Sprouting
By eloquent delinquent
Nicole’s legs feel so wobbly when she hops down from the stump that she almost blunders into the side panel of the RV, but she manages to stagger away, her heart in her throat.
As she rounds the vehicle, her mind is a jumble. Those hot demanding feelings are fading with each step she takes, but her thoughts are snarled. She doesn’t want Abbey all mixed up in the Scouts and their secrets (especially before me, she thinks, but quickly forces herself to forget that bit), she wants her little sister safe. Whatever that means; she’s not even sure what she’s thinking. Abbey must be too little for all that being undressed and touching and tickling. But then, Britt is only two years older than Abbey, and Penny and Joy are the same age as her, and they seem just fine with it.
She also knows that she’s supposed to trust the Scouts, her Tender and her troop, and respect the secrets they have to keep. And if she’s learned anything over the last two weeks, it’s that these soft, close moments are the key to all their secrets. The exposing of one Scout to another, not just in their heart, but for real, with their bodies, their most private places, is part of what makes this troop so special and so tightly bonded.
If she tells, it’s surely breaking that trust. Will it keep her from getting in? What will Mom do? How big a deal is this? Does Katie know?
Nicole crosses out from under the awning and starts searching the gathered families, sweat prickling all over her skin, her fingers cool and nervous. Everyone’s talking and eating and making jokes, not even knowing what’s going on only twenty feet from them. Nicole stalks down the edge of the crowd, eyeing each little knot of picnickers sharply, feeling kind of desperate. At the grill, Miss Kristanson notices and nudges Katie, who gives Nicole a concerned look. She glances away quickly, not wanting to meet the Tender’s eye, intent on finding her mother.
And then she sees Mom, or her familiar back and wavy brown hair anyway. She’s standing in a little group of her own, with slightly shorter, dark-haired Sophie and slight slim golden Maddy. And sheltering next to Mom’s hip is Abbey, in her peachy dress.
All of Nicole’s anxiety vanishes in a whoof. Abbey’s not in the RV, she’s not in trouble. She’s right here with Mom, making a goofball swoony face as she stares at Maddy. It’s a typical reaction.
Maddy is telling them, “…and so when I’m there it’s always go-go-go, and I come home and I’m so tired!” She smiles winningly from one mother to the other, and chuckles. “But I couldn’t miss this, I always feel best with my sprout scouts!”
Finding herself wanting to stop short, Nicole forces herself to approach them. Her concern over what’s happening in Katie’s RV is quickly fading now that Abbey’s not involved in it. Now it’s easy for her mind to dismiss it as “just Acorn stuff.” Maybe it’s just her wanting to. Seeing Mom and confronted with the reality of her choice, she finds that she’d rather keep the secrets, and trust the troop. Like a Scout, she thinks as she decides.
Seeing the girl Mom’s talking to, a new concern rises in her head. As much as she was shy about talking to Amber, it’s even more so when it comes to Maddy. The Seedling is something like a celebrity within the troop. She hasn’t been around much recently, Nicole doesn’t know her much except from a distance, but one look at her is enough to make the ten year old nervous.
Quite simply, Maddy is one of the prettiest girls Nicole has ever seen. Not just in the way that Lena has taught Nicole to see pretty, the beauty in the way a girl is true to herself, but really really pretty. With her streaming, slightly curly golden hair, her peaches and cream complexion, her little upturned nose, and blue eyes that are also turned up at the corners so it seems like she’s always smiling a little, she’s like a princess in a fairy story. When she talks she makes these expressive, curving gestures with her hands, like she’s a magician’s assistant presenting his next trick. Her voice is piping and melodious.
Maddy knows she’s pretty, too – she competes at contests to see who’s prettier. And she’s one of the girliest girls Nicole knows, putting great attention into her clothes, and hair, and even wearing makeup sometimes. Even today, she’s not planting anything. She’s wearing her formal green Scouting dress instead of her Explorer outfit, and there are green and aqua ribbons in her hair, lightly lifting into the warm breeze. She’s been helping the parents mostly, instead of getting her hands dirty.
And when she turns on the charm, she has, like, super powers. Mom and Sophie and Abbey are enthralled by her as she tells her story, with lots of smiles and meeting their eyes one by one. That’s why Nicole finds her so intimidating. It may not be fair, but when you’re as pretty as Maddy is, you’ve pretty much already won at being a girl.
So Nicole joins the group, Maddy notices her and turns full on to face her with this dazzling smile, dimples and all, and exclaims, “Nicole! You’re here! That’s so great! Does that mean they made you a Scout already?”
Nicole smiles back helplessly, “Naw, not yet, but I still get to help out.”
“Oh yeah? That’s neat! I’ve been up here a bunch of times, and it’s always so nice. We’re doing good for the Earth, too,” she declares. Then she looks modestly at each of them in turn with a little grin and adds, “That’s what my Mom says, anyway.”
They all chuckle politely. Nicole finds it hard to believe that Mrs Wheeler is her mother, the lean ranger with her sleeves rolled up, her strong chin, and her hair cut very close almost like a man. Nicole’s heard that Maddy’s very much a Daddy’s girl, and her dad is here right now, hovering a little ways off. Even though they’re both visiting other people, they glance over to one another every few minutes, checking in.
“Are you going to be back for a while?” Sophie asks.
“Oh gosh, no. We have to go Santa Cruz at the end of next week, and then we go to Palo Alto, Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach, then to Reno and then back to San Francisco again. It’s like the busiest time in the pageant calendar, I won’t be back for nearly a month!” she finishes with a little exasperated breath, to show how trying her schedule is.
