Chapter 6 The Forth Challenge

Saturday found myself hanging out with the Nerd Collective. They were running a Dungeons and Dragons campaign at Oscar Green's house. Oscar's brother was the dungeon master and ran the game for the four of them.

I wasn't actually playing, just watching their gameplay while reading from the Green's extensive Manga collection. I have to admit I hate the game and refuse to play, but I like watching them and listening to their cheesy banter about spellcasting and initiative rolls.

It might seem weird for someone who liked problem solving like mathematics and science, but I wasn't into roleplay or the fantasy element.

They didn't seem to mind that I hung out there while they played, lazing around on their basement sofa and reading trash about Shinigami saving undead souls.

It was hard to tell what they thought of me just lazing about, but every so often when I glanced over, I caught them staring at my legs. I was wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt, lying face down on the sofa propped up on my elbows, with my legs up in the air.

I suspected they found the allure of female legs to be too distracting to ignore. Sometimes I'd scissor my bare feet back and forth, and a couple more heads would turn. Then someone would curse and complain about needing to redo their dice roll. It was funny.

"They really suspended that kid from school?" Bart asked. He was Oscar's older brother.

They were in the middle of some fight, so their dice rolls were mostly for combat.

"Yeah," Kurt Redmond said.

"They dropped his ass from the football team," Alex Rajkumar said.

"Seriously?" Bart said. "Homecoming is just a couple of weeks away, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Taylor Warwick said. "He ain't going now. I heard his girlfriend Sara dropped him, too."

This was the first I heard this too. The guys must have been following the gossip a little closer at school than me.

Sara Southall was a senior cheerleader. She rated highly amongst the boys, apparently. It was a tossup between her, the Captain of the squad Elena Stephens, and her Co-Captain Ariella Mayfield as to who was the prettiest girl in senior year. I guess Sara didn't like the negative attention that Roger now had.

I've met with Sara several times. I don't want to say it. Nah. I will say it. She's a stuck-up bitch who prides herself on her looks. I was typically beneath her notice unless I happened to be between her and a mirror. If you could imagine some prissy fake blonde said "Oh my god, what is that?" to another human, you'd have a good impression of her personality.

"How long were they together?" Alex asked.

"A few weeks," Taylor replied. "She was dating Duncan Weston at the start of the year."

Duncan was another footballer, by the way. I heard he had been a good chance of making quarterback, but then something happened and he was benched. I guess Sara wanted a footballer that was a little more active and popular.

"Were they doing it, you think?" Kurt asked.

"What, Roger and Sara?" Oscar asked.

It's amazing what you overhear when you happen to get to the girl's bathroom before anyone else. I don't know what boys' bathrooms are like, but girls tend to talk a lot. You get to hear who is having sex with whom, and who's pregnant. By the way, no one is pregnant. But when you hear them talk about having missed a period, I can understand, even if I've never had sex. Girls gossip about everything.

As for Sara and Roger. I'm not one to kiss and tell, but I can say for certain that they were getting action, but you didn't hear it from me. Girls just don't talk about other girls in that sort of way behind their backs, unless they don't like her. They didn't talk about me behind their back, because they didn't need to when they said it in front of me like I wasn't even there.

"I bet they were," Alex said. "They were probably going at it like fuck bunnies after every game."

Alex has a peculiarly overactive imagination when it comes to sex. From the way I heard it, though, he's not wrong. Sara couldn't get enough of him and his epic phallus. I could never figure out what she meant by epic. Was he hung like a horse? Or was he hung like an ass?

I let out a little giggle.

Some others laughed too, though I'm not sure they were laughing at the same thing as me.

"Anyone try that website Roger had up?" Alex asked.

"I did when I got home," Oscar said. "It doesn't exist."

"Zoemi, did you try it?" Alex said.

"Me? No. Why would I be looking at porn sites of girls?" I mocked them.

I looked at them often, just not for the same reasons that guys do.

"Maybe because you like girls?" Taylor grinned.

