Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Volleyball

   By Emi Tsuruta

   Note: this is one in a series of posts about my life.  If you'd like to
know more about my friends and me, drop by my home page at:
http://www.asstr.org/~emitsuruta/

   When I was growing up, my family always lived near the sea.  Often I'd
get invited to play games of pick-up volleyball down on the beach.  Most
times, we'd just fool around tossing an inflatable beach ball up in the
air, and batting it around.  I didn't really know what the rules were in
those days, but it was kind of fun playing with my friends under the warm
sun by the ocean.

   I guess it was a bit later when I was in high school in Japan that I
found out that beach volleyball is a real sport.  This one summer, my dad
was watching the Olympics on TV, and beach volleyball came on.  I was
fascinated because it was a game I had played before, and I wanted to see
how the athletes play.  They made it look easy, running to where the ball
would land even before it made it over the net.  I watched, and tried to
learn, but I still wasn't playing all that often.

   After I grew up, and came to California, at the start, I was kind of
busy with school, but I went swimming at the beach in the summer, and guys
would come up to us, and ask if we wanted to play beach volleyball with
them.  We'd play, and slowly I got to know some of the other players.  I
became friends with this one guy named David, a second generation
Chinese-American, a funny guy with a bit of a shy streak but a fit body. 
We exchanged phone numbers, and when it was raining out, he would phone,
and invite me and my friend Asuna to go to a community center with him to
play volleyball indoors.

   At this community center, it was mostly men, Anglo or Chinese, and only
a few girls.  Everyone was pretty friendly to us though, and tried to make
us feel at home.

   One thing I noticed right off is that people seemed to touch each other
more than in the other sports I'd played.  If I scored a point, this one
Chinese American guy James would put up his hand for a high five.  Even
when someone missed a shot, the other players would give the person a pat
on the back to cheer them up.  Our friend David didn't touch me, but some
of the other guys did - on my back or sometimes even on my bottom.  Asuna
didn't know quite what to make of all this touching, but I wasn't offended.
I figured it was just part of the game.

   Another problem I had at first was what to wear.  On the beach, you play
in whatever you have on - a swimsuit, beach cover-up or shorts and a
t-shirt.  The first time I went to the community center though, I changed
into my tennis outfit, a white polo shirt and mini-skirt, but I overheard
one of the guys joking about it, so I figured that wasn't right.

   One of the Chinese wives wore black shorts, so next, I brought my navy
blue 'bloomers.' All the girls had to wear bloomers in my high school gym
class, these high cut tight fitting gym shorts like volleyballers wear. 
This older Vietnamese guy Canh would sit on the bench behind me cheering me
on, but it became pretty obvious that he was staring at my backside.  Just
to tide me over, I ended up buying a few other pairs of shorts: long red
ones and sleek black ones.  After that, the guys stopped staring so much,
so I figured I must have finally gotten it right.

   At this particular center, in order to reserve a spot for volleyball,
you had to go a bit early, and pick up a ticket.  Sometimes though I got
there so early that none of the other volleyball players were around.  This
one Thursday, I got there about an hour before, and not knowing what else
to do, I went into the women's change room to change into my gym outfit.  I
pried off my shoes, then stripped off my jeans and panties, and sat my
delicate bare behind down on the wooden bench.  It was kind of quiet in the
change room.  It sounded like no one else was around.  I ran my middle
finger along the crack of my pussy, surprised to find that I was a little
wet.  I'd been a bit jumpy all day, but I hadn't really noticed until then.
I pulled off my hoodie, blouse and bra stripping naked for no reason.

   I fished my white sports bra out of my bag, pulled it on, squeezing my
breasts in so they wouldn't overflow.  I pulled on my Mizuno polo shirt
next.  It hugs my breasts fairly snugly, but the guys all seem to like it,
so I hadn't gotten around to buying a bigger one yet.  All this playing
with my breasts though was starting to get me excited.  I rubbed the bare
cheek of my buttocks, conscious of the fact that I was still bottomless,
but decided to pull on my socks next.  I'd just bought a whole new outfit
especially for volleyball, Mizuno, made in Japan, so I felt really ready
for once.  My bottom still uncovered, I slid on my indoor court shoes, half
intending to go look at myself in the mirror.

