Chapter 23 -- Pledge Ken’s Servitude

The pledges returned to their cots at 5:00 a.m. Ordinarily they would have had to get up for PT in just a few minutes, but that particular morning they were allowed to skip the mandatory exercise session. They had endured plenty of exercise already, having spent the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. in constant physical activity. Instead Tracy announced that the pledges would be allowed to sleep until 7:00 a.m. and not have to get up until the sophomores were ready to have breakfast.

Shortly before 8:00 Tracy led her group back to campus for their morning classes. Lisa was somewhat tired, but she was sure she could make it through the lectures given her Sunday of sleeping at Burnside’s house and the two additional hours of rest after the scavenger hunt. She noticed the totally exhausted look on the face of the Pledge Mistress, realizing that Tracy had not had any sleep at all since the previous afternoon.

Lisa wondered what motivated the Pledge Mistress. However hard Tracy pushed the pledges, she pushed herself much more. Only once had Lisa seen Tracy sleeping or relaxing, and that was the previous afternoon when she collapsed on Burnside’s living room sofa from sheer exhaustion. Over the entire weekend she only had about four hours of sleep, because Lisa knew for a fact she had not slept Saturday at all. As for Monday morning, Tracy led the sophomores exercising, so she did not even get the two hours her pledges got after the hunt.

So what was it that drove Tracy? Was it the military? There certainly was a lot of the military in her personality: she had completely internalized whatever those drill sergeants had done to her in Basic Training. But something else drove her as well. Lisa suspected that Tracy was worried about displaying any personal weakness to the point it had become a phobia. Perhaps it was fear, fear of herself and her own vulnerabilities; that gave Tracy so much drive and energy.

As she contemplated her strange Pledge Mistress and the bizarre adventure she was leading, Lisa felt genuine admiration for her. Tracy’s powerful personality matched that of Ruth Burnside, but there were many differences as well. While Burnside’s nature exuded raw sexuality, whatever sexual desires Tracy had she seemed content to keep hidden. Burnside never skipped a chance to indulge herself with sex, fine food, and physical comfort, while Tracy’s life seemed extremely austere.

Still, what impressed Lisa was not what made the professor and the Pledge Mistress different, but what they had in common. Both women dominated their surroundings and imposed their will on the people around them. Both provided role models for Lisa, personality traits she wanted to adopt for herself. The differences in their personal lives made Lisa aware that she could, and would have to, find her own balance between indulgence and sacrifice. Lisa would adapt what she needed from both her mentors, but then use that knowledge to follow her own path in life.

Monday passed uneventfully. Lisa split her time between her duties in Burnside’s office and her attendance at class. In the afternoon Tracy, appearing more exhausted than ever, came by with the three freshmen to retrieve her and take the group back to the sorority house. Of course, after dinner there was plenty of excitement waiting for the members and pledges of the Four-Beta Sorority: the public caning of the five Tri-Alpha pledges.

As soon as the Pledge Mistress and her charges returned to the sorority house, it was obvious the punishment was going to be a major event. The majority of the women already were well-dressed and armed with cameras and camcorders. In the sitting room a sturdy table, complete with restraining straps, had been set up and the sorority’s entire collection of canes was assembled in a nearby umbrella stand. Lisa noticed another table in a corner containing a box of medical gloves, two very large pitchers of warm water, and five enema bags and hose sets. A pair of leather restraining cuffs hung from chains attached to the ceiling.

Tracy ordered the pledges to take their book bags downstairs but not to get undressed. "This is an official punishment event for their group. Because of that you’ll stay in uniform."

The sorority’s benches were set up along the sides of the room and momentarily the seniors would be occupying them with the sophomores and pledges standing behind. The juniors would be in charge of the five unfortunate males: cuffing and un-cuffing them, restraining them to the table, taking official pictures, and sexually tormenting them both before and after the punishments. Along with 26 cane strokes, each male pledge would be chained to the ceiling and subjected to a forced ejaculation (in full view of all the women, of course) before the physical punishment. Following the physical portion of his punishment, each male pledge would endure an enema and then be cuffed and escorted downstairs to evacuate and shower.

Once the punishments were completed, the officers of the fraternity planned to leave their pledges at the sorority house. Rather than wait for the cane marks to fade, the fraternity simply decided their pledges would remain in service of the sorority until Sunday night. There was a final indignity waiting for the Tri-Alpha aspirants during those grim six days. They would have to wear the Four-Beta pledge shirt whenever attending classes on campus. Yes, that’s right... the dreaded pink shirt with the message:

PLEDGE

This pledge is property of the Four-Beta Sorority.

If found unescorted, please return to rightful owner.

As cruel as the week would be for the male pledges, the fraternity was not acting out of simple sadism. The Tri-Alpha officers had decided that the pledges’ internment in the sorority house would count as their "Hell Week", the most grueling part of their pledging experience. "Hell Week" was a tradition for the fraternity; the worst part of the hazing that was designed to determine who finally got to be let in as a member-in-full-standing. Normally "Hell Week" came somewhat later in the semester, but in the case of the summer pledges, it made sense that "Hell Week" would simply be the week the group had to perform penance at the sorority house. During that time the males would be at the mercy of the sorority’s women, and that included Lisa and her companions. The advantage of the plan for the male pledges would be to quickly get the worst part of the pledging experience behind them. By the end of the first month of the summer semester the males would have "Hell Week" completed and most likely anyone remaining in the group eventually would become a member-in-full-standing in August.

During their week at the Four-Beta house the males would have to do anything the women commanded them to do. The only limitation was that they could not be ordered to risk arrest or permanent physical injury. Apart from that, anything, including sex, was fair game for the Four-Betas. The men would to be allowed to go to class and the opportunity to sleep six hours per night. With the exception of that allotted time for class and sleeping, they would be completely at the mercy of the sorority’s women.

Lisa could tell that Bernadette most certainly had plans lined up, and quite possibly some ideas were floating around Cherine’s head as well. As for Kathleen, Lisa would have to keep her eyes on her. If Kathleen wanted to have some fun with the guys or use them for personal enjoyment, that was OK. However, if she wanted to torment them out of anger or eagerness to avenge the earlier trauma of her life, Lisa would have to intervene.

As the time approached for the males to be brought over to the sorority house, Lisa pondered how she would deal with Ken. An idea slowly formed in her head to grab Ken for the pledge group and try to keep him away from the sorority’s other women. If she could carry through with that plan, it would have several advantages. She wasn’t too thrilled at the thought of seeing Ken at the mercy of someone like Heather. Perhaps, if he were claimed by the pledge group, his "Hell Week" would be somewhat less onerous than that of his companions. Lisa might remain mad at him, but still, she did not want to see him suffer unreasonably. Also, her old desire to control him had resurfaced, and the idea of having him under her command for a week appealed to her. She knew he was an expert at providing good oral sex and massages, so the sexual appetites of the pledge group were guaranteed to be satisfied. Finally, Lisa vaguely understood that if she controlled Ken and determined how the pledge group could enjoy him, she would exert even more influence over her companions.

Lisa decided to briefly talk to Bernadette and try to get her to support her plan to keep Ken under the pledge group’s control, and leave the other male pledges alone. To her surprise, Bernadette agreed. "If he’s as good as you say he is, I ‘spose that’s not a bad idea you got. At least you know where his dick has been. If you can convince Tracy, or whoever, to let us have him; I’d go along with it. Cherine’s still thinking about the VP, so I’d imagine she really doesn’t care."

"Thanks."

"One condition. If you get him, me and Cherine get to do whatever we want with him. He’s not your ex-boyfriend; he’s our property. He belongs to all of us, not just you."

"I know. That’s fine with me."

With that Lisa and Bernadette went back upstairs. Lisa had managed to ease the on-going tension between herself and Bernadette by seeking her approval for the idea of claiming Ken for the pledge group. She realized something important, that if Bernadette felt that she had some control over Lisa’s decisions, it was likely that she would be much more cooperative. If Lisa approached Bernadette individually and presented any ideas in private before announcing them to Cherine and Kathleen, she was acknowledging her as a "co-leader". She now knew how to deal with the most difficult member of her group: simply consult with her before presenting any ideas publicly.

There was another significant detail that came out of that conversation. Bernadette had spoken for herself and Cherine. She did not mention Kathleen. Bernadette now took it for granted that Kathleen was Lisa’s responsibility and did not really have much of a voice in the pledge group. Whatever Lisa told Kathleen to do she would go along with, so her opinions were not much of a concern for the other two pledges.

Lisa knew better than to pursue her desire to claim authority over Ken without first requesting permission from Pledge Mistress Tracy. As the sophomores continued setting up, Lisa found her mentor, knelt, and requested permission to speak. Tracy agreed to talk to her in private.

Once Lisa assured the Pledge Mistress that she already had consulted with the other members of the pledge group, Tracy agreed to support her idea of claiming Ken. Tracy added it seemed likely that the male pledges would be divided up anyway. Undoubtedly Heather would take the unfortunate "fat" guy she had been tormenting for herself, and the seniors, juniors, and sophomores each would claim a Tri-Alpha pledge. Because the women dismissed him as being gay, Tracy figured no one would object to turning Ken over to the Four-Beta pledge group. Really, what could the freshmen do with a gay guy anyway?

Tracy confided to Lisa that there would be a surprise that evening as well. Because of his group’s pathetic performance during the scavenger hunt, Tracy’s counterpart, Tri-Alpha Pledge Master Arnold, was officially reprimanded by a unanimous vote of the fraternity’s seniors and would have to perform penance alongside his pledges. He did not face a caning like the others, but he would have to subject himself to six days of naked servitude in the sorority. Most likely he would be handed over to the Four-Beta officers, who in turn, would share him with the other seniors. Lisa could tell that Tracy felt somewhat sorry for Arnold, because for a fraternity officer to be publicly punished as though he was a pledge was a big humiliation.

"Here they come!"

A cheer went up from the women as they crowded onto the front lawn to watch the spectacle of six nude, cuffed and blindfolded men being led towards the sorority by the Tri-Alpha seniors. Now this really is humiliating, thought Lisa to herself: being forced to walk several blocks as naked prisoners. There was nothing the young men could do to cover themselves, because their hands were secured behind their backs. To make matters worse, two of the male pledges had erections that bobbed around as they walked towards the sorority.

The women from other sororities frantically ran out of their houses as word spread about the spectacle on the street. The entire block echoed with the cheering of hundreds of women as the Tri-Alpha officers and their prisoners walked up the Four-Beta driveway and were led into the house. As soon as the men entered the front door, the fun was over and the crowds of cheering women quieted down and returned to their own sorority houses.

A few minutes later a police patrol car came by to respond to a citizen’s complaint about six naked guys walking around on the street. However, the officer didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He radioed dispatch and kept on driving. There’s no naked guys out here. Must have been a prank call.

The women quickly took their positions: the seniors sitting on the benches, the juniors sitting in the front, and the sophomores and pledges standing behind. Heather stood next to the punishment table wearing nothing but a sport-bra and running shorts. She was looking over the collection of canes and swishing them through the air, more to raise the anxiety in the room than anything else.

The males were led into the room and ordered to kneel. The Tri-Alpha officers took their positions standing near the window, with the exception of the Pledge Master, who knelt in naked disgrace. Tracy stepped forward and removed the blindfolds of the kneeling males, given that the sorority wanted them to witness each other’s punishment. With a riding crop the Four-Beta Pledge Mistress tapped the males to properly position them: kneeling upright with knees properly spread and genitalia exposed. Once the Pledge Mistress had her subjects properly positioned, she gently touched the testicles of each frightened pledge with the tip of the riding crop, hoping to force an erection.

