Still on our way to the pool, back from our exploring, we stayed silent in the bleachers, but once in the corridor, Mindy asks where her mother is.

"In her home with my half sister, most likely."

"Wait, your parents are divorced?", says Mindy

"Yeah."

"Is your mother a naturist too?"

"Heck no. It's one of the causes of the divorce according to her, but her second husband also left her, so that speaks a lot"

"Wait, I don't follow", says Mindy

"My mother, if I understand this right, can only love one person at a time. It used to be my father, then it was me. He wanted to try naturism, and before I was there, she was open to it, but never actually did anything, you know? All talk and no play. He says she would agree to their next vacation, since it made more sense when it's warmer. She would refuse an actual naturist resort, to go gradually, but then, find a reason against the nearby nude beach. "

Mindy says. "In short, she was just delaying it at long at possible"

"Yeah, but probably had no intentions of ever going", he says

"That's sad", I said.

"When I was born, she now longer cared about my father at all.", Billy continued.

"Yikes", Mindy said.

"I know. I didn't know of course, how could I? Both say the other asked for a divorce, so I just say they got divorced. Easier than to explain, right?"

"Right", I say, with Mindy nodding.

"But when she got remarried, I no longer mattered. She stopped caring about me too. My father got main custody, and she didn't mind."

We made it to the pool. The lifeguard is the girl who opened the place, and she is nude, so that must be Sandra. Unlike Lucy, she doesn't shave her privates, and she is a brunette, like me. In fact, she is stunning enough that she became my new template for how I wanted to be as an adult. I look at myself in the mirror, and see that, yeah, not far from her. Of course, she got older and is 28 how, but just as stunning, the last time I saw her, and her husband.

Getting into the pool, which wasn't as hot as I wanted, but wasn't really cold either, Mindy says "Let me guess, your half sister got born, and she ignored her second husband?"

"Bingo. Only this time, he cheated on her and she cleaned him in the divorce. Or so she says. I never cared for the guy, you know?"

We both nodded.

"But is a good mother to your half-sister?", says Mindy

"Oh yeah, like she was for me. But my dad isn't bad. "

"And no girlfriend?", says Mindy

"Exactly. It's really not easy for a naturist single dad to meet a gal. Especially in this town."

Newsflash: even today, James is still single. He did get a girlfriend for a brief moment three years ago, but she wasn't a naturist. She just didn't care that he was one. He thought it was enough. It wasn't. He wanted to spend some time nude with her, but he soon realized that while she didn't mind him going to social nudity events, being nude at home was something she only tolerated and had to stop.

Billy himself, we learned, only became a naturist after James got most of the custody. His mother had banned his father from introducing him to naturism, but once he was the main parent, he decided to say "Screw it", and talked to his son, then 7 years old, about it.

Billy was still recovering from being abandoned by his mother and wanted to get close to his father, so of course, he said yes. He didn't want to lose him too. But then, he began to like it. What was there to not like? He particularly enjoyed the freedom, like many others, but pleasing his dad was the cherry on top.

This summer, they went on vacation in Florida and spent a whole week nude under the sun, except when they went to Disney World. That was super cool.

But then, he pivoted.

"And your parents, Mindy, do they mind that you are at a naturist event? My mother would go crazy if she knew"

Mindy and I laughed.

"What's so funny?", he asked, a little vexed.

"I live at a naturist resort, Billy."

"No way. The one in town? Near the farm?", says Billy

"I think it's the only one around, so yeah"

Please note that I am not naming it, on purpose. I don't need my readers to figure out which one it is.

"Wow. My dad and I have been wanting to go for years", says Billy.

"Why didn't you?"

"Hum... you don't know?", he says

"Know what?"

