The Full Experience

by Dawn Doyle

  Her eyes were filling with tears, and she needed to go before they spilled over.

  “Go,” Ava whispered. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Raven chanced a glance over to Beck’s table as she got out of her seat. He was watching her, his brows knitting together and his mouth in a tight line.

  “I couldn’t even have the first day,” Raven murmured as the four girls left the hall.

  Chapter 2

  “Ray, come on!” Ava shouted through the bathroom door. “Orientation games are starting soon, and we’re up second. I don’t want to be late for the first one.”

  “I’m coming,” Raven groaned as she trudged through the door. “Let me just finish my hair.”

  Raven gave her long shiny dark locks a quick once over with the flat irons, from where she’d slept on it, and was done.

  “What’s up first?” she asked.

  “Well, we have seventy-two seconds, that Kerry and Leila organized, and then our telephone game is up after.” Ava grinned happily.

  Ava loved the orientation games and loved getting to know the new students, even though she only ever hung out with her, Kerry and Leila.

  “Isn’t there another afterwards?” Raven asked. There were usually three games on the second day back, followed by another get together in the main hall.

  “Yeah. I think Donnie and Beck are doing that one,” Ava looked nervously at Raven. “I can’t say for sure, but that’s what the itinerary says.”

  Raven couldn’t believe it. She picked up the sheet from Ava’s desk and, sure enough, the guy’s names were there. They weren’t the original names, but there nonetheless.

  She didn’t want to see Beck. Not after what had happened on the first day. She hadn’t seen him for the next two days, but that was only because she didn’t want to come out of her dorm.

  Today though, today she had to because unbeknownst to her, Ava had signed them both up for the games.

  Just fucking great.

  Now that Beck and Donnie had volunteered too, they’d be there the entire time because the leaders had to join in all the other games too.

  The girls walked out to meet the other students there. Kerry and Leila had already gotten the students gathered around for the first game.

  Raven looked around and spotted Donnie. Then she saw Beck stroll over to him, a huge grin plastered to his face.

  Her heart almost gave out when she saw that he was wearing a white v-neck tee that was neither tight or loose, but fitted enough to see just how tight his body was. The beige board shorts hung on his hips and stretched across his thick thighs as he walked.

  “Ray, what are you..?” Ava paused, realizing just what Raven had stopped for. “Holy shit, Ray. Beck looks damn good.”

  Raven swallowed; hard.

  “How can you not want that?” Ava asked, bringing Raven’s attention back to her. “Sorry, Ray, but come on…”

  Raven sighed. “Yes, Ay, he’s gorgeous, but that doesn’t mean anything. His mouth is his let down.”

  “So you’re saying you’d jump his bones if he wasn’t a dirty talker?”

  “It’s not just that, Ay. Dirty talk isn’t appropriate with an audience, or when it’s used to embarrass people. If he didn’t do that then…” she paused as she turned back to him. “God he looks good.”

  “Oh shit,” Ava whispered.

  They’d been caught staring.

  Beck had been talking to Donnie when he turned and zoned in on Raven. His smile dropped for a second just to be replaced with a lazy grin when he knew they were staring.

  “I’m so going to pay for that, aren’t I?”

  “So,” Kerry shouted out over the crowd. “You have seventy-two seconds per turn, and meet as many people here as you can. You need to exchange names, where you’re from, what hall you’re staying in, a favorite memory, and what you hope to achieve here at Gable College.”

  It was Leila’s turn to talk. “When you hear the whistle; go. When you hear the next whistle, move on to the next person.”

  She blew the whistle and there was a frenzy of eighteen years old rushing around. A lot were rushing to get to Beck first.

  “Hi,” a boy stood in front of Raven, panting for breath. “I’m Joe.”

  “Hi Joe, I’m Raven,” she smiled.

  Ava had her own teenage boy to get to know.

  After exchanging details, Leila blew the whistle and then another boy rushed to Raven. She quickly glanced around. Beck was watching as a young girl bounced up and down trying to get his attention.

  “Hi,” the boy’s voice was smooth and flirtatious.

  “Hi,” Raven replied, trying to hold in a laugh.

  “I’m Bobby. What’s yours pretty thing?”

  “Oh my God!” she laughed, and the boy’s smile faltered for a spilt second.

  “That’s too cute. I’m Raven.”

  “Cute? I can be more than cute,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Look, Bobby. I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but I’m a little old for you.”

  “I’m almost nineteen.”

  “Yeah, and I’m almost twenty-two.”

  “Age is just a number baby,” he purred, looking her up and down.

  Leila blew the whistle, and Bobby’s eyes widened.

  “I didn’t tell you where I’m staying! Where are you staying?” he asked, frantically.

  “Bye Bobby,” Raven waved, giggling as he turned with a disappointed look on his face.

  “Fuck me!” Ava laughed. “He was trying so hard.”

  “Too hard,” Raven laughed.

  “Hi. I’m Courtney,” a pretty girl said as she approached Raven. Petite, blonde, and huge brown eyes.

