Chapter 26 -- A Lifetime of Servitude

Towards the end of Wednesday evening Bernadette recovered enough to grab Ken for a round of massaging and sex. Because no one else had wanted him that night, Ken had spent his evening doing chores with two of his fellow pledges and was relatively well rested. His performance satisfied the freshman, although as he entered her, his mind continued to wander between fantasies of Tracy, Jason, and Lisa. As usual, he wasn’t making love to the person of the moment, but instead to various fantasies loosely based on people he knew.

Bernadette’s pursuit of her goal of getting Cherine to "loosen up" continued after her own needs were satisfied. As before, she found her reluctant friend in the sorority library and encouraged her to accept being blindfolded and taken downstairs.

Lisa also was in the mood for some intimacy. She would have liked to make love to Ken, because she was in the mood for sex with a male partner. She also wanted to talk to him alone, something she really had not had the opportunity to do since they began their internments as pledges. However, she knew that Wednesday night would not be a good time to find him because Bernadette had gotten to him first and probably would wear him out.

While her former boyfriend was spending the evening with Bernadette, Lisa decided to spend some personal time with her current lover. She knew that the guest room would be occupied by Bernadette. However, the sorority had another vacant room, an infirmary with a small bed that she had permission to use as long as she changed the sheets and made sure everything was picked up afterwards.

When no one else was looking, Lisa snuck up behind Kathleen and began by kissing her on the neck. Seductively laid a hand on her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "So, you feel like being a bit naughty tonight?"

Kathleen’s expression changed completely as her heart jumped into her throat. Oh yes! She wanted to "be naughty" so badly...

Lisa led her lover to the infirmary and closed the door. She grabbed the hem of Kathleen’s T-shirt and pulled it over her head, leaving her naked from the waist up. Kathleen was about to reach for Lisa’s shirt to pull it off as well, but Lisa stopped her by placing her index finger on her lover’s lips. With that simple gesture she quietly signaled: I’m in charge, Kathleen. You need to be patient and let me do this my way.

Lisa placed her hands on Kathleen’s shoulders and motioned her to turn around. She grabbed the waistband of the younger woman’s shorts and slowly, sensuously peeled them down her bottom and slipped them down her legs. She ran her hand over both bottom-cheeks and commented, "What a pretty, naughty little bottom. We both know what such a cute bottom needs, don’t we, sweetie?"

Before Kathleen had a chance to respond, Lisa gently kissed both sides, then separated the girl’s cheeks and gently blew against her bottom-hole. Kathleen’s reaction was a mixture of fear, love, and extreme arousal.

Lisa stood up, grabbed Kathleen’s shoulders, and made her turn around to face her. She placed her fingertips under the girl’s chin and forced her to look straight into her eyes. Kathleen was very nervous, because she tended to look away when she was talking to another person, even one she deeply cared for.

"Who do you belong to?"

"I... I belong to you, Lisa."

"And who gets to play with that cute little bottom of yours?"

"You do. You get to play with me."

Lisa could tell that Kathleen was quite scared, because their relationship was changing. Lisa had become much more forceful than she had been previously. With both words and gestures she was letting Kathleen know: "I’m in charge of what goes on between us. You’re now mine, and I expect you to obey me."

That night Lisa would begin introducing several small rituals into the relationship as part of her plan to take control of her lover’s life. Apart from her sexuality, she would expect Kathleen to surrender control of anything having to do with her body and her health. Kathleen would need to request Lisa’s permission before taking any medicine, to allow Lisa to review her personal medical records, and no longer would be allowed to take her own temperature. If Lisa decided her lover needed an enema or douche, Kathleen would fetch the requested items and position herself for treatment. Eventually Lisa even hoped to tell Kathleen what she could and could not eat.

As Kathleen nervously watched her, Lisa removed a rectal thermometer and some medical gel from the medicine cabinet. She would put Kathleen over her lap and take her temperature. Lisa sat down on the room’s small sofa, still dressed in her pledge uniform. She reached up, grabbed Kathleen’s wrist, and pulled her across her thighs.

"I’m gonna start checking your temperature whenever we’re alone, ‘cause I want to make sure you’re always nice and healthy. Wouldn’t want you sick with any fevers."

Kathleen took a deep breath as she settled over her lover’s legs. Lisa pushed her thighs apart to position her so that her sphincter was properly exposed. Lisa rested one hand on her lover’s right bottom-cheek while she dipped her free hand’s index finger into the gel to gently spread around the secret opening of Kathleen’s body. She pushed her finger in and moved it back and forth to better lubricate the path for the thermometer. Kathleen’s body shuddered from the arousal that having her bottom stimulated always gave her.

Lisa spread Kathleen’s anus with her free hand as she gently inserted the thermometer. She pushed it in, and lovingly stroked Kathleen’s backside while she waited for the temperature to register. The freshman stayed contentedly in position, clearly enjoying the attention and submission to Lisa’s examination. Finally Lisa pulled the device out, read "normal", and dropped it into a beaker of disinfectant.

Lisa had thought about giving her lover an enema, but was concerned that might spoil her mood instead of enhancing it. Instead she would bathe her, spank her, and make love to her. She motioned for the younger woman to get up and allow herself to be led to the small room’s shower.

"Go ahead and undress me. Please fold up my clothes."

The request sounded simple enough, but it was another part of Lisa’s over-all goal to eventually exert total dominance over her lover. Lisa would train Kathleen to serve her, but do so gradually through gentle and polite-sounding requests. Over time those requests would become duties that she would perform without needing to be asked. Lisa would decide what both she and her lover wore each day and would expect Kathleen to assist her with her clothing. Among other duties, she would perform the role of Lisa’s maid-in-waiting.

Kathleen carefully pulled Lisa’s T-shirt over her head. She nervously kissed one of her breasts before folding the shirt and setting it on the nightstand. Lisa sat down in the room’s only chair, to allow Kathleen to take off her shoes. Lisa felt deep satisfaction when Kathleen knelt in front of her and began untying the shoes to get them off her feet. Kathleen took off both shoes, loosened the laces, and then peeled off Lisa’s socks. She folded the socks and placed them inside the shoes.

Lisa stood up to allow her lover to pull down her shorts. She put her feet together and placed her hands on Kathleen’s head as the younger woman nervously lowered Lisa’s final piece of clothing. Lisa stepped out of shorts, which Kathleen folded and placed on top of the T-shirt.

Once they both were completely naked, Lisa stood behind Kathleen and cupped her small breasts in her hands. With her fingertips she manipulated her lover’s nipples as she kissed her neck. Kathleen gasped and placed her hands over Lisa’s as she became increasingly aroused. Lisa firmly pinched her lover’s nipples and whispered into her ear, "I see a very naughty girl in this room... a girl who’s been so naughty her bottom’s gonna need some extra special attention. So, has my silly little girl been naughty today?"

"I... yes... I’m naughty..."

"And what happens to silly naughty little girls?"

"I... we gotta be spanked..."

"That’s right. I think you’re due for a nice, long spanking, don’t you think?"

"I... yes... please, spank me..."

Lisa responded by sitting on the bed and pulling Kathleen across her lap. As before, she wanted to make the spanking an erotic, sensuous experience that would mix a sharp sting with massage and pleasurable stimulus. She would make Kathleen want to be spanked, beg to be spanked, and then, once her bottom was red and stinging, beg to be seduced.

As Lisa ran her hand over her lover’s eager backside, Kathleen spread her thighs and turned her hips up. She was lewdly exposed, her bottom-hole facing upwards and her labia parted to expose her vagina. Through her posture she was begging to be stimulated as well as smacked. Lisa would oblige by doing both, trying to keep Kathleen delicately balanced between arousal and pain for as long as possible. She began with pleasure as she fondled and caressed the skinny bottom and muscular thighs positioned across her lap.

Lisa began spanking slowly, with very soft slaps that were barely enough to make Kathleen’s skin sting and tingle slightly. Between slaps Lisa continued to massage her lover’s bottom and tease her sphincter and labia. As before, as Kathleen became accustomed to the stinging in her backside, Lisa slowly increased the force of the swats.

Kathleen’s bottom was a pleasant shade of pink and her body covered with sweat when Lisa paused. She gently massaged her lover’s stimulated buttocks and wet vagina, approaching but not quite touching her clitoris. Kathleen would be rewarded, eventually, but the reward would have to wait until Lisa was ready to give it to her.

Lisa began slapping considerably harder, but continued to pause to massage and stimulate her lover’s backside. She remembered the hard lesson Ruth Burnside had given her a couple of weeks before and wanted to control Kathleen in the same manner. She carefully watched Kathleen’s reaction, hoping to not just seduce her, but also to completely control her.

SLAP!... SLAP!...  SLAP!...  SLAP!...  SLAP!

