Being More Social - Chapters 6-10 free porn video

“I don’t care.” Nicole told me bitterly as we neared room 203. “The cold sucks. It hurts my face to go outside. You’re defending a thing that hurts my face.”

I grinned at her. “Now you’re just thinking up my reasons for me to love winter!”

She punched me playfully in the arm as we took our seats, joining the rest of Student Council. Shortly after, Phil entered the room and cleared his throat.

“Great, everyone’s here!” He commented happily. “Alright guys, listen up…”

That was my cue to stop listening until my name was called. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being part of student council, but weirdly, the meetings, which was 95% of being in student council, were the most boring and insufferable part. Before long, my eyes wandered, looking at everything yet nothing in particular, until something responded.

That something was Megan, waving cheerfully as soon as she noticed that I was looking at her.

“Hey!” she cheerfully whispered, trying not to alert Phil.

“Hi.” I responded, admittedly less warmly. “How was your weekend?”

She shrugged. “Y’know… I didn’t do anything. It was kind of lonely.”

I never quite knew if Megan, ever since she confessed she liked me, was trying to guilt-trip me, or if she legitimately was a sad person who happened to like me. “Oh,” was the only thing I could think to respond.

“Yeah.” she said awkwardly, before waiting a few seconds then asking, “How was yours?”

Oh, just fine. My crush is going out with my best male friend, my best friend’s brother died via an overdose, and she responded to me finding that out by freaking out my dad then screwing me. “The usual,” I told her flatly.

“Adam.” Phil barked. “Do you have anything you’d like to say to add?”

I whirled around to face him. Well, crap. I felt like an ass, and debated either sinking back in my chair or trying to look like I was paying attention. My eyes fluttered in a panic from person to person until they settled on Nicole, my god damn savior.

She looked me straight in the eyes, and mouthed ‘Spirit days – up the ante.’

I have no clue how I did, but I caught her drift immediately. I turned back to Phil. “I dunno, honestly.” I started. “I feel like everyone does that already. If we want people to really show school spirit, I feel like it should be bigger.”

The nerdy guy behind Phil spoke up. “The dude ain’t wrong.” he said in a jock-y fashion that completely contrasted his look. “I mean, wearing stripes to support the school is cool ‘n all, but people do that anyway. We wanna find things that people don’t normally do.”

“Sorry, but what even is the point of wearing stuff to show support?” Nicole piped up. “Like, shouldn’t we be finding things to do that can ACTUALLY support the school? I get the whole morale thing, but we should find reasons to get students to like the school to begin with, instead of telling students to show that they like this school? We should let them show their own ways to support the school, instead of just telling them.”

Her actually good point aside, I saw what Nicole was doing. She was stirring the pot, diverting the topic away from me not paying attention. Naturally, it worked like clockwork – before long most of the council was debating ways to get students to like the school to begin with. Amidst the chaos, Nicole turned to me and winked.

I wasn’t the only one that noticed the wink. Megan noticed Nicole winking at me and her face fell instantly. She turned to me and asked, with some sort of desperation in her voice, “Why is she winking at you?”

Thinking fast, I replied, “I gave her that very idea a few days ago, about the whole let students find their own reason thing.” A complete lie, but whatever.

“Oh.” her face didn’t brighten up. “So you two talk a lot, huh?”

I sighed internally. I pitied Megan, I really did. “Yeah.” I replied. “She’s really cool, actually.”

Megan looked distraught at this point, so as much as I really didn’t want to, I continued. “She and Phil are really close too. They danced together at the Halloween dance.”

Just as I suspected, her face brightened somewhat, even though she was trying to hide it. “Do you think she likes him?”

I put on my best politician smile for her and added, “I hope they end up together.”

Megan smiled back. Internally, I was putting my face in my hands. I really hoped that I wouldn’t have to put up with this all year.

***

The council was over before long, even though it felt like it went on forever. Eventually, everyone was filing out, leaving just Nicole and myself in the room.

“Thanks for saving me.” I said to her as she filled her backpack.

“Don’t mention it, squirt.” she replied as she took her camera off from around her neck. I never noticed it before, but May was right – unless we were in her room, Nicole took that camera with her EVERYWHERE.

“Besides…” she added slyly, walking up to me, “How could I resist saving an ass as cute as yours?” She ran up to me and looped her arms around me, squeezing my ass.

“Woah there!” I said, backing up. “First off, uncharted territory.”

Nicole giggled.

“Secondly, we’re in the school building right now.”

“Oh, come on.” Nicole protested. “Everyone else left. I don’t expect you to bone me, but you’ve gotta admit, doing something in the council room would be hot, doncha think?”

Oh my god, she was serious. “You can’t wait for the car?!” I protested.

Nicole pretended to think for a second. “Hmm… Nope!” she concluded. She pressed herself up to me again, locking lips with mine, wasting no time. Her tongue licked away at my lips before I could even register what was happening, and was inside my mouth without me even being aware I allowed her access.

I broke the kiss. “The… the door…” I managed, pointing to the wide-open door.

Nicole sighed loudly. “You are SO squeamish.” She complained. She walked over to the lights and turned them off, then to the door. She started to close it, but then, teasingly, left it open a crack.

I started to protest, but she cut me off by holding up her hand. “Nothing’s gonna happen, squirt. Now roll with it.” Shamelessly, she took off her sweater, then her t-shirt to reveal her big, beautiful breasts.

“Maybe if you wore a bra during the winter, you wouldn’t be so bitter about the cold.” I joked.

“The truth?” she asked. I nodded. “I don’t even know if I own a bra.” She started laughing like an idiot, and I joined in somewhat. Before long, though, the laughing was over and she had her back up against a table, feet on the floor, my mouth on her nipples, moaning up to the heavens.

“I think…” Nicole said in between moans. “You’re becoming… the best guy… I’ve been with at this…”

I ground myself up against her pelvis, making her squeal, and asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a fast learner, stupid.” She retaliated, standing up and unzipping my fly. With one motion, the threw my pants to the ground, then, keeping her eyes locked on mine, travelled downwards until she was on her knees. She took my now-erect cock in her hands and began to slowly stroke me, licking sensuously at the base of my dick. Shamelessly, she even started to use her tongue on my balls, still jacking me all the while. It felt good, but besides that, I didn’t know what to make of it.