Lisa expected the punishment to have a ceremonial beginning, a speech or other pronouncement excoriating the pledge group for having lost the previous night’s scavenger hunt. However, the officers did not see the point in any speech. The males had lost and would be punished for it. It was that simple.

Pledge Master Arnold faced humiliation, not because his group had lost, but because it was obvious that he had not properly prepared them. He was being punished for somewhat different reasons than his group, having failed in his duty as Pledge Master. He would be spared the initial caning, but there was no restriction against the women punishing him later in the week if they wanted to do so.

Already the cameras were flashing. President Alexandra moved in front of the group, "Pledge Master Arnold!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Stand up and explain to us why you are here!"

Arnold stood up. "My pledge group is here to comply with the conditions set out for the losers of the summer scavenger hunt. Specifically that means 26 strokes of the cane applied to the naked bottom of each member of the losing side, followed by a week of servitude in the Four-Beta Sorority house."

"And why have you presented yourself along with your group?"

"Because we did not prepare for the scavenger hunt, President Alexandra."

"There is no ‘we’ Pledge Master Arnold. You were responsible for not preparing your group. Now let me ask you something. Is it true that our pledges actually had to wait an hour before turning in their final item so your group would not lose so badly?"

"Yes, President Alexandra, that’s true."

"You failed your pledges and your fraternity. Your pledges actually had to rely on the mercy of our pledges because you did nothing to get them ready. That’s why you’re here. The failure of your group is a personal failure on your part."

"Yes, President Alexandra."

Lisa felt sorry for Arnold, because it was obvious that he and his pledges had been busy over the weekend with other activities and had not really thought about the hunt. It also was likely that, unlike Tracy, it had not occurred to him to sneak his pledges out of the Tri-Alpha house and risk angering the other officers of the fraternity. Part of his casual attitude about the hunt came out of complacency, because the Tri-Alphas had won the last four competitions against their female counterparts, not having faced an opponent as determined as Tracy.

Tracy, on the other hand, was obsessed with winning and was totally unconcerned about risking her standing with her fellow officers. Whatever objections the other officers might have had about taking the pledges away from the sorority house were silenced by the success of her strategy. Tracy’s preparation of her group had been so thorough that the females felt they needed to wait over an hour to give the Tri-Alphas a chance to find more items. To the judges it was obvious the females had decided to hold back finishing the contest, because more than an hour went by between the time they turned in their 99th item and their final item.

Heather raised her hand, "President Alexandra, I request permission to speak."

"Yes, Sergeant-at-Arms Heather!"

"I propose, given Pledge Master Arnold’s personal failure, that five cane strokes from the punishment of each member of his pledge group be reassigned to him, that he gets 25 strokes and the strokes of the pledges are reduced from 26 to 21!"

"OK, a motion has been made. Any seconds?"

Two Tri-Alpha officers raised their hands.

"OK, let’s vote, officers only. All officers in favor of transferring five strokes from each Tri-Alpha pledge to Pledge Master Arnold raise their hand."

The five remaining Tri-Alpha officers and five of the Four-Beta officers raised their hands.

"Against?"

Tracy raised her hand.

"By a vote of 10 to one the officers have decided to impose a caning of 25 strokes on the naked bottom of Pledge Master Arnold, and that the canings of each of the five pledges will be reduced from 26 to 21."

A few minutes later the first male pledge was standing with his hands immobilized by the cuffs hanging from the ceiling. A Four-Beta junior picked up a jar and two pairs of medical gloves. She then ordered Bernadette to stand up and assist her. The junior and the pledge put on their gloves, took positions on opposite sides of the male, and began massaging his chest, bottom, and upper thighs. The junior ordered Bernadette to massage the young man’s penis, while she lubricated her index finger and inserted it into his bottom. The male jerked forward, further exposing himself to Bernadette. The freshman firmly gripped his penis and pushed him back to make it easier for the junior to find the victim’s prostate. As the cameras flashed and the women applauded, the male pledge groaned and released his semen into the jar.

The junior told Bernadette to hold the jar up high, while she took a thick indelible marker and wrote "Bad Boy" on the pledge’s chest. The two women then stood on each side of the male and posed for numerous pictures before finally being ordered to un-cuff him and resume his kneeling position.

The next member of the Tri-Alpha group to be masturbated was Ken. Not surprisingly, Ken already was quite hard, given his sexual attraction to pain and fear. The next junior in the punishment group called Kathleen to assist her. She whispered into Kathleen’s ear, "Pledge, would you like to take him from the front or from the back?"

"You mean... like, put my finger up his bottom, ma’am?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah... I... I’d like that... I mean to try that... ma’am."

"You know what to do, Pledge?"

"I think so, ma’am."

"OK, you get the honor."

Kathleen lubricated her finger while her companion grabbed Ken’s penis and pushed him backwards. Ken did not resist, because what was about to happen to him was not anything he had not experienced before. He enjoyed having his bottom penetrated and the strange feeling having his sphincter stretched always gave him. He stuck his bottom out, trying to make it easy for Kathleen to enter him with her finger.

Kathleen was fascinated by what she was doing, to the point that she forgot that she was in a room full of witnesses and she was being photographed and videotaped. She explored Ken’s waiting bottom-hole as she applied the lubricating gel, and then pushed in and moved her finger back and forth. She was curious to see what a man’s insides felt like and how far in she could push her finger. As she moved her finger around and Ken felt the familiar pressure against his sphincter, a wave of arousal swept over him. With her free hand Kathleen explored his bottom, fascinated by the smooth skin and the knowledge that before long it would be marked by 21 cruel welts.

Ken perspired and groaned as the two women worked him into an erotic frenzy. They sensuously massaged him inside and out as discharge after discharge came out of him into the jar. Ken had surrendered himself entirely and loved what was happening to him. Kathleen was totally aroused at the thought of so intimately exploring the bottom of another person and the warm, soft feel of the young man’s intestine on her gloved finger.

As she continued to feel around inside her male counterpart, Kathleen wondered what it would be like to be taken from behind. She certainly knew what it felt like to be fucked in various positions in her vagina, but most of those experiences had been associated with very unpleasant memories. She had given oral sex to her high school lovers on many occasions, but sucking a man’s penis did not satisfy her in the least. Until that moment, with her finger shoved up Ken’s bottom, it had not occurred to her that she might enjoy anal sex... with a guy.

The thought of being penetrated up her bottom both frightened and fascinated Kathleen. She had been thoroughly aroused whenever Lisa kissed and licked her bottom-hole, but obviously her lover was not capable of actually penetrating her. As she held up the jar and posed with the junior and their exhausted captive, Kathleen mulled over the idea of submitting to being fucked up the ass, just to see what it would feel like. She felt guilty because the love of her life was Lisa... however... wasn’t she, as a member of the Four-Betas, expected to explore her sexuality? What would Lisa say about her secret desires?

Cherine was the next of the female pledges called up to assist in masturbating one of the males. The third guy was fully erect as soon as he was restrained and needed very little encouragement to fill his jar. The junior gave Cherine the honor of stimulating their subject’s penis and rubbing his bottom while she worked on massaging his chest. Lisa could tell that Cherine was totally absorbed by her task and fascinated as her hands worked their magic on the restrained young man. She explored his shaven pubic area and carefully watched his penis as it pulsated and shot semen into the waiting receptacle.

Lisa got Heather’s favorite pledge, the "fat guy". One detail Lisa found interesting was how much weight he had lost in just two weeks: she estimated that he might have dropped as much as 15 pounds so far. Not surprisingly, his entire body was covered with welts, old and new, inflicted by the constant barrage of swats from Heather’s riding crop. Lisa noticed that his bottom had no new marks on it, because undoubtedly his tormentor wanted to save it for a nice thorough caning.

The junior in charge of Lisa and the pledge knew that Lisa had plenty of experience with arousing men and simply left her to stimulate the guy on her own. Lisa worked him from both the front and the back, with synchronized movements on both his prostate and his penis. Her goal was to see how quickly she could make him come, but his body turned out to be somewhat stubborn. It took her more than two minutes to find the right combination of stimulation to force him to climax and fill his jar. However, once he started, Lisa’s subject continued squirting, surprising her with the duration and volume of his discharge. He moaned and his knees trembled from the physical relief and utter humiliation he was enduring at the expense of the two women assaulting his body. Finally he was totally spent and hung limply on his chains, while Lisa held up his jar for the benefit of the cameras and audience.

Two juniors dispatched the final pledge, expertly arousing his body and forcing him to empty into his jar within just a couple of minutes. In some ways what happened to the final member of the pledge group was more humiliating than what had happened to his predecessors, because the women showed absolutely no emotion as they extracted the semen from his body. They knew where to put their hands, which nerves to touch, and worked him with about as much emotion as a pet groomer might display while shampooing a dog. And yet, they completely cleaned him out, leaving him more spent and exhausted than any of his companions.

Once five jars of semen were sitting on display, Heather announced the next phase of the ongoing punishment, the public caning of the five pledges and their Pledge Master. She decided to flog Arnold first, because, as she put it, "He deserves my undivided attention."

Arnold approached the table, but protested that he could hold his position and did not need to be tied down. Heather ignored him, and coldly strapped him to the table while calling him a "pathetic fucking failure." Lisa realized something very interesting; that Heather was not just teasing. She was genuinely furious with him.

Lisa pondered: why should the Sergeant-at-Arms be so angry that the Tri-Alphas lost the scavenger hunt? That didn’t make any sense, unless... unless... Heather actually wanted Tracy’s pledges to lose. Of course, had that happened and the sorority members been forced to attend the "Skins and Shirts" ball in the nude, Tracy would have taken most of the blame. Another thought suddenly occurred to Lisa. Maybe the reason the penalty for the losers of the scavenger hunt were so brutal was because Heather had expected the Four-Betas to lose. Perhaps she actually wanted the pledges to suffer and for them to blame the Pledge Mistress, just like she wanted the other sorority members to blame her for having to attend the dance in the nude. Maybe her goal had been to turn everyone, both the pledges and the sorority members against Tracy. Certainly losing the competition would have been a good way to do that, to undermine Tracy’s relationships with the other women of the sorority.

If Tracy was aware that Heather hoped to undermine her: that would explain her strange and secretive behavior over the weekend. It would account for her desire to sneak the pledges out of the sorority house so they could rest. It also would explain the strange argument she had over the phone with President Alexandra. Lisa remembered her mentor’s words, "Look, I don’t give a shit about Heather, I really don’t! Those pledges are my responsibility, not hers! Alexandra, you know what? If her feelings are hurt, tough shit... now, either you want my group to win, or you don’t! Which is it?"

Lisa shuddered at the implications of such a dispute. To undermine Tracy’s standing among the other women, apparently Heather was perfectly willing to jeopardize the well being of the pledges. That was a very scary thought, given the number of pledge challenges that still lay ahead.

While Lisa was mulling over the relationship between Tracy and Heather, the Four-Beta Sergeant-at-Arms was flexing her cane and menacingly tapping the Tri-Alpha officer’s exposed bottom. Lisa studied Heather’s face, which continued to reflect genuine anger. She’s pissed, thought Lisa to herself. She’s actually pissed at that poor guy.

Heather positioned herself, drew back, and laid a fearsome stroke across the base of both sides of Arnold’s bottom. He closed his eyes and held his breath, surprised by the force of the blow. He had thought that surely, because Heather was punishing a fellow officer, she would go easy on him. He had thought the punishment was more to humiliate him than actually hurt him. He was very mistaken, not yet realizing he was dealing with a woman who was totally infuriated that his group had lost.

