Girls, Gifted

by E K Ballard

  Kristin felt Jamie’s touch slowing down. The shudders that had overtaken her began to subside and eventually came to a stop. Kristin opened her eyes and saw Jamie staring intently at her face.

  “Oh my God, Jamie, what did you just do to me?”

  Jamie smiled. “Was it okay?” she asked as she nuzzled her head into Kristin’s chest.

  “Okay? Holy shit. Did I just, you know?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Don’t ever tell me you aren’t gifted.”

  Jamie slid up and put her head on Kristin’s shoulder. “Are we officially not going slow anymore?”

  “I’ll say.” Kristin couldn’t move.

  “That was beautiful, just like you.” Jamie kissed Kristin

  “I want to do that to you,” Kristin said.

  Jamie kissed her neck. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” she said.

  “I want to.”

  They spent the afternoon in bed together, making love to each other until it was dark.

  “It’s late. I never told Lucas I wouldn’t be at the library. We’ve been here since 2:30.” She texted her dad.

  She got back in to bed with her phone and curled up with Jamie. She felt her phone vibrate and read the return text from her dad.

  “He says it’s okay if you bring me home later.”

  “I love you, Kristin.” Jamie pulled Kristin’s body into hers and they both closed their eyes.

  “I love you, too.”

  “I wish we could be out as a couple, then Dylan wouldn’t be hitting on you and Paige would have left you alone.”

  “You know we can’t. Besides, I don’t think either one of them will bother me again, with you punching people out!”

  “He deserved it.”

  “So much for low key, flying under the radar.”

  “Do you think your parents would freak out if they knew?”

  “Oh yeah. It would be bad. They can’t find out.” Kristin pushed some hair out of Jamie’s face. “Would your parents care?”

  “I don’t know. Probably not. They really like you.” Jamie ran her fingertips up Kristin’s inner thigh.

  “My dad likes you. A lot, but I don’t think he wants me to be with anyone. He never really liked Billy.”

  “The kid who hurt you?”

  Kristin nodded.

  “His instincts were right.” Jamie kissed Kristin’s hand. “But your mom, she hates me?”

  “She really does.”

  “Why? I never did anything to her except help change her flat tire!”

  “She suspects something is going on between us.”

  “She does?”

  “I think so. Plus, she isn’t the same as she used to be. She goes to this church almost every day, helping them teach this group of kids who are homeschooled, and they’re just a bunch of racist homophobes. When she’s not there she doesn’t do anything all day but stay at home. She—”

  Kristin started to tell Jamie about her mom hitting her and clamped her mouth shut.

  “She what?”

  “Nothing, really. She yells at me a lot, is hyper critical of everything I do.”

  “Maybe she should get a job, talk to normal people.”

  Kristin sighed. “I know. My dad told her to sub at school, but she won’t.”

  “Good. Can you imagine your mom teaching me in class?” Jamie laughed.

  They lay comfortably in each other’s arms until they saw headlights pull into the driveway. They got up and quickly got dressed. They heard John and Angela’s voices in the kitchen.

  “Jamie? What are you doing?” called Angela up the stairs.

  “We’re doing homework.”

  “In the dark?”

  Jamie reached over and turned on a lamp. “No, we have a light on.”

  Angela came up the stairs and into the room. “Hi, Kristin!”

  “Hi. Did you get a new washer and dryer?”

  “We did. They’ll be delivered tomorrow, so no laundry until then.” She stood up. “Your dad and I already ate with Jack, but why don’t I make you some dinner?”

  “Sure,” said Jamie

  Angela left the room and Kristin sat at the desk chair. “Let’s actually get some work done before you take me home.”

  Jamie walked over to Kristin. “I love you so much,” she said as she crouched down and put her head in Kristin’s lap. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Being the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The moments that the girls could be alone together were hard to find. The second quarter started and a PE class was now using the locker room during the time they usually had to themselves. The winter sports season started and the gym, weight room, and locker rooms were always full.

  Every time they went to Jamie’s house Angela’s car was in the driveway, and the one day they did try to do anything with Angela home, they came within seconds of her walking in on them.

  They tried going to a park and getting into the back seat of the Jeep, but the space was cramped with Jamie’s long body and Kristin didn’t want to take her clothes off in public. It was early November and too cold for her.

  “I wish I could get us a room at a lodge or something,” Jamie said.

  “No one is going to rent a teenager a room,” chided Kristin. “Be realistic.”

  “I have an idea,” said Jamie one afternoon as they were studying in the library. “I know where we can go.”

  Kristin looked up from her chemistry textbook. “Where?”

  “There’s the wrestling room. It’s by the gym. Hardly anyone ever goes in there, even the wrestling team.”

  “So we can get MRSA off the wrestling mats? No thanks,” said Kristin, turning back to her book.

  “No, they clean it! And no one is using the room right now!” Jamie insisted.

  “Doesn’t the wrestling season start, like, now?”

  “Yeah, but they practice after school. Not for another fifty minutes.”