   Just then, though a young east European woman came in, motioning that
she wanted to get to the locker in front of where I was sitting.  I pulled
a small towel from my bag, and holding it in front of my pussy, I stood up,
and stepped over the bench to the other side, so she could get through. 
She must have thought I was so strange, sitting here with my shoes on but
no bottoms.  I asked her if she'd had a good work out, and she started
chatting away telling me how much she enjoyed exercising.  I smiled, and
listened till my cell phone rang.  I had to dig through my coat to get it,
but when I looked back at her, she smiled weakly, having seen my bare
bottom when I turned away.

   Since she'd seen that I was naked, I figured there was no need to
pretend anymore.  I lay my towel down on the bench, and scooted out around
the end of the lockers and back towards where the showers were.  I must say
I felt distinctly naughty traipsing around the locker room with no bottoms
on, but luckily, there was no one else back there.

   It was my boyfriend Ryosuke on the phone.  He was supposed to come out,
and play volleyball with us, but was phoning to tell me he'd got caught up
at work, and couldn't make it.  I hadn't heard from Asuna yet either, so I
felt a little disappointed.

   The east European girl waved goodbye, and left, as I continued to talk
to Ryosuke on my cell.  Couldn't he ask his boss to let him go early?  No,
he told me.  I was so tempted to tell him that I was walking around the
locker room bottomless, but I knew he probably wouldn't be able to get out
of work, so it was no use getting him all worked up.  I walked back to the
entrance to make sure that the girl had left.  All I could hear was the
soft murmur of the instructor's voice from the hot yoga class in the gym.
As Ryosuke tried to make me feel better, I found myself wandering closer
and closer to the door.  I was half tempted to step out of the change room
half-naked like that, but I was a bit worried that someone might come, so I
ended up going back, and pulling on my panties and shorts before going out
into the foyer.

   The other community center we went to was a lot quieter.  It was in an
elementary school, so on the walls, there were drawings and low hooks for
hanging children's coats.  They didn't offer many sports, just swimming for
kids, but that was in a different part of the building.  The volleyball had
a good turnout though especially on weekends.  There were more Filipinos
here and Mexicans and even the odd younger Chinese woman coming with her
boyfriend.

   I liked the atmosphere at that center because all the people seemed so
friendly, but actually, Asuna was a bit put off because the guys were
always trying to chat us up.  James, the Chinese high-five guy, kept
offering us a ride home in his car, but Asuna didn't want to go with him,
so we'd usually just walk to the bus stop with David.

   There was this other guy Rafael, who I think was part Chinese but born
in Malaysia.  I guess he was handsome, but not my type exactly.  He was
quite the character though always talking about how beautiful this or that
woman was, though I'd never seen him with a girlfriend.  He did make a
half-hearted effort to hit on me, but he was too proud to chase anyone.  He
did tease me an awful lot, and Asuna too when she was there.  We got used
to him though.  Most of the time, he was off playing with his friends, and
would leave us alone.

   On weekdays, that center was so quiet.  When I'd go on a Monday, there
was the girl in the office who collected our money and one custodian, but
there never seemed to be anyone else around.  If I got there early, I'd
wander the deserted halls looking at the drink machines, or else go into
the gym, and set up the nets, but it could get kind of boring just sitting
there for so long waiting for everyone.  David worked on weekdays, so he
didn't arrive until late, and Asuna preferred to play on weekends.

   Another thing I noticed was that some of the guys would come to the
center, wearing their gym outfits under their clothes, and would get
changed in the gym itself rather than the change rooms.  There wasn't
anything indecent about this, because even when they took off their outer
clothes, they still had their gym wear on underneath, but at first I found
it a bit strange for them to be changing with me looking on.  Sometimes
someone would make a wisecrack or tease them about 'stripping,' but most
people didn't seem to mind.

   I mulled this over for a while, and then one Monday, when no one was
around, I got up the nerve to try changing in the gym myself.  I was so
nervous the first time - my heart pounding in my chest - but actually no
one showed up for a very long time, so I realized I'd been worrying for
nothing.  The staff girl and custodian almost never came in the gym, and
David and most of the other players were working, so no one was around.  As
time went by, I got braver, actually removing both my jeans and panties,
and sitting bare-assed on the bench in the gym, while I checked my cell
phone messages.

