by Girl Lover
Seventeen-year-old Jill quickly scrawled I LOVE YOU, MOM & DAD. HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the card and put it in the side pocket of her backpack. Both her parents’ birthdays were coming up in a couple of weeks and because the dates were so close, they always picked a day in the middle and celebrated together. Jill hated that she wasn’t able to think of anything better than “Happy Birthday” to put on the card. Writing wasn’t her strong suit, but her parents would understand everything that her simple message entailed.
Jill closed the door of her locker as she waited for her two best friends Wendy and Tracy to finish checking their make-up. Wendy slammed her locker door closed, closely followed by Tracy, and the three girls set off down the hall of McCallum Middle-High School. It was Monday, they’d just received the new schedule for the football games and were already making plans. Being the head cheerleaders, they were the most popular girls in the school and knew it. More than that, they loved it. They didn’t walk down the hall, they strutted. Every guy wanted to be with them, and every girl wanted to be them.
Heading to the practice field, Jill and her friends commented disparagingly on the assembly that they’d just left. Every year, the fifth-grade students presented their science reports to the entire school. Having to sit through twenty of these had put Wendy in a bad mood.
“I thought those stupid reports would never end!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “And the little shits just kept coming. After one little fucker would leave, another would come and start running their mouth about mammals or volcanoes. I almost walked out.”
“Like you could’ve gotten past Fanny,” Tracy remarked. Fanny was the robust school custodian and hall monitor, physically able to deal with even the largest boys.
“I could’ve handled her,” Wendy retorted.
Walking outside and onto the playing field, they saw that the new middle-school girls were there, applicants waiting and hoping for a chance to join the cheerleading squad. Jill, Wendy, and Tracy seated themselves in the front row of the bleachers, then watched as each girl went through the dance moves. Once a girl was done, the three of them would have a quick conference, then announce a decision, accepting some girls and rejecting others.
“Next!” Wendy yelled.
A small, chubby fifth-grade girl hesitantly stepped up, clearly very nervous. All three snickered at her. “What the hell are you?! You actually think you can be a cheerleader?!” Tracy chortled.
“Get out of here, you fat pig!” Wendy told her, and their snickering became outright laughter as the girl slowly walked away, her lips quivering, shoulders slumped.
The rest of the day went by and during lunch, as the three walked over to their table, Wendy stopped at the fifth-graders’ table in front of the chubby girl they’d made fun of earlier. Glaring down at her lunch, Wendy exclaimed, “No wonder you’re so fat, you pig!” The other fifth-graders burst out laughing at this remark, and the three walked on.
As they seated themselves, Jill glanced over at the fifth-grader, sitting alone at her table. A few of the other fifth-graders were still snickering, and one of them mockingly called out her name. Linda. She watched as Linda then abruptly got up and quickly left the cafeteria. She frowned at this.
Tracy saw the frown. “What’s with you?”
Jill turned to Wendy and Tracy. “You didn’t have to be that mean to her.”
Wendy’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you care? She’s nobody.”
***
That afternoon as school let out and Jill was about to walk home, she happened to glance up the sidewalk and saw Linda slowly walking home, her head hanging down, shoulders quivering. Jill was sure she was crying.
She sighed. It’s just part of being popular, she told herself, making fun of other kids. But Wendy’s just being nasty, and Tracy’s totally following her lead.
Then Jill had a thought that made her shiver. Am I any better than they are? After all, I laughed at that girl and called her names, too! I helped make her cry. Suddenly, she felt sick inside.
Jill trudged home, feeling numb with guilt. I don’t want to be a mean person, she thought. I don’t! I should tell Wendy and Tracy to lay off, leave this girl alone.
***
Linda slowly walked home to the trailer park. Picking her way along the littered dirt path leading to the cramped trailer that she lived in, she slowly opened the door and peered anxiously inside, only to see her mom passed out on the couch. Her clothes were filthy, and her body reeked of going for several days without bathing. A half-empty bottle of whiskey stood on the table beside her. The drink which caused her mother to be such an ugly, hateful person. Tiptoeing quietly, Linda took the bottle, then turned towards the bathroom to pour it out.
