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Chapter 11

While Tom and Andrew were out doing their workouts, Angela came to Lynette’s room.

“Honey, are you set with the clothing and shoes you’ll need for Europe? You’ll have lots of walking, you know, and you’ll need a nice outfit or two for going to concerts. Let’s check out what you plan to take.”

While the two were discussing the clothes Lynette would take, Angela decided to mention her concerns about what she’d been noticing regarding Tom’s and Lynette’s behavior together.

“Lynette, honey, I’ve noticed that you and Tom have become much closer during the past few months—Dad and I both have seen how you behave around each other. You were always close, but now, the way you look at each other and the way you’re always brushing against each other, kissing, or even just holding hands, we can tell that something seems changed.”

Lynette blushed shyly. “Well... um... well, you know how Tom and I run together and bike together too. He... um, we do almost everything together, study too.”

“Yes, I know that you spend a lot of time with Tom... you rarely see any of your friends outside school anymore, I’ve noticed.” Angela looked at her daughter with love and concern. “Sweetie, is there anything you want to discuss with me about you and your brother?”

Lynette thought that this was her chance to bring up her relationship questions about Tom. But how can I do it? She guessed that she should start slowly and watch her mother for cues.

“Mom—um, you know Tom’s problem? How he gets scared... um, that’s not strong enough ... he gets panicked about the nudity stuff?”

“Yes, sweetie, and I’m really happy that the two of you won’t have to face the school’s stupid naked Program.”

Lynette began to feel uncertain about what she should say now, but she was determined to forge on, so she continued.

“Well, it was maybe four or five months ago, I thought of a way to help him.” She decided not to mention any details about the classroom scene which had made both her and her brother so horny. “We were going to work on a project but it seemed that Tom couldn’t focus. I figured out that it was ‘cause of something he had seen in school so I asked him. He had gotten a big dose of seeing more nudity that day but it turned out he had seen it on the classroom camera, not in person. But he told me that when he watched it, he got aroused, you know, um... got hard.”

Angela’s eyes widened at this but she didn’t say anything, just motioned Lynette to continue, but Lynette had noticed her mom’s involuntary reaction.

“Um... Mom, we’re really open with each other about everything, you know. We do talk about personal stuff; we trust and respect each other. Anyway, Tom told me that he didn’t have a real strong panic reaction like he does when it’s like a... direct... threat to him. Instead, he told me that he couldn’t stop watching the screen, but as he did, his panic just kinda went away. So it occurred to me to try something... um... sorta... I guess you’d say it was radical. I figured if he got exposed to nudity and it wasn’t a direct threat, maybe he wouldn’t panic. So I got him to agree to let me blindfold him and then I undressed and let him touch me...”

Angela gasped, “You undressed with him there? Goodness! What happened—what did he do?” she asked, but Lynette saw that her face showed only amazement and concern; there was no shock or disapproval in her mother’s expression.

Reassured, Lynette went on. “Yeah, I figured I’d try to see if his... um, you know, arousal, okay?—would keep the panic away; first, if he couldn’t see anything, and then—I ... um, let him touch my body with his eyes covered—then if he didn’t get panicked, I’d let him take off the blindfold to see me naked.”

“Lynette! You did that? How did you know to try something like that?”

“Mom, we’re so close, you know? I guess it felt right to me. And it worked! I was able to pull Tom’s pants down while he was touching me—that was after he had yanked off the blindfold—and he didn’t even notice his pants were down at first!”

“How can that be, honey? How could you do that without his being aware?”

“Well, I guess while he was touching me, it musta really distracted him. Giggle. He was kinda aroused—got super hard, you know. I could see it! Giggle. I just pushed his pants and shorts down. But then I kissed him and, wow, that did get his attention! He stopped rubbing my titties—he stopped then to see what I was doing—that’s when he pulled away from me and stared at me—and saw his pants at his feet—but he didn’t panic! He actually looked like he’d been hit on the head with a block of wood. But right after that, I got him to strip off the rest of his clothes and he did it without reacting—um... panicking... but wow, was he super aroused. Damn, he’s big. Giggle.”

