The Agreement

Devon Layne

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be submitted via e-mail to ElderRoadBooks@outlook.com.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and highly improbable.

Cover art by Alenavlad ID 156643661 licensed from Shutterstock

Second Edition

ISBN 978-1-939275-30-1

Part I
Dating Group

1
Trust

“CAN I COME IN?”

It was the night before we were taking Betts to Purdue. I was lying in my bed about to grab a couple tissues before I made a mess. Betts stuck her head up through the staircase opening. I kind of forced my cock down with a pillow on my lap and squeaked, “Sure.”

Betts came right to my bed and sat down beside me. She looked at me and where my pillow was.

“Did I interrupt something?”

“Betts…”

“I know boys masturbate like all the time. Bet you didn’t know girls masturbate, too.”

“Bet I did.” I rolled over and reached into the bottom of my nightstand, keeping my sheet tucked around my naked body. I still looked at the Facts of Life and Love book sometimes—just as reference material. I handed it to her. She looked at it puzzled for a moment. “It was kind of sticky in places when Mom gave it to me.” Betts had a moment of abject horror cross her face as she turned crimson.

“Oh God! She gave you mine?”

“Said she didn’t want to buy another copy. It took me a day to figure out what she meant.”

“Oh fuck.”

“It’s okay, Betts. I eventually managed to get a hard-on again.”

“You little beast!” She attacked me trying to tickle me and I was squirming all over, still trying not to reveal my stiffy or lose the sheets. I tried to tickle back and got more than one handful of my sister’s tits. We finally settled down.

We sat there panting.

“Well, now you know what those feel like as well as what they look like.” She blushed and made a show of pulling her bra straight.

“Okay. I admit, they feel as good as they look.” Betts pulled her T-shirt up and flashed them at me again. Too bad she had that damn bra on. We both giggled, but when she looked at my waist and raised an eyebrow, I just clenched the pillow down a little tighter.

“Spoil sport,” she sighed. “Brian, are you a virgin?”

“Betts! What kind of question is that?” That came out of nowhere.

“I’m worried about you. All your girlfriends. I think Hannah is really sweet, but you didn’t do anything to her did you? And Rose? And Candace? And those girls down south? Brian, this is important. Boys can be sluts too, you know?” I think she was really concerned.

“First, I’d never tell you if I’d made love to any of those girls or any others, Betts,” I said. “Or anything else we did. Second, I’m still a virgin. Now what’s this all about?”

“Since you… caught me, I’ve been good. I’m still a virgin, Brian. It’s been difficult, and I won’t say I never touched another boy. This summer has been… interesting. But no boy has ever been in my panties.”

“Why are you telling me this, Betts?”

“Because you saved me and I want you to know it was worthwhile.”

“You don’t have to go through life with no sex just because I interrupted a blowjob!” I said.

“The guy who gets in my panties is going to marry me. Preferably he already will have,” she said. “I’m not saying you have to stay a virgin until you’re married, but those girls, Brian—if they want to stay virgins, help them. It’s so hard to do by yourself.” Betts started crying and collapsed on top of me. My erection was long gone and I wrapped her in my arms and just held her while she cried.

“Betts, remember that no matter what you decide, I love you. I know we don’t always get along, but I’m never going to judge you about who you do or don’t have sex with. Just be who you are.”

I made a special breakfast of blueberry waffles in the morning and Mom and Dad took Betts to Purdue.

“Brian, why don’t you run over and mow the Barnes’ lawn before we head for the beach?”

“Sure, Mom.”

I’d thought of it before, but it was too depressing to go near their house. It had been dark for the past month. Mom said they went to be with Jessica in Paris for a while. She wasn’t coming back. Mowing their yard gave me time to mourn and cry without anyone seeing me. My Heaven was gone.

Being at the lake on Labor Day was surreal. Sometimes I’d hear a voice or a laugh or catch a flash of blue and jerk around thinking I saw Jessica.

And the girls… Hannah rode on my shoulders for the chicken fights until Rose came up to us. Hannah slid off and gave me a very uncharacteristic kiss on the cheek. She turned and hugged Rose.

“Your turn, girlfriend,” she said and was off to find another horse. Rose rode on my back for half an hour. She kept kissing my neck and blowing in my ear. God! I loved holding her bare legs. Brenda came sliding up my front and pushed at Rose’s feet until we both went over backward. Rose splashed around and grinned at Brenda before she turned and gave me a searing kiss, making sure my hands were busy, too. She turned and hugged Brenda. “Your turn, girlfriend,” she said.

Brenda didn’t even get behind me, but wrapped her legs around my waist and said, “Take me to the raft.” I did a combination push and splash until we got to the raft. We managed without drowning even though we both went under a couple times. Brenda never unwrapped her legs. “Carl and I broke up again. Now’s your chance, boyfriend,” she said as she pressed her lips, her hips, and her tits as tight to me as she could get them. She kept one hand on the raft so I had both hands free. One caressed her back and held her to me and the other held her ass. For Brenda’s part, she ground against my erection like there was no tomorrow. “Oh God, yes!” she moaned. She pulled my hand around to her front so I could cup her breast while she thrust hers down between us so she could rub my cock.

“Brenda…” I gasped.

“I’ve wanted to do this for four years, Brian. I don’t know when I’ll have another opportunity. Go to third base. Touch me and make me come.” I got the message, and it didn’t take much. With one hand on Brenda’s tit and one on her pussy and her stroking my cock, neither of us lasted long. She let go of the raft and when it looked like we’d sink, she joined me in treading water while we held each other. “I swear, Brian, the next time he breaks up with me, I’m going to fuck you. He’s over there trying to get it on with Hannah.”

“What!?” I turned to get away from Brenda, but she wrapped her legs around me and almost drowned both of us.

“Hannah has it under control. Let her handle it. Carl isn’t a beast. He won’t do anything she doesn’t want him to.”

“I just…”

“I know. You love her. It’s going to be different this year, Bri. You’re going to have to help us sort it out. Every single one of us girls wants a cock in her pussy and all you boys want to be there. You’ve got to help us figure it out. You’ve got to help us not just lose it.”

Why am I the designated referee?

I have to admit that in five minutes I fulfilled three years of fantasies with Brenda, but we kept our pants on. And she wasn’t the only one. Liz about took all our clothes off, but she backed off once she’d come. I was knocked out when Samantha swam up to me.

“You haven’t touched my legs all day, Brian. Don’t you like how silky soft they are anymore?”

“Sam, what’s got into you?”

“I don’t know. My dad just rolls his eyes and says ‘hormones.’ Mom has given me more lectures than you can imagine. Touch my legs, Bri. Do you like them?”

“They’re incredible. I’ve never touched anything so soft and smooth in my life.” She shifted and I felt her hand between us for a moment.

“Keep going. Right up here.” Up here was her bare pussy. She’d moved her suit crotch to the side. It wasn’t just bare it was bare. “I got rid of all the hair I didn’t want. Do you like it?” she asked.

“It feels beautiful, Sam. Hang on to the raft.” She looked at me as I stroked her pussy but reached out to hold the raft with both hands. I took a breath and torpedoed down until my face was even with her crotch. I moved in and kissed her pussy. I stuck out my tongue and ran it right through her little crack. I’d like to say how she tasted and what I smelled, but we were in the lake and I was out of breath. When I surfaced, she pulled me to her in a kiss that told me she’d practiced a lot.

“You’re going to do that again, Bri. Maybe a lot.” We held each other and made out for a long time. As long as Samantha kept her suit pulled aside, I had my hand on that smooth pussy. She clamped her mouth onto mine and screamed when she came.

Every one of the girls found me and did something sexy, even if it was just a kiss or licking my ear. Each one told the next “Your turn, girlfriend.” I about wore things out when I finally got home. I tried for a come for each of them as I rubbed.

So, this is high school!

“Hey! What’s this I hear about you swishing two out of three at the Fair, my man?” It was great to see Lionel again.

“It was easy. I stood on your shoulders and slam-dunked ’em,” I said.

“In your dreams.”

“It worked. Carl and Doug didn’t make a single free-throw.”

“Maybe we should have you on the team!” Right. Like that would happen in a million years. I wouldn’t even be able to see the basket if I was on the team. I was officially five-five, but the growth spurt had slowed. I was almost thankful. I didn’t hurt constantly like I had all summer. Lionel hadn’t made it to the lake yesterday, so the first opportunity we had to see each other was before World History. Then we had to shut up and pay attention.

Lionel and I walked to lunch after class and it was a different world. We’d had the same lunchroom last year, but this year we were the little kids among the rest of the high schoolers. We finally managed to squeeze twenty of us around two tables near the garbage cans. We were no more than seated than half a dozen guys in letter jackets came up to our table. One went straight to Brenda.

“Look at the pretty freshman girls! You shouldn’t be sitting out here by the garbage. Honey, we have like a private dining room. Why don’t you come with me? It’s all you can eat.”

“Go away,” Brenda said, stiffening.

“Come on. You’ll have fun. I’ll personally make sure of it.”

