Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 19:48:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Thomas Gaige <togaige@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Abandoned Boy - Chapter 22

DISCLAIMER: The following story is FICTIONAL. It contains descriptions
of sexual activities between men, teenage boys, and between men and
teenage boys. If you are not over 18 years of age, or if you find this
type of story offensive, or viewing this material is illegal where you
are, then please DO NOT READ IT! If you choose to read it, then - I hope
you enjoy it!

			     The Abandoned Boy

				Chapter 22

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I was Shocked and rather mortified when I realized I was standing
completely naked in front of a teenage boy I didn't know, who, in his
surprise, was staring rather obviously at my genitals.

I quickly backed out the kitchen door, and grabbed my long winter coat
from the coat rack by the front door. I put it on, and buttoned it up,
then walked back into the kitchen.

Rob was sitting, as I'd left him, although his face was beet red now. I
could tell mine probably was too, as it felt very hot. Rob looked a
little scared too.

Neither of us said anything. We both just stared at each other.

Before either of us spoke, the kitchen door swung open and Simon walked
in. His eyes got huge, and his face turned deep red when he saw the two
of us. He completely avoided looking at me.

"You really need to ask before having friends sleep over!" I said rather
testily, glaring at Simon.

Looking down at the floor, and sounding almost as if he were going to
cry, Simon said, "I'm sorry."

I stared at Simon for a moment. He was still looking down at the floor
though.

"Well?" I said.

Simon glanced up at me questioningly.

Are you going to introduce us?" I asked.

"Sorry," Simon croaked. "Rob Watkins, this is Greg Winslow. He's a
teacher at our school, and my foster father. Greg, this is Rob Watkins.
He goes to our school."

"Um, nice to meet you Mr. Winslow. I have to go now! Thanks for
everything. See you later Simon," Rob said.

He got up then and picked up his back pack. Then, saying goodbye, he
quickly exited the kitchen. A couple seconds later, we heard the front
door closing.

 * * *

I stood there naked beneath my buttoned winter coat, glaring at Simon,
who wouldn't look up at me.

After a minute went by, I said, "That was Rob, not Ethan who I met here
in the kitchen yesterday morning, wasn't it?"

Simon didn't say anything, but continued looking down at his feet. After
a couple of seconds, he nodded up and down a couple times.

"A little while ago, did you look into my room while I was still in bed?"
I asked then.

Simon shook his head no, but still wouldn't look up at me.

"Just great!" I muttered to myself under my breath.

Simon looked up at me then.

"Other than for Ethan, you have to ask my permission from now on if you
want to have someone over here! Is that understood?" I said.

Simon didn't say anything. He just looked at me with sad eyes and
nodded.

"That boy has seen me naked at least three times now, and this morning
I'm pretty sure he was watching me jack off!" I shouted, getting even
more frustrated.

"I-I'm sorry Greg," Simon said sadly, blushing deep red and looking back
down at his feet.

We both fell silent for a minute.

Finally, I said, "We gotta talk about this Simon! I know you've been
lying to me about Rob, right from when I asked you if you knew him on
Sunday. I saw you two talking in the mall. I saw you give him money. I
saw you two together at school. I saw you giving him something there
too. Now, I find out he's been living here with us the past couple
days. Simon! What the Hell is going on?"

Simon didn't move or say anything for a minute, as I stood staring down
at the top of his blond mop of hair. Finally, he slowly raised his head
and looked at me. His face was a mask of extreme guilt and fear. I
didn't say anything, but just looked into his eyes. Simon couldn't meet
my gaze, and diverted his eyes from mine then. He sighed deeply, then
looked back at me.

"I'm sorry I lied to you Greg. I never meant to, but I had to. It was
important. I know you think lying is wrong, and usually I do too, but
this mattered more!" Simon said.

He stopped and looked up at me.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" I asked.

"I-I can't tell you anything else," Simon said. "I promised I wouldn't."

"Promised who? Rob?" I asked.

"I can't say," Simon said. "All I can tell you is that I'm not doing
anything wrong. You'd approve of what I'm doing! I need you to trust
me!"

I thought a minute then said, "Simon! If you can't trust me, why do you
think I should trust you?"

Simon appeared to be thinking a moment, then he looked up at me. I could
see he had tears in his eyes. "I do trust you Greg! I just can't tell
you. I promised. Please! I need you to trust me!" he said, forlornly.

