If you see any spacing or formatting errors along with any missing characters, please forgive me. The text editor here is giving me issues. I did my best to fix them all but I may have missed a few.

This chapter is a good bit longer than the first one, in fact it should be two separate chapters that occur before and after Chapter 1, but instead its one chapter that contains a lengthy flashback to before Chapter 1 and then picks up where Chapter 1 left off.

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy the second installment in the series.

And so we begin.

KWAR14 8/10/14

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Hitting the Curve (Chapter 2)
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I woke up the next morning with the grand delusion that everything was going to be fine. I thought my speech would get Kara off my back, that I’d stop thinking about my best friend in a way that wasn’t appropriate, and that my dad was just being weird for no legitimate reason. I was wrong about one or more of those things, but we’re not quite there yet.

First, I want to take you back a week or so to the day that Kara and I got together–back when everything seemed normal and from there through the events that led up to fateful bonfire party.

************************************
*About one week prior to the current day*
************************************

Kara and I had been hooking up for a little over a month at this point, but because it was summer we didn’t (and when I say “we” I mean “me”) want to have any strings attached. That was going pretty well if you ask me. She, on the other hand wanted something more, something meaningful. I knew the conversation was coming eventually, I just didn’t expect it to be thrown on me right then and there with a week of summer left before school started. I also didn’t expect that it would only take me a matter of seconds to tell her “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” when she asked if I thought we should make our relationship official. It must’ve been the fact that she was wearing a skimpy black bikini that accentuated her breasts and was leaning over me, looking at me with pleading hazel eyes while I was lying on the warm beach that did me in. If I had known what was to occur before the week was out, I wouldn’t have said yes. I’m not proud of what I did.

Anyways, let’s get back to the story here, a little over one week before where I left you all last
time.

I laid on the hot sand, basking in the sun’s rays with a beautiful girl next to me, resting her head on my chest. The scene was picturesque. Barely anyone was on that stretch of beach, which was an oddity during the summer, but we weren’t complaining.
Kara lifted her head, sat up and looked at me, asking “Feel like going for a swim?”

“Sure I do.” I said. I got up, grabbed Kara’s hand and lifted her to feet, dragging her after me down the beach and into the water.

The ocean was relatively calm today, the waves were small and breaking close to shore. We talked for what seemed like hours as we stood in the cool, chest deep water out beyond the breaking waves. A pelican dove headfirst into the water by us, searching for a meal and breaking the glass-like perfection of the surface of the water. Our conversation died. Her eyes were like a meadow in the fall, when the leaves are sprinkled across the green grass, her hazel eyes sparkled in a tantalizing way. She rested her hand on my chest, biting her lower lip. The wind picked up, sending chills down my spine as it hit my damp hair. With her index finger she traced my jawline, leaning up to kiss me.

I met her half way, tenderly touching my lips to hers, my hand wrapping around her back, pulling her warm body against mine under the water. Our kiss grew more passionate, our tongues delving into each other’s mouths through parted lips. Her hands traced my forearms, lightly running her nails over my skin, sending chills through my body. I traced the line her soft spine with on of my hands, using the other to bring her even loser to me, even though I didn’t think it was possible. My cock hardened in my bathing suit, straining the material and pressing into her lower stomach. Her hands slid down to my waist and she started to wiggle my shorts off, breaking the kiss in the process as she moved her mouth to my ear, nibbling my earlobe and whispering, “I see someone is pretty excited.”

Breathing heavily, I whispered back, “You do realize we are on a public beach right now, right?”

“Yeah, and that makes this so much hotter.” she said, looking me in the eyes and giving me a mischievous smile before closing the distance between our faces, kissing me again, and grasping my cock in her soft hand.

As she began to stroke my throbbing shaft, I moaned into her mouth. My mind was going crazy with desire. I couldn’t believe she was doing this right now out in the ocean, 50 feet from where families walked with their kids, enjoying a stroll on the beach. None of that was stopping her though and she continued to stroke me from the base of my shaft all the way to the tip.

I moved my hands down to her ass, slid them under the fabric of her bikini bottoms, and cupped her bare, hot flesh. She seemed to appreciate this and started stroking me faster, adding a twisting motion to her manipulation of my penis that felt wonderful. I moved my head down and began kissing her neck, lightly sucking on it as I enjoyed the moment. I slowly worked one hand around her hip and between her thighs so that it rested against her hot pussy. My body felt like it was on fire from her hands and mouth and I wanted to return the favor. I began to gently stroke her with my fingers only lightly brushing her lips. Then, stepping it up a notch, I started feeling my way between them, her very wet, very sot flesh parting for my probing fingers. I was still stroking and only breaking my rhythm to lightly circle her clit with my thumb.

At this point, her hand had stopped moving on my dick and her mouth hung slightly open, her face contorted in an expression of ecstasy. I slid a solitary finger into her. She let out a low moan and opened her eyes, pushing my face off of her neck so I would look at her. Our eyes connected and it’s like I was hypnotized, everything around me faded away until just Kara remained. I felt her heart racing against my chest and all I could think about was how beautiful she was, how lucky I was to be here with her. My doubts about her, about us, seemed to disappear for that moment in time. I could’ve stayed like that forever.

Cold water slammed into us and sent us stumbling. A wave had broken out beyond the normal point, crashing into us and breaking the spell between us in the process.

While it may have ruined the moment, it did nothing to dampen my lust, I reached for Kara, signaling that I wanted to pick up where we left off. She, on the other hand, had other ideas.

Giggling, she turned away from me and started wading towards the shore. I could only watch as her bikini-clad body slowly emerged from the water, glistening wet and incredibly sexy. She flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder and turned to look at me, grinning wickedly. Putting some extra sway in her hips as she walked back up to our stuff, she knew she had me right where she wanted me–utterly transfixed and incredibly turned on.