“So the two of you were naked together?”

Lynette nodded shyly. “Yeah. Totally. It was just so awesome,” she added quietly.

She searched her mom’s face anxiously, looking for any sign of anger or even concern; however, if anything, Angela’s expression was one of mild surprise or perhaps even faint amusement.

Smiling now, Angela prompted, “You mentioned you had Tom touching you when you got undressed while he was blindfolded...”

Lynette blushed deeply, nodded, and looked down.

“Ah...” Angela nodded. “And you liked it, I gather.”

Lynette turned an even deeper shade of red. She felt closer to her mom than she’d felt in a long time. She realized that her mother wasn’t shocked or worried about what she had done with Tom; so it seemed. She felt relieved and was encouraged to continue.

“Aaahh... Before I took my clothes off, I took his hand and put it on my chest,” she practically whispered. “He couldn’t see, like I said, and I got him to stroke my titties. Then I put his hand down below and I let him feel me there—I wanted to get him really aroused like he said he was when he saw the stuff on the classroom monitor. I was so, so nervous about whether my idea would work.”

She paused to look at her mother who showed no reaction other than an expression of understanding. Gaining more confidence, she continued.

“Then I wanted to see if he was... um, you know, responding to my body? So I put my hand inside his pants and could feel his ‘thing’ all big and hard and it kind of felt good so I wrapped my fingers around it but-then-he-pulled-away-all-embarrassed-and-told-me-to-stop,” she whispered in a rush.

“Goodness!” Angela exclaimed. “But you said his clothes were off...”

“Um, not yet... ahh... that’s when I slipped off my panties and let him feel me down there. Then he tore off the scarf around his head, so I distracted him by grabbing his head and kissing him. That worked so well that he didn’t even realize it while I pushed his sweatpants and boxers down. Then the cool air musta got his attention. Giggle.”

“Wooo... that was pretty daring, little girl. I’ll bet you enjoyed yourself there.”

Lynette nodded, still giggling. “Oh yeah, I did ...a lot! It was awesome, Mom, I think I fell in love with him all over again. We were kissing and holding each other, then pulling away and looking at each other, and then back to kissing again. And he saw he was naked standing there with me and didn’t panic. God, Mom, when I pulled down his underwear, his penis was sticking out like a pole. It was so big! I mean, I’ve seen plenty of boys’ penises in school but his was pushed against me and it looked so big and fat and felt rock hard.”

“Lynette, darling, you didn’t...”

“Oh, no, Mom. We didn’t... um, you know... go all the way. Umm... I wasn’t scared or anything, but I sure can’t see something like that going inside of me! I did sorta like feeling it, though... I love how it looks and I love holding it too ... is that bad?”

Angela smiled kindly and shook her head. “Sweetie, it’s never wrong to appreciate an erect penis. Many girls actually love to see them on their guy. Sure, I guess that at first they can look a bit scary, but penises are just part of a guy’s body,” she giggled, “actually an essential part, too.”

“But Tom’s penis just looks so big. It seems to be bigger than many of the boys in the Program—and I heard boys are very sensitive about their penis size too, why is that?”

“I’m no expert on penises, honey”; they both giggled at that, “but I’m guessing that boys think that if girls think that their penises look small, the girl won’t be interested in them. But the fact is that most are somewhere around five or six inches long when erect and that’s plenty long to feel good inside a woman. I’ve also heard that a penis that’s too long can hurt. It can bump into a girl’s cervix and that doesn’t feel so good.”

“Ummm... Tom’s must be a bit longer than six... it’s thick, though. God, it’s gorgeous... I... oh, this is hard for me to say...” Lynette choked.

“Oh, sweetie, never be embarrassed about talking about sex with me. You know you can always talk to me about anything—you always have, right?”

“Yeah, I guess... ummm... Mom... Does it hurt the first time... you know... when you go all the way with a boy?”

Angela felt herself relax; she hadn’t realized until now how tense she was, but now she was relieved to know for certain that her daughter was still a virgin. But she realized that before she ended this conversation with her daughter, she’d still have to deal with the serious romance which had developed between the step-siblings.