Her love of tradition won her over eventually as she stuck my dick in her mouth and began to suck my dick for all its worth, playing with my head with her tongue while she was at it. I leaned back against a table and my hands moved to the back of her head, coaxing her to take more of me in as a felt the sensations spread all across my body.

I heard some clothes rustling and opened my eyes to see Nicole taking her pants off (which was impressive considering she was on her knees), opening her knees, and inserting two fingers into herself, making contact with her clit using her thumb. Before long the two of us were a mess of moaning, squirming and bucking. Nicole, surprisingly, came first – even though I couldn’t hear it, it was obvious with the way she picked up speed then stopped suddenly. Plus, I could see her juices faintly running down her legs.

I came next, getting used to not even bothering to warn her (since she seemed to know every time) as I spurted right down her throat. Nicole, of course, swallowed it all.

After we stood there in post-orgasmic bliss for a while, Nicole took me out of her mouth, wiped her own mouth, and stood up, putting her clothes back on. “Oh dear God, I forgot my water.” She complained.

“Another crisis that could have been averted if you just waited until we went home.” I quipped.

“Oh shut up, dweeb.” she playfully scolded, throwing her shirt at me. I was tempted to run out of the room with it, but knowing her, she’d just shamelessly run after me.

Unbeknownst to us, we were not the only ones who knew of our risky session that day. Just outside the door, peering through the crack, was perhaps one of the people I least wanted to see us: Megan. We hadn’t seen her, but her eyes were wide, her mouth was open and there was a hole in her heart. Her head was reeling, and her brain was filled with a mixture of shock, sadness, slight anger, and perhaps even a twinge of jealousy.

I know Nicole was wild and crazy, but she really should have closed the door.

***

Of course, she didn’t stick around the door by the time Nicole and I exited the student council room.

“It’s not going to be locked.” I warned her, still nervous, once we exited Room 203. “Someone’s going to notice that. Then come the questions.”

“Right, because I didn’t swipe Phil’s key before thinking doing this was a good idea.” Nicole replied, taking the key out of her pocket and rolling her eyes. “You worry too much, hotshot.”

As she locked the door, I thought I heard someone behind us, and veered around. “Is someone there?!” I asked nervously.

Nicole chuckled. “Nobody’s here, squirt. They’ve all gone home. I thought blowing you would make you LESS pent up.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was absolutely right to be nervous. Tucked into the indented doorway of the next room, thanking her lucky stars she pulled back into the indent when I veered around, stood Megan, head pounding and hands shaking, still listening to us.

“Alright, are we ready to go?” Asked Nicole, slinging the camera around her neck.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” I hastily agreed, still nervous but calming down at this point. Megan peered back over to us just in time to catch me reaching my hand out and grabbing Nicole’s in mine.

“…What are you doing?” She asked me seriously.

“I don’t know.” I honestly answered. “I just figure since we do everything else and there’s no one around, like you said…”

Nicole laughed. “Yeah, but we’re not a couple, squirt.” She playfully slapped my hand away from hers. “That ain’t how this works. I’m a no-”

“Strings attached, I know.” I finished.

“Well if you know, then don’t be doing coupley things with me!” She said flatly. She seemed serious, like me holding her hand offended her or something. “It feels weird. It’s not my fault that when I blow you, you get feelings for me…”

“Oh, ha ha.” I replied sarcastically. “Because that’s totally how it works.”

Megan heard everything, and at this point, her eyebrows were at her hairline. At this point, her mind was made up. She knew who she wanted, but this changed everything. Now she knew how she could get who she wanted too.

***

For a guy that was getting as much unexpected sex as a nerdy, shy guy could get, I was pretty happy with having at least a little bit of routine in my life. Unlike everyone else in my classes, I was invested. For my teachers, this meant I was a joy to teach, although with teachers like Mr. Graves, it was hard to tell if he even knew what a ‘joy’ was.

Despite knowing that Carson and May were basically together, it was hard to get me to stop staring at May in English and Science (during drama, I had other things to distract me). Once or twice she’d catch me staring, but thanks to my new friendships in high school my confidence was actually building. Instead of looking away and suppressing yet another panic attack like my old self would have surely done, I’d seize the opportunity and flash her a smile and a friendly wave hello. Each time, she’d give one back, without any hesitancy or other signs she thinks I’m a creep in her eyes. We would barely talk, except in drama.

Drama usually was business talk. We were usually paired up for a makeshift scene or even an improv duo. Improv still wasn’t my style, especially since it was hammered into the class’ heads that improv needed to be funny. At one point in drama class we were playing ‘Strangers on a Train,’ which is apparently a classic improv game. I never heard of it. All I knew was that if you were in the center, there was someone on your left and someone on your right, and if you were talking to one person, you’d have to keep your hand on the other person’s leg without knowing it. Most people took this in funny ways, making the situation bizarre or sexual. In fact, usually sexual.

However, on Tuesday’s class, I decided to play a blind man. I didn’t exactly want to even be on stage, but Salvador called for me to be in the middle. I guess he noticed I hadn’t participated yet. Once I was onstage, May was on my left, and the guy with the goatee, Callum, was on my right.

There were a few giggles in anticipation of what hilarity would ensue, but once the scene started, I just sat staring up. Eventually, I realized I had to start the scene and grumpily called out, “Ethel.”

No one said anything. No laughter came from the audience, except for one distinct chuckle, which I think was still in preparation. I called out louder, a little more desperate. “Ethel.”

I could see May sneaking a glance to Callum behind me, confused. “Ethel, are you there?” I called out in a slight panic. I began to breathe more loudly, more erratically.

May recognized that breathing, and thinking it was a panic attack, whispered to me, “Adam, are you okay?” She gingerly touched my shoulder with her hand. Her touch felt electric and amazing, and made me happier just from feeling her warmth, but I wanted to focus on my scene.

“Who’s there?!” I said in a panic, turning to her. My arms went out and moved around, indicating that I couldn’t see. Eventually, my hand found Callum’s leg. I pawed at it for a second, trying to make sense of what I was touching as the character.

“What the…” Callum as his character called out. He looked at me and cleared his throat. “Sir, could you please get your hand off my leg?”

May caught on in the nick of time. She turned to Callum. “I think he’s blind.”

“That’s right, kid, but I ain’t deaf.” I snapped back in a raspy voice. “Have you seen my wife?”

