Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Like all of my work this is fiction. Pure and simple. If you don't like the idea of young people testing their boundaries then you should read no further. Likewise, if you are underage or in a part of the world where such written expressions are forbidden then you should go elsewhere. I'm always happy to hear from people and friends old or new. Email me here: Knjfriend(at)yahoo.co.uk Parklife - A shy teenage boy meets his match with two young girls who bring him out of his shell and unleash a dragon. Slow, exploratory relationship building. Part 1 One weekend a few weeks before the end of the summer term saw Mollie Carter and her best friend Charlie (Charlotte) Grainger wandering through the park kicking stones. "Jeez" sighed Charlie as they approached the central play area for the seventh time "the holiday is gonna be long and boring if we're not careful." This year neither girl was going away on holiday, though most of their friends would be. Truth be told, Charlie's parents never went away during the summer months. They ran a small holiday park comprising camping space for tents and caravans, 4 wooden chalets and a dozen park homes with a central games and pool complex. They were busy, to some extent, from April through to October. Usually, Charlie would have gone away with Mollie and her family but Mollie's dad had recently been made redundant and, whilst another job was about to start, they had used most of their savings simply paying the mortgage and food bills. Mollie just sighed as she kicked another pebble along the path. The two twelve year olds walked along in silence for a few minutes before Mollie recognised the boy who lived next door to her. "Hi" she breezed as they walked past. "oh yeah. Hi!" he mumbled "Who's that?" demanded Charlie. "He's the new neighbour. Don't know his name. Moved in about a week ago." Explained Mollie. "Kinda cute huh!" announced Charlie "Cute?" queried Mollie "who him?" she asked turning and walking backwards so that she could look at the neighbour boy. Danny sat on the bench, book in hand and not really paying much attention to anything else. "Well I suppose he might be a bit cute" conceded Mollie "What's his name?" asked Charlie Mollie shrugged. "C'mon, let's go talk to him" squealed an excited Charlie Before Mollie had time to answer Charlie was propelling her back towards the bench and Danny. "Say something" Charlie hissed into her ear. "er hi again" said a hesitant Mollie Danny looked up, squinting a little in the sunlight. "Hi, um, who are you. I mean, do I know you?" the boy asked "I live next door" Mollie started "next door to you that is" she finished "oh right. Nice to meet you" said Danny, slightly bewildered "I'm Mollie Carter and this is my friend Charlie" announced Mollie sticking out her hand Danny hesitated but finally shook her hand. "Danny" he said simply. "What you doing?" asked Charlie before looking at the book and going slightly pink "Well I was reading, but now I guess I'm talking to my neighbours" smiled Danny "oh Charlie isn't a neighbour" snapped Mollie "but she lives quite close" Danny grinned but said nothing. "You don't say much" accused Charlie after a moment of silence. Danny shrugged "I kinda talk when I have something to say" he explained "Well we're 12" announced Charlie "Yeah, I guessed about 12" agreed Danny "Well how old are you then?" Charlie demanded "I'll be 14 next weekend" the boy replied "Having a party?" asked Mollie "Nope! I don't know anybody around here" "Well you know us" grinned Charlie "Umm. Not sure mum would be thrilled if I had a party with just me and two pretty twelve year olds" "Pretty? You think we're pretty?" asked Mollie "It'd be rude not too" smiled Danny. The girls plopped down on either side of him. An hour later they knew that he had been at an expensive private boarding school, that his father had lost his job and that he had moved here for work. They knew that Danny would be going to the local public school in the new school year, that he had never had a girlfriend, his favourite colour was blue and that he liked to read and take photographs. He knew that they were both 12 and were called Mollie and Charlie. He could hardly get a question in. Finally the boy stood, said his goodbyes and wandered off in the direction of home. "Cute" announced Charlie as he walked away "Cute" agreed Mollie "but a bit old for us." Charlie simply sneered. That evening, as fortune would have it, Mollie's parents' announced that they were popping next door to have a drink with the new neighbours. Mollie was given the choice of coming or staying home. She chose to go. The conversation was a little awkward until both fathers realised that they had pretty much lost and found work at the same time and then the conversation drifted into one of the scarcity of good jobs and the problems with recruiters. "I'm going to show Mollie my pictures" said Danny into the general hubbub. "That's nice" said one of the mothers as the boy beckoned Mollie to follow him. "Wow!" exclaimed Mollie as he led her into his room. Almost every inch of wall space was taken up with photographs of all shapes and sizes. "Did you take all these?" the girl asked as she wandered around picking out those that she liked best. Danny talked her through a few of them as he fired up his laptop. "That one" he said proudly "took me a whole afternoon to get" He was referring to a poster sized