Attitude Adjustment Book I

 

The smartly dressed young woman placed her bulging briefcase down on the sidewalk beside her and took a moment to carefully survey her destination.  She stood at the base of a long flight of very wide marble steps, and looked at the broad front of the imposing three-story building with her large brown eyes shining in wonder.

Built in a past age when things were intended to last a very long time, the old stone building still appeared very solid, as if it could last forever.  Yet she knew that the handsome exterior was deceptive.  This was to be the old school's last year.  The building was in fact deteriorated in its foundation, and was due to be knocked down next summer. Its replacement was even now being build in another part of the city.

She had been a student here not so long ago, and her mind was filled with warm memories of her time at the old high school.  It was here that she had truly begun work on her chosen profession, hard work that would finally be consummated this very day.

"Hello, school," she said softly.  "I'm back."

Suddenly eager to begin, she picked up her overloaded briefcase and swiftly went up the tall flight of steps, her handsome nylon-clad legs flashing in the bright morning sun under the tailored short, tight skirt.  She noted as she had always done in the past how the marble had become indented from the countless thousands of students who had flowed over them through the years.  At the top of the steps, she went through the large double doors and headed unerringly left for the principal's office.

It was Miss Laura Ann Papadakis' first day, and she was very excited.  She had been working towards this goal for a long time, and today it was finally becoming a reality. Today she was to be a teacher!

Ever since she could remember, it was all she ever wanted to become.  It wasn't that both of her parents were teachers, or that most of her aunts and uncles were associated with education one way or another.  It was the idea of reaching out to new minds that really grabbed her, which was why she majored in primary education.  She believed that 2nd grade was the key position to be in, after the unruly 1st and before the sullen 3rd.

Which was why her first teaching assignment, to New Berlin High School, did not really please her at first. Education in high school was an entirely different matter from working with the younger children.  She knew she herself wouldn't be all that much older then some of her own students, and she wondered how she would be able to control them, let alone teach them anything.  It was only the fact that the school was her old alma mater that made it at all bearable.

At least the school board's area administrator, Mike Johnson, the person who unexpectedly called her last week with the news of a sudden opening, assured her that it would be temporary position for just one year, then a permanent replacement would be found.  Next year she would finally be assigned to where she felt she really belonged, at Berlitz Elementary School, unless of course she decided to stay on at the high school instead.  Until then, she would just have to make the best of it.

She entered the principal's office and was pleased to see that nothing had changed.  The school's current principal, Mr. Fairplay, had been there for ages.  Even his old, faithful secretary, Mrs. Sullivan, was still at her desk, as she had been for countless years.

Mrs. Sullivan eyed her warily as she entered the small anteroom.  "Miss Papadakis!  Are we in trouble again?" she said sternly.

Laura laughed.  She had been sent here once in her four years for something that happened in the girl's gym, and was delighted that the old woman still remembered.

"No, Mrs. Sullivan.  I'm here to see Mr. Playfair.  I'm your new teacher!" she explained.

"I know, honey," the secretary said, smiling impishly. "I was just teasing.  Go right on in, he's expecting you."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and Laura?"

"Yes, Mrs. Sullivan?"

"Congratulations, my dear," she said, holding out her hand, which Laura gratefully took in her own.  "I think you'll make a fine teacher.  I really do."

"Why, thank you, Mrs. Sullivan!  I'll certainly try to be."

"I know you will, honey.  Go on in now.  You have a busy morning ahead of you."

"Yes, exciting, isn't it?"

In the gloomy old office, Mr. Playfair looked up from a messy desk stacked high with papers and books.

"Ah, and you would be Miss Papperdooki, yes?"

"Laura Papadakis, yes," she patiently explained.  People were always getting her name wrong.

"Please sit down, Miss Pap..., er, Laura.  We have much to discuss."

"Thank you."

"My manners!  I'm sorry, may I get you some coffee?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

"Good. Now, first of all, let me officially welcome you to New Berlin.  I and my staff will do everything we can to make your stay with us as pleasant as possible."

"Thank you, Mr. Playfair.  I'm really looking forward to this."

"Very good.  You are aware that you will be here for our freshman class this year and that this is a temporary assignment."

"Yes, sir.  That's what the school board told me when they called last Friday."

"I'm very sorry for the suddenness of the appointment. We usually prefer to give our incoming teachers at least a month to prepare for the upcoming school year.  The last-minute, er, unavailability of Miss Jennings came as something of a surprise.  She was a counselor at the local Junior High, you see, and was quite popular with both students and staff.  Her requested transfer here was happily anticipated as a welcomed addition to the staff."

"I'm sorry, sir.  Did something happen to her?"

"I can't go into the details, I'm afraid.  The case is still being investigated, and the police and school board both have insisted that the details be kept quiet."

"My God!"

"Yes.  Quite a lovely woman, too.  Such a loss.  She cared deeply for her students, which is something we don't always see enough of these days."

Mr. Fairplay shook his shoulders and briskly rubbed his hands together.

"Anyway, back to business!"

The principal picked up a tall, untidy pile of documents and binders from the corner of his desk and handed them to Laura.

"Here is your homeroom assignment and daily schedule, grade book, binder for your lesson plans, the school's Student and Teacher Code of Conduct handbook, the student assignment lists for your various classes, and finally --and probably most important -- your list of collateral duties.  Mrs. Sullivan has your English text books and course guides waiting for you in her office. Now, any questions for me?"

Laura looked in a daze at the vast stack of paperwork now on her lap.  She wasn't even sure what she would be teaching, or where her room was.  She looked up at the kindly old man with the slightly confused eyes and realized sadly that whatever questions she had would not be answered here.  She had heard that it was to be the principal's last year, too.

"Why, no, Mr. Playfair.  No questions."  Laura rose from the chair, struggling under the weight of the briefcase in her left hand and the large stack of paperwork held desperately in her right arm.

"Splendid," he said as he escorted her to the door. "Please remember to drop in anytime.  My door is always open, Miss Papo...Papa..., Laura!"

"Thank you, Mr. Playfair.  I'll remember."

Mr. Playfair opened the door for her, then called to his secretary.  "Mrs. Sullivan!  Please take care of our latest addition to the teaching staff.  I'll be in my office if needed."

The door closed and Laura found herself alone with Mrs. Sullivan once again.

"The old fool," the secretary said fondly.  "A proud educator for over 30 years, and he picks this one to go senile.  Your room will be 125, and your first class is a study hall, so you will have time to get a little organized anyway."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sullivan!  Mr. Playfair said something about textbooks?"

"I had one of the janitors take them to your room.  There were only 100 of them, the old fool.  Laura, don't worry. Everything is waiting for you in your room."

Laura gazed warmly at the wrinkled old face with the twinkling blue eyes.  "Thank you so very much, Mrs. Sullivan.  I can't tell you how grateful I am.  For everything!"

"Certainly, my dear.  It's what I'm here for.  That, and keeping that old fool out of trouble for one more year. Now, get along with you.  You only have 45 minutes until First Bell to get your room ready."

As Laura staggered under her heavy load through the office doorway, she suddenly gasped.

"Oh!"

Her back straightened and she jerked to a stop.  She looked incredulously behind her, but the office door had already closed and she was alone in the hall.

"Must have been my imagination," she muttered.  She shook her head and continued walking through the long, wide hallway.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.  It was the oddest sensation.  When she was leaving the office, Laura could have sworn that kindly, old Mrs. Sullivan had casually slid a hand down the back of her short dress, and had moved it deliberately over her buttocks, as she was walking out the door!

*****

It took her 30 minutes of hard work, but everything had been put away and her room was finally ready.  Her new desk was a pleasant surprise.  It was so new that the keys to the locks were still taped in the top drawer. The only thing she didn't like about it was the lack of a modesty panel.  She could see that it was suppose to have one, but she couldn't find it anywhere.  It was really a only a minor annoyance.  She would just have to be careful about how she sat, that's all.

Her briefcase, sitting on the floor beside the desk, was now empty.  Her name, the room number, and today's date were on the black board behind her.  Laura felt ready to begin.

She sat at her desk in the empty room, and went over her list of collateral duties once again.  She was to be: a freshman homeroom administrator, a study hall monitor twice a day, the Advisor to the Astronomy Club (she had taken one course in college, and that by accident), the Advisor to the Theater Club (she had been in two high school plays as a member of the chorus), and the Auditorium Event Coordinator!  Laura gloomily wondered if she would actually have time to teach this year.

Her actual academic courses seemed easy enough: Introduction to American Literature (fortunately she loved to read), and English 101 (another good one, because she had spent a lifetime honing her writing skills in the hope of becoming a professional writer someday), and finally something called Human Relations-F.

It was the last course on her list which had her slightly worried.  She had never heard of it before and, in the rush of her last-minute appointment, she never had the chance to research the course at all.  All she really knew about it was the title, Human Relations-F (whatever that meant), and the fact that it was a freshman girls- only course, and that it was an elective, which supposedly meant that no one was required to take the course.  Yet according to the class roster, the students had already been assigned.

At least it wasn't Sex Education!  It was one of the reasons she went into primary education in the first place, to avoid being required to have anything to do with it.  Thankfully, she checked the school's assignment list and that course was already covered by other teachers.  Her unknown class wasn't scheduled until Friday, which she hoped would allow sufficient time to properly prepare for it, provided of course she could ever find out from someone just what the damned course was all about, and what the requirements were.

She glanced at her watch and was startled to notice that it was already 7:55.  According to her attendance list, she had over 30 students assigned to her room, yet of them there was not a sign.  Laura could hear plenty of students laughing and banging lockers in the hall outside, yet none were coming into the room.  Her room! Starting to panic, she wondered briefly if she could be in the wrong place.

Finally, at 7:59 they came noisily storming in through the two doors and, by the time First Bell rung at 8:00, they had more or less seated themselves.

She sighed, relieved.  "Wouldn't that have been a great way to start," she said dryly.  "Being in the wrong room!"

Laura stood and was immediately buffeted by appreciative whistles and comments throughout the class.  She walked from behind her desk to the front of the room and the noise grew louder.

"Haven't these idiots ever seen a  real woman before?" she wondered as she stood frowning in front of the class, waiting for silence.

She glanced down to make sure she wasn't showing anything and was shocked to realize that the hem on her dress was far too short for a position of responsibility in education.

"Oops!" she thought.  "Not in college anymore!  I had better get something a little  more suitable, just as soon as I can afford it.  Don't want to start a riot my first year teaching."

Although she didn't show it to the class, Laura was really amused by this continued wild response at her appearance.  Although she had always considered herself "all right" in the looks department, the freshmen were doing wonderful things for her ego.  Seized by an irresistible impulse, Laura held her arms out from her sides and slowly turned her body in a complete circle.

When she faced the class again, she asked mischievously,

"Okay?"

The response was deafening!

The demure Laura had always enjoyed a little teasing and flirting, only now and then of course.  It was the reason her skirts were so short, and why the rest of her clothes were just a little tighter then they should have been. Coupled with her reputation as a "good girl", which was true enough, she knew the effect she had could be quite devastating on the unwary male.  Faced with a strict old- world home that regarded a daughter's dating as only a single step above prostitution, she sometimes felt the need for some kind of release.  It always made her feel so deliciously naughty, and without really having to do anything, either.  In high school she had become quite adept at it.  Watching the flushed faces of the boys, and even on some of her teachers, and knowing that she alone had caused it always gave her a little secret thrill.  In college, between going to school full time and working an eight-hour shift, she justified it because she was still living at home (where a single girl living away from home was a prostitute, no question), and it was really all she had time for anyway in her busy, lonely life.

She had resolved after graduation to stop such activity. Despite being great fun, she recognized that it was in fact a foolish and childish thing to do, and it was time to leave it behind her.  Besides, the thought of such activity ever getting back to her school board caused her a great deal of anxiety.  She would be finished as a teacher, here or anywhere.