The smell of sexual arousal permeated the small room as Lisa began spanking with real force. Kathleen began to tremble as Lisa teased her, rearing herself up in desperation to get Lisa’s fingertips to touch her. Lisa firmly pressed down on her lover’s waist to force her back into proper position.

"You really are naughty, aren’t you? So you do like having your cute little bottom warmed, don’t you?"

"I... yes... I like it! Please..."

"Please, what? What do you want? Tell me what you want!"

"Keep going! Please! Spank me!"

Lisa said nothing more, but relished the control she was exercising as she continued to massage her lover before resuming the spanking. She had reached that point with Kathleen that Burnside had reached with her, actually controlling her lover’s emotions by controlling her body. Kathleen again reared up, desperately begging to be touched.

Lisa decided the moment had come to give Kathleen her orgasm. She pushed her thumb into the younger woman’s bottom-hole and entered her vagina with her middle finger. As Kathleen reared up Lisa reached under her with her free hand to seek out her clitoris.

"Oh... Oh... OHHH! Uh... Oh yes... Oh yes... OHHH!"

Kathleen was quite loud as she climaxed. Lisa glanced at the door; worried her voice might be heard in the hallway outside.

"Such a naughty girl! I mean, making all that noise and begging to be spanked! I guess I really am gonna have to start disciplining you, for real!"

"OHHH!... Oh yes... OHHH!"

Lisa understood her lover perfectly; well enough to use the knowledge Ruth Burnside had given her to exert total control over the freshman. Her admonishment and the threat of harsher punishment only enhanced the younger woman’s orgasm and desire for total physical surrender. Her burning backside, the pressure of Lisa’s fingers inside her bottom and vagina, the gentle teasing of her clitoris, and the helpless feeling of being under her lover’s complete domination combined to give Kathleen an orgasm unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

Finally Kathleen climaxed and her orgasm came to an end. She lay quietly across Lisa’s lap as her bliss subsided and reality closed in on her. As the freshman slowly came to her senses, Lisa lovingly massaged her back with her free hand, but kept the thumb and finger from her other hand firmly inside her lover’s body. Kathleen lay quietly; totally enjoying the feeling of absolute surrender to the woman she loved.

Finally Kathleen seemed to wake up enough for Lisa to pull out her fingers, "Please get a washcloth from under the sink, wet it with soap, and clean my hand."

Without saying anything, Kathleen got up and did as she was told. She soaked a washrag with hot water and soap, then knelt at Lisa’s feet, took her hand, and wiped her fingers clean. Kathleen wrung out the cloth into the sink, re-wet it, and again knelt to finish. She rinsed the washrag several more times, very careful to make sure Lisa’s fingers were absolutely clean.

Once the freshman was finished, Lisa reached forward to stroke her lover’s hair and face. Kathleen remained on her knees as she enjoyed the caresses, something that Lisa noticed and appreciated. Without being told or asked, Kathleen had gone on her knees to clean Lisa’s hand, and would remain kneeling until told to get up. Perhaps she was doing it subconsciously, but in every way possible she was signaling that she was willing to do whatever Lisa told her to do.

Kathleen was sexually satisfied, but Lisa’s sexual needs were not. Lisa took her lover’s hand and motioned her to stand up. She lay on the bed with her legs spread. There was no need to say anything; Kathleen understood what Lisa wanted. Dutifully she settled between Lisa’s legs. She began kissing and licking her lover’s most private area, doing everything she could to make the evening as pleasurable for Lisa as Lisa had made it for her.

When Lisa climaxed, she sat up and gently washed off Kathleen’s mouth and face with a clean washrag. Kathleen enjoyed the attention, not having had her face cleaned since she was a small child. In many ways it seemed that Lisa was treating her like a child, but that was what she wanted. At that moment she wanted to feel helpless and be cared for by someone who loved her.

When the two women turned out the light and cuddled in the dark, Lisa continued to stroke Kathleen’s hair until she went to sleep. Lisa knew that Kathleen already was emotionally dependent on her. Just a few days before, the intensity of younger woman’s feelings frightened her, but that worry had faded. Obviously Lisa had just dug herself in a lot deeper with her commitment to her lover, but she also had begun molding the love affair into one that suited her needs.

For the relationship to work, it was essential Kathleen understood that Lisa was the one who was in charge. During the 48 hours that had passed since her lover promised to do whatever she was told to do, Lisa had given some thought about what she wanted to accomplish with that promise. What she wanted from that agreement was to "own" Kathleen. The freshman would live under her not only her submissive lover, but also as her personal servant.

Lisa took it for granted that Kathleen would do her best to obey her. However she expected at some point there she would need to "correct" Kathleen’s behavior through corporal punishment. When that moment came, Lisa knew that her lover would have to clearly understand why she needed to be punished and be convinced that punishment would help her. Once the punishment ended, she would need a lot of comforting and reassurance. In fact, it was quite likely that Lisa would only need to punish Kathleen once, as a reminder that her role in life was to obey or suffer the consequences. Once her role in the relationship was clearly established, she would be eager to do whatever was necessary to avoid being punished a second time.

Now that Lisa had decided she wanted to "keep" her lover, the only issue she needed to resolve was her training. She would pursue her goals with a combination of love, emotional support, rewards, guidance, firmness, sexual dominance, and the threat of corporal punishment for disobedience. Kathleen’s conditioning, which had just started, would intensify once the pledging was over and the two women swore in as full members of the sorority. She understood that correction and discipline were what Kathleen expected, and subconsciously what she wanted.

The more she thought about it, the more the idea of being Kathleen’s mistress appealed to Lisa. She was convinced that the life she was about to impose on Kathleen was the only practical way for her to live. The girl was very vulnerable and, if left to fend for herself, she would be return to being victimized just as she had been tormented in high school. Lisa deeply cared for the fragile woman under her control and was determined that never again would she be humiliated. Never again would she kneel crying in a parking lot with cum all over her face. Never again would she sit in her living room in a prom dress, crying over a date that never showed up. She would give up her independence, but the reward would be to live safely under Lisa’s protection.

Lisa reflected about a final irony. Although it was mostly because of Kathleen the relationship started, both women now knew it would never be one between two equals. As they traveled through life together, Lisa would lead their journey. Kathleen would follow, serve, and obey.

Lisa’s thoughts continued to wander as Kathleen’s breathing changed, indicating she was deeply asleep. She pondered another submissive relationship, the one between Cecilia Sanchez and Jason Schmidt. There was very much in common between the way Cecilia treated Jason and the way Lisa planned to treat Kathleen. For the first time it dawned on her that her new relationship with Kathleen was similar to the one Cecilia had with Jason.

Cecilia intensely loved Jason, but she loved him because he knew his proper place in the relationship. When Cecilia told Jason to do something, he did it. If he disappointed her, she did not hesitate to double a thick leather belt and swing it until his backside was covered with welts. However, she never punished him unless he had done something wrong. She made sure he clearly understood why he needed to be chastised and always comforted him once the discipline had ended. The purpose of Cecilia’s sessions with the belt was not to bring her pleasure, but to make sure Jason’s behavior conformed to what she expected. Over time, as he became the responsible person she wanted, she punished him much less.

In spite of Cecilia’s control over Jason’s life, very rarely did she ever do anything to humiliate him in public. In fact, Lisa could only think of a single time, when she caught Jason and Ken at a tattoo parlor waiting to get tattoos and totally freaked. Apart from that one incident, Cecilia treated Jason with respect in public and disciplined him in private. As for what she demanded of him, her expectations were quite reasonable: to live a simple, healthy lifestyle and cater to her physical needs.

Cecilia’s behavior towards her boyfriend sharply contrasted with Ruth Burnside’s treatment of her various lovers. Burnside loved to "put on a show", to publicly strip and humiliate her numerous subs. To Burnside, an important part of her lovers’ experience was public humiliation. She was a show-woman, and the subs were little more than inanimate props for her public performance. Lisa suspected that Burnside was incapable of feeling any love for anyone, apart from whatever feelings she had towards Dr. Jim Halsey.

Lisa pondered her own character, wondering where it fell in comparison with Cecilia Sanchez and Ruth Burnside. How could the life experience of each contribute to Lisa’s own aspirations and how she wanted to define her personality? She knew that she wanted to avoid the single-minded obsession that Cecilia had for Jason, but she also needed to avoid the cruel treatment the professor inflicted on the emotions of people like Mark Gertz. She wanted something in between, to have fun with her lovers like Burnside, but have caring relationships and solid commitment like Cecilia.

As she thought about it, Lisa realized she already had experienced both types of relationships: serious and fun. Of course what she had with Kathleen was serious, very serious. Her five-year relationship with Mike also could be considered serious; too much so, which was why it ultimately failed. Neither Kathleen nor Mike had "fun" personalities, but there was a difference between them. Mike’s stubborn character could not be changed, while Kathleen already had sought to assure Lisa that she would adapt her life to fit Lisa’s needs.

