The classroom window looked out over a long field of dust and tumbleweeds. Far in the distance the freeway shimmered in the heat. It led east-west. The smoke from the chemical plant hid anything behind it. The important thing, for Erin, was that either direction led away from the middle of nowhere in Texas.
“Ms. Malloy,” the teacher said. Erin tore her gaze away from the dusty haze of distant freedom. Ms. Hazel stood in front of her desk and tapped her fingers on the stained and carved formica.
“Can I help you, Ms. Hazel?” Erin drawled. She put the emphasis on the “Ms.” The late-20s teacher hated that.
“We’re turning in our assignments. I assume you didn’t do yours, but it’s polite to check.”
Erin shrugged, nonchalant. “Thank you for being polite.”
“You know that we do fail people now,” Ms. Hazel said. “It’s not just in the movies. The state will be happy to fund another year of education. Hopefully with another teacher.”
The class snickered. Erin let it slide. Ms. Hazel liked to make cracks at her expense. She was an easy target, dressed down in old bargain-bin blue jeans with ripped seams, and a striped ringer. A full-length black coat hung on the chair behind her. She wore a black skirt over the jeans as a sneering concession to fashion, and a dark leather choker to let the world know that she didn’t give a fuck. The rest of the class was dressed in Abercrombie and Old Navy. If you squeezed the girls you could extract a bucket of makeup.
The door cracked open. A slim boy walked inside. He wore secondhand clothes and a nondescript expression. On his nose he wore coke-bottle glasses so thick his head nodded under the weight. The class, Senior History, was choked with bored, large football players, fidgety drama queens, and a large contingent of cheerleaders both Natural Blonde and Forced. The boy blinked at the hostile, huddled mass like a lamb in a lion’s den.
“That’s right,” Ms. Hazel said. “we have a transfer student today. Mr. Nomeda. He’ll be serving out his sentence with the rest of us.”
“Dennis,” the boy said. “My name’s Dennis.”
“Dennis. Right. Go take a seat. Mr. Nomeda recently moved here from…?”
“New York. From New York,” he said. He paused, walked down the aisle. Erin wondered if—yes, he’s going to do it. He was going to sit in the Death Chair, the empty desk between Erin herself and the Ice Queen, Susan. He sidled into it. A brighter boy might’ve wondered why that was the only non-front-row empty chair in a full classroom, particularly since it was next to a blonde hottie with a pair of dancer’s legs.
Erin grinned. This might be good. She owed him a warning, at least. His expression reminded her a little of Michael, another lost duck in a hostile environment.
“Hey,” she whispered. Up front, Ms. Hazel struggled to load up a battered laserdisc on Mid-Kingdom Egypt.
Dennis flicked his eyes her way. They were bright blue, tucked behind his goggle-like spectacles. An odd refraction focused them into a piercing stare. Erin paused.
“Um.. you don’t want to sit there,” she whispered, suddenly and strangely shy.
Dennis raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Her,” Erin said, nodded at the Ice Queen herself. Susan had the soul of a Dickens villain locked in the curvy body of a well-filled out blonde. She was tall, partly in fact and partly because of ramrod-straight posture. Her considerable poise, not to mention two poorly-hidden well-formed globes on her upper chest, stood in stark contrast with the slumped, defeated classmates around her. She stared directly ahead at the chalkboard. Her hair shone like fire.
Dennis looked to his right. Erin watched him catch his breath, and felt his eyes widen. He quickly turned his back to her. Erin rolled her eyes. It would be fun to watch Susan skewer another male. It would also be nice to not be treated like a disposable piece of shit by yet another guy.
She toyed with her black leather choker. The girl in the catalog had attracted plenty of admiring glances. It just looked like a dog collar on her.
“Hey,” Dennis whispered at the Ice Queen.
Susan flickered a glance towards him. “Yes, child?” she said, in monotone. “Is there something I can assist you with?”
Susan’s Duchess had driven two boys to babbling tears already. Dennis didn’t seem to mind.
“What’s your name?”
“Um. Duchess Queensley,” Susan said. Her voice quavered, and her eyes widened.
Dennis shook his head. “No it isn’t. What’s your real name?”
Susan took a breath. She crossed a pair of perfect legs, tugged down a bone-white skirt. The polar blonde wore a long-sleeved navy blouse that pulled tightly across her chest.
“It’s Susan,” she said.
“I’m Dennis. Dennis Nomeda.”
“Uhh… nice to meet you, Dennis,” she said, and smiled. Erin’s hand froze on her choker. She had watched a half-dozen men flame and die against the most prominent virgin at Downing High. Not once had the Ice Queen cracked a smile, except possibly to herself, after she made them sob.
Dennis gestured back at her. “Any idea why this girl doesn’t think I should sit next to you?”
Susan’s eyes narrowed to slits. Erin froze in her glare, flushed at the quick and pointless betrayal. Susan examined her, dismissed her as irrelevant, and returned to Dennis’ welcoming eyes.
“Couldn’t say why. That’s just Squeaker. She’s got a thing.”
“A thing about what?”
“A thing about everything,” Susan said.
Erin slumped back in her seat, kicked the chair in front of her. The overstuffed jock who blocked her view of the chalkboard gave her an evil glare. Then Ms. Hazel managed to get the old technology to work. She flicked off the lights so that the class could sleep, and Erin steamed in a dark shroud of frustration.
The lights turned back on. Most of the dozing students were trained to reawaken at the lightbulb hum. Others were shaken awake by friendly classmates. Erin, who had no friendly classmates, snored quietly in her corner seat until the bell rang. Ms. Hazel, as usual, was the first out the door, eager to get over to the Teacher Smoking Nook. A hulking conglomeration of white people in expensive jeans fled right after her. The only three left were Erin, who was still waking up, Susan, who could never be rushed, and Dennis.
“It was nice to meet you, Susan,” the new boy said. He locked gazes with her again. Erin stuffed items into her bookbag.
“Can I get your phone number?” he asked.
“Um… sure,” Susan said. Erin shook her head in disbelief. The Ice Queen bent at the waist, balancing neatly on a stylish pair of heels. Dennis had a good look at a pleasant canyon of cleavage. “Here it is.”
Dennis took the note, glanced at it, then tore it up. “No, I meant your real phone number,” he said, politely.
“Oh, okay,” Susan said, weakly. She wrote something else down, handed it to Dennis. He nodded, satisfied.
“I’ll be at the mall later today,” he said. “Why don’t you show up? I’m sure we have plenty to talk about.”
Erin beat a fast retreat to the door.
“Talk about.. okay,” Susan said. She favored Dennis with another smile. For a girl that didn’t practice, it was absolutely winning. “I’ll be there. The mall is pretty fun.”
Erin swept down the Main Quad. The slouched girl in baggy jeans stood out in a sea of well-muscled guys in unfunny t-shirts and self-conscious girls with immaculate ponytails. So, maybe Susan is a golddigger? Maybe she wants a geek to load up on cash? Maybe she likes that he’s from somewhere outside of this town of doom?
None of those made much sense. He did, she had to admit, have very striking eyes. They bit inside of you, flashing a deep blue. Erin shook herself again. She banged right into one of the bigger football players, Steven (“Steve”), a big pile of beef with a head attached.
“Well. Hello, Squeaker,” he said. “I appreciate your offer, but I think I’d crush you.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Erin mumbled, ducking around him.
“No, you’re my type! I like it when girls hate me!” He laughed. His cronies joined in.
Erin usually spent lunch in an abandoned nook on the outskirts of campus. A lumpy and underused janitorial building kept it in perpetual shadow. The ground was littered with cigarette butts from the previous several decades. Terri and Alex were already there. Alex was one of Downing High’s handful of East Asian students, and the only female one. She kept her hair pulled back in a rigid half-ponytail and preferred flannel shirts even on warm days.
“I just saw the strangest thing,” Erin announced.
“Ms. Hazel finally started drinking in class,” Alex guessed.
“No! Not yet. But the semester isn’t over yet.”
“Someone raised their hand in class,” Terri said. She was compulsively bookish. Her glasses were nearly as thick as Dennis’. She continually pushed them back up her nose. She dressed like someone who didn’t really care about the process. Erin guessed she had an entire bin of comfortable, boring jeans, and another of light pastel t-shirts.
“No! That will never happen. You guys know Susan, right? The Ice Queen?”
“Not like you know her,” Alex said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you obsess over her. You talk about her all the time.”
“She’s fun to watch!” Erin said. Alex rolled her eyes.
“Just because she shoots down guys and generally acts like a total bitch doesn’t mean she’s a role model.”