Over the course of the scene, which lasted much longer than it was supposed to, there was no laughter. Just either boredom or attention. I found out that Callum was a great actor from working with him in this scene, particularly when he added the twist that ‘Ethel,’ the character’s wife, had been dead for a few years and I was on this train purely due to my dementia. His reactions to me and to May were incredibly real, and he really carried the two of us through the scene.

“Good.” called Mr. Salvador after our scene had, apparently, passed its climax. “You may sit down.”

After we seated, Mr. Salvador glanced at the audience. “Adam’s taught us something about improv: you don’t always have to be funny. This scene was by far the most meaningful.”

I sat back in my chair and enjoyed the sensation of my ego inflating. Knowing Mr. Salvador, I should not have savored it for as long as I did.

“He also taught himself something along the way. If your piece has meaning, you need substance to back it up.” He turned to me. “If Callum wasn’t in that scene with you, your idea would have fallen flat. If you’re going to make a decision, don’t do it half-heartedly. Commit to it.”

Ooooof course. I hated how Mr. Salvador always had something to say to me, that he couldn’t ever just let me win. It wouldn’t have killed me to hear his criticisms if he weren’t always right.

“Callum, you’re showing great progress with being a versatile actor. I’m impressed.” Mr. Salvador continued.

Oh, come ON.

***

“What made you make it all serious?” May asked me after the bell rang.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m not really funny, so I decided to make it serious.”

May giggled. “Well, I think you’re funny.” she told me. “I thought it was cool! You think all different. It’s really cool.”

I shot her a sarcastic look. “Yeah, right. You probably just watch Doctor Who and Wes Anderson movies and think I’m quirky and weird.”

May’s expression turned serious as we began to walk out of the aud. “Wait, how’d you know I like those things?”

I thought about it, and realized myself I don’t know. I thought back to how effortlessly Nicole explained herself.

“I know a few grade 11s.” I answered her.

“What does that have to do with this?” She asked me.

“I don’t really know myself.” I told her, shaking my head.

May giggled again. “You’re weird.” she replied, as we neared the doors.

“Bye, Mr. Salvador!” I called out as we exited the aud, expecting not to hear a response from him.

“He doesn’t care, you know.” She commented a tad bitterly as we walked down the halls. “You heard what he said to you. He’s just a dick.”

“Well, I don’t like to admit it, but he’s not wrong.” I said gingerly.

“Whatever.” She replied as she approached her locker. “Do you need something from your locker?”

“Hmm?” I realized I was just standing beside her. “Oh, um, sorry. No, I was just enjoying talking to you.”

She turned back to me and gave me a warm smile. “I’m enjoying it too.” she said, before turning back to her locker. “Although I won’t be here for long. I’ve got to go in a bit.”

“Oh yeah? Why?” I asked her, still awkwardly standing behind her.

She smiled slightly and blushed. “I’ve actually got a date in a bit.” She told me quietly.

Ah yes, joy. That. Still, I had to keep up appearances. I acted shocked. “No way! Who with?”

“His name is Carson Carter. You know him?”

Sure freakin’ did. “Sure do!” I replied enthusiastically. “Well that’s cute. I hope you enjoy yourself!”

May was all too enthusiastic to respond. “Oh, I totally will. He seems like a really cool guy. First off, he’s really into weight-lifting and stuff, so he looks really good.”

That one stung. I could only picture my skinny self standing in the hallway as she continued. “Plus he likes weird things like Marvel movies, he knows how to fence, one of his cousins is a bartender and taught him how to mix drinks and stuff, and he’s just got a way with words that makes me…”

There was a pause. “Makes you…?” I asked her.

Her blushing increased. “Never mind.” She told me as she shut her locker door. She looked at me and smiled. “Thanks for talking to me. Hopefully we can do this again sometime? I enjoy having a friend like you.”

Was this what the friend zone was like? Man, did it suck. “Yeah, I’d like that.” I smiled. I wouldn’t have minded our conversation nearly as much if it didn’t center on Carson, but whatever. At least she was happy, or so I kept repeating to myself.

I checked my watch, and realized I should head for the bus soon. And prepare for my night alone. It’s not like I could hang with Nicole tonight, she was apparently busy with some big class project.

Oh well, could be worse, I thought to myself as I got on the bus. After a few minutes, I could hear my phone vibrating amidst the loud humming of the bus moving. I took my phone out of my pocket to see I got a text from Megan.

hey, could u help me put up posters for the xmas spirit week tomorrow?

Putting up posters wasn’t exactly a Herculean task, which led me to believe this was just Megan making some sort of excuse to hang out. Although, I reasoned with myself, I actually enjoyed hanging out with her when the ‘I like Adam’ tension wasn’t making it weird, so I agreed.

Yeah, sure! I replied. Immediately after, I went over my contacts and found Nicole.

Hey, Megan wants me to help with some council business. Could I ask for a ride tomorrow?

I waited for a bit until the bus came to my stop. As I got off, I felt a vibration in my pocket, signaling Nicole’s response. I lugged my backpack inside, eventually plopping it down on the floor, then checked my phone.

Sure thing, squirt. I’ve got a surprise yearbook meeting anyway. Will you be done by 4:30?

I couldn’t have seen putting up posters taking more than 30 minutes. Definitely, I responded, all the while walking up to my room. I let my head hit the pillows and rest there for a few seconds before groaning and taking out my homework. At least Wednesday afternoon will be more eventful, I thought to myself.

***

Wednesday went by quickly, with nothing of real value happening during the day. Mr. Carrozza held a lab on the effects of acids and bases, Mr. Graves held his usual lesson, then went back to his desk while Carson and I talked the other half of the class away, Mrs. Jackson held a pop quiz on To Kill a Mockingbird for hopefully the final time, and Mr. Salvador had us working on doing a complete improv scene using just our faces.

It may have seemed interesting, but it all just kind of blurred together into one big homogeneous blob, otherwise known as school. I was all too happy when the final bell rang. However, it wasn’t until I was halfway to the bus that I remembered I was supposed to meet up with Megan.

Luckily, when I ran back to the main hall, she was just standing there, not pissed at my lateness at all.

She waved cheerfully at me. “Hey Adam!” she called. Other people looked at her, and then at me, as they passed. Megan held up her collection of posters and two rolls of tape. “Ready to start?”

“Sure!” I answered, trying to keep my encounter with her as business-oriented as possible. I took some of the posters and a roll of tape, and started to walk down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” She asked me sweetly as I started to walk away.

