The Rewiring of Kimberly Dew
Note on text: The Renee in this story is not the Renee of Wendy's Pink Lipstick Conversion, although this story does take place in the same Wendyverse. It is entirely irrelevant to either story, but it might be easier to imagine this one taking place at least a few months after the events in Wendy's Pink Lipstick Conversion. And yes, Dr. Essenza and Cynthia did have a cameo in WPLC.
This is a stand-alone story.
For now.
Just an account of some of the goings on at The Diana Group.
*** Boy-crazy Kimberly
Kimberly Dew was boy-crazy. That's all you could really say about her. But she had the looks to help her out. A roundish face with cheeks like two round apples and large friendly brown eyes that peered at the world in sensual delight. One of those slender brunettes with small breasts, B-cups, and slender hips that just matched the entire slender, whimsical, waifish appearance of the girl. Well, woman now, right? After all, eighteen meant adulthood, a freshman at the community college, in Edge City, scraping by to pay for her half of the apartment. Kimberly came from modest means, but the girl had charm. Just so, well, cute. Adorable. And boy-crazy.
In high school, she'd said to Katy one night, she'd slept around, lost her virginity almost as soon as she learned she had it, never regretted the loss. Never even acknowledged it. Just went from boy to boy, dated, if you could call it that, long enough for physical intimacy, and then on to the next. Jocks. Hoods. Any guy with looks and a body. That was important to her. You had to have the right body. And so many guys did.
She didn't drop the habit in college. No, her freshman year so her busy picking up guys, dating guys, casual hook-ups, always on the arm of a different boy, a different guy. Looking for what, exactly? She didn't know, and she didn't really care. Talking to her roommate, Katy, about it, she insisted she wasn't looking for anything. Not happiness. Certainly not a husband, or romance.
"I just like them," she'd said, in the matter-of-fact tone she used when explaining something that should have been readily apparent to even the dumbest person. "They're so, so. Cute. And they're bodies. God. I could ride them all day."
Katy understood that last statement as verity. She'd witnessed it. Well, heard it. Roommates have to put up with things. Or leave. But when she heard it in the morning leaving their apartment, and heard it in the afternoon coming back for a quick change of clothes, and heard it for the final time coming home, the same day, for a bit of relaxation in the evening, then she could attest to the factuality of the declaration. Kimberly Dew could, in fact, ride a man all day. At least Katy assumed it was the same man. With Kimberly you couldn't really tell.
Kimberly had a few girl friends, and Katy counted herself among them. Friends who worried about her. STDs. Bad reputation (too late for that, Katy mused). Maybe even emotional trouble, a little depression to follow up the body's high. Moderation, her friends said. Guys brought trouble, they cautioned. Kimberly Dew didn't listen. And then she started coming home with torn clothes, reeking of alcohol. That couldn't be good, and Katy, busy flipping through a home and garden magazine for some idea of what to get her older sister for her birthday, meant to put a stop to it.
An idea swirled around her head. Grasping it, she held it firmly in her mind's hands, turning it over to look at from all sides. It might work.
"It's for her own good," she told herself. "Besides, what's the worse that could happen?"
She'd heard good things about the place. They worked miracles, it seemed, with behavior modification for people, women, with issues. Self-harm. Substance abuse. Low self-esteem. She didn't know if being boy-crazy counted, but, hey. Could it hurt?
One night, Kimberly was sitting on the couch, fidgeting, nervous, hungry for action, but home, of all things, for the evening. At Katy's insistence. Just this once, Kimmi. Let's stay home and watch a movie. Your choice.
Kimberly hated movies. She wanted to live, not watch.
But she agreed. Mostly to shut Katy up.
Katy lay on her side of the couch, about ready to start the movie. Just then she sat up and held out a piece of paper.
"Hey Kimberly, look what I found on the bulletin board in the student union. Some lab is giving out free money for sleep monitoring."
"Yeah, well?"
