The Exchange Student Pt. 01

"Molly!!!" Diana finally called out in frustration. "You've got to try harder! They're smearing us!" Diana said when it was time to switch sides. Robert and LC had 12 points and we had four, points that were all made by Diana.

"Boys are just better than girls," LC taunted her.

Diana's look shot daggers at him. "Here," she said, roughly grabbing the ball from me. Let me serve it this time. At least I can get it over the net," she complained.

She threw the ball high into the sky and she jumped right at the perfect moment. She served the ball right in between the boys and they both missed it. "Yes!!" She yelled. "Eat that!" She said.

Robert got the ball and served it back to us. Diana easily returned it, then LC bounced it back - as always - towards me. I jumped for it, but Diana came flying over from her side, sure that I'd miss it. She ended up missing the ball too, but she ended up bumping into me and knocking me a few inches backward. When my feet came down, they were on the slope into the deep end instead of on solid ground. My nose went under water and I took in an unfortunate breath. I couldn't get my footing and as my arms flailed, I went completely under.

It seemed like time slowed way down for me then. I thought of my home. Of my parents. Of my college plans. I even thought of my favorite meals, of all things.

"...Molly," I heard Robert saying when my head came back up and my ears cleared the water line.

Then I went under again.

"...fine," Diana was saying, as I resurfaced.

But then I went under a third time. And I took another big gulp of pool water.

"I don't..." I heard Robert saying.

When I went under the fourth time, I honestly didn't know if I was going to make it. But suddenly I felt Robert's strong grip on my arm. He yanked me the couple inches back into water where I could touch. The minute my feet hit bottom and my head came completely out of the water, I started to cry.

"What the frick?" Diana said.

"Is she crying?" LC said, gobsmacked.

I made my way over to the side of the pool and I hung on to it for all I was worth. Robert followed me.

"Hey. Are you okay?" He asked me softly, his hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, but I wasn't sure that I was. It was so embarrassing I wanted to die! I was coughing up water, burping like crazy, and my nasal passages stung from the water I had just breathed in and or swallowed. Snot was everywhere.

"Here, let's get you out of the pool," Robert was saying. He led me under the volleyball net and over to the steps in the shallow end. I headed to the pool recliner that was next to Celeste and I grabbed my towel and sat down. I continued to burp up water and the tears just wouldn't stop.

"Oh, dear heart! What happened?" Celeste said. She'd been reading a magazine and hadn't been paying attention to anything that had been going on.

"She's fine! Molly, come on! We have a game to finish!" Diana called out.

"I think she almost drowned, dumbass," LC said quietly. "I think the game's over," he added.

Robert sat down next to me on the pool recliner. He took his fist and pounded on my back to help me cough up all of the water that I could.

"Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim?" He asked me quietly.

I shook my head. "I thought I could! I took lessons a few years ago. I think I just panicked when I slipped into the deep water," I said, still crying.

We had a pool at our house, but I had always been terrified of water. I threw such a fit as a kid at swimming lessons the instructors refused to teach me. Finally a couple years ago my parents insisted I get lessons again. They were mostly successful. But just not successful enough. I still had never gotten over my fear of deep water and it had gotten the best of me today.

Celeste stood and rubbed her hand over my back. "It's okay, dear heart. You're okay now," she said gently to me, over and over.

"What, so we're just going to forfeit?!" Diana yelled incredulously from the pool.

"Yes! Unless we play two against one," Robert said. "I think Molly's going to sit the rest of this one out," he added.

"Arrrg!!" Diana yelled. "That's just great!" She said, slamming her fists down into the water. And she stomped up the pool steps and went over to a recliner on the other side of the pool to pout.

LC got out of the pool and he came over to me. "Boy, you suck at volleyball and at swimming, too?" He joked.

I looked up. Robert sent him a warning glance.

LC shrugged. "I mean...I'm glad you're okay," he told me.

"Thanks," I said between errant coughs.

"You can just hang out here with me," Celeste said, once my crying died down a bit. "I'm reading bridal magazines. I love the fancy fashions!" She said.

I accepted Bridal Monthly from her and opened the magazine in my lap. A girl probably younger than me smiled back at me from the page. She had on demure makeup and a beautiful sparkly crystal necklace. The white wedding dress she wore had a tight bodice, long sleeves, and a poofy gown. Little pearl beads and sequins were sewn into the gown everywhere.