“Whatever,” Erin said. “You guys are in Honors. You are actually engaged during classtime. Today we watched a video on Mid-Kingdom Egypt. Yesterday we watched a video on Old-Kingdom Egypt. I’m guessing tomorrow is New-Kingdom Egypt. I get my entertainment where I can.”
She paused. “What was I talking about?”
“Susan, ditz,” Terri said. She checked her watch. “Make it quick. I’m off for AP studying again in a few.”
“Okay, bookworm. So there’s a new guy. Geeky. Nerdy.”
“Michael?” Terri said.
“Ha ha. No. Some kid named Dennis. Weird eyes. Anyway, he basically asks her out, and she melts all over him.”
Alex looked up, mildly interested. “Melted the Ice Queen? That is something unusual. For this town.”
“She was cooing over him. I half-expected her to titter. It was bizaare. And she gave him her phone number.”
“So?”
“Her real phone number.”
“Huh.” Alex scratched her head.
“I find nothing strange in a cheerleader acting like a bit of a bimbo in front of some kid with money,” Terri declared. “They get drippy whenever they sense a wallet with more then a Blockbuster card in it.”
“It was more then that, Teacher’s Pet. it was—“ his eyes “nevermind. We’re going to the mall after school, right?”
“There’s nowhere else to go,” Terri said. She started to pack her backpack up. “Unless you finally got us those bus tickets we’ve been praying for.”
“Post-graduation, I promise. Anyway, you’re already going to U Mich. Don’t pretend you’re stuck here like the rest of us.”
Terri shrugged in mock sympathy. “Be seeing you two.”
Alex and Erin watched her leave. “You ever wonder why she never dated anyone?” Alex asked.
“She’s already married, to a half-dozen textbooks,” Erin said. “She studies every night. I think she does crosswords on the toilet to stay sharp.”
“Yeah, but she’s genuinely pretty. Underneath. You should see Honors English, all the boys dote on her. She doesn’t even notice.”
“There are more important things then boys,” Erin said. She sniffed and frowned. “Like most things in life.”
“Oh, would your BoyToy over there agree?”
Erin followed Alex’s line of sight. Michael sat by himself, lost in a hardcover the size of a phonebook. Repelled by the smell of literature, the rest of the student body left him alone. He had the entire table to himself. He had the same slight build Dennis had, the result of forgetting to eat. “You should say hello. He’s waiting for you.”
Erin swatted Alex’s head. “We went to Winter Ball. There was no other. And I felt sorry for him.”
“That’s not what your dress said,” Alex said, grinning. “It said to me, “I am a lonely gothy cynic girl, please make the sex with me.””
“Oh, you will pay for that,” Erin said. She balled her fists, smacked at Alex’s unprotected head. She put her hands up in mock concern. “That outfit was a travesty of everything I stood for. I only wore it so I could give the Ball photo the middle-finger. And why the interest in our love lives? Maybe you should get one of your own.”
“Be serious,” Alex said. She shuddered. “I’m the only Asian girl in this school. Any guy lusting for me wants a geisha who walks three steps behind him and “tawks wike dis.”
“Maybe if we had,” Alex cupped imaginary boobs. Erin looked down at her feet. Nothing was in the way. The good god above had given her a boy-chest with insulting nipples. If she squeezed them up the flat-chested girl could just about manage to look like an anorexic model. “Yeah yeah. Boobs are overrated.”
“That reminds me,” Alex said. “When we go to the mall, we stay out of Animanation. If Jared leers at me one more time, I’m going to smack him with a hammer.”
“He might like that.”
“Then we’ll find that out.”
“I’m not going in there,” Alex said. They eyed the dim neon of Animanation. A lifesize robot with a goofy expression leered at them from the store display. “I hate anime. I hate Jared. I hate this store.”
“Yes, but Jared likes you,” Erin pointed out. “And he always gives me an employee discount if you show up. You don’t even have to do anything. Just be… you know… exotic for him.”
“You’re disgusting,” Alex said. She was dressed demurely in a dark green zip-up hoodie. “Why don’t you flash some skin? It’s not hard to do. You just wear fewer clothes.”
“Noooo.. I think Alex has a thing for different Continents. Besides, I don’t think he really likes me.”
“You’re mean to him.”
“I don’t treat him any differently.”
“You’re mean to everyone,”
“Lets just do this, okay?” Erin said.
Alex sighed. “Okay. But I’m keeping the hoodie up.” They marched into the store. Lovebright Mall barely deserved the name. A single struggling department store anchored two sparse levels of shopping. Teenagers had colonized its upper reaches. Mostly they sat in circles in the food court (Cinnabun + Hot Dog Stick) and groused about their lives. Desert dust blew across the unswept bottom floor whenever the automatic doors creaked open. Animanation stayed in business mostly thanks to a small but eager pervert population and Erin.
“Ladies,” Jared said. His smile was half oil; the other half was insincerity. He was well-dressed for an anime store owner, which meant his shirt was laundered and had no sweat stains. He avoided the pear-shape most of them adopted for business purposes.
“Well, lady, anyway,” he said, eyeing Alex. She shuddered.
“I am your best customer, Jared.” Erin reminded him.
“No, my best customer is the Internet, which is how I manage to stay alive. I only keep the store open in case something wonderful walks in. Ni-hon-go, Alex.”
“’Sup,” Alex said. Jared beamed.
“No, I don’t think my best customer is the girl who wrecks all my displays, thumbs through all my books, and makes loud insulting comments about every ten year old that walks in here for Pokemon cards. Those children are my future, you know.”
“I’m doing them a favor. Pokemon rots the brain,” Erin said. She picked up a new book and paged through it.
“I think they should find that out for themselves. So, uh, Alex. How’s everything? You know, every thing?”
Alex stood in the far corner and lurked. Jared couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Erin, sensing an end to her friend’s patience, grabbed her weekly allotment and left. Jared punched in the employee discount without even being asked.
Once they were clear, Alex stood in a wide stance and shook herself.
“That man has a real skill. He can have sex with you with just his eyes,” she muttered. “Nihongo! I’m not Japanese! My parents are from Southern China! I’ve barely been out of Texas!”
“I don’t think he was really seeing you in there,” Erin said. She shook her bag. “It worked out for me.”
“Doesn’t it always. Come on. You owe me something. Something really good. I am never doing that again.”
“There’s worse things then being admired.”
“Then you try it next time,” Alex said. “I’ll get you a sailor suit and a stupid little wand to twirl. You’ll be beautiful.”
“Oh, shit!” Erin said.
“What? You think that’s a good idea?”
“No, it’s Susan. She actually came!”
The tall drink of blonde sashayed in front of them. Gone was her stone-statute stride. Now she swiveled from side to side, her ass swaying around in a geometric arc. She wore a pair of jeans so tight the decal had to be tattooing her skin. Above the waist the lithe girl favored a tight orange turtleneck with puffy sleeves. Her hair cascaded behind her and swayed in partial-time to her stride.
“Boy, it would take a team of engineers for me to look that good,” Alex said. “And six plastic surgeons.”
“I always figured that she walked so straight because her back hurt,” Erin said. She sighed. “You know, the curse of big boobs. Turns out she just had a stick up her ass.”
Alex eyed Erin sympathetically. “I hear you get a growth spurt in college, a lot of the time.”
“Good thing I’m not going to college, then,” Erin said. “Come on. Lets follow her.”
“That’s crazy.”
Erin was already self-consciously skulking. Alex cursed and trailed behind.
The two kept a safe distance behind the girl. The mall was full of post-school classmates. Many of whom, Erin noted, had gone on a purchasing spree. They clutched little parcels from a label she didn’t recognize, and had boyfriends stacked high with boxes. Little flirty skirts seemed to be in fashion again. Any boys lucky enough to kneel would get an eyeful of nicely exposed skin. Those girls wearing jeans looked distinctly uncomfortable.
“And that’s Dennis,” Erin said, pointing across the mall. The new kid walked, hands in pockets, through the mall. He already seemed well-acquainted with her classmates, nodding politely to a parting river of girls. “See? Geeky. No way Susan has a shot at a guy like that.”
“Spying, ladies?” Terri said. She put her arms around them both. Erin put her arms behind her and felt around. “Lets see. Glasses. Serious expression. No life. Must be Terri.”
“Good guess,” the two turned around. There was one surprise. Terri wore a skirt of her own, a black number with an asymmetrical hem that swept around her knees.
“Terri!” Alex said, surprised. “I didn’t even know you owned a skirt. I figured you used them for science projects.”
