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Chapter 12

In the library, Lynette and Tom attended their third period class remotely. After the class, Lynette had an idea.

“Hey Tom—instead of staying in here for lunch, let’s try to see how you react to being with kids in the lunchroom.”

Tom was very dubious. “I don’t know, sweetie. Look, there’s only several weeks left where I have to deal with school nudity and...”

“No, Tom, I think this is important ‘cause it’s not only at school. There must be other things that trigger your panic—I know it comes out with the nudity crap, but I have a real strong feeling that it’s affecting your life in other ways. Like, you know, you don’t have any friends, right? The last time I can think of you having any friends is back when we still lived in Toronto. Your isolation here in this room isn’t helping you learn social skills. So how about it? Let’s try. For me?”

Tom grudgingly agreed, and before their lunch period began, the two set out for the lunchroom. They arrived a few minutes early, went through the line, and then Tom insisted that they find an out-of-the-way table. They sat and soon the mob began arriving; Tom noticed a few naked kids getting on the lunch line, so he got up and changed his seat to sit next to Lynette, who was facing away from the rest of the room. Then he heard a few voices calling Lynette’s name.

“Hey Lynette, who’s the bloke...” a girl asked. “Oi, it’s your brother... hi, Tom.”

Tom looked around and recognized Audrey, a friend of Lynette’s; she had been to his house fairly frequently, visiting Lynette. With her was another friend of Lynette’s, Janet. Tom greeted both girls and Lynette invited them to sit at their table.

“Hey, whatever happened out there this morning, girlfriend?” Janet asked. “We saw you two blokes in the middle of it all. The ambulance and the bobbies and all the teachers and... say, how come Tom’s in the caf today? Tom, I thought you were kept locked up in the library. How’d you escape?” she giggled.

“Yeah, girlfriend,” Audrey broke in, “what was all that drama this morning?”

“Um, well...” she looked at Tom, who shrugged. “We’re not sure why, but a few jerks jumped Tom and me as we were coming into the school...”

“Whaaat?”—“OhMyGod, why?” both exclaimed together. “You get hurt?” Audrey asked, looking Lynette up and down.

“Thankfully no,” Lynette answered. “But we don’t know why they did it. It was awfully scary but Tom stopped them. I hope we find out why they did it.”

Janet looked at Tom. “But there was an ambulance too... Tom, who got hurt?”

“Um, couple of berks—that the word? Yeah. They grabbed Lynette, well, one did, so I stopped him. Also the others when they tried to grab me. They took two kids to the hospital.”

“Wow...” both girls breathed and looked Tom over as he blushed.

“You fought off two guys?” Audrey exclaimed as Tom slowly nodded.

“So tell us, Mr He-Man, you never leave the library,” Janet remarked. “So what brought you here now?”

Lynette answered, “I was talking with Tom about that. He’s gotten so wrapped up with that distance-learning thing the school is trying out that he really never took the chance to get out and be with some other kids. Since the term’s almost done, we figured it wouldn’t hurt if Tom gets around more.”

They settled down and began eating as the conversation turned to school matters. After about fifteen minutes, a minor commotion began at one end of the room and the kids turned to look.

Audrey sniggered, “Looks like something’s happening at the Program kids’ table. Again.”

They could hear calls of “reasonable request!” ring out.

Tom glanced up in that direction, then looked away when he noticed a girl on her knees in front of a standing naked boy’s crotch. He shuddered.

Audrey noticed Tom’s discomfort. “Yeah, that bothers me too, Tom; the whole soddin’ Program idea is nuts.”

“I wish the kids would just refuse to strip off,” Tom grumbled. “That would end it, wouldn’t it?”

“I think they force you if you don’t,” Audrey said.

Janice shook her head. “Nuh uh. Last autumn I read in that blog against the Program that a whole entire school—all the kids there—refused. I think the blog said that the teachers aren’t allowed to use force to strip kids. And that story got put in the newspapers too.”

Lynette retorted, “But I heard that some kids got forced anyway. Maybe that crap doesn’t happen anymore. So what happened at that school? This is the first time I heard about a whole school that refused.”

“I read that someone at that school organized the kids somehow,” Janice went on. “But then the blog took off on another topic, covering kids’ human rights, goin’ on about some Program things being illegal. Maybe nothing like that refusal happened at our school ‘cause the Program here isn’t horrid like I heard at some other schools; the kids aren’t so keen to make a real fuss...?”

Audrey broke in, “Yeah, I think you nailed it. The kids who’d make the real fuss if they felt threatened just kinda buck up and do it whilst the shy ones first freak out and then try to survive their week. So no organized opposition got going here.”

Tom had been studiously keeping his gaze averted away from the activities near the table where the naked kids were gathered. But then his thoughts were interrupted by Janice.