Oh well, she thought, let’s forge on...

She looked at Lynette with compassion and love as she framed her answer. “Yes, it might hurt some if your hymen is still completely intact, but it depends on a number of things like the boy’s size but if things go right, it might not hurt much at all. What helps most is to be prepared properly.”

Lynette couldn’t believe how frank her mother was being with her and how accepting her mom was that she and Tom were sexually active with each other. She and her mom were discussing the most intimate of acts between people, yet her mom was actually not getting angry at her or embarrassing her or even warning her that she shouldn’t be thinking about sex at all. This was so fabulous.

“Mom?” she asked uncertainly. “Ah... what do you mean by being prepared properly?”

“The best way to ensure comfortable—no, pleasurable—sex is by having enough foreplay. I’m sure you know that when a girl gets excited, her vagina secretes a fluid...”

Lynette blushed and dipped her head in embarrassment.

“Honey, don’t be embarrassed; all girls... we all get wet down there... anyway, girls get wet to let the boy’s penis slide into our vaginas easier. When you get horny, you get wet, right?”

Lynette nodded shyly.

“So foreplay, that’s manual or oral stimulation, helps the juices flow. Obviously you’ve learned to masturbate...”

“Oh, geez, Mom!”

“Honey, please. You’re a healthy, young girl who obviously has a healthy sex drive. Both boys and girls do it. I started doing it when I was maybe twelve and still love to do it, even though I have your dad to satisfy... um, well, you know. Ah... Anyway, it’s totally normal for a girl to feel horny and want to masturbate and having orgasms is wonderful. Never be embarrassed about your sexual needs, darling. Returning to your question, being prepared means getting nice and wet after plenty of stimulation to get the parts ready. If the girl is really close to her orgasm when the boy first goes into her, she probably won’t feel the pain as much as if she wasn’t as ready. You see?”

Lynette nodded, again blushing bashfully. She realized now that she couldn’t keep any secrets hidden from her mom and was surprised that now, instead of her initial intense embarrassment, she only had a feeling of relief. That was until she heard her mom’s next question.

“So how far did you and Tom actually go, if you feel you can tell me?”

Lynette shyly answered, “He sucked on my boobs, Mom. I really loved how that felt. Then I got this real strong urge to suck his penis—I saw girls doing that to the boys in school and the boys liked it so much, so I wanted to give Tom that pleasure too. Then while I was doing that, Tom pulled me around him so he could reach my... ummm... pussy... and started to lick it ... my God, that felt so awesome...”

“That’s called a sixty-nine, sweetie...”

“Uh huh. Yeah, I know about that; in school I see it happening lots of times. Anyway, he was licking me there and I went crazy and exploded. I never felt anything like that before, but while I was coming down from my orgasm, Tom went off and OhMyGod! His penis just exploded and his stuff shot into my mouth and some even landed on my face!”

“Ah. So you got to taste it then.”

Lynette nodded, grimacing. “Yeah... it was kinda warm and a little sticky; tasted like salty, bleachy paste. But wow, he shoots so hard.”

Angela smiled. “And after your first taste of Tom and of having oral sex, you found you liked it, yes?”

Lynette nodded bashfully and blushed. “I love him so much, Mom. He loves me too,” she said dreamily and a tear slid from her eye.

“So, honey, the big question now is: are you thinking about having intercourse with Tom?”

The question immediately shocked Lynette out of her reverie and she looked pleadingly at her mother.

“OhMyGod... You know how to ask the tough ones! Oh jeez, Mom, I don’t know! Yeah, we’ve kinda discussed it... talked around the question without really making any commitment... I mean... both of us feel really strong urges when we’re playing with each other... god, I really think I want to feel his cock inside me but... but he’s my brother... but he’s not, really... well, you know what I mean... We’re so in love... I wish we could be married.”

Angela felt her heart lurch in sympathy. “Well, I kind of thought this was where the two of you were headed. You kids always behaved like you were married, the way you act together and watch out for each other. I guess the idea that you could be a couple isn’t illegal, since you’re not related by blood, just through my marriage to Dad—but even still, some people may regard it as taboo, though. But I’m sure that if the two of you still feel the same about each other when you’re eighteen, that something could be worked out.”