“What d’ya think yeeer doing?!” a drunken slur sounded behind her.
Linda turned around, paling in fright as she clutched the bottle against her chest, “It’s b-bad for you, Mama.” As she watched her mother rise up and stagger towards her, Linda began to tremble violently. “It makes you mean.”
But her pleas were ignored as her mother snatched the bottle out of Linda’s hand, shoving her to the floor. “Didn’t I tell you what I’d do if you ever touched my shit?!” Her mother picked up a belt that was draped over the back of a chair.
Linda tried to get up, her voice coming out in stutters, “I-I-I want to help y-y-you, Mama.”
“I don’t need your help,” her mother sneered menacingly, raising the belt.
***
The next day, Wendy and Tracy continued to torment Linda in the hall, calling her Piggy. Jill considered asking them to let the girl be, but then backed down, not wanting to be on the receiving end of her friends’ venom.
When the bell rang for lunch, instead of accompanying Wendy and Tracy to the cafeteria, as usual, Jill said she wasn’t hungry and went outside, not wanting to be with them. She slowly strolled along the sidewalk, watching the other middle-school kids at recess. Following the walkway around the perimeter of the yard, she approached the equipment shed, pausing when she heard a sniffling sound coming from behind it.
Quietly walking to the back corner, she peeked around and, to her surprise, saw the fifth-grade girl from yesterday, hunkered down against the shed, bent over and sobbing. Her face was hidden by her arms, her body slightly shuddering.
Jill watched her sorrowfully, not knowing what to do, then Linda glanced up and spied her. Eyes widening in dread, she gasped quietly in her sobbing voice, “P-please don’t hurt me anymore.”
For a moment, Jill stood there stunned, then said quietly, “Linda…”
“Please, g-go away,” Linda’s voice choked through the tears.
There was nothing else Jill could say. Hearing the agony in this little ten-year-old girl’s voice, it was only then that Jill finally saw what she and her friends had become. As quietly as she came, she departed, numb with shame and pondering on what to do about it.
***
The last class of the day had just ended. Jill had just closed her locker and stepped into the bathroom when she saw Tracy cornering Linda. The little girl’s face had terror written all over it. She tried to escape, but Tracy blocked her way.
In disbelief, Jill asked, “What’s going on?”
Tracy laughed, “Having a little fun with Piggy. See how stringy her hair is? We’re gonna wash it for her… in the toilet, that is!”
“No,” Jill said, shaking her head. “You’re not doing that. This is going too far.”
Wendy stepped in front of her, locking her eyes on Jill, “What’s your problem?! Why are you sticking up for this little cunt?”
Jill glanced at Linda’s frightened face, then back at Wendy. “This isn’t funny!”
Tracy came over as Wendy lowered her tone menacingly, “I’m not trying to be funny.”
“But… why?” Jill cried. “What did she ever do to you?”
Wendy rolled her eyes. “Oh, my God.” Then, speaking as if to a child, she said, “Look, Jill. We make the rules. It’s our school, not hers. This little pig… she’s beneath us. We run the world, she,” Wendy jerked a thumb at the cowering Linda, “scrubs the fucking floors, and it’s our job to make sure she never forgets that. It’s the way high school works. It’s the way life works.”
“So you need to ask yourself,” Tracy added, now holding tightly to Linda’s arm, “which side you’re on, Jill. With us, or with her.” She punctuated the last word with a careless slap to the whimpering girl’s cheek. “Shut it, fatty!”
For the first time in all the years that she’d known Wendy, Jill looked into her eyes and felt fear at what she saw. Then she stared at Linda, struck by the terrified, pleading look the little girl gave her…
….and she shoved Wendy hard, causing her to stumble backward, careening into Tracy. The two of them fell to the ground in a heap. Jill seized Linda’s hand and ran out of the locker room. Quickly running through the gym and into the hall, Jill’s mind raced in utter panic, trying to work out what she should do. Not wanting to confront Tracy or Wendy at their lockers, Jill decided to take Linda home and then go home herself.