  “Hi, Courtney. I’m Raven.”

  Courtney’s mouth popped open. Raven had no idea why.

  “You’re Raven?” Courtney asked in an almost whisper.

  “Yes, why?” Raven could see Ava had overheard, and was trying to listen whilst talking to her own student.

  “Oh, it’s just that guy over there,” Courtney pointed to Beck. “When we said what we wanted to achieve, he said Raven.”

  “Excuse me?” Raven shrieked, then immediately lowered her voice when they got a few heads turning their way.

  “Are you dating?”

  “God no!” Raven was angry that Beck had said that to Courtney.

  Many students later, and quite a few ‘you’re Raven?’ remarks, Raven was furious.

  “Don’t let it get to you, Ray,” Ava comforted her, rubbing her shoulder. “He’s just fooling around.”

  Raven gritted her teeth and made her way to the front of the crowd with Ava. Too furious to talk, she had Ava take the lead.

  “This game is called telephone,” Ava called out. “We’ll all sit in a circle, and I’ll say something to the person on my right. That person whispers to the next, and so on. The person at the end calls out what they’ve been told.”

  Ava sat down, Raven opposite. Kerry and Leila took opposite points too so the girls were sitting in a cross; to make sure that the message stayed clean. With Beck and Donnie about, it could easily take a nosedive into x-rated territory.

  Donnie sat a few students away from Leila, Beck…

  Bobby sat next to Raven, a big smile on his face and a look in his eye that said ‘hello again’. Raven resisted the temptation to roll her eyes at him. There wasn’t a chance to because all of a sudden, Bobby was pushed to the side and Beck sat down…right between them!

  “Hello, Raven,” he said in a low voice that had Raven curling her toes inside her tennis flats.

  “Beck,” she bit out, still angry with him.

  “Are you having fun?”

  “Not with you here,” she replied, not looking at him.

  “You could have fun with me…here,” he added on before she could retaliate. “Why won’t you look at me, Raven?”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “You had no problem looking at me before. In fact…” he lowered his
voice, leaning towards her, the scent of his shower gel and manliness hitting her nose. “…I’d say you were staring.”

  “Go away, Beck.”

  “So you don’t deny it?”

  Raven could hear the smile in his tone. The smug bastard knew he looked hot.

  “I was plotting your death,” she snarled.

  “How?”

  “I was planning on smothering you in your sleep.”

  “You sitting on my face is a great way to go.”

  Raven turned, then, disgusted that he would say something like that in front of other people.

  The satisfied smirk on his face, and the pump of his eyebrows only infuriated her further.

  “Man, I should write that down,” Bobby said from beside Beck.

  Raven closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to blow up with a huge audience of new kids.

  The message that was being whispered was getting closer, and Raven was nervous. Beck would be whispering into her ear. She shifted where she sat and looked to Beck when Bobby was being whispered to. He winked then turned to Bobby. Her stomach flipped upside down then thousands of butterflies burst as Beck leant into her ear.

  She froze on the spot when his fingers ran into her hair, pushing it away from her ear, cupping her head. His hot breath blew over her skin before he took another breath to deliver the message. The feeling of him touching her like that sent a surge of heat down south, and she couldn’t hide the fact that his doing that affected her. The goosebumps on her arms stood out proudly.

  “I want Beck’s body,” he whispered, a small chuckle escaping at the end.

  Raven gasped. “I’m not saying I want your body,” she hissed, the others students turning to her.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you wanted to keep it a secret,” he grinned.

  “Oh my God, dude you’re awesome!” Bobby laughed. Raven looked at him with venom, making him look away instantly.

  Beck lay back on his elbows, pleased with himself.

  “Bobby,” she snapped. “Tell me what the real message was.”

  “I have to whisper,” he said.

  “Then just whisper!” She was losing her cool; she could feel it.

  Raven knew Beck wouldn’t make any move to get out of the way, and not giving him the satisfaction of her having to move, she leaned to the side, across him, so Bobby could whisper in her ear.

  “Don’t try any of his shit, either,” she added.

  As Raven leant further over so Bobby could reach her, she felt a finger stroke across her shoulder blade, making her flinch, at the same time Bobby said, “Cable cars eat vests.”

  Losing her balance, Raven automatically put her hand out to stop herself, landing on Beck’s thigh.

  Raven released her hand from Beck’s hard muscle as if she’d been burned.

  Some of the heat from that burn traveled to other places too. Just feeling his muscle tense under her hand had her warming all over.

  Raven expected some kind of sexual comment from Beck, but he surprised her by saying nothing. She side glanced at him, and he was just staring at her. The look in his eyes said there was definitely something going through his mind, but the rest of his expression was blank.

  No smile.

  No scowl.

  Nothing.

  “What?” Ava laughed loudly as the message got back to her. “Cable cars meat sweats!”

  The whole circle burst out laughing.

  “The message was Gable College is the best, but I can see how that would change.”

  As Ava looked around the students, she passed a sympathetic smile to Raven, and narrowed her eyes at Beck.

