Making the Grade Ch. 01

Mrs. Bentley looked down for a moment then said almost icily, "As I said, Cal, things aren't always as they appear." She looked back up at me and it was as though that brief moment of anger hadn't even happened. She smiled and said cheerfully, "But you don't need to hear about my personal life. You have a date with a beautiful girl this weekend and I'm taking up way too much of your time." She paused for a moment before adding, "It's just that you're so easy to talk to, Cal." Another pause followed by another dazzling smile. "Are you sure you're really 18 rather than going on 30? Thirty would make a lot more sense to me," she teased.

"I'm actually 18 and a half now," I said awkwardly as perhaps some kind of justification for apparent, perceived maturity.

Mrs. Bentley covered her mouth as she laughed out loud. "Eighteen and a half. Oh, okay. That explains it." I knew she wasn't being mean but I'm not sure she knew I understood it was just mild teasing. "You're such a good, decent, sweet boy, Cal. Sorry. You're hardly a boy anymore. 'Young man' is what I meant to say. Karen is a very lucky gir—young lady. Just relax. You'll do fine. Dancing isn't really dancing anymore anyway. It's just kind of holding on to one another and moving around the floor." There was a much longer pause this time before Mrs. Bentley looked right at me and said, "Can you save one dance for me?" she asked rather playfully. She laughed as she spoke.

I laughed, too. "Of course I will. Like the song says, I'll save the last dance for you! But you'll have to show up in order to collect." No it was my turn to pause momentarily. I picked up my books and said, "Thanks for the all the advice, Mrs. Bentley. You're awesome!"

"Awesome? Thank you, Cal. Right about now, that sounds pretty darned good. I'll take it. For what it's worth, I think you're pretty 'awesome', too. Have fun Saturday and tell Karen I said 'hello', will you?"

"Will do!" I hollered over my shoulder as I left the classroom.

I didn't own a suit or even a sports coat and I had to borrow a tie from my dad, but with my mom's help I managed to put together what I hoped what would an acceptable look. I wore black pants, a gray, button-down shirt, a blue tie and my new black leather jacket. I was trying not to stress but I had no idea what to even talk about with a girl...no, a woman, like Karen. That, plus the fact I didn't know how to dance, made the possibility of disaster loom large in my virgin eyes.

My fears temporarily dissipated when I rang the doorbell and Karen's mom invited me in. "Oh, my! Don't you look handsome, Cal. I love the jacket. It's very—well—you!"

I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing but I smiled and thanked her regardless. After a couple minutes of small talk, Karen came downstairs and I was speechless. She looked absolutely, freaking amazing! Her hair was soft and shiny and as smooth as silk. Her pretty face was stunningly beautiful, and she was wearing this gorgeous charcoal gray, long-sleeved, rib-knit sweater with a black pencil skirt, black stockings, and black, three-inch heels. A matching silver necklace and earrings completed what was to me a perfect look.

"Oh, my God! You look absolutely incredible!" I said enthusiastically.

I had no idea why but Karen's mother winced and had a look of pain on her face—even more than the painful look she carried the rest of the time. Karen was now standing directly in front of me and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Cal. You look great, too." She glance over at her mother than back at me. She said very quietly and almost apologetically, "We Mormons don't say 'OMG' but you had no way of knowing that so it's no big deal. Really." The look on her mom's face said otherwise but Karen's explanation was enough for me.

I probably should have known better from hanging out with Glen all these years, but Karen looked so much like my ultimate fantasy girl that my little head was definitely doing all of the thinking and talking for me. "Sorry, Mrs. Moreland."

"I understand, Cal. As Karen said, it's alright. You kids have fun tonight, okay?" Mrs. Moreland seemed to have a perpetually sad look about her and as usual, I felt at a loss to say anything. I thought it best to leave well enough alone rather than open my mouth and as they say, remove all doubt.

In the car, Karen said, "My mom is really having a hard time coping with my dad's death. But then, so am I for that matter, but for very different reasons. In Mom's case, dad was her life for 30 years. They were best friends and proverbial soul mates. Mormons believe in eternal marriage so she strongly believes they'll be together again one day but for now, she's just completely lost. That's why I came back home rather than take a job after finishing my PhD."

