Chapter 1: Selection

“Can you believe this shit?” Fourteen-year-old Daniel Marshall glared at his best friend, Jason Middleton, as they left the school hall.

Jason shook his head, a gesture which caused a lock of his untidy, dark-blond hair to flop down over his lightly-freckled face. He absently brushed his hair back and looked down at the sheath of papers that he was holding. Across the front sheet, in bold letters, was written “The Physical and Sexual Development of Adolescent Males: A Comparative Study”. Underneath, in slightly smaller letters, were the words “Information for Volunteers”.

The two boys, along with around fifty other boys from the same school, all between the ages of eleven and sixteen, had been selected to take part in a special research project to measure and compare the changes that their bodies went through over a twelve-month period. All of the boys involved in the project had been summoned to a meeting in the school hall to hear some basic details about what was going to happen. The meeting had just finished, and it would be fair to say that none of the boys leaving the hall looked especially happy.

“I don’t know why they bother calling us volunteers,” Jason said, bitterly. “I sure as hell didn't volunteer.”

“Me neither,” said Daniel. “I had a blazing row with my mum when she signed the form to say I could take part. I think she only did it because she fancies that doctor.” The consent form had been accompanied by a glossy leaflet explaining the purposes of the study, along with a photograph and a brief biography of the doctor who would be running it. Daniel’s mother had said right out that she thought the man looked "a bit of a hunk", and secretly, Daniel himself had to admit that the 25-year-old doctor was pretty good-looking.

“I think it was the idea of the thorough medical checks that swayed my mum and dad,” Jason sighed. “Dad says it's a great opportunity to be checked out properly and make sure everything is working as it should be. Mum was all for putting ‘yes’ for me and ‘no’ for Ben; she’s always been overprotective of the little runt. But dad insisted that it should be the same for both of us.” Ben was Jason’s twelve-year-old brother, who had also been selected to take part.

“I wish I'd never taken that letter home,” said Daniel. “I should have just dumped it somewhere, or maybe ticked the ‘no’ box myself and forged Mum’s signature.”

“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Jason. “Trevor Spencer opened his letter and when he saw what it was about he ripped it up. A couple of days later the school called his parents to ask why they hadn't replied. Trev got a whole week of detentions and still ended up having to take part. And that’s not all: You know David and Carl Benson?”

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded. The Benson twins were sixteen, and a couple of years above Jason and Daniel.

“Well, they managed to talk their mum into saying no. Before they knew what was happening, this Dr. Lomax guy is knocking on their front door.”

“You're kidding!”

“I'm not. Dr. Lomax talked to their mum and dad and got them to change their minds. I heard David telling some friends about it. He sounded well pissed.”

“I'm not surprised.”

The boys had wandered outside into the school grounds and sat on a low wall. Jason began to flick through the information they'd been given, holding it on his lap so that Daniel could read it at the same time.

“I don't like the look of some of this,” Daniel muttered. “I don't mind the physical things so much, like the exercises and stuff, but this thing about measuring dicks is totally gross.”

“Yeah,” agreed Jason. "Just the thought of another guy touching my dick gives me the creeps."

Daniel looked at his friend out of the corner of his eye. Jason was absorbed in his reading and didn’t notice.

“Look at this bit about ‘development of ejaculatory function’. Sounds like he’s gonna be asking us how often we jerk off." Jason gave a wicked grin. "Don't suppose you ever do that, do you Danny-Boy?”

Daniel punched his friend on the arm, ‘Danny’ or even ‘Dan’ he didn't mind, but he hated being called ‘Danny-Boy’ and Jason knew it. “I’m not going to tell you whether I jerk off or not.”

“Why not?” Jason laughed. “Best friends are supposed to tell each other everything.”

“Maybe so. But best friends don’t laugh at each other when they do tell each other everything.”

“No, you're right. I'm sorry.” Jason had stopped laughing. “Seriously, do you jerk off?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m not about to make fun of you; I really want to know.”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, I do it all the time. You?”

“Mind your own fucking business, you wanker.” Jason roared with laughter.

“I should have known better,” Daniel sighed, shaking his head. “You catch me like that all the time.”

It took a few seconds for Jason to bring his laughter under control. “So who do you think about when you’re playing with your little dickie? Who is it that turns you on?”

“You, you bastard!” Daniel threw himself at his friend and wrestled him off the wall onto the soft grass beneath. Their fooling around was brought to an abrupt end when a teacher in a nearby classroom saw them and rapped on the window.

They got up, still laughing, and brushed the loose grass from their clothing.

“Good thing I know you’re only joking,” said Jason.

“Who’s joking?” Daniel replied.

“Yeah, right.” With a grin, Jason gathered up the spilled papers. He threw a comradely arm around his friend's shoulders and, together, they headed back into the school.

 

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