Heather stood back to admire the rising red welt, and relished the satisfaction of knowing that she still had 24 to go. She already knew how she would proceed: she would start with five lines across the lower part of both bottom-cheeks, then hit hard with 7 strokes concentrated on each side, and then finish with strokes laid across his upper bottom and upper thighs. She would strike him as hard as she could without drawing blood, enjoying the opportunity to vent her anger and satisfy her own sadistic desires.

A sinister swoosh and the splat of rattan making contact with unprotected skin signaled the second stroke against the suffering Pledge Master. Again he gasped and suppressed a scream, not just from the pain, but also from the shock that Heather planned to inflict a very serious punishment. Heather twisted back and savagely delivered a third blow, widening the strip of pure pain across the lower part of Arnold’s backside.

Arnold was not the only one surprised by the severity of Heather’s treatment. It turned out that the other Tri-Alpha officers were equally surprised; that they had expected Arnold’s punishment to be more about humiliation than real pain. Even Alexandra, who normally was very supportive of her Sergeant-at-Arms, looked on with a nervous expression.

Arnold was breathing quite loudly and sweat was running down his body even before the first five strokes were completed. Heather paused to run her fingers along the cruel welts as they continued to rise and darken. This is really great, she thought to herself. Now he’s gonna get it, full force, on each side of his incompetent little ass.

Heather began on Arnold’s right side, carefully positioning herself so the end of the cane would land squarely in the middle of his right bottom-cheek. She struck very hard; leaving savage red lines that turned dark very quickly. By the 10th stroke Arnold was moaning after the cane landed, and it was clear that he was not going to make it through the entire punishment without crying.

Because it wasn’t the first time he had brought problems to the pledge program, Arnold’s fellow officers had thought that "quality time" with Heather might make him wake up and understand that he was not performing to the fraternity’s expectations. The only problem with the decision was that the punishment she was inflicting on him was a bit much. As they watched the punishment with mounting concern the Tri-Alpha officers glanced at each other, fully regretting their decision to allow the Four-Beta Sergeant-at-Arms to punish their Pledge Master. However, they did not intervene because they felt restrained by several Tri-Alpha traditions and unspoken rules.

The first rule was that, once a decision was made, everyone involved was sworn to uphold it. Decisions had to be carefully considered and made for good reasons, but once a decision was announced there could not be a bunch of doubt and second-guessing.

The second rule stipulated that the fraternity and sorority officers never questioned or challenged each other in public. All disputes among the leadership had to be kept secret so the ordinary members would see the their leaders as an infallible group who always supported each other. No matter what the other officers thought about Heather’s flogging, there was no way they were going to challenge her in such a public setting. She knew that, and because of it felt free to flog Arnold to her heart’s content.

The final rule, and the most important one, was that failure always had consequences, especially in cases where failure could have been avoided. Had the contest been relatively close, Arnold’s leadership skills would not have been questioned, but his group’s pathetic performance indicated that he had done nothing to prepare his pledges. The problem facing him was that scavenger hunt debacle was not the first time his pledges had gotten in trouble. They had done well with house cleaning and the physical fitness portion of their training, but academics were another issue. Already there had been complaints from a professor about two late assignments, because Arnold had not set aside enough time for the pledges to study. There also had been problems with the Tri-Alpha Life Skills Training and concerns over how much of that material they really were memorizing.

Heather paused after her 12th stroke to let everyone contemplate what she had done so far. Arnold’s bottom had five dark lines laid very close to each other on both sides at the base of his backside, and an additional seven strokes concentrated on his right side. The most recent strokes had been more severe because their force had been concentrated. Arnold’s bottom looked rather strange at that moment, because the upper part of his left bottom cheek still had no marks on it and contrasted with the painful weals on the right side and the lower part. His suffering was made quite clear by his desperate breathing and trembling. His entire body was covered in sweat, including his bottom. Good, thought Heather to herself, now my target is nice and wet.

Heather flexed her cane and moved to her victim’s left side. She made several false starts before landing a cruel blow just above the five strokes from the beginning of the punishment. When she landed her second stroke from that portion, Arnold groaned loudly and his body started shaking from suppressed sobs. The disciplinarian didn’t bother to try taunting him; she simply continued striking him at a very leisurely pace. By the time she got to the seventh stroke, Arnold was crying quite nicely.

There was a break in the punishment while Heather paused to see if she wanted to use a different cane for the final six strokes. She picked up three canes of varying lengths and thickness and slashed them through the air in front of her teary victim. Finally she selected the thinnest cane of the group, one guaranteed to deliver a very sharp sting. Satisfied with her performance, she resumed her position and delivered a vicious stroke to the unmarked skin of both sides of the very upper part of the Pledge Master’s bottom. She followed that stroke with a cruel stroke across his upper thighs. The final four strokes were administered in the same way: above-below... above-below.

Heather left Arnold to sob for a few minutes before untying him and allowing him to stagger to his feet. She ordered him to turn around so her female audience could study and photograph the welts. Then she ordered Arnold to turn his face to the camera so that both his welts and his face appeared in the pictures. All five of his pledges also would have to pose for pictures as part of the over-all punishment.

Arnold did have one break coming to him that night; he would be spared the public enema. Enemas and forced ejaculation, which were considered much more humiliating than corporal punishment, were reserved only for pledges. Heather ordered Arnold to stand against the far wall of the sitting room, to keep his punished backside on display for the benefit of the women and Tri-Alpha officers.

Lisa glanced at the other male pledges. They were terrified, quite obviously. She was not surprised to see that Ken had a furious erection. What surprised her much more was to see an erection on the "fat guy" as well. Heather also noted the erections, and ordered the two pledges to stand up and face their audience. She put her arms around their shoulders and posed for several pictures, cruelly smiling as the men’s two penises pointed directly at the cameras. When the flashing died down, she grabbed both penises and firmly held them for a second round of photos. Finally she ordered the two pledges to put their hands behind their heads and run in circles around the room. The women cheered and guffawed as the two mortified young men ran their laps while their penises bounced around as they moved.

Lisa was not surprised when Heather ordered her favorite victim to extend himself over the table next. Nor was she surprised to see the Sergeant-at-Arms punish him with as much determination and cruelty as she had punished Arnold. She used the same pattern on him: five stroke across both sides of the base of his bottom, then six strokes concentrated on each side, and finally four strokes with the thin cane on the backs of his upper thighs. The "fat guy" did surprise his spectators by not crying. Heather had beaten him so much over that last couple of weeks that he was becoming used to it.

Heather ordered her victim off the table and to display his welts for the benefit of the audience. Like his Pledge Master, he had to pose for numerous pictures. Heather then ordered him to get on his elbows and knees on a thick towel laid out on the floor, his welt-covered bottom spread and turned towards the audience. A Four-Beta junior brought a full enema bottle and hose assembly. The nozzle already had been lubricated and was ready to insert. Heather casually took it and shoved it in, repositioning it gently to make it go deeper. As the women applauded and the cameras flashed, Heather paused to let the utter humiliation of the pledge’s experience sink in. Finally she opened the clip and the water rushed into his intestines. The pledge already knew that he would be required to hold his position, on his elbows and knees with his bottom spread and pointed upwards, until the next caning was completed.

As the first pledge struggled through the throbbing pain in his backside, the increasing pressure in his stomach, and holding an uncomfortable and embarrassing position on the floor, Heather got started with the third victim of the evening. She punished using the same pattern, but Lisa noticed her striking considerably less vigorously and finishing much more quickly. Heather already had flogged the two males she was most interested in flogging and had worn herself out. Given that she still had three pledges to go, she had to be careful to pace herself and not get tired out too quickly. The third pledge made it through his punishment without sobbing, although sweat and tears were running down his face when he knelt on the towel to receive his enema.

Two Four-Beta juniors handcuffed the "fat guy" and took him downstairs to relieve himself. Then he would be shaved and, if necessary, have his bottom waxed for a second time. Finally he would be brought back upstairs, issued a Four-Beta T-shirt, and formally begin his six days of punishment duty.

Even had they not been facing punishment, at some point that week the Tri-Alpha pledges would have had to submit to being shaved by the Four-Betas. Pledging males were not allowed to have pubic hair until they completed their initiation, so about once a week they had to be shaved. Pledges also had to keep their bottoms completely free of hair, so they had to be waxed whenever there was any sign of hair growing back. Upon being sworn in as full members the pledges would be allowed to re-grow their public hair if they wanted, although many of the members of the fraternity preferred to remain clean-shaven. As for waxing the hair off their bottoms, the Tri-Alphas had made that a custom for the entire group over the past several years. At first only the gay members waxed their bottoms, but over time the straight members started waxing as well. Having their bottoms stripped of hair eventually became a trademark of the fraternity, and it turned out that most of the Four-Beta women preferred the new style on their partners.

Ken was the fifth person to be disciplined by Heather. During the entire time he was waiting to be caned his erection never diminished. Lisa glanced at her companions, noting that they were fascinated with his sexual stamina. Bernadette in particular seemed to be looking forward to having access to Ken’s body, given that she had been used to frequent sex in high school and was starting to become frustrated from not having the chance to relieve herself more often. Lisa also was looking forward to having a couple of encounters with Ken, and hoped that she could get Kathleen to experiment with him as well. For once Kathleen could be in control of her sexual contact with a male, and perhaps enjoy herself instead of feeling victimized.

For Lisa, the punishment of Ken was rather anti-climatic. Heather was clearly tired out by the time she got to him. Anyhow, he was used to much worse than a simple caning of 21 strokes. In fact, he found the experience enjoyable; the pain just severe enough that it stimulated him sexually. By the time he was let up his erection was harder than ever. The enema was hardly anything new to him either: it was just another part of the hazing he took in stride.

Already it was quite late when Heather finished punishing the final member of the pledge group and he was taken downstairs to be cleaned up. The pledges were ordered to line up in front of the women while Tracy explained that they would be placed in servitude under the sorority for the next six days. Tracy repeated the only restriction would be that the males would have time to attend class and sleep. Apart from that they were to unconditionally obey any order issued to them, which included sexual favors. She continued by suggesting that each class take a pledge so there would be fewer arguments over which sorority members each male pledge had to obey. That suggestion was put to a vote and an overwhelming majority of the women agreed.

Heather ordered one of the male pledges to stand on a small platform so the women could look him over and decided which class wanted him the most. The first man was the best-looking member of the pledge group, so the seniors laid claim to him. The juniors and sophomores disputed the second and third pledges, because both classes were split over which one each group wanted. Finally Tracy rolled her eyes and told the juniors to vote on which of the two pledges they wanted the most. The sophomores would have to take the other one. Arnold went next, claimed by the sorority officers. Finally Tracy handed the "fat guy" over to Heather, leaving Ken for herself and the Four-Beta pledge group.

As the males knelt, Tracy explained that they would be sleeping on cots in the pledge room in the basement. They would use the communal showers and toilet, and remain on-call to serve the members of their respective classes. Meanwhile, the Four-Beta pledges would get a six-day break from the harshest conditions of their daily lives. They would be allowed to wear their pledge uniforms in the house, use the upstairs bathrooms, and sleep in the beds of the guestroom. They still were held accountable for cleaning the house to inspection code on Saturday, but would have some help. Because he was "their" pledge, Ken would be subordinate to them and be held responsible for helping them with their chores.

