KWC- The Fundraiser (Part 35 Added.)
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 4:24 pm
Author's Note: This is my first time writing and posting on here. Posting has become a little erratic with some long pauses, but I am dedicated to finishing this. Thank You in advance for your kind words, patience and support.
The Nude Fundraiser: Part 1-The Meeting.
Jenna was a good student at Kentucky Central High School. A senior now, she’d paid her dues and was well known enough and respected among students and teachers. She wasn’t top of the class, but she had a good head on her shoulders and knew her future. She was going to make it in the theater. Already secured her college of choice, her roles in this year’s plays and musicals would lead to a scholarship, maybe even a full ride.
She was one of about 50 students in Drama and Stage Crew Club meeting on the second Thursday of school in early September. Lots of familiar faces and friends and even a good crop of younger freshman with dreams in their eyes.
The Theater Director, drama teacher and club advisor Mr. Elba opened the meeting and greeted the kids. He announced Jenna as the returning president of the club. Telling the younger students that if they had questions or concerns, they could talk to Jenna. While she would typically conduct the meetings for the rest of the year, he would be leading this one.
Mr. Elba started out with the bad news first, due to budget cuts the theater department didn’t have enough money to do any shows this year. The school board determined that the sports programs were more important and had leveraged the funds from the drama and band budgets to keep the sports teams able to compete and do away games. The loss of a full season of football games due to COVID had completely decimated the sports programs budget. The Board had been clear that the Drama and Stage Crew Club would have to do their own fundraising this year in order to put on their shows.
Sadly, Mr. Elba continued explaining, that meant there wasn’t time to put together a fall play. With no money in the budget so far and needing the fall to fundraise for the spring musical, which was more important in the long run.
Jenna’s heart sank. With only one show during her senior year, it would have to be a huge production. A huge production seemed less likely with no budget to start with.
The room was becoming restless, So Mr. Elba raised his hands to quiet them down.
“Look everyone, I know this isn’t an ideal situation particularly for the seniors.” He looked directly at Jenna when he said that. They’d had a good relationship and he knew her talents would take her far. He was sad to disappoint any of his students, but Jenna was going to make a career out of this and losing one show was going to be hard. Losing a second show, if it came to that, was going to be devastating. He did have a plan, however. It was definitely out of the box…or, out of the clothes if you want to be specific.
Mr. Elba continued, “But I do have an idea. We’re planning a new type of fundraiser. A Nude Fundraiser.”
Jenna obviously didn’t hear him quiet right. Thinking it would be best to try to energize everyone, when he paused after what she heard as “A NEW Fundraiser,” she started to applaud as the rest of the group was silent. It finally clicked in her mind what he had actually said.
“Wait… Mr. E…” she started, “What do you mean by Nude Fundraiser?”
Mr. Elba accepted the question. “With a lot of fundraisers, people give us money and a certain thing will happen. We’ll rock or walk or give you cookies or brownies or whatever…but this time people will be giving us money to prevent something from happening.”
“Oh, so we’ll be taking donations to keep us from being nude. Okay…” reasoned the senior student. That made more sense to her, if the premise was still a little shaky.
“No, no…that’s not quite it. You see, the idea is that you’ll start out naked and if people want you to stay that way they will donate. The more they donate, the less you’ll put on.” The teacher further explained.
One of the other students, another senior named Jacob inquired as to when this would happen. “Will it be private, like invite only?”
“Well, that is what I thought originally, but Principal McGuffin thought we could do it during a school day.” Mr. Elba answered, fully aware this would rattle some of the students.
“Naked during school?” Jenna blurted out shocked at the idea. It created quite a murmur in the crowd of theater students. She’d been outgoing all her life and her years in dance had made her a little more comfortable with her body than some of the other girls, but being naked at school felt like a bit much even for her.
Mr. Elba had to speak a little louder to be heard over the side conversations and questions of his students in order to answer Jenna. “At least homeroom…after that, it’s up to the rest of the school and your parents and family members.”
