Dare Me (new 7/29)

[perseus]

Great chapter! Hopefully part 2 isn't too far away

[jojo12026]

Amen!! Bring on part 2!!

[apolloman42]

I made this account to specifically ask that you keep going with this story. It's a wonderful story, I'd very much love to read about Lucy's camp experience.
And thanks for what you have written so far.

[neverdoubted]

I made this account to specifically ask that you keep going with this story. It's a wonderful story, I'd very much love to read about Lucy's camp experience.
And thanks for what you have written so far.

Wow, that's very kind of you. What has been your favorite chapter so far?

[apolloman42]

Wow, that's very kind of you. What has been your favorite chapter so far?
[/quote]

That's a hard one to answer. Let's see:

My favorite is probably when Lucy is tied up in the bait shop during the swimsuit saga. Her being in a helpless state with an audience and the shaving demonstration she had to endure, but with Mikey watching over so she wasn't in too much danger.

But the history presentation is another standout for me. The part where she is in class and losing the battle with gravity.

Lucy sleepwalking was also great.

But for sure the swimsuit saga was my favorite. I like that she was so far from home with very minimal clothes, that why I'm so interested in this new camp story.

Thanks again!

[jojo12026]

Another installment would be appreciated this weekend...

[neverdoubted]

Sorry to disappoint. Maybe next week.

[apolloman42]

I hope this isn't seen as bothering, but I'm hoping there is an update this week

[neverdoubted]

Dare Me - Chapter 16 - Wait, What Happened at Camp? (Part 2)

The early morning calm was shattered by the sound of a bugle. The sleeping girls groaned in unison as Reveille, like an alarm clock, came blasting through old, tinny horns mounted on the ceiling. Lucy pulled her blanket over her head to muffle the noise. Coach Easterling stomped from the room on a mission to find Rooster and let him know what she thought about being so rudely awakened for no good reason.

Lucy hid out under her covers as the other girls stirred around her. She had slept well but preferred to delay the start of her day as long as possible, knowing once she left the protection of her blanket that she would be exposing her whole body to her team the rest of the day. She heard a few of the girls who were trickling past her cot on their way to the bathroom make comments about the weird naked girl. They didn't know she heard because she was still pretending to be asleep.

Finally, after the auditorium had emptied, she knew she couldn't tarry any longer. She stripped the rest of the way in preparation for her shower, peeling her socks off and tossing them in a ball under her cot. Then, with a deep breath, she emerged from her covers and stood up. After stretching, her first instinct was to reach down and straighten her shirt. The skin of her bare stomach cruelly reminded her that she wasn’t wearing a shirt, or anything else, for that matter.

She grabbed her toiletries, including her bottle of shampoo, and left the smooth floor of the auditorium. The cold cement felt rough as she padded barefoot into the hallway. She shivered, but not from the cold. Her body was reacting to being forced to enter the presence of her teammates once again without any clothes on. But she was comforted to find, as she entered the latrine, other girls in various stages of undress.

After going to the bathroom, she stood in line for her turn at one of the showers. Entering her wooden stall, she found no sign of temperature controls, only a utilitarian, metal spigot valve. The stall only came up to her shoulders. It was surreal being able to see everyone in the room while you were taking your shower. But since she had seen the girls on Nikki's squad shower together countless times on the video, she was determined to get used to it.

As soon as she exited the shower, another girl entered her stall. Everything about the place was designed to move like an assembly line and make an individual feel insignificant. If an armory is a war machine, its soldiers are the cogs.

Several girls were jockeying for position in front of the room's lone mirror. But Lucy bypassed them and grabbed a smooth linen army towel off the provided stack. She luxuriated in the sensation of wrapping it around her body as she stepped up to one of the sinks and brushed her teeth. She was tempted to take the towel with her into the auditorium. But she knew, if she left the latrine wearing anything, she would only feel more pain having to remove it later. Better to discard it now before she got too accustomed to the sensation of being covered.

So, after drying her body the rest of the way, she made a despondent sigh and deposited the towel into a large laundry bin that had been positioned near the door. She padded naked back to her cot to complete the task of getting ready for the day.

You wouldn't believe how much of a time saver it can be for a girl when she doesn't have to worry about clothes! Even as the last girl to wake up, Lucy was the first one to finish getting ready. She put on a clean pair of white ankle socks, the cute kind with little lace ruffles, then stepped into her shoes. She tied the laces neatly and securely before picking up her hairbrush.

Once her freshly shampooed hair had been brushed out, she lifted her cheer ribbon, white with a little blue stripe running down its length, and deftly gathered her hair into a high ponytail. She had practiced it countless times and was naturally gifted at fixing hair. She didn't even need a mirror and got it straight on her first try.

She perched on the edge of her cot and watched the other girls make their way back from the latrine. They entered in ones and twos, some flashing her derisive sneers, but none speaking a word to her. The butterflies in her stomach were a combination of her nudity and a general anxiety about wanting her first real day at camp to go perfectly.

She gazed enviously at their cute little skirts and tank tops. If she were only able to wear something similar, she would not have felt like so much of an outcast. Having no clothes made the task of fitting in and being accepted by the group that much harder. Impulsively, she checked her own “outfit”, removing and retying the ribbon atop her head at least a dozen times while she waited.

