Naked in School
Freedom to be Free
Chapter 20 - Aftermath
At camp on Wednesday, Drew was seeing a fair amount of improvement in her advanced campers, even though a number of them had been grumbling about the number of times that she insisted the moves had to be repeated, over and over.
“Listen up.” she told them at one point. “You need to develop the muscle memory for those moves, so your body can do them automatically, no thought involved. Your body needs to react to a defender’s moves, ‘cause if you have to think about what to do, you’ve already lost the ball. You’ve gotta get to the point where your feet know exactly where that ball is without your having to see it with your eyes. Is that clear? That’s why all the reps. Okay, here’s the next drill. Fifteen minutes and then it’s time for our wind sprints.”
They all groaned as Drew smiled inwardly. These guys are shaping up nicely, she thought, as she showed them the next drill.
When Friday morning came, Drew and Connor were glad for the break. They had had an intensive week, not to mention Tuesday’s excitement. Both Drew and Connor had ramped up the intensity of their camper training, and since they worked right alongside of the kids, they were getting the benefit of the intense activity too. But their bodies needed rest now, so when the Ritters had suggested that they pay a visit to Pine View, the two teens agreed. To Jennifer’s total delight and glee.
The two of them felt that they weren’t ready yet, as Connor put it, to “shed threads,” but Drew told Jennifer that she felt that she needed more “exposure therapy” time to get her to the point where she could do her own “personal exposure,” as she put it.
They spent the day in various activities and then, when the entire family returned to their cabin just before 5 p.m. to get ready for dinner, Frantz checked his phone for messages.
“Hey, kids,” he called. “Text from Jay. A lot of activity happened today, fallout from Tuesday’s affair. Jay said to call his cell anytime when we get this message.”
It was Friday afternoon at the OSA offices. Gerberin was surprised when two state police officers entered his office and one announced that he was under arrest for being an accomplice to an attempted kidnapping and began to recite the Miranda warning, when an attorney from the OSA legal branch ran in.
“What are you doing, officers? The director wasn’t involved in anything like a kidnapping!”
One of the troopers responded, “Sir, we have a warrant issued by the Glen Burnie District Court at the request of the district attorney of Anne Arundel County, who provided sufficient evidence to the court that this detainee was involved in a felony. Now please don’t interfere; I’m sure you know what will happen if you do.”
They led Gerberin out to transport him to the Glen Burnie courthouse for arraignment.
When the Ritters called Jay back, he told them of the arrest warrant and that the OSA official had been arraigned and released under his own recognizance at the request of the prosecuting attorney, who requested that bail be waived, despite the nature of the charge.
“It’s likely that Gerberin wouldn’t get convicted in a jury trial,” Jay told them. “Because even though he ordered the contact with Drew and Connor, he didn’t order that they be detained. And even though he told that local agent to lie to the police, he didn’t lie to them. Here’s how things developed. First, the county DA certainly recalls very clearly what happened at Pine View last year involving employees from the same enforcer organization; she’s been involved in the attempted kidnapping prosecution of those four individuals, and when I told her of this current incident, she was livid.
“The police had impounded that SUV, and after a search warrant was obtained, the police and an assistant DA found a directive, from Gerberin, giving those agents instructions to, quote, contact and question, unquote, and names Connor and Drew with their address, about their activities and all contacts they have had since their arrival in Maryland...”
The listeners were outraged and expressed that.
“Sure, it is outrageous. They have no legal right to do that and that’s why Gerberin was arrested and charged. But he didn’t order that the teens be detained, just contacted. The decision to detain was the agents’ idea and they’re being charged, based on that video Connor sent—by the way, the DA needs the physical device, Connor—I told you not to use it after you sent that video to me and you didn’t, right?”
“Nope. It’s back in its packaging box.”
“Good. I’ll tell you where to bring it, and the Taser too. The DA has gotten warrants for those enforcers for attempted kidnapping. And endangering, given that stupid driving move cutting you off. She’s also been consulting with various legal people and someone on the state court of appeals staff—that’s the top court in Maryland—about getting a restraining order or injunction against any Program enforcer activity in the entire state. She’s totally fed up with these dangerous activities—including using Tasers against teenagers, come on, is that not detestable? Anyway, that’s the summary of today’s events.”