“So Tom, looks like you escaped being picked for the Program so far, since you and Lynette are finished with the term pretty soon, aren’t you? They won’t be calling kids for the Program starting next week ‘cause the revising for exams will be starting.”

“Yeah, we’re finishing here in two weeks. Can’t be soon enough, too,” he muttered, but then turned pale as he glimpsed two naked girls coming in their direction.

Lynette saw Tom’s alarmed expression so she turned to look at what he had seen. Tom appeared like he was getting ready to bolt, so she put her hand on his arm.

“Listen,” she whispered into his ear, “just hold yourself together...”

The two girls were being followed by several boys and that small group had reached a table not far from Tom’s and Lynette’s, when a boy shouted, “Reasonable request! I want to see Kathy go down on Grace!”

There was a quiet, hurried negotiation between the two girls and the boys, and then one of the girls sat herself down on top of a table located only about twenty feet away from Tom, who was now squirming uncomfortably.

“Shit, Tom,” Lynette whispered urgently in his ear, “this is your perfect chance! It’s like you saw on the class monitor! No one’s threatening you and you don’t even have to watch if it gets too intense! Let yourself go, get aroused, see if it keeps away your panic.”

Tom shuddered but nodded at her and she kissed his cheek. Meanwhile, the girl sitting on the table locked herself in an embrace with the other girl who remained standing; they began kissing each other, then the standing girl pulled away.

“You kiss nice, Grace,” Kathy breathed. “Now I’ll get to taste you.”

Kathy trailed her lips down Grace’s body, over her chin, then her neck, and then moved between her breasts. Now she began gently licking one of Grace’s nipples while pinching, twisting, and pulling on the other one. Their moaning and gasping could easily be heard at Tom’s table, and suddenly Tom felt Lynette’s hand slip into his pants waist and grab his cock.

“What! No!” he hissed.

“Ooohh, you’re hard!” she hissed back. “It’s okay; look at the boys over there.”

Two of them had their pants down around their ankles and were jerking off at the sight of a naked girl being pleasured by another naked girl.

Suddenly Kathy dropped to her knees and planted her face into Grace’s crotch. From the squeal and moans Grace was producing, it was clear that Kathy was working on something sensitive down there. The stimulation Grace was receiving must have been very intense because she took Kathy’s head and pressed it into her crotch while clamping her thighs firmly against Kathy’s head. Grace began bouncing and yelling and then went rigid, her face bright red, and howling a long “Muuuuwwwwhhhh!”

Tom was in total shock; he didn’t know whether he was in a panic or in total lust at the sight. The feelings were almost the same: tightness in the chest, rapid breathing, pounding heart. Something else was pounding too—shit! He realized that Lynette’s hand was pounding on his penis!

Grace was coming down from her orgasmic high and reached down to pull Kathy into a hug and kiss when the end-of-period bell rang.

Tom hurriedly pulled Lynette’s hand out of his pants and, red-faced, adjusted himself. Lynette’s friends had no idea what Lynette had been doing with Tom as they stood up and prepared to leave.

“Coming to class?” Janice asked Lynette as she stood up with her.

“Um, no—I’m staying with Tom today. Taylor said I could try out the distance-learning setup.”

“Well, see you tomorrow, then,” Janice remarked as she and Audrey each gave her a little hug and the two left.

The two naked girls, finished with their show, had also left, trailed by their red-faced, lusting admirers.

“You looked flushed before, but now you’re getting pale,” Lynette said as she sat down next to Tom.

“Yeah. Lynnie, it’s still happening. I started to get that panicked feeling. But then, when I got horny watching them, it didn’t get worse—the panic never really took over, but I still had that tight feeling in my chest. Anxiety, I think. It looks like I’m totally okay with being naked with you, but damn, seeing other kids like that still bothers me.”

