A Bikini Beach Summer, Part 01 free porn video

A Bikini Beach Summer by Daphne Xu Part 1 Thanks to Elrod, Bikini Beach's creator, for invaluable comments on this story. Any comments about Bikini Beach, how it works, what it does, by characters other than Anya or Grandmother are potentially non-canonical and wrong. As this story is told from a particular point of view by the protagonist, this includes comments by the narrator. The protagonist, and thus the narrative, are what the protagonist believes or interprets from what he is experiencing. Thus some of the mechanics of BB are biased by the protagonist's view and experiences. Furthermore, because of the particular viewpoint of the story, those errors often won't be corrected. When the errors are corrected, the correction will often be disbelieved and rejected. Despite this I will admit to pushing the limits of Bikini-Beach canon, perhaps even going outside on occasion. Saturday, June 21 A Day at Bikini Beach Was it my imagination or did I actually see a tint of pink in the diffusing shower mist? I forgot about it, jumping at the shriek of my little sister Ruth, in the next shower over. "What the HELL is going on?!" "What happened? You okay, Ruth?" I said, worried. Good thing Ma wasn't around. Whatever happened, one must never curse. If either of us cursed, Ma punished us hard. "It happened to you, too?" Ruth calmed down somewhat. "Um," I was puzzled. The only thing strange was that she'd forgotten her bikini top. Oh, and that we were both in bikinis. Pa would really jump on us if he found out. But Ma had suggested we bring our bikinis, when she told us we were going to Bikini Beach. Pa didn't know we were coming here, I'm sure. But forgetting her bikini top wouldn't make her scream and curse like that, would it? Definitely not curse, and definitely not wonder what was going on. "Um, what happened?" "Look in the mirror!" I looked over at the mirror, wondering what Ruth was talking about. I admit I looked attractive, and boys would surely find me hot -- especially the naughty way I was exposing myself in a sky-blue bikini, wearing nothing else but matching flip-flops and plastic beads around my left ankle. I really shouldn't have brought my bikini, and the beads didn't help either. Now, I had to go out into the world practically naked. Pa... I brushed hair out of my eyes as I turned back to Ruth. "Well, I really shouldn't be wearing this bikini. Pa will be furious at me especially. Not so much you, although forgetting your bikini top like that, Ruth..." "Stop doing that to me, Lucy! Please! And why did I just call you Lucy?! Why did you call me Ruth? I'm Ruth. No, I'm Ruth. No, no, NO!" Her voice degenerated into gargling. She made a bizarre image, stomping in anger in only her red bikini bottom and red flip-flops. I knelt down in front of her. "You didn't hit your head or something, did you?" "No, I didn't hit my head! Stop doing that to me!" The door to the shower room opened, and Ma entered. Unlike us, Ma was in a solid navy-blue one-piece swimsuit. She was carrying Ruth's missing red bikini top. "Ma, something's wrong with Ruth! She's all upset." I was glad Ma hadn't heard Ruth curse. That had caught me by surprise, and I'm sure Ma would have killed Ruth. "Lucy, I'll take care of Ruth. She'll be fine, I'm sure." She was putting Ruth's top on her, although why she didn't let Ruth put it on herself, I had no idea. "Go out and explore the park in the meanwhile. Have fun. Meet us at the office in about an hour." Relieved that Ma was there to take care of Ruth, I walked out to my first real view of Bikini Beach. So this was Bikini Beach. This must have been the biggest water park in the world! And so near my hometown as well. Why had I never heard of it until this morning, when Ma announced we were coming here? The name seemed peculiar too: why "Bikini Beach," rather than "Bikini Water Park"? I followed one of the paths, passing a couple pools where women and girls were swimming and sunbathing. I reached a place with a big sign saying, "Princess Playland." It looked like a place for four-and-five-year-old kids - probably not for me. Somewhat farther was the "Junior Lifeguard Academy." I wondered what that was about. It was a very long pool, with not only room to swim, but also a couple slides and various challenges. I tried the "Safety Scramble" once -- didn't even make it a quarter of the way across. I didn't attempt it again, not just because of how hard it was, but because I noticed that everyone seemed to be younger than me. The average age looked about nine, my sister's age, and I felt rather out of place. I did notice a few girls around my age at the far end of the pool, among many trying to climb a mountain-side to reach the