What makes Edward Hyde like a Tribble?

They're both fan-favourites with a cult following and people get excited when they show up!


Talent Laid Bare
By
Edward Hyde
The first term as Sidney’s Academy, Chistleton had been a great success! The changes were broad and sweeping, not least the appointment of a new Principal, Mrs McKenzie, a very capable, experienced educator who had previously been deputy head of an exclusive girls’ private school as well as extensive experience teaching both history and modern languages.

The appointment, announced in the local paper two weeks before the Autumn Term was due to begin, had been something of a surprise following the unexpected departure of Mr Harcourt, the former Principal who had been a significant part of the negotiations to turn Chistleton Girls Secondary School and its sister primary school Bellingham Street Juniors into the Sidney’s Academy, Chistleton. Given his enthusiasm for the project and the prominent position he had assumed during the press conference for the official launch of the project, all the parents and pupils as well as the local community and most of the teaching staff had assumed that he would be staying on in the role for at least the five years until he reached official retirement age to steer things through the transition and to take advantage of the perks that would come with the job.

The day before the end of the Summer term, however, just after all the classes had started back up again after lunch, a large and very expensive-looking black car had pulled up in front of the main admin building and Hunter Roebuck had been seen going in with a man and a woman carrying brief-cases and all dressed very formally in suits which looked like the probably cost as much as the car they arrived in. They had only been on site for a little over half an hour and after they left, Mr Harcourt stayed in his office until the end of the day at which point he was seen heading to his own car looking visibly shaken.

The next morning at the final assembly of the year, he had announced his immediate retirement and the head of the board of governors had been there to thank him for his years of service and to present him with a fancy wrist-watch as a retirement gift. No official reason was given but word had quickly got around that he had done something to get on the wrong side of Hunter Roebuck and had been given the ultimatum of accepting a fairy generous early retirement package or Sidney’s with withdraw from the arrangement and make sure that everybody knew why. While he was not exactly unpopular with the staff or pupils, very few were especially upset to see him go. The new school year was supposed to be a fresh start after all so it made sense to have a new pair of hands at the helm.

As well as this change of leadership, the new school year had brought with it the first wave of promised upgrades to the décor and facilities with more planned for throughout the year and work already started on some new buildings which were, of course, a source of great fascination for the pupils! The biggest change was, of course, naked PE lessons for years seven to nine, with years ten and eleven having the option to go naked if they chose, something that most ended up doing through peer-pressure. In order to prevent disputes or confusion, the teachers in that department had decided to implement the rule that the choice was between full uniform PE kit and total nudity, other than for shoes, negating the opportunity for girls to try claiming that their preferred sports wear was actually underwear or any other such complication. There were also the extra curricular activities, most of which sought to normalise and de-stigmatise public nudity.

Where possible, in order to foster closer ties between what were now the two branches of the same school, events and activities included the girls from years three to six in what had been the junior school on the other side of the field, with their PE lessons also being nude for all year groups and many of the extra-curricular activities and clubs open to all year-groups. For the end of term Christmas shows, however, each school was doing its own thing, partly to give every girl a chance to shine and partly also to maximise revenue from ticket sales which had always in theory been open to the general public but this year, for the first time, were expected to be of interest to more than just the girls’ immediate families!

Of course nudity would be a key feature of both shows and discretely understood to be the main selling point. The Junior girls would be putting on a more traditional carol concert, with the choir in nothing but Santa hats or other Christmas-themed head-gear, during which there would also be a short play adapted by one of the teachers from the popular children’s book “Rosie the Christmas Turkey”. Since Roebuck International, the parent company of Sidney’s, did not have the same exclusivity deal under UK law as they currently did in the US, independent butchers and restaurants were able to sell girl-meat too and, since the new local Sidney’s would only be opening its doors for the first time on Christmas Eve that year, it had been agreed that there was no conflict of interest in the school offering a small number of girls as raffle prizes to be prepared by a local butcher, who actually had a daughter in both branches of the newly-merged Academy, as Christmas turkeys. This was sure to be a popular competition and expected to be a great fundraiser. The six girls who had volunteered would perform a dance together at the beginning of the Carol concert then another at the end before each drawing out their own winning ticket.