picture of two squirrels squabbling over a bird table that Mollie was studying with interest. Finally she finished her inspection and sat down alongside the boy as he opened a few folders and showed her vast numbers of pictures of every kind of animal know to roam the British countryside. Danny let her drive the wireless mouse and she breezed through the folders asking a question here and there. "Don't you ever photograph people?" she asked. "Not usually but...." "But what?" "Well for the competition I want to enter I have to submit photos in three categories." She nodded inviting him to continue. "I've got "animals do the funniest things" and "Insects in nature" but the rest of the categories all require a shot of humans of one sort or another." "And you haven't got any people pics?" Mollie queried. Danny blushed slightly. "I have a few, but they're not very good and I haven't told the subject that I've taken them yet. They might not let me use them even if they were good enough." "Oh right" said Mollie "So really, you need to get some better pics and get the permission of the person in them." "Yeah" "Can I see the ones you have so far?" "um, well, the problem is......" "What?" "It's you. I took pictures of you in the garden." Mollie went quiet. "I wouldn't enter them. Not without permission." Danny gushed. "let me see" suggested Mollie, quite firmly. There were only three pictures. "They were all taken from up here" Mollie announced "Yeah, well, I'm kinda nervous around new people" explained Danny. "Well you can delete those for starters." Sheepishly. Danny reached over and deleted the folder. "I'll think about letting you take my picture" said Mollie in a very businesslike fashion "but if you do it'll have to be a better job than those." With that she left and went back downstairs to join the parents. Towards the end of the evening, during a lull in the conversation Mollie suddenly piped up. "Danny wants to take my picture for a photo competition." There was a brief embarrassed silence. A silence which Danny filled badly. "Yeah, um, I have the good shots with squirrels and bees and now I need a human included." "That didn't sound as good as it might of" stated his father. He went on, "Danny is always entering some photo competition or other. Usually it's only wildlife which he has great patience with and understanding of. This time he has to include some component of interaction with people." Nobody interrupted him. "Given Danny's difficulty with getting to know new people his mother and I refused to allow him to use us. We wanted him to have to approach others in the neighbourhood. I hope there has been no offence." "Not at all" blustered Mr Carter "Just sounded a bit strange at first is all. I don't mind if Mollie doesn't" Everybody turned to Mollie. Mollie wasn't sure why she had made the announcement in the first place but seriously wished that she hadn't. "I don't mind" she said hesitantly. With that the subject changed, Danny smiled at Mollie and Mollie grimaced back. The following afternoon the parents set off for a lunchtime drink at the local pub. Mollie and Danny declined to go with Mollie suggesting that they should discuss the photo categories available and decide which to aim for. Back in Danny's room he fired up the competition entry sheet and scrolled to the category listing. 1. Animals do the funniest things (interesting and funny pictures of animals) 2. Insects in Nature (A close up of a single insect of a shot of a multitude) 3. Gardeners (A person or persons tending a garden) 4. Water babies (A person in water) 5. Best buddies (two or more people interacting) "Well" suggested Mollie "you could take some pictures of me in the garden to start with. That shouldn't be difficult." "Ok" "What should I wear?" she asked "dunno. What do you normally wear in the garden?" Mollie sighed. "I'll go get changed and I'll meet you in the garden in 20 minutes." "OK" Danny was there, kneeling in front of the roses and snapping away at a pair of bees vying for the nectar, when Mollie re-appeared. "Ta dah!" she announced Danny couldn't help but giggle. Mollie had chosen a pair of faded denim dungarees with a bright orange tee shirt underneath, purple Wellington boots and a straw hat. Gathering up a small spade she posed in and around various borders for the first few shots. Pretty soon Danny allowed his natural instincts to take over and began to offer gentle encouragement and command. "Ok let's get rid of the hat. Yeah that's better, let your hair move about a bit." Next he had her replace the spade with a lawn rake for a few more shots. He still wasn't really happy though. "Could we try without the boots?" he asked Mollie gave him a look and then sat to tug off the purple boots. "That's better" the boy insisted as she started to rake the lawn barefoot. A few more shots and he stopped again. "What now?" she demanded "Nothing, it's alright. Keep going" he replied Mollie could tell he wasn't quite happy though. "C'mon Danny, what's wrong?" she asked "It'll be ok. Just keep going" he insisted "Look" she snapped "This is all to help you do the best you can. If something isn't right you should say so." "Well......." "C'mon Danny. Spit it out" "Ok. I really struggle with the brightness of the tee shirt" "Why didn't you say" she asked in a slightly exasperated tone. "What colour would you prefer?" "Um. Er, well just skin really" Mollie let her mouth drop open. "You want me to take