But, now!  Just standing there and not doing anything, Laura was feeling flush from just the reaction she knew she was causing!  In the excitement of her first day, she was well aware she had to be careful not to become carried away by her constantly suppressed emotions.  She was finally doing what she had always dreamed about, being a teacher, and she was feeling light-headed from the excitement of finally being in front of her first class!  She knew that teaching was really serious work, and that this was a meaningful profession, and not just a game for the frivolous.  Yet, Laura let the demonstration for her continue.  Even now, at this most important time in her life, a secret part of her thoroughly enjoyed to be in absolute control of a situation like this.

Suddenly afraid that the noise might interfere with the classes in the surrounding rooms, Laura held up her hands and said forcefully,

"All right!  All right!  Enough already!  Let's calm down now!"

Under her breath, she said, "Especially me!"

*****

After introducing herself, she swiftly got the class organized.  Attendance was taken, the seating chart was passed around so the students could fill in their names, and the student schedule was posted on the bulletin board, so everyone would know what was expected of them. In fifteen minutes they had completed all that was required and Laura was satisfied at the results.

She allowed the students to quietly amuse themselves for the remainder of the period while she went to work on the lesson-plans for her upcoming English 101 course.

It was after about 20 minutes that she felt she was being seriously stared at.  It wasn't the first time she had been aware of staring eyes, yet in the middle of a class of students supposedly working it just wasn't right.

She looked around the room over her lesson-plan binder but all her male students were busy with their assignments.  She went back to working in the binder, then felt it again.  Laura quickly looked up, but the only one who was not working on anything was a slim, blonde girl with sleepy eyes.  It was she who was looking at her so intently.  Laura wondered why.  Just sizing up the new teacher, probably.

Still, it disturbed her a little.  She checked her now filled-in seating chart and found the seat.  In a neat, feminine hand was written 'Missy Manchester.'  A small heart was drawn below the name.

"Missy?" Laura said to herself.  "No, that can't be right.  They wouldn't dare to that to a kid."

She checked her official assignment sheet and soon found what she was looking for, 'Melissa Manchester.'

"Missy it is."

She wondered briefly about the heart but decided that, with 14-year-old girls, it would be difficult to find something they had written that didn't have a heart drawn somewhere nearby.

"She's a pretty little thing," Laura decided as she went back to her lesson-plans.  As she worked she continued to consider the slim, golden blonde with the well-scrubbed appearance.  "She makes you think of church socials and Sunday school, when of course she isn't at the beach working on that serious California tan of hers."

Laura was suddenly startled to realize that someone was right beside her, on her left.  Students who wanted something usually would stand on the other side of the desk, not come around to where the teacher was sitting. She turned and was surprised to find the girl Missy herself standing there.

Laura was embarrassed to find the very person she had been thinking about was now right next to her.

"Ah, er, yes, um, Missy?  What can I do for you?"

She looked up and found herself staring under those sleepy lids into the most expressive set of large blue eyes she had ever seen.  They were practically hypnotic. Surprised by her reaction to this mere slip of a girl, Laura finally was able to force herself speak.

"Yes, Missy?  What do you want?"

The girl frowned, then bent over slightly and placed her well-formed right forefinger on her spot on the seating chart, her arm brushing the tip of Laura's left breast in the process.

The arm pressing against her sensitive breast confused Laura for a moment.  She wanted to jerk away, but that might draw the attention of the other students, which was the last thing she wanted right now.

She forced herself to clear her mind and focus on the problem at hand.  It took her only a moment after that to understand what had happened.

"Oh, I see.  You heard me say your name, didn't you?"

The now smiling girl nodded, her hand still pointing on the chart, her arm still pressing and now slightly rubbing against the firm breast.

"Okay.  No, I didn't want you for anything.  I was just going over the seating chart and must have read your name aloud by accident.  I'm sorry."

The smiling girl returned her hand to her side, shrugged her shoulders good-naturedly, and went back to her seat.

It was only after the bell had rung announcing the end of the period that Laura realized Missy had not spoken a single word.  Intrigued, she resolved to see the girl's counselor about her as soon as possible.

*****

It was lunch time, and Laura had finally had a few moments to herself.  It was time to find out the official story behind Missy's strange behavior, so she made her way to the administration offices.

Laura looked at the sign on the pebbled-glass window, "The Counselor Is In!"  She entered the cheerful, well- lighted office and saw the New Berlin freshman girl's counselor seated at her desk, reading a student's file.

"Hi, I'm Laura Papadakis."

"Marion Stratton.  Welcome to New Berlin."

"Thank you."

"Would you care to sit down?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"What can you tell me about a freshman named Melissa Manchester?"

"Funny you should mention her.  I was just looking over her file.  It makes for interesting reading.

"May I see it?"

"No. I'm sorry, you can't.  Her mother insists that Melissa's file be kept confidential.  A lot of it is private information submitted by her doctors."

"Doctors?  Oh, my.  What did she do?"

"She didn't do anything.  It's just that things seem to happen around her, and there was some concern about what affects they might have on her natural development."

"Well, what can you tell me?"

"She was raised by her mother, a deaf-mute.  Her father died under mysterious circumstances when she was very young.  And then this summer there was this Jennings business..."

"Jennings?  Not the junior high counselor who was to transfer here this year?"

"Yes, Susan Jennings.  She was Melissa's counselor, you see, and there was a great worry if what happened...had any affect on her, or on any other of Susan's students."

Laura was strongly aware that Marion had just suppressed a sob in the quiet room.  She saw with concern the woman's eyes fill with tears before the counselor turned her chair away in embarrassment and faced towards the window.

"Susan is...was a good friend of mine."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"We were student teachers together here in our pre- counselor days."

"Can you tell me what happened to her?  I've been asking around but no one will tell me anything!  I'm her replacement and I was just wondering if there is any chance of her teaching here during the school year?"

"Afraid of losing your job?" Marion said bitterly.

Laura wanted to walk out.

"Jesus!" she thought.  "What a bitch!"  But, she reasoned, the woman was obviously distressed and decided to stay.  For the moment, anyway.

"Actually," Laura said patiently, "I gave up a perfectly good job as an executive secretary to come here and teach.  It has been my life's only ambition, to be a good teacher.  Now, is that all right with you?"

"I'm sorry!" said the gasping, sobbing counselor, in full cry now, bent over in her chair with her face in her hands.

"It's just that...what happened was so...so unexplainable! She was such a beautiful person!  If you knew her at all, and I knew Sue...very well, you would know that she would never have...!  Not ever!  I mean, I tried but she wouldn't...she just wouldn't!"

"Good God!" thought the puzzled Laura.  "What in hell is she talking about?"

She gave the distressed counselor one last look, then got up out of her chair and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

*****

It was the end of the day.  The Last Bell had sounded 20 minutes ago, and her last students had been gone for some time, yet Laura still sat at her desk.  Her as yet unfinished lesson plans for the week were spread out before her on the crowded desk, yet she did not touch them, had forgotten all about them in fact.

Missy!  All she could think about was Missy, the poor child.  Fortunately, the girl was in all of her classes, so she had ample opportunity to observe her closely.  Yet her actions were always the same.  In each class she sat silent and aloft from the other noisy students.  She never participated in the normal horseplay of freshman. In fact Laura couldn't remember seeing her talk to anyone, or seeing anyone talk to her for that matter. Her other students seemed to give Melissa plenty of room, as if they were uneasy to be close to her.  Yet the girl, while never participating in class, never slept either. Laura found the girl's eyes on her constantly, following her every move.  She found her steady, piercing gaze to be oddly disturbing sometimes, as if she were being studied for some dark purpose.

Laura suddenly laughed.  "What a day!" she said to the empty room.  She did get some weird thoughts sometimes.

She tried to clear her head and get back to her lesson- plans, but her mind soon wandered back to the bizarre events of the day.

It was obvious to Laura that Jennings had had some sort of mental breakdown, and that poor Missy had somehow gotten caught in the middle of it all.  It was also obvious to her that New Berlin's own girls' counselor was headed for a breakdown of her own!  The woman had without question at least at one time had strong feelings of friendship for Jennings, and her breakdown had affected her deeply.

"That makes sense," Laura muttered, as she began working on her plans.

And what about Missy?  A fatherless child raised by a deaf-mute, how would that have affected her natural development?  It would be a silent world, yet that didn't necessarily imply a loveless one.  There were other ways of communicating, after all.  Laura still marveled at how expressive the girl's eyes had been.

"But what about the girl herself?" Laura asked.  Was she in fact handicapped (oops, physically challenged) herself as well, or was she just reflecting the environment in which she had been raised?  Laura found herself fascinated by the question of Melissa's home life and she wished she could find a way to visit there, officially of course.  To go there otherwise would surely raise the issue of favoritism over her other students.  Even the rules about undue fraternization between a teacher and her student might be raised, although in visiting one of her female students that certainly wouldn't be a problem.

Laura jumped when she felt something touch the back of her neck under her thick main of long black hair.  She whirled around in her chair, and found herself staring once again into the terribly expressive blue eyes of Missy Manchester!

Her features immediately softened as she recognized who was standing behind her.

"Why, Missy!  You startled me."

The smiling Missy said nothing as her hand now began to softly message the strong muscles on the back of Laura's neck.

"Missy, you shouldn't really be doing that," Laura said, embarrassed.  She then turned back to her desk, unable to stare into those expressive eyes any longer.  What was she trying to tell me, she wondered.  What was this particular silent message about?

At a loss of what to do, Laura went back to work, talking about school while Missy's slender hand continued to work the back of her neck.  When she started to feel flush from the constant touch, Laura decided that it was probably a good time to leave.  She hurriedly placed all of her materials in her brief case and stood, feeling relieved when the hand had finally been removed.

She turned back to her strange student and wondered if this would be a good time to ask to see her home.  No, better not she decided.  It's only the first day after all, and she had a lot of catching up to do tonight.

"Good-bye, Missy.  I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

The freshman eagerly nodded and waved her right hand a cheerful good-bye.

"Oh, and thanks," Laura said, as she touched the back of her still tingling neck.  "That felt, er, nice."

Missy gently smiled.

*****

After school from then on, when Laura was working alone at her desk, she would soon feel the familiar touch on the back of her neck, and know that her silent student was with her once again.  Laura was getting quite used to the girl's continued presence after school, and was even starting to look forward to it.  She knew that it probably wasn't right to allow Missy to do this to her, but she realized that, in a silent world, touch would become a very important method of reaching out to other people.  Besides, the girl's light fingers did wonders to relieve the growing tensions of the day.  There were times when Laura almost felt like purring under the girl's strong fingers, she was so effective.

She was becoming very conscious of Missy's presence during the day as well, although thankfully on a much more professional level.  It all of her classes, it was only Missy who would truly respond to what Laura was saying.  She was almost the perfect student, always listening, always focused, yet always silent.

When Laura reviewed the results of her first English 101 class writing assignment that week, she was astonished at how well the girl could express herself.  Melissa was head and shoulders above any of her other students. While most would just scribble anything using grammar that was absolutely painful to read, Missy would write with clarity and passion.  Laura began to realize that behind those sleepy eyes and long blonde hair was a very sharp mind.

When the Astronomy Club meet after school on Wednesday, Laura was not surprised to find Missy there as a newly joined member.  When Laura asked the group for a volunteer to be Club Secretary, only Missy raised her hand.  Somehow, Laura was not surprised.

During lunch on Thursday, at the meeting of the Theater Group, Laura was astonished to find Melissa there as well, this time as a stage-hand volunteer.

As part of her duties as Auditorium Event Coordinator, Laura was responsible for making sure the auditorium's stage was ready for whatever was scheduled.  When she went down to review her staff of student-helpers Thursday afternoon, Laura once again noticed the familiar gently smiling face of her silent student.

"Oh, my!" she thought.  "This girl is spreading herself way too thin."  Laura resolved to have a talk with her about it at their next after-school session.