Still clutching the younger girl by the hand, Jill led her to the street, moving in the direction that she saw Linda going in on the previous day. When they came to an intersection, Jill stopped and they rested.
“Are you all right?” she asked Linda, who was wide-eyed and breathing hard. The girl didn’t respond, apparently still in shock over what had just happened. Jill touched her arm, getting her attention. “I’m going to take you home, okay?” Linda nodded. “Where do you live?”
Linda pointed down the street. They headed in that direction and, upon coming to another intersection, Jill saw Linda turn to the right, so she followed the younger girl down that street till she saw Linda stop in front of a small, run-down trailer. Neither of them had spoken a word for the last few minutes; now, they looked at each other.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jill mumbled quietly before walking off. As she came to the corner of the street and was about to head home herself, Jill turned to look back and was surprised to see the little girl still standing in the same spot, watching her.
On her way home, Jill reflected on what had happened. They were just having some fun with Linda when she’d turned up at the cheerleader tryouts. She never meant for things to spin so wildly out of control, and certainly didn’t expect Wendy to go as far as she had. And that’s what scared her — because Jill knew that going against her friends in such a drastic way had landed herself squarely on the outside with Linda. Now Wendy would be going after her as well.
That night, she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how everything had gone so wrong so suddenly, and what she should do about it.
***
The next morning, Jill left her house early. Coming to the parking lot of the school, she waited, watching for Linda. Eventually, Jill saw the girl slowly walking towards the school and approached her. When Linda saw Jill, she paused in mid-step, wondering what was going on.
“Hi,” Jill addressed her somberly. “ I was, uh… going to walk you inside to make sure nobody bothered you.”
Linda followed silently as they walked towards the building and inside. Neither spoke as they headed for Linda’s locker. Jill saw that the girl looked really nervous, and couldn’t blame her.
As Jill kept her eyes open for any signs of Wendy or Tracy, she heard Linda’s small, confused voice, “Why are you doing this?”
Jill said quietly, “I’m trying to do the right thing.” They stopped at Linda’s locker and Jill, suddenly unable to meet the younger girl’s gaze, stared down at her shoes. “I want to apologize. I’m not asking you to accept it, because I’ll never be able to undo what I did. I don’t know why I was mean to you. I — I don’t know who I was, but I’m trying to be a better person. All I know is that I don’t want to just say ‘I’m sorry’ and leave it at that. I want to be your friend, to try and make up for everything.”
For a moment, Linda just looked at her, then gathered her books for first period and headed to class. Jill followed alongside, escorting her to class, glaring at any of the other kids who tried to say or do anything.
After Linda stepped inside her classroom, Jill went to her own locker, expecting to see Wendy and Tracy there, but they weren’t. Surprised but still expecting something, she cautiously approached her locker and her face fell when she saw what was written on it in permanent ink, so it couldn’t be easily cleaned off. It read, PIGGY’S LOVER.
So it begins, Jill sadly thought. How the mighty have fallen.
“Honestly, I don’t know how some people can love pigs,” Wendy’s voice sounded behind her.
“Pigs love to live in filth,” Tracy responded. Turning around, she saw Wendy, Tracy, and half a dozen other cheerleaders walking past, looking at her disdainfully.
At lunchtime, avoiding her usual table, she carried her lunch tray along, scanning the room for Linda. She spied the girl, sitting at a table by herself, and walked over. As she set her tray down, Linda looked up at her in disbelief.
Jill sat down and picked at her food nervously, taking a few bites. Noticing that Linda only had a piece of celery, Jill asked, “Where’s your lunch?”
“I… I’m trying to lose weight,” Linda replied quietly.
Jill winced. “Please, Linda, forget those awful things we said. Be yourself.” She handed Linda her slice of pizza, “Here.”
Linda looked at Jill. “B-but it’s your lunch.”
“Please eat it,” Jill encouraged her. Linda hesitantly took a bite.
While they ate, Jill noticed many of the other high schoolers watching them and whispering among themselves. She knew what they were saying and thought it really hurt, this was the right thing to do.
***
After school, Jill quickly gathered her things and went to Linda’s locker, reaching it just as the girl was about to leave. “Hi, uh…I wanted to make sure that nobody bothered you on the way home.”
