Work Text:
September rolled around and we all know what that means. Put away those pool noodles and water guns and pick up some notebooks because it’s time to go back to school. Always a bummer for kids and teens, it’s only slightly better if you’re a senior like me. Being in our last year of the public school system, we seniors mostly count the days until we graduate and try to get everything ready for our future…whatever that may be.
The school year started for me like it did the past couple of years; walking up the outer staircase to get to English class on the top floor of building E. As if that didn’t suck enough, the Texas heat made it just a bit more unbearable. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the AC unit flow over me upon entering the building inside. Now cooled down, I walked down the hallowed halls as I always did in the past.
“Check it out, this chick’s streaking!”
Another school year of passing through while everyone minded their own business, talking amongst themselves, laughing, sharing the latest gossip.
“I can’t believe she actually went for it. I thought she was like the school brain or something.”
What did they whisper amongst themselves I always wondered? A bit of curiosity always struck me now and then, but not enough to actually to seek an answer.
“You know, she looks a lot thinner without that thick sweater she always wears.”
I could only gander a guess at all the hubbub going around with my fellow students.
“Why is this girl naked!?”
All right let’s just address the elephant in the room; yes I am that naked girl they’re talking about. Yes, I am walking out in public, in high school no less, wearing only my glasses, a backpack and a pair of sandals. Why you ask? That’s on a need-to-know basis; I can tell that it sure as hell isn’t out of an exhibitionist streak.
I walked into my homeroom and sure enough, all eyes were on me. Some people were in shock pupils shrunk and mouths agape. Some were trying to hold back laughter and let out a few giggles. And call me a narcissist if you must but I could have sworn I had a few admirers in the crowd; I don’t get it either.
At this point, our teacher, Mrs. Nuguit, stepped in to try to cut into the awkwardness. “Class this is Inez Quintero; as you can see, she decided to take part in the program and will be forgoing clothing for the foreseeable future. I ask that you be on your best behavior and do not trouble her in anyway. Any complaint we receive from Ms. Quintero will result in immediate expulsion. Understood?”
The entire class simply nodded as I went to my seat, making sure I took out a towel and set it down before sitting. As Mrs. Nuguit tried to get the class in order, I heard whisper come from behind me.
“Inez right?”
I turned around and met a girl. She was taller than I was and willowier in frame, with fair skin, light blond hair, and robin’s egg blue eyes.
I replied, “Yes, that’s right. Didn’t get your name.”
“Oh, it’s Madison,” the blond replied. “Sorry if this is a personal question ask but…what is with the whole naked thing? Is it just for this class?”
“I have to be naked from when I leave home and stay naked until I get back home. This will continue from the start of the school year until we graduate in May,” I explained to her. I don’t know why I did; maybe it was because she actually talked to me rather than stared at me like a zoo display? She was polite at least, I had to honor it somehow.
Madison thought my answer over and then followed up with, “Okay but…why though? And how did the school let you come in naked?”
Before I could respond, Mrs. Nuguit called to her, “Miss Murray, are you bothering Miss Quintero?”
“N-No ma’am!” Madison sputtered, straightening up in her seat.
“Then I suggest you pull out a notebook. We’ll be doing a personal journal covering summer break as a first assignment.”
With that, we started our school work, and everything went back to a need-to-know basis. The rest of September went along the same pace. I came to school naked; people then had a choice of either slyly snickering, averting their gaze, or staring and then we all went home after slogging through subjects we’d never need in the future.
I didn’t mind it much. I always considered school just something to go through and the student body yet another thing to deal with as a teenager. Becoming the school nudist didn’t change that attitude and just made me wish graduation was here already.
I did start talking to Madison more often; at first it was just for school related stuff but then we started talking about stuff besides school. She told me she moved from Arizona to Texas over the summer with her mom, Savannah, and her brother Austin. She was still getting used to a new state with even worse heat.
It later turned out we shared more interests than I thought, like having the same taste in pop punk bands (sue me for being a teenage girl who likes pop punk), thinking Benedict Cumberbatch was God in human form, having the same taste in Ben and Jerry’s flavors and not caring so much about school.
What can I say? She was approachable and easy to talk to, something I wasn’t used to, especially in high school. Madison did have a fatal flaw of being too polite for her own good and biting her tongue too often. Anytime the subject came up, she’d dance around it before dropping it completely. It annoyed the hell out of me, even more than the laughing or the staring.