But water from my hair immediately dripped down onto the pages. My tears made it a little hard to see, but I tried anyway. My nose was still running freely, and I blew it on my towel.

LC kept his eyes on me and he started passing out ham salad sandwiches from one of the coolers. I accepted one but held on to it and didn't eat it. He gave one to Diana who was still upset, and so she promptly threw it into the deep end of the pool.

"Geez. Bitch," LC said. "You're gonna have to go get that," LC said.

"Right," Diana sneered.

"Diana, get that sandwich before it gets sucked into the skimmer!" Robert yelled in his authoritative dad tone.

"Fine!" Diana said. She jumped in, grabbed the sandwich, and climbed back out. She angrily tossed it into a trash bin that was by the pool.

Celeste rolled her eyes. "Diana, get over your bad mood. LC, if I hear you call your sister a bitch again you won't get your video games for a week," she said.

Celeste took my sandwich from me. I smiled my thanks because I wasn't a bit hungry. I stretched out on the recliner, coughing here and there. I felt much better, like I was finally drying out. It was great to be back in the air - where a person belonged.

I slipped my sunglasses on and I closed my eyes while LC, Robert, and Celeste munched on sandwiches and little bags of potato chips.

The sun was unusually bright so I decided to tan my back. I lowered the back of the pool recliner until it was flat, and I laid my head down on a forearm and I promptly fell asleep. I awoke a while later to hands on me.

"You're looking a little red," Celeste was saying. She was smoothing sunblock on the backs of my legs. I just laid there and let her do it. She pulled my legs a little bit apart so she could reach my inner thighs and continued to smooth the sunblock on.

I looked behind me and saw Diana - who was still across the pool - now reclined on her back with her eyes closed. Her skin looked glistening and shiny from the suntan oil that was magnifying her tan.

LC and Robert were having a noodle fight in the pool and the air was full of their whoops and hollers.

"Got to get sunblock on you," Celeste was saying. "Here, turn over," she said.

I did and she rubbed sunblock all over my arms. She abruptly pulled my bathing suit straps off of my shoulders and I gasped. But then Celeste put a small amount of the liquid on my chest and rubbed it in. She covered my shoulders and perhaps went down and into my bathing suit top a little bit too far with the stuff, but that was fine. I'd put it on myself before and had ended up with a sunburn outline where I hadn't covered up enough skin right by my suit with the sunblock.

"There. All done," Celeste said.

"Thanks," I grinned.

We stayed outside for another hour, and when Celeste started gathering up items, I was ready to go in too.

We all looked sun kissed and felt tired. "I get the shower first!" Diana said, pushing everybody out of the way and running into the house.

LC rolled his eyes, but I just shrugged.

Once inside, Robert and Celeste put the coolers and their contents away. Then they headed up to their bedroom to get cleaned up. LC sat in his trunks on his towel on the living room floor playing Sonic the Hedgehog on his Sega Genesis. I waited next to him on the floor sitting on my towel and watched him play.

"Want to play?" He asked me without looking away from his game.

I shrugged. "Not really. I'll just watch you," I said.

He nodded and continued to play while I watched.

Sometime later Diana came downstairs. "The shower is open for you two losers if you wanna use it," she said.

She was dressed in her pajamas already.

"Pajamas?" I asked.

Diana rolled her eyes. "We don't go anyplace Sunday evenings. So, yes. Pajamas."

Her frosty tone let me know she was still angry at me so I said nothing.

"Go get your shower," LC offered, still not looking away from his game. "I can get in last."

"You sure?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yep. Go."

I climbed the stairs and Celeste was emerging from her bedroom with a big smile on her face. She too was dressed in her pajamas. "How are you feeling, Molly?" She asked me.

I grinned. "Much better, thanks," I said.

Robert emerged from the bedroom behind her. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he said.

"Yeah. And, hey, look at you!" I said. "You...well, you saved me!" I said.

Robert flushed a little bit and ran his hand through his longish, damp brown hair. "Well, I couldn't just let you drown in my own pool, now could I?" He said.

I laughed. "I guess not," I said. "But seriously. Thank you."

He smiled and nodded once at me.

Once inside the bathroom, I locked the door, knowing that it didn't really lock. It was just the principle of the thing that made me do it.