I followed her up to our stuff and bent over to pick up my towel when I felt a weight hit me in the side and send me tumbling into the sand where I landed flat on my back.

Kara leant over me, her legs straddling me and her wet blonde hair spilling down onto the sides of my face as she stared at me with piercing eyes.

“I think it’s time we made this thing we have into a relationship, Ryan. Don’t you?” she asked pleadingly.

“Kara, we talked about this…” I started.

“Oh come on. You’re really going to tell me no?” she responded, leaning down further so that our noses almost touched.

Smiling slightly, I said “No, I’m not. So, yeah I think that’s a good idea.”

She closed the final few inches between our lips and murmured against mine, “Good choice”, before giving me a quick kiss.

Over the next few days, Kara and I were inseparable. She even would come and just sit with me during my shifts as a lifeguard. Prior to our relationship being official, we had hung out quite a bit, and almost always made the best use of our time — if you catch my drift– but now we took it to a whole new level. I remember Claire asking me “Who the hell are you? You’re sure as hell not my brother since he’s been away on vacation for the last few days and a return is not in sight.” when I popped home for dinner one night in the middle of the week. The only reason I could get away with spending almost every waking moment with Kara is because both of my parents work and both don’t usually get home until 6:00 at night. It gave me all the freedom I craved and still allowed me to spend time with them over dinner and afterwards.

I still wasn’t too sure about my own feelings regarding the change in our status. I mean don’t get me wrong, Kara is beautiful, playful, and pretty smart but she is clingy and needy. It was that needy and clingy-ness that was bothering me. While I enjoy spending time with her, and having….fun…with her, there comes a time when a guy needs to have some space and recharge. Kara didn’t seem to get that. In fact, she told me as much when I suggested I was going to home, shower off and play some nice video games one day instead of lying on the beach with her. Annoyed as I was, I relented. Go ahead, call me whipped, I don’t care.

Lets fast forward a bit to Saturday night, the bonfire party, and a week into my relationship with Kara.

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*Three days prior to present day*
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Tonight was the annual back to school bonfire party on the beach. People from our high school and a couple of our neighboring ones would show up, sing, dance, and drink the night away around one of the biggest bonfires you’ll ever see. This year would be the first year I went, and would turn out to be an unforgettable night.

That afternoon, I was on the beach with Kara and Hannah, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells around me. The sky was startlingly devoid of clouds, the sun shining brightly and gleaming off the surface of the ocean. Children laughed as they splashed around in the shallow water close to shore and a general hum was audible in the air as the beachgoers enjoyed the summer day. The smell of funnel cake drifted down from the boardwalk, filling my nose with its delicious scent. I closed my eyes and took it all in; I couldn’t imagine anywhere I’d rather be.

My reverie was interrupted by a sharp exclamation and a curse from Kara. I looked over at her, eyebrows raised and a curious expression on my face.

“What?” I asked.

“I just remember my aunt and uncle are coming into town tonight to visit my family.” she said,
“My parents aren’t going to let me go to the bonfire.”

Well, shit. This was unexpected. I had been looking forward to going, and surprisingly and more importantly, looking forward to going with my girlfriend.

“Can’t you spend time with them tomorrow or something? What about our plans for tonight?” I plead with her.

“I’m sorry babe, they’re only here for tonight and there’s no way my parents will let me out of dinner with them here.” she said, reaching over and grabbing my hand.

Hannah, who had been quiet up to this point, took this as her cue to chime in. “Don’t worry Kar, I’ll keep him company. You go spend time with your family. Family is more important than a stupid bonfire anyway.”

I faked gasping in shock. Looking at Hannah I said, “No its not! Bonfire is life!” sarcastically.

“I’m sure you will, but still, I feel terrible, I really wanted to go.”

“What if you ask if you can come after you eat, just show up the party a bit late?” I ask her.

“Won’t work.” Kara responds.

“Well, it’s worth a try right?”

“No. It’s not. I know my parents, Ryan. They won’t go for it.” Kara says in a clipped tone.

I know how to take a hint when given one, and backed off, leaving the subject alone even though I wanted to push her more on it.

A little while later, Kara said her goodbyes, telling us she had to go get ready for her aunt and uncle.

Hannah and I still had an hour to kill before we would go back home to get ready for the bonfire. We decided to go for a walk to the jetty, a perfect distance away that we could get there and back in almost exactly the amount of time we needed to waste.

We talked about life, school, our friends, and finally Kara. Hannah was surprised I had changed my mind on wanting to make our relationship official. She had been away with her family on vacation and had just gotten back the night before and I couldn’t remember going a longer period without talking to her.

“I can’t believe you waited until I got home to tell me this, Ry.” she said in an annoyed tone. “Best friends are supposed to tell each other when they turn what they’ve been saying all along on its head and start dating the girl who’s supposed to be their summer fling.”

“Yeah, well I wanted to tell you in person and I knew you’d disapprove.” I responded defensively.

“Of course I disapprove. Can you honestly tell me you think this relationship is a good idea or were you only thinking about the extra sexual favors you’d get in return?” she asked, with a knowing look in her eyes.

“Yeah, I was thinking it was a good idea. I think it could work.” I say.

“Cut the crap, Pinocchio, I can see your nose growing already. Maybe you can convince yourself and everyone else with that bullshit but it doesn’t work on me, you’ve never been able to lie to me and you never will.” She said, stopping since we ha arrived at the jetty.

The rocks stretched out into the ocean for about a hundred or so feet. When Hannah and I were little, we used to play on these rocks for hours, pretending we were climbing mountains and running away from Dracula or whatever other villain we picked to chase us that day. Now the rocks seemed small, just objects that were there for one purpose which wasn’t our imagination. It’s crazy how times change.

