Juicy Secrets Forbidden Tales of Lesbian Love

Testing the Water

By eloquent delinquent

Following the other girls through the Greenberg’s huge airy house, Nicole eventually reaches the back, a series of French doors lining one wall that open onto a broad tiled patio and the coolest pool Nicole’s ever seen. It’s like a regular sized swimming pool with a hot tub attached to one end, and where they meet there’s this enormous stack of rocks that’s taller than her, with an actual waterfall splashing down it into the water! Cassidy looks as amazed as she is, this must be her first time seeing it, too. The other girls look pleased but not surprised.

Tender Katie is sitting in a cushioned patio chair by the pool, with a polka dot hair band and bangs and sunglasses. She’s wearing a big loose khaki scouting shirt and shorts that show off how strong her tanned legs are. She’s set a bunch of cushions on the ground in front of her, and turns in her chair to greet the approaching girls.

“Hello, Scouts. Wonderful day for the water, isn’t it?” she says with an impish smile. Nicole’s struck again by how fit and pretty Katie is. With her honey blonde hair done like that and that little smile on her face, she thinks Katie and her daughter Jenny look a lot alike.

The girls agree about the day with varying degrees of enthusiasm, but most of them are casting yearning looks at the limpid blue water in the pool. For her part, Nicole is too busy being blown away by the view. Although three huge pine trees screen the pool area, the rest of the property looks down from the hilltop on the whole north side of town, and some of the outlying farms and woods too. And off in the distance is the hazy blue gray line of the Pacific. She feels like she’s really in California now, maybe for the first time.

“Come on over and have a seat everybody.”

They all plop down on the cushions in front of Katie. Nicole sits next to Lena in front with one empty cushion to her left; Cassidy and Fawn are behind them. Katie takes some printouts from under her chair and starts handing them out. Lena looks disappointed; Cassidy actually groans.

“I didn’t know there’d be homework,” Cassidy grumps.

“There’s no homework, and there’s no quiz,” Katie says, “this is just information to keep with you so you can study for the badge exam. It’s kind of a cheat sheet. All the answers are In here.”

Cassidy brightens and takes a little interest, now that there might be cheating involved.

Lena asks, “Aren’t we going in the water?”

“This session is about water safety, the things you need to know before you go swimming, so you can be safe and know what you’re doing. Besides, how many of you can swim?”

She waits for hands. Only Fawn’s timidly rises. Katie nods toward her.

“I can doggie paddle, a little.”

“Girls,” Katie says, leaning her elbows onto her knees to get closer, draw them in. “by the time I’m through with you, you’ll all be swimming like little mermaids. But we have to do it the right way, so nothing happens to you. And the first step, is to learn how to be careful in the water, okay?”

They all nod, seeing the point.

Nicole glances down at the printout and its pictures when she hears the patio doors open. Hanna and her mother are both coming out, and everyone stops to look.

Hanna is wearing a little aqua colored bikini, and although she’s just barely started filling out in her boobies and her butt, it makes her tan and her spiky, layered straw-blonde bob really stand out. She’s wearing these sharp sunglasses that most of the girls fawn over when she sits down.

But Nicole is focused on Hanna’s mom.

Mrs Greenberg has also changed into a bikini, pink and flowery, that rides high on her trim hips and shows a lot of her large, pear-shaped breasts. Over it, she’s wearing what seems like a short white robe, only it’s so lightweight that it’s transparent.

Nicole feels like she suddenly has X-ray vision for Mrs Greenberg, and that she can see right through her clothes at her underwear and her bare body. The thought sends this electrifying thrill through her, that settles into a warm happy hum somewhere around her tummy as she watches the pretty mother scrape another patio chair over and sit next to Katie. Nicole’s never felt like this before, but it’s as yummy as it is disconcerting.

Hanna’s sunglasses start making the rounds, and each girl tries them on and poses glamorously, to ahhs and giggles from the others. When Nicole first saw Hanna in them, she thought they made her look stuck up. But now that everybody is trying them on, and she is too, she realizes that they’re actually pretty cool. They’re like grownup fashion sunglasses, only girl-size. Hanna mentions the designer to Lena, but Nicole isn’t really listening. She notices Mrs Greenberg’s grin when she’s posing in them.

She hands the sunglasses back to Hanna, and thinks maybe she had that mean thought because she’s a little jealous of her.

Tender Katie waits patiently for them to settle back down, then begins the lesson. The girls follow along in the handout. Most of it is stuff like don’t jump in if you know how deep it is, be careful of tides and currents, warm up before you swim, never go further out than half of your endurance. There are pictures of the right way to help someone having trouble in the water, how to float on your back to save your strength, or how to use a life preserver, but Katie tells them they’ll practice that stuff later.

It’s all pretty common sense, but good to know. They ask about a couple things, and when they do they raise their hands; it’s very class-like. The only kinda weird moment is when Tender Katie instructs them that they should never, ever swim without a buddy. For some reason that makes Cassidy snort and say, “That too, huh?” and nudge Fawn knowingly.

Over a sudden burst of giggles from all the other girls except Nicole, Katie says, “Cassidy, behave.”

“Sorry,” she replies with a chortle that makes it seem like maybe she’s not too sorry.

Nicole doesn’t get it at all. It’s another thing they share that she doesn’t. She looks from one young face to another, trying to steal a clue, but they’re already glancing at their printouts as Katie shows them how to push on a swimmer’s back to get the water out of their lungs.

The girls soak it in, and answer the occasional pop quiz question from Katie or Mrs Greenberg, but they can’t help feeling the heat of the summer on their shoulders and faces and squirming, wishing they were in the refreshing water just a few feet away. Katie senses that she’s losing them, so she asks a few more questions to wrap it up, and the scouts respond half-heartedly. Hanna actually lays down, putting on her sunglasses as if she’s ready to work on her tan.

“Okay, I think we’re done here,” Katie announces, standing up. “Good work girls, now that we have that out of the way, next time we can actually start practicing swimming for real.”

The girls cheer, even Hanna on her back, and Nicole’s pretty sure she already knows how to swim.

Mrs Greenberg gently touches Katie’s arm. The two exchange a look, and then Katie says, “Mrs Greenberg is going to make us all some strawberry limeade, but she wants a helper.”

This gets all the Scouts’ attention. They stop what they’re doing and turn toward Katie like they heard a dog whistle. This happens at every Scout meeting. One girl gets picked out for one on one time with Katie or one of the moms, for being involved or behaved or most accomplished. All the girls are so eager to get picked, but why? Normally they’re not competitive. Again, Nicole is in the dark.

“So Tammy, who do you think should help? Who was the best participant?”

Mrs Greenberg looks the girls over. For a moment she meets Nicole’s eye, and just kind of lingers in this funny way that makes Nicole’s tummy do a flip. But then Mrs Greenberg gets this kind of disappointed look and moves on, and ultimately says, “Lena.”

With a toss of her dark hair, Lena practically skips to her feet. She steps over to Mrs Greenberg and the pretty mother takes her hand. As they start to stroll to the house, Mrs Greenberg tells them, “Go ahead and dip your feet or use the umbrellas or hammocks or whatever. We’ll be back.”

As they go through the shining French doors, Nicole feels a jab of raw jealousy.

Tender Katie moves her chair into the shade of the pines and fans herself with the handout. Hanna goes over to a tote, gets some suntan lotion out of it, re-positions her cushion. She sits back down and starts to slather it on, making her skin glisten. With her sunglasses on, she looks detached from everyone else, but maybe she just feels at home. Fawn and Cassidy have taken a seat at the pool’s edge with their feet dangling into the water, kind of stirring it with lazy kicks.

Nicole’s just standing there stewing in her own hurt feelings, and feels stupid. She decides what Fawn and Cassidy are doing looks the most fun, so she goes over to join them.

“How is it?” she asks as she kneels down to take off her sneakers and socks.

Fawn grins. “It feels sooo good,” she says shyly, almost like she’s embarrassed to admit it.

“Yeah, on our feet,” Cassidy snarks.

Nicole kicks her shoes into a little pile next to theirs and scoots in next to them. She slips her feet into the cool water, swirling them around. It feels amazing, but so frustrating at the same time. Her body longs to join her feet in there.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she asks quietly, “Is Hanna kinda stuck-up or something?”

Fawn cocks her head and says, “Oh no, she’s nice.”

“She’s twelve now, even though she doesn’t look it,” Cassidy tells her. “Her best friend Lori bumped up into Saplings this year, and now I think she’s just waiting to join her this winter.”