top. I decided to try it myself. The wall turned out to be not only steep but more than vertical. It actually faced down a bit. Of course, it had to do that so that if we fell, we fell cleanly into the pool rather than scraping and bouncing ourselves along the wall. I jumped into the water and tried it. I couldn't get even a foot up, and I wondered how the heck those other girls were making it even halfway up. Then one of the girls swam over, a pretty Asian girl, at least half a foot taller than me, in a bright neon-orange bikini. "Hey! You new here? Never tried these before?" she greeted me, treading water. "Nope, never. It's my first time here at Bikini Beach." "Well, you're in for quite a treat. There's no other park anywhere quite like this one. A little hint: always keep three hands and feet securely on the wall. Only move one at a time. I call it the Rule of Three. Follow that rule, and you can climb almost anywhere." "Thanks!" I smiled at her. "Any time. I'm Carol." "Lucy." I stuck out my hand, which she took and gave a good firm shake, disrupting my water-treading. I had to scramble to get my head back above the water. "Sorry about that, Lucy," said Carol. I never managed to get more than a little bit up the wall before falling. It seemed that my hands or feet were getting tired, but I noticed that every time I fell, I'd violated the Rule of Three. But I had lots of fun, and I got to know her friends as well. There were four who met almost every other day at Bikini Beach. In addition to Carol Hsu, there was red-headed Alice Candy who was a bit shorter than me and covered with freckles. She wore an orange one-piece suit that matched her freckles. Another was a tall black girl, Vanessa King, who seemed a little older than the rest, gorgeous in a white bikini, and bubbly stout Becky Miura who was cheerful and excited about everything. I noticed Ma and Ruth at the other end of the pool. "Oh, no!" I exclaimed to my new friends. "I was supposed to meet Ma and Ruth after an hour. I must have lost track of time! I'm going to be in trouble. They're here now!" "We'll go support you," said Vanessa. We swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out. "Ma!" I called out. "Ma, Ruth!" They turned around. Ma said something to Ruth, Ruth jumped into the water, and Ma walked fast toward us. "No running near the pool!" I'd heard the lifeguard shouting that often enough. "Sorry, Ma. I must have lost track of time." "No problem, Lucy. It's still early. Someone recommended the Junior Lifeguard Academy for Ruth, and we came to check it out. I was going to go back to the office to meet you, but it's not necessary now. I see you made new friends here. You must introduce them." "Everyone," I told the girls. "This is Ma--" "Ma, as in the Little House books?" asked one of the Asian girls, not Carol but the other one, who had a tendency to giggle. I sighed. "Yes, like them. We get that a lot. Okay, this is Carol, the first girl I met in the group. And she is Vanessa King." "Pleased to meet you, Ma'am," said Vanessa. "And this is Alice Candy," I continued. "And, and, and..." Oh shoot! I couldn't for the life of me remember the fourth one's name, the name of the one who'd brought up the Little House books, the other Asian- American. She giggled. "I'm Becky." "Oh, right. Becky. Sorry about that." Becky giggled some more, joined by the other three girls. "It's great to see you've made new friends already," Ma said to me. "It seems that parents are neither needed nor particularly wanted here, but they appear to have good supervision. So I'll just go look around, and enjoy myself. I'll be back in a couple hours to pick up Ruth. If you're not here, let's meet near the main entrance for lunch at noon." "Sure, Ma," I said. I was about to turn back to my friends, when Ma slipped out a tube of sunscreen. "You're already beginning to turn pink, Lucy, and the day's only barely begun. Turn around." She started with a huge glob of goo just under the back of my neck. "Ssssssttt!" Oooo, that was cold. I couldn't help clenching up hard. All business-like, she rubbed it over my sides, neck, and back -- even a little under my bikini bottoms. It was embarrassing in public in full view of not only numerous strangers -- even if they were all women and girls -- but especially my new friends. "Do your front and legs yourself, Lucy. Don't forget your nose and ears." She handed me the sunscreen. "Your Ma has a point, Lucy," said Vanessa. "You're rather pale, and damage has already begun when pink appears. But it'll only get worse unless you promptly apply sunscreen." So I had to smother myself in sunscreen. It felt irritatingly slimy. The tube was empty by the time I finished, and Ma had already departed. "Say, let's show