Seeing that I wasn’t going to her answer, Hannah continued, “Look, I know you don’t want to hear it but you have to be honest with yourself Ryan. You don’t like clingers, not even friend clingers and Kara is a clinger and a half. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

My Hannah, always the logical one. She was the rock in my life that kept me grounded. How was she so smart about these types of things?

“I don’t know Hannah, but let’s not talk about this now. We have a party to get ready for and I’ll be damned if I’m in a bad mood going there.”

Grudgingly, she dropped it. If I only knew what was going to happen next in advance.

We walked back, gathered our belongings and went to our respective homes, the plan being that I would pick her up in an hour and give her a ride to the party.

I quickly showered, laid out some
nice khaki shorts and a nice t-shirt with some surfing brand name on it, brushed my teeth, and washed my face. I got changed, threw on some cologne and went over to the mirror. I picked up a comb and straightened out my wavy brown hair, giving it a spike at the front, just brushing it off my forehead.

I ran downstairs and made myself a quick dinner which consisted of a couple scrambled eggs and some milk– yum–before heading out to my car. Claire saw me on my way out and wished me a good time, saying that she couldn’t wait to go next year (The bonfire party was for rising juniors and up, underclassmen were a no-no.)

I pulled up to Hannah’s house and got out of the car. I wanted to say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Richards before going to the beach. I rang the bell and a few seconds later the door opened and Buster, their friendly lab, jumped up and licked my face. “Hey buddy! How’ve you been?” I asked him as I scratched the area under his jaw.

“Enough Buster, get down you silly dog.” Mrs. Richards said, pushing him off of me and stepping in for a hug.

“Is that Ryan I hear out there?” asked a booming voice from the kitchen.

“Yes honey, and that dog of yours just slobbered all over his nice shirt, I think you need come out and apologize.”

Mr. Richards came into the foyer and we made small talk about their vacation until Hannah walked down the stairs.

Seeing her out of the corner of my eye, I turned and did a double take. She had on a pair of way too short jean shorts and a white top that left her toned stomach bare to the elements.

Mr. Richards grumbled something about “Kids these day and their ridiculous clothing.” and told me “You keep her out of trouble, Ryan. With that outfit it’s sure to come find her.” as Hannah grabbed my hand and all but ran out the door throwing a “See ya, parents!” over her shoulder.
I looked back helplessly and gave Mr. Richards a wordless nod before the door closed.

“Wow, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get out of the house in this.” Hannah said as she climbed into the car and fastened her seatbelt.

“I can’t even imagine why…” I joked.

“Haha. Very funny” she said, enunciating the “Haha” very particularly.

We drove to the beach and parked the car in the already overflowing parking lot, getting lucky with finding a spot. As we wandered down to the bonfire, we waved to people that we knew. The music was blaring out of speakers that were placed around the area, making talking in a normal volume impossible. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a new message from Kara.

Kara: Hey babe, sorry I couldn’t make it. Have fun! Wish I was there! I love you! <3

I stopped walking, frozen to the spot. I wondered if I misread the last part. Nope. She told me she loved me. In a text message. For the first time. My head spun. This was not good.

As Hannah pointed out earlier, I am a bit shy of commitments and this one I was definitely not ready to make. The girl was crazy. We’d been dating for a week and she thought it was ok to tell me loved me over a text message, not to mention that it was a text in the first place that she told me she loved me, not even to my face.

Hannah had realized I stopped walking next to her and turned back, walking up to me and asking if I was ok. I barely heard her. My vision seemed cloudy, my thoughts spinning out of control. I needed to escape.

“Beer. I need Beer.” I stammered out.

“Ok then…” Hannah said, looking at me weirdly.

I saw a group of people setting up to play flipcup (a drinking game–if you don’t know what is and you’re a partygoer, you’re not really partying) and I made a beeline for them. Stepping up to the makeshift table, I approached a girl at the end of her team’s line and asked, “You mind if I join?”

She looked me up and down, smiled slightly and said “Sure, grab a cup, let’s see what you got newbie.”

I grabbed a cup, filled it with beer from the keg and came back to the table. I almost forgot about Hannah and I turned to look for her. There. She was talking to a girl who went to school with us and seemed fine. I put my cup down and joined the line. The game was now five on five. A guy who wasn’t wearing a shirt counted down from 3 to 1, acting like he was the starter for a NASCAR race waving his arms wildly, and the game began.

One by one, the players downed their cups of beer, placed them on the edge of the table and started flicking them to try and get them to land open-end-down on the table. When the person next to you completed the two actions, it was your turn to go. The girl next to me finished flipping her cup and I immediately threw back my head and chugged my own cup. I placed it on the end of the table and got it to flip on my first try. My team cheered. The girl next to me gave me a big smile and a high five saying, “I knew you were going to be good at this!”

I played some more. After three or four games I began to feel the alcohol begin to cloud my mind, taking away my panicked thoughts and calming me down. This had another effect too unfortunately, as my mind cleared I noticed that the girl who had been next to me during the flipcup games was downright sexy. My mind ,clouded by annoyance at Kara and by the alcohol I had consumed, took this into account and I admired her striking figure. She had curves that were to die for– large breasts and a sexy little bubble butt that was accentuated by her extremely low cut jean shorts. I could just see some black fabric peeking out of the back of them, definitely a thong. Her long brown hair was loose and hanging about her head, something I thought was very sexy. I gave her a lingering look and she caught me staring, smiling and leaning her shoulder against mine as we set up for the next game.

The shirtless dude gave his signature countdown and the first player on each team started drinking their cup of beer. By the time the girl next me started drinking, the other team was already a full player ahead.

Brown haired girl finished at the same time as our opponent and managed to flip her cup on the first try. I knew we had probably lost already but I chugged my beer anyway and a few seconds later, when I put it down, I realized the other team hadn’t managed to flip their cup yet, the pressure, and probably the beer, was getting to their anchoring team member. I quickly placed my cup down and flicked it, sending it flipping end over end into the air. It over-rotated, landing on its side. I placed it down again and adjusting for my mistake, managing to flip it on my second try. Our opponent also finally flipped his but apparently mine landed first as the shirtless guy raised his hands towards our side, indicating victory.

