by Jacqueline Jillinghoff
i.
Miko spent all day Saturday spying out the front window. She tried to stay occupied, flipping through a book, or scrolling on her laptop, or helping Mom clean up in the kitchen, but time and again, her attention was drawn to the empty house across the street.
“They’ll be tired,” Mom said. “Give them a day to get settled. Can’t you wait till tomorrow?”
Good advice, as always from Mom, but when, late in the afternoon, the white mini-SUV finally pulled into the driveway, Miko took off like a shot.
“I thought we agreed!” Mom called after her.
She might as well have saved her breath. Within seconds the girl had charged down the front walk, out the gate, and into the street, heedless of traffic. She leapt over the opposite curb just as Leah was climbing out of the SUV.
“Hey, Goldbug!” Leah said, radiant in a flower-print dress. “Did you miss me?” Miko flew into her arms. “Oof! I guess so!”
Leah looked taller and leaner than when she left – more athletic – and she’d picked up a creamy tan over the summer. After weeks of sun, her face and arms were almost as golden as Miko’s. And were her boobs getting bigger? They felt like firm, welcoming pillows against Miko’s cheek. Leah was thirteen, and Miko was eleven, and her head fit snugly under Leah’s chin. She felt a damp spot on Leah’s back, but no straps or hooks under the dress. That was new. Ever since she’d begun to develop, Leah had never gone without a bra.
“Hello,” Mr. Rose said.
“Hi,” Miko said happily. She didn’t see him pass; her eyes were shut as she rocked in Leah’s embrace. She broke off only when she heard the metallic thunk of the hatchback opening.
“Wanna help me with my stuff?” Leah said.
“Sure,” Miko said. “How was your trip?” She didn’t really care. In fact, she rather resented Leah’s long absence.
“It was awesome,” Leah said. “I’m sorry you weren’t there.”
Going behind the car, Leah pulled a black duffel from the back. Miko lifted out a red and white plastic cooler. It took three trips to get everything into the house.
Leah’s mom went to the kitchen with some groceries they’d picked up on the way home, while her dad took a box of laundry into the basement. Miko followed Leah upstairs, each of them toting a bag of clothes. Looking up, her eyes level with the older girl’s butt, Miko saw just how big the patch of sweat was that pasted Leah’s dress to her back.
It must have been uncomfortable, and it explained the first thing Leah did when they dropped the bags in her room: she tore the dress open in front, popping the column of snaps from top to bottom like a string of muffled firecrackers. The skirt swept open, the damp spot peeled from her back, and the unwanted rag dropped to the floor. Miko saw for certain now Leah wasn’t wearing a bra. She wasn’t wearing panties, either.
“That’s better,” Leah sighed. “I thought I was gonna die.”
She opened a window, and, turning about, lifted a fistful of cinnamon curls from her neck. As much time as they’d spent together in this room, Miko had never seen Leah … like this. It didn’t bother her, really, because she expected it would be a quick thing – as soon as the breeze blew the sweat from between her shoulders, Leah would put on fresh clothes.
Except she didn’t. She stayed at the window a long time in just her sandals, a dreamy grin on her face, and when she finally did move, she went about putting her things away like she’d forgotten she was naked.
A stack of panties went into the bottom dresser drawer, followed by a tangle of bras, and in the drawer above, colorful layers of neatly folded T-shirts. Miko watched the procedure with growing confusion, and it was at this point she noticed Leah’s bottom was as tanned as the rest of her.
“Ugh, I took so much crap,” Leah said. “And I never wore any of it. Next year, I’m only gonna pack a hoodie and some sweats, for when it gets cold.”
“You gonna get dressed?” Miko said.
“I don’t care if I ever wear clothes again.”
“Why not?”
“We spent like the whole time nude. I got so used to it. We did everything – hiking, swimming. And I learned to play tennis.”
“With nothing on?”
“Sneakers. Mom had to wear a jock bra, which was hilarious. But I think I might have to get one soon.” She appraised the size and weight of her boobies with cupped hands. “You ever go skinny dipping?”
“No!”
“Don’t say it like that. You should totally do it. Bathing suits suck.”
Miko had to giggle at that, but her face was burning. This new, naked Leah was a stranger to her.
“Didn’t boys see you?” she asked.
“And I saw them. Who cares? It’s just bodies.”
“What do they look like?”
“Boys?”
“Yeah.”
“Same as us, except they’re flat up top, and they’ve got those wieners and berries in front. There was one kid there about my age who got hard once when he looked at me. He let me touch it. You’re not supposed to, but nobody saw.”
Miko didn’t know what “hard” meant. An image popped into her mind of a fat boy, naked from the waist up, suddenly getting solid muscular ripples on his stomach when Leah touched his shoulder. But that couldn’t be right, and Miko wasn’t about to show off her ignorance by asking.
Leah sat beside her on the edge of the bed and went on about her trip. She adored the lake, the nature walks, the bonfires at night, and she won second place in the junior beauty contest. It was just what Miko wanted to hear about, except for the part where everybody did everything naked.
“I loved being nude,” Leah explained. “I was nervous at first, but it felt weird to be the only one wearing clothes. So I took everything off, and after like an hour it was the most natural thing in the world.”