“She likes us well enough though,” Fawn says, “especially Jenny.”

Cassidy snorts with amusement, “Especially Jenny.”

Fawn blushes brightly for some reason and even though she’s smiling she whispers sharply, “Cut it out. Katie said.”

“Katie says a lot of things,” Cassidy quips, dips down and splashes a handful of water at Fawn, causing her to squirm and squeal.

“Hey,” Nicole protests, “you got some on me!”

She splashes back, with poor Fawn caught in the middle. The coltish girl shuts her eyes, draws up her knees, and begins kicking her feet rapidly, causing water to fountain up and drench all three of them as they shriek, giggling.

That gets the attention of both Katie and Hanna. The three girls stop their splashing and wait to see who will speak first.

Turns out it’s Hanna, sitting up on her elbows and facing them, her pubescent body gleaming in the sun. Behind her sunglasses, her expression is kind of inscrutable. Is she amused? Annoyed? Then she says, “Why don’t you get in?”

Fawn immediately ducks her head and shrugs up her shoulders, like a big-eyed turtle. “We don’t know how to swim.”

Hanna tucks her heels under her, stands up. “I’ve been going in since I was three.” She starts toward them, reaching down and hooking her thumbs under the backside of her bikini bottoms, smoothing them. “Katie and I can both watch out for you, it’s okay.”

Fawn asks, “Are you sure?” But she’s looking to Katie.

Their Tender nods. “Just stay in the shallow end, just like at the river.”

Nicole shrinks a little. “But I didn’t bring a suit,” she squeaks.

Hanna, who’s just about to step onto the stairs leading into the pool, pauses with one toe poised above the water and tells her, “You can borrow one of mine, if you want.”

Cassidy stands up and says, “Nah,” and starts to unbutton her vintage scouting dress in a hurry. “It’s just like at the river!”

Fawn squeals, “Cassie!” Katie looks like she’s going to say something, then doesn’t. Hanna just laughs as Cassie finishes with the last button at the hem and shrugs off the dress. It flops right to the tiles and suddenly Nicole’s gawking at Cassidy’s body, which is now clad only in a thin white t-shirt. She barely has time to register the curve of her naked butt and the smooth little mound of her girly parts before the t-shirt is gone too and Cassidy is totally naked.

With a happy whoop Cassidy leaps off the edge and plunges feet-first into the water, splashing the other two girls even worse than before, but they can’t help but laugh. By the time Nicole’s shaken the water off her arms, she glances over at Fawn only to see that she’s untucked her khaki blouse and is eagerly fumbling with the buttons as Cassidy bobs near her feet.

Nicole just stares dumbstruck as Fawn bares her long dancer’s body, the blouse shrugged off, the t-shirt whisked over head, and then she pops to her feet, wiggling out of her explorer shorts and then she’s completely undressed too, no panties just like Cassidy. Nicole’s face feels hot, she can feel her pulse in her neck, this is so crazy, so crazy. She hasn’t ever seen another girl naked, unless you counted her sister Abbey, and even that was years ago when they were both little and took baths together. And now here’s two of her friends totally undressed and she’s actually trembling with… something.

Fawn turns and looks down at poor paralyzed Nicole, her doe-like eyelashes batting her pink cheeks as she blinks her giant blue eyes quickly, excited or nervous or both. She has this gamin grin on her face but doesn’t say anything until these giggles suddenly burst out from her. She touches her bare tummy, her little brown nipples are erect, Nicole sees the crease of her little puss right at her eye level, not even two feet away. The nude girl seems surprised at her herself.

Then she holds her nose, squeezes her eyes shut, and hops into the pool, dunking completely under. When she pops up both she and Cassidy laugh with pure joy.

Slipping over to Nicole’s feet, Fawn wipes the water off her face and says, “It’s so nice, Nicole. Come on.”

The ten year old is totally stymied.

She looks to Katie, still calm in the dappled shade of the pines. Her Tender says, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Nicole nods, but she also remembers Katie taking her aside after her first Scout meeting, and telling her that this troop was special. That some of the things they did would seem strange or even scary at first, that sooner or later something unusual would happen, but that if she just trusted them it might turn out that she really enjoyed them. “We all want something good for you, Nicole, so sometimes you’ll just have to believe that, to be with us.”

She wonders if this is one of those moments. Is this the test Katie was talking about? Although Katie sounded really mild and understanding, it still sounded like if she couldn’t be brave, couldn’t trust the troop, she wouldn’t really belong. She’ll go on being left out.

She looks over at Hanna. The blonde in the bikini just shrugs one shoulder and says, “You can still borrow a suit.”

In the water, Cassidy goes “Pfft.”

Grinning, Nicole focuses on the svelte nude girl with the wild hair gliding just below her, who tilts her chin in a kind of carefree way as she gazes back, and then Nicole stands up and starts unbuttoning her explorer top.

Hanna cocks her hip at the pool’s edge. Fawn slides up and hooks her elbows over the edge to watch, this very happy open mouthed smile on her glistening face. Cassidy continues goofing off in the water, but her eyes never leave Nicole for long. Tender Katie just sits back and touches her lip thoughtfully.

Nicole untucks the blouse and wrestles her way out of the rolled-up sleeves, then peels off the t-shirt. As soon as the warm summer sun hits the skin of her half naked torso, what she’s doing seems very real, and very naughty. Her body is at blood-thumping levels of nervousness that she’s never experienced before, knowing they’re all watching, waiting. She fumbles with the skirt’s fastener, but finally gets it and the green pleated skirt flutters to her feet.

They all look strangely at her powder blue panties. She guesses they might seem weird, considering none of the other girls seem to even know what panties are. Hanna actually clucks her throat. Does she not approve? Whatever. With a little ducking motion, Nicole skims them down to her ankles. Standing up straight again in front of all of them is one of the hardest things she’s ever done, but she does it, and wiggles her panties off her ankle.

She looks at all of them, her face brightly flushed, her heart pounding hard enough to shake her whole body. But the grin forming on her lips as she anxiously chews them reveals a powerful truth to her; she likes what’s happening. The big smile Fawn’s looking up at her with, the way Hanna’s gone still and her mouth hangs open a little, Cassidy’s smirking approval as she floats on her back, Katie’s mild stare. She’s the center of all their attention.

She’s brave. She’s pretty. She’s naked. And for the first time, she’s undeniably one of them.

Nicole jumps into the water between Fawn and Cassidy. The cooling shock is wonderful and forces all her happiness to bubble up as spluttering laughter that she can’t control. The other two girls swirl around her, laughing and going, “Yay,” and, “You did it!”

Hanna gracefully descends the steps into the water nearby. Setting her sunglasses on the edge, she shrugs again and says, “Hmm, guess you don’t want one,” and then she dives underwater and the other three watch her as she swims past, staying under all the way until she reaches the edge at the deep end of the pool.

Feeling thoroughly accomplished, Nicole enjoys just pushing through the water for a bit. It doesn’t reek of chlorine like the indoor pools back home; it just smells clean. And it feels so good flowing past her bare body; swimsuits are either too tight or are always going up her crack. Even the way the water swooshes between her legs feels special, and kind of naughty. And now that they’re up to their chests in the pool, bouncing on their toes off the bottom, she doesn’t really feel exposed at all.

It’s fine. And besides, seeing the other girls’ bare chests or hips or butts surface as they move through the water gives her a little thrill. They’re all being a little bad, but as long as they’re all doing it, who cares?

Certainly not Katie, who watches them with a grin, but seems totally okay with what she’s seeing. Nicole only gets a pang when she thinks about how Lena and Mrs Greenberg will react, when they see the girls out here with no clothes on. How long has it been, anyway? Where are they?

But then Hanna swims back and Nicole forgets all about it. The four of them frolic in the water for a while. At first, Fawn shows Hanna how she can doggie-paddle, then the rest of them try and Nicole and Cassidy fail hilariously. Then they all see who can hold their breath the longest, with Tender Katie timing it, and they’re all surprised when Fawn comes up for air a full twenty seconds after Hanna. Fawn blushes when she wins.