Lucy the South Seas Adventure," said Alice. "The rides there are simply awesome." "Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" echoed Becky, jumping up and down, her hair flying all over - until, "Yikes!" One foot landed on the edge of the pool and slipped into the pool. Her bottom landed on the edge, and she rolled into the pool, disappearing under water. "Becky! Becky!" called out Vanessa, Alice, and Carol, as I stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Becky surfaced, and scrambled back out of the pool. "Are you okay?" asked Vanessa. "Yeah, I'm fine. But my, was that a pain in the ass," said Becky. "Let's get outta here before that lifeguard chews us out." We all walked with pretended nonchalance to the nearest trail leading away from the pool. I followed them, as they followed various trails -- I was lost by then, but at least they knew their way around. We eventually reached the entrance to a region, with a huge overhanging sign, "South Seas Adventure." To the right, the ground rose gradually. Off in the distance, the hill or miniature mountain was topped off with a miniature volcano! That's right, this water park had an entire volcanic mountain within its bounds. It was artificial, no doubt. "The best things, the Pipeline and the Tropical Waves, are at the farthest end," said Carol. "The Pipeline begins near the top of that volcano up there," added Alice. "Interested in a small hike and scramble?" asked Vanessa. "This path goes up the mountain, and follows it. It passes the tops of most of the slides, and goes up the volcano a little." "Sure, I guess," I said. "Let's swim in the Lagoon before we go on that hike up the mountain," said Carol. The Lagoon turned out to be over at the right, a circular pool of water about the size of a football field -- surrounded by sandy beach and strange, but very pretty, foliage. Statues decorated the area throughout, shooting water up and keeping everyone in a continuous spray of mist. Many girls and women were swimming and sunbathing on the sand. Before I knew it, Becky and Alice were both racing toward the water. "Last one in's a rotten egg!" shouted Becky, as she splashed into the water. The rest of us ran to follow them, as Carol shouted out, "First one has to eat it!" I'd never heard that one before. The water in the Lagoon was a little cooler than in that other pool, but still nice and comfortable. We rough-housed, and I only occasionally noticed that the talk of hiking up to the volcano had apparently been forgotten. Carol came up behind me and splashed me with water. I shrieked and turned toward her - - just as Becky grabbed my bikini bottom and yanked it down. "Girls, girls, girls, let's keep it wholesome!" shouted Vanessa. "None of that, now." "Spoil sport," shouted Becky. I crouched down and struggled to slide my bikini bottom back up, while keeping my bottom hidden underwater. You're in trouble now, Becky, I thought to myself. I ducked underwater, and slithered around to Becky's side, then leaped up with a roar. She shrieked and fell over into the water as I laughed. This WAS great fun. Vanessa called out, "Dears, hug and make up now!" We had another group hug. I was coming to think that the group hugs were one of the best parts of this experience. Even if our hair was all soaking wet, and getting all over us. After some more roughhousing, Alice said, "I'm bushed, guys. I'm getting out for a while." I looked at a clock in the distance. It was now about ll:45. "I have to meet Ma at noon back at the entrance. I'll probably be late! I'm afraid I'll get lost, too." "There are signs directing you to anywhere you want to go," said Vanessa. "I'll go with Lucy, make sure she doesn't get lost," said Carol. "Let's all go with her," said Becky. "We should have lunch anyway." "Great idea!" said Vanessa. So they all went with me back to the entrance to meet Ma again. We arrived about three minutes early. Ma was there waiting with Ruth. "Ma," I called out, getting both her and Ruth's attention. Ruth seemed grumpy again. I didn't know why, and I wasn't sure I wanted to. "You got here!" said Ma. "And your new friends came with you." "I was afraid I might get lost coming back here. So they came with me." "That was very nice of them. Ruth, meet Lucy's new friends." "That's my little sister, Ruth," I told them. "I hope I can remember your names," said Ma to my friends. "Vanessa, I definitely remember," she said to Vanessa, who smiled and nodded. "Carol?" she nodded at Carol, who nodded back. "Allie?" she said to Alice. "Close. Alice," she replied. "And Betsy, right?" "Could have been, Mrs. -- Um, I didn't get your last name?" said Becky. "Cuttington," answered Ma. "Could have been Betsy, Mrs. Cuttington. But it's actually