"Thanks for sharing that. Your mom just looks SO sad all of the time. That explains a lot, Karen. I appreciate you telling me. You said something about having troubles coping with losing you dad but for different reasons. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes and no," Karen began. "I don't want to get into a deep, heavy philosophical discussion on a first date, but I also want to tell you what I'm feeling."

"Feel free to say as much or as little as you like. As you may have already noticed, I have a real knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but I've been told I'm a pretty good listener."

"You're so sweet, Cal. By way of full disclosure, I know about this 'transition' you've gone through and that explains why you might not feel ummm, 'polished' in some social situations. Don't worry. You're doing just fine and it'll come with time." It was a relief to know Karen understood what most would perceive as social awkwardness. Guys like Jason never had to worry about such things. They'd been around beautiful girls and had their approval for years so were very adept at knowing what to say and perhaps more importantly, what not to say.

Karen continued explaining. "As to my dad's death, I'll just say that I've found myself wondering for the first time if there's even a God, you know? I mean, Mormons pray about everything and the Bible says if we shall ask anything in Jesus's name he will do it. I've prayed for silly things like for our football team to win at state or for some particular thing I really wanted. If it happened or I got that thing, I gave thanks to Heavenly Father. If it didn't, I just chalked it up to Him not wanting me to have it. You know, 'His ways are higher than ours' and all that. But praying for my dad to recover was the first time I ever prayed for something I really needed. And this made no sense to me. He never smoked a cigarette in his life but he got lung cancer anyway and died within 24 months! What kind of God repays sincere prayers with that kind of result? It seems much more likely that the reason he died had nothing to do with a Divine Being failing to rescue him but with the scientific fact that the spread of the cancer just overwhelmed his immune system. Since his death, I've been sad, I've been angry, and then numb. And now I'm just—well, I'm not really sure. I guess the word is 'perplexed.' I can't shake this feeling that I've been duped and engaging in self-deception my whole adult life. I can see believing in angels and gold plates and Gods and Goddess as a child but I'm a grown woman. And I'm a scientist! I'm a rational person. I demand evidence in every area of my life except when it comes to the Church. I used to think that even there I was basing my beliefs on solid, rational evidence but what evidence is there that Someone is 'up there' hearing and answering—or not—our prayers? Now it seems like it's all a bunch of made-up nonsense. Does that make any sense to you at all, Cal?"

"It does," I assured her. "But I've been an atheist for as long as I've been aware of the issue of God so I may not be the most objective source. I'm not an angry anti-theist wanting to take away the baby Jesus from the town square or anything. I just don't see any evidence for God or any 'god' for that matter. It all seems like something man invented to explain what was previously unexplainable."

"I know!" Karen said animatedly. "At BYU, virtually everyone is LDS so even in science departments there's no doubting the 'fact' that the Church is true—which is Mormon-speak for things like 'God exists', etc., let alone a crisis of faith. But for me, it's as though a veil has been lifted from eyes and there's a whole new and exciting world out there waiting to be explored. And I don't mean just in a chemistry lab."

Karen looked down in a rather shy way and then directly at me. As she finished that last sentence, she reached her left hand out and took my right hand in it. "And I wouldn't mind starting this exploration with you, Cal. That is, if you think I might be the right girl to do the exploring with."

Before I could respond she added hastily, "I know I'm 10 years older than you but I have to tell you, I'm not only still a virgin, I've only been to 'second base' one time and that was in high school. Because of the influence of the Mormon Church, the guilt I felt from letting a guy feel me up was so overwhelming I avoided boys for an entire year after that. I'm really tired of avoiding boys—or in your case, handsome young men—so if you want, you can teach me things I don't know anything about."

I felt her hand squeeze mine tightly as I also felt Sheriff Woody rising to the occasion. I somehow managed not to laugh at her assumption that I was experienced in "the ways of the world." I just said to her, "Karen. This transformation thing you mentioned? That's very real. And very new. It's so real and so recent I've never even...I've never yet been on...I mean, this is the very first date I've ever had in my life. Just six months ago, girls wouldn't even acknowledge my existence unless it was to mock me for my bucked teeth or some other physical flaw. So I'm afraid I can't really teach you anything."