What about a "fun" relationship? Yes, Lisa had enjoyed a "fun" relationship, with her most recent boyfriend Ken. She had enjoyed his company and liked him as a friend as well as a lover. What had been strange about their relationship was the extreme difference between the couple’s sex life and everything else they did together. In spite of Lisa’s savage treatment of him during sex, when not making love they treated each other as total equals.

Lisa’s reflections drifted back to Ken and a thought crossed her mind. Was it possible that Lisa had been wrong about what Ken wanted from her? Perhaps that what he really wanted was a relationship that came closer to what Cecilia had with Jason: a relationship with fewer floggings and more guidance and psychology? Perhaps Ken, like Jason and Kathleen, needed to live under the orders and protection of a caring lover, instead of simply having her as an S&M buddy. Maybe that was why his fantasies had wandered so much, that Lisa had not understood his true needs.

She wondered if she inadvertently had passed up an opportunity to find happiness in her relationship with Ken. Then she began to wonder if there was any way to make it up to him.

The following morning was Thursday, which meant the pledges would endure a second attempt running up and down the stadium stairs. At 4:00 in the morning Tracy stormed into the guest room wearing nothing but a pair of running shoes and socks. She turned the light and greeted the pledges with her usual, "OK sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!"

The four sleepy pledges struggled out of their beds and sullenly knelt, surprised to see their Pledge Mistress already wearing her running shoes. Then they noticed the time. It was only 4:00 in the morning! Tracy had woken them 90 minutes early!

"Ladies, the deal is, under the orders of President Alexandra, we’re gonna be doing some streaking. Until all of you manage the stadium stairs, you’ll run the stadium stairs naked, and whenever you all don’t make it, you’ll run back from the stadium naked. However, because I’m not thrilled about you being hooted at by the football players, I requested permission to make some changes in how we’re gonna be doing this challenge. From now on, until you beat those stairs, we’re going out early so no one will see us. Another thing, the sorority officers have voted that we have to leave our uniforms behind at the house. Until you pass this challenge, wearing the running uniform is a privilege we won’t be getting."

The pledges stared at their Pledge Mistress in bewilderment. The stadium was more than a mile from the sorority house! That meant 20 minutes of running in the nude to get to the stadium, 30 minutes of running and stretching in the stadium itself, and another 20 minutes running back! The pledges were so dismayed by their own situation that Tracy’s word "we" had not yet registered in their minds.

"OK, that’s it! Dump your bladders and get your shoes on!"

Five minutes later the pledges and their mentor were stretching on mats laid out in the sitting room. By 4:20 they were headed out the door.

As Tracy led them outside, the aspiring Four-Betas realized that she had not put on her PT uniform. They later found out that streaking alongside her pledges was the price the she had to pay to get them excused from having to run in daylight with the sophomores. When she pleaded their situation to her unsympathetic fellow officers, Tracy had been told that she could change her charges’ running schedule, but only if she was willing to run naked with them. To the surprise of the others, she agreed, retrieved her PT uniform from her room, and handed it to Heather.

The other Four-Beta officers had imagined that Tracy would be terrified of being caught streaking, something that could have ended her aspirations to become an Army officer. However, they did not realize that Sergeant Polk of Campus Security was a fellow Reservist and knew Tracy fairly well. A phone call from Tracy to Polk explaining her situation assured that he would look the other way while the women were running across campus in the nude. If he received any calls about streakers, he would respond slowly enough to not catch them.

The women set out at a slow run towards the small park that bypassed Pageant Street. The pledges had vague hopes that Tracy might have hidden uniforms in the bushes, but they passed by with no hint of stopping. Tracy suspected that someone from the sorority would be waiting near the stadium to make sure the pledges and their Pledge Mistress had run all the full distance in the nude. The women ran along the quiet back streets, sticking to areas shaded from streetlights to avoid being spotted by residents. They dashed across the boulevard and jogged along the quiet sidewalks of Old Campus.

Tracy set a deliberately slow pace to allow Bernadette and Cherine to make it to the stadium without being overly fatigued. However, being winded would not be much of a problem, because Bernadette and Cherine were terrified by what they were doing and had plenty of adrenaline building up in their bodies.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Kathleen thoroughly enjoyed the run to the stadium. The daring feeling of running naked, combined with the silence of the pre-dawn darkness, the relaxed pace of the run, and the cool air blowing against their exposed bodies, turned out to be a truly enjoyable experience. The two women actually hoped that it would be a while before Bernadette was able to complete the stadium run, because they wanted to have the opportunity to go streaking at least a couple more times.

As the group passed under the lights near the entrance to the Fitness Center, the group noticed Heather’s friend with a digital camera in her hands. She took a picture of the runners to verify that they had made the run in the nude as required. A minute later, as they approached the Stadium, they saw Polk standing next to his bicycle. The pledges thought they had been busted, but Polk waved to Tracy and told her that Gate 4 had been unlocked and opened for them. Tracy thanked him, although she had very mixed feelings. Polk was doing her a favor, but at the same time was taking advantage of the opportunity to see her without any clothes. Lisa noticed Polk’s eyes scanning Tracy’s body before looking over her four companions. She suspected, rightly, that Polk would be more than happy to be standing by Gate 4 when they were finished and catch another look as they ran past him on their way back to the sorority house.

Tracy sighed at the thought that her body no longer held any secrets from one of the guys in her Reserve unit. However, now she had to deal with the purpose of the trip, getting Bernadette to complete running six full flights of stairs non-stop. The women ran though Corridor 4, descended the steps, and came to a stop on the football field.

"Pledge Kathleen!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

"You are excused from running with the rest of the group! I want you to run ahead of us, and keep at it until we’re done! I’m curious to see what you’re capable of doing, so when you finish your six sets of steps, I want you to keep going!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

"Go!"

Tracy landed a very hard slap on Kathleen’s bottom and with that the pledge ran towards the bleachers.

"Pledge Lisa!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

"You, too! Let’s see what you can do on the stairs! Move out!"

Lisa felt the sharp sting of Tracy’s hand slapping her bottom even before she had a chance to shout: "yes ma’am!" She set out after Kathleen, although she knew she had no hope of catching up to her.

Tracy and the two remaining pledges began the climb up the first flight of steps. Tracy calmly jogged behind her companions, ready to land a quick slap on their bare bottoms if she felt they weren’t trying their best. Apart from the painful slaps, she motivated them with her words, "Let’s pick up the pace, ladies! It’s already starting to get light! Come-on, hurry-up! We’re gonna get caught if you don’t hurry up!"

As Lisa climbed the fifth flight of steps, she noticed that Bernadette and Cherine, motivated by the slaps and lecturing of their Pledge Mistress, still were doing fairly well. They already were halfway up the fourth flight, although Bernadette’s face reflected fatigue and painful cramps. Cherine was slightly ahead of Bernadette, eager to be far enough away from Tracy to avoid a barrage of slaps on her bottom. Meanwhile, Kathleen was way ahead of the others, already completing her seventh set of steps and getting ready to descend to start on her eighth. Lisa realized that Kathleen was in excellent shape as she admired her skinny runner’s figure in action. Lisa already was badly winded as she began the sixth set of steps, but her lover showed no hint of being tired.

Bernadette was crying by the time she made it to the top of the fifth flight of steps, but to everyone’s amazement, her performance was much better than it had been on Tuesday. She gritted her teeth as she started on the sixth flight, putting every bit of strength into trying to complete the final set.

"Breathe with it, Pledge, breath with it. You’re doing just fine. Breathe with it."

Bernadette grunted from her struggle as she laboriously climbed the final flight of steps. Lisa looked back to notice that Tracy no longer was slapping the freshman’s backside because she was afraid of knocking her off-balance. Anyhow, there was no way Bernadette could have improved on her performance; she was putting everything she had into making it up those final steps.

"Good job, Pledge."

Bernadette’s face was completely distorted and discolored when she finished. Sweat was pouring down her body and her eyes were wide from painful exhaustion. However, she had done extremely well, coming much closer to completing what was expected of her. She struggled up the final flight, descended with Tracy, and collapsed into Cherine’s arms.

Her body felt like it was about to fall apart, but Bernadette was very happy. She had made an important decision, to do what she needed not to fail. Although it would take several more attempts, she knew that within a week or so she would be able to complete the stair run and keep up with the sophomores. She had made a very good effort and was close to her goal.

Once Bernadette had a few moments to recover and Lisa and Kathleen were back on the field, Tracy led her group out through Gate 4 past the obliging Sergeant Polk.

"Same thing Saturday morning, Tracy?"

"Yeah, same thing."