“Hmm, well, I wonder what we can do to try to get you over that. Anyway, we’ll wait till the halls are empty to get back to the library, okay?”

~~~~

During the last period of the school day, Lynette and Tom were summoned to Taylor’s office.

“Again, I’m sorry for your frightful experience this morning,” he began. “If I didn’t tell you that earlier, I apologize for the oversight. This was a terrible thing to happen.”

Tom sighed. “Wasn’t your fault, sir. I wish I knew why they did it.”

“Well, in a way I suppose it’s the school’s fault,” Taylor admitted. “I did find out why they tried that stunt and it was related to the Program.”

Tom came alert. “Program? How...? I don’t understand.”

“The constable gave me a copy of the recording they made when they spoke to the pupils involved. Doing that was highly irregular and actually is against their normal procedure, but they wanted our school to know about a potential serious problem in the way the Program makes some children think. I’ll need to discuss this matter with our staff and the governors too, but meanwhile, I’ll play a part of the recording and you’ll see what their attack was all about.”

Tom nodded and Lynette said, “Okay, I guess...?”

“The first voice is Simon M.” Taylor said as he started playing the recording. “A year eleven. You don’t need to know his full name if you don’t already. Then the interviewer’s voice. Some background talking is the boy’s father.”

We nev’r wanted t’ hurt nonce. Gunner tol’us the git ‘ud be easy t’ ‘andle, ‘e’s a nerd.

Who’s “he” and who’s Gunner?

Um, tha’ Armstrong bloke. An’ Gunner’s Gunther Norris; ‘e acts like ‘e’s th’ action man. ‘E thought tha’ whole thing up.

We aren’t holding a Gunther Norris. Was he with you?

Yeah, you di’n’t see ‘im? Damn, th’ blighter must’a done a scarper... ‘e said tha’ ‘e’d keep th’ bird—Armstrong’s sister—quiet.

Tell me just what were you trying to do?

Was a dumb prank, is all. We was prankin’ tha’ Tom Armstrong bloke. ‘E’s just the kind’a bloke wha’ they put in th’ Program ‘cause ‘e’s all shy, y’know, very modest. Gunner foun’ out tha’ Armstrong’s scared t’be in th’ locker room an’ freaks out when ‘e sees kids all starkers.

So the group of you decided to play a prank on him? What did you plan?

Dad? Should...

Jist answer t’bobby. Mebbe they’ll gan easier on ‘ee.

Well, all five o’ us blokes got put in th’ Program and we ‘ated, ruddy ‘ated it. We was bloody ‘umiliated by it an’ all th’ rot they made us do. But tha’ Armstrong git was sat in th’ library an’ it looked like th’ school was frikin’ protectin’ ‘im fr’m th’ Program like ‘e was special an’ exempt, wasn’t ‘e?

Go on...

Okay, we thought o’ a bunch o’ things we could try, y’know, t’ get ‘im into trouble sommat...

Like framing him, you mean?

I guess... but ‘e was in ‘is ivory tower like tha’, untouchable, and nothin’ we thought o’ would work. Since ‘e’s never in classes, we couldn’t find a way t’set somethin’ up. Then Gunner thought o’ us makin’ ‘im like ‘e was in th’ Program just like we ‘ad t’do; all of us ‘ad t’strip off starkers an’ go ‘round school bloody bollock-naked. So tha’s wha’ we planned f’r Armstrong.

And you actually thought he’d do it voluntarily?

No, no, Gunner said tha’ we’d need t’force ‘im t’do it. It’d be th’ most direct way, ‘e said; all we ‘ad t’do was t’grab him, strip ‘im starkers, an’ then chain ‘im t’th’ railing in the school’s lobby. Gunner said ‘e was a nerd, th’ git was always wrapped up in books in th’ library. ‘E only was in a sissy sport, runnin’, an’ ‘e only did tha’ f’r maybe a month.

So we watched Armstrong f’r a week an’ saw that ‘e came t’school by bike—an’ ‘e parked it near th’ teacher car park. Tha’ was bloody perfect—th’ car park’s very quiet before school starts ‘cause all th’ kids an’ teachers are in th’ front watching th’ Program strip-off show. Th’ main ‘allway’s also empty then, with everyone outside watchin’, an’ if we worked quickly, no one’d see us when we dragged Armstrong in. ‘Is sister was a problem; she’s always wi’ ‘im, but Gunner said ‘e’d ‘old onto ‘er so she couldn’t git ‘elp, an’ four o’ us could grab and strip ‘im.

You didn’t consider that he’d struggle? Or make noise? Or she would?

Nah, we’re all pretty strong; we play rugby so we figured we could take ‘im, easy. Once we were ‘oldin’ onto ‘im, we figured if ‘e yelled, we could gag ‘im—an’ th’ bird too.

And you thought that your plan would work. You didn’t consider the consequences.

We got masks; thought tha’ would be all we needed. Th’ only ‘itch was when we tried it on Tuesday mornin’, a teacher pulled into the carpark late, so we tried again today. Everythin’ went perfect today an’ when Armstrong arrived an’ they locked up their bikes, we got ‘em trapped between us.

But he surprised you.

Damn. Gunner was so bloody wrong! Tha’ bloke Armstrong was bigger ‘n me an’ no bleedin’ wimp! I only seen ‘im around the school a few times, never up close. We figured tha’ four rugby players could ‘andle one kid, but, damn, no one could even ‘old onto ‘im. If someone got a ‘and on ‘im, ‘e just broke th’ grip an’ just shoved ‘im away. Then ‘e just picked me up like I weighed nothin’ an’ threw me at th’ other guys. Erm... What’s gonna ‘appen to us...?

Taylor stopped the recording and Tom and Lynette just sat back in their seats, each heaving a sigh. They both had been leaning forward and holding their breaths while listening. They looked at the head teacher in dismay.

Taylor shrugged. “You can see our problem; jealousy, big time jealousy, mixed with a desire for some kind of revenge against the Program, and a target who they feel is getting special treatment—who actually is getting treated differently. I was afraid of having to deal with some kind of problem because we were treating you differently, Tom; I thought that perhaps some pupils would make a fuss over your not attending classes, but I never considered that something like this—violence—would occur.”

“Dr Taylor?” Tom asked quietly.

“Yes?”

“I tried to keep low-key...”

“No, Tom, it wasn’t you. Kids suss out things; we adults are amazed at how perceptive they can be at times.” He sighed. “Only wish they’d apply it to schoolwork. Anyway, this presents a real problem for you next year, you know. We can’t keep up that distance-learning pretense.”

Tom looked at Lynette and a silent message passed between them.

“I can solve your problem, sir,” Tom said, “Next year we won’t be coming back. My folks are transferring us to an independent school where there’s no Program.”

“Hmmm, that’s... ah... well, I can’t say that I’m not relieved to hear that, Tom. But I’m also a little saddened. You’ve both been exceptional pupils here, haven’t you; Lynette, you are a splendid pupil, and Tom, you are too in every way but one, that problem which we know about so well. I’ll miss having you both here, actually, although I’ll be happy not dealing with disruptions like we had this morning. Ah, so that also explains your arranging to leave school before the term is out. May I assume that this year ten cultural tour you’re signed up for is something your new school is doing?”

Tom nodded. “Yes sir. It’s a cultural program and a lot of ending year tens there do it. We’ll go to museums, galleries, concerts, art fairs, dance exhibitions in about ten European cities and then write essays about what we learned.”

Taylor nodded. “I’m familiar with that program. Sounds like a valuable experience.”

Lynette spoke up, “I’m curious, sir; how are the injured kids? Now that I know that they only meant to embarrass Tom, I may have a tiny bit of sympathy for them. Very, very tiny.”

Taylor just grunted. “Well, the one boy has a broken shoulder, no, his collarbone actually, and a separated shoulder and cracked rib. The other has a serious concussion with a possible skull fracture and several cracked ribs. His testicles are also severely bruised; that was you, Lynette, I assume?”

She nodded, blushing.

“Good for you. I heard that the other two boys have massive bruising on their chests, and their arms and legs were pretty battered. Tom is a one-man wrecking crew, as we well know.”

Tom looked down, embarrassed. “I thought they were trying to hurt my sister,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t trying to hurt them but then they kept coming at us. If I kept them from following her, then she’d be safe.”

Lynette hugged him while Taylor nodded and remarked, “Your sister has a wonderful protector, Tom.”