“SQUEAL!” Lynette flew into Angela’s arms. “Oh, thank-you-thank-you, Mom! I was so worried that you’d be mad...”

Angela held her daughter tightly, tears running down her cheeks. Then she pulled back a little and looked Lynette in the eyes.

“My darling little girl. I’d never be angry with you because you’ve always been so responsible; Tom’s been too. You’re both amazing kids.” Angela said as she released her embrace and motioned Lynette to sit on the bed with her. “You’ve been unwillingly thrust into an environment of uncontrolled sexuality in school, and as I’ve read in the papers, the schools are filled with constant promiscuous sexual activity. The two of you have had plenty of chances to go much further than you have in exploring your physical relationship. Yet you’ve held off because of your maturity and senses of responsibility. This makes me very proud of you, Lynette.

“But I need to give you my ‘concerned parent’ talk. Both of you must absolutely understand what I’m going to say... and Dad and I will need to talk to Tom about this too, later this evening. The feelings that both of you have for each other may seem to be very special and those feelings may seem extremely important to you both right now, but this romantic love you’ve developed for each other is a new phase of your relationship. Take it from me, your old mom, that the intensity in romantic relationships eventually begins to fade and becomes replaced with a new relationship status. Just what that status turns out to be will be determined by how you develop long after the novelty of your love is gone. Just look at what happened with Dad and his ex. They were very much in love when they got married.

“Right now, there’s probably no way that you would ever acknowledge to me—or even to yourselves—that you’d love each other any less, but believe me, there’ll be times that you’ll annoy each other and there’ll be times when you’ll find your need to just be alone to cool off after a disagreement...”

Angela saw Lynette’s face fall.

“Oh, darling,” she exclaimed, “I’m not telling you that I think that you won’t stay together. I can see how much you love each other, even right now, living together as siblings. But you’re changing your relationship and this new relationship needs time to build and get stable. That’s why I said you need to give yourselves some time, at least till you’re eighteen, before you make a decision that will affect the rest of your lives.”

Lynette nodded. “Yeah, Mom, I know what you mean and Tom and I agree that we don’t want to jump into anything as serious as marriage so soon. But when I said ‘I wish we could be married,’ I really meant... umm... the physical stuff... yeah, that part of our love for each other. We’ve held that part off, but it’s not easy... Umm... You wouldn’t mind if Tom and I went ... you know ... um... and I’m ... er, kind of scared about the pain too.”

Angela smiled ruefully. “Darling, I completely understand. You know, I think I must be crazy to tell you that you can go ahead and make love to Tom, but I can see how frustrating it can be if you keep holding off while feeling that strongly about each other. Hell, teens today screw each other just to satisfy their lust with no love at all involved, like you told me they do in that awful naked Program. You’ve told me how some of the kids have intercourse with everyone watching, too. It’s good that you’re not jumping into anything; you’re being responsible about taking that big step.

“And your concern about any first-time sex pain may be a sign that deep inside yourself, you don’t feel quite ready yet for that step. I also can’t believe I’m telling you this, but I wouldn’t be terribly concerned about that pain. Sure, there can be some pain, but every virgin’s experience is different. For me, it was a sharp sting that passed quickly...”

“God, Mom, TMI!” Lynette blushed.

“Well, you brought it up, darling. Some advice you’ll probably find embarrassing: if you want to get yourselves ready for Tom to deflower you, what I’d suggest is that he try stretching your hymen by using his fingers in you. I know you use tampons so your hymen must have an opening that his finger can fit into. If he’s careful, perhaps the membrane there can stretch a bit with his finger. I’ve read that careful stretching sometimes works to open the girl up a bit, so you may only feel a sharp pinch when his penis pushes through your hymen. And lots of real hot foreplay gets the juices flowing, too. If you’re nice and wet, things slide much easier.”

Lynette blushed again. “I can’t believe my mom is telling me about this...” she groaned.

