... Maybe and explanation is in order. Just how did a girl like Alicia go from normal to exhibitionist?

... Its been almost two years since Alicia had her first encounter with Sam. At that time Alicia had been dating Brad and Sam interrupted them doing some heavy flirting.

... But to understand anything you have to understand where Alicia came from. The community around Curtis School isn't bound by geography but by attitude and money. Curtis is a private school, what people used to call a prep school, as in college preparatory. And while most Curtis graduates go on to college. Curtis was not known for its academic rigor. These days, the reason a parent would send their student to Curtis was not so much for what it offered but for what their student would avoid by not going to "public" school.

... First and foremost was the violence endemic in our society. There was none at Curtis. Private schools can offer a different environment then public schools for one simple reason, they can expel students who don't follow the rules. The courts have decided that an education is a right of every citizen. But a private school education is not. Public schools have to put up with far more nonsense then most people can imagine. A private school can simply outline what is nonsense and not put up with it.

... In fact though, it is rare that Curtis has to expel any student. The simple fact that they can and that the student's parents are spending a ridiculous amount of money when a free education of equal value is available keeps most students in line. The fact that Curtis is private and that most parents have to transport their students some distance to get there lends itself to a certain homogeneity of outlook. Parents choose Curtis because it matches their values in some way. Or simply because their friends send their kids to Curtis. And so a community, not of geography but of attitude grows up around any private school.

... The director of any nonprofit entity has to be a professional beggar. But these people are special, they are so good, so refined in their begging that most people don't see it as begging. If some one approaches you on the street you may feel sorry for their circumstances but you may also feel that if you give to the individual you will only be encouraging begging in your community. The successful director of a nonprofit achieves exactly the opposite response. They make you feel good about your giving, they make you feel like you are contributing not to the entity but to the society as a whole, giving doesn't mean you're weak but rather that you have a good heart, and if you don't give they will beg all that much more.

... Now a good director of a nonprofit knows the way to successful begging of this sort is not to beg but rather to make the entity important and constant in the lives of the donors. To this end they encourage a sense of community. The Directors of Curtis encourage a sense of community by having as many parent committees as possible. They have parents nights every term. They have alumni vs. faculty football games. They have golf tournaments. Fashion shows, swim meets. All of which sell tickets and etc. to generate money for the school but none of these activities individually or collectively contributes a significant amount of money to the school's bottom line. What they do is keep the school central to these people's lives and experiences and so when the major request comes along the check is written automatically, just like for the utilities and the community security guards.

... As with most such organizations it is the wives and mothers who are most active. Most of these women do not work, their husbands are too rich. But it is a mistake to think they lay around watching soaps everyday. These women are in fact incredibly busy. They are the committee women that Sam identifies with her mother. They serve on committees of all kinds and commit hundreds of hours of work for no monetary gain. But only a few of these women are truly altruistic.

... For most of these women they gain in another kind of currency. These women work for power, sexual power. It should go without saying that all of these women are under forty years of age. They are attractive, with perfect skin and hair. They are also always fashionably dressed. But perhaps not in the fashions you will see rushes on at Walmart and Target. No these women dress in a style known as casual sensual. They gain their power through desire. When all the men around them desire to have them alone then the playing field is level and they can get to work.

... Of course this kind of currency works best if you don't spend it. If you keep it deer, if you keep it as collateral against future needs. Unfortunately not everyone can resist spending what they have, which has resulted in some very complicated extended families around the school. In more then one case, children who didn't know each other in the seventh grade will become brothers and sisters and then estranged again before they graduate.

... Alicia's own mother had been pushed out and sent packing by someone she thought was a friend. Unfortunately for Alicia's mother the divorce settlement did not go her way, she'd had trouble keeping her hand out of the till too, and so Alicia staid with her dad so that she could continue at Curtis while her mother fished for another rich husband. As has been well documented Alicia's stepmother had no use for a reminder of the first wife and so Alicia was without guidance.

... Like all too many of us, without the benefit of guidance Alicia started down the path that would lead her to becoming what she hated.

... Brad had been fifteen, he was tall and fairly good looking. He was good at sports and within Alicia's league. So Alicia had pursued and been "rewarded." Unfortunately Brad was restless. He wasn't happy just sitting and watching TV. He wasn't comfortable talking on the phone or in person for any lengths of time. He always had to be doing something, pushing against what ever pushed back.

... Brad found Alicia's resistance was to "going all the way" and so that's where he pushed her. Alicia wasn't resistant to "going all the way" on principal it was just that she had figured out Brad's M.O. early on. So she'd metered out what she would give him, enough to keep him interested, not too much so it would be over too soon. For Alicia had also realized that when she and Brad actually had sex, it would be over. Alicia would have nothing left to deny Brad and he would loose interest. Unfortunately Alicia put all of this together a little too late. If she broke up with Brad it would be seen as proof that she wouldn't have sex and other guys, decent looking etc. guys, would shy away from her. If she wouldn't put out for Brad she won't put out for anybody. If Brad had been less attractive, less cool, etc. she could have gotten away with dropping him.