Linda’s mournful face brightened a bit — and it struck Jill that this sad little girl had a nice smile. In fact, despite being slightly overweight, she was actually sort of cute.
They exited the school and set off. After walking in silence for a while, Jill asked, “So… what do you like to do?” Linda looked at her questioningly. “I mean, do you have any hobbies that you like?”
“Why?” Linda replied in her small voice.
“I want to get to know you. See what you’re like.”
Linda thought for a bit, then quietly replied, “I like to draw.”
“Oh? What do you draw?”
Another quiet reply, “Animals.”
“Okay, what kinds of movies do you like?”
“I don’t know. We really haven’t seen any movies.”
“Who’s we?” Jill asked.
“Me and my sister.”
“What else do you like to do besides draw?”
“I collect rocks.”
“Rocks?”
“Not regular rocks. Special ones. Like crystals.”
Their conversation continued along similar lines, with Jill asking questions and Linda answering. Jill soon decided that this shy young girl was more interesting than she first appeared to be.
When they arrived at Linda’s trailer, Jill told her, “Well, bye. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Linda replied. And for the first time, she smiled.
Jill smiled back and, with a friendly wave, turned to head back to her own house. At the corner, she turned and glanced back. Linda was watching her, just like she had on the previous day. Jill waved again, and Linda did the same.
***
Friday, the last day of the week. Normally, Jill would have been making plans with Wendy and Tracy for the weekend, but things were different now. And it wasn’t just Wendy and Tracy. A lot of people who she thought were her friends had turned against her. She was an outcast, just like Linda, which made Jill want to be her friend all the more.
That day went the same as the one before. Jill ignored the comments and mocking glances and ate with Linda again. When school let out, they walked home together.
“Do you have any plans for this weekend?” Jill asked. Linda shook her head. “What do you do for fun?”
The ten-year-old shrugged. “Play with my sister.”
“Don’t you go anywhere, like the mall?”
“Mama won’t let us,” Linda answered.
As they walked, Linda suddenly stooped to pick up a rock. As she studied it, Jill looked at it too, asking, “Are you going to keep it for your collection?” Linda nodded. “How many rocks do you have?”
“About…” Linda thought for a while then said, “…twenty.”
“I’d like to see them,” Jill remarked as they approached Linda’s home.
Linda looked at her with a confused look, “You want to see… my rocks?”
“Sure. Is that okay?”
“They’re nothing special. You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
Linda thought for a bit. “Mama won’t be home till later, so I guess it’s okay if you come in.”
When they reached the trailer, Linda opened the door, letting them both in. Jill immediately noticed a stark difference between her home and Linda’s. Whereas Jill’s family was well-off and lived in a clean, elegant home, Linda’s was the complete opposite. Following her through the cluttered, dirty living room, they came to a tiny space, not much larger than a closet, that turned out to be Linda’s bedroom.
Taking out a small shoebox, Linda placed it on the bed. Jill looked at the several small rocks as Linda picked up a particular one. “This is my favorite.”
Jill studied the quartz crystal with interest. “That’s really cool.”
“You really think so? You’re not just saying that?”
“Yeah. I really like it.”
Suddenly, Jill heard a small squeak behind her. Turning around, she spied a little girl peeking around the corner at her. “This is my sister, Emma.” Linda motioned to the girl to come in. The girl entered, staring at Jill in awe. “Emma, this is Jill.”
“Hi,” Jill greeted her, but no reply came from the little girl. “Hello?” she tried again, to no avail.
“She doesn’t talk much around strangers,” Linda explained.
Jill looked around at Linda’s sparsely decorated room. There were a few drawings hanging on the wall, which were quite good. As Jill looked at them, Linda told her a little something about each one.
Suddenly, the little girl Emma spoke up. “How old are you?”
Jill turned in surprise. “Seventeen.”
The girl’s eyes widened. “I’m eight,” she said.