Angela chuckled. “You did ask, right? Oh yes, this does bring up another major decision, Lynette. Remember, we opted you out from the birth-control shot back in the fall when we learned about that Program idiocy. I think we need to get you on the pill instead; the shot has anti-disease stuff and a powerful but short-acting hormone to make it work fast and I don’t want those extra drugs for you. Actually, I went on the pill when I was about your age. Not only is it one of the more effective forms of birth control, it’ll also help to make your periods less crampy. And you need to promise me that you’ll wait until you’re safe before you make love, okay? All I want from you is your promise that you’ll be careful.”

“Oh, Mom, I love you... thanks for being so good to me... to us. Um... when can we go to the doctor?” she asked, smiling.

Angela smiled and softly squeezed her hands. “I’ll call for an appointment tomorrow.”

Lynette leaned over and kissed her.

Angela put her hands on Lynette’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I’m amazed at what you were able to do for Tom, sweetie. Tom’s shrink told Dad and me about a therapy for his phobia and it looks like you kind of stumbled on a way of doing that kind of therapy with him. Do you think it helped him at all in his ... ah, public nudity situations?”

“Um, Mom, when we do it, we’re just naked together. I think he can do it with me ‘cause he trusts me so much. I asked him if he thought that he could be with other naked people and he said that the idea still scares him. I’m still trying to figure out something to help him, but I get the feeling he’s not ready for anything more intense than the two of us.”

Angela nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. You’ve kind of brought about a small miracle, sweetie, and I appreciate it; so will Dad when I tell him. You’ve started Tom on a path to overcome his problem, it seems. Hey—we need to get back to the clothes for your summer course.”

