John and Mary Naked in School

Chapter 3. We up the stakes

With our somewhat old fashioned meal system, everyone ate in the same room, whether they had a cafeteria meal or brought sandwiches. After eating we sat and chatted until the tables were cleared and we were given permission to leave. The head believed it helped our social skills although often, it irritated those boys who wanted to get out as soon as possible to play football. The signal to stand ready to leave was when the headmaster got up. Mostly our eyes watched him get ready to move but today I was watching the door. It opened and I saw a woman quietly enter and hold up a small tape machine. It was my cue. I guessed she was the reporter for the newspaper.

"Wish me luck," I whispered to Mary. The head must have noticed the woman too as he looked around. I knew I had to do something quickly. Picking up a spoon and the aluminium water jug I banged it loudly. Everyone turned to me. Mary held me steady as I climbed, a little unsteadily at first, on to the chair and then on to the table. My body shook as I gathered my wits and tried to remember the speech I'd rehearsed during the meal.

"Headmaster," I started, "This morning… you said… you hoped… that being in the programme would help me overcome my shyness… Maybe it has because last week I would never in my wildest dreams have thought I would stand on a table, naked, with a near erection, and blushing address the whole school." I started off with a stutter but Mary stood and took my hand. "Maybe though Headmaster is it not overcoming my shyness that is making me do this. It is more stubbornness and anger. Anger at the treatment we have been given. Deep inside many shy people there is a wilful streak which normally doesn't surface but the events of the today have brought that to the fore." I paused. "Boys and girls you all witnessed the APPALLING way Mary and I were dragged KICKING and SCREAMING and FORCIBLY and PUBLICLY STRIPPED of our clothing in front of you all. You saw and heard the fight we put up. You can see the bruises on our bodies; on my arms and legs and particularly on Mary's breast. We were totally HUMILIATED and DEGRADED in front of you." Mary blushed deep red but didn't cover herself. A TV cameraman unobtrusively entered the room and I wondered just what detail he was recording. As yet the head hadn't seen him. All eyes were on me.

I continued emphasising the most evocative and emotive words. "All this was done without any real warning, WITHOUT our parents knowledge and WITHOUT their consent. I think it is a clear breach of our HUMAN RIGHTS. I know many of you laughed and sniggered at us. I can understand that. It was your way of hiding your own embarrassment. Others I know felt really sorry for our plight. How many of you wished that you were the ones selected? Wished you were up on the stage instead of us, showing all your PRIVATE PARTS to your fellow companions; to the younger children in the front rows; to the older ones at the back and to the adults in the staff. How many of you wished you were in our place? Put your hands up." No one raised a hand. "Well let me assure you, you will indeed take our places. All of you. If this programme goes ahead you will come to school each Monday in FEAR and TREPIDATION, not knowing if you will have to go through the same TRAUMA as we are going through today. In the course of the following weeks, each of you will be FORCED to bare your bodies and allow yourselves to be fondled. As you saw earlier Mary and I are big enough…" there was a slight giggle at this, "… to prevent the fondling so far, but most of you will not be able to resist. Unless you let the authorities know we are utterly against this DEGRADATION of our MINDS and BODIES, the Naked in School Programme will be forced on you. Mr. Baker there, is supposedly writing a report on this pilot scheme but I fear from the OBSCENE way he LEERINGLY looks at Mary, it will not be a favourable one from your point of view." Mr. Baker stood and tried to interrupt but for some reason the head stopped him.

"What can we do to show our disaffection with this scheme? What can we do to let the authorities know we do not wish to be treated like CATTLE, like SUB-HUMANS? As a mild protest, I am asking you to join Mary and myself in a BOYCOTT of lessons this afternoon. Instead of going to normal classes, if you wish to show your opposition to the programme, go outside and enjoy the sunshine until the final bell goes. The press is here so your protest will get full coverage." Everyone turned round. The head moved swiftly to the door. Suddenly there was uproar. I hadn't finished what I had intended but no one would hear. I saw the reporter woman thrusting a tape machine at the head and asking for comments. Mr. Baker was trying to get the cameraman out of the room. Children seemed to be everywhere but slowly the room cleared and most of the school children were outside. The bell for the start of the afternoon session was not due to go for another fifteen minutes. That would be the crucial test of my oratory.

"You should be a politician, that was one hellavu speech," Mary remarked as we left surrounded by children, "I never thought you could do that." The children were as much pleased to have an excuse to get an afternoon off lessons as support our cause.

Mary and I sat on the grass under some trees. For almost the first time today, I saw her laugh. "What's up?" I asked.

"Grass tickles my…" I laughed too.