A few minutes later the Tri-Alpha officers left the sorority to return to the fraternity house, minus their pledges and their disgraced Pledge Master. The sorority members were dismissed for the night and departed upstairs with their new servants. Tracy snapped her fingers to lead her pledge group and Ken downstairs. Once the five pledges were kneeling she announced, "OK, Pledge Ken, you know what you’re supposed to do?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"What?"

"I mean... I’m supposed to do whatever anyone in the pledge group tells me to do, ma’am."

"You got it, Pledge. We’ll see how well you understand that. Remember, I expect you to ask permission to do anything, and that includes pissing or getting a drink of water. If you gotta piss, you gotta ask permission. And there’s something else. You don’t talk, at all, unless someone talks to you first. That’s especially true for talking to the other Triple A’s. There’s absolutely no talking among you for the next six days. For each time I catch you or hear about you talking without permission, you’re stay here will be extended by one day. That’s one day for each violation. And that goes for all of you. Get it?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"Alright. I gotta study so I’m turning you over to the pledge group. At 11:30 they’ll need to let you go to sleep, but in the meantime I expect you to do whatever they tell you."

"Yes, ma’am."

With that Tracy went upstairs to take her usual seat in the library.

Bernadette immediately shouted, "I got him first!"

Lisa sighed, "OK, you got him first, but each of us is getting our turn. We’re giving you an hour."

With that Bernadette ordered Ken to put his hands behind his back so she could cuff him. He knelt and complied, holding up his arms while the Four-Beta pledge secured them. Bernadette then grabbed her captive’s penis and ordered him to stand up. His reaction to being cuffed, ordered around, and fondled was immediate: he became quite hard.

Bernadette turned to Cherine: "You want to come with us? Make it a threesome?"

"Uh... I... don’t think so..."

"Alright, your loss."

Still gripping his very stiff penis, Bernadette led Ken out of the pledge room and into the guestroom. She shut the door, thrilled at having a completely compliant male at her command for a full hour. Yes! This was it! This was why she had joined the Four-Betas!

As soon as Bernadette closed the door of the guestroom, she stroked Ken’s penis a couple of times and un-cuffed him. She was desperate for sex, so the foreplay she might have wanted to try out with him would have to wait. She pulled down her shorts and stepped out of them, then jumped on one of the beds. She got on her elbows and knees, lewdly exposing herself. As soon as she felt the cool air of the room blowing against her exposed vagina, she was reminded of her exposure and became very wet.

"There’s condoms in that night stand. Put one on and fuck me. You’d better fuck me good, ‘cause I’ll beat your ass if you don’t."

Ken’s masochism and own pent-up sexual desires came out as he struggled to put on his condom and ran his hand over Bernadette’s pale bottom. Bernadette’s skin had darkened slightly over the past three weeks from being naked most of the time, but her color was still a lot fairer than Lisa’s deep tan. Ken found the contrast fascinating, along the different shape of her petite figure and reddish pubic hair.

As he entered her and began thrusting, the pain from the recent caning shot through his body and gave him that extra burst of erotic energy. Bernadette perspired and squeaked with pleasure as she pushed her body backward to get Ken even deeper inside her. A delicious orgasm swept over her... yes... oh yes... this was good... oh yes...

As he continued thrusting and pumping semen into his condom, various thoughts and fantasies drifted through the young man’s mind. As first he simply enjoyed the sight of the attractive young body of his companion, and the contrast between her pink pledge shirt and pale bottom and thighs. However, Ken’s confused sexual nature did not allow him to hold that thought very long. His mind wandered and eventually he envisioned himself entering his friend Jason from behind. Yes... poor nervous Jason, with his hands tied and his bottom spread, groaning from the pressure of Ken’s penis tearing into his helpless bottom-hole. Jason... his backside cruelly marked from a severe punishment and his bottom-hole presented as a final gesture of submission... yes... that was the thought that flowed through Ken’s mind. Jason was his, not Cecilia’s, to do with as he pleased.

Bernadette was surprised and impressed with the vigor of Ken’s orgasm, not realizing what was going on in her lover’s mind at that moment. It was clear that Ken was enjoying his orgasm, but not for the reasons she thought. Ken was not fantasizing about her; he was fantasizing about a male friend.

Bernadette was tired out after that first orgasm, but she wanted to make good use of her hour. She lay on her back on the bed, put her feet over the edge, and spread her legs. She ordered Ken to take off his condom and wipe himself off. Then she directed him to "clean me up".

Ken complied, licking the sticky salty liquid of Bernadette’s orgasm off her vagina. He had done the same for Lisa plenty of times, but it was different with Bernadette because she did not shave her pubic hair. Unlike the Tri-Alphas, the Four-Betas did not have any shaving requirements for their pledges. Lisa was the only member of the pledge group who completely shaved, so dealing with Bernadette’s hair was a new and different experience for a man used to a lover whose pubic area was totally stripped of hair.

Ken spent several minutes trying to figure out what excited Bernadette as he explored her labia, clitoris, and vaginal opening with his tongue and lips. He discovered that there were differences between what excited Lisa and what excited Bernadette. After about fifteen minutes of enjoying Ken’s oral stimulation, Bernadette’s body was ready to climax for a second time. She groaned with delight and grabbed his hair as he continued his assault on her eager clitoris.

Within about 45 minutes Bernadette was sufficiently satisfied to leave the room and turn Ken over to her companions. Without bothering to put her shorts back on she cuffed his hands behind his back and ordered him to go into the hallway and kneel facing the wall. Meanwhile, she took advantage of the bathroom adjacent to the guestroom to take a shower. She gladly closed the door, relishing the opportunity to get cleaned up in private.

Bernadette exited the bathroom to see Ken still kneeling and her fellow pledges nowhere in sight. She figured that Lisa must have gone up to the library to study and taken the others with her. Sure enough, Bernadette found her companions sitting at a table together, taking notes on an assignment. Bernadette called Cherine to follow her downstairs. As Ken quietly continued to kneel facing the wall, the two young women contemplated what to do with him.

"You want to do anything?"

"I... I’m not sure. Probably not."

Bernadette rolled her eyes. "Probably not. Probably not. If you don’t want to do anything, what’d you join the sorority for?"

Cherine took a deep breath. "I’ve never done anything like that... you know... just some kissing. I never let anyone go any further. I mean... I know the guys didn’t like it, but... I’ve always wanted the first time to be... you know like... special... not just with anyone..."

"And your special guy is Jacob?"

"Yeah, kinda..."

"So you’re saving yourself for him?"

Cherine nodded her head. Bernadette again glanced at Ken, then back at her companion. She had brought Cherine to the basement because she felt that it was necessary to get her friend to open her mind to the possibilities of sex and the enjoyment it could bring to a person’s life. She found Cherine’s entire "virginity" thing ridiculous, because Bernadette had been sexually active since she was 15. To be 18, as good-looking as Cherine, and never to have had sex struck her as extremely odd. She perceived Cherine’s innocence as more than just odd; she saw it as a deficiency in her life that needed to be fixed.

Bernadette realized that arguing with Cherine about her virginity would be counter-productive, but she hoped to convince her friend that she could both "save herself" and still enjoy much of what sex had to offer. Ken presented the perfect opportunity, because he would not do anything that Cherine had not told him to do. Cherine could completely control her encounter with him and hopefully overcome her shyness. Anyhow, Bernadette was convinced that Ken was spent and would be surprised if he were capable of having an erection within the next hour.

In the end, Bernadette convinced Cherine that she had to take advantage of Ken’s situation. As she put it: "you’re nuts if you think you’re gonna get through the Four-Beta pledging program all sweet and innocent. They’re not gonna allow it! And if you want to be with Jacob, he’s gonna expect you to complete the pledging program. All of it. And don’t try thinking he’s the picture of purity either, because he’s not. I mean... he’s even fucked Heather, for God’s sake!"

"I don’t care! I’m not gonna lose my virginity! I’m not gonna do that! I don’t care what they want, I’m not losing my virginity until I decide..."

"You don’t have to ‘lose your virginity!’ There’s plenty of other stuff you can do!"

"Like what?"

Bernadette sighed, but she realized she might be close... "Can I get you to trust me?"

"I guess..."

"No. I mean, really trust me? This is gonna be important. I wanna have you do something, but I promise I won’t mess up your virginity."

"What do you want me to do?"

"It’s too complicated to explain. I’m just asking you to trust me."

Cherine took a deep breath. "Alright, I’ll trust you."

"Stand still. Just try to relax and let things happen. OK?"

"I... Alright..."

Bernadette abruptly reached into Cherine’s pocket and took out her blindfold. She wrapped it around her companion’s head and loosely tied it in place. Her heart pounding at the thought of being deprived of one of her senses, Cherine took a deep breath. She heard the clicking of a key unlocking Ken’s handcuffs, and the faint sound of him getting to his feet. Then she heard Bernadette’s voice, "Take her hand."

Cherine felt Ken’s hand gently grasp hers and allowed herself to be guided into the guestroom. She felt a gentle pressing on her right shoulder, presumably to help guide her through the doorway. She stood still for a second, and then felt her uniform shirt being un-tucked and loosened around her waist. Then she felt the shirt being pulled up over her stomach. One pair of invisible hands took her wrists and guided her arms over her head, while the other pair of hands pulled up her shirt. She felt the cool air of the room against her breasts and upper back, then the cloth move upwards over her face and arms. Her heart pounding, Cherine was left wearing nothing but her blindfold and her gym shorts.

Cherine expected to have her gym shorts pulled down next, but instead felt a pair of hands massaging her shoulders. She realized that it was Ken who was massaging her, because the hands were too large to belong to Bernadette. Very gently the hands moved from her shoulders to her upper back, and then to her arms and hands. The touching converted her fear to sexual arousal, and within a few minutes her nipples began to harden. The hands moved from her arms to her stomach and breasts. When Ken began exploring Cherine’s nipples, he barely touched them. Cherine began wanting more. She wanted to be touched.

The next sensation she felt was her shorts being lowered. They went down slowly, allowing her to appreciate the air caressing her bottom as more and more of it came into view. The shorts worked their way down her thighs and fell to her ankles. Cherine then felt Ken’s hands on her shoulders while Bernadette silently touched her to signal she needed to lift her feet and step out of her shorts.

Now Cherine’s entire body was exposed. She felt Ken’s fingertips explore her bared bottom and move up and down her back. The invisible hands moved to the fronts of her thighs, up her hips, up her stomach, and gently brushed past her breasts. At that moment Bernadette quietly slipped out of the room and went into the hallway. She had no further interest in watching Cherine’s sexual encounter with Ken; she simply wanted to make sure that it happened and that her friend could start getting rid of her inhibitions.

As soon as her body reacted to his latest explorations, Ken guided Cherine onto her stomach on the bed. He spent a long time massaging her; first to relax her and then to stimulate her. He started on her shoulders and neck, but then moved to her bottom and upper thighs. He concentrated on touching the sensitive area around her bottom-hole, waiting for her to spread her legs and expose herself even more. Finally Ken’s attentions were rewarded as Cherine opened her legs to allow him to touch her in between her thighs.

Cherine’s physical desires filled her thoughts when Ken gently took her shoulders and signaled that he wanted her to roll on her back. She complied. Later she would look back in amazement that the she had flipped over with no hesitation whatsoever, but at that moment her physical desires completely controlled her. Ken massaged her thighs and slowly worked his way to her vagina. Cherine was very wet. She was ready.