Miko lost track of the words. She was distracted by Leah’s body – the jiggle in her shapely new breasts, the pale nips bright against her tan, and the dull pink gully that opened between her legs when she raised her knee to the bed. Leah had an hourglass-shaped puff of reddish hair around her vagina, and Miko was embarrassed, even though she was the one wearing clothes, because she was still baby-bald down there.
Leah had grown up over the summer. Soon there’d be boys, and parties, and probably more stuff with no clothes on, and she wouldn’t have time for Miko anymore.
“Is everything okay?” Leah asked.
“Huh? Sure.”
“I just said you should do it.”
“Do what?”
“Be nude.”
“Now?”
“Whenever,” Leah said. “Mom says girls our age are self-conscious about our bodies. But when you’re nude, there’s nothing to be self-conscious about, especially if everybody else is nude, too.”
“I don’t have boobs.”
“That’s what I mean. It doesn’t matter.”She traced her fingers lightly down Miko’s back. “You ever sleep nude?”
“Uh-uh.”
“You ever do anything nude?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? How can you not know?”
“Sure I do.”
“Like what?”
“I take baths.”
“Everybody takes baths,” Leah said. “Come on. How can you wear anything on a day like this? It’s so warm out.”
Just then, Leah’s mother called from downstairs.
“Pizza’s hot,” she said. “Ask Miko if she wants some.”
“Do you?” Leah asked.
“I have to call my mom first,” Miko said.
“Okay,” Leah said. “We can strip you down some other time.”
Her bottom filled Miko’s gaze as she led the way downstairs.
ii.
What did it mean to be nude, anyway? The most natural thing in the world, Leah said, but the way Miko saw it, obsessing over it that night in bed, it wasn’t about being comfortable with your body. It was about showing off your sex parts. You could wear a tiny bikini top and a thong, but if just three spots were covered, you weren’t really nude. Not enough to get in trouble.
She couldn’t get it out of her mind. Leah standing at the kitchen island. A bite of pizza, a sip of soda. Naked. In front of her mom and dad. Who didn’t mention it, except once, when Mrs. R. said “poor Leah” would have to get used to wearing clothes again once school started. Leah made a face. Wiped her greasy fingertips on one boob. “Not till then,” she said.
You ever sleep nude?
The question hung in the air like a ghost. All her life, being naked had been just for the bathtub. Sure, she liked it – soaping herself, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror – but it never crossed her mind that she could take everything off and just hang out. Do normal, everyday stuff with nothing on. And in front of people, boys and girls and grownups, who would look at her and see everything like it was no big deal.
Who cares? It’s just bodies.
Yeah, right. Miko saw the way Leah’s dad looked at her. Her mom, too. Even Miko couldn’t look away. And Leah so liked being looked at. Miko could tell by the way she pushed her jigglers out whenever her dad snuck a peek.
And the photos on Leah’s tablet made Miko’s head spin. They were ordinary vacation pics, like anybody would take – Leah paddleboarding, Leah zip-lining, Leah lounging beside a fire pit with a glass of white wine. Nothing unusual, or even interesting – except for one crucial difference.
She remembered her embarrassment when Leah showed her a picture of a little girl dressed like a tiger, covered head to foot in black and white stripes, with white on her chest and belly. The costume was cool, very realistic, but confusing.
“If everybody’s supposed to be naked, why is she wearing a costume?” Miko asked.
“We don’t say naked. We say nude,” Leah said. “And look close. You see it?”
“See what?”
“It’s not a costume. It’s body paint.”
“Noooo.”
“It is. Look at it. We had a fantasy festival, and they brought in some real artists. See? This one’s the Little Mermaid.”
At least the kid in that photo had something on – a scaly tube that covered her legs, with a big fan-tail at the end. She was still nude up top, though, except for a blue-green painted bra.
Leah scrolled to the next picture. Miko got a glimpse of a naked man. Her eyes went instinctively to his center – a black bird’s nest with two bright cherries and a white twig in the middle – before Leah snatched the pad away.
“These are Mom and Dad in the woods,” she said. “We can’t let anybody see them.”
What were they doing? Miko couldn’t imagine, but her face burned at the mystery of it.
Even now, in the middle of the night, Leah was probably still naked – okay, nude. Sprawled on her bed, deep at peace in her bare skin, whatever she called it, while Miko tossed about in a fever. She was wearing her spaghetti-strap nightie and panties. Normally, she’d hardly be aware of them, but tonight they felt heavy and coarse. The panties, especially, seemed stuffed between her legs, thick and damp as a diaper. Ugh!
She flipped onto her side. Onto her back. Kicked off the covers. The clock said 1:38.
Should she do it? Strip down? Leah was going to keep at her until she did. Might as well try it. Lifting her butt an inch, she slid off her panties and threw them into the darkness.
It’s nice, Leah said. And yeah, it was. The air was cool, at least. Miko raised one knee. Pulled her nightie up. A late-summer breeze broke through the pale-gray window, slithered up each leg, and met again in the middle, lapping at the sweat around her vagina, and lower down, where a single bead of perspiration crawled over her butthole.