"Single men are not welcomed, even if they have a kid?", he says

"Really? I have seen some of them", says Mindy, confused

"Yeah, invited by a member or if they were members before the rule was adopted, 12 years ago"

"Oh, that sucks", Mindy says. I agree

Men in naturism get the short end of the stick, but I sort of get it. At the non-landed club, that evening, there were about 40 people, including 20 from families. That means a mother and a father and one to three kids. That's about 6 mothers. There were also perhaps 3 other couples without kids, plus the lifeguard. That's about 10 adult women, plus 5 girls (including Mindy and I). Perhaps 6. The remaining 13, were all men. Oh, and James and Billy. Granted, not all were single. A few were married to non naturist women, and two were gay, and well, in a relationship with each other.

Many young women attending such an event where 25 of 40 participants were male and 20 of the 30 adults, might turn them off from returning.

I didn't mind because I don't really see them. I mindmy own business and I am not there for the attention of others, but if I were, I might be turned off seeing so many men,

"It sure does. We have to pay a ton to visit far away places"

"Why don't you come tomorrow?", says Mindy

"I told you, invite only or old time members", says Billy

"Right. So why don't you come tomorrow?", says Mindy

"I just told you"

"And I just invited you. Can you hear me?"

"Huh?"

"Dummy, I live at the resort. I can invite whoever I want, whenever I want. When you and your dad come to the gate, you tell them you are here to visit us, and you can just get in, without even paying"

"Really?", he says, hopeful

"You have to stick with us or pay, but in September, they barely care. In July, they restrict our number of free visitors, but not right now"

"That is really cool, I can't wait to tell my dad"

"Wait, you are sleeping over at my house tonight", I remind Mindy

"Sure, but tomorrow morning, we'll go to my place right?", says Mindy, all hopeful

"I guess"

"My mother could make pancakes in the morning.", says Mindy, to sweeten the deal

"You don't even know if I like pancakes", I tell her, bluffing

"Name me one person who wouldn't love my mother's pancakes?", says Mindy, teasing

"Some people don't enjoy pancakes", I say, even if I love them

"My mother's? Come on.", says Mindy

"Wait, I might want some, you are making me hungry", says Billy

"Ok, I have an idea", says Mindy.

"I am listening", says Billy

"We grab those toys the other family bought, with their permission, and throw them in the deep end. The one of us who grabs the most wins", says Mindy

"Wins what?", he says

"If you win, you can come to the pancakes", says Mindy

"And if you win?", he says

"Well, you can't."

"And what do you get?", he says, in a flirting tone

"More pancakes for us", she says, putting her arm across my shoulders

"I see. And what if she wins", he says, paying attention to me pretty much for the first time of the evening.

"What do you want, Julie?", says Mindy

I think. I am never going to win this. I didn't go through puberty yet, and both did. Billy is taller, stronger, and plays soccer. I swam a little with Mindy and I knew she was faster than me. So, I decided to go all in.

"If I win, I have my best friend to myself tomorrow, that means no Billy coming over"

"Not fair", says Billy

"Hey, I have plans this weekend with her, you are the one stealing her away from me"

"But I've been waiting for years to go there", he says

"So make sure to win", says Mindy, winking.

We ask, and get permission, from the families. As it turns out, it's not to one, but to a pair of families: the two 7 and 8 year girl families, but the kids are done playing and instead, just hang out in the pool.

Later, I began to understand that if the two girls want to play, they need to include their siblings, so they tend to prefer to just hang out, so that they can be alone.

When I learned that, I wondered if this is how Mindy and I would have been, had I kept being a naturist, but then, I realized that we didn't have siblings. Most of the kids I knew didn't have any.

We have seven toys. Mindy goes first and retrieves four, setting the bar high. I go second, but only get three. "We do 3 rounds, sum of the best two", says Mindy.

"I was to propose first to pick up seven in total, but 3 rounds works with me", he says, plunging underwater.

Mindy immediately turns to me. "Oh my God, he is so perfect. Tell me you don't want to date him too, please"

"He's all yours", I tell her, which makes her hug me, briefly.

"Please don't win", she begs me

"It will cost you a pancake"

"You'll have plenty", she says, confused

"No, I mean, I want you to leave one in your plate when you are done", I tell her

"For you?"