“Go away!” He put his hand on her shoulder. That was it. I stood up. All the way up on the chair so he could see me.

“I know you’re not deaf, so you must be stupid. Let me put it plainly. She said ‘go away.’ That means take your slimy hand off her shoulder and get lost.”

“Oh! Look at the runt who has to stand on a chair in order to even be seen. Come here, little man. How about you go head first in the garbage.” I saw a few people start to move toward us. Lamar and the first three—two had graduated—were headed across the dining room. Lionel, Carl, Doug, Jackson, and Derek were pushing back their chairs. One of the guys with the letterman leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“Him?” The other guy nodded and backed away. So did the rest of the letterman’s gang. He looked at me and sneered. Cocky son-of-a-bitch. “Well. I see your table already has its quota of heroes. I’ll leave you the little one, but when you actually want a man, just wave at me girls.” A big black hand landed on the back of the letterman’s neck. Attached to the hand was Lionel’s big brother Lamar. He was pushing seven feet tall.

“Chad, look around this table carefully,” Lamar growled. “Memorize every face you see here and attach the words ‘off limits’ to it. Then find every other freshman in the dining room and memorize the same words. It’s just two words. Even your little brain can remember those. Off limits.”

“Lamar, my man,” Chad said turning to him. “Hey, every freshman needs to get hazed a little. It’s part of the rite of passage thing, you know. Just chill.” He turned away from Lamar and slunk off. The football team wasn’t going to be as friendly this year as last.

“You guys need anything, just wave a flag,” Lamar said to us. “Lionel! Why weren’t you standing up for your buddy?”

“I was… getting up, but Bri had it under control.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t stand up, Lamar.” Lionel was getting pissed.

“Your friend needed you and you couldn’t stand up? Why?”

“I had a hard-on.”

“Little brother, I don’t care if your cock is spurting cum in your girlfriend’s pussy. Your buddy needs help, you get your ass in gear and stand up. Y’all have a good day now, y’hear?” Lamar said to us and turned to walk away. Lionel was as red as a black man can get.

“Lionel, take it easy on yourself, man. We’re all new here.”

“He’s right. I shoulda…”

“It was my fault,” Liz said. We turned to look at her. She was sitting right beside me.

“What?”

“I had my foot in his lap.” Rose spit milk out her nose again. We all started laughing. Lionel finally got past the embarrassment and started to laugh, too.

“Brian! There you are, boyfriend! I’ve been looking all over,” the little redheaded dynamo known as Candace came rushing over to our table, plopped herself down in my lap and gave me a no-holds-barred kiss. Now I wouldn’t be able to stand up. “Oh baby, I’ve missed you this week. Is this the rest of your harem? I understood there were five of us now. Introduce me, Brian!”

“Um… uh… guys, if you don’t recognize her, this is Candace Jones.”

“Only for another six months. I’m changing my name when I turn eighteen.”

“Why?”

“I’m an actress. Candy Jones sounds like a porn star. Now introduce me to my sister girlfriends.”

“This is Hannah.” She’d had to make room for Candace’s dramatic entrance.

“You’re the one on the horse. That was so exciting.”

“And this is Rose,” I said pointing to the other side of Hannah.

“God! You’re stacked. Can you give me some pointers? I need to get a full cup-size bigger before I hit Hollywood. I really don’t want to do the surgery thing. Okay, that’s three of us. Who are the other two?”

“Well…” I started.

“Wow!” Candace said. I looked at the table. Liz, Brenda, Rhiannon, Whitney, Samantha, and Sugar all had their hands raised. “One, two, three, four, five, six. That makes nine of us. You were holding out on me, Bri.” She kissed me again.

“In the spirit of full disclosure,” I said, “there are actually two more down in Kokomo.” Everybody’s mouths dropped open at that. Everybody except Hannah. Brenda zeroed in on her immediately.

“You knew! And didn’t tell us!” Hannah just shrugged and smiled.

“That’s eleven! I don’t think Chad’s managed eleven in his entire career of cherry-popping. I knew I picked a good one.”

“This is Lionel, Jackson, Derek, Carl, and Doug.”

“They’re part of your harem, too? How very… liberal of you.”

“They’re my buddies. I’d do about anything for them. Except kiss them. Somebody else is going to have to do that.”

“We gotcha covered,” Rhiannon said. “But it doesn’t let you off the hook for the rest of us.”

“What’s going on, here,” I asked.

“We voted at the lake,” Brenda said. “Then we called Sugar and Whitney and got their votes. We’ve talked to Doug and Carl, but haven’t to Lionel, Derek, and Jackson.”

“I talked to Lionel and he talked to Derek and Jackson,” Sugar said.

“Okay. Officially we eight—you can get in on it if you want, Candace—are the girlfriends of those six. Mix and match. Any way, any combination.”

“A group marriage. We read about those in Sociology. Sorry, that was the old textbook. They changed books this year because it promoted immoral behavior. Like me.”

“How’s this supposed to work?” I asked. I should have known something was going on at the lake. I sure wasn’t happy about the idea of everybody at the table fucking everybody else. I really got a twinge when I thought about Hannah. Or Rose. Or Liz. Shit!

“We expect you to tell us how it works, Bri,” Liz said leaning against me. Candace made room and wrapped an arm around the other redhead. “We all know that we’re going to go crazy this year. We want to have fun and do exciting things. But we’re all—the girls, anyway—scared.”

“Guys, too,” Lionel said. “I was raised that a man had a girlfriend or wife and nobody touched her. This is all new to me, but Sugar did a hell of a sales job. I think I like it.”

“Bri, we need you to set the rules. We’re not doing anything until you set them. No kisses. No dates. Candace, that means you, too. You want to be part of the harem, you have to play by the rules. Only none of us know the rules until Bri tells us what they are,” Brenda sighed. “Please hurry.” How did I get stuck with this? This is crazy! I’m just almost fifteen. What do I know? Everybody was looking at me.

“I don’t know why you trust me to set these rules, but it’s going to take a day or two to make sure I’ve got them right. I like the general idea. I certainly want to take each and every one of you out. In the meantime, though, there is one rule that overrides all others at all times.” Everybody looked at me expectantly. They were serious. “I learned an important lesson last spring. Nobody does anything with anyone in any way unless both or all parties explicitly agree.”

“What do you mean, ‘all parties’?” Candace asked. I looked at Lionel. He nodded. His brother’s girlfriend had two boyfriends.

“Look around. At this table, there are nine girls and six boys. That doesn’t necessarily come out to an even number of couples. And others could be added. It might not just be two people who need to agree.”

“And what does ‘explicitly agree’ mean?” Jackson asked.

“It means that if I want to kiss Hannah, I have to ask and she has to say yes. It means I don’t have the right to just kiss her because she’s my girlfriend. I learned that lesson the hard way guys. Nothing’s going to last here unless we stay up-front.” There were a lot of nods.

“This sounds exciting,” Candace said. “But I have to go to Senior Lit now. Do you all know where your next class is?” We nodded. “Brian, may I kiss my boyfriend before I go to class?” I looked at her and she was already moving toward me.

“No.” I said, turning my head. She came up short. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to start that before we have the rest of the rules written.” She sighed and then got off my lap.

“Okay. Don’t… uh… deliberate on them too long though, okay? I haven’t finished my test. ’Bye girlfriends. Boyfriends.”

Before we all got up from the table, Whitney stood and came toward me. God! She was tall.

“There’s just one thing, though,” she said. I felt her lift the hanger loop on my shirt and heard the snip snip of her scissors. “I am the fairy queen. I reserve the right to use the loops.” We all laughed and ran to class.

2
Agreement

I WAS GOING CRAZY. It sounded great. Every guy wants to look at a table of eight or ten gorgeous girls and think they are all his girlfriends. Hell, it made my dick hard. But how was Carl going to feel about me kissing Brenda? Or me about him kissing Hannah. Rhiannon and Doug had been pretty much together since sixth grade. Were they really going to just break up to be part of a group… whatever the hell we called ourselves? The only people I knew that even approached having more than one partner was Jennifer and Courtney who wanted to share me. How were they going to feel about sharing me with eleven other girls and sharing with five other guys?

I asked Mom and she said I could call Jennifer and talk for fifteen minutes. Jennifer wasn’t there, so I called Courtney. They were both there. I explained the gist of what was going on and told them they started it.

“I want to move to your school,” Courtney said. “I can’t believe you’re going to try to do this. So, if Jennifer and I agree to fuck each other, you’re okay with it?”

“God, Court! I just sprang a boner. First of all, we can’t govern you guys. None of us are with you. And second of all, just the thought of you going down on each other makes me want to eat both of you.”

“Bri!” Jennifer squealed. “Have you ever done that? What’s it like?”

“We can’t talk about that right now. The thing is, I’ve got to come up with the rules. Help me!”