"OK, then I’ll have the gate open. It’ll be Gate 4 again."

Polk keyed his radio, held up his hand to warn the women to wait a second, and listened to a broadcast in police code.

"One word of advice. When you head back, cross over at Brixton Street. The cops got a burglary call on Platte, so stay away from Platte."

"Thanks."

"OK, girls, we’ll see you Saturday. Have fun and be careful. Wouldn’t want those cute bare butts to end up in jail, now would we?"

Tracy forced a smile, but inwardly she cringed at the prospect of displaying her body to him several more times. She clapped her hands and the women began their trek back to the sorority house.

The security officer stared at the five young women’s backsides as they ran past the Fitness Center and disappeared into the darkness. Once they were out of sight, he locked Gate 4.

Polk was very much looking forward to seeing Tracy’s bare figure again on Saturday morning. Hmm... so that’s what our little sergeant looks like under her BDU’s. Nice! That babe’s got one cute ass!

Part of being a Four-Beta was giving up any expectation of modesty. The Pledge Mistress knew that better than anyone else. She had saved her pledges the indignity of being taunted by the football players, but in doing so placed her own reputation at the mercy of someone who was at best a casual acquaintance. She wondered if Polk would take her seriously the next time they attended drill and whether the story of the streaking adventure would be making its way around her Reserve unit. At the very least, she owed him a very big favor.

Chapter 27 -- An Evening with Pledge Ken

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The pledges from both the fraternity and the sorority were escorted together to their classes while Lisa continued working for Ruth Burnside and attending her summer classes for the Economics Department. On Thursday night following dinner, Tracy told her pledges and Ken to gather up their study materials and follow her to the library. Any fun that Lisa or Bernadette had planned for the evening was canceled, because time was quickly passing and the pledges had to start thinking about their midterms. Also, everyone needed to get to bed early to make up for the 4:00 run that morning. There would be no sexual play with Ken that night: just studying and sleeping.

The women and Ken sullenly walked in single file to the library, ordered not to talk so they could concentrate on how best to utilize their time studying. It turned out the silent walk was beneficial, because it gave the pledges an opportunity to clear their minds and think about their academic problems. For the next three hours they sat quietly in a conference room, catching up on several homework assignments and reading for class on Friday. As soon as they returned to the sorority Tracy ordered everyone to clean up and get in bed. To make absolutely sure nothing got between her group and sleep she waited with crossed arms until Ken was lying on his cot and the women were settled in the guest room.

Tracy had learned that Ken had fallen way behind in his coursework as a result of his week at the sorority. Undoubtedly the same was true for his fellow pledges, which she perceived as a serious problem. She resolved to get all of the pledges, male and female, a few hours to dedicate to their coursework over the weekend. The sorority would have to ease up on "Hell Week" and give the guys some time to study.

Friday morning, following PT and clean-up, Tracy and her group made their normal trek to the university. The Pledge Mistress left the freshmen in the custody of a sophomore who would escort them to class, because she wanted to ask Ruth Burnside if she could borrow her office for a study session on Sunday. Because she was walking alone with the Pledge Mistress, Lisa realized she had a chance to talk to her in private, even if it was just for a few minutes.

She explained her doubts about her behavior towards Ken, and that she needed to talk to him and "resolve some issues". The problem was the lack of any opportunity to be alone with him. Bernadette always snatched him for a round of sex and Lisa was faced with the problem of what to do with Kathleen. What she needed was to be alone, truly alone, with Ken and not face the prospect of being interrupted.

Tracy was well-aware of Ken’s inner struggles, although she considered what he had told her confidential and not to be shared with Lisa. She did agree, however, that her pledge needed an evening alone with her ex-boyfriend. The Pledge Mistress calculated that Ken would tell Lisa many of the secrets he had told her when she confronted him about his feelings towards Jason. He just had to have some time to think through what he wanted to say and how he would say it. Yes, she needed to make sure Lisa had an opportunity to talk with him.

"Pledge Lisa, I can take care of Pledge Bernadette and Pledge Kathleen and keep them away from you and Pledge Ken. I’ll simply bring them back to the library after the Friday night meeting. They need to study anyway, which, by the way, is something for you to do as well. You’ll get your time alone with him. I’ll make sure about that."

"Thank you, ma’am."

"In exchange for what I’m gonna do for you, I want something back."

"Yes ma’am?"

"I want some responsibility out of you. I want you to think about how what you do with Pledge Ken is going to affect Pledge Kathleen, and how what you do with Pledge Kathleen is going to affect Pledge Ken. That’s a lot to worry about, and doesn’t give you much time to worry about yourself. Their needs come before yours."

"Yes, ma’am."

Lisa said nothing more as they entered the Economics Building. Upon entering the back office, she took off her clothes and assumed the position of submission in front of Burnside’s desk. For a couple of minutes she was left standing with her legs spread and her hands behind her head while her two mentors chatted about freshman classes and the midterm schedule.

Finally Burnside ordered Lisa to prepare some tea, which she set on a tray and served after going to her knees. Lisa no longer felt strange about serving tea while naked and kneeling because it had become part of her daily routine. Anyhow, she had no right to object, because her plan for Kathleen was to have her spend her life doing the exact same thing.

Following the Friday night dinner, President Alexandra announced that the anticipated hike had been postponed until the following weekend because the Triple A pledges needed to complete "Hell Week". Lisa realized that Tracy already must have known about the change, because she and her companions had not yet started breaking in their hiking boots.

That Friday there were two "birthday girls", a sophomore and a senior, who had been required to spend the afternoon in the nude in anticipation of their birthday spanking. There was the usual "Happy Birthday" celebration, followed by a spanking over the lap of the chapter president, and finally the birthday gifts, a necklace for the sophomore and a ring for the senior. As always, the celebration ended with group pictures and plenty of posturing with reddened bottoms for the cameras.

Immediately after the meeting Tracy fulfilled her promise to take Cherine, Bernadette, and Kathleen out of the house so Lisa could spend the evening alone with Ken. She ordered three very disappointed freshmen to pack their book bags and get ready to spend the evening at the library. When confronted with sullen glances, she forced them to do several sets of pushups. She poked each freshman in the chest with her index finger and snapped, "Look, as far as I’m concerned your grades suck! We’re gonna fix that! If I don’t see some improvement, your butts are gonna be spending some quality time with our newest heavy-duty leather strap! We need to break it in, and you ought to be grateful I’m giving you the chance to not be used as target practice!"

The threat worked. There was no hint of any further objection to spending Friday night at the library.

Once the Pledge Mistress and the three freshmen had departed, Lisa sought out the Tri-Alpha pledges and separated Ken from the others. He quietly followed her into the guest room and sank to his knees. Lisa closed the door and unceremoniously stripped off her pledge uniform. Once her body was uncovered, she did something the surprised him. She knelt next to him and took his hand.

"I... don’t wanna do any S&M tonight. But I do want to spend some time with you."

Ken nodded, unsure how to respond. Lisa continued, "And... I wanna tell you... that I’m sorry... for all that shit I said to you... you know... what I told you a couple of weeks ago... when we were at the pool."

"You don’t need to apologize, Lisa. You were right to be pissed off at me. I was the one who screwed everything up between us."

"You can’t help being who you are. I mean... if you’re gay, you can’t help that."

"I don’t know that I am. That’s the problem. I really don’t know whether I’m gay or not. I mean... all of it’s just a bunch of fantasies. And I’m not just talking about... you know... I mean, whenever I’m having sex, what’s going on in real life is completely disconnected from what’s going on in my head..."

He took a deep breath, "I’m a lot more fucked up than I realized. I was hoping that it might be something simple, that I was just gay and needed to find a relationship. But that’s not it. That’s not what it is."

"Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet..."

"No! That’s not it! There’s no such thing as the ‘right person’. Not for me. No such thing. That’s what I’ve found out since joining the Triple A’s."

"So you haven’t seen anyone who interests you?"

"No. At least not in the fraternity. I mean, there’s a couple of guys who’ve had their eyes on me and I know they’re gonna want to play once I swear in, but I’m not interested. I’m not attracted to them. I thought I would be, but I’m not."

"Maybe you just gotta give it some time."

Ken shook his head. "That’s not it. It won’t make any difference. I’m gonna have to say ‘no’ to them. I’m just not attracted. They’re not what I want."

"Well, if you’re still worried about Jason, you’ve got to knock that off! You can’t spend your life obsessing about Jason! You can’t keep thinking about him, because he’s gone! You’ll destroy yourself if you don’t get over him!"

"I know that. There’s something else I know, and this is what really scares me. I was never in love with him. The real Jason, that is. I was in love with my own fantasies. I was in love with something that never existed. And the problem is, it’s not the first time that’s happened. I’ve been doing the same thing all my life."

"And you just realized that?"

