Cerridwen in the Dunking Booth

Part 1: Jitters

She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was as nervous as she could be
She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was afraid that somebody would see

The air inside the locker room was hot, humid, smelled of body order, and cotton candy body spray. It also reeked of bleach and the faint smell of shit hung in the air. All in all, it was not the place one wanted to spend any amount of considerable time in. But I could not move, I could not bring myself to face the crowds wearing this, this skimpy little thing.

Mom of course had warned me, she said that I might not be ready to wear a bikini, much less a string bikini. I of course had argued her down, right in the middle of the sales floor of Belks, it was a heated battle, one that pitted mother against daughter. The walls of the second floor echoed the sounds of our heated debate. Now, most of the time my mother would spin my sassy bottom around, give my bottom two or three good passes with the open palm of her hand and set me in the nearest corner and keep on shopping. It must be quite the sight to see a fifteen year old girl standing in the corner next to a fine prom gown with her hands on the top of her head. Well fifteen going on sixteen, my birthday two months away.

Anyway I digress.

You see, each year at the end of the school year, my school Benton Academy puts on an annual fete they call “The Summer Carnival”. It's really a gaudy money making machine  dressed up in the guise of a celebration that school is over. I mean come one can of  coke for a dollar. One scoop of ice cream a dollar fifty? A bag of chips, the off brand kind you buy from Save-A-Lot at fifty cents a piece going for a dollar twenty five? A hot dog, two dollars? Jesus, talk about the cost of inflation. Or was the school just run by money hungry bastards. If I had to put money on it, I would put money on the latter.

Anyway, one of the chief attractions of “The Summer Carnival” and I use those words lightly was the dunking booth. Normally the cheerleaders volunteered to staff the booth and run it. As it would be their petite little bodies sitting on the rigged platform that when a button was pressed would collapse and send them into six hundred gallons of ice cold water.

Normally that's how things worked. But, this year the cheerleaders decided to open the change to get dunked on by all of us. And since I'm friends with two cheerleaders, one happens to a co-captain and Junior to boot. I found myself getting 'volunteered' to take the first and forty five minute blocks.

I digress again.

Anyway, since I had 'volunteered' I'd asked my mom to drive to the mall to pick out a bathing suit. She agreed as she needed a few things too. Anyway, mom suggested that I go with the traditional one piece bathing suit or one with a tank top. For modesty of course. I wanted none of that and instead decided to pick out a pink striped bathing suit that was at best three tiny pieces of fabric. And I mean that, two triangle pieces of cloth to cover the breast, one for each and a tiny piece of downward facing triangle cloth to cover the nether region.

You see I'd been through hell this year. For starters I'd finally started hormone therapy. And that had opened a can of worms I had not expected. I found myself becoming emotional, crying over the littlest things. I found myself becoming more vocal about what I wore and how I wore my hair. My chest started to grow a little. Fever pangs had often riddled my frail system. These phantom fevers would come and go. And a major personal victory for me, I'd been allowed to take girls PE and try out for the cheerleading squad. And through the grace of the Goddess I'd made the squad. But just barely.

What does that mean? That means the other cheerleaders put me through hell. No, I was not bullied, I was not hazed, I was not put in the hospital because of the dangerous initiation ritual that went wrong. In fact I was accepted as a member of the squad and welcomed with open arms. I was however subjected to a period of intense, often strenuous physical training.

In the grueling late autumn heat I was drilled, and drilled and drilled again. I was required to learn all the cheers and chants by heart. Weekends became booked with extra drill practice. In short I was molded into being a cheerleader and the end result was, well, a lean, tanned Cerridwen who was no longer paler than flour, and no longer just a twig. I was curvy in all the right places, and had developed considerable upper body strength. And thankfully I retained my Hot Topic sense of humor.

I digress again.

What does all this mean? I'm sure you're asking yourself that question right now. Well it means this, I wanted a bathing suit that would show off my curves, that would display my new body, that would show the world the girl I'd become over one year of hellish training. Plus I had breasts now dammit! Sure my girls were small, but they were mine! And compared to my classmates and my cheer sisters, I was average, maybe mine were a bit bigger! I was proud of them and wanted a bathing suit that showed them off!

At least that's what I wanted at the time.

Now I wanted to hide, mom was right! I was wrong. At first I was wondering why mom had agreed to buy the suit for me, but I should have known, I should have known there was a reason behind her smirking at me as I'd proudly held the suit up. I should have known better! Mom never gives in easily! She never does!

“She wanted to teach me a lesson!” I yelled out.

