I'd been showing off again, to the girls on our course that is. Not many boys in our company wanted to go on an assertiveness course. In fact not many people at all. But I always had difficulty in asserting myself. Always to shy and reticent. Anyway there were four of us in the course. Three girls - Louise, Lucy, Samantha - and me, and we'd met in Samantha's room to revise for the upcoming test at the end of the course. Apparently we had to sit some sort of silly exam to get our certificates.
I hadn't really wanted to. I mean those girls were a bit well... I don't know how to describe it exactly... Provocative, sexy, bossy.... All those things rolled into one, in their short skirts and their pink panties. Well I couldn't help seeing their panties. When a girl sits opposite you in a seminar in a short skirt you can't help looking up it can you?
I tended to show off in front of them, my knowledge that is, I think they were impressed. So I'd gone to Samantha's room to join the others.
They had been moaning on about the need to know things.
"It's just a question of memorising," I said, "then you can remember anything.
"There's one thing that's absolutely impossible to remember. Nobody can do it...," said Louise.
What was it nobody could do? I was sure whatever it was, I could do it, but let them chatter, I wasn't going to get dragged into one of Louise's little games. She was notorious for them.
"Fuck me!," said Samantha, it's her favourite expression and someday somebody will, "What is it that nobody can remember then Louise?"
"I thought everybody knew that Lucy," said Louise.
I wondered what on earth she was could mean. The value of pi to 27 decimal places? All the elements in the periodic table? No problem for me. But of course it was nothing as esoteric as that.
"Go on then tell us," said Lucy.
"The names of the dwarves in Walt Disney's Snow White."
The dwarves in Snow White! What was the girl going on about. Everybody knew the dwarves in Snow White. Of course I knew the dwarves in Snow White and I'd never even seen the film.
"Fuck me!" said Samantha.
"Don't be ridiculous," said Lucy.
"I'm not being ridiculous. Can you name them?"
"Well no," said Lucy, "what sort of a twerp do you think I am, but I bet there's plenty who can."
"Do you now. Well I'll tell you what. If anyone here can name all the dwarves in Snow White I'll take all my clothes off, stand on the table and sing the national anthem to the tune of Jingle Bells."
"You never would."
"Want to bet?"
"Come on girls," said Lucy, "one of you must be able to do it. Joe wants to see Louise in her birthday suit!" and they all looked over at me and burst out laughing. I turned red.
"There you are," said Louise, "told you, told you."
She was the sort of girl who could be really annoying, loud, bossy, a know-all. I suddenly realised how I could get my own back on her. I did know the names of all those stupid dwarves. Of course I did. She'd said 'If anyone here can name all the dwarves', well I was there! She might only have meant the girls but...
"I can name all the dwarves..." I blurted it out without even thinking. That would really give her a scare. Of course I wouldn't make her take all her clothes off, well, I mean, it isn't the sort of thing you do is it? But I would make her sing the national anthem to the tune of Jingle Bells. Then perhaps I might get some peace and quiet for study. Girls get the better of me! No way! I'd show them.
"Oh ho!" said Lucy, "he does want to see you in the altogether Lou!"
"But I wasn't talking about him," bossy Louise was starting to look scared, "I was talking about us. He knows everything. So he keeps telling us."
"Come on Lou. You said 'anyone here'. We all heard you, didn't we girls," they all agreed, "you can't back out now!"
Poor old Louise looked like she'd been punched on the nose. She didn't know I wouldn't make her do it.
Lucy turned to me, "Do you really mean it?" she said.
I blushed again. My stupid bashfulness was reasserting itself. I remembered my appraisal, the one that had persuaded me to go on the course in the first place. 'Joe must overcome his bashful nature' it had said, 'He must stand up to the girls'. Well here was a chance to assert myself not let myself be bossed around by girls.
"Of course," I replied.
"Fuck me!" said Samantha.
"Come over here," said Lucy, "up on the table with you both. Shoes and socks off mind. We don't want to scratch the table," Louisa kicked off her shoes and I took mine off and then my socks. Well the girl called Lucy had told me to, so I had to follow suit didn't I?
Louise, looking distinctly nervous climbed up, so I thought I'd better follow.
Lucy cleared her throat as if preparing herself for an announcement.
"A challenge!" she announced, "Louise has challenged Joe to recite the names of the seven dwarves in Walt Disney's Snow White. The loser to strip naked and sing the national anthem to the tune of Jingle Bells!"
The loser to strip naked!, What did she mean 'the loser'? Did she mean I had to strip naked if I couldn't do it? That wasn't what I had meant at all. It wasn't supposed to be a bet I might lose.
