Chapter III: A Kellog Serial
"Hi, guys and gals," Cindy said into the video camera. From the background behind her, it was apparent that she was sitting in a car. "It's me again. Time for our next update. Thanks for checking in.
"For those of you who are bidding, thank you and keep up the good work. But we're not even halfway where we need to be. I figure that if things don't improve by the end of this week, I'll probably have to call it off. No point in keeping this up, if it ain't gonna happen, y'know?
"Anyway, some of you emailed that were still unconvinced that this isn't some sort of sham. Well, the only other thing I could think of doing to convince you, is to bring you along with me to school. So here we are. I'm not going to name the school, 'cuz I got a lot of hate mail, too, and I don't want any stalkers coming after me, but I figure you can meet some of my friends who know what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it. Ready? Let's go!
"Oh, by the way, before we head off, some of you were wondering who was operating the video camera last time. I'm afraid I can't tell you that because I promised I wouldn't. Those of you who know me, can probably guess, though. I can tell you, that it wasn't a boyfriend. Like I may have said, I don't really have one right now, and if I did, I can bet you he wouldn't put up with this!
"Okay, now let's go." Cindy opened the car door, and the video camera image rocked and jostled, capturing the asphalt paved parking lot. Since she was no longer in the frame, it was clear that she was taking the video by herself. As she walked onto campus, she was careful to avoid taking pictures of peoples faces.
"Hiya, Cindy!", "Hey, Cin!", "Hey, Babe!" and "Slut!" were but a few of the voices that could be heard on the video camera as they walked down a corridor, finally slipping into the open door of a classroom. Carefully placed on the ground, in a clear plastic book bag adorned with pink flowers, the camera captured the first few moments of the classroom lecture, before being shut off remotely.
When the camera cut back in, only Cindy and a few of her friends were left in the otherwise empty classroom. "Okay, that was my first class. Science. Yuck. But now, it's lunchtime, and I'm here at school with some friends of mine who agreed to be on tape." The camera panned the group of teenagers. They were all smiling and eager to be on camera. It was a small group of 3 girls and 2 boys, not including Cindy.
"These girls are on the Prom committee, and these two guys are classmates of mine since grade school. They are here to verify that this is completely legit, and that to their knowledge, and by reputation, I have never had sex with a boy."
The gathering of kids all nodded, smiling at the camera. "Yup, it's true," "That's right," "Uh-huh," they all said at once, speaking over each other.
One of the girls spoke up. "I'm the head of the Prom Committee. And it's true. Cindy is doing this so we can all have a nice senior prom. She doesn't sleep around. She promised her dad. I've known her since Freshman year, and she's smart, and funny, and one of the nicest girls on campus, but she hasn't had a steady boyfriend that I know of. I feel kinda strange begging you to bid on my friend, but she says its okay, and that she wants to do it, and I can't think of a braver thing to do. She's my hero."
"She's totally hot, too!" one of the boys yelled out from the back.
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Cindy interrupted. "I better not have found out that you bid!" she joked, pointing a finger at her friend in the back. "And it's not just because I know you're flat broke!" she added.
Just then, the door opened. The group of kids scattered noisily for the exits like cockroaches desperately looking for cover.
"All right, what's going on in here. Cindy?" came a stern female voice.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Cindy, I'd like to have a word with you. The rest of you can get," she said to no one in particular, as everyone else was already cleared out through the door.
Cindy approached the teacher's desk at the front corner of the room. "Is that thing on?" the teacher asked. Cindy looked down at the camera in her hand. She was so taken aback by being caught that she had completely forgotten about it.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Wait. Don't turn it off, yet. I want to tell you and your little audience something." The camera pointed at her stern face. "Cindy, there are rumors going around that you're offering to sell yourself in order for your classmates to have a senior prom. Is that true?"
"Well, I . . ."
"Look. I think it's commendable that you're trying to help. I also think it's admirable that you've decided to honor your promise to your father not to have sex until you're ready. You're 18 and I can't stop you from doing anything you want to do on your own time. I just want you to promise me one thing. That you'll stop this if you decide you don't want to go through with it. We can always find another way to raise the money. Okay?"
"Yes ma'am. I promise."
"And one more thing, I'm going to give you my cell phone number. I will be chaperoning the dance. If you get into trouble, you call me, okay?" she asked sternly.
"I will. Thank you," she said quietly.
"Okay, and for your viewers, you should know that if you hurt this young lady, or force her to do something she doesn't want to do, I WILL come looking for you."