Cassidy takes Nicole aside and convinces her to untie Hanna’s bikini top as she swims by. Giggling uncontrollably, Nicole gingerly plucks the bow across her tan back loose as the girl kicks by with her face down in the water. Hanna jerks to the surface and turns, sputtering, but the top’s already washed across her chest and tucked under her armpit, exposing the triangular tan lines around her very pink nipples. Hanna lunges at Nicole, but Cassidy’s slipped under the water, and the blonde twelve year old’s face freezes in a comical look of surprise as her bottoms are deftly untied and snatched away. Cassidy surfaces, pushing away and laughing maniacally, and Hanna gives chase until Cassidy reaches the edge and throws her aqua bottoms halfway across the patio. Hanna pins Cassidy against the side, stares menacingly into the girl’s amused face for a moment, then smiles herself, slips off her soggy bikini top and throws it where it lands with a splat next to the bottoms.

The two playfully dunk each other, Fawn and Nicole cruise over and join in, and soon they’re all splashing and gurgling and laughing and gasping for air.

Nicole draws away from the roughhousing, begging shortness of breath. Hanna takes this seriously, and offers to show her how to float on her back. The other girls help as Nicole tries to relax and balance on her back and just breathe deeply and let the water hold her up. But in the meantime the girls help by holding her up, too. Nicole closes her eyes and can barely hear with her ears underwater, but oh, can she feel. The warmth of the sun shining on her nude chest, tummy and pelvis, the cool water lapping at her flanks, and the gentle touch of the girls’ hands on her freckled shoulder blades, and her bottom, and the backs of her legs. She can feel them gathered around, looking down at her naked body. And the sensation is just blissful.

It’s Cassidy’s turn next, and as Nicole stands next to her head and cups her shoulder blades, she sees the hippie girl’s eyes closed and her mouth open in a silent, endless sigh that must be how she looked herself when they were helping her float. She glances at Hanna and Fawn, and they all exchange slow, naughty smiles.

That’s when Mrs Greenberg and Lena come out of the house, the mother carrying a tray with a big jug of limeade with cut up strawberries floating in it and a bunch of cups. Lena has another tray with a pile of little sandwich slices. Mrs Greenberg’s eyes open big and she pauses with a little ‘O’ of surprise at all the naked girls in her pool.

Lena’s changed into a navy blue one piece swimsuit. Her ponytail’s a little ragged and she has a lot of pink in her cheeks, but she seems so happy and relaxed. The suit looks really cute on her, showing off all her budding girlish curves. But after she sets down her tray, she approaches the pool, goes, “Oh, yeah!” and starts peeling it off. Nicole, Fawn, Cassidy, and Hanna all gather at the edge of the pool and watch her strip, delighting in the way she wriggles her creamy body out of the clinging suit, finally pushing it down her legs and shaking it off. Once she’s naked, she smiles at all her friends as they admire her pretty body, then she charges at them, leaps over their heads, and cannonballs into the pool with a huge splash.

When she comes up, gasping and laughing, they all gather around and playfully wrestle and dunk one another. The water’s shining, the sunlight is turning golden, and it’s all so much breathless fun.

Nicole waits until the other girls are helping Lena float on her back, then she wades over, slips her arm around the girl’s waist and when Lena’s surprised eyes spring open Nicole leans in, murmurs “Hold your breath,” and pushes down on her friend’s tummy.

Pressed together, they both sink into the cool embrace of the water. Lena wriggles, sportingly trying to struggle away, which for some reason makes Nicole hang on tighter. Their bodies slide deliciously together, Nicole feeling the warm soft smoothness of Lena’s flesh as she squirms and wiggles against her. The excitement kind of overwhelms Nicole and she lets go, tingles shimmering though her body and mind. It’s stunning how good it feels to rub against her friend. Lena kicks away.

A few minutes later, fatigue starts to slow the girls down. Lena and Hanna are holding onto the pool’s edge, talking about the diving boards at the public pool in town. Hanna knows how to dive, but they both talk about the high dive in hushed tones, as if it were a boogeyman. Cassidy and Fawn have drifted over to the stairs in the corner together, and are now giving each other the lovey-dovey look. Even though they’re in the shallowest part of the pool, they’re both low in the water, only the tops of their shoulders showing, intense and intimate. Little ripples radiate away from them like they’re moving around a bit, but their heads are completely still, foreheads touching, mouths open slightly, looking into each others’ eyes. She’s curious, but doesn’t want to disturb them; it looks so private.

This leaves Nicole the odd Scout out, again. She’s not even a Scout. She kind of dithers for a minute, not knowing what to do and feeling a little sorry for herself. She decides to look closer at the waterfall that impressed her so much when she first saw it. As Nicole wades over to it, she feels the rush of water swirling all over her skin as it plunges and eddies under the surface. She gets closer, letting it splash and flow against her and kind of enjoying that, too. It’s like being tickled or rubbed by a wild tangle of silky ribbons. Some of the splashing spatters her face and hair like rain, but she doesn’t mind. It’s so good to be naked, she can feel everything.

While she’s savoring the sensations from the waterfall, Lena glides up and gives her a warm, affectionate squeeze from behind. “You’re so much fun,” she gushes quietly, her lips inches from Nicole’s ear.

Nicole grins hugely, her eyes bashfully close. “So are you.”

“I liked that, when you pushed me under and kinda wrestled with me.” Lena’s holding onto her, her body drifting into Nicole’s, conforming to the shape of her backside, sweetly spooning her from behind.

“Yeah, it was fun,” Nicole muses.

“Hmm, we should try it sometime when we’re not in the water,” Lena murmurs, then chuckles and pushes away. Nicole’s left stewing in confusion, but the ripply feeling of the waterfall against her skin soothes her cares away pretty quickly.

A few minutes later, Hanna declares that she’s thirsty and hauls herself out of the pool, puts on her sunglasses, and crosses the patio naked and dripping wet to get a glass of her mom’s limeade. She plunks in a patio chair and drinks deeply, slick and shining with her legs wide open, and Mrs Greenberg doesn’t seem to notice.

Katie gets up, walks past the side of the pool, saying, “I’ll go get you girls some towels,” and then heads into the house. A minute later, Hanna gets up, gathers her swimsuit up off the ground and, with a glance back over her shoulder, she wanders inside, too.

So one by one they all climb out of the water. Cassidy goes a few steps then flops down on a cushion, stretching out on her back and throwing one arm over her eyes.

A minute later Fawn heads over to Mrs Greenberg and asks for a cup of limeade while she adorably tries to cover her private parts. Hanna’s mom only smiles and shakes her head, laughingly telling the girl there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Fawn gets two glasses, then draws a cushion close to Cassidy, sits down cross-legged, and puts one glass next to Cassidy. She watches her friend’s gleaming body breathe as if she were a beloved pet, happily sipping her drink.

Finally, Nicole and Lena come out of the pool together, holding hands. Mrs Greenberg gets pink in the cheeks while she pours them both a limeade. Nicole gets a couple little sandwiches, they have lettuce and cucumber and turkey in them, with a little cream cheese too, then they go and sit on cushions together, nibbling and giggling quietly and just kind of looking at each other.

Nicole’s eyes keep wandering to the places on Lena she can’t normally see, her brownish puffy nipples, the bare curve of her rump, the plump mound between her legs. She gets the feeling Lena’s doing the same to her, and she kind of lets her knee fall open so that Lena can look. It’s so naughty, but right now it’s okay so she does it.

After they finish their sandwiches, they both lay on their backs and just rest, happily enjoying the sun’s heat on their cool, wet skin. They both sigh and chuckle with how good it feels.

Nicole’s luxuriating is suddenly stirred a few minutes later by a shadow falling over her. She blinks her eyes open and there’s Mrs Greenberg, her ginger hair draping down near Nicole’s head and a gentle smile on her lips. Nicole finds herself sleepily grinning up at her.

Mrs Greenberg cups Nicole’s face, softly stroking, and suddenly Nicole’s very aware of how naked she is. Her heart starts thumping, her hips twitch.

“Hi,” Nicole murmurs.

“Hi sweetie.”

“Um,” is all she can dreamily manage.

“Hmm-hm,” Mrs Greenberg laughs softly. “I just thought I should tell you something.”

“What?”

Her pretty face leans even closer, and she whispers, “I wish you were a Scout today. Then I could’ve picked you.”

Mrs Greenberg leans all the way down then, and kisses Nicole on the lips, lingering. Nicole’s eyes drift shut but her senses are electrified, she experiences each second Ð one, two, three, and then with a gentle smack her mouth draws away.

Nicole sighs. She hears a shifting sound to her right and glances over to see Lena on her side, up on one elbow with her head propped on her hand, looking fondly at them both. Mrs Greenberg blushes, smiles, and gets up.

“Tammy’s so rad,” Lena confides.