It might be nice to sleep this way, except Miko wasn’t sleepy. Maybe she needed to get used to it. Leah said it took her like a whole hour. Miko looked at the clock again. 1:52. Shoot. She got up and went to the window, pulling off her nightie on the way. Look, she called out silently, I’m doing it.
A light was on in Leah’s window. Orange, like a nightlight. It cast a dark stripe across the rear wall. Miko squinted through the screen, looking for any movement. Maybe Leah couldn’t sleep, either. When they were little, they would signal each other sometimes with flashlights. Miko was wondering where the flashlight had got to when something caught her eye. Something out of place.
Down on the Roses’ lawn. A pale, blobby thing. The nearest streetlamp was two doors up the block, and Miko couldn’t make out what the strange shape might be. It could have been a trash bag, except it had what looked like tentacles sticking out in three directions. Also, a trash bag wouldn’t be moving.
The thing stretched lengthwise, flattened out, rolled itself into a ball again and finally rose up, thin and long and greenish, with a shadowy crease somewhere in the middle.
Miko had taken a good long look at Leah’s ass that day, and even in the half-dark, from across the street, she knew it when she saw it.
Stop! she cried, but only in her mind. A real yell would have woken her mom up, and maybe Leah’s parents, and gotten Leah into a load of trouble. But it was nuts. Naked at a lake is one thing, where clothing was optional, but your front lawn? What was so great about being nude that Leah couldn’t give it up? Miko watched in fascination, as if waiting for an answer. Her heart was pounding, even though she wasn’t the one taking the risk.
“Hey!” she called, in a whisper. “Hey!” She really wished she could remember where that flashlight was.
Leah raised her arms to heaven. She turned around slowly, a full circle and more. Her breasts seemed to glow as they moved into view. Two black dots suddenly appeared on her blank white face, and Miko realized she’d opened her eyes.
Leah lowered her arms, crossed them over her titties, clasping her shoulders in an act of pure self-love. Miko could guess what she was feeling, because she was beginning to feel it, too – the awareness of her body, its openness to every sensation, and one particular spot that was demanding attention.
As though their minds were linked, Miko and Leah both reached down at the same moment.
Oh, yes, Miko touched herself there sometimes. She’d discovered it when she was small, so long ago she couldn’t remember, but it never felt as good as it did now. Or so slick. It was kind of gross, but it let her fingers slide around easily, and even up inside, which she’d only ever tried a couple times before.
She mirrored Leah’s every move – a firm pumping of the knuckles, then a flutter in the wrist. It was getting hard to stand. She was grateful she had the windowsill to lean on.
Leah was having trouble, too. She staggered forward, her thighs clamped together, then dropped to her knees just where the lawn met the sidewalk. She was totally exposed now, and yet her hand kept going like nothing else mattered.
What was going on? Miko trembled all over, rubbing that slick spot in tighter circles. She wished they could be outside together, and if someone drove by and saw them, well, like Leah said, who cares?
Leah fell onto her side, hand flailing, just as the greatest pleasure Miko had ever experienced gripped her in its arms. She hooked a finger inside herself, grinding on a tiny thickening that felt wired to every nerve in her body. For a mind-bending instant, her spirit flew from her body. Was that Leah’s presence, joining her in mid-air above the street? She was sure it was.
There was a sudden knock against the wall. Mom, opening her bedroom door. Miko froze, hardly daring to breathe. No! she thought. Stay out! But the feeling went on, rattling her from head to foot. The fright only made it worse – or better. No way she was going to stop. Not for Mom, not for anything.
Then came the soft snap of a light switch and the thump of the bathroom door. Miko breathed again, but the good feelings had passed.
Leah was done, too. She got up off the grass and marched back into her house. The door closed quietly, and in a few seconds, the light in her bedroom window went out. Everybody was safe.
Sleepy at last – exhausted, in fact – Miko flopped back into bed. She kept her hand on her vagina, cupping herself as she fell asleep. She didn’t care about her nightie anymore. She’d look for it in the morning.
iii.
Leah waved at Miko from inside her front door. She was standing a few steps back, a bronze shadow with a small reddish triangle in the middle. She’d said she wasn’t going to wear clothes again till school started, and it looked like she meant it.
Miko was out on her front steps, in full sunlight, still wearing what she’d worn to church that morning – a sleeveless yellow polka-dot dress, yellow ankle socks with a lace trim, and black pumps. Only she and God knew she wasn’t wearing underwear, and why would God care? He could see through her clothes, no matter how many layers she had on.
When she got dressed that morning, she’d put on a clean pair of panties, intending to be virtuous, but stripped them off just before she and Mom left the house. Thin and light as they were, they were still too confining. She’d liked sleeping nude, just as Leah said she would, and wanted to keep the feeling going a little longer. She’d lost track of the mass, and had no idea what the readings were about, because she couldn’t get her mind off the airy freedom beneath her skirt. Not that she wanted to. And Mom thought the expression on her face was all about the Holy Spirit.
“I’ve never seen you look so devoted,” she’d said.
Now, on the steps, Miko shifted her weight from one leg to the other, swaying her hips and grabbing fistfuls of her dress, working up her courage.
