A Special Challenge

A new series based on the misadventures of two friends, I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave comments and feedback!

***

Chapter one -- The Carpark

'I took the cutest pictures of Douglas yesterday, want to see?'

She didn't know it yet, but that one simple, harmless sentence was about to change Nadia's life forever. The twenty year old student was chilling on the sofa next to her old friend Bethany, who was also absentmindedly scrolling through her phone. They were both home for the summer and were spending a lazy day alternating between watching TV and tanning in the garden, making the most of the glorious weather. Nadia's bulldog Douglas had just walked in panting from the heat and headed off to the kitchen to drink from his bowl.

'Aww sweet, yeah let's see.' Bethany scooted over and leant in to see. 'Oh my god!'

'Shit!' Both girls jumped back wide eyed as Bethany turned to stare scandalously at her friend.

'Nadia! What was that!'

'Fuck...' Instead of opening her camera roll and searching to find the innocent dog snapshots as she'd intended, Nadia had inadvertently brought up the last photo that she had taken, and it wasn't exactly as family friendly. 'Umm... I can explain?'

'Wait. Were you naked?'

Indeed she was. Completely nude in fact, if you don't count trainers, grinning away at the camera with her hands on her hips and her chest pushed out unapologetically. Her hair flowed down over her shoulders, her legs were slightly bent and her eyes were glistening mischievously, it was a great look, if an unexpected one. Nadia held her head in shame.

'Yes, yes I was. Sorry, didn't mean to show you that one, obviously.'

'Yeah I guessed!' Bethany started giggling. 'Who was it meant to be shown too then? Who's the lucky guy?'

'Beth no...'

'Is it a guy from university?'

'Can we just leave it-'

'Someone from here?'

'Bethany!' Nadia snapped slightly and exasperatedly turned to shake her head. 'Seriously, it's nothing. Can we just drop it?'

'Yeah. Yeah, sure.'

Frowning slightly Bethany returned to her own phone and an uneasy silence descended between the two. They'd been best friends for years and told each other pretty much everything, or so she thought. The idea of sending a naughty picture to a guy wasn't a big deal, they'd both done that before, but hiding the identity of said guy? Definitely weird. Nadia knew everything about Bethany's current boyfriend Carlos, and frankly she expected to be told about any new boys in her friend's life too. For the rest of the afternoon both girls pretended to forget about the unintentional nudity, until Beth decided to end the unspoken awkwardness by leaving to go home. She hugged Nadia goodbye and started the walk back to hers, pondering on who the mystery man might be. There was also one thing that was bugging her, but she couldn't really be sure if she was imagining things or not. When she saw the photo it had only been for a split second, before Nadia had realised her mistake and whipped the screen away, but she had seen enough skin to realise what had happened. What she couldn't be certain about though, was that she could swear that Nadia had been posing outside. Outside, and to be more precise somewhere with grass and trees, somewhere that looked suspiciously like their local park...

***

*hey, you still free today right*

Bethany wiped the sleep from her eyes and blearily peered at her messages. The one which had buzzed her awake was from Nadia.

*yeah, you got plans?*

*can we go to the mall? i need to get something*

*sure* It was something to do, Beth thought, and after arranging a time to meet she rolled back over and went back to sleep. It was only a day on from their afternoon at Nadia's and neither of them had mentioned the photo again since, but Beth had not forgotten.

A few hours later and she was waiting at the bus exchange and starting to get bored, when she saw her friend pacing along the street towards her.

'Hey, sorry I'm late! We're not getting this bus, we need to get to the train.'

'I thought we were going to the mall?' The pair walked over to a different stop and got on the bus, then sat down together near the back. It was another scorching hot day and there were plenty of people out and about, but few had joined them on the way to the nearby station.

'We are, but not our one, the one near the seaside.'

'What, why?' Both girls enjoyed shopping and they were regular visitors to the shopping center that was nearby, but never bothered going to the larger one that was an hour away.

'Right, I'll explain, just don't think I've gone crazy ok?'

'What's going on Nadia?' Bethany took off her sunglasses and turned to face her friend.

With a deep breath Nadia reached into her tote bag and pulled out a handheld camcorder, the type people use to record birthdays or film home movies on. 'We're going there to make a... a video.'