Terri laughed. “It IS incredibly hot out, you know. I don’t want to get heatstroke right before AP Bio. Sometimes it’s nice to get a breeze around your nether regions.”
“I didn’t even know you had ‘nether regions,’ and who calls them nether regions?” Erin said. “We’re following the Ice Queen and Dennis.” The two had met in the center of the mall, on a glass dais above the central plaza. Below them, bits of Santa’s Village waited forlornly for someone to remember to put them away. Susan was smiling again.
“Right, Dennis. I met him today,” Terri said. They backed out of traffic into a shadowed alcove. “He came up to me right after school.”
“And?”
“He asked if I was a cheerleader. I told him no, and why was he asking? He said nevermind, he was new here. End of conversation.”
“He thought you were a cheerleader?”
“I GUESS it was a compliment. I think he really figured I was a cheerleader. Because of all the cheerleaders wearing glasses and clutching actual schoolbooks.”
‘Weird,” Erin murmured. She couldn’t keep her eyes off Dennis and his new girlfriend. They sat in the middle of half of the student body. Everyone noticed that Susan had fallen hard for the weird new kid with the glasses.
“Anyway, if you’re done here, I’m going shopping.”
“You? Shopping?” All of Terri’s spending money went to Kaplan AP Prep.
“Gotta get ready to be a college girl, right? Erin, are you done being weird?”
“I’ll catch up,” she mumbled. What is going on here? Things didn’t go this fast, even with nutty teenage hormones. Dennis even had his arm genteelly around her hips, guiding her carefully down the aisle. The other students parted for them like they were royalty. Erin followed.
They can’t be heading towards make-out corner. Make-out corner was one of the few areas clear of overprotective security cameras.
Erin inched up to the corner, put her back to the wall. She heard a muffled thump on the other side. That must be Susan. Up against the wall. And those cut-off gasps she heard, along with the desperate kisses, had to also come from Susan.
“Oh, oh, oh, Dennis.” When Susan’s voice dropped all pretension, it was needy and breathless—or maybe that was just because he had her pinned against a wall. “Oh, that feels—Dennis!”
There was a twenty second interval of heavy breathing and murmuring. Despite herself, Erin started to feel distinctly turned on as well. Her body felt hot underneath too many layers of clothing. She toyed with her choker, glued to the other side of the wall.
“No, no, someone might—Dennis!” Susan said. There was a rustling noise.
“If you don’t want me to touch your boobs,” Dennis said. His voice was husky, “Then don’t get such an amazing pair.”
“Yes, yes, I know it’s my fault.”
“Geez!” Erin thought. Even her own undersized boobies were starting to feel a little warm. This was like an audio-only porno.
After another few minutes of sucking sounds and Susan’s impassioned whimpering, Dennis seemed to at last relent. “I have to go,” he said, reluctant. “Wear something nice for me tomorrow, will you?”
“O—of course, Dennis,” Susan said. “Sure thing.”
“Great. Have a nice day. Glad we met, Susan.”
“Um. Likewise.”
Erin retreated around the corner and walked away quickly. She kept her damp hands in her pockets.
Most people avoided Michael automatically. He clearly wasn’t able to avoid them. His head was typically lost in clouds of his own design. He held a paperback at his side. Erin ran right into him.
“Ow!” she snapped. “Watch where the hell you’re—Michael!”
“Oh,” he focused on her and blushed. Erin looked down. A thin sheen of sweat had forced her shirt against her body. She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, please watch where the hell you’re going Michael.”
“Hi Erin,”
“Hi. What’s up.”
“Oh. You know me,” he blinked. “I guess we haven’t talked in awhile.”
“Nope nope.” Emerging horniness was forgotten against a wave of embarrassment. They hadn’t talked since the night of Winter Ball. It had not ended well. “You.. ah, you ready for college?”
“I guess. Look. Erin. I wanted to talk to you about—“
Susan rounded a corner. She had the flushed, mussed look of someone who had just spent a happy five minutes getting her titties sucked on. Her clothing was back in place, but her hair was distinctly disheveled. She wove through the crowds on her heels, more then a little punch-drunk.
“I don’t want to go into it,” Erin said.
“I think you owe me at least—“
“Later!” Erin softened her tone. “Later. Alright. I have to go. Catch you later, kid.”
“I’m not a kid,” Michael said. He shook his head. “Fine. See you later, Erin.”
Erin had already swept past him, her coat billowing behind her. Susan made her way towards a new store, one of very few to replace a dying breed of mall shops. The name on the perky salesgirls’ t-shirts read “Hugh Mussobay,” although it was distorted and warped when pulled across young, prominent boobs. Susan certainly belonged. The place was half cheerleader. The rest of the current clientele had a well-deserved reputation for spending time on their backs. A slew of boyfriends stood in corners and tried not to stare too overtly at attractive young ladies trying on slinky outfits.
Erin was immediately the darkest and dourest thing in the store. She stood in the center, attracting bored stares, and sat heavily on a bench. She displaced a cooing Senior showing off a new pair of heels to a boyfriend more interested in a teeny little skirt. Susan walked around the display floor with the utter confidence of someone who looked great in everything.
“Can I help you with something?” said a redhead in a yellow micro-mini, in tones that meant “I can’t help you with anything.”
Erin kept an eye on Susan. She snatched items off shelves and racks, amassing a small fortune in apparel. Her family was well-off, but not THAT well-off. That pile of suede, leather, and micro-fabrics had to cost a mint.
“Is this place expensive?” she said, bluntly.
She didn’t notice the redhead roll her eyes. “We ARE a boutique. But this is our grand opening, so everything is on sale. We have some socks in the back if you—“
Erin glared at the girl. “I’ll try those on,” she said, pointing at random at a pair of boots. The salesgirl shrugged, collected her shoe size, and disappeared. Susan vanished into the back room as well.
“Alright, here you go,” the salesgirl said. She pulled out a pair of boots and held them gingerly out. “These are really meant to be worn with a skirt.”
“No problem,” Erin retorted. She glanced around. The boys in the store were preoccupied with a bewildering display of well-formed boobs, round, pendulous, and mostly even real. She unlaced her time-tested sneakers, held onto her skirt with one hand, and jerked her jeans off with the other. They slid easily off her legs, which were still sweaty after watching Dennis and Susan at play.
She beamed at the snotty salesgirl. She in turn wrinkled her nose at Erin’s unshaven legs. Erin followed her gaze down. They were a little hairy, she conceded, especially in the midst of these gazelles with sparkling thighs. Erin quickly shoved on the boots. They were knee high, and she had never walked in a spike heel of that size before. In fact, they were completely impractical and stupid.
“I’ll take them,” she announced, kicking them off again. She didn’t let the girl see her flinch at the substantial cost, or wince as she struggled back into her jeans. Some of the boys had taken notice at the dark girl taking her pants off. She pretended not to notice. Only after she left the store did she realize that she had taken revenge on a bitchy shopgirl by earning her a sizeable commission.
Alex and Terri walked up to her while she was berating herself. They both had a clutch of their own purchases. Including, she noticed, at least one bright pink Mussobay bag in Terri’s own collection.
“Expensive day,” Terri said. She shook her bags. “I think I got a little out of control.”
“I think the clerk boy did that for you, Terri,” Alex said. She grinned. “You’d think she’d never got an admiring look before.”
“Yeah. Well. Mission accomplished,” Terri giggled. “I hope Dad doesn’t find out about these.”
“What did you get?” Erin asked Alex. The short, tan girl swept her hair back. “Something for tomorrow. You’ll like it. It’ll be fun. You?”
“Oh.. nothing. I’m probably going to return it.”
“Come on. You don’t get nothing from that new boutique. What is it? Let me guess, it’s black. No. Dark black.”
Erin stuck her tongue out. “Really. It’s nothing. I’ll—ah—I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Bye!”
She was outside of the mall before she realized she still hadn’t returned the bag. Oh well.
Now she had to face her Mom.
The house was big, dark, and empty. Quiet since Dad had gone, taking Ben with him. Erin had been acquired in exchange for the deed to the house and the silverware. She suspected her Mom felt cheated.
Linda emerged from shadow. “Just in time for dinner,” she chirped. She was an on-again-off-again brunette, dressed in one of her three work pantsuits.
“Not hungry,” Erin said, and rushed past her. “Just leave it out. I’ll get it later.”
“It’s hamburgers. Later it’ll be soggy and gross. French fries aren’t even that good hot.”
“Yum,” Erin said.
“What’re you carrying?”
Erin cursed. “Nothing.”
“I haven’t seen you carry anything bright pink since you brought your Barbies down to get thrown away.”