*****

It was 4 o'clock on Friday, and Laura sat fuming at her desk.  Today had been a total disaster.  She had just found out that morning that the special materials required for her Human Relations-F class (which she still did not have the faintest idea of what it was all about) scheduled for that afternoon had failed to arrive!  Also, due to a minor clerical error, she wasn't notified of a time change in the schedule and had spent a lonely hour in the designated room with just Missy for company. There was a Pep Rally scheduled that afternoon for tonight's football game, the first of the season, and, in spite of her careful preparations, nothing had worked. The curtains jammed, the microphones failed, and it was generally chaos all the way through.

The principal came to see her behind stage afterward, where Laura, near tears, was sitting on a stool at the stage manager's station.

"Miss Papadakis," he said kindly, "we need to get better at this."

"Shit!" she said bitterly as she watched him walk away. "Now the old fool gets my name right."

Laura sat there, despondent, as the auditorium slowly cleared of noisy students.  Several of the teachers came up to her, to offer her their cheerful condolences, and even a few invitations to go out for a drink, but she was too depressed to respond.  Finally she was quite alone in the semi-dark of back-stage and noticed through her tears a familiar figure coming toward her out of the darkness.

"Hello, Missy," Laura said quietly.  "I think I'd better be getting home, now.  This wasn't a very good day for me."

But she still did not move until Missy took her by the hands and led her in the shadows to an old dilapidated couch tucked against a side wall.  They sat close together on the right side of the couch, with Laura against the large stuffed arm rest, heedless in her despair of how high her short skirt rose on her well- formed thighs.

"Oh God!" Laura cried.  She suddenly threw herself sobbing onto the armrest, resting her head on her crossed arms.

She felt the familiar, sweet hands at her neck.  For a change the hands did not stay at her neck, but worked their soothing way over her shoulders and down her curved back.  Soon Laura could feel Missy tugging at the material of her wool dress as if impatient that the material was blocking her hands from the warm flesh underneath.  Laura stiffened when she felt the zipper of her dress being pulled slowly down her back, but decided in her absolute misery that she didn't really care for the moment what happened to her.  When Missy's comforting hands found their awkward way under her opened dress and onto the warm flesh of her back, Laura was still a little shocked.

She was going to say something, but the effect of the hands on her tense muscles made her stop.  Laura could tell Missy was still having a difficult time working under the tight material, so she was not overly surprised when the girl pulled her hands out from underneath Laura's dress, moved her back so that she was sitting upright, and pulled the clinging dress from her shoulders.

Still sobbing, Laura allowed Missy to pull her opened dress from her shoulders and the long sleeves down off of her arms.  The student then softly pushed the crying teacher back over the arm rest, her dress now bunched around her waist.

The effect of Missy's hands, now able to work freely all over her bare back while carefully avoiding Laura's bra, was wonderful.  Under Missy's soothing administrations, Laura soon found she was able to regain control of her overwrought emotions and stop crying.  Yet, she was reluctant to end what wonderful things Missy was doing, so she decided for the moment anyway not to sit up and fix her dress.

She felt a tingling on her upper thighs and turned her head so she could look over her right arm.  She first saw how high her skirt had become.  It was practically up to her hips!  She knew she should pull it down again (the tight wool was always rising on her) but she just didn't feel like bothering with it.  Then she noticed Missy's right hand moving back and forth over her right nylon- covered thigh, just below her skirt.

Wonder why she has her hand there?  Probably for leverage, thought Laura as she felt Missy's left hand still doing wonderful things to her back.  Laura was enjoying the massage when she felt it stop.  Suddenly, she felt her bra strap being strongly pulled first in one direction and then another.  Laura realized that it was in the way of whatever Missy was trying to do for her.

Finally, tired of the pulling, Laura mumbled,

"Just unfasten it, honey.  It's all right."

Her bra strap was quickly unfastened and her marvelous back rub was resumed.

As the delicious rubbing continued over her bare back, Laura knew she was about to fall asleep.

It was such a comfort being here like this, she thought, still feeling terribly bruised from a very bad day.  But she knew she should get up before she ended up spending the night there in the auditorium.

A steel bucket crashed on the other side of the stage, followed by a male voice doing some muffled cursing.

Laura jerked up and instinctively covered her chest with her arms.

"My God!  What's that?"

More muffled cursing as the bucket crashed again, answering her question.

"I've got to get out of here!" she exclaimed, still feeling the mind-numbing effects of Missy's sophomoric administrations.

Laura fumbled helplessly with the long sleeves of her dress, but was now so nervous she couldn't get them untangled enough to slip her arms through them.  Finally, after ripping one sleeve slightly in her haste, she got her arms in them and was at last able to cover her chest with the pulled-up dress.  But with her arms holding up the dress in front, Laura was unable to reach around and fasten her bra or pull up her zipper.

Frantic with the thought that the custodian was getting steadily closer and would soon find her on the couch half dressed, Laura turned to face Missy.

"You have to help me get dressed, Missy.  Do you understand?"  Gratified with her rapid nod, Laura pleaded quietly, "Then hurry and fasten me up!  Please!  He's coming!"

She turned her back and waited for her zipper to rise. Instead, she felt her bra cups pulled up from her breasts from behind.

"Oh, no, Missy!" Laura exclaimed as she turned toward her smiling student once again.

"You must help get me dressed, not undressed!"

Missy quickly pulled up the zipper, so fast in fact that Laura didn't have time to fix her loosened bra.  The cups were still uncomfortably bunched above her now unencumbered breasts.

Laura was about to reach back when a custodian loomed out of the darkness in front of them.

"Why, bless me, it's Miss Papadakis.  And little Missy Manchester, too.  What on earth are you two ladies still doing here?"

Laura leaned forward to answer him when she suddenly stiffened in surprise.  She had felt her zipper just run down her back once again.

She could only notice helplessly as she felt Missy's hand slide down her bare back to her waist, then slip inside her pantyhose until it came to rest at the elastic waistband of her bikini panties.  The girl began to pull on the back of the panties until they had disappeared into the narrow crevice of Laura's pert behind, while the crotch band dug deeply into her soft cuntal flesh.

"What could Missy be thinking of?" she wondered perplexed as she fought to maintain her composure in front of the old custodian.

Laura tried not to squirm as Missy twisted and pulled the thin material of her panties so that they dug further and further into her very sensitive, secret places.  She knew she should be furious at what Missy was doing to her, but strangely enough, the fact of being semi-undressed like this in front of the old man made her feel strangely stimulated.  It was an oddly familiar feeling too, but she just couldn't place it as she talked with the custodian, holding up the front of her dress while trying to make it seem just a casual gesture.  Finally it came to her.  It was the same feelings of secret delight she used to get in her serious teasing days!

"Oh, no!" she thought.  That was the last thing she needed right now, getting sexually excited in the middle of school!

Thankfully Missy closed her zipper once again, and Laura felt able at last to stand.  Taking her leave of the custodian, she left with her arms folded over her chest as she walked as slowly as she could out of the auditorium.  She had to find a ladies' room, and fast, so she could fix her underwear before anyone else could see her like this.  Then she would fix Missy!

Fortunately, across from the auditorium there were a pair of rest rooms, and Laura crossed the deserted hallway and quickly ducked in the girls' lavatory.  First making sure the room was empty, she went into a stall and closed and locked the door.  She unzipped her dress and pulled it off her shoulders and arms.  With her dress once again around her waist, she started to fix her bra, but a sudden urgent tingling from her vulva made her decide to fix her panties first.  She tugged the dress off of her hips and carefully hung it up on the stall door.  She bent over in the narrow stall and hurriedly yanked down her panty hose, tearing them on a screw head protruding from the stall wall behind her in the process.

"Oh, damn!" Laura cried as she felt the delicate material catch and rip.  As she was bent over once again and grimly inspecting her ripped underwear, her bra slipped of her shoulders and arms to fall on the floor of the stall.  Disgusted, Laura sat on the closed commode and took off her low-heeled pumps and ruined pantyhose. Standing, she slipped back into her shoes and began to carefully pull out her panties first from her terribly tingling vulva, and finally from between her buttocks.

Sighing with relief, she looked with dismay at the damp crotch band and took the panties off.  She stood naked in the stall, desperately waving her panties about in the air as she tried to dry them.  Finally satisfied with the result, she put on her panties, then stepped into her dress and pulled it up to her hips.  Ready for her bra at last, Laura looked for it but couldn't find it anywhere.

Under the stall door, Laura suddenly noticed Missy's bell bottoms and running shoes.

"Missy?" she called softly through the door.  "Is that you, honey?  Have you seen my...my bra?"

Not receiving a response, she zipped up her dress and winced as her sensitive nipples came into contact with the rough wool.  She opened the door a crack and peered out.  Laura was shocked to see Missy now by the lavatory entrance with a familiar white object in her left hand.

"You little scamp!  Bring that back this instant!"

Missy smiled and instantly ran out of the room.

"So, she wants to play games, does she?" Laura said gleefully.

Laura, her torn pantyhose forgotten on the floor, dashed out of the stall in laughing pursuit of the mischievous Missy, her arms folded under her breasts to minimize their movement under her dress.  She exited the lavatory entrance, and in the hall outside almost ran down Mr. Playfair!

"Oh!  I bet your pardon, Mr. Playfair!" gasped a panting Laura as she used her hands to keep the old man from falling over.

"That's quite all right, Miss Papadakis.  Quite all right.  I see that you have perked up since our little chat."

"Yes, sir," she answered as she wondered what the senile old fool was rambling on about this time.  Perked up? What on earth was he talking about?

"That's good.  Can't let these little setbacks hold us down, you know."

Behind Mr. Playfair, Laura saw Missy appear briefly from around the hall corner.  The teenager gaily waved Laura's bra over her head, then disappeared back around the corner.

"You are absolutely right, Mr. Playfair.  We can't let little, er, setbacks keep us down."

She knew she should really stay and talk with this man who was after all her employer, but she was becoming increasingly anxious to complete some unfinished business.

"I'm sorry sir, but I've got an important conference with a student scheduled and I really must be going."

"On your way then, Miss Papadakis.  Oh, and please stay perky will you.  It suits you."

Laura laughed.  "Yes, sir.  I'll try."

She was still smiling as she walked swiftly through the halls in search of the elusive Missy.  She stopped smiling when she saw her reflection in one of the hall mirrors.

"Oh my God!" she gasped in horror.  Her erect nipples were clearly visible through the clinging wool.  Laura turned beet red in embarrassment.  The fact that she wasn't wearing a bra would be plainly obvious to anyone who even glanced at her!

"Damn the girl!" Laura muttered.  She was truly angry now.  Because of Missy's little prank, Laura had humiliated herself in front of her own principal.

"Game time is over!" she said, grimly.  She vowed to find the girl if she had to go to her home to do it.  In fact, Laura decided, that was exactly what she would do.  She would get Missy's address from the office on some pretext or other and meet the teenage girl there.  Laura couldn't wait to see the look on her face when Laura meet her at the door, and sternly demanded the return of her bra. Oh, no.  Laura couldn't wait for that moment at all!

*****

Laura sat impatiently in her subcompact in front of the Manchester home.  The house was a modest ranch, the type popular 20 years ago.  There was a large well-kept lawn in front while in back she could tell there was even a pool.  She had been here for five minutes now and there was still no sign on Missy.  The home was located only a 20-minute walk from the school and she was sure that Missy would surly have been here by now, if not long before.

Her anger had cooled somewhat and she was starting to wonder if this was a good idea.  Perhaps it might be better if she just talked with Missy on Monday, instead of confronting her in her own home like this.  It was going to be a long year and....

"Shit!" Laura said, when she suddenly spotted a white bra being waved from a side window.   She couldn't believe it.  Missy was actually taunting her with her own underwear!

"That does it!" cried a furious Laura, and she leaped from the car, slamming the door closed.  She stormed up the long front walk, her hands small white fists at her sides.  In her sudden rage she practically ran up the walk, heedless of how her unfettered breasts, clearly visible under the clinging material, shook and shimmied under her dress, while her very erect nipples created unwanted sparks in her brain from their constant rubbing on the wool.

Stopping at the front door, the flushed Laura paused to get something of her composure back.  She looked down at her heaving chest and saw that her nipples were more extended than ever.

"Damn," she muttered.  "Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all."