This continued for a few weeks until I decided to end it on the second week of October, during lunch.
“The school was holding a special program to help students catch up on grades,” I bluntly stated to her, “Think of it like Book It, but with nudity instead of pizza.”
Madison stopped poking at her Salisbury steak and turned to me, surprised by my matter-of-fact exposition.
“So that’s why you’re coming to school like this? Wait, that explains why any school would let kids come in naked,” she said, starting to put the puzzle pieces together. “What program would do this in a high school though?”
“Apparently the school district teamed up with a naturist organization to run a social experiment in the high schools; test to see how well students respond non sexual nudity or something like that,” I shrugged. “As you can see, I’m the only one in this school who took up the offer.”
“I get it now. Kind of surprised you’re flunking though; you seem pretty smart from some of the classes we take,” Madison noted.
I adjusted my glasses a bit as I replied, “A lot of the material bored the hell out of me. I could have done a few assignments and projects, but I didn’t see it as worth the energy. So, I just focused on my personal writing, watched movies and listened to music.”
“A fellow slacker. Nice,” Madison smirked. “Why the sudden change of heart, and change of outfit, then?”
“Well one of the counselors brought up my grades and told me I was in danger of being held back. Not wanting to spend another year in this prison, I asked if there was way to lighten the sentence,” I told her, “That’s when the program came up. If I stripped down and maintained a C average, graduation would be good as mine. A C average was a tall order, but I stepped up to the challenge.”
“How did your parents sign on for this?”
“Well naturally they were freaked out at first and questioned if it was really a good idea. When I brought up I’d be getting a 1.00 added to my GPA, they suddenly sang a new, reluctant tune,” I explained, grinning a bit.
“A good GPA is always a good bargaining chip,” the blond girl thoughtfully intoned. “So, how’s it been so far? Anything you miss while wearing clothes?”
I thought long and hard about her questions, never having thought about it too hard. It was just one thing to get out of the way really, not this big life changing experience. So, I glibly answered, “It’s really not that different from wearing clothes, gawking and laughter aside.”
I grimaced as I added, “PE is hell without a sports bra though.”
Madison, normally overly polite, couldn’t help but laugh at my gym situation. I was caught off guard by this for only moment before laughing along with her; it was funny stuff!
I never really bought it into the whole “talking helps” deal but I have to admit something changed after that little conversation with Madison. For the first time since elementary, I was upbeat in school. I greeted more people in the halls, with genuine enthusiasm in my voice, and they waved back or said hi in return. The more I did this, the more and the giggling and the awkward staring stopped; I guess when the naked girl walking around school talks to other people, it reminded them she was still human like the rest of them.
It probably also helped that I was having fun with my nudity. And before you get any ideas, I meant in a “ha-ha” sense of fun. For example, in art class, I’d pipe up and say that I was the emergency model for the day or that I was training for a future career as a French girl. These in jokes caught on to the point I was named The Class’s Perpetual Nude Model, all in good fun of course.
I outfitted my backpack with cheeky slogans on patches like “Caution: Bare in Area” and “Nude, Never Crude”. Normally I wouldn’t go for some of the cheesier stuff, but when you only have one major accessory that you can decorate, might as well make the most of it.
My favorite high school memory was on Halloween. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I decided to come to school with a pair of novelty plastic vampire fangs in my mouth. When someone asked me what was up with the fangs I told them it was my Halloween costume; I was the first ever nudist vampire. I lost my clothes while turning into a bat and never bothered with them afterwards.
This got the class to crack up, with even the teacher joining in. One girl, Crystal Thompson, commented, “That’s actually pretty clever Inez. I should have come naked and called myself the invisible woman!”
I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear, fangs still in my mouth. People were actually laughing with me instead of at me; I was in on the joke for once. That was rare for any high school student, least of all me.
While I never did become Miss Popular in my senior, I was starting to get a sense of camaraderie from my fellow students, seeing them more as chums or acquaintances than as background filler I had to shuffle through life. Which in retrospect is a pretty messed up way to look at other kids but, eh, I was a borderline antisocial teenager who didn’t care for school. We all have phases we grow out of.
But as I’ve said, I never became Miss Popular, and this was still high school. It’s not exactly a dramatic teen soap opera, like Degrassi or God forbid Riverdale, but it wasn’t Saved by the Bell either. Children can be cruel, and we teens are very much in touch with our inner child.
It was in November and the temperatures were dropping to more bearable temperatures. Madison and I were sitting on a bench (rest assured, a towel was underneath me), talking about the upcoming Thanksgiving break on our off period.