As I stood thinking, my eyes fell on the clock, and I realized we were
running late.

"Simon, until all this happened, I did trust you. And, I'm not saying
that now that all this has happened that I don't trust you now. I don't
know enough about what's going on to make any decisions at this point.
What I do know is this. I'm responsible for you now. I love you and
care about you very much, and not knowing what you're up to scares the
hell out of me! Unfortunately, we're running late. We don't have time
to talk any further about this. So let's get ready to go to school, and
tonight, we'll discuss it more!" I said.

"OK," Simon said, miserably.

I could see that the boy was upset, and confused. In my heart I did
trust that he was doing something he thought was right. But, I just
couldn't fathom all the details. He stood in front of me, not knowing
what to do next. I reached over and pulled Simon into a hug, and kissed
him on the top of his head.

"I love you Simon. We'll get through this, whatever 'this' turns out to
be," I said.

Simon didn't reply. He just wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me
in a long tight hug.

After a minute I released him, and reluctantly, he let go of me.

"Are we alone in the apartment now? Is it safe for me to get naked now?"
I asked.

"Yeah," Simon said, smiling slightly.

I smiled a small smile at Simon, as I took off my coat. Then I poured a
mug of coffee and headed for the bathroom to get ready to go.

 * * *

We left the apartment ten minutes later than usual. Neither of us said
anything on the ride to school. The first bell was ringing, just as we
ran inside. We both quickly ran off in opposite directions, Simon to his
locker, and me to the office.

Tom looked at me quizzically, as I dashed into the office to grab my
mail.

"We have to talk during my free period," I said.

"OK, drop by," Tom said.

"K," I said, and ran out the door, heading to my classroom.

 * * *

when my free period rolled around, I went down to Tom's office, and sank
into one of his visitor's chairs while he finished up a phone call.

"What's up?" he asked, as he hung up.

I related to him what had happened.

As I told him the part about Rob spying on me as I masturbated, Tom
almost choked on a doughnut he was eating. Once he'd swallowed it, he
made me tell him that part again, then he started laughing hysterically.

"Very funny! How'd you like it if you were being watched while you beat
off, by a 16 year old boy you didn't know?" I said, obviously not amused.

"Well," Tom said, as he calmed down, "I suppose it's not that funny, but
it sure does sound funny when you tell it.

"Gee thanks!" I said. Then I continued the story.

"Wow!" Tom said, when I was done. "This just keeps getting weirder!"

"I know," I said.

"You don't think Rob's gay, and Simon's having an affair behind Ethan's
back do you?" Tom asked, suddenly.

I looked at Tom, totally amazed by what he was suggesting.

"Well..." I said. "I have no idea if Rob's straight or gay, but
regardless, I don't really think Simon would do that to Ethan. Besides,
he told me I'd be proud of him for whatever he's doing."

"Guess that's not it then," Tom said. "Sorry. Just a thought."

We talked about it some more, but decided we wouldn't figure it out till
I had a chance to talk some more with Simon. We left it at that.

 * * *

As luck would have it, we had a full house that evening, so I didn't get
to talk to Simon. He rode home from school with Ethan, who was sleeping
over, and Tom came in time for a cocktail before supper, and spent the
night with us as well.

From the looks Tom was giving Simon, Simon figured out that I'd told him
what was happening. Simon was a wreck, because he thought we might bring
up his situation in front of Ethan. We didn't though.

A couple times, I heard Ethan ask Simon what was wrong. Both times,
Simon told him that nothing was wrong. It got to the point that Ethan
sidled over to me, and asked me what was wrong. I told him I thought
everything was fine, but that if he thought there was a problem, he'd
have to discuss it with Simon. Ethan looked curiously at me when I said
that.

I happened to catch Simon alone in the kitchen at one point, while I was
making supper for us.

"You better relax!" I said. "Your boyfriend is wondering what's up!"

"Please don't say anything in front of him!" Simon pleaded.

"So Ethan doesn't know anything?" I asked.

"No," Simon said.

"Are you having an affair behind his back?" I asked, suddenly.

"NO! I'd NEVER do that! And PLEASE! Don't talk about this in front of
Ethan!" Simon said, with a somewhat desperate look on his face.

Just as Simon was delivering his final sentence, Ethan pushed through the
kitchen door and walked in on us.

