Jennifer Lam, of "A Bikini Beach Summer" and "A Bikini Beach Late Summer", revisits Bikini Beach for the first time.

                        Monday, July 28

"No!" wailed Jen, bawling her heart out. "No, no, no!" Tim murdered! As she wept, she realized she had dozed off at her desk in the middle of doing her algebra homework. It was only a nightmare, just a very bad nightmare she kept telling herself. Still, the very idea of Tim dying kept Jen weeping for some time.

Jennifer Lam was already over a month and a half into the worst summer of her life, with one month remaining. At times, she felt that she'd irrevocably shamed and defiled herself forever by becoming Tim's lover that past Spring. Other times, she was determined to redeem herself from her shame, by working hard at her Cantonese and algebra classes. Still other times, she missed Tim. That happened most often in bed, either at night or during daytime naps.

Her parents kept her under strict control. Her mother told her, "Once you're in college or out on your own, you may have boyfriends and relationships. But not until then."

One night, she awoke missing Tim horribly. She snuck out and rode her bicycle to Tim's apartment, terrified the entire ride by the noises, the cars, and the neighborhoods she rode through. They had a wonderful time together, and Tim drove her and her bike back home in time not to be caught.

Her parents never found out about her nighttime trip. They might have guessed that something had happened, because she'd been more alive the following days.

But that had been a long time earlier. Jen continued to think and fantasize about Tim off and on, less so as time progressed. She began to realize that falling for Tim, becoming Tim's lover had been a terrible mistake.

This particular day, Jen had done half of her algebra homework, when she yanked herself awake, realizing she'd dozed off. In her dream, she was with Tim and very happy. Then she was away from Tim, and Tim was gone... dead... murdered. That was really all she could remember of her nightmare; the rest was but vague imagery she couldn't seize upon. She continued crying until she'd cried herself out, leaving herself drained and weak.

Even though it was just about the last thing she wanted to do, she dragged her mind back to her algebra assignment. She found herself working far slower than usual, finishing only when she was called down to dinner.

Before this summer, Mom would have noticed Jen's manner and that she had been crying earlier. Mom would have lent a sympathetic ear and support. Jen suspected that she noticed anyway, but as usual for this summer, held back behind Dad's firm discipline that had particularly developed this summer. Mom gave no sign of noticing Jen's distress.

Having all grieved out, over dinner Jen developed a cold anger and loathing toward her parents, icy compared with her initial fury of the first few weeks after they had caught her with Tim, and kept her on a tight leash. Jen's mom had even quit her job, so that she could supervise her daughter full-time.

Jen mostly picked at her food. Mom and Dad asked her about her classes. She simply stated that she'd finished her new algebra assignment, and she had turned in a paper for her Cantonese literature class.

She returned to her bedroom shortly after dinner, and sat at her desk intending to read a book she'd checked out of the library the most recent of the rare times been allowed to visit the public library. Instead, she pondered over her happy golden times with Tim last spring.

She lay her head down inside the loop of her arms on the desk and wept again, crying softly.

Finally, she gave up on the book, gave up on the desk, and gave up on the evening. She undressed, and had to push herself to put on a bathrobe to go and shower.

Back in her room, she flicked the lights off, slipped a nightgown over her head, and slid into bed, finally crying herself to sleep. She knew it was only a nightmare, she had no indication of anything happening to Tim, yet she couldn't help crying from the possibility.

She didn't notice having fallen asleep; as far as she knew, she'd kept crying forever. But a glance at her clock showed that it was eleven at night. What were her parents doing? She heard sounds from the TV in their room.

She could sneak out. They wouldn't hear her.

She disarmed the security system and went into the garage for her bicycle. She slipped it in the house, and took it to the front door before resetting security to "STAY" -- she now had sixty seconds. She worked her bicycle out the front door, and closed and locked it.

Her first attempt at riding her bike was clumsy, as she hadn't ridden in weeks -- only once over the summer, that earlier nighttime ride to Tim's apartment. But gradually her biking instincts returned and took over. She realized too late that she'd forgotten to change into clothes -- she was still in her nightgown without panties or shoes and socks. Well, too late now.

It was dark. The moon was half-full and just over the horizon, about to set. The streetlights were bright in her immediate neighborhood, as well as the residential neighborhoods along the route. But as she rode toward downtown, using side-streets whenever possible to avoid traffic, the streets got darker and scarier. Unknown random noises assaulted her ears as well.

She reached Tim and Andy's apartment building, and locked her bike at the covered bike stand. Happily, the code to the door of the building still worked. She went directly up to Tim and Andy's apartment, and knocked the knocker.

Jen heard noises from the other side. Light from the peephole blocked for a second, and she heard the deadbolt slide. Andy appeared.