"Agreed Louise?" she asked.
"Yes. I suppose," muttered Louise.
"Agreed Joe?"
"Er... Well I didn't mean..."
"Didn't mean what..."
"Didn't mean I..." my voice tailed away.
"What! You're not scared of losing are you?"
What if I lost! But of course I wouldn't lose. And even if by some strange quirk I did, I could just walk away. I looked at Louise. She could see she was going to lose. She didn't know I wouldn't make her do it. It would be great to make her squirm. I tried to look confident.
"Of course not," I said.
"So you accept the challenge? Loser to strip naked and sing the national anthem. What a great bet!"
"Well er... Yes... of course..."
"Completely in the nude and we'll hold you to it!"
"Well... I... er..."
"So you're not confident? You don't really know?"
"Of course `I do"
"Good. That's agreed then."
"Yes... we'll... I suppose so..."
A great cheer went up.
"Great," said Lucy grinning from ear to ear. She was quieter than Louise, shorter, dark with oddly blue eyes and a strangely dominant persuasive personality for such a slight thing, "Right you two. Get yourselves undressed."
"What!"
What did she mean 'Get yourselves undressed'?
"Strip down to your undies. This is a stripping bet. You do know the rules of a stripping bet don't you?"
I didn't know any rules about stripping bets. Stripping bets belonged to a different world from the one I moved in. They belonged to the world of those sexy, bossy girls. This hadn't been meant to be a bet in the first place. I had just been going to make the annoying Louise squirm for a bit.
"Well..."
"Let me remind you then. In a stripping bet the contestants, for want of a better word, both have to strip to their undies. And if they lose they don't get their clothes back till they've paid up. It stops them backing out on the bet. You did know that didn't you?"
"Of course," I lied. I hadn't known any such thing, but I didn't want to seem like some sort of naive nerd, even though I was one.
"You weren't intending to back out if you lost were you?"
"Well... Er... Of course not."
"Come on then boys and girls. Down to your undies. You'll be quite respectable. Won't you Joe?"
I nodded. Oh no! I'd committed myself to appearing in..... How in earth had I got myself into this mess with one silly chance remark. Somehow I couldn't see a way out. It wasn't as if I was being picked on by Lucy, being bossed about or anything, it was something we both had to do, even if it did mean I couldn't just refuse to pay up if I lost.
But... Oh heck...
I was wearing girls knickers. Not that I have a thing about girls' knickers. They're more comfortable. That's why I wear them. Honestly. They support your... Well your dangly bits... And they're a bit... A bit... Well sexy aren't they?
Still, there was no way I could lose, so I would explain, they would understand, it didn't matter. Best get it over with quickly. I took off my shirt; I was so embarrassed, I'd just have to take off my trousers and get on with it. Blushing furiously I pulled them down and handed them to Lucy. I was trembling from head to foot. Standing there in nothing but my little girly panties. There was no way out. I'd just have to recite the names and get away as soon as possible.
"Fuck me!" said Samantha when my trousers came off, though I suppose it was an expletive not an offer.
"You're wearing Sam's panties," said Louise, "Well not Sam's actual panties, I suppose, I mean the same sort. Cotton 'Hello Kitty' panties. The same sort Samantha wears!"
"They're.. They're unisex..." I stammered.
"They're the same as Samantha wears."
"No they're not. Hers are pink..." I stuttered to a halt.
"How do you know that!"
"I just caught a glimpse... Accidentally... I mean..." It was no good. I'd given myself away, "they might be the same style as Samantha wears. With a little kitten on them. Well she flashed her knickers at me once... And they did look comfortable... So I thought I'd try them. And what about Louise. She's not stripped down to her undies!"
She hadn't moved. Lucy had noticed this too.
"You are wearing undies aren't you Lou..."
Louise's mouth dropped open.
"...Louise! You're not wearing undies! Well we'll have to let you off that then. I trust you. I'm sure Joe will."
"But..." I started to say, I'd caught a glimpse of her knickers, she was wearing her pink ones, but I couldn't say it... I couldn't say I'd peeked up her skirt.
"But what?"
"Er... nothing. Of course I trust Louise," well I wouldn't make her strip would I?
I waited for Lucy to tell me I could get dressed again. But there I was stranded in my girly knickers standing on the table. Somehow I was in nothing but my panties and Louise was fully dressed.
"Well girls, how long will we give him to name all these dwarves?"
"But..." I stammered, nobody had said anything about a time limit.
"Well we can hardly give you all day to answer, can we?"
"Well no, but..." I wasn't allowed to get any further.
"So girls, how long would be fair."
"Thirty seconds," said Samantha.