***

'So just to recap...'

'Sure.'

Bethany sat across from Nadia as the two rested on the train which was carrying them towards the coastal city where soon they would be embarking on their hairbrained scheme. Nadia had filled her friend in on the plan on the bus, and after taking a while to soak in all the new information Bethany was ready to talk again.

'You're a cam girl?'

Nadia cocked her head. 'I think just model is the term, I'm not sure.'

'But you take pictures...'

'Yep.'

'And record videos...'

'Yes.'

'And people pay to see them.'

'Yeah, it's a subscription fee.'

'Ok.' Bethany had heard of this sort of thing in passing, but never thought she'd ever know anyone who did it themselves, least of all her own friend.

'And this started at university?'

'Yes, a girl in my kitchen has been quite successful through it, and when I heard how much she makes I was very interested. It pays enough so that I don't need to work part time like I did in first year, which is great.'

'So how much are we talking?'

'Well this is the thing, just from the subscriptions? Not loads.' Nadia pulled out her phone and began typing. 'But, from special requests? You'd be amazed. So look, all the subscribers get this basic content.'

Bethany leant warily forward to look. She watched as Nadia scrolled through a series of alluring pictures, most of which were pretty tame. Lingerie shots, the occasional topless one but with her back turned, then a few more with her arm covering her boobs. It wasn't explicit or anything, but it was weird knowing that it was Nadia's body being shown off.

'Damn girl.'

'Not too bad right? And also look, you never see my face, it's all perfectly safe. You hear horror stories of people getting recognised on these things and getting fired, or exposed to their family, but no one knows this is me.'

'I do, I recognise your bedroom wallpaper in that one.'

'Haha true. But you get the point, anyone could do this.'

'Anyone with your body.'

'Beth you would do so well on here oh my god, seriously. My fans would love you.'

'Your fans? I can't man, this is mental' Beth rolled her eyes and looked out of the window, laughing at the absurdity of their conversation. 'I'm still confused though, how did it go from underwear pics to you standing naked in what I'm guessing was a park?'

Nadia blushed at that, she was trying to explain everything as best she could but she was struggling, this was the first time she'd shared any of this.

'OK so there's this post, right.' She pulled up a video and showed it to her friend. The scene was shot in her back garden, where they'd been out sunbathing twenty four hours ago. 'I was bored and I'm always trying to think of new things to do to keep people interested, so after watching some other girls' stuff I thought I'd do this.' She pressed play, and Beth watched as the clip showed Nadia walking past the camera and into the middle of the lawn, her arms wrapped around her as she got into position. She was wearing a thin bathrobe which was tied at the waist, and Beth looked on as the robe was unfastened and shrugged off. Underneath Nadia was wearing only a lacy thong, and as she revealed her curves she threw her hands out proudly, leaving her top half exposed to the end of her garden. still facing away from the camera.

'So that's all it was, nothing more revealing than any of my other posts, just a bit of fun in the garden when my parents were out.'

'Can't your neighbours see you from their windows?'

'Haha yeah, but I did check and couldn't see anything, and I only had my tits out for a second, then I covered up again quick. But I did get a message after this video, from a guy.'

'So this is the guy the picture was for?'

'Yes. I don't know his name, his account is called Mr Evans but that's probably made up. Basically you can get messages from subscribers, and some of them ask for certain extra content, which they'll pay for. Most of it is asking for stuff that is too much for me, or just straight up gross, but I have done a few. That's how you get the big bucks, once people like you and decide they want to see more of you, then they'll pay a lot of money.'

'What kind of stuff are we talking?'

'So showing more skin, usually. I never show any of the goodies in my main feed, I just tease them. You can still make money like that, and when I first started that's what I felt comfortable with. But one guy really wanted to see more, and when he offered fifty quid for a picture of my boobs I couldn't really say no.'

'Fifty pounds just for one picture?'

Nadia grinned. 'You get the appeal now right? Once I passed that mental barrier I started doing a lot more. He eventually got some booty pics and then eventually a full frontal. I stopped dealing with him though because he wanted mad stuff, like videos of me touching myself etcetera, and I was like nope. But people have interesting requests, and if they're not insane then I'll give them a chance, for the right price.'