“Yeah,” Nicole agrees slowly, unaware that her fingertips are running up and down her torso. “You think she’d let me call her Tammy, too?”

“For sure, silly,” Lena giggles, “she likes you. A lot.”

Nicole touches her lips, feels that kiss again. She shakes her head and grins helplessly, wondering what that means or why she’s so excited to hear it.

Katie comes out cradling a stack of towels with Hanna right behind. Hanna’s dry now, and her sunglasses and wet bikini got left behind somewhere, but she’s just as naked and her body’s practically glowing. The two of them hand the towels out to the girls, and they dutifully start rubbing themselves down. They still lounge around with the towels kind of half-heartedly draped over them, chatting and snacking and drinking a surprising amount of the limeade. It’s really good!

Eventually, the sun gets a bit lower and Katie walks into the midst of their visits, saying, “You girls did great today, and I can see you’re all going to be eager little swimmers. I think Hanna might even be able to assist with your lessons. Just remember what you learned today, so that you can always be safe when you swim, okay?”

The girls all murmur their assent.

“Terrific! We all had fun today. And it was Scouting fun, which means it’s just for the girls. Your teammates in the troop, your sisters, and your moms. Scout rules.”

“Scout rules,” they all repeat in chorus. Nicole chimes in a little late.

“Okay, I’ll see you Scouts on Friday.” She looks at Nicole when she says, “And then I’ll see all of you on Sunday. And everyone remember to thank the Greenbergs for letting us use their pool.”

Katie has a word with Mrs Greenberg and then leaves, which signals to the girls that the get-together is coming to an end. The girls wander back over to their respective piles of discarded clothes and get dressed. For Nicole, the scouting uniform that seemed so cool earlier now feels hot and confining. She thinks maybe being naked is the best way to be with the Scouts. She already misses it, her body buzzes a little with frustration.

She’s kneeling, about to put on her socks when Hanna, still gloriously bare with all her little tan lines, looks down on her and says, “You’re wearing it wrong, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“The uniform.”

Cassidy glances over from tying her shoes nearby. “She’s right.”

“How?”

“The uniform,” Hanna repeats, “There aren’t any panties.”

“You don’t wear panties with the uniform,” Cassidy affirms.

“But -”

“Listen,” Hanna interrupts, “The uniform comes with socks, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It even comes with a t-shirt, and a slip.”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve got all your underwear. But there’s no panties. There’s not supposed to be panties. You shouldn’t be wearing them when you’re in the uniform.”

“Really?”

“That’s how the whole troop goes,” Cassidy tells her. “Katie pointed it out when she took over, and it’s been like that ever since.”

Nicole looks from one girl to the other, wondering for a second if they’re pulling her leg. They aren’t, and then she gets a little nervous. Then she thinks about before, and how she trusted the troop to be naked in the pool and it turned out so wonderful. So she stands up, rummages under the green pleated skirt until she’s able to hook her thumbs in the waistband and slide them down.

Both girls grin when they see her panties around her ankles.

Hanna says, “I’ll take them. So you won’t be tempted to sneak them back on,” and dips down to take them.

“I wouldn’t!”

“Just in case,” Hanna tucks them behind her back. “I’ll give them back later, if you want.”

“Well… okay.”

Hanna smiles and Nicole goes back to putting on her socks and shoes. Hanna just stands there watching her for a minute, then tells her, “You should come back when you start learning to swim for real. I could help you. Lena, too.”

“Yeah? You think so?”

“Sure,” Hanna replies, then runs a hand through her spiky blonde hair, and kind of twists her nude body shyly. “You could just come back and goof around in the pool, if you wanted.”

“Cool, thanks.”

They say thanks and goodbye to Mrs Greenberg in the kitchen on their way through the house, and she waves and smiles just as winningly as when they arrived, and invites them all to come back anytime. Hanna sidles up to her mom as the rest of the girls head out, and Mrs Greenberg wraps an arm around her naked daughter and gives her a cuddle. They pass back through that hallway, and Nicole’s drawn again to the pictures on the wall, the intricately fantastic scenes with little bits cut out, the ones she doesn’t understand.

“We should come back,” Cassidy says on the driveway, heaving her big bike upright. “That was fun!”

“Yeah,” Nicole agrees heartily.

“We don’t want to take advantage,” Fawn cautions.

“We’ll wait til we get our first swim lesson next week,” Lena declares. “That way, we’ll have a real reason to come over, so we can practice.”

They all say okay and start riding back home. Now that she’s back on the bike, Nicole realizes how tired she’s gotten, playing in the water. But it’s mostly downhill now, and she’s pleasantly distracted by the feel of her puss rubbing the seat with no panties on, and the breeze wafting up her skirt and over her bare backside. That little hum she felt all afternoon at the pool is still there, and when she pictures the naked, frolicking Scouts, and the inexplicable, exciting kiss she got from Mrs Greenberg, it only purrs stronger and more pointedly. It seems to be centered between her legs, which makes her bike ride more plush and sensitive and kind of exciting. But that sensation, and what’s causing it, is yet another mystery to her. She feels as confused as she is happy. Is that normal here?

She seems to be coming up with new puzzles as fast as she solves others. She’s reminded again of the Star Wars scenes with the jagged, blacked-out spaces.

And she thinks, with a kind of leaping realization, the missing piece is me.

Continue on to Chapter 4

1

1

1

Error happened.

Orientation

By eloquent delinquent

There’s three uniforms for a Seedling in the Forest Girl Explorer Scouts, and they all show up at once. Mom really splurged and got the whole kaboodle! It must’ve cost her a bunch, and Nicole gets a little softie feeling from seeing how much Mom is willing to invest in her being happy in their new town.

After they’ve been run through the washer and got that weird packing smell out of them, Mom presses them all and then Nicole lays everything out on her bed, kind of inspecting them, getting a little excited. She’s going to be part of something again!

There’s the traditional green dress, usually for more formal meetings. It’s hemmed a little above the knee and buttons all the way from bottom to top, although most girls never undo all those buttons and just wiggle it on over their heads. Unlike her old Acorn outfit, this one is gathered a little at the waist, and has a khaki belt that goes with it, so the wiggling might be a bit more difficult. The troubles of getting bigger, she grins. The dress comes with a white knee-high socks and a white slip for underneath with little shoulder straps and the Girl Explorer logo sewn on it. There’s also the dark green neckerchief and merit sash, but that can go with any uniform.

The next is the daywear uniform, and it’s a light green button front blouse with cap sleeves, a dark green pleated skirt that ends at her fingertips, and a khaki envelope-type cap with green trim. It comes with a merit vest, also khaki, and Nicole realizes that she may have to get duplicates of her badges so she can have them on both the sash and the vest. The accessories are a red neckerchief, a little white undershirt and knee high dark green socks. It’s what most the girls at the bake sale were wearing, and what they wore all the time back in Chicago.

The last is the one she’s most excited about – it’s the true Forest Girl Explorer outfit, dark green shorts with lots of pockets (boys call them cargo shorts, but these aren’t so baggy), khaki button front blouse with long sleeves that have these little tabs and buttons above the elbow so you can roll up the sleeves and hold them in place. She loves that, it’s so cool! It comes with both this red and dark green bandana, a little white t-shirt, and two pairs of thick green hiking socks, one over the ankle for when it’s hot, and another pair that come up over the knee for when it’s cold. It’s supposed to go with boots, but she already has those, for hikes that her Dad was supposed to take her on but never did.

Grinning at her new wardrobe. She starts to undress, pulling off her t-shirt and shucking her way out of her sweatpants. Standing there in her panties, it takes her a minute to decide what to do. She’s been hanging out with the troop a lot in the last couple weeks, so she knows that daywear and explorer outfits are pretty much mix and match. She goes with the khaki top, the pleated skirt, the knee high socks and her Chucks. She rolls up the sleeves and buttons them in place, then looks in the mirror on the back of the door as she decides to leave her hair down. Pretty cool!

Today is more of a get-together than a meeting – they’re going to Hanna’s to learn water safety. She’s been to a couple get-togethers already, too. It’s usually just a few girls and Tender Katie or one of the other moms teaching them something for a while, then they just visit and kind of goof around.

So far, there’s only been two meetings and one get-together she hasn’t been allowed to attend, because Katie and the other girls all tell Nicole that she isn’t “official” yet. Nicole understands, but she still feels left out. It’s disappointing – she really wants to be sworn in, but Tender Katie keeps telling her she needs to get “oriented” first, to see if she really gets along with the other girls and wants to do the activities.

