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Chapter 1

“Okay, kids, here we are,” Angela Armstrong said to her children as she turned her car into the drive leading to the visitors’ parking area of their new school. “Remember, your counselor at St. George’s in Munich told us this new school shouldn’t be much different from St. George’s School. They used the same curriculum in Munich as the British schools do, so you should fit right in. So are you excited about starting in another new school—in yet another new country?”

“Yeah, Mom,” chorused both Tom and Lynette.

“Mo-o-o-om, that’s so lame,” giggled Lynette. “That’s exactly what you asked us this time last year when we moved to Munich and started at St. George’s there!”

The siblings looked at each other and nodded as Tom bumped her shoulder with his.

Angela chuckled. “I remember saying that to you guys,” she said. “I just wanted to cheer up Tom. Tom, you look unhappy.”

“Can’t help it, Mom... I keep bringing this up; but I sure wish Andrew was going here too,” Tom said. “I’ll miss seeing him around school.”

“Yeah, I know,” Angela sighed. “I know how close you two are... but you saw his new school, Woodhouse College, when we passed it just down the road—and you’ll see him every day at home anyway.”

Tom recalled the discussion his family had about his and his siblings’ school plans when it became time to arrange their move to London. As part of their planning, Tom’s parents wanted their kids to go to top schools, so they looked for ones with good reputations for Andrew, 18 years old, and for Tom and Lynette, who were both 15, and found schools in the East Finchley area of London which met their approval. But it meant that Andrew would be attending a different one from Tom.

Tom had asked his dad, Duncan, during their planning, “Why does Andrew have to go to a different school from me, Dad? He’s still in high school, right?”

“Well, Andrew’s going into his year thirteen now,” his dad had answered. “His new school is called a college and it’s just for kids 18 and 19; they don’t have the lower grades. Besides, if we still lived in Canada, he’d be going away to a university now, so he wouldn’t have been in your school then either. Your new school is supposed to be a good one too; it’s why we’re letting a house nearby, but it doesn’t have Andrew’s grade—when the kids from your new school finish year eleven, they usually go on to Woodhouse.”

Tom’s thoughts returned to the present as his mom was still speaking about Andrew’s school.

“When kids from a college like Woodhouse finish their senior year—oops, they’re not high school seniors here, the top grade’s called ‘sixth form’; I still can’t get used to the differences in how the school grades work in England—they’re different from Canada... and from Germany too—when Andrew finishes there, he’ll go on to university.”

They left the car and started walking to the building; lots of kids were streaming through the entrance doors.

~~~~

Tom and Lynette Armstrong were step-siblings. They were the same age, almost to the day, and both were 15 years old now. They were Canadian natives and had lived in Canada for the first thirteen years of their lives; then their father Duncan’s job in international finance had taken the family first to Munich, Germany for a year, and now the family had moved to London, England, for Duncan’s management job with the bank’s international division. Tom physically took after his dad. Duncan was 6 feet 4 inches tall and had played guard in college basketball in Canada where he had become an All-Canadian collegiate athlete in his senior year.

Now at age 15, Tom was 6 feet tall, weighed 172 pounds, and was still growing, very much on track to eventually reach his father’s stature. Tom loved bicycling and distance running and was good at both, frequently accompanying his dad or his older brother Andrew on their runs and bike rides. About a year before the family had moved to Germany, Andrew had begun a strength and endurance training regime when he started playing league soccer in Toronto and he had gotten Tom to begin working out with him, hoping that Tom would like soccer too and start playing, but Tom didn’t much care for the sport. He did like the pumped feeling that weight-lifting gave him, though, so he had kept up with it, and his large frame allowed him to develop powerful muscles.

Lynette was 5 feet 5 inches and weighed about 115 pounds and next to her step-brother, she looked tiny, but her body had matured nicely and she had a narrow waist, a B-cup bust, and long sleek legs, toned by years of her own running and biking. The two were not only step-siblings, they were also each other’s best friends. The children had met when Duncan and Angela, Lynette’s mother, had begun dating and Tom and Lynette had been instantly attracted to each other; they discovered that they liked the same music groups, movies, books, even school, just about everything. That’s when Lynette began organizing Tom’s life and he loved having her do it. He thought she was so cool because she always considered his own wants before her own. It was sibling rivalry turned on its head—the two competed to outdo each other in how well they looked after and treated each other.