"Don't tell Ethan what?" he asked, looking at us with concern.

"About your Christmas present silly!" I said, grinning at him, as Simon
smiled at me from behind Ethan.

"Ohh! I can hardly wait till we exchange presents!" Ethan said,
smiling. "This Christmas is going to be the best!"

Ethan grinned at Simon, and Simon smiled wanly back at him.

"I just came out to get a soda," Ethan said. "I'll grab one and get out
of here so you can finish your conversation."

Ethan took a can of Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator, and left then,
grinning at us.

"Thanks!" Simon said, smiling at me.

"It doesn't bother you that I'm lying to protect you now?" I asked,
tersely.

Simon's smile disappeared, and he said, "It does. I'm sorry. But when
you eventually find out what's happening, you'll be glad you did!"

"Just tell me this!" I said. "Will we be having any unexpected guests
tonight?"

"No!" Simon said. "And, I'm sorry about that too... um... Greg... I may
need to have Rob over again though. Would that be OK?"

"What? What is going on?" I asked, incredulously.

Simon just looked at me pleadingly.

"For now, we have Ethan and Tom here. Let's try to have a nice time with
them. We'll talk about this again when we're alone! Until we've talked,
no more guests though!" I said.

Simon didn't say anything, but just nodded solemnly at me.

Tom and Ethan came in then to see if they could help with dinner. When
they saw the way Simon and I were looking at each other, they both looked
at us questioningly. I put on a happy face though, and put everyone to
work, and things went back to normal. We were able to eat in a few
minutes, and we spent a very nice evening together.

 * * *

'Snuggle Time' that night was a lot of fun! Both boys were happy to have
all four of us together again. They stayed with us longer than usual,
and we all enjoyed ourselves. Each boy took a turn with both Tom and I.
I noticed that Simon was a little cautious with me at first, but when he
realized I wasn't treating him any differently than usual, he smiled
happily, and fully enjoyed himself. We all felt very tightly 'bonded'
together afterward, when the boys left to go to Simon's room. Simon gave
me an extra hug and kiss before he got up to leave. I hugged and kissed
him back.

He whispered, "I love you so much! Thanks for still loving me!"

"Nothing could ever change how much I love you Simon!" I said, kissing
him again.

Simon got up then and the two boys headed toward Simon's room. Both of
them had semi-hardons that were bobbing gently in front of them as they
left.

 * * *

"That was Great!" Tom said, once we were alone.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"You didn't get to talk with Simon anymore though about Rob, did you?"
Tom asked.

"No, not really," I said. Then, I related my short conversation in the
kitchen with Simon.

"It seemed obvious Ethan didn't have a clue," Tom said.

"Yeah," I said.

We were both quiet a couple minutes, then Tom reached down and started
fondling my dick. I turned to him, grinned, and reached for his
burgeoning penis then too. We spent almost an hour then, making love
with each other. We each got off a couple of times!

 * * *

While Tom and I were making love in my room, Ethan and Simon were lying
on Simon's bed, in a '69', leisurely masturbating each other, enjoying an
up-close look at each other's organ.

"God you've got a beautiful dick!" Ethan said, as he played with Simon's
penis.

Simon chuckled and said, "I was just thinking the same thing about
your's!"

He cupped Ethan's scrotum then, and began fondling his testicles.

"Oh, that feels nice!" Ethan said. He began fondling Simon's balls then
too.

"Mmmm!" Simon agreed.

Ethan was getting hotter, and hornier, because of Simon's fondling.
After a moment, he noticed a tiny drop of pre-cum forming on the tip of
Simon's piss slit. He wanted to taste it so bad. He was sick of only
being able to mutually masturbate with Simon. He loved Simon to the max,
and just wanted to be able to have real sex with him. For a week or two
now, he'd been dwelling on his frustration at not being able to 'be with'
Simon in every way.

"This waiting for your test results is bull shit!" Ethan said suddenly,
and he leaned forward and licked the drop of pre-cum off Simon's dick.

"ETHAN! NO!" Simon cried in alarm.

"Mmmm. Too late!" Ethan said grinning. "I've so missed the flavor of
your juice!"

"But Ethan! What if I'm not OK?" Simon asked, looking horrified. His
penis immediately began deflating he was so upset.