They both giggled and started laying out a few more possible outfits on Lynette’s bed.

~~~~

The following weeks in school were intense, not for Tom’s and Lynette’s fellow year-ten students, but for the year elevens, since the elevens were completing their term’s classes while also getting ready for the special GCSE days. All the year elevens were heavily engaged in review studies for those exams, so there was very little Program drama in the school now, especially in the classrooms. It was not as hectic for the year tens and Tom, in his independent study program, had mostly finished his year’s work. And Lynette had been working right along with Tom, keeping well ahead of the rest of her classmates.

Lynette and Tom expected just one more somewhat quiet month until it would be the time for their European trip. They met with their teachers to get the year’s final assignments and to arrange to take any tests that they’d miss by leaving school early. Much of the two final weeks of school would mostly be devoted to review and exams, anyway.

It was an ordinary Wednesday morning, less than three weeks before they were to leave school; as usual, the two siblings were riding their bikes to school. Tom glanced over at Lynette, who was riding next to him, as they approached the building.

“Sweetie,” he said, “you have a real faraway look. And you’re smiling. Thinking of our trip?”

She blushed a little. “Um, no, just thinking about my talk with Mom, you know, about you and me... um, how she said it would be kinda okay for us to make love... I was thinking about that...” she said softly.

“Ah,” Tom nodded, “can’t believe the folks were so fuckin’ cool about us—getting you on the pill too—shit, how awesome is that!”

They rode past the building’s main entrance and Lynette glanced over at the crowd of kids there.

“So there’s the morning strip show; don’t look, Tom. Some of the kids—oh, looks like they’re stripping each other. Making a show of it too. And I see four, no five teachers keeping an eye on things. Even the rent-a-cop’s there. See, the security here is good, not like we’ve heard about other schools.”

They rounded the side of the building, heading to their usual bike rack which was located near the staff parking area. Back in the fall, Tom had begun using this bike rack since it was out of sight of the morning Program stripping show at the school’s front door.

Tom grunted. “Yeah, thankfully the teachers do keep a tight control on things here. Not letting kids go crazy like we heard happens in other schools.”

The siblings had no warning that anything was amiss as they pulled up to the bike rack. They stopped, dismounted, and locked up their bikes, all the while talking about their day’s plans; then they walked over to the building’s rear door.

As they approached the door, it suddenly sprang open and three guys wearing ski masks jumped out while two more came running up behind them; they had hidden behind a car parked near the door.

One of them grabbed Lynette, who screamed, as three tackled Tom. Lynette’s scream galvanized Tom. One guy had gotten him in a hammerlock, intending to immobilize him, but Tom, with his height advantage and leg strength, drove his heel backward into his assailant’s shin, and when the guy bent over in pain and released his arm lock hold, Tom instantly grabbed his arms, then quickly bent forward and down, throwing the guy over his head into two of the guys immediately in front of him.

The fourth guy let go of Lynette and lunged for Tom but lost his balance and fell as he stumbled over the others on the ground, one was flailing about in pain. Hearing Lynette yell a second time, Tom turned away from them and looked to see where the fifth guy was. He was facing Lynette; he had tried grabbing her from behind, wrapping his arms around her chest, but Lynette had reacted by kicking her heel back into the guy’s knee and then twisting herself around in his loosened grip allowing her to pull away.

She was now facing him; he was bent over in pain from her kick and holding his knee. With another yell, she grabbed his shoulders, pulled him up straight, and then drove her knee up hard into his groin. He screamed and doubled over, falling into Tom, who seized him by his arms, yanked him up, and threw him hard against the side of the building where he slumped to the ground unconscious. Lynette staggered away; no one was close to her now.

“Run for help!” Tom shouted at her and she took off, screaming for help.

As a result of the confused melee, with two of the guys now climbing to their feet and two others trying to get their bearings, it took several seconds for the attackers to realize that Lynette was running away; then one of them started chasing after her. Lynette had gotten a big head start; in addition to her cycling, she had also been running with Tom and was a fast runner, at least faster than the guy chasing her. He gave up the chase as soon as she turned the corner of the building, heading around to its front. He realized that if he continued after her, he’d be seen chasing her, and she was faster than he was, anyway. That’s when he took off his mask and drifted away from the scene.

Meanwhile, two of the three remaining guys were still trying to tackle Tom to subdue him, but Tom had his back to the building now and was fending them off with shoves, kicks, and punches. Then the third guy, who had hung back looking for an opening, rushed him from the side and got a grip on Tom’s shoulder and neck. Tom twisted around and grabbed the guy around the waist, lifted him up, and threw him at the other two, hitting one, and the two of them went down in a tumbling heap, one of them screaming in pain. But one guy was still standing and ran at Tom, arms stretched out to grab him. Tom seized his arms, heaved him up and swung him around, slamming him against the ground. He hit hard and went limp. The two guys who had been knocked down slowly got to their feet and, finally realizing that they’d had enough of Tom, began to run away from the area as the door to the school burst open and the school’s police resource officer came out, blowing a whistle.