  “I don’t know, Jamie. It doesn’t sound very romantic, or like a great idea.”

  Jamie sunk in her seat and stewed in sexual frustration. “Can’t we just go down there and check it out? There are some other rooms down there. Let’s just go look,” Jamie begged.

  “Have you gotten your homework done yet?” Kristin asked.

  “Some. I’ll finish the rest later. Come on, didn’t you like being with me?” Jamie leaned over and nibbled Kristin’s earlobe. “You sounded like you liked it.”

  Kristin blushed, while feeling slightly aroused as she remembered how Jamie touched her. “You know I did, but I’d rather do it with you when we are at a place like your house. Can’t we just wait until your parents aren’t home?”

  “But that might not be for months! Why don’t we just go and see if there are any places that would be good,” Jamie persisted.

  “There’s just something gross about being with you on a mat that sweaty guys roll around on together,” Kristin said. “Why don’t we see if there are any places here in the library?”

  “I already did,” said Jamie. “The rooms are all locked.”

  “Why don’t we go see if there is anyplace down there other than the wrestling room?” Kristin asked.

  “Okay.”

  As they walked through the hallways towards the gym, they looked into classrooms and saw that those that weren’t in use were locked. There was a class in the weight room, and the dance studio was dark and the door was locked. When they got to the door of the wrestling room, Jamie tried the door. It was unlocked, so she pushed it open.

  Two men were talking in the center of the mat.

  “Help you?” one asked.

  “Umm, no, I was just showing her around,” Jamie stammered.

  “Well, you can’t be in here,” the other man said.

  Jamie and Kristin hurried out. “Too bad, I was really hoping to lie in guy’s ball and crack sweat with you.”
>
  Jamie stuck her tongue out. “That’s gross.”

  “So are wrestling rooms.”

  They walked back towards the library. A door in the hallway suddenly opened as a student was leaving. Without hesitating, Jamie caught the door before it closed and pulled Kristin in behind her. Kristin found herself in a dark room.

  “Where are we?” she whispered.

  “I think this is the side door to the auditorium.” Jamie took Kristin’s hand and led her to the stage, where she found a light switch.

  “Oh, cool,” said Kristin, as they walked around the props. “Look! Check out the costumes.”

  “Oh, this is what we were looking for right here,” called Jamie.

  “What is it?” asked Kristin as she looked through the racks of clothes from performances.

  “A sofa, and it’s got your name on it.”

  Kristin went back to where Jamie was sitting on a worn green cloth sofa.

  “Do you think anyone is in here?” Kristin sat next to Jamie and they were quiet, trying to hear if anyone else was there.

  “Let’s check it out.” They walked behind the stage and went into the dressing room. They found an enormous room that stored everything from paint cans to ladders and backdrops. They passed more pieces of furniture stacked against the wall before they came to a small office with a locked door.

  “I guess that’s where the theater teacher’s office is,” said Jamie. “I’ve never been back here, but it seems like we’re alone.”

  They went back out to the stage and lay down on the sofa together.

  “Will this work for now?” asked Jamie as she slid her hands up Kristin’s shirt.

  “Yes.”

  They found that they were quite comfortable making love to each other on the sofa on the stage, and the sounds they made were lost in the cavernous expanse of the open space. When the bell rang for the end of the day, they got dressed and went into the bathroom by the dressing room to make sure they were put back together again.

  Before they left, Jamie found a backdoor to the auditorium that led to an outside alley by the cafeteria food delivery area. They tested the door and saw it locked behind them automatically. Jamie found a roll of duct tape, fastened a piece over the door latch, and made sure it could be opened from the outside before rejoining Kristin inside.

  “I think we found our place where we can be alone,” said Jamie, kissing Kristin.

  They went back through the auditorium to the door where they originally got in and slid out into the empty hallway, where they made their way out to Jamie’s Jeep. They headed to Jamie’s house to get their homework done while Angela made dinner.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Every day, Jamie would walk nonchalantly out the side door of the cafeteria to the alley where the door to the auditorium was rigged to stay unlocked. She acted as if she had every business being there and, the few times she saw anyone, it was usually one of the cafeteria ladies, hurrying to get out of work, and they never looked at her twice. Jamie would let herself in, then walk through the dark auditorium, turning on a single stage light on her way to the hall door where Kristin waited to be let in.

  Some simple research by Kristin showed that the last theater class ended at 1:30 and the fall play was over. The auditorium wouldn’t be in use in the afternoons until January.

  They made sure that they left the auditorium just the way they found it. The main front doors to the lobby were always closed, shielding the stage from the glass doors that led to the outdoors by the ticket office.

  In short, it was perfect.

  * * *

  Kristin loved going through the props and trying on the costumes. Somedays she would role play a damsel in distress or a southern belle with “the vapors,” while other times she would be a hard-boiled detective in an ill-fitting suit. Jamie would watch, amused, and occasionally she would play along, but she enjoyed watching Kristin transform into the characters in her head.