"No, just so you don't have it"

She splashes me, but we hear a single shot of Sandra's whistle, turn at her, and she motions her finger to stop it.

Mindy lifts her hand to offer an apology and Sandra nods.

Billy gets back with five toys.

"Wow, you only missed two", says Mindy, throwing them, but she dives before they sink and grabs two of them while going down

"Hey, that's cheating", he says

"She can't hear you, you know?"

"I know. Hey, you are her best friend, right?", he tells me.

"I guess"

"Does she have a boyfriend?", Billy says

I smile. "No", but then, she comes back with six!

"So, so far, I am at 10 in total", she says

"I can beat that", he says, about to go, after throwing them, hoping to get them while they sink.

"Aren't you forgetting something?", says Mindy

"What?"

"It's Julie's turn"

"Oh right"

I go, and knowing Mindy got 6 reassures me. So I go all in and get... five, and mainly because I could pick two pairs at the same time.

That they are rings, allows you to put your arm in them. I didn't think of it, Mindy did that.

Billy went in a hurry and we watched him frantically trying to get all seven.

"He asked if you had a boyfriend", I told her

"Wicked. He is my dream guy", she says

Now, they are 13. When you are 13, you can't really form a relationship, and Mindy and Billy didn't actually date, date, you know? But you don't know that when you are 13. Dating often simply means agreeing that you are dating, despite just hanging out together like before. Kissing usually meant on the cheek, not on the mouth.

But it doesn't mean it doesn't feel exciting, or any less valid. A heart break at 13 feels at least as painful as when you are 18. More perhaps, because when you are 12 or 13, everything is the end of the world.

He got all seven, but in the third round, they both did a little worse. I once again got five.

Billy won, easily. I don't think that Mindy really tried to win, only to force him to work hard to get her. No, to get the pancakes. Sorry. They were 13.

Still, we laughed and played some more. That's the thing with tweens. We like to pretend that we are teenagers, but still have fun with many children's games.

Fine, I am at the end of my teenage years and many children's games are still fun, but we tend to hide it, so as to not sound juvenile.

I mean, I still watch silly cartoons sometimes on Saturday mornings, and why not?

Sandra announced the water exercises, and many of the adults gathered in front of her. She stayed outside of the pool, but facing us.

Billy stunned us when he said he often participated, but only I laughed. Mindy hit me in the stomach with her elbow, and decided we would participate too.

I rolled my eyes, but when we began, I realized it wasn't that bad. Billy explained that it's actually called Aqua Fitness.

Once again, it wasn't performance based. We would turn around, run in place, jump, perform jumping jacks and other such weird activities. The same kind we did in pe, but, being in water, we got resistance.

My favorite was the leg shoot.

You lift your knees to your stomach, so you are sort of tilted forward. You quickly and with force extend your legs and your chest in the opposite directions to lay on your back, looking at the ceiling.

You then tuck your legs under you so that you now lay flat on your stomach. I can't really explain it properly. But then, you tuck them back in so you are back to the first position. We repeated this 10 times, but when it was done, I did it a few more times.

It's only a good 10 minutes later that my parents and James came back from volleyball, only, they were all wet, and talking to each other.

When I commented on it, Billy swore.

"What?", I said

"We were supposed to rinse ourselves under the shower. I completely forgot", he says

"Was your mind distracted?", said Mindy

"I guess I was on autopilot", he said, but he waved at his father to come over.

The three adults joined us.

"Dad, you will never guess"

"That Mindy lives at the naturist resort? Kylie and Steven told me", James replied

"Right, but did they tell us that Mindy invited us over for breakfast tomorrow?"

"But we can't go. Couples only, remember?"

"Not if you have an invitation from a resident", says Mindy

"That would be splendid, but are you certain your parents would approve?", he asks

"If we know Clara and Peter", says my mom, "You won't have any issues. But maybe we can trade phone numbers and coordinate?"