I gestured to the hallway I was heading to. “I was gonna, y’know, hang posters.” I replied dumbly.

“Oh.” She said simply, her expression not changing. “I thought we could hang them up together.”

“Well, it’ll take less time to do if we cover the whole building separately, don’t you think?” I asked her, thinking I knew what her true intent was.

Her smile faded. “Do you have to go soon?”

Crap. She had me there. My honest side overcame my selfish one as I admitted, “I have until 4:30.”

Her smile reappeared, yet was more vibrant, like pentimento. “That should be plenty of time. I’m sure you wouldn’t like to do it alone, right?”

I smiled at her, hoping it didn’t seem forced. “Right.” I answered. God, I hoped she would get over me soon. I actually envied Matt – she seemed like she would make a great sister or friend, and it’s not like I was that annoyed with her. If anything, I kind of felt bad for her. She had her heart set on me like I did with May, and I did not fail to see my own hypocrisy there. I just didn’t like her that way, and any time we shared just seemed to turn into awkwardness or her venting her romantic frustration at me, while trying (badly, if I may add) not to make it seem she knew what she was doing, and to whom. For multiple reasons, I wanted to turn back the clock and say no when she invited me to the dance. In many ways it would have made my life better.

In actuality, she was fairly quiet while we worked, seemingly concentrated on the simple task. If I had not known any better, I would have said she graduated from being awkward around me to being nervous. In a way, it was more peaceful, but in another way, it was worse, like I should feel guilty for my feelings.

Jesus… The more I thought about this situation when it happened to me, the more I realized just how right Nicole was about May. Instead of stopping myself from feeling about that way for her though, I just excused Megan. Okay, so I knew how she feels. If I were in her situation, knowing I wouldn’t get the guy, I’d just want them to be friendly and wait for the feelings to wear off.

Solid. “Hey Megan…” I said after a moment of silence, turning to her. “I’m kinda glad we could hang out, even like this. You’re a pretty cool friend.”

Yes, I may have been getting more confident, but I still wasn’t totally comfortable with my words yet, and my God, did it show. Nevertheless, Megan’s response was to form a beaming smile.

I had to say, I couldn’t decide whether her eyes or her smile was her best feature. I didn’t like her, but I could sure tell how beautiful she was. Her brown eyes, only made bigger and more beautiful by her glasses, had a way of conveying both innocence in the cutest of ways, yet a curious playfulness that could make any guy smile. Hey smile, however, had the great ability of lighting up her face beautifully, and combined with her eyes, I couldn’t help but smile myself before I knew it. Her smile was just contagious in that way.

“Really?” She asked me, her glowing white smiling showing as much glee at my remark as her eyes.

I nodded. “Yeah! It’s cool that we’re hanging out and chatting and stuff.” Great, now I was the friend-zoner. Is this what people with friends have to deal with? I think I overheard Carson refer to it as ‘drama’ before, before rolling his eyes.

It looked like a weight had been lifted off of Megan’s shoulders. “Yeah, really cool.” She said, with this odd mix of shyness and enthusiasm.

We chatted more from that point on, making small chat. I tried to steer the conversation back to the previous topic when relationships were mentioned, which I noticed happening more than once. We worked until the last of the posters were placed, which was around the 3:45ish area.

“That’s the last of them.” I remarked, smoothing down the last poster. “I hope people actually notice these.”

Megan shrugged. “I guess people like showing off school spirit.” She said back quietly. Her enthusiasm was gone and her nervousness was back. I briefly wondered if I had said something wrong to her along the way when she broke me out of my trance.

“Oh goodness!” She said urgently. I tried to hide a smile – I think ‘goodness’ was the biggest swearword she had ever used since I met her. I turned to her as she continued, “I think I left my backpack in fourth period!”

I returned her look. “Well, I don’t think you can get it back now – all of the classrooms are probably locked.” I told her seriously.

She bit her lip and sadness, panic and worry filled her eyes. “All of my homework is in there.” She whined to the floor. “I’ve never gotten a piece of homework in late this whole year. That was my goal.”

Jeez. If I thought Megan’s happy eyes were powerful, her sad eyes were something else. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” I said to her, smiling. Somehow, I thought to myself.

“Really?” She asked me, smiling despite her sad eyes.

I nodded. “What room is it?” I asked her.

“Room 314, Health and Nutrition.” She answered me.

I nodded again. “Okay, tell you what. I’m going to go see if the room is locked. While I’m doing that, just in case it is locked, and something tells me it is, you go down to the office and see if you can find someone who has a school key. Okay?”

Happiness filled her eyes again, although strangely the nervous look returned with it. “Okay.” she answered. I flashed her a brief, closed-mouth smile then went off to the third ‘floor.’ Basically, our school just had five sections, diving the classrooms up by their areas of concern and labelled them under different sets of hundreds, but were too lazy to call them ‘sections,’ so they decided to save two letters and call them ‘floors,’ despite the school being basically two-story.

Despite not being familiar with the floor (it mostly dealt with geography and non-English languages, subjects I did not take in first semester), thanks to the sectioning I found the room easily. Expecting the worst, I tried the doorknob. To my surprise, it opened. The room was open.

At any other high school, this might have been commonplace or even a pleasant surprise, but for me it was just perplexing. I knew for a fact that the custodians always made sure to keep all of the doors locked by 3:30. If any one room was open (particularly one that had kitchen supplies one might see as valuable) it could only be the result of a massive oversight. One that would probably need to be reported.

Throwing that topic off of my mind, I scanned around the room. The room itself was pretty big, so it could have been stashed away anywhere, but Megan’s backpack was definitely not in plain sight. I putzed around the room, looking under desks, but couldn’t find anything.

I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around to see Megan enter the room. She must have ran to the office… There wasn’t any other way she could have gotten here so fast. “Hey,” I said to her, still looking around. “I hate to say this, but I don’t think your backpack is in here.”

“I know.” She replied softly, closing the door. Wait, she knew? I was suddenly about as nervous as she looked.

“What do you mean, you know?” I asked, my worry probably coming across as anger.

“I put my backpack in my locker right after school. I just wanted to ask you something alone, that’s all.” She told me.

I still felt uneasy. “We were alone in the hallway for a long time! Couldn’t you have asked me then?”

She shook her head and approached me. “I know I’ve been weird and stuff for the past few months, and I’m sorry.”