The murmur didn’t subside with his response, so he raised his arms to quiet everyone down.
“Listen, it’s simple. The day we decide to do this, we’ll all meet here. You’ll undress and put your clothes in your cubbies like we do with your bags during rehearsals and shows.
You can touch up with make-up here if you need to…anything to make you comfortable. Then you will all head out to your homerooms with your envelopes and collect money.
You come back here at the first bell and what you made is what you get to put back on.
If your envelope is empty, you get to get dressed. After that, for each $25 range, you’ll have one less article of clothing you can wear…up to $100. At $101, you’ll stay naked. “
Jenna did some quick computing in her head and responded “That’s only 4 articles of clothing. I’m wearing 8 right now. Shouldn’t that naked price be higher?”
“I thought about it and I think to prevent cheating we have to equalize things,” her teacher explained, “sock and shoes are each 1 thing and not 4 separate items. It has to be socks that day, not panty-hose or stockings. Underwear including bras are 1 thing. Bottoms are 1 thing regardless of if you wear pants, shorts, skirts, leggings. Whatever top you wear is 1 thing, even if you decided to get sneaky and do a t-shirt with a sweatshirt. So, at a donation level from one dollar to twenty-five dollars you’re topless. At twenty-six to fifty dollars, you are bottomless. At fifty-one to seventy-five dollars, you’re in just your shoes and socks. At seventy-six to one hundred dollars, you’ve only in your socks. Past One hundred and one dollars, you’re completely naked.”
After more murmurs, Jenna lifted her voice again “Okay, so how is that fair? We’re basically naked at $51.”
“Yes, but you’re overestimating how much money the other kids will have with them. No high school student is carrying the kind of cash they can throw away at this. You’ll all be mostly dressed by first period.”
“Then why are we doing it, if you don’t think we’ll make money?” shouted a voice from the back.
Jenna figured it out and turned to the group. “…Because he knows the other teachers will pay.”
“Didn’t he say something about parents? Family?” A young voice shouted. Jenna didn't recognize it, but she thought it might have some from the little blonde girl with the pixie cut.
“Yes! He did!” More of the kids were getting involved and indignant now. “That’s right!” “What’s that about!?”
Mr. Elba motioned to calm the group down again. “Look, okay… you’re right. Cards on the table, I know the money is coming from the teachers. Yes…I’m also going to accept donations from parents and family. Covid did a great thing in getting cameras in all the class-rooms, so Principal McGuffin said we can use that system on a kind of pay-per-view basis with people outside. They can get the code cheap, but they’ll have to donate to one of you as well. I’ve got the Technologies class working on setting up a web-page and donation system already. The school board was excited that we found a way to make it educational too.”
There was a lot of stunned silence in the room. This was bigger than any of them had imagined…and it sounded like it was a done deal already.
After a moment of quiet and staring, Jenna spoke out angrily “What if we don’t participate?”
“Then you won’t be cast in the show.”
He chose the nuclear option. The brief silence his statement created was as deafening as the din of the protests and complaints that followed it.
He raised his arms once more to calm them down. “Gang, look…we are severely underfunded, if we don’t do this there will be no show. Our options are limited. Our hands are tied. This is the best chance we have to do the best spring musical this school has ever seen!”
The group looked to Jenna as she looked out at them. It was a room of scared faces for the most part. Some of the boys were smirking. Jacob damn near had a smile. It was going to be harder on the girls and she knew it.
It was going to be hard on her. She wasn’t a virgin anymore, but that wasn’t a well-known fact. No one saw her as a slut. She hadn’t been the goodie-two-shoes many people had taken her for throughout her years, but being naked in front of people was something she’d never done. She could actually still count on one hand the number of people who had seen her in the all-together. Being put in a position that she would have to be nude in front of so many friends and teachers and faculty she had grown up amongst…the thought shattered her. …but, if this was truly the only way, then what choice did they have? She needed this show. The scholarships she could earn from being in the musical this year could mean a free ride to college, which would make life afterwards so much better. It would give her a real shot at making it in New York City. She was going to have to agree…but that meant taking all these other kids with her down this path.