“I never played with Barbie. No way. Barbie is disgusting.”
“That’s what you said when you threw her away. At the time I wondered if you were going through a phase. Eight years later, I’m still wondering.”
“Whatever, Mom,” Erin said. She rolled her eyes so hard she hoped her Mom could hear it.
“No, really, what did you get?” Mom crossed her arms.
“None of your business!”
“Fine. I’m just trying to make conversation. Not everything is meant to piss you off, Erin. Think about smiling. You don’t even need to do it. Just think about it.”
“When I leave town, I’ll smile so hard the bus driver will readjust his mirrors just to get a look, ” Erin stomped up every single remaining stair.
“Christ,” her Mom muttered. “I should’ve spent more time teaching her to play well with others.” She said it loud so Erin could hear.
Erin threw her stupid boots against the wall. They hit hard enough to nearly tear apart her Carebear Movie poster with the heads cut out. Her room still smelled like cloyed incense from her one disastrous attempt with sandalwood. Mom was forbidden to even consider vacuuming the carpet. Erin picked up the phone, made sure her Mom wasn’t listening in, and started to dial Michael’s number. She knew it by heart. She stopped on the sixth digit.
Winter Ball was just two months ago. She had asked him, of course. The drippy boy couldn’t ask a dog to sit without tripping over his tongue. He had worn his Dad’s suit and a nice blue shirt with the starch still in it.
Erin had shopped in utter secrecy, early in the morning when they were still stacking shelves. She skipped school to make sure no classmates saw her. The red dress was cut tight and high around her throat, hugged her butt, then flared out into a sassy knee-length skirt. Underneath, a dark red demicup pushup did what little it could, and the shiny lacy panties completed the ensemble. The black leather choker was a defiant “fuck you” to anyone who might accuse her of conforming.
With a few minutes to spare, she frantically stuffed tissue paper down the top of the bra, smoothed it out, and escaped out the window. Her Mom thought she was watching movies with Terri and Alex.
“I, ah, like the collar,” Michael had said.
“It’s really a choker,” Erin said. She thumbed it. “I guess it’s kind of a collar.”
It was hard to tell if Michael liked the outfit. He stuttered, and stumbled, but he did that anyway. Terri and Alex, thank heavens, weren’t around to see her fumble on the dance floor. The curious stares of the girls in slinky clubbing outfits made her flush. They slow-danced, and Erin blushed crimson when she felt Michael’s embarrassed erection rub against her thigh.
“Goodness,” she thought, and bit her lip.
Later, he had walked driven her home, and held her hand when it wasn’t needed to shift. He stopped in front of a busted streetlight and kissed her. She kissed back. Twice she bit his lip, and once he even managed to bonk her teeth. There was a lot of giggling. After a long time, he fidgeted, drew his hands up, and advanced gingerly towards her chest.
In her mind’s eye, Erin saw him puzzling, feeling around. Then looking up with accusing eyes to say “there’s nothing here but Kleenex, Erin. Kleenex. No boobs at all.”
She broke the kiss and pulled back.
“Whoa! We’re not playing baseball! I’m not a base! Hands to yourself!”
Michael drew back like her tits were poison. Erin didn’t even know what she was saying. “I know boys like you. Oh hey, here’s a little foreplay, lets play tonsil hockey, what’s a little feel. Then you knock her up and leave for Yale.”
Michael’s expression was a mask of confusion and pain.
“Take—“ she fumbled with the words. “Take me home. Thanks a lot for ruining the evening, bighands.”
They drove in silence. Inside her head Erin screamed at herself to stop being a bitch, to just let things happen.
She didn’t say anything, and left his car quietly. That night she tore up the dress. The underwear was left under a pile of DVD cases.
Erin hung the phone up. She padded downstairs, and ate a disgusting hamburger. Then she forced her mind onto the Dennis/Susan conundrum. Is she.. is she being blackmailed, maybe? Does he know something about her? Is there a hidden secret she’s kept in her past? Or maybe they met before? The shopping expedition made sense from the blackmail perspective. Maybe she was his unwilling pawn, forced to dress hot for his amusement.
But none of those made sense. If she was being blackmailed, why was the Ice Queen so eager, hungry even, to get felt up in a public place by a guy with big glasses? And he had introduced himself to her, so there was little chance they had met before today.
Erin thought about his eyes. They were… very striking. Even when casually dismissing her.
Why did she care so much about this? His offhand rejection of her? Well, whatever. Erin took another last, lingering look at the phone, then went to bed early.
“Oh… oh Michael,” she whispered. He had both hands wrapped around her enormous tits, rubbing up and down against a cum-slick pair of nipples. His dick was in between her breasts, completely enmeshed, leaking precum all over the sweat-slicked boobs. It was hard to see him over the twin peaks. He heaved, was about to cum, and she opened her mouth…
Erin woke up. She laid spreadeagled on the bed. Both hands had found their way up underneath her shirt. They were pressed tightly against her chest.
Whatever it was, it must’ve been unusually intense. She was covered in sweat, and there was still a pleasant tingle… Erin shook herself awake. She sat up.
There was more weight in front then she remembered. Erin walked over to the bathroom mirror and pulled her shirt there. “Huh,” she thought, strangely detached. “I have boobs. It’s about time.”
Overnight a nearly-flat chest, capped with two unimpressive bumps, had turned into actual boobs. If she cupped them and pushed them together, they formed a slight but real ridge of cleavage.
They were sensitive. Not in a bad way.
Wow. Cleavage. Of my very own. I thought I was going to have to borrow somebody else’s.
“Mom!”
She walked downstairs in her nightshirt and sleep pants. Her Mom sat in the kitchen with a cooling chipped mug of coffee, pouring over the real estate listings.
“Guess what?”
“What?” Her Mom asked, sipping on the old cup.
“I am now part of the 51% of the population that has boobs,” Erin tugged her shirt up. They were still too small to sag, but they were big enough to be noticeable.
“Geez, Erin, not first thing in the morning,” her Mom winced. “Reminds me of my Sorority days.”
Erin tugged her shirt back down, suddenly self-conscious. “I just thought you might want to know.”
“That happened overnight?”
“How is it supposed to happen?”
“I… well, you are a late bloomer, I guess. Do your bras fit still, or do we need to make a shopping trip?”
“I… I don’t know, I just woke up. I thought you’d be happy for me. You’re always pushing me to do girl stuff. Doesn’t get any more girly then this.” Erin shifted back and forth. She bounced experimentally on her heels. They jiggled.
Her Mom put her cup down. “I am, sweetheart, I am. I guess it’s still too early for me. Are they sensitive at all?”
“Yeah,”
She nodded. “I thought they’d hurt a little. We’ll get you some cocoa butter for them.”
“No, they don’t hurt, why would yo- okay, whatever.” It was too nice a day to fight with her Mom. The air, even in the usual dank of the house, was crisp and warm.
Back upstairs, Erin tried on her usual bras. They didn’t fit. The hooks bit into her back, and the cotton felt far too tight against a pair of sensitive breasts. She kept brushing against them. It felt good.
There was one bra that would fit.
Erin dug it out from where she dimly remembered throwing it. The red lacy bra. She snapped it on. It hugged her chest, but the uplift was decidedly gentle and felt.. great.
The bra just didn’t look right with the boring panties. She rummaged through her underwear drawer, found the matching tight red pair, and pulled them on. She swiveled in the mirror. Not bad. She had always been thin, and if she just had some more curves to go along with it…
Erin shook her head. She pulled on her usual pair of jeans and t-shirt and walked out into a beautiful morning.
Erin stared out the window of class. It didn’t seem quite as bad as yesterday. The weather had improved. A breeze from the southwest had cleared the haze from the air. The freeway was doused with traffic and looked painful. The entire High School felt cleansed, even energetic.
Clearly her classmates felt it. An unspoken urge to look good seemed to have descended over the girls. Lipstick was worn dark red and thick, coupled with enough eye shadow to make blinks interesting. Colorful skirts brightened the classroom, along with straining tanktops that often plunged near the border of the school dress code. The girls chattered and shifted in their seats, fixing boys with doe-eyed stares. Erin spotted at least a few uncomfortable boners. Even the chubby girl, Maya, wore a tight sweater that showcased her best assets.
In her t-shirt and jeans Erin was a comparative slob. But she did have a secret pair of slick red panties on, and a new pair of boobs that could at least compete with the rest of the class. Plus it was just too nice a day to feel like crap.