Becky." "Becky's often silly," said Alice. We found the eating place. Vanessa led us over to her mom and little sister, and was apparently about to introduce her, when Ruth said, "Hi, Mrs. King. Helen, this is Lucy, my older sister, and this is Ma." "Just like `Little House on the Prairie' then?" giggled Helen as I shook her hand. "We get that a lot," answered Ruth with her own giggle. "I'm pleased to meet you," Mrs. King said to me as we shook hands. "I see you already met Vanessa." My new friends all went to their own families and friends for lunch. "We'll get back together, no question," said Vanessa to me. "Don't you get lost on us, you hear?" Ma, Ruth, and I got into line. "Look at the prices!" Ruth exclaimed. Ma said, "The prices are always exorbitant like this at theme parks. This is standard. We deal with it." She bought us a good-sized filling meal. Ruth was shifting in her chair, squeezing her legs together. A couple times, she slid a hand below the table. Seeing her do that made me distinctly uncomfortable, and I did my best to ignore her, but at one point Ma scolded her. "Keep your hands away from there, Ruth, and stop squirming." "Ma, you have no idea how utterly creepy this feels," said Ruth. "Ruth, that's Error whispering in your ear. Just reject it, and don't even think about it. It didn't bother you when you were playing and having fun with the other kids, right?" "No, but--" "So don't think about it. That's all it is, Error, mortal mind. It never really exists." This was straight Christian Science, something we all forgot too often to practice. "Or maybe you'd care to visit a gynecologist?" "No!" Ruth shrieked, turning as red as her bikini. The conversation around us softened momentarily, as people turned to look at us. I flamed silently in embarrassment. I'd heard talk of gynecologists in the locker rooms at school, and they were mentioned in a girls-only meeting of health class. I was always thankful that we were Christian Scientists and didn't have to deal with such icky, embarrassing, and obscene things. I never thought Ma would ever mention such a thing. And how ever did Ruth even know about such things at nine? I certainly didn't. After lunch, Ma called for an hour of nap-time. "We mustn't be active after eating. It slows us down and stresses us." I was momentarily confused now. Wasn't that mortal belief? I put it aside, realizing I didn't sufficiently understand Christian Science. We found a place of reclined pool chairs in a shady spot, and laid out our towels, and sat and lay back. I dozed off for a while, but was annoyingly awoken by Ma shaking me. "You're turning pink, Lucy. Let's get more sunscreen on." I glanced over and saw Ruth gleaming with sunscreen. She wasn't nearly as colored as I was. I noticed that our nap spot wasn't shady any more. Again, I had to cover myself with sunscreen. We decided to go walking around to see the sights. Going off in a random direction, we reached the "South Seas Adventures" again. We walked along the trail between the Lagoon to the right and the mountain to the left. We saw in the distance various water slides, raft rides, and inner tube rides coming down from the mountain and ending in various pools. I first noticed a tall black girl in a white bikini off to the side among some girls around my age -- Vanessa! I recognized the other three with her; they were the four friends I'd made this morning! Right at the same time, the redhead turned and saw me, and called out, "Hey Lucy!" All at once the four of them turned and ran to us. To my utter embarrassment with Ma and Ruth present, and with both of us practically naked, Vanessa caught me up in a bear-hug. She greeted Ma and Ruth after letting me go, while the others proceeded to hug me. "We're headed for the Pipeline," said Carol. "Wanna join us?" I glanced over at Ma, who said, "Go ahead. Have fun with your friends. Meet us back at the office at 5:00." "Great!" I went off with the other girls, barely hearing Ruth say, "I wanna go, too." I didn't hear Ma's reply. "You're in for the ride of your life!" said Alice, as we continued along the walkway. "Yes, yes, awesome! Awesome!" Becky jumped up and down. We shortly reached a path leading to the left up the mountain. "If we follow this, we can walk along the top to the volcano, and arrive at the top of the Pipeline," said Vanessa. "Otherwise, we have to go to the far end of the park." "We avoid the main line going up a rather steep climb," added Alice. We turned onto the path, and I found myself climbing a rather steep scramble up the mountain. After a while, when the path became shallower, I said, "You know, it's strange. I never even heard of Bikini Beach until this morning, when Ma announced that we were coming for the day. Why