She glanced toward either end of the block. No cars in sight. She looked back across the street. Was Leah watching? Miko could see her eyes flashing in the shadows. She’d never been so nervous, but that’s what made it fun. All it took was a flick of the arms. Her skirt was up and down again in a snap.
There, she called out silently. How do you like that?
Leah did like it. She stepped forward, fully exposed in the doorway, clapping and bouncing on her toes. Miko took a comical bow. Leah spun her fingers in front of her, a gesture that unmistakably called on Miko to do it again.
The second show was easier and lasted longer. Miko raised her skirt slowly, stretching the hem across her chest and holding it there for a count of five. Or ten. Why not fifteen? She looked down. Her hairless notch glowed in the sun like a new penny. When at last – reluctantly – she dropped the skirt again, Leah did the craziest thing yet: she came halfway down her front walk, naked to the world. Lucky no one was coming, though Leah obviously wouldn’t have cared.
“Take it all the way off!” she called.
“Shh!” Miko said, pointing over her shoulder.
“Come on over,” Leah called. “My dad’s not home.”
“Just a second,” Miko called back. She went inside, where Mom was sitting at the black-lacquer secretary in the living room, paying bills on her computer.
“Can I go over to Leah’s?” Miko asked.
“I don’t know what you two find to talk about,” Mom replied. “Be back by three. We’re going to your Aunt Keiko’s.”
“No problem,” Miko said. She headed back outside, where Leah – incredibly – had come all the way across the street.
“My mom’s inside,” Miko said.
“Come on, then.”
Leah held out her hand. Miko took it, and they headed down the walk – a little girl in a yellow dress, and a taller girl in nothing at all.
But Leah stopped before they reached the gate.
“This doesn’t do it for me,” she said.
“What?”
“Only one of us is nude.” She clutched Miko’s dress at the hips and gave it a suggestive tug. “Let’s lose this.”
“What? No!”
“Come on! I’ll give it right back.”
There was a momentary, internal struggle. Miko surprised herself: she was actually entertaining the idea. It was a huge risk, but she wanted to know what it felt like to be naked outside. And to be as brave as Leah, if only for a moment.
So, without a word, she reached for the sky. Leah, tightening her grip on the dress, drew it up smoothly. Miko could feel her exposure growing, her body revealed an inch at a time – knees and thighs, butt and back, chest and pits. And the smooth space between her legs in front. A sun-soaked yellow flash blinded her an instant, and the dress was off.
“How’s it feel?” Leah asked.
“I don’t know.” Warm as the day was, Miko felt a sudden chill. She tried to cover herself, one hand to her crotch and the other over her chest. But it was stupid, trying to hide when you’ve just let somebody take your dress off. If you’re going to do it, do it for real. Her arms dropped to her sides again.
A car went past, and miraculously, the sky didn’t fall. The driver didn’t stop, or honk, or anything. Probably didn’t even notice the two naked girls, who were partially hidden by the hedges in the front yard. Miko still wasn’t about to cross the street in just her shoes and socks.
“Okay, give it back,” she said, even as she knew, from the glint in Leah’s eye, that wasn’t going to happen. Given half a chance, your friends are going to mess with you.
“Come and get it,” Leah said.
And
away
she
ran.
Miko scrambled to catch up, the panic rising in her chest, but Leah’s legs were longer than hers, and she’d had a head start. Her heinie bounced up the steps and disappeared into the house. The door slammed shut, leaving Miko stranded with no clothes on and nowhere to go. The thing to do would be to go home and get dressed, but she couldn’t, not with her mom sitting right there in the living room.
She was looking around for a bush to duck behind when another car rolled by. This time the driver saw her. It was a lady. She gave a toot on the horn and waved through the window. Miko couldn’t tell if she was smiling or yelling at her to get her bare ass inside.
It didn’t matter. She’d been seen, and that was all it took to bring on the twitching between her legs. She didn’t even have to touch herself. It just went off on its own. Miko stood rooted to the spot, knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, hugging herself and trembling like a wet dog.
It had to stop, but it didn’t. Please, she prayed, don’t let anybody else see me! It was a more fervent prayer than any she’d recited at church.
But someone else did see her. When the paralyzing shivers had passed, and Miko could straighten up, she saw Leah, her arm sticking out through the half-open screen door, waving her dress like a yellow flag.
“Hey, kid, put your clothes on!” she called. “Whattaya think this is?”
“Dorkface!”
All she wanted now was to give Leah a good hard punch in the arm. You don’t strand your best friend outside with nothing on, where she might be seen by anybody, including her mother.
Leah held the door open at last. Miko stormed past her into the living room, tight-faced with rage, but Leah wasn’t at all intimidated.
“That was amazing!” she said. “You know what you did?”
“What?”
“You walked over, like, totally nude. It was awesome.”
Leah’s mom came in from the dining room. She was nude, too.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“She took my dress!” Miko said.
“Leah, give it back. Don’t tease her like that.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” Leah said. “Here.”
“I don’t need it now,” Miko said.
