The rest of their afternoon that day was devoted to the English group assignment and by the end of it, mostly thanks to Liz, they had a good handle on it and were almost done. When they wanted to break for dinner, he decided to call another rain check and headed back to Dampgate to make sure that he could beat the cafeteria rush and eat his meal alone in his room.

As he was coming out of Coffee Grinds, some activity at the docks caught his attention. There was a boat there, and even though it was a motorboat hardly big enough for five people. It was still unusual because he had not seen any boats docked there since he himself arrived at the island. The scene though was a familiar one – the boat’s driver still sat in the boat, hands on the steering wheel, while two officers of the peace were standing on the dock and talking to Dampgate’s newest student.

It was hard to see her from this distance and all he could make out was wavy hair that was a rich chestnut colour, legs that seemed to stretch to the sky, and though she was wearing a sweater, it was still easy to see that underneath she hid a pair of impressive breasts. She looked, at least form where he was, quite striking, but the only thing that mattered to him at the moment was that it was nice to have a student at Dampgate that was even newer than him. Now he could see with his own eyes how quickly others adjusted.

That evening in his room in the boys’ dormitory, Vic felt safely bunkered down. Marek was out there doing who knows what with who knows whom and frankly that’s the way things should have been. If he could have gone to bed early, he would have, but between the coffee and the late wakeup, he knew it was pointless to turn in just yet. This however left him vulnerable to getting another visitor, which is exactly what ended up happening.

This time though it was Agnes who knocked, but actually waited for him to reluctantly say “Come in” before entering.

“Hey what’s up?” he said from his desk as Agnes stepped into the room.

“Heard you popped off on Marcia,” Agnes said and crossed her arms.

“Wow, you don’t mince words at all, do you?” Vic asked after taking a moment to recover from the bluntness of this.

“Life is short,” Agnes said, looking at him with not a little amount of disdain.

“Are you seriously just here to rub my face in it?”

“Well a little too late to actually rub your face in it – last night would have been better.”

“Gross,” Vic said but she ignored him.

“I’m just here to check up on what the hell is wrong with you?”

“Why?”

“What are friends for other than to make sure that you learn from your mistakes?”

“Look, I’m sorry I came all over Marcia. I’d apologize to her, too, if I didn’t want to burst into flame every time I even thought about it.”

“Ugh,” Agnes groaned and closed the door behind her, dropping onto his bed to lie down on her back. “I’ve talked to Marcia, there’s nothing to apologize for.”

“There’s not?”

“No, you nitwit. This is Dampgate, stuff like this happens here all the time. About a month before you came here, the game of blowjob hot potato was all the rage.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, Marek’s idea. On the one hand, not surprising, on the other hand, impressed by the creativity. The point once during any class one guy called out “Blowjob Hot Potato!” and then all the girls in the room, teacher included, would have to blow him. Winner got a hot load in their mouth they had to swallow.”

“Intense …” Vic said, mouth slightly agape, an erection already keeping his pants taut. He could see that Agnes had noticed it from where she was so he shifted in the chair to hide it better.

“Yeah,” Agnes continued, “And everyone had a good time because they wanted to participate, they had fun, and they were cool about. You though, are the opposite of cool about anything.”

“Why is everyone so invested in where I put my penis?”

“I’m really not. Put it in a meatgrinder for all I care,” Agnes answered, still lying down and staring up into the ceiling.

“Then why do you care?”

“I’m going to speak more slowly, just in case,” Agnes said with a sigh. “Because I’m your friend. Because whatever you hope for Marcia, you’re not going to accomplish it by wearing this self-imposed chastity belt and then hiding in the dark. You’re much better off if you actually participate.”

Vic wanted to be annoyed, but the tired in honesty in Agnes’s voice softened him somewhat.

“I will think about it,” he said finally, no longer as sulky as he had been.

“See that you do,” Agnes said, hopping off the bed. “It would make it much easier if we all didn’t have to pretend like we don’t know what’s going on.”

“Thanks,” Vic said, and with that, Agnes left.