Just as I was going through the large list of family who would be coming over for the holidays, I heard derisive laughter coming around the corner.
I turned to see two girls, I think their names were Maria and Ashley, standing and jeering at us.
“I can’t believe this weirdo is still walking around naked. I swear she’s probably getting off on walking around with her flabby ass hanging out,” the brunette, Ashley I believe, said.
“She probably thinks she’ll pick more guys if she goes around flashing everyone in school,” the raven haired one, possibly Maria, spat in disgust. “So, freaking trashy. Who would want someone with a gross body like that anyways?”
“I’m sorry ladies but I do detect a hint of sour grapes in your words,” I quipped, “Maybe you’re jealous you couldn’t jump on the nudist train?”
“We’re not sluts like you,” the brunette snapped, “We would never go around naked in public.”
“I imagine you wouldn’t. You can’t stuff a bra if you aren’t wearing one,” I shot back, knowing it would sting at least a little.
On cue, the dark haired one growled, “You bitch…”
“Takes one to know one, am I right Bitch 1? What say you Bitch 2?”
At that little remark, the one I thought was named Maria uttered “Oh hell no!” and charged after me as if to attack. Her brown-haired friend managed to pull her back at the last second.
“Forget them, they’re not worth it!” she warned her belligerent friend, “We can’t get in trouble when graduation is still coming up. Let’s just leave these two freaks alone.”
The raven-haired girl stared at me hatefully for a second before letting out an angry groan and stormed off, her brunette catching up to her. As all this transpired, Madison stared at them with a furious look in their eyes.
“The number one reason I can’t stand school. You have assholes like that have to make harder for the rest of us; you just know they’re just taking out their frustrations on us,” my blond friend ranted.
I simply sighed, “I’m used to it by this point. Why get mad at something that’s a fixture of school life?”
“This has happened before?” Madison asked, worry in her voice.
I shot her a tired smirk and responded, “C’mon; I wear Coke bottle glasses, I’m a bookworm and I avoided other people like the plague and while you can’t see it now, my outfits looked something out of Goodwill. Of course, you get the whispers about how creepy you are and how you’re such a nerd.”
I sat quietly for a minute before spilling my guts, “I guess that’s why I decided to go through with the nudist program. People were already talking behind my back with clothes, what difference would it make if I were naked? At least they’d have new material to work with.”
Madison was silent throughout all this, absorbing everything as I let my inner thoughts out like a waterfall. When I finished, she had a question, “That was how you felt back then. So how are you now? Are you naked because you don’t care about others?”
Once again I was caught off guard by her question, never really assessing it in full. Then I started looking back at the last few months and how being naked made me more open and jokey to others, instead of stuck in my own little corner. Going back to the first day of school, I probably wouldn’t have made friends with Madison if I wasn’t in my birthday suit. I had to face facts; being naked made me happier than I had been in a long while.
“I’m naked because I want to be naked, plain and simple. If people like Bitch 1 and Bitch 2 have something to say, let them say it. I have nothing to hide so neither should they,” I proudly declared. Yeah, proudly…weird.
“That’s a pretty good answer Inez. Even if you got a little preachy towards the end,” she snarked. “I’m really glad you came out of this happier. Not everyone could handle being the school nudist; you really stepped up to the challenge.”
“Thanks, Mads. For everything,” I said, sincerity clear in my voice.
“Anytime. Welp, I think that’s enough heart to heart for one day. We should probably start heading to biology before Mr. Booker writes us up.”
“Right behind you,” I agreed, standing up and packing up my towel.
As we walked towards the school’s F building, I decided to ask Madison a question of my own, “So I know you just moved in a couple of months ago but if you knew in advance and were given the same chance, would you do the program too?”
“Feel lonely as the only nudist in school?” she responded.
“I just think it would be nice to have someone to relate to about public nudity problems. Someone who also knows the pains of having the AC cranked up to high in some of classrooms.”
“Well, it would be nice to have an easy road to an A,” Madison replied, “But I’d still have to pass. Have you seen how pale I am? Unless I’m wearing a tub of sunscreen on the daily, I’d be burned on the first day. I’d go from being the second school nudist to the first school lobster girl!”
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the lobster girl bit. It wasn’t even that it was funny in and of itself; it just felt like I was laughing off the last bit of malaise I had built up. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my that day and I couldn’t help feeling so relieved.
