Chapter Two - Apple red
Lunch time rolled around, and the school seemed to burst alive when the bell rang for it. With every single student going to the cafeteria, it was sort of like a huge gaggle of geese that were landing on some placid lake... it was noisy and crowded as the hallways filled up with hungry girls..
I entered huge cafeteria, getting into the serving line where you could choose what it was that you wanted to eat that day. I ventured a look back at the over three hundred or more girls that were lined up behind me. I could not help but giggle a little as I was thankful that I had gotten down here quick enough to escape the huge crush of students. I hated crowds, even though my school was so damned large
Looking at a chalkboard attached to the wall, I saw what was on the menu for our cafeteria today. Grimacing as I read, I could see that it was not quite the best selections the student of food services have had doled up for us.
Written in bold bright pink chalk, the menu was clear. I had a choice between a fish and chips platter, some really greasy looking lasagna that looked far from anything good, a stack of stale looking egg salad sandwiches or a choice of either a bowl of chili or mushroom soup. There was bowls of fruit, little snack cheeses and other little things, but I tended not to go for anything like that..
It was a no-brainer... I took the fish and chips, along with can of coke. It was not my favourite meal they had ever offered here, but I knew from going to St. Thomas long enough by now... this was going to be the only option to go with. The only good thing about the fish platter... at least I knew that it would be edible.
I went through and hurried to my usual spot, a corner booth that was at the very back of the large dining area. I always took that spot so I would not have to be swamped in the middle of a veritable sea of girls who crammed themselves into every corner of the dining area. Another reason was that I could sort of escape the scrutiny always staring eyes of the Nuns... they always seemed to be lurking around everywhere.
Living at various schools like this most of my life, I should be use to having the ‘big penguins’, as we called them, hanging around all of the time. Surprisingly, it never quite worked out like that for anyone... I found myself hating being under their watchful eyes every single moment of each day.
As I took my seat, I was not quite sure if the amazingly beautiful Ashley would actually show up to have lunch with me. I was nervous to meet up with the girl after what had ‘happened’ earlier, but there was a side of me that was yearning to see Ashley again. I was more than feeling conflicted... I also was feeling convicted as well. What we had done, was against ever single thing I had been taught in church since I was a little girl, and that played in my head over and over again.
I had battled this strange sort of needing I had to see the girl again....which was being offset by the huge feeling of guilt that had built in after our little tryst in the washrooms upstairs. My mind kept replaying the ‘sinner’ tag over and over again, almost getting louder every time it did so. It was a real battle inside my mind over this, yet it seemed like their was no answer. I wanted to be happy, but I knew that God did not like the ‘lesbian’ thing either.
After the nuns had led us in the saying of grace like ever meal time, everyone in the dining hall was free to partake of their food. I took a look around, noticing that some of my fellow students were eating like they had not seen food in years everywhere. I chuckled and thought back to last summer vacation when I hung around my slightly older cousin Chad.
He had constantly told me his theories on boys, girls and other more odd things that were attached to life. He even had said ‘ girls can be pigs’ more than once, trying to make a point that in some respects, boys and girls were not as different as they seemed to be. I have to admit, Chad is a idiot, but he might just have something here when I looked all around myself in the dinning room.
I bit into one of the fish sticks from my plate, the saltiness of it making me think that I might have chosen wrong for my noon meal. The heavily batter rectangle of fish tasted as horribly as it looked. It was very gross, but after seeing the other choices that had been layed out for us today... I concluded that the fish I was eating was the only real choice. The cafeteria was not known for having any real level of culinary excellence.
I had just swallowed when. I was then joined by the beautiful Ashley, just like she had said she would. I smiled at the first glance at her, my palms got almost instantly wet as she hurriedly slid in to the seat of the booth right next to me, putting her tray of food down. I felt all weak inside at just looking at her, my mind replaying the morning’s activity.
" Hi..." She said sweetly, her face still showing the confusion that this morning had brought to her.
" Uh, Ashley..." I said with a stammer, hearing how my voice was wobbling a little.
She looked at me, her eyes still held a noticeable smokiness that made me tingle all over. I smiled back, and I could see her blush a little. I found myself looking at her very intently, and not being able to look away from her amazingly deep blue eyes. She was gorgeous, just doing the simplest of things like sitting down to join me. I was shocked at my reaction... conflicted once again.
Ashley seemed to take a deep breath while looking at me, clearly searching for something to say... but her mind was not coming up with anything. I just waited for her to start talking, my own tongue was stilled as well
" Did you have a good morning, Jenny?" The girl asked, her cheeks reddening a little.
" It was... rather interesting... " I said after a second, feeling my own cheeks were growing very hot.
" That is so... understated, I would say..." She said, a little titter of a giggle coming out of her.
We sat and ate for a few minutes, talking mindlessly about pretty much anything that we could come up with as we did. Neither one of us was quite sure of what to say or do at the moment, and we just opted for mindless chatter. I could feel this sort of tension hang around us, and tried very hard to ignore it... but I looked into her eyes and I was once again feeling those tingles shooting through me once again.
Ashley leaned onto me after a few minutes, after taking a glance around. I noticed that she was acting a little more nervous than even what she was when she sat down. I waited to see what she was going to say, fear that she was now beginning to hate what we had done filling my mind.
" We have a little... situation going on here...." She said, in a almost halting type of whisper. " It is one I know that you have not noticed yet..."
" A situation?" I echoed back, a little surprised at her blunt but shaky tone.
" Trust me... this situation is a real doozie." She whispered, looking right into my eyes.
I looked straight at her for a second, not quite getting exactly what she was trying to elude to
" What is it?" I asked back in a whisper of my own.
" It’s going to be sort of.... embarrassing... when I say it" She said, her voice becoming even more tight.