isn't this as famous as Disney World?" "A good thing it isn't," answered Vanessa. "Otherwise this place would be utterly crowded." "Yeah, so crowded nobody would come here," giggled Becky. We all laughed at that joke. Carol said, "I read somewhere that Disney World used to use about four percent of all Kodak film produced." Becky whistled. I managed to contain my amazement. The path reached another, near the top of the mountain, walking along the ridge toward the volcano. We chatted as we walked, approaching the volcano and then walking along its side with the summit looming up the left, passing the starting points of a couple water slides on the right. We reached the entrance to the Pipeline. A worker was here, keeping an eye on the line of girls, and ready to merge into the line persons like us who took the mountain trail. I looked at the ride itself, and almost panicked. The starting downward slide looked like a vertical drop of fifty feet, and the slide had two other steep drops as well. There were three separate slides, so three of the girls went first. Carol stayed with me, waiting for the next turn. Stomach in my throat, feeling queasy, wondering what the heck I was doing here, I stepped slowly up to the launch point and sat down. I kept hesitating to take the last final step of pushing forward, but someone pushed me from behind. I shrieked louder than I'd ever yelled before, as I suddenly dropped down the steep slide. I was jostled all over -- bumped to the left, bumped to the right, dropped suddenly, rinse-and-repeat. I was screaming and wailing, my stomach bouncing around my insides, out of synch with the rest of my body. I finally splashed down floundering, limbs flailing, into a deep pool. Under water, I finally got control of myself and pushed myself up. My head broke the surface of the water, and I reached up and instinctively grabbed something fluttering down. I noticed to my mortification that that was my bikini top. After floundering trying to tie it back on, I stuffed it in my mouth and swam to the side of the pool, climbing out with my breasts bared for all to see. "Great catch!" applauded Becky, as I tied my bikini top back on. Feeling properly covered now, I said, "I can't believe I lost it like that. It's so embarrassing!" "Don't worry about it," said Alice. "It happens to the best of us, if they're so naive as to wear a bikini on this ride. We're casual about such things." Alice was wearing a one-piece suit, of course. Becky added with a laugh, "Alice, in fact, lost both pieces a couple weeks ago, down the Otter's R-- yikes!" She shrieked and twisted wildly away at Alice's swat to her rear end. "That's why she only wears one- piece suits now. And that's how we know she's a true redhead," she added, well out of Alice's reach. "I'll get you for that!" shouted Alice. Becky ran, but Vanessa grabbed Alice's shoulder before Alice could make chase. "Girls, girls!" shouted Vanessa. "Time out, time out! Group hug everyone!" She pulled Alice into an embrace, while Carol went over and hugged Becky. Then they came back, and Alice and Becky hugged along with Carol and Vanessa. I was feeling morosely out of it, when both Vanessa and Carol reached out and pulled me into their hug. I almost got sandwiched between them, being way shorter than both. Eventually, I wound up hugging all four of them, both individually and in groups. Becky's comment about Alice being a "true redhead" led me to glance surreptitiously at their bottoms. Not a single bit of hair was visible. In compared with theirs, I seemed to have hair sprouting around my bikini bottoms. How did I get away with looking like that? Thank goodness none of the girls actually brought it up. "Last week, someone managed to lose a one-piece swimsuit coming down this very ride," said Carol. "How did she do that?" I asked. "Beats the heck out of me. I don't think anyone figured that one out. The suit floated down after her completely intact." "I wouldn't be surprised if she deliberately removed her swimsuit while sliding down," said Alice. "I can't imagine how anyone could do such a thing on that ride," said Becky. "Or why, for that matter." "Why? For the mystery -- a magic trick. Or just to be perverted," answered Alice. "How? Well, I suppose it's possible to concentrate on doing something even while bumping and bouncing around on that ride." Having made up, we went on an inner tube ride. It was vastly more relaxing. As we climbed to the top, Carol warned me to be careful. "The first time I rode this, I got caught in a particular pool, going around in circles for about half an hour with other tubes passing me by, before finally making it over the edge." How boring that must have been. It didn't happen to me, thank