“Well why don’t we all have some lunch?” Mom says obligingly, guiding them to a table, “and enjoy the time we do have.”
“Thanks, Ms Embry.”
“Call me Hope, honey.”
Sophie and Maddy both give Mom appreciative smiles at the same time. Nicole finds it surprising, and a little weird. When did this happen?
She just goes along with them, letting herself be caught up. When she spares a look back at the RV, she sees Britt and the Acorns come tumbling out, skipping and goofing around and nearly shining with happiness. Everything’s just dandy there! She’s glad now she didn’t say anything.
Mom serves up for all of them onto paper plates. Their little group moves to the shade and finds some folding sling chairs, sits down, and digs in. Nicole feels like a big old slob when she sees how daintily Maddy eats, but they’re both chowing down on the same stuff, chicken and macaroni salad and cornbread. Maddy makes eating a mustard-slathered hot dog look graceful. In between bites she relates how pageants work, and how she is only middling-good compared to some of the other girls.
“If you win, do you get a crown?” Abbey asks.
“I’ve never won. But I got third place once, and then they gave me a little one, and flowers.”
Abbey seems very pleased to hear that. She seems to be thinking she might like a crown, too.
Nicole marvels at how different Maddy’s life is – traveling, competing, always being poised. It sounds glamorous, but Maddy confides ruefully that there’s an awful lot of sitting around, waiting. “I’ve spent so much time with Ninetales and Blastoise on my DS, it’s like they’re real pets,” she tells them. Only the girls laugh – the grownups just look confused.
Out of the blue, Abbey asks, “Can I see your phone?”
Maddy graciously offers it up from her skirt pocket. It’s the latest smart phone, way fancier than the one Mom has. Golden hair sweeping gently against Abbey’s shoulder, she leans over and spends a minute fiddling with it, showing her little sister how it works, asking what she wants to see.
While they conspire, Sophie says, “When it comes to new people, Maddy’s kind of our goodwill ambassador.”
Mom lets out this breathy laugh, almost like a giggle, “I can see why.”
“I’m only sorry she hasn’t been around more. She can make the introduction of new Scouts and their mothers much, uh…” she grins as she looks for the right word, “smoother.”
“Lena’s great,” Nicole interjects. “I’m happy she was the one who showed me around.”
Sophie smiles really big, “I’m so glad you two get along so well. I know she thinks you’re awesome!”
Nicole finds herself matching Sophie’s big gushy smile with her own.
After that, Abbey’s engrossed in an app game and Maddy returns to the conversation, instantly becoming the center of attention again. Nicole can’t figure out if what she’s saying is really so interesting, or if she just can’t look away, can’t stop wanting to hear the lilting melody of her voice. That’s when she sees Amber standing off to the side of the crowd over by the road, waving someone over. It takes Nicole a second to realize that it’s her.
She sits up with a start, “Uh, I think Amber wants me for something.”
Mom tears her focus away from the golden haired 11 year old long enough to turn in her chair and look over to Amber. “All right. Could you take these to the trash on your way?” she asks, gathering up their paper plates.
“It’s recycling, Mom.”
“Yeah, that then.”
“Sure.”
She crosses the crowd, and is momentarily amazed by how many people she recognizes. Two weeks ago she didn’t know anybody. Then she’s looking to Amber, at her physically confident stance, at the slow, California-girl smile that opens on her tanned face as Nicole approaches.
“What’s going on, Amber?”
“Well, the trucks still aren’t back, and I’m gonna have to go to my game soon, but there’s something I wanted you to see. Can you come with me?”
“I think so, but I gotta check with my Mom.”
Amber nods. “Let me get rid of those plates.”
“Thanks,” she says, handing them over and turning. “Be right back.”
At this point, only Abbey is still sitting, engrossed in Maddy’s phone. The other three are standing close together a little bit away. Maddy is kind of holding Mom’s hand. She seems to be looking at the fire opal ring Mom wears on her right hand, which seems like exactly the sort of thing that would interest her. But at the same time she’s lightly touching Mom’s fingers with her own. Mom looks a little fidgety, and gazes at the top of Maddy’s head. They’re talking quietly, and Sophie stands to the side, watching their expressions closely.
When she gets within earshot, she hears Maddy saying, “… that’s just how the judges get sometimes, but it still creeps me out. But it’s not like that here. It’s like I know we all feel the same way, I never have to worry.’
“So you can just enjoy yourself,” Lena’s mom adds helpfully.
“Yeah, exactly! And I love it. So, why would I ever say no?”
Maddy looks up from Mom’s hand with a little bashful grin, vivid blue eyes tender beneath their heavy soft lashes. Nicole’s not even the target of this look, and she still feels a rush of affection for the girl. Mom’s face looks serious, thoughtful. Her mouth moves a little, but just when Nicole thinks she’s about to say something, she just shrugs indecisively. It’s a very un-Mom-like gesture.
“It’s all right, we’ll see,” Maddy says reassuringly, squeezing Mom’s hand. “You just let us know, and we’ll see.”
Mom nods, looking just as unsettled, but still doesn’t say anything. Sophie smiles and touches Mom’s shoulder and she’s nodding, too. The feeling between the three of them is heavy and grownup, and Nicole wonders if Maddy has learned the art of adult conversation on top of everything else. It feels like a weird moment, like she’s intruding.
She just forges ahead. “Amber has to go in a little and wants to show me something. Can I go?”