Oh, crap. Was this why she was nervous? Because she felt bad? I felt like crap again. Poor Megan, blaming herself for something I was guilty of myself… I smiled at her. “No, it’s okay. I understand where you’re coming from.”

She nodded without returning the smile, and bit her lip. “I was wondering if I could ask you a favor though.”

My smile faded. I had literally no clue what it was Megan was about to ask, but I already didn’t like the situation again. She had about three words to make me feel comfortable again.

“Okay…” I slowly replied. “Depends on the favor. What is it?”

“Well… I, um…” That was three. I lowered one eyebrow at her and tried to convey just how weird this situation was for me. At the same time though, for some reason instead of moving towards the door, I sat down on a table, facing her.

“I… I want…” She began again shakily.

I waited about five more seconds before I interrupted. “Look, if you want to ask, just ask. Stalling like this isn’t going to help you.”

She sensed the impatience in my voice and nodded. “Adam, I want…” She started, then squeezed her eyes shut. “I want to give you a blowjob.” She said firmly and slowly.

Wait, what? Freaking what?! “Where did that come from?!” I thought and asked at the same time.

“I know it’s weird, but you’re just the only guy I can trust and I’m curious about it and I just…” Megan spat out quickly, before hanging her head and scowling. “I’m sorry, it’s stupid. I’m gonna go.” She started towards the exit.

“Megan, wait.” I called out after her. She was totally banking on me asking her to wait – she stopped where she stood and turned around. I sighed, thinking of how I was going to phrase it. “Look, I really don’t know how to respond to this, but just… don’t be sad. It’s not stupid at all. It’s teenage instinct.” I guess. “But I don’t really think you want to blow me.”

“I do! I really do!” Megan protested, in an almost desperate way. She moved closer to me. “You’re not like other guys. You’re… really sweet. I’ve felt like that since I first met you. I’m not asking for anything more, I just really want to. I don’t know why. We don’t even need to talk about it again if you don’t want. It can just be…” She paused. “…No strings attached.”

Deja vu. My lustful side was beginning to poke through as I realized I had this girl wrapped around my finger (somehow). She was literally begging to blow me. There wasn’t a catch, as far as I saw. Plus, it’s not like I was above doing it. I just did the same thing with Nicole two days ago, and hell, that was no strings attached.

“Do you promise you want this?” I asked her seriously. “Just to give me a blowjob, nothing else?”

She kept her sad expression but nodded enthusiastically. “I really do, Adam.”

I was totally going to regret this later. Things were about to get complicated. “Okay.” I gave in. Megan gave me another huge grin and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you, Adam. Thank you.” She thanked me. Why did she act like I was doing her such a favor? The situation made zero sense to me, and if I wasn’t a horny teenager, my suspicion might have prevented me from being in this situation.

Megan removed her glasses and set them on the table beside me, where I was still sitting. Her eyes looked different without her glasses making them bigger. Not worse, just different. Still smiling, she pulled up a chair next to me and patted it.

I guess this explains her nervousness earlier, I thought to myself as I stood up. With her watching, I slowly unbuttoned my pants and pulled down the zipper. Megan’s face went from a smile to serious as she slowly bit her upper lip and I could see something new filling her eyes.

From being with Nicole so often I should not have been this nervous, but I was. Throwing caution to the wind, without even trying to milk the moment for seductive purposes, I yanked my pants and underwear down to my knees in one motion, giving her a front-row seat to my fully erect member.

At first, she just gasped, then squinted a little. “Oh my gosh,” She whispered. “I was not ready for that.”

Well that was sure encouraging. She really knew how to talk to a guy. “What’s wrong?” I asked her, suddenly feeling very insecure.

“Nothing!” She protested a little too quickly, her eyes looking straight into mine. They traced their way back down my clothed body until they fell back again on my shaft. “It’s just… That’s kind of scary. I didn’t think it would be so big.”

Pure bull. Is this just how girls talk to guys when they see their dicks? There was no way I was as big as Megan was saying. “Uh, thanks,” I said, not knowing how to respond further than that. I sat down slowly into the chair, and Megan got the hint, slowly dropping to her knees.

“I can touch it, right?” She asked timidly.

I laughed internally, making sure it stayed internal. If she couldn’t touch it, I would have loved to see her blow me. “Yeah, of course.” I said warmly, hoping to ease her tension. She hesitantly reached forward and grabbed me, holding my shaft in a frankly awkward manner. After a few seconds of her lingering there, she slowly started to attempt to jack me off, her hands still awkwardly placed. Frankly, it hurt more than anything else.

I wasn’t shy about letting her know it either. “Ow, ow, OW.” I complained.

She took her hand off of me immediately. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” She said, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” I replied. “How much experience have you had with guys exactly? If you don’t mind my asking.”

She looked down at the floor, embarrassed, and I cursed myself for asking. “I haven’t even kissed one.” She told me sheepishly.

“Seriously? You?!” I asked, which she took as a compliment judging by her sudden shy smile. She nodded.

“Okay, then maybe I should guide you through this.” I said, and she nodded again. “Okay, now watch me.” I grabbed my own shaft in my hand. “See how I grabbed it in this way? You’ll wanna do something similar. You want to make it easy to move up and down without it hurting or being uncomfortable. Also watch your pressure – too loose and it just feels weird, too tight and it can hurt, a lot.”

She nodded diligently through my whole lesson and when I was done, I let go of myself and her hand replaced mine. At first mimicking my exact position, she experimented with her hand a little before deciding on a position and beginning to jerk me slowly. “How’s this?” She asked quietly.

“That’s really good, Megan, well done.” I said, smiling down at her. She nodded, smiling herself, while beginning to pick up speed.

For an amateur, she actually wasn’t bad once I set her straight. Her efforts were giving me more pleasure than I could when I was alone, and before long as she was stroking me, I was giving small groans and my body was shifting around a little.

She took this as high praise and a smile began to form. Once I saw she was content I let my head sit back, enjoying what Megan was doing to me. I had my eyes closed and only opened them when I felt something new. I jerked my head up and looked down to see Megan with her head down and tongue out, timidly licking away at the head of my dick.

She was licking it kind of like ice cream and while it didn’t feel really stimulating, I decided not to intervene this time, but rather wait and see what she does. Sure enough, a few seconds later I saw her inhale determinedly and lower her mouth down to me. The licking stopped as she stopped her lips right above my head, and gave the head a small kiss. I quivered with anticipation as Megan looked into my eyes and giggled a bit, before opening her lips and sinking her head down onto my cock.