It’s such a stupid grownup thing to say. She already knows she likes it, she doesn’t need to see any more to know she wants to join! Besides, the other girls keep doing that secretive, nose-to-nose eye-gazing whispering thing that Nicole’s come to think of as “the lovey-dovey look.” And if she catches them at it, they stop, and give her this kind of knowing grin. She still has no idea why they do it, or what it means. So frustrating! She wishes she did.

She wishes someone would do that with her. She’s not sure why. Just to belong. Just to know how it feels, having another girl so close, looking into her eyes, sharing whispers. The thought makes her quivery inside for some reason. Nicole chews her lip, thinking about it.

It’d be especially nice to do that with Lena.

“What’re you thinking?” her Mom asks from the doorway.

Nicole realizes she has her hand on her tummy and snatches it away. “N-nothing!”

Mom’s brows knit as she looks her daughter over, then she asks, “Uniforms fit okay?”

The ten year old bounces with excitement, flouncing her green skirt, “Yeah!”

“You look adorable, so adventure-y.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“We should get you a Smokey the Bear hat, maybe.”

“Geez, don’t be weird.”

“You ready to go?”

Nicole nods, but says, “You know, I could just ride my bike.”

They start down the condo’s narrow staircase. “Yeah, but Ms Jaworski wants to visit with me, so I can at least get you that far.”

“You can call her Sophie in front of me if you want,” Nicole says, feeling very sophisticated. “She wants all the girls to call her that.”

Even though her mom’s walking in front of her, Nicole can practically feel her rolling her eyes, “Ugh, California. You can call Lena’s mom whatever she wants you to, and I’ll call her what I’m comfortable with. You can put your bike in the back if you want.”

She does, they load it up, and they make the trip across town. They live closer to the ocean, and Nicole’s mom didn’t know that most of the college teachers live on the east side of town, where there’s more open land and forest. She can tell Mom kind of regrets it, and thinks maybe they’ll move again soon, to be closer. It surprises her a little to consider that Mom might be lonely, too, might want to have a group of friends and belong.

But then Nicole’s mind drifts back to the Scouts, and Lena.

Lena’s the one that’s kinda taken her under her wing, and they’ve become pretty chummy already. They both like riding bikes and mystery stories and old reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even though they’re almost too scary sometimes. Plus, Lena is super nice and friendly to nearly everybody, but especially to Nicole, and that makes her feel so special. Lena’s mom – Sophie – is just as sweet and probably the youngest Mom that she’s ever met.

Lena keeps telling Nicole how pretty she is, and though it’s flattering, it seems obvious to Nicole that Lena, with her long, lustrous dark hair which only appears brown in direct sunshine, her lively brown eyes and her creamy skin, is the pretty one. When Nicole looks in the mirror at her own ten year old face and her shoulder length copper brown hair and her turned up nose and her tons of freckles she sees more of a tomboy, although her green eyes are big and cute. It’s nice to be called pretty, though. It makes her feel like she is.

Nicole’s met most of the girls in the troop through Lena by now, and she says most of the girls are pretty, and Nicole sees how she could be right. Mostly she’s spent time with her own Seedling group, ages nine through twelve, which turns out to be the biggest group even though there’s only eight of them. Each of them is different, but they all have their appeal. She’s getting a better idea of what they’re all like, trying to put together a picture in her mind of how the troop works.

It’s fun looking at things the way Lena does.

She’s unloading her bike in Lena’s driveway when Sophie comes out with a big smile, greeting Mom and then Nicole by taking each of them by the hand for a second and saying something nice. She has the same dark hair as her daughter and though she’s not tall, she has that very toned body that runners always seem to have. She acts like both Nicole and her mom are equally important, which is weird but neat.

“The girls are inside, go ahead,” she waves Nicole toward the house, then turns to Mom. “Hope, since it’s just going to be us adults, can I interest you in a glass of wine?”

“Can you ever,” Mom replies.

Sophie tosses her dark hair back, delighted. “Fabulous! Do you know much about wine? I’m trying to turn all my friends into Napa valley snobs…” she’s saying as Nicole leaves them behind and heads into the house.

Lena and Fawn are leaning against the bar between the kitchen and the dining room, chatting and sipping iced tea. Fawn is dressed all in the explorer uniform, but Lena is dressed up just like Nicole, and she wonders if maybe they have telepathy. That would be cool. Lena spots her and leaps happily to her feet, then bounds over to her and sweeps her into a big hug. Lena’s always hugging somebody or squeezing them or petting them – a lot of the girls are like this. When they’ve watched TV, Lena likes to cuddle up. Nicole likes it a lot, but she’s still getting used to it. She wonders if it’s a California thing, or just the Scouts, or if people in Chicago were just stuffy.

Fawn hangs back at the bar and watches them with this little grin.

Fawn is tall for an eleven year old, huge-eyed, long-legged and lean and really graceful, but quiet and watchful and so so shy. She only really seems to be comfortable when she’s dancing, which she’s super good at and does with her older sister Tara, who at 14 is in the troop as a Sapling. It’s easy for Nicole to remember Fawn’s name because she acts so much like a deer. Fawn seems to be closest friends to Cassidy, but she seems okay with Lena, too.

With the hug ending, Nicole looks to Fawn, “You brought your bike too, right?”

“Yeah,” she replies in a small voice. Her big blue eyes stay focused on Nicole, and they’re kind of hypnotizing. Her tummy does this little flutter. Then Fawn realizes she’s staring and looks away like she’s embarrassed.

Nicole catches Fawn looking at her a lot, but when they talk she acts really nervous. She figures it’s because she’s new.

“Is Cassidy here yet?” Nicole asks. The get-together is for the five of them – her, Lena, Fawn, Cassidy, and Hanna.

“No,” Lena replies, “We’re gonna swing by her place on the way to Hanna’s. It’s pretty much right along the way.”

“Oh, okay.” Nicole’s never been to Hanna’s before, but she has been to Cassidy’s. She’s intrigued to go there again because of what happened last time.

Cassidy’s a hoot. Her mom is what Nicole’s Mom calls a hippie, with very long curly brown hair and no makeup and she always wears these really simple but colorful clothes and smells a little funky. Cassidy has that same kind of, she’s not sure but maybe wildness, about her. So does her little sister Joy, who’s an Acorn and on her it’s totally cute. But even though Cassidy acts a little spacey or on her own planet sometimes (at least that’s what Amber says), her family lives out on this great big property that’s almost like a farm with ducks and chickens and she knows how to crochet stuff and all about gardening and nature.

She’d rode out that way last week to return a couple of old Scouting books Cassidy had loaned her about hiking and northern California. She’d dropped her bike on the big front lawn and knocked, but nobody answered. So she’d circled around back, which opened onto a huge yard with big gardens and planter beds and backed up on the woods. There had been Cassidy’s mom Cheryl, a little ways off, hanging sheets on the line to dry, where they’d caught the light breeze and kind of filled and flapped. Cheryl hadn’t noticed her as Nicole had rounded the corner of the house.

She’d been about to make herself known when 7 year old Joy came bounding out of the tall weeds edging the yard toward her mom, her tie-dyed slip dress and crazy tangle of brown curls billowing all around her. She’d ducked among the overlapping sheets and appeared before her surprised mother, happily shouting, “Mama!”

Cheryl had thrown her long hair back over a shoulder and cocked her hip against the wicker clothes basket, studying her youngest daughter wryly. “My, my, little blossom, what’ve you been up to?”

In response, Joy had simply thrown her hands up, holding them inches from her mother’s face.

As she’d drawn her head back a bit so she could focus on the little hands before her, she commented, “Well at least they’re not dirty.”

Joy had just stood there, wiggling her fingers, “Look, Mama.”

Brow slightly knitted, Cheryl had moved closer and put her nose against her daughter’s fingers. Her eyes closed for a second, and suddenly this sly smile had broken across her face. “Maybe you are a little dirty. Is that what you’re telling me? Is there dew on your flower, little blossom?”

Instead of replying, the 7 year old had simply giggled and pulled her loose fitting dress up to her waist. Between the wavering sheets, Nicole had seen the little girl’s pert bare bottom, so pale compared to her tanned legs. Nicole had gasped in surprise, felt herself blush furiously, and had retreated to the house’s corner to conceal herself.

But she hadn’t been able to walk away, even though she’d felt so confused and stirred up. Another girl with no panties! And Joy’d just showed herself half- naked to her Mom! How much trouble would she be in?