Maybe I did after what happened on the bridge last night. I didn't give him the satisfaction of a response.

"I saw you on your phone in class after Roger displayed the porn, so I just thought," Alex said.

Had he seen what I was doing? No, his seat was further forward. Maybe he just saw me with my phone out.

"I was?" I pretended to not remember.

"Yeah, you were pretty intent on it," Alex said.

"So, were you looking at the porn site?" Kurt asked.

"I think I was just looking up something about the Spanish invasion and colonization of California," I lied.

"So, you looking up schoolwork on your phone instead of your school laptop?" Alex asked.

"You know there're heaps of other factual material online that they block us from accessing. It's fucking censorship." I guess I was a little angry.

They've already banned a few books that I've read, and some I wanted to and haven't read.

"Kid must have been desperate or had some balls to watch porn in the middle of class," Bart said.

"Word is his laptop got hacked," Alex said. "That's what he was saying. But there's no evidence."

I found that surprising. I slid down and rolled over on my side to look over at them.

"They should have checked his laptop," I said. "If he's telling the truth, they should have found something. It's not like these computers don't log stuff. If he was hacked, there would be something."

"You'd know Zoemi," Kurt said.

"But if they didn't find anything, then he's just plain guilty," Bart said.

That was true.

"Did any of the rest of you get called into the admin office?" Taylor asked.

Everyone seemed to pause their gameplay to look at him.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"They were asking me about sites I accessed on the school network," he replied.

"You idiot!" Alex hissed. "You left your computer access open, didn't you? You know they monitor all the traffic."

"It was just Reddit. I forgot for a moment that I was in class."

Oscar laughed. "He forgets that he's in class."

"Well, they hadn't been checking before, and they wouldn't have even known if Roger hadn't decided to show porn to the entire class," Taylor said.

"It looks like they might be calling in anyone else who has been accessing blocked sites," Kurt said. "What about you, Zoemi?"

A few faces turned to look in my direction.

"My laptop is clean. I don't access that shit on the laptop. That's what my phone is for."

Bart nodded. "You guys should learn from her."

"We are learning from her," Alex said.

They seemed to be staring at me intently for some reason.

I looked down and saw that my T-shirt had ridden up to expose my midriff, and my shorts were pulled tight against my crotch that it could have looked like a camel toe. It wasn't much, but to them, it was obviously more. I grabbed the edge of my T-shirt and pulled it down, then adjusted my shorts, causing them all to look depressed.

"Zoemi, you really should cosplay at the next convention," Oscar said.

"I don't know about that," I said. "Some of those cosplayers had some elaborate costumes."

I didn't want to spend the time or money on some costume that I only wore once. I was more of a watcher than a doer.

"You don't need anything special. Just one of those Japanese sailor school uniforms," Oscar said.

"I'd love to see Zoemi in a skirt," Alex said.

"Me too," Taylor added.

Ugh. Now they were all ogling my legs. "Come on, guys. Whose turn is it?"

"Hey, Alex. You going to roll, or what?" Bart said.

Somehow, Bart managed to get them back to the battle.

My phone pinged while I was reading a different manga from the shelf. Something about a notebook that could kill people. There's some fucked up shit right there. Why did it feel like all these stories were obsessed with death? I mean, where are all the stories about girls getting romanced by boys that they were attracted to? Oh, I forgot, boys collected all these manga, not girls.

I pulled my phone out, half expecting JR to have a challenge for me. After last night, I wondered if they'd have me parading out onto the field during the NFL. I squeezed my thighs together and squirmed a little in excitement at the image in my head. Walking out naked into the center of the 50-yard line for the kickoff, completely exposed to thousands of spectators.

I was a little disappointed when I read the message.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Where are you?

ZoemiLightBringer: Hanging with the collective

J0LLy-R0g3R: Having fun?

"Who you talking to Zoemi?" Taylor asked.

They'd heard the pings.

"Some girl online."

I turned the phone to silent so they wouldn't have to keep hearing it.