“Okay. You’ve already stated one. Call it explicit consent. The next one you said when we were talking to Kevin, Barbara, and Leslie. They were so cute. You said we always had to treat each other with the same courtesy and respect. Of course, you said that if you kissed me for a minute you have to kiss Jennifer for a minute, too. That doesn’t really work. First of all, none of us want to think that if we kiss you, we have to kiss all the other boys. And girls. But treating each other with courtesy and respect is important.”

“And the part about not being jealous, too,” Jennifer added. I was scribbling things down. My pen ran out of ink and I had to open every kitchen drawer to find another. This was so annoying. We talked for our fifteen minutes and they made kissy noises on the phone and I hung up. I went to my room.

This was the toughest homework I had for the day. I’d devoured my advanced chemistry reading during study hall. The reading for history wasn’t due until Friday and I sort of plowed through my geometry problems. Then there was just this. What were the rules for a group… whatever? I made the rules as simple as possible, partly because I had to write it out eighteen times. I put two copies in an envelope to Jennifer and Courtney and used all the rest of my envelopes to make one for each person in our group.

“Can I kiss you today?” Candace asked when she sat at our table. She took a chair next to me and Whitney claimed the other side.

“No. Not today. I want everyone to understand and agree to the rules before we break the moratorium on kissing.”

“God, you’re good. ‘Moratorium.’ It just makes me so hot.” She leaned into toward me and whispered, “I mean that, Brian. It’s the same rule I gave you when we made out after the Fair. Not until I say so. You really are making me hot.” It was hard to concentrate after that.

I told everyone they needed to read the rules and come to lunch tomorrow and be prepared to ask questions and make amendments.

“Is the group closed?” Lionel asked. I wasn’t sure and looked around. There were mostly shrugged shoulders.

“What’s up, Lionel?”

“I don’t know if you’ve all met Denise officially,” Lionel said. “I just met her Tuesday. She transferred in from Potawatomi High. Denise, this is our group of friends.” Lionel introduced her around. She was a cute black girl who was thin and nicely built. I was glad Lionel invited her to our table. “I’d like to invite Denise to at least take a look at our agreement and see if she’d like to join,” Lionel finished.

“That sounds good to me. Denise?” I said. “Would you like to read our rules for group dating?”

“You mean you all would be okay having a black girl in your group?”

“Honey, what do you think I am?” Sugar huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

“You date the white boys, too?” Denise whispered to Sugar. We could all hear it, though, and started to laugh.

“You prejudiced, bitch?” Sugar demanded.

“No. I just never heard of it going that way before. In my hood it’s just white bitches with black brothers. You’d date me, Brian? I mean if we liked each other.” I thought of Angela and smiled.

“Denise, I’d love to take you out and get to know you better. I think we’re all going to the game Friday night and the dance after. I hope you’ll join us.”

“Gimme the damned paper.”

“If we don’t sign this, does it mean we can’t hang with y’all?” Jackson asked.

“Hell no. This is only our dating rules, Jackson. Has nothing to do with who we hang out with. You hung out with us when Hannah and I were dating, and even did chicken fights with her. That’s just part of being friends.”

“Then, I gotta not sign,” Jackson said. “I just know I can’t do this stuff. No jealousy? Man, I about tore Lionel’s arm off in third grade because he looked at a girl I was interested in. I just don’t think I can do it. I don’t understand how you could let me hold your girlfriend’s legs while we were in the pool. It just doesn’t work for me. But I’d die if y’all weren’t my friends anymore.”

“We’re your friends, Jackson,” Rhiannon confirmed. “Dating and friendship aren’t the same. And besides, the rules say we could still date sometimes if you agreed to abide by the terms.”

“I’m out, too,” Derek said. “It’s not that I don’t think I could do this, but I started seeing this girl Lisa over the summer, and we kinda just decided to go steady. She’s not at our school. These rules of behavior are good, though. I’ll try to live with that.”

“What’s this about ‘no penetration’ mean?” Rose asked.

“We’re fourteen and fifteen this year,” I said. “We’re trying a big experiment and even if we’re willing to treat each other equally, that doesn’t mean that just because you fuck one person means you want to fuck everyone at the table. Those things are going to grow and change, but for now, we’re safer saying that as long as we’re together as a group, we don’t go all the way.” I could see the girls all breathe a sigh of relief and I kind of thought the guys were relieved, too.

“That rule supersedes the one about both or all parties consenting. It’s for all our protection. Even if you are hot and heavy and both of you want to plunge in and do it, we don’t go all the way. You have to withdraw from the group to pursue your own relationship if you decide you really can’t handle it otherwise. It’s everyone’s responsibility.”

“That’s going to make it really hard,” Carl said. Rose spit milk out her nose.

“Way to go, Grace,” I laughed. I made a couple changes that we agreed to and on Friday we all signed our agreement.

The Group Dating Agreement

I will always treat everyone in the group fairly, equally, and with respect.

I will not be jealous of anything that anyone else does or engages in with anyone else in this group (male or female).

I will always receive the explicit consent of my partner(s) before engaging in any potentially sexual activity and will respond in compliance with their wishes.

I will abstain from any sexual penetration while dating the group.

I will always have the option of declining any advance of any kind from any partner and it will be honored.

I may date others who have not signed this agreement if they agree to abide by it during our date.

I may leave this group at any time for any reason and still maintain my friendship and camaraderie with the members of this group.

We are not a clique. We are just dating each other.

The first test was that night. Candace drove me home after school and to the football game that night.

“Thank you for including me in the group. I don’t know any of the others well, but the guys all seem nice and this is a great idea for dating. I hope you know, though, that I won’t be spending all my time with our dating group.”

“I don’t expect anyone to spend all his or her time with the group,” I said.

“Well, I would if I was a freshman. But I’m a senior and I’ve got a bunch of other friends. I might even get asked on a date I want to accept occasionally. Our rules, though, are pretty much what I’ve always done. Except… well, the ‘no penetration’ thing is new, but I really haven’t done much of that.”

“Candace, you just gave me a hard-on with one sentence.”

“Oh, poor boy. Does thinking of me naked with my legs spread and a hard dick pumping into my tight little pussy give you an erection?”

“Well, that sure as hell didn’t make it better.” We laughed, but the truth was evident in my lap. I readjusted my seatbelt.

“There’ll be the shows, too,” Candace said. “Theater people are… a little more open about showing affection when they are working on a show together. I promise, though, that I’ll abide by the rules, even though I might not be with the rest of you.”

“I think that’s all we’re asking,” I said. “And if you find someone you like and want to… take to another level, you can resign from the dating group and still be our friend.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, pulling into my driveway. “I do want to know one little thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Can I kiss you now?”

The struggle over the armrest was difficult, but we got our mouths together. Oh, hell yes.

“Um… would you like to come in and stay for dinner?” I asked. “Mom and Dad will be home in about an hour and I’m making spaghetti.”

“They wouldn’t mind?”

“You’ve met Mom. Dad is pretty easy-going, too, and I expect to invite each of my girlfriends over for dinner at least once. The guys, too.”

“Can I help cook?”

We had a lot of fun cooking, interspersed with some great kissing. We didn’t go any further than kisses, but some of them left both of us breathless. After we cleaned up dinner dishes and Candace had entertained my parents with funny stories, we headed for the game.

Things were a little awkward at first. We were all out together and there was a little jostling for position when we got to the bleachers. Candace brought me to the game, so she claimed my left side. Whitney claimed the right as ‘fairy queen.’ It wasn’t all boy-girl, boy-girl. Carl and Doug were sandwiched between Brenda and Rhiannon, but I noticed that at halftime, the girls switched places. This would be interesting. Lionel was spending a lot of time courting Denise, but Liz was right with them the entire evening. Hannah, Sugar, and Samantha were having a great time and basically ignoring the sexual tensions in the row in front of them. Rose sat with them behind me and somehow, I ended the evening leaning against her legs with her hands on my shoulders. Candace and Whitney each kept one of my hands busy with theirs.

Things were easier at the dance afterward. Mostly we all danced together in a group when the fast music was playing. Partners changed for every slow song and if they had no male partner and the girls wanted to dance, they danced together and occasionally accepted dances from other guys who asked them. Each dance with an outsider was prefaced by an abbreviated version of the rules. I wasn’t really expecting that.

Our quarterback, Chad, had a rough night of it on the field. He suddenly found out what it was like to be holding the ball without last year’s senior front five there to protect him. He came up to our table with Renee, one of the varsity cheerleaders I knew from last year.

“I’m not trying to pull anything, folks,” Chad said when they got to us. “I just thought that if I brought Renee over as a trade, maybe I’d be able to have a dance with one of our JV cheerleaders.” He was looking at Brenda, but Rose stood up and went to them.

“We’ll be happy to dance, but you both have to abide by the rules.”

“What rules?” Renee asked. She definitely was eying me.

“Number one, you don’t make any moves or passes without getting explicit permission from your partner.”

“Explicit? You mean if I want to put my arm around you to dance, I have to ask?”

“Yep. And your hand better not move to my ass unless I’ve told you it’s okay. If I say no, that’s final.”

“Sheesh!”