“Thanks, Jay. Is there anything we need to do—and are we in any trouble for injuring those jerks?” Connor asked.
“You might need to appear at their trial, but perhaps a deposition will be the only necessary step. And their injuries were sustained while committing a criminal act; you were legally defending yourselves. Not to frighten you, but it’s possible that one or both may try to bring a civil suit for their injuries, but if that happens, it could get dismissed easily. Oh, tell me—everyone is completely mystified about how they were injured. The perps claim that you moved so fast that they never saw who hit them. And Connor, you took a Taser shot with no effect.”
Connor chuckled, “That was all Drew. She has an amazing athleticism which includes throwing lacrosse balls really fast and hitting tiny targets with great accuracy. ‘Nuf said?”
Jay laughed and answered, “Enough. And the Taser?”
“Well, either the device didn’t work so well or my riding leathers and thick sweatshirt under it stopped most of its effect. I did get a jolt, like a punch in the chest, but otherwise it didn’t affect me.”
“Ah. Okay. Listen, to keep it simple, if you’re asked, just say that you reacted to being Tasered by punching them out and with the jolt you got, you don’t recall much. That will stop any further questions, like about the use of a thrown weapon.”
“Got it; many thanks, Jay.”
The others gave their thanks too and they disconnected. Frantz turned to Drew.
“First stones and now lacrosse balls?” he chuckled.
Drew blushed. “I never wanna be defenseless, you know? Besides, when I’m with Connor, we can play defense zones. I can stay back and handle the artillery and he can be the close-in shock troops.”
The others laughed at hearing that.
Later, Jennifer was talking about the incident. “Hey, remember that I told you that if you keep doing things against Program officials, you’d catch up to Emma’s record? I’d say you’re closing in on it now, wouldn’t you?”
Drew snorted, “Please. She can keep it, for all I care. Just let those cretins stay away and I’ll be happy to let them be.”
“How’d you get so good at throwing stuff, anyway?” Jennifer asked.
“Just stones and balls. Haven’t tried larger things, like kitchen sinks or automobiles. Hey, I’m not Supergirl, y’know. How to get good? Easy. It’s all just practicing till you’re competent. So what’s up for tomorrow?”
Jennifer picked up the resort’s events flyer. “Usual weekend activities, like water volleyball from 10:30 to noon and the other sports like tennis and pickleball are popular. There’s a DJ playing music on the pool deck. Then there’s a potluck dinner and a live band concert with dancing in the evening. The bands they bring in are dope. I remember this one; they played here last year.”
“Sounds nice, a quiet day. I think I’ll look for kids coming for the Glen Burnie discount; see if any are first-timers,” Drew said.
Then Connor came in with Timmy.
“Hey, sweetie, where were you guys?” Drew asked.
“I found out that they have a little gym here,” Connor answered. “One of those combo functional trainers that has a bench press and squat rack. Set of dumbbells, elliptical trainer, treadmill, and stair-stepper. Timmy asked about how I got ripped, so I showed him the exercise routines that I began with, and he promised that he’d keep it up. Right, Timmy?”
“Oh sure. I want to look like you, Connor. I see all the girls looking at you all the time.”
Connor chuckled at that. “So you wanna be a chick magnet? That’s fine. Looks help, for sure. But way better is to be a good person, respect everyone, be polite. When you talk to girls, let them clue you into what they think is important. Don’t spill the tea about them and don’t try to impress them either; makes you look like a jerk. And building muscles takes dedication and patience, so you need to stick with it. Got that?”
“Yeah, Connor, thanks!”
He ran off somewhere.
The following morning, after breakfast, Drew decided to camp out on the pool deck and watch for any newcomers. As she thought, I figure that any kid—kids—who look shy or uncomfortable are probably noobs. But first, Drew wanted to take a further step in her personal “exposure therapy” plan. After a quick stop at the cabin, she returned to the pool. Connor had found several kids who were members of the school’s swimming team, so he was off somewhere picking their brains about the swimming rules and what happens at the team tryout.
Jennifer had been off with Sam and Abi; Sam had found a willing person to be a sounding board for ideas Sam had gotten for some of her blog posts.
Then a small group of teens arrived with two sets of parents and they all looked uneasy as they came into the pool area. The girls were wearing swimsuits and the boys and adults were dressed in shorts and tops. The kids all looked young.