Without breaking eye contact with Maddy, Mom answers, “Um, yeah, of course honey. Just don’t be too long, okay? They’ll be back with more trees soon.”
Unable to catch her mother’s eye, Nicole just settles for saying, “Okay,” and gets out of there.
When she rejoins Amber, they set out on the dirt road, headed further uphill. Her new sporty friend is almost bouncing, she seems so excited as they go around a bend from the camp.
“What are you gonna show me?”
Amber holds her arms out wide. “You’re totally seeing it already!”
Nicole laughs, but she’s content to let that stand for a bit, because everything’s so lovely. Early afternoon sun makes the colors blaze off the luxurious dark evergreens and the small pale heads of wildflowers. Grasshoppers ratchet loudly in the tall grass to either side of the road, which grows less and less tended as they go on, their feet crunching on little rocks. And the warm breeze brings hints of all these wonderful scents – it’s like she can smell everything she can see!
So she’s fine with Amber keeping her little secret as they wander along, letting her lead, watching her budding form wrapped so nicely in her baseball outfit, the way her sun-kissed hair bounces as she walks. The dirt road forks and forks again, but she seems to know exactly where she’s headed, not hesitating a moment.
They pass a foresty area and a more level, grassy place that looks like a meadow. Sometimes, there’s heaps of great big boulders clustered together, half buried. And then there’s a hillside that’s stubbled with old stumps, with wild riots of weeds and brush coming up, and tangled piles of old gray branches that look like jumbled dinosaur skeletons.
As they go by there, Amber finally speaks. “A long time ago, they logged most of this out. They thought it’d just grow back, but it’s too steep or whatever, and the rain washes everything away before it can. That’s why we started planting.”
Nicole nods as they come around the denuded rise. Then, Nicole sees something that looks like a Christmas tree lot. A bunch of cute little pine trees, all in the same shape, most no bigger than her, all on a gentle slope right next to the stumps. Squealing delightedly, she dashes past Amber to duck down a narrow lane between two rows of the Christmas trees.
“Ooo! This is so neat, Amber! What is it?”
Amber smiles mildly, following Nicole’s darting with her eyes. “This is where we planted two years ago.”
Nicole trips to a stop, hearing this. “Two years? This is what happens?” She holds her hand at hip level, “Those little guys? Our little sprouts? They turn into… Christmas trees?!” She laughs again. This is the coolest thing ever.
Amber chuckles, too, nodding. “Yep, this is what happens… at first.” She plunges down another furrow between ranks of tiny evergreens, heads straight through the field. “Come on.”
On the other side, they come out to another road, this one with little weeds growing up between two ruts. She turns left, and as they go on she says, “The troop’s been doing this a long time. This is the road they used before the one they’re on now.”
Amber waves her arm at a lot to their right. “So, that one’s eight years old, almost as old as us.” Nicole notices how different it is. The trees are twice as tall as the girls, and have lost their cute, Christmas tree shape, going more scraggly and wild. “And the rest are all older than this.”
Each lot is marked by its own fork in the road, although as they go along these little spurs get more and more overgrown. So do the lots. Amber doesn’t narrate anymore, just lets the trees tell their own story. They grow larger and less evenly. Sometimes some deciduous trees have grown in among them, competing for the light. A few have already fallen over. For Nicole, this is the first time she’s really thought about how wild and powerful nature is, that it’s all these amazing forces constantly flowing together, changing everything. The walk’s all uphill, and it’s warm working on hot, but she wouldn’t miss what Amber’s showing her for anything.
Finally, Amber stops and wanders off into the woods to the edge of the grassy lane that used to be a road. Nicole picks her way in after her, pushing aside fragile looking bushes with dangling berries, stepping around pine saplings that look skinny because they grow in the shade of the forest. She hears a woodpecker, not too far off.
When she catches up to Amber, the girl is pointing to the ground at her feet. There’s a grayed, broken shard of tree lying there, and it takes Nicole a minute to realize that what she’s looking at is a sign, one that fell over a long time ago.
“Go ahead,” Amber says, a little proudly, “Check it out.”
Nicole kneels down and brushes off a few leaves. Some moss and some gray furry stuff (Lichen? Is that lichen?) have filled in bits of the carving, but by picking it up and turning it into the light, she’s able to read it.
The sign says, GES Troop 207 August 1992.
Astonished, she looks up to Amber, gaping. The forest they’re standing in was a cluster of seedlings planted by Scouts before she was even born.
“You know Cassidy’s and Joy’s mom?” Amber asks.
“Cheryl, yeah.”
“She helped plant this spot when she was a Scout.”
“Wow,” is all Nicole can manage, and for the next couple minutes they don’t say anything, just exploring this space that’s so natural and yet something that’s been created, by girls just like them. Amber seems very mellow and pleased, but what Nicole’s feeling is closer to awestruck. She looks up at the canopy of branches, so high above their heads, nodding a little in the warm breeze, making a rushing, lightly clattering sound.
“This is so amazing, Amber. I mean, my gosh.”
The girl holds out her arms again, like she did when they first took to the road, smiling broadly when she says, “It’s like, when I see this, I get the same feeling I do sometimes when I’m surfing or whatever. It’s like what my brothers told me when I started to play like them. When you first start out, it seems like you’ve got all these doubts or it’s not nearly good enough or whatever. But if you trust yourself, if you can just keep caring and keep with it, all it takes is time. You can do anything if you care enough and keep trying. Because, like, look at this…”
Nicole approaches her, Amber’s happy expression stays as she gets closer. Feeling a big swell of gratitude, Nicole just closes in and wraps her arms around Amber, squeezing her with cheerful affection. The feel of Amber’s body, her firm strength and the softness of her new curvy places, thrills her, so she stays pressed close. Amber chuckles, but hugs back. Nicole’s not sure she likes the laughing, so she kisses Amber on her smooth tan cheek, just to make her point.