~~~~

On their way home, Lynette tried to get Tom to talk about his lunchroom experience but he remained quiet, only responding in monosyllables to her comments. Finally, frustrated, she asked him, “But you were hard, Tom! You must have been turned on by them! Weren’t you?”

Very reluctantly, Tom admitted that he was.

“But that drove away your panic! Don’t you see that?”

“Yeah, honey. But don’t you see? Soon I’ll never have to worry about it anymore. There’s no Program—no nudity—in the new school.”

“Okay, that’s true, Tommie,” she agreed, “but maybe you need to think of where your panic came from, you know? Maybe your seeing naked people isn’t the cause of the panic; maybe something else is and seeing naked people ... um, kinda triggers it? Is ‘trigger’ the right word?”

Tom grunted. “Your hand triggered something else during the lunch showtime, Lynnie. Shit, my cock’s been kinda chubby all afternoon.”

Lynette giggled.

They arrived at home and found that their mom had left a note. She was on an important job and would be home by 6 p.m.

Lynette put her pack down, sighed, and stretched. “Tommie, I need a shower. I wanna wash the feeling of those jerks who grabbed me off of me.”

“Hmmm, sounds good... yeah, let me know when you’re done ‘cause I need one too.”

They went to their rooms but a minute later, Lynette came tapping on Tom’s door.

“Say, love,” she said, “um... let’s save some water; shower together, okay?”

Tom perked up. “Wooo... sure, sweetie; love the idea.”

He quickly stripped his clothes off while Lynette watched, smirking. “You sure don’t panic stripping naked with me now, stud,” she teased. Then she looked at him again. “Oh my, you did get bruised. Does it hurt here?—here?” she asked, touching a few angry-looking patches.

“No, not really. Looks worse than it feels, actually.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

Tom slipped on a robe and followed her towel-wrapped body into the bathroom. Soon they were in the shower and Lynette was showing Tom how to shampoo her hair. After that was done, she guided him in washing the rest of her body.