When I realized we won, for the fifth time in a row, I let out a yell of triumph and picked the brown haired girl up, spinning her around. It only took a couple of turns before my beer addled body had to stop before I fell over. I set her down and she fell against me, her big breasts pushing against my chest. I looked down and saw her cleavage, a glorious sight for my drunken eyes. She looked up at me and suggested we should go find somewhere to sit down, being none too obvious about her intentions.

Laughing, I took her by the hand and started to lead her over towards the bonfire. I thought of Kara, felt bad for a split second before I remembered her “I love you” and clinging tendencies. Angrily, I pushed my thoughts of her out of my head and concentrated on the sexy little thing I was pulling along behind me.

Someone grabbed my wrist and I looked over to find it was Hannah.

“Ryan, don’t. Kara’s……” she started to say.

I didn’t let her finish, and had I, I would’ve found out that Kara had gotten permission from her family to come to the bonfire after dinner was over and that she was planning on surprising me when she got there.

Instead, I shook her off and pulled my new friend over to one of the many logs arrayed around the bonfire for people to sit on. I pulled her down into my lap, vaguely noticing Hannah looking on in disappointment, and one thing led to another.

By now we all know what happens next– the kissing, groping and ultimately the beer dumping when Kara caught us. So, there’s no need to relive that. It’s not a memory I’m proud of and it’s one that I want to think about any more than I already have to. We all make mistakes, some big, some small, but regardless the only thing we can do is apologize and promise that it will never happen again.

Hopefully this gave you some insight into my life before the crazy started happening. I can only hope that now my life will be able to get back to something that can resemble normalcy. So, enough about the past, let’s get back to the present.

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*Present Day*
*************

Today was going to be a good day, I could feel it. The sun was shining, the forecast showed no rain in sight, and I was going to have a chance to show Kara that I was sorry. I didn’t want to get her back or anything, but I did want to make sure she knew she was forever special to me, that betraying her like I did felt terrible, and that I would be eternally sorry for my mistake. Hopefully my speech could convey all that while introducing her to the class at the same time.

At breakfast, everything seemed fine. Everyone was in a good mood and our family dynamic was clearly presented. Claire cracking jokes, me making witty comments, my mom acting put out by us, and my dad observing silently. Just another day in the Harlow household.

My dad told us he was headed out of the country for another business trip (He works in sales and has to do this quite a bit) and commanded us to be good for our mother. We promised him we would and said our goodbyes before getting in my car and driving to school. Maybe life was going back to normal after all, I thought.

Claire and I got to school and headed our separate ways. I walked into homeroom and looked for Hannah, but she was nowhere to be found. I took out my phone, plugged in my headphones and turned on some music to pass the time until first period started. I put my head down on my desk and the next thing I remembered was the bell ringing, signaling the end of homeroom.

Blinking rapidly, I picked my head up off my desk and rubbed my eyes. I had to wake up, it was calculus time.

Hannah saw me in the hallway outside the calculus room and bumped her hip against mine in way of greeting. “Hey there sleepyhead” she said , teasing me about falling asleep in homeroom.

“Hello there yourself.” I grumbled, still a bit groggy from waking up. Trying to wake myself up I adopted a peppy voice and asked her, “Ready for a funderful class filled with complex math that we will never ever use in life? I know I am!”

“Funderful?” Making up your own words now, Ryan?” she asked, a smirk lighting up her face and brightening her features.

“Hey, it’s a pretty good one, don’t you think?” I say as we sit down and take out our books.

“Sure. Let’s go with that.” Hannah told me unconvincingly.

Class starts and Mr. Hammond starts writing on the board, going over last night’s homework. I saw Hannah take out a notebook and begin to draw. A couple minutes later I leaned over and saw she was drawing Mr. Hammond’s pudgy face. Smirking to myself, I took my pen and drew a thick mustache on him. Hannah tried smacking my hand away but missed, hitting the desk and causing a loud “thunk!”to echo across the room. I hastily withdrew my hand and sat back in my seat trying to look innocent and stifling a laugh.

“Yes, Ms. Richards, is there something you’d like to share with the class?” asks Hammond, giving her a blank stare.

“No, sir, I just was.. uh.. yeah, I’m really sorry, it won’t happen again.” Hannah stammers, blushing furiously.

“See that it doesn’t.” he says, turning back to the board.

As soon as his back is turned I lean over again, put my hand on her knee and whisper teasingly, “Aww, you’re so cute when you blush! I should try embarrassing you more often!”

Hannah moves to smack my hand away again and this time doesn’t miss. Thankfully she didn’t connect cleanly, making a loud noise, or we would’ve had more explaining to do. I put my hands flat on my desk and leaned back in my chair, trying to listen to what Mr. Hammond was explaining, but it sounded like gibberish. When class ended, I gave an imaginary fist-pump in celebration.

Economics class passed by uneventfully as Mr. Derek droned on about marginal cost and marginal benefit. Psychology wasn’t much different, Mrs. Raymond decided to put on a video to explain about the different type of psychology. From a professional standpoint it was not the best way to garner respect from a class of 16 and 17 year olds on the second day of school, but it sure as hell made us like her.

Following psychology, I had gym class next. In our school we had gym once a week and it always took the place of our history class, something I definitely didn’t complain about.

I was running a bit late and by the time I had changed into our gym shirt and shorts and walked out of the locker room everyone was already running their warm up laps around the gym. Mr. Adler, our psychopathic gym teacher, was a hardcore fitness fanatic. Picture a guy with the build of a top bodybuilder, muscles upon muscles, and then shrink him to only 5’7 and you’ll have yourself a perfect version of Mr. Adler.