Drew, thinking as she walked over to them, I’m gonna be such a hypocrite; look at me, talking about nudism, and came up to them.
“Hey there, you all here for the Glen Burnie High special?” she asked.
The group looked over at her and a woman replied, “We are; our kids and their friends are starting in the high school in the fall and they—and we parents—are very concerned about the Program and the bad stories we’ve heard about it.”
Drew smiled. “Well, that’s what the special day rate is for. I’m Drew, and a rep for the Project to Oppose the Program. Hey kids, gather ‘round,” she called in her “coach” voice and the kids immediately obeyed.
One of the men laughed and asked Drew, “That was good—can you teach that?”
“Sure. Just start coaching kids in a team sport and learning the command voice comes easy,” she told him, grinning. “Okay, future high-schoolers, listen up. You’re here ‘cause you want to avoid the nastiness that you heard about in the Program and believe me, I’ve seen the Program running and there certainly is nastiness. There are eight of you here. We figure that two or three of you will get picked to be naked this coming school year. About thirty percent of the freshmen class will be picked this year, we calculated.
“Do you all know what we’re gonna do with the Project? To overwhelm the school with non-Program nude kids?”
They all reluctantly agreed that they knew.
“So how do you feel about doing that?” Drew asked.
“Scared,” one girl ventured.
“Uncomfortable,” a boy declared.
Drew chuckled, “And that’s because boys won’t ever admit to being scared, right?”
The people in the group laughed and the boy shrugged.
“Okay, if you saw the little flyers we’ve been using for recruiting... have you?”
They all nodded.
“That’s great. Here’s the scoop. Those flyers say that if we get a large bunch of kids—we hope it’s a majority of the school—in the Project, then we overwhelm everything that the Program coordinator can try. The nasty posing and groping are gone, the class demos are gone, attacks in the showers and locker rooms—all stop. But if many kids don’t join in or back out of helping the cause, then the Program will make every one of you experience just how bad it can be. Now, there are parts, I’m told, that aren’t bad, but in general, if someone can get raped in the Program, and rapes are indeed happening, believe me, then the whole thing is bad.
“So now you guys are here and you’re nervous. Hey, it’s totally normal to have some anxiety about being nude in mixed company for the first time. Stripping and being around people you don’t know can be a scary experience, but consider what you’ll feel like when you’re forced to strip in school and have to face all the clothed kids and have them groping you. Your experience today will help stop that from happening. If there are more nude kids in school than clothed ones, you’ll be just like the majority; nobody’ll even notice you.
“Okay, but you’re thinking, ‘I’m here right now and can I actually do it and get nude?’ I think that the biggest concerns for noobs come from two issues, first, how most people were raised—you’re not supposed to let others see you naked, and second, your personal body image. Hey, both of those can be tough to overcome; I know that for sure. For the first one, you just need to tell yourself, convince yourself, that you can do it so that you can survive being in school for the Program. Because all your friends will be helping you and you’re helping them.
“Dealing with the second issue, body image, can be helped in a huge way when you’re here at the resort and you see that other people around you will accept you for who you are—not what you look like. Nobody will stare at you, humiliate you, or belittle you here. When you see that, you’ll soon see that any self-consciousness you may have will go away. And having that feeling and the knowledge of a strong self-image will empower you when you’re in school too—you’re in charge! You’re the boss, and nobody will be able to humiliate you ‘cause you know that you’re in charge.
“You should try to get nude soon and enjoy the pool—see, there’s a bunch of teens arriving now, so just join them and get acquainted. They’ll accept you right away, no cap. And all my nudist friends rave about how awesome it is to swim and lay out while nude. And they say that feeling the breezes on your bare skin is so soothing too. Now’s when your resistance to that naked Program starts. And you’ll all make it work, joining all of the other naked kids in school. Instead of being humiliated by being naked all alone, everyone around you’ll be naked—just like here at the resort—so no one will stand out and stand alone. And let your other ninth-grade friends know that they should join the Project like you guys are doing here.
“Okay, I’ll be around the resort today; if you have any questions, I can try to answer them, or we have other upperclassmen around here today who are also organizers who can answer what I don’t know. So have fun and enjoy the resort!”