Before she could turn to leave, the door unexpectedly opened.  A beautiful, well-tanned woman stood there, wearing nothing but a brief bikini.  Her sun-burnished blonde hair, cascading down her back, and trim figure immediately proclaimed her to be Mrs. Manchester, for it was only a slightly older version of Missy who stood there.

"Oh, God!" Laura thought.  "I hadn't expected to run into Missy's mother now.  I'm not ready for her at all!  I don't even know her first name."

The woman did nothing but stand in the doorway, looking quizzically at Laura.

"Shit, I almost forgot!" Laura thought.  "Of course she's not going to say anything.  She's a deaf-mute!"

"Mrs. Manchester?  I'm Laura Papadakis, Melissa's teacher at New Berlin, and I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time.  It's about Melissa.  She's done something that we need to talk about."

The unsmiling woman stared at her a moment, then opened the door much wider and beckoned Laura to enter with a slight turn of her head.

Inside the foyer, Laura was suddenly stopped by Mrs. Manchester holding up her right palm.  The woman pointed to a small sign hanging on the wall: "Remove shoes here."

"Oh.  Of course," Laura said and stepped out of her pumps.  The thick white carpet felt good on her bare feet as she followed her hostess into the long if somewhat narrow living room.  There was a large picture window, now covered, on the right, and the inevitable sofa with two matching chairs and coffee table on the left.  Laura felt immediately at home.  She had been partly raised in a place very much like this one.  All it needed were plastic furniture covers and a plate of the Acropolis on the wall and it would be complete.

The woman indicated the sofa, and Laura sat, being careful to keep her short wool skirt pulled down her bare legs as far as possible.  She realized that she was hardly dressed for such an occasion and it bothered her. This was not how you showed up for your very first parent-teacher conference, she knew, and she wished suddenly that she was somewhere else.

Mrs. Manchester went to one of the two chairs and pulled from a concealed side pocket a small cordless keyboard. Laura saw her push a button on the keyboard and a flat screen rose out of the center of the coffee table before her.

"So, that's how she does it," Laura thought in admiration.  "Clever woman."

Mrs. Manchester began typing and words appeared on the screen.

MAY I GET YOU ANYTHING, MISS PAPADAKIS?

"No thank you.  I'm fine, really.  And please, call me Laura."

THEN, LAURA, WHAT IS THIS YOU HAVE TO TELL ME ABOUT MELISSA?

"Well, Missy, that is Melissa, who is otherwise a fine student and a lovely girl...."

YES, GO ON

"Well, she has taken something that doesn't belong to her, and I would like to get it back if I could."

SOMETHING OF THE SCHOOL'S?

"No.  Actually, it was something of mine."

WHAT IS IT?

"I'd rather not say.  It's kind of personal, you know."

NO, I DON'T KNOW.  YOU COME HERE ACCUSING MY DAUGHTER OF BEING A THIEF, THEN NOT SAY WHAT IT WAS SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE TAKEN!!  THINK AGAIN!

"I'm sorry," Laura said as she stood up.  "Maybe this isn't the best time for this.  I'll come back later."

SIT DOWN!

"No, really.  It's no trouble.  I'll just come back another day."

SIT DOWN, OR I WILL CALL THE SCHOOL BOARD ABOUT YOU.

Laura froze.

"Oh God!" she thought.  What if the school board found out how she lost her bra?  How could she ever explain it and not lose her teaching certificate?

Defeated, she sank back into the couch.

"She took my...my bra!"

WHEN?

"Today.  This afternoon in fact."

YOU ARE NOT WEARING ONE NOW?

"No."

SIT UP AND PUT YOUR SHOULDERS BACK

"What?"

SIT UP AND PUT YOUR SHOULDERS BACK

"Oh, God," Laura whispered.  She sat erect, and mover her shoulders back as far as she could.  She could feel her proud breasts trying to poke their way through the wool.

HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD

Laura moved her hands to just above her head.

HIGHER

She extended her hands as far as her arms could reach, and shamefully realized that her breasts were truly on display now.  A twinge of guilt mingled with her feelings of humiliation.  She had done this herself in a public library not so long ago, and had caused a male librarian to drop the stack of books he was carrying.

After a studied moment, more words appeared on the screen.

THANK YOU.  I BELIEVE YOU.  YOU ARE NOT WEARING A BRA.

Laura lowered her arms.  She was stunned.  All that just to prove she was not wearing a bra?  Who did this woman think she was, anyway?

HOW?

"Er, how what?"

HOW DID YOU LOSE IT?

"I didn't lose it.  Missy has it.  I was changing in the girl's lavatory, and that's when she took it."

SO YOU ARE SAYING MY DAUGHTER IS A THIEF?

"Not a thief exactly.  We were just playing a game, that's all."

DO YOU ALWAYS USE YOUR UNDERWEAR WHEN YOU PLAY GAMES WITH YOUR STUDENTS?

"Missy started it!" Laura whined.

I SEE.

Laura realized that this wasn't going at all well and wondered if there was a way she could gracefully get the hell out of here without offended the obviously touchy Mrs. Manchester any further.

The woman typed something on her keyboard, but Laura saw that nothing appeared on her screen.  Soon Missy, also wearing a brief bikini, entered the room carrying a large bundle of what looked like bras.  She placed them on the table in front the astonished Laura, then perched on the armrest next to her.

I'VE ASKED MY DAUGHTER TO BRING IN HER COLLECTION. PLEASE TRY AND FIND YOURS.

"A collection of bras?" asked the still astonished Laura.

YES.  GIVEN TO HER BY HER MANY FRIENDS OVER THE YEARS. AS YOU CAN SEE, MY DAUGHTER HAS HAD MANY FRIENDS.

As she looked through the pile, she was surprised to find that several had a name with sometimes a date printed neatly across the back strap.  She found several with names that matched those of students she knew.  She even found one intriguingly labeled 'S. Jennings'.  But in the vast pile of which at least a third were white, she could not find one that she could be positive was in fact hers.

Her mother was right, mused Laura.  She really should start labeling her underwear.

WELL?

"I don't know.  There are so many."

WHY DON'T YOU TRY THEM ON?  THAT WAY YOU WOULD BE SURE.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly!"

ARE YOU AFRAID?

"Afraid of what, for God's sake?"

THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT MY LITTLE GIRL?

"I am not wrong!  Okay, Okay.  I'll try some on.  Where's the bathroom?"

HERE

"What?"

TRY THEM ON HERE!

"No way.  I'm sorry, but I just couldn't."

YOU COME INTO OUR HOME UNANNOUNCED AND QUESTION MY DAUGHTER'S INTEGRITY, THEN REFUSE TO PROVE YOUR ACCUSATIONS.  I THINK NOT.

"Damn!" Laura muttered, looking down.  "It just keeps getting worse."

WHAT DID YOU SAY?

"I said all right, I'll...I'll do it!  I'll do it!"

Laura stood defiantly, determined to show this strange woman that she was not afraid of her.  Looking at her adversary directly in the eyes, she pulled down the zipper on her dress with a trembling hand and shook her arms out of the long sleeves.  At the last minute though, she discovered that she could not do it after all.

She picked up a bra at random from the pile with her right hand while holding the loose front of her dress over her chest with her left.  This was so ridiculous!  The bra wasn't even the right color, for God's sake!  Yet, Mrs. Manchester was obviously determined that she do this. She turned her back to Mrs. Manchester and prepared to quickly slip on the strange bra.

An odd bleeping sound made her turn back around.  A red light was flashing on upper left corner of her monitor. She hastily read the flashing text now showing there.

HOW DARE YOU TURN YOUR BACK TO A DEAF PERSON!!!  DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW RUDE THAT IS?

Laura deliberately turned to face the angry Mrs. Manchester and said distinctly, "I'm...I'm sorry.  Please forgive me.  Although I didn't mean to do it, you are right.  I was being rude to you."

She prepared to drop her chest's only protection right then and there (why not, they were both mature women after all) when she noticed Missy sitting on the floor next to her mother.

"Oh my God!" she whispered.  She had forgotten completely about Missy being there.

"Mrs. Manchester, as Missy's teacher I must insist that she leave the room.  I simply can not try on...underclothes with her in the room.  It just wouldn't be right."

SO!  YOU WOULD FORBID HER THE BASIC RIGHT OF BEING ABLE TO FACE HER ACCUSER?  MACARTHYITE!  FASCIST! THAT'S IT! I AM CALLING THE SCHOOL BOARD SUPERINTENDENT RIGHT NOW.

Laura suddenly heard the sound of a computer modem being connected to a phone line.

"NO!" she shouted.

More calmly she said, "Wait, please give me a moment and I'll (gulp!)...I'll do it."

Her eyes filled with tears as Laura, head hung in shame, tried to accept the idea of undressing in front of her best student, a 14-year-old girl.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God!" she whispered, but there was no hope of  deliverance, divine or otherwise, from her fate.

Unable to prolong the wait any more, Laura dropped the opened top of her dress and let it fall to her waist.  A gasp of appreciation came from the two watchers as Laura just stood there, unable to move.  She could not even pick up the bra she had just dropped on the table from her nerveless fingers.

YOU HAVE NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT, LAURA

They were the first kind words, even if she knew them to be extremely inappropriate, Laura had read since coming here.  She raised her head and smiled a little in acknowledgment at the unusual compliment before dropping it again.  It was the first time in her life that she had ever been embarrassed about her bust size.  Always proud of her perfect chest, her 36C breasts suddenly seemed enormous, protruding far out into the room.  At the moment, Laura strongly wished she was a petite 33!

She picked up the gaily colored bra she had just dropped, but her hands were trembling so much she could hardly hold it, let alone put it on.  She stood helpless, the bra in her hands visibly shaking like a leaf in the wind. She willed her uncontrollable hands to hold still but they would not comply.  She raised her head to face Mrs. Manchester and, with a hopeless expression, slightly shook her head.  There was no way on this earth she would be able to do this in front of them.

HELP HER

The young teacher could do nothing but watch in horror as her student walked up to her, then circled behind her. Laura jumped when she felt Missy's hands slide around the sensitive flesh of her rib cage and take the bra from her useless hands.

She felt a firm hand on her upper back, pushing her forward.  Since the low table was directly in front of her, the only way she could move was to lean forward. The hand on her back stopped pressing only when Laura found herself completely bent over, with her breasts hanging freely beneath her and her hands supporting her weight on the well-polished table's surface.

Laura, still bent over, found herself being maneuvered by Missy so that she was now parallel to the couch, but still facing towards Missy's mother.

FIX HER DRESS

A faint moment of hope died as Laura felt her dress slide briskly off her raised hips and land at her feet.  Her protests died stillborn when in seconds her smart wool dress was taken from her.  Laura wished she were dead as she saw Missy leave the room with her dress slung carelessly over her right shoulder.  She was left in this terribly humiliating position in a student's living room, wearing just her brief bikini panties.  She had never felt so vulnerable or helpless in her life.

She had no idea what was going to happen to her next, and she frantically wondered what these women were going to do to her.

Laura felt the panic in her disappear when Missy returned with her dress carefully placed on a hanger.  She almost laughed at her own silliness.  Talk about conspiracy theories!  What was she getting so worried about, anyway? It wasn't as if she were in a room full of men, was it? How could they take advantage of her?  What would a woman want with another woman?  It was ridiculous!

She usually put on her bras this way herself, so why was she getting so upset about it?  It was obvious to her now that Mrs. Manchester didn't want her dress wrinkled while she was trying on some bras, that's all.

It was still terribly embarrassing, of course, to be left like this in front of a student and her mother.  It was her own fault, really.  Laura wondered if she should straighten herself up from this humiliating position, but decided against it.  Better not chance irritating Mrs. Manchester any more this afternoon.

If only she could try on the bras without anyone's help. She reached over to the pile and selected another bra. Grimly determined this time, she tried once again to slip the harness over her shoulders, but again her hands failed her.

When she saw Missy reach for it, Laura gratefully gave it to her.

"I can't!" Laura wailed softly, as she looked down at the table.  "I just can't!"