"I realized it when I talked to Pledge Mistress Tracy. We started talking because she got interested in what’s going on with me. I mean... we started talking about Jason... and... we talked about Cecilia, and what’s going on between them, and... I mean... a whole bunch of other stuff too."

"So, did you resolve anything?"

"Sort of. Tracy made me realize that what happened with Jason is sort of a pattern for me. It happened a couple of times in high school too. Always the same set-up..."

With that Ken repeated what he had learned from talking to Tracy, that the only males he had fallen in love with were ones he had no hope of ever seducing. Always the same type of guy, and always one with a girlfriend. To Lisa it was very clear that Tracy was right. What attracted Ken was not the real-life person, but instead a fantasy that focused upon converting a real man into a fictionalized one.

The conversation switched to Ken’s fantasies towards women. He haltingly confessed his attraction for Tracy and his disdain for Bernadette and Cherine. He repeated what he had discovered by talking to Tracy, that only a specific type of woman attracted him, just as only a certain type of man attracted him. As Ken continued examining his own life, Lisa realized that being able to put into words the separation between his sexual fantasies and what was really going on around him would be hugely beneficial.

Lisa felt sorry for Ken, because she realized that for him to find what he was looking for in a partner would be extremely difficult. The closest he had come to fulfilling any of his desires was his relationship with Lisa, and even that had not worked out because she had not understood what he truly needed. He felt the need to surrender himself to a lover who could both dominate and protect him. Lisa mistook his desire as simple masochism, but the truth was that Ken’s needs went way beyond simply being punished. As the spring semester progressed, Lisa’s whippings did not satisfy him because she did not demand control over his life. He needed to be dominated and guided, much in the same way Jason had surrendered his life to Cecilia, and much in the say way that Kathleen was surrendering herself to Lisa.

Suddenly Lisa realized that Ken’s needs and Kathleen’s needs were very similar. Tracy’s words "you really don’t know what’s going on with Ken. None of us do," and "to keep an open mind" came back to her.

Several thoughts ran through Lisa’s mind simultaneously. She felt a surge of regret over the lost opportunity of enjoying a long-term relationship with her companion. Had she understood what Ken needed, she could have given it to him and satisfied many of her own psychological needs as well. She needed a male sexual partner and realized that, of the all men she had known so far, Ken was by far the most compatible. She wondered if she could re-start sexual contact with him, even if the possibility of a romantic relationship had passed.

She checked herself, realizing that concentrating on sex was precisely why the relationship between her and Ken failed in the first place. What he needed was a combination of sexual surrender and psychological control. For a relationship with him to work, it had to have both elements. How strange! Lisa could perceive the need in Kathleen within days of getting to know her, and yet could not see the same need in her boyfriend, after having known him for nearly a year!

Lisa’s thoughts drifted from Ken’s desires to her own. Part of the reason she had wanted some time alone with him was because she was in the mood for sex with a male partner. As much as Lisa cared for Kathleen, her sexual orientation had not changed and throughout her life she would need to break away every so often to indulge in sex with guys. She was grateful for Ken’s presence, because in spite of all the changes that had transpired over the past month, he still was the guy with whom she preferred to have sex. It was with him that she felt a familiar presence in her life. There was another issue pushing Lisa to make love to Ken. Because he was an important part of her past, he was the one person with whom she could have sex and not feel guilty about cheating on Kathleen.

At that moment Lisa still considered Ken as her "ex-" and planned to treat him as a casual sexual partner. However, her instinct to exert control forced her to consider what changes she might want to make in their sex life so she could begin dominating him psychologically. Her desire to control him was not out of overt hope that she might reclaim him as a long-term boyfriend, but instead a subconscious desire arising from the dominating instinct in her personality.

Ken fully expected Lisa to grab an implement, order him to bend over, and start beating him. He assumed there was plenty of pent-up aggression in her and was afraid. As always, the fear sexually aroused him and his penis was quite erect. However, Lisa’s treatment of him that night would be very different from what he expected because of what she had learned over the past week. She did not want to punish him, but instead to seduce him and control him.

She grabbed his penis and stroked it a couple of times before getting on her elbows and knees. She spread her legs and turned her bottom up, completely exposing her shaved pelvis and bottom-hole to his eager gaze. The old erotic desire returned as Ken touched her and explored her most private area with his fingertips. He realized he was very aroused by Lisa’s posture, partly because she unknowingly had assumed the same position Tracy had taken several nights before. Ken pushed in and thrust very hard. For the first time in a while he was able to concentrate on the person with whom he was making love at the moment, realizing how much more he preferred making love to Lisa over making love to Bernadette.

Once Lisa climaxed, she sat on the sofa, spread her legs, and ordered Ken to get a wet washcloth and clean her off. To comply he had to get on his knees, which was what Lisa wanted. Once she was adequately clean she ordered him to lie over her lap so she could inspect the marks from Heather’s caning earlier in the week. The bruises were gone, but Lisa spent a long time gently running her hand over his bottom, enjoying the chance to touch and explore his skin at her leisure. It was obvious Ken was enjoying the attention as well, because Lisa felt his penis hardening and pressing against her thigh.

"I really think you could use a spanking. That’s what you want from me, isn’t it, you naughty boy?"

"Yeah... It’s what I want..."

"Such a naughty thing to want from me. So, if I give you your spanking, what do I get in return? Hmm? What do I get out of it?"

"I’ll do whatever you want... please. I’ll do whatever you want."

"That’s a good boy. ‘...whatever I want’. That’s what I need to hear."

Lisa was fascinated by what was happening between her and her former boyfriend. She was talking to him in a kind, but condescending tone of voice, very different from the usual yelling and insults that had accompanied their love-making before the beginning of the summer. She realized that if she talked to him seductively instead of roughly, he seemed much more submissive, as opposed to simply being obedient. Lisa realized there was an important difference between submission and obedience. What she wanted from him was total submission and complete psychological surrender. She wanted to actually control his thinking.

She began spanking slowly and softly, using the same technique on Ken that had worked so well on Kathleen. She took breaks from the slapping to fondle and massage his reddening backside, occasionally reaching between his thighs to tickle his testicles. He turned his bottom up, seeking her fingertips against his exposed skin. Lisa realized that Kathleen had reacted in exactly the same way the last time she spanked her.

Ken kept his legs spread and settled comfortably over Lisa’s lap. He loved the helpless child-like feeling and the surrender she was asking of him. At the same time he was very aroused, partly because never before had Lisa been so gentle and patient with him.

After nearly 30 minutes of slaps, massage, and fondling, Ken was desperate to relieve his desires inside Lisa a second time. She knew the session over her lap had reached its climax and now it was time to reward herself with another exquisite orgasm. Lisa ordered Ken to lie on the floor on his back. She straddled him, grabbed his penis to guide it inside her body, and lowered herself. She rocked back and forth as she felt him pulsating inside her, aroused not just by the feeling of her lover’s erect organ discharging into her body, but also by the feeling of being in complete control over their time together. He was doing what she told him to do. He was under her control, even if just for the evening.

Lisa went to bed early, anticipating the need to get up at 4:00 for another streaking session to the stadium with Tracy and her fellow pledges. Sure enough, at 4:00 a.m. the guest-room rang out with Tracy’s familiar:

"OK, sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! Let’s go... Let’s go... Let’s go!"

The women put on their shoes, stretched, and were out the door within 20 minutes. There was a calm, familiar feeling to the early morning run, especially for Lisa and Kathleen. Even Bernadette and Cherine felt much more relaxed running naked on Saturday than they had Thursday, given that it was not their first streak. As before, Heather’s friend was waiting with her camera, and as before, Sergeant Polk was standing by Gate 4 to let the women into the stadium.

On the stairs Kathleen sprinted ahead of the others, while Cherine managed to keep up with Lisa and finish running all six flights of steps non-stop. Bernadette’s time was only slightly improved over her performance from Thursday, which meant the group would have to return to the stadium Monday. That was fine with Lisa, because she truly enjoyed having the opportunity to run naked, even if it was at a very strange hour in the morning.

As the Four-Betas exited the stadium, Polk stopped the group to chat with Tracy. Lisa could tell that her Pledge Mistress was very nervous about being forced into a "casual" conversation just so the security officer could have a few extra minutes to study her body. She felt that she needed to come to Tracy’s rescue by somehow distracting Polk and make him too nervous to continue chatting.

Lisa remembered how she had distracted the clerks in the shoe store by turning her back to them and bending over to tie her shoelaces. She decided to repeat that performance for the benefit of the security officer. She began with stretching exercises, but then pretended to notice that her shoestrings were loose. She calmly turned around, spread her feet and turned them inward, and bent over to completely expose herself. As she fiddled with her shoes, she glanced between her legs to notice Polk staring at her with wide eyes. Obviously what Lisa was doing was far more interesting than continuing to chat with his fellow Reservist. The teasing calm vanished from his voice as he stammered and totally forgot what he wanted to say to Tracy.