'So more nudes?'

'Yeah. I've sent a few videos of me stripping, some of me in the shower, one guy wanted a video of me painting my nails, but while I was naked, one wanted me to dress as a slutty maid and tidy my room, men can be crazy honestly. Want to see some?'

Beth was more interested than she felt comfortable admitting. 'No thanks, I can imagine.'

'Well yeah, you've seen it all. I got quite confident about it all to be honest, and I still didn't show my face, just everything else. The anonymity really does let you go to places you never thought you would.'

'So I've seen. So Mr Evans, what did he say?'

'Oh yeah. So after the garden video he messaged and said he liked my stuff, thought the new post was cool, blah blah blah, and would I be interested in doing more of that sort of thing.'

'Outside things?'

'Outside things. Turns out that's his jam, and he's very happy to pay to see girls exposing themselves outdoors. He started slow though, didn't want to spook me. First he just wanted a custom video where I did the same as before, but without the underwear. I'd shown more than my arse by then so I wasn't too fussed, so the next day I did the exact same thing but ended up naked instead. Then he wanted to see the rest of me, so I went in a towel this time but had to frame it carefully so my head was cropped out. It's tough doing all this stuff alone because I just have to prop up my phone on something then use a timer to take pictures, or trial and error to get a good video. And when you're taking off your clothes you don't want to have to do too many retakes.'

'I guess not, you psycho. So did he get bored of the garden?'

'Pretty quickly, yeah. He likes things to be in public, where someone might turn up and catch you. He said it's the thrill of exposure that he's looking for, so I had to do more dangerous stuff. First was on our driveway. Go and take a picture of you standing there in a bikini, then take one with your top pulled down, then one with your bottoms around your ankles. I was terrified the first time I went out but it's not insanely risky. Our street is quiet because it's a dead end, and if there was ever a car I could hear it coming and run inside. The only time I got caught short by a passer by I still had enough time to duck behind our car and watch them go by.'

'Did he make you get naked there too?'

'He never makes me, I decide if I want to let him pay me. But yes, again I'd go out in a dressing gown and drop it, using the car to hide me from the road, then take the picture.'

'Did anyone see? And hang on, there's no way you kept your face covered during all of that surely?'

Nadia groaned. 'I know, I know, I broke my own rule. But it's just for him, and he did say not seeing me properly ruined the experience for him, so I gave in. And did I get caught, no, but I did get very close once. The requests were getting more daring, the money was getting more tempting, and so the next challenge was to run, already naked, from my door to the lamp post on the road, and back.'

'You're joking.'

'I swear. I have proof here somewhere.' They both laughed as Nadia continued. 'But after twenty minutes of psyching myself up I timed it so badly, as soon as I got past our driveway I heard a car coming towards me, so I bailed and ran back immediately, I think I actually shrieked. I did it properly ten minutes later once I had calmed down, and I sent him the blooper first attempt too, he loves that sort of thing. Loves the amateur feel.'

'And the park?'

'That was the latest one, actually. The street ones were only a week ago, and the most he had me do was run to the other side of the road, count to ten, then come back.'

'What if your neighbours see?'

'I'm just going to hope I never have to deal with that. So anyway after that I was feeling pretty unstoppable, nothing had gone wrong yet, and I was walking back from the gym, messaging him. I'd sent him a picture of me in the locker room in a towel after a shower, just for fun, and he asked what I was doing next. I told him where I was and he said he wanted to play a game. If I sent him a picture of me in the park, in the next three minutes, he'd pay one hundred pounds. He would then pay an additional one hundred pounds for every item of clothing I'd taken off.'

'Oh my god this guy is rich! I'd have just taken the easy hundred.'

'I know, and I was under time pressure so I thought about it. But the money Beth, it gets addictive. I quickly ran to one of the smaller clearings which looked pretty deserted, and was away from the main paths. I thought it would be dumb to not at least take my top off to double the cash, and if I was going to risk doing that I might as well lose my shorts too.'

'The reasoning of an exhibitionist in denial, but sure.'