"Didn't you say your folks were cutting back on your allowance?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well this place will pay you to let them monitor your sleep. Real money, too."
"How much?"
"One hundred a night."
"How many nights?"
"Two weeks. Fourteen nights. That's fourteen hundred dollars, Kimmi. Just for sleeping."
"Well, I mean, that's rent."
"We can both do it."
"You sure? Won't they hook us up to wires and things like that?"
"They might when we sleep. After all, they gotta have some way of studying our sleep patterns or whatever they're doing."
"But what about during the day! I can't be gone for two weeks!"
"It's the summer. Besides, they'll let us get out doing the day, I'm sure of it."
"You sure of it.?"
"Sure I'm sure. And I hear some of the lab boys are awfully cute."
"Really?"
"That's what I heard."
"Okay," Kimberly said with a mischievous smile, "let's do it!"
*** At the front desk
So Katy called the number, arranged an appointment, and drove Kimberly to the research center, a nice, respectable building in the middle of an office park. Large pink letters above the glass entry proclaimed The Diana Group Research Center. Katy parked the car and led Kimberly through the shiny glass and aluminum doors and up to the front desk, where she gave the receptionist their names.
"Oh, yes," said the receptionist, a blond with short cropped hair, about three inches on top, but shaved almost smooth above her ears and neck. The haircut matched her sharp, angular, delicate features well. Each ear bore three or four studs, some set with blue or red jewels, some just metal. She wore a pink blouse with enough of her top buttons unfastened to show off a small cleavage reinforced by a pink pushup bra. Heavy dark mascara, dark eyeliner, and blue shimmering eyeshadow set off her rich glossy pink lipstick. She winked at Kimberly as she typed her name into the keyboard of the computer in front of her.
"Kimberly Dew," she said. "We already have you registered, but if you could please take these forms and fill them out, we'll be with you as soon as we can. We're so excited you're here!"
"Can you tell me about this place?" Kimberly asked. "What is it? What do they do?"
"What don't they do, you mean," the receptionist answered with an eager, friendly voice. "I actually had a treatment here a while back. They worked wonders on me. Just wonders. I used to." Her voice trailed off, she turned away, as if deep in thought. "And now I don't," she finished, gathering her enthusiam, and smiling brightly, first at Katy, then at Kimberly. "That really is just the loveliest necklace, honey. You make it look super."
Kimberly stiffened. She hated it when girls acted like that. That kind of flirting. What the hell was that wink about anyway? Save it for the boys, girl. So she didn't smile back. Just kind of grabbed the clipboard with the forms, took a pen from a holder on the counter, and turned to Katy.
"What about you? Where's your form?"
The receptionist looked at the computer.
"You're our only appointment for today, Miss Dew."
Katy leaned over the counter.
"Are you sure about that? I called for the two of us. What do you have for a Katy Dawson?"
The receptionist punched the name in.
"Sorry. Just Miss Dew here." The receptionist turned to Kimberly. "If you would just go through that door to your right, I'll let in. There's a waiting room inside where you can finish filling out those forms."
"But what about you, Katy? I don't want to do this by myself."
"I'll be a minute behind you, Kimmi. Just go through that door, and I'll get everything sorted out with Miss," she glanced at the receptionist questioningly.
"Piper. Britney Piper."
"With Miss Piper. Don't worry, I'll be with you in a matter of minutes."
Kimberly walked up to the heavy wooden door slowly, doubtfully. Britney buzzed, and Kimberly turned the knob, pushed the door, and walked into the waiting room.
Katy pulled a flash drive from her purse as Kimberly walked through the heavy door. She handed the drive to Miss Piper, who smiled and plugged it into her computer. Opening the folder, she clicked on one photograph after another.
"Will those work?" Katy asked, worried. They hadn't been easy to take, considering her sister's suspicious nature and extreme timidity. But Katy was patient, and her friend needed help. Badly.