Amber quits chuckling and squeezes back just as tightly. Then they part.
“Wow,” Amber says, her eyes narrow and a little sleepy.
“What?”
“I don’t normally get hugs. Not like that.”
“Is that okay?”
“Oh yeah,” Amber responds, with that slow, mellow smile. “It’s so cool.”
They traipse around the woods for a bit, just laughing and looking around, looking at each other. Then Amber decides it’s time to head back. Nicole makes her promise they’ll come back sometime, and then they go. They retrace their route, and she sees the process in reverse. It’s so amazing to think the Scouts did all this.
On the way back, she and Amber sneak little glances at each other, and when they both do it at the same time, they catch each other and smile. They don’t talk much but that’s okay. The path Amber follows is downhill, which is nice because they’re both a little warm from the walking and now they try to stay to the edge of the road where there’s some shade. After all the weirdness and turmoil of her day, Nicole’s grateful for the quiet to clear her head. Amber seems to sense that and let it be.
As they come around the bend that leads back to the Christmas trees, she spots someone coming up the road toward them. It doesn’t take a second for Nicole to recognize that it’s Lori, with her long slender legs, brown hair and rosy skin. The two girls stop short, hoping she’ll go some other direction but of course she doesn’t. A slow, kind of wicked grin crosses Lori’s delicate face as she keeps approaching.
“Well well well,” she calls out from a distance, “What’ve you two been up to, all alone out here?”
“Nothing you’d care about,” Amber fires back.
This is sharp enough to make Lori stop, still a few yards downhill. She takes a second, then shrugs. “I don’t know about that, I can be very caring.”
“Give it a rest, Lori.”
“I’m not here for you, anyway,” she says, focusing her attention on Nicole. “We never finished our conversation.”
Maybe it’s because she’s up higher, or further away, or just not on her knees in front of her, but Nicole doesn’t feel as flustered this time. “It felt like we did.”
“Oh, no. I still wanna know if you want that swimming lesson.”
“I – I think I’ll stick with Hanna at the pool, thanks.”
Lori puts her hands on her hips. “Pssh, Hanna. Hanna’s being a pill today, and Amber here is headed off to the big game in a few minutes. We’re both gonna need partners, and I think you should be mine.”
There’s enough truth to this that Nicole’s thrown off-balance a little. “Um, I dunno.”
“Well I do. You’ll have to listen to me. You’re not even a Scout yet. And if you wanna be one, you have to show that you can follow directions.”
Lori has her all confused again. It’s like what Katie said, only wrong somehow.
But then she sees something.
“So what’s it gonna be?” Lori presses. “Are you gonna be my little partner today?”
Nicole breathes easy. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because of Robin.”
“Oh, is she your hero? She doesn’t make the rules, just ’cause she’s the oldest. What do I care about Robin?”
Amber barely stifles a laugh when she answers, “Because she’s right behind you.”
Lori rolls her eyes doubtfully, tosses a scant glance over her shoulder. When she sees Robin stalking up the road from the little tree lot, she freezes and her whole posture changes.
“Oh shit,” Lori mutters. Collecting herself quickly, she hollers, “Jesus, Robin! Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Nope,” Robin says, and keeps coming.
“Is this how you get off, following me around?”
Now Lori’s in the middle, about the same distance from Robin as she is from the two girls. Robin stops. “I follow you around for the same reason I follow a puppy around. To make sure she doesn’t stick her nose into everything she sees.”
Amber snorts.
Robin says, “Get over here.”
Lori stiffens and says, “No.”
“What?”
“I said no. I’ll do what I want.”
Even from this far away, Nicole can see Robin’s eyes blaze. She can only imagine what it must be like from as close as where Lori’s standing.
So she doesn’t blame her when the 13 year old breaks into a run, dashing down the fork in the road heading off downhill to her right, disappearing behind a screen of taller, slightly rangier Christmas trees. After only a second of consternation, Robin sets off in pursuit.
Amber and Nicole find themselves alone on the road after all this action. Nicole just feels relieved, but when she looks over at her athletic friend, her eyes are gleaming and her body almost seems to be humming. She’s looking off into the tangle of bushes and boulders off the road next to them.
“What?” Nicole asks.
Amber makes this gushing expression. “Ooo, Lori’s so screwed!” She finishes scanning the roadside and seems to make up her mind. “C’mon, let’s go see!”
Nicole finds herself picking up on Amber’s excitement. What happens when a Scout gets in trouble? She’s never even thought about it – all the girls are normally really sweet. And even though she likes to think of herself being a nice girl, she kinda wants to see Lori get punished for being so mean to her.
So when Amber crashes through the bushes on the roadside, Nicole scrambles to follow. It seems like Amber’s already picked out a route, darting between thick shrubs and jumping over a little log before working her way downhill on the boulders. She’s so confident she makes it look easy, but as Nicole tries to keep up, it’s really kind of hard. Afraid of losing her footing, she’s careful to step just where Amber did, but the dark pitted rocks are like velcro and her feet land firmly every time.
Suddenly Amber hops down from the rocks and crouches among all these bushes, peering down. When Nicole hops off too, Amber motions her to duck. Nicole mostly crawls down to this small clearing behind a big silver log where Amber has stopped. The sporty girl has a perky sheen of sweat, but Nicole’s having a hard time catching her breath – she feels so out of shape.