ZoemiLightBringer: Snoozefest. 🥱 They're playing DnD. Fighting cultists in some ancient temple or whatever.

ZoemiLightBringer: Lowkey wish I was doing literally anything else

I was hoping he'd say he had a challenge for me. Stand up and take my clothes off. Walk around the Nerd Collective naked. Something. I mean, I had thought about it, wondering how they might react to me suddenly stripping off. I expected they would be like ravenous horndogs.

He didn't reply, so I sent another message.

ZoemiLightBringer: What are about you?

"I thought you didn't have any other friends," Oscar said.

"You think you lot are my only friends? Why'd you think that?" I asked.

"You're always hanging out here when we play a campaign," Bart said.

"Because you guys always ask me to come over," I said.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Eh, just watching vids

They sounded as bored as I felt. Were they stuck at home?

ZoemiLightBringer: Anything good?

J0LLy-R0g3R: Meh, mid

"We're always hoping you'll join us in a campaign," Taylor said.

"You can still join if you want," Bart said.

"It's more fun watching you guys play," I said.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Don't worry, I'll have a new challenge for you tonight

ZoemiLightBringer: Can't wait 😏

JR didn't reply after that, leaving me looking for something more interesting to read, while the guys argued about how to respond to a trap a cultist had triggered.

******

Mom had gone to work at the hospital, leaving me home alone for the evening.

I'd thought about looking at some porn about girls walking about naked, but I got worried that I might get aroused by it before JR sent his message, so instead I sat back to watch some more trashy TV.

Except for the light from the TV, the room was dark when my phone finally pinged. I looked outside and saw it had gotten dark without me realizing it.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Ready for your next challenge?

ZoemiLightBringer: Yeah, I'm ready

I felt nervous in anticipation. I quickly turned the TV off, plunging the room into darkness.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Where are you?

Oh, he couldn't tell that I was in the lounge room.

ZoemiLightBringer: Was watching TV

J0LLy-R0g3R: Take all your clothes off

Just jumping right into it then. I quickly stripped down. Everything, including my underwear, I tossed into a pile onto the sofa and pulled my hair back.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Do you know Riverfield Park?

I read that with sudden nervousness. Of course, I knew it. The Broadwater Street Bridge is in one direction. This park was in the other direction, at the end of Riverfield Drive. It was also a 15-minute walk, past way more houses than last night.

ZoemiLightBringer: Yeah, I know it

J0LLy-R0g3R: Get there on foot. You've got 5 minutes

Five minutes! Fuck!

I didn't wait and ran for the front door. If I wanted to get there fast, it had to be along the street.

If I'd had time, maybe I could have skirted along the river through everyone's backyards. I might have to jump a few fences, but it would have been doable. As long as I didn't run into any alligators.

I locked the door and stuffed the keys into the same hole as last night, then ran out onto the street.

Sparing a glance up and down the street to see if there was anyone else out there, I turned and dashed down the road. I kept to the soft grass, which would have been green in the daylight. I had to dodge around letter boxes and trees, my bare feet slapping on the driveways whenever I crossed one.

One of the larger houses directly up ahead was lit up, with cars filling their driveway. Just my luck that someone was having a party tonight. I cut across the road to the opposite side of the road, stumbling as I felt my bare feet on the rough surface of the road.

There was a footpath on this side along with the spread-out streetlights, but I stayed on the grass instead. As I skirted past the party house, I could see people out front under lights, the indistinct sound of music coming out from an open door.

I crouched low, slowing a little, hoping they wouldn't notice me in the dark across the road. Once I was past them, I ran and pushed myself hard again, crossing the street again to avoid the next street light.

By the time I reached the large open field that adjoined the park, I could feel my heart working hard. I was kind of glad that I did Phys Ed, otherwise, I was sure I would have been wheezing and half collapsed on the ground by now.

It was dark in the park as there weren't any lights and the trees blocked most of the other ambient light, forcing me to stop at the edge of the park. I was breathing hard as I looked at my phone.

Was that 5 minutes? It looked like it from the chat.