“My turn now, Tommie,” she said as she grabbed the shampoo and began lathering up his hair. After she washed the soap off his head, she turned to soap up his body.

“You’re such a hunk,” she breathed as she ran her soapy hands over his chest, stroking it sensuously, then down to his abdomen, and then lower, giving his erect penis a few strokes. Tom gasped and shuddered.

“Later,” she giggled. “Turn around.”

He did, and she lathered up his back, then moved down to his buttocks.

“God, your bum is to die for,” she breathed, as she ran her hands over its curves, feeling the hard muscles under his skin, toned by his running and cycling.

Then she reached around his hip and grabbed his erect penis.

“Yeah, this is what I’ve been waiting for all day... That lunchroom scene got me so fuckin’ hot. God, your cock feels like velvet.”

She stroked it gently.

“Ahhhh... A little faster, Lynnie,” he coached.

Lynette slid around Tom and knelt in front of him; then taking his penis in both hands, she began stroking him faster while at the same time twisting his penis gently. Her small hands and her strong, lithe fingers were doing an exceptional job and Tom just closed his eyes and rode with the sensations. Suddenly Lynette opened her mouth and plunged it over his penis, sucking the organ deep into her mouth. Tom gasped loudly and grabbed her head as her mouth began sliding up and down the shaft and her tongue started lashing at the sensitive skin under the crown. Tom’s breathing quickened and Lynette could feel his penis swelling even more.

Tom began to feel the onset of his orgasm. As he reached his peak, Lynette’s mouth was taking long, delicious strokes as her hands kept busy on the exposed part of his shaft. She continued to tease his penis with her tongue, licking, sliding, and swirling it around his head, while her hand was milking its shaft.

“Uuuggg... Real soon,” he managed to choke.

It hit him with an overwhelming ferocity, his semen came burning up out of his groin and coursed along the shaft, the contraction in his pelvis driving a huge spurt of cum into Lynette’s mouth as their eyes met. Lynette was looking right into Tom’s eyes as she continued circling his glans with the tip of her tongue as he fired yet another volley of pleasure into her mouth. After his third shot, she pulled back as her mouth was already full, and she watched with excitement as he shot two more volleys into the cleavage between her breasts.

Then she watched as a large dollop of semen oozed out of his slit while she continued to stroke him, giggling at the feeling of power she was exerting over him by giving him his massive orgasm. Then Tom grunted and sagged against the shower wall; he put his hand on hers, peeling her fingers from around his girth.

“Aaahgh... enough...” he panted. “Too fuckin’ sensitive now...”

He sat down on the side of the tub as he caught his breath.

“That was goddamn awesome, darling,” he sighed when he could speak coherently.

Lynette giggled. “That was fun! Let’s rinse off and get dry.”

They soon found themselves in Lynette’s bedroom and wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing passionately. He led her over to her bed and laid her back on it.

“I’m gonna return the favor now, sweetie, and do you like that girl in the lunchroom.”

“Ooooohh yeah! I was so horny at seeing that! OH!” Lynette yipped as Tom sucked a nipple into his mouth and nibbled on it.

He nuzzled and fondled her breasts; then began to move lower. As Tom began kissing his way down Lynette’s belly, her breathing got more ragged as her excitement grew. He rubbed his nose on her slick pubic mound and into the top of her slit, causing her to giggle as her legs spread apart in anticipation of his arrival there. He immediately noticed that her clitoris was erect, peeking out from under its little hood. Tom slid his hands under her hips and grasped her buttocks cheeks, lifting her crotch up toward his face, and blew lightly across her sensitive nub. Lynette squealed in delight and jerked her hips upward.

He gripped her cheeks firmly, pulling them gently apart, and started tonguing her vulva from the vagina’s opening, licking slowly up and stopping just before his tongue would touch her clitoris. Lynette shuddered at the sensation but moaned when she realized Tom had reversed his motion and was now licking back down. Tom made a number of teasing passes like that before he finally stopped at her clitoris and circled it with the tip of his tongue.

She thrust her hips upward, trying to mash her vulva into Tom’s mouth but he moved his face away and brought his mouth down to her vagina where he began to plunge his stiffened tongue into the opening in her hymen. He recalled, as he was tonguing her, that her vaginal opening was only half covered by what remained of her hymen; she had told him that she had torn it several years ago when she had taken a bad spill from her bike. He knew from the last time he had fingered her that he could slide one finger partway through the opening without causing her any pain or tearing it further. He curled his tongue into a tube and tried to push it through into her vagina.

“Oh... careful, darling... it stings a bit when you do that...” Lynette cautioned.