Ken touched Cherine's clitoris with the tip of his tongue, and then worked his way downward to her vagina and labia. She gasped and spread her legs as he explored and tantalized her vulva. Finally he returned to her clitoris and tickled it with the tip of his tongue. She climaxed immediately, filling the room with high-pitched moans.

As soon as Bernadette heard Cherine's moans die down, she opened the door and silently signaled to Ken that she wanted him to exit the room. She told him to go to the pledge shower and clean himself up. Once Ken was out of the room, Bernadette turned off the light and shut the door to let her friend recover in private.

Cherine was left in the room alone, exhausted, spent, and completely disoriented. She pulled off her blindfold, only to stare up at the dark ceiling. Her physical exhaustion, her inability at that moment to feel any stress, and the silence of her surroundings made her wonder if what had just happened to her was even real. Not being able to see what was going on had given her orgasm dream-like sensation that was heightened by the fact that she now was alone in a quiet dark room.

She had no desire, and no need to get up. She pulled the covers over herself and allowed the sweet exhaustion to sweep over her body. For several minutes she enjoyed the feeling of tired bliss, before slowly drifting off into a very deep sleep.

Chapter 24 -- Pledge Ken’s Illusion

Once he was cleaned up, Ken knelt in the pledge room to await further orders. Bernadette went upstairs to fetch Lisa, figuring that probably she would want to go next. However, given that it already was close to 10:00 p.m. Lisa decided that it was time to put Ken to bed and enjoy a good night’s sleep in the guest room. As much as she wanted to enjoy Ken and encourage Kathleen to enjoy him, Lisa figured that a good night’s sleep was more important and that her time with Ken could wait until Tuesday night.

Lisa approached Tracy, knelt, and requested permission to release Ken and go to sleep. However, Tracy had other plans, "You four are going to sleep, but he’s not. Have Pledge Ken go to my room, because I’m gonna want to use him before he goes to bed."

"Use him..." Tracy’s saying it like he’s an appliance, thought Lisa to herself. She felt bad for Ken, but knew better than to argue. She replied, "Yes, ma’am," and went downstairs to fetch her ex-boyfriend. Lisa escorted Ken to Tracy, and knelt alongside him.

"You are dismissed, Pledge Lisa. Pledge Ken, you will accompany me to my room."

"Yes, Pledge Mistress Tracy."

Ken followed Tracy up to her room, not sure what awaited him. He suspected he was about to suffer the same sadistic treatment that his companion undoubtedly was enduring from Heather, but fortunately what Tracy wanted from him was very straightforward. She ordered him to unfold a massage table and cover it with a sheet. Meanwhile she stripped off her clothes and jumped on top.

"How much do you know about giving massages, Pledge?"

"I... I did some with Pledge Lisa..."

"OK, then you’re doing me. Concentrate on the soles of my feet, my calves, my butt, and my neck. I’m gonna want you to give me an orgasm later on, but the first thing I want you to do is relax me."

"Yes, ma’am."

As Ken massaged Tracy, occasionally she gave him instructions to press harder or change the direction of his strokes. He expected her to tell him when she wanted him to move from one part of her body to the next, which she did. He spent over 30 minutes on the backs of her legs alone, and another 20 minutes on her bottom. He was surprised by how thoroughly she wanted her bottom massaged, first by having her muscles pressed hard, and then by having her skin stroked and caressed. Finally he worked his way up her back to her neck and shoulders, spending another 15 minutes on that section of her body.

When Tracy flipped on her back, her attractive body was exposed to Ken in its entirety. She wanted him to massage her thighs, arms, and breasts, but she also was curious to see if touching her would arouse him. She ordered him to pay extra attention to her breasts and lightly touch her nipples until they were erect. Finally she ordered him to explore and massage her vulva. She slowly became wet as she became aroused, but then surprised him by flipping over on her stomach again.

Tracy wanted additional attention to her bottom. At first what she requested was more deep tissue massage, but then she instructed him to begin slapping both sides of her bottom in rapid succession using both hands. Ken started gently at first, but Tracy told him to slowly increase the force of his slaps and keep increasing until she told him to stop.

SLAP-SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP

Ken nervously landed rapid blows as the shade of pink in the Pledge Mistress’s bottom turned darker and darker from the ongoing barrage of quick smacks. He continued for what seemed a very long time, slowly increasing the force of the rapid swats. Tracy took a deep breath and held onto the massage table as the barrage continued.

SLAP-SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP

Tracy’s bottom became quite red, but she held her position and continued to lie quietly on the table. It was obvious that she was enjoying the sharp stinging from Ken’s efforts and wanted the slapping to continue. Her bottom began to swell as her skin took on a deep shade of pink and Ken’s hands became tired, but still there was no sign from her that she wanted him to stop.

Tracy never felt the need to submit herself for physical discipline or face reprimand, and under no circumstances would have allowed a partner to strike her in anger or with an implement. However, while she was hazed as a pledge she discovered that she enjoyed the physical sensation of a stinging bottom. What she sought was a nice even burning, spread over her backside as it slowly intensified and approached the line between pleasure and pain. She wanted the stinging prolonged as much as possible at a very specific intensity, which was why she liked her partner to start gently and slowly build up to what she desired. Ken had found that ideal level of stinging, and for a very long time Tracy was content to lie quietly and enjoy what was happening to her.

SLAP-SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP- SLAP

"Ohhh... Ohhh..."

Tracy’s body broke out in perspiration as she arched her backside, exposing it even more to the ongoing barrage of slaps. She reached underneath to massage her clitoris. Finally she was stimulated enough to want...

The Pledge Mistress suddenly rolled off the massage table and got on her elbows and knees, spreading her very red bottom-cheeks and placing herself on lewd display. For the third time that evening, Ken was confronted with the sight of a woman’s naked backside, but the emotional turmoil he felt was much greater than what he had felt when satisfying Bernadette and Cherine. He was deeply afraid of the intimidating sorority officer, and he found that fear extremely erotic. What made his situation even more erotic was the contrast between her dominating personality and the sight of her spanked bottom and submissive posture. Fear mixed with sexual arousal as he quickly became hard. He gently touched Tracy’s wet vagina to stimulate her even more, then grabbed her thighs and pushed in.

Ken thrust vigorously as confused fantasies swept through his mind. He was excited by the thought of spanking and entering his fierce companion, but also the ongoing physical sensation from his own caning continued to stimulate him as well. His fantasies wandered to Jason, then to Lisa, then to himself, and finally back to Tracy. When he climaxed, his sexual fantasies were right where they started, focused on the person with whom he was making love at the moment.

The normal tension in Tracy’s personality subsided somewhat as she climaxed. Her muscles were relaxed from the massage, her bottom stimulated from the slapping, and her sexual drive temporarily satiated by the pledge’s vigorous thrusts. She led Ken into the sorority officers’ bathroom and into the shower. She instructed him to turn on the water and soap her body, making sure that she was completely clean. She placed her hands against the wall as she spread her legs and ordered him to soap and clean her still-reddish bottom and sweaty vulva. She toweled off and ordered him to clean up and return with her to her room.

Tracy quickly put on a pair of shorts and a Four-Beta T-shirt while Ken knelt. Once she was seated in an armchair, she returned to her role as Ken’s superior.

"Pledge, do you understand why you’re here? In my room with me?"

"I... to satisfy your physical needs, ma’am?"

"That’s part of it, but there’s more. First of all we need to get something straight. What we just did, you will keep to yourself. The sorority has an agreement with the Triple-A’s that if an officer of the sorority requests a favor from a fraternity underclassman, that underclassman is not allowed to talk about it. If you ever tell anyone about the details of our encounter, you face expulsion from the fraternity. Do you understand that?

"Yes, ma’am."

"OK, now let’s move on to you. I’d have to admit that Lisa was right about your sexual performance. You’re pretty good. You certainly satisfied me. Once you get going, it’s hard to imagine all those hang-ups you’re dealing with."

"Uh... thank you, ma’am."

"Now, here’s a question for you, Pledge. When you were inside me, what were you thinking about?"

"To be honest, my mind kinda wandered..."

"Wandered in what way?"

"I... you know... like... fantasize about different people... and..."

"Did you fantasize about Pledge Lisa?"

"Yes, ma’am. For a little bit..."

"What about me?"

"Yes, ma’am. I was thinking about you too."

"What about Jason Schmidt?"

"Him too, ma’am."

"What about any other guys besides Jason? I mean, right now?"

Ken paused for a moment. He realized he hadn’t fantasized about anyone else.

"No, ma’am. It was just Jason."

"Another question. Do you find yourself fantasizing about Lisa and Jason at the same time?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"Has that ever happened to you before in your life, where you’d fantasize about a guy and a girl at the same time?"

"Uh... it happened to me in high school, ma’am. Same thing, really. I was dating this girl, but there was a guy on my tennis team (I played tennis in high school), who used to wear a jockstrap whenever he played or practiced. He was the only guy on the team who wore one. And every day he’d strip down, change into that jockstrap, and then go weigh himself and get a drink of water at the fountain. And I really wanted to touch, you know, his bare ass. But I never did. I never really got the chance. But I thought about him all the time."

"Was he in a relationship with someone else?"

"Yes, ma’am. He was dating a cheerleader. That’s why I never said anything."

"OK, now tell me about Jason Schmidt. What was it about him that you liked so much?"

Ken thought for a moment. Why did he like Jason so much? To start, Jason was very pleasant to look at, with his young face and attractive runner’s body, which usually was on display. Ken was used to seeing Jason running around naked, because he only got dressed if he had to leave the male wing of his dorm’s floor. Whenever Ken went into Jason’s room or ran into him in the bathroom, he was sure to find him completely undressed. He had seen Jason uncovered in public plenty of times as well, modeling for art classes, speaking at nudist promotional events, and above all, during his very public performance winning the previous fall’s Tri-Alpha nude 10-K run.

During his first year in college, Ken spent as much of his time as he could with Jason. What fascinated him was Jason’s determination to be naked whenever possible. Jason was more than just a nudist; he was something of an exhibitionist and loved being naked around other people. At first Ken simply enjoyed looking at his friend’s body, but as time went on, he became very attracted to him. Ken usually took off his clothes in Jason’s presence, not because he was a nudist, but because eventually he hoped to seduce him.

The problem for Ken was that Jason was totally oblivious. Jason Schmidt was not the brightest person he had ever known and had a very passive personality. Had they been alone, Ken believed that he would have easily seduced Jason, but unfortunately Cecilia Sanchez got to him first. Cecilia needed a boyfriend she could control, and found that in Jason. Within days of meeting him, she zeroed in on him and completely took over his life. Ken had no hope of fulfilling his hidden desire, because Jason’s entire existence revolved around keeping his sharp-tempered girlfriend happy. Apart from that, it seemed that Cecilia rarely let him out of her sight and carefully watched anyone around him.

Ken ended up with Lisa for the same reason that Lisa ended up with Ken, by default. The couple discovered that Ken’s sexual drive was released if he was afraid or subjected to physical pain. Lisa knew how to make him afraid, and in doing so got really great orgasms out of him. The orgasms were so satisfying they were addictive, but at the same time Ken’s desire for Jason only increased. By the end of the spring semester, he still was making love to Lisa, but fantasizing about making love to Jason.

Tracy interrupted him, "In other words, what happened between you and Jason Schmidt is a repeat of what happened to you in high school. You see a sexy guy without his clothes, and you want him, but you can’t have him. Right?"

A repeat of his experience in high school. Ken hadn’t thought about it like that, but he realized the Pledge Mistress was right. His experience with Jason mirrored what had happened two years earlier with his teammate in the school’s locker room.

