What the Gerbil Saw

Naked Club, with one of their founding members back in the fold for now at least, had been given some time to themselves to catch up, away from the new group dynamics, which were ordinarily to be more rigid under Chantelle's rule. The more closely each trio stuck together the better chance of the other two figuring out if, God forbid, one of them was a rat. This was considered a special exception.

As they sat out by the pool together it felt a little like the old days, even if this was way more glamorous than Melanie's lounge.

"You girls landed on your feet here, this is almost as glamorous as where I live on NF."

"Well it turns out it's all paid for by the same money," Melanie figured as she sipped her wine.

It was strange having Laura back like this, in as much as she was exactly the same as ever. There was no change to her personality, no glazed over eyes or brainwashed zombie behaviour. It was just her sexy, feisty friend Laura, except 100% controllable by anyone. It must be a dangerous situation to be in, away from the heavily monitored safety of the NF site and out in the real world. Even Melanie wasn't completely certain she wouldn't give in to the obvious temptation and take advantage if it were just the two of them here. She could always order Laura to forget afterwards.

"So how are Liv and Anna?"

"I don't see them anymore," Laura shrugged. "I'm one of the “ten per centers,” the top earners, and those two unfortunately aren't. They moved me so I'm living practically in a palace now. If I'm still being paid for this job, I must be the biggest earner on the site ever. I wonder what I'll get for that when I go back?"

"Do you want to go back?" Sophie asked. There was no detectable difference in her either. When not doing Chantelle's bidding she was to act exactly like herself.

"It's not safe for me away from there" Laura explained. "I'd barely been introduced to Leilani before she turned me into a frog. And that's just someone having a bit of fun. Imagine if everybody knew they could make me do anything or do anything to me? Besides, a few weird or gross commands aside, I have a pretty good life over at NF."

"I did have a real go at Lei about that once you were out of the room," Lucy assured her friend. "And I'll make sure none of the others mess with you either, even if it's only for fun."

"All of you are thinking what shit you would like to do to me right now, aren't you?" Laura grinned, before laughing out loud as she scanned the guilty expressions on the others faces. "I guess that's why I'm a top earner."

"I've got to ask, what's it like being a frog? Or a gerbil?" Sophie wondered.

"A lot better than being a butt plug…"

The others all gasped, then looked horrified as they realised Laura wasn't joking.

"Like I said, there is some weird and disgusting stuff you have to put up with, but most of the time it's the best job and lifestyle I ever had." Laura grabbed the bottle and began to pour herself a second glass. "And as for being a gerbil? Mostly very boring, but I did get to see you guys and your hot new friends wandering around butt naked I feel like I know the others already."

"You see or hear anything we should know about?" Cassie checked.

"Not really," Laura wasn't allowed to go into any of that. "But it's cool that you all hooked up already. Mel and Lexie, Soph and Abi, Lucy and Lei, Cassie and...shit, sorry!"

"No! It’s fine…" Cassie decided to change the subject rather than be **** to badmouth Barbie for appearances sake. "So you got to see plenty of everyone. Anyone here caught your eye?"

"Maybe…" Laura smiled in a way that meant yes, but she wasn't saying who.

There was a moment of silence as Lucy seemed to have something on her mind.

"I was just thinking. How literal are these commands. Like if someone got annoyed and told you to go and fuck yourself..."

Laura burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the question and was soon joined by the others. Even though Lucy hadn't thought her inquiry was that stupid, she rolled her eyes at suddenly being the butt of the joke. For however long this lasted, it was good to be back together again.