~~~~

As the three of them walked to the school office, Tom was thinking as he watched the kids flowing around him and his sister. “Yeah, Mom said ‘new year, new school, new country.’ At least this time we don’t have to learn a new language too. Good thing that the classes at St. George’s were mostly in English, though,” he mused and Lynette grinned and nodded at his comment.

The family had lived in Munich for a year, after all, so they did learn to speak German—not like natives, understandably, but after a year, their German was quite passable. And being Canadian, they had also learned French—the Québécois version, anyway, and were fluent in that language.

At the office, Angela dropped off the folders with Tom’s and Lynette’s school records from their prior schools, got receipts for the documents, and then she was asked to fill out a few additional forms. When she finished, the office supervisor told them that the children would need to see the counselor for some final items, but the counselor wasn’t currently available because of a family matter.

“But you’re both okay to begin classes,” the lady told them, “Here are your class schedules. Your files show that St. George’s sent your class information ahead; that let us assign your classes beforehand, didn’t it.” She finished her instructions. “The two of you will be called by the counselor next week, perhaps on the Tuesday, you’ll see. Meanwhile, today is just for orientation. You’ll go to your home room first and then go to each of your next classes every fifteen minutes to meet your teachers and get your class materials. First day of classes is on Monday. On the Monday, go to home room first, then as well there’s an assembly right after that. Any questions?”

None of them had a question so they left the office. After saying goodbye to their mother, Tom and Lynette compared their schedules.

“Cool!” Lynette laughed. “We got the same schedule again, just like last year.”

“Yeah,” Tom grinned. “Like they think we’re twins, right? Just look at us... we look so much like each other!”

Lynette giggled and slapped his shoulder. “I don’t think anyone will understand how we’re not twins. Same dark blonde hair, same last name, almost same birthday.”

“Yeah. Two days apart. Mom had a real...l...l...ly long labor?” Tom spread his arms. They both laughed.