She’d peeked around the corner to find out.

Cheryl had taken a moment and just stared at her daughter’s sudden exposure with that same wry grin. She hadn’t seemed upset at all. For her part, Joy could hardly keep still, kind of shivering and shifting from one foot to the other, her crazy brown locks tossing to and fro.

Finally, Cheryl had asked, “Did you come over because you want me to be your play pal?”

Joy had just nodded, not changing her position at all. “I like it when you play, Mama.”

Her mom had squatted down and favored her with a fond smile, “Aww. That’s because I like playing.”

With that, she had set her laundry basket aside. They’d leaned in, and though Nicole couldn’t quite make it out through the ruffling sheets, she was almost certain that they’d put their foreheads together and were giving each other the lovey-dovey look. The thought had sent a strange thrill through her. Before now, she’d only seen the Scouts do it, never a daughter and her mother.

Then, with her long brown hair riffling in the breeze and obscuring her face, the mother had shifted in front of little bare-bottomed Joy, and something began to happen. With Joy’s back turned and the sheets sweeping in front of them, Nicole hadn’t been able to make out what had been going on, sometimes she could only see their shadow on the sheets. All she could be sure of is that Joy had crooked one of her knees up, and began to squirm like she was being tickled. And though she couldn’t see, she had heard just fine, though it didn’t exactly make anything clear. Cheryl had made these quiet reassuring coos, and maybe she had been saying things but Nicole hadn’t made it out. Joy hadn’t said anything, but she kept making these sounds like she was tasting something delicious, over and over.

The sounds Joy made had the strangest effect on Nicole. This wave of goosepimples had prickled all over her body, her heart started thumping even faster, her cheeks felt hot, and this warm, heavy feeling had begun gather down there, between her legs. As mother and daughter had kept going, Joy’s noises became louder, sometimes like little exclamations, and Nicole had felt her body responding even stronger.

She had begun to feel a bit frightened by what was going on, between the spying and her mysterious reactions, but she’d been unable to leave, unable to stop watching. She wanted to see more, hear more, to know what all this was about. It was like she was mesmerized by this experience and the heat rising in her body.

But then she’d heard the metallic clatter of Cassidy dropping her bike on the front driveway, and that startled her out of her trance. Nicole had immediately jumped back from the corner. Feeling sweaty and guilty and all mixed up she’d rushed back around the side of the house on wobbly knees to intercept Cassidy. She’d known she had to meet her out front, to cut her off, to keep Cassidy from seeing what Nicole had seen, from knowing that she’d spied and the crazy way it had made her feel.

Cassidy was almost in the front door when Nicole had called out to her. She’d turned and paused, and then said, “Ohhh, that’s your bike next to mine.”

“Yeah.”

The girl had turned and meandered back down from the porch, saying, “I thought maybe we’d gotten another one.”

“I brought back your books.”

Cassidy had nodded absently, running a hand through her wild shock of hair, “Yeah, okay, yeah.”

They’d stood there for an awkward moment. Then Cassidy had said, “Nice bike.”

“Thanks.”

She’d gestured toward the big tree over by their garage, started ambling in that direction, and had asked, “Since you’re here, you wanna push me on the tire swing?”

And they’d done just that, and everything had kind of gone back to normal. But she keeps thinking of what she’d seen between Joy and her mother in the back yard, trying to figure out what had happened. When she remembers it closely, she gets that same warm, kind of floaty feeling and it seems like it was a dream, maybe.

All the way over to Cassidy’s house she thinks about it, watching Lena’s back and bottom as she pedals in front of her, dark hair streaming, skirt fluttering. Fawn’s thick French braid slides and coils across her back. She’s thought about maybe confiding in Lena or one of the other girls, but when she tries she just can’t do it, it’s too weird and embarrassing. Besides, what if it got back to Cassidy? Would she be mad or something?

So she keeps it in her head and stews, just like seeing up Jenny’s skirt at the bake sale. It’s like she’s suddenly a real-life character in one of her mystery stories, only this one wasn’t about crime. It’s more strange, more intriguing, and has created as much of a mystery in herself by the way she’s thrilled by it.

Call it The Case of the Panty-Less Girls. She wants to get to the “bottom” of it, she thinks. Hee hee.

It takes about twenty minutes to get from Lena’s to Cassidy’s. Nicole tries to remember the streets and the turns they’re making, but she hardly sees anything familiar. Lena has something like a map in her head. If they go hiking, she wants to be sure Lena is there.

Cassidy is sitting on the porch waiting for them, her bare feet dangling over the edge. Her outfit is different from all of theirs, it’s a button-front dress like their formal uniform, only it’s quite a bit shorter and faded to an almost milky jade color. It was Cassidy’s mom’s from when she was a Seedling, It’s got all the old insignia patches on it and everything. She has the regular outfits, but this is the one she likes to wear when things are more relaxed. She gets up and slips on her battered sneakers and joins them in the yard. They’ve barely exchanged hellos when Lena snatches her into a great big hug, and after that Cassidy gives Nicole a littler one.

Then Cassidy wraps her arm around Fawn’s shoulder and squeezes playfully, jostling her a bit. “How’s my favorite wallflower?” she asks, then leans over and gives her a great big smooch on the cheek. Fawn blushes and lowers her head, but even though she’s looking at her shoes, Nicole can still see the beaming smile on her face.

Letting her go, Cassidy fetches her bike from the side of the garage and says, “Saddle up, cowpokes.” She’s always saying old timey stuff like that. Cassidy’s bike is different from theirs, too. It’s this old rattletrap with a big basket in front and like a platform on the back and it’s obviously meant for someone about six inches taller than Cassidy. But she gets a little running start and swings her leg over and they’re off, the other girls hustling to catch up.

They head back toward a major street and ride along it for a bit, and Nicole recognizes the farmer’s market they go to for vegetables, and the shopping center with the Hobby Barn in it. Cassidy and Fawn chatter about this game they both play online, and all the stuff you can build and do in it. It’s kind of amazing to see Fawn so relaxed and talkative, being around Cassidy makes her really let her guard down. Nicole rides a little closer just to see it happen, and even though she’s delighted by their friendship, it also makes her feel new and unknown and a little left out again.

Lena’s leading the way, so she doesn’t see any of this.

Then they turn again and start up this long, gradual uphill street that winds and loops and all the houses here seem big and new somehow. The closer they get to the top the bigger and more fancy the houses get. When Cassidy leans forward on the pedals, the bottom of her short dress rides up, exposing most of her hips and the curvy bottom of her butt, and either her panties have rode up too or she’s not wearing any. Nicole tries not to stare. She’s feeling the heat of the summer day now, sweaty and breathing hard. They all are.

Then they take one last turn and ride into the looping driveway of one of the biggest and fanciest houses yet. The lawn is brilliant green and the three trees out front are still babies, seedlings just like them, so Nicole guesses this house is new as well. They park their bikes and walk up this columned porch to the enormous wooden double doors. Nicole finds herself hanging back, staring.

Lena nudges shoulders with her and asks, “Are you okay?”

Nicole shrugs, tries to smile. “I’ve never been someplace like this before,” she says quietly.

“Don’t be nervous, it’s just a house,” Cassidy says reassuringly.

“Hanna’s dad did effects for the Star Wars movies,” Lena tells her. “He still works for George Lucas and stuff. They’re rich, but they’re nerdy and kind of fun, you’ll see.”

Somehow the doorbell rings, though she doesn’t see anybody push the button., A minute later the door opens to reveal a petite lady with a tumble of ginger hair and a stunningly pretty face, high cheekbones and a broad mouth grinning in almost a Cheshire-cat way. Nicole finds herself staring, even as the woman starts ushering them into the house. Lena has to kind of goose Nicole along.

The girls all say, “Hi Mrs Greenberg,” as they file through, and she just stands by the door, waving excitedly to them. But when Nicole steps in last, the pretty mother puts her hand on her shoulder and draws her aside.

“You must be the new girl Hanna told me about. What’s your name again?”

“Um, Nicole?” she replies, flustered. Having Mrs Greenberg look her straight in the eye feels like being pinned in a spotlight.

“Well hello Nicole, and welcome to our home,” Mrs Greenberg says with a playful sweeping gesture. “Hanna and Lena have told me a lot about you. Do you still want to be a Scout?”

“More than ever,” she replies, still staring. Who thought jean shorts and a tank top could be so cute? Mrs Greenberg’s got these catlike pale blue eyes and such perfect white teeth.