Jill heard the front door open and saw Linda and Emma become wide-eyed with alarm. Linda raced over to the window, quickly raising it and quietly motioning for Jill to crawl out. Confused, but stirred by the younger girls’ urgency, Jill did as her new friend said, with Linda whispering, “Meet me by those trees,” pointing to a nearby grove as Jill’s feet hit the ground.
Jill hurried over to the stand of trees and waited, wondering what was going on. A couple of minutes later, Linda and Emma emerged from the trailer, both girls running towards her.
“Sorry about that,” Linda said when she reached Jill, slightly out of breath. “I’m not supposed to have anyone inside.”
“C’mon! You can see our secret place,” cried Emma. She took Jill’s hand, pulling her along.
Amused by the little girl’s excitement, Jill let herself be led through the grove until they came to a cluster of three trees growing together. A ramshackle collection of plywood, boards and other junk was heaped together into some sort of structure. Emma pulled open a door and walked in, and Jill followed with Linda close behind.
Inside the cobbled-together room, there was a queen-size mattress, a table, some books, some games and a few toys. Everything looked as if it had been found on the side of the road.
“Me and Emma built this ourselves,” Linda said.
“So we can hide from Mama,” Emma piped in.
“Emma!” Linda shushed her.
Emma went over to the table and pointed, “See, we got checkers and Momo-poly.”
“Monopoly,” Linda corrected her.
“That’s what I said.” Opening the Monopoly box, she asked hopefully, “D’ya wanna play? It’s really fun.”
Jill smiled at her enthusiasm, “Okay.” As Emma eagerly set the board up, Jill turned to Linda, “What else do you guys do for fun?”
Linda shrugged. “Just whatever.”
“Do you ever go anywhere?”
Linda thought, then said, “There was an art museum that my class went to earlier this year. I really liked it, but we weren’t able to see everything.”
“Where was it?”
“Our teacher said it was at the university.”
Jill thought out loud, “Art museum at the university… hmm, that must be the Blanton Art Museum at UT. Want to go there tomorrow?”
Linda looked at her, stunned, “What?”
“Would you like to go? I could drive us there.”
“Really?! Oh, that would be so awesome. You’d really do that?”
“Of course.”
Emma asked, “Can I come?”
Jill grinned at her. “Sure you can.”
Emma finished setting up the Monopoly game, then, then they played for a while. After an hour, Jill told them, “I need to go home now. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Don’t come to the door, okay?” Linda said. “Just knock on my window.”
“Okay,” Jill replied, frowning slightly at the odd request. “Bye, then.”
“Bye,” the younger girls replied, and Jill opened the door and took her leave. She set off for home, but upon reaching the street, looked back to see Linda watching her. Jill waved, and Linda waved back, wearing a huge smile.
***
On Saturday when Jill awakened, she briefly thought about how different today was going to be without her old friends, but quickly pushed that aside, looking forward to spending the day with her new friends.
It’s funny how much I’ve come to like Linda, she mused. There’s something so real about her, compared to the girls I used to hang out with. She’s a sweet kid, too — guess I forgot what it’s like to spend time with someone who’s actually nice. And I love her smile… makes me wonder why we and my idiot friends treated her like she was ugly. She isn’t, not at all.
Finally, she got up and fixed breakfast, wondering what else she and the girls could do after the museum. Remembering that there was also a science museum at UT, she decided that Linda would especially enjoy it because of the gem and mineral collection inside.
After breakfast, Jill showered and got dressed, then borrowed her mom’s car and drove over to Linda’s trailer. Going over to the window, she knocked softly. Seconds later, the curtain whisked back and Emma’s face appeared, breaking into a big grin. Linda appeared beside her and pulled up the window, putting a finger to her lips like she did yesterday. First Emma carefully crawled out, then Linda, and then they got into Jill’s car and drove off.
Their outing was a huge success. The girls really enjoyed both museums, and Linda was so happy that Jill found her delight to be positively contagious. As they ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, Jill asked, “Hey, what do you think about spending the night at my house?”
“I — I can’t,” Linda replied sadly.
“Well… what if I spend the night at your place, in that little shack you built? I could bring my sleeping bag. It’s big enough to hold all of us.”
Emma’s eyes lit up, “Oh, that would be so cool.”