Once I was under the warm spray coming from the shower head, I thought more about the afternoon. Jesus. I really had lost it. I'd forgotten everything I'd learned in swimming lessons and had gone into full panic mode. It really was a wonder that I hadn't drowned.

I poked my head into Diana's room once I was dressed in my pajamas, but she was doing homework. "I'm just really busy," she said icily.

I left and shut her door. How much longer was she going to be mad at me for losing the pool volleyball game? It seemed Diana could really hold a grudge. Especially about something really stupid.

"Shower time," LC said when he saw me come down into the living room. He turned off his video game and leapt up, grabbing his towel. He ran past me towards the stairs.

Celeste was stirring something in the crock pot and she grinned when she saw me. "You have to taste my chicken noodle soup," she said. "It'll be ready in a bit," she said. "I just put the noodles in to warm."

Robert was unloading the dishwasher, and so I sat down on the couch. There was nothing for me to do. I didn't have homework yet, though that would change once I started school the Tuesday after this next week and right after the Monday that would be Labor Day.

I could have brought my diary down to write in it, but I liked to keep it hidden away in my room. No sense in tempting others to invade my privacy.

"Let's turn on the TV while we wait for dinner," Celeste said, coming into the living room and sitting down next to me. She grabbed the remote and flipped through the channels. It was the weekend, and so there was not much on.

"Maybe a movie?" Robert said, coming into the living room and sitting down in his recliner.

"Good idea," Celeste said. "Molly, it's your choice tonight. Pick something out," she said.

The family had a big bookshelf built into the living room wall and it was stocked full of VHS tapes.

I walked over to the bookshelf and perused what was there. There were movies of all sorts of genres, but I picked Dirty Dancing because I had never seen it, and because I liked cutie pie Patrick Swayze.

Robert took the tape from me and put it into the player.

Back on the couch, The stylized opening sequence and credits began and I felt Celeste's arm go around my shoulders. "Turn a little, and I'll rub your back again," she said.

"Oh?" I said.

Celeste smiled. "Yes."

I turned on the couch until my back was mostly facing Celeste, and she got to work. She rubbed my shoulders and my neck first, concentrating on getting all the kinks out.

"You're so full of stress!!" Celeste said.

I shrugged as much as I could with Celeste's hands on my shoulders. "I'm probably nervous about starting school soon," I said. "Plus nearly drowning today wasn't very relaxing, either," I said.

"No," Celeste chuckled, "I imagine not," she mused. "Well, you're safe now, thank goodness. And please don't be nervous about starting school. You'll have Diana and LC there to help you navigate the building. And if you get lost, just ask a student. People are pretty friendly around here," she said.

"Okay," I said. "Oh!" I quietly gasped. Celeste had begun running her fingertips up and down my arms. It was causing me to get goosebumps and to shiver.

Robert watched us silently from the recliner as Celeste massaged me.

I felt some tugging and soon Celeste had pulled my nightgown out from under me. It was now all bunched up in my lap.

"Celeste," I said, glancing behind me, "I'm just wearing panties under this!" I whisper-gasped.

"Oh, it's okay," Celeste said. "Robert's seen panties before, haven't you, hon?" She asked him.

Robert nodded with a smile. "Lots of times," he said.

Celeste then took the end of my nightgown from behind and she raised it clear up my back until she rested it in a wadded bunch upon my shoulders. My breasts, thankfully, remained covered in the front, but now I was bare from the back of my neck down to my panties in the back.

"Celeste!" I hissed, glancing back at her again.

But Celeste just chuckled. She put her fingertips on my back and she started caressing me lightly with them.

I shivered again, and my nipples got incredibly hard and pointy.

"This will feel so good. Just sit and enjoy, Molly," she murmured.

I watched TV for a second and when my eyes darted to Robert, he was watching us. I was mortified that my nipples were hard, but there was nothing I could do about it but try to cover up with my arms. Celeste's caressing, however, guaranteed that my nipples would stay hard and not go down due to the chills her touches kept giving me.

I shuddered on the couch as Baby rode in the huge, powder blue family car to Kellerman's on the TV.

Celeste was relentless with her back rub. She didn't let up. She massaged and caressed me for a long, long time.

Halfway through the movie, Robert paused it and he jumped up. "Who wants popcorn?" He suddenly asked, clearing his throat loudly.

"I do," Celeste said.