Thanksgiving came and went, and we were in the last month of the year. Mother nature decided to be kind to our area and gave us a light chill. Not exactly cold but just cool enough for a light sweater; it was closest you could get to a real winter around here.
Feeling it was a bit nippy, I decided to wear a beanie and a scarf; the program gave exceptions to winter but my get up was all I needed. As I stepped into first period and took my toweled seat, Madison was the first to notice my ensemble.
“It’s weird seeing you wear so much. It’s like the reverse of seeing someone in the nude.”
“If there’s one good thing about winter is that it brings out the best wardrobes in people,” I said, throwing my scarf over my shoulder dramatically.
“Speaking of winter; we’re now in the halfway point of the program. Think you can tough it out Inez?”
“Well, I’ve already done four months and I’ve managed to keep my grades up. I think the rest of the year should be smooth sailing from here,” I answered with the utmost confidence.
Madison followed up with, “So after you graduate, what will you do afterwards? Go back to wearing clothes like the rest of us normies?”
“You know, I’ve actually been thinking about that myself Mads,” I said with a hint of mischief in my voice, “I’ve been doing good with the nudist thing in school, and it’s made fairly happy. I figure, why keep it confined to senior year? Why not…keep it going a little while longer?”
Madison cocked an eyebrow and grinned, “Miss Inez, are you telling me you’ve made the jump to full blown nudist?”
“Well, I’m not saying that exactly. But on the other hand, I have been walking naked around the house. At first it was to cut out the hassle of getting undressed in the morning, but then I really started digging it and then I started staying naked even after getting home…”
“You’ve totally converted!” she gasped excitedly.
I couldn’t help breaking out into a bashful smile. “My parents think it’s just a phase and they may not be wrong. But I’m riding this out for as long as possible; it’s been good to me so far.”
“Just want to let you know, I’m proud to call any nudist my friend. I’m just glad to one of the coolest nudists as my friends…mind you, you’re the only nudist I personally know.”
“You really know how to butter a girl up,” I snarked. “I think if I end up at graduation wearing only my motor board hat, that’ll be proof nudist Inez is here to stay.”
“And who knows!” Madison perked up, “Maybe you’ll encourage other students to go nude in the second semester. People seemed to really be cool with the nudity thing after a while and people are desperate for good grades after flunking the first half of the year.”
“It would be weird to have other naked students walking around. I was just getting used to being special,” I said, “It would be cool to be this nudist mentor to the other kids in school.”
Just then, Mrs. Nuguit started her class, forcing me and Madison to cut our talk early. As the teacher went on about our last assignments before Christmas break, my mind drifted back to the conversation Mads and I were having.
I thought about other students being naked in school with me. Would they take to it like I did? Would it be cripplingly embarrassing for them? Would some do it for a grade or is there students on campus just looking for a reason to strip down? Did I actually want there to be more nudist students? I was only half serious about being some kind of nudist mentor, but I wouldn’t mind helping others learn the ropes, especially with the importance of towels.
Then there was graduation; eleven months ago, the thought of walking up to receive my diploma without wearing anything would have never crossed my mind. The thought of even getting my diploma never even crossed my mind come to think of it. Yet sitting in class at that moment, I could picture myself standing in front of a crowd of thousands of people, wearing only a cap, no gown. I wouldn’t feel any shame or embarrassment, just pride in myself, like I’ve never been proud before.
Damn, here I was getting sentimental about school of things! Who knew being a nudist could lead you to discover so many things about yourself? ‘Well Inez, looks like you have a goal for self; finish high school strong and naked,’ I thought to myself, ‘And if mom and dad still think it’s a phase, add a nudist wedding to the top of your list. Screw it, add being the only nudist in an old folk’s home to your list too.’
On that thought, I sat in class and began listening to what the teacher was saying intently, making sure to take notes on what she was saying. I got the naked part down, but I needed to start actually paying attention in class if I wanted to finish strong. You get more cords that way and more cords might be the only other thing I’ll be wearing at the end of May.
Who could have believed it? Me, a lifelong underachiever who wanted to get out of the public school system as fast as possible, now had a best friend, was applying herself in school and was actually looking forward to the rest of the school year, all while naked as the day she was born.
And if that wasn’t crazy enough, I think on that last day of school when everyone is signing yearbooks and saying tearful goodbyes, ready to receive our diplomas and start a new chapter of our lives, I’ll actually miss it all. Isn’t that an interesting thought?