A little later the head came towards us followed by the camera crew and the reporter who I found out was Sonya Levenholme. The start bell for lessons had gone but few had moved inside. We heard the head angrily telling the news people to get lost or he would have to call in the police. They ignored him. Sonya ran ahead, sat down next to us and in a friendly way started to question us, particularly Mary. Some of Mary's shyness returned when she was sitting next to a fully clothed stranger but the girl knew her job and soon Mary and I were freely answering her questions and giving our views. We saw the head was talking into his mobile and it wasn't long afterwards the police came and asked the news people to leave. They were on private property and were interviewing minors so they had to comply but they'd got their story.

Sonya gave us each her card and said they'd be back even if they had to stand outside the school fence.

When she'd gone the head came to us and shooed the rest of the children out of earshot. "John and Mary, I know it has been a truly awful experience for you and you have shown far more courage in dealing with it than I anticipated. Privately I have to admire the way you've handled things and the speech you gave at lunchtime was very impressive. I never expected that nor for the way you must have arranged for the press to be present. You must now be prepared for the whole thing to escalate. With TV coverage it might get hyped to a three-day wonder and forgotten. I never wanted the school to participate and when I selected the pair of you, I didn't think there would be any repercussions. You were always quiet, studious A class students who I expected would go along without any problems. How wrong I was. That is my private view. One thing perhaps I was right about, is that you seem to be getting on together extremely well."

"We only expected to get a mention in the Shire paper," I said and Mary asked if he was going to call the whole thing off. "Personally I would like to do so but as headmaster I have to toe the authority line. My job and career is at stake, and even the local authority is bound by the government directive, which is where Mr. Baker comes in. I would like nothing more than to cancel the whole programme and I think now he would too, but he is under instruction from his bosses in Whitehall. He's on the phone to them now. If we have to continue, and I have a feeling we will, I will have to continue with the programme too and do what I can to see the school runs fairly normally. I hope you'll understand that."

"Yes, sir," I replied, "But you must also expect us to continue our campaign to prevent the programme being forced on everyone."

"Try not to make it a violent one please." With that the headmaster left and walked round the groups asking them to return to classes but he had little success. The fine weather was on our side.

By two o'clock incensed parents started arriving at the school. The story had been broadcast on local radio and had included sound bites of my speech. Many had already made their disagreement known after the pamphlets were taken home but they expected there would be a period of consultation before the programme was implemented. Angry scenes between the parents, the head and Mr. Baker caused tempers to fly but Mary and I tried to keep out of them. Mr. Baker came under a particularly violent attack from a couple of incensed mothers and had to retreat inside the school building. The police were called and I noticed more camera crews now on the scene. Several got round the small cordon the police set up and came to interview us; we realised we would now be on national news. Half an hour later the local chief constable arrived decked out in all his gold braid and asked us to get dressed and return to our classes. "Sir," I said, "We didn't wish to be forcibly undressed in the first place and they've locked our clothes away. Secondly, we are not going inside until they desist with the programme."

"The programme is a national thing organised by government. You have to comply."

"We don't have to do it willingly and we are able to make a democratic and peaceful protest. How would you feel if your son or daughter came to school one morning and was pulled from assembly and stripped naked in front of the whole school? How long do you think it will be before the girls who are too weak to struggle are raped by boys who cannot control their urges?" The remark seemed to hit home. Although I didn't know it at the time, he had a twelve-year-old daughter.

School finished early and Mary and I collected our clothes and dressed. "Will you walk home with me," Mary asked, "I don't know what mother will say. She may blame me, almost certainly she will." Mary lived about the same distance from school as I did but in a slightly different direction. I was in the eastern end of the small town and she was south-east. It was only about ten minutes walk from her house to mine and both of us could walk home from school in ten minutes if we pushed it. I knew her parents fairly well as I had been round when we had projects to work on together. Her mother is a zealous religious fanatic who sees anything a boy and girl do together as a sin. When we worked on projects together, the door had to be wide open and she looked in every few minutes. Mary went on, "Mother went bananas when she read the form. According to her it was only one step away from forced prostitution. I don't doubt that she'll believe I had sex with every boy in the school by now. Dad only laughed when he read it and suggested I carry on with it at home. That of course intended to aggravate mother and make her more annoyed. It certainly did that. What about your mother?"

"Of course I'll walk with you but I think it might be better if we go the back way out and through the hole in the fence to miss some of those reporters." When we were clear of the school I answered Mary's question. "My mum didn't seem too bothered. She disapproved but thought it was going to be semi-voluntary and might indeed help me get to know others and myself better. I'm sure she never anticipated the way it would be carried out. She's probably irate too. Why don't we go to my place first? There'll be no one in as mother works until five and we can see if there is anything on the four o'clock news."