What he lacked in height he more than made up for in loudness. Adler yelling at you felt like getting blasted by a train horn from only a few feet away.

Every class started the same way, we ran five laps around the gym and then met in the middle where Adler would dole out his weekly dose of exhausting exercises. Today we had the pleasure of doing one of the worst.

“Everyone ready for a hard day’s work?” he asked the class, clearly not wanting us to answer. “Alrighty then, lets get to it! Everyone head out to the track.’

We followed him out of the gym and I caught up to Nick, slapping him on the back in greeting when I asked in a faux cheery voice, “You as excited as I am for sprints and pushups and sit-ups and planks and squats and..”

“Yeah, so shut your mouth and hope we get a good team. There’s no way I’m running those extra sprints at the end.” Nick grumbled in reply.

You see, on days like today we ran a circuit. There were 32 kids in the class and we would split up into two teams. The two teams would then race each other, the winner being exempt from the extra sprints at the end of class. The circuit ran like this: The teams would split into 4 groups of 4. Each group would start at a certain station (The 4x 400 relay, pushups, abs–sit-ups and planks–, or squats). When the last person in the running group began their lap around the track, Adler would yell “SWITCH!” and the team name of the runner who began the lap, 1 or 2, and the mini groups in that team would rotate. The first team to have all 16 students finish the 400meter relay won. You might be thinking that the other stations didn’t matter, that you could slack off, maybe conserve some energy for the sprint–the only truly important part. You couldn’t. If Adler saw you slacking, you didn’t want to be you. One time last year a kid was caught lying on the ground when he was supposed to be planking and Adler got so red in the face from yelling, I thought his head was going to explode. That poor kid had to run so many sprints that he ended up puking all over the gym floor and Adler made him clean that up too. Moral of the story, don’t slack off.

This might seem overly intense for a high school gym class, but the reality of the situation was that if you gave it your all, you made Adler happy. It was his job to keep us in shape, and he never forgot it.

“Hannah Richards and Dana Thompson, you two are captains, get picking.” Adler announced when we got to the track.

The four kids who ran track in our class were the first couple of picks. Hannah picked me third and Dana picked a guy from the basketball team.

“Sweet, get Nick, no way we are going to lose this one.” I told her. when it was our team’s turn to pick again.

Hannah looked at me, smiled and called out, “Carly.” The new girl that was in most of our classes and was her partner for the introduction speech.

“Are you nuts?” I whispered harshly to her as Carly came over to our team.

“Just you wait.” Hannah said with a smile on her face.

Nick, of course, got picked up by Dana and gave me a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, “Sorry dude, but your loss.”

I looked over at the new girl, for the first time really noticing her. She stood at about 5’9, taller than most of the other girls in the class. Her dark blonde hair was pulled together in a ponytail. The short blue gym shorts showed off her tan legs, which looked incredibly sex for some reason. Her chest wasn’t big, but wasn’t small either, a nice medium size. Maybe I was staring for too long, but she looked up at me, caught my eye and gave me a shy smile. When I had looked into her eyes for that split second, something clicked in my brain. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what it was, but sometime in the near future, it would come back and hit me like a freight-train. I shook myself out of it and wondered, “How come I didn’t notice all this about her yesterday? She’s absolutely gorgeous.” Oh, right. I was supposed to be taking a hiatus from the opposite sex. I pushed thoughts of her out of my mind and turned my mind to the task ahead of me and winning the race.

Once the teams were finished, we split off and made the mini groups, opting to put our strongest runners in the last group. That group would obviously consist of the two track guys and me, but I couldn’t decide who the last person should be. The rest of our team was pretty average. Before I could say I thought it should be Mike O’Donnell, a tall wiry kid who rowed on the crew team, Hannah said “Carly’s got it.”

Before I could voice my complaint, Hannah looked at me and said, “Trust me.” So I did.

As the last group to run, we had to do all the other stations first and by the time coach called for us to switch to the running station, we were feeling it. Our group of four got together and one of the track guys, Dave, took the leadership role, assigning me to run first, Carly second, him third and the other guy fourth. The idea was to stack our best two runners at the back and make our final push at the very end.
We were about half a lap down by the time our runner from the previous group ran towards us and slapped my hand, falling to the ground in exhaustion.

I took off, pumping my arms and driving myself forward, hoping to make up some ground. The track was a blur under my feet. I might not have been on the track team, but I was a good runner and in shape. As I rounded the last turn, coming down the last 100 meters, I looked up and saw the other team had already switched, but I had definitely made up some ground. I sped up and sprinted as fast as I could, touching Carly’s hand on my way past. I bent over and tried to catch my breath.
When I looked up, I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. There she was, holding her speed and slowly gaining on Nick as they rounded the track. Myself and the other two guys waiting to run started to shout encouragement to her, we could do this. Her long legs were propelling her forward with the grace of a gazelle. She came flying down the last stretch not slowing down until after she had tagged Dave and he began running, chipping away at the lead.

By the time he ran his lap, we were only a second behind the other team. Our last guy quickly closed the gap and led the way for the last 200 meters, giving us the win and giving the other team the sprints.

“Nice work team one. Team two you know the drill, start running!” shouted Adler.

Groans erupted from the team who lost and exclamations of happiness came from those of us who didn’t have to run extra.

It may sound overly brutal, but it sure was a good system for motivating us to give it our all in class.

Walking up to Hannah, I said, “Nice move there with the secret weapon. How’d you know she was that fast?”

“She’s my partner for public speaking, turns out she happened to be an all-state runner back in Pennsylvania but decided to switch her focus to soccer when she moved out here.” Hannah said.

I made my way back up to the school and into the locker room, getting changed out of my gym clothes. I decided to head to the cafeteria so I could get an early start on my lunch. My plan was to eat and then head somewhere with a little more privacy to go over my introductory speech on Kara. I needed to get it right, show her I was sorry in a way she couldn’t just shake off.

