This is the first of what I expect to be several installments about the goings-on at Charlottesville High School.
As always, all story characters are 18 years of age or older.
* * * *
Brent's parents went out of town. He threw a party. He invited a bunch of his friends; Cindy, his sister, invited a bunch of hers. It was a little wild, but I've seen 'em wilder. The house would be intact when his parents returned.
The music was going good, some kids were dancing. I was talking to some of my soccer buddies, including Brent, when Cindy approached. Long-legged Cindy was on the basketball team; long-legged Cindy was a fox.
"I see Linda's not here. Is it true you two broke up?"
"Yeah, she started seeing some college guy. Why do you want to know?"
"Nina wanted to know."
Barry, the least couth among us (which is saying a lot), said, "I thought Nina only did football players, and you."
"As to jocks, Barry, she non-discriminatory as to sport, but insists they be smart and big-dicked, so sorry, oh for two, you're out. As to me, that's a rumor I can neither confirm nor deny."
Cindy grabbed her brother's hand, said, "Dance with me," and they headed for the middle of the floor.
Barry said, "You gonna go for it?"
Nina wasn't the prettiest girl in our high school, but she was pretty. About five feet tall, small breasted and rail thin, her hair, a bit frizzy and shoulder length, was a fiery impossible-not-to-notice red, her face freckled, and her eyes, which shone with intelligence, emerald green. She knew how to present herself. She favored a hippie look, but her tops were always tight, proudly displaying her small breasts, and she wore granny glasses, the better to focus your attention on those eyes.
Despite scattered rumors to the contrary, Nina wasn't promiscuous. Brent was my best friend and Cindy was Nina's; they reported that the number of her conquests was relatively small, but that she slept with whom she wanted to and didn't like to be told what to do. If you went to a party with her there was a chance she'd leave with someone else, but she didn't mind if you did also. And the word was that if the itch moved her, months after you became an ex you might get a phone call in the middle of the night.
As to the Cindy rumors, Brent had confirmed they were accurate, occasional, but accurate. Until today I actually kept that secret to myself.
So the question, whether I'd go for it, was really was I ready for the roller coaster. It was a legitimate question and a legitimate concern, but I was eighteen years old, set to begin my senior year in high school, and you just knew Nina was going to be fun and unconventional in bed. My answer was, and the answer of every other guy in the room would have been, "Fuck yes."
I looked over to Nina, she was dancing with a dude I knew. Nice guy. I let them finish, then asked her to dance. We danced awhile, then headed upstairs. Brent had told me a third floor bedroom was available.
* * * *
Nina and I entered our final year in high school as a couple. I pretended not to know about her occasional infidelities. I do not know whether she knew Linda - who complained that her college boy friend was a mediocrity between the sheets - visited me every once in awhile.
* * * *
The main subject of conversation among the guys the first day back at Charlottesville High School was Natalie Bettis, the new math teacher. She was reserved and professional, wore her soft blonde hair up, no make-up, flat shoes, a conservative pants suit, and black glasses. But try as she might, nothing could hide the fact that she was gorgeous. Hourglass figure: big breasts (they had to be "D" cups), slim waist, wide hips; five and half feet tall, pale skin, light, almost crystal, blue eyes, with an unmistakable southern drawl and a high pitched voice that got squeaky when she was excited.
It was her first teaching job and she was brimming with enthusiasm. She started a math club. Lots of guys joined. Nina, who had finished fifth in the state-wide mathematics competition the year before, was elected president. In organizing the club they spent a lot of time together and Nina reported that Ms. Bettis was as sweet and innocent as she seemed to be, although sometimes, "You'd get a hint something was buried under the surface." The first few times she said it I asked her what that meant, but Nina would only say, "We'll see." After awhile I stopped asking.
A month into the school year Ms. Bettis proposed that the Math Club have a party at the up-scale apartment complex where she lived; we could use the pool. All agreed. Then she went to the administration for permission. Jessica Harris, the assistant principal, saw no problem if properly supervised, but decided to kick it upstairs to Principal Strickland. He was none too happy; recent scandals being what they were, teachers and students cavorting around a pool seemed a bad idea. Nonetheless, in light of Ms. Bettis' enthusiasm, the fact that she had already mentioned it to her students, and, it is hard not to believe, the good looks of the two women sitting in his office, he gave in, but imposed some strict rules: if alcohol showed up it ended, it ended promptly at 8:30 in any case, and no one could use Natalie's apartment.
"I also want three supervisors there at all times."
"I could ask Sandy." Ms. Bettis said. A friendship had already formed between Ms. Bettis and Sandy Wright, a third year sociology teacher who was going through a divorce.
Nodding his approval, Principal Strickland considered Joe Johnson, the gym teacher, for a little added discipline, but hesitated; the last thing he needed to do was expose that lech to all that teen-aged flesh in bathing suits.
Ms. Harris saw his hesitation. She had a vested interest, her son was in the Math Club. "I'll do it."
An image began to form in Principal Strickland's mind, Natalie Bettis, Sandy Wright, and Jessica Harris, all lovely, all in bathing suits. Maybe he should veto it after all, but Jessica was a step ahead of him, "Of course, we'll all need to dress appropriately and no swimming with the young-un's." And so the deal was done.
* * * *
I went as Nina's date; the turn-out was good. Ms. Bettis was well-liked and I am sure more than one guy was hoping to catch her in a bikini. In that they were disappointed. It was clear that Ms. Bettis was wearing a bikini - you could see the string tied around the back of her neck - but was covered by a long heavy loose-fitting throughly opaque red North Carolina State University tee-shirt that hung to her knees.
Around 7:45 P.M. Nina pulled me aside.
"I need a favor. I've got to talk to Ms. Bettis in private. Ms. Harris is talking to her son and his girlfriend, but Ms. Wright is alone. Go talk to her, make sure her back is turned."
"What's going on?"
"I need to get into Ms. Bettis' apartment," and then, in a tone that made clear it was a lie, added, "I'm gonna tell her I'm having female problems."