The shakes were starting again – a little shiver at first, then an uncontrollable, full-body quaking that purged all the excitement and fear of the past few minutes. Miko’s legs turned to water. She sank her fingers deep into her buttery hole and pitched herself against Leah’s boobs.
“Is she – ?” Leah’s mom asked.
“I think she’s going to,” Leah said.
What? What am I going to do? Somebody tell me! But that was for later. For now, it was enough that it was about to happen. Miko pumped herself like a crazy thing. Leah held her and cooed over her, stroking her back and butt. Mrs. Rose stepped over for a closer look.
“It’s all right, dear,” she said. “Just let it happen.”
Miko came at the sight of her breasts.
iv.
They kissed their mothers goodbye and walked to the bus from opposite directions. They would have kissed each other when they met, except both of them knew, instinctively, it would not be a good idea if the other kids saw.
“Hey, Goldbug,” Leah said. “I love what you’re wearing. Is it new?”
“Yeah,” Miko said. “I got it for school.”
It was a simple outfit – a gauze midi-skirt with a tank top – but both were a deep, solid blue Mom said looked stunning against Miko’s skin and hair. She’d wanted to wear something nice, not just boring old jeans and a T-shirt, because today was a special occasion. It was her first day at middle school. It was also the first day of Leah’s last year. They were going to be schoolmates again, riding the bus together every day for the next nine months. If Miko was excited about anything this morning, it was that.
They climbed aboard the bus, Leah in the lead.
“You nervous?” she asked over her shoulder.
“Not really,” Miko replied. “Me and Mom went to orientation while you were away. I saw my homeroom and met–”
She was cut off by an excited squeal calling Leah’s name.
“Hey!” Leah said, and without so much as a glance back, dropped into the seat beside a short girl wearing cat’s-eye glasses.
“Where’d you go all summer?” the girl said.
“We went to like a resort–” And she was off. Miko stood in the aisle until Leah noticed her a final time.
“We’ll talk after school, okay?” she said.
“Sure,” Miko said.
She trudged to the rear of the bus, tossed her Hello Kitty backpack into an empty seat and slid over to the window. Of course, Leah had friends her own age at school. It wouldn’t look cool to hang out with a brand-new sixth-grader. Miko told herself it was okay, she should have expected it, they’d talk later, but for the first time since Leah got back from vacation, she felt like an overlooked little kid.
Was Leah telling the cat’s-eye girl about going nude? No. Miko was the only one Leah would trust with that secret. Just like Leah was the only one Miko could trust with hers.
Miko pulled her skirt above her knees. She glanced around. There was nobody back here yet – only a single boy across the aisle, one row forward, and he was looking out the window. Satisfied he was oblivious, Miko drew the skirt up along her legs, all the way to her tummy. The morning sun was in her lap, and when the last shadow of fabric moved aside, like a cloud-spot crawling up a hill, the light shined directly on her bare, bald pussy.
Miko had waited to whisper the secret into Leah’s ear all morning, maybe even flash her when no one was looking. Leah would have been proud, she was sure, and then spent the whole day thinking about how Miko didn’t have panties on. But the news would have to wait, probably until the ride home, or even later. Her surprise had been wasted.
Miko pried her pussy lips open with two fingers. Her feel-good button peeped from the crease within, pinkish and glittering in the sunlight. Her clitoris, Mrs. Rose called it. Leah said you can also call it your clitty.
She glanced up again. The boy across the aisle was looking right at her. Her blood ran cold an instant, until she realized he couldn’t see anything below her shoulders. With her eyes locked on his, she scissored her clit between her fingers and squeezed. The pressure was enough to spread her toes. The kid cocked his head, puzzled at the change in her expression – her widened eyes, the way her lip hung open. Did he suspect what she was doing? Maybe. He probably made the same face when he did whatever it is boys do to themselves.
She pressed, jiggling her hand, careful not to move her arm too much. It felt so good. All she needed was another minute, and the day would be off to a perfect start.
Of course, she didn’t get it. The bus creaked to a stop, and a bunch of rowdy boys piled on. Miko threw her skirt down and hugged her backpack to her chest just as they began to fill the seats all around her. They were blabbering about football season, which was supposed to start next weekend. Even the kid who’d been watching her joined in.
Miko couldn’t have cared less about football. She leaned her forehead against the window and watched the blurry asphalt roll on under the bus. She’d been looking forward to this ride. Now she just wanted it to be over.
The thought that she’d left her panties at home, and she might get caught nude under her skirt, didn’t excite her as much anymore, not like it had when she’d left the house. If she wanted to recapture that feeling, and maybe get Leah’s attention again, she’d have to be a bit more daring.
v.
For most of the day, Miko was busy with classes, meeting her teachers, and saying hi to friends from elementary school. She didn’t think much about her state of exposure, except every now and then when she did an about-face and her skirt swished about her legs. The cool updraft that resulted made her want to strip down for a total air bath.
She managed to control herself, however, at least till the final bell. She already had an essay due tomorrow for language arts, math homework, and ten pages to read for social studies. Her backpack was heavier than it had been this morning, with the textbooks she’d been issued, and she could feel a film of sweat forming under the weight on her shoulders.