my shirt off?" she gasped "Yeah, I mean, you'd be covered by the dungarees and stuff." He explained. A door slammed in the distance. "Hey kids, we're home." Mollie looked towards the house and then back at Danny. "I'll think about it." She said as she went inside. The conversation with Charlie during the lunch break next day was hushed and urgent "He just wants to take porn shots then?" asked Charlie "No, I don't think so" replied Mollie thoughtfully "I don't think he thought anything of it. He was just trying to get the best shot." "Of your tits!" snarled Charlie with a giggle forming around the edges of her mouth. "Well that's it then. I deffo won't do it." "Well I might - he is kinda cute" grinned Charlie. Mollie allowed her eyes to open wide and round. "Charlie you are such a tart!" Though the weather was good enough there was no way that Mollie was going to pose like that with either set of parents around. Thus, Danny was left to believe himself a pariah until Wednesday. Both fathers were working late and both mothers had gone to the cinema, together. Mollie knocked on the back door. Danny slowed as he approached the door. Opened it and waited for the barrage. "I'll do it as long as you don't tell anybody else. Ever!" the girl blurted out. "But the competition. If I win the pictures are published." "If you win its art. If you don't you're just taking pervy pictures of a girl." Mollie announced Danny smiled "When?" "Now silly. I'll get changed and be out in a minute." Danny was waiting with his camera when Mollie reappeared. "Thanks Mollie" he started "Thanks for trusting me" Mollie moved around him, careful not to give him a side on look at her. It took him a few moments to realise why. The dungarees gaped quite a lot and probably hid nothing from the side. Still he was only a few shots in when he called a halt. "Sorry Mollie. It's the marks from your bra straps. There's no point until they go down a bit." The girl peered down at the red line over her shoulder. "Tea then?" Danny nodded and followed her inside. He sat quietly, eyes down, as the girl busied herself around the kitchen. Mollie noticed, smiled and ruffled his hair as she passed. 20 minutes later and they were back in the garden. 10 minutes after that and the boy was enthusiastically snapping away. Mollie simply followed instructions. "Thanks Mollie" he said eventually "you better go get changed. Your dad'll be home soon. So will mine." Mollie nodded. "Can I see them sometime?" "Tomorrow after school" he suggested The following evening, Thursday, Mollie told her parents she was going around to help weed out the photos. Danny told his parents much the same thing and no questions were asked as the two young people swept up the stairs to his bed room. It was only when Mollie sat alongside him and they were waiting for the laptop to boot that Danny realised she was wearing those dungarees and that bright orange tee shirt. They spent 20 minutes looking over the gardening shots. Mollie had to admit that each of the changes had been the right choice and she had absolutely no doubt that losing the shirt made the pictures almost perfect. "They are lovely Danny. You're very clever." "Kinda easy with the perfect model" he grinned. "I still don't like that colour on you though" he finished as he tugged the sleeve of her tee shirt. Mollie giggled. "why don't we get a few more category shots done so that you have plenty of choice. When does the competition end?" the girl asked. "Not `til the end of August. I suppose we could try other stuff," Danny conceded. "Would they let me take pics at the local pool?" he asked doubtfully. "Nah, probably not" said Mollie thoughtfully "but Charlie might and ....... " she took a deep breath "Charlie might join in for the "best buddies" group." "Charlie? Your friend from the park. Do you think she'd let me photograph her? Does she have a pool?" Mollie explained about the holiday park and about the fact that the pool closed to the visitors at 6.00 when the lifeguard finished. "The family can use the pool privately after that" explained Mollie "Charlie's mum and dad are usually too busy but we often swim there during the summer hols." "Yeah but would she let me take pictures there?" Danny asked solemnly Mollie smiled. "Charlie thinks you're cute. I don't think it would be a problem" Danny blushed. Charlie Grainger might have thought Danny cute but the boy was more concerned about her parents and, if he was honest with himself, why Mollie didn't find him cute too. The meeting with Mr Grainger was brief. He looked at a few of the picture folders on Danny's laptop, gave a little praise here and a little praise there, elicited a promise that Danny wouldn't interfere or upset any of the holiday makers and then moved to walk away. He only took a few steps before turning to the boy once more. "You got no school until September?" "Yeah, that's right. I'm well ahead of the curriculum already." "Want to ear a few quid helping out here? Nothing too onerous, a bit of painting, a bit of repair work." Danny beamed "That would be great Mr Grainger" "Cash in hand though. You're too young to be working here officially. See you Monday morning then." Mr Grainger finished. Mollie dug him in the ribs. "Not a bad interview" she surmised "A new model, a new venue and a new job!" Danny grinned and glanced at Charlie. "I didn't agree yet" snapped the other girl. His face fell. "But I will of course!" she suddenly beamed.