The two went to their home room class and spent the rest of the day in a whirlwind of quick getting-to-know-you classes, the periods so short that they had little time to speak with, let alone introduce themselves to any of the other kids.

~~~~

On Monday the siblings rode their bikes to school. Tom loved riding, but glancing over at him, Lynette noticed a thoughtful look on his face.

“Hey, what’s bothering you, brother?” she called.

“Nah, nothing really... Just thinking about riding to school when the weather gets bad,” Tom answered. “Munich winters weren’t bad at all, but you know how London has that rep for rain and miserable winter weather.”

“Yeah, true. Well, there’s a bus route—the route’s closer to us than any of the subway stops, so we’ll take the bus if we can’t ride. Hey, think the folks’ll spring for a car for us?”

Tom laughed ruefully. “Right. Even Andrew couldn’t get a car out of them. Remember Dad? ‘Son, you’re in London. Public transit everywhere. No need for a car. I don’t use one.’ But Dad takes a cab or Uber to work so he hardly ever needs to drive himself.”

Lynette agreed. “Yeah, Dad says the parking fees near his office are terrible.”

They arrived at the school and locked their bikes up at the bike racks. Hundreds of kids were milling around, parking their bikes, leaving cars, and streaming into the school building. Tom and Lynette moved with the crowd and once inside the building, set off for their home room.

After the class got settled and the bell rang, the teacher welcomed them.

“Good morning, everyone. We’ll be here for a few minutes before everyone goes to the assembly hall. There are some special instructions; everyone must leave their rucksacks and bags in their lockers before you go to assembly. If you have mobiles, leave them in your bags. No mobiles are to be brought into the assembly hall. The head teacher will be introducing a new program to the school and everyone will be on their best behavior, won’t you.”

When she said that, there was a sudden chorus of exclamations and moans from the students.

“Quiet, please!” she called. “Now everyone, tidy up your rucksacks and bags and get ready for the bell. I’ll expect everyone to be orderly as you go to your lockers and then go quietly to the assembly hall.”

Within several minutes, the bell rang and everyone left the room, following the teacher’s instructions, and soon they were entering the assembly hall. Tom and Lynette were whispering to each other as they walked.

“What do you suppose this is?” Lynette wondered aloud.

A kid passing them heard and muttered, “Prob’ly that bloody new Program rot, mates.”

“What program...?” Tom began, but the kid had moved ahead into the crowd.

He looked around; everyone was grim-faced and there was little conversation. Since Tom’s classroom was fairly distant from the assembly hall, his group was among the last to arrive and a teacher stationed at the door handed them each a sealed envelope as they entered.

“Don’t open it until you’re told,” she cautioned and pointed at the seats they were to take.

Several minutes later, the students were all seated and the head teacher, Dr Taylor, appeared on the stage.

“Welcome to a new school year at Friern Barnet School,” he intoned. “I’m pleased to see many old faces of our returning pupils, and look forward to meeting all of our new students.”

There was a rush of murmurs through the audience.

“I’d like to introduce the new staff people who have joined our faculty for our new school year,” he continued, and then began calling everyone’s attention to four of the eight teachers who were patrolling the aisles in the hall. As he called out their names and departments, the teachers waved their arms in acknowledgment at the polite applause.

“Now we’ve come to the topic for this assembly,” Taylor said, and a hush fell over the room and the sounds of nervous bodies squirming in their seats could be heard.

“You’ve all probably read in the tabloids about the Department for Education’s new Naked in School Program, being run in the schools by the Education Authority,” Taylor continued. “And letters about the Program went out to your parents last spring, so you knew the school would need to be planning for it to begin at some point, isn’t that so. Well, we’ve decided to move things right along, not delay any further, and so we’ll begin the Program this term—right here in this hall today.”

There was a great outcry of shock from the students. Tom sat bolt upright, his heart hammering in his chest. He had heard the words “naked” and “school” in the same phrase and suddenly the words began to register in his mind.

“Please settle down. You knew this program would eventually be coming and everyone’s had plenty of forewarning, haven’t you. Now you were all given an envelope when you entered the assembly hall. It contains a copy of the National Program Committee’s booklet for pupils, the ‘Introduction to the Naked in School Program,’ hereafter we’ll refer to it as the Program booklet, won’t we. All the rules for the Program are in it. You can open your envelopes now. Take a minute now to glance it through to see what it contains, but you must read it more fully after the assembly because you’ll be responsible for knowing and following all of its rules. We’d like your attention back after you’ve taken a minute to scan through your booklet.”

While he was speaking, there were rustling sounds and murmurs from the audience as they opened their envelopes and looked through their copies. Tom looked at his copy; the image of a naked young couple holding hands on the cover jumped out at him and he closed his eyes and groaned. For the next minute it was quiet in the room while Tom, with shaky hands, flipped through its pages, incredulous at what he was seeing. His attention was soon interrupted by the head teacher.

