"But that deal was made by the lieutenants from two years ago! I never agreed to it. Plus, I graduated two and a half months ago so I am no longer a lieutenant with the Belles."
I was wearing an oversized t-shirt to cover my bikini and wet body, knowing that it did nothing to hide the treasures that Calvin hopefully yearned for beneath it. I had put it on when he had arrived in a feeble attempt at modesty as we chatted in my backyard. The damp cotton material clung to my slender body and molded itself to me like a second skin; the white fabric becoming virtually transparent as the water from my body and hot pink bikini penetrated it.
I'm not typically shy or modest around people while wearing a bathing suit, considering that I was often paid to model them, but the t-shirt was for the benefit of my mother if she were to come home and find Calvin and me alone together in the backyard. Our positions would appear innocent enough, with us seated on opposite sides of the four-chair wrought iron table on the patio.
My backyard companion on this August day was Calvin Hobbs, and you can stow any of the lame jokes about the comic strip. In his twenty-four years, I am certain that he's heard them all multiple times. As a faculty advisor for the boys' athletic department at Highland Park High School, Calvin had close relations with the boosters for all of the major sports. He frequently worked with the advisors for the cheerleaders, song leaders, and drill team to coordinate their activities to increase student and booster club members' morale before key games or matches.
"Until the new lieutenants are elected in September, you are still representing the Highland Belles," Calvin reminded me. "And you did agree to it when you accepted the role as a lieutenant with the Belles. The difference is, now you'll be representing them after turning 18. You are the last of the lieutenants to have had your eighteenth birthday, which is why your fulfilling of the agreement is scheduled for next Saturday."
"Crap,"
I thought.
"Today is Monday! That doesn't leave me much time."
The agreement in question had existed between the booster clubs of Highland Park High School and the same clubs at one of our main rivals in the Dallas area, David. W. Carter High School. In the three sports that the two schools competed in, basketball, baseball, and track and field, the agreement stipulated that the senior boys on the winning team received "special recognition" from girls from the losing team.
Football was off the table because Carter's team was in an entirely different division than Highland Park, frequently vying for the Texas state championship. Where other sports were concerned that the two schools did compete in, basketball players were the assigned responsibility of the opposing schools' cheerleader squad. The baseball teams were paired with the respective song leader squad. The track teams each had individual winners in the different events, so only the relay team members were included in the agreement, and those boys were the responsibility of the opposing drill team's lieutenants. In this case, myself and the other four girls who were the most recent lieutenants on the Highland Belles.
As one of the five lieutenants on the Highland Belles drill team, I had been surrounded by a bevy of the most attractive girls at Highland Park High School in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. We were all girls who turned heads and made jaws drop when we entered a room. My burgeoning modeling career also was making me a well-known figure in the local area.
I suppose that I am considered one of those high school girls that guys my own age dream about but seldom get. It wasn't like I didn't have a lot of male classmates and other high school guys as friends, but I just figured that if in my late teens I could already have my choice of successful men, why should I settle for "boys"?
Having long, dark brown hair that framed a face that has been described to me by photographers as "the blueprint for what all beautiful faces should be", and a nubile teen girl's figure already earning me significant income as a model, I didn't have to settle for less. I strived to always be clothed in impeccable style. And, though it was far from intentional, I knew that many saw me as a perfect little prick-teasing doll. Many would be surprised to learn that I had never even touched a prick, let alone purposely tried to tease one.
Because I didn't date my male classmates or any other high school-aged students, Calvin served my preference for older guys just fine. I thought Calvin was one of the best-looking guys I had ever set eyes on. Since his last two years at SMU coincided with my sophomore and junior years of high school, we found ourselves being a pretty constant, yet non-exclusive couple. We hadn't dated during my senior year because Calvin was now a member of the faculty while I had still been a student. After my graduation last June, we resumed seeing each other on occasion. I had still been underage until recently, so Calvin frequently frustrated me by remaining overly cautious with our shared intimacies.
Even though the age of consent in Texas is 17, unless the partner is less than four years older, being legally underage had been my shield against the loss of my virtue more times than I could count. Since turning 18, I had a few dates where my partner had spent considerable time on "second base", but the two who tried to "steal third" had been immediately tossed out of the game. To my continued dismay, Calvin had never stepped an inch off "second base" with me. The one guy most likely to score with me still respected our age difference too strongly.
"Gina and Brittany took care of the 4x100 relay team last month," Calvin informed me, bringing my attention back to the topic of discussion. "They've passed the baton, so to speak, to you and Heather for the 4x800 team. That's two for each of you."
"But what about Sara?" I asked in resignation of my role in supporting booster activities, and in particular, the agreement between Highland Park and Carver High. Like all commitments, it had been all hypothetical to me until it came time to deliver on it.
Calvin had to know that I would be the Highland Belle lieutenant to put up the greatest resistance to fulfilling the agreement. He would also know that it wasn't just my lack of sexual experience influencing my reluctant attitude. Calvin knew that I had already signed a major modeling contract with
Seventeen
Magazine and that my image was becoming more and more recognizable, even if my name wasn't yet. My reputation and future career aspirations were at the forefront of my mind as I struggled to find a way to fulfill my responsibility to my former school and teammates.
"You know that Sara left for Europe immediately after graduation," Calvin reminded me. "Her studies abroad provide her with an exception to the agreement. Do you have an exception that I am unaware of?"
Calvin could probably hear the wheels turning in my head as I sought to recall what reasons would suffice as an exception to the agreement for one of the lieutenants to participate. There weren't many. Illness would only delay participation, as would being underage, such as I had been until recently. A lieutenant would have to be unavailable to participate until the new class of lieutenants were in place, which is what had worked for Sara.
"Can I talk to Gina and Brittany before giving you an answer?" I implored, somewhat resigned. "I want to know how they dealt with a few of the things that concern me. Although, they both already have less than stellar reputations where their virtues are concerned, I would still like to speak with them first. Then, I want to discuss this with Heather if we are going to be doing it together."
"That's understandable."