‘That’s great! You seem really sweet and bright, I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”

“Really?”

Now her smile is nearly a laugh, “Of course! The girls would be lucky to have some fresh views on things. Do you like movies?”

“Sure.”

“Well, my husband works on movies, so we have lots of movie stuff here. Feel free to look around and make yourself at home. I hope you’ll have lots of fun here,” she finishes with this dorky kind of curtsey. She’s weird. Nicole likes it.

Immediately smitten, all Nicole can do is grin stupidly at this beautiful lady until Lena takes her hand, dragging her deeper into the house. She gawks around, the house is big and airy and full of light. The ceilings are way up high, and all these cool things are scattered around like knickknacks among the low-slung modern furniture, a black movie light on a stand and a model spaceship hanging from a wire.

But the pictures along one hallway are what really get her – they’re paintings of scenes she recognizes from the Star Wars movies, but with one little part cut out and left black, sometimes in the corner, sometimes in the middle, always an irregular shape. There’s a picture of the palace on Naboo, and there’s the landing platform at Cloud City… but always with a little black bit missing, like an unfinished jigsaw puzzle.

She can’t figure out why, and after Mrs Greenberg calls out, “I’ll go get Hanna, Katie’s waiting for y’all out back,” and heads up the stairs, there’s no one to ask. Those pictures sit funny in her mind. Pieces missing from something so familiar. They’re like so much that’s happening to her in this new town.

Continue on to Chapter 3

1

Error happened.

Cookies

By eloquent delinquent

They’re halfway across the parking lot, almost to the supermarket doors, when Mom tells her, “Go on, go talk to them.”

“I dunno…”

“Oh, come on, Nicole. You’re the one who’s been moping around going, ‘How am I supposed to make friends here?’ This is how you do it.”

The ten-year-old squirms uncomfortably, “I guess, but…”

“But nothing. I know it’s scary, but you were a Forest Girl before. You might have some new friends before school starts if you talk to them now.”

Nicole does some final, mortified stomping. “I suppose.”

Still holding their mother’s hand, Abbey says, “Yeah, don’t be chicken.”

Nicole gives her little sister a glare, but her Mom seems not to notice and says, “You just wait for us here. We’ll come get you when we’re done.”

“Oh all right.”

Her Mom gives her an affectionate little rub on the back, “I know they’re gonna like you.”

“Really?”

Mom brushes a stray brown hair out of her face. “Really. Now go on.”

With a little happy lift, Nicole ambles over to the table where the scouts are selling their cookies. There are five girls about her age, two that are about seven like her sister, and one older girl who’s definitely a teen. They’re milling around, chattering with each other, talking to passersby, making the occasional sale. Only half are wearing the green and tan uniform, but she figures they’re all involved somehow.

She saw a woman earlier, who must’ve been the troop’s Tender, but she’s gone off with another girl to an RV parked on the side of the lot. Somehow, having no grownups makes it easier and harder. Easier because there’s no one looking over their shoulders; harder because there aren’t any rules.

Nicole picks out a girl on the end of the table, wearing a uniform and her long dark hair in a pony tail. She’s got a notebook and is tapping a pen against her lip, but she’s staring off into space as if she’s having a happy daydream, and not really involved with the others, so Nicole doesn’t feel like she’s interrupting.

“Hi,” she offers, but her voice feels small and stupid.

It takes the girl a second to respond, and she does with a kind of little startle. She seems suddenly embarrassed, but covers it up with a bright smile. She’s really cute. “Oh, hi!”

“You’re Forest Explorer Scouts, right?”

“Yeah,” the girl replies. “Not many of us Sprout Scouts, but here we are. Did you wanna buy some cookies?”

Nicole giggles when she hears ‘sprout scouts,’ it’s been a while since anyone said that around her. “I don’t know.”

The girl looks her over, and her smile seems to get a little more genuine. “Oh, come on. Everyone loves the Mint Crisps.”

Nicole gets a boost from the way the girl looks at her. She doesn’t think she’s a beauty or anything, but she guesses she’s pretty enough, with her copper brown hair, big pale blue eyes and upturned nose. It’s summer, so she’s also got a ton of freckles, but she’s still not sure if she likes that or not. But she smiles a bit more confidently when she says, “No, I can’t. I ate so many when I was an Acorn that I nearly barfed.”

It seems dumb to admit, but it makes the girl laugh.

“I can only eat the Cocoroons now,” Nicole adds.

“I know, I know, I’ll probably weigh a million pounds when this is over,” the girl giggles. “You were an Acorn?”

“Yeah, but not here. In Chicago.”

“Oh! Did you just move here?”

“Last month, yeah.”

The Scout looks a little relieved. Her face is very animated, Nicole feels like she can read every little emotion that passes through her. “Oh thank god. I was trying to figure out why I didn’t know you before. Now I don’t feel so bad. I’m Lena.”

“Nicole.”

They share an awkward smile. Another Scout at the table, this one blonde and in pigtails, finishes with a customer and looks in their direction. Nicole thinks she sees the teen girl in the back – who is in a TallTree uniform, with a merit sash and beret, the works – glance at her, but it’s so subtle she’s not sure. She feels herself getting a little nervous, though.

“You’re too big to be an Acorn now,” Lena says, sliding a notebook and her pen to the girl seated next to her. “Did you quit or something?”

“Yeah, I guess I kinda did.”

“How come?”

“I dunno. I guess ’cause we were in the middle of Chicago, so we never did much. I thought Forest Girls would be all about nature walks and learning about plants and that kind of thing, but we never did that. All my Acorn badges were for, like, digital photos and tying knots and crafts and stuff.”

“Oh, geez. All I can say is, this isn’t Chicago! You’re in redwood country now. We get into all that, hiking, camping, botany. Maddy’s mom works for the forest service, so once a month from spring to fall, we all go out and plant little trees.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah!” Lena replies, and her wide smile tells Nicole she’s excited and proud to be part of this troop. She looks Nicole over closely, and so does that other girl at the table. Nicole can feel their scrutiny, it makes her feel on the spot, uncomfortable but a little special, too.

The two girls at the table share a glance, a little grin. Then Lena tells her, “You should think about joining back up again.”

“You think so?”

“Sure! We could use more Scouts, and we’d have lots to do.”

Nicole smiles at this prospect. The way the girls share looks, how happy they seem together, it’s like they’re all sharing a kind of secret language. She wants to learn what it is, she wants to know.

So she asks, “Who can I talk to? Is your Tender around?”

Lena twists in her chair to the TallTree girl, who’s unpacking cases with a coltish younger girl, and asks, “Hey Robin, where’s Tender Katie?”

The teen gestures, “RV.”

Lena gets up and tells Nicole, “Be right back.”

Then the other girl at the table says, “She’s with Cassidy. It’s her turn.”

Lena flips one of the girl’s blonde pigtails, saying, “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

The pigtailed girl gives an eye-rolling smile, Oh, you! and turns to Nicole. “Hi, I’m Jenny.”

“Hi.”

“So… you wanna join up?” she asks with a strange little grin. Jenny tucks her knees together and twists toward Nicole.

“I think so. I kinda missed it.”

Jenny just sort of stares at her, looking her up and down, and puts a finger to her lips, and the grin turns into a smile. It makes Nicole feel funny. She could read every feeling on Lena’s face, but Jenny’s just a pile of secrets.

“I think we’d have fun with you,” Jenny says playfully.

“Umm, yeah,” Nicole replies, a little awkward. “Lena, uh, made it sound like you have fun.”

“We do!” Jenny says brightly, and behind her a short-haired brunette Acorn girl giggles.

Starting to feel like she’s being made fun of, Nicole looks over to the RV that Lena just entered. A lady with two boys in her shopping cart pulls up to Jenny at the table and starts asking about cookies, and Nicole’s kind of grateful because it takes the attention off her.

She watches the other girls. There’s Robin the TallTree, and another girl who’s older than Nicole that’s probably a Sapling, with curly red hair. But other than them, everybody’s younger. Lena and Jenny and the lean, doe-eyed girl with the thick French braid helping Robin are all around her age, and then the little Acorns, the one with short dark hair and the other with almost whitish blonde hair in a pixie cut. All of them chat and giggle like normal girls, keeping busy with the sale. But every so often, they sidle close to each other and whisper, not hand on ear like schoolyard secrets, but with their foreheads almost touching, looking into each others’ eyes, and murmuring, and all the while their bodies move sort of strangely, as if some invisible force were gently tickling them.