“What else?” Renee asked. She looked at me. “You have permission to hold my hand, put your arm around me while we dance, and if I kiss you to let your hand slide to my ass. Does that cover everything?”

“As long as you get my permission, too. Rule two is that you treat everyone here in our group with equal fairness and respect.”

“And that you don’t get jealous of anyone if they do something with someone else and not with you.”

“You guys have a lot of rules. Can’t we just dance?” Chad said.

“Yeah. We can do that.”

I did dance with Renee. She had a little respect for me anyway since I made her fiery hoop trick work last fall. She wanted to know if I’d set it up for homecoming again this year and I agreed. We held hands and I had my arm around her while we danced a slow number that kept us pressed tightly together, but we didn’t kiss or fondle anyone’s ass. When I led her back to the table, Chad had switched to Brenda and Candace was explaining the rules to another guy who had approached the table.

“But Candace, we’ve done a lot more than that already.” I didn’t like him.

“Doesn’t make a difference, Joe. These are my boyfriends and girlfriends. It’s the way we roll.”

“Have fun,” he snorted and turned to leave.

“You guys are serious about this, aren’t you?” Renee asked.

“Deadly,” I said.

“I like it. Hey, Stretch,” she said to Lionel. “Want to dance?” Lionel looked up at her a little puzzled.

“Hi, Renee. Uh… I’m kinda paying special attention to Denise and Liz tonight. Maybe we can dance at the next one.” Renee plopped down next to me.

“Wow.” She looked at me just as we heard a scuffle behind us and saw Chad reach for Brenda as she stormed off the dance floor. He grabbed her arm and when he spun her around, she slapped him hard in the face. I was on my feet, but Lionel was a step ahead of me.

“You bitch!”

“You agreed to the rules, Chad. Feeling me up was not part of what I agreed to.”

“You’re just a prick tease.”

“And you’re a loser,” Lionel said as he stepped between Chad and Brenda. “As was evidenced by the game tonight. Now that you know you’re a loser, get lost.”

“You only think you and your big brother can protect this little clique,” Chad said. “You want to play ball on the team you better hope you stay healthy.”

“Are you making a threat against my buddy?” I growled next to Chad. Carl and Doug had just stepped up behind Chad from where they’d been dancing. I looked for the rest of the football team, but when I spotted them, they were all sitting and Lamar and three others were standing at their table.

“Yeah. What are you going to do about it, prick?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said smiling at him. “I don’t think I’ll have to. The way your front line leaks defenders, I don’t figure you’ll last another game. You might not even make it to the next one if they’re like that in practice.” Chad spun on his heel and came face to face with Carl. Carl was pissed. I grabbed his hand as he raised his fist. “Let it go, Carl,” I said softly. “Chad doesn’t really know who’s on his team and who isn’t anymore.”

“Renee!” Chad barked. “Let’s go. I’m leaving.”

“You go, Chad. I’m not done dancing with these guys,” she called. She’d never moved from our table and Brenda was in her arms. “Go use your Pocket Pussy.” Chad turned to go get her, but Jackson, Derek, and an upperclassman I knew as Paul from chemistry last year had joined the other four of us to block the way. Chad didn’t even bother to go back to his table. He headed for the gym doors and left.

The other guys returned to their dates and the dance went on uninterrupted. Lionel and I returned to the table. Brenda was there, still holding onto Renee, but I discovered it was Renee who was crying.

“I’m so sorry, you guys,” she sputtered. “He’s such an asshole. I can’t take it anymore. I hate him.”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault,” I said.

“Yes, it was. I agreed to come to your table as a piece offering. As in piece of ass. I thought I loved him. I’d do anything for him.”

“You can’t let him walk all over you,” Brenda said.

“I always have. He took my cherry in seventh grade. I thought it was forever. He was the football quarterback and I was the cheerleader girlfriend. He said I’d always be his first and favorite. Then he popped two more cheerleader cherries the next night. I kept telling myself that I was still his first and favorite. We dated and were public about being a couple. But the only time he ever wanted me was when he struck out with someone else. Which wasn’t often. Then it was call good-old-spread-em-anytime Renee. ‘Hey Renee, go screw the freshman geek so I can pop the cheerleaders’ cherries.’ I’m such a whore. I’m sorry.” She finally ran down and Brenda kept holding her while she sobbed.

“That bastard. I can’t believe he’d order his girlfriend to screw someone else,” I said.

“It’s not the first time. And he’s had it out for you ever since that incident with Kirby last spring even though he didn’t know who you were.”

“He was a friend of Kirby?” I found that hard to believe.

“Oh, hell no. Kirby was the lowest kind of pond scum. But he was Chad’s drug connection. I don’t think he’s had a good smoke since Kirby went to jail. Maybe he’s got a new connection, though. He said he was going to get you two so high tonight you wouldn’t even know you’d been fucked. Of course, you probably wouldn’t know anyway. He’s such a pencil dick.” That did it. We looked at each other and everyone at the table busted out laughing. Fortunately, Rose wasn’t drinking anything at the moment. She covered her nose anyway. Brenda stood up and walked around to where Lionel was cuddled with Denise and Liz.

“Lionel. And I guess tonight I need to ask Denise and Liz, too. Anyway. May I have permission to kiss my hero of the night?” Lionel didn’t move, but Denise and Liz grinned and nodded. They moved back.

“Brenda, I really—I mean, really—would like to kiss your pretty lips, but don’t you ever feel like you owe me something for what happened out there. My brother made it clear to me that part of being on the team was to support my teammates. If my friends need me, I get my ass out of the chair and help. And nobody,” he growled fiercely, “messes up my girlfriend. Any of them.”

“It’s not because I owe you, Lionel,” Brenda responded. “It’s because I’m your girlfriend and you really got me revved up out there!” Carl, Samantha, Doug, and Hannah all returned from the dance floor just then. I held my breath a little. Lionel held out his arms and Brenda was in his lap and on his lips in a flash. I could see the sense in staying seated. That foot-and-a-half difference in height must make it hard to kiss standing up. I’ll have to keep that in mind when I kiss Whitney. Shit! Why’d I think of that? The kiss kept going and going. I glanced at Carl and saw his fist rising in the air. Then I saw his grin as he looked at each of us and we raised our fists. Then with a pull downward we all yelled.

“Choo! Choo!”

Brenda about fell off Lionel’s lap and the whole table busted up laughing. Renee looked at us like we were crazy, then Carl turned to her and asked her to dance. At ten, Hannah’s sister Sarah came to the table.

“Ready to go, Sis?”

“Yeah. I’m about asleep.”

“Do you have to go?” Samantha asked.

“I have to get up at four-thirty to deliver papers in the morning,” Hannah said. “I’ve won carrier of the month twice already! I’m going to this cool dude ranch in October.” She turned to me. “Want to ride collections with me tomorrow so I don’t fall asleep, Brian?”

“Sure! That sounds like fun. I’ll tell you all about the dude ranch. I’ve been there four times.”

“I know. Maybe you’ll come, too.”

3
Invitation

THE DANCE ENDED at midnight, but we all had midnight curfews except Candace and Renee, so we took off early.

“Oh hell. I don’t have a ride home,” Renee said.

“I’ll take you,” Candace jumped in. “I’m taking Brian home. Where do you live?” When Renee said the neighborhood, Whitney spoke up.

“Hey! That’s right where I live. Can I get a ride, too?” Whitney bit her lip and looked pleadingly at Candace. Candace winked at her.

“Sure. Let’s go. Seniors in the front, freshmen in the back!” I think Renee might have been a bit disappointed in that, but she was laughing a few steps ahead of us by the time we got to the car. I offered my hand to Whitney and she took it. I guess that was explicit permission to hold hands. This was going to be good. Candace’s car was a not-particularly big two-door. Poor Whitney is the tallest girlfriend.

“Maybe Whitney should ride up front,” I suggested.

“No!” Whitney almost shouted. I held the passenger door open and the seat forward while Whitney crawled in. Now that was a view I hadn’t seen anywhere near enough of. Renee smirked beside me.

“You next. You might have to get cozy in there.” No kidding. Whitney and I were going to be cramped and uncomfortable. Candace opened her door and watched Renee try to put the seatback upright.

“Okay, that’s not going to work like that. Will you two give permission to hold each other in your arms?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Hell yes,” Whitney responded.

“Okay. Not that I’ve ever done this, mind you, but I’m a theater director. Buckle your seatbelt, Brian.” I did. “Now, Whitney, turn around so you are up against Brian with your feet on this side. Brian, hold her so she doesn’t fall off while she’s buckling the middle belt. You might have to turn your knees toward the center so Renee can get the seat up.” When we were finally situated, Whitney was more or less lying in my arms and had her arms around me and her face buried against my chest. It was a very… nice feeling.

“Brian,” Whitney whispered when we were barely out of the school parking lot, “will you kiss me?” Whitney was the first girl I’d ever held hands with and we’d been friends for years, but I realized that we’d never given each other even the simplest kiss. “If it’s not too gross. I know I’m big and everything.”