When she recovers, Amber’s pointing emphatically to the other side of the log. She leans up against it and very carefully peeks over the top.
It takes her a moment to orient her view and see Lori, downslope a ways and to their right, crossing below them from the ragged little grove of Scout-planted firs. She’s still trying to run, but she’s obviously winded and dragging her feet. She plods to a walk and looks back anxiously.
When Robin jogs into view, looking fresh and barely sweating, Lori stops, leans one hand on a knee and waves her arm at her pursuer.
“Okay, okay, enough, you win,” Lori pants. “Just… just… hold on a minute.”
Surprisingly, Robin does, leaving a few steps between them, when she demands, “Why are you chasing those two? Why aren’t you with Hanna?”
“Oh please. Hanna? She won’t leave the kiddie pool. I love her to death, but it’s so boring.”
“And you think some noob who hasn’t even joined is going to be better?”
“Well, you know… it’s like, thinking of breaking her in, teaching her right. You know how that is, don’t you?”
“God, now it’s just like you’re trying to piss me off,” Robin says, taking a menacing step closer.
Lori retreats a step. “Come on, come on. You remember, I know you do.”
Robin continues advancing, Lori keeps stepping away, but the distance between them is closing. Plus, the younger girl is backing toward a huge pine tree at the edge of the road. Her eyes are on Robin, she doesn’t see it.
Crouching low, Amber starts downslope a little further as the other two start to move out of sight. Nicole follows, nearly crawling, trying so hard to stay quiet, trying so hard to keep looking.
“It was different then,” Robin’s saying, “Everybody was ready, we were all Scouts. But you can’t pick on her. She hasn’t taken the oath, she’s never done an affirmation, she doesn’t know anything.”
“Maybe not,” Lori counters, “But have you, like, seen her face? She’s so curious, she’s up for anything. She’d love it.”
“Maybe she will… when she’s a Scout. Are you thinking at all? What if you scare her off?”
Lori pouts a little at that thought, then shrugs it off.
Robin persists. “What if you scare her off and she tells? What then?”
This brings Lori up short, allowing Robin to get close. Now Nicole can see they’re almost the same height, Lori’s just so slender by comparison. They’re standing within arm’s reach, searching each other’s faces when Lori says, “Okay, Robin, I get it, I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m just so…”
Lori waves her hands fruitlessly for a second, then suddenly she starts unbuttoning her Explorer blouse, shifting her hips as she hastily untucks it.
Nicole and Amber have crept to a spot only about twenty feet away and ten above. They can see the other two through a bough of that giant pine and a screen of little saplings whose leaves seem to twirl in the light warm breeze. Nicole knows she’s been spying a lot recently, and knows it’s bad. But she comforts herself thinking about how in every book of the Babysitter Mysteries, Emma and Hailey end up spying on the suspect and solving the mystery. So if it helps, maybe spying’s not so bad.
And then Lori shucks the khaki blouse down off her shoulders and Nicole can clearly see her small, high-riding, but totally for real teenage boobies, and it’s like all her thinking just shuts down. As the 13 year old works her way out of the sleeves Nicole drinks in her slender torso and cute flat tummy, but she keeps being drawn back to Lori’s breasts. They’re so pretty and alluring and her nipples are all puffy and even pinker than her skin.
Sparing a glance to Lori’s face reveals she’s locked her gaze on Robin, looking like she’s about to ask for a really big favor.
“Jesus, Lori,” Robin says, but Nicole thinks she hears a little fondness in that exasperation, her full lips fighting back a grin, “what am I going to do with you?”
Lori tosses her blouse onto the carpet of pine needles. “Come on, Robin. I remember when you were thirteen, you wanted me to be this way all the time.”
They’re both under the shade cast by the big tree now. Dappled light washes overs Lori’s sleek bare shoulders and back.
This time, it’s the younger girl who takes a step closer, saying, almost sadly, “You used to stare at me. What’s wrong? Am I too old for you now?”
She’s standing so close it’s very simple for Robin to reach out and close her hands around Lori’s waist. Lori sighs with what sounds like relief.
“You look even better now,” Robin admits, openly admiring Lori’s body. She runs her hands gently up and down the younger girl’s sides.
From her hiding spot, Nicole shivers, imagining how that would feel.
Robin’s touch roams a little more freely, over Lori’s lean back, around and up her tummy, until she’s lightly caressing the girl’s soft pretty boobies, all the while wearing a bemused grin. Lori watches Robin’s hands as they stroke her, her delicate eyebrows expressively arching, giggling a little breathlessly, but for the first time today looking like she’s actually happy.
Nicole glances over at Amber. She’s sitting on her haunches, elbows on knees, watching below with real concentration. She doesn’t notice Nicole peeking over.
Smoothing her hands down Lori’s flanks again, Robin’s fingertips toy with the waistband of the girl’s shorts, slowly reaching the front fastener. Lori looks down at what’s happening, then up into Robin’s face with big, questioning eyes.
With a smile that makes her strong cheekbones even stronger, Robin tells her, “Let’s get these off, and then I’ll give you what you need.”
Lori nods dumbly and Robin deftly unbuttons and unzips Lori’s shorts. They drop off her narrow hips and land with a flump around her boots and the hidden girls can see her naked body, long and slim and straight. Her bottom rides high and small and perky, just like her little titties, and there’s a vee of downy brown hair on her mound. A sheen of perspiration makes her whole body gleam. Robin holds her hand while Lori gracelessly wiggles the shorts off over her boots, and then she’s standing there in nothing else.