... Her only hope at the moment if she dropped him was to arrange to have a more experienced girl, one known to have put out, to date Brad and then drop him, saying that Brad was a loser. Then Alicia would have a second chance. (Not a likely scenario as Alicia saw it.)

... Alicia fully planned and expected to loose her virginity to Brad. The afternoon that Sam interrupted them was about a week and a half/ two weeks ahead of Alicia's schedule. But Brad was bored with feeling, seeing and licking her breasts (the licking hadn't held his interest as long as she'd hoped) and was pushing for her to remove her pants. He was using crude language and Sam overheard him.

... Sam took Brad inside and had some words with him which ended in a slap. Then Sam had driven Alicia home. Alicia hadn't expected Sam to talk to her, unless it was to tell her to stay away from her stepson but Sam had asked Alicia why she put up with the kind of treatment Brad had been giving her.

... Sam told Alicia that she had to demand better treatment and not to act like a whore if she didn't want to be one. Alicia had told Sam that she acted like her husband's whore. Sam it was clear was none too pleased about Alicia's comment but she took the time to explain that she did not trade in sex and affection. She said that she loved her husband and that they together had designed their home life. She was not trying to get something from him or to prove something to him or anybody else.

... Alicia found herself unable to forget what Sam had said to her. She closely watched her stepmother and she did see a difference in attitude from Mrs. Merati that she hadn't noticed before. She didn't think her stepmother respected her dad, she might not even love him. Alicia wanted to observe Mrs. Merati more to see how this balance was done or if Mrs. Merati had been lying.

... Brad was understandably reluctant to invite Alicia over to the house again and Alicia was reluctant to give Brad a quickly somewhere on campus. So the two of them broke up as a couple. Alicia then had to get to the Merati house on her own.

... Alicia made sure to always be waiting by the carpool line when Mrs. Merati picked up the boys. She made sure to wave and say hi to Mrs. Merati. Some times, if the boys were late, Alicia would come over to the driver's side and talk to Mrs. Merati through the open window. She would try to include comments like there was no one home at her house for hours, or that it was so hot she sure would like to go swimming.

... One day Mrs. Merati/Sam invited Alicia home for a swim. Alicia knew that Mrs. Merati swam naked and she wasn't sure about the boys but when Sam learned that Alicia didn't have a swimsuit with her she packed everyone up again and they went out to an arcade. Sam played a few of the games before she sat down and read. She seemed to be having a good time but it was not lost on Alicia that things would have gone much better if she'd brought her swimsuit.

... Alicia managed to swing another invitation a few weeks later and this time she did bring her swimsuit. Sam directed her to the guest bathroom to change in even though Sam took her clothes off right by the front door and hung the up on a clothes tree. Mrs. Merati didn't wear a bra, which Alicia already knew but when undressing she did leave on her thong except in this case she took it off and told Alicia too meet her out by the pool when she was done changing.

... Alicia had been right, Sam did swim naked and she sunbathed naked briefly before pulling a string bikini from a nearby towel cabinet and carefully lining up the suit with her tan lines. This was nothing new, Alicia knew about tan line management only most women she knew tried to erase them not deepen them. Alicia was nervous swimming with a naked person. She didn't know why she should be nervous but she was. Lying down next to Sam took even more courage. Sam just glanced at her and then put her head back. The guys came out later to ask that they go out for pizza. They didn't seem too shooken up about Sam in her bikini, and they didn't notice Alicia at all.

... Alicia managed to wrangle a few more invitations. She learned that on cool days Sam went right up to her room to change into a T shirt and pants rather then hang her clothes in the entry hall. She also learned that Sam kept the house on a strict schedule. They could have an after school snack but nothing heavy. Dinner was at Six and homework from seven to ten. No TV on school nights. At ten the boys were either to be in bed or on their way there. Dr. Merati usually got home somewhere between Nine thirty and ten and it was clear that Sam not only respected her husband, she loved him.

... But unlike Alicia's suspicion, Sam did not jump on Dr. Merati the moment he got home. She would make him something and then they would sit at the dinning table, go over the boy's homework or the day's events. They shared things, which was something new in Alicia's experience.

... Alicia wasn't there the day that Child Protective Services took the boys away. And she wasn't by the house until maybe a week after the boys returned home. Alicia could see right away some of the residual effects of the custody case. Sam no longer undressed just inside the door. She went right upstairs and came down a few minutes later wearing shorts and a blouse. Alicia could tell that she still didn't wear a bra but her body wasn't on display the way it had been.