“Whitney, nothing about you is gross. Don’t forget, you’re talking to your boyfriend here. I know these things.” I bent to her lips and brushed them with my own. I suddenly felt like I had a cat in my lap that was trying to mold every part of her body to every part of mine, only this cat was six feet tall and I was five-five. No matter. I loved every inch. Whitney didn’t have much up front, but I could feel what there was pressed into my chest as we lost ourselves in the kiss. I didn’t let my hands roam. We didn’t agree to that, but I felt her fingers tightening and loosening against my back as the fervor of the kiss mounted.

“First stop,” Candace announced. Renee opened her door.

“Wait!” I said as she stepped out of the car. “I need to walk you to the door.”

“Oh, you’re with Whitney. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. You joined us as a date tonight and I always walk a date to her door.” Whitney smiled dreamily at me and pushed herself up so I could get my belt unfastened. I managed to practically fall out of the car and then stood next to Renee. “May I hold your hand as we walk to the door, Renee?” I asked. She nodded and gave me her hand. It was no big deal. This was a Leave It to Beaver kind of neighborhood and it was all of about twenty feet to her door. We got there and she waited not reaching for the doorknob. I finally figured out that was my cue.

“You were really brave tonight to break up with Chad like that. May I kiss you goodnight?”

“I think I gave you permission in the first full sentence I spoke to you tonight,” she said lifting her lips. I didn’t push the kiss. I didn’t put my arms around her but continued to hold her hands between us. I had a feeling this girl had kissed a lot and I wasn’t going to try to compete. It was just a sweet goodnight kiss. She smiled and waved as I went back to the car and she went inside.

“Just get in front, Brian,” Whitney said. “It’s really only two blocks to my house.”

“I could go out and drive around for a while if you want,” Candace said. “You were so cute back there.”

“Curfews,” I said. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes till I have to be home.”

At Whitney’s house, I walked her to the door. Kissing was a little different. Whitney had to bend down to meet my lips.

“It’s so awkward. I wish I was shorter.”

“I wish I was taller,” I said. “But Whitney, you are beautiful. I am so proud to be your boyfriend.” She practically crushed me in the hug she gave.

“That was my first,” she whispered. “My first kiss ever. Thank you, boyfriend.”

Candace got to my house with five minutes to spare. She got out of the car just as I was reaching across the console to kiss her. I turned back and she was opening my door.

“What’s this about?” I asked laughing.

“You made the rule. Always walk your date to the door. It’s a cinch you aren’t walking me to my door since I drove, so I have to walk you to yours.”

“Candace, you are the funniest woman I’ve ever met. I’m so glad we had that demo together.”

“Me, too. I’m going to have a lot of fun with my new boyfriends and girlfriends. Next week, though, I want you to reserve at least one lunch to come join me when I sit with my theater friends. I think you’ll like most of them. Aside from Joe. He thinks he’s a movie star because he did a TV commercial for Ed’s used cars last summer. I think that just makes him a used car salesman. But you’ll like the others, I promise. I think you should try out for the fall show.”

“Uh, maybe,” I said. It would be fun to spend time with Candace doing what she likes to do. Well, besides kiss.

“Permission to kiss my boyfriend and put my arms around him?” she asked.

“Granted.”

“Ditto.”

I was in the house at thirty seconds before midnight.

I met Hannah at the gas station at ten and we rode her collections route. I was proud to note that there were several new subscribers on the route. She’d really worked hard over the summer. We parked our bikes at her house and her mom took us to the newspaper office to pay her weeklies. There was her picture, right in the middle with “Carrier of the Month—August” under it. My picture was still on the wall, too, as “Carrier of the Month—January.”

“You just wanted me to see your picture on the wall, didn’t you? And look, June, too! Wow! Everybody’s going to think our route is magical since we have so many pictures.”

“Every morning when I head out on my route, I say ‘Thank you, Brian.’ This is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Well, wait until the snow starts to fly before you thank me. Do you have good boots and snow gear?”

“Mom promised new boots this fall and she’s been knitting hats and scarves like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Keep those cute, precious ears of yours warm,” I said touching one lightly.

“Oooh,” she said, scrunching up her shoulder. “Brian, I have that trip to the dude ranch that I can take this fall.”

“You’ll love it! You get to trail ride, tend the horses, and even get riding instructions.”

“Do you want to go, too? Like for your birthday again?” My birthday at the dude ranch. Oh man! What great memories. Hannah picked up on my hesitance. “I’m sorry. I forgot that was where you met the Kokomo girlfriends. It must be special to you. Maybe I shouldn’t go. I could give you the trip for your birthday.”

“Hannah, no! That’s not fair. Besides, they signed the agreement, too. There was a message that Mom took last night that they called and had signed.”

“That’s right! Let’s ask them to go, too.” Hannah, Jennifer, and Courtney at the same time? Whoa!

“I don’t know.”

“Really, Brian. It would be fun. We could ask some of the others to go, too.”

“Well, um… Hannah, the problem is that if you and I went, we sort of know how to treat each other. We love each other, but we don’t do mushy things together. And that’s all right. I’m going to keep loving you, no matter what. But Courtney and Jennifer sort of like to…” Hannah started laughing. “What?”

“I think I’m the only one in the dating group who doesn’t like all the kissy stuff. Except maybe Whitney. I don’t know.” And I’m not telling. “It never bothers me to see you hold hands or kiss Liz or Rose. Sometimes I get kind of excited to see it. It just doesn’t appeal to me to do it. As long as you don’t abandon me in a field somewhere, I don’t mind if you kiss Courtney or Jennifer.” Hannah dropped her voice to a whisper. “Or even if you touch them like Liz said you did her.” I flushed and could feel the heat in my ears. I wondered how much and what Liz had told anyone.

I rode my bike home still flushed.

“Mom, I was wondering if I could spend my birthday weekend at the ranch again this year. I’d be home Sunday afternoon so we could still celebrate on my birthday.”

“What brought this on?” There was just no way I could lie to my mom. She had this built-in bullshit-detector that I’d never managed to get around. I already figured I’d have to tell her.

“Hannah won the trip from the paper this month and asked me to go with her.” Mom looked at me while she mouthed the words ‘with her.’ I nodded.

“Just the two of you?”

“No. Not exactly. We thought we’d ask Jennifer and Courtney to meet us there if they can. Of course, they might not be able to because they were there… uh… this summer.”

“Brian, you aren’t pushing Hannah, are you? I know you are a little more advanced or maybe well-educated than I expected at fifteen, but Hannah isn’t.”

“No, Mom. We signed an agreement.”

“The call last night from Jennifer said to tell you ‘We signed the agreement.’ Suppose you tell me about this.” If I ever wanted to go out with my friends again this year, I was going to have to show Mom the agreement. I went to the attic and brought it down.

She read it.

I waited.

“I like the ‘no penetration’ clause,” she sighed. “Brian…” she started then backed up. “There are fourteen names on this list and only four are boys.”

“Plus, two girls in Kokomo.”

“Aren’t you a little outnumbered?”

“Should I complain?” I could act so innocent sometimes.

“I can see the benefit in this. We used to call it ‘playing the field.’ Only you’ve narrowed the field. It’s going to be tricky keeping to this agreement—especially the no jealousy part. That’s what I’m worried about. Will Hannah get jealous seeing you with other girls on a special weekend for your birthday? She is a very special girl to us and we are so glad you are still friends.”

“Hannah suggested it and I asked her the same question. She likes to be with us, but she just doesn’t like anything that is remotely sexual—I mean like kissing. Even hugging or holding hands is something that we only do occasionally. Mom, I would never do anything in the world to hurt Hannah. I know I’m too young for these feelings and that’s why we all agreed to write the agreement so we protected each other. But I love Hannah. I will never hurt her.”

Mom sat there rereading the agreement and the names that were on it.

“See if you can arrange for Jennifer and Courtney to get there at the same time we do, so the mothers can all meet.”

She handed the agreement back to me.

Jennifer and Courtney squealed so loud on the phone when I called them that it hurt my ear. I was beginning to wonder if they were always at each other’s houses since I’d always found them together. But it was Saturday afternoon, after all. There followed a number of calls back and forth and our moms, including Mrs. Gordon, all got into the act before they called the dude ranch and finally, there was an agreement on when we would all show up. It took about a week to get all the arrangements made. It was going to be an interesting weekend.

Monday morning, I rode my bike to school. I don’t know why I’d never ridden my bike, but it was a good three miles and that was normally bussing distance. But biking was the only way I could think of that I’d be able to see Judy. I headed out of school with the ‘walkers’ Monday afternoon and got to the bike rack just in time.

“Hey, Shorty,” I called.

“Don’t you call me… Brian! What are you doing out here with the little kids?”

“Judy, is this guy bothering you?” a gruff voice asked from behind me. He wasn’t much bigger than me, but enough. I put both my hands up.

“No, Monte. This is my friend, Brian. Thanks for checking up on me.”

“You want me to ride home with you?” he asked.

“I’d like to ride along if I could,” I said.