"Jen! Please, come in. Tim, Jen's here!"

Jen entered, as Tim emerged rapidly from his bedroom. "Jen!" "Tim!" they exclaimed simultaneously, running into each other's arms. Jen pressed up against his chest, feeling the warmth and taking in his wonderful odor.

Tim stepped back and held her at arm's length. "Let me look at you." After a pause, he said, "You're unhealthily thin, you need a change of clothes, and you seem half-asleep. You look wonderful!" He pulled her back into his tight embrace. "Let's get some food in you, and then get you to bed. The rest we can put off until tomorrow. We have to get you back home before sunrise."

"I'm not going back, ever," said Jen. "I'm not sure I can take much food right now, though."

"You have to eat something," said Andy. "I agree with Tim; you're too thin. You need a change of clothes. If, after food, a bath, and sleep, you don't want to go back home, we'll get you some clothes tomorrow. For tonight something of Tim's should do."

After a light snack, Jen took a long shower, cleaning herself all over. Then she put on a large tee-shirt of Tim's, and stuffed her now dirty nightgown in a plastic grocery bag left for her. She went into Tim's bedroom, and got into bed, but lay awake contentedly, Tim's face hovering in her imagination.

Tim silently slipped in bed with her. She worked herself out of her tee-shirt and pressed up against him. It felt so much better that way. She fell asleep at once.

                        Tuesday

The sun was shining bright through the window when she woke up. She found herself alone in Tim's room! The clock said it was around 8:00. She sat up. The nightgown that she'd worn here were sitting on a nightstand next to the bed, apparently washed, dried, and folded, along with clothes she'd left here months earlier. Tim's tee-shirt that she'd worn was on the floor where she'd tossed it. She put it on, and went out of the room.

Both Tim and Andy were up and dressed, eating breakfast at the table. She ran up to Tim and hugged him hard. "Tim! Mmmmmm, scrambled eggs!"

"Here, have a seat." Tim pulled up a third seat, while Andy got out utensils for her.

They were still in the middle of breakfast, and talking about random things, when the doorbell rang. Andy went to answer it. To her horror, Jen heard Dad's voice shouting loudly.

Both Dad and Mom appeared, Andy behind them.

"Jen, you're coming home now!" said Mom, moving toward her.

"No!" Jen jumped up, ran to a drawer, and grabbed a huge kitchen cutting knife. Aiming it between her breasts, she said, "I'm staying here! Try and--"

Tim jumped and grabbed her wrist, twisting the knife out of her hands. "For God's sake, no, Jen!" He dropped the knife on a counter, well out of Jen's reach.

Jen felt her world crumbling, and burst into tears, crying up against Tim. Tim wrapped his arms around her.

Mom and Dad, who had stood frozen, turned to each other and spoke in whispers. A moment later, they turned and departed.

"Well," said Andy. "I should be off to work now. You two will be okay?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine," answered Jen, still feeling a little sad but recovering from her tears. Tim nodded.

Andy left, and Jen and Tim were alone together. Jen was so happy at being with Tim now, she loved him so much. She pressed up against him, stood on tip-toes, and pulled his head down for a hard kiss.

They came up for breath. "The breakfast's cold now," said Tim. "I'll warm it up in the microwave." As he did so, Jen, feeling warm and tingly all over, and especially warm and moist down there, lifted her tee-shirt and slipped it off.

Tim's eyes widened upon turning back around. "Wow!"

Jen went back to embracing him, pushing his tee-shirt up and off with Tim's help. Tim's bare chest and six-pack stomach felt so good against her, she held him to her as hard as possible until the microwave alarm rang.

Tim pulled out their breakfast remains from the microwave, and sat down at the table. Jen sat on his lap. Tim fed Jen a fork-full of eggs, and Jen went along with it and fed Tim a bite. As they altered feeding each other, Tim asked what Jen had been doing over the summer.

"My parents made me take classes. I was kept home the rest of the time." She described what little she remembered. She didn't mention yesterday's nightmare and her consequent horror about Tim. "I'm never going home again. I won't be taking those classes any more."

"Did you like your classes?" asked Tim.

"They're okay. But I'm not taking them any more."

"Why not? Summer might get rather boring."

Jen was surprised. She'd just assumed she wouldn't continue with her classes, she realized. Why not? now that Tim mentioned it... "I gotta get dressed." She dashed back to Tim's room and slipped into her clothes. "Class begins shortly, I barely have time!"

Tim was ready when she was. They rushed out to the car and Tim sprinted off to school.

Summer classes continued as before -- the only thing remaining unchanged, Jen thought. Tim picked her up afterwards. He had purchased new clothes for her. As they arrived home, at Tim and Andy's apartment, Jen recognized who awaited outside. "Mom!" Jen's mom had brought along a few suitcases and boxes.