"So, in other words, you’ve never actually done anything with guys, just fantasized about it?"

"Yes, ma’am. Just fantasy... so far, at any rate."

"Another question. Are you attracted to any of the guys in the fraternity right now?"

"No ma’am. The only guy I really want is Jason. I’m just hoping he’ll come back, and maybe..."

Tracy’s mouth fell open and she rolled her eyes.

"Hoping he’ll come back? What are you talking about? There’s no way Jason’s coming back! Haven’t you been following the news? Don’t you know what he’s done?"

"Uh... no, ma’am. Pledge Master Arnold hasn’t given us any time for stuff like checking the news."

Tracy let out a disgusted sigh and stood up to grab a news magazine sitting on her desk. She handed it to Ken. The cover featured the televised image of a well-dressed middle-aged man with very short hair, under the title: America’s Black Eye.

Ken did not recognize the man in the picture until he read the caption: “Danubian Prime Minister Vladim Dukov”.

Ken opened the magazine and thumbed to an article featuring a photograph of Jason Schmidt speaking into a microphone. Ken read: Damning evidence: a corporate son seeks atonement for his father’s sins.

- Surprise prosecution witness sinks Mega-Town’s hopes of acquittal

- MTA suffers a humiliating defeat as coup conspirators are convicted in Danubian court

- "It can’t get much worse than this. It’s going to completely shut us down over there."

Ken skimmed the article, which answered his question why Jason and Cecilia had left the United States in such a rush in the middle of May.

According to the article, Jason had traveled to Danube City to testify about sensitive information he had snuck out of his father’s house in Wisconsin while staying there over Spring Break. The purloined items detailed a coup planned against the Danubian government sponsored by a group of investors and executives from Mega-Town Associates. Apparently it was Jason who first alerted Prime Minister Vladim Dukov about the coup, and it was only because of his information the scheme failed.

The Danubian military moved against the coup plotters on April 21, only 48 hours before the takeover was scheduled to take place. There was no doubt the coup plot was a very serious effort to take over the country, because the Danubians captured hundreds of mercenaries and local collaborators, three CEOs from the corporation itself, piles of stashed weapons, and worst of all, volumes of documentation and military maps. The Danubians were quick to scan all the documents and dump them on the Internet, to ensure the world knew in detail what the U.S. conglomerate wanted to do to their country. The arrests, the capture of all those sensitive documents and their release to the public, and the trials of the conspirators took place so quickly that the company did not have time to effectively counter the disaster.

Jason Schmidt’s testimony in the trial was crucial because he was the person who connected the evidence captured in Upper Danubia to the original conspiracy in the U.S. He openly testified that he was the one who first warned the Danubian government and thus was the person who ultimately prevented the coup.

Jason Schmidt might have won the hearts of the Danubians and anyone else who disliked Mega-Town’s business practices, but he had just made plenty of very influential enemies on Wall Street. He single-handedly disrupted a plan worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and was responsible for additional financial losses resulting from the scandal’s fallout. One financial analyst estimated that Jason’s actions might have cost U.S. corporate investors as much as 20 billion dollars.

"I hope that kid realizes what he’s done to the American investment community, because he’s dead meat. If I were him, I wouldn’t be getting much sleep right now."

Tracy took back the magazine.

"I think you’d better forget about Jason Schmidt. You’d better forget you ever knew him. I can guarantee you won’t be seeing him anytime soon, so how about moving on?"

For a long time Ken knelt quietly, not sure how to respond. Tracy could tell that he was deeply saddened by the news she had just given him. Finally, impatient at his prolonged silence, she continued, "Pledge, I got a question for you. I’m wondering if you were ever really in love with Jason Schmidt. I mean the real Jason... the one who testified in Danube City and is dating Cecilia Sanchez. Maybe that wasn’t the Jason you fell in love with. Maybe the Jason you fell in love with is nothing more than an illusion, an idealized fantasy that you created for your own psychological needs."

"I... I don’t know..."

"That’s fine. You don’t know. But at least you’re willing to admit that’s a possibility?"

"I ‘spose it could be, ma’am. Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought..."

"Well, that’s something for you to sleep on." Tracy glanced at her clock. "It’s 11:15. Almost lights-out."

"Yes, ma’am."

"PLEDGE, STAND-UP!"

With that Ken was released, and his first day at the sorority house came to an end.

While the female pledges slept in the comfortable beds of the guest room, the male pledges and their disgraced Pledge Master slept on the open cots of the Four-Beta pledge room.

The feeling in the room was a combination of fatigue, resignation, and relief. What probably was the worst day out of the week had come and gone. The males knew that what the women could do to them was restricted by the fact the group had to progress with their studies, which meant that they had to have enough rest to be alert in their classes. It was true they would fall behind somewhat in their homework and term papers, but would be expected to catch up once their internment ended and they returned to the fraternity.

With the exception of the pledge under the control of Heather, the young men had a very good chance of avoiding any further physical punishment, apart from the constant "hurry up" smacks they got on their bottoms. All they had to do was obey the whims of their mistresses, which was something they already were conditioned to do at the fraternity. For the most part their duties included constantly giving full body massages, rubdowns with soap in the shower, foot rubs, and oral sex. Some of the women liked having their toes, breasts, or bottoms kissed and licked, but the rule was that if a sorority member wanted attention to any part of her body; her body had to be thoroughly washed before she approached the pledge. Mostly what the women wanted was to have the males comfort them and attend to their various physical needs.

A few of the Four-Betas also wanted to use the male pledges for regular sex. The women who wanted intercourse were the ones with hidden sexual needs like Tracy, were between relationships, or simply wanted a casual orgasm to relax. The pledges soon learned that the women who wanted normal sex were in the minority, given that most of them were in relationships either with members of the fraternity or other members in the sorority. Thus the pledges were able to accommodate their mistresses, because obviously a single male would not have been capable of having a dozen orgasms every night for six days. Typically the Triple A’s needed to service two or three women over a 24-hour period, something all of them were capable of doing.

Although he was under only five women, Ken expected to be kept very busy. Bernadette planned to have sex with him at least once each day and also have him massage and perform oral sex on Cherine. Lisa would want sex from him as well, and try to get Kathleen to experiment with him. That meant at least two orgasms per night, and possibly three.

As for the Pledge Mistress, Ken suspicion she would want nightly rounds of sex turned out to be unfounded. Tracy was satisfied with her experience, but she had no desire to climax every night. Tracy figured she would use Ken one more time, perhaps during the weekend. Apart from that her attitude was to let her pledges have him.

Ken had trouble getting to sleep, in spite of being horribly fatigued. His evening’s experience did nothing to set his mind at ease, because his thoughts raced between two women, Lisa and Tracy, and his increasingly vague and confusing thoughts about Jason Schmidt.

Precisely because Jason was so completely out of reach, Ken wanted him more than ever. However, Tracy’s blunt and stinging words continued to echo in his mind, "I think you’d better forget about Jason Schmidt. You’d better forget you ever knew him. I can guarantee you won’t be seeing him anytime soon, so how about moving on?"

How about moving on? Yes, he had to move on. He could either try to hold onto an increasingly distant fantasy, or he could move on. Those were his choices.

Was there anyone in the fraternity who might replace Jason in Ken’s desires? Would it be possible for Ken to explore that side of himself with another guy? Ken thought about it and came up with a surprising answer, no. He had to confront a very strange truth, that at least at that point in his life, he was not really attracted to other men apart from Jason. Over the past couple of weeks he had been touched, bathed, and masturbated by other men, but had not found the experience to be nearly as pleasurable as he had anticipated. There was a practical exercise coming up the following week that would encourage the pledges to explore anal sex, but Ken realized he really was not looking forward to having to deal with entering another man or having another man enter him. As for kissing another guy, that was not something he really wanted to do, except for Jason.

Out of his confusion, Ken realized that his desire to explore intimacy with other guys was limited to Jason Schmidt. He badly wanted to hug Jason, massage Jason, kiss Jason, and seduce Jason. But Ken’s lust for Jason did not extend to lust for other guys. Any desire he felt when looking at any other man’s naked body was not really desire directed towards the guy he was looking at, but the fantasy of Jason morphed into his thoughts.

Ken’s mental wanderings moved to the women who surrounded him at the moment. He dismissed Bernadette and Cherine, because they did not appeal to him in the least. However, much to his surprise, he found the Four-Beta Pledge Mistress very desirable. Her dominating personality and know-it-all attitude, coupled with her surprisingly submissive style of lovemaking, totally fascinated him. To Ken, Tracy was even more fascinating than Lisa, because of the contradiction between her behavior in public and her secret sexual tastes. Another part of Tracy that fascinated Ken was the seriousness of her personality. There was not a hint of playfulness in Tracy, not a hint of anything "extra" in her character. Her life consisted of her studies, her position in the sorority, physical fitness, and her military obligations.

Tracy’s treatment of Ken fit her overall character and her disdain for "extras" in her life. The sexual encounter and the way it took place indicated that she did not have time to dedicate to a regular boyfriend. She had sexual cravings, but only satisfied them if she could do so without incurring any obligations to her partner. It was obvious that she wanted to spend time with Ken for one purpose, to satisfy a physical need. There was no hint of any relationship once that need was satisfied.

However, as unadorned as Tracy’s own emotional life might be, she took a professional interest in trying to make people understand their own life circumstances and recognize self-defeating attitudes and their resulting behavior. Once she was finished satisfying herself with Ken, she wanted nothing more to do with him socially, but still took an interest in his confused sexual identity. She did not judge him for his treatment of Lisa and desire for Jason, but she did want to ensure he realized that Jason had no relevance in his life. She also wanted to make sure he began the process of understanding what was his sexual identity and how to make his desires a positive part of his existence instead of a negative one.

As he lay awake, now irritated by the snoring of one of his group mates, Ken realized that his sexuality did not fall into any particular category. He certainly was not gay, because he felt attraction towards Lisa, and now Tracy. He was not really bi-sexual, because he did not feel a general attraction for other guys. His sexual craving for other men was limited to three people so far; his tennis teammate, Jason, and another classmate in high school who happened to look a lot like... Jason, and... also... his teammate.

Suddenly Ken realized he had made a connection between his love interests and that his attraction to other guys was very limited. To trigger his desire, a guy had to have a very special combination of personality traits, appearance, and life circumstances. All three of the guys he liked were thin and athletic, had passive personalities, were uninhibited about exposing their bodies, and above all, "straight". All three of those guys had girlfriends at the time Ken became interested in them. In all three circumstances he fantasized about seducing his target and taking him away from his girlfriend. Ken now realized that if a guy did not have that combination of life circumstances, he would not be interested in him. The problem was that the fantasies were inherently self-defeating, because the guys he wanted were precisely the ones he knew he never could have. With Jason, Ken was pursuing the impossible, and that was precisely what made Jason so desirable. Ken wanted Jason because he knew that he couldn’t have him.

As his thoughts dwelled on various girls he had liked (and dated), Ken realized that it also took a precise combination of characteristics to make him interested in a woman. She had to be very tall, athletic, studious, serious, and not silly or rowdy. Above all, she had to be intimidating. He had to fear her and respect her to be attracted. That explained a lot. For example, it explained why Ken felt no interest in Bernadette and Cherine, even though most men would find them very attractive. According to his tastes, they were too short. Apart from that, Bernadette’s rowdy playfulness and Cherine’s shyness were big turn-offs. Those two freshmen were not serious and intimidating like Lisa and Tracy. It also explained why Ken found Tracy somewhat more desirable than Lisa. Tracy matched Ken’s ideal woman in her purest form, because her no-nonsense character was even more extreme than that of Lisa.

