Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:40:18 -0500
From: Hessa Meena <hessa.meena@gmail.com>
Subject: Camp Brite (Lesbian High School)

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------\\
author's note -- this story is loosely based around the
experiences of certain girls who attended exclusive boarding schools and
summer camps on the East Coast.
if it sounds like someone you know, it just might be.
if you have a problem with queer sex ... what are you doing HERE?
make love, not war
... hessa.meena (at) gmail.com...
\\-------------------------------------------------------------------------//
During a lazy summer session before senior year a few girls sprawled in the
quad after walking to the post office.
"Really?..." Nicole, a willowy blonde leaned back on her elbow and fanned
herself with a magazine, then placed it back on the lawn as Annie, her
dark-haired friend shifted uncomfortably on the grass then started digging
through the box again.
"Yeah totally." Annie blurted, "I'm sure," as Nicole gave her a weird look.
"No really." Annie changed positions again and continued rummaging through
the care package. "I usually give them to my little sister, but..."
"Are you sure you're sure?" said Nicole, watching her friend pull out a box
of tampons and a tube of sunscreen.
"Nicole..." Annie rolled her eyes, then smiled at the 25 pack of blank CDs.
"Seriously." She bit her lip. "They're yours." She handed the box of condoms
to her friend and shrugged. "I so don't use them..."
They might have forgotten, but Charlotte was lying motionless a few feet
away with her headphones in her ears, but no sound coming out. She had
walked with them to the post office half an hour ago, then flopped on the
lawn to fiddle with her iPod, which she'd just painted a very realistic
leopard skin pattern with nail polish, and was assumed, by both girls
typically lost in her internal soundtrack.
"So you're completely done with guys." Nicole's sneer was audible even from
where Charlotte sprawled a few feet away.
"Look, Nicole," Annie sighed. She closed her eyes. "I told you...I'm...gay."
Charlotte forced herself to keep her breathing sluggish and continue faking
sleep. She couldn't help but listen to their conversation and be curious
about Annie's details.
An airplane zoomed by above as Nicole leaned away from Annie.
"C'mon Annie, you're so not a lesbo..."
"Nikki," Annie sounded like she was holding her breath. "What the fuck?
We've been friends forever, I thought you of all people wouldn't judge me."
"But..." Nicole sounded as if she was trying compute physics and Latin at the
same time. "But...but what about Marcus?" Marcus was Annie's boyfriend from
the boy's campus across the lake, whom the whole dorm had heard detailed
play-by-play details of their dates last year. Annie sighed.
"Marcus is TOTAL sweetheart, and a better kisser than most, but..." her voice
trailed off, as Nicole squeaked back again in rebuke.
"And WHAT, Annie?" Charlotte wished she could see Annie's face. "That boy is
so hot, we all HATED you when you two hooked up."
"Nikki..." Annie mumbled.
"What, I mean..." Nicole's tone changed from disbelief to concern. "You're
SERIOUS?"
"Why aren't you listening to me?" Charlotte heard the rustling of the box's
contents as Annie gathered her belongings with the first clang of the dinner
bell. "I told you I hooked up with a girl that I'd been crushed out over
forever over spring break, and I thought one of my best friends would listen
to me without freaking out."
Through the clang of the bell Charlotte heard Nicole sigh and call after
Annie in exasperation. Charlotte sat up slowly processing what she'd just
heard. She never suspected that Annie, one of the more powerful girls in
their class, was into other girls. Charlotte shoved any thoughts of Annie in
the sexual category from her brain, then stretched and eased herself up off
the grass. Annie was hot, Charlotte had to admit, and she imagined the
faintest of sexual imagery to skitter through her brain while she ran a hand
through her shoulder length strawberry blond hair and put on her glasses.
***
Later that night Charlotte sat in the music studio where she spent most of
her free time. She brooded behind the drum kit trying to master a beat that
kept invading her thoughts. And was finally getting the rhythm and feel
where she wanted it, so felt better than she had all day.
She wanted to be a musician and producer when she got older, and had been
playing guitar and bass, and now drums since middle school. In years past
there were older girls and plenty of guys who played music, but this year no
one was left, and she had over a month to work on recording the songs she
had written over the past year before the real school year started and she
had to focus on academics and getting into college.
She pushed her glasses back up her nose, frowning as she hit the snare drum.
The beat was realizing itself the longer she sat there, but curfew was in
fifteen minutes and she had to close down the studio and get back to the
bunk.
Charlotte sighed and wondered if she would ever get up the nerve to talk to
Annie about what she overheard that afternoon. Charlotte knew how much nerve
it took to come out to a friend, particularly a very straight friend and
wondered how to offer Annie some kind words without embarrassing herself or
stirring up the school rumor mill.
***
A few nights later Charlotte was finally ready to record the drums, but
stood up from behind the kit hoping she could smoke a little pot on the back
deck without getting caught. She peered out the studio door, and was about
to walk onto the deck when she heard Annie's voice in the darkness.
"Hey Char..." Annie smiled up sheepishly, and Charlotte yelped.
"Holy shit! You scared me." They both giggled. Annie stood up and put her
sketchbook on the railing.
"Sorry, I was leaving the art barn when I heard that beat you've been
blasting from the studio, what's it from?" Charlotte shifted uncomfortably,
wishing she didn't have a pipe in her hands. "Uh hello? Earth to Charlotte?"
Annie sensed her nervousness and looked at Charlotte's hands.
"Shit." Charlotte blurted. "Annie, please don't rat me out...I just wanted to
smoke a little before I tried to record the drums."
Annie rolled her eyes at the pot then blinked at Charlotte. "Wow, wait, that
was you playing?" Annie smiled goofily at Charlotte as she nodded and stared
at her ratty Converse. "That's so cool..." Charlotte lifted her eyes as they
stared at each other for a moment until Charlotte sighed and blew her bangs
off her forehead.
"You might as well come inside, I hate it when bugs get in here..." Annie
smiled and watched Charlotte turn off computers and gadgets and finally put
a dust cloth over all the instruments.
"Do you play piano too?" Annie asked, noticing the still-covered piano and
keyboards.
"Absolutely not," Charlotte deadpanned. "I REALLY suck at that..."