Ethan looked at Simon and said, "Si, I came to a decision. And it was
really mine to make. Not your's. We know I'm OK. So you can't get
anything from me. It's just your final test we're waiting on. Si, I
love you so much that if you do have HIV, and we both know the chance of
that at this point is miniscule, that I'll take my chances and if I get
it, I get it. Then we'll both have it, and we'll both be able to deal
with it together. I love you so much, I just don't care anymore! I know
we'll be together forever! So we'll face everything together too!"

"But we've been so good. We only had another 4-5 weeks to go! I'll feel
awful if I do have it, and now you have it too!" Simon said.

"I told you. It was my decision to make. Not your's. Anyway, it's too
late now. I just licked your pre-cum! If I'm gonna catch something from
you. I have it now. Now lay back and enjoy this!" Ethan said.

Ethan plunged his mouth down over Simon's semi-rigid member and began
sucking up and down on it then. Within seconds, Simon was hard as a rock
again, and experiencing such pleasure from Ethan's ministrations, that he
wasn't able to think about the possible consequences of what they were
doing.

As Ethan continued sucking on his cock, Simon realized it was too late to
turn back, So he leaned forward a little and sucked Ethan's hard dick,
which was right in front of his face, into his mouth and began sucking up
and down on it.

"MMMMmmmmm! Ethan moaned happily, as the two boys settled into a
comfortable rhythm.

After a minute or so, Simon suddenly felt his ass cheeks being parted,
and a wet finger being pushed against his anus. As Ethan massaged his
hole, gently applying pressure to it, Simon pushed, relaxing his
sphincter. Then, as Ethan pressed against Simon's anus again, Simon felt
himself opening up, and Ethan's long thin finger entering him. Ethan
slid his finger up inside Simon as far as he could. Then he felt around
a moment, until he located Simon's prostate. Once he did, he began
gently shoving his finger in and out of Simon, rubbing the tip of his
finger over the boy's gland.

Between Ethan's finger play and cock-sucking, Simon was in heaven. He
wanted Ethan to feel just as good, so he got his finger wet with his
saliva and slid it between Ethan's ass cheeks, delving for the older
boy's hole. Ethan moaned lowly as Simon's finger came into contact with
his anus. Then, as Simon had done, he too pushed, relaxing his hole,
allowing Simon's finger entry into his rectum. Simon located Ethan's
prostate then, and began massaging it as well, as he continued sucking up
and down on Ethan's dick.

Neither boy had experienced such wonderful pleasure in a month and a
half, since they'd last been together. They sucked up and down on each
other, and finger-fucked each other with great relish for a couple
minutes, but all too soon, Ethan began to feel his orgasm building. He
began moaning lowly. He stopped sucking on Simon's penis for a second.

"Gonna cum soon Si!" he gasped, before returning to sucking on Simon's
cock.

"Me too!" Simon said, stopping momentarily.

Simon began sucking up and down a little bit faster on Ethan then, and he
also wrapped his free hand around the base of Ethan's dick and began
masturbating him as well, while he sucked on him. Ethan reciprocated.

"MMMMmmm!" Ethan groaned a moment later, as he suddenly tensed up and
ejaculated a huge load of semen into Simon's mouth.

Simon greedily swallowed Ethan's cum, as he felt his own climax about to
begin.

As Ethan came a second time, Simon groaned too and emptied his balls into
Ethan's mouth.

The two boys continued sucking and pumping on one another, and massaging
each other's prostate, while they each spasmed over and over shooting
several loads of hot semen into each other's mouths. Thirstily, they
both swallowed each other's juice, savoring the slightly salty-tangy
flavor of it.

When their orgasms ended, they both pulled their fingers from each
other's rectums, but continued leisurely sucking on each other, until
they were both thoroughly washed and sucked dry.

Finally, they both spit each other's dicks out, and Ethan spun around and
laid back down next to Simon, looking into his eyes.

"God! That was great!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was, but I still think we should've waited," Simon said,
worried again.

"Too late now!" Ethan said, smiling. "But, maybe we shouldn't tell
Greg!"

"No, he's got enough on his mind right now," Simon said. Then he thought
to himself, "Great! Another lie I have to tell Greg. I'm becoming a
professional liar!"

"Yeah, what's going on with you two?" Ethan asked.

"huh? Nothing," Simon said, looking away from Ethan. "He's just busy,
that's all."