She looked at them and saw the faces. She saw them waiting for her response. With a deep breath and a sigh so heavy it would sink in the ocean, Jenna spoke, “Being onstage is about entertaining people. Making them smile. We do this because we know it brings joy to others. We do this for the applause and adulation of friends…and family…and strangers. We do this thing called theater because we like to show off, to present ourselves on the stage… how is what he is proposing that different? I’m sure it is, I know it is. It feels different…it almost feels wrong…but if this fundraiser is the only way we can do the theater we love to do, how can we say no? How can we turn it down?”
Jenna looked around at the students again. Their reactions seemed mixed. She’d won a few of them over. That made her feel dirty. Here she was standing in front of them, not sure she wanted to do it herself and trying to convince them that they should do it. She felt kind of evil…like she was someone else. And that brought up another idea, “Theater, for me, has always been about doing something different. Being someone I’m not. Taking all of me and making it someone else for a time. Maybe we can think of this as an exercise, a theater game…When we’re naked in school, maybe we can pretend to be someone else, someone who would come to school naked. I don’t know. Think of it as a chance to explore a different character.”
If she was looking for a reaction from the group, she got one as the tension obviously deflated substantially. Not entirely positive but definitely not negative. More of the kids were nodding an affirmative. There was sadness and understanding. There were sighs of relief and sighs of fear. If one had to put an overall feeling on the room, it would be one of reluctant agreement. The nods of approval and the comments of “Okay,” “Sure,” “Why not” and others started to fill the room.
“When do we do this?” Jenna asked…
“Monday.” Replied Mr. Elba, as he started handing out information packets and release forms. “I’ll need these signed and returned tomorrow. You guys won’t regret it.”
As she collected her packed from her teacher, Jenna already began to feel like she already did regret it.
Her heart sank again as she began to wonder how she was going to explain this to her parents.
More than that, she wondered if she could go through with it herself.
Thank you for reading. I know I didn't get to the nudity, but next chapter we will.
The Nude Fundraiser: Part 1-The Meeting.
Jenna was a good student at Kentucky Central High School. A senior now, she’d paid her dues and was well known enough and respected among students and teachers. She wasn’t top of the class, but she had a good head on her shoulders and knew her future. She was going to make it in the theater. Already secured her college of choice, her roles in this year’s plays and musicals would lead to a scholarship, maybe even a full ride.
She was one of about 50 students in Drama and Stage Crew Club meeting on the second Thursday of school in early September. Lots of familiar faces and friends and even a good crop of younger freshman with dreams in their eyes.
The Theater Director, drama teacher and club advisor Mr. Elba opened the meeting and greeted the kids. He announced Jenna as the returning president of the club. Telling the younger students that if they had questions or concerns, they could talk to Jenna. While she would typically conduct the meetings for the rest of the year, he would be leading this one.
Mr. Elba started out with the bad news first, due to budget cuts the theater department didn’t have enough money to do any shows this year. The school board determined that the sports programs were more important and had leveraged the funds from the drama and band budgets to keep the sports teams able to compete and do away games. The loss of a full season of football games due to COVID had completely decimated the sports programs budget. The Board had been clear that the Drama and Stage Crew Club would have to do their own fundraising this year in order to put on their shows.
Sadly, Mr. Elba continued explaining, that meant there wasn’t time to put together a fall play. With no money in the budget so far and needing the fall to fundraise for the spring musical, which was more important in the long run.
Jenna’s heart sank. With only one show during her senior year, it would have to be a huge production. A huge production seemed less likely with no budget to start with.
The room was becoming restless, So Mr. Elba raised his hands to quiet them down.