"C'mon Char, that was awesome...I'd love to hang out and draw when you're in
here..." She seemed embarrassed. "I mean...if you don't mind." Charlotte looked
at her and pushed her glasses up her nose with her index finger.  Annie was
cute, and she lowered her eyes when their eye contact made her
uncomfortable. She'd wondered what "hooking up" with another girl meant
since she'd heard Annie telling Nicole of her spring break.
"Sure...if you really want to hang out in here, but most of the time I'm just
playing the same thing over and over `till I get it right. It'd probably
make you sick." Annie raised her eyebrows at Charlotte's determination.
"You're really into this, aren't you?" She nodded at Charlotte's bashful
smile. "What?" Annie demanded, slightly aware that Charlotte looked like she
was almost blushing.
"You know..." Charlotte began, unsure how to approach the thing that had been
on her mind since her unplanned eavesdropping. "You're welcome to hang out
in here if you want, but Nicole will come around," Charlotte watched as
Annie stiffened. "Or she's not really your friend."
"What are you talking about?" Annie swallowed uncomfortably.
"Annie, it's ok..." Charlotte pushed her bangs off her forehead and started
putting cables and other things back where they belonged. "Remember on the
lawn that day when you were talking to Nicole...I uh...well I...overheard."
"You...What?" Tears welled in Annie's eyes. "I didn't think anyone was...I
forgot you..." she shook her head and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry Char, I
just..."
"You're freaked out, it's ok...it can be weird." Charlotte looked nervously at
Annie wrapping a chord around her arm, then put it on the hook on the wall.
She stood and faced Annie, "But it can also be really cool." Annie shot
Charlotte a `what do you know' glance and Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Annie,
hello?" She sighed and gestured with her hands. "Why do you think I never go
to any of the dances?"
Charlotte blinked and continued. "And why do you think I never gossip about
sex or boys or..."
Annie's eyes widened. "Does anybody know?" She stared at Charlotte, taking
in her lanky arms and fair coloring, wondering what the rest of her body
looked like. Wishing she could ignore these sudden thoughts.
"Doubtful." Charlotte looked at the floor. "You're the only person here I've
ever told." Annie nodded, more to herself than Charlotte. She'd always
wondered if the taciturn musician was hiding more than just her songs. She
gave Charlotte an awkward grin, wishing she had the guts to take the other
girl's hand. Her chest tightened, and she looked at the floor.
"Look," Charlotte blurted, as if she felt the tension. "We should go. I
don't want to be late for curfew." Annie nodded and they walked along the
path back to their bunk in silence, both wishing they had the nerve to say
more.
***
The next day after lunch Annie sat with her sketchbook at one of the picnic
tables.  She was working on an independent study credit for school and spent
most of her free time sketching out ideas for a graphic novella she had
promised her teachers by October's first marking period.
Annie contemplated her evolution from an admitted "mean" and "popular" girl
into a much less confident, albeit more honest ... what? Annie realized she
had no idea who she was supposed to be. And as scary as it was, it was sort
of relieving.
"Maybe this time around," she wrote in her sketchbook, "I'll like the girl
in the mirror." The sketch showed the reflection of a relaxed, smiling girl
in a braid, jeans and t-shirt shrugging from the confines of her reflection
of a tense looking girl in a tiara, gown and pearls.
She caught herself watching Charlotte wake up this morning, imagining gasps
of pleasure instead of the first stretches of waking. As if she could feel
Annie's eyes on her Charlotte met Annie's stare and lifted herself off her
bunk. The glimpse of the other girl's stomach under her t-shirt, and the
length of her legs as she lowered to the floor made Annie catch her breath.
When Charlotte met her eyes, this time with the clarity of her glasses, the
look implied understanding and Annie swallowed uncomfortably.
***
Saturday during a free swim Charlotte and Evan, another senior from the
boy's side across the lake were talking and laughing on one of the floating
ramps anchored in the middle of the lake. Annie couldn't see them behind the
walls of inner tubes and life vests, but she could hear them as the sound of
their laughter burst across the lake. She'd watched Charlotte swam out after
lunch, and could hear splashes and their laughter as it traveled to the dock
where she stood.
Annie was about to walk back to the bunk and draw when she heard a splash
and saw Evan paddling in a canoe back to his side. Dinner wasn't for a few
hours and it was the first time she'd been able to be with Charlotte in
private since their conversation.
Charlotte had never been the social type, preferring solitude and an
acerbic, deadpan wit probably to keep mean girls like Annie at bay. When she
was the new girl last year, Annie and Nicole called her "Weird Charlotte".
But in no time it switched to "Rocker Charlotte" because she was always on
the boy's campus playing in battle of the bands or playing guitar in the
quad if she wasn't in class or doing homework.
And it wasn't like they'd drifted apart. They'd never been friends and their
interaction in the studio had been one of the first times since they were
art barn cleanup partners in the fall that they'd had a private
conversation.
Nor was Charlotte actively avoiding her, she just never seemed interested in
hanging out, even now, with whatever the exchanged glances meant.

Charlotte kept to herself. Annie decided it was time she changed that.
She stepped into the lake and walked a few ginger steps before diving in and
swimming towards the dock. About twenty yards out she stopped at one of the
floating rest platforms and thought she heard a cough.
"Hey!" She held onto the platform and tried to shake some water out of her
ears. "Charlotte!" she called.
"Wh-?" Charlotte coughed again. "Annie?" Annie giggled, Charlotte the
pothead, busted again.
"It's just me, relax...I'm swimming over." In a few minutes Annie was around
the side of the floating dock and heaving herself up next to Charlotte's
sun-dried form.
"Aaaaw Man..." Charlotte pushed herself up onto her elbows and grumbled at the
wet and cold invasion of submarine Annie.  Charlotte sighed, but then smiled
"I was just getting dry." It was true. Charlotte's hair was turning from
brown to gold as it dried in the sun.
"And you're going," Annie deliberately shook drops of lake water onto
Charlotte. "To get wet again," they both laughed. She smiled down at
Charlotte noticing her swimsuit. "Ok rock star, we have to do something
about this swim team muumuu." Annie pointed at Charlotte's Speedo and raised
her eyebrows. "Why are you hiding that body?" Annie registered Charlotte's
surprise, but hid her amusement and hoped her glances at Charlotte weren't
completely obvious.
"I'm not...I just, uh...it's for swimming, not for ..." Charlotte's usual deadpan
didn't kickstart in time. Charlotte blushed and Annie smiled. Charlotte
pushed herself fully up and sat with her back against the stack of inner
tubes. "I'm not the show off you are." Charlotte couldn't keep the
defensiveness out of her tone, still Annie raised an eyebrow mischievously.