Lisa flexed her body to expose herself even more as she casually pulled off a shoe and dumped a pebble out. She was totally shameless and loved the feeling of absolute exposure. Even more, she was fascinated at the thought of controlling Polk’s emotions by doing something as simple as showing off her body.

The distraction allowed Tracy to break off the conversation and order her group to "move out!" She wasn’t sure whether Lisa’s performance had been deliberate, but was grateful for the interruption and the chance to tactfully escape from the security guard. Of course, Monday morning they’d have to show up naked yet again, but the Pledge Mistress could worry about that in two days.

As the weekend progressed, the Tracy became increasingly worried about the newcomers’ academic performance. On Saturday afternoon, following house clean-up, she rounded up her group, ordered them to pack their book-bags, and marched them to Ruth Burnside’s house in the stifling afternoon heat. The young women undressed in the living room and spent the next eight hours hunched over their books, while Tracy made herself available to answer questions and help them get caught up with various homework assignments.

On Sunday night Tracy planned another study break, one that would include the males. She announced that immediately after dinner both groups of pledges were to pick up their backpacks and go with her to the university library. They would study from 6:30 to 10:00 before returning to the sorority house. Upon getting back, the women would go straight to bed, while Tracy would take the men back to the Tri-Alpha house and release them back to the fraternity.

Tracy’s plan caused resentment among the other members of the sorority, because she was shortening "Hell Week" and taking the Tri-Alpha males away from their duties to pleasure the women. She also was taking the Four-Beta pledges away from their clean-up responsibilities. However, Tracy sharply rebuked her peers as she held up a copy of the Pledge Manual, "Any of you who don’t like what I’m doing had better take a good look at what’s in this manual. I am responsible, first and foremost, for the academic success of the pledges. It’s been this way since 1946, and I think you’d better remind yourselves why that rule was written. If those pledges fail their classes, it’s my ass! So guess what? Tonight they’re gonna study, and then they’re gonna sleep, because tomorrow’s a school day! That’s my decision, and if you don’t like it, tough shit! If enough of you have a problem with that, then go right ahead and elect yourselves a new Pledge Mistress while we’re gone!"

As soon as Tracy left with Pledge Master Arnold and the nine pledges, Sergeant-at-Arms Heather made a very unfortunate miscalculation. She expected that the resentment against Tracy was enough to have her voted out as Pledge Mistress and called an emergency meeting of everyone present in the sorority house. Because she was an officer, she had the right to call an instant meeting, even without the prior approval of President Alexandra.

Heather laid out her case against Tracy, that she was overly-protective of the pledges and taking her duty as Pledge Mistress way too seriously. The position had made her combative and unwilling to cooperate with the other members of the sorority. One problem with the way Tracy was handling the pledges was that she was not letting the other sorority members participate in their hazing and preventing anyone else from having the opportunity to get to know them.

"I don’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s got no respect for any of the rest of us, and to be quite honest, she’s really starting to piss me off! Maybe she’s taking her Army shit too seriously or something. Anyhow, you’ve heard my thoughts. We ought to get rid of her, before things with the pledges go any further!"

President Alexandra took a deep breath. She liked Heather a lot more than she liked Tracy. They had been friends since they were pledges and Alexandra had been expecting that Heather would succeed her in the fall as chapter president. However, the Sergeant-at-Arms had just made an enormous mistake by calling the meeting, because the other officers disagreed about the need to replace Tracy.

Yes, it was true that none of the seniors really liked Tracy. Yes, it was true that Tracy was uncompromising and obnoxious. However, Four-Beta tradition mandated that her behavior was what was expected of a good Pledge Mistress. Tracy’s job description not only required her to be tough on the pledges, but also tough about protecting their interests, watching over their well-being and willing to confront other sorority members if necessary. Being Pledge Mistress was a difficult and unpopular assignment, not one suited for a member interested in being friends with everyone else.

Alexandra had nominated Tracy to be Pledge Mistress precisely because she had the character traits that best suited her for that job. She was not particularly gregarious, somewhat aloof from the other members, and did not care whether she was well-liked or not. Of all the women in the sorority she was by far the toughest and most inflexible, and also the one most obsessed with learning and following rules and traditions. She most certainly had a unique style of handling pledges, but so far it had been successful. They were doing quite well and it looked like none of them was going to drop out of the program.

Heather had the shock of her life when only one person, the junior who was her best friend, seconded her motion to remove Tracy as Pledge Mistress. The other seniors and many of the juniors may not have liked Tracy, but very few of them thought anyone else was better suited to be Pledge Mistress. It turned out that the grumbling about the pledges being out on a study break did not translate into any desire to replace her. Heather glanced at Alexandra, silently pleading for help.

Alexandra’s look gave Heather her answer. Sorry Heather, I can’t support you on this. You shouldn’t have called this meeting without talking to me first. You’re on your own.

Heather’s face turned white as she realized that she had just totally humiliated herself. Lacking support from Alexandra, the Sergeant-at-Arms knew better than to proceed with a formal vote. It was clear there was almost no support among the others for her effort to remove the Pledge Mistress. In fact, the meeting had achieved the exact opposite of what she wanted by making the juniors and sophomores who supported Tracy realize that plenty of others in the sorority felt the same way. Heather, who up until that moment was guaranteed to be elected chapter president in the fall, had just placed her ambitions in jeopardy. Now that the rivalry was out in the open, many of the younger women began to wonder if Tracy would actually make a better leader than Heather.

Heather retreated from the meeting, unsure how to handle the rebuke. Had she been able to put the incident into perspective, she would have realized that the best way to deal with it would have been to do nothing and let it fade with the passage of time. However, she saw the sorority presidency slipping away from her, which distorted her thinking and her perception of her duty as a Four-Beta officer.

Heather needed to figure out how she could undermine the Pledge Mistress. If she didn’t, Tracy would become the next chapter president. No, that could not be allowed. Somehow, Tracy had to be stopped.

Chapter 28 -- Lisa’s Thong

The following morning began at 4:00 with yet another naked run to the stadium. As always, the five streakers ran past Heather’s friend and had their picture taken before finishing the trip to the stadium. Bernadette’s performance improved tremendously; she came very close to finishing the sixth flight before her lungs gave out and she was forced to walk the final few steps. Tracy was heartened by her progress and at the thought that Wednesday might be the last day the group would have to go streaking at 4:00 in the morning.

"You’re close, a lot closer than you were a week ago. Think about it for Wednesday. If you make it up the steps, you can test on Friday and we’ll be done. You do have it in you. It’s just a few more steps. That’s all it is."

Once again Polk tried to engage Tracy in conversation and once again Lisa bent over to distract him. For the second time Lisa’s ploy worked by drawing the security officer’s attention away from Tracy. She noticed him holding a clipboard in front of his crotch and that he was hunched over, obviously hiding an erection. Ha! So she had turned the tables on Polk, forcing him to have a hard-on and humiliate himself! That morning he was quite eager to send the women on their way.

As they took off running past the Student Fitness Center, Tracy and her pledges did not notice something that would complicate the rest of Lisa’s summer. Heather’s friend had stayed near the stadium to observe the group from an area shaded by some trees. Among other things, she watched Lisa bend over in front of the security officer and remembered the story of her doing the same thing in the shoe store. She knew that of the pledges, Lisa was the least inhibited about showing off her body. That gave her an idea, to suggest that Heather put Lisa’s lack of inhibitions to the test.

Heather’s friend explained her plan when the pledges were eating breakfast. When Heather heard the idea, she liked it tremendously. Rather than share it with Tracy, she decided to go directly to Ruth Burnside’s office and see if she could talk the professor into going along with it. While she was in class, Heather discussed with the professor Lisa’s total lack of modesty. Burnside off-handedly added the detail about her student’s fantasy of pursuing a public career as the world’s first naked economist. Heather responded, "Well, Dr. Burnside. You know that in the sorority we like our pledges to push their limits as much as possible. Even someone like Pledge Lisa, who seems open to just about anything, has limits that need to pushed even farther. I like to challenge the pledges, keep making them do more and more daring things."

"Yes, I understand your philosophy. So what does that mean for Pledge Lisa?"

"I’m thinking about changing Pledge Lisa’s uniform for campus. I’d like to take away her shorts and have her wear something a bit more daring. What I’m thinking about is issuing her a thong and making her wear it on campus instead of her pledge shorts. I can’t see that it would be a problem outside, because the campus administration just loosened the dress code to allow thongs at the pool and for sunbathers in the dorm area. The only thing I’d need would be permission from you to allow Pledge Lisa to wear her thong in your classes."