Next to Nicole, Amber makes this long sigh.
Lori’s looking at Robin with a a cheeky, playful smile. She reaches out to the buttons of Robin’s blouse, but Robin intercepts Lori’s hands with her own and, holding them gently away from her body, shakes her head. Lori gives her a confused, lopsided expression but doesn’t protest, especially when Robin starts moving her arms rhythmically, then her body. Lori picks up Robin’s slow rhythm and then they’re dancing, the naked teen and the fully clothed one. Robin gently leads her backward, their bodies swaying, toward the bole of the pine behind Lori.
It’s so cute and romantic and amazing that Nicole makes a little mew to see it. She covers her hand with her mouth, glances over at Amber to see if she’s been too loud. If she is, Amber hasn’t noticed. Her attention is riveted to the teens dancing below. She’s breathing deeply now, and she’s started to squeeze her chest, her own budding boobies, through her baseball jersey. Nicole can’t tell if Amber is aware that she’s doing either of these things – she’s totally caught up. But the tingling, jittery feeling Nicole feels racing through her body only gets stronger, knowing what her friend’s doing right next to her.
Down below, Robin’s teased Lori’s arms up over her head as they move. Lori tips her head back, eyes closed, a big happy grin across her wide mouth, so proud to be showing herself to her older friend. When Robin tugs, tenderly leading, Lori turns slowly around, showing her backside, showing her everything. Her boots, the only thing she’s still wearing, send up little puffs of dust as she does her turn.
Then when Lori’s back is turned, with a decisive speed Robin moves, grabbing Lori’s hair at the clip at the base of her neck with one hand, and seizing one of the girl’s bare hips with the other. A sudden jerk bends Lori deeply at the waist. She’s forced to reach out and grab the rough bark of the tree trunk in front of her to keep from falling forward.
Just as a small whimper escapes from the 13 year old, Robin releases her hip, raises her hand, and brings it down with an open-handed smack across the girl’s pale, raised rump.
Lori squeals, writhes, trying to get loose. Robin just grips her hair harder, forces her head further down,and spanks her again.
“Ow! Stop, quit it!”
“I told you I’d give you what you need,” Robin says in a low voice. “And for being such a brat, this is just what you need.” Her hand falls, slightly cupped, and claps against the firm peachy curve of Lori’s butt, again and again.
Lori continues to cry out, but there’s no words, just yelps and wails and whines. She keeps writhing, but can never quite escape Robin’s punishment, pinned and off-balance, her hair pulled tightly back in the older girl’s fist, helpless. Her tender little ass goes darker and darker pink as the spanking continues. She strains in an effort to look back at Robin, mouth open, eyes rolling.
From behind the cover of the leaves, Nicole watches all this with stunned wide eyes. Her hand stays over her mouth, but now it’s more to hide the shock than to keep quiet. It’s nothing like she’s ever seen before, it’s so crazy. It’s kind of scary to see Robin do that, to see Lori all naked and helpless and getting swatted. But part of Nicole enjoys seeing the mean girl stripped and punished, getting what she deserves. These thoughts whipsaw through her mind, but no matter which one’s louder in her head, she can’t deny the hot feelings throbbing all through her, centered on the melty, swollen place between her legs. She may be shocked, and confused, but she’s also aching with arousal.
What’s happening is so terribly naughty, and she’s being naughty just by watching it.
Her cheeks feel hot. She doesn’t dare look at Amber now. She’d be so embarrassed. Everything seems so vivid now, like earlier, only more. The colors are sharper, she hears every little sound, in nature and from below, and all the wild odors of forest and earth waft to her.
Robin suddenly relents, and the spanking ends. Her punishing hand now tenderly caresses the glowingly pink butt she created, soothing and teasing, fingertips tracing into the crack between the cheeks, between her legs, but only barely. At first, Lori lets out some quiet sobs, sorrowful and hurt. But as she feels Robin’s light touch in her delicate places, those sad noises get a little confused as sighs and groans get mixed in with her tearfulness.
“You know why I did that, don’t you?” Robin asks, so quiet Nicole can barely hear.
“Yes,” Lori replies, her voice still a little cracked. Tears streak her face as she looks over her shoulder up to Robin.
Still admiring Lori’s bottom, still lightly stroking, she asks, “You’re going to remember the rules from now on, aren’t you?”
“Yes, yeah I promise.”
Now, Robin is willing to look the girl in the eye, and it’s with a wry grin. “I do remember, you know. I remember enough to know you didn’t mind that as much as you acted.”
Lori gushes back, her expression doing the confessing for her.
Robin moves so that her pelvis is just behind Lori’s butt, then tugs her hair, pulling the 13 year old upright but still totally in control. The naked girl looks so slight compared to clothed Robin. Their bodies are almost touching. Lori’s eyes are closed, her face anxious.
Leaning against the side of Lori’s neck, Robin murmurs, “Maybe there’s something else you need.”
A tentative smile breaks for a second across Lori’s face.
Nicole lowers her hand from her mouth. She’s breathing so hard now she can’t have it there. Her whole body trembles, with guilt a little, and nervousness a lot, but with excitement most of all.
“Put your hands up again,” Robin suggests.
Her eyes stay closed, the smile flutters, as Lori lifts her arms, linking her hands over her head. One hand gliding up her bare back, the other releasing the girl’s long brown hair, Robin reaches up and takes them. All at once, it’s as though they’re in the dance again, picking up right where they left off. Except now Lori’s butt is an angry red, and fresh sweat shimmers down her body.