ZoemiLightBringer: I'm here

The phone pinged. I quickly switched it to silence.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Good. Sit down and rest for a minute. Try the swings

If I remember correctly, there were bench seats littered around the park, but they were closer to the river and the alligators. I didn't fancy running into one of those in the dark if they happened to have come ashore to make a snack from one of the local wildlife. The swings sounded like a much nicer place to have a seat. They were hard to identify in the darkness, but I managed to locate the structure after wandering through the play equipment.

The chains jangled in the darkness as I took hold of them. I'd almost forgotten that I was naked when I sat my bare backside down on the cold strip of rubber and let out a gasp as I lifted my backside off again. I tried again and managed to settle myself down.

This was nice, sitting naked on a swing. I'd never imagined what it would be like, but I found myself lifting my feet up, and slowly rocking backward and forward, getting some momentum and potential energy happening. I was good at physics after all.

Closing my eyes, I could almost imagine people walking past, looking at me all naked and exposed, very innocent and childlike, and yet feeling wet between my thighs.

Lifting my feet, I let myself relax. The chains barely made a sound. I could feel the air across my entire body. It felt sensual and peaceful. Holding onto the chains and my phone, I leaned back, feeling like I was flying through the sky. Naked and flying. It was a curiously erotic feeling that was turning me on.

My phone buzzed in my hand, breaking the illusion. I had to sit up to look at it.

J0LLy-R0g3R: There's someone coming

I felt a sudden panic. I couldn't stop the swing quickly without putting my bare feet down.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Don't make any sound. They have a dog

I turned the screen off and held still, letting the swing slow by itself as I listened carefully.

There was a sound off the side, and I looked around. Somewhere in the distance, a shadow moved until I could make out a figure against the back light of the river. There was supposed to be a riverside walkway.

Someone must have been late home to walk their dog now, even though it was quite late and dark. They must not be as worried about the alligators as I was.

The shadow circled the park before disappearing towards the roadway. I hoped they wouldn't come back the same way.

J0LLy-R0g3R: They're gone. Why not try the zip line?

The swing had almost come to a stop, which made it easy for me to step off.

The zip line wasn't as much fun. The playground was made for children after all, and when you grew up, some of the equipment became too small to use. It was also quite loud as it thumped into the end. I didn't want to draw any attention.

I moved on and found the horizontal bars. After putting my phone down, I grabbed the bars and lifted myself up. Hugging the bar, I leaned forward and spun about. The darkness blurred past, and again, and again before I stopped, as I felt a little dizzy.

This was kind of fun. Pulling up my legs and hooking the bar behind my knees, I let go with my hands and hung there upside down.

Naked and upside down. I was wondering what that would have looked like. Idly, I ran a finger over my labia to find it nice and wet. I'd felt low-key aroused since running along the road.

A buzz caused me to look at my phone on the ground. The screen was lit up, making it easy to find in the darkness.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Have you checked out the rockers?

Oh, I'd forgotten about them. Could I even ride them?

I grabbed the pole, let myself down, and grabbed my phone.

They were hard to find in the dark, but I found one. It was tiny. When I sat on it, I had to spread my knees apart so I could grab the handles. I could feel my wet pussy stretching open as I sat there.

Leaning just a little in any direction was a bad idea, as the entire thing wanted to roll right over. I had to put my leg out and push myself back up again.

When I got my balance back, I pulled my leg up again. Slowly, I managed to get it to swing backward and forward without quite tossing myself off, but it was hard to keep my balance. After a minute of fearing that it would throw me off, I put both feet down and just sat on it.

The screen on my phone on the ground lit up. I almost missed it because I didn't hear it.

I jumped off the rocker and picked up my phone.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Heads up. Someone else is coming

I looked around and spotted a light moving off in the distance.

J0LLy-R0g3R: Hide. Now

Seriously? Was there anywhere to hide? It was just a bunch of play equipment, park benches, and trees. Wait, there was a large shadow of a sign. I crept towards it and hunkered down behind it as the light kept getting closer.