"Pity." Then realizing she was flirting with her, Annie switched the
subject. "Can I have a hit of that pot you're hiding?" Charlotte pursed her
lips, but lifted a life jacket in the stack so Annie could see the lighter
and pipe. Annie smiled and prepared a hit. "I didn't know you were friends
with Evan..."
"Yeah..." Charlotte watched Annie exhale and nodded at the small amount of
smoke escaping Annie's lips. She uncomfortably realized that she was staring
at Annie's mouth, so looked away and said. "Keep the smoke signals to a
minimum, ok?" Annie smirked.
"So Evan?" Annie moved up next to Charlotte and they both leaned, shoulder
to shoulder, against the wall of foam and rubber to recline in the sun.
"Evan is one of my buddies from home." She pointed towards the boy's campus
and saluted. "He's also my weed connection." Charlotte offered her pipe to
Annie, and when she declined put it and the lighter back in her waterproof
case and twisted the lid shut. "He just told me that I need to be at band
practice an extra hour a day for the next week." She threw a pebble out into
the water. "They're putting on Grease for summer session so at least the
music's fun."
Annie nodded. "I know, Nicole is beside herself, aren't auditions next
week?" Charlotte nodded the affirmative and they sat there in silence for a
few minutes. Annie peered over at Charlotte and Charlotte returned her stare
listening to the sound of the water lapping on the dock and wishing she
wasn't so aware of how good Annie looked in a bikini. "So uh Char..." Annie
was surprised that one hit of pot could make her feel so ...shimmery... "Can I
ask you a question?" Charlotte tilted her head in mock annoyance.
"Do I have a choice?" Annie blinked in exasperation.
"No...for real." Charlotte shrugged and spun her goggles around her finger.
Annie went on nervously. "Do you have a girlfriend? Have you ever kissed a
girl? Have you ever had SEX with a girl?" The questions shot out in a burst
of marijuana and anxiety. Charlotte laughed uncomfortably, letting the
goggles fall down her arm, but smiled at Annie's inquisitive brown eyes.
"My girlfriend and I broke up a few months ago." Charlotte sighed and
stretched, and pretended not to notice Annie eyeing her body. "She went to
college this summer and..." Charlotte shook her head. "Neither of us could
handle the long distance thing anymore."
"I'm sorry..." Annie mumbled. Then grinned. "So did you two...?" Charlotte
blinked.
"Uh...yeah." Charlotte said, in an incredulous tone, back under the protective
deadpan. She started spinning the goggles around her finger again, and Annie
looked embarrassed. Charlotte felt sorry. "I mean, yeah...What about you?"
Annie nodded sheepishly.
"Over Spring break there was a sleepover with some friends from my old
school..."Annie was uncharacteristically hesitant. She pointed at the pot and
Charlotte handed her the waterproof cylinder. "We were playing this stupid
game of truth or dare." Charlotte winced in empathy.
"So of course my friend dares me to kiss this girl I hadn't seen in a year."
Annie's smile broke through her darkening mood, "and who meanwhile, I was
always sort of into. And it's like terrifying, but..." Annie's voice trailed
off as she lit the pipe. They listened to the water lapping against the side
and Annie shrugged.
"But what?" Charlotte asked, the goggles poised for another spin.
"It made me realize..." Annie exhaled a thin wisp of smoke. "I totally wanted
her." Annie paused, choosing the right words, "I mean I'm kissing this girl,
and she's like ... into it, and it was making me really hot." Annie's words
rushed on. "I loved how she pushed against me, I wanted to see if she was
getting wet like I was..."
She scowled and hugged her knees. "So later after everyone was falling
asleep I took her into one of the guest rooms and we hooked up on the floor
of the closet." She rolled her eyes. "I was totally nervous, but she said I
made her come with my fingers." Annie smiled, "it was intense."
"Wow." Charlotte peered at Annie. Without her glasses everything beyond the
dock was fuzzy. She stared at the opposite shore line and then back at
Annie.
"I just finally admitted how much more into girls I was than guys..." Annie
blew out one last gust of smoke. "Did you know you were gay before you and
your girlfriend hooked up?"
"Yeah." Charlotte shrugged defensively. She frowned and pulled her goggles
over her head then leaned back into the wall of foam and rubber and closed
her eyes.
"I mean," Annie's voice rose. "I'd been trying to ignore it..." She closed her
eyes and put her face in her hands. "Or maybe deny it, since middle school.
I just thought I hadn't really kissed a guy I liked as much as some of my
friends." Annie put her chin on her knees and hugged herself tighter. "Now,"
her voice broke. "I hooked up with a friend from middle school, she's too
freaked out to talk me, and it totally sucks." She shrugged then put the
paraphernalia back under a life vest and shook her head. Charlotte felt
uncomfortably moved by Annie's confession, and put her arm around Annie's
shoulders.
"It'll be all right..." She turned to Annie and gave her arm a little squeeze.
"People just freak out sometimes." They sat for a moment, Charlotte thinking
she should remove her arm from Annie's shoulders, but really wanting to pull
her closer and into her lap. Annie stared at the wall of floating devices in
front of them a little shocked by Charlotte's unreserved kindness. Since her
confession in the music room days before she'd imagined kissing the shy
musician, and took the chance.
Charlotte started to speak again, but when she felt Annie's lips on hers,
against her better instincts gave into the sensation. Annie moved closer and
leaned in so she could kiss Charlotte deeper until their breathing slowed,
and when Annie's tongue touched hers Charlotte groaned.
"Shit." Annie whispered. She pushed Charlotte onto her back onto the dock
and kissed her again, deeper this time. Charlotte felt Annie's aggressive
kisses trailing down her neck and the shorter girl's efforts to get her
bathing suit off.
"Jesus, Annie." Charlotte pushed her away. "Annie what are you doing?"
Charlotte couldn't believe she was kissing Annie. She couldn't believe Annie
had started it, or had her fingers cupped so ravenously around Charlotte's
crotch.
"Charlotte please..." Annie's eyes searched Charlotte's face. "Please let me
be with you..."
Charlotte was still breathing heavier than usual. Obviously shocked at how
fast Annie was taking things. Her eyes weren't angry, but maybe scared.