If the Junior school Christmas performance was something to look forward to, the Senior equivalent was going to be something else entirely! Their show, as had been announced in an assembly at the start of November to give everyone time to prepare, was to be a talent contest where any girl who wished to could perform her party-piece, whatever genre of entertainment it fell under, with the winner as voted on by a panel of judges that would include Hunter Roebuck, the heads of both branches of the school, the choreographer who had been hired to coach the new Sidney’s dance troupe, the mayor and a local social media influencer who had graduated from the school three years earlier and was seen by many of the girls as a major celebrity, receiving a prize that was genuinely impressive! The only stipulation was that every performer must be nude, or at least limit their costume to accessories only, and that there was a single prize so if a pair of friends or even a trio decided to enter together, it would be down to them to decide how to share it out between them should they win. There would be a girl raffle at the performance too, of course, but this time the volunteers, who would be performing several dances throughout the evening, would come with a voucher to have them prepared and served in a Sidney’s private dining room once the restaurant was open. As well as this, as a secondary fund-raiser and to add a little more fun and immediacy, two girls from the sixth-form had agreed to be butchered during the second act after drawing a raffle for particular cuts of meat so that the lucky winners would be able to take their prizes home with them.

Zoe had not originally intended to enter the contest. While she liked to dance as much as any girl, she knew she was nothing special, nor was her singing voice anything to make her stand out from the crowd and, although she was a smart and artistic kid with lots of talents, she didn’t really think solving a maths puzzle or filling out a crossword would make for great entertainment. She liked to paint and had briefly considered trying to create some kind of bold work on a large scale in front of the live audience but that was not really her style and she knew nothing she produced in the limited time-scale of, say, ten minutes, would live up to what she knew she was capable of with proper time and care and so would disappoint her.

Those plans had changed, however, when her best friend Paula had told her that she needed a glamorous assistant for her magic act and asked if Zoe would be up for it! It had sounded fun and she had jumped at the chance, especially when she learned that Paula’s parents had been able to hire some professional large-scale props for her which meant she would also get to learn how some of the tricks she had seen many times but which still mystified her actually worked, such as how a person could be sawn in half and still wiggle their toes or stand in a cabinet and have their middle section slid out leaving their head and legs in place! Paula had always been fond of magic tricks and did hope to be a professional illusionist one day, at least as a side-job, and had performed more modest tricks at parties and even a couple of family weddings but this was a chance to take her act and her craft to a whole new level!

They had rehearsed mostly in Paula’s garage, with Paula herself fully dressed at first and wearing her top hat while Zoe had, the first few times, stripped down to her underwear for convenience since loose clothing could interfere with the tricks but had quickly realised that she might as well get used to performing naked, especially since it was only her and her friend in the garage. Fortunately, as was the intention of the naked PE lessons, neither girl was especially self-concious about nudity and soon Paula was rehearsing in nothing but her top hat.

Once they had mastered all the tricks together, the assistant’s role being every bit as demanding as that of the magician themself, they decided that it would be best to set the routine to music, to help with the timing but also to give the performance a more dynamic and emotionally engaging quality. Knowing that he was good with that sort of thing, they had asked Paula’s dad for advice and he had suggested a dramatic, classical piece called “Danse Macabre”, the particular recording of which that he found lasting just over seven minutes. The perfect time-scale to perform their three major tricks with enough time devoted to each for the audience to be impressed but not so long that anyone would have a chance to over-think what they were seeing on stage. It was particularly appropriate, he explained, as a section from it had been used as the theme tune for an old TV show about a man who created tricks for a stage magician and who used his knowledge of illusion, misdirection, slight of hand and other tricks of his trade to solve impossible crimes on the side!

After rehearsing with this music for a little over a week, both girls felt as if they had the routine well and truly nailed down and still with a little over two weeks to go before the performance! It was only when Paula’s dad had suggested getting some of the family and neighbours over to watch so the girls could get experience performing in front of an audience that it had occurred to the girls that they should come up with some sort of costume pieces, to the extent that was permitted under the rules of the show.

The top hat for Paula, they both agreed, was a must, but beyond there, there was definitely room for discussion. The full white tie and tails getup she normally wore was definitely out, as was a sparkly leotard for Zoe, but the idea of trying to create these same looks while remaining functionally naked was a fun creative challenge. Wanting to help out, Zoe’s mum took them to a costume store where Paula found a black velvet cape with a white satin lining that stopped just above her waist and was supposed to clip onto the front of a jacket, with a small silver chain between the two clasps, but, as Zoe’s mum helpfully pointed out, the same kind of tape used to prevent wardrobe malfunctions with low-cut dresses could be used to fix the clasps directly to her skin. With a pair of white gloves and polished patent leather black shoes, she would definitely still look the part of a traditional magician. Since Zoe could not wear shoes for most of the tricks anyway, she went for a sparkly tiara, a pair of long, gold, fingerless gloves and a tube of body-lotion with glitter that would give her body the all-over shimmering appearance expected of her role in the act. Paula would wear her hair in a formal French braid with minimal makeup and Zoe would go for big curls and pageant-queen makeup worthy of Sidney herself which was amusing as, like Sidney in real life, she was quite the tom-boy who only tended to wear makeup for very special occasions.
The “Dress rehearsal”, such as it was, had been a great success and all the tricks had gone smoothly, synched perfectly to the music. So as not to spoil the event for the participants, there had only been simply run-throughs at the school to work out when everyone needed to be in position and how long it took to get any relevant equipment on or off the stage. Since their act required quite a lot of bulky equipment to be set up and taken down, it was decided that Paula and Zoe should be the final act of the first half, setting up while the dancers performed in front of the curtains. To allow them to enjoy the other acts, all the contestants were given over-sized t-shirts, like night-shirts, that they could wear if they wanted to without causing pressure marks on their bodies and were told that a space would be kept at the back of the hall, behind the seating, where they could stand. A running order was issued and they were all warned to be back stage and get ready during the act before them, rather than waiting until it ended, so that everything could run smoothly.

