1. Awakenings -- Delano, a suburb of Bakersfield, CA (In between Wasco and Woody)
I've always hated my nicknames. Yes, I have two of them. My name is Valerie Vickers, which would seem innocent enough. Obviously, all my childhood friends called me Val. My parents called me Val, and my little sister called me Bal, once she was old enough to speak, but not old enough to master words beginning with the letter V.
I was unlucky enough to be the first in my class to get serious boobs and child bearing hips. Some of my friends noticed, but all the boys in the older classes noticed, of course. My body had matured, but my mind was still that of a fun-loving child. My childish mind and my mature body did not enjoy a happy coexistence. I became defensive, and protective around boys, so they made fun of me. My first nickname post-puberty was "Valsicle," as boys interested in exploring the fairer sex, in shall we say intimate ways, got absolutely nowhere with me.
It turns out as time passed, through no fault of my own, that I became gorgeous. (Please excuse my lack of false modesty; it's just an objective fact!) I still refused boys, but less completely. I would kiss them if I liked them, and they could feel me up a bit, but that was it! A few of my classmates were getting pregnant, and most had abortions (it's California). All the while, no boy had yet even to have gotten my bra off.
My body's unavailability had the unfortunate consequence of making me an object of desire. I learned in college that philosophers called the phenomenon
Desire and Impossibility
. They knew they couldn't have me (that way), so they all wanted me! The question became: Who was going to be the first guy to conquer the ice queen? A group of the popular guys all wanted to be the first to lay me. There was even a betting pool. It was not a pretty situation.
That's how I got my second nickname: "Val the Vamp." Both the guys and the girls would call me that, even my girlfriends did, but behind my back. Unlike Valsicle, I decided to own my late teens nickname, and I told everyone just to call me Vamp. It was a bit unsettling to embrace the eagerness with which they all adopted the nickname.
**
When I was ten years old, I fell, and bruised my arm. Skin was torn off, and a friend told me to lick it before I could get to my Mom who would bandage it up. After all, that's what animals do, she explained. (I think she was thinking of cats!) But I knew the phrase about injured animals, "licking their wounds." So, I did, and I tasted my own blood. That one act was destined to define me, forever more.
I loved the taste. I did not just love the taste, but once I had tasted it, I sort of, kind of, craved it.
My parents noticed, of course, and took me to the pediatrician, who sent me to a specialist, who sent me to another flavor of specialist, who sent to another flavor of specialist, and I began to realize that the medical profession was probably the inspiration for Baskin -Robbins and their 31 flavors. Eventually, there was a kind of consensus, and the conclusion finally was twofold: I had an iron deficiency, and I liked the taste of blood. The solution? Part one: Drink some godawful supplement every morning, along with my orange juice. Part two: See a therapist.
I realized this was not rocket science. All girls beginning their periods (and losing blood, of course), should be checked for iron deficiencies. It's not uncommon.
When I turned eighteen I decided to join the legions of my friends who were enjoying sex, and talking about nothing but sex. It was sex all the time, all the time, and I mean ALL the time. Most of them -- but not all -- were still virgins, but they had given their guys blowjobs, and they themselves had been fingered to orgasms, and a few of the lucky ones had even been licked to orgasms, or at least, so they said.
Others had had abortions, but those girls were quiet, and anyway were not in my circle of friends.
Boys avoided me, since I was The Vamp, and I didn't put out. I decided I had had enough chastity, and was ready to enter the fray. I had three friends each named Mary, although with different spellings, and I told all three I was ready for sex, and maybe they could subtly let it be known among the stronger sex? Maybe even they could drop some hints to Jason? (I had a schoolgirl crush on Jason Jones.)
I had quietly arranged with my wonderful pediatrician to go on the pill, more due to my menstrual cramps, than to anything else. Once I was on the pill, I stupidly saw no downside to going all the way, other than some worry about getting the reputation of being easy, and -- of course -- the ubiquitous concern about STDs.
I knew from personal experience that it was quite easy to drive me to an orgasm, and I hoped the boys would enjoy doing that. Being easy, and being quick to orgasm, gave me my third nickname, due to the name of our high school being Sheridan. I became known (to the nastier boys) as a Sheridan Slut. Personally, I felt our high school should have been named Slytherin, for all of the obvious reasons. Had it been named Slytherin, I'd have been named the Slytherin Slut, a moniker that, while still offensive, was one that I would have preferred to the Sheridan Slut.
For the girls, and the other, not-so-nasty boys, I remained Val the Vamp. The slut moniker was because two different guys had achieved carnal knowledge with me. I was not, shall we say, giving it away like candy, but in high school, two boys in a short of amount of time? You're a slut.
However, I'm getting ahead of myself. When Jason Jones first asked me out, I was thrilled. I was still a virgin and eager to lose that status. I had to contain myself, and not to scream out "Yes!!" when Jason asked me out. On our first date, Jason gave me a single red rose when he picked me up, which I passed off to my Mom, to put into water. It was so romantic! He took me to dinner, to a movie, and to Cherry Hill, the infamous make-out spot for teenagers.
Jason gave me my first kiss inside his father's car, up on Cherry Hill, and it was lovely. The man knew what he was doing, as he pushed my light sweater up around my neck, all the while caressing my boobs, themselves enveloped and protected by my bra, which he expertly unhooked, even without me noticing.
Suddenly, and before I had mentally prepared for it, his hands slipped under my now loose bra, and for the first time a boy's hands caressed my naked boobs. I loved it, and when he became a little rough with my nipples, I actually moaned. It was unintentional, the moan just slipped out. It was a kind of an "mmmm" type moan, soft and (I hope) sweet.
Jason removed my sweater and my bra and gazed upon my boobs. I felt naked under his concentrated gaze, but soon my tortured nipples were blissfully and gently sucked back to Nirvana, as I began to realize how talented Jason's mouth actually was. I felt myself beginning to get a little wet down there.