I was already eating my healthy dose of cafeteria burger and fries when my friends got to the cafeteria. Nick came up to me, picking a fry off my tray and popping it in his mouth. “You got lucky today Harlow, the new chick has some wheels on her.”

“Yeah, she made you look like you were standing still. Nick Dillon being outrun by a girl, never thought I’d see the day.” I say, taunting him.

“Watch it, that girl would’ve wiped the track with you too.” Nick retaliates, grabbing another fry.

“You going to go get your lunch or just eat all of mine?” I ask, feigning annoyance.

“Fine, be that way. But remember, sharing is caring and caring is love! And I know you love me, Ryan Harlow, I know you love me, bro!” he crooned in a sing-song voice, backing away from me. What a goof.

I looked up towards the doors to the cafeteria and saw Hannah and Carly walking in together. They made quite the pair. I faintly heard someone say my name but all I could do was watch as Hannah threw head back in laughter at something Carly said while Carly’s face lit up in a dazzling smile.

“Ryan!” said a voice right next to my ear. I jumped in my seat, snapping out of my momentary zone out. Turning in my chair, I saw it was Claire. She had a funny look on her face.

“Were you just checking out Carly? Come on, show some class.”

“Why is everyone telling me I can’t even look at the opposite sex right now? Yeah, I cheated, get over it. I’m not dating her anymore am I? No. So why can’t I think about other girls? Am I supposed to sit around and beat myself up about it day after day, hour after hour? It’s fucking ridiculous. And for the record, I wasn’t even thinking about her that way.” I say, getting pretty worked up.

Claire puts her hand on my arm, “Calm down. No one’s telling you to beat yourself up about it. We’re trying to make sure you don’t make anything worse with Kara. Give your speech today, see how it goes, then make the decision on whether or not you think you can try going for another girl.”

“Fine. Sorry. It just gets annoying being scolded every time my eyes wander to someone attractive.”

“Shush. Hang in there.”

“Thanks. See you after school sis.” I say, thinking she was done talking to me.

“So excited to get rid of me? I didn’t even ask my question yet.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh. I thought you asking if I was checking Carly out was your question.”

“Nope. Just an Observation. My question was do you mind if I have a friend come over after school? I checked with mom and she told me to ask you since she won’t be home til really late tonight.”

“Sure, as long as its not a guy I have to chase off with my baseball bat.” I say, shaking my bad mood off.

“Nope, she’s not a guy. Don’t worry! Thanks!” Claire said, skipping away happily.

I finish my food just as Nick, Hannah, and Carly come up to the table with their lunch trays in hand.

“Hey guys, sorry I have to go do something, I’ll catch up with you all later. Carly, way to kick ass today in gym, keep that up and you’ll have Nick punching himself in the face for losing to a girl before long.” She laughs, a beautiful sound escaping from her mouth.

Nick almost growls and gives me a look that tells me I’m going to pay for that comment as I walk out of the cafeteria, chuckling to myself. When I get to the library, I find a quiet corner and begin to go over my speech. I also tell myself that Claire and the others were right, I was going to try and stop thinking about girls until I found out how Kara reacted to my speech. If she forgave me, great, I cold move on. If she didn’t, not great, but at least I knew where I stood and I could still move on. the main thing was I had to try, and try I would.

English and Italian were both a blur, I honestly couldn’t tell you one thing that happened in either class. I was so caught up in thinking about Public speaking that I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention.

Finally the time had come. I walked into class riding the high of my expectations. I was utterly confident that this was going to work. I thought I could get Kara off my back and get a solid grade from Mr. Resch in the process. The rest of the class trickled in. Hannah wished me luck on her way to her seat. I was completely focused on my speech, going it over it in my head until I had managed to plan every vocal inflection, every hand motion, and every breath I took. I was ready. I could do this.

“Ryan Harlow, can I see you for a minute before we begin?” I heard Mr. Resch call from the front of the room. I stood up and walked over to his desk, wondering what this was all about.

“Ryan, your partner, Ms. Stephens, has dropped this class. As she no longer is here, you are hereby exempt from giving a speech today. Since you won’t be giving a speech I technically cant give you a grade for the assignment, but if you would like to volunteer to go first for our next assignment I can give you some extra credit points, sound good?”

“Yeah,” I said numbly, “that’s fine.” My feet felt foreign to me. Emotions welled up inside of me and churned in my stomach, not having an outlet to escape from. Anger, disappointment, and despair came to the forefront before I almost instantaneously reached a sense of calm. It was then that I realized that by writing the speech, I had gotten my feelings off my chest, and if Kara wanted to run away from my apologies and continue to hate me, it was her decision to make. I was done chasing after her and making a fool of myself apologizing over and over again. It’s the thought that counts, right? It’s just too bad that my speech went to waste after I put such an overwhelming amount of time into it. But, hey, that’s life. Shit happens.

I looked around the classroom, taking in the barren white walls, the bright white lights hanging from the ceiling, the fly buzzing around the air conditioning vent in one of the top corner of the room, anything to avoid the look of pity I knew Hannah was giving me right now. I was over it, it was time to move on.

The introductions my fellow classmates gave ranged from great to borderline catastrophic, serious to downright funny. Sadly, I admit most of them went over my head. I knew these people, had grown up with some of them. The only ones I truly listened to were Carly’s and Hannah’s.

Carly introduced Hannah first. She started haltingly, obviously nervous at speaking in front of a class of kids who were all new to her. Her eyes met mine and I tried giving her an encouraging smile. I don’t think it worked. Thankfully, she focused on Hannah and I imagine she pictured herself conversing with only her in the room. Words started flowing naturally out of her mouth and she did a fine job of recovering from her slow start. Mr. Resch thanked her for introducing Hannah and then it was Hannah’s turn to speak.