Drew waved at the vacant loungers and the pool, then waved at the group, and returned to her own chair. The kids in the group looked at each other uncertainly and then began undressing slowly and in a few minutes, several nude kids began heading for the pool—but a couple of nearby adults stopped them and pointed to the showers at the side of the bathhouse. Soon, all the kids were showering there and then they trooped over to the pool to join the others there.
After the young teens had showered and had begun talking to the group at the pool, Connor came onto the deck with Jennifer.
Resort noobs skinny-dipping at the pool
“I got some good info about the swim team,” he reported. “So I’ll be trying out for the team in September. I think I can do the conditioning gig for Coach Adcock and do the swim team too. Say, I see a new bunch in the pool, They noobs?”
“Yep. And I gave them a way cut-down version of the pep-talk I gave here a couple weeks ago. They’re incoming freshies. The parents are over by the back fence, trying to look invisible... say, look at that... no, don’t look now; they look like scared rabbits. I guess they’re actually trying nudism out themselves, so cool.”
“Um, Drew?” Jennifer said tentatively. “You, um, the pareo... nothing under it?”
“Really?” Connor asked. “Took the next step, right?”
Drew blushed. “Yeah. Pushing myself.”
Squeal! Jennifer grabbed Drew in a hug. “I’m so so so proud of you!” she enthused. “Let’s go talk to the new adults,” and she grabbed Drew’s hand, pulling her along with her.
Connor followed them, grinning.
“Hey, I wanted to welcome you folks. I’m Jen, and my family’s been a member here since I was little. Thanks for bringing that bunch enjoying the pool—you’ve helped them lots to be able to adapt to nudity when they start school.”
One of the women replied, “You’re welcome, I guess,” she chuckled. “I’m Ronnie, my husband’s Chuck...” he waved “...and our friends are Miriam and Richard. We’re still getting used to, ah, this new wave in society. Not wearing clothes. You know, there are even kids who go to the malls and other places naked... I’m sure you do know. Sorry, I’m babbling; I’m nervous...”
“You’re doing okay, dear. And you, miss... forget your name...” Chuck started.
“It’s Drew, Chuck.”
“Thanks. Drew, you gave our kids and their friends a really good pep talk just before and that motivated us to strip too. We wanted to support our kids—that’s why we came with them, but we didn’t know if we’d be able to get naked too, so your speech really helped to motivate us too. You said you coached kids? I guess that’s where you got your motivational skill from.”
“Thanks, Chuck. Say, if you want to help the kids, here’s a thing you can do. Get involved in a parents’ auxiliary. You’d need to get one started, though...”
“Drew, that idea’s a killer!” Jennifer exclaimed. “Like parents back in PA!”
“My thought exactly, Jen. Folks, here’s the background. The three of us just moved to the area in early June; we lived near Hershey PA before. The kids in all of our local area high schools organized to oppose the Program there on religious grounds... Did you hear about that?”
“Sure we did,” Richard replied. “No way could we do that here, if you’re suggesting...”
“Oh, we wouldn’t go for religion here. You’re right, it wouldn’t fly. No, what I was getting to was that the parents backed the kids in their refusals and a large group of them confronted the school board and threatened a student strike unless the board allowed the students to follow their moral precepts. The board gave in to the parents’ demands. They were based on the Bible, but still, they were moral beliefs. Since you’re here today, you know what our group wants to do—overwhelm the Program with so much nudity that it can’t function like it’s designed. The Program rules specifically allow us to do what we plan, too.
“So I think that in response, the Program coordinator, or whoever’s in charge, will try to change the rules or maybe try to get the Program kids to wear, I don’t know, an arm band or a dunce cap or...”
Laughter.
“...yeah. Some kind of identifier. So we’d counter somehow, like everyone wears the same thing. Where the parents could get involved is to support the kids. I’m sure, when this goes down, the parents will get calls. Asking, maybe, to make their kid wear clothes at school—now that would be totally funny, right? Or to make the kid obey a random rule that they might try to put in place. If you parents back your kids, they know that they have the moral backing to continue their Program opposition. And if you band together as, um, what I called an auxiliary, you’ll have a lot of influence with the school and the school district too. Maybe even the press. They’d love the story that this opposition would make. So could you get your friends to be involved? Hey, no nudity would be required either,” Drew laughed.
