Definitely nice!" To put it mildly, Nicole was stunning. She had an oval face with large rounded eyes that instantly caught my attention, a cute nose, inviting lips, and long brunette hair. Standing a few inches shorter than me, I figured that she was five-feet-eight which was tall a Japanese girl and had long shapely legs that never seemed to end. Nice hips, tight buns, a flat stomach, and a pair of full boobs that were just right - not bodacious but definitely not small. Put all her physical features together and Nicole was one hell of a good-looking teenager.
Nicole didn't know what to make of my reaction, and hesitantly and almost apologetically mumbled, "Uhmm, sorry to bother you, but I was told that you could help me...you know...by giving me an orientation to aqua-therapy. I don't want to mess up."
Regaining my composure, I asked her why aqua-therapy. "Don't laugh," Nicole swiftly said as she blushed, "but I was thinking of going to college to become a physical therapist and since I like the water, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone." Then taking a deep breath, Nicole whispered confidentially to me, "My classmates think I'm nuts for actually volunteering to work. Most of them are just going through the motion to say that they've done their senior community project and are eligible to graduate, but I want my experience to be meaningful to me...and especially to those with whom I work."
"What do your parents say?"
Her smile faded briefly before Nicole shared, "Uhmm, both my parents are biology professors at the State's University. My father is a leading molecular biologist and my mother is well-known in the marine biology world. Both are both wrapped up in their research, projects, and presentations, and sad to say, I seldom see them so there are not many opportunities for heart-to-heart discussions.
"While they said that they will pay for my college - they haven't encouraged me one way or another. It's like they...don't care. Since I turned eighteen...I'm a New Year's baby...they just tell me that I should make my own decisions. Deciding to volunteer here was my first real-life decision. That's why I really want to make it a memorable one. Will you help me, Nick...please?"
Nicole gave me this pleading look that was hard to deny. "Okay, okay, enough with the "sad puppy dog" eyes. Rule number one - you're going to get wet so you need to wear something for the water and that can dry easily. Your gym top and shorts are fine out of the water but may not be suited for the pool. As you can see, a lot of the female pool staff wear swimwear with a light t-shirt. But your case, I don't advise it - seeing you in a bikini might cause many of our older male patients to suffer severe heart attacks."
Emitting a gasp of surprise, Nicole playfully swatted me. "Ooh, you're nasty. I can see that I'd better watch myself because I'll be working with a dirty old man."
"I beg your pardon! I'll have you know that I'm a dirty 'young' man, hmmph! Now I see that you'll be here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons when the sun is hot. The next rule is that you use a sunblock with a high protection rating and wear a visor and sunglasses. Even on a cloudy day, you can burn, and you don't want skin damage. Any questions? If not, let's get into the pool and I'll show you the basic strengthening and flexibility exercises and the equipment that we use."
Nicole proved to be an attentive and quick learner. By the end of the day, she had the basic techniques down and could repeat the necessary instructions to me when I tested her. I had to say that when Nicole got out of the pool, her dripping wet gym clothes highlighted her sweet teenage body and I knew that the next few months would be 'stimulating' to all the males in the pool, myself included.
Over the next week, we practiced her skills and had her shadow me as I worked with patients. With Nicole's innate beauty and charm, she soon won over many of our old-time patients and new cases. As we worked together, we chit-chatted and Nicole revealed she had very little friends. "I'm kind of on the shy side or at least I'm not one to draw attention to myself. Because of my odd home life, I don't talk a lot or have much social interaction. While friendly to all, I don't have many close friends...and am thought of as a 'loner' and sad to say, a bit 'strange.'
"But it's okay. This may sound terrible, but I don't really care to hang out with my classmates who perpetuate the elitist image of our school. There are times when I really can't stand to be around them. A lot of them think that they're better than everyone and entitled to special privileges because they come from well-off families. The only reason I'm going to my school is because my father is an alumnus and a big contributor. As strange as this may sound, I think I would have been happier in public school.
I was stunned to later discover that as pretty as Nicole was, she never had a boyfriend. "People say that I'm nice-looking but I think of myself as being so-so. Guys ask me out but they're often either immature, nerds, or full of themselves...and I'm really turned off. The few dates that I've gone out on have ended with me quickly learning that teenage boys are interested in only one thing...if you know what I mean. Can you believe it that a lot of guys expect a girl to put out for them on the first date. Yuck! Why can't they see the real Nicole who's beneath the skin?"