I learned that Carly was from Philadelphia and had moved out here just a few weeks before school started because her dad took a new job. Philadelphia was not her home town though. In fact, she had been born here and moved there when she was six. Something about this struck me as odd, and I couldn’t help but think I was missing something. She ran track and played soccer but chose to focus on soccer instead, hoping to play in college. She liked alternative music, romantic comedies, and lasagna was her favorite food. She could speak Italian fluently, which was why she wasn’t in our Italian class. She had a younger sister and her family owned a cat, even though she herself was a dog person. All in all, it was a very basic introduction but Hannah was a natural public speaker and had never been shy of the spotlight. She managed to make the mundane seem incredibly interesting. She was fascinating to watch.

Class ended and Mr. Resch told us we were lucky he didn’t have time to give us our next assignment. I walked straight out the door and immediately to the car. Maybe I had homework, but frankly, I didn’t care. I wanted to avoid Hannah and her probing questions about how I felt.

Once again, I told myself it was Kara’s decision to make, I just had to respect it and I promised myself that I would move on.

I was standing outside of my car, updating Nick via text message about the Kara situation when Claire walked up with her friend in tow.

“Hey Ryan, this is Jen. Jen, this is my brother Ryan.” Claire said quickly, before opening the passenger door and getting in the car without waiting for our responses.

I looked up from my phone and a smaller version of Carly looked back at me. The same dark blonde hair, the same deep blue eyes, the same full, moist lips. I blinked my eyes a few times, thinking maybe I was seeing things. I wasn’t.

“Hi Ryan, nice to meet you.” she said, extending her hand for me to shake.

“Nice to meet you too Jen. You must be Carly’s sister.” I said, shaking her hand.

“Oh, you know Carly? But yeah she is my sister.” Jen told me.

“Yeah I do, she was on my team today for a relay race in gym and she basically destroyed the poor guy she ran against.” I tell her, opening the door to the back seat for her.

Jen raised her eyebrows at me, as if to say she thought this simple form of chivalry was outdated. “Thanks,” she said as she got into the car, “and if you think she is a good runner, wait til you see her on the soccer field.”

I closed her door and hopped into the drivers seat, fastening my seatbelt and turning the key in the ignition to start the car.

“You told me he was hot but you failed to mention he was a nice guy too.” Jen says from the back, clearly talking to Claire.

I looked over at my sister who was blushing slightly and said, “Oh so you think I’m hot, huh sis?”

Blushing even more she stammered, “Y-yeah… I guess so. I mean if you weren’t my brother you’d be pretty attractive and all. But you are, so no I don’t think you’re hot.”

“Don’t listen to her. She knows you’re hot. She told me earlier. She just doesn’t want to admit that she thinks so.” Jen chimed in from the back seat.

Claire turned even more red, I didn’t think it was possible. I decided to give her a break and tried to give Jen, who was obviously enjoying my sister’s discomfort, a taste of her own medicine. “So Jen, does that mean you think I’m hot too?” I asked, shooting her a megawatt smile in the rearview mirror.

Meeting my eyes, she calmly said, “Yes.” and didn’t elaborate. Well there went my plan to embarrass her.

The two girls started talking about classes and teachers, completely shutting me out of their heads. We got back to our house and I told them I would be up in my room if they needed anything, and that if the house burned down I was going to tell mom and dad it was 100% Claire’s fault.

I had just gotten to my room and powered up my Xbox when I heard a knock on the door. “Yeah?” I called out.

“Ryan, we’re going in the pool and we turned on the hot tub too. Thought I would let you know!” Claire said from the other side of the door. Some nice relaxation time in the hot tub sounded phenomenal.

“Thanks! I might be out a bit!” I called out. There was no answer so I figured she must have already walked away.

A few minutes later I decided to go outside to the backyard and go through with my hot tub relaxation idea.

I threw on a pair of swim trunks and grabbed a towel from my bathroom before heading out. I opened the sliding glass door that led out to the deck and pool area. When I walked out, the two girls were standing by the edge of the pool, just talking.

They had on small bikinis that didn’t leave much to the imagination. It looked like Claire had lent Jen one of hers and then they decided to switch tops. I have never understood why girls do that. Having the same color top and bottom is definitely not a sin. But, nonetheless, Claire stood there in a black top and neon pink bottoms while Jen wore the neon pink top and black bottoms.
Claire happened to look over and saw me, and said “Oh, you decided to come out!”

“Yeah. I figured getting in the hot tub couldn’t hurt me.” I said, walking over to one of the chairs by the pool and putting my towel down. I then took off my shirt and set that down too. When I looked at the girls again, they were staring at me. Claire, weirdly, and Jen with an expression on her face that almost looked like hunger.

“Damn.” I heard Jen whisper to herself.

Shrugging, I walked over to the hot tub and lowered myself into it, letting the hot water envelope my body. I heard the girls dive into the pool and splash around. This continued for a few minutes before they got out and came over to soak in the hot water.

Claire turned the bubbles on, the jets kicking up water and clouding the surface of the water. The hot tub wasn’t huge but it was more than big enough to fit three people comfortably so I was a little surprised when Jen sat just a couple feet away from me in the water. Claire sat opposite Jen and they resumed whatever conversation they had been having about fashion. I tuned them out and just let my body relax, feeling my muscles loosen up.

A hand on my thigh jolted me back into reality. I looked over at Jen and she was still talking animatedly to Claire, giving no sign that she had her hand where it was. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, as I said earlier, I was ready to move on and keep fraternizing with the female sex since Kara had decided not to give me a chance to apologize, but I didn’t know how I felt about my sister’s new friend having her hand on thigh when my sister was only a few feet way. Granted, she couldn’t see anything, the jets disturbed the water enough that nothing was visible under the surface.

The hand on my thigh started slowly moving up and down, teasing me. I was well on my way to achieving a raging boner. I looked over and saw Claire looking at me funny.