It would be fun if she could hang out at Leah’s house, and they could do their homework together before Miko’s mom came home. No doubt Leah would want to be nude. Miko did, too. She got more and more into the idea, but when school finally let out for the day, she didn’t see Leah in the crowd of kids waiting for their buses.
She walked the length of the curb, twice, craning her neck to see over the seventh- and eighth-graders. The only familiar face she saw belonged to the girl in the cat’s-eye glasses Leah had ditched her for that morning.
“Excuse me,” Miko said, “did you see Leah Rose?”
“Who are you?” the girl said.
“I live across the street from her.”
“I don’t know.”
“She’s not here.”
“Then she’s not here. I think she’s at some kind of club meeting.”
Shoot. Not only would Miko have to ride home alone, she wouldn’t even be able to talk to Leah when they got off the bus. Unless she went back inside and waited. Maybe there was a later bus, or Leah’s mom was going to pick her up. Then they could still go back together in time to hang out. Or else she’d missed Leah, who was already on the bus, and Miko, if she decided to stay, would end up walking home.
She decided it was worth the risk.
“Thanks,” she said to the girl, who was already getting on the bus.
Turning on her heel, she marched back into the building. If the eighth-graders were meeting anywhere, it was probably up on the second floor. Miko made her way to the nearest staircase. She’d hardly started up when she heard a girl shrieking.
“Stop, come on, don’t!” the girl cried. Then she heard a boy’s voice, but she couldn’t understand it. It sounded like grunting.
Miko stepped onto the landing. Over in the corner, on the other side of the window, the boy had the girl pressed up against the wall. He had his mouth on her neck and his hand up under her T-shirt.
“Stop,” the girl said again. “There’s a kid.”
The boy raised his head. “Whatta you lookin’ at?”
“Is there a meeting up there?” Miko asked.
“Who gives a shit?”
“Don’t talk to her like that,” the girl said. She took advantage of the distraction to slip out from under him. She went past Miko on her way downstairs, but the boy caught up to her, knocking Miko aside and shoving his hand down the back of her jeans. The girl jumped and shrieked again, but this time with laughter.
The boy said something else just before they reached the bottom of the stairs. The girl said something back that sounded like my dad finds out, but they were too far away for Miko to be sure.
Were all the middle-school boys like that, putting their hands all over the girls right out in the open? If so, Miko wasn’t going to like this place much. She continued up the stairs.
The second-floor corridor was empty and dark, and the classroom doors were all closed, except for one about halfway down. Miko headed toward it. The lights were on inside, and when Miko peeked around the doorjamb, she saw kids sitting in a circle and a teacher standing at the whiteboard. A boy noticed her, and all the talking suddenly stopped.
Leah, who’d been sitting with her back to the door, looked over her shoulder.
“Hold on a second,” she said to the other kids, and she came out. “What’s up?”
“You weren’t on the bus.”
“Mom’s picking me up later.”
“Can I come with you?”
“Sure. You miss your bus?”
“Uh huh.”
“We might be awhile.”
“That’s okay.”
“Why don’t you wait next door? I’ll get you when we’re done.”
“All right.”
“Okay. See you in a bit.” She gave Miko’s hair a tousle and returned to the group. After what Miko had seen on the stairs, she was grateful for that reassuring touch.
Going back the way she came, she went into the first room she came to. She felt a lot better knowing where Leah was, and the wait wouldn’t be too long. Miko could get started on her essay or her reading assignment. She was only sorry she couldn’t do it naked, but …
No. That was crazy. But why not? The room was empty. Because somebody might walk by and see her, and if Leah’s meeting broke up early, there wouldn’t be time to get dressed. The other kids would laugh, and Leah would never talk to her again in front of them. No, it was definitely crazy.
Which is exactly why she wanted to do it.
She closed the door behind her and dropped her backpack. There was a sudden chill between her shoulders, where a patch of sweat had formed. She began to pull the top off, but the wet spot stuck to her back, and in a second she was tangled up, with her elbows snagged halfway through the straps.
There was a tearing sound as she finally managed to straighten her arms and drag the top off over her head. She hoped it wasn’t ruined. Mom would have a fit. Miko shook it out, holding it by the straps, and flipped it front to back. Thank heaven, she didn’t see any rips. The sound must have been the fabric stretching.
She tossed the top onto a chair. So, there she was, half-nude. In an eighth-grade classroom. It should have been a big deal, but it didn’t feel like it. She had no boobs. If anyone caught her, they wouldn’t see much.
And half-nude isn’t really nude, is it?
Miko undid the buttons at her waist. The skirt slipped quietly to the floor. She kicked it away and looked about the shadowy classroom, consumed with the awareness that all she had on was her dressy white sandals.
This was more like it.
As if to prove to herself she was nude, she touched herself all over. First, she hugged her shoulders. Then she moved her hands down her arms and over her chest, brushing the stiffened nipples with her fingertips. She leaned forward, cupping her knees, then straightened up, gliding her hands along the solid posts of her thighs and back over the soft curves of her ass.