“Look everyone, I know this isn’t an ideal situation particularly for the seniors.” He looked directly at Jenna when he said that. They’d had a good relationship and he knew her talents would take her far. He was sad to disappoint any of his students, but Jenna was going to make a career out of this and losing one show was going to be hard. Losing a second show, if it came to that, was going to be devastating. He did have a plan, however. It was definitely out of the box…or, out of the clothes if you want to be specific.
Mr. Elba continued, “But I do have an idea. We’re planning a new type of fundraiser. A Nude Fundraiser.”
Jenna obviously didn’t hear him quiet right. Thinking it would be best to try to energize everyone, when he paused after what she heard as “A NEW Fundraiser,” she started to applaud as the rest of the group was silent. It finally clicked in her mind what he had actually said.
“Wait… Mr. E…” she started, “What do you mean by Nude Fundraiser?”
Mr. Elba accepted the question. “With a lot of fundraisers, people give us money and a certain thing will happen. We’ll rock or walk or give you cookies or brownies or whatever…but this time people will be giving us money to prevent something from happening.”
“Oh, so we’ll be taking donations to keep us from being nude. Okay…” reasoned the senior student. That made more sense to her, if the premise was still a little shaky.
“No, no…that’s not quite it. You see, the idea is that you’ll start out naked and if people want you to stay that way they will donate. The more they donate, the less you’ll put on.” The teacher further explained.
One of the other students, another senior named Jacob inquired as to when this would happen. “Will it be private, like invite only?”
“Well, that is what I thought originally, but Principal McGuffin thought we could do it during a school day.” Mr. Elba answered, fully aware this would rattle some of the students.
“Naked during school?” Jenna blurted out shocked at the idea. It created quite a murmur in the crowd of theater students. She’d been outgoing all her life and her years in dance had made her a little more comfortable with her body than some of the other girls, but being naked at school felt like a bit much even for her.
Mr. Elba had to speak a little louder to be heard over the side conversations and questions of his students in order to answer Jenna. “At least homeroom…after that, it’s up to the rest of the school and your parents and family members.”
The murmur didn’t subside with his response, so he raised his arms to quiet everyone down.
“Listen, it’s simple. The day we decide to do this, we’ll all meet here. You’ll undress and put your clothes in your cubbies like we do with your bags during rehearsals and shows.
You can touch up with make-up here if you need to…anything to make you comfortable. Then you will all head out to your homerooms with your envelopes and collect money.
You come back here at the first bell and what you made is what you get to put back on.
If your envelope is empty, you get to get dressed. After that, for each $25 range, you’ll have one less article of clothing you can wear…up to $100. At $101, you’ll stay naked. “
Jenna did some quick computing in her head and responded “That’s only 4 articles of clothing. I’m wearing 8 right now. Shouldn’t that naked price be higher?”
“I thought about it and I think to prevent cheating we have to equalize things,” her teacher explained, “sock and shoes are each 1 thing and not 4 separate items. It has to be socks that day, not panty-hose or stockings. Underwear including bras are 1 thing. Bottoms are 1 thing regardless of if you wear pants, shorts, skirts, leggings. Whatever top you wear is 1 thing, even if you decided to get sneaky and do a t-shirt with a sweatshirt. So, at a donation level from one dollar to twenty-five dollars you’re topless. At twenty-six to fifty dollars, you are bottomless. At fifty-one to seventy-five dollars, you’re in just your shoes and socks. At seventy-six to one hundred dollars, you’ve only in your socks. Past One hundred and one dollars, you’re completely naked.”
After more murmurs, Jenna lifted her voice again “Okay, so how is that fair? We’re basically naked at $51.”
“Yes, but you’re overestimating how much money the other kids will have with them. No high school student is carrying the kind of cash they can throw away at this. You’ll all be mostly dressed by first period.”
“Then why are we doing it, if you don’t think we’ll make money?” shouted a voice from the back.
Jenna figured it out and turned to the group. “…Because he knows the other teachers will pay.”
“Didn’t he say something about parents? Family?” A young voice shouted. Jenna didn't recognize it, but she thought it might have some from the little blonde girl with the pixie cut.