... Sam still wore the same swimsuit to sunbathe but now she also wore it in the water. The boys didn't use swimsuits. Alicia had her first experience of swimming with naked boys before the custody battle. It had unnerved her at first how nonchalant they were about dropping their pants and diving into the water (didn't that hurt?). And she expected them to bump into her or play some other game, but nothing happened. How could it with Sam watching everything like a vulture. She apparently hadn't forgotten what Brad was like.

... Alicia didn't see much of the Meratis over the summer but when the school year started again it didn't take long for Alicia to become a regular guest. She was at the Merati house at least once a week. Something had happened over the summer and nobody volunteered anything about it. The clothes tree was back in the entryway and was now used by the boys too. (The boys though typically stopped at shoes and socks.)

... Sam again wandered around the house most of the day dressed in no more then a thong and after their swim while Alicia had to redress Sam often neglected to dress at all. So that she was still naked from her after swim shower when Dr. Merati got home. Dr. Merati always seemed surprised and please to see Sam. It was clear he would love her no matter how she dressed. During that second school year Alicia became almost one of the family. She was put to work, setting the table, cleaning the pool filter, watering the lawn, making dinner, anything and everything. She wasn't singled out it was just if she was going to be there all the time she had to do her share.

... It was during this second year that Alicia's desire to mimic Sam became strong while she was scared of the idea of walking around the house naked she also resented the fact that she was often the only person in a swimsuit by the pool. Alicia's home life was also becoming more difficult. Her stepmom seemed to be angry that Alicia had found someplace else to hang out.

... It was late in this second year, on a day when the guys were off doing something and it was just Alicia and Sam that Sam told Alicia, "Why don't you leave that damn thing by the lounge?"

... Sam was inviting Alicia to swim naked with her. Alicia was nervous to say the least but she managed to remove her one piece and leave it by the lounge. She slowly walked into the water from the shallow end. It was amazing how different the pool felt with out her swimsuit. Sam didn't seem to notice any of Alicia's hesitancy or awkwardness. Afterwards they both lay out to dry off, naked under the sun. Was this really all there was to it? If so Alicia had no idea why she still found it so exciting. Sam made sure Alicia was dressed again before the boys got home.

... It was June, a few weeks before the end of school when Alicia made her plea to Sam to spare her from a summer couped up in the house with her stepmother. Sam wanted to know where Alicia thought she would sleep. Alicia said the garage, she even had her own inflatable mattresses. Sam then told Alicia to ask the boys. The both agreed with out thought, she was there most of the time already and if she lived there she could do more of the chores. Then Sam asked Dr. Merati, this was the part that worried Alicia the most. Alicia barely knew Dr. Merati, mainly because he came home so late.

... Alicia also noticed that Sam hadn't said how she felt about Alicia moving in. If Sam had been her stepmother the answer would have been an immediate, no. She didn't want some young girl wondering around the house where her husband could see her, even if she wore an ugly prison jumpsuit 24/7.

... The answer came down from on high that, yes, Alicia could move into the garage after school was out. The guys helped Alicia move her stuff. And Alicia's stepmom surprised her again by not being happy about the arrangement, her father hadn't been home. Once moved in Sam had sat down with Alicia to explain some ground rules. Alicia was responsible for making sure the cars were covered every night, including Dr. Merati's car, before she went to sleep. And she was responsible for washing the cars once a week. These were in addition to her fair share of the other chores.

... Sam also told Alicia that when she and Sam were alone in the house she could wear what ever she wanted but when the men were home she was to cover her three points. Alicia understood and agreed readily. And shortly the varnish was off the new arrangement. The garage was too hot in the day and too cold at night. And she was still the odd person out when it came to dress and everything else the boys could pick on the "girl" about. But it was still better then home. In fact she came to enjoy the boy's teasing, it was better then being ignored.

... Which brings us to today. In a few minutes Sam is going to tell Alicia to take off the damn bikini if she wants to. The boys will be home soon and the two of them had already put on their bikinis in expectation of the boy's return. Taking off the clown suit now would mean she'd be naked when the boys got home. She'd reached the next step. But she didn't know what had changed Sam's mind.

... Sam had sounded annoyed when she told Alicia she could take off her bikini. She didn't want to annoy Sam, even though she hated the suit and made a show of throwing it away. Alicia wanted to know what had thrown the balance in her favor. She needed to know for the future but she was too worried about the immediate future to pursue the question.

... Alicia did her best to pose looking as calm as possible, as though nothing had changed. She heard the boys drive up and then come outside. She was gripping the lounge cushion with all her strength but every other muscle was at rest. Alicia tried to map out the boy's movements and reactions just boy their sounds. She heard the water move and she thought they might be going in for a swim. But she had a premonition that something was wrong just before the wet suit landed on her.

... The fight that followed was actually the best thing that could have happened. She forgot all about her nervousness. Alicia was still a little nervous for the next few days but the boys didn't treat her any differently. All that time being around them had taken the edge off of this moment. Now Alicia finally was Sam jr.