“Goodness, Drew,” Miriam exclaimed, “what a speech—you have a career in law or politics with the way you think and your speaking style. Listening to you, I want to saddle up my horse and go off to war!” she laughed. “A real call to arms.”
“Do you have a way to contact other parents? And are you willing to at least kick this off until someone steps up as the leader?” Connor asked. “Oh, I’m Connor, Drew’s BF, and we’ve been fighting the bad effects of the Program since we were freshmen.”
“Ronnie, didn’t we get a parent’s association directory for the middle school when Darcy started?” Charlie asked.
“Ah, oh yes, we did. Are you thinking...?”
“Maybe this is actually a way to support the kids directly,” he commented. “I’m on the board of the local Boys’ and Girls’ Club. Supporting children is our mission and I’m sure that our board will let me use our facilities to organize parents. They might even get involved too. The Program is a danger to our youth but with the power of the government, there didn’t seem to be a way to challenge it. Until you showed a way, Drew. So thanks.”
“Maybe the high school parents’ association has a directory too,” Jennifer said. “I’ll ask my friends.”
“They do; I have one from my son’s high school. He just graduated this spring,” Miriam said. “Most of the contact info should be good. We would only need the Marley directory.”
“That’s my brother’s school,” Jennifer said. “Maybe we can get a copy.”
“Let’s exchange contact info, Drew,” Charlie requested. “We can share updates as needed.”
Lunchtime was coming, so Drew and the others said their farewells and went to meet Emma’s group; she and Andrew were to arrive about this time. Sam and Abi had been at the resort since Friday morning. As they ate lunch, Drew related the story of their enforcer encounter.
“Now you mustn’t spread this news around, Sam,” Drew told her. “We know how you like these juicy stories, but publicizing the details of what happened might affect the prosecution.”
“Oi, I did hear about the arrest of two people for attempted kidnapping,” Sam said. “If it’s in the news media, then I can use it when I blog, right?”
“Well sure, I guess. And anything that links them to the Program, I suppose.”
“And there’s another new development in the Project, again thanks to Drew,” Jennifer told them.
“Oh, Jen, please...”
“Hush. It’s a great idea. Drew’s created a parents’ auxiliary to support and back up the kids who get naked for the opposition.”
Then Jennifer explained what the parents would do for their supporting role.
“Blimey, that is brilliant,” Emma exclaimed. “Again you’ve done something similar to my own anti-Program campaign. Many parents, family and friends too, assisted us, didn’t they. Bucket truck operators, a heating contractor, plumbers, mechanical contractors, police, security workers, school district workers, they all pitched in to help us defeat the Program officials. Well done, Drew.”
“Thanks, Emma. While I was talking to those parents about how they could help, I suddenly realized that if several hundred kids suddenly got naked, there’d definitely be a response by the Program official,” Drew explained. “They might try to make the selected kids wear some kind of identifying item. It would need to be highly visible, I would think. But such a rule isn’t in the Program booklet, so maybe it could be ignored or challenged. Or have everyone wear something like it. We’ll need to come up with strategies for the various things they could do to somehow make the selected kids stand out.
“Let’s say it’s an armband. With hundreds of kids milling around, the Program kid could slip it off in the hallways and no one would be the wiser, right? Or this: kids must obey a request. So make a request that they give away the band or whatever the thing is. If the Program official makes up a rule, we challenge it, or ... yeah, do a malicious compliance of it somehow. That’s what I thought of when I was talking to them, and if the Program official starts coming up with rules, we can get the parents to make formal complaints that the Program is being run in a random, vindictive way. That was my idea.”
“Crikey, Drew, that’s how solicitors... erm, lawyers are supposed to think,” Sam told her. “They try to think of all possibilities when they write contracts. Lawmakers too, well, not so much, which is why so many laws are really badly written, innit. Your idea is ace, though. How will you let the kids know when you have to change your responses if they try jiggering the rules?”
“What we did back in PA, I guess. A texting tree. We divided the classes into divisions and then units of ten kids, so one person only needed to send ten texts and everyone would get the message. That was the top-down tree. The bottom up one was each kid had the division leader’s number. If they had an urgent message to go to everyone, they only needed to send one text and that could trigger the whole tree. You know, you can set a phone to do group texts so setting that up wasn’t a big deal.”