Susan blew them all away. She wore a snow-white dress. It showed nothing explicit, with a high neckline and loose, puffy sleeves. But on the way down it nestled up against a pair of perfect, high-riding breasts, then clung to a well-formed ass. There was no chance it was dress code legal. She coupled it with brown leather boots with a modest heel and a lacy pair of pantyhose. The other females looked like little girls with her in the room. She took her seat close to Erin.
Erin stared at her desk again. Up against that it was hard not to feel like you were five.
Here I am excited about boobs that aren’t concave, and she’s rocking the whole world. I guess that’s how my life goes.
Ms. Hazel walked through the door ten minutes late. Dennis strode in behind her. The class got quiet when they saw him, and Susan’s smile could melt steel. The older teacher had ditched her standard teaching outfits—bought en bulk from Dress Barn—for a nice white blouse and a knee-length skirt. She looked sidelong at Dennis.
“The, ah, the quiz for today is cancelled,” she announced, twisting on one heel.
“There was a quiz?” Erin thought.
“Instead, we’ll be watching another one of the Strumm videos on Ancient Egypt… I guess.”
Dennis waited.
“Oh. And Susan, Dennis has.. informed me that you have to leave early for a doctor’s appointment.”
“I do?” Susan said. Dennis winked at her. The whole class caught it. “Oh. I mean yes, I do. Cough. Cough again.”
“Okey-dokey then,” Ms. Hazel said. She teetered a little, caught her balance. “Lets get the movie going, I guess.”
Susan stood up, put one perfect leg in front of the other, and strode out behind Dennis. Every boy in the class sighed.
Suddenly the blackmail idea didn’t seem too far-fetched. Or maybe they were up to something together! Clyde and a very slutty Bonnie.
Erin waited for the lights to dim. The usual class-wide nap failed to happen. Instead, boys and girls whispered to each other in the dark. The girls couldn’t show off any skin, but that didn’t seem to bother them, cooing in the dim light of another boring movie. Erin stood up and walked out. Ms. Hazel didn’t notice. The teacher was sleeping, her legs spread open with her head rolled back in her chair. Her skirt had ridden up.
The air outside was showered with sunlight and the same sweet breeze. Susan and Dennis were just visible in the distance. The blonde was not hard to spot; she shone like fire in the sun, and her white dress shimmered. Dennis had his hand on her ass.
Erin crept after the duo. They ended up just outside the school, on an empty path to a nearby park. High bushes on either side kept the road in shadow, and the air was scented with just a touch of spring. Erin arrived just in time to see Susan take a dainty step off the path into the underbrush. She approached as quietly as she could manage, tip-toeing on the grass. It wasn’t hard to sense where the couple had gone. They weren’t very quiet. Erin peeped through the grass.
“I.. I don’t think we should leave class like this,” Susan said, breathing hard. “I.. we can.. after class…”
“You expect me to wait after you wear a dress like that?” Dennis said. Erin found herself nodding.
“It was—it was your—Dennis!”
“Hey, the only way for me to calm down is to get this off you. The top part, anyway.” He pulled down the dress from the top down, unleashing a matching lacy white bra with two tiny undercups. Clearly Susan figured the dress might come off at some point. Dennis’s hands mauled her boobs.
“Dennis, you’re going to—ohhhhh—that’s not fair,” Susan said. There was nothing left of the Ice Queen. There was just a quivering ball of lust, just yards away from her. Erin didn’t know what to do. Her new boobs felt warm again. This was worse then yesterday’s necking session.
“And if you wear a bra like that, it has to go too. This is really all your fault, Suzie.”
“It’s not… my… oh… you know what that does to me, Dennis,”
“What does what?” Erin wondered. Dennis lowered his head. The wet sound of impassioned boob sucking answered her questions. Susan’s breathing got fast and hot. Erin stood, motionless, and fought a sudden urge to see what was going on inside her own panties. The boy with the glasses pulled back.
“Wha… why’d you stop?” Susan asked. There was a jingling noise. He pulled off his belt and let loose a substantial cock. Erin stopped breathing. Susan gradually fell to her knees, transfixed.
“Oh, Dennis… I’ve never… it’s gross to… smack I can’t possibly ummm” Susan said. Then she had her mouth around it, her eyes closed, until her well-formed nose bounced against his pubic hair. She opened her eyes and stared up at his glasses, questioning.
“Just swallow as deep as you can and then use your tongue. Watch the teeth.”
Erin leaned against a fence on the side of the path. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. Little balloons of animal lust popped in her own head. Her body glowed.
For a part of a half of a second, she wondered if Dennis would let her join in.
Susan’s rhythmic sucking broke off. “Can I… can I play with myself while I give you a blowjob?” she asked, in a little-girl voice.
“That’s my little bimbo,” Dennis said, approvingly.
Bimbo. The word crystallized, wrapped in neon, inside her head. There’s something more here. He’s controlling her… making the Ice Queen into some kind of a dumb bimbo.
The school bell rang for lunch. The two didn’t stop for a moment. Erin gasped, put her hands to her sides, and ran back to school.
Back at school the erotic power play seemed distinctly unreal. It wasn’t the tryst in the park—that was notorious for liaisons. It was the way Susan had, docile as a lamb, followed Dennis around. And fallen to her knees without even being asked.
Erin stopped in a cool part of campus to let herself calm down. Her new boobs jiggled playfully against her t-shirt.
The infectious energy of the classroom had infiltrated the entire campus. The main quad hosted a spirited water fight. It mostly seemed to be the girls getting doused. Shrieking teenagers in sopping-wet t-shirts scattered around empty tables. Although they didn’t seem to be running too fast, or all that hard. A variety of blouses and t-shirts, trendy and not, were plastered to many different pairs of boobs. Erin noted with sudden pride that a few were even smaller then her own. As she watched, Erica, a raven-haired prude from Honors, let herself get soaked by two boys with full nalgene bottles. Her lacy black blouse clung to her. She grinned, and didn’t seem to mind her schoolbooks soaking wet.
If the Vice-Principals minded, they weren’t doing anything about it.
Terri and Alex were very nearly in their usual spot. They had moved just far enough to sit in the grass and luxuriate in the sun. Both had changed from their typical blue jeans. Terri wore a scooped yellow top made out of something close to spandex and lycra. She had her legs crossed, revealing a pair of smoothly-shaven well-toned legs in flip-flops and a puffy grey skirt.
“What happened to jeans, bookworm?” Erin said, flopping down between them.
“Eh. Too nice out for jeans.” Terri said.
“You don’t have to dress like we’re in 1991 Seattle every day, Erin,” Alex said. The lithe girl wore a white blouse with a frilly lace bottom. It was cinched underneath her chest to do some justice to a small chest. She wore a pale green pencil skirt that she kept tugging down. “It’s nice out. Can’t you tell?” Her lips were covered in something glittery.
“Yeah, but geez. That’s a lot of skin, Alex. I haven’t seen this much of you since gym sophomore year.”
“It’s part of her crazy plan,” Terri announced.
“What plan is that?”
“You know that creep Jared?” Alex said. Her hair, usually swept back in a functional ponytail, was pulled back with barrettes. She wore white shoes and little socks with a flower on each side.
“Of course I know that creep Jared.”
“Terri convinced me to get a little revenge. Walk in, get him just a little bit turned on, and then bust out with the potty mouth. You know. Wreck his fantasies.”
“That sounds stupid. And who cares? It’s Jared.” Although part of the plan would work. Her baby-doll outfit might give Jared an aneurysm. “Are you going to suck on a lollipop and tawk wike dis too? Your honorable ancestors would scream.”
“Lighten up, Squeaker,” Terri murmured. She shifted legs. Erin got a glimpse of dark underwear. Functional white was definitely out of fashion.
“I am lightened up. This entire school is lightened up. Don’t you have some studying to do, nerd?”
Terri shrugged. Her own chest, hidden behind school books for a very long time, took the opportunity to shine.
“Kind of sick of books,” she admitted.
Erin’s mouth fell open.
“You? Sick of books?”
“AP this. Bio that. You see those cheerleaders down there? They look like they’re having fun. I never get to have fun.”
In fact, many of them seemed to be having quite a bit of fun. The far wall of the Library played host to a row of overheated high school hotties, playing with their boyfriends. Most were soaked to the bone. Quite a few wore cheerleader outfits. Some of the boys were taking advantage of the situation to put their hands up in around the back. No one seemed to mind.
“They look like they need a hotel room.”
Alex snorted. “You would say that.”
“You don’t think I can be a cheerleader?” Terri said. She sat up. It caused her boobs to bounce. “I can be anything. Watch me.”