She couldn’t sink her head far onto my without gagging, but oh my god the feeling was amazing. Even without using her tongue and her throat in unison, as she started to bob her head up and down, I instantly felt pure euphoria sweep over me, mixed with a delicious twinge of shock. My mouth hung open and my hips started to move autonomously as Megan began to extend her range, taking more of me into her with each amazing bob of her head. Her mouth felt very different from Nicole’s, in ways I couldn’t even think to describe.

“Oh my god Megan…” I began, realizing I gave her little oral feedback when she began. “For a first time you are doing amazingly.”

Megan only moaned on my dick in response as she enthusiastically continued, eventually adding her hand to her mouth’s efforts.

I may have been a ‘fast learner’ but I was nothing in comparison to her. Megan seemed like she knew exactly what I wanted and exactly how to give it to me. Every sound of mine she seemed to hear and she catered to every single one, as if my moans were clues for what to do next.

She had at least half, maybe two thirds of me in her mouth at this point. Each movement her head made gave me more pleasure than the previous, and at this point she was almost on par with Nicole, as amazing as that fact was to me.

Drunk with lust, I wanted to make her better than Nicole. “The tongue too…” I all but panted. “Swirl your tongue around the head.”

Slowly, trying to figure out the best way to go about it I assume, Megan complied. Soon I felt her tongue, slowly at first, working its way around my head, playing with me in ways that Nicole’s all-too-sure-of-her-own-way style didn’t dare to approach. Megan was trying new things, and each one was an instant success.

Each effort of hers made me hornier and hornier, and before I even was aware of what I was doing, I had my hands on the back of her head, shoving her mouth onto me. “That’s a good girl.” I said forcefully. “Harder. Faster.”

At first, Megan clearly coughed. Had my sensible side been working, I would have pulled her off me, made sure she was okay, and felt like a monster for what I had done. But I was way beyond that now. Megan had, if only temporarily, woken up something inside of me that even I myself didn’t know to exist.

Before long, she was taking the extension I had given her with ease, her coughs turning into small moans. Her tongue was now masterful as I, amazed at how fast she had adapted, bucked my hips fully into her mouth, sure that at some points I might have been hitting her throat.

After a while her hands travelled up my thighs and had grabbed on to them. Was she getting a better grip? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t care. I just wanted more of me in her amazing mouth. I wanted more. I pushed myself even farther into her, savoring the feeling, the feeling of having total control over the amazing shy girl Megan.

Once I went fully into her for the first time, all rational thought left my head. “That’s a good little slut.” I heard my voice say. Shit, that was me?! That didn’t sound like me at all! I mean, it had my voice, but I would never say that.

“Go further, my little fucktoy.” I continued, in a low voice I didn’t know exist. Wow, Megan sure knew how to bring out the beast in me. At that moment, her hands tightened their grip and Megan went even quicker. I may have been close to coming, but I didn’t let out any hints. Why did she do that. I looked around her to find my answer, when my eyes caught a look between her legs.

Today she was wearing a small, pink pair of shorts, and right in the middle of them was a small yet obvious wet spot. I no longer had the right to say that Nicole got turned on when she blew me – Megan was literally getting off on giving me a blowjob. Her hands tightened and the spot became bigger as she continued. Holy shit, I thought to myself as I realized why she was moaning on my dick and her hands grabbed at my thighs. She was seriously going to have an orgasm like this.

As soon as I made that realization, as if it were waiting for me, she came. She never took her mouth off of me, but the muffled moan/scream she made while still bobbing up and down gave me a pretty good hint. As my eyes travelled down her legs, I saw the wet spot had become exponentially bigger as some of her fluids leaked not only through her panties, but through her shorts as well, right onto the floor. Megan was a squirter. No, a gusher! This only turned me on more, seeing her like this, as my hands became more desperate, pushing her as far as I could into me. Megan went faster, wanting to please me, bobbing up and down with longer strokes, going faster and faster until I couldn’t take it anymore.

My vision was taken from me as I came. I only saw black and stars as my head went limp and I felt spurt after spurt after spurt empty my sack entirely into Megan’s mouth. The load filled her mouth and then some, so some of my cum ended up leaking from her lips and spilling down her cheeks. Still with my cum in her mouth, she gingerly removed her mouth from my dick, which took some of the cum with it, as I came to.

“Holy shit.” was all I could say at first. “You’re amazing at that.”

Megan didn’t respond – it’s rude to talk with your mouth full. She slowly looked around before setting her eyes on a nearby garbage can. She reached over to it and brought it over, opening her mouth above the can. All of my fluids came rushing out her mouth into the can, before she spat a few times and put the can back. With lust still in her eyes, she turned to face me.

“I wasn’t… Expecting… Any of that to happen.” She said breathlessly. She barely touched her wet spot, causing her to instinctively moan. “I think I liked doing that.”

“Yeah, I totally did too.” I added enthusiastically. “Thanks, Megan.”

She smiled at me. “You’re welcome.” she said, her shy attitude rapidly coming back to her. Who knew underneath her shy attitude lived… That? Whatever that was, I sure never saw any of that in Megan before.

Megan eyed her wet spot again before frowning, realizing she needed to fix that. Wordlessly, she got up and walked to the kitchen area (in hindsight it was convenient to do it in the health and nutrition room), taking from it a roll of paper towels. She came back and wiped up both of our fluids from the floor and placing them in the trashcan, before taking a second one and wiping away at her wet spot with it.

“Need any help with that?” I asked, half-joking. I hoped my humorous smile would make it sound less… creepy.

“No, it’s okay.” She smiled. Ooookay, so it didn’t. Once she was satisfied with her cleanup, even though there still was evidence of her wet spot, she tossed the final paper towel away, put the roll back, put her glasses back on and walked up to the door, opening it. Once it was open she looked back at me, smiling expectantly.

“Oh, right.” I remarked. I still had to put my pants back on. Quickly, I did my pants back up and followed her.

Megan was beaming as we walked down the hall, but still said nothing. I felt weird though, and like I had to say something.

“Uh, thanks again for that.” I said to her as we walked. “I don’t really know what to say but knowing this side of you is interesting. Like, in a good way.”