I shrugged and nodded as I watched Robert walk into the kitchen. In his cotton sleep pants I was no expert, but he looked like he was aroused, and in a big way. What was with him?

"Why don't you lay down?" Celeste whispered into my ear once Robert was gone.

"What?" I asked her.

"Lay down. On your side. I'll lie behind you and I'll still rub your back for you," Celeste said.

I glanced around nervously. It seemed like Diana and LC were still occupied in their rooms upstairs.

"Come on. It's just us," Celeste said. "If you can't be comfortable with us, who can you be comfortable with?" She asked me.

I looked at Celeste behind me. I knew this was a bad idea, I just knew it. But I still found myself lying down on my side on the couch, doing exactly as she asked. Her backrub felt so good it was like I was under her spell.

"Wonderful!" She said. Celeste got up and grabbed a blanket from the other end of the sectional and she covered me with it. Then she grabbed a hold of my nightshirt and she whisked it off and over my head.

"Celeste!" I whisper-shouted, grabbing for my nightgown, but Celeste tossed it onto the floor where I couldn't reach it.

Celeste just giggled in response. "Oh, nobody can see anything," she said. "Trust me! Hug the blanket to your chest, hun. And your top leg? Bend that leg and lean forward a little for me so you're not completely balancing on your side. That way if you fall asleep it'll be okay," she said. "You won't have one of those jarring falling dreams you sometimes get when you drift off to sleep," she said.

"Um. O-okay," I said haltingly. I was more worried I might tumble off onto the floor in a half naked heap.

Once I was settled on my side with my top leg bent, and once Celeste was lying on her side behind me, the back "rub" continued, though because she was doing it one handed now, it was more of a back caress.

Robert came back into the living room with the popcorn a few minutes later. His eyes were wide as he looked at us. He sat our two bowls of popcorn on the coffee table and took the third for himself. I had the blanket clutched up around my neck while my entire back was bared to Celeste and to her fingers.

"Your skin is so soft," she murmured in my ear. "Does this feel good? What I'm doing?" She asked me.

I paused a second, then I nodded. Because it did feel good. It felt way too good! I could tell that all those goosebump-inducing shivers were not only making and keeping my nipples hard...they were also making me quite wet between my legs.

It was confusing, this backrub. Surely a person wasn't supposed to get aroused by it? So why was I aroused?

Celeste kept caressing my back, but every once in awhile she'd let her hand travel lower than before. Now it seemed, as it had been only a few minutes ago, the waistband of my panties was not a demarcation line for her anymore. It was fair game for Celeste. Her fingers trailed down over my panty-clad hips and back up onto my bare back.

"You have such a cute little body," she whispered into my hair. She brushed my hair off of my neck and placed little soft kisses back there.

"Oh! Celeste!" I gasped. Her lips felt so sweet on my skin and she smelled so good. She was wearing some sort of earthy-smelling, patchouli perfume that was taking over my senses.

And her fingers kept going. They were now touching me not only on my hips, but on my buttocks, also. Round and around her fingers made the slow circuit. They started at the back of my neck, up by my hairline, then went down my back, over my hip and buttocks, and then back up my back to my hairline at my neck again.

I noticed that as the fingers of her one hand made the circuit, with every four or five passes or so she'd accidentally brush her fingers over the crotch of my panties. Because I was lying with my top leg bent, this was very easy for her to do.

"Cel-Celeste?" I whispered after one particularly long crotch caress.

"Mmm. Yes, baby?" She absently asked me, her hand still traveling and caressing over my body.

I paused and lightly stiffened when her fingers returned between my legs and seemed to linger there, caressing lightly back and forth over my covered pussy.

"You're so warm down here," she whispered.

"Um," I said. I know my face heated at that. I glanced over at Robert. He was still very much watching us, his eyes intense.

Celeste's tongue came out and touched the back of my neck. And then I had no words. My breaths were coming quickly. My heartbeat was thundering behind my breastbone.

Her fingers still caressed me over the crotch of my panties. She honed in on where my clit was and she rubbed me there sensuously for several long seconds.

I let out a small moan of pleasure.

"Molly, you're so sweet," she told me. "Do you trust me?" She asked me from out of the blue.

"What?" I asked. "Trust you?"

"Yes," she whispered.

That was an odd question, I thought! I hardly knew her! But I assumed she wasn't actively plotting my demise, and so I nodded.