“I didn’t say—“
Terri stood up. “Josh!” she said, to a nearby classmate. Josh was a athlete of some kind. Erin couldn’t quite remember what kind. He had close-cut brown hair and the kind of half-asleep walk that came from 6am practices.
“Josh, do you think I’d be a good cheerleader?”
Josh looked her over. He admired what he saw. “I don’t think anyone ever thinks of you as a cheerleader, Terri. Unless you’re doing a study of them or whatever.”
“What about if I did this?”
Terri strutted forward, one foot in front of the other. When she was just a few steps from Josh, she put both hands on her hips and danced around him. Josh didn’t know where to move. Back in front of Josh, she bent at the waist, picked up imaginary pom-poms, and shook them in his face. Josh gave up on following her eyes and just followed a very nice ass. It shook wildly in front of him.
Terri didn’t know much about dancing, but she was pretty good at the enthusiasm. She ended the impromptu, jerky routine with a running slide in front of the dumbstruck boy. Her mouth was inches from—jeez, Terri.
“Guess you showed me,” Josh said. They were both breathing hard. Terri stood up, triumphant, and gave him an impromptu kiss on the cheek. “Sweet of you to say.” She flounced back to the duo.
“That was fun,” she told them. Josh walked unsteadily away.
Erin didn’t know quite what to say.
“Your boobs grew? Really?”
“Yeah. Finally! I measured them this morning and they’re coming in at last. I’ve waited long enough.”
Alex and Erin paced through the mall. More and more girls were carrying bright pink packages. There even some older businesswomen in pencil skirts and cropped jackets, And wearing them—the click-click of high heels echoed through the mall. It was unusually crowded. One cool professional wore a brown leather jacket up top, and a brief pink mini underneath. Her nylons were sheer white. The girl at the “Ringtones!” kiosk checked her makeup and swiveled her legs. She wore bright yellow shorts that hugged her charms. The boys slowed down as they passed her.
“Guess I’m still waiting,” Alex said.
“You look great! Really. You don’t want big boobs. They wouldn’t look right on you.”
“Oh yeah, blah blah, here it comes. The traditional “It’s okay that I have boobs and you don’t” talk.”
“No, seriously. It’ll just take away from your butt. You have an amazing butt.”
“You really think so?” Alex wiggled it. She giggled. “You’ve never said one nice thing about my butt before.”
The Asian girl had nothing to hide. There were plenty of nice curves hanging around her, once she got out of jeans. Erin felt increasingly uncomfortable in her own slouchy outfit. Even her red underwear wasn’t a comfort anymore.
“You think yours are going to get any bigger?”
Erin shrugged, even as a mental image of a substantial chest flickered through her head. “My nips have been really sensitive. I looked it up online. That can be a sign of, uh, considerable growth to come.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah. I might buy a new bra while we’re here.”
“Speaking of why we’re here…”
The duo were outside of Animanation. Alex practiced a wiggle-walk right outside the door. “This is going to be fun.”
“Yeah.”
Erin hesitated. Should she bring up the Susan/Dennis thing? Once away from the cloying heat of the grove her strange fantasy of Dennis’ mystical powers seemed like a fever-dream.
“Is everything okay with Terri?” she asked. “I’ve never seen her act like that. Ever. Once.”
Alex shook her head. “She’s finally decided to enjoy life a little. You should follow her example. Maybe she finally listened when you called her a nerd.” She took a deep breath. “Alright. I’m going to enjoy this.” She checked her outfit. Somewhere between the school and the store she had switched out her pencil skirt for a white mini. Her tight form was a nice contrast to the lush blondes all around them.
“Hi Erin,” Jared said. Alex flounced in behind her. “Uh… hi Alex. Good to see you,”
“Konnichiwa chinko!” she chirped. Alex stepped into the center of the room, put her hands out, and bowed carefully from the waist. Jared’s eyes followed her up and down. Erin stifled a laugh.
“Chin—uh—that means,”
“Jared-chan.” She pouted, then winked at Jared.
“…yes?”
“What is this over here?” Alex turned around, bent at the waist, and pointed to a pair of action figures. Her skirt rode up. Any more elevation and her underwear would pop out. Jared took a few seconds to register. Erin waited for the heart attack.
“Those are.. those are just some action figures—Alex, listen…”
“Oh, THANK YOU for telling me!” she said, in a deliberately high-pitched voice. Alex bounced over to the other side of the counter and leaned against the side of it. It pulled her blouse back. She twisted a leg. It made her skirt bounce.
“I was kind of wondering… do you sell.. clothing? Jared?”
“What… what kind of clothing did you have in mind?” he said.
“You know. Anime stuff. Skirts. Shirts. Um,” Alex bit her lip.
“N-no, not really. Although,” he brightened. “if you need advice on cosplay, I could take you to this shop in the mall that just opened up. They’ve got some things that’d be perfect. I could dress you up as… uh, help you make decisions.”
“Oh, you’d do that for me?” Alex cooed. She bounced up and down. What she had jiggled. “Thank you!” She grabbed his arm and hugged it. Jared looked delighted. Alex pushed herself against him, blanketed his leg with giggling girl.
“Okay, uh, Erin, you close up here, can you? There’s a spare key under the desk. Uh, bye!”
He pulled on his coat. Alex sidled up next to Erin. She had a glassy-eyed look and couldn’t seem to stop toying with the fringe of her brief little skirt.
“I thought you were going to tell him off,” Erin hissed.
Alex shrugged and pushed back an errant lock of hair. “Free shopping trip. And this is fun.”
“Fun? If you bend over again he’s going to nail you against the wall.”
“Do you really think he would?” Alex said. She tittered and took Jared’s arm again. The two walked out the door. Erin watched, open-mouthed. Alex had her hip up against the little nerd, and they walked directly towards the gaping door of Hugh Mussobay. He put his arm around her.
She adjusted her bra. It was already starting to feel tight. “Shopping trip,” she thought, before helping herself to a basketload of free anime.
“So what should I do about the sensitivity?” Erin asked. She wore her second bra of the day. The red one was just for nostalgia value, now. Her burgeoning chest had filled the little cups to the brim, and the pain of the poor fit overrode the nice little tingle.
A small part of her wondered if this was normal, if she should be switching bras before the day was even over. But just walking from place to place, letting her chest swing about, made those worries go far, far away.
The saleslady, an older woman who nonetheless wore a slim grey dress with heels, pursed her lips. She examined Erin’s dusky aureole. They filled half her breast.
“Just rub cocoa butter on them. Miss, I should tell you, I think these are going to get even bigger.”
“Okay,” Erin said. Even Alex’s odd behavior floated at the very back of her mind. No more was she the Squeaker, a little nothing girl who sat in the back of class. Now she was Squeaker, the little nothing girl who sat in the back of class who had a chest!
She bought the larger size, and another even bigger one “just in case.” She was about to head for the exit when she nearly ran right into Dennis. He still had Susan by his side. Susan was once again carrying a short stack of new outfits. Her white dress was stretched and had grass stains on the ass. Dennis didn’t seem to have pointed that out to her.
“We went to the movies LAST night,” she pouted. “Lets do something else. Lets just stay home and… you know…”
“I like movies,” Dennis said. His voice was smooth. “And I really like the dark. With you. You should wear something new, I’m done with this outfit.”
“….Okay,” Susan said. “I’ve got something in mind. We’ll go to the movies at.. seven? And once we get to the car, why don’t we…” she whispered something in Dennis’ ear.
“Good idea. Good idea. But why wait until we’re INSIDE the car?” He pinched her ass. She squealed, then fell towards his arms, and let him hold her up. Dennis barely managed to keep her upright.
The movie theater! It explained everything! In the dark, Dennis could do whatever odd thing he wanted to Susan—hypnotize her, drug her, whatever he pleased. She had to check it out. It would be her final gift to this stupid town before leaving forever. Unveiling Dennis’ plot!
Crap. She couldn’t go alone, she’d stand out like a… like she always did, everywhere.
She had dialed Michael’s number before she had really thought about it.
“Michael! I need your help!” she said. She tried to make her voice gushy and soft, like Susan’s.
“Erin? Is that you? Why does your voice sound weird?”
“Ne-nevermind that.”
“I think we need to talk about—“
“Do you want to go to the movies tonight? At seven?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “The movies?”
“Yeah, you know, a movie.” Another pause.
“Okay. But we have to talk afterwards.”
“Great. You pick me up,” Erin grinned. Michael would help her. He was such a strong guy… always knew what to do. She looked down at her wrinkled, tedious clothes. Not only would her usual outfit make her stand out at the movies.
She couldn’t let Michael see her like this.