Annie sat there in silence eyes pouring into as Charlotte she stood up and
got ready to jump into the water.
"Look Annie, I'll see you later tonight. I gotta dry off and go to practice
with the Grease guys." She smiled, but Annie wanted to cry.
"Yeah, ok..." Annie said, but wanted to cry. She watched as Charlotte dove
into the water, adjusted her goggles, then swam the full distance to the
bank.
"Fuck." Annie sighed. She tasted Charlotte on her lips and remembered the
press of their bodies, but knew she wanted more.
***
After the Grease "pit" practice Charlotte hung around so she could thank her
friend Jay for letting her borrow his bass. Then she noticed a new guy,
Oscar, a guitarist hanging around.
"Hey," she held out her hand, and they shook. "You're a fucking great
guitarist," she told him. "How come I've never seen you before?" He bowed.
"My parents just moved and they don't let me out much." They both laughed.
"And you are a fantastic bass player, but I hear you also rock the drums,
guitar AND production?" Charlotte smiled shyly, but pointed towards the
bridge that took them over the narrow end of lake back to the girl's campus.

"Fuck," Charlotte sighed. "I so don't want to have to walk the extra mile to
the bridge to get home. Summer session meant no shuttle bus between
campuses, and Charlotte wasn't in the mood to walk the mosquito-infested
path. Oscar pointed to the canoes in the weeds by the bank.
"We can use these, right?" he smiled. "I promised my mom that I'd send her
some pictures with my new camera." He raised an eyebrow and pointed at his
backpack.
"Wow," she deadpanned. "You're really keen to this summer session thing, huh
Oscar?" He laughed.
"Not really, the guys are mostly a bunch of date rapists and jocks," but my
mom was at your side of the lake when she was a kid and still talks about
it, so..." Charlotte smiled. Oscar had that hyper intellectual vibe, but he
seemed really nice.
"So where do you live?" She eyed his Cramps T-Shirt and snapped the plastic
attachment of the life vest around her chest as Oscar handed her an oar.
"Park Slope, Brooklyn." He smiled. "Lesbian capitol of the East Coast." She
stopped for a moment wondering if she gave off such incredible gay
vibrations that this relative stranger could sniff it on her. Oscar smiled.
"Oscar has two mommies." She closed her eyes and smiled as he pushed off out
of the reeds and muck.
"Cool I live in Manhattan, let's try and get something together." She picked
up an oar and watched his rhythm to see when to paddle.
"Most definitely, I want to start a band...school sucks so bad and I miss my
girlfriend." She smiled. "Speaking of..." Charlotte looked at him with panic,
how could he be ruining this absolutely pure musical friendship by asking
her out? "Relax, Charlotte!" He laughed. "I was just going to say I know
Todd Bergen." Charlotte heard her oar thwack lamely against the side of the
boat. She blinked.
"Oh..." Charlotte started rowing again thinking of how annoying her
ex-girlfriend's younger brother was.
"Relax Tiger," he scoffed. "Todd is a bonehead, I had varsity soccer with
him," he peered at her and nodded. "Todd came in one day this fall and said
his sister's girlfriend, Charlotte, played all the choice cuts from The
Beatles WHITE ALBUM on an acoustic guitar for their parents while he and his
sister scrambled to make reservations and buy them flowers and a card,
because they'd spaced their twentieth wedding anniversary." She chuckled
remembering the thanks she got after pulling off that unexpected coup.
"Man..." he sighed. "If I forgot MY parents twentieth I would be grounded for
like a month..."
They rowed for a while before Oscar pulled a joint out of his shirt pocket.
"Please tell me you smoke?" She smiled, but remembered the forgotten pipe on
the dock with Annie she looked at Oscar and bit her lip.
"Totally, and I'd usually have something to contribute, but..." She got a
little nervous thinking of the swimming races between the floating docks
given on Sunday mornings. "I was on the dock with Annie today and I left my
pipe between some life jackets..."
"Annie Cryer?" Oscar pulled them into a secluded inlet of overgrown trees
where adventurous couples tried to have sex in canoes without getting caught
or tipped over.
"Nah..." Charlotte accepted the joint and took a deep pull, trying to think of
who Annie Cryer was. The only other Annie was in the 9-10 section, and she
was a sort of tubby girl who showed promise with the drums. "The only Annie
our age is Annie Hunter, she's like...beyond gorgeous with dark brown hair and
draws these intense comics..." Oscar raised his eyebrow at her suspiciously.
He took a hit then passed the joint back to her.
"Beyond gorgeous?" He watched her, then continued. "I heard from the guys in
my bunk that when Marcus tried to make out with her she totally shut down
and started crying..." He took the roach and wrapped it in a leaf before
shoving it in the coin pocket of his LEVIS.
"Annie Cryer..." Charlotte looked at him and almost felt like crying herself.
"Whoa..." When they were back on path towards the girl's side of the lake
Charlotte peered at Oscar. "Hey can I run something past you, I mean...I know
we just met, but you seem pretty rad." Oscar bobbed his head in a cocky
manner, but smiled at her.
"Yes sister," he mocked some spiritual guru. "Tell me your woes." They
paddled off towards the floating dock, but Charlotte took her time
explaining.
"Well uh..." She shook her head at the memory. "Today out on the floating dock
with Annie we were talking, and...she totally kissed me. I mean...KISSED me."
Oscar kept rowing while Charlotte gestured toward said floating dock and
rolled her eyes. "I heard her tell one of her best friends, Nicole, you must
know her she's fucking that asshole Max?" Oscar nodded. "Well they must've
thought I was asleep and I heard Annie tell Nicole that she's gay ... like
since Marcus." They both rowed in silence while Charlotte pondered and Oscar
chuckled.
"Uh..." he fidgeted with his hair, which Charlotte noticed he played with as
much as any girl in her bunk. "Can I be absolutely crass?" She nodded.
"Todd's sister is HOT." He nodded and pushed his hair back, then wiped his
hands on his jeans. "And if you say that this Annie is `beyond gorgeous...'"
She sighed and bit her lip. "I'd say, `go for it'." They pulled up next to
the floating dock and she jumped out of the canoe to see if her pot or pipe
was anywhere in the stack of life jackets.
"SHIT." She rolled her eyes. Oscar smiled.