The hidden girls watch the two teens sway together for a moment, their bodies pressed together, then Robin slowly spins Lori to face her again. Their eyes meet, and there’s some kind of look that they share that’s not quite smiling but so intense and full of joy it gives Nicole’s puss a happy little spasm just to see it.
Then Robin leaves only one hand holding Lori’s hands overhead, while her other skims over her slippery skin to her waist, to the small of her back. And graceful as a gentleman in an old-time movie, Robin dips the younger girl, bending her until Lori’s head and shoulders rest against the tree trunk. She’s left off-balance again, arching her body, but she doesn’t seem to care.
Especially when Robin’s hand slips out from behind Lori’s back and begins stroking her tummy, her ribs, her armpits. Lori wiggles and breathlessly giggles, and when she does Nicole can see the muscles in her slim tummy go taut. Robin begins to pet Lori’s breasts, lightly, teasing, and Lori licks her lips, alternating between watching what Robin’s hands are doing, and gazing at the pleased grin on the older girl’s face as she studies the body she’s touching.
Seeing her squeeze Lori’s puffy nipples, Nicole can’t help but wonder how they feel to touch, how it feels to be touched that way. Her hand wanders to her Explorer top, presses into the soft fleshy pad on her chest, feeling her own hard nipple on her palm through the fabric. It’s so stiff it feels like it’s humming.
Now Robin’s hand trails lazily down Lori’s cute tummy, fingertips tickling in her navel, before wandering further down. Lori gasps, lifts her hips a little. Nicole can see just a hint of Lori’s pink muff as she opens her shivery legs, and by the time Robin’s fingers dawdle through the soft brown hairs just above it, Nicole’s mind goes crazy with anticipation, oh my god oh my god she’s gonna touch it she’s gonna let her touch it –
And then Robin does, just a light stroke down the tender cleft and back up again, fingertip resting right at the top where Lori’s shy pussy lips meet. The 13 year old lets out a happy whimpering noise. She holds Robin’s gaze intensely with her own, her expression practically begging.
Fingers slipping back down and covering Lori’s muff, Robin begins to rub her there, and Nicole can tell immediately by the look on Lori’s face, the way her hips move, the way she goes “mmf” and “ahh” that it feels just like it does for her when she squeezes herself. Nicole’s whole body is inflamed in sympathy to the girl’s pleasure, sweat has broken out all over, she’s chewing her lower lip as her breath gusts from her nose. The hand on her blouse is now roaming generally all over her chest and belly, but as nice as it feels it’s only making her hotter.
Then she hears Amber shift next to her, realizes she almost forgot she was there, and hears her say in that low, boyish voice Nicole’s come to like so much, “Oh damn, sex is so rad.”
Startled, feeling caught out, Nicole turns in Amber’s direction, and what she sees is as surprising and stimulating as what’s going on below. Amber’s pushed her tight baseball pants halfway down her firm thighs, and the gusset’s stretched tight between her open knees. From the side, the curve of her strong bottom is even more enticing than Nicole expected. Amber’s tan lines, just below and above her hip, are stark. Without the sun, the sporty girl’s skin is peachy pale. And those hips, that bottom, are rolling in steady motion, because Amber’s got one arm down between her legs. And from the way her arm’s moving, her hand’s moving quickly over her own puss, playing with herself.
She can hear this squishy sound coming from down there, and the sighing breeze brings this new tangy, musky scent to Nicole’s nose. She knows she’s smelling in between Amber’s legs, almost as if she’d put her nose there. The thought sends a huge shudder through her, and she makes a little groan from it.
Amber blinks and looks over at the sound, at her. It seems like maybe she forgot Nicole was there, too. Her arm slows but doesn’t quite stop, but that dreamy expression on her tawny face gets concerned as she looks Nicole over. Nicole imagines she must look totally clueless, because that’s how she feels.
But Amber just gives her this slow, cajoling grin. “You do it too, right?”
She doesn’t think she nods, but she must, because Amber’s sly grin turns into a smile, “Go ahead then,” she whispers conspiratorially. “It’s so hot.” Her own arm starts to pick up the pace as she looks down at the teens again.
Nicole shrugs into herself, so bashful. But when she returns to looking under the tree too, it’s suddenly like she can’t help herself. Robin’s rubbing Lori fast between her legs now, and Lori’s face is nearly as hot pink as her butt was just a few minutes ago. She’s gasping and whining and straining, but her eyes are locked on Robin, and that pleading look hasn’t left them, however flush she might be.
Nicole feels her hand stray up the smooth sun-warmed skin of her thigh, creeping into the cuff of her Explorer shorts. It’s like her puss is crying out to be touched, and the 10 year old awkwardly rucks up the leg of her shorts to obey.
That first touch of her finger to her damp delicate pussy lips is so blissful she nearly tips over. She looks at the teens, and feels the hot softness under her fingers, and starts to squeeze herself. Her muff is slick and slippery, each pressing sends a huge rush of pure pleasure into her, soothes the ache and makes her so, so happy.
Down below, Lori’s eyes pinch shut, her mouth wide open almost like she’s in pain. But Nicole knows now, she knows that look is the opposite of pain, that Lori feels so good that she’s getting into that dizzy, scary place where it seems there’s a peak that you might fall off. Lori squirms, still bent back with her hands overhead.
Then she suddenly stiffens, her breath is short, trapped gasps, she seems to quiver, rigid.