“Don’t cry,” Erin thought. But she looked like a little girl messing around in her Mother’s makeup box. The eyeliner gave her raccoon eyes, the lipstick was all wrong, and blush..!
Michael was supposed to pick her up in ten minutes, and she looked like a clown without a sense of humor.
There was no helping it. “Mom!”
“Yeah?”
“Can you come up here?”
“…Into your room?”
“Yes!”
“Uh, okay.”
Linda gingerly tested the doorknob. “I don’t think I’ve been in here in over a year,” she said. She was wearing an outfit Erin had never seen before. It was still a business suit, but the tightly cropped suit top didn’t do anything wrong to her figure. Her heels sunk in the unwashed carpet. “Did you burn incense up here?”
“Nevermind that,” Erin said. “I need… your help. With makeup.”
“Makeup?” her Mom looked shocked. “Why are you wearing makeup?”
“None of your business.”
“Oh, Erin, please. You call me up to help and won’t tell me what you’re up to?”
Erin cringed. She was going to make a big deal out of this. “I’m going out. To see a movie.”
“With a boy?”
“Maybe.”
“That would explain your outfit.”
The wardrobe was carefully designed to fit in with the popular crowd. Along with her omnipresent choker she wore a tight red sweater. It was thin enough that her growing globes would show off in another new bra. Below the waist she wore a smooth satin pencil, dark black, and paired with matching black tights. “Fashionable, but not slutty,” she had concluded, examining herself in the changing room.
The heels hung off her feet while she sat in the chair.
Her Mom pulled the computer chair over to the dresser. Half-full makeup bottles were scattered all over the old wood. It looked like a battle had just been fought. “I look like a freak,” Erin said. She couldn’t suppress a choke. “He’ll be here in five minutes.” The air smelled like sharp acetone.
“Erin. Alright. What are you TRYING to do? Because you’ve got like a bucket of this stuff on.”
“I just wanted to, you know, look natural but kind of dressy. Good. Like you do it.”
Her Mom chuckled. “I don’t think my look will work on you. I’m covering up forty-two misspent years. First off, lets get this horrible pink stuff off your lips. No one is going to believe you in bubblegum.”
Erin wiped it off. Her Mom lined her with a dark burgundy. She smacked and looked in the mirror. “It’s pretty,” she thought, excited.
“We can’t make your complexion any more white, but some eyeshadow would be a little exotic. What do you want to do with this boy, anyway? This is more then casual.”
Her Mom would definitely not understand the whole Susan/Dennis thing. “I’m just trying to branch out.”
“We should do something about your hair, too. It doesn’t quite fit.”
Erin still had her dark black hair pulled back in its usual ponytail. She toyed with it. “You really think so? Maybe I’ll get something done tomorrow.”
“Is this boy Michael?”
Erin jerked back. “How do you know about him?”
“Moms know things. I’m not stupid, Erin, even if you seem to think I am, a lot of the time,” Linda sealed the bottles and lined them neatly on the dresser. “And if you wanted some of my makeup you just have to ask.”
“Okay, well, thanks for your help, I guess,” Erin said, grudgingly. “I’ll learn on my own so that I don’t have to ask you,”
“No, no. It’s fine,” Her Mom’s eyes drooped down. She raised an eyebrow. “Erin, what’s going on with your breasts?”
Erin looked down. “Oh, I had to get a new bra today. They’re really coming in fast.”
“A new one today?” She shook her head. “That’s not possible. They don’t come in that fast. I don’t care if it’s a growth spurt. Let me see them.”
“Mom!” Erin had no desire to let loose her increasingly-sizeable chest. “You’re not feeling me up! I have to get going!”
“Erin—it’ll take just a moment. Really. Trust your Mom.”
“No! Geez!” Plus, considering how good it felt, Erin didn’t want her Mom’s hands handling her boobs. “You’re just jealous.”
Linda chuckled. “Of you? A little late for that. Don’t be silly about this, Erin.”
“You’re the one that wants to handle my tits!”
The doorbell rang.
Her Mom exhaled. “Fine. We’ll talk about this tomorrow morning. Go have a good time.”
“Thanks for ruining our Mother-Daughter moment,” Erin said acidly. Regardless, her heart bounced around. Michael was here! Erin bustled down the steps carefully in heels, held onto the railing, and hoped she didn’t smell like spilled makeup. She threw on her leather jacket, left it unzipped. Michael wore the same t-shirt and jeans he had worn to school. He looks amazing.
“Hi Michael,” she purred. His eyes didn’t seem to know where to go. They started at her lips, jumped down to where her skirt met her tights, then jumped up, inevitably, to her now-prominent chest.
“Up here,” she said, cheerfully.
“Oh. Hi, uh, nice to see you Erin,” he said. Self-conscious, he gave her his arm. She took it gratefully, glad of the support. Heels were hard to walk in.
They drove quietly for the first few minutes. Michael kept his eyes resolutely on the road. Finally, he glanced over at her.
“Are you apologizing to me?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, confused.
“I mean, I’m glad you dressed up, you look good,”
“Thanks!”
“…but about what happened at Winter Ball. I just don’t want there to be any misunderstandings…”
Erin bit her lip. She thrust a hurt look at him and swiveled her leg.
Apologize. You did a bad thing. He just wanted to feel you up, it’s only natural.
She took a deep breath. His eyes dipped down. Boys seemed to have lost the map to her eyes, lately. “I’m sorry. I panicked. And I said some mean things.”
Michael seemed genuinely surprised. He licked his lips nervously.
“Does that—what does that mean for us?”
“Us?” Erin said. “I guess I haven’t really thought about it.”
He looked up and down her outfit. He was getting better at it with practice. “Really?”
This is getting distracting. Erin had signed up to keep an eye on Dennis and Susan and their plans, not to get dragged into relationship talk. Michael was getting bold with the long up and down looks. His eyes looked like a game of ping-pong.
“Lets… lets see the movie and then talk afterwards,” she said. Change the subject. “Have you noticed anything odd going on at school?”
“Odd?”
“About the students. In particular the ladies.”
Michael frowned. “Not really? There was that water fight, and the weather got warmer, but that’s about it.”
She prodded “Nothing? Not an unusual amount of sexy pants in the cheerleading squad? More necking then usual?”
Michael blushed. “It’s not really any of my business.”
“You should look.”
“I should look at the cheerleaders?”
“Yes.” Wait, no! “No. Just see if anything’s wrong with them. Trust me.”
They arrived. The movie theater was the best part of downtown, an outpost of teenagers in a district dominated by down-market bars and old repair shops. Michael parked the car. Erin pondered whether to zip up her jacket. It was cold, but then, her boobs hadn’t grown this much to stay hidden in an old leather coat. She left it half-zipped.
“There, see, that’s what I’m talking about,” Erin whispered, on Michael’s arm. They walked some distance behind three fellow classmates. One wore light white short-shorts with a pullover vest. Another wore spray-paint jeans that showcased a bubble butt, and the final girl wore the increasingly-standard filmy mini. “Look at those butts. It’s like they want them on display in the Smithsonian”
“This is a weird night,” Michael said, shaking his head.
“I mean, it’s too cold for all that.”
Michael cocked his head. “Hey, wait, I know those girls.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, and they’re not cheerleaders. They’re in my Honors Chem class. Andrea is in my Lab Group. I didn’t know she even owned clothes like that.” Andrea walked comfortably on purple heels.
He looked at her. “What do you think is going on?”
Erin shook her head. “I’m not sure yet. We’ll talk about it. After the movie.”
The lobby bubbled with the same contented energy that Downing High had in buckets. More girls had opted for tailored jeans and scooped sweaters in the cold, but clutched their boyfriends with enthusiasm. The staff behind the counter had taken in their bright orange t-shirts. Every next person in line had a good look at their perky chests. Popcorn sales were brisk. Dennis was at the front, chatting up a preening redhead. She twirled her hair absent-mindedly.
“I thought we’d see Darwin’s Children,” Michael said. “Ebert gave it six stars. I thought it’d be up your alley, apparently nineteen people die.”
“Well, we can’t see it now that you’ve spoiled it,” Erin said. She glanced across the board. If she was right, there was only one movie Susan and Dennis would be interested in. The latest in the Magic Watch series: Watch IX: Return of the Librarian. The perennial teen sex comedy had not lost its power to draw an audience.
“Magic Watch IX? That’s a fun one,” Erin said.
“Seriously? Uh. Alright, this was your idea.”
“Thanks Michael,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek before she realized what she was doing. His eyes widened, and he flushed scarlet and pink.