"Maybe she wants more than just your herb?" She eyed him warily. "C'mon, she
kissed YOU?" Charlotte pushed her glasses up her nose to get a better view
of the approaching dock at the girl's side. "That's dreamy..." He laughed. "I
hate to sound like a pig Charlotte, but we have to form a band, because the
chick factor will be deluxe." She closed her eyes and laughed. "Do you know
anyone else who can play with us?" She watched him calculating. "Anyone who
plays the bass? How about a drummer?"
***
A few nights later Charlotte sat in the studio and tried to concentrate.
She'd been learning parts to Grease with the Oscar for the past two nights
at the boys' camp, and was happy to have some time to work on her own thing
in the studio.
But in the quiet of her brain she kept going back to her conversation with
Oscar and of course the kiss with Annie on the floating dock.
She'd watched Annie flirt with boys last year, but she'd kept to herself
since spring break. Last night Oscar took his time when he was visiting to
make sure he caught a glimpse of her and asked Charlotte if she was blind or
just a nun. Charlotte grudgingly admired the way Annie controlled most boys
with movement and insinuation, and now, Charlotte sensed, it was being put
to work on her.
And as terrifyingly as the situation with Annie was, it was too exciting to
pass up. This was not something she expected at her stuck up rich girls
boarding school. Surely not the same one that both of their mothers and
mothers before them had spent their privileged New England sessions.
Or...maybe. She remembered once how her aunt had drunkenly referred to one of
her friend's fathers as "a unfortunately lucky man." When the topic of his
marriage to her still unmarried aunt's old bunkmate came up. The table went
silent with that cold familial pause until someone cleared their throat to
ask for the dinner rolls. Charlotte blinked at the memory and bit her lip.
Then there was Oscar's mom. She was apparently quite the lady killer before
she met his other mom. Charlotte sighed.
An hour later it was almost time for dinner and Charlotte had the basic
drums and bass recorded for a song she wrote about riding the subway on
mushrooms. When she looked up at the front door squeaking she was unnerved
to see Annie standing looking tan and delicious in a tank top and cut offs.
"Hey rock star." She walked over and rattled Charlotte's waterproof case
with the  pipe and lighter in it. "I figured you'd talk to me if I gave you
this."
"How did you get in here?" Charlotte gasped. She'd been too wrapped up with
Oscar learning the Grease score to force herself to talk to Annie. She also
had the only extra key and wasn't even supposed to be in here on the
weekends. She stood at the studio white board writing down how she wanted to
arrange the vocal harmonies and put down the marker to face Annie.
"Ms. Allen has no clue how much you hide out in here. In fact, I think she
forgot you even have a key." Annie smirked and folded her arms across her
chest. "I told her that I wanted to practice some piano scales to relieve
some writer's block." They both laughed uncomfortably.
"Look Annie, I'm sorry..."
"Sorry for what?" She tilted her head. "For pushing me away when I know you
liked it?" Her brown eyes betrayed the hurt. Annie stepped closer to
Charlotte. "I mean do you think this is some sort of experiment?"
Charlotte's jaw clenched. And Annie put her fingertips on Charlotte's
collarbone. "Look, kissing boys since I was eleven was the experiment, ok?"
Annie continued carving light grooves across Charlotte's collarbone with her
thumbnail noting the other girl's delayed breathing. "Trying to convince
myself it was what I wanted." Charlotte's eyes were on hers.
She took Charlotte's hand but, Charlotte dropped it.
"Annie ..." Charlotte mumbled when Annie pushed her down onto the couch then
straddled her lap.
"Char," Annie kissed her lightly then removed her glasses and put them on
the filing cabinet next to the couch. "Look, I'm not asking to be your
girlfriend or we fall in love." She kissed her again, deeper and slower this
time. Charlotte willed herself not to react.
"Then what do you want?" Charlotte whispered, fighting to keep her breathing
regular.
"Just be with me." Annie looked pleadingly into Charlotte's eyes, which were
even bluer without her glasses. "I'm not getting anywhere trolling YouTube
and reading bad fanfiction." Charlotte couldn't help but laugh. "No REALLY."
Annie locked eyes with Charlotte and pushed her back onto the couch.
"Please..." She kissed Charlotte lightly, then traced her lips with her
fingertip reveling in the other girl's ragged breath.
"You're not giving up are you?" Charlotte finally asked.
"Do you really want me to?" Annie smiled at the color rising on Charlotte's
freckled face and leaned in for another kiss. She felt Charlotte's hands
moving to her lower back then hips and continued kissing down Charlotte's
neck to her collarbone all the while noting the sounds she made, and how
Charlotte's hips pushed into hers when their kisses grew open and wet.
Later when the dinner bell clanged Charlotte lay, sweating underneath Annie,
by this time they were on the couch. Charlotte's shirt was unbuttoned and
her bra was the only thing in the way of Annie's greedy hand. Annie's cut
offs were on the floor, and she was down to her underwear and nothing else.
"Jesus Annie," Charlotte sat up and looked around the room. "We should get
out of here." Charlotte wiped her mouth and fell back into the cushions.
"Shit, go to dinner, I'll shut everything down." Annie stood, and started
buttoning her 501s. Her ponytail was loose and she was sweating.
"Char." Annie bit her lip and stared into Charlotte's blue eyes. "I have to
have you." Charlotte laughed and smiled, but pointed to the door. "Annie,
please get out of here?" She made sure her shirt was right side out, her
hair was pulled back in a proper pony tail and popped a piece of gum into
her mouth then waved silently. Charlotte put her head in her hands and
laughed softly.
Hours later when she returned to their bunk and was almost in bed, she felt
something under pillow and laughed at a caricature, obviously done by Annie
of Charlotte in a bikini top with a Les Paul and a hula skirt with the
caption, "rock star in waiting" Charlotte couldn't help herself, but laughed
and caught Annie's pleased glance before lights out.
***
At breakfast Annie walked up to Charlotte at the milk machine.
"Didja like my drawing?" Charlotte knew she was blushing, but replied.
"Uh yeah...impressive likeness. Can I commission you to draw my CD jacket when
I'm rich and famous?" Annie beamed.
"Be in the studio after class." She whispered in a tone that made Charlotte
blink. Older students were given more independent time if they helped teach
certain summer classes, and Annie was the campus illustrator so spent most
afternoons helping younger girls in the art barn.