“You go ahead, Monte. I’ll be fine. Thanks!” Monte shot another quizzical look at me and then rode his bike toward the street.

“You really want to ride home with me?” Judy said.

“That’s why I rode my bike today. It wasn’t a bad ride, though. I miss riding since I gave up my paper route.”

“Why’d you give it up?” Judy asked.

“I… uh… got hurt last spring and my girlfriend took it over. She really loved the paper route, so I let her have it.”

“Girlfriend? Is that why I couldn’t be your girlfriend?” Judy teased.

“Judy. You know why you couldn’t be my girlfriend. Even though I broke up with Hannah, or she broke up with me, you and I aren’t at a good age to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I like you, though, and I wanted to see how you were doing this fall.”

“Hannah? But she’s the girl in the barrel race who said she was your girlfriend.”

“You saw that?”

“Are you kidding? After the demos, Miss Sullivan called everyone in the group and made us watch your demo on The Homemaker’s Hour. After that, I just made sure I tuned into any live broadcast from the Fair. Did you… uh… do it with that other Demo Dolly?”

“Judy! First of all, you know I wouldn’t tell you if I did. Secondly, I’m at least as much a virgin as you are.”

“What makes you think I’m a virgin? Just because I’m little?”

“No. Just because I think you’ve got enough common sense to avoid that kind of situation until you are ready. Nobody’s tried to force you, have they?” Judy was quiet for a minute as we pedaled toward her neighborhood.

“Tried. But he didn’t succeed. And now… Brian, there’s some guys and girls that like adopted me. If someone tries to pick on me, they just back away or something. I’ve got some new friends this year.”

“That’s great, Judy. I was worried about you and that’s why I wanted to ride with you today.”

“Well, you saw how Monte reacted. He and Rich always seem to be close enough that if anybody comes up to me, they just ask if I’m okay. And there’s this cool girl at lunch named Lexi who asked me right out of the blue to sit with her. I’m loving junior high.”

“I am so glad to hear it,” I said. Samantha’s little sister made the first move. Sweet. “I was really worried that things would be hard for you. I don’t want to interfere, but I want you to know that if you need a friend—not a boyfriend—that you could call me. Okay?”

“Yeah. Now tell me about Hannah. And what’s this about five girlfriends?”

“Fourteen, I think,” I answered. Judy’s eyes got big.

Thankfully, Lionel, Carl, and Derek were all in my Phys Ed class. For the most part, we just played whatever sport we wanted to. On Wednesdays we had to run a mile and we were marked down a point if we couldn’t do it in six minutes. We got four weeks to get up to speed and then our times each Wednesday would count. Coach Hancock was our Phys Ed teacher. He also taught history. I thought it was cool that all our coaches and PE teachers taught real subjects, too. But he was the JV basketball coach and he always suggested we play a little basketball if we were interested. Well, having Lionel and Carl there, I chose basketball whenever it was offered.

I couldn’t even get the ball to the hoop until I was twelve. But like every Indiana kid I ever met, I’d pick up the ball and throw it at the hoop every day when I walked by. The doctor had encouraged me to shoot the basketball to strengthen my arm after Kirby broke it. I guess, I’d become pretty good at hitting the basket. We’d scrimmaged a little in gym, but mostly we played HORSE. The only thing that was out was dunking, but you could put all kinds of spin on the ball and make ridiculous moves while shooting that the next player would have to duplicate. If somebody ahead of me made a bunch of moves or switched hands or threw the ball over his shoulder and made a basket, I’d get a letter. But if I got a free shot from outside the foul circle, the next guy almost always got a letter. Seemed I was the only one who could make those outside shots.

Coach Hancock came up to me after gym on Tuesday and laid a hand on my shoulder.

“You need to try out for the JV team, Brian. We could use you.” I laughed.

“You need a short kid for some federal equal opportunity program?” I asked.

“Basketball is a game of skill, not just a game of height,” Coach said. I looked up at him. He was almost as tall as Lionel.

“If you say so, Coach.”

“We’re playing a girl this year. We might as well play a short kid, too,” Coach laughed. I got to thinking. Whitney was the girl. It would be pretty cool to play with her. I was sure Lionel would play varsity, but Carl and Doug would probably make the JV team. Hell. Why not?

4
No Ma’am

“HEY, DENISE,” I said at lunch on Wednesday. “How about going to see that Tom Cruise movie on Saturday? Interested?”

“Well damn, paleface. I just told Dougie I’d go see that with him. Why don’t you grab someone and come with us?” I glanced around the table. Samantha raised her hand and waved at me.

“Samantha? Did you have something you wanted to say?” I asked.

“Yes, teacher. I was wondering if you’d like to go see that Tom Cruise movie Saturday afternoon with Denise, Dougie, and me.” I’d never heard Doug referred to as Dougie until Denise said it and when Samantha used the name, he turned red.

“Samantha!” I said. “I was just wondering about that. I’d love to go. Thank you for asking me.”

“Dutch treat,” Samantha said. “I can’t pay for both of us.”

“No problem. I’ll even buy popcorn.” I looked at Denise and Doug. “For the two of us.” We laughed. Plans were flying around the table. Some in our group were going out this weekend and some weren’t. But it seemed that everyone was fine with it.

On Thursday, I approached Candace’s table and said ‘hi’ to everyone.

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show,” Candace said, smiling up at me from her seat. “If you’d like to give me a kiss on the cheek, boyfriend, you could do that.” I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and set my tray down next to hers. “Everybody, I want you all to meet my boyfriend, Brian,” she said to the table.

“Wasn’t that just a publicity stunt you guys did on TV?” a pretty blonde said. She was a little… soft around the edges, but no one in his right mind would call her overweight. She just had really nice curves. “You guys were great on that TV show. Ms. Sullivan got a video tape and Ms. Abernathy showed it the first day of Home Ec.”

“Started out as a joke,” Candace said. “But I’ve fallen for this guy—and the other… sixteen?… in our dating group. Oh, Brian, this trashy blonde who asked personal questions is Mercedes.” I stood enough that I could reach to shake her hand. “I know what you’re thinking, and yes, she is a luxury ride. Ask anyone at the table.”

“Candace,” Mercedes hissed.

“I love you, sweetheart. You know I’m kidding.” Candace introduced me to the others in her group and we relaxed pretty quickly. They were all witty and the main theme was talking about the fall musical.

“Do you sing, Brian?” Mercedes asked sweetly. Fuck! She had just the right amount of makeup on to accent her blue eyes and her dress looked like a layer of gauze over lush curves. I forgot the question as soon as she asked it.

“Baritone or tenor, Brian?” Candace prodded.

“Uh, no. I don’t sing very well. I don’t think my voice has finished changing yet. And I was never much of a singer.”

“He’d make a great Martin, though, wouldn’t he?” Candace asked the group. She turned back to me. “Martin only has five lines and four of them are ‘Yes, ma’am.’ You could do that, couldn’t you, Brian?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said without thinking. Everyone at the table broke up in fits of laughter.

“He’s got eighty percent of the part memorized already!” a dark-haired guy on my left said. I didn’t remember his name, but it was obvious he didn’t consider me competition for any role he wanted.

“Auditions are on Tuesday afternoon next week. Come to them and I’ll take you home afterward,” Candace said. She turned on a fake charm that I recognized as Candace doing a role. “Your home or mine, I’m not sure yet.”

I guess somehow or other, I committed to auditioning for the fall musical on Tuesday.

The football game was an away game and none of us had transportation to go forty miles to watch our team get smeared. I knew what the results were going to be before the day ever got there. Reggie called me Thursday night.

“Hey, how’s college?” I asked.

“It’s kicking my ass from here to Chicago,” Reggie answered. “I wish you were here to take notes.”

“Like I’d understand what a college professor was talking about.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Even if you didn’t understand you’d have good notes. Hey. I understand you had words with Mad Chad.”

“It was nothing, really.”

“Yeah, I got more sources on the football team than Carter’s got little liver pills. You did good, but Chad’s an ass. It was a pain to protect him all last season, but like you said, it takes the whole team to win the game.”

“I think you said that.”

“Maybe. You got me to think about it. You know the starting tackle on our team here is two inches taller and forty pounds heavier than me? I feel like a fucking shrimp!”

“Welcome to the club.”

“Yeah. Anyway. You know the St. Joe Valley team sucks this season. Look, Whitcomb trampled them last week and that has to be the worst team I ever played against. I just wanted you to know that… uh… there isn’t going to be much offense this weekend. It’s not like the team is throwing the game. They don’t stand a chance against Rochester. It’s just that the front line has been feeling a little weak doesn’t want to get injured for nothing. If I were you, I wouldn’t even bother going to the game.”

“Thanks for the warning, Reggie. I don’t have a way to get there anyway. Besides, the only reason we came to the games last year was to see you smear someone.”

“Thanks buddy. I hear you’ve got a new girlfriend or a dozen. When I’m home on break you’ve got to let me in on the secret.”

“Hey, Reg. Classes or girls, it pays to study.”