Burnside sat back, contemplating the idea. She liked it tremendously. Lisa would look quite sexy running around lectures, passing out papers, and collecting assignments with her bottom exposed. Making Lisa wear a thong also would help Burnside completely control her, because if she had to be disciplined there was no way she would be able to cover the marks on her bottom. The threat of discipline would be much more frightening if the student had no means of covering her welts.

The other reason forcing Lisa to wear a thong on campus appealed to Burnside was that it would allow the girl to come much closer to fulfilling her secret fantasy. She would be spending the rest of the summer almost completely naked below the waist, which would bring her very close to living naked in public. Heather and Burnside agreed that people such as Lisa should be encouraged, and even obligated, to pursue whatever sexual fantasies they had. Both the professor and the sorority believed that repression of sexuality was a major cause of personal frustration, which in turn manifested itself in all kinds of dysfunctional and self-destructive behavior. For example, it seemed to both women that societies that were the most sexually oppressive also were the most violent.

Burnside was astute enough to realize that Heather must have had some ulterior motive for wanting to force Lisa to run around the university in a thong instead of shorts. However, she figured that if there was any major problem, she would find out about it soon enough and could rescind her permission. In the meantime, Pledge Lisa’s bottom would remain uncovered in public for the duration of the summer, in addition to her working completely naked whenever she was in Burnside’s office or house. It would be interesting to see how Lisa would handle such a personal challenge.

With the Tri-Alpha pledges back at the fraternity and Pledge Master Arnold once again in charge of his group, life in the Four-Beta Sorority returned to normal. The pledges returned to being completely naked whenever in the sorority house and their temporary status of relative equality with the other women quickly vanished. They had to give up sleeping in the comfortable guest beds and return to their austere military cots. Their privacy vanished and once again they were forced to use the pledge toilet, relieving themselves in full view of anyone who happened to be in the basement at that time.

The Four-Beta pledge training classes started up again, after a week break because of the presence of the males in the sorority house. Every night there was a different seminar. Topics that week included a self-defense class taught by Tracy, another massage training session from Suzanne Foster, a beginner’s class in car maintenance presented by Tri-Alpha VP Jacob, a course in avoiding credit card debt, and a practical exercise examining the fundamentals of academic research. Along with the seminars there was the routine PT, study breaks, house clean-up, and meals with the sophomores. Each day was so full of activity that it seemed to last an eternity.

There was another unpleasant detail introduced into the pledges' lives, their hiking boots. Tracy ordered her group to wear their hiking boots on campus during the mornings to break them in. Of course the boots looked totally ridiculous with the rest of the pledge uniforms, but as Tracy put it, "You'll look a lot more ridiculous if you're out in the woods with your feet all ripped up with blisters."

Wednesday morning began at 4:00 with a pre-dawn streak to the stadium. As always, Polk let the group in through Gate 4. Bernadette’s performance on the steps improved slightly, but not enough for Tracy to declare that she was ready to test on Friday. That meant yet another run on Friday, with the possibility of Bernadette testing pushed back to Sunday, at the earliest.

Fortunately for Tracy, Polk was not waiting for her when the group finished their practice run on the stadium steps. He was gone from the stadium area, forced to respond to a burglar alarm that had gone off in one of the academic buildings. Tracy locked the gate herself and the five naked women ran back to the sorority.

Tracy might have been forgiving of Bernadette’s struggles on the stadium steps, but Wednesday afternoon she became much more sharp-tempered over the three freshmen’s academic performance. Kathleen, Bernadette, and Cherine had taken an exam for one of their classes on Monday, but in spite of Tracy’s efforts to get them ready, they did not perform to her expectations. Each had only scored in the low ‘80’s and their mentor was livid. Tracy seethed with anger as she escorted the three young women to the Economics Building to pick up Lisa. As they entered Burnside’s office, the expressions on the faces of Lisa’s companions reflected genuine fear, because they knew they faced punishment as soon as they got back to the sorority.

As soon as they entered the sorority house the pledges undressed and put their clothes in the washer. They knelt in the sitting room, waiting for the Pledge Mistress to start berating them. Tracy did return with the freshmen’s tests, but for a long time stood quietly, going through their papers and jotting down some notes and observations. The freshmen were sweating as they waited for the ominous silence in the room to explode into vicious yelling.

Heather came into the room and chatted with Tracy about what had happened that day in class. It was clear that she was pleased about Tracy’s awkward situation and at seeing that, when it came to her pledges’ performance, she was not so perfect after-all. However, Heather also realized that she had the perfect opportunity to pull Lisa away from the pledge group and impose the planned change of her uniform.

Heather called Lisa to the hallway and told her to go downstairs. Lisa complied with very mixed feelings. She was relieved to escape the possibility of being punished along with the freshmen, but at the same time she felt bad about deserting them. Also, she did not trust Heather. There was no way the Sergeant-at-Arms would pull her away from being punished just out of being nice. No, Heather was up to something. Lisa’s suspicions rose even more when the sorority officer spoke in her sweet sarcastic voice:

"Put on your uniform, Pledge. We’re going out, and you’ll get to go shopping with me. Don’t you think that’s gonna be fun?"

"Yes, ma’am."

Lisa put on a clean pledge uniform and followed Heather up the stairs, very worried about what Heather was planning to buy.

As they ascended the steps, Lisa heard Cherine’s voice crying and the sound of CRACK!... CRACK!.. CRACK!

She glanced through the door to see Cherine bent over a table. Tracy was striking her with a very narrow two-pronged leather strap. Cherine’s bottom already was covered with multiple thin welts that were clearly visible on the girl’s dark skin.

"Aieee!!!... Ma’am... ma’am... Ooh... Ow!... I... I’ll do better... Ahh! I’ll try..."

Kathleen and Bernadette were kneeling. They had not yet been punished, but were sweating and trembling from fear and anticipation.

As they exited the house, Heather’s voice rang out sweetly to Lisa, "Aren’t you glad you’re coming with me and not having that cute butt of yours whipped?"

"Yes, ma’am," lied Lisa. In reality she wondered if she’d be better off getting punished alongside her companions.

Heather led Lisa to Pageant Street and into a clothing shop. She immediately led the pledge to a clothing rack of undergarments and asked her waist size. Upon hearing Lisa’s response, Heather began thumbing through thongs that would fit, finally settling on three that came closest to the color of her pledge shorts. Heather narrowed the selection to the thong that provided the least cover in the back and had a very high waistband. She passed it to Lisa.

"Here, Pledge. Try this on and let’s see how it looks on you."

Lisa was bewildered by the command, but knew better than to argue. She stepped into a dressing room and pulled down her shorts, set them aside, and put on the thong. The article of clothing made her feel more exposed than she felt when completely naked. She felt the contrast between her crotch, which was adequately covered, and her backside, which was totally bare. Reluctantly she stepped out of the dressing room and faced Heather.

"I like it. You look really cute. Turn around, Pledge."

Lisa turned around. Heather carefully examined her uncovered bottom, and then ran her hand over her exposed buttocks.

"Perfect. The color’s just a little bit off, but other than that it looks really nice."

Heather patted Lisa’s bottom:

"OK, Pledge, get me your shorts and hand ‘em over."

Lisa’s heart jumped into her throat. She quietly retrieved her shorts from the dressing room, hoping that she misunderstood what Heather had just said. That hope faded when Heather grabbed Lisa’s shorts and stuffed them into her backpack. She then selected three additional thongs identical to the one Lisa already had on. She pulled out a Four-Beta purchasing card and directed the pledge to follow her to the sales counter.

The cashier stared in amazement at the two women when Heather announced, "Four thongs please: the three here and the one she’s got on."

The clerk turned to Lisa, "Uh... OK... but... aren’t you gonna wear something over that?"

Before Lisa had a chance to respond, Heather cut in, "Oh no, she’ll be fine! She’s a total show-off! She likes it when people look at her butt, and she wanted me to help her choose something that'll let people see what she’s got!"

Noting Lisa’s worried expression, the clerk insisted on a response from her. Sullenly Lisa responded, "I’ll be fine, ma’am. What she’s saying about me is true. I... I’m kinda an exhibitionist... and..."

"OK... I just hope you stay out of trouble. I mean... if I were you, I’d cover-up a bit more..."

"It’s all-right, ma’am. I... I’ll be fine."

With that the two women left the store and stepped out into the late afternoon sunlight. It seemed that everyone’s head turned towards Lisa as she walked down the crowded street with the Sergeant-at-Arms. Worse than the stares were the constant whistles and the occasional honk from people driving by.

Lisa was hoping that, at the very least, Heather would take her back to the sorority. No such luck. They went from one business to another as Heather calmly looked at CD’s, bought a textbook, placed an order for several boxes of fruit for the sorority, and visited a car repair shop to set up an appointment to have a minivan’s oil changed. Lisa tried to sit down to avoid the stares of the mechanics, but Heather admonished her, "Stand up, Pledge! I didn’t say anything about you sitting down!"