“It’s okay,” she said, smiling at me. “I think I understand what you mean.” She reached out to my hand and grabbed it, holding it as we walked.

“…What are you doing?” I asked her weirdly as I noted she had my hand in hers.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me, her smile slowly disappearing.

“Well, I’m just not… y’know, comfortable with that.” I answered, sounding kind of sheepish.

Megan was scowling at this point. “You were okay with me giving you a blowjob but holding hands is weird?” She asked me.

“Well, it just has a different meaning. A more intimate one. You yourself said the blowjob would be ‘No Strings Attached,’ remember?” I asked her. I realized that something was slowly blowing up between the two of us. I was starting to wonder if I had done something wrong or misinterpreted something.

“But…” Megan interjected, beginning to almost sound desperate. “But don’t you feel differently about me now that we did that?”

“Differently?” I wondered aloud. “Megan, you agreed that this was without feelings. You promised me this was nothing more than a blowjob. Plus, I don’t just get feelings for someone right when they blow me. That’s not how it works. I thought you were through with being weird around me.”

Yyyyup, that last one was definitely crossing the line. Megan looked at me with deep sadness in her eyes. “I thought…” She began.

I felt bad, but stood my ground. “You thought what?” I asked her with power in my voice.

She just shook her head and swallowed down tears. “Never mind. I’m gonna go now. I don’t feel so good.” She was fishing for some kind of answer, but it never came. I just stood there, looking at her. “And don’t try to text me or anything tonight. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Okay…” I said, concerned for her yet at the same time exasperated for myself. I couldn’t find a single thing I did wrong. She approached me, she promised that there were no feelings, now she was mad at me for believing her? What kind of logic was that? Still, I figured I should try to remedy the situation in any way I could. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything…”

She didn’t bother to stick around to reply to that. Instead she just marched down the hallway with a hurry in her step, making sure I couldn’t catch up to her. I wasn’t sure if she began to cry when she was halfway to the main hallway, but I could suspect she was.

God dammit. I hope she wasn’t too upset. At the same time, though, I didn’t feel too angry at myself, which was frankly a first. I checked my watch, wondering how long we were at it. 4:23. Well, at least I still had my ride home.

As I stood there in the hallway, I felt a big, crushing nothing over me. The nothing felt really bad. What was I supposed to do? What would happen in the future? All I knew was that I didn’t want this situation to get worse than it already did. I had to keep this between Megan and I. No one else.

***

“Megan blew me.” I confessed to Nicole as we neared her car. I expected Nicole to be shocked, or at least stop in her tracks, but she casually marched onward, carrying her camera, backpack and some kind of paperwork from her yearbook meeting.

“Should I light a candle?” She asked sarcastically, and flashed me a smile as she packed her stuff in the car. “Not my first choice of girl, but I’m glad you chose her over May.”

“So you’re not upset I did something with another girl?” I asked her as we both stepped into the car.

She turned towards me lazily with an annoyed expression on her face. “I’m gonna say it really slowly this time so you understand: I AM NOT THE JEALOUS TYPE.” She slowly, loudly told me.

“Okay, okay. Sorry.” I said, a little offended at her attitude.

She noticed. She stretched and lazily said, “Sorry, squirt. It’s been a long day.” She started that the car and added, “I’m actually kinda surprised. I didn’t really think Megan was the no-strings type at all.”

“Uh, yeah, about that.” I sheepishly replied. Nicole put the car into park mode and leaned back.

“Thought so. Lay it on me, hotshot.”

I told her everything. Her nervousness, the backpack, how she promised it would be casual, and how she got angry. After I finished, Nicole was silent for a good five seconds.

“Can I say something off the record?” she finally asked me.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” I replied.

“You’re really freaking dense.” She said, looking into my eyes and displaying just how amused she wasn’t.

“…Could we go back on the record please?” I asked her.

She gave a small laugh, but was still visibly pissed. “Girls think differently than guys. Guys use fake love to get to sex, and girls use fake sex to get love. Megan was trying to seduce you. She was hoping that by blowing you, you’d fall for her.”

“But where’d she get a notion like that?” I asked her.

She just shrugged. “Point is, people don’t always say what they want, and all girls, except yours truly, kind of feel more emotional than guys.”

I was tempted to point out her reaction to Mitch’s death, but I realized that would have been uncalled for, and just nodded with my mouth shut.

“Just be a bit wiser about stuff like that in the future, huh?” She continued. “Actually think. When people do things, they do it for a reason. When people do nice things in this world, it’s because they want something. Sorry, it’s a sucky truth. So before you do anything next time, consider her feelings, that’s all I’m saying.” She turned on the radio, signaling she was about to drive, and pulled the car into reverse.

I pouted. “Well then, why did y-”

“Ssh.” She said urgently, suddenly bolting up from her seat. She put the car back into park and turned up the radio. Some kind of 80s tune filled the car, as Nicole relaxed back into her seat.

“Aaaaah.” She moaned in pleasure. It obviously wasn’t sexual, but still was weird. “God damn, I love Tears for Fears. I seriously think Pale Shelter gives me a religious experience.” She finally said after a few seconds. She put the car back into reverse and I turned down the radio, not sharing her love for 80s music. Was I missing something? Everyone seemed to love the 80s but me.

“Sorry, squirt, were you saying something? I totally cut you off.” She finally said once we were on the road.

I couldn’t remember. “Don’t remember. It probably doesn’t matter anyways.” I snapped. Keeping her eyes on the road, Nicole outstretched her arm to my shoulder and began to rub it sympathetically. Some people knew how to comfort people with words, but Nicole had the gift of knowing how to comfort people without using words.

I felt a familiar buzz in my pocket. Odd, who would be texting me now? Definitely not Megan. I took my phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen to see a message from May. It’s actually been a while, I thought to myself.

Hey was all it read. She was still bad with punctuation, but she was starting to text more properly, like me.

Hey! How’s it going? :) I texted back. I looked back at Nicole, who had her eyes closed, enjoying the music as she drove. Wait, she had her eyes closed?!

“Oh my God, Nicole, eyes on the road!” I said in a panicked voice as I eyed her and the road frantically.

“What do you take me for, squirt?” She lazily piped up. Just as we were nearing a stop sign, she came to a decent slow then a stop, right where we were supposed to. “There, see?” She asked, drawing attention that she hadn’t opened her eyes once while doing that. “Now shut the fuck up. It’s My Life by Talk Talk is up next.”