"You sure?" Ethan asked, eyeing Simon.

"Yeah," Simon said. "How about we turn out the lights and snuggle before
we go to sleep?"

Ethan grinned and said, "Sounds good!"

Simon reached over and turned out the lights. The two tossed around and
pulled the covers over themselves, snuggling up with each other. Once
they were comfortably wrapped in each other's arms, it only took Ethan a
few minutes to fall asleep. Simon on the other hand laid awake for some
time worrying about the unprotected sex he and Ethan had just had. He
also wondered where Rob was, and if he was OK.

Eventually, Simon too fell into a troubled sleep.

 * * *

The next morning, Simon was awakened quite suddenly, and was surprised to
feel a tongue raking over his asshole. He was lying on his stomach. His
rigid dick was sticking out to his left, smushed between the mattress and
the crook of his body where his thigh met his trunk. His legs were
spread, and someone was rimming his asshole.

"MMmmmm!" he said, looking behind him, and seeing the top of Ethan's dark
head above the face that was plastered between his buttocks.

Ethan stopped and looked up. He grinned when he saw Simon looking at
him.

"Stick your ass up a little," Ethan said.

Yawning, Simon managed to reposition himself, so that his legs were
pulled up a little and his ass was sticking up into the air.

Ethan buried his face between Simon's ass cheeks and began eating his
asshole out again.

Ethan's mouth felt wonderful to Simon, and soon he was moaning lowly, and
wiggling his ass and pushing it back into Ethans face as much as
possible.

Ethan reached between Simon's thighs then and began fondling his cock and
balls.

After a few minutes Ethan stopped rimming Simon and told him to flip over
onto his back. Simon did, and Ethan started fingering Simon's asshole,
but went down on Simon's cock this time. As he sucked Simon off, Ethan
gently inserted his finger part way up into Simon's rectum. He
finger-fucked Simon then, at the same time he was sucking his dick.
Within a couple minutes Simon was moaning.

A minute later, Simon gasped "Gonna shoot Eeth!"

Ethan started sucking a little faster on the boy, and a few seconds
later, Simon flooded Ethan's mouth with his hot jism.

Ethan swallowed Simon's gelatinous semen, just in time to receive another
mouthful. He quickly swallowed this as well. Simon continued pumping
Ethan's mouth full of his seed, each mouthful containing slightly less
cum than the previous, until finally, he oozed one last large dribble.
Ethan sucked the boy dry then and extracted his finger from his asshole.
Then he crawled up and laid down next to Simon.

"Wow! What a great way to wake up!" Simon said, grinning. "Interesting
finger technique this morning."

Ethan chuckled, "Well, I'd have shoved my finger in all the way, but
you've got a big, hard hunk of shit not to far up inside you that I kept
bumping into. Didn't feel like jabbing my finger into it really."

Simon's face burned red.

"Sorry," he said, ashamedly.

"No! It's OK. There's no reason to be upset Si! It happens to all of
us. I'm sure I'm full of shit right now too!" Ethan said.

Simon smiled. Then he snickered a little. Suddenly he burst out
laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, you're 'full of shit' alright!" Simon said, laughing yet.

Ethan suddenly realized what he'd said, and he laughed along with Simon
then.

When the two finally calmed down, Simon said, "how about you let me check
and see if you're 'full of shit' now?"

Ethan grinned and rolled onto his back and pulled his knees up to his
chest. Simon crawled into position under Ethan and lowered his face
toward his ass. Before he began rimming Ethan, he took a moment to
admire the short, soft, almost black hairs that lined the insides of
Ethan's ass cheeks. Ethan's pink, puckered rosebud winked at Simon a
couple times, as Ethan grinned down at it. Simon leaned in then and
began licking up and down, over and over, over Ethan's anus, as Ethan
began moaning.

Simon gave Ethan's asshole a work-out just as Ethan had given his. Then
he too switched over to sucking on Ethan's cock. As he did so, he
inserted a finger into Ethan's asshole and gently pushed inward. He was
shocked when he too came up against a chunk of hard shit that was not too
far up inside Ethan's bowels. Smiling to himself, he followed Ethan's
lead and merely fucked partway in and out of Ethan's asshole, while he
sucked on his dick.

It didn't take long before Ethan gasped, "I'm gonna jizz Si!"