One of the two attackers, moving with an awkward shuffling limp, had reached the corner of the school building leading to its front and the general parking area. He glanced back over his shoulder to see if he was being chased when he collided with a teacher who just had come running around the corner. The teacher grabbed him and then snatched off the ski mask he was still wearing. The other attacker, at the sound of the whistle, had stopped trying to limp away and just stood there slumped in defeat, as another teacher came up to him and took hold of his arm. Assured that the two had been subdued, the police officer called to have the two of them brought over to him, then bent down to quickly examine the two men on the ground. Then the head teacher rushed out of the school, glanced around, and went over to Tom, who was panting heavily and still looking around him wildly for any more attackers. Taylor began trying to get Tom’s attention to talk to him. Suddenly Lynette appeared running around the corner of building, trailed by several more teachers. She ran up to Tom.

“Oh, god Tom... are you okay, are you...?”

“Yeah...” he puffed. “What the hell was all that about?” he demanded rhetorically, still looking around wildly.

Taylor was still trying to get Tom’s attention, but Tom was still pumped up in reaction to the attack.

“Mr Armstrong, are you okay? What happened here?” Taylor again attempted to get Tom to answer.

The officer called to Taylor, “These two boys are really injured, Dr Taylor, I called for an ambulance.” Then he called to the teachers who were holding the two other boys. “Bring those others here. Say, they look like pupils here, yeah, I recognize him,” he pointed, “and him too.” indicating the second one. “Why were they all wearing masks?”

The teachers led the two boys to the police officer, who took a pair of handcuffs out and cuffed one boy and as he did, he felt something hard and clanky in the boy’s blazer pocket. He fished out a pair of handcuffs.

“Oh, really now,” he said, “so what’s this?”

A teacher kneeling next to one of the boys on the ground, who was crying and writhing in pain, called to the officer, “This one has a chain wrapped around his waist!”

Meanwhile Tom had caught his breath and had begun answering Taylor’s questions.

“I don’t know, sir, they ambushed me and Lynette when we got here. One guy grabbed her and the others tackled me. I had to stop them...”

“You certainly did,” Taylor said as he glanced around. “But I don’t know what to say... fighting is a cause of expulsion...”

Lynette, who had been holding onto Tom, shouted, “Oh no! He was protecting me—and himself too! Four guys on one isn’t fighting! We didn’t do anything to start that!”

Taylor shrugged, “Apparently so. We need to sort this... talk to everyone involved...”

Just then an ambulance pulled into the staff lot while a large group of kids had been assembling around the scene.

“Teachers!” Taylor ordered, “Round up the pupils and get them into the building. The show is over, let’s move!”

Kids began shuffling away, the teachers herding them inside.

Two paramedic techs appeared from the ambulance and one began hauling equipment out while the second went to check on the boys on the ground. The one near the wall was lying quite still, a teacher squatting next to him had checked him and reported to the tech who came to check him, “He’s out. He’s breathing okay and has a pulse, but it’s slow.”

Then the nurse came out and went to the unconscious boy; she told the medic she’d check him out while he assisted his partner.

The other medic had gone to the boy who was lying on his back and screaming that his shoulder hurt. After a quick exam, he told his partner to get a back brace board and a second gurney from the ambulance and the two of them began working to slowly slide the wailing boy onto the back board. As they strapped him onto it, Taylor went over to them.

“How are they?” he asked.

“This one looks like he’s got at least a broken clavicle,” was the response. “The other kid’s unconscious so we can’t tell for sure yet. What’s with the ski masks?”

Taylor shrugged. “Don’t know yet.”

Meanwhile, Lynette had called home and told Angela what happened and she was now on her way to the school.

Several more police officers had arrived and they were questioning witnesses to learn what had happened while the two injured boys were being loaded into the ambulance.

Then Lynette recalled, “Oh! there were five of them, not four!”

The school officer looked at her. “I only saw four when I came out, miss.”

“One grabbed me and four went for Tom. Tom pulled the kid off me and I ran for help and one of them chased after me. He couldn’t catch me—maybe he figured their kidnapping or whatever didn’t work, so he must have took off.”

Eventually a small group was gathered in the school’s conference room: Tom and Lynette, Angela, the school officer, the two teachers who were first on the scene, a detective, and Taylor. Another detective and a police officer were separately questioning the two uninjured boys in other rooms—actually they did have injuries, major bruises, but not serious enough to warrant a hospital visit. Their parents had been called and were on the way.

When the group got settled, Angela asked, “I want to be sure that Tom and Lynette aren’t in any trouble. Do I need to get my solicitor here?”