Tom stopped trying to tongue-fuck her vaginal opening and began to suck around her clitoris. Purring like a satisfied cat, Lynette grabbed Tom’s head and pressed it firmly inward as he licked and sucked her. Releasing one hand’s hold on her butt cheek, Tom brought a finger to her opening, licked it, and slid its tip into Lynette, gradually pushing through the opening in the thin membrane.

“Darling, tell me if this is okay,” he murmured as he advanced his finger into her, wiggling it and turning his palm upward, searching for where he thought her g-spot might be; he had read about g-spots on one of the sites he had visited after learning that sexual stimulation didn’t provoke any anxiety.

Lynette groaned, “Mmmm, feels funny—stings a bit... ooooo... now it tingles; feels a little stretchy there, but it’s good... ouch, not that far...”

Keeping his finger in her, he moved his mouth back up to her clitoris and latched onto it with his lips while he lashed it with the tip of his tongue. At the same time, his carefully probing finger felt a bumpy patch of skin in the front of Lynette’s hot channel and he began rubbing the area, barely avoiding a bloody nose when Lynette squealed and bucked her hips into his face.

As Tom worked his tongue and finger faster, Lynette’s squeal turned into a howl as her body tensed and her vagina clamped down tightly on his finger. She was gasping and panting as Tom’s tongue and finger continued working her sensitive tissues and she rose again to another orgasm, her whole body going rigid this time and her voice was making choking, gargling noises. Then she began pushing on Tom’s head.

“Uunnhhh... nnooouuuaaahh... stop.... No more... too sensitive...”

He eased his lips off of her clitoris and moved his mouth down to lick at the juices oozing from her vagina. Tom loved the taste, slightly sweet and a little earthy, just like the girl, but this time there was a slight metallic taste. He pulled away and looked; the opening in her hymen seemed a bit more ragged and a tiny bit of blood was seeping from one part.

As Lynette came down from her orgasm, she heaved a great sigh and her body relaxed.

“C’mere, love,” she whispered, and Tom rose up to lay beside her.

They kissed and she opened her lips, letting Tom’s tongue into her mouth.

“That was fuckin’ awesome, love,” she said. “It really quenched my fires. I can’t wait till we’ll be safe with the pill so we can finally be joined like true lovers.”

“Mmmm, yeah.” Tom replied. “But maybe I was a little too aggressive. My finger tore your cherry a little bit on one side. Do you feel anything?”

“No, just when you put your finger in too far. Is there any blood? I bled like a pig when I fell off the bike that time.”

“There was just a small amount but it stopped right away, sweetie.”

“Okay, not a problem then. Kiss me again.”

~~~~

The school term was almost over when a rumor began circulating in the school: something was changing with the Program. There had been cryptic reports in the news about some kind of shakeup in the Department for Education involving the National Program Committee and some changes were rumored to be taking place for the next school year. It seemed that the changes would involve removing the compulsory nudity requirement; supposedly the Program would still exist but parts would be somewhat voluntary. Tom and Lynette told their parents about the rumors and Angela assured them that she’d look into what was happening and how it would affect their new school. Three days before they would be finished with school, she had learned a little about the planned changes.

That evening, she spoke to the siblings. “So here’s what I found out. Most schools will still be doing the Program but with some changes. There’s still a lot of uncertainty in details, but kids shouldn’t be forced any more. The orders seem to have come from very high in the government. But they’ll be having voluntary participation, yes, some kids seem to still want to do it, but most of the objectionable stuff that was forced on the students will stop—that seems to be the biggest change.”

Lynette shook her head. “No, lots of stuff is still objectionable—the nudity, for kids like Tom anyway. What’s gonna happen at the new school—um, Norwich Academy?”

Angela shrugged. “No change, they said. The head teacher told me that the changes in the Program won’t affect them at all.”

Tom nodded. “So I won’t have to hide from naked kids anymore; that’s good. Real good.”

~~~~

Soon the day had arrived for the siblings’ European trip. Duncan took Tom and Lynette, with their luggage, to the Ashford International station where they were to meet their tour group. Their travel would be mostly using Eurostar trains and part of the city-to-city travel time would be spent in orientation sessions. The tour groups were to be composed of 24 teens who had either finished year ten in their schools, or like Tom and Lynette, had finished early. The groups were chaperoned and led by a teacher and his or her spouse. There were eight of these school groups taking the summer course this year but they would all be traveling to different places on different schedules. All of the teens in the siblings’ group were students from Norwich Academy.

After dropping off his children with the group and signing them in, Duncan got them to promise to call him and Angela every evening, and then gave them both goodbye hugs. Other parents were also saying their goodbyes and leaving when the leaders asked the group to gather around them. They introduced themselves.

“Hallo, gang,” the woman called. “let’s settle down. We’ve a hour before we board. Everyone have all of their IDs and mobiles?”