Karen also managed not to laugh. "I see," she said matter-of-factly. "First let me say it seems unimaginable that you were unattractive let alone so much so led to that kind of treatment. You might just be the most attractive guy I've ever met and trust me, I've seen some gorgeous guys on campus over the years. You are really hot. Second, it seems to me then that we have a dilemma on our hands. We have a clear case of the blind leading the blind here. Since neither one of us can see, I propose we try closing our eyes and well, just kind of feeling our way through this. What do you think?"

As she said the word "feel" she released my hand and slid it over onto my thigh and for the briefest of moments, toward my crotch. Her hand soon ran into my cock which had snaked its way a good eight inches down the right leg of my pants. She obviously wasn't aware of just what she was caressing as her hands slid along its length until she suddenly recoiled as though she'd just been snake bit.

"I'm so sorry, Cal. I had no idea. You see, I'm absolutely no good at this stuff."

My first instinct was to apologize profusely but Karen burst out laughing which, in turn, caused me to do the same!

Karen spoke first. "Well! I have to admit that was a surprise. And while I have nothing to compare it with, my sense was that it was a rather, ummm, big surprise! I wasn't aware of just what I was 'up against' at first and once it hit me, it kind of freaked me out. But that's only because I've never touched a...you know, a penis before. Jeez. I feel like I'm 16! No. I feel like I'm a 28-year old Mormon girl who's wasted years of year life living in fear of judgment and condemnation." Karen sat silently for a moment just staring out of the windshield. Then she boldly proclaimed, "All of a sudden I want to say something so I'm going to say it. 'Fuck that!' Karen put her hand over her mouth, laughed again, and said, "Oh my God! Did I just say 'fuck'? Did I just say 'oh my God', too?"

I was still laughing when I said, "Uh. Yes you did. And you also said 'OMG' without abbreviating it. I have to say it was kind of a turn on and speaking of turn ons, I wouldn't mind looking deeper into that hypothesis of yours about 'feeling' our way through this later tonight. I would love to join the expedition."

Just then we pulled up to a stop light that had just turned red. I leaned over toward Karen and her open mouth was there waiting for me as hers met mine. I had so many new emotions simultaneously flooding over me I couldn't sort them out. Her breath was sweet. Her lips were full and soft. Her tongue was...deep in my mouth and her hand back on my rock-hard dick. Before the light turned green, I felt that familiar loss of control as a monster load of cum shot into my underwear. Karen would have assumed the changing light was responsible for my sudden break of this first kiss but I knew better.

"Oh my fucking God!" I thought to myself. "I just creamed my fucking pants in the middle of the fucking road during my first fucking kiss! What a fucking loser!" I was panicked at the thought she would immediately know before I realized it was already dark outside and my pants were black. Most of all, it was likely she'd never experienced a guy cumming let alone at her hand (as it were.) If I was lucky, I might be able to clean this mess up without leaving a huge wet stain in exactly the worst of all places. But my GOD was that worth it! I couldn't even imagine what kind of experiences further explorations might bring but I was now ready, willing, and able to find out.

The church parking lot was just two blocks away and as soon as we entered the building I excused myself and headed straight into the men's restroom. Thankfully, the mess was still largely confined to my underwear and I was able to take care of what could have been a disaster.

When I exited the restroom, I looked for Karen. What I saw nearly blew my mind. As I walked toward her, there was Mrs. Bentley talking with Karen like old friends!

As I neared the duo of beautiful woman, Karen called out, "Cal! Look who's here tonight. It's Sister Bentley, my former chemistry teacher! We were just catching up. I hadn't seen her since my last visit home and this was a really great surprise."

"I heard we needed another chaperone for the dance so when the bishop's wife called me I told her I'd be glad to help out—especially since Cal mentioned he was taking my favorite former student as his date!" Mrs./Sister Bentley said excitedly. "Both of you look so amazing. You make a very cute couple. Are you going to have your picture taken? There's a booth right over there."

"Let's do it, Cal!" Karen said. "Let's get our picture taken, okay?"

Still stunned from seeing Mrs. Bentley here and most of all hearing her referred to as "Sister" Bentley, I was unable to do more than nod my head in agreement and say, "Yeah. Sure. Sounds great."

