The sound of a girl gasping pulled Denise out of her own thoughts and made her look down the aisle. She couldn't see the girl making the noise. All she could see was the girl's bare foot, toes clutching at the air and quivering. The girl's foot shivered and she continued to gasp for several seconds before she sighed loudly and her foot went limp. Almost every boy on the bus was standing up in their seat and trying to get a look at the girl who'd been making all the noise. A few boys jeered. Others laughed. The relative silence that had filled the bus as the girl had spasmed and cried out her pleasure gave way once again to gabbing and laughter.

Denise thanked God that she and Peggy were at the back of the bus, that their shameful carrying on had neither been heard nor spotted. The kids up front were too busy necking and watching each other neck to bother with two girls and a dog far back in the bus. Denise opened "Please Let me In" and tried to read. She couldn't absorb a word of the book into her mind. Her thoughts whirled through her head.

Chapter 3

The sun was heading toward the western horizon and sending brilliant rays through the open windows on the right side of the bus. Sitting in the middle of the long back seat, Denise found herself sweating miserably while Peggy, still naked and asleep, leaned up against the left side window, shaded and fanned.

Denise thought about moving further up front, taking an empty seat on the left side of the bus, but she was afraid that if she moved she might draw attention to herself. Already some of the boys up front had spotted her and looked ready to pounce. She was sure that the only reason that they hadn't come back here was because they knew Peggy and the dog were sitting back here with her, and most boys were afraid to confront two girls at once. Boys were always so sure of themselves when they could get a girl alone, but two girls together scared them off.