“Yes! He did!” More of the kids were getting involved and indignant now. “That’s right!” “What’s that about!?”
Mr. Elba motioned to calm the group down again. “Look, okay… you’re right. Cards on the table, I know the money is coming from the teachers. Yes…I’m also going to accept donations from parents and family. Covid did a great thing in getting cameras in all the class-rooms, so Principal McGuffin said we can use that system on a kind of pay-per-view basis with people outside. They can get the code cheap, but they’ll have to donate to one of you as well. I’ve got the Technologies class working on setting up a web-page and donation system already. The school board was excited that we found a way to make it educational too.”
There was a lot of stunned silence in the room. This was bigger than any of them had imagined…and it sounded like it was a done deal already.
After a moment of quiet and staring, Jenna spoke out angrily “What if we don’t participate?”
“Then you won’t be cast in the show.”
He chose the nuclear option. The brief silence his statement created was as deafening as the din of the protests and complaints that followed it.
He raised his arms once more to calm them down. “Gang, look…we are severely underfunded, if we don’t do this there will be no show. Our options are limited. Our hands are tied. This is the best chance we have to do the best spring musical this school has ever seen!”
The group looked to Jenna as she looked out at them. It was a room of scared faces for the most part. Some of the boys were smirking. Jacob damn near had a smile. It was going to be harder on the girls and she knew it.
It was going to be hard on her. She wasn’t a virgin anymore, but that wasn’t a well-known fact. No one saw her as a slut. She hadn’t been the goodie-two-shoes many people had taken her for throughout her years, but being naked in front of people was something she’d never done. She could actually still count on one hand the number of people who had seen her in the all-together. Being put in a position that she would have to be nude in front of so many friends and teachers and faculty she had grown up amongst…the thought shattered her. …but, if this was truly the only way, then what choice did they have? She needed this show. The scholarships she could earn from being in the musical this year could mean a free ride to college, which would make life afterwards so much better. It would give her a real shot at making it in New York City. She was going to have to agree…but that meant taking all these other kids with her down this path.
She looked at them and saw the faces. She saw them waiting for her response. With a deep breath and a sigh so heavy it would sink in the ocean, Jenna spoke, “Being onstage is about entertaining people. Making them smile. We do this because we know it brings joy to others. We do this for the applause and adulation of friends…and family…and strangers. We do this thing called theater because we like to show off, to present ourselves on the stage… how is what he is proposing that different? I’m sure it is, I know it is. It feels different…it almost feels wrong…but if this fundraiser is the only way we can do the theater we love to do, how can we say no? How can we turn it down?”
Jenna looked around at the students again. Their reactions seemed mixed. She’d won a few of them over. That made her feel dirty. Here she was standing in front of them, not sure she wanted to do it herself and trying to convince them that they should do it. She felt kind of evil…like she was someone else. And that brought up another idea, “Theater, for me, has always been about doing something different. Being someone I’m not. Taking all of me and making it someone else for a time. Maybe we can think of this as an exercise, a theater game…When we’re naked in school, maybe we can pretend to be someone else, someone who would come to school naked. I don’t know. Think of it as a chance to explore a different character.”
If she was looking for a reaction from the group, she got one as the tension obviously deflated substantially. Not entirely positive but definitely not negative. More of the kids were nodding an affirmative. There was sadness and understanding. There were sighs of relief and sighs of fear. If one had to put an overall feeling on the room, it would be one of reluctant agreement. The nods of approval and the comments of “Okay,” “Sure,” “Why not” and others started to fill the room.
“When do we do this?” Jenna asked…
“Monday.” Replied Mr. Elba, as he started handing out information packets and release forms. “I’ll need these signed and returned tomorrow. You guys won’t regret it.”
As she collected her packed from her teacher, Jenna already began to feel like she already did regret it.
Her heart sank again as she began to wonder how she was going to explain this to her parents.
More than that, she wondered if she could go through with it herself.
Thank you for reading. I know I didn't get to the nudity, but next chapter we will.