There was a chorus: “Yes, Miss!”

“Excellent. We need to get sorted now. My name is Mrs Jane Douglas and most of you know that I’m the band teacher at Norwich. This is my husband, Professor Eain Douglas. He’s in the Art Department of London City College. We’re your leaders and teachers for this course. As well, your guardians for this trip, and you’ve all been told about proper behavior, haven’t you.”

“Yes, Miss!”

“Very well then. A few housekeeping items. First, if you haven’t installed the ‘Find Me’ app on your mobile, please raise your hand... Everyone has it? Excellent. If you haven’t already texted me with your app’s personal ID as your instructions stated, please do that before we leave, I think I need two more IDs. Next, we’re short some pupils for this group, one boy and one girl had to drop out. This presents us with a rooming problem because the lodgings where we will be staying in are mostly doubles and we now have eleven boys and eleven girls. So we’ll need to do a rota as to spread the inconvenience around; one each of your boy groups and girl groups will need to triple up for those nights.”

There were a few groans.

“It shan’t be too bad, rotating who’s affected...”

Lynette had raised her hand. “Miss, I can stay with my brother Tom. We’re okay with doing that.”

Tom nodded his agreement.

Mrs Douglas looked at her. “I suppose we can allow that, but first we’ll have to ask your parents to agree.” She consulted her folder. “Ah, you are our new pupils. Tom, Lynette Armstrong?”

Lynette nodded, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Indeed... ah yes, here’s your mum’s contact; I’ll ring her after we finish here.” Turning to the group, she continued. “Our first stop will be at the Brussels, Belgium station and then we immediately board our train to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the highlight of our visit there will be the Rijksmuseum, won’t it. When we’re underway, Dr Douglas will discuss that museum visit and lay out for you what your first essay will cover. But for now, we’ll need to review the ground rules and behavior we expect from all of you whilst you’re on this summer course with us. Now you all have read and signed the form that lists our expectations, but let’s go over it again together...”

She covered the course’s behavior and safety rules, and concluded, “You must also ensure that you keep your mobiles topped off and remember, you were asked to bring a backup accumulator for your device. Keep it handy; some of our days will be long and some devices may run flat. Remember to stay with your buddy; we’ll pair up into buddies later today. And I’m certain you’ll notice that everywhere we go whilst we’re on our tours, we’ll have a security person with the group. They’re being provided by our program tour company to ensure your safety, so remember, no wandering off on your own!

“Finally, for your safety, we must insist on zero tolerance for behavior or security infractions. If you break the rules, you’ll be sent home directly, and your parents shan’t receive any refund. I’d expect that would make them quite cross with you, won’t they. Okay, enough with the serious talk. Eain and I are your mentors and teachers, but we’d like you to also feel that you can confide in us of any problems or concerns you might have. So during this trip, if you would prefer, you may call us by our Christian names, Dr Eain and Miss Jane.

“Oh yes, we do have a few new people here today, so let’s introduce ourselves now. Tell us your name and what you hope to learn from our cultural program—yes, also what languages you can speak. Begin on my left, with Janice, okay, Janice?”

“Yes, Miss...” Janice began, and the members of group introduced themselves. Tom and Lynette mentioned that they spoke French and German, but their French was the Canadian version and everyone chuckled at hearing that qualification of their language skill. French was the most commonly spoken foreign language by British natives, and the other kids were curious to hear how French-Canadian sounded.

Mrs Douglas pointed out that only a minority of British citizens were multi-lingual, in fact; she remarked that about two-thirds of the population spoke only English and less than a fifth spoke two or more languages, but European immigrants were increasing the population of those who were multilingual. She said that she was happy to learn that most of the teens knew at least French; other languages which were spoken by group members included Spanish, Russian, Italian, and German (the siblings), and one girl spoke Japanese (no surprise since she was from Japan).

Soon the gathering had broken up and the siblings found themselves the center of attention of fourteen of the group who wanted to hear some Québécois spoken by its natives.

Tom laughed. “We’re far from being French-Canadian natives. Most of them live in Quebec and lots grow up speaking nothing but their version of French. We had to learn French starting third grade, I think it was. We grew up in Toronto, in Ontario, the next province over from Quebec, and learning French in school was required. All my teachers spoke Québécois but they tried to teach it like Metropolitan—you know, how they speak it in France. That didn’t really work; Lynette and I still sound like French Canadians. Let me show you: Comment allez-vous ce beau matin en attendant notre train? Je suis impatient de faire un voyage passionnant. [How are you this fine morning as we wait for our train? I’m looking forward to an exciting trip.]