Our quarterback, Mad Chad, was sacked seventeen times Friday night and we were behind sixty to nothing when he limped off the field and Coach Nolan put Rick Ambler in. Funny that Rick never got sacked in the last third of the game and we actually scored. We still lost.

I don’t know why I was so antsy on Saturday. I went out and rode the collection route with Hannah in the morning, but she sent me home before she went to the office. Our parents had all agreed that we could meet at the ranch and I could just see how excited Hannah was about it.

“But now you need to go home and shower,” she said. “And shave. I see a whisker.” She pointed at the left side of my upper lip. Right. “You need to be all fresh and ready for your date with Samantha. She’s so excited she can’t think straight.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with me going out with all these girls?” I asked. I really wanted Hannah to say that she wanted me to break the date and only go out with her. Dream on.

“Are you kidding? If she asked me, I’d go out with her. Have you ever really looked at her legs? They’re like… wow!” Oh, God. Her legs. They’re like silk. And where her legs came together… Fuck!

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you Monday.”

I rode home and showered and used the soap on my cock a lot longer than it took to get clean. Maybe I wouldn’t sprout a hard-on as soon as I saw Samantha. Denise’s father agreed to drive us that afternoon and she and Dougie were already in the back seat when they picked me up and then swung around to pick up Samantha. Denise’s dad drove a big Cadillac and all four of us sat in the back seat like we had a chauffeur.

“Thanks, Daddy,” Denise said as we piled out of the car.

“Movie gets over at four o’clock,” he said. “You go over to that diner and buy all your friends a malt after the movie. Here’s twenty bucks. You treat your little white friends nice now. I’ll pick you up at five-thirty.” Her dad didn’t say a word to any of the rest of us.

“Brian, may I hold your hand?”

“Yes, Samantha. May I put my arm around you?”

“Yes, Brian. Please hold me close. If there’s a good place in the movie, you can kiss me. If there’s a scary place, you can kiss me then, too.”

I watched for the first place where I thought it was appropriate to kiss Samantha. There it was! The hero leaned in to kiss the girl. I turned to kiss Sam and she pushed my head to the front until the scene was over. I felt her sigh and then she turned my face to kiss her. Right when they flew off for a dogfight.

Dogfight or kiss? Shit! I kissed Samantha. We missed the scary part of the movie. In fact, we really didn’t see the rest of the movie.

“I’m so excited! I’ve never been to a dude ranch before,” Samantha said as we got our malts.

“Huh?” I was so intelligent sometimes.

“I got permission to go to the dude ranch with you and Hannah in two weeks. I’m so looking forward to meeting our girlfriends, Jennifer and Courtney.” Somehow, I’d missed that anyone else was going.

“I don’t know about no dude ranch,” Denise said. “I don’t want to break a nail because I gotta shovel some horseshit.”

“It’s not like that, Denise,” I said. “I mean, yeah. I help out mucking out stalls and brushing horses. But I do that every day at home. I like horses. I’ve got two I take care of. But the ranch is a place where everyone fits in where they are comfortable. You learn to ride. You help with some of the chores. You laugh a lot with friends.”

“We should all do it next time,” Doug said. “I’ve been hearing for three years how wonderful this place is. We should plan for all of us to go over spring break or something.”

“What a great idea,” Samantha said. “I’ll check it out and let everyone know what it’s like so we’ll know what to pack.”

“I still don’t know about no horses,” Denise said. “Can I come visit yours sometime, Brian?”

“Sounds like fun. We’ll set something up later. This afternoon, let’s concentrate on our dates. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but you’ve got a hunk hanging on your shoulder and taking sips out of your malt.”

“Yeah, I noticed. We got half an hour before Daddy comes to pick us up. I figure there must be someplace near where I could lick some of that strawberry off his lips.”

We found a place. I got lost in Samantha’s kiss for an eternity. Luckily, I happened to glance at my watch. We barely made it out front of the diner before Denise’s dad drove up in his Caddy. All the way home, I had my hand resting softly between Samantha’s silky thighs.

Auditions Tuesday were the weirdest thing I’d ever seen or participated in. Ms. Streeter was the faculty director. She was also the speech teacher. Nearly everyone who was trying out was either in her class or in the school choir. It was fun to watch some of the theater kids in action. Leo, who I’d just met, was a shoo-in for the male lead. He had a great voice. Watching Candace and Mercedes play off each other was cool but hearing them sing a duet was awesome.

“Brian Frost, please go to center stage,” Ms. Streeter called. Candace nudged me.

“Quick!” I jumped up and went to stand in the middle of the stage. No one gave me a script.

“Is this your first time on stage?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Do you have butterflies in your stomach?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Do you think you can relax enough to answer two more questions?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you willing to work hard and rehearse to make this musical a success?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She hesitated for a moment.

“Are you sleeping with anyone you have seen audition here this afternoon?”

“NO MA’AM!” I shouted. Shit! What was that about? Everybody in the auditorium who had already auditioned started laughing. When they finally settled down the auditorium got quiet.

“Well, since you already have the part memorized, I’ll give you the role of Martin. And do not be late for rehearsal.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“No ad-libbing!” I had no idea why everyone in the auditorium was laughing so hard. I just got off the stage and Candace hugged me. That was okay. I could be hugged by Candace all day.

We had two away games in a row, so no one was planning to go to the game Friday night. There was a rumor that Rick was going to start at quarterback, but we weren’t interested enough to get rides to Goshen. Friday at lunch, Renee came to our table. I stood and welcomed her. I guess that was the cue for all the guys to stand. We all laughed. She looked around our table and smiled.

“Can I join you for lunch today?” she asked.

“Sure,” Brenda answered. “Didn’t you know this is a cheerleader table? Anytime you want to join us you’re welcome.”

“Brenda, you are so sweet. How are you doing with your cheer routines?”

“Okay, but they seem so elementary sometimes. We don’t really get much opportunity until basketball season.”

“How about if we have a joint Junior High, JV, and Varsity workshop soon. I’m sure I could arrange it. After all, you girls will probably be varsity next year. We need to get you ready.” Brenda and Rose both squealed. It was a happy time.

“I was wondering if I could borrow one of your guys tonight. I mean… date.”

“You have to ask the guy,” Rose said. “And agree to the rules.”

“I’ll say right up front that I agree to the rules. Brian? Would you ride along to the game with us as my date?” What was I going to do about this? Going to an away game with none of my friends there? I really wasn’t sure. I wondered if Renee was setting me up.

“I don’t know, Renee. Are you sure it’s okay? I mean, I’d just be in the stands by myself, so our date would just be a car ride there and back.” Renee stood up and I thought I’d really insulted her. How was I going to fix this? And why was I such a little coward? Renee whistled and three guys headed our way. Carl, Doug, and Lionel pushed back their chairs, then I saw Carl relax and laugh.

Carl’s brother Bill, Sammy D, and Jimmy Squires all approached our table.

“Bill, you and your boys going to the game tonight?”

“Of course, Renee. You know we come just to watch you and the rest of the cheerleaders. We don’t care about the game,” Bill laughed.

“I kinda invited Brian to travel with me. Can he sit with you during the game? You know, while we’re working?”

“Hell, yes,” Jimmy said. “Brian’s the man. I got his back.” I was blushing. They were laying it on a bit thick.

“Satisfied?” Renee asked me. Those three guys were a little rough around the edges, but they’d protected me through a lot of shit. I stood up.

“Renee, may I escort you to the game tonight?” I asked.

“Brian, would you? That would be so sweet!” The guys all said they’d see us later and left. Renee sat down beside me. “If we pick you up at five, would that be okay?” she asked. I nodded. “Shelly is driving. Her dad has a seven-passenger van. Do I need to ask your parents or anything?”

“You know the family rule,” I said.

“I’ll come to the door.”

I have fourteen of the hottest girls in the freshman and senior classes—oh and two sophomores in Kokomo—as my stated girlfriends and three great guys as my best friends, and I’m going out with the captain of the varsity cheerleading squad. And the other four varsity cheerleaders. What the fuck?

I checked in with Mom as soon as I got home and told her I was being picked up for the game at five.

“Who all from your group is going?” Mom asked.

“Uh, just me. It’s an away game in Goshen. That’s why we’re leaving so early.”

“Who’s picking you up?”

“Renee. She’s the cheerleading captain. I guess the other four cheerleaders are riding with us.” I held my breath.

“Brian?”

“I’m taking a copy of the rules with me and I’m meeting Carl’s brother at the game.”

“Rules or no rules, curfew is still midnight.”

“Yes, Mom.”

I saw the van pull into our driveway and I grabbed my coat to go out and meet them. I was at the door when the bell rang.

“Hi, Brian. Do I need to say hi to your parents?”

“My mom and dad aren’t home from work yet.”

“And you still made me come to the door?” She got a fake scowl on her face.