goodness. "Hey, I'm tired," said Alice. "It's about that time in the afternoon," added Vanessa. "What time?" I asked dumbly. "Nap-time," said Vanessa. "Push yourself trying to have fun, and you hate it. Sometimes, it's just best to relax and go with the flow." I'd already rested an hour with Ma and Ruth. Still, I felt I should go along with what these girls wanted. We found a bunch of inclined outdoor chairs and claimed five of them. The girls chatted casually, while I listened and relaxed. At one point, Vanessa said, "Lucy, tell us a bit about yourself." Normally, I didn't like being put on the spot, but Vanessa said it in such a nice way that I didn't mind. "Well,..." at that point I had no idea what to say. "My name is Lucy Cuttington. There's Ma and Pa--" "Yeah, definitely `Little House on the Prairie'," injected Alice. I glared at her. "Yeah, like them. Of course, you met my little sister, Ruth. She's nine, and I'm fourteen." "What school do you attend?" asked Carol. "Do you have to bring up such a depressing subject?" asked Becky. "No-no, that's okay. I went to Madison Middle School, but I'm starting at Westside High this fall," I said. "Me too," said Becky. "Actually, I (um) recognized you." She turned her face down, with an embarrassed expression. "You probably don't recognize me." I looked over at her, trying to remember. True enough, I didn't recognize her. I wasn't surprised. There were quite a few Asian American girls at school, and I was mostly a shy loner. "I'm going to Westside High this fall, too," said Carol. "But I went to Adams Middle School." "I was going to go there too, but now I'm not so sure," said Alice. I looked over at her, and was stunned to see her about to cry. "What's the matter?" Vanessa moved over and took Alice in her arms. "It's okay, darling, it's okay." Alice cried into Vanessa's bosom. I looked down, feeling distressed and embarrassed. What was happening? Vanessa leaned her head down and murmured in Alice's ear. "I'm okay now, I think," Alice said eventually. "But I'm having fun here when my cousin..." "Bad things sometimes happen to good people," said Vanessa somberly. "Sometimes, when things overwhelm you, you simply must escape just a little while." "Tracy -- that's my big brother," Becky nodded to me, "is starting college this fall at Pacific Tech." "Ooooooo!" said Carol and Vanessa simultaneously. I'd heard of Pacific Tech, didn't know much about it. Well, it was a technical college, obviously. Becky continued, "He tells me that they have a weekend called Decompression at the end of every quarter, just before finals. Full of entertainment, it's supposed to be quite a stress reliever." "Bikini Beach is truly a unique place," said Carol. "There's no other place like it for getting off the razor-blade of life." The others erupted with "Ewwwww!" That was a rather gruesome metaphor. "At least temporarily. It's good to be away from the ogling eyes of boys -- especially if you lose your swimsuit in a ride." Vanessa said, "Bikini Beach was founded on that premise, a purely girls' water park." Becky began giggling. "Grandmother -- everyone calls her that -- built it -" Vanessa glared at Becky out the corner of her eyes. "- as a retreat for girls and women away from men's lecherous gaze." Becky's giggling turned uncontrollable. "It's true, Becky! What's got into you?!" Becky was now in outright hysterics. "Hush, Becky! Stop it! Now!!" By now, Vanessa was sounding like stern mother. Becky immediately clammed up. "Sorry," she said contritely. Vanessa continued, "You can temporarily escape day-to-day problems, pull yourself away and see them from a more distant perspective." "Pa wouldn't have liked it, if he'd known that Ma was taking us here," I said. "He hates it when girls exhibit their bodies like this." I remembered all too many rants about girls these days. The very name of this place would probably have triggered another rant. "In fact, I really shouldn't have worn this." I peered down at my nearly naked body. "I hope he doesn't find out." "You look wonderful, dear," said Vanessa. "Absolutely," agreed Becky. Did she leer, or was it my imagination? "Anyway, how will he find out if you don't tell him. You did bring clothes, I assume." "Of course." I eventually dozed off, lying about half-asleep. One idea had been nagging me ever since the inner tube ride. Would I ever see my new friends again? I was feeling a bit down, and Vanessa must have noticed because she asked me, "What's wrong Lucy, dear? You seem a bit down." I hesitated. "It's just... well, will I ever see you again? All of you?" "We always meet here at Bikini Beach," said Alice. "You mean, you come here every day?" "No, not every day. We've kind-of settled on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays," said