"Yes, ma’am."

Lisa could not have explained, even to herself, why she felt so totally humiliated. It didn’t make any sense that she felt more vulnerable wearing a thong in public than being naked in public. Perhaps part of the problem was not having any control over what was happening to her. It was one thing to run naked at a nude marathon, streak in the middle of the night, or bend over in front of a security officer when surrounded by four other naked women. It was quite another to be at Heather’s mercy, alone and exposed in a provocative piece of clothing in broad daylight on a busy public street.

Unfortunately for Lisa, Heather had planned an even more humiliating stop before they returned to the sorority. The sorority officer led her pledge to a café-bar that had a small dance floor. She ordered two non-alcoholic drinks and then asked Lisa to dance. As several guys and women (the café was a favorite lesbian hangout) whistled at Lisa, Heather danced with her through several fast songs. Then a slow song played, and Heather drew Lisa close and danced romantically.

Lisa was dumbstruck at what was happening. She knew that Heather had absolutely no romantic interest in other women, but was forcing her to dance in public to humiliate her. After one slow dance the two women sat down to have their drinks, only to be joined by three of Heather’s friends, two women and a guy, who were from her department. Heather whispered into Lisa’s ear, "These are good friends of mine, Pledge. You’d better treat them with respect."

"Yes, ma’am."

For a few minutes treating Heather’s friends with "respect" consisted of bringing them drinks and a shared appetizer. The drinks were alcoholic and Lisa looked longingly at what she was carrying. She badly needed a drink herself, but of course, as a Four-Beta, she could not have alcohol. She noticed that even Heather was adhering to that rule. Lisa served the drinks as her mentor chatted about classes and the sorority. The topic turned to Lisa as all three of Heather’s guests commented on how attractive she was. The guy asked, "You suppose I could dance with her?"

"Sure, she’d love to! She’s a lot of fun to dance with, because she’s totally uninhibited. Once you get her out on the floor you’ll see what I’m talking about!"

Lisa danced one fast dance with the guy before the music switched back to slow. The guy pulled her close and pressed her body into his. She could feel his penis stiffening underneath his pants.

"So, you’re totally uninhibited, huh!"

"Yes, sir. That’s why I’m pledging the Four-Betas."

"I love your ass. You’ve got the best ass of just about any girl I’ve seen. So you like showing it off in public, huh?"

"Yes, sir. Uh... that’s why I got a thong on. Sergeant-at-Arms Heather helped me pick it out, ‘cause she wanted me to show off."

"And does she ever spank that cute ass?"

"Yes, sir. She’s spanked me."

"I bet you like that."

Lisa took a deep breath. This was getting harder and harder. It took every bit of her self discipline to keep herself from kneeing that asshole in the groin, ramming her fist into Heather’s mouth, grabbing her shorts out of her backpack and leaving the café. However, she couldn’t. Whatever Heather was trying to do, Lisa had to go along with it. Finally she answered, "It’s part of pledging, sir. We all get punished because it’s part of our hazing."

"But I bet you like it. I bet you like having these cute ass cheeks spanked."

With that the guy’s hands moved down and massaged Lisa’s exposed bottom. They danced like that for the rest of the song and the next one, Lisa’s bare bottom firmly in the grip of some creepy guy she didn’t even know.

Lisa was frightened and infuriated. She glanced at Heather, who was watching with an expression that indicated she was pleased with the pledge’s predicament. It was obvious this guy was grabbing Lisa’s ass because Heather wanted him to.

"So you like it when guys touch you?"

"Yes, sir."

Lisa’s fears that her dancing partner would go beyond fondling her turned out to be unfounded. He took her hand and led her back to the table, releasing her with a quick slap to the bottom.

Heather ordered Lisa to go back to the bar to retrieve another round of drinks. On her way back a tall, fat, unkempt-looking guy asked Lisa to dance, which she declined. As soon as she got back to the table with the tray full of drinks, Heather snapped,  

"Did that guy just ask you to dance?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"Then you dance with him! You go right over there, tell him you’re sorry for being such a bitch, and dance with him!"

"Yes, ma’am."

Sadly Lisa walked over to the creepy-looking guy and told him she had changed her mind about dancing with him. She did not go as far as apologizing for "being such a bitch", but the humiliation of what she was doing was bad enough. On top of being unpleasant to look at, Lisa’s new dance partner smelled of alcohol, cheap cologne, sweat, and stale deodorant. Worst of all, he was completely detached from reality, thinking that he was sexy to Lisa when he was totally the opposite. Of course his hands went straight to her exposed bottom, but he also began landing slobbery kisses on her neck.

Heather planned to let Lisa dance for a long time and let events with her unsavory companion take their course. However, the unpleasant adventure abruptly ended after only two dances. The extreme stress she was under, combined with the rancid smell assaulting her nose and the saliva smeared all over her neck, suddenly made her violently sick. She spun away from her partner, dropped to her hands and knees, and threw up on the dance floor. She struggled to her feet, only to double-up and completely empty her stomach. The mess from the second episode was quite impressive.

It was one of Heather’s friends that came to Lisa’s rescue. She led the half-naked pledge to the women’s bathroom, had her rinse her mouth and drink from the fountain, and finally handed her a small bottle of mouthwash. Heather’s mood went from triumphant to embarrassed, as she realized that her remaining two friends wanted no further part in this cruel little exercise. As for the guy Lisa was dancing with, he retreated, worried that he would be told to clean up the floor. The staff was infuriated and told Heather and the others to get out of the café. Thus Heather’s effort to humiliate Lisa came to an abrupt end.

It already was quite late when Heather escorted Lisa out of the café-bar and back to the sorority house. Of course Heather made sure they passed through Fraternity Row and Lisa had to withstand a barrage of whistles and cat-calls. Finally they returned to the Four-Beta house and Lisa dutifully undressed. Heather handed her the three thongs out of her backpack and told her to put them in the washing machine along with the one she had just taken off.

Lisa was very scared by Heather’s treatment and longed to talk to Tracy. What Heather had just done to her in the café went way beyond simple hazing or testing. Perhaps she had not broken any specific rules of the Pledge Manual, but she most certainly had broken the spirit and protocol of the Four-Beta pledge program. She tried to figure out what was going on in Heather’s mind. Was it possible that the Sergeant-at-Arms had been hoping to force her to quit the pledging program? If that was what she intended, she had failed, because Lisa had not given her any hints that she was ready to quit. There was another possibility -- that perhaps Heather was hoping to spark an outburst from Tracy’s explosive temper. Maybe the whole incident was designed not as a set-up against Lisa, but instead a set-up against Tracy.

Now that they were back at the sorority house, Heather needed to release the pledge back into the custody of the Pledge Mistress. Tracy showed up, her face reflecting extreme displeasure that Heather had taken Lisa out of the house without her knowledge or permission. However, she knew better than to argue that point, because Heather already had an answer: well, you took the pledges out of the house several times yourself without anyone’s permission, so now it's my turn.

Upon putting her clothes in the washer, Lisa found Tracy sitting at a table in the sorority library with the three freshmen. The pledges were depressed and teary-eyed, but diligently studying. Tracy had a bunch of her own study materials laid out, but it was clear she was there more to help the freshmen than to work on her own research. Lisa approached the Pledge Mistress and knelt.

"Pledge Mistress Tracy, Pledge Lisa requests permission to speak."

"Yes, Pledge Lisa?"

"Ma’am, I request permission to speak to you in private. I... I went out with Sergeant-at-Arms Heather and I... need to clarify some stuff in the Pledge Manual."

Tracy immediately stood up.

"Let’s go. Upstairs." She turned to the three freshmen. "You three are under orders not to move until I get back. If anyone, and I don’t care who it is, tells you to move or wants you to do anything, tell them they’ve got to come up to my room and talk to me first."

"Yes, ma’am."

The two women went upstairs to Tracy’s room and Lisa knelt. Tracy noticed the pledge’s hands shaking and realized that something was very wrong. She told Lisa to get off her knees and take a seat in her desk chair.

Her voice cracking, Lisa told Tracy the details of her unpleasant outing with the Sergeant-at-Arms. She could tell that Tracy was very worried over what had happened and not able to conceal her worry.

"Ma’am, what’s going on? I didn’t join this sorority to have my butt grabbed and be forced to dance with a bunch of creeps on Pageant Street! I don’t mind the thong so much, but what she did... at the café... I mean, she’s pimping me! That’s what it is, she’s fucking pimping me! If that’s what..."

Tracy held up her hand, "Lisa... Lisa... I can explain this! I can tell you what’s going on!"

Tracy took a deep breath.

"I know what she’s after and it’s not