“Who wanted to teach you a lesson?” A voice from the depth of the locker room called out. A seconds passed before the petite form of a blonde cheerleader appeared in front of me. Her name was Jamie Sarah Potter, the self proclaimed 'Princess' of Benton Academy. The 'Princess' part of her name came from being named Homecoming Princess about three years ago back when she was a Freshman, back whens he was undergoing her metamorphoses from James Alexander Potter to Jamie Sarah Potter. A transformation that had been set into motion when he older sister Lily Elizabeth Potter had asked her to volunteer as the school's hostage for homecoming.

“My mom brought me this new bikini!” I said blushing as I turned toward Jamie.

Jamie shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

“Looks good on you. I'm sure you'll have all the boys lined up to dunk you. And I'm sure Daisy would love to see it too.” Jamie said, smiling sweetly as she walked up to the sink, she started to wash her hands. Strange I did not hear her flush, or maybe she was just washing her hands.

“That's not the point!” I said blushing. “Everybody else would see it!”

“That is kind of the point of the dunking booth. To put you on display, that is why the dunking booth has a clear, plastic viewing window in the middle. So people can look at you floating around the bottom of the tank after they hit the target.” Jamie shrugged. “I'm just glad I'm staffing the dunking booth this year.” Jamie said.

“But! Look how skimpy this thing is!” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Again, you picked it out, and you volunteered for this. I'm sure you knew what you were getting into. Also I'll have you know that since you volunteered to play Dotty, and since I named you Homecoming Princess, and you're now a cheerleader. Well, you're going to have people lining up for miles to dunk you. Guys get a thrill from it, girls get revenge.” Jamie said as she leaned over the sink and started to apply a little gloss to her lips.

“You're not helping!” I said pouting. “Besides, I was not thinking about this dumb dunking booth or getting attention from any of those boys out there!” I said folding my arms across my chest and turning my nose up into the air.

“Oh? You must have had somebody in mind?” Jamie said smirking as she returned the tub of gloss to her purse and then turned her full attention toward me. “So come clean girl, who was it?” Jamie said, the way she said it, I suppose she already knew the answer and was just teasing it out of me for her own amusement.

“Daisy.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“I knew it.” Jamie said, taking a deep breath. “You two have been seeing each other for what? For a good while. I mean I'm happy for you. I really am. But, you've never really made an effort to put on a show for him before.” Jamie said grinning. “Not till now anyway, you two have just seemed to accept each other for who you are and that sweet. But that leads to another question, are you wanting more from him than just a pair of strong arms to hold you at night or something else beside a friend to take you to the movies and out to eat?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I don't quite follow what you're saying sis?” I said, arching my eyebrows.

“Have you and Daisy ever had sex before?” Jamie said in a blunt tone of voice.

At that my face turned beat red and it was an anime. I'm sure my face would be blushing a beat red. Not only my face but my ears as well. Heck I'm sure clouds of white steam would be streaming out of them. They felt hot enough for jets of  steam to come shooting out of them.

“NO!” I said, shaking my head. “I'm still a..”
“A virgin?” Jamie said grinning as she turned to me. “Nothing wrong with being a virgin Cerridwen. It's cool that you are one. I kind wish I was still one. Nothing wrong with being one, but it’s fun losing it. But wearing a bikini like that, you're sending a message out. And that message is this 'Look at me I'm ready to breed.'” She said as she stepped out away from the sink and turned toward me.

“I guess I'm saying this.” Jamie said she took a deep breath.

“Have fun, a little flirting is welcome, if not expected from the girl sitting in the dunking booth. Just keep it fun and family friendly if that is even possible. Be gentle with the guy's feelings and be mindful of Daisy's feelings as well. Don't flirt with too many guys that might make him cross. That is the last thing you want. Just have fun with it. And between shifts, spend as much time as possible with him. I know you want to hang out and hang around the cheerleaders. But make time for him.” Jamie said smiling.

I nodded my head.

“Listen, I'm offering you advice. That's what girls do, they offer each other advice.” Jamie said, turning toward the door of the locker room. “Girls help girls figure life out. And right now I can tell you in heat, like a cat and at any moment I expect you to start meowing like one. Two, you have the jitters about appearing in public wearing your new skimpy bathing suit, and three you're hung up on Daisy. So I'm going to offer you the following advice. And if I was you, I would take it. Just have fun. Go out there, show that brand new body of yours, flirt with the guys, tease the girls, blow a kiss or two at Daisy. Let Daisy spoil you. And see if you can't get some kissing action going on between shifts. And last but not least, don't pay any attention to the haters.”

And with that, Jamie stepped out of the locker room.

I sat there stunned into silence. But a few seconds later, Jamie poked her head back into the locker room and said.

“Oh, and you have only ten minutes till we open the dunking booth. And you're up first. So don't get lost in that head of yours. If I have too, I will send somebody to fetch you.”