Carol. "Don't worry, you'll find us," said Vanessa. "We always find each other." "Hey now, what's with all this moroseness?" asked Becky. "We have attractions to conquer and pools to dive in. Let's go!" We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, rough-housing and sliding down slides. All too soon, it was time to return to the entrance to meet Ma and Ruth. We all hurried back to the office. We found Ma with a group of other parents, talking and watching a bunch of girls Ruth's age swimming and yelling and splashing about in a pool. Ruth was among them, and she promptly shouted, "Hey, there's Lucy!" "Hello again," said Ma to the other girls. "I see you've spent all afternoon with them," she added to me. "It's great you made friends so quickly." "Here, let's get your phone number," said Vanessa. I gave mine, and then the other girls gave me their numbers. Carol said, "The park closes at 8:30 this evening. Can't you stay until then?" "Yeah, Ma. Can't we?" I asked excitedly. A little bit of me cringed inside at how I was begging, but mostly I was excited at possibly being with my new friends an extra three hours. "Okay," agreed Ma. "I'll have to find a phone and tell Pa we'll be home late." "Yeah!" exclaimed Becky. All of us -- Ma, Ruth, me, my other friends, other parents and siblings, and some of Ruth's crowd of eight- and nine-year-old girls -- had supper. Then I went with the girls and we had much fun chatting and swimming and riding as twilight developed. Of course, all too soon, the fun had to come to an end, and we had to separate and go our merry ways home. We had another group hug, saying our goodbyes. "We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays here as well," said Vanessa. "I really hope you'll join us again." Ma and Ruth were already changing when we returned to the changing room. It looked like Ma was talking sternly to Ruth, as she slipped her dress on over her head. Ruth, already in tee-shirt and shorts and putting on her sneakers, had turned grumpy again. "We'll meet you at the car, Lucy," said Ma. "Come along, Ruth." I wondered what was going on here. Ruth was excited about Bikini Beach and playing with the other girls her age, and now she was grumpy and angry? I opened my locker and pulled out my dress and underwear. My skin was rather red, with distinct white matching the shape of my bikini. I could already feel the tightness and mild stinging of the sunburn. When I pulled on my underwear, I couldn't help noticing that my panties covered at least twice the area of my bikini bottom, and my bra about one and a half times the area of my bikini top. I flushed in shame as I realized how practically naked I'd been outside all day. At least Pa wasn't there to see me, and I hoped he'd never find out. Pa strongly disapproved of girls displaying themselves in bikinis -- and I'd done exactly that all day. I vowed to wear a proper one-piece suit next time I came here. Pa was grudgingly okay with those for swimming, even though he found those over-exposing as well. My bra was rubbing over my sunburn, and it felt distinctly uncomfortable. I thought of removing it. Would anyone notice I wasn't wearing one? Maybe my white unburnt bikini skin might resemble a bra if people could see through. Come to think of it though, nipples would be a dead giveaway. I decided not to risk it. Finally I was dressed up. I spotted Alice as I went out, and called out, "Hey Alice!" We left together. She went to a car waiting to pick her up, and I found our car in the middle of the parking lot. As I approached the car, I saw and heard Ma and Ruth arguing angrily. Ma was saying, "Stop crying or I'll put you over my knee and give you something to cry about." Ruth glanced at me as I approached, got in the back seat, and slammed the car door. What was going on? Was Ma being mean? Or was Ruth being bratty? I got in the other side and sat down next to Ruth, who sullenly ignored me. I decided it wouldn't be a good I idea to try to talk to her, so I just leaned against the car door and dozed off, the dry pain of my sunburn hovering in the background. I woke up and dozed off every few seconds as we approached home, pretty much every time the car stopped or turned corners. It was quite annoying, and all I wanted was desperately to sleep. "Lucy." Ma's voice woke me. "We're home now." "Oh?" I yawned and slowly pulled myself up and awake. We were already in the garage, and Ruth was already out of the car and entering the house. I slipped my flip-flops back on and sleepily stepped out of the car and into the house. I groggily greeted Pa and headed straight for my bedroom. I barely disrobed and slipped into my nightgown before flopping down onto my bed and conking out.