'You know what I mean though. So I quickly wedged my phone into the bark of a tree, and then thought fuck it, I'm here in my underwear, if someone comes now I'll already be embarrassed and they'll already think I'm insane anyway, so I took off my sports bra too. Then getting naked was just the sensible thing to do, but like a moron I completely forgot about my socks and shoes. I set the timer, struck the pose you saw, and stood there naked hiding up against the tree as I raced to send it in time. It was delivered with ten seconds to spare, I got dressed and watched as half a grand was deposited into my account. Mr Evans was very pleased with that one.'

'Ok, weirdly that somehow makes that photo make more sense now.'

'Yeah.' Nadia reached out and held Beth's hand. 'I'm sorry I was so weird about it but you're the only person I've told about any of this. I know people would judge me, say it's putting my future at risk and stuff, but I trust you.'

'It's a lot to take in I can't lie, and I don't think I'll ever be as confident as you, but as long as you're staying safe then I can't really complain, you're killing it.'

'Thank you Beth, it really means a lot. So you asked why we're going to the mall that's miles away?'

'Oh yeah, so what are we doing?'

'Well if you're up for it, you are going to be my camerawoman. Like I say it's really hard filming myself on my own, and for his next request he specifically requested a third person point of view...'

***

After another short bus trip from the station to the shopping center the girls were finally in the right place. Nadia led the way as they started the long walk around the large car park that was about to become their filmset. Cars were flowing in and out, shoppers were piling things into their boots and pedestrians passed them too as they scouted the joint.

'Busier than I thought,' muttered Nadia. 'I thought everyone would be at the beach in this weather.'

'We could come back when it's quieter?'

'No, he said between midday and three, he wanted it too be busy.'

'I can't believe he came up with this idea, honestly. It's literally illegal.'

'I know Beth, but for five grand? I actually can't say no. And I'm giving you a thousand and you get to keep your clothes, you should be loving this.'

'No no, I'm very grateful, just worried for you. Look over there, security guy.'

'Shit yeah. We'll have to dodge them. So you know the timings, you'll have to keep track on your phone. He is a stickler for rules.'

'Yeah, five minutes in between each round, ten minutes final round, keep moving, don't double back, and we have to get round the outside of the whole mall once.'

'Good. I think it would take ten minutes to walk round the perimeter of the car park normally, and obviously we'll be going a bit slower.'

'So you ready to start? There's people about but not loads.'

'No.'

'Great, how about over there? There's a bit of cover.'

'Damn yeah you're right, I hate that you're getting into this now.' Nadia chuckled ruefully as they walked over to a large campervan that was parked in one of the quieter far corners. 'Fuck I'm nervous.'

'Think he'll count sunglasses as clothing?'

'Yeah true, and sandals. Here.' Nadia slid off her footwear and eyewear and handed them to Beth, who tucked them away in the bag then pulled out the camcorder. 'Take my purse and stuff too.'

'Right. Ready if you are.'

'Fuck it, ok. Let's get this over with.'

Beth had been shown earlier how to start recording, and with its little red light flashing she pointed the camera at her friend, and nodded.

'Hi you,' Nadia smiled playfully and fidgeted as she spoke. 'so I'm here at my local mall, like you asked.'

That was a lie, Beth thought, they'd gone to one hours away from their houses to try and minimise the risk of being seen by someone they knew.

'I'm here with my friend who has kindly agreed to film me as I take on your latest task! One lap of the parking lot, in the middle of the day, and every five minutes I have to take off an item of clothing. And then, when I've got nothing left, ten minutes of complete nudity to make it back to the starting point. If I mess up any of the rules then I fail, and the challenge is void. So, I guess there's nothing more to do but get going!'

Beth was amused to see this super enthusiastic version of her friend, she was clearly trying to hide her nervousness. Nadia took one last quick glance around and then swiftly pulled her t shirt over her head and walked over to put in the bag that was slung over Beth's shoulder.

'And there we go! The time starts now.' With her free hand Beth started the timer on her phone, then focused on keeping her arm steady as she followed Nadia who had already waked off.

'Damn the floor is hot. Do you think people will look at me so far, hun?' She turned to walk backwards as she looked at her friend, and reached back to tie her hair up in a bun, uncovering her black bra as she did so. Beth felt a bit weird about having her voice heard in the video but decided to play along, if anything to help calm Nadia's nerves.