"Thanks again," Cindy mumbled, impressed by her teacher's forthright approach. As she took the phone number from her teacher's hand, she looked up and was surprised to see her teacher staring straight into her eyes, boring a hole in her skull. But it wasn't a look of consternation, disappointment or pity. It was a non-judgmental look of genuine concern. In that same instant she realized that her teacher really cared about her. Not just as a student, but as a person. Almost like an equal. She was deeply affected by this. Without thinking, Cindy leaned over and kissed her teacher appreciatively on the cheek. She smelled wonderful. Her perfume was soft and feminine, even though her outer demeanor was always so hard and strict. She wondered why she hadn't noticed her teacher's feminine side before. She was so pretty, and her skin was so soft. Cindy slowly leaned in close again and turned her chin into her teacher's neck, taking in another whiff of sweet perfume and admiring up close how she applied her minimal make up to such great effect.
After a few moments, Cindy jolted back to reality. -- What was I doing? -- She had never had any sexual feelings towards other girls before, and she wasn't even sure that she was having them now. -- Is that what I'm feeling? -- As she withdrew, she brushed her cheek against her teacher's, wanting to explore her feelings a little more. To Cindy's surprise, her teacher didn't move away. But she didn't encourage her, either. She just allowed Cindy to explore her newly awakening feelings a little. It was like she knew what Cindy needed to do, and she let her do it, without judging.
All at once, Cindy realized what was happening. Her teacher knew her better than she knew herself, and her teacher really cared about her in a way she had only thought that her real parents could. Overcome with a swell of emotions -- love, sex, curiosity, respect, admiration, shame, and her first taste of adult wisdom -- Cindy paused, not knowing what to do next. -- If I leaned in, she would probably let me kiss her on the lips -- NO! That's wrong! -- Does she want me to? -- What if I never get another chance? -- Don't push it -- But I really want to know more! -- Confused and a little ashamed and embarrassed, Cindy finally turned away. She stuffed the emergency telephone number into her transparent book bag, and hurriedly left the room, nervous and shaking.
Once outside, Cindy caught up to her small group of friends. After explaining what had happened -- well, most of what happened, she left out the part about the kiss -- Cindy and her best friend, Dana, went off to their next class, gym. Technically, it was Gymnastics III, a class reserved for cheerleaders. As a senior, Cindy had already taken basic P.E. in her freshman year. Gym II was for the JV squad, and Gym III was for the varsity. Gymnastics IV and V were for the true gymnasts.
When they approached the locker room, a group of boys walked up to them and verbally accosted Cindy, calling her rude names and urging her and her friend to take them all on. They had obviously seen her website. For the first time, Cindy was panicked. She expected the occasional rude comment, but she hadn't truly figured on getting assaulted and gang raped.
But then, just as suddenly, a group of junior and senior basketball and football jocks came to her rescue, bursting into the circle and pinning the other boys up against the red brick wall outside the locker rooms. Forcing them to apologize, and promise not to bother Cindy or her friends again, the jocks gave the aggressors a few bruises in hidden locations, as a not-so-gentle reminder and warning of what would happen if there were any further complaints about their behavior.
Cindy thanked them, and quickly turned heel with Dana, leaving the scene before a teacher turned up. Once safely inside the girls' locker room, Cindy and Dana tucked the video camera in Dana's locker -- in case any teacher came looking around -- and changed into their practice uniforms, which were essentially the performance uniforms from three seasons ago. The girls left for practice, leaving the video camera behind. At least, that was what Cindy thought. Unbeknownst to Cindy, Dana had given instructions to a friend to remove the camera from her locker and take a few surreptitious pictures of Cindy at cheer practice.
Dana knew that Cindy didn't want to reveal that she was on the cheer squad. She was afraid that if it became public, no one would take her claim of chastity seriously. But Dana disagreed. She was of the opinion that there was nothing more tempting to the pervs browsing the web than a chance to boff a cute virgin cheerleader.
Unfortunately, Cindy wasn't on her best game. She was confused and awkward at practice, turning the wrong way and forgetting the words to even the most practiced cheers. She was distracted, still thinking about her unexplored sexual feelings toward another woman. And being around all these cute, peppy girls in short pleated skirts and cheer panties (some were still wearing their regular underwear), wasn't helping. She found herself peering at her classmates' necks, arms, breasts, asses and legs. She stared at their perfectly made up eyes and lips, and wondered what it would be like to kiss them. She knew that some of them were bi-sexual, and that some of them were more sexually adventurous than others. She wished that she hadn't shied away from the last post-game party after the win over their cross-town rivals that she heard had quickly turned into a large group orgy with some of the stars on the basketball team.
The faculty cheer advisor pulled her aside and Cindy lied, telling her that she was having abnormal cramps. Concerned, but skeptical, the advisor sent Cindy to the school nurse, and told Dana to accompany her, both to watch over her, and to make sure that she actually went.