   Unfortunately though, this one time, this guy named Colin showed up
while I was sitting there bottomless.  Colin was a youngish polite
African-American guy.  He worked as some kind of researcher.  He was a bit
shyer than the Chinese or Filipino-American guys, but he did have a nice
car, and had offered me a ride home a few times.  I didn't really know
quite what to make of him, so I'd turned him down, but I did get the
feeling that he liked me.

   Anyway, here I am, sitting on the bench, fiddling with my cell phone, in
my volleyball shirt but with no bottoms on.  Luckily, the hem of my polo
shirt was covering my pubic hair, but he could no doubt see the exposed
flesh of my thigh and rear end.  I pressed my legs together, and looked at
him so shocked to see him here.  He looked really surprised too, not
expecting to find me here, half naked.

   "Uh hi," he said hesitantly, apparently wondering if it was OK to talk
to me dressed as I was.  I don't know what he thought.  It was pretty
obvious that I didn't have my regular gym shorts on, but perhaps he thought
I was still in my undies, or had on a pair of really short shorts.  I
glanced around looking for my backpack with my shorts in them, but it was
just out of reach on the floor a little ways away.  If I stood up to get
it, he would see my pussy for sure.

   "Oh, um, hi...  Colin.  I was uh...  I was uh..." I was drawing a blank
how to explain.

   "Are we the first ones here?" he asked.  He came right over to the bench
where I was sitting, and took off his coat.  This was of course a normal
thing to do since I was the only other one there - except for the fact that
I was naked from the waist down.  If it had been another guy, one of those
slick womanizers, I might have been frightened, but there is something
about Colin, his good-natured smile that didn't seem so threatening. 
Instead of asking him to turn away, I was actually wondering how he would
react if I stood up, and showed him my pussy.

   "Uh, yeah, I guess, we are," I finally agreed.  "Um, Colin, I wonder if
you could do me a favor."

   "A favor?  What kind of favor?" he asked still unsure what was going on.

   "Could you turn around for a few minutes?  I'm kind of in the middle
of..." I didn't want to come out, and say I was naked, but surely it must
have been obvious.

   Colin looked me over a bit closer now, examining the bare flesh of my
rear end.  I bit my lip, embarrassed.  I flattened my polo shirt at the
front, but there was no way to cover my tush.

   "What- what- what are you doing?" he asked, slowly clueing in.

   "I was just getting changed when you came in," I finally admitted.

   He continued to stare, getting me even more excited.

   "What are you wearing anyway?" he asked, craning his neck around to get
a better look.  I felt so embarrrassed.

   "Do you promise not to tell anyone?" I asked hopefully.

   "Um, yeah, sure," he gulped, the tension building.

   "Well, you see I thought no one would come in..." I was hoping that he
would put two and two together, and not make me spell it out, but he simply
couldn't believe I was naked.  He thought I was too good a girl to do such
a thing.

   Anyway, I finally broke down, and told him.

   "I'm naked."

   He glanced down at my bottom, and then at my blushing face, and then my
bottom again.

   "Nooo!" he shook his head, still refusing to believe it.

   "I am...  really," I assured him.  I lifted up the front of my polo
shirt giving him a peek at the silky black hair of my pussy.

   "Wow!" he burst out.

   "I didn't think you'd get here so early.  Otherwise, I would never
have...," I babbled on, all nervous now.  Figuring that the cat was out of
the bag anyway, I stood up showing him my bare behind.  Despite myself, I
was quite horny by then.  I was getting a real kick out of flashing him,
this shy normal guy who never dreamed that seemingly sweet girls like me
could do such a thing.  It was so funny watching his shocked reaction.  I
was a bit worried though, because he seemed upset, so I finally beat a
retreat, dashing over to the ladies change room to hide.

   Even once I was safe in the change room, it took me a long time to calm
down.  I was kicking myself for getting caught like that, but also
wondering what Clin had made of my stunt.  Was he going to tell everybody?
Or just keep it to himself?  Maybe I should go ask.

   Unfortunately, by the time, I'd gotten up the nerve to go to the door, I
could hear other voices, other volleyball players arriving here from work.
I was still bottomless.  I had to get dressed.

   When I finally came out, Colin was surrounded by some of the other
regulars.  He was peering over this way, still in shock, but I don't think
he said anything to anyone else.