The evening of the talent show came and there was a buzz of excitement around the school, not least because of the prize that was on offer. With half an hour before the start of the show, the library which was serving as the dressing room, or rather undressing room for all the performers, was filled with girls either already naked or taking their clothes off, getting their hair and makeup done ready for the show to begin. In the entrance lobby, tickets were being checked and the audience welcomed in but the main attraction was the raffle stand where two girl from year thirteen, Becky and Andrea, stood completely nude selling tickets for just one fifty pence or two pounds for a strip of five that gave those who brought the chance of going home with some of their freshly-butchered meat!

As popular as this stand was, it was given a serious run for its money by the one beside it which did not have the benefit of the prizes advertising themselves in person as they were busy getting ready for the opening of the show, leaving the stand to be manned by a couple of volunteers in school uniform but with large-scale photographs of what was on offer as well as a board with information. Essentially, the prizes up for grabs in this raffle were the six featured dancers, choreographed by the coach of the Sidney’s dance troupe, the majority of whom were also pupils at the school, who would be performing six of the popular Sidney’s routines during the show, scaled down to fit on the school stage of course. Each lucky winner would not just win a whole girl but also a voucher to have her prepared by the cooking method of their choice, from the available options, and served up to them and their guests in one of the private Sidney’s dining rooms. These tickets cost five pounds each and the girls up for grabs were from years 8 and 9, all either thirteen or fourteen years old. Despite the higher price, these tickets were selling incredibly well too with practically every family, couple or individual who arrived buying at least one and several buying multiples.

The raffle for the two teens would be drawn by them at the end of the first act, right after Zoe and Paula’s magic act, and they would then be taken to the school kitchen to be butchered and parted out during the second act so that the prizes could be distributed at the end of the show and the rest of the audience would have the opportunity to buy sausages, burgers, meat-balls and some other treats made from the less prestigious cuts to take home. Sales of the tickets for the dancers would continue through the interval and, at the end of the second half, before the winner of the competition was announced, each girl would draw the winning ticket for their own meat, after which they would perform one last dance together. Unlike the girls raffled as turkeys from the junior school or the two sixth-formers, the dancers would be spending one last Christmas with their families since the local Sidney’s was not opening until Christmas Eve and the vouchers were valid from the 27th December onwards. This anticipation, however, only served to heighten their excitement!

Having been dropped off by Zoe’s mum after having dinner together, Zoe and Paula made their way to the library and quickly stripped off. As soon as they got home from school, they had undressed to avoid embarrassing marks and had only put t-shirts and sweatpants on to travel, as well as coats to protect them against the chilly December evening. Inside, thankfully, was nice and warm and they folded their clothes and tucked them under a couple of chairs. Nobody was paying much attention to anyone else as everyone was keen to get themselves ready so that they could go watch the rest of the show. The friends had done their makeup at home so didn’t really need any help although Zoe did get a bit of attention from the other girls when she began to rub the glitter-infused body-lotion all over herself then asked Paula to help her with the parts she could not reach! Although she would be bare-foot on stage she had a pair of slippers to put on which she did along with the big T-shirt provided by the school. Both girls left their gloves off for the time being as these were a work of seconds to pull on then, leaving the rapidly-emptying library behind, they slipped into the back of the hall with the many other scantily-clad girls, some not bothering with the T-shirts, to watch the show. Both girls spotted their parents in the audience, quite near the front, and were pleased to see that they would have a great view.

At the front of the hall, just in front of the stage and before the first row of audience chairs was the judge’s table. They would not be giving critiques after each performance like some reality TV shows but would be making notes and giving each act their own scores out of ten for a number of criteria such as talent, originality and entertainment value. The principal took to the stage first and introduced the other judges, all of whom stood and waved as their names were called out, then handed over to Josie, manager of the soon-to-be-opened Sidney’s restaurant to announce the prize.