"Isn't it great to see her, Cal?" Karen asked as we stood in line. She gave me that look that said "I want to whisper something in your ear but be cool about it" so I sort of leaned my ear toward her mouth. "My mom said she hasn't been to church for months. I guess her husband was cheating on her with someone from his work because he was excommunicated this summer which, for Mormons, is a fate worse than death. I really feel sorry for her and I guess that's why I'm so happy to see her here tonight. Well, that and the fact that she was my favorite teacher."

I was also happy to see her but for very different reasons. "Things aren't always as they appear, Cal." Suddenly that made a lot of sense.

Chapter 4

We had our picture taken together then went into the gym area which was set up for the dance. I caught site of Glen who was up on stage serving as the DJ. I couldn't help but feel bad for him because there he was in his church watching me go on my first date when we was still waiting to go on his. He waved to me then gave me a thumbs up signal as he motioned for me to ask Karen to dance. The song that was playing ended and Glen spun the next record. Okay, he hit "play" on the CD player but still...

I heard a voice familiar to me from my parents' music collection as the words to "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" boomed out through the large speakers on stage. I turned toward Karen and before I could ask she said, "Yes!"

Mrs. Bentley was right. I didn't have to know how to dance. We just held each other close and kind of drifted around the floor. Karen stood on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear, "I should tell you that at church dances we're supposed to keep daylight between our bodies when we slow dance but I won't say anything if we don't."

I noticed there was a tiny amount of distance between us and replied, "Looks like we're in compliance."

Karen pulled herself closer to me and whispered to me, "Fuck compliance. I want to feel your cock again." At the same time she pushed her body hard into mine and she found what she was "looking" for with her body. I could feel her grinding against my erection but doing so in a way that wouldn't attract attention and I heard her gasp in my ear. "Mmmm. That feels so nice. I want to continue our investigation in that parcel of land later. Do I need a permit?" she teased as she pressed herself up and down against my rock hard shaft.

"That won't be necessary. The entire area will be made available to you upon verbal request."

"I like the sound of that. I love feeling like I'm doing something forbidden and I'm glad I'm doing it with you, Cal."

I managed not to fire another salvo of semen and was concerned about whether or not I'd ever learn how to "hold fire" as it were. "One thing at a time" was my motto for the night and for the foreseeable future. We danced several more times when I heard Glen's voice. "Ladies, this one is your choice!"

Expecting Karen to ask me to dance, I was surprised to see her talking with "Sister" Bentley. The music was loud but I could hear Karen say, "Oh, sure! You go right ahead."

Mrs. Bentley walked up to me and leaned toward me so I could hear her. "I have your date's permission to ask you to dance. So, would you care to dance with me, Cal?" I could see Karen mouthing the words "say yes" over and over. I didn't need any extra encouragement, but I was glad to know Karen was okay with this. But why wouldn't she be? She had no idea I had the hugest crush on Laura Bentley. To her, this was just a harmless older woman and former teacher going through a rough time dancing with a young guy at a church event.

"I'd be honored to dance with you!" I said as I extended my hand. She took it and I led her onto the dance floor. It was another oldie but I didn't know the name of this one. Mrs. Bentley did clearly did.

"I love this song. It's so romantic and filled with so much meaning. Do you like it?"

If I'd ever heard it I had no idea where or when. I was afraid to tell her the truth and settled for a half truth. "It's really nice," I told her. My head was swimming from simply holding the woman of my dreams in my arms. I was trying to take everything in when for some reason I was thinking about the distance rule. I noticed there was almost a foot between us and we looked like a couple on "Dancing With the Stars." It seemed like the Grand Canyon to me and I wanted to be closer to her so bad I could taste it but the rules were the rules and Mrs. Bentley was a beautiful, refined, and elegant lady. So fat chance of that. About a minute later, I felt her move in closer. A few seconds later, there was almost no space between our bodies and her cheek was next to mine.

"You see, dancing isn't all that hard, is it?" she said to me. "Are you having a good time with Karen?"

"I am. It's been very nice." I hesitated for a moment and then I decided to pull her even closer to me even though I didn't know if she would resist. She didn't. She even took her hand out of mine and put her arms around my neck. I knew the song would be ending very soon and I had to somehow tell her how I felt about her so I made up my mind to at least try and convey my feelings.