My mind was flying with thoughts that we had been ‘discovered’ this morning or something like along those lines. I looked at her, setting myself for whatever this could be all about.
" Just tell me..." I said, seeing her face half was serious and half almost like she was trying to stop herself from giggling.
I heard her give a very strange sounding giggle in the back of her throat, as she turned to look at me fully in the face.
" After... you know what happened..." She started, her face going even more of a deeper shade of red at this point. " We sort of ended up having a very... unusual situation on out hands ..."
" Something wrong?" I asked, still unsure of just what it was that she was trying to say to me.
Ashley started to blush ever brighter than what it already had been, and seemed to be very shy at the moment of telling me what ever it was. She leaned in, her face only an inch away from my ear.
" I.. Uh... I put your underwear on instead of mine.." She said with a wavering giggle of chagrin.
" I have your panties on?" I stammered, as shocked as her face was showing disbelief at the situation
" And you have mine on..." She said in response, giggling a little harder.
I was feeling very shocked quite embarrassed at this point. I looked down at my lap and then up at her, now realizing why my underwear had been feeling a little strange to me when I was in class. I had thought it was just my raging guilt making me feel uncomfortable... but with the fact that I knew now that I was waring her panties, this made all the more sense. I closed my eyes and giggled. This was very unexpected.
" I used the bathroom before coming here... and noticed it." Ashley giggled.
I just shook my head, and found myself laughing at this little situation. It was such a strange thing to have happen, but here we were.... wearing the other’s underwear.
" This is very strange..." I commented, looking at the laugh flushed face who looked at me.
" Your telling me..." She nodded, obviously feeling the same way as I was over things.
We stopped laughing finally, after drawing a glare from one of the nuns as she walked around watching everyone. Looking at one another, we knew that we needed to think of a way we could fix this up.
" What do we do then?" I said, feeling a little odd at wearing another girl’s panties... but also a little ‘horny’ at the thought of it.
" That is my question..." She said, laughing too. " I don’t really know what to do."
" Me neither." I said, this was one problem I never envisioned having ever in my life.
We sat there, thinking of a way to rectify this without causing any more embarrassment than already was happening. Suddenly I had an idea suddenly.
" I think if we right after lunch we just go for a walk and slip into one of the washrooms, we just might get to exchange them without being too mortified..." I said, not really having any other idea to clear this up.
" Some of the girls hang in there after lunch and stuff... remember?" Ashley pointed out quickly.
I snuffed and knew that she was right. I should have thought it through. Some of the more tougher of girls always hung in the bathrooms on breaks and nights to sneak a cigarette or talk about sneaking out of their dormitories and going into the city to meet boys. With all of them in there, it would be not possible to be discreet about this little problem.
" Shot my idea all to hell..." I whispered, making sure that my swearing was not heard by the dog-like ears of the Nuns. " Any other ideas?"
" Not at the moment..." She said, her brow furrowed as she thought on the matter. " I was hoping that you might have one
For a few minutes, we thought on out mutual problem, but it was going nowhere fast. We just kept on while eating our lunches, each hoping the other would hit on something..
Just as we were almost finished out lunch, Ashley looked at me and smiled a little. The girl’s angelic face started to blush very brightly, but there was this glow of an idea in those wonderful eyes that peered at me.
" What number is your dorm room?" She asked then.
" I am in block ‘C’, room 305." I said, already getting a handle on what she was saying to me.
" Here is the plan..." She said, leaning in to me. " I will sneak over to your building after evening mass and do it there.... or just wait until after the Nuns complete the room checks at Ten."
I thought that would limit our embarrassment greatly. That was a perfect thought, and I wish I had came up with it earlier.
" You think you can pull it off, getting to my dorm room without the penguins seeing you?" I asked.
" If girl’s like that Stacy Kirby and her group of friends can get themselves off the school’s property to go and see boys in the city..." She started, smiling. " I think I can get to your dorm room without any trouble at all."
" Perfect..." I whispered, still a little bashful over the days events.
She flashed me a very sweet smile, letting me see the relief that was flowed over her face. I felt very better as well, but the strangeness of what the day had brought still played with my mind for awhile more.
We both just relaxed a little and simply began to talk with an ease that had not been there today. As we did, I found Ashley had slid her hand under the table, and had gripped my hand in a clasp only lovers would have understood. I gripped Ashley’s hand tightly back in response to it, my heart was now fluttering away in my chest as I neve wanted to let that hand go. By the soft grip that she had me by, it seemed like she did not want to let go either.
Being with Ashley like this was still very awkward in many ways, and it did not help that I still had so many thoughts roaming around in my head. Through it all, I became aware that I was feeling so happy with just being with her. When I looked into her eyes as we talked, this odd sensation would flood right through me. That feeling was almost like if being with this girl... made me feel like I was complete. I could see a light in her eyes, a certain glow that just was so incredible. I smiled, as my heart finally was talking to me.
There it was...I was in love. Never in my life had something been so clear that I could not deny it. Looking at her, as she seemed to lean in every time I talked.. Almost as if she was hanging on every word I spoke.
Somewhere in the back of my head, there was that voice that had been screaming at me. It was telling me that I was going to go to hell for loving Ashley... the total opposite of what my heart was telling me.
After lunch period was done, we both parted ways as we needed to get to our next classes. Ashley and I both did not really want to, but we knew that there was no way of avoiding it, and skipping a class was very much looked down upon by the penguins.
I hurried myself up the steps up to the top floor, my English class was awaiting me up there. I noticed that I had a spring in my step and I was giggling away under my own breath while my mind flashing with images of that very lovely blond girl. I could not help but be smiling as broad as anything as I entered the classroom... regardless of that voice that was in my head.