Then, Ethan did just that. He blasted a load of jism into Simon's
mouth. Simon savored the flavor of it a moment, then quickly swallowed
it, making room for more. Ethan blew several more loads of cum into
Simon's mouth, just as Simon had done to him a few minutes earlier.

 * * *

Afterward, when Simon was relaxing next to Ethan, he said "I see what you
mean about being 'full of shit'. You are too!"

"I figured as much. I'm a morning shitter, for the most part!" Ethan
said, tinging a little pink.

"Me too!" Simon grinned.

The boys rested a couple minutes longer, then Simon said, "OK, I gotta go
shit now!"

"Me too!" Ethan said.

"ME FIRST!" Simon yelled, jumping up.

"NOT IF I GET THERE FIRST!" Ethan yelled, jumping up as well.

The two boys ran for the bathroom then, almost colliding with Tom and I
who were just heading to the bathroom ourselves.

"Gotta Poop!" Simon cried, running into the bathroom with Ethan hot on
his heels.

Tom and I looked at each other, then looked in the bathroom door, which
was still open. Simon was sitting on the toilet, straining to force what
must've been a gigantic shit out his ass. Ethan was urgently watching
him, coaxing him to hurry up.

"Shut up already!" Simon gasped. Then his face contorted as he strained
some more.

"Sorry," Ethan said to Simon. Then, grinning at us, he said "We'll be
out shortly," and he shut the door.

"I don't think you give those boys enough juice!" Tom said, looking
seriously at me.

"Nah, that's not it. They're just both too anal retentive!" I said.

We both laughed.

A minute later, still snickering, we decided that since we'd have to wait
till the boys were finished, we might as well go get some coffee.

 * * *

"You look so cute when you're straining to force a big shit out!" Ethan
said, to Simon, as Simon sat on the toilet wiping his butt with some
toilet paper.

"Gee thanks!" Simon said, blushing a little.

"Bet you feel better now," Ethan said.

"Hungry for sure!" Simon said, chuckling.

"Well, hurry up, I gotta go too!" Ethan said.

"OK. Done," Simon said, standing up and flushing.

"Damn, that was a big one!" Ethan said, looking into the bowl, as he
quickly pushed Simon out of the way and went to sit down on the toilet
himself. He could feel his shit pushing it's way out of him, even before
he was seated all the way.

"You're pretty cute when you're shitting too!" Simon said, snickering as
Ethan strained as he emptied his bowels.

Ethan concentrated and strained a little longer. Then suddenly, he
relaxed and said "ah, much better. So, I'm cute too when I'm on the
toilet?"

"Sure thing!" Simon said, grinning, as Ethan wiped his ass.

Simon looked in the toilet when Ethan stood up, before he flushed.

"Shit! Your's looks even bigger than mine was!" Simon said. "Definitely
fatter!"

"I gotta bigger hole I guess!" Ethan said, laughing. "Although the end
chunk of your's was pretty fat!"

"Yeah, it hurt comin' out too!" Simon said, ruefully reaching back and
squeezing the lower part of his butt cheeks. "I think it ripped me open
wider than usual.

Still discussing their shit, the boys climbed into the shower together.

 * * *

By the time the boys had finally emerged from the bathroom, Tom and I'd
both eaten, and I'd made eggs and toast for the boys as well, and left it
in the oven to stay warm.

Tom laughed when he saw me pour them each a huge glass of apple juice.

"Apple Juice!" Simon said, smiling. "We don't usually have that!"

"I know. We could tell from the look on your face!" I said.

Tom and Ethan began to roar. It took Simon a couple seconds, then he got
the joke and started laughing too.

While the boys ate, Tom and I went to use the bathroom. Unlike the boys
though, both Tom and I preferred to shit privately, and I waited for Tom
to finish, before I used the bathroom.

Afterward, Tom and I showered together, washing and masturbating each
other to pleasant climaxes.

When we were all dressed and ready to go, we split up and took off for
school.

 * * *

I was surprised, when toward the end of first period, there was a tap on
the door to my classroom. Tom was looking in at me.

"We got a problem," he said, when I stepped out into the hallway. "It's
Rob Watkins. I'm sending up a substitute to take over for you. Finish
teaching this period. Then, come to my office, and bring Simon with
you."

"OK," I said. "Is Rob OK?"

"I don't know," Tom said...

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The next chapter in this series will be published shortly.