What a Photo Reveals

The girls were lounging in the common room, their bare legs glistening along the armrests.

“Tyler?”

“Oh god he’s so cute.”

“Not worth it though. I chased him for a year. He likes to brag about how he once kissed three different girls the same day.”

Carol giggled. “I was one of them…”

Kelly was only half listening. These kinds of conversations tuned her out. Not that she didn’t like guys. She quite did, in ways that the other girls probably didn’t even suspect-

“Kelly! We’re talking to you!”

“What?”

“Are you going to break up with Jack?”

Was she going to break up with Jack? The answer should be obvious, but she hesitated. “What do you think I should do?”

“Stay with him, of course,” said Michelle. “He’s gorgeous. Any of us would take him in a heartbeat.”

“I would!” Dawn chimed in.

“I ended up in Mr. Bolger’s office,” said Kelly testily.

“What happened?”

“He gave me a big lecture about personal safety, the school’s reputation, blah blah fucking blah. He said he’d let me off with a warning this time, but I’d be expelled and charged if it ever happens again.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have done it,” Andrea said primly.

“Yes, she should have,” said Michelle. “I caught my boyfriend jacking off to it, and…” She smirked rather than finish the sentence.

“I didn’t think Jack got sent to Mr. Bolger,” said Dawn thoughtfully. “He was getting high-fives from other guys in the hall.”

“He wasn’t.” Kelly felt anger curdle in the pit of her stomach. She had not done anything wrong. She was eighteen, he was eighteen. He, not she, had been the one who sent it out, and this being a high school, it inevitably ended up in the hands of minors. She knew no charge against her could stand up in court, but the principal had threatened her, not Jack.

And Jack had been getting high-fives for his pains. She stood up, her face suddenly scarlet with rage. “Fuck Jack. Fuck him.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Carol soothed. “You can have any other guy you want.”

“Except our boyfriends,” Michelle said defensively, only half joking.

“They’ll be lining up at the door to fuck you, now that-” began Andrea, stopping on seeing the stony expression on Kelly’s face.

“Not Senthil!” said Carol, trying to break the tension.

All the girls except Kelly burst into raucous laughter.

“He’s so ugly-“

“Imagine what he would smell like-“

“You know what they say about-“

“Shut the fuck up, will you?” Kelly shouted. She glared at their startled faces, then without another word stormed out of the room.

*****

Kelly sat on the bus, brooding. Her knees were folded up to her chest. Her skirt was so short that her thong was clearly visible to anyone who cared to look, but she did not care.

Andrea’s words had not been idle; Kelly’s slim lithe figure and her penchant for short skirts and tight jeans had attracted plenty of male attention. The line between wanted and unwanted was narrower with her than with most other girls. She had never really minded – in fact had often enjoyed – guys whistling at her in the halls or making admiring remarks about her legs or ass or breasts, as long as they were respectful. If Jack had asked her, she might have said yes.

She wasn’t the kind to mind that much if a boyfriend cheated on her – guys were horny, she got that. In fact, that was what she loved about them. But lying to her – that was another story. Absolutely unacceptable. As was taking her for granted and violating her privacy without permission. Jack hadn’t asked her. He had just done it. And she was the one who had gotten in trouble, not him.

*****

“Hey! Look at the legs!”

Kelly was sauntering along in the hallways when she got the catcall. She turned around instinctively, the customary grin rising to her face.

She’d been told she had the kind of face you could stare at for hours and never get tired of. Her chocolate-brown eyes shone all the brighter when surrounded by eyeliner and mascara; her eyelashes had been invitingly curled. Her lips glowed bright red. Straight long brown hair flowed smoothly down her back.

She was sporting a blue blouse at least a size too tight, buttons straining, gaps in between them showing off skin as if daring a viewer to say anything. The top two buttons were left undone, giving a generous view of the top half of her breasts. Her tan skirt barely cleared her ass, leaving her slim, sinuous legs free to work their magic on all who saw them. Kelly knew how to occasionally turn, stop, or twirl in such a way that the skirt briefly flew up, offering a glimpse, but no more, of the thongs she liked to wear.

She looked back at the two young men, boys really, boys looking at her hourglass figure and shapely legs and responding the way young men do. She’d never thought anything wrong with that before, but somehow this was different.

After a breakup, she knew what she’d always have done – giggle, flirt, maybe even allow a feel or two. Eventually she’d be on her knees, blowing one, or the other, or even both. And then-

What did she mean to them? They were lining up to fuck her, just as the girls had predicted. Was she a person, or just a pair of legs? And what did they mean to her? Were they real people, or just cocks to suck? Kelly loved sucking cock. And yet, after what Jack had done, it didn’t feel like enough.

The grin died on her face, and she turned around and stomped off without another word.

*****

“You’re going to work in pairs for his project,” droned on Mr. Michelson, the history teacher. “You have to research and present this to the class one week from today.” He began announcing pairs of students, among them, “Kelly, with Senthil.”

Senthil – yes, that was what had made her angry the other day, the casual racism of how her friends had dissed him.

Senthil was something of a mystery. He had a distinctive appearance too; he was one of the few South Asian students in the school, and on top of that he was quite overweight. Kelly realized she’d never even seen an overweight South Asian before, not even on TV. There were, of course plenty of overweight kids at her school, but she’d never paid them much attention.

Like most guys, Senthil spent a lot of time glued to his phone, but he wasn’t swapping pictures of girls or checking out the latest TV episodes or sports scores. He was constantly reading e-books. And it showed. The guy had almost limitless knowledge. He’d taken the school’s trivia team to the state championships. He always seemed to have the top grades in almost every class.

Senthil had even won prizes for debating and public speaking, which surprised Kelly the most. He was so shy, seldom talking to anyone unless they talked to him first, and even then in a quiet, scared voice. Few bothered to approach him except to ask for help with their homework. Kelly had never needed this, as she was a strong student herself, but she had seen Senthil generously help plenty of others. Michelle, she who just now had called him ugly, had once pretended to flirt with him to get homework help, but he hadn’t seemed to notice, talking to her in the same monotone he used with everyone, but even more quietly. It was like talking to a mouse, she’d complained.

*****

That afternoon, researching in the library, Kelly found herself impressed by how fast Senthil’s mind worked, flitting from topic to topic yet never losing sight of their core argument. His voice got stronger and more confident when he talked about familiar subjects. Sitting close she noticed that her friends had been wrong – he didn’t smell bad at all.

“Nice photo, Kelly!” said another guy walking past, a leer on his face. “Is he your next photographer?” chortled another a few minutes later. Senthil ignored them at first, but eventually his curiosity was aroused.

“What are they talking about?” he asked.

“Didn’t you see the photo of me?” she queried.

“What picture?”

“This picture.” She glanced around to make sure no adult was nearby, then whipped out her phone, tapped on the screen a bit and passed it over. There, in all its glory, was the selfie she’d sent to Jack, as naked as the day she was born.

“Th…that’s you.”

“Of course it’s me. Who else would it be?”

“I…I haven’t seen it before.”

He must have been practically the only one in the school who hadn’t seen it. Hell, the fucking principal had seen it.

“I sent it to my boyfriend,” she explained.