“How’d you do that?!” I asked as she sped up again.

She sighed angrily and quickly spoke. “I memorized the distance and calculated how long it would take given my average speed to reach this point. If there was a car in front of me, I would have heard it. Satisfied?”

Of course the answer she gave me was pure bull, but she didn’t have that usual sarcastic tone to her voice. Nevertheless, I turned my attention back to my phone, which had a new text from May.

Its okay was the whole text. May didn’t usually give short replies unless she was upset.

What’s wrong? :( I texted back.

“What’s wrong?” Nicole asked mockingly, her voice dripping with fake concern. Yet when I looked up at her, her eyes were still closed. I think fucking with people was her hobby.

The date didn’t go too well… Carson and me aren’t together was her reply.

Aaaaand temptation. Great. Especially in light of recent events, one might think I would have wised up by now, seen the true value of girls as people, and accepted that I can’t just screw with people’s feelings just to satisfy my own desires.

“Hey Nicole, what do you think is the best way to get May to fall for me?”

Yup, nope, it wasn’t going to happen. I’m still the same guy.

Nicole opened her eyes and scowled at me. “You’re a lot more shallow than I gave you credit for, squirt.” She said bitterly.

“Please?” I begged her. “I didn’t know why Megan would want to do that, and I still like May. This might be my only chance left. I promise I’ll be good to May, I promise. No more hurting her, no more hurting Megan. I just really want to be with her. Didn’t you ever really want to be with someone, to the point where you’d do everything?

Nicole threw her head back in her seat and sighed a long sigh. “Fuck me,” she muttered, then opened her eyes. “Fine, God dammit, I’ll do it. But in return, you’re going to have to listen to me. Deal?”

“Deal.” I said all-too-enthusiastically.

“Firstly, for Christ’s sake, a girl is upset. Ask her if she wants to talk about it. You’re a shoulder and she’s crying.” Nicole ordered.

I nodded and went right to my phone. Aw, I’m sorry to hear that. :( Do you want to talk about it?

“Secondly, I’m shocked I didn’t do this earlier, we’re getting you some new clothes.” Nicole barked. On cue, the car made a sharp turn as we headed in a direction other than home.

“Where are we going?” I gingerly asked her.

“The mall.” she answered. “They got Hollister, Old Navy, Sears if you wanna be modest… Everything any two-dimensional shallow fuckwit would wanna wear if he wanted to announce his true colors to the world.”

“Hey!” I protested, offended.

“Tell me I’m wrong.” She replied with a bark in her tone. I sensed that she was angry. Nicole clearly didn’t want to do this, and I actually felt really bad. “Thirdly, I bet May, or anyone else, likes guys to be more than twigs. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, every day after school we are going to the weights room, and you’re going to get some actual muscle. On Wednesdays and Fridays from seven to nine PM, I’m signing you up for karate. Okay?”

Nicole was almost scaring me with her tone. “Okay.”

She sensed my discomfort and sighed. “Look, if you’re really going to behave like this for some girl, and you’re going to ask my help about it, yeah, I’m gonna turn up the attitude. At least I’m helping.”

“I understand, I’m sorry.” I said submissively.

She flashed me a smile. “And don’t worry. The karate is on me. And the clothes.”

“Wait, really?” I asked her. “How can you afford that?”

“Scotiabank.” She replied sarcastically, and overly enthusiastically added, “I’m richer than I think!” after a few seconds of silence, she waved her hand dismissively at her. “That joke works way better with Canadians.” She muttered.

“Well, thanks.” I muttered back.

“Least I could do for a friend.” she replied. She was now faintly smiling at me – her attitude had changed completely. I didn’t know what to make of that.

I sat back in my seat and smiled as we made our way to the mall. Nicole and I were on our way to making a new me. Look out, May. You’re about to meet a new Adam, a better Adam. This was awesome… I was gonna be a better me. Better looking, more confident, getting a shot at the girl I liked… Life was good. My troubles were over – there was no way my life was going to get worse or more complicated from here on in.

Chapter Seven

Actually, the clothes shopping was kind of fun. Luckily for me, Nicole retained her casual, fun-loving attitude the whole time we were there, and didn’t go serious on me again. My entire wardrobe was changed by the time we left, and as much as I hated critiquing my younger self for fashion choice of all things, I had to admit I looked better in my new clothes.

The most painful part of that trip was when Nicole convinced my to cut my hair. I actually loved my long, kind of messy blond hair, but if Nicole said it didn’t look good, I believed her. Once I saw myself in the mirror with my hair cut, half of me was confident, believed I looked good. The other half was scared to admit that I didn’t recognize who who staring back at me.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I hastily agreed to do karate, though. From the second I walked in, I was overwhelmed. People were doing punches and kicks and weird moves everywhere in weird white suits, and what unnerved me the most was that everyone there looked like they knew how to fight. All of them. I sure as hell wouldn’t be able to keep up with that.

I was even uncomfortable standing next to Nicole, who was in her own white suit, tied together with a brown belt. Right as we walked in, the toughest-looking black belt whipped her head around from what she was doing to look at us. She had short, brown hair and a naturally stern look on her face. As soon as she saw Nicole though, her face broke out into an unexpected grin.

“Hi, Nicole!” she cheerfully said, walking over to us. “We haven’t gotten to see you in a while.”

Nicole responded by bowing, keeping her head up, and uttering some kind of noise. It sounded like she was saying ‘osu’, but I’m sure it meant something in Japanese or something. “Sorry about that, sensei.” She continued. “School and other stuff just happened to get in the way.”

The black belt waved her hand at Nicole dismissively. “Of course, of course.” She responded before clapping her eyes on me. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Adam,” Nicole proudly said, giving me a less-than-gentle push forward. “He was looking for a good outlet, and he could use a little more confidence.”

The black belt nodded and turned to me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Adam.” she said, bowing to me. I just stood there dumbly.

Nicole subtly jabbed me in the side. “Bow back, knucklehead,” she muttered without moving her mouth. Hesitantly, I bowed back.

Class started shortly after. At the start, everyone gathered in a line, sorted by level of experience. I went right to the end of the line, with no experience and no white suit. I found out later from Nicole that she ordered it with the sensei while I was off looking around before class began, and that it would arrive by next week.

Once we were in the line, we did this bow ritual, and luckily