   Not long after, the Olympics started up.  I was kind of happy because I
got to see some athletes I know on TV.  I was usually out at school during
the day, but every once in a while, I'd wander by a TV, and catch a replay
of some event with a Japanese athlete in it.

   This one day, I was up at the other community center, the modern one
with all the Chinese.  We'd finished playing volleyball, and I'd gone into
the change room to have a shower, and get changed.  In the main foyer
though, they had the TV on, and I could hear Rafael and all the other guys
outside cheering about something.  Then, I heard the announcer guy say the
name 'Kosuke Kitajima!' Wow!  Was he on TV?  Kitajima, you see, won a
couple of gold medals in swimming at the Athens Olympics in 2004.  He was
sort of a hero of mine, of all Japanese maybe.  The Americans had a strong
medal hope in swimming too - Hansen, I think his name was.  That's probably
what the boys were all excited about.

   I'd just gotten out of the shower, so I was still naked, but it sounded
like the event was just about to start, and I didn't want to miss it.  I
quickly grabbed my towel, and wrapped it around me.  I rushed to the change
room door, and peered out.  I couldn't see the TV, so I ended up going
right out into the foyer to get a better look.  Sure enough it was
Kitajima(!) on TV and Hansen too in one of the big races, the 100 meter
breast stroke I think it was.  I was so excited to get to see the race live
in real time.

   David was the first to notice me, out here in the foyer still dripping
wet, dressed in just a small towel.  I blushed at him, and tried to hold
the towel steady, but I was nervous and excited to see Kitajima and all. 
Rafael noticed me too, but I just blinked, and tried to ignore their
stares.

   The starting gun fired, and off they went.  During the first lap, they
were all neck and neck, so it was hard to tell who was leading.  After the
turn-around, the announcer called out Hansen's name, but on the screen we
could see Kitajima in the lead.  Wow!  Look at him go.  The boys were all
shouting,

   "Go!  Go!  Go!" at Hansen, but Kitajima was clearly pulling away from
the pack.  I put my hands together, praying for Kitajima to hold on...  and
what do you know, he did!  He won!  I couldn't believe it!  Another gold
medal!

   "Woooohoo!" I thrust my arms up in the air, jumping for joy.  I was so
happy to have seen one of my hometown heroes win in front of everyone. 
Unfortunately though, when I jumped up, the knot in my towel came loose.  I
grabbed for it, but I was too late.  It unravelled, and fell to the ground,
leaving me standing here - stark naked!

   David looked embarrassed for me.  He pointed to my fallen towel, but the
other guys had all turned this way staring right at me.  James' face lit
up, as he started jumping up and down too trying to keep me company I
guess. Rafael looked surprised that I was out here letting them all see. 
On TV, Kitajima was shouting too - we all were now - caught up in the
excitement.  I was so far gone that I stepped away from my towel, and did a
naked victory dance while they all whooped, and cheered.  It was pretty
exciting let me tell you.

   Eventually, though, I realized that this wasn't such a good idea
bouncing around naked in front of all these guys.  David picked up my
towel, and handed it to me.  I nodded a thank you, and quickly ran back to
the girl's change room, all excited and out of breath.  That was pretty
amazing.  I can't believe I did that.

   Once I was dressed, Rafael and them took me out to supper to celebrate.
I felt plenty embarrassed, but they were pretty nice about it, and didn't
try anything strange.

   After that, I resolved to be more careful.  I switched to wearing longer
shorts, and turned down their offers to take me out for drinks.  I don't
think Asuna knew what had happened, but I guess she could tell from the way
they were treating me.  David was more or less the same, but Rafael started
bringing me gifts, and the other guys were always asking me to play on
their team.  For a little while there, I was definitely the center of
attention.

   After a few months had passed, things started to settle down.  Canh was
still staring at my backside, and James kept trying to high-five me, but
Rafael stopped asking me out so much, and there wasn't such a fuss every
time I walked in the gym.

   Summer came, and I continued to play indoors with David and the rest of
them.  Ryosuke didn't come so much anymore, but David was always there, and
Asuna came out every once in awhile.