With Missy helping her, she tried on bra after bra.  Most she found were painfully small, and obviously intended more for girls of Missy's age.  Regardless of how they fitted, the routine was always the same.  Once Missy had stuffed her proud breasts into the usually too-small cups, she would pull Laura erect, then lead her by the front of her panties around the room, so the Mrs. Manchester could have a proper look.

The first time Missy started tugging on the front of her brief panties, Laura looked at her in open-mouth amazement, stunned that she would do such a thing.

Then she looked down and observed in horror that Missy had already pulled the front of the panties far enough from her that Laura could see her own pubic hair.  She immediately rushed the close the gap between her and the girl, and made sure to closely follow the teenager obediently around the room from then on.

WELL?

She had been trying on bras for over twenty minutes, and to Laura the pile sadly still looked enormous.  Laura's breasts were sore and strangely tingling from Missy's constant handling of them.  Her nipples kept getting caught between Missy's slender fingers, causing her helpless body to be inundated with alternate sensations of pain and pleasure.  Her increasingly dazed mind could hardly tell the difference any more.

All Laura really knew for sure was that she was becoming incredibly aroused, and could only pray that her panties wouldn't show the signs of her increasing wetness down below.  Her back hurt and she was getting hungry too. She had been due for dinner at her parent's house over a hour ago.

The fire of her righteous indignation over the theft of her bra had quickly turned to ashes long ago.  All Laura wanted to do now was to get dressed, go home, and try and explain to her probably anxious parents why she was so late tonight.

"I...I may have been (Ooohh!) mistaken about Missy," Laura told her hostess as Missy struggled to load her throbbing breasts into yet another small bra.  Didn't this kid ever have any friends with a normal-sized bust?

MAY HAVE BEEN?

"No, I was mistaken.  Missy is a fine girl and an excellent student.  She would never, ever do something like that.  Not ever!"

SO.  YOU TRUST MY DAUGHTER NOW?

"Yes.  I trust her absolutely."

GOOD.  THANK YOU, LAURA.  I ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY.  YOU MUST OF COURSE MAKE YOUR OWN AMENDS WITH MELISSA.  TO SHOW THERE ARE NO BAD FEELINGS BETWEEN US, YOU MUST STAY FOR DINNER.  MELISSA!  ANOTHER SETTING!

Missy removed the ill-fitting bra, then left the room as Laura straightened up.  She tried stretching to get the kinks out of her back from being bent over so much, but she was not very successful.  She did not bother to cover her shaking breasts in the slightest.  She was sure that any show of modesty at this point would just make her semi-nudity seem even worse that it already was, which was bad enough.  Laura wondered briefly if her poor, tingling breasts would ever be the same again.

"I really must be going," Laura pleaded, but she saw that Mrs. Manchester wasn't even looking at her.  She was busily signing to Missy, probably about tonight's dining arrangements.

"Shit!" she muttered.  "My parents are going to kill me."

Laura happened to turn her head and look behind her.  She saw her dress hanging in the foyer.  At once the twin thoughts of her parents and seeing her dress hanging alone in this strange house proved too much for her resolve.

Blindingly conscious now of her nudity, her arms crossed over her chest as she cringed and looked desperately around the area of the couch for something with which to cover herself.

IT'S TIME.  PLEASE COME TO THE KITCHEN.

Laura had had enough.  She had made a mistake in coming here, and had certainly paid the price.  She picked up one of the seat cushions and held it in front of her.

"I'm leaving," she sobbed, eyes filled with tears.

She tried heading for the foyer backwards, to keep her covered front always towards Mrs. Manchester, but she stumbled over the coffee table behind her.  Laura fell back, losing her protective cushion as her arms flailed the air desperately as she tried to keep her balance.

"OOF!" gasped the winded Laura as her back hit the thick carpet with a solid thud.

Mrs. Manchester was quickly at her side with a small pillow for her head and the dazed Laura was grateful to her for it.  She lay there gasping like a fish out of water as she struggled to get her breath back.  She felt her hostess run her hands up and down the sides of her nude torso, carefully feeling from chest to rib cage to stomach to her pantied hips and back again.  Probable looking for broken bones, Laura thought worriedly.  Had she hit the ground that hard?

Laura tried not to twitch when the woman would touch a particularly ticklish spot as she completed her rather through inspection.  She must have had some medical training, Laura thought.

Mrs. Manchester finally sat quietly beside her on the floor and smiled at her.  A very relieved Laura knew then that she was all right.

She mouthed,

"Thank you," to her caring hostess.

Now Laura felt guilty about the way she had just tried to leave.  Like she had been a prisoner or something.  My God!  How foolish can you get?

She tilted her head back and looked longingly at her dress, still waiting for her in the foyer.

"Damn," she said quietly.  "Damn."

She looked back at her hostess, who was still watching her expectantly.  "Okay, dinner," she said.

Helped by the kind Mrs. Manchester, Laura got shakily to her feet.  She looked back at her dress, and had a thought.  Who had said anything about a Naked Lunch, anyway?

She started walking toward her dress when she felt a sharp tug on her hips.  She turned and saw that her hostess was now holding the waistband to her panties.

"Oh, no!  Not again!" she thought in despair.

The thought of being led around by her underwear again was too much for her.  Covering her breasts with her arms, she took a deep breath and told her hostess,

"Don't bother.  I'm coming," and walked off firmly in what she hoped was the direction of the kitchen.

In the kitchen, after a brief rest and clean-up stop in the guest bathroom, Laura found herself being guided to a round glass-top table circled by padded iron chairs.  On the table she saw that three small, portable laptop computers had been set up at each of the place settings. Probably for her benefit, she thought.  The cooking area was separated from the dining area by a short counter that extended half-way across the width of the room.  A sliding glass door provided a view of a large, round object in the darkness beyond.

Laura stopped when she saw the uncovered glass door.

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, after she turned to her host.

"I can't do this.  Someone will see me!"

Mrs. Manchester did an elaborate shrug and went to the closest lap top.

THE BACK YARD IS FENCED.  MELISSA AND I ENJOY OUR PRIVACY

"Oh, sorry."

PLEASE SIT HERE. DINER WILL BE READY IN JUST A MOMENT. DO YOU DRINK WINE?

"Well, yes, but..."

GOOD.  WE'LL BE HAVING WINE WITH OUR DINNER

"Great."

As Laura sat at the table and watched the two women work in the kitchen, she was astonished at how well they worked together, the total rapport they had with each other.  Thinking of her own life, she and her mother could never have functioned as smoothly as this well- oiled machine she was witnessing.  Clash of the Titans, was usually more like it in her house.

She could see that, her first impression to the contrary, the seemingly hard Mrs. Manchester was really a soft- hearted person, at least where her daughter was concerned. They were actually having fun as they prepared their modest meal!  The two had a true affection for the other, and it was a marvel to see it in action.

Laura, sitting alone at the table in just her panties, was beginning to feel left out.  She looked carefully about her, to understand more fully these fascinating people she was with.  Despite the outer trappings of affluence, this was actually a modestly run home.  There was not a great deal of money here, and what little there was had been very carefully put to use.  It was the home of a family that did not have a lot, if any, money for frivolous spending, yet functioned very well anyway.

Glasses of wine were placed at two of the settings, hers and her hostess'.  At Missy's place there was a large iced tea.  It was yet another reminder to Laura that her student, for all her talent, ability, and sometimes startling maturity, was only 14, a child really.  The theft of her bra was the act of a fun-loving child, and she should have treated it as such.  She would know better how to handle it the next time Missy tried something outrageous with her.

Finally, the Manchester family joined her at the table, their arms laden with salads, hot dogs and buns.  The glass table top did nothing to hide her, and Laura was acutely aware of how her every move was completely visible.  Laura was so nervous she wondered if she could possible eat anything at all, but the smell of the toasted, buttered buns quickly reminded her that she was absolutely ravenous, and she decided that eating wasn't going to be a problem after all.

Always careful to keep at least one arm over her breasts, she tried to eat with only one hand, but quickly found it was almost impossible to do so.  Soon the mellow effects of the good companionship and the wine were felt and she gradually left her breasts exposed for longer and longer periods.  Finally she covered them not at all.

Laura had never eaten topless before and was surprised at just how often her breasts kept getting in the way.  She almost jumped out of her chair when Missy handed her a frosted glass of iced tea to relieve the strong taste of the wine, and had accidentally pressed it up against Laura's left nipple.

Laura was delighted at how mother and daughter interacted silently at the table.  They did speed-typing and word games, each always trying to outdo the other, silently laughing in victory or crying in defeat.  There were also a constant flow of jokes and stories appearing on the screen in front of her.  It was a very animated relationship.

She saw that they had created their own private world, and had allowed Laura, an outsider, a look into it.  She felt honored, and not a little guilty over her outlandish behavior earlier.  What could she have been thinking of, she wondered in amazement.

When dinner was over, Laura prepared to say her thanks and apologies.  She wondered how she could get Missy alone without being too obvious about it.  She had wronged this girl and knew from the shy, hurt looks she had been getting from her that she must make amends with her, and soon.  Laura wished she could at least be dressed first before talking with her.  She still felt so incredibly vulnerable, running around half-naked like this!

NOW FOR THE JACUZZI.  BUT FIRST WE MUST CLEAR THE TABLE AND DO THE DISHES.  LAURA, THAT MEANS YOU

The wine must have been something much stronger then she had been used to, because Laura's head was spinning slightly as she tried to decipher this outlandish message.

Laura was dumbfounded!  Not all of them in a Jacuzzi together?  That would mean she would be here for at least another hour.  Besides, she didn't even have a bathing suit with her, and she certainly wasn't going outside or in the water dressed like this.  The woman couldn't possibly be serious!  And what was that about the dishes? Did she want her to help?  She couldn't have meant that she was suppose to do everything (not that there was all that much) herself? She had to mean something else.

"What?  I don't understand," she asked, feeling very confused.

IT'S YOUR TURN TO CLEAR THE TABLE AND DO THE DISHES

Laura's good humor suddenly disappeared.  She was in fact incensed.  Who did this woman think she was, anyway? After all she had been through today, to suddenly be told she, a guest, had to do house work was really too much.

Laura jumped up, her breasts trembling with anger, and started to point an indignant finger at her hostess when she stopped.

"Oh!" she gasped in surprise.  A severe, yet delicious pressing sensation had unexpectedly come from her crotch and Laura was momentarily overwhelmed.

She looked down and saw with wide-open eyes that the crotch band of her panties had turned into a g-string which was getting narrower even as she watched, the material being sucked up by her soft labia.

Missy!  It had to be Missy again, pulling on her panties from behind!

"No problem," Laura squeaked as she nodded her head violently in agreement so that Missy behind her would know too.  The exciting pressure ceased slightly and Laura sighed in relief.  At least she wasn't pulling on them anymore!  But now the dazed Laura couldn't decide what to do next.  Her pubic area was terribly exposed on either side of the indented crotch band, yet if she tried to walk away she would be showing her buttocks, now totally uncovered thanks to Missy.

If she fixed them, it would only draw attention to her condition, which still might not be noticed.  It was an intolerable situation to be in, especially after everything she had been through today already.

Trying to think through the strong wine and the warm sensations coming from her crotch, Laura finally came up with a plan.  She would go around the table, pick up all of the dishes, and hold them to her hips.  Thus loaded, and smiling all the while, she would carefully back her way into the kitchen, making very sure there was nothing behind her.  Once behind the counter, she could fix her panties with her hostess never having to know just how playful her daughter could be.

Laura was delighted when her plan worked perfectly, but her heart sank when she noticed that Mrs. Manchester had followed her carrying the glasses to the other side of the kitchen!

"Oh, damn," she muttered.  Didn't anything she tried ever work?

Knowing she was trapped, Laura reluctantly went over to the sink and started doing her chores for the evening.

Laura stood at the sink, the material of her panties still cutting deliciously deep into her secret flesh. Her every move only increased the wonderful sensations coming from her crotch.  Laura was becoming desperate. She had to relieve the pressure soon or she felt she would climax right there in the kitchen!