“I’d like your full attention now. I will now go over a brief synopsis of what Program participants must do. For all pupils taking part in their Program week, their complete nudity shall be required during school hours. In addition, if you’re attending or participating at any school-sponsored activities during your week, your nudity shall also be required then. As the rules require, any attempt to hide or cover up, for example using your rucksack or long hair to cover up with, is a Program violation and violations can result in your being required to repeat for another week. Other Program violations ...”

Tom had stopped hearing the head teacher while he continued to flip aimlessly through his copy and the constriction which had been building in his chest grew tighter. His breath was becoming rapid and shallow as his anxiety rose and he realized that a panic attack was imminent. Lynette reached over and took his hand in hers.

“Shhhh... it’ll be okay,” she whispered. “Breathe deep; try to relax. You can get through this, Tommie.”

He shook his head in vigorous denial. “I thought... I’d... be done... with this panic crap... by now,” he whispered, panting and then he forced his attention back to the stage where the head teacher was still speaking.

“...about. The Program is supposed to teach you to overcome your modesty and become familiar with the bodies of both sexes and accept your own body and its sexuality. To assist all of you pupils in overcoming any personal modesty, a Program rule called ‘Reasonable Requests’ is described in the booklet. Any of your schoolmates will be permitted to fondle or otherwise touch the sexual organs of a Program participant, as long as the naked participant isn’t physically harmed. An example of something that is not permitted is that pupils will not be allowed to put a foreign object into any body cavity of another pupil. In most cases, the Program participant can decide what he or she thinks is ‘reasonable,’ but unwarranted refusals of Requests shall be considered a Program violation, so you’re urged to allow most Requests or suffer some unwanted consequences.

“The next topic I have to cover is called ‘Relief.’ Because of the heightened sexual pressure that the naked pupils will experience, especially if they’ve been fondled in the hallways between classes, Program participants will have an opportunity to masturbate to orgasm with or without assistance of another pupil during the first five minutes of any class. This must be done where the class can see the participant as it’s another teaching component of the Program. The final part of the Program that I’ll mention concerns the classroom teaching curriculum; teachers are required to use Program students for any necessary teaching demonstration, for example, doing things like being a model for sex studies in biology or as a figure model in art or photography. There are other related topics mentioned in your booklets; be sure that you read it thoroughly.”

Tom was struggling not to let his rising panic overtake him. He bent forward, trying to get his head between his knees to keep from fainting, but there wasn’t enough room between the seat rows to bend far enough forward. He closed his eyes and tried to blank out what the head teacher was saying.

Taylor was still speaking. “Let me stress again that refusing Reasonable Requests and not participating in classroom demonstrations are Program violations, and some violations can extend one’s Program participation time by days or weeks.

“Finally, boy and girl participants must use the locker rooms, showers, and rest room facilities of the opposite sex during their Program week. Pupils who are in after-school sports or doing performing arts performances must participate in those activities while naked as well.

“That’s a summary of what the rules say. We expect that you will become familiar with all of the Program rules as spelt out in your Program booklet, so be sure to read it to know what your responsibilities are. Not following a rule because you’re not familiar with it, isn’t an excuse. An inadvertent violation will, of course, be treated the same as an intentional violation.

“Now, as I said, we’re commencing the Program today, and for our Program inauguration, we have a number of pupils who have stepped forward and volunteered to get their week over with straightaway. You may recall that in our letter to your parents last spring, we asked for pupils who would put their names up as volunteers. As well, at that time we had solicited other pupils, by virtue of their popularity or standing at the Friern Barnet School, to participate in the first session when the Program started. Now none of them knew that they would be starting today, but I think you volunteers know who you are. We’ll now ask these pupils to start us off to set a good example for the rest of you pupils when the selections begin next week and at that time, all pupil selections will be at random. For now, these pupils will provide your examples of proper Program behavior, won’t they?”

At hearing those words, the rising tension in the room dropped dramatically.

“Now then, will the following pupils please join us on the stage as your name is called.”

Taylor read a list of sixteen names and those children walked up to the stage, some moving more reluctantly than others, but two had to be coaxed to leave their seats to go up on stage; their willingness to participate must have been coerced somehow.

“All right, pupils, we’re very proud of each one of you for helping us inaugurate our first Program week; thank you all. Everyone, please give these brave pupils your recognition for their fine school spirit, won’t you?”

A round of applause hesitantly began—but it wasn’t very enthusiastic.

“Now is the time to begin the Naked in School Program in our school. To kick off the Program today—and for today only, we’re starting the Program week while we’re all assembled here together so we can begin on a positive note. On subsequent days of the Program week, pupils will still be disrobing in public, but you’ll do it at the main school entrance where we’ll provide boxes to store your clothes in for the day, but for today only, they are... erm... oh, ah, thank you. On that trolley just being wheeled in, just there on your left. Program pupils, please take a box and begin disrobing now.”