   Then there was this one day where I'd got caught up talking to people at
school, and didn't make it to the gym until quite late.  David and James
and them had already started playing, so I rushed down to our end thinking
I could just quickly change, and join in.  I was fairly sure that I'd put
on my uniform under my clothes that morning.  I'd started doing that around
that time, so especially on days like this where I knew I might be late.

   Turning my back to the guys, I kicked off my shoes, and yanked down my
sweatpants.  I guess the feeling of the air on my pussy should have set me
off, but actually, it took me the longest time to clue in that something
was wrong.

   Still rushing, I kicked off my sweatpants, jammed my feet into my
sneakers, and pulled up my hoodie intending to take it off.  It was only
then that I started to realize that I could feel the breeze whipping all
around my naked body.  As I looked down at my little triangle of fluffy
black pubic hair, I felt this sudden jolt of regret.  Oh my god!  What am I
doing?

   I lowered my hoodie back down, but when I looked back, practically the
whole gym- David, James, Rafael, the Chinese wives - were all staring
straight at me, wondering what on earth I was doing stripping naked.  All I
could do was stare back, at a complete loss how to explain.

   My mind went into overdrive, trying to recall where I'd put my shorts
and sports bra.  I knew I hadn't put them in my bag, but I could have sworn
I'd changed into them after breakfast.  Were they still back in my dresser
at home?  Or might they be down in the dryer in the laundry?  Anyway, if
they are not here, what am I going to wear?  David, Rafael and them were
all gawking at me wondering too if I planned to play in the nude.

   "Woops!  Mistake!" I cried out, trying to make them believe that I
hadn't done this on purpose.  David was too shy to stare, but Rafael was
pondering the curves of my behind, a wistful smile playing on his lips.  He
makes himself out to be quite the playboy, so I guess he's seen his fair
share of girls naked, but he seemed quite happy to see my body, especially
after he'd been chasing me so long.

   I felt less happy showing myself off to James and Canh and them, who
were making funny faces, and bugging out their eyes in disbelief.  I
gathered up my sweatpants and bag, and dashed passed the other players who
all turned to stare.  A good twenty or thirty people must have seen me that
day, even more than the time before.

   Once I made it into the girls' change room, I racked my brains trying to
remember what I had done with my uniform.  It wasn't in my bag.  I ended up
pulling my sweatpants back on, and going home too embarrassed to face them
all again.  I even skipped the next few volleyball sessions.

   Soon David started phoning, telling me it was no big deal, and that I
should come back.  I eventually did, but I switched to wearing sweatpants,
just so they wouldn't stare.  I still felt embarrassed, but it wasn't so
bad I guess.

   The last weird thing that happened was maybe my fault, or at least I
should have seen it coming.  It was a Sunday, and it was getting near
closing time, so some of the people had already hit the showers.  I was
still playing a casual game with Colin, a Chinese woman and another guy who
was around our level.  Rafael had finished his game, and was sitting on the
bench behind me.

   The other team hit the ball right to the back, and when I backed up to
get it, I kind of fell back onto Rafael's lap.  Neither of us was hurt.  I
just apologized, and went back to the game.  He continued to sit there
though watching me.  That wasn't so strange.  People often sit on the
benches, and watch.

   Anyway, I was focusing on the game, trying to return the ball The two
players on the other side had gone into a huddle discussing their strategy,
so I was just standing there, my hands on my hips waiting for them to
finish, so we could play.

   All of a sudden, I feel this tug on the back of my sweatpants.  I turned
around to see what it was, and there was Rafael crouched down behind me. 
He'd grabbed a hold of my sweatpants and panties, and was yanking them
down! I covered my bush with one hand, and tried to get Rafael to stop, but
he seemed intent on getting a good look at my bare behind!  Can you
imagine? Right there with everyone looking on!

   We wrestled like that for a while, and of course, Colin and David and
them all noticed, and came over, telling Rafael to let go.  Rafael was
laughing so hard, though, that I managed to wriggle free, and pull my
sweatpants back up.  I felt so embarrassed, but I guess I can see why he
would think it might be OK, given the way I'd flashed them in the past.

   Anyway, I still go to that community center sometimes, but I'm always on
my guard now when Rafael is around.  David is sweet, and tries to protect
me.  Thankfully, not much has happened since then.

   Emi Tsuruta
http://www.asstr.org/~emitsuruta/