Missy had come over and stood beside her, and Laura felt the girl's hurt.  But the feelings from her crotch were becoming overwhelming and she could barely finish washing the dishes, let alone do any kind of effective student- teacher counseling.  In her highly charged emotional state, all she desperately wanted to do was beg the girl's forgiveness, then run to the nearest bathroom and masturbate like crazy.

"Missy!" she hissed, at the end of her endurance.  "Don't let your mother see you, but you must fix my...my panties. Please, Missy!  They're driving me crazy!"

With relief, Laura felt the teenager reach around take hold of her torturing underwear in front and in back. She almost dropped the plate she was drying when she felt Missy start to saw the material back and forth over her crotch!

"No, Missy! Please, no!" she gasped quietly, but the delightful stimulation of her overheated cunt continued.

Laura set the plate she was holding down with the others next to the sink.  Thankfully it was the last one.  She held onto the sides of the stainless steel sink and tried to desperately fight the sensations Missy was unknowingly producing in her.

Suddenly, the sensations stopped!  Dazed and very confused, Laura saw Missy heading for the glass door leading to the back of the house.  "Missy!" she cried to the departing teenager, but whether from anger or disappointment or despair she had no idea.  She glanced down and saw that her now soaked underwear was perfectly in place.

She stood still, and leaned against the counter as she bit her lower lip in her extreme frustration.

When Mrs. Manchester put an arm around her waist and led her away from the sink, she went numbly, with no idea where she was being taken.  The pressing of her tight panties against her sensitive skin, the slight movements of her naked breasts, even the rubbing of her smooth inner thighs all served to accent the incredible state of arousal she was undergoing at this time.

She had never felt this way before and it took all her self-control not to joyfully finish what Missy had so inadvertently started within her.  Sweat was dripping down her face and body, and her pulse felt like it was absolutely racing!

Laura had no idea what she wanted, what she needed, but a terrible pressure was building inside of her to an intolerable level, and it demanded a release!

Under Mrs. Manchester's guidance, Laura soon found herself standing on a small platform outside of the house.  The platform was perched on a tall, wooden wall which surrounded large tub filled with very inviting water which bubbled and steamed.

Her panties were pulled down her hips from behind and fell limply to her feet.  The feel of the cool night air on her heated flesh was wonderful.

Laura stood with her panties around her ankles and felt somewhat refreshed by the cool autumn air.  On an impulse, she gave in to a lifelong fantasy.  Holding her arms out from her sides for balance, she carefully balanced on her left foot as she picked up her panties with the toes of her right.

After raising her right knee, she paused a moment, then swiftly executed an elegant snap-kick, which sent her panties sailing far out into the surrounding darkness. She stood regally after that, spine erect and shoulders back, completely bathed in the soft lighting which illuminated the Jacuzzi.  She felt incredibly sexy, as she stood naked and proud in the outside night air.

Laura could only smile when her panties, carried back by the wind, dropped into the center of the tub, where they lay limply until finally sinking in the watery tumult.

For an instant in time she had been The Ruler of the Night, and that had been enough for her.

She went down the steps and into the inviting water, as she wondered what other clothes might be found under the water.  She watched as Missy, looking like a beautiful young blonde Venus, arose naked from the water and advanced towards her.

Laura almost fainted when the hot water first splashed against her unprotected pussy.

"Ah!" she gasped.

She stopped and had to get her breath back before continuing further into the tub.  It was then that she noticed Missy was waiting in front of her with her right hand held out, obviously waiting to take her somewhere.

Missy took her by the hand and led her to the far wall of the large tub, where she indicated that she should sit.

Laura first briefly slid down into the water until she was completely covered, then returned to sit against the wall.  She was surprised to find that seats had been etched into the underwater bench which followed the circling wall.  She sat where Missy indicated, and immediately succumbed to the sensuous feel of the hot, softly churning water.  She brushed the running water from her face and hair, and for the first time that evening started to feel reasonably sane.

The hot water in the bubbling Jacuzzi felt wonderful. When she noticed Missy staring with fascination at her erect nipples, the embarrassed Laura sat deeper in the tub until her bobbing breasts were completely covered.

She saw a nude Mrs. Manchester enter the water and thought nothing of it as the woman sat next to her.  It was her tub after all, and it wasn't as if she and Missy weren't already naked.

The still dazed Laura sat contentedly with her eyes closed, just enjoying the sensuous feel of the water as it flowed over her skin.  She noticed that the water was becoming more and more tumultuous and wondered why.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open as a soft pulsating stream of water was felt directly on her vulnerable cunt.

She tried to rise away from it, but stopped when she realized that she would again end up exposing her adult breasts to the close scrutiny of the ever-curious 14- year-old girl seated on her left, not to mention the girl's mother who was also right beside her on her right. Well, the water certainly did not hurt in any way, it was just  disconcerting to her to have this happen, especially with the Manchesters right next to her.

The pulses gradually increased in force and speed and Laura become very worried.  The water was causing her some serious problems.  It was, in fact, driving her directly into an unwanted climax.  Stunned, Laura tried moving off her  seat, but Missy had accidentally placed a naked leg over hers under the water and she couldn't move from the spot now without first having to tell her why.

"Impossible!  Impossible!" she groaned.

Already affected by the sensuously-flowing water over her naked body, the pulse pounding against her sex soon became all-consuming.  In her already excited state, the intolerable pressure crying for release quickly built back up within her again.

"Please, turn it off!  You must turn it off!  It's hitting...it's hitting me!"  Laura desperately pleaded as she squirmed as much as she could, to escape the relentless unwanted but fantastic none-the-less stimulation.

But the pulsing water continued to act  directly on her vulnerable sex.

Unable to hold back any longer, Laura cried,

"AAAAHhhhhhh!" as the orgasm consumed her.

She arched her back under the strain, raising her body out of the swirling water for a moment.

When the worst of it had passed, Laura returned to her seat, only to find to herself directly in line with the pulsing water once again.  Much more quickly this time, she helplessly climaxed again under the water!

As she felt the onset of darkness in her stunned mind, Laura was dimly thankful that Missy and her mother would never know what had just happened to her.  Her last confused memory was that of the Manchester family inexplicably suckling contentedly at her breasts.

Still in the tub, Laura groggily awoke to find Missy looking at her sadly with her slender arms around her neck.  Still under the effects of her two unexpected climaxes, Laura felt wonderful.  She knew that soon the guilt would start, about how she had just humiliated herself, and in front of a student and her parent yet.

Oh, yes, she knew she would be in for a long weekend, filled with self-loathing and disgust.  For the moment, however, her body was still in charge and she was content to lay back and just enjoy the hot water as it swirled luxuriously over her nude form.

Laura suddenly sat up.  "How long was I asleep?" she asked.  Missy held up two fingers.

"Oh, God!  Two hours!  My parents are going to kill me," she exclaimed.

Missy indicated dialing a phone and pointed towards the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you.  I'll call in a minute, after I wake up a little first."

With her head finally clearing, she could feel how sensuous Missy's skin was as it rubbed against her own bare flesh under the hot water, and yet to push the girl away from her now would have been unthinkable.

"Oh, Missy.  What am I going to do with you?" Laura asked her student ruefully.  Laura's heart broke as Missy continued to look at her with those terribly hurt eyes.

She looked around the hot tub for Missy's mother, but they were alone.  It was as good a time as any for what she had to do.  Laura knew that cheerfully admitting mistakes was not her strong suit, but in this case her coming here had truly been the bad move of all times. The thought that she might lose her best student forever because of it bothered her terribly.

"Look, I'm very sorry for coming here, to your home, like this.  I did not really want to get you into trouble with your mother, a person who obviously cares for you very much.  I know that you are basically a good girl and a good student, but you are very young yet and there are many things you still need to learn.  I will never do this again to you.  I...like you, and I know that I would miss the...relationship we had started this week.  I would like to help you when I can, and, if you could still help me at school from time to time, I would be very grateful."

Laura thought about what she had just said.  It didn't come out at all like she had intended.  It was almost as if she were pleading for Missy to continue her back rubs, instead of continuing to be a good student with her. It was this damn hot tub!  Too sensual a place to conduct business.  It had gotten her thinking of all the wrong things!

Laura looked into the now happy face and was satisfied that she must have said the correct thing after all.  The radiant Missy looked like someone who had just been given her favorite birthday present.  Of course the girl must have realized what she had really been talking about, Laura reasoned to herself.  Why else would she be that happy?

For the moment, Laura was just relieved that whatever damaged she might have caused between them tonight had just been minimized.  Missy pressed herself tightly against her in the water, and Laura naturally returned the hug.  It was such a good feeling to have at least one special student who really cared about you and what you were trying to do for her.

It was when Laura felt the electric sensation of Missy's erect nipples dueling against her own that she decided that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea after all.  She indicated using the phone to the girl and they both got up and left the tub.

Mrs. Manchester was waiting with towels for them on the patio.

After Laura made her call and endured the expected five minutes of Greek abuse as she made her apologies, she finally was able to get dressed.  She asked, shyly, about her panties.

At Mrs. Manchester's insistence, she left her wet panties there for them to wash and dry for her.

DON'T WORRY.  I CAN HAVE MELISSA BRING THEM TO YOU AT SCHOOL ON MONDAY.

The thought of Missy handing her a pair of panties Monday morning in front of a classroom full of students made Laura want to dive back in the Jacuzzi and hide.  My God! What a disaster that would be!

"Oh, no.  That's too much of a bother.  I'll just come over sometime next week on my way home and pick them up."

YOU ARE SURE?

"Oh, yes.  Quite sure!"

*****

In the week that followed, Laura haunted the teachers' lounge as she tried to discreetly find out more about her silent student, and also about the strange fate of Miss Jennings.  The results of her investigations were disappointing.

In all her other classes, (when the teachers could remember who she was) Melissa proved to be an indifferent student.  It was only in Laura's classes that she excelled.  It was soon apparent to her that it would be only her anticipated high grades to her most unusual student which would allow the girl a grade-point-average high enough to belong to Laura's sponsored extracurricular activities, a fact which bothered Laura a great deal.

Was she helping her or hurting her by giving her such good grades?  Laura felt that the girl would certainly earned them, especially when you compared her written work with that of the miserable scrawls produced by her contemporaries.  Still, it was only the second week in a very long school year.  Perhaps Missy would be better than was anticipated by her other teachers.  The girl was, as Laura could well attest, full of surprises.

Since she couldn't go back to Marion Stratton, the girls' counselor, Laura decided to ask the other teachers about what had happened last summer to the popular Miss Jennings, but with all her questions she could not find out anything that she didn't already know.  In fact, she discovered that if anyone knew anything at all about Susan Jennings, they became very nervous and quickly changed the subject.

Laura even checked the local newspaper's web site, but a search of back issues revealed not a single story concerning a counselor named Jennings.  How odd! The only thing left to do was to start tracking down teachers who had been at the Junior High last year.  That is, when she had the time.

Laura found that her personal schedule had become very full.  When she wasn't actually teaching, she was with her other groups.  If not doing that, she was having conferences  with students or other teachers.  She even had to train her fledging auditorium helpers in how to operate a stage properly.

Her only peaceful moments were late in the day, when the building finally became quiet after the majority of students and teachers had departed.  It was only then that Missy would come to her.

After a few nervous and very lonely hours late that Monday following her visit to the Manchester home, Laura was relieved when Missy finally joined her once again in her empty room.  It was by the familiar touch on the back of her neck that the working teacher knew her favorite student had returned to her.  Her class work had been exemplary as usual, but Laura was keenly aware that, unless Missy joined her after school again, she would have lost something very precious indeed.

She quickly allowed Missy to resume their old after- school routine.  She found that she had grown accustomed to her student's after-school visits.  Laura was also terribly worried that what had happened with Missy's mother would drive a wedge between their burgeoning student-teacher relationship, for Laura strongly felt that she had much that she could teach the obviously immature Missy.