Friern Barnet School Program assembly in the auditorium

Hesitantly, each of the sixteen kids accepted a box and began removing their clothes; two of them had to be pressured into complying. Tom, bent over, had his hands clasped over his ears and his eyes were tightly screwed shut. But he still could hear, and then a girl in the audience began crying, followed by the sobs of a second girl. Involuntarily, Tom looked up. There on the stage, most of the children were now completely naked, their hands were aimlessly moving, the children wanting to cover themselves but they had been warned that to do that would be a Program violation.

Suddenly the panic which was rising in Tom peaked and flooded through him, overcoming his attempts to control it. With a grunt of desperation, he jumped up and blindly shuffled himself past a few seated students to get to the aisle, where he turned and ran for the door. A teacher stationed near the door, startled by the boy rushing toward him, moved to intercept him but Tom just barreled right past, pushing the teacher aside, where he crashed through the door into the lobby. Tom staggered down the hall to a nearby boys’ restroom, flung open the door, and just made it to a toilet, where he lost his breakfast.

Lynette, startled by Tom’s sudden departure, tried following him but was stopped by the teacher at the door who was now trying to keep several other distraught students from leaving the room.

“Please—my brother’s in trouble—he’s panicking,” she pleaded.

“What?” the teacher asked. “What happened?”

“He panics when he sees nudity. Can’t help himself. We need to get him help, he might hurt himself.”

Looking around uncertainly, the teacher called over another teacher to watch the door and left the room with Lynette. Since this had happened at the rear of the auditorium, only a few people were aware of the minor disturbance in the back; everyone’s attention was riveted on the naked children on the stage while the head teacher was still speaking, giving further instructions.

Lynette and the teacher could hear a toilet flushing in the nearby boys’ room, so the teacher went into the room, leaving Lynette in the hall. The teacher came up to Tom, who was still retching into a toilet.

“You feeling any better now?” he asked as Tom looked up miserably. His face was chalky white.

“N... n... no...” Tom stuttered. “Can’t breathe...” he choked out. “Feel sick...”

“Your sister outside said you need help... how can I...?” the teacher began.

“Ooohhh... pl... please... get her...”

The teacher went over to the door and asked Lynette to come in. She ran in and over to Tom, bent down, and wrapped her arms around him.

“Please get a bunch of cool, wet paper towels,” she hissed at the teacher.

“Oh... of course!”

He hastened to get the towels and Lynette used them to clean up Tom’s face and then she held a wad of fresh ones against his flushed forehead. Soon his breathing turned from panting to a slower, more regular rate and he turned his face to Lynette. It was still ashen white.

“Thanks, sis,” he said gratefully. “That really helped.”

She looked up at the teacher who was standing there, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“He’s in shock—can’t you see?” she asked angrily.

“Um... this happened before?”

“Yeah. It’s how he gets. This was a bad one though. I think he should go to the nurse... is there one at the school?”

“Oh. Oh yes. There is. Can you walk, young man, or do you need...?”

“Ahh... I can walk,” Tom said weakly, but he staggered slightly when he stood up, so Lynette held onto one arm and the teacher took the other. Holding Tom, they supported him in their walk to the nurse’s office.

Once Tom was settled on a narrow cot, Lynette explained to the nurse what had happened.

“So he gets panic attacks on just seeing nudity?” she asked Lynette.

“Yeah. It began happening to him when he was much younger,” she replied. “I was with him when it happened to him last year too. Wasn’t this bad when it happened then, though.”

Some life was returning to Tom.

“It was... never... this bad,” he spoke haltingly. “But this time... I was trying... to hold myself together... in there... It kept getting worse... kinda like a train wreck in slow motion. They were talking about... making everyone get naked... and then people were undressing right in front of me! And then crying started... That’s when I... couldn’t hold on... anymore,” he finished weakly.

The nurse took Tom’s wrist, checking his pulse. “Hmmmm... it’s weak, thready.” She checked his eyes and then took out a thermometer, holding it at his ear. Then she took his blood pressure. She looked at Lynette.

“Has he been seen by a doctor for this? It does look like all the symptoms of panic, doesn’t it.”

“Oh yes,” Lynette answered. “I even remember the word for what the doc says he has: its gymnophobia. It’s funny, I remember the word ‘cause we went to school in Germany and schools there are called gymnasiums, it means ‘naked place,’ but there’s nobody naked in those schools, yet now you have it here.”

The nurse scowled. “Don’t get me started on that... Anyway, okay, panic like this certainly can be a phobia reaction. It fits... My, he’s going to have a bit of difficulty with the Program here, isn’t he? Listen, young lady, you are who?”

“Oh, Lynette Armstrong. I’m Tom’s sister.”

“Okay, Lynette, we’ll need to get your mum or dad down here to fetch Tom. What I recommend is for him to see a doctor, perhaps a psychiatrist, and possibly to get him on an anti-anxiety med before he returns to school. Maybe that can help him, but with such a strong reaction to simply seeing nudity... I don’t know. Let’s ring your parents now.”

Lynette turned to Tom. “You be okay for a few minutes, bro?”

“Sure. Thanks for looking out for me...”

While Lynette was talking with the nurse, Tom was barely listening; he had begun to recall the incident last year that Lynette had just referred to—it had happened while his family was living in Munich.

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