Naturally, she couldn’t resist trailing a finger through her pussy. No, she thought. Being nude is about feeling free. It’s not about having orgasms – another word Leah’s mom taught her – but then again, what’s wrong with touching your clitty? Just a few seconds more. And another few seconds. Finally, she made herself move on, sweeping both hands over her chest again.
Her body was like a smooth, unblemished valley of fresh snow – only warm and comforting to the touch.
She knelt down and undid her sandals, and, feeling even freer with the cool tile floor beneath her feet, set about exploring the classroom – or, really, exploring her nudity in this new, unfamiliar place.
She walked up and down the aisles, skipped around the teacher’s desk, did a pirouette, and found herself looking out the windows. Down below, the last few buses were waiting for their passengers. Hey kids, she thought, look up here. She even climbed up onto the deep sill and pressed her body to the glass. They’d see her plain as day now, all of her, if only they’d bothered to look up. But the deadheads, as Mom would call them, were too intent on getting home to pay much attention to their surroundings.
There must be a clue she could leave, a way of letting people know what she’d done without giving herself away. For the first time, she regretted not wearing panties, which would have been fun to leave on the teacher’s desk, or hanging from the door handle.
She was being a bad girl, and bad girls had to write out punishments. A row of markers, all different colors, were lined up, end to end, on the ledge beneath the whiteboard. Miko chose purple, her favorite, and wrote ten times, in her most fluid cursive –
I will not come to class nude.
There. That’ll give them something to think about in the morning. But then, they’d probably think it was a boy, since boys are the real pervs. So, just to make things clear, she added a final flourish. She signed her work Susie. Now, every eighth-grade girl with that name would be a suspect.
It was the naughtiest thing Miko had ever done. She stepped back to admire her work.
There was a sudden commotion in the corridor. A door closed, kids were chattering. One boy was especially loud. His barking laughter turned Miko cold with fear. Had it been that long already? She looked around for a place to hide, but there wasn’t any. The classroom was spaciously laid out. It had a nice, open feel, darn it all.
She ran to the back and squatted beside a bookcase in the corner. Once again, despite the danger, her pussy demanded to be touched. She thrust a hand between her legs in an attempt to suppress the feeling, which only made it worse.
As the noise outside died down, so did the throbbing. Her fingers felt nice, though. She squiggled them around and would have kept going, except the classroom door opened.
“You in here?” Leah called.
Miko was afraid to stand up. Leah might have somebody with her.
“Goldbug? What are you doing back there? Shit!”
There was no point in crouching anymore. Miko rose silently, like a pillar of golden smoke, and as more of her body came into view, the expression on Leah’s face changed moment by moment. Shock, fear, disbelief, hilarity, and understanding – all flickered past in an instant.
“Wow,” she said. “You know, there’s a time and a place.”
“Here and now,” Miko replied.
“You better get dressed. My mom’s probably here.”
Miko went to the window again. The pickup lane below was clear.
“Not yet,” she said. She faced about, and now it was her turn to experience the five stages of awe. Leah’s top was already draped over Miko’s on the chair, and she was unzipping her shorts.
“Just to see what it’s like,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t wear a skirt today.”
She had to toe off her Keds to pull the shorts over her feet. She was wearing a lacy pink bra and panty set Miko thought was way too pretty to be hidden under plain old school clothes. As far as Miko was concerned, Leah could have stopped at her underwear, but, like Miko, she understood that half-nude isn’t nude at all. The bra and panties were soon discarded.
“I wish we could go to school like this,” Miko said.
“We are,” Leah replied.
“I mean like all the time. Let’s go out in the corridor.”
“You’re crazy, girl.”
“You’re the one who said you didn’t care about clothes anymore.”
“Yeah, but not here.”
“Then why’d you strip?”
“To feel what it’s like,” Leah said. “Now I know.”
“We could know what it’s like out there.”
“Come on. Let’s get dressed. Before somebody comes.”
“Just for a minute.” Miko offered her hand. Leah took it, and a palpable sense of courage flowed between them.
Miko stepped toward the door and out of the classroom. Leah let herself be led.
“Where?” she asked.
“The stairs and back. – Hey, no running!”
So they walked, hand in hand, past the lockers, and the Reading Olympics posters, and the darkened classrooms.
“God,” Leah whispered. “Oh, God.”
“I’m more nude than you are,” Miko said.
“I’ve only got socks on.”
“And that pretty chain.”
Leah touched the silver chai between her boobs.
“Yeah, this makes me invisible,” she said. “Okay, here’s the stairs. Let’s go back.”
“Uh-uh,” Miko replied. “I said downstairs.”
“You just said the stairs.”
“It’s what I meant.”
“Fine,” Leah said. With a burst of resolve, she yanked Miko’s arm and dragged her into the stairwell. They practically danced down the steps, tripping nimbly from one to the next. At the landing, Miko remembered the kid who’d felt up that girl. She wondered if Leah knew them, but before she thought to ask, they arrived on the first floor.
“There,” Leah said. “Happy now?”
“Uh-uh,” Miko said, and she kept going. Now Leah was the one being dragged.
It was all so funny. Just days ago, she had snatched Miko’s dress away, leaving her exposed and afraid. But Miko wasn’t afraid anymore. She felt freer than she ever had, and strangely calm with her best friend beside her.