The student would dutifully massage her teacher as Laura worked, although Laura became surprised at how the massages became much more intense than before.  On Tuesday, it felt so good that Laura couldn't work any more.  She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, and enjoyed the sensations coming from those marvelous hands on her neck.

On Thursday after school she felt a familiar pressure just below her neck, and Laura obediently leaned forward in her chair until she found herself laying half-across her desk.  She cradled her head in her arms and waited expectantly for what was to come.  She felt her tucked-in blouse being pulled from her skirt, then Missy's arms snaking up her back.  When her bra opened she started to protest, but was soon too lost in the wonderful sensations to worry too much about anything, especially something silly like a bra.

As Missy expertly worked her hands over her back, Laura realized with concern that Missy was in fact becoming more forward with her.

During the periods with their extra-curricular organizations, Laura found Missy touching or pressing up against her a great deal more than before, but always in such a careful fashion so that no one else could be aware of her doing it.  Yet, it was done in such a deliberate and calculating way that Laura herself couldn't help but notice, and even be affected by it.

When she was talking to her Astronomy Club, Laura was sitting in a chair before the lounging group, with Missy as Club Secretary the only person directly behind her. In the middle of the meeting, she was surprised to feel both of Missy's hands resting casually on her waist.  She turned to see what the girl wanted, but Missy just looked at her blankly.  Laura turned back around, but the hands remained.  She was sure no one could see them, yet they still made her feel uncomfortable somehow.  Missy kept them there for the duration of the meeting.

With the Theater Club, she suddenly felt a hand on her right knee under the table in the empty cafeteria where they were all sitting.  Missy was the only person directly next to her.  She crossed her legs, but there wasn't much else she could do about it.  The hand wasn't doing anything she could really complain about (thank goodness), yet it was there and it bothered her.

Laura wanted to take the girl aside afterward but as usual there was as always a crowd of students wanting to talk with her and she had to postpone it.  As the day wore on, she found her schedule was simply too busy to take time out for something so trivial.

*****

On Thursday morning, Laura found in her school mail box in Administration a note from the Principal's Office, says that her Human Relations-F course had been temporarily been postponed until the arrival of the required curriculum materials.  All her students (of whom Missy was the only one she really had any contact with) would be sent to a study hall.  Laura herself was granted a rare "free period" during which she could do as she pleased.

"What?" she exclaimed.  "Now this is too much!"

She stormed to the Principal's Office, grimly determined to obtain the true story on this once and for all.  Laura couldn't believe it.  What was it about this course anyway that made it so difficult?  Was it cursed or something?

In the office she found Mrs. Sullivan, sitting on a small bench, serenely darning a pair of antique male socks.

"Mrs. Sullivan?"

"Yes, Laura.  You were wondering about what happened to your course."

"Well, yes, I was as a matter of fact.  What gives with this class, anyway?  I can't get a straight answer from anyone about it."

"You should have come to me first, dear.  I have all the answers about what goes on here."

"Okay, then.  Would you please then tell me about what is going on here?"

"Certainly, my dear.  Although please sit down first beside me.  You look a little agitated this morning and could probably use the rest."

Laura smiled for the first time, and sat next to the old secretary.

"So tell me," she said quietly.

"The Human Relations-F course was the brainchild of Susan Jennings, the Junior High counselor.  It was an experimental class for girls only that she had developed, with the help of some of her students.  No one really knows too much about it really.  Sue was the only one who really knew what it was all about.  Her main reason for coming here this year was in fact to teach this course that she had developed."

"So you actually don't know what it is suppose to cover, either?"

" 'The course is designed to explore the contemporary social/economic relationships available to the contemporary woman.'  That was a quote from her paper requesting approval for the course from the school board. It made a compelling case for it, and Susan herself lobbied the board ceaselessly for its approval.  She even had her first small batch of students picked out for it, mainly ones she knew from before, when they were at her old school.  The majority of the girls were said to be exceptional beauties for some reason, cheerleaders, that sort of person.  It's strange, though.  In thinking about it now, Susan seemed almost driven about the course, as if nothing else really mattered to her at all."

"So the course was approved and the materials ordered?"

"Yes, late this summer.  That's why they haven't arrived. Oddly, Susan placed the order for them herself, instead of letting our office do it.  So, we really don't know what kind of text books and films are coming, we really don't."

"Isn't that a little odd?"

"Not really.  Not if you knew Susan.  She was always into the avant guard of education, but preferred to check things out herself first before going mainstream with it. She was always a careful girl, was our Susan."

"Do you know what happened to her?" Laura asked suddenly.

Mrs. Sullivan stopped her darning long enough to hold up her right forefinger.

"I've told you all that I can.  Besides, don't you have a class coming up?"

"Oh my gosh!  I'd forgotten about the time.  Thanks, Mrs. Sullivan."

"It's what I'm here for, my dear," she said kindly, patting Laura on her right knee.

*****

This week, Friday afternoon was to be devoted to the school's second pep rally, and Laura vowed to conduct this one like a military operation.  Everything by the numbers!  She didn't spend half her life watching an endless array of war movies while baby-sitting her little brother for nothing.

All equipment was checked and rechecked.  They even held two rehearsals.  Just to be sure that all went well, Laura decided to conduct her battle from the high ground, in this case the Light Control Booth located behind the balcony.

The guys called it The Bunker, the girls referred to it as the New Berlin Mosh Pit (when Laura found an old soiled mattress up there on her first visit there, she understood why).  It was a small room which contained the switchboards for all of the elaborate auditorium lighting.  It also doubled as a projection booth for the noon movie.  In the center, along the wall facing the stage was a narrow rectangle filled with a sliding glass window.  In front of it was an old-fashioned tilt-top desk and a high stool.  From here (when she stood up on the stool's top rung that is), Laura had a clear view of the entire auditorium.  This was to be her command post.

In keeping with her battle motif, Laura decided that it would be fun to dress appropriately.  After her room had finally cleared of students just before the rally, she pulled the 'Test In Progress' window shade on the door, then locked it.

She quickly slipped out of her dress and shoes, then all of her underwear.  She felt deliciously naughty, standing nude in her classroom, as she opened the overnight case she had brought in with her this morning.  Laura quickly slipped on the special black satin bra-and-panty set she had bought just for today.  Next, she squeezed herself into a pair of black stretch pants she hadn't worn for five years.  Finally, she put on a large, black roll-neck sweater that came down to her upper thighs.

Looking in the vanity mirror attached to the inside of her case, she combed out her black hair until it fell in thick folds over her shoulders.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she was amazed.

"This should give them something to talk about," she said quietly.  "Catwoman, ha!"

She went confidently to the door, unlocked it and went out, only to return again muttering "Damn, damn, damn." The cold marble floor of the hall outside had reminded her that in her excitement she had forgotten to put on her black socks and rubber-soled shoes.

*****

With five minutes to go, Laura was getting worried. George, the stagehand who was to be up in the booth with her had so far failed to show and time was running out.

"Stage Manager, this is Control."

"This is Stage Manager.  Yes, Miss Papadakis?"

"Where is George?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you.  There was an emergency meeting of the Chess Club and he couldn't make it. Sorry."

"THE CHESS CLUB??  What kind of emergency could they possibly have?"

"I have no idea, Miss P.  But he was very sorry about it."

"Great.  That makes me feel a lot better.  Okay, okay. Here's what we'll do.  Send Missy up here fast and you take over the curtain."

"Oh, (sniff) work the curtain and be stage manager?"

"C'est la guerre, Jane.  You know, 'Improvise.  Adapt. Overcome'.  Don't you ever watch any war movies?"

Before Laura head an answer she saw a flash of flying blonde hair dart from stage left, go down the stairs to the auditorium floor and out the side exit.  Laura smiled.  Missy was on her way.

In the few minutes left, Laura decided to get comfortable.  Standing just wasn't making it, but it was the only way she could see.  By experimenting, she discovered that by locking her heels against the stool rung and leaning across the desk top, she could stick her head out of the window.  It was still a little awkward, but better than the alternative.

"Ah, much better.  Now this is what I call a view."

"What was that, Miss P?"

Oops!  She must remember that there was no way of turning off these portable headset microphones short of unplugging them.

"All stations ready?" she sang gaily.

"Light One ready."

"Light Two ready."

"Stage Manager ready."

Laura heard the metal door to the booth being dragged open.  She turned and saw the welcome sight of Missy, still wearing her communications headset, struggling to close the heavy door.

"Main Control ready," Laura responded.  Finally.

She covered the mic with a hand.  "Missy!  Thank God you're here!" she hissed.  "Do you have your cue sheet?"

The teenager waved Laura's carefully typed list of cues and duties as she walked up to the desk.

"Good girl!  Now, get ready!" warned Laura, and Missy dashed to the panel by the door and turned off the bright ceiling fluorescent.  As Laura turned back to face the auditorium again, she was glad when only the dim red working lights over each of the switchboards and on the desk were left on.  Now she would be able to see properly when the auditorium was dark.  She heard Missy behind her go to her first cue station.

She kept a careful eye on her watch, counting the seconds.  She raised her right hand behind her, with a single finger raised.  God, please let this work.

"Cue One!" she whispered into the microphone.

"Standby...execute!" She dropped her hand and heard the satisfying "clack" of a heavy-duty electrical switch being thrown.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed, then went out.

"Cue Two!"  Two fingers were raised, then dropped precisely five seconds later when she said,

"Standby...execute!"  Miraculously, the footlights on the stage came on!  "My God!" she breathed in wonder.  "It worked."

She looked at her watch.  Shit!  She almost missed the next one.

"Cue Three!" she said quickly, and held up three fingers behind her.

"Standby...execute!" she said and, with a second "clack", both spotlights came on.

One more to go!

"Cue Four!!" she shouted, and held up four fingers behind her.

"Not so loud, Miss P!" came a quiet protest over the headset.

"Sorry," Laura whispered.  "Cue Four.  Standby...execute." The stage curtain opened to revel the principal, the football team, and the school's marching band.

Laura watched Mr. Playfair as he walked up the podium placed on stage right, raise both his hands and shout,

"New Berlin!"

The crowded auditorium went wild, because for once they all heard him.  Laura felt like cheering herself, but instead she collapsed in relief on the desk.  The sound system was working.  Now all she had to do was monitor the proceedings until the next set of cues were due in 30 minutes.

"Well done, team!" she murmured quietly.

Laura was enjoying the show, swaying her hips to the music of the marching band when she felt the oddest tingling between her legs.  She looked over her left shoulder and saw Missy standing beside the stool, her right hand curled high up around Laura's left inner thigh.

Laura shifted her feet to one side of the stool's rung, then said,

"Honey, come up and watch with me."  She was very glad when Missy left her leg alone and quickly hurried up the desk to join her.  It was nice having her there, as they lay side-by-side and looked out of the narrow window.

It was very close up there on the desk, yet Laura did not mind in the least.  She always preferred having Missy close by her.  It kept the girl from getting into mischief somewhere else.  She had no idea what her student had been doing to her before, but her pussy was still tingling because of it.  Or was it just the excitement of her first successful pep rally?

Laura felt comforted by the close presence of her favorite student.  She could even smell the heavenly perfume the girl had sprayed into her golden hair.  She felt Missy begin to run a hand over her lower back, but her mind was so focused on the girl next to her she hardly noticed at all.

In fact, Laura decided she was getting a little too focused.  Shaking her head, Laura resolved she had better stop daydreaming.  The rally still had 45 minutes to run, so she must get back to her job and start watching the stage again.

She watched the rally move its ponderous way along, but her thoughts quickly went back to the girl so close beside her.  As she looked at the stage Laura had a marvelous idea.  Pygmalion!  She would be Professor Higgins to Missy's Eliza Dolittle! She would take this wild colt personally under her wing and turn her into a responsible, educated young woman.  It was perfect!  Like Eliza, speech would be the key.  Laura was sure Missy could talk, she just didn't see the need, probably.  Oh, if she could just find the key to Missy.

