"Ouch!" she said. She had definitely had not dreamed that pinch.

She stretched and yawned and forced herself to get up. She felt groggy. She felt like going back to sleep and sinking back into blissful forgetfulness, for she remembered now, remembered all that had happened since she'd got home from school this afternoon, and her face turned red with shame.

She debated whether to take a cold shower, a sort of punishment for her filthy behavior, or whether to put on her gymnastics outfit and do some hard exercise. She decided on the exercise. She needed activity to help take her mind off things.

Since nobody was going to see her, she didn't bother to put on a support bra or panties under her one-piece gymnastics uniform. Her legs and feet were naked, and she tied up her hair in back in a ponytail. Then she went down to the basement, which was outfitted with a large exercise mat, weights, and gymnastics equipment. On the exercise mat she sank immediately into a full split and began doing bending stretches. Since she wasn't warmed up, the stretches hurt, but pain was what she was after – she deserved punishment for her shameful behavior.

When Skip arrived home from wrestling practice an hour later, Jenny was dripping with sweat. She'd just about knocked herself out with stretching, calisthenics, and vigorous exercises on various apparatus. Skip, dressed in jeans, T-shirt, and athletic shoes without socks, dropped his gym bag on the floor and smiled at his twin sister, who was stretching in the full split position up on the balance beam, her toes pointed, a look of determination on her face.

"Hey, Sis, take it easy, there ain't any coach around to slave drive you today – or any parents, either. You're gonna pull a muscle and lay yourself up for a week."

Jenny looked up, wiping sweat off her face. She couldn't remember when she'd ever worked out so hard.

"I'm almost done," she said. "Mom left microwave dinners for us. I'll pop them in in a few minutes."