Eventually, Coach Easterling appeared at the doorway and walked around the room, greeting the girls as she went. Lucy couldn't fathom what I had said to convince her coach to agree to her attending camp in the nude. Being oblivious to Dr. Alabar's diagnosis, all she could figure, I had somehow used my extreme talents of persuasion on Coach Easterling like I had with some of her previous teachers.

"Good morning, Lucy," she said with a strained face when she reached her cot, "how are you feeling this morning? Did you sleep well?" Clearly, she was concerned about the psychological condition of her naked camper.

Lucy jumped off her cot. Standing at attention, she made an assertive nod. She might have been frozen with terror if not for being wrapped in the familiar, comforting embrace that her dare provided for her. Neither her team nor her coach knew what had transpired to put her in this situation and she was determined to keep it that way. If completing her dare meant being a naked cheerleader for the weekend, so be it. At least that made her a cheerleader, damn it!

Lucy didn't know it, but the captains had approached Coach Easterling to inquire why the new girl wasn't wearing any clothes. Apparently, rumors were swirling among the girls, and they wanted to know what was up with her. Coach Easterling explained Lucy's medical exception and warned them not to treat her any differently because of her disability.

The captains heartily agreed to her conditions. They were perfectly fine not giving anyone special treatment. In fact, their biggest concern had been the opposite, that having some charity case on their hands was going to screw up their hazing plans.

It did not carry the same stigma back then that it does now, and a little mild hazing was still considered beneficial, not only to form team unity through adversity but also an effective method of judging the dedication of the applicant - to weed out the pretenders. Camp was the ideal place to administer such trials to the new girls and the captains felt entitled to plenty of autonomy in that regard.

They intended to make Lucy go through all the same trials as the other seventh grade girls. She must have presented a particularly challenging case for them. How do you push a girl out of her comfort zone when she's already shown she is apparently comfortable and willing to attend camp naked? That was a puzzle for the captains to solve.

Rooster called out that breakfast would be served in the mess hall at oh-seven-hundred. None of the girls knew what that meant, but by following the smell of something cooking, they were able to locate the mess hall. Breakfast was a heaping portion of oatmeal with freeze-dried apple slices on top. Lucy ate alone near the end of a long string of tables.

When Coach Easterling arrived and taped the camp schedule to the wall, many girls rushed over to read and discuss it. But Lucy and the two other seventh-graders, who were also eating alone, stayed seated and kept away from the commotion. She felt, if she could just figure out a way to break the ice, it would only be a matter of time before her charismatic personality and indominable spirit would win them over. But she didn't quite have enough confidence to approach them because of her nude state. What the captains had planned would give her plenty of opportunity to bond with them before the day was out.

Back in the auditorium after breakfast, Coach Easterling, flanked by the three captains, stood on the small stage which barely rose more than a foot above the floor and formally addressed the entire team for the first time. Speaking enthusiastically and projecting as only a teacher can, she welcomed everyone to camp before making a very important announcement.

"As you saw on the schedule, there are many fun activities planned this weekend. But we have also added a few new cheers and have a lot of work to do. I also hope this time will allow you to get to know and grow closer to each other. And I want to give each of you the opportunity to express the same team spirit and excitement I know you all have for cheerleading. So, on that note, I am excited to announce two special awards which will be given out at the end of camp."

The girls started chattering with each other as Coach Easterling pulled two shiny gold medals out of her bag. She had to shush everyone before holding one aloft and continuing. "This one is the coach's award and will be chosen by me. I expect all members of my cheer team to be civically minded, studious, helpful, and to represent the school honorably in everything they do. I will be looking for someone exceptional who exhibits these specific qualities."

She held up the second medal and continued, "on the last day, you will all get to vote on who you think has best exhibited team spirit over the course of camp. The winner will receive this spirit award."

Lucy had stars in her eyes as she stared at the glittering medallions. To her, they represented a path to acceptance among her peers. To win those awards would be a vindication of all the hard work she had put into practicing over the summer. She wasn't sure what a studious person looked like and didn't have a clue what it meant to be "civically minded". Leave it up to an English teacher to throw in a phrase like that. But she was sure she could make up for any of her shortcomings by putting extra effort into the helpfulness department.

And when it comes to team spirit, she had a quintessential cheerleader as her guide. She had studied under Nikki until she could imitate her every, last expression and movement. She could keep a bright, dimpled smile on her face while performing even the most strenuous cheers. And she already had plenty of practice mindlessly bobbing her head back and forth while rocking her hips in a constant motion just like her mentor always did. And even though she had messed up a few times during tryouts, she really did know every cheer by heart.

I know what you're thinking. Poor, naive Lucy didn't stand a chance. That spirit award was a blatant popularity contest, plain and simple. Achieving something like that was impossibly out of reach to some unknown sevie - a naked one, at that. Without a doubt, it would be won by one of the captains, probably the queen bee herself, Tiffany Lennox.