As she thought of different ways to help Missy, Laura began to notice how warm it was, underneath her thick sweater and tight pants.  The sweat was starting to form under her hair.  She could also feel it trickling down her torso.  Wonder why it got so warm all of a sudden? Probable from her darling Missy being so close to her like this.  What else could it be?

Soon Laura noticed how sensitive her behind had gotten. Why, it felt like it was positively glowing.  She turned to look over her left shoulder but stopped.  She was nose-to-nose with her beautiful student and suddenly she found it hard to breath.  Missy was impassively staring at her in that disconcerting, direct way she had.  Laura was close enough to see the colorful auditorium lights reflected from beneath those half-closed eyes.

Laura watched as Missy leaned forward even closer, and she wondered dazedly what Missy could possible want from her now?  Missy turned her head slightly to the right and suddenly Laura felt Missy's lips upon hers.  She automatically closed her eyes as she felt strange, wonderful sensations explode throughout her body.  Her nipples immediately hardened as her pussy came alive, almost as if it were being deliberately teased into wakefulness.  In the lost world of the kiss, she could feel herself spinning endlessly.

As she felt Missy's tongue try to worm its way between her full lips, Laura could here an annoying buzzing in her ear.  She was shocked into consciousness when she realized that the buzzing was really words.  Someone was trying to call her over the headset!

She hastily turned her head to clumsily break off the kiss.  She turned back to stare wide-eyed at the teenager laying beside her and blushed!  It was Missy's hand that was between her legs, manipulating her cunt!  She couldn't believe it!  And it hadn't stopped!  She could still feel it holding and rubbing the sensitive, secret flesh of her sex through the tight, stretch material and the silk panties underneath.

It was wrong, terribly, terribly wrong.  She stared at Missy, but as far as Missy was concerned nothing at all was happening.  Yet Laura could feel the sensations driving her out of her mind!

It felt so wonderful!  It had been a long time since she had allowed anyone to touch her there.  The unexpected climaxes she experienced last week were her first in God's knows how long.  She knew she had to stop this, and quickly!

But the voice in her ear refused to go away!

Desperately, she turned toward the window, but she couldn't see anything wrong outside in the auditorium. While she bucked her hips to escape the hand between her legs, she gasped,

"Yes?"

"Miss P?  Miss P? Are you there?"

Oh, God!  It was her damn stage manager!

"Yes, Jane.  I'm...here.  What's the problem?"

"Thank goodness.  I almost sent one of the spotlights up to check to make sure you two were all right."

"NO!  I mean, no, we are f-fine.  Look, Jane, what's the matter?"

"The car, Miss P!  The car for the football team's skit. Missy was supposed to push it out on-stage with me, but she's with you now!"

"I'll say she's with me," the silently struggling Laura thought.

Along with the devastating hand working her crotch, Missy had used her other hand to pull up the heavy sweater and had unfasten Laura's bra.  With so much happening, Laura was unable to think properly anymore. She passively allowed Missy to pull her arms from her sleeves and Laura soon discovered that she had lost another bra to her 14-year-old student.

"Damn the girl!" Laura said, her mind in a complete daze from what Missy was doing to her cunt.

"Miss P!  What did you say?"

"N-nothing," Laura gasped.  "Just calm down, for God's sake!" she shouted, anything but calm as her over- stimulated nerves screamed for release.

"But the car!!"

"Listen carefully," Laura whispered, using her last bit of self control as her hips were undulating uncontrollably over the desk behind her.

"Just find someone backstage to help you.  Try asking one of those cheerleaders waiting back there.  My God, they certainly look ripe, I mean healthy enough."

"Yes, Miss P.  Sorry I didn't think of that."

"It's...all right, Jane."

"Ah, are you all right, Miss P?  You sound a little breathless."

"Jane, take...take over the cues for a while.  I'm disconnecting!"

Laura ripped the headset off her head, pulled the plug out of the small radio pack attached to the waist of her slacks, then finally managed to slide shut the glass window over the viewport as the glorious feelings between her legs threatened to consume her completely.

"Missy!" she cried.  "What...what are you doing to me?"

She wondered how her sweater had gotten bunched up around her neck.  Her bare breasts were smashed against the desk top, her sensitive nipples reacting wildly as they were repeatedly dragged across the unfinished wood.

"Ooooh," she moaned, overcome by the unexpected torrent of so many fantastic, forbidden sensations.  She felt Missy pull down her stretch pants and panties from her hips to bunch them at mid-thigh, but was helpless to do anything about it.  All she could do was ride this amazing whirlwind of pure sensations.

The feel of Missy's hand directly on her cunt drove Laura mad!  No longer a rational being, she fought to fling her legs as wide apart as her lowered clothes would allow while she raised her hips.  She deliberately dragged her naked breasts across the rough desk top, relishing the sensations coming from her electrically charged nipples. She never noticed when Missy started working her first finger into the ready tight cuntal passage, or the third. All she could think of, if it even was thought and not some primordial impulse buried deep within her, was

"MORE!"

Finally, her over-stimulated body could take it no longer.

"AAAAaahhhhh!" she screamed as, in a series of mind-shattering climaxes, Laura came!  Again and again her body responded eagerly to Missy's continued ministrations, until Laura, totally overcome, mercifully fainted.

*****

The first thing that Laura sensed was a feeling of cold. She reached for the covers on her bed, but couldn't find them.  When she felt hard wood instead of her soft mattress, Laura jumped into a groggy wakefulness.  She found she was laying curled on her side, precariously perched on the slanted desk top.  Her feet were resting on a raised lip that ran along the lower edge of the top. She discovered she was wearing only her sweater, bunched around her neck, and her black socks and running shoes. The rest of her clothes, along with Missy, were gone.

In the dim working lights of the control room, her bare skin gleamed an unworldly red.

An unexpected breeze made her lift her tired head from the deep window sill where it had been resting and look behind her.  The door to the room was wide open.  She wondered dully why she had left it that way, but couldn't think of a reason.

Laura knew she had to get moving.  The rally was almost over, and this was where the spotlights were stored when not in use.  She should rejoin the comm link, if for no other reason then to find out how it all went.  She should....

The enormity of what had happened in the room with Missy was still too much for her.  She just couldn't believe it!  Still in shock, she couldn't move, even to cover her own nudity.  It just wasn't important at the moment. Nothing was.

A sound by the door made her look up.  Missy, still in her own headset, had entered the room and went swiftly to a switchboard.  Laura wondered if she had forgotten something.

Missy appeared to listen to something over the set, then turned a switch.  With a dull "clack" the house lights in the auditorium came on.  A second clack turned off the spot lights, and a final one turned off the stage's footlights.  The rally was over.

She watched as Missy walked over to her, reached down to the floor, and bring up Laura's headset, already connected.  The teacher looked at the offered set in horror.  The last thing she wanted was to touch something this impassive girl had just held.

Reluctantly, she took it, then caused herself waves of anguish by automatically saying, "Thank you."

She carefully sat up, her bare breasts moving slightly, and put the headset on.  Her ears were immediately assaulted by a noisy turmoil.

"Silence!" she shouted, and all was quiet.

"Miss P!  Miss P, is that you?"

Laura tried to put as much life into her dead voice as she could.

"Yes, I'm here," she muttered as she pulled down her sweater down as far as she could while sitting on the desk.

It stopped at just above her waist.

"At least, I think I am."

"Mr. Playfair wants to see you in his office immediately after the rally, Miss P.  He seemed kind of mad how you were talking to us over the radio."

"That's just great," said Laura.

After looking around, Laura hadn't the faintest idea of how to get down from where she was without breaking her neck.

"Are you all right, Miss P?"

"Yes," she laughed bitterly.  "I'm just peachy.  Listen, everyone.  Put all the stuff away just like we planned. I'll return my headset after I see the principal."

"Okay, Miss P."

"And good job, everyone!"

Laura turned off her radio, and quietly sat there.  She was amazed at how screwed up things could get in such a short time.

When Missy showed up with a step ladder, she could only say,

"It figures."

Laura turned and carefully backed her way down off of the high desk, very aware of the view she must be presenting the world and Missy with her bare hips and legs.

On the ground once again, she quickly pulled down her sweater to the tops of her thighs.

Laura turned to face her student.

"Where are my clothes?  Missy, I asked you a question. Now, where are they?"

She suddenly became very angry at this still impassive girl.  How dare she think she can just use her and then get away with it?  Laura held the teenager and started to shake her violently.

"You bitch!" she screamed.  "Where are they?"

"I'd be a little more polite to me if I were you," Missy calmly said.  "You just might need a friend right now."

"What?" Laura gasped.  "What did you say?"

"Be nice."

"Missy.  You can talk!"

"Of course I can talk.  You teachers!"

"Oh, Missy," Laura said sadly, her anger forgotten as she looked at the teenager.  "How could you?"

Laura felt the girl's hands go around her waist and pull her against tight against her.  Missy put her face close and Laura trembled as she wondered what was going to happen next.  Missy's mouth closed over hers and Laura's mind went blank.

The teenager continued to kiss her, but all Laura could do was close her eyes and put her arms  around the girl as her heart pounded.

Missy's tongue was soon casually exploring her mouth, while her hands worked Laura's naked buttocks under her sweater.  Laura felt paralyzed, trapped by the fantastic sensations of this wonderful girl kissing her.

Her mind froze!  A Girl!  A girl was kissing her! Fondling her!  She tried to protest, to break free of the insidious effects of this deadly kiss, but her willpower began to melt the instant she felt Missy slip a hand around her front and work it between her legs.  The hand on her vulva was like magic!  Laura tried one last desperate attempt to break away, but when the fingers entered her vagina she knew she was lost as the sweet sensations coming from her cunt took control of her very being.

"Ah!" she gasped when Missy finally broke the kiss and kneeled on the floor before her.  She could only stare up at the ceiling and wonder what was happening to her as she felt Missy raise the front of her sweater.

As Missy worked her mouth on Laura's cunt, the teacher felt herself flying.  Higher and higher she went, until she sensed she could surely touch the stars.

Laura dazedly noticed a commotion in the doorway.  Two boys carrying a heavy spot light was trying to pass the bulky object through the door.  She looked down and saw that Missy was now across the room going behind a switch board.  It was only then that Laura realized with horror that the hem of her sweater was still high above her hips.  Fighting to get back her composure, she just had time to tug down the front of her sweater and turn around before the boys stumbled into the room.

White light filled the room as the overhead fluorescents came on.

"Miss P?  Is that you?" Laura heard a quivering voice say behind her.

"Yes, yes," she said impatiently as she fought to get her breath back.

"Just put the lights where they belong, okay fellas?"

She turned around and shakily smiled but the boys, Josh and Scott, didn't move.

"You...you haven't seen Missy have you?" Scott breathlessly asked.  "Jane needs her to help with the stage resets and props."

Laura looked at Scott, and wondered if the boy was asthmatic.  She then saw Missy creep silently from the cover of the switchboard, slip behind the staring boys and exit unnoticed out the door.  She had Laura's clothes draped casually over her left shoulder.

"I have a feelings she'll be there shortly," Laura said grimly.  The little bitch!  Leaving her like this!

"Come on, guys!" She said as she raised her arms in exasperation.  "What's the problem?"

"N-nothing, Miss P!" they both sang as their eyes popped open.  They quickly started to move the heavy equipment to its storage shelf, but continued to stare at her.

Laura felt her pubic hairs move gently in the breeze coming from the open door and, mortified, suddenly dropped her arms.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, and ran from the room.

They had seen her!  She was sure that they had seen her!  As she ran towards the stairs, her right hand touched a bare buttock.

"Oh God, oh God!" she panted, as she ran across the empty balcony and into the stairwell.

Inside, Laura stopped and leaned with her back tight against the rough wall.  The feel of the cold plaster on her buttocks confirmed what she feared.  When she had pulled down her sweater in front, it had folded in back and left the lower part of her buttocks still exposed. That's what the boys first saw when they came into the room.  Later, when she so unthinkingly raised her arms, they saw something else.  They saw her!

"Oh God, oh God," she moaned.  "What am I going to do?"

*****

End of Book I