Chapter One

Sara “Hey, did you hear about it?”

“What, what?”

“That rumor that’s going around…”

I leaned in close to my two friends, Alicia and Caroline. Technically, we were supposed to be in the middle of class, but the professor hadn’t arrived yet. We were seated near the back of the room, which was virtually empty, so our conversation wouldn’t be overheard anyway. There was a quiet buzz in the room as everyone else focused on their own conversations, a buzz that would drown out our whispers if anyone did happen to be close enough to hear us. Alicia still looked around before she leaned close and whispered to us, her long blond hair another screen.

“There’s this new chat line going around school. I didn’t believe it when I first heard about it, but it’s true! Can you believe it?” She broke into giggles, her blue eyes alight with delight, and Caroline and I started to nudge her to get her to go on.

“Just tell us what it is, already” Caroline said, with a look of excitement her green eyes curious as she leaned in, her own long red hair a further shield. “I haven’t heard any strange rumors around school.”

Alicia grinned. “It’s called, ‘Sext line.’ Can you guess what it’s about?”

My eyebrows jumped up. Just from the name, I had a vague idea, but who would be crazy enough to start something like that?

“What is it?” Caroline asked, her pale skin flushed with excitement.

“So, it’s like this.” Alicia moved even closer, and lowered her voice a bit more. “You call the line or text I guess, and you get to meet up with a hot guy. You know, for sexy time.”

My jaw dropped in shock.

No way!

We were in college, but I didn’t think people would be this crazy! Was the line operated on school grounds? If it was, why weren’t they worried about the school’s staff finding out? Whoever it was. They would be in so much trouble!

“I hadn't heard that one,” Caroline admitted, her eyes a little wider, but she didn’t look nearly as surprised as I was. “Where did you hear about this? I’m pretty sure we know all the same people, but I’ve never heard about this.”

Alicia waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, you wouldn’t know who it was even if I told you. I was in the field and some sophomores were talking about it. But wouldn’t it be interesting? I wonder who’s doing it. All I know is it can’t be another freshman, maybe a senior?”

I bit down on my lip as I listened to them chat about it with lots of whispers and giggles. I wasn’t paying attention to the talk anymore. Aside from just shocked, I felt a little uncomfortable. Sex was something I thought about often, which wasn’t unusual. I was eighteen years old, I’d just started college, and it wasn’t a surprise to find out it was a pretty hot topic.

When I first came to the school, I wasn’t so naïve that I thought people would be single-mindedly focused on their school work, and the drive to graduate with good grades so they could get a job. It wasn’t like that in high school, and college was supposed to be freer. I was still surprised when the hottest topic of conversation was about sex, especially from the girls. Though if I was honest with myself, it wasn’t all that unexpected.

Even in high school, girls liked to whisper about who was dating and how far they’d gone. Only a few months had passed since I graduated high school and started college, but the conversations were so much more open.

It left me feeling a bit embarrassed.

“What about you?” Caroline asked, those blue eyes a dagger that held me in place.

I’d been lost in my own thoughts and blinked at them when I found Alicia and Caroline staring at me.

“Huh?” I blurted out, confused, my brown eyes now turned back to them.

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you weren’t listening? Have you done it or not?”

I was still confused. “What?”

“Sex,” they both said, and leaned in close to whisper the word, before they broke into giggles.

“We’ve both done it already,” Caroline continued. “What about you?”

I froze. I knew the answer they wanted to hear. I forced a smile and pushed back my blush while I shrugged.

“Of course, I’ve done it,” I said confidently. “I’ve done things like that loads of times; I can’t believe someone is doing it like this. It’s for pay, right?”

I’d heard that much of the conversation, at least. I was a good actor when I wanted to be, so they took me at my word, and internally, I sighed in relief that they’d bought it.

Of course, it was a total lie. I didn’t want them to think I was a virgin, but the truth was I’d never even dated a guy before. I’d never so much as kissed a guy before. The most I’ve done was hold hands with a boy once, but I was in junior high, and it was for an activity in gym class.

In high school, it was easy enough to blow off talk about dating, the friends I had back then didn’t talk about it much so it was irrelevant, but Alicia and Caroline weren’t like that. They were the first friends I’d made in college, and I didn’t want them to change their minds about me.

They kept talking, and I realized I’d just shot myself in the foot.

“Then why don’t you try it?” Alicia suggested, her lips parted with the thrill of a new game to play.

“Yeah! I would totally do it, but I’m still seeing Brad,” Caroline continued. “You’re not seeing anyone right now, right? Try it out, and tell us who the guy is!”

I opened my mouth, but I had no words.