The RV door claps shut and Nicole is drawn back to it, and sees Lena returning, with an older blonde lady and another girl around their age. The woman is wearing the Tender’s vest over just a plain work shirt and blue jeans, kind of casual. The girl (Cassidy, apparently) has a thick head of chestnut brown hair that’s kind of wild, and she’s trying to smooth it down but it doesn’t want to behave. There’s something more going on with Cassidy, though. Her face is ruddy and blushing, and she’s walking a little unsteady – the Tender actually takes her by the elbow briefly. Cassidy looks like she’s just run a race.

The Tender looks calm and confident, and it’s clear that the girls just adore her. When she daintily wipes her lips with her fingertips, she glances at Lena, who gushes and says something that makes them all laugh. Then they’re under the supermarket awning and approaching the table.

Jenny twists to look, and says, “Hi Mom.”

“Hey, angel butt. How’s it going?”

“Real good, better than last year.”

The Tender raises her voice. “Great job, ladies! I’m really proud, let’s keep this up and fund our trips!” She touches the heads of the doe-like girl and and the elfin looking Acorn, who smile while the others give a little cheer.

“So you’re Nicole, is that right?” She says and suddenly all her attention is focused on Nicole. She has this really strong presence and a natural kind of pretty; Nicole doesn’t think she’s even wearing makeup. She feels small in front of her, but important, too.

“Yeah, Nicole Embry.”

“Lena told me you used to be an Acorn back where you used to live. How was that?”

“Yeah, but I quit after a year and half. I’m ten now, so I guess I’d be a Seedling.”

The Tender is looking at her closely, and asks, “What badges did you earn as an Acorn?”

“I finished my Computer set and my Crafts set, plus I got Junior Aid, Knots, and Indoor Garden. I guess I didn’t get any Nature badges or Camping badges because we never got out of the city.”

The Tender grins and looks impressed. “That’s still pretty good, 19 badges in a year and a half. You still remember what you learned?”

Nicole brightens, “Yeah, I think so.”

“You know this isn’t a big troop or anything. Even if you include Acorns, Seedlings, Saplings, and our TallTree, there’s only sixteen of us altogether, and I’m the only Tender. But I-”

“What about my Mom?” Lena interrupts.

The Tender smiles at Lena. “Your Mom is an honorary Tender, but she’s never been through official training. We all love her to death, and she does a lot. I’m sorry Lena, I should’ve said that.”

Lena looks mollified, and Nicole’s surprised to see a grownup apologize to a kid.

“But what I was saying is I think that’s a good thing. We’re all really close. No matter the age, all the girls are friends. Some are more like sisters. It’s a good troop, and a good place to be a Forest Girl Explorer. I’m Tender Katie, and I think you’ll like it, if you join.”

Nicole finds this little speech rousing, “I think I’d like it, too. Tender Katie, I’d like to be a sprout scout again.”

Lena and Jenny both smile. Even Robin the TallTree has a little grin off in the back.

Katie nods approvingly. “Terrific. I’ve got the signup sheets in the RV. Is your Mom around?”

“She’s in shopping with my sister. They should be back in a minute.”

“Okay. Help me rebuild this display on the table and keep me company til then, would you?”

Nicole nods, and the next few minutes fly by as Tender Katie chats her up, with occasional interjections by Lena or Jenny or Astrid, the little blonde Acorn. They want to know all about her, whether she reads books (a lot) plays sports (a little), or had ever been camping (not at all), but also what she’d done in Chicago and how she was finding Northern California and what she likes at school. She loves all the attention, and asks some questions, too. She already feels kinda close to them, to the troop.

But she doesn’t ask about the thing that made her most curious. Even when they were chatting, Jenny and the dark-haired Acorn (named Heather, she learned) put their foreheads together and had their little private whispering session. That, and the thing with Cassidy, and the thing with Jenny.

This troop has lots of secrets. And Nicole wants to be a part of them.

Her Mom and Abbey eventually turn up, and Nicole introduces them to the Tender. She and Mom hit it off immediately.

“I’m here to teach anthropology at the college,” Mom says, “Primitive peoples and Native American culture.”

“Really!” Katie exclaims. “You’re the new associate professor. I teach psychology there.”

And off they went. They chat, and soon head to the RV to get the forms. Nicole hangs out with Abbey, who’s perched on the side of their grocery cart and is obviously interested in the bustling scouts.

“You wanna join, too?” Nicole asks. “You’re old enough. You could be an Acorn, like I was.”

“I dunno,” Abbey replies. “Could I get a cookie?”

Jenny, who’s been listening, chuckles and hands her a Mint Crisp from one of their display boxes.

Chewing thoughtfully, Abbey says, “Maybe. Could I go with you some time and see if I like it?”

“Sure,” Nicole says, even though she’s not sure if that’s okay. The idea of she and Abbey doing Forest Explorers together is comforting somehow. “I’ll check, but yeah, if you want.”

Abbey nods. “Can we get a box of those?”

Nicole laughs, “We’ll have to ask Mom.”

It turns out Mom wants to buy a few boxes, so she and Abbey choose while Nicole fills out her part of the form. She can tell Mom and Katie have already bonded in that weirdo, teacher-way that’s so nerdy. When she’s done, she turns in the form to Katie, who’s explaining to Mom how they can order the uniform online.

“Maybe you can help me with that,” Mom says to Nicole. “You’re better online than I am.”

Nicole just nods. Everything is working out strangely well. She senses she’s a good fit here.

As Mom and Katie wrap up their chat, Nicole hears a clatter on the ground behind her. She turns to see that a couple cookie boxes have fallen from the stack in front of Jenny.

“Could you get those?” Jenny asks, her finger curling in a blonde pigtail.

Nicole stoops down to pick them up. One of them has gone a little underneath the table and when she reaches for it, she hears Jenny’s chair scrape a little and glances over. As she does, she watches as Jenny’s sneakers lift off the ground until the girl’s knees are pressed to the underside of the table. Then her legs part, wider and wider and the skirt falls away from her open thighs and Nicole can see Jenny’s not wearing any panties.

She can’t believe it for a second, that she’s seeing Jenny’s naked privates right here at the supermarket. Can anyone else see? It’s all bare between her legs. Nicole can see her little puss clearly, the fleshy slit, and a glimpse of the tight pink petals inside as her legs get wider. Jenny shifts a little and reveals even more of her puss and even the bottom of her butt crack, and she’s so pink down there, a bright, girlish, happy pink.

Nicole’s never seen another girl’s puss before, she’s stunned. She feels her heart start to pound, and her own puss suddenly feels sensitive, tingly. She fumbles with the boxes, gathers them up, and stands quickly. Her face is blazing hot, she knows she’s blushing like crazy.

She looks at Jenny. The girl smiles back, her eyes flickering with a kind of naughty joy, and straightens up in her chair. “Thank you,” she says sweetly.

“Uh-huh,” Nicole stammers, setting the boxes down with clumsy hands. Behind Katie, Lena is looking at Nicole closely, quizzically. She’s so embarrassed she blushes harder. What’s going on??

“All set?” Mom says. She and Abbey are both looking her way. If they see anything wrong, they don’t show it.

Nicole nods and moves to join them.

Tender Katie says, “Next meeting’s on Tuesday night at six. There’s an orientation period we do here, so you won’t be a Seedling right away, but I’d like it if you came anyway, get to know the other Scouts. Even if you don’t have your uniform by then, you should still come, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Nicole replies, finally shaking off some of the shock.

“Great!” Katie says, and gives the salute.

Nicole returns it playfully. She hears Lena, Cassidy, and Jenny all say, “See you soon!”

On the way back to the car, Nicole replays those last moments in her head, trying to make sense of the jumble of feelings going on inside her. Surprise a lot, and guilt a little, but curiosity most of all. What were the girls in this troop doing? What did they know and hide?

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Mom chides gently.

“No,” Nicole says, “I’m glad I did it.”

“Me too. They seem like nice, bouncy girls. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun.”

She recalls Jenny saying, I think we’d have fun with you.

And she says, “I think I’ll have fun with them. I think this will be really different.”

She doesn’t know why, but when she says it she gets a naughty little thrill. She looks back at the booth and the girls as their car pulls out. Some of them wave, and Nicole waves back.

She turns her head to look at them as the car passes them, then sits back and bounces in her seat. She’s excited.

Continue on to Chapter 2