Charlotte helped with the chorus rehearsals in the music hall when she
wasn't at Grease rehearsals and knew that no one would be in the music
studio that afternoon, if anyone came in Charlotte would say that Annie was
putting a piano track on one of her songs. Her mind was reeling.
Annie smiled and walked back to the table she and Nicole were sharing with
some friends. On the way back to their bunk Nicole trailed behind with Annie
and peered over at her. "So I see you're talking to Charlotte, what's up
with her?"
"I dunno..." Annie tried to remain casual. "It'll be cool to say we knew a
rock star when."
"Whatever," Nicole rolled her eyes. Then in hushed tones. "I gave Max a
blowjob at the farm yesterday." Annie raised an eyebrow appreciatively at
Nicole's use of the organic farm that both schools had run since World War
II. "Oh my god," she breathed. "I wanted to fuck him so bad, but neither of
us had a condom."
"Which is why." Annie sighed. "My mom keeps sending them for me...to give to
you."
"You homo!" Nicole punched Annie on the arm then stopped and looked at her.
"Look Annie, I'm really sorry if I didn't seem like I believed you when you
told me that stuff about ... you being gay." Nicole hugged her, and Annie
smiled. "You're one of my best friends, but it doesn't mean you're off the
hook." Nicole showed her dimples, "When you hook up with the tennis coach, I
want all the details ..." Annie rolled her eyes.
***
Charlotte heard the knock and bit her lip when she saw Annie standing by the
door feigning impatient self-importance. They walked into the dimly lit
studio, and Annie felt her eyes adjust to the dark room.
"Is anybody in here?" She asked while Charlotte locked the door behind them
and nodded no. "Good," she breathed, pinning Charlotte against the wall with
a kiss and two hands on her shoulders. Charlotte lingered on Annie's lower
lip.
"Not so fast Picasso."
"What?" Annie demanded, slack jawed, ready to move in for more.
"You..." Charlotte paced herself in her steady near monotone. "Are so FUCKING
hot..." She put her hands up in mock surrender. "But I don't know what you
want."
"Want?"
Charlotte just stared at her.
"Charlotte..."Annie sighed exasperated, "please ?" Annie walked up behind the
shorter girl and put her hands on her hips until she felt Charlotte relax.
"Char," she whispered pulling the other girl's body towards hers. "Kissing
you," Annie bit at and kissed along Charlotte's neck. "And the way you
smell," Annie was slowly turning Charlotte around so they faced each other.
"I can't think of anything else..."
When their lips touched Annie whimpered and felt a tightening in her chest
that made her eyes moist. Charlotte took her hand and they kissed, fully
clothed on the couch, until the dinner bell. Annie pulled Charlotte on top
of her, and sighed when Charlotte forced her to leave for dinner. "This is
really nice," she kissed the tip of Charlotte's nose.
Later that night Annie borrowed Charlotte's iPod and sat in the art barn.
She was supposed to be working on the Grease playbill, but kept thinking
about kissing Charlotte and how much further she wanted to go. She was
completely preoccupied, and it freaked her out that she couldn't even draw
the caricatures of the Grease cast without remembering the way Charlotte
moaned when she cupped her hands in between her legs.
Annie sat shading musical notes, but jumped when she felt Nicole's tap on
her shoulder.
"Hey..." Nicole grabbed Annie's sketchbook before Annie could pull it back. "I
can't wait to see our playbill!" Annie rolled her eyes and shook her head
before watching Nicole recoil with annoyance. "What the fuck, you've never
hidden your drawings from me before." Annie's stomach churned as she watched
Nicole's face go from perturbed to bewildered. The page with the Grease logo
was nearly empty, but Annie had been doodling pictures for Charlotte's CD.
"Ok..." Nicole's eyebrows shot up. "More Rocker Charlotte?"
She looked up over the book at Annie. "I mean, these are way cool..." Nicole's
voice trailed off as she squinted at the book. "I love how the four
different versions of her are all doing ..." she peered in concentration at
the panels of different Charlottes playing bass, guitar, drums and one in
headphones frowning next to a microphone stand with a clipboard in her hand.
"I never knew you liked music this much..." She pointed at was obviously
Charlotte's iPod and continued reading. Then sighed.
"But hello, where's our playbill? Dress rehearsals start next week and we
have to get these to the printers. You know how whack they are up here..."
Nicole raised her eyebrows like a true sophisticate demeaning the backwoods
and their talent.
Annie sat there staring at her until Nicole, feigning disgust rolled her
eyes and picked up the sketchbook again.
"Including the smash hits: NOT SO FAST PICASSO, COUCH GRIND and CAMP CRUSH?"
Nicole sat down next to Annie eyeing her anxiousness. "Do tell, who's Weird
Charlotte got a crush on?" The society page gossip over ruled the anxious
performer and Nicole laughed scrutinizing another detail on the page, but
put the book down when she looked at Annie.
"Annie you're so TOTALLY blushing..." Nicole's eyes widened. "Wait." She
looked back down at the drawings as her voice dropped to a conspiratorial
whisper. "Holy...SHIT." Her mouth opened wider. "Fucking Rock-er Charlotte?"
Nicole looked around the art barn. "Chaaaaar-lotte???" She blinked.
"You're..." She looked at her friend who was staring at her hands on a
paint-splattered stool.
"Nicole," Annie mumbled softly. "Shut up, ok?" Nicole stared at her friend
with a look of complete disbelief and growing amusement.
"Annie Morgan Sterling Hunter," Nicole took on the exaggerated proper tone
of a scolding grandmother. "I have been grilling you for details about boys
since we were ten years old and I have never seen you act like this." Annie
smiled weakly.
"I mean...does she know?" Annie pulled her head out of her hands, then looked
around the art barn.
"Can you keep a secret?" Annie whispered.
"Fuck you." Nicole cocked her head, then folded her arms across her chest in
annoyance, they'd been friends for too long for that not to sting. "Annie, I
told you...you're one of my best friends." Annie sighed and looked at Nicole.
"I kissed her first." Nicole blinked in shock, but quickly recovered and
looked at Annie as if to say, "and ???" But each sentence stalled out of
Annie's mouth. "She was trying to sleep on the lawn that day I told you, and
one night she was talking to me and trying to make me feel better...she's
actually had a girlfriend and everything, so I kissed her on the floating
dock a few days later." Annie's words crashed together in nervous bumps.