There’s absolutely no way I could do something like that!

That was what I wanted to say, a bold refusal, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What if they thought I was lying? What if they stopped talking to me?

Lucky for me, the professor entered the room right then and walked to his podium.

“All right, everyone!” He said, his middle-aged voice loud through the speakers. “I know I was late, but we still have a class today, so all of you, please get seated.”

There was a scramble as everyone still outside or hanging around the room moved to occupy the seats. The conversation was cut short before I could answer but I knew they wouldn’t let it go, though. They would pick right back up where we left off and I was nervous throughout the rest of the class.

As soon as class was over, I wanted to rush out, but Caroline, right beside me, grabbed onto my arm so I wouldn’t run off.

“We’re not done talking yet,” she said with arched eyebrows.

Alicia, seated in the row ahead of us, turned back to stare at the two of us as if to make sure no one ran away.

I cried a little inside, but the three of us left the room together. It was almost lunch, so we slowly made our way to the cafeteria.

“Are you going to give it a try?” Alicia asked.

I pursed my lips and tried to play dumb. “What do you mean?”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “You know. What we were talking about before. The sext me line, are you gonna do it or not?”

I floundered. “Can’t Alicia do it? She’s not seeing anyone right now, either, right?”

Good job, I thought, mentally patting myself on the back.

Alicia smirked. “I’m seeing someone now. A guy asked me out, and we’re going out tonight. I’ll tell you guys how it goes, but this leaves you as the only one you know?”

I bit down on my lip. I wanted to get out of this. Having sex with a stranger wasn’t how I thought my first time would go.

They saw my hesitation and shared a glance between themselves. Then Alicia reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. I watched as she tapped on the screen, then held it out to me. On the screen was a number she’d saved to her phone under ‘sext me.’

“I dare you to text the number,” Alicia said, and smirked at me.

I stared at the number for a long time. They were just a few digits, but they held so much weight, I thought my heart was about to stop. We stood still outside where just anyone could walk by. If someone found out what we were doing and started rumors…

“Sure,” I said, in an attempt to sound unconcerned. I grabbed her phone and pulled my own out. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s a guy from the school, right? Then he won't try anything funny.”

“It should be safe enough,” Alivia said. “I don’t know the who, but he is part of the school. Hell, it could even be one of the professors or staff from the school, you know?”

She and Caroline started to laugh, but the idea made me feel even worse about the whole idea.

It he’s a student though, it’ll be fine, right?

I copied the number into my phone and saved it. I hesitated, though, wondering if I could use my number for this.

“Should I text this number?” I asked hesitantly. “I mean, what if it’s not safe and it’s a scam or something? The guy can find me again.”

They shared a glance, but they’d stopped giggling at least. I started to feel tentatively hopeful, then Alicia’s expression lit up like she had an idea.

“Try it on Twitter,” she offered.

I was a bit unsure, would someone be crazy enough to create a Twitter handle for something like this? Anyway, this was something I could erase and put behind me if things went south. I posted a tweet with the hashtag sext me.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have to wait long before I got a DM, a private message.

“That was fast,” I muttered as I opened the message.

Alicia and Caroline had moved to either side of me to watch what I was doing. They saw the message when I did. In it, was a date and time, and a way to make payment, including cost.

Damn.

The price wasn’t nearly as much as I thought it would be. Alicia and Caroline, though, whispered and muttered about what guy thought he was worth that much. They didn’t seem too bothered by this whole thing, though and didn’t call it off even though they thought it was too much.

“Well, I’ve done it,” I said, and shut off my phone’s screen. I handed Alicia her phone back.

“You must tell us who it is,” she said, giving me a stern look. “Don’t think we’ll let you off if you don’t, okay?”

Crap. If they want to know who it is, then I couldn’t call it off. If I gave some random name, what would I do if they went up to the guy and asked?

“Sure,” I said, lost as to what else I could do now that I’d gone this far with their game.

We continued on our way, but again, I wasn’t listening to the two of them because I was already regretting the bind I’d found myself in.

I need to get out of it later tonight, I thought to myself. If I ask for a name and promise to pay, he’d probably agree to it, right?

No one could do something like this for fun, it had to be desperation. If people were talking about it, then the guy behind it had to be someone incredible, right? If he did it for the money, I had plenty to play with, if he’d keep his mouth shut.

As we sat in the cafeteria, though, a different thought went through my mind.

I could refuse, or… Could I go along with it?

What if it is someone incredible? Someone I wouldn’t mind giving my virginity to… then I could do what these two wanted and finally be rid of the one thing I’ve been hanging on to for way too long.

The thought made me blush, but I was also a bit intrigued.