The tests had shown that I could be intelligent, even without my pill. I still wondered if I could concentrate in class, but that was a problem for after the summer.

I was now 14 and a half, old enough to be on my own, and as such, I could take longer walks than just around the block.

My parents worked during the day, and Edith often hung out with Charlie. They were still going strong. I could hang with Olivia or Marge, but that usually meant getting a ride from my parents.

But I had a bike. And I remember riding it in the farmland to the creek with my parents.

Google Maps was a thing now. It had been for a while, I think, but I was personally not fully aware of it. I knew it was a thing, but it wasn't a tool I could use in my daily life. If I could walk to it, I knew how to get to it. If I couldn't, my parents did, or they used Google Maps. Not me.

I had my own Google account by now because, if you recall, I could use a laptop computer at school for some exams. My parents got me a low-cost one, and I carried it to school every day.

It was light, and it wasn't powerful, but I loved it. It gave me freedom. I got on social media to chat with my friends, even if most didn't have their own devices yet.

Fine, the first time I went to Olivia, I got lost. Not lost, lost. Not "Oh my God, call the police and get her home" lost, more like "I was supposed to turn at 7th Street, and this is 9th Street, and I didn't find 7th Street." As it turns out, I was on the wrong boulevard. How did I end up there? Easy! There was construction and a detour to the next one, but 7th Street doesn't reach that one. So, I went down 9th Street, going the wrong way, and ended up at a farm. I seriously wondered for a little too long if it was one of the farms around Mindy's naturist resort. I still don't know. Today, I guess I could check on Google Maps, but honestly? It doesn't matter. I went the other way, found the original boulevard, once again turned the wrong way, but realized it when I saw 11th Street (since 10th Street has a name and not a number). I turned back, found 7th Street, and eventually turned on Olivia's Avenue. About an hour late, not that Olivia minded. I couldn't text her, and to call her from my cellphone would have meant even more delays.

Olivia didn't even have internet. At all. Marge did, and she even got a cell phone, the first of our group. To be fair, it was her father's old phone, and the reason she got it is that she had a few meltdowns outside of school. With it, she could call Ellie before escalating too much.

In my Google Maps profile, I put the houses of all of my friends, including Marge and Olivia.

I plotted a route to get to both, and I realized that while they were not close on foot, I could reach them on my bicycle.

Marge was either home alone or with Edith and Charlie. If I were with Edith, I would have a lift too. If alone, I could bike to her house and work out a little.

Even better, sometimes she would go biking with me in her area. There was a nice bike path in a linear municipal park near her house, which we could ride the whole length of, usually twice. She lived in the middle, so we would go to one end, return to the other one, and then back to her house.

It took a few days before Marge decided to undress next to me.

Edith had stopped being topless at home, and even my parents usually wore clothes around us. Naturism had mostly left my life while I was on Ritalin.

But now I knew that Marge, Richard, and Ellie still hung out with Mindy. I knew they even spent a week in July both summers at a cabin near Mindy's house. The first summer, Charlie and even Edith went with them. This summer, he spent that week with us.

I felt some guilt. I had introduced both Edith and Marge to naturism, and by giving up on it, they were missing out. Well, maybe not Marge.

From Edith, I now learned that she rarely saw Marge wearing clothes in her house, but for Ellie, it was more random. Richard usually followed his wife.

It's only because we had a really hot day and were sweating like crazy after our bike ride that Marge asked if she could undress.

"It's your home, Marge. I stopped undressing because of Ritalin, but you don't have to"

"But you aren't on it anymore"

"I know, but look at me."

"I do. I don't understand the problem. You all told me that naturism was about accepting yourself."

I looked at her and didn't know what to say. I don't know why I couldn't accept myself.

She still undressed, and honestly? Those 18 months did a lot of good for her. She looked spectacular. More refined as a woman, with her breasts looking even better and her shape looking more feminine.

"You look great", I told her.

"Thanks"

She had grown a little, and we played other video games. She said she had been trying to widen her choices instead of focusing on a single game.

I had fun. I wasn't yet back with my full coordination, but I had fun.

She showed me Bayonetta 2, which is a combat game with the main character often looking nude, but it required a lot of coordination, which I lacked but which Marge had developed.

She could chain combos and find the right attacks and rhythm.

Personally? I loved the cutscenes, the saturation on the look, and the design of the character. The voice acting was just perfect! The main thing I found odd was the lack of an idle animation. Marge found my comment so funny. This is a character you don't keep idle.

Charlie doesn't like this game, which is a plus for Marge!

And witch time is so fun! If you manage to avoid an attack at the last moment, you enter a mode where time slows down around you, allowing you to attack with impunity.

One of my biggest strengths is that Marge only focused on the fights, while I went into exploration mode. She just never realized you could. I found a few out-of-the-way chests, which made the game much easier.

Its main problem is that a full game play is only 7 to 8 hours. I understand why Marge just reset the game to play with me.

I do know that when riding back home, I had the Moon River song stuck in my mind.

But I also went to see Olivia when she wasn't working.

Her mother also got a new job, but part-time.

We realized that usually, on Tuesday, Olivia had the day off and not her mother, making it perfect for me to spend the day. Well, until about 4:00 PM.

I didn't play video games with Olivia, so we mainly talked. She wasn't into sports much, but I could convince her to go on walks, if only so she could get out of the house.

Today, I can look back with fondness at those 3 Tuesdays before school returned.

I had more or less isolated myself while under the grasp of the Ritalin, and while I hung with Olivia and her group, I didn't really connect with them. On those three magical days, I did. I connected emotionally with someone, with anyone, for the first time since my diagnosis. Sure, I never disconnected fully from my parents or from Edith, but it's not the same.

I can't put a finger on it.

Or maybe it's because it was only 3 days?

I do know that I seriously cut my food intake. I tried to only eat at the three normal meals and avoid all snacking, but also to cut my portions. Adding walks, bike rides, and even some cardio exercises helped a lot.

Marge also wanted to get better at badminton, so on the other days, I would practice with her, doing even more exercises. I could also see her a lot more often than Olivia, at least for the summer.

I think that originally, Marge wanted to exercise to get the sort of permission to be nude in her home. Like she needed the excuse to undress. I had to convince her that I was fine. That I introduced her to naturism. That I only stopped because of my issues. Of my problems.

And I felt like I had to repeat myself almost each time I went to see her.

But the weirdest part is, I found myself having the energy to do so.

I was over my weaning, and I could move forward.

I even had a few sleepovers with Marge at her house. We usually played video games, but also some board games. Once, Edith slept over, and I was shocked to see that she was allowed to sleep in Charlie's room. But then, I remembered that they were both 16 now. Edith was even working on getting her driver's license, while Charlie's parents preferred he wait a little. To show more situational awareness.

It felt weird to have Edith, Charlie, and me dressed while Marge was nude, but she didn't mind at all. It's like her naturism was personal. Mindy wanted everyone nude around her, but Marge remained happy just being nude. I saw Ellie nude a few times, but the most significant change was Richard.

He no longer sat in his chair, waiting for time to pass. He even cooked a few meals, and I know that Ellie and he went on a few bike rides together on evenings when I was sleeping over with Marge. Apparently, the three of them still go to the non-landed club to play volleyball and swim. Fine, I guess that's one answer I didn't know then.

Marge each time slept as nude as she was in the previous evenings, but I put on pajamas. I wasn't ready yet. I had to work on my body. I didn't know then if I'd return to naturism, but I wasn't ready to be seen. But maybe, someday, I would want to be.

And I was getting there. When school resumed, I was down to 131 pounds. Just a few more, and possibly, I could love my body enough to be nude again.

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