  “Oops, I guess I’m in trouble,” he chuckled as he got to his feet.

  Raven was about to stand when a hand appeared in front of her.

  Beck was offering to help her up. She could feel eyes on her and didn’t like to be the center of attention once more, so she took it. The electricity from his touch shooting up her arm.

  “We’ve been here before,” he muttered, looking into her eyes as she stood.

  Raven’s breath caught in her throat, and she found she couldn’t form any words. Beck still held her hand and he wasn’t making a move to let it go.

  “Your turn,” she managed to croak out when she’d gathered her wits.

  “What?”

  “Your turn for the games.”

  Raven pulled her hand back just as Ava reached her, took her arm, and led her away from the guy that was increasingly getting under her skin.

  Donnie shouted to get the student’s attention, and Raven told the girls, when they came over, what had happened between her and Beck. Her hands were shaking so much that the girls held them as they comforted her.

  “He’s not getting away with that,” Raven growled. “If he wants to behave like that with an audience, let’s see how he likes it when it’s turned around.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ava asked, the other girls getting closer to listen.

  “The next time he does something, I’m going to give it right back, and then some.”

  They laughed conspiratorially between them and then broke apart for the game.

  “So, it’s Wild Animal Hunters!” Donnie shouted, glaring at the girls for not paying attention. “Getting into pairs, they choose a wild animal. The other person has to close their eyes, whilst the other makes the noise of that animal. They then have to find them by sound.”

  “So get into pairs!” Beck called out, signaling to pair with Donnie.

  The other girls took their usual partners and chose their animals.

  “Tiger,” Kerry chose, and Leila agreed.

  “Bear,” Ava nodded to Raven.

  “Raven,” Beck said, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Raven’s are birds,” she sighed.

  “They’re still wild. Just like another one I know,” he winked.

  “Oh I can be,” she smiled, biting her lip into her mouth.

  Beck’s jaw slackened for a second before he composed himself. The girls turned away, their shoulders shaking from their silent giggles.

  “Hey Donnie! What sound does a Raven make?” he asked, knowing the others could hear him.

  “I don’t know,” Donnie shrugged trying to hide a smile.

  “Well, I imagine it to be something like this,” Beck closed his eyes and parted his lips. “Oh, oh, Beck. Beck, harder!” he said in a breathy tone as if he were being pleasured.

  He opened his eyes and grinned.

  It was so on.

  “Actually Beck,” she took a step towards him, slowly blinking and trying to look seductive. “It’s more like…”

  Raven closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting the air out of her lungs. She licked her lips and sucked the bottom one into her mouth before releasing it.

  She opened her mouth to speak. “Like that…Oh…yes…touch me there…more…oh God…” she said, increasing the speed as she went.

  “Oh...oh!” She stopped suddenly, opening her eyes to look straight into Beck’s, a huge grin on her face.

  His eyes were wide, his mouth open and his cheeks were flushed.

  “Yeah. That’s the sound, but I guess you’ll never know for sure,” she purred, turning and walking away with the girls.

  “Oh dear God, she’s good,” she heard Donnie’s voice, in awe, from behind them.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Beck snapped, and Raven knew she’d gotten the upper hand that time.

  The girls praised Raven for her performance, but she knew it would be short lived. Beck would only make it his mission to get her riled once more.

  She just didn’t know whether she was worried about what he was going to do, or nervous because she might like it.

  *****

  Beck hadn’t done anything more. Raven hadn’t even seen him since the orienteering, he didn’t show for the meet in the main hall, and she was growing more wary of coming face to face with him.

  The rest of
the week had gone by, and the seniors were putting together the final plans for the end of orienteering week. All they needed was the theme. They’d come up with a plan to pick it out. All ideas would be read out, then put into a bowl and somebody was to pick one. They’d have to go with that theme, whether they liked it or not.

  They had that evening to come up with new features, such as decor of the theme and music selections.

  Raven, and the girls, had a few ideas of their own and had put them forward already. They were hoping to end up with something they could do together. It was so much easier that way.

  “If we get another disney themed party, I’m gonna vomit,” Ava put her finger in her mouth and gagged.

  “I know. There’s only so many prince and princess costumes I can handle,” Raven laughed.

  The previous year, she’d been Snow White. Although her hair was too long for the character, she’d had a lot of attention in her costume.

  Especially from Beck.

  He’d stared at her all through the night, but he never said a word. She’d expected something along the lines of ‘would you like something hard to choke on?’ but he never opened his mouth.

  “So, anyway, I was thinking we could all dress up as a group from whichever theme gets chosen,” Ava continued to say as they walked through the halls.

  “That’s a good idea. Should we go off campus to shop tomorrow morning? We don’t have any classes until after lunch.” Kerry suggested, with Leila agreeing.

  “Sounds good,” Raven replied.

  Kerry and Leila said goodbye as they went to their class, and Raven and Ava continued on their way.

  They’d gotten round the last corner before the doors when they heard a group of girls talking. It was obvious whom they were talking about too.