"I would love that. I mean, not just coordinate, but stay in touch. Most of the people here don't have kids of the same age as Billy"

"Sugar, you know it means waking up rather early to get to the resort", says my dad

"I know. I don't mind", I say

"I don't mind either", says Mindy

I feel I need to explain, so I just say that we are having a sleepover at my house.

Billy finds that cool, but soon enough, our parents leave us to go play water polo, replacing some of the players who took the opportunity to go play badminton.

After a little talk, Mindy and Billy decided they wanted to play water polo too, which once again, was played in freeform: no points, no competition. Just throwing the ball over the net.

The Net was weird however. It was narrower than the pool, and there was a pole in the middle of the shallow end to which it was tethered.

Billy explained that when they played water polo in class, there would be two nets, one on each side, but tonight, only one was present so that kids, and other adults, could play on the other half of the shallow area.

I'll admit it. I had a ton of fun. Jumping to hit the ball and letting yourself fall into the water with zero fear of losing your bathing suit is just... incredible.

Mindy and Billy laughed a lot and just joked around. I took part too, but it was clear that there was something in the air between them.

I didn't mind. I didn't want to date Billy. My only fear was again, about losing Mindy to someone else, but I wasn't mean enough to try to sabotage a possible relationship just to keep a friend. Plus, I also have Edith, and Lucy, whom I didn't see yet this week-end.

Time flew fast. We only had the gym and the pool for 2 hours, but we had the sport's block for another 30 minutes.

In practice, it only left a weird gym with a padded floor, the type used for cheerleading practice or martial arts. Right now, a few naturists, including several women I had not seen since admission and a few from the pool, were doing yoga.

None of us were interested, and when we came back, we arrived face to face with Sandra, the lifeguard.

James spoke to her. "Hey, do you know why we only had the pool and gym for 2 hours?", he says

"Yeah, the school was nervous. They wanted everyone out by 10h00pm, since they have a night security guard that come on duty and starts his rounds soon after."

"I don't get it", said James.

"They thought that drying off and storing the nets would slow"

"I still don't get it", said James, but my mother got it.

"I think they calculate the time for kids to remove their bathing suits, dry in the changing room, and get dressed"

"But we don't wear bathing suits", says James

"She's got it", says Sandra. "I don't think they fully grasped what we were doing tonight"

"Wait, they don't know we are naturists?"

"Oh, they do. That's why they wanted to keep the guards away", says Sandra

"Then I don't get it"

"They gave me a school lifeguard bathing suit, and made it fit. But they know we are naturists. I even clarified with them that we were nudists"

"Wait, you did? Are you one of the organizers now?", asked my mom.

"Well, they wanted to impose their lifeguard. And I know her, she is rather stuck up. So I proposed myself, and they wanted to meet me", says Sandra

"So if I get this right", says James. "They knew we would be nude, but still thought you would wear their bathing suit and that kids would need time to change"

"Pretty much. It's like part of their brain understood but not all of it. Like they thought part of the evening, but not all of it"

"Oh, so we might never come back?"

"Apparently, we have more sessions booked, but this time, we will have the pool until 10h00. They will have time to adjust the security guards schedule.", she says

"At other places, the guards still do their rounds, no?"

"Oh, they did. Clarissa tells me each time that if she was as young as me, she would join us."

"That's the one at the Y, right?" says my dad.

Sandra nods.

But then, she looks at me. "You must be Julie, right?"

"I am"

"Nice to finally meet you", she says, offering me her hand.

"Likewise".

When she leaves, my mother apologizes for having talked to her about me, but I don't mind. I don't know her, not that much.

We soon made it to the locker room, and with that, came the sad part of dressing back up.

James and my father traded cell phone numbers. My dad gave him a card, but James is an accountant for a local company and had no purchasing power, whatsoever.

Still, when we leave, Billy, now as dressed as we are, insists on a hug with Mindy and I.

Mine is short and polite, but Mindy's is a little longer. Enough for James to clear his throat in disapproval.

And soon enough, we are in the car, all of us on clouds. My parents, from being able to share something important with their daughter. Me for experiencing something new, and Mindy for having found a boy she liked.

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