Coach Easterling was more of a wild card. Who knows how she would ultimately choose to award her prize? But Lucy did have one thing going for her. She had already determined that she would do whatever it takes to win at least one of those medals. And if you have been paying attention, you already know what happens once my sister sets her mind to do something. Would you bet against her?

With announcements out of the way, it was time for morning calisthenics. However, there was one small issue. The speed at which the room was already starting to warm indicated that something must be wrong with the air conditioning. Add two dozen energetic teenagers to the mix, and the temperature would soon become unbearable.

Tiffany wanted to prop open the emergency exit to let in some fresh air. As I said, she was the unequivocal queen bee of our school. As a freshman, and the head captain of the cheer squad, the strikingly beautiful, tall brunette carried herself with a natural air of authority, like she was used to getting her way. She scowled when Coach Easterling overruled her, ordering her to stay there and prepare for practice while she went to locate Rooster. The flyer had advertised environmentally controlled facilities and Coach Easterling was determined to hold him accountable to at least one of his legal obligations that weekend.

With a huff, Tiffany stayed on the small stage and directed everyone to move their cots against the wall to make room. The seventh graders' cots were already against the wall. Addressing them as "the sevies" because she apparently didn't want to be bothered to learn their actual names, Tiffany ordered them to move their cots even further down the wall. She seemed to be going out of her way to remind the sevies of their insignificance.

I knew the feeling of being the youngest member of a team. As a seventh grader the year before, my rookie mistakes had perturbed the older kids on our basketball team. Even though I never made it onto the court during a real game, I had persistence and had gradually learned how to make myself useful during practices. Then again, I never had to attend practice naked!

Relegated to the back of the room, Lucy stood near the other sevies while the captains led the team through various warmup exercises. Speaking of warming up, Coach Easterling, mid-argument with Rooster, eventually returned into a room already much warmer than the one she had left.

"This is unquestionably unacceptable," he declared, "and I do apologize abundantly, ma'am. As I explained previously, I will work diligently to restore services, but the best I can offer is to have it restored by tomorrow evening. You cannot dispute that our contract does grant reasonable latitude for such unforeseen circumstances."

Coach Easterling wasn't happy with his offer, but the fine print of the contract left her little recourse in such matters. Rooster had outmaneuvered her again. Magnanimous in his victory, Rooster made an offer.

"There should be a nice breeze on the drill yard most times. Perhaps you could schedule more outdoor activities. Or, if you insist on remaining inside, these emergency doors would improve the air circulation."

Tiffany preened when Rooster propped the double doors open wide just like she had suggested earlier. The spoiled freshman was used to getting her way and Rooster had delivered exactly that. She was liking him more and more by the minute.

The overall temperature in the auditorium continued to rise, but the fresh morning air did help a little. Practice resumed only to be interrupted shortly after by an unexpected visitor. Other than their little hike last night up the hill to the barracks, the girls had spent all their time so far insulated from the outside world. But now, with the exit doors propped open, they were soon distracted by the sight of someone pushing a lawnmower back and forth.

He was young, definitely a teenager, and black. That fact alone wasn't enough to cause a ruckus. After all, two of the girls on the cheer team were black. No, the primary reasons his presence caused such a disturbance were that he was incredibly good looking and shirtless. The boy-crazy girls tittered over the cute lawnmower every time he passed by the opening.

He was wearing army fatigues, green pants, and boots, but his pale green shirt was tucked into his belt. It didn't take him long to realize he had an audience of twenty-four junior cheerleaders. His mowing passes got slower, probably going over the same patch of grass over and over, too. At one point, he stopped in full view of the girls and pretended like he needed to wipe his brow. The girls all swooned.

Actually, there was one girl who didn't swoon. Lucy stood terrified that any second, the boy would look over and notice that one of the young ladies practicing inside was completely naked. She would simply die of humiliation if that happened! Her heart started pounding as the reminder of her acute lack of clothes came rushing to the forefront of her consciousness.

She had been able to suppress the acute reminder aided by the fact that she was surrounded by only girls. She had even come to accept old Rooster almost as a fixture of the facility rather than a red-blooded human. But a cute, teenage boy was another matter entirely! Her only salvation was that she was on the far side of the room and blocked by several other rows of girls and he hadn't noticed her yet.

She had trouble concentrating after that. Still going through the motions, she kept a sharp eye on the door like the other girls were doing, only for different reasons.

Finally, Coach Easterling got fed up with the distraction. Stomping over to the door, she flagged the boy down and got him to turn his mower off.

"Young man, you must stop what you are doing and leave us in peace. We were promised private facilities for the duration of our stay."

"I do apologize for the inconvenience, ma'am," the boy replied. The girls giggled when they heard his deep, but youthful voice. "But I only take orders from my grand-pops."

"Let me guess, Rooster," she asked, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," the boy replied.

"Well, this is highly irregular," she grumbled, pulling the doors closed just at the mower roared back to life. Then she stomped off to find Rooster again.

[perseus]

Another great chapter! Having played sports in highschool this chapter brought me back to the days of the social hierarchies and hazing that would happen. Fortunately nothing ever got out of hand but unfortunately we never had a naked cheerleader either.

Looking forward to the next hurdle Lucy will have to clear