"Okay but will you come home with me after five? Dad will be home then and he may be able to calm mother or at least he will defend me." I readily agreed and switched the TV on. The phone rang. One of the other children's mother was pledging her support. Hardly had I put it down and it rang again. A reporter. I gave her a few quick details and cut the connection and left the phone off the hook.

For some reason when we sat on the settee, I sat apart from Mary but she soon slid across and asked me to hold her like I had all morning. The headline bites came on with a glimpse of us in the dining room. We knew then that the story was going to run. It did. They ran part of my speech from the table with my prick pixillated to hide its form. They made a great deal of our struggle and showed a close-up of Mary's bruised breast and Mr. Jacobsen's black eye. There were shots of us sitting under the tree during the protest and a short interview with the head. Mr. Baker just said, "No comment." The parents interviewed, voiced their anger at the programme and at the end the presenter said, "We tried to get the education office in Whitehall to comment but they refused to discuss the matter."

"You seem to have had an interesting day at school John." My mother's voice made us jump and I quickly withdrew my arm from around Mary. It was a typical understatement that she often used. "Don't be silly John, hold the poor girl like you were. I'm sure she needs all the love she can get. Hi Mary, you hold him too. You need each other after the hell you've been through. I'm here to support you too in any way I can. When you're ready you can tell me all the sordid details but I think we saw enough on the box to get the general idea. No doubt you have both had enough of questions now."

"Thanks mum. You're home early. We came here because Mary's mum will probably be hysterical. You know how she is. Mary is normally hardly allowed to show more than a few inches of flesh."

"I heard about it on the radio at work and then they put the TV on in the rest room. There's three of us who have kids at your school so we watched it on the 24-hour news station and then went to the uncensored satellite channel and saw you both in all your full nakedness." We both blushed furiously. We hadn't thought the world would see us without censorship. "Didn't know my son was quite as well developed," she laughed. It took a minute or two more before she could carry on but it made us laugh too. "When we heard they let school out early we all took the rest of the afternoon off but before we left, we emailed complaints to the school, the local education office and we even managed to find the government education site and sent a strongly worded protest to them. You sit there and I'll make some tea." We were grateful my mother was so understanding.

With some trepidation I walked with Mary into her home. She held my hand tightly as we went in. We could hear a loud altercation coming from the kitchen. Her mother was railing at Mike her husband. As soon as we entered she turned on us. "I'm surprised you dared to show your face here again you whore. And with that boy you've given yourself to so unashamedly all day. There was no need to show yourself like that to all those people and now the whole town, the whole world will know what a slut my daughter is. I'll never be able to show my face at the shops or in church ever again. I'm so ashamed of you. I saw the way you held his hand and looked at his thing while he stood on that table showing himself to the camera. Then you had to thrust out your breast and show it off to the nation. I can hardly credit I have such a corrupt and depraved daughter. I've no doubt that you and that John have been screwing yourselves silly all day and the TV people had to cut it out. Now you have the audacity to come in here holding hands as though you are innocent young lovers…"

"Shut up woman," her husband shouted, "Have you no idea of the trauma they've been through?"

"Don't you tell me to shut up Mike Watkins. Just because you don't mind having a whore for a daughter doesn't mean that I will tolerate her behaviour…"

Mary burst into tears again but her mother just went on with her tirade. I whispered in Mary's ear, "Pack some things and stay with me for the night." Still tightly holding my hand she pulled me upstairs with her mother's voice still ringing loud and clear, "You can run away you wanton hussy but don't think you are going to be doing it with him in my house. You leave that bedroom door wide open or I'll get your father to break it down." By then we were at the top of the stairs and in her room. Mary shut the door and bolted it as a symbolic gesture of defiance. She sat on the bed and I cuddled her.

"Are you sure your mum won't mind if I stay? I could sleep on the settee."

"And have bad dreams and no one to comfort you," I answered. "I won't rape you. No, you know my mother well enough, she understands, you saw that at teatime. Pack what you need for a couple of nights and perhaps this will blow over. Your mother already believes we've had sex so staying with me won't make much difference."

Her holdall was nearly packed when there was a tap on the door. "Mary, its dad. Open the door please. Your mother's gone to talk with the minister." He saw the packed bag. "Probably the best thing, Mary. You won't get much rest here. You're sure your mother will be okay with it John?" I reiterated what I had told Mary. "You best get out while the going's clear. Call me at work if you need anything and make sure you look after her John. From what I've seen on the screen, I'm sure you will." He hugged and kissed Mary on the cheek. We were just about to leave when he called me back, "Here, take these." He handed me two boxes of ten condoms! We blushed again as I muttered my thanks. Mary had seen them. Later I wondered why he had them but I never dared to ask.