The school officer, Police Constable McDonald, answered, “Ma’am, you can relax. Fortunately the incident happened at the staff carpark. The school had some break-ins there in the past so there’s a monitoring camera mounted over the area that caught everything and recorded it. I had your security person check the recording a few minutes ago and we saw that what happened to your children was completely unprovoked.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

The detective continued, “What I need to learn is what this incident was all about, so let me begin with the pupils here. Tell me what happened.” He pointed to Lynette.

Lynette began, “We had just locked up our bikes and went to the door. These guys came rushing out suddenly and I was grabbed from behind...”

“How many?”

“Three came out of the school. Also, one guy grabbed me and another tried grabbing Tom; they came from behind us. I think another one tried to hold me too but then he had to help the others with Tom.”

“That’s five, but we can only account for four.” the detective said.

PC McDonald interjected, “The security cameras showed that there were five assailants.”

“Yeah,” Lynette continued, “I told the constable that when I ran away—Tom got me loose from the boy who was holding me after I kicked one and got away from him—then one of them followed after me but I was faster. I think he just disappeared, he must have seen that whatever they were trying had failed. I got some teachers to go back to Tom but it took a minute or two.”

“Okay, Tom, let’s hear your description,” the detective requested.

“When that guy grabbed Lynette, I threw off the one trying to hold me into the others. Then I got Lynette free; told her to run to get help. Then I had to fight off the four of them. I held on till help came.”

“You fought off four boys?”

Tom shrugged.

The detective looked at him. “Two in the hospital and two more walking wounded. And you’re not hurt?”

Tom shrugged again.

PC McDonald commented, “Just watch that tape. The kid is like Conan the Barbarian...”

“All right then, McDonald, what did you see?” the detective asked.

“Well, sir, before seeing the tape, anyway, I was near the gym, it’s in the back of the building. There was a report of a damaged door lock and I was checking on it. That’s when I heard a girl scream for help. It seemed to come from the carpark, so I ran to the door that opens out to the carpark and saw two of them running and two on the ground. And then these two teachers came running from the front of the building.”

One of the teachers broke in, “We were monitoring the Program’s pupil disrobing activity in front when Lynette here came running up, shouting that people were attacking her brother. Several of us ran over there.”

“Anyone witness any part of the fight...?” the detective began.

Tom growled, “There was no fight. They tried to hurt my sister.”

“Ahhh, the incident? Who arrived first?” the detective asked.

“Detective Murray, I did, together with these two teachers. But I mentioned the security camera recording,” McDonald said.

“Quite. I’ll need a copy,” he responded.

“Will do.”

DC Murray continued, “But this doesn’t answer what the attack was supposed to accomplish. Or a motive either. They wore ski masks so they didn’t want to be recognized. But one had handcuffs and another, a chain. I hope we can get this sorted after interviewing the perpetrators. I certainly don’t find any reason to lay charges against you two,” he said, indicating Tom and Lynette. “You were clearly victims in this case.”

They both relaxed, as did Angela, at hearing that.

Murray looked at Taylor. “As well, I recommend that you don’t sanction either of these students for fighting, sir; right now this seems to be a felonious battery, also possibly attempted kidnapping, committed on both of them and they responded in self-protection.”

Taylor nodded in agreement. “Yes sir. But I will—my school’s governors will—need to know about those other pupils—what they intended by their violence. And who the missing fifth pupil was. As well, the Armstrongs should know what was intended.”

“Agreed,” Murray said. “If they’re minors, this will all wind up as juvenile proceedings so you understand that the details are to be confidential?”

“I do,” Taylor nodded.

“Then we have nothing more for now,” Murray said. “If you need to contact us further, please use the case number I wrote on the card I gave you.”

He rose and began to leave, motioning the school officer to follow. Taylor then dismissed the teachers and turned to Tom and Lynette and sighed. “I’m sorry for your awful experience, both of you. I certainly would have no problem if you wanted to take off today... perhaps even the rest of the week if you need to. We can also offer you counseling if you’d want that. Mrs Armstrong? Do you want to add anything?”

Angela glanced at her children and they both shook their heads imperceptibly.

“Dr Taylor, it appears that Lynette and Tom are okay for now; is that right, kids?”

“Yes. Mom.”—“I’m good, Mom.” they replied in unison.

“But if they have a delayed reaction...” she continued.

Taylor extended his arm, palm upward. “My offer remains. Whatever help, counseling, time off—within reason, that they need. Is that good?”

They all chorused “Yes.”

“Excellent...”

Lynette raised her hand and Taylor nodded at her. “Ahh, sir, I think I’d be more comfortable today if I could stay with Tom? Like attending classes with him on video?”

Taylor nodded. “I think that would be fine, certainly. I’ll let your teachers know that you’ll be in the library.” He sighed. “If that’s all now, you can go; I’ve got lots to get sorted now.”

After a brief chat with Tom and Lynette, Angela left, and the siblings gathered their backpacks and went to the library.

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