Robin soothingly goes, “Mmm-hmm…”
And then Lori flexes and cries out in pleasure, in urgency, in relief. Her hips buck, her tummy is shuddering and rolling. Her rosy skin is blushing bright from her hairline all the way to the tops of her adorable little boobies.
Nicole’s squeezing herself tightly watching all this, feeling her puss practically gush between her fingers, getting a bit of that floating, building sensation she knows Lori felt. But even through this ecstatic haze, she know she’s seen something important. There is an edge, and you can go over, and going over might feel even better than climbing up.
Robin chuckles indulgently, still gently caressing Lori between her legs. The 13 year old’s eyes open and look to the girl tending to her, a sweaty, grateful smile blooming on her face.
Lori squirms, suddenly ticklish, and tries to wiggle free of Robin’s touch. She laughs a little childishly as her shapely eyebrows appeal for mercy.
But instead Robin gives a forceful shove against Lori’s wrists, pinning them to the bark overhead. Her other hand cups, presses, and goes right back to rubbing, even harder and faster than before.
Lori arches her back, all the muscles on her slender naked body tightening.
“Nuh!” she grunts, “No wait, wait waitwait ooooooohhhh god, god, aaaaahhhh…” and she trails off into a voiceless wail as the intensity of the feeling overwhelms her. Her face screws up into an agony of pleasure, an endless cry of sheer irresistible joy.
Next to her, Amber is reaching some kind of climax, too. Nicole risks a glance. It’s so intense, seeing a friend doing that to herself, pretty and exciting and embarrassing all at once. Amber’s hips are kind of jerking, and she makes these happy-kitty noises, halfway between a purr and a growl, getting more and more frequent.
Nicole squeezes her slick little muff, gratifying the urge that watching Amber brings. It seems so natural, she just has to let her body do it. Amber trembles and bends forward, one hand on the ground to support her as she humps her hips jerkily against the other, her breath chuffing out with more little growls. And Nicole keeps touching herself, feeling closer to Amber because they’re doing it together, even though that big over-the-cliff feeling still eludes her.
As Amber recovers, Nicole flips her copper brown hair out of her face and looks back down at the intense play of the teens. Lori is quivering terribly, she looks like she might cry. But her hips belie the suffering she seems to be feeling, rising up higher to push into Robin’s furious rubbing, thrusting back against her exquisite attention.
Nicole sees Lori start to climb into that dizzying bliss again, even more sharply this time. As she watches that climb she tries to rub her puss the way Robin is doing to Lori, quickly up and down with as much pressure as the squeezing she does. The moment she starts she feels an eruption of ecstasy billow up in her tummy. Her legs quake and she gulps for breath. Her pussy loves it, this speed, this crazy electrical sensation, but after only a few seconds she can tell that she’ll scream if she goes for even a little bit longer. It’s just too much, too much.
It’s too much for Lori, too. With a piping squeal, her body convulses, hips bucking sharply into the air, into Robin’s hand, over and over. Lori tosses her head, brown hair tumbling over her pink shoulders, just going, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Soon those thrusts lose their rhythm, become wobbly-legged trembling, and if Robin wasn’t cupping her between the legs, Lori would probably just collapse.
With a shift and a heave, Robin lifts Lori back upright. But the naked girl simply pitches forward into Robin, flinging her arms around her neck and clinging to her, wrapping one slender leg around Robin’s hip. Nicole can see her back rise with each gasping breath, can see the shudders run all through her slender nude body. She doesn’t know why, but it’s so beautiful, seeing her like that. She gives herself a few more squeezes. Her fingers are soaked; it’s never been like this.
Beside her, Amber is trying to stay low and quiet and hike up her baseball pants all at the same time. It isn’t going so well. Dust rises, and if the teens below weren’t so distracted, Nicole is sure they’d get caught. She reluctantly draws her fingers out from the leg of her shorts, even though her puss is more excited and frustrated than ever.
Amber crawls over to Nicole with a chagrined smile on her red face that almost hides the naughty pride she’s feeling. She wordlessly indicates they should skedaddle back up the boulders.
Before she turns to go, Nicole casts one last look down at the teens who have unwittingly shown her so much. Lori draws back, looks affectionately into Robin’s brown eyes. Robin’s Cheshire-cat grin is harder to read.
“You know what?” Lori murmurs, “I think maybe you are Wonder Woman.” She nuzzles the older girl’s neck, and Robin’s eyes close with a quiet delight, the grin widening into a smile.
She and Amber climb up the rocks, clinging like lizards. It’s much harder going up than it was coming down. The sun feels hotter. But soon they’re picking their way back through the bushes to the road, brushing the dust and little prickles off their clothes.
All during the climb out, Nicole’s mind starts working again. She knows now, she knows, what the Scouts do in secret. At least some of it, and it dazzles her to think that there might be more than this. It’s so wild and dirty, it’s kind of scary. She hasn’t seen anyone spanked in ages, and certainly never with the other stuff all mixed in. Her feelings about it are all over the place, but what surprises her most is that she likes it, all of it, despite how strange it seems.
She was right there with them, doing those things between her legs, naughty and wonderful. They were all doing it, together. And in those moments, as weird and crazy as they were, she felt like she belonged with them. Even though the big shaking feeling is still a mystery, Nicole senses she’s seen the bare, trembling heart of the Scouts.
And it’s incredible. She’s hungry for more, to unravel it all.
Call it, The Case of the Happy Naughty Pleasure Girls. And for the first time, she feels like she’s hot on their trail.
Continue on to Chapter 8