As I expected my mother took it calmly and quickly put some more vegetables in the pan. While she waited for them to cook she turned to Mary and said, "I hope you are not expecting to sleep in John's room Mary." Both of us looked up in surprise, as I had not anticipated it being a problem except the physical one of two large people in one small bed.

"I thought I might sleep on the settee," Mary stuttered.

"No you didn't. You expected to curl up alongside my son like you've been doing all day." I could see Mary ready to cry yet again but I knew from past experience that my mother had a wicked sense of humour and there was that little catch in her voice I knew so well. I squeezed Mary's hand. "And so you shall dear," Mother laughed infectiously. "The pair of you will sleep in my double bed I've no need for it since John's father died and I'll sleep in yours John. Just make sure there are no naughty magazines under the pillow please."

"And you do the same," I laughed. Mary seemed very embarrassed at mother giving up her bed for us and tried to plead that it wasn't necessary but of course mother wouldn't hear of it.

After dinner we put the phone back on and almost immediately we were fielding calls from other parents at school and from various newspapers and radio stations. In a lull I took Mary to the bedroom and cleared the things I needed from my room. Almost as soon as we returned the phone rang again. Mother answered it. "Oh good evening Mrs. Watkins." She covered the mouthpiece and signalled for us to be quiet. "Yes, they did come back here Stella but they just left…No… Said something about finding a motel or cheap hotel room… I didn't ask where because I didn't think they would tell me…No… No…Mary said you called her a whore so she was going to be one…Sorry I didn't catch that Stella… Oh yes, I gave them enough money for the night…I'm sorry you think like that…No…No… Yes…I thought that as they had been together all naked and not been able to do anything with each other, they should have the chance… All young people seem to do it these days…I'm sorry if you feel that way… Bit old fashioned isn't it?… No… I think they took a bus… but they should have enough money for a taxi if they don't go too far out of town if not perhaps Mary would try standing on the corner of London Road." Mother put the phone down and started laughing again and it was a little while before she could tell us what Stella Watkins had said. "She went nearly apoplectic when I suggested you might ply for trade as a prostitute Mary."

I went to the loo and when I returned mum and Mary were drinking tea in the kitchen and chatting in subdued tones. Mum said, "John, go into the lounge and watch the tele for a bit, Mary and I are talking girl-talk."

Mary told me later what was said. Mum asked, "Are you on the pill?" She wasn't so mother offered to go to the pub and get some condoms from the machine there and Mary was forced mention her father's gift. Apparently, my mother then became serious. "Just because he is sleeping with you Mary, it doesn't mean you are forced to let him screw you. Make sure he knows that if you say no, it means no. He has no right to rape you even if you are in the same bed. Understand?" Mary quietly said, "Yes." "On the other hand, if you feel like doing it, if you want to make love to each other, enjoy the chance. I wouldn't mind betting it is the first time for both of you. Is it not?" Mary confirmed it was her first time. "Here's a little advice from a woman who's been there, done that and got the Tee shirt. First time it may well hurt and you may bleed. I bled a lot, other girls seem only bleed a little but either way, we don't want to have to wash sheets. Look in the airing cupboard and on the bottom shelf are some old towels we keep for the beach. Take one and put it under you. That is if you decide to do it. As I said, don't feel compelled to do anything. Certainly take your time and play around with each other for a while first. Don't worry about the noise or me hearing it, conveniently I can be quite deaf at times. You've both been through so much today at least you can get a little pleasure from each other for a few hours. Who knows what tomorrow will bring."

Nothing was said to me when they came into the lounge until we nervously prepared to go to bed. "Remember John, no raping her. Make love only if she agrees. Got it?" I nodded. "If I hear her scream, then I'll come and wrench your balls off." Mother always made her views known in a forthright way.

In any case I had no thought of raping Mary. "May I undress you?" I asked when we were alone. We agreed to undress each other and decided to dispense with pyjamas. We'd seen each other's bodies for most of the day. For a long while we just lay still and cuddled. I played with her breasts and then fingered her pubic mound; she gently and shyly played with my prick. Eventually both of us were so aroused she pointed to the condoms and we got into position and after a bit of fumbling I put it in her. Luckily she didn't bleed much and didn't seem to feel too much pain when, in my excitement, I fucked her harder than I probably should have. For some time afterwards, we lay close talking quietly, going over and over the events of the day and the possibility of more trauma in the morning. "The one good thing that has come out of today's events is having you in bed here with me. If it hadn't been for the programme we'd still be acquaintances and not close friends," I said.

"Lovers," Mary muttered and the more loudly and with a smile, "Lovers. Now we can get through whatever tomorrow has in store."