"May I join you for lunch?" asked Mom. "I'll cook."

Jen and Tim glanced at each other, before agreeing. Mom cooked a splendid lunch.

"Jen, I went to inform your schools that you wouldn't be attending classes any more. They told me that you were there today."

"Tim persuaded me to stick with my classes," replied Jen.

Mom stayed with Tim and Jen the rest of the afternoon. She departed, saying that she had to be home before Dad arrived home from work.

That set the pattern for the rest of the week. Jen attended classes as scheduled in the morning, and Mom came and cooked lunch, and spent the afternoon with Tim and Jen.

                        Saturday Morning

Jen was leaning against Tim on their bed and reading a book, when the doorbell rang. Andy shortly appeared at their bedroom door. "It's your mom, Jen."

"Oh!" Jen slipped into a bathrobe and hurried to the living room where Mom was waiting. Tim appeared shortly after in t-shirt and boxers.

"I thought we could spend a nice Saturday swimming," said Mom. Glancing out the window, Jen saw that it was promising to be a glorious summer day.

And that's what they did. Jen ran and put on her swimsuit, with a pair of shorts over it, and flip-flops. Tim wore his swimming trunks and a t-shirt.

While driving, Mom said, "This is the happiest and liveliest I've seen you in a long time, possibly this entire summer."

Jen was about to answer something to the effect that how she was kept under control that summer was not exactly conductive toward happiness and liveliness, but she didn't want to ruin the mood.

Eventually, they arrived. "Bikini Beach" displayed a sign above the entry. Mom parked the car and they got in line to the ticket booth.

Once they reached the booth -- WTF!? Five years for Tim and Jen? And the humungous expense! How could they possibly afford it, now that Mom had quit her job? Jen couldn't bring herself to question Mom's decision, and remained silent throughout.

Upon the transaction's completion, they went to the locker rooms. At the men's locker room, Jen hugged Tim, pulling him down and kissing his cheek. "I'll see you later inside." As Tim entered the men's locker room, Jen and Mom continued onto the women's locker room.

Jen, already in her swimsuit, only needed to stow her gear away in a locker, shower, and slap on sunscreen. Upon completing these, while Mom was still showering, she asked, "Mom, may I go meet Xena?"

Upon receiving Mom's assent, Jen hurried to the overflow locker room. She wondered momentarily why Xena was changing in the other locker room rather than with her.

Upon arriving, Jen wondered how the heck did she ever forget Tim? This locker room was much smaller, and only two persons were there, an old woman and a black girl Jen's own age in a white bikini that looked perfect on her. Jen nodded shyly to ther old woman. "Ma'am."

"Good morning, Jennifer," said the old woman.

"Neihou, Jen," said the girl.

"Neihou... Xena," replied Jen. Somehow, she recognized this girl as the Xena she was expecting. But what about Tim? And why was she expecting Xena? She saw a certain resemblance to Tim, as if Xena were his younger sister. Then she met Xena's eyes.

"Xena?" said Jen, trying to say Tim. "I mean Xena?" What was going on? Why couldn't she even say Tim's name anymore? "What happened to you?"

"Apparently..." The girl paused. "I'm Xena now." Xena lowered her eyes. "It's so strange, it can't happen. It's gotta be a nightmare."

"Young lady," said the old woman. "I most sincerely hope you not consider your experience nightmarish at Bikini Beach." She sighed. "Now, I have certain things to explain, and it's good that both of you are present to hear them."

"Xena, your transformation remains until the end of your membership with Bikini Beach. Your mother, Jen, intended this to be five years, at which time you would be eighteen. My granddaughter, whom your mother dealt with, surreptitiously changed the membership to under two years -- specifically the Sunday night following the end of school your freshman year. You would be fifteen then."

"Will we still be friends and lovers?" asked Xena/Tim.

Grandmother replied, "That's entirely up to the two of you," as Jen blushed in shock and embarrassment. Grandmother continued, "Once that initial membership expires, you may renew your memberships repeatedly for any time period, until six years total have been reached."

Grandmother spoke further, ending with this warning. "This applies specifically to you, Xena. If you get pregnant, you remain a woman for life. Both of you have birth-control pills, along with on-going prescriptions. Be sure to take them. They will also help steady your period." Jen blushed again.

Grandmother departed with these words. "Enjoy your stay at Bikini Beach."

They checked in one last time with Jen's mom, and went out to explore and enjoy Bikini Beach. At one point, as they were volleying a volleyball back and forth, they met a group of girls, Vanessa, Carol, Faline, and Tracy, along with newcomers Lucy and Becky.