There was one significant difference between Ken’s desires for potential male and female partners. His relationship with Lisa and his encounter with Tracy made him realize that his sexual taste in females could be satisfied. The combination of what he wanted in a male made the fantasy completely unattainable. It also explained why Ken failed to appreciate his relationship with Lisa as he dwelled on his fantasy with Ken. Lisa was part of his daily routine, while Jason was distant enough to allow Ken to idealize him.

Because he had enjoyed a sexual encounter with her, in one way Ken already had fulfilled part of his fantasy with the Four-Beta Pledge Mistress. However, she had asked him to make love to her precisely because she wanted sex, not any type of commitment. From the outset Ken understood that, as a partner, Tracy was every bit as unattainable as Jason. Still, image of her stern face, lovely body, and spanked bottom was burned into his mind and his fantasies. He fervently hoped that he could make love to Tracy at least one more time before his internment ended.

That was progress for him, because for the first time in several months Ken’s thoughts were not focused on Jason Schmidt.

Chapter 25 -- Bernadette's New Clique

Tuesday morning began with the usual morning PT. The male pledges and their Pledge Master were assigned to Heather and faced a truly grueling hour of harsh exercising, complete with constant swats with her riding crop. The morning promised not to be much easier for the Lisa and her companions, because that was the first day President Alexandra wanted the pledges to exercise running up and down the stairs of the stadium. The pledges would be expected to keep up with the sophomores and no longer would be allowed to stretch on the football field during the stair runs.

The women made their usual trek to the stadium, but the pledges were in for a surprise. The sorority had a tradition to motivate the freshmen to move as fast as the sophomores when conducting stair training. Once they were standing at the base of the bleachers the pledges noticed the sophomores glancing at them with knowing smirks. Then they found out why.

Alexandra addressed the group, "Pledges, now you get to prove yourselves on the stairs! Strip off your uniforms, except your shoes and socks. Fold your clothes neatly and resume the position of attention!"

As shocking as the order was, by now the pledges were conditioned to quickly obey. Within 15 seconds their uniforms were off their bodies and within another 15 seconds the clothes were neatly folded on the ground. The owners stood at attention in the early morning sunlight shining on their bare bodies, nervously waiting for their next order.

"You’ll have to earn your clothes back, Pledges! I’m not giving you anything; you’ll have to earn it! You will keep up with your future sorority sisters, or you'll stay like you are for the run back! It’s your choice: keep up, or run bare until you do! Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma’am!"

With that the sophomores and their four naked companions began the grueling trek up the cement stairs of the stadium. From the first day they ran to the stadium they had known the moment was coming for them to start stair training. However, the pledges had not expected to be doing it so soon or face the prospect of running back to the sorority naked if they could not keep up.

The sophomores casually moved up flight after flight of the cement slope, their legs conditioned by having done the same training for a year.

At first it seemed that the pledges would be able to keep up. All four newcomers made it to the top with the sophomores during the first climb, and stayed with them as the group ran across one section of bleachers and began their descent. The women ran across another row of bleachers turned onto the second set of stairs to begin their second ascent.

The pledges would have been all right had the entire group been as fit as Kathleen. The skinny girl had no problem keeping up, because she was an experienced runner and her thin legs were conditioned for hard workouts. Adrenaline was not a problem either, because she was always tensed up with stress and knew how to use that to her advantage. As her legs started to tire, she focused her thoughts on things that upset her or made her angry, which gave her the energy she needed to keep going. As they neared the top of the second flight of stairs, it was obvious Kathleen would make it to the end of the run.

The illusion of keeping up soon faded for Bernadette and Cherine. Their legs were throbbing even before they made it to the top of the first flight of stairs. They enjoyed a brief respite as they descended, but their hearts filled with despair as they began the arduous trek up the second flight. The stairs stretched upwards to the sky, going higher and higher. The end was in sight, but so what? After that horrible climb, there would be another, and another... six climbs altogether. No. They would not make it.

Despair swept over Lisa as she ran behind the two freshmen. She knew that with difficulty she could have kept up with Kathleen and the sophomores, but decided to stay behind with the two slower members of the pledge group. She was irritated that Kathleen was not staying with the others, but realized that her lover was used to running in competitions and not to keeping pace with the slowest member of her group. She couldn’t blame Kathleen, because having known and run with Jason she understood that the competitive instinct is embedded in a good runner.

Cherine was not able to run as fast as the sophomores, but she was fit enough to complete the six flights. Her pace would be slow, but with difficulty she would finish. The problem was not so much Cherine as it was Bernadette.

Bernadette, in spite of her appearance, simply was not in very good shape because she had not been used to exercising before entering college. On top of not exercising, she had smoked since she was fourteen. She was smart enough to realize that she needed to quit, which was one of her reasons for pledging the Four-Beta Sorority in the summer instead of the fall. Among the other things she wanted to accomplish, she was hoping that pledging would deny her the opportunity to smoke and force her to quit. She was right about quitting, but her lungs still were recovering from four years of inhaling smoke and nicotine. By the time she had reached the top of the third flight of stairs, she was gasping for breath and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it.

"I... I... uh... I... run... go... I... can’t..."

Lisa snapped, "Then I’m not either!" She turned to her other companion: "Cherine, go! Catch up with Kathleen!"

"But..."

"That’s an order! Catch up!"

Cherine said nothing more, but slowly began moving further and further ahead of Bernadette and Lisa. By the time they were only halfway up the fourth flight of stairs, Cherine already was at the top and running down the next flight to try to catch up with the main group. Meanwhile, Bernadette’s face had changed color and she was clearly suffering.

"You go... too! I can’t..."

"Just do the best you can!

"I can’t..."

"Just do your best! Try! It’s our first time! Thursday you’ll do better!"

Bernadette started to cry. "I can’t!"

"Well, I’m not leaving you, so you don’t have any choice! Now do what you can! That’s all I’m asking! Just do what you can!"

Bernadette started crying in earnest as she began the painful journey up the fifth flight of stairs. Lisa glanced at the sixth flight to see the sophomores and Kathleen finishing, and at the bottom to see Cherine trying to catch up. Bernadette made the laborious climb up the stairs, barely able to walk up the steps, let alone run. Sweat was pouring down her body as she sobbed and gasped for air. Finally the two women made it to the top. Lisa was relieved. Five flights done, one to go.

As the two women made their way down the steps to start their sixth ascent, Cherine finished and joined the group on the football field. Then Lisa and Bernadette heard the whistles and cheers of a group of football players as they came out of the locker room for an early run. Oh, great. On top of everything else, Lisa and Bernadette now had an audience.

The two stressed pledges tried to ignore the barrage of whistles and cat-calls as Bernadette struggled up the final flight of stairs. That final climb was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life, but Lisa’s uncompromising presence and the real fear she felt from all those guys watching her forced her to continue. Finally she made it to the top. As the noise and lewd comments from the football players continued to assault their ears, the two pledges descended the final flight and sadly approached the waiting sophomores.

Bernadette was heartbroken. She was totally humiliated and for the first time in her life, truly hated herself. She had failed, out done by Kathleen, of all people. She saw herself as a loser, and because of that she would need to quit the pledge group. She had no right to hold her companions back. She would have to quit.

Through her gasping and crying, Bernadette heard President Alexandra’s voice, "Pledge Kathleen and Pledge Cherine!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

"Put your uniforms back on! You’ve passed the stadium run!"

Kathleen and Cherine looked at each other, then at Lisa and Bernadette. It was Cherine who spoke up, "Ma’am, I request permission to speak!"

"What is it?"

"Aren’t we ‘sposed to do this as a group? I mean, I thought that if one of us doesn’t pass, none of us gets our uniforms back."

"No. I’m not doing it that way. You two passed; Pledge Bernadette and Pledge Lisa did not. They’re going back bare-assed, but you’re not."

Cherine and Kathleen again exchanged glances. Kathleen spoke next, “Ma’am, it says in a bunch of places in the Pledge Manual that we gotta do everything as a group. That we’re not supposed to have some of us in uniform and the others not."

"Well, I’m gonna cut you some slack. You’re saying you don’t want it?"

Kathleen swallowed and took a deep breath. "No, ma’am. We don’t want it."

"Pledge Cherine?"

"Not ‘till we all pass, ma’am."

"OK, if that’s the way you want to be, then you can just be the happy naked foursome." President Alexandra turned to one of the sophomores: "Kate!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Bag up their stuff and take it back to the house! Looks like our four pledges will be doing some streaking this morning!"

"Yes President Alexandra!"

As Kate shoved the four uniforms into a cloth bag, Bernadette continued to cry. However, she no longer was crying over her failure to do the run. Instead she was overcome at the thought that her fellow pledges, two of whom she disliked, once again had come to her defense. She felt very guilty, because she knew that she would not have done the same for any of the others, with the possible exception of Cherine. Had Lisa or Kathleen been in her shoes, Bernadette gladly would have put her uniform back on and let them go back naked alone. Had it been Lisa who had fallen behind on the stairs, there was no way Bernadette would have dropped back to encourage her.

The football players continued whistling as the Four-Beta women formed up to make the run back to the sorority house. Because it already was daylight, there was a very real risk the pledges faced arrest if the police or Campus Security saw them. The solution was for the pledges to line up single file and for the sophomores to line up on the outside of the pledges, which greatly reduced their exposure. The whistling and cat-calls from the football players continued as the women exited the stadium, even though the pledges now were mostly hidden by the sophomores.

The women jogged at a leisurely pace along a back street that paralleled the university. They crossed Old Campus and finally the wide street that separated the university from the nearby residences. As they made their way back to the Four-Beta house, the group received plenty of curious glances from the early morning commuters who were out and about. Their witnesses thought, but could not be sure, that the four women running in the center of the group weren’t wearing anything.

The pledges showered and then ate quietly with the sophomores. The sophomores seemed in very high spirits, but the pledges were nervous about having to repeat the stadium exercise on Thursday. They understood that, until all of them could manage the stairs, they would be forced to run in the nude.

The Four-Beta pledges, accompanied by their Tri-Alpha counterparts, put on their uniforms and were escorted to their classes. In spite of everything that was happening to them, they were students first and pledges second, and their mentors expected top academic performance. Whatever difficulties they had back at the sorority house had to stay there, because the pledges were expected to pay attention to what was going on in their classes and pass their subjects on the first try.

As usual, Lisa was deposited in Ruth Burnside’s office and greeted her professor in her normal stance, naked with her legs spread and her hands behind her head. As the student aide stood in position, Burnside talked to her at length about the summer classes and her studies. Dr. Halsey and one of his TA’s came into the office and joined the conversation. The TA, a young guy who was fairly good-looking, spent the entire time with his eyes glued to Lisa’s attractive figure. Lisa tried to ignore him and conversed with the two professors, talking with them as though she were dressed and sitting down.

As the day went by and Bernadette had the chance to reflect on her traumatic experience on the stadium stairs, she realized something truly frightening about herself. She had considered herself the best member of the pledge group: the most outgoing, the most confident and the most attractive. Perhaps that was true, but of the four pledges she also was by far the most egotistical, self-centered, and short-sighted. The tiredness in her chest and her ruined lungs were a legacy of her short-sightedness, a physical ailment she had inflicted upon herself that would take months to fix. Because of her stupidity, she now was burdened with a weakness that was making the other three pledges suffer. And yet, they still supported her. They still wanted her to succeed, even though she had done nothing to merit their help. Even that creepy Kathleen, even she stuck up for me. Even she’s a better person than I am, thought Bernadette to herself.