"No shit?" Nicole looked at her friend with genuine affection. "So then
what?" Annie looked at her a little panicky. Nicole chuckled at how
overwhelmed her friend seemed. "I mean, what did she do?" Nicole sounded
like she was talking to a deaf four year old with the way she annunciated.
"She sorta freaked out and swam back." Annie smiled. "But she has a secret
key to the music studio and I almost got her bra off before dinner that
night." Annie smiled absently fiddling with her pencil collection. Nicole
nodded, impressed.
"So..." Nicole peered at Annie who by now had relaxed and was more at ease
gossiping with her friend about her exploits. "Is this a love thing? I mean
I stopped asking you about boys because you always made it sound so boring."
"Well...uh, it was." They both laughed.
"Seriously Annie," Nicole's voice showed genuine concern. "You didn't answer
my question." Nicole looked at her friend.
"I don't know." Annie shrugged.
"So have you two actually...consummated your musical and artistic courtship?"
Annie sighed.
"No, but I'm working on it." Nicole smiled. "I really like her Nicole..."
Nicole turned around and appraised her friend.
"So... You and Marcus never...?" She folded her arms across her chest. "YOU'RE
the Couch Grind?" Annie watched the thoughts cascade over her friend's face.
"Ok filed for later. I guess I never really put it together why you never
talked about him." She put her hand on Annie's shoulder. "I'm sorry I wasn't
there for you Annie, that must've sucked."
"Thanks Nicki." Annie shrugged. She spent the rest of the night writing out
ideas for her novella and sneaking glances at Charlotte. Twice she looked up
to see Charlotte's eyes on her, and had to look down and chew on her lip not
to smile. She wanted to touch Charlotte until she came, and it was like
Charlotte had set a drum loop up in her brain.
***
The next night in the dining hall everyone was cheering and picking up
bagged dinners. It was a movie night, which meant deli sandwiches and
popcorn. Everyone seemed excited for the Bond film, which someone had
managed to get past Ms. Allen's prudish censorship.
In the juice line Charlotte smiled at a younger girl and her pre-teen lust
for Daniel Craig. "Oh my god, Charlotte, don't you think he's just so HOT...?"

"He's one good looking man, that's for sure..." Charlotte grinned at the kid.
She seemed so young, but already so aware of what she wanted, Charlotte felt
dazed. She watched as Annie walked over and stifled a smile.
"Meet you behind the studio at eight." She said, but kept walking. Charlotte
tried not to watch Annie's confident ass swagger towards the salad bar and
bit her lip. They both made sure to be seen entering the auditorium with
their bagged meals at 7:30. Annie sat with Nicole and their friends, but
complained of a bad stomachache once the credits rolled. Charlotte had been
on the floor by the door, and easily slipped out without ever being seen.
Minutes after eight Charlotte and Annie were in the studio on the couch.
Annie was determined to take their make out sessions further, and straddled
the smaller girl lustfully.
"Annie, whoa..." Charlotte felt the urgency of Annie's kisses and fought with
herself not to just shove Annie down and act on her growing desire. "Annie..."
She panted feeling the lips on her collarbone and fingers brushing against
her belt buckle. They kissed for a moment longer before Annie buried her
face in the other girl's hair.
"Charlotte, I want you." She kept pulling at her belt buckle until she got
it and Charlotte's pants half undone and pulled down over her butt.
"Please." She whispered into Charlotte's ear. "I have to touch you."
They were panting, Charlotte watched in fascination as Annie took off her
underwear and pulled Charlotte's hand under her sundress and between her
thighs. Annie looked into Charlotte's eyes with such want and heat that
Charlotte couldn't help but reach inside the taller girl's folds once Annie
started moving her hips. "Oh shit..." she gasped when she felt how wet Annie
was. "Oh my god, Annie."
Annie gasped and felt the sweat trickling down between her breasts. The
feeling of Charlotte's fingers inside her, then brushing against her clit
made her eyes close in pleasure. She yelped and arched her back when
Charlotte put two fingers inside and started stroking at her walls with
rhythmic assurance. Now she knew why Nicole always joked about condoms and
wanting to fuck. She wanted Charlotte's fingers inside of her for the rest
of her life.
Charlotte was mesmerized by Annie's body, and she surely couldn't stop what
was happening now. She could smell Annie's sweat, and her kisses were so
delicious it was like a narcotic. Annie was sitting in Charlotte's lap
taking as much of her fingers as she could, grinding her hips into the
smaller girl's hand until she gasped and stiffened, then slumped back into
Charlotte's arms. Charlotte rubbed Annie's back through her sweat soaked
dress until they heard the sound of squeals and laughter in the distance.
Charlotte groaned as Annie lifted herself off her lap and fell back into the
couch. "Sounds like the movie is over." Annie took a deep, quaking breath
and nodded shakily. Charlotte kissed her and looked in her eyes. They
laughed, but quickly left so Annie could take a shower before their
bunkmates got home.
Charlotte walked down to the lake and waded in up to her knees. Annie's
smell was all over her: In her hair and on her skin. She dipped her hands in
the lake and rinsed off her hands and face a few times remembering the
sounds of Annie's whimpers and how it felt to touch her, to kiss her, to be
inside of her. Charlotte smiled and walked back to the bunk.
***
The next morning Annie and Nicole walked through the Holiday Tree nursery
that the school ran during the winter. Annie leaned down to water a tree and
smiled to herself as Nicole tapped her foot.
"C'mon Annie, I know something happened. You left right after that amazing
parkour scene and when we all got back you had showered and was sitting on
your bed looking like you discovered the cure for cancer." She glared down
at Annie, then sat down and patted the earth. "C'mon girl, spill it. Neither
you nor Charlotte even looked at each other once she came in from, what the
lake?" Charlotte's hair had been wet too, but she was notorious for getting
in trouble for swimming after curfew.
"Well..." Annie smiled. "I learned a few things last night."
"Like?" Nicole waited.
"Well for one, sundresses are convenient." Nicole gave her an `oh really?'
look.
"What did she ... ?" Annie shrugged.
"Who knew how SHY Rocker Charlotte really is." Annie grinned at her friend.
"With guys it's all, `no not yet' and with her..." Annie chuckled. "We were
both sweating like a track meet, and finally I had to take her hand and put
it up my dress."
"No..." Nicole gasped. Annie nodded as if she was still surprised herself.