  Mostly, though, she enjoyed getting naked or nearly naked with Kristin on the green sofa and making love.

  They were accustomed to having the auditorium all to themselves and had gotten louder as their exclusive usage continued unabated. Jamie played music on her phone and the girls became less cautious.

  It was a bitterly cold Friday afternoon. Jamie had let them in, and Kristin had put on a spectacular show—a striptease. By the time Kristin finished flinging her last article of clothing in the air, Jamie had her clothes off and they were both naked on the sofa, making love to each other under a blanket Jamie had brought in from the Jeep.

  * * *

  Ms. Meyer was aggravated.

  She couldn’t find her phone anywhere and she was going to be late for her doctor’s appointment if she didn’t leave right after school. She could have sworn she had it with her in the mailroom while she was making copies, but now it was misplaced and she needed to leave.

  She retraced her steps. It wasn’t in the faculty lounge or the ladies room. She didn’t think she had left it in her office, but that was the only place she hadn’t looked. She hurried over to the auditorium and unlocked the side door to let herself in. As she walked to her office, she stopped and cocked her head.

  What was that noise?

  She told herself it was probably the custodians.

  She went in to her office and sure enough, there was her phone sitting on top of the script she had been editing. She grabbed her phone and was going to leave when she heard something that sounded like someone was hurt. She realized then that the auditorium was cleaned by the night shift and someone was in here. They may be in trouble.

  She walked towards the stage, where the sound was coming from. Now she heard music as well. What the hell was going on in here?

  As she climbed the steps to the stage, she saw movement on the ratty old sofa they used for drama club. A bare leg was sticking out from under a blanket and she identified the sounds she heard as two people in the throes of passion.

  She didn’t know whether to be disgusted or amused. This wouldn’t be the first time kids had snuck in to the auditorium to have sex, but she was damned if they were going to use her space and equipment for their personal love nest.

  She cleared her throat. “All right, kids, get up and get dressed. Fun’s over. Come on, mister, get off her.”

  She turned so she wasn’t looking right at them. They were completely still and silent now. Hopefully mortified, thought Ms. Meyer.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall boy get up and scurry towards his clothes. As he got dressed, the girl stayed hidden under the blanket while the boy gathered her clothes for her and brought them to her. She got dressed while hiding behind the blanket.

  “Come on, get your things and let’s go up to the office,” she said to the two who were now sitting in the shadows on the sofa.

  “Please don’t take us to the office,” said the girl. Ms. Meyer heard the fear in her voice. “I promise we’ll never do this again.”

  For a moment Ms. Meyer contemplated letting them go with a warning so she could still make it to her appointment on time. Ms. Meyer turned on the bank of lights so she could see who she was talking to. Seated on the sofa were two girls.

  “Oh! Oh, my God!” She was shocked to see two girls with disheveled hair and their clothes hastily put on. One girl’s bra showed through an undone button.

  “Fix your shirt,” she told the girl with the curly auburn hair, who was now crying.

  The one she originally thought was a boy spoke up. “Please, Ms. Meyer, if you take us to the office it will be really bad for us. Please, I promise we won’t come in here ever again.”

  Ms. Meyer was going to let them go, when she remembered years ago she had let some kids go after she caught them smoking in the bathroom. Somehow, that had gotten back to administration and she almost lost her job. She couldn’t risk covering for kids again.

  “I’m sorry, girls. I don’t have a choice. Let’s go.”

  *
* *

  Kristin had been so absorbed with Jamie she never heard Ms. Meyer. One minute Jamie was on top of her and the next a woman’s voice was telling them to get dressed.

  Kristin froze. Everything she had worked for crashed in around her. Adrenaline dumped into her bloodstream and she began shaking. Should she run? She couldn’t; she didn’t have any clothes on.

  Jamie slid out from under the blanket and got dressed. Jamie gathered Kristin’s clothes that only twenty minutes earlier Kristin had flung all over the stage in her dumb striptease routine. Jamie held the blanket up so Kristin had some privacy while she got dressed.

  Jamie held Kristin’s hand tightly. Kristin felt herself starting to cry. What if this lady got them in trouble? Her mom would kill her. She thought of her father, who always stuck up for her and how disappointed he’d be with her. Tears streamed down her face.

  Kristin heard the woman tell them to get their things so they could go up to the office.

  “Please don’t take us up to the office,” Kristin heard herself saying. “We’ll never do this again, I promise.” Kristin thought that maybe, just maybe, this woman was considering her plea.

  Jamie chimed in with her own imploration. Kristin saw that their fate lay with the decision of a stranger. Would she show mercy and let them go? Did she know how dire it would be for them if she turned them in? For a second, Kristin thought they were going to get off with a warning.

  Instead, the woman said the words that would haunt Kristin’s nightmares: “I’m sorry, girls, I don’t have a choice. Let’s go.”

  Kristin started to hyperventilate. Her legs shook so badly that she could hardly walk. Jamie helped steady her as they picked up their bags and walked to the office.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine