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Chapter 14

The remainder of the summer program was uneventful. The siblings spent the rest of the week in Paris with their two temporary groups, then they met their original group for the remaining planned activities. Soon it was time to return to London; but now Tom and Lynette had made friends with a number of kids from the other two groups and planned to keep in touch. They were also very pleased to learn that the essays that they had written on the trip would receive class credit toward their year eleven school work.

While Tom and Lynette were on their summer program, their parents had located a home to purchase in Dulwich Village, an affluent community in the Borough of Southwark, much closer to the siblings’ new school. They would move when their lease on their first home was up. Since Andrew was going to live in a university residence, there was no reason to remain living in North London—Duncan had a distance to commute no matter which suburb they lived in, and the new home would be a slightly shorter and easier trip for him.

Just before they were to move, Tom’s family traveled to Canada for a week, visiting relatives in Toronto. Then the summer holidays were over and Tom and Lynette were about to begin in their new school, Norwich Academy. They were entering their year eleven and were excited about it. Their fellow group members on their summer course had been quite complimentary about both the school and the new Avery Program, which was being developed and pilot-tested at Norwich. It had started at the school the previous January and all of the school’s year nines and most of the year tens had participated in it. This fall, a teachers’ training program was being conducted at the school and a number of teachers from secondary schools around the U.K. were now observing and interning in the Avery sessions to learn its techniques because it was going to replace the widely reviled Naked in School Program.

The siblings’ new home was located about two miles from the school, an easy bike ride. With their parents’ permission, the two had begun to sleep together in Lynette’s room since she had a larger bed, but they would keep their two rooms to maintain appearances when the kids’ friends visited.

~~~~

On their first day of school, they spent most of the time registering and getting their books, uniforms, and supplies; then they had an introductory assembly, and finally an activities fair where they learned about the school’s clubs and other extracurricular activities. They also found out that they wouldn’t be in any classes with the members of their summer course group since those students had already done the Avery Program. They learned that the school wanted that year eleven group maintained intact as a separate cohort for research purposes to see how their personal dynamics developed.

Instead, Tom and Lynette were told that for their own Avery Program session, they would be grouped with other students of both years ten and eleven who had missed taking the course last spring and other year eleven students who were newly starting at Norwich, like the siblings. The program would begin for them in two weeks and was scheduled as a three-period block for five days over two school weeks. Scheduling these groups was a complicated process since the school also had to accommodate their academic classes too.

Tom and Lynette were also scheduled to participate in the school’s chorus and they were put in a music class which concentrated on vocal performance. There were also physical education classes; but the Avery Program substituted for the P.E. classes during the weeks it ran.

When the siblings tried to connect with their friends from the summer program, that’s when they learned that they had no academic classes together. Of the whole summer group, they only shared their lunch period with Roberta and Simon. Lynette had become a close friend of Roberta’s during the summer program and Tom and Simon had also connected as friends during that time, especially since Tom learned that Simon was on the school’s cross-country team.

Two days after school began, Lynette was sitting with Roberta at lunch when she learned some news about Harry and Julie, two other members of their summer course group. Roberta had been chatting with Lynette while Tom was with Simon elsewhere in the lunchroom where Simon was introducing Tom to some of his other friends.

“So did you hear about Harry and Julie from our summer program?” Roberta asked.

Lynette shook her head. “Hear what?” She grinned. “They’re not engaged, are they?”

“Ha! No, not yet—yeah, they could be—they’re really a committed couple. But that’s not the news.” Roberta chuckled. “The news is that I just heard that they were made Avery Program mentors this term. That’s unusual; last year they only picked sixth-formers.”

“Um, that’s good, I guess. Remember, I’m not familiar with the Avery Program—we didn’t have it in our old school. I heard a little about mentors this summer with you guys; they’re the kids who help the teachers and work with anyone who needs help doing the activities?”

Roberta nodded. “Yep. They pick for mentors the blokes who can work good with others—you know, like leader-types, ones with charisma, things like that. I’m happy for them; it’s an honor, I guess.”

Lynette chuckled. “I can see where Julie would fit, Harry too. She was always organizing things and Harry’s a born negotiator. He was wonderful at getting people to compromise—incredibly persuasive. Remember when he got some of the guys to agree on the room assignments?”

“Yeah,” Roberta agreed, recalling his negotiating a disagreement over rooms during the summer program. “Also Julie and Harry were brill during our Avery Program in April, they were real cheerleaders in our group. We were one of the first year ten groups to do it and they really helped a number of our classmates who were having trouble with some of the problem-solving sessions and they did a fantastic job when we did the role-playing.”

Lynette looked thoughtful. “Yeah, this summer you mentioned the role-playing and um... problem-solving. The Avery Program takes two weeks! Three class periods a day. That’s a lot of time—and you never told me what do you do in there, even when Tom and I asked.”

“Lynette, we’ve been told over and over, never to tell anyone what happens in the sessions ‘cause what we’re doing is solving puzzles as a group. If we tell about it, it’ll spoil it for others. And the other sessions, well, you’ve just gotta do them, they’re ace. Lots of fun. I don’t want to spoil your surprise. Actually the whole program is, um, it’s one and a half hours a day, ten days—that’s only fifteen hours long. We do the bonding exercises a lot and almost everyone gets to pair up with each other. I told you a little about the bonding before, right?”

Lynette nodded, “Yeah.”

Roberta continued, “Okay. That’s where you make close connections with the other kids. The problem-solving stuff is way cool; it’s a group activity and that’s all I can say. Anyway, we did that for several days, there’s a lot of physical activity and some of the games are super hard physically but really fun. And the role playing we did was corkin’ brill. It was about gossip and slander and the damage it can do to reputations and relationships. Oi—another thing we learned was how to resist peer pressure to avoid doing something dumb. Also about setting sexual limits if someone was too pushy. And I told you that even had these ace massage sessions! The boys did girls and we did the boys. That also was brill and we learned how to give pleasure with our hands with no sex needed! I told you before the nature hike that doing the massages felt so brill that lots of us wanted to do it starkers, but the teacher nixed that idea. I love everyone in my group now, they’re almost like family.”

“Wow, you sound like an advert for the Avery Program, Roberta,” Lynette laughed. “Now I’m all charged up; it’ll be interesting to see how I’ll like it. Also I think Tom might like it; he’s kinda handsy, you know,” she giggled.

“Handsy? How’s Tom handsy?—he’s very sweet and polite.”

“Well, I didn’t mean he was rude handsy, you know. Tom’s very affectionate; he loves to hug and kiss people in my family, and I’ve seen him hugging the guys on his track team in our last school, you know, man hugs celebrating a good run.”

“Tom does track? That’s cool. So does Simon. Cross-country, not the short track races. Tom’s a hunk, you know. If I didn’t have Simon, I’d have my sights set on him,” Roberta giggled.

Later Lynette told Tom about her conversation with Roberta.

“Well, that really does a lot to explain all the affectionate partner-swapping this summer,” he chuckled. “You got more info from her than we could get out of her or anyone else this summer about that program.”

“I think Roberta was being expansive, honey. We’ve become real friends now. She told me that everyone in the program is warned not to talk about specific things they do in the classes. It’s so that the new people doing it don’t have any preconceived notions or know the answers to the puzzles they do. I think she might have told me a bit more than she should have done. Oh, she thinks you’re a hunk, too. If Simon dumps her she might make a play for you.”

“Ha, fat chance. First, I think Simon is head over heels about her; second, like that old song, I only have eyes for you, baby,” Tom sniggered.

“You’re so sweet,” she grinned at him.

~~~~

The first two weeks of school were busy but not especially eventful, except for the discussions which ensued after Tom presented his letter explaining that he had to be exempted from changing and showering with other students. That resulted in a brief meeting with Tom, the deputy head teacher, and the counselor. Tom pointed out that his file contained medical recommendations about his phobia and he explained how his former school had accommodated him. Tom signed up for the school’s track team to do cross-country and learned that sport would fulfill his P.E. requirement. He liked the arrangement because he could schedule his workouts with other team members and would have his needed privacy when changing.

The siblings’ participation in the Avery Program began two weeks into the term. The classes were held in a modified classroom which had a one-way glass observation window in a wall to allow observers to watch the class to learn the Avery techniques without distracting the students. On one side of the room, shielded by a screen, there was a small area where students needing individual help from the mentors could stay out of sight from the rest of the group. When their program week began, the students were told to come to the room wearing their P.E. costumes, but had received no other instructions.

Tom and Lynette walked into the special Avery Program room and looked around. They immediately recognized Julie and Harry, the kids from their summer program, and waved to them. Julie was passing out cards; she came over to them.

“Wotcher, you guys. It’s brill that you’re in my group; me and Harry are the group mentors. Here’s your number cards. You’ll need them later.”

Tom took one. He noticed his card was blue and Lynette’s was red. “What are these for?” he asked.

“Groupings. You’ll see. Just pick a mat and sit. Lynette, you sit on one of the light yellow squares painted on it and Tom, sit on a yellow oval.”

The siblings sat on a nearby mat. They noticed each mat also had red and blue circles stenciled on them in a regular pattern.

Harry and Julie were arranging the seating of the other students as they arrived in the room and in a few minutes, all the mats were occupied and everyone was looking around with curiosity.

Then two adults entered and the chatter in the room subsided.

“Hi, team,” the man called. “I’m Mr Tolliver, and I’ll be one of your guides for this exploration of your personal development. Miss Gunson’s your other guide. From now on, we’ll all be a big, happy team. Assisting us, you’ve already met Harry and Julie; they’ll be our group mentors. If you don’t already know what a mentor does, here’s a quick idea. First, they’ll assist us by demonstrating some of the positions we’ll use in our exercises, and second, they’ll help any of you who might need some extra coaching as we go along. But you all knew that already, didn’t you?”

There was a chorus of “Yes sir.”

Miss Gunson now began speaking. “You also all probably know that the version of the Avery Program we’re doing in this session was developed right here at Norwich Academy and two of its developers are still pupils here, Amelia Hadad and Jeremy Porter. They’re actually national celebrities, don’t you know. They were knighted by the Queen earlier this year for their Avery Program contributions.”

There was a murmur of admiration from the class.

She went on. “Now this session will cover ice-breaking and personal bonding. Part of this exercise is to tear down the personal barriers we all put up when we’re interacting with people outside our families—not that there are any families where barriers exist between close relatives, are there?”

Chuckling from the group.

“Many parts of this exercise are quite intense, as I’m sure you’ve heard, but everyone doing it in the past has said how rewarding it was for them. Isn’t that true, Julie and Harry?”

Harry nodded emphatically. “It was brill! All of our group who did it in the spring are very close buddies, right, Julie?” She nodded. “They’re even closer to me than my own cousins and maybe even my own sister. But she’s only twelve and thinks she rules the house.”

Everyone laughed.

Miss Gunson chuckled. “Very apt endorsement, Harry. Now, in addition to the group bonding exercises, the other elements of the program include the development of various social skills such as team building for joint, cooperative problem solving and trust-building, and we’ll employ role-playing to demonstrate how damaging gossip and rumor-mongering can be to trusting relationships. We’ll teach the girls—boys too—how to set your personal limits for intimate contact. And show you all how to use the sense of touch to give your partners pleasure in a non-sexual way.”

Mr Tolliver moved into the center of the mats and pointed around at the four mats containing the seated students.

“So let’s start with this little exercise. Everyone, you’re sitting on a yellow square or oval now, so turn on your mats so that you face inward toward the mat’s center; that will arrange you all into a circle, alternating boy-girl. Now take the hands of your teammates on each side of you. All set? Good. I want one person from each mat to start telling your teammates your name and age, then the next person to the right takes a turn.”

The room was filled with murmuring voices and then gradually went silent as the circles were completed.

Mr Tolliver spoke again. “Well done, everyone; very orderly. I like that. I’ll take as read that you all gave the correct answers, too, didn’t you?”

There was a flurry of giggling at the comment.

“Okay,” he said, “let’s try something more difficult, or perhaps more controversial, won’t we. With the same person starting off, tell your teammates the name of your favorite FOOTBALL team! And no arguing!”

The entire class cracked up. Everyone knew how polarizing football could be to British fans. This time the noise in the room was considerably louder, but soon died down.

Mr Tolliver clapped his hands to restore full quiet. “Well, now we know which teams are the most popular at Norwich, don’t we. And we all must be good mates already. Nobody tried to clobber their neighbor, then.”

There was loud laughter throughout the room.

“Okay, that was pretty lame. You’re all doing great.” Then Tolliver held up a blue card. “See this card? You got one like it from Harry or Julie. Find your card.”

The kids dug out their cards.

“There’s a number on each card. If you look at each mat, in the center you’ll see a number painted there. Mats are numbered one through four. Go to the mat which matches your number and sit down on a colored circle matching your card color.”

Tom looked at his card. Blue four. He glanced at Lynette’s. Red two. Her mat was on the opposite side of the room from his. He shrugged and walked to the number four mat.

Elsewhere in the room there was some laughing and some uncomfortable shifting around as the kids settled onto their new places.

As Tom sat down, he noticed the red circle next to his blue one was only about a foot away. He pulled away from the red circle to about three feet as a girl he didn’t know tentatively knelt on her red circle and looked at him questioningly.

“Now boys and girls. Sit on your circles. No, not behind them, ON them—get closer, closer... ah, over there, mat four, son, you need to get on the blue circle,” Tolliver told Tom.

Tom slid over and sat sideways, legs out, his right shoulder facing the girl, as Tolliver was continuing, “... good, now facing each other, take each other’s hands in your own and look at your teammate; this is your new partner for now.”

Tom turned to face the girl and backed away to arm’s length from her. He became terribly uncomfortable when he noticed the girl had stretched her hands out to him. He came up on his knees, leaned forward, and stretched out his arms across the space between them and lightly gripped her fingers near the tips. He barely heard the next instruction; his mind was whirling.

“Now girls first, then boys, introduce yourselves as you did a few minutes ago when we were in those circles and this time tell your partner something about yourself....”

The rest was lost. He vaguely heard her name, Marjorie something, then something about a sister and... was it a music group she named? It didn’t make any sense to him. Then the girl hissed at him and wiggled his hands.

“Tell your name and something about you!” she prompted.

“Err, Tom Armstrong. My sister’s Lynette...” he choked out, whispering.

“Why can’t you sit closer?” Marjorie urged.

He didn’t respond; just shook his head. Meanwhile the teacher had resumed speaking.

“Now, both girls and boys, get nice and close to each other, then close your eyes and keep them closed. I want the girls first, take both of your partner’s hands in yours; touch them all over—stroke their palms, fingers, wrists, backs. Get to know your partner’s hands. Run your fingers and palms all over them, as much as you want, and try to memorize how they feel.”

Marjorie reached out and tried to pull Tom closer so she could hold his hands; when he didn’t move, she tried to shift herself closer but he pulled away. Annoyed, she dropped his hands and looked around for some help. Meanwhile, Tom shifted from his kneeling posture to a sitting one, twisting sideways to her, and looked down at his feet.

He thought in anguish, What’s wrong with me? I can’t do this!

He was only faintly aware that Miss Gunson had knelt next to him and was trying to get his attention.

“Son? Young man? What’s your name?” she was whispering.

Marjorie had come closer and whispered, “Miss? I think it’s Tom something. I’m Marjorie.”

Gunson nodded. “Tom? Look at me.”

Tom, in a fog, looked over at her and shook his head. “I can’t do this, Miss,” he said miserably.

“All you need to do, Tom, is hold her hands,” Gunson urged. “Come on, let’s try.”

Tom shifted to a kneeling position with his knees and shins on the mat and sitting back on his heels. He reached out to Marjorie, who was at arm’s length, took her hands, and closed his eyes.

“Good,” Gunson praised him. “Now let her feel your hands; did you hear the instructions?”

Tom shrugged, and stayed knelt, stiffly, while Marjorie caressed his hands. After about a minute, Tom’s shaking hands became apparent to Marjorie.

“Tom, are you nervous?” she asked.

“Anxious,” Tom muttered. “Hate how this feels.”

Then Tolliver told the group to switch; the boys were to feel the girls’ hands. Tom screwed his eyes closed and gripped Marjorie’s hands but just continued to kneel, holding her hands.

“Tom! You’re supposed to be feeling them all over!” she hissed at him.

He was kneeling there, body rigid, oblivious to the sounds of little sighs of pleasure surrounding him as the others in the room reacted to the hand-stroking.

Marjorie pulled her hands away in frustration.

“Tom, can’t you follow instructions?” she whispered sharply.

She looked at him; he was pale and breathing hard.

“Trying...” he grunted. “Really trying.”

Then the teacher’s voice interrupted. “Your eyes are still closed, everyone. Keep holding your partner’s hands. Boys, still with your eyes shut tightly, no one peek!—tell your partner something about what you noticed about her when she sat on your mat. What she’s wearing, about her hair, or if you can’t remember, tell her how her hands feel.”

Marjorie knee-walked a little closer and took Tom’s hands again.

“Tom?” she prompted.

“Um... I didn’t notice anything, sorry,” he muttered.

She dropped his hands again, scowling in annoyance, as the whispering sounds of other couples’ speaking flowed around them, then gradually died down. The teacher spoke again.

“Good job, boys. Now you girls get to tell your partners something about them.”

“Tom, you’re such a knob, you’re not cooperating at all,” Marjorie scolded quietly. “You’re a selfish, unhelpful... no, strange bloke and this experience is becoming quite horrid.”

Tom, with a shrug, sat back down on the mat, legs stretched out in front of him while Marjorie knelt on her circle, now at his side, stewing, until the susurration of voices began to quiet.

Tolliver spoke again. “Very good, everyone. Now Julie and Harry will demonstrate how you’ll sit for the next part.”

The two came up and sat on a small mat in the room’s center. They shifted around until they sat with their legs spread apart, Julie’s legs lying across the top of Harry’s thighs. Their upper bodies were almost touching and their forearms were resting on each other’s shoulders, their upper arms touching along their lengths, as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Tolliver instructed the group, “They’re sitting this way because it’s important in the next part to listen to your partner’s breathing so that you’ll breathe together. Now, everyone, let’s move to sit like Julie and Harry.”

When Marjorie moved closer to Tom, intending to sit with him as the mentors had demonstrated, Tom shifted away again and Marjorie shouted angrily, “Tom!”

The others in the room stopped moving and looked over at Tom’s mat while Miss Gunson and Julie hurried over.

“Tom, I’ve been watching you,” Gunson said, “hoping that you’d start showing a bit of enthusiasm. But you’re not making any effort. Why won’t you work with Marjorie?”

“Don’t know... why... this... stuff’s making me, um... so anxious... unh, I can’t... do it. I don’t... it’s supposed... to make me feel... what?—something—closeness, like I heard?”

“That’s right, Tom,” Gunson nodded.

“Well, it’s... not working—I only feel bad... afraid!”

“Can you just sit and let Marjorie sit close to you with your arms on her like the mentors are doing?” Gunson urged.

She motioned Marjorie to move closer and took Tom’s arm and prompted him to turn to face her.

“No, I can’t,” Tom grunted, shook her hand off, and then stood and began walking quickly to the door.

A flurry of confusion followed as Lynette looked up, saw that Tom was headed out of the room, leaped to her feet, and rushed after him. She was followed by Julie, who caught up to the two just outside the door. Meanwhile everything in the room had stopped; everyone was staring at the scene with open mouths.

Outside, Lynette was trying to calm a clearly distressed Tom while Julie was trying to get their attention. A minute later, Miss Gunson came out.

“Julie? What’s happening?” she asked. “Tom? What’s wrong, son?”

Lynette answered, “Tom’s got some kind of anxiety problem, but this kind of thing hasn’t happened before, Miss.”

Tom shook himself. “I don’t know what came over me, Miss. I kinda blanked out in there. Being so close to someone I don’t know... it really... scared me. It felt bad, wrong, doing that stuff. I couldn’t think straight and all I wanted was to get out of there.”

Gunson frowned. “Do you think you can go back and have Julie work with you in private instead of Marjorie?”

Tom looked at Julie, then away. “Um, no... couldn’t. Sorry, Julie. I like you but... holding hands, maybe, but the part that came next ... so close... leaning our bodies together like that, embracing you... aagghhh! No, never... I couldn’t...”

Miss Gunson continued, “What if there was no hugging and embracing, just hand-holding and quiet talking? Could you try that?”

Tom thought for a few seconds. “Maybe. I’ll try.”

“Lynette?” Gunson turned to her. “We’ve already shifted your partner to Marjorie so we have no one for you to work with except Harry but he’s occupied with mentor tasks.”

“Can I stay with Tom? We’re really close. Maybe it’ll help him.”

“Hmmm... This is beyond any of the Avery protocols now... Well, why not? Can’t do anything worse than what’s already happened, can we. Let’s go back, but we’ll use the side door. The rest of the group can’t see in there. It’s the mentors’ help area. Julie, you know what to do, right?”

“Yes, Miss.”

Gunson led them into the room via the side door and then left Julie with Tom and Lynette.

Julie thought back to her training and recalled how Amelia Hadad had managed to get a traditionally observant Muslim girl to accept close physical contact with a boy. She remembered learning how Amelia had worked with the Muslim girl and the boy, with Amelia herself acting as a kind of catalyst. Julie realized that possibly Lynette could be the catalyst for Tom.

She positioned Tom and Lynette closely on the mat and she took a position in front of them, but at an arm’s length away. Julie had the siblings hold a hand and lean toward each other until their shoulders touched.

“Lynette, take your free hand and put it on top of your linked hands; now you two, close your eyes,” she instructed. “I’m going to take Tom’s free hand in my hands.” She did that. “Is holding like this okay, Tom?”

“Uh huh...”

“Now Tom, using the hand I’m holding, feel either of my hands all over—try to memorize how it feels. After you do that, try doing it with my other hand. You can let go of Lynette’s hands to touch mine with your other hand too, if you want.”

Tom used just his free hand to stroke Julie’s hands.

“How did it feel, Tom?” Julie asked after two minutes of his unenthusiastic stroking.

“Umm, like a hand? Sorry, what should I feel?”

“Do you have any feelings of closeness, pleasure, or attraction to me?”

“No, should I? I didn’t feel anything, really,” he remarked.

“Well, let me try stroking your hand,” Julie suggested.

He held out a hand and sat, impassive and face immobile, as Julie tried to elicit any visible emotion from her hand massage. Clearly she was not having any effect.

After a while, Julie asked Tom, “Do you know how sometimes blind people can read other people’s expressions? They use their hands to feel someone’s face—it’s face-reading by touch.”

“Umm, no, I haven’t heard about that...”

“But you do see how it can work? Kinda like reading Braille, okay?”

“I guess,” Tom said uncomfortably.

Julie leaned closer. “Tom, still keeping your eyes closed, tell me what kind of emotion my face is showing. I’ll shift your hand to my face now.”

Julie did, and Tom tentatively moved his fingers over her cheek but recoiled when he touched her lips. Julie took his hand and repositioned it on her forehead but Tom wouldn’t move it down, only up to her hairline.

“Tom, to feel my expressions, you’ll need to touch my whole face, my lips and around my eyes too.”

“Sorry, Julie, I can’t... It’s... it’s... um... just too intimate.”

Julie frowned. She reached forward. “Tell me how this feels. Lynette is still holding you for support, right?”

“Uh huh...”

Julie touched Tom’s cheek and moved her fingers down to the corner of his mouth; Tom jerked away in alarm.

“OH! Don’t do that, Julie!” He pulled away from her.

“Tom, can I get closer to you while Lynette holds you?” Julie asked, approaching the end of her resources. “Keeping your eyes closed?”

“Um, I don’t know... just don’t touch my face, okay?”

Julie took Tom’s free hand in both of hers and shifted close to him. She stroked his hand, the palm, back, fingers, kneaded his skin, but he never relaxed; he kept his hand rigid and his muscles were tightly locked.

Watching all this, Lynette was greatly troubled. She had assumed that Tom’s phobia was tied to his nudity aversion, but now it seemed that he couldn’t relax his guard enough to allow another person to get close to him.

Could it be?—why perhaps he’s never really made any close friends? she wondered. But he hugs and kisses others...? Makes no sense... she mused.

Then Julie asked Tom to open his eyes. When he saw how close Julie had moved to him, he grunted and slid away from her about an arm’s length. She quietly shook her head.

“Tom, does being close still make you uncomfortable?”

“Yeah, sorry, Julie. Nothing personal. It’s... it’s like... I dunno... dangerous? Wrong? To be so close? I don’t know why.”

“Well, I don’t know anything more I can do here, then. We mentors learned how to help kids who are sorta touch-shy, that’s actually kinda common among kids our age, you know. But, well, I’m fresh out of ideas. This is above my pay grade,” she grinned at them. “They don’t pay me enough to solve everyone’s problems.”

They all chuckled, Tom ruefully, shaking his head. “I’m really sorry,” he said. “Maybe this Avery stuff isn’t for me, after all. I don’t need to be able to be touchy-feely with everyone in the school to succeed here.”

“But the rest of the program—the problem-solving games, role playing, confidence and trust building—they’re also an important part of the program,” Julie objected.

“Yeah, I guess, but I heard a little about those exercises and I assume that the idea is for those parts to work well, I’d need to have a strong relationship with the other kids by this... um, bonding stuff?”

“That’s right, the bonding’s the key to the whole program,” Julie agreed. “But you can’t do any of this bonding stuff at all?” Tom shook his head sadly. “Well, I suppose you can leave—I’m not sure where you should go, but I don’t know about Lynette. Lynette, you’ve missed a big part of today’s exercise and it’s kinda too late to fit you in now, even if we had a partner for you, someone else would miss out without a partner for the rest of the day.”

Lynette nodded. “That’s okay, Julie; I was having a bad time of it with my partner too in there. If we had stayed, I don’t think I could have done that embracing part when Tom ran out and like Tom, I don’t think I need to learn how to touch other kids or to enjoy their touching. During our summer course, we saw how your whole group acted together, remember? How close all of you were? Tom and I were fine with that—we didn’t feel left out by your group’s closeness. You saw that, right?” Julie nodded. “So we’ll be fine; Tom and I don’t need to experience that closeness to others ourselves. We have our family closeness and both Tom and I are very close and loving. We get by just fine with other people too and don’t need any additional closeness that this program seems to develop. We’ll be fine just as we are.”

Tom and Lynette left the room while Julie stood there sadly, wondering what else she could have done to help Tom.

~~~~

When Tom and Lynette left the training room, they didn’t know where to go, so they trooped off to Mrs Darden’s office. She was the school counselor and had worked with them to arrange their schedule.

“So why are you here now?” she asked. “You’re in your P.E. kits—ah. You’re supposed to be in the Avery Program class now, aren’t you.”

“Yes, Miss,” Tom agreed sadly, “but I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t do the exercises.”

“But the mentors are supposed...”

Lynette interrupted. “Tom did work with a mentor. It didn’t help him. I tried to help Tom too, with the mentor working together with both of us. He kind of panics—not panic, but becomes... um...”

Tom broke in. “I can’t let the other kids touch me how they showed us in the class. I zone out, get anxious, and then I need to get away from them. It’s not like the panics I used to get, but it’s so uncomfortable that I can’t stay and be touched like that.”

“You don’t like any touching?” Darden asked.

“No, the touching’s okay; it’s no problem—in my family we hug and kiss,” Tom answered. “Also on my team last spring, I hugged my teammates after we did good stuff, like wins or had good race times. Some of Lynette’s girlfriends have hugged and kissed me and I kissed them back. I’ve had massages too, so touching’s not a problem. But in that room—something about it—the intimacy with a stranger, I guess something like that. It felt wrong somehow. Maybe I can’t handle a physical kind of intimacy without a psychological... maybe emotional... attraction? I just don’t know...”

Darden nodded. “That may be an astute observation, Tom. But everyone in the school is supposed to be in that program and your schedules were arranged for that. Now your schedules are all out of synch so we’ll have to work you into some regular classes for the next two weeks. I don’t know when the next Avery opportunity will open...”

“But I said I can’t do it at all, Miss,” Tom insisted.

“Hmmm, I see. But we do require that every pupil complete the program; the Education Authority expects it for our school. Well, I’ll have to consult some other staff on how to proceed. Meanwhile, let’s see, please go to the media room and find some work to do; I’ll get your schedule sorted and I’ll call for you later.”

They thanked her and left.

Of course the news that two pupils had left one of the Avery Program sessions was immediately reported to Mr Hanford, the head teacher. Mr Tolliver had sent word to him about what had happened in the Avery room, and soon after Tom and Lynette left the counselor’s office, Hanford called her.

“Nancy, I just heard of a problem in the Avery class...” he began.

“Yes, the two Armstrong kids just left here. They told me about it and I sent them to the media room. I need to get their schedules sorted now.”

“Indeed. But how will you go about putting them into a future program class? Our schedules are extremely tight.”

“I’m not sure how to handle this; they said they can’t participate at all, even in future sessions. I need to—no, we need—to discuss this. Is there such thing as an Avery Program expert? It’s so new, after all.”

“Hmm, the only person, erm, people, I’m aware of are the designers in the colonies—in Atlanta, also the Corises, but I think they left for home just last month.”

“But there’s Amelia and Jeremy too, aren’t there.”

“Even though they did amazing things for the Avery Program, Nancy, they’re still sixth-form pupils. We can’t ask them to, erm, diagnose?—whatever—what appears to be an unusual psychological problem. Let’s see. I’ll ring a few people and then we’ll try to meet about this.”

She agreed.

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