“Well first of all it’s wonderful to see so many of you coming out to support the girls and their school,” Josie beamed as she held the wireless microphone, “and I’m sure we’re all in for a treat tonight! Don’t forget that your new local Sidney’s opens on Christmas Eve and we’re looking forward to serving as many of you as possible over the coming years, in both senses of the word!” She winked, earning her a good-natured chuckle from the audience which included parents and siblings of the performers as well as members of the public, some of whom were there alone, some in couples and some whole families. This really did have the feeling of an event for the whole community!

“As I’m sure you all know,” Josie continued, “we have some wonderful, delicious raffle prizes for you tonight which can be enjoyed from December the twenty seventh onwards in one of our luxurious private dining rooms so make sure you all get your tickets, but one lucky girl, double-act or group tonight is going to walk away with the grand prize!” She held up a glittering plastic card, the size and shape of a typical credit card, pink in colour with the Sidney’s logo in gold across the front. “This card,” she explained, “is good for one hundred and four meals at Sidney’s and is valid for twelve months from opening. That means a meal for two every week for the whole year or a number of bigger parties, or heck,” she chuckled, “eating alone there twice a week! However the lucky winner wants to spend it!” There was enthusiastic applause from the audience, especially from the parents of the contestants! This was definitely a prize worth putting in the effort to win! “And now,” she grinned, slipping the card back into its presentation envelope, “without further ado, let me introduce you to your compares for the first half of this evening, Becky and Andrea from years thirteen!”

There was wild applause from the audience as the two rather buxom, curvy seventeen year olds who had been raffling their meat in the lobby came onto the stage, their luscious, firm teen bodies still covered with dotted lines marking the various meat cuts. The shorter of the two, Andrea, took the microphone from Josie who waved to the audience then stepped down off the stage to take her seat among them. After a few very chirpy words of introduction, the two meat-girls stepped aside and the curtains opened, revealing “The Sidney’s Six”, the dancers who would be entertaining the audience in between other acts throughout the evening then raffled off to be private meals at the end.

For this first dance, they were dressed in traditional Sidney costumes, three in white and three in pink, and they were arranged in two rows of three of the stage. Although there was no legal upper age limit on girls becoming meat in the UK, allowing for the sixth-formers to offer their bodies to be butchered, the Sidney’s chain itself was sticking to the original limit of eight at the lower end and fourteen at the top, for the time being at least, with a view to expanding this in the future, depending on the level of cultural acceptance they received. Therefore, since they were to be cooked in the Sidney’s kitchen and served in the private dining rooms, these six dancers had all been selected from years 8 and 9.

There was Sarah, the tallest of the six and the one with the most developed chest, although still very firm and perky, her body, like all the dancers, toned and athletic with thick thighs and a very appetising rump, her cousin Shelly from the year below who looked so much like her that many people mistook them for sisters and indeed she really was just a smaller version of Sarah with only the first hints of budding on her chest. Both had naturally honey-coloured skin which gave them the impression of being slightly tanned at all times and had golden-blonde hair, worn for this dance in simply pony-tails.

Alongside them were another duo, actual sisters this time, consisting of Sarah’s girlfriend Helen and her younger sister Andi. Stunningly beautiful black girls, both with chests that gave Sarah’s a run for its money and rumps to absolutely die for! Helen’s hair was as long as Sarah’s but woven into micro-braids which she wore as a ponytail while Andi’s was shorter, straightened and worn as a loose bob. Making up the remaining two were Beth, a pretty red-head from year 9 and Morgan, a pale-skinned brunette from year 8.

For their first piece they performed a line-dance which featured them moving in such a way that they all got a chance to be in front while keeping up the general formation, to the classic Billy-Ray Cyrus song “Achy Breaky Heart”. At the end of the dance, they received an enthusiastic round of applause then scampered off the stage as the curtains closed and the soon to be butchered teens came back out to introduce the first contestant, Becky taking the lead this time with the microphone in her hand since, as they explained to the great amusement of the audience, there was nowhere to fit a clip-on!

The first proper act, along with many of those that would follow, was a singing performance. The school’s new music studio with its state of the art computer systems had been made available to girls who wanted to create their own backing tracks and Laura from Year 10 had taken full advantage of this. The tall, slim, popular if slightly bitchy fifteen year old, her makeup perfect and long blonde hair straightened, wearing nothing, of course, except for jewellery including bracelets, anklets, a necklace and a thin chain around her waist, sang “Love Fool” with a whole lot of enthusiasm, directing a lot of her flirtatious expressions towards the judges and bouncing a lot as she moved making her perky little tits jiggle teasingly. Even ‘though they were not her biggest fans, Zoe and Paula had to admit that she put on a good show and deserved the applause she got at the end.


To be continued...