Emma chuckled, “Cor, she created an army with a communications corps too.”
Drew laughed, “Well, it worked. We used it a few times to warn kids of problems—the school tried nasty stuff and we could respond within one class period.”
Jennifer was nodding her head. “Yeah, Emma, remember we told you about that sex-ed hygiene class where the kids were supposed to give each other oral sex or they’d fail? And you told us that was extortion?”
“I recall that very well, in fact,” Emma replied.
“So when they sprung that class on us, we put the warning out on the texting tree and got all of the sex-ed class sessions basically shut down. Almost everyone who got texted just cut the class, went to the office, and told them that they weren’t going to go to that class. Drove the assistant principal crazy trying to figure out how the word spread so fast.”
“Impressive, you lot,” Emma complimented them.
“Thanks, Emma,” Jennifer said. “Hey, you know if the resort has any more new seasonal members that are using your discount?”
“Erm, I think this weekend’s close to the last where the seasonal fee makes sense. There were fifty-eight as of last week. The manager is chuffed by the favorable response and they’re trying to organize how to keep all those new members so that they join next season. I told them my subsidy this season was a one-time deal.”
“That’s a nice bump in membership,” Jennifer said. “I have noticed that it’s been busier this year than ever before. Nice seeing it busy, too.”
“That’s true,” Emma agreed.
The conversation turned to other topics.
The summer passed, and with the end of the first week of August, the soccer camp came to a close. Drew and Connor had enjoyed the coaching immensely, and now both were feeling seriously fit from the constant activities. Drew, in particular, found that by teaching and demonstrating her ball-handling techniques, her own play was becoming sharper and more focused. And Connor noticed that his own agility and reaction time had become greatly improved.
The camp held a little graduation ceremony at which the coaches presented awards to the campers for accomplishments like “most improved,” “high scorer,” “fastest 60 meter runner,” and similar achievements. Connor told Coach Adcock that he would take her offer to be the student conditioning trainer.
Connor was now in the market for a vehicle. He had been using an automobile locator app to look for something, but was undecided whether it should be an SUV or a pickup. While he highly enjoyed riding his bike, he and Drew weren’t very enthusiastic about riding it in winter weather, especially after they heard how wet and sloppy the roads got during and after the messy mid-Atlantic winter weather that the region experienced. He decided that Drew should have the deciding vote on car or truck, so he asked her.
“Sweetheart, got a car question.”
“Oh? You decide?”
“Nope. Still can’t. SUV or truck. Found a couple possibilities in our price range, though. Want to look?”
“Sure.”
Drew sat down with him and he scrolled through the ones he had saved.
“I like the truck idea ‘cause of the hauling ability, and it could be used to take the bike somewhere. They can tow or haul heavy stuff too, but we don’t currently need that particular ability. I’m kinda partial to trucks ‘cause Dad had one all the time while I grew up. The bad part is fuel economy. SUVs are okay, there are lots of styles, and there are hybrids too. So I decided to leave the choice to you.”
“Really, Connor? That’s such a personal decision and it’s your...”
“...no, it’s our decision, honey. Both of ours.”
“Well, I’m sorta partial to trucks, maybe because my father had one. I like being up high when riding too—I don’t really like the Ritters’ SUV very much somehow. So I’d vote for a pickup. What did your father have again?”
“The fire destroyed his Chevy Silverado. It had a crew cab and was roomy. See, these three are like his. One’s a year older and two are two years newer. The insurance payout would cover about 80 percent of the cost, too.”
“Ooo, I like this deep blue one.”
“That one has nice features but the mileage is on the higher side. But the listing says it’s mostly highway miles. It’s a private sale; close enough to get out there too. Forty miles from here.”
Some phone calls were made, a visit arranged, a mechanic’s inspection performed, and then Frantz drove Connor and Drew out to do the deal and drive the truck home. They decided that as long as the weather cooperated, they would use the bike to get to school. Jennifer had her own car at this point, so she didn’t need a ride to school.
Jennifer and Drew had been keeping in touch with Chuck Gardner, the parent whom they had met at the resort who had became the unofficial contact and organizer of the parents’ auxiliary. Several hundred parent-families had joined the texting tree that Gardner had organized, following the model that Drew had described to him.
Copyright © 2024 Seems Ndenyal. All Rights Reserved.