While he was purchasing tickets, Erin spotted Susan. There! She stood in line. Erin shook her head, baffled. Up top, she had gone wholeheartedly for “dumb kitten.” Her already-blonde hair was now white platinum, piled in playmate-curls atop her head. Her lips were covered in pink, and her cheeks glittered. She wore a bright pink lycra tunic. Even from a distance Erin could see her happy fat little nipples. But below the waist she wore a relatively demure grey skirt all the way down to the knees.
“Got ‘em,” Michael said. He put his hand on her back. Erin let herself be led towards the theater. A blonde in dark cutoffs took her tickets while giggling at two older men. Susan was right ahead of them.
Erin glanced behind herself just in time to see the boy with the thick glasses disappear into a broom closet with the redhead. She had an inane grin plastered on her face, and licked her lips.
No way. No, no way. Susan had to be under his control, then. Maybe it was something with his eyes? They were easy to get lost in. Or maybe he had already been working the redhead, Erin dimly recognized her from school.
Erin carefully led Michael into the row just ahead of Susan. Dennis walked in ten minutes later, just before the movie started. “Bathroom,” he explained, to Susan.
The movie started. After fifteen minutes of eye-rolling hilarity at the sophomoric writing, not to mention the complete lack of plot, Erin was shocked to find herself having a good time.
A lot of it had to do with sitting next to Michael. He’s adorable. The brown-haired boy kept taking covert sidelong looks at her chest. Erin had unzipped her jacket, and her prominent tits shone in the reflected light of the movie. The sweater did them a lot of favors. Everything she did seemed to turn him on just a little bit more. Crossing and uncrossing her legs. Breathing deeply. Breathing at all. Erin put her hand on his lap, clasped his fingers tightly.
Even the movie was kind of fun. The outfits were half the allure. The nurse character sported a striped pair of pantyhose with chunky leather boots. “I’d look great in that,” Erin thought. She knew she was supposed to be watching Dennis and Susan, but they seemed to be sitting quietly in the back row. Maybe they’re actually watching the movie. The other couples were mostly quiet, although a substantial contingent necked in the forward rows. Michael’s hands trembled.
With the movie half-over, Erin took a quick, contented glance back at the suspicious duo in the back row. Susan sat on Dennis’ lap. The two snuggled closely, and she had both arms wrapped around her guy. They both placidly watched the screen.
Wait a second.
Erin took a closer look. Susan’s grey skirt completely covered her bottom half, and Dennis had his knees locked together. The pants were bunched around his ankles. And now that she looked hard, Susan rose up and down in a steady, rhythmic motion. She blinked, and the lazy smile across her face grew even stronger. Erin sniffed the air. It smelled sickly sweet, like hot washed strawberries.
She’s fucking him! Right here!
Erin tried not to turn away too quickly. Her cheeks burned. Right in the movies! She’s got his cock buried in her!
And now that she looked around, too many of the girls in the front row had one hand discretely buried underneath their boyfriend’s pants. The boys sat stock-still as they were slowly brought to easy climaxes. A few even had their own hands high up the skirts of their own girls, who watched the movie with half-dazed looks. The entire theater was full of the scent and quiet sighs of a room full of people carefully, quietly, fucking each other. Dennis and Susan were just the most obvious about it. Erin took another look back. Susan shuddered and leaned back against Dennis. She rumbled to a silent orgasm.
Erin took a deep breath. The lust in the air was a living thing, creeping around her, filling her up. She could feel it snake up the middle of her trembling thighs, igniting her increasingly hot sex. Her tits were already red-hot in the sex-smoke environment. The smoky smell of fucking grew stronger.
“Lets go,” she said, and abruptly stood up. She panted openly. Any longer in there and she would—time to go.
Dennis and Susan completely failed to notice her as she led Michael out of the room.
“It’s Dennis. I’m sure of it,” Erin said. She trembled in the passenger seat. Michael drove around aimlessly. “He’s.. I don’t know. But Susan’s acting like a slut, and I think he’s starting to start up on her friends. That crowd was just a little too horny for a Tuesday night.” Erin had to stand outside in the cold for a few minutes just to cool herself down. She was uncomfortably aware of a persistent wet feeling in her underwear. She still wore the red ones. Her nose twitched with the lingering scent.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Michael said. He had understood their forced departure. Or at least he hadn’t argued with a flushed, sweaty Erin. “He showed up on Monday. This is Tuesday. And I don’t think anyone has mystical powers, the world just doesn’t work that way.”
“You saw in—“
“All I saw was a bunch of horny teenagers. So what? They hit it off,” Michael shook his head. “I’m trying to be scientific about this, Erin. All I saw was you, fixiated on Susan’s newest boyfriend, and freaking out about it.”
Erin hung her head. He hadn’t felt the overwhelming lust in the room, the rutting instinct that hung in the air.
She fought the urge to rub her boobs.
The oversexed outcast looked around the silent night air outside the window. Michael pulled the car over and removed the key. Above them a broken light shrouded the car in gloom. The only light was from distant streetlights and the glow from the dash. She knew where they were.
“This is, um, where we were after Winter Ball.”
Michael turned towards her. “Erin, are you just fucking around with me?”
“What?”
“Because I feel like you are. We go to Winter Ball, we dance, I think things are going great, then you throw me out of my own car. You ignore me for two months. Now I get a call, you show up wearing—that—and it turns out you’re just using me to pursue some bizaare magicky thing you’ve come up with. What the fuck?”
Erin’s head buzzed. “You don’t have to put it like that.”
“That’s just how I feel.”
“I’ve, uh, never seen this side of you, Michael.”
Michael drummed his fingers on the wheel. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about it.” He took a deep breath. “Okay, I admit I’m.. you know… attracted to you. But I don’t want to be a fool, okay? If I wanted to feel like shit I’d go to school.”
Erin grinned, weakly. “That’s where I go to feel like shit, too.” Her body tingled, pins and needles arced through her. Don’t fuck this up twice.
“Look.. Michael,” she cocked her head. “I.. I don’t know. I guess I need to do a lot of thinking. But in the meantime, lets just start over, okay?”
“Start over?”
“Yeah. We start over. From where we left off over Winter Ball?”
Michael digested this. “What does that mean, exactly?”
Erin flushed. Don’t turn back. “Well, when did things take a wrong turn?”
“Ummm..” Michael brought his hands up. “I, uh, think my hands were right about here.”
“Oh-okay? And what then?”
“I—they were going to do this.” Michael brought his hands forward, put them firmly over the top of Erin’s sweater. Right on top of her nipples. The tiny ounce of apprehension was overridden by the sudden surge of pure sensation emanating from her chest.
Erin leaned back as Michael’s fumbling hands tweaked and pushed around, explored. His eyes were wide open, and his hands were pure amateur, but each caress felt like a divine wind. Whenever he touched her nipples hot bubbles of sex popped in her head. This… is… very nice.
She reached back and unhooked her bra. Michael took his cue. His hands disappearing up the front of her sweater. All Erin could do was pant, pushed up against the passenger side window, her hair plastered on the glass. His hands were very warm.
“Do… do you want to suck on them?” she said, timidly. Michael nodded eagerly, then disappeared up the front of her shirt. Erin giggled as she watched his head struggle underneath the fabric, then his wet, warm mouth tentatively gripped a nipple—and…
The biggest, bestest bubble of all went pop.
When Erin recovered Michael sat on the other side of the car, watching her with concern. His skin looked sallow and white in the electronic light of the dash.
“You’re back?” he asked, as she blinked unsteadily.
“I.. I guess. What happened?”
“You screamed so hard the car rocked. Are you okay?”
“Y—yeah. I am. Wow. That was—wow.” She saluted him weakly. “Good job there, soldier. Orgasm accomplished.”
“Did I do that?”
“Of course you did, who else?”
“I didn’t know girls could come just from, you know, boob stuff.”
“I was surprised too.” She blinked. A sudden image of Michael cumming into her happy new boobies split through her mind. “Hey, ah, let me help you out, I guess.”
Michael blushed. “No need.” He pointed down to his pants. A wet stain discolored his thigh. “I was pretty excited, and when you screamed… I just kind of shot off.”
“Oh,” Erin frowned. Aw. “Okay… anyways, uh, glad we had this little chat. I think we were very adult about it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Likewise. Wow. That was kind of fast.”
Her house wasn’t far away. Erin paused, for a ridiculous second, before giving her boy a scorching goodbye kiss. Her hand felt at his accidental discharge. “I’ll call you soon,” she promised. “I guess we have a lot more to talk about.”
Then she ran upstairs, into her room, to giggle madly into a pillow.
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