“That’s how it sounds,” Lynette took up the demonstration. “You can hear some different accents and how the words sound there, mainly vowels. But sometimes the sentences go a little differently: We learned to say, ah, okay, like this: ‘I found the blouse I wanted,’ in the Canadian dialect goes, J’ai trouvé la blouse que j’ai de voulais but the way the French say it is something like, J’ai trouvé le chemisier don’t je voulais. Isn’t that right, Tom? We use pronouns like ‘que’ differently and shorten a lot of them?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Last year, when we visited Paris with our folks, we had to consciously try to adjust our accents on lots of vowels; also I noticed that our nasalized vowels were much stronger than theirs. Um, let’s see, we also have a different sound with ‘T’ and ‘D’ in some cases coming before some vowels. They sound like ‘TS’ or ‘DZ.’ And a few French people got annoyed ‘cause they thought we were making fun of their language.”

Lynette giggled. “Yeah, the French are totally uptight about their French, aren’t they? So we spoke to those annoyed citoyens—hee hee—in rapid, idiomatic Québécois and the light dawned: ‘Aahh, Canadien, non?’ and all was well again.”

Tom sniggered, “Hey, and idioms—don’t get me started on how funny some can be. In Québécois the word for ‘a girlfriend’ is ‘une blonde.’ Even if she’s a redhead or brunette; doesn’t matter; she’s still a blonde.”

Everyone chuckled.

“And hey, try this one: The French would go, ‘Ca va, les gosses?’ meaning to them ‘Doing okay, kids?’ But in Canada, gosses actually means ‘testicles’! So to a Canadian, it’d mean ‘How’s your balls doing?’”

The kids in the group roared with laughter at that joke, but then their attention was diverted by Mrs Douglas, who called everyone to gather their belongings in preparation for boarding the train, which was now arriving at their platform.

Left alone with Tom for several minutes, Lynette whispered to him, “I’m noticing something kinda odd—did you see how a lot of the kids are acting with each other? I thought I had pegged a fair number of romantic couples but then those girls—the guys too—went and hugged and kissed some of the other kids? You notice?”

Tom nodded and whispered in reply, “Sure did; really strange. Lots of touching, kissing too, and not the same couples either.”

“Yeah. Well, if I get a chance, I’m gonna ask about it,” Lynette said.

Soon they boarded the train and were all seated in a group at one end of a coach car, where Dr Douglas passed out materials and their essay assignment and then discussed the museum visit. Tom and Lynette were sitting in a seating cluster of four; seated across from them were Simon and Roberta, who seemed to be a couple since they had been holding hands. So when Dr Douglas finished his orientation, Lynette decided to ask them about what she had seen.

“So, Roberta and Simon,” she asked, smiling, “you two are a couple?”

They looked at each other and smiled. “Yeah,” Simon said as Roberta squeezed his hand and nodded.

“Well, now I’m kinda confused,” Lynette said. “Before the train came, everyone was so familiar with each other and Simon was...”

Roberta laughed. “Oi, all of our hugging and snogging with each other? Is that it?”

“Um, yes...”

“Well... yes, you’re new, aren’t you. And so are Dimitri and Yumeko, they started at Norwich in February. All the rest of us were in this new school program—we were supposed to do that Naked in School rot but we had this amazing organized school-wide revolt against doing it, but then this new program came along and it was corkin’ brilliant!”

Simon broke in. “Cor! It was ace! We got to be such close friends with all our mates. Julie, from our group, says that she feels closer to us than even to her older brother. Anyway, we did these class sessions where we learned about caring for your mates and somehow I came to feel close to all of them, like they were all my brothers and sisters, you know? But Roberta is really special.”

They leaned over and kissed each other, smiling.

Roberta continued, “We did all kinds of brilliant stuff with each other in classes and I’m so close to my mates now. I’ll miss them terribly during the holidays after this trip. But our trip lets some of us be together for a month longer. I love all of them.”

Lynette was amazed. “Wow... that must have been awesome! What did you guys do?”

Roberta laughed. “Well, all kinds of things; learning about how to make someone feel good, cooperation games, massages, roleplaying social situations. It was fun and everyone, well, I guess we all bonded... our whole class did. They’re all my family now, it feels like.”

“Did everyone in the school do that?” Tom asked.

“They did all the year nines and most of the tens to start. There was only one group of teachers at first and they were showing bunches of teachers from other schools how it works,” Simon said. “They got to almost all of the tens this spring; I think there were a few blokes missed ‘cause of illnesses or something and they didn’t have time left for a makeup. Yeah, some blokes started late when they moved to London so they missed too. It just started so they still need to get the rest of the school sorted in the autumn.”

Then their discussion turned to other topics and soon it was time to change trains in Brussels for the trip to Amsterdam. Lynette’s idea to room with Tom had been okayed by Mrs Douglas after she spoke to Angela.

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