“Rules are rules. When I told them I was going to the game, they decided to have dinner downtown. Uh, I have to make sure you know that I have a midnight curfew, though.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. We always ride to the game together, but often the girls split up after the game and ride home with their boyfriends if they aren’t on the team. Shelly’s been seeing Bill again, so he’ll probably ride back with us. That’s kind of why I wanted a date. I didn’t want… anyone to think I was available.”

“Okay.” We went out to the van and the middle seat was empty for the two of us. We buckled in.

“Thanks for coming, Brian,” the brunette in the front passenger seat said, turning to look at me. She had a nice smile. “I’m Flo. Since Renee has a date, I get to ride shotgun.”

“And we get to ride chaperone,” said one of the girls behind me. “We’ll be slapping you on the head if you get fresh.”

“I won’t be,” I said. “I have rules.”

“We heard that’s why Chad got busted by you. What are the rules?”

“I brought a copy,” I said. “Just in case Renee wanted to read them over.” I handed the folded sheet to Renee and she read through them. She was puzzled at one point and then smiled.

“I didn’t know about rule number four,” she laughed. “But thank you. I agree.” She handed the sheet to the girls in the back seat and they read them.

“You’re going to have to read them out loud,” Shelly said. “I can’t read them while I’m driving.”

“Flo can read them to you when we’re finished.”

“You really follow all these rules?” Syl asked. She was the brunette sitting behind me.

“Yes. It’s not that hard.”

“There’s so many of them,” Shelly said.

“There’s really only four that state what we have to do or not do. Number five is kind of an affirmation of our power to stop anything that is happening. The last three cover things that we might want to do sometime. My date with Renee falls under rule number six.”

“I may date others who have not signed this agreement if they agree to behave in accordance with this agreement.” Flo read. “So that’s why Renee said she agreed.”

“Right. That’s also why we came down so hard on Chad. He said he’d agree to the rules and then started pawing Brenda without her permission.”

“But you are out alone with us,” Sharon said. She was the other brunette behind me. Three blondes and two brunettes. Apparently, the redhead graduated last year. “What if we decided to ignore the rules?”

“First of all, coming with you was an act of trust.” I was getting a little nervous. Renee hadn’t even offered her hand to me this evening and these other girls were acting kind of aggressive. I realized I didn’t really know any of them and even though I trusted Bill, I wouldn’t see him until we got to the game. “Second, I’m not here with all of you, I’m here with Renee and she agreed to the rules. Third, anytime I can find a phone I can call any parent of any of the sixteen of us who signed the agreement and they will come to pick me up, no questions asked. And finally, there are sixteen of us. I waited two months with a broken arm after Kirby and his gang beat me to a pulp last spring. But they are in jail.”

“Shit.”

The car was quiet for a while and I saw Renee relax. I hadn’t realized she was so uptight.

“May I hold your hand, Brian?” she whispered. I smiled and held out my hand.

“Brian?” said Sharon from behind me. “We weren’t trying to be nasty. Renee’s been burned and we didn’t want to see it again. We think you—and your rules—are pretty cool.”

5
Horses

WE LOST THE GAME. They outran us, out-passed us, and out-scored us. It was funny, though. Rick went the entire game and was hardly touched. We were just over-powered.

Flo, Syl, and Sharon all had dates waiting for them after the game, so the trip back was just Shelly, Bill, Renee and me. We stopped for a burger at McDonalds on the way back.

“Hey, Brian, have you heard anything from Jessica?” Bill asked.

“No. I only know that her folks went to Paris to be with her for a month. I’ve been mowing their yard. I don’t know when she’s coming back, but I don’t think it will be for school.”

“Are you a friend of Jessica’s?” Renee asked. “She would have been a great cheerleader, but I hear she got into modeling.”

“She’s my next-door neighbor. And my friend,” I said.

When we got back in the car, Renee and I got in the back seat instead of the middle. I kind of figured she must want to make out, but she just asked me to put my arm around her and hold her. I did. It was sweet and she stayed cuddled to me all the way back to my house. I think she even went to sleep. She sat up when she heard the crunching of the cinders as Shelly went up our drive. I glanced at my watch and it was only eleven o’clock.

“If you guys want to take some time back there, or go in, we’re okay for a while,” Shelly said. She crawled over the console and into the middle seat motioning Bill to follow her. “Come here, baby. The rules say no penetration, but you have permission for everything else.” Renee kind of cringed in her seat. She moved over and reached for the door.

“We’ll give you guys a few minutes,” she said. “But don’t get naked.” We got out of the car.

“Would you like to come in?” I asked. “I baked cookies yesterday. Just basic Tollhouse cookies, but they’re pretty good.”

“Really? Yes. Thank you.” We went in and Mom came out of her bedroom. She was still dressed, thank goodness.

“You’re home early. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Mom. I just asked Renee in for a cookie and milk. Is that okay.”

“Sure. Hi, Renee. I’m Brian’s mother, Marilyn. Apparently, he forgot his manners while he was out this evening.” Renee started to hold out her hand, but mom just stepped up to her and hugged her.

“Thank you, Mrs. Frost. I’m sure it was only a momentary lapse. Brian’s been very polite all evening. He’s really nice.”

“We think so. Well, I’ll leave you to your cookies and milk. Still a midnight curfew, though.”

“Thanks Mom. Sorry I didn’t make a proper introduction. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Your mom is nice.”

“Yeah. Be glad she came out and not Dad with his shotgun,” I laughed. Renee didn’t laugh until I did. “Relax, Renee. Nobody here is going to hurt you. Not in any way.” I set a plateful of cookies and two glasses of milk on the table.

“I can’t believe you’re a freshman,” she sighed. “Except I’d have had a constant battle to keep the hands of any senior boy I know off of me on the way home. You guys are all so polite.”

“It’s rule number one. Treat everyone with kindness and respect,” I said. “We’re still working out exactly what it means, but we all agreed it included being polite.”

“It’s such a relief. I didn’t want to make out or have sex. I just wanted to be held. Thank you, Brian.”

I pushed back my chair and held out my arms. Renee jumped up and sat in my lap, hugging me and rubbing her face against my chest. We sat that way for half an hour.

“It’s almost midnight,” I whispered to her. “I’m sorry you have to go.”

“Me, too. May I have a little kiss goodnight?”

“Yes,” I whispered. Just like after the ball game two weeks ago, I kissed her softly. She got off my lap and I flipped on the outdoor light. That should give Shelly and Bill enough time to get straightened up.

“Goodnight, Brian. Thank you.”

Denise and her dad pulled into my drive at noon. I had lunch ready. I was a little nervous. I was determined to have all my girlfriends and at least some of their parents over for a meal and to meet my parents. My folks were on-board and encouraged me.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea to meet your friends and their parents. Dad and I haven’t met a lot of new people since elementary school PTA meetings.”

I answered the door and Mr. Raymond stood between me and Denise. I had a feeling he was just a mite protective of her.

“Hi, Mr. Raymond. Hi, Denise. Please come in and meet my parents. I have lunch just about ready.” They followed me to the living room and I introduced them to my parents. As soon as the intros were done, Denise followed me to the kitchen.

“Scared?” she asked.

“No. Well. Maybe a little. Your dad is pretty intimidating. I’ve only met him once before.”

“Well, he was impressed that neither of you white boys flinched at riding in the back of his car.”

“Are you kidding? That’s a luxury ride. The four of us weren’t even crowded. How’s he feel about you dating one white boy one week and another the next?”

“Well, you scored points by inviting him to lunch and to meet your parents. I… uh… had to show him the agreement.”

“That’s good. Mom and Dad have read it, too. With all the signatures. What did he think?”

“He was puzzled, but he really liked the ‘no penetration’ clause.”

“Man. Parents really zero in on that one, don’t they? You’d think that we are all just waiting for an opportunity to jump each other.” I laughed as I poured the soup. It was almost too cold for the gazpacho, but Denise had requested it specifically. I noticed that she wasn’t laughing with me.

“Maybe I was,” she said softly. “Until Lionel invited me to our table and I met everybody, I was playing with some pretty dangerous characters. Our neighborhood isn’t as nice as living out here in the country. It can get pretty rough and if you don’t give back as good as you get, they start thinking you are prey. It got pretty tense at the end of this summer and Dad beat the crap out of a neighborhood thug who had his hands on me. That’s why I transferred to SJV.”

“Damn, Denise. That’s a crappy thing to happen. I’m sorry. I’m glad your dad was there to help.”

“Yeah. Well, the thing was, I’d have probably gone with him just to prove I was able to play with the big guys. I’d probably be pregnant by now and just be a gang bitch.”

I didn’t know what to say. No wonder Mr. Raymond was protective. Denise was about the same height as me and had a slender build. She was definitely mature, but didn’t have the super stacks that Sugar, Brenda, and Rose had. Even in her tight blue jeans, though, she had an incredible round butt. We called everyone to the table. Because there were five of us, I served lunch at the dining room table, but just with placemats and paper napkins. We had the soup, a big chef salad, and of course, fresh bread.

The Agreement

Devon Layne

That was a preview of The Agreement. To read the rest purchase the book.

Add «The Agreement» to Cart