“Why are you grimacing?” she asked me.

“Oh, my back. I pulled it in gym today.” I answered smoothly, brushing Jen’s hand off my leg in the process.

I stood up and quickly got out of the hot tub claiming I had to go do some homework. Jen gave me a pouting look as I walked away. What the hell was happening right now? I thought to myself. I dried off and got changed out of my wet bathing suit opting to put on a pair of gym shorts and a loose t-shirt.

I settled back down on my bed and got engrossed in reading an article about the Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton on my phone. I heard the water start running across the hall, someone was using the shower. I didn’t think much of it.

My door opened and Jen walked into the room, still wearing her wet bikini. I bolted upright in my bed. “What the f..” I started to say. She pushed me backwards on the bed.

“Shut up.” she said, placing her hands on my chest and sitting her wet butt on my upper thighs, trapping me. “I haven’t gotten anything since we moved here and I’m tired of waiting for some stupid guy to make the move. Plus, most of the guys in my grad are dweebs. I want you, Ryan.”

“Are you crazy? Claire is right across the hall.” I said in a voice that portrayed me as being more upset than I really was. I had a hot girl straddling me. On my bed. In a sexy little bikini. So what if she was a grade below me and my sister’s new friend?

“Then we’ll have to make this quick.” she said, letting herself fall forward and kissing me. I made no move to stop her. This girl was not shy, she knew what she wanted and went and got it. I couldn’t help but think of her sister Carly. Her captivating smile, the laugh that I yearned to hear after only hearing it once, and the eyes that drew me in and didn’t want to let me go. It was crazy. I hadn’t even really had a conversation with her yet. All I had were a few shy smiles. And in a matter of hours, her little sister, basically her doppelgänger, was throwing herself at me. I pushed Carly out of my mind and focused on the girl on top of me. When I really thought about it, she was no less beautiful than her sister. Yeah, she was a bit smaller, both in height and development, but they looked so much a like that it didn’t even phase me. My cock hardened in my pants, throbbing in anticipation.

Our kiss grew deeper, her tongue determinedly pushing its way into my mouth. Her hips started grinding against mine. Our sexes separated by my shorts and her wet bikini bottoms.

I moaned slightly into her mouth, my hands working their way up from her waist to her stomach to her chest. I gently squeezed her bikini-clad breasts, taking the firm mounds in my hands before lightly brushing my thumb over her nipples. I broke the kiss as I reached around her with one hand and undid the strings that help her top on. The bikini top fell off her body and her bare breasts were suddenly staring me in the face. Pale mounds of flesh standing proudly out from her body, little pink nipples poking out of their centers.

“Fuck,” I breathed out, “you are so incredibly sexy.”

“You’re one to talk.” she whispered back, her voice breaking as she pulled my short over my head.

Abandoning speech, I leaned up and began to kiss her collarbone, eliciting a low moan from Jen.

My hands began to knead her breasts. She started grinding her hips against me even faster, despite the now awkward position with me half sitting up. I moved down from her collarbone, kissing between her breasts before gently flicking my tongue across each of her nipples. Her mouth formed a silent “o”, her eyes closed, and her back arched, pleading for more. The sound of the water running stopped.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I cursed, breaking out of our own little world.

Jen quickly pulled her bikini top back on, annoyance clearly flashing across her face. She looked at me and her amazing blue eyes found mine, a silent promise that this wasn’t over, not by a long shot.

She backed out of the room, telling me sexily, “Next time, we’re going to finish what we started.” I grinned in response.

A few minutes later my erection had subsided, but being blue-balled is never a fun thing. I heard the doorbell ring and reluctantly got up and went downstairs to answer it.

I opened the door to the sight of Carly standing there. My first thought was if she looked as sexy topless as her sister did. Of course she would. Probably even sexier. Fighting these thoughts away and composing my self I said, “Hey, come on in, Jen and Claire are upstairs. I’ll let them know you’re here.”

“Ok, thanks” she said shyly, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear, sending a pang of something through my chest. I called upstairs and let the girls know that Carly was here to pick Jen up.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” I asked.

“Oh no, thank you, I’m fine.”

“So, how do you like being back in sunny Florida?” I ask her, trying to make conversation. She was no where near as outgoing as her sister, but for some reason her shyness appealed to me just as much as Jen’s forwardness.

“It’s great! I love the warm weather. I don’t remember much from before, I was so young.” She told me. I thought I heard an undertone to her last comment about not remembering much, but I told myself I was reading too far into things.

“Yeah, I love it here. Are the people at school treating you well?”

“Yeah, especially Hannah, she’s great.” Carly tells me, looking up at me through her eyelashes.

“Hannah’s awesome. You’ve made a fine first friend here in her. That girl is one in a million.” I tell her genuinely.
Claire and Jen came downstairs and Jen walked up to Carly, telling her she was ready to go.

“Bye Ryan! It was nice meeting you!” Jen said, giving me a little hug. As she pulled away, she gave me a little pinch on the butt, making me jump. Smirking, she said goodbye to Claire and walked out the door.

“Nice talking to you Carly, I’ll see you in homeroom tomorrow! Stop being a stranger!” I tell her.

“Yeah, I’d like that.” she responded, flashing me one of those shy smiles.

The rest of the night passed quickly. Claire and I ordered pizza for dinner and ate it as we watched a movie on TV. My mom got home around 9:00 and asked us all about our days in that way moms do, prying for every tiny detail. I went to bed shortly after, my thoughts still on the Campagna sisters. I wondered just how far Jen was going to take it the next time she got me alone.

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Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave comments, good or bad. Many of you might be wondering what the “Curve” is that was stressed in the end of the previous chapter. You’ll have to wait a bit to find out. It can’t come when you’re expecting it, now! Thanks again for your support.

KWAR14

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