That night Bernadette decided not to use Ken, or pursue her goal of getting Cherine to loosen up with her inhibitions. She had concluded that it would be better for her not to continue pledging the Four-Beta Sorority. Among other problems, she dreaded the prospect of another run on the stadium stairs Thursday morning. The thought of pain tearing through her damaged lungs was not her main concern, but rather the humiliation of being the weakest member of the pledge group.

She had always thought of herself as superior to most other women her age, largely because of her popularity in school. However, she had not really been challenged when it came to exercising before joining the sorority. With upper body she did all right, but running had been very hard, even before the stair training. Now she had become an impediment to the others, and could not face being in that awkward situation. It was just too humiliating. She would have to quit, for the good of everyone.

After dinner Pledge Bernadette found Tracy at her usual spot in the sorority library. She knelt, and flatly told the Pledge Mistress that she needed to quit the pledging program and leave the sorority. Tracy was not particularly surprised, because she knew that Bernadette had two issues in her life that were likely to manifest themselves during the pledging process. Tracy was aware that Bernadette smoked and that her fitness would be a problem as the aerobic portion of the physical training intensified. That was no surprise, because she had seen the same thing when going though Basic Training in the Army. The smokers always had a lot of trouble during the runs at the beginning.

Bernadette’s other problem was her self-confidence and tendency to harshly judge everyone around her. Her self-confidence came not from what she had accomplished in her life, but from the illusion of being part of the "in" crowd at her high school. She was destined to suffer an identity crisis, because the world in which she lived vanished the moment her graduation ceremony ended. Precisely because she had been so happy in high school (often at the expense of her less popular classmates) finding that level of happiness in the future would be difficult. In some ways Bernadette faced a harder life than any of her three fellow pledges, because the other three had not enjoyed their time in high school. They would miss that part of their lives much less, and could look forward to a happier future.

Upon hearing Bernadette announce that she wanted to quit the pledging program, Tracy’s demeanor changed completely. She told Bernadette to get off her knees and sit in a chair, using a normal tone of voice. Then she stood up, grabbed a sign with the words "Private Conference" written on it, and hung it on the door to the library.

Tracy surprised the freshman by speaking to her like a psychologist, giving up her normal military manner of talking. She addressed Bernadette by her name, instead of calling her "Pledge". The change was a total shock to Bernadette, who had always taken it for granted that Tracy’s behavior was an outgrowth of her personality and not simply a performance required by her position as Pledge Mistress.

"Leaving the pledging program is your choice, Bernadette. The only thing I’m gonna ask of you is that we talk for a little bit, to make sure you’re leaving for the right reasons. The main thing I’d want is to make sure you don’t take off, and then, a week or two from now, regret doing it."

"I... I don’t know ma’am... I just don’t think it’s gonna work for me."

"Maybe ‘what’s not working for you’ is that you’re scared right now? New situation, taking orders, dealing with people you wouldn’t have hung out with in high school?"

"That’s part of it."

"Part of it. And what’s the other part?"

"That run on the stairs. I can’t do it. I tried, but I can’t do that run."

"Why do you think you can’t do the run?"

"Everything gave out on the third flight of steps. My heart, my legs, that pain in my side... I mean I just couldn’t move... and it really hurt... and I couldn’t..."

"Well from what I heard, you did go the full distance, it’s just that you were a bit slow."

"Pledge Lisa came back and told me to keep moving."

"So Lisa cared enough to do that for you."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Then what happened?"

Berndette sat silent as tears began rolling down her cheeks. Finally she managed to speak. "We all had to jog back to the Four-Beta house naked."

"President Alexandra ordered all of you to streak back?"

"She made me and Pledge Lisa... ’cause we didn’t make the run... and... I mean... and it was my fault, ‘cause Lisa didn’t do it, ‘cause of me."

"What about the others?"

"They wouldn’t get dressed ‘cause of me. They refused."

"They refused to get dressed?"

"They... wouldn’t get dressed ’cause they kept saying that’s what it says in the Pledge Handbook... that we gotta do things together as a group."

"So, in other words, you had all three of your fellow pledges sticking up for you. You got in trouble and they helped you. Did I get that right?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"And, so... right now... you don’t see how lucky you are, to have friends who’ll do all that for you?"

Bernadette sat silent again, trying to figure out how to say what she needed to say. Finally she blurted out, "The problem is they shouldn’t have done it! Not for me! I don’t know why they did it ‘cause I don’t even like ‘em! I mean... I like Cherine, but that’s it! I don’t like Lisa and Kathleen, but they don’t know it... and they think I’m their friend... and I’m not their friend! And I... they shouldn’t have done it, ‘cause there’s no way I would’ve done it for them!"

"OK, so... why do your feelings towards Lisa and Kathleen make you want to quit the Four-Betas?"

Bernadette thought about it. Her real problem was that she felt horribly guilty about her inward disdain for two women who had been so supportive, but didn’t know how to express that thought, even to herself. Finally she settled on a partial explanation, "I just don’t want to be the one to hold the others back. And I’m sick of being humiliated. I’m sick of being the one that everyone’s looking at and saying ‘she’s the loser, she’s the one who’s fucking everything up! It’s her fault!’ I just don’t wanna be the fuck-up of the group."

Tracy sat back in her chair, glad that she now had an opening to begin convincing Bernadette not to quit the sorority, "You’re not the fuck-up of the group! Nobody’s saying that about you! You’re doing just fine!"

"But I couldn’t do that stair run! And they all had to go back naked because of me!"

Tracy smiled slightly.

"You couldn’t do the stair run on the first try! Oh, how tragic! Couldn’t do something on the very first try; so now you’re just gonna give up! Over a stair run! Come-on now, don’t you think you’re worth more than a stair run?"

"But they’re gonna do it again on Thursday, and I can’t do it! I can’t run like that!"

"So you’re scared."

"Yeah... I mean yes, ma’am, I’m scared."

"Good, ‘cause that’s a big part of the pledge program, overcoming your fears. You’ve found something you’re afraid of and now you need to figure out how you’re gonna overcome it. Will you finish Thursday’s stair run? Probably not, and you and the others will have to jog back naked, just like you did today. That’s what’s gonna happen, and so be ready for it. But maybe you’ll get a bit closer to beating it, making it up the fourth flight of steps before you give out, for example. If you keep at it, every day you’ll get a bit closer, and at some point you will manage to run non-stop and keep up with the sophomores. And next year, you’ll be running up and down those stairs every time you go out and not think anything of it. That’s the weakness you need to overcome, and it’s your choice whether you’ll overcome it or not. But let me tell you something, if you give up on that stair run and quit the sorority, that failure will only be the first out of many others you’ll face in your life. This is it, Bernadette, either you can succeed, or you can give up and fail. You’re the one who has to make that choice."

Tracy paused to let her words sink in; then pursued Bernadette’s other issue, her feelings about her fellow pledges. "As for what Lisa, Kathleen, and Cherine did for you today, the reason they did it is because they are your friends. Like it or not, those three women are your friends. You four are a clique, and you are part of that group. When the outside world looks at you, they don’t say: ‘Oh, there’s Bernadette! She’s with those other girls, but she’s different! She’s better than them!’ It doesn’t work like that! You are part of this sorority, part of the freshman class, and those three women are gonna stick up for you because that’s what we do here! And when each of the others has a problem, which they will, you’ll need to be there for them! That’s what this is all about! That’s why we’re doing this to you and putting you through all this hazing, to force you to be part of something much bigger than yourself. We expect you to succeed as a group. You’re part of that group, no better and no worse than Lisa, Cherine, or Kathleen."

"And you really don’t think I oughta quit?"

"I’d prefer that you don’t quit. I’d like to see you to stay in and finish, because I think you’d be a valuable member of the Four-Beta community. Whether you ‘oughta’ quit is something only you can decide, but you’ve heard my opinion on the matter. This is gonna be an important decision for you, because I think there’s a lot more riding on it than just whether or not you’ll become a Four-Beta."

Again Bernadette sat silently, as she struggled with what would be one of the most significant decisions of her life. She realized that Tracy was right. If she gave up now, the fear of failure would take control of her and become a self-fulfilling prophecy. She had to conquer those stairs. Maybe she would fail, but at least she had not yet given up. There was still hope she could do it.

Finally Bernadette got off the chair and back onto her knees.

"I... I guess I wanna continue, ma’am. I’m sorry..."

"No apologies, Pledge Bernadette, no apologies. Remember, a good Four-Beta lets her actions speak for her."

"Yes, ma’am."

"PLEGDE, STAND-UP!"

Bernadette jumped to her feet and was dismissed.

Thursday morning loomed ever larger in her mind, but she knew what she had to do. Simply try to do her best, accept the support of her fellow pledges, and most importantly, accept them as her friends.

As the following day progressed, Lisa noticed that Bernadette’s treatment of the other members of her group had changed.

The biggest difference was that Bernadette began talking to Kathleen, after having ignored her for three weeks. Their conversation focused mostly on serious topics such as coursework, computer and programming (of which Kathleen knew quite a bit) and gossip about various members of the sorority. The two women did not share many interests in fashion or popular culture, but they were able to talk about various places they had visited as children, such as Disney World and Six Flags Over Texas.

There was one topic where Kathleen’s knowledge helped Bernadette considerably: running. Kathleen had watched Bernadette struggle up the final two flights of stairs and even from a distance saw things that she was doing wrong. Kathleen gave her companion advice on breathing that would allow her to take maximum advantage of her limited lung capacity. Also, she explained her technique for boosting adrenaline. "If you’re really pissed-off, it’ll help you run. I mean, I think about stuff when I’m running, and I get so mad I’m not even thinking about how far I have to go. And then, sometimes, I can even get to the finish line and not even realize it. Get mad before you start running. Get real mad and it’ll help you."

Bernadette’s behavior around Lisa changed as well, although not as dramatically as her treatment of Kathleen. She did not try to force herself to be overly friendly, but her aloof and confrontational attitude diminished considerably. Lisa figured that it was because of her humiliating experience on the stairs that Bernadette had become more cooperative, not realizing that there was much more to it than just her companion’s physical fitness. For the first time Bernadette understood that she was not any better than Lisa, and certainly not any more knowledgeable. Because Lisa already had been in college for a year, there were plenty of things she knew that Bernadette did not. The freshman realized that she could either go through the trouble of learning everything the hard way, or rely on Lisa’s insight and experience to make her own life easier.

Of all the women in the sorority, Bernadette knew that she would be closest to Cherine. Bernadette realized that she always looked forward to spending time with Cherine, because their likes and personalities were compatible. They shared tastes in the same movies and TV shows, and especially interest in the same music. They enjoyed having any chance to hang out, talk about lighter topics other than academics or sorority-related problems, and make jokes about popular culture that went over the heads of Lisa and Kathleen. The two women worked well together with their chores and homework assignments, and took advantage of any opportunity in their busy schedules to find each other and chat. After only three weeks, Bernadette realized that she had just made her first close friend in college.

As her perception of her companions changed, the words that most stuck in Bernadette’s mind were from Tracy, "Like it or not, those three women are your friends. You four are a clique, and you are part of that group."

Had Tracy used any other word than "clique", what she said would not have had the same impact on Bernadette’s thinking. How strange, to be in a clique with three other women so totally different from the girls she had been hanging out with only two months before! How much her life had changed, in just 60 days! She wondered if, by the end of the summer, she would change so much that her high school friends wouldn’t even recognize her.