"I just couldn't stop myself. I mean..." She looked at Nicole who was lifting
a bag of fertilizer out of a wheelbarrow. "What do you do when you don't
have a condom and things get too crazy?" Annie peered at her friend. Nicole
smirked.
"Now this is a conversation I never thought we'd have." Nicole smiled.
"What?" Annie scattered some mulch off her shovel.
"I just assumed you didn't like sex." Nicole shrugged. "So tell me..." She
tore open the fertilizer bag and grimaced at the smell. "What did Ms. Rock
Star do once you put her hand on your cooch?" They both laughed.
"Suffice to say my stomach muscles are still sore." Nicole let out a low
whistle and Annie folded her arms across her chest with a smirk.
***

Charlotte couldn't control her laughter seeing Annie with a sleeping bag, a
bottle of water, her itty bitty book light, and the inflatable crocodile
that Annie kept in their room to serve as a "couch" when she succumbed to
her pedicure ambitions with Nicole and they decorated each other's toes.
"You're insane," Charlotte smiled approvingly. She'd barely gotten over
their last make out session, and from the look in Annie's eye it was only
the beginning.
"Char, c'mon..." She whispered looking around nervously as Charlotte opened
the door to the musty, piney smelling analog studio. Charlotte watched in
surprise as Annie crawled up the ladder to the loft used for the summer's
all weather speakers, which thankfully were already out on the lawn and gave
them about 12 and a half square feet of loft space, hidden from the
downstairs by stacked chairs. She laughed and spread out a half-mast
crocodile.
"Wow, how did you plan this out?" Annie laughed at Charlotte's surprise.
"I called Chad last night, he told me he'd been up in some equipment loft in
the music studio during the `90s." She laughed, "so it's like some family
tradition for us to mess around with musicians." Charlotte sighed, Annie and
her brother were incorrigible.
"What did you tell him?" Charlotte stared up at her, amused yet horrified
that Annie could be so nonchalant about her sex life with her older, med
school brother.
"I told him that I was hoping to spend some quality time someone who's super
nice and really cute." Annie peered over the edge and laughed, "I also told
him your name is Charlotte and you write really awesome songs." Charlotte
paused on the ladder and smiled. Annie and her brother were cut from the
same hedonistic cloth. Annie called down.
"Help me get that sleeping bag up here," she grinned shrugging out of her
sweatshirt, tying it around her waist and turning off the light in case
anyone came in.  Charlotte picked up the water bottle and hoisted the
sleeping bag then walked up the narrow staircase to the barren loft. To her
surprise Annie was already completely naked on top of the sleeping bag/
reptile recliner and smiling up at her. If Charlotte was shocked she managed
to hide it when Annie purred, "C'mere."
Charlotte swallowed, but started unbuttoning her shirt. Annie started on her
cut offs, and soon they were naked, skin to skin, kissing hot and wet. Annie
was on top of Charlotte, with her thigh nudged between Charlotte's. She
kissed her long and hard, pushing her knee in between Charlotte's legs,
pleased with the other girls' reaction.
"Now," she purred. "I want to touch you," she stared into Charlotte's eyes.
"I'm still new to this, so tell me if I'm not doing ok." Charlotte blinked
at Annie's daring. Annie's eyes were half closed and she smiled a lecherous
grin before licking and biting on Charlotte's collarbone. "Oh Char," she
almost growled, "this is so hot," she nudged the fairer girl's legs apart
and touched her cupped hand to the bottom of Charlotte's pubic hair.
Charlotte's hips bucked and she yelped. "Can I??" Annie looked down
lustfully at Charlotte who nodded.
Annie smiled, then traced her fingers up the line of Charlotte's center. It
was wet, humid and intoxicating. Both girls moaned. Annie concentrated on
what she felt from Charlotte's body and reaction. The hot, wet slickness of
her lips and the hardness of her clit begged stroking. Charlotte's hot
breath poured out over her neck and shoulders.
"Oh, please..." Annie looked in Charlotte's eyes, enthralled. She was finally
touching this girl, and it was better than she had imagined. "Inside me,"
Charlotte gasped, the sweat beginning to dampen her hair. "Put your fingers
INSIDE me." Charlotte bit Annie's shoulder. "Oh my GOD..." her hips bucking in
Annie's unwavering gaze. Charlotte panted, "Now...FUCK me."
Annie couldn't believe how hot having her fingers inside this girl made her.
The more Charlotte demanded, the more Annie wanted to give. She cooed as
Charlotte's hips rolled, and kissed her while she caught her breathe after a
much-too-short, stomach clenching climax.
Annie lay next to her listening to Charlotte's breathing return to normal
and marveled at how much more involved she felt touching another girl than
letting some guy grope her. "Oh wow..." Charlotte sighed, finally. "Sorry, I'm
the queen of crumble when I come."
"Are you kidding me?" Annie smiled. "That was fucking incredible." She
kissed Charlotte's forehead. "It's like I got off touching you, that was so
hot." Charlotte smiled, but pulled Annie down for a long kiss.
"Your turn, Missy." Charlotte covered Annie's mouth with deep kisses,
pushing her on her back and wedging her legs open with her own. Charlotte
looked into Annie's eyes with a carnal desire absent from her calculated
exterior. Annie smiled and licked her lips in invitation.
Charlotte kissed Annie hard, sucking on her lips, moving down to her ears
and neck. Soon Annie was moaning and muttering, losing control of the words
coming out of her mouth and unable to keep flat on the now damp sleeping
bag. Charlotte placed her thumb heavily on Annie's clit, and Annie closed
her eyes at the result. Annie's hips jerked, and Charlotte moaned while
lifting Annie's legs, one by one around her neck.
"I want to taste you until..." her mouth was watering, "until you need to get
fucked, ok?" Charlotte placed her hot open mouth on Annie's cunt and waited
for the girls' hips to settle. She parted Annie's lips with her tongue.
Annie lost control of her body and cried out. "Oh yeah..." Charlotte moaned
and pulled Annie's hips towards her and stuck her tongue in the girl's
center then sucked on her clit until she put her thumb in and started on the
rhythm.
Annie sighed and shook, whispering, but jerked hard after her second fall
into the sleeping bag and pushed Charlotte's hand away from her body. The
smell of the girls' sweat and enjoyment was heavy in the crawl space.
"Whoa..." Annie breathed into Charlotte's ear, "thank you for helping me lose
my girl virginity for real."