“I’d love to,” Linda replied, her eyes sparkling.
Once again, Jill found herself dwelling on this little girl’s pretty face.
***
That night, Jill grabbed her sleeping bag and told her parents that she was going to spend the night camping in the backyard of a friend. Walking through the streets until she arrived at Linda’s trailer, she met her friend just outside. Together, they went to the little handmade bungalow, where Emma was already setting up the Monopoly game.
After they played for a while, Emma unrolled the sleeping bag and crawled inside. “This is so cool!” she exclaimed.
Jill took off her pants and reached under her shirt to pull off her bra, then got in beside Emma. Linda joined them without undressing. It was snug, but they were all able to fit inside.
“You’re going to sleep in your clothes?” Jill asked.
“Yeah,” was all Linda said. She seemed reluctant to undress. For some reason, that bothered Jill. What’s she being all shy about? she wondered but didn’t comment.
After a minute of lying quietly, Emma asked, “Can you sing the bird song, Linda?”
As Emma lay facing away from her sister, Linda rubbed her back and, to Jill’s surprise, began to sing in a gentle voice.
Early each day to the steps of St Paul’s, the little old bird woman comes.
In her own special way, to the people she calls, ‘Come buy my bags full of crumbs.’
Come feed the little birds. Show them you care and you’ll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry. Their nests are so bare. All it takes is tuppence from you…
Jill listened, spellbound as the song drew her in and held her. By the time Linda had finished, Emma was sound asleep. Linda rolled over to face Jill, smiling sheepishly.
“That was beautiful,” Jill whispered, not wanting to wake Emma.
“Sometimes when she can’t fall asleep, I sing to her. I — I’ve never sang in front of anyone else, though.” Linda giggled nervously.
“I liked it.”
They talked quietly until Linda too grew tired and drifted off. Jill closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but was unable to. No matter what she did, she couldn’t relax enough to feel tired, and she knew why. She was feeling aroused in a big way, and knew what she needed to do to satisfy this bothersome itch.
Glancing at Linda beside her to make sure the girl really was asleep, Jill carefully slid a hand into her panties. Slipping two fingers inside while rubbing her clit with her thumb, she slowly but firmly began to move them in and out.
Jill soon realized that she wanted to look at Linda as she masturbated. Her breathing quickly became heavier as she gazed at the little girl lying peacefully beside her. Her rubbing became more frantic, then she suddenly found relief, biting her lower lip to keep from crying out loud.
Now out of breath and tingling all over, Jill withdrew her hand from her wet panties and relaxed. She continued to stare at Linda, wondering how this little girl could have such an effect on her. It wasn’t as if Linda was some hot, gorgeous babe. Not that Jill had ever been attracted to another girl before. And she was so young, only ten.
Jill didn’t know what to make of these feelings. They confused her.
***
The next morning, Jill opened her eyes and, for a second, wondered where she was. Seeing Linda sleeping beside her, she remembered. With a troubled sigh, she mused about what happened last night. Jill had always thought of herself as straight, but she could no longer deny that there was something about this little girl that turned her on.
Reaching out, she gently took Linda’s hand in hers. She didn’t intend to wake Linda up, but then the ten-year-old’s eyes fluttered open.
Linda looked at her hand in Jill’s. Not knowing what else to say, Jill murmured, “Is this okay?” giving Linda’s hand a little squeeze.
Linda paused then replied, “Yeah,” breaking into a smile.
“Mmmm, I’m starving. What have you got for breakfast?” Jill asked.
The little girl’s smile vanished. “Um… I don’t know. I’ll go and see.”
Sensing potential trouble, Jill quickly said, “That’s okay. I’ll take us to McDonald’s. My treat.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to do that. Me and Emma…”
“I want to.”
Linda sighed, then nodded, “Thank you.”
They talked for a while, and when Emma woke up, they got dressed and went to McDonald’s for breakfast. Afterward, Jill took the girls to The Thinkery, a children’s science museum that Jill knew Linda would enjoy. All the while, Jill kept thinking about how much she enjoyed being with this girl… and what it would be like to kiss her.
On to Chapter Two!