“Let’s do the whole school,” she said.
“Oh God, oh God,” Leah said.
Was that a yes or a no? Both, maybe, like Leah knew it was dangerous, but she couldn’t resist.
It would be like owning the place. From now on, wherever they went, they could tell themselves, I was nude here. And nobody would ever know.
They were on a grand, heroic adventure until a voice from behind brought it to a halt.
“What are you two doing!?”
Miko was instantly covered in gooseflesh. Wheeling about, she saw a woman she didn’t recognize.
“That’s Mrs. Voglin,” Leah said. “Run!”
They tore off down the corridor, toward another set of stairs at the far end. It seemed impossibly far away, and Mrs. Voglin’s footsteps echoed more loudly by the second. Thank God she was wearing heels and couldn’t keep up with one girl who was barefoot and another in socks. And nude girls run faster, Miko thought, because a) they have less wind resistance and b) they’re scared shitless. She had to laugh at that – and at the way Leah hung on to her titties to keep them from jiggling. For once, Miko was grateful for a flat chest.
This was a bad situation. It shouldn’t have been any fun at all. Yet both girls were teary-eyed with laughter. They reached the far stairs faster than seemed possible and flew to the second floor. Here, they retraced the path they’d taken below, approaching Leah’s classroom from the opposite side. Leah slid to a stop in her stocking feet. Miko crashed into her a second later. They staggered through the doorway together, bumping shoulders, and breathlessly set to work gathering their stuff.
“Shoot!” Miko said. “Shoot shoot shoot…”
“What’s the matter?”
“I can’t find my sandal.”
“So leave it.”
“I can’t.”
“Wait, is that it?”
It was indeed, two rows of desks away from the other one. Miko set the pair together on the floor. She was holding up her skirt, about to step into it. when Leah said, “Not here.” Leah had her own clothes and books piled in her arms and was heading back out, still nude. Miko slung her backpack over a shoulder, grabbed her top and sandals, and hurried after.
It made no sense, but halfway down the stairs she understood. The classroom had only one door. If they’d tried to get dressed there, they’d’ve been trapped when Mrs. Voglin showed up.
But Mrs. Voglin was a strategist. She’d figured the girls would have to come downstairs sooner or later, and there she was, waiting for them midway between the staircases. The moment they appeared in the corridor, she turned and charged.
“Shit,” Leah said. “This way!” She headed straight for the exit.
Wouldn’t there be kids outside? But there was nowhere in the school to hide. And they couldn’t get in any more trouble than they already were. Miko couldn’t think anymore. She had to trust Leah to save them.
Leah hit the panic bar – perfect name for it! – and threw back the door. Sunlight and shadows flickered across her flailing legs. Miko kept her eyes on them as she, too, plunged through the opening. She was afraid to look up – taking refuge. like a baby, in the belief that if she couldn’t see anyone, no one could see her – and didn’t notice her salvation standing not twenty feet away.
“Mom!” Leah called.
The blessed mini-SUV was parked in the drop-off lane. Mrs. Rose stood on the curb, holding her cell phone – probably texting Leah at that very moment.
“Oh, Jesus Christ!” she said.
She pressed a button on her keychain, and the locks in the car all popped at once. Leah heaved open a door, and the girls tumbled into the back seat, laughing and hugging and dropping their stuff to the floor.
Leah’s mom slid behind the wheel, and in a second they were off, just as Mrs. Voglin emerged from the school.
Leah and Miko turned and waved. Mrs. Voglin was holding up her own cell, about to snap a picture, but Mrs. Rose made it around the traffic circle in time to ruin the shot.
“Is she like a teacher?” Miko said.
“Vice principal,” Leah said.
“Oh no! Does she know who we are?”
“She knows who I am,” Leah said. “I hope she didn’t see my face.”
“Nah, she was looking at other stuff.”
They laughed again, delirious with relief.
“All right, ladies,” Leah’s mom interrupted. “Can you tell me why you were carrying your clothes and not wearing them?”
“You know why,” Leah said. Her legs were open. She was fingering her clitty.
“I’d expect this from you,” Mrs. Rose said, “but you dragged your little friend into it.”
“It was her idea,” Leah said.
“Don’t put this off on her.”
“No, it was,” Miko admitted.
“Really?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’re as bad as Leah,” Mrs. Rose said. “You got bit by the nude bug, too.”
“Are you gonna tell my mom?” Miko asked.
“How can I? This is our fault. Just promise me, next time you get the urge to expose yourself, you’ll do it at our house.”
“I promise,” Miko said.
“You too, baby,” Mrs. Rose said. “Promise me.”
Leah had to finish fingering herself before she could answer. She was having an orgasm, Miko could tell.
“Leah?” Mrs. Rose prompted.
“Okay,” Leah said. “I promise.”
She squeezed Miko’s hand, and they looked at each other sideways. Leah’s expression was full of guilt and mischief, eyes wide, the corner of her lower lip between her teeth.
Miko felt guilty, too. Not because they ran around nude, but because they’d lied to Leah’s mom. They both knew they could never keep their promise. After all, they still had the rest of the school to do.
The End