This story is a prequel to the story 'Our Song' I published last year. I certainly recommend reading 'Our Song' either before or after reading this story, as it can add context on the characters and events depicted here, but this is by no means not necessary to understanding, and hopefully enjoying this story as it is meant to stand on its own merit.
All the characters depicted in sex scenes in this story are 18 or above.
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Chapter I: Freshman
I was born Emily Cheddleton on February 1989 just outside of Berkley, California, to Amanda, a professor of fine-arts at UC Berkley, and Fred, who managed the organic vegetable farm they owned. At birth I weighed a little less than five pounds, and was therefore very fragile and weak. Throughout my first few weeks I was restless and was unable to sleep on my own. I could only sleep in my parents' arms or resting on their bodies, depriving them of sleep.
However, when I was about three weeks old, as my mother was holding me, my father sang me a few Beatles songs while playing the guitar. His soothing voice and the gentle guitar music made me fall asleep almost instantaneously. It kept me asleep as my mother was putting me in my crib. The music was so soothing that I didn't wake up even after the playing and the singing had stopped. After three hours of good sleep my parents woke up to see me awake, just looking quietly at the world from the comfort of my crib.
"Look at her," my father said to my mom. "All she needed was a little music."
My mom kissed my dad and they both stared at their little, happy girl.
"I think we should give her another name," my father suddenly said.
"Another name?" my mom was surprised. "What's wrong with Emily?"
"Nothing," my dad replied. "It's just not her."
"Then what name would suit her better?"
"I don't know. We should name her something related to music, to singing... These are the things she likes."
"Melody?" my mother suggested. "Or maybe Harmony?"
"Song," my father said. "I think she's a 'Song'."
My mother was surprised. "Song? Is that even a real name?"
"It is now," my father said with confidence. "It is HER name."
And so I was renamed "Song".
My parents always thought I would become a musician, but to their disappointment I never showed any interest in singing or playing musical instruments.
However, this beautiful, unique name my dad gave me, along with the story of how it came about did influence me going forward. Whatever happened to me, whatever I did, I was never doing what society was expecting of me. If I wanted something, I never cared about whether that something was really a thing, just that it was my thing.
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Around the age of ten I caught meningitis. My pediatrician misdiagnosed it, dismissing it as the flue, sending me home. But that night, as my pain and fever got worse, my parents rushed me to the ER.
This was where I met Dr. Sharon. She looked young, had kind green eyes and long golden hair.
She gave me an injection for the pain and diagnosed me correctly. Although, as I learned much later, my condition was serious, Dr. Sharon kept calm. She talked to me as if I was an adult. She used plain words so I would understand, but didn't try to oversimplify things. Also, she talked to ME, not to my parents. I was her patient. I was the one going through this illness, and I was the one who needed to understand what was going on. Of-course we had also talked to my parents, answering their many questions, but while doing this she was always making sure I knew it was all about me.
Under her care I got better. After three days at the hospital I was ready to go home. As she discharged me, she asked me and my parents if we knew about my hyperthyroidism. We did not. She explained it was a mild chronic condition, which could cause all kinds of side effects such as increased appetite, weight loss and enlarged eyes, all of which I had.
My mom asked her if I needed to undergo any treatment for this, but Dr. Sharon said that my hormone levels did not require any treatment, just supervision.
"You can live to the age of 100, run marathons and win a Nobel prise," she told me. "Just come here once a year so we'll see that you're OK."
I hugged her. There were things about my body I could not understand, and my parents were unable to explain. None of the doctors I saw until then noticed that something was different. But she did. This was when I decided I was going to be a doctor. A good one. Just like her.
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This decision gave my life purpose. I knew that getting into medical school required excellent grades, so getting straight A's at school became my highest priority. School was never too difficult for me, but until then I didn't care much for grades. But as I decided I wanted to be a doctor I spent more time doing my homework and studying for tests. For the first time in my life I became a straight-A student.
But I didn't count on school to bring me where I wanted to go. I was constantly looking for new things to learn. Especially anything relating to science. Biology was obviously my first choice, but also chemistry, physics and mathematics. I could spend the whole afternoon reading my science books, Wikipedia articles, or anything scientific I could find. And when I was out of things to read, I just read them again.
Growing up I did not have many friends. In fact, I don't think I had any real friends. Girls my age spent their afternoons shopping for clothes or talking about celebrities and boys. Boys my age spent their afternoons playing video games and talking about movies and sports. None of these things were of any interest to me. I could not understand how they could waste their youth on such superficial things, whereas my life had a clear purpose.
Looking back, I know there was more into it. I preferred to spend my time with books rather than other kids partly because kids could be vicious. If you are different than them, they'll make sure you know that.
And I was different. Because of my hyperthyroidism I was always hungry, but no matter how much I ate, I remained extremely skinny. Too skinny. I think it is because of this that I developed late, and even when I did, I didn't develop much. So I spent my adolescence being this tall, pale, skinny, flat girl with large blue frog-like eyes, who never wore make-up and always wore plain jeans, simple t-shirts and sneakers. The only clue I gave the world as to my being a girl was my long, blond pony-tail, which stretched all the way to my lower back.
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But although I didn't have a social life, starting at my eighteenth birthday I started kinda having a sex life. It was after my parents had bought me this book called "The Wonders of your Body: Seven Paths to Paradise," which was, put plainly, an illustrated guide to female masturbation, as my eighteenth birthday present.
Well, to understand why would two well educated parents give their eighteen years old daughter such a book, you need to understand a few things about my parents. They were hippies. They were born right into the height of the Vietnam war and the protest against it, and got its spirit early in their childhood. They met at a rally against Regan's "Star-Wars" initiative in the early eighties, and kept being active in different liberal political groups ever after.
But when I was born, the cold war was over, and so were the anti-war protests. From the slogan "make love, not war," all that remained was the first part, "make love". And so they did. Lots of it. And they were very open about it. But never in a creepy way.
So I think I've always known there was something called "sex", which was something that adults did to express their love for one another. All that changed as I grew older was my understanding of what it actually was. At first I probably imagined it as something like a kiss, but then I understood it involved parts of your body that are usually covered by clothes. I actually was very surprised to find out one day that sex was connected to the way babies came into the world...
Before my eighteenth birthday I knew everything there was to know about sex. In theory, that is. I knew all about what goes where, how to protect oneself against getting pregnant and what to expect, and especially what NOT to expect on the first time.
But all that knowledge was theoretical. I had no interest in putting myself out there. I heard about other girls at school who where "getting to bases" with boys, but had no interest in doing this myself. I was curious as to how it felt, but not enough to risk being rejected, or otherwise humiliated.
So my parents bought me that book. And I loved it. With its help I discovered ways to enjoy myself more than I had ever thought possible. When other girls my age had to go through social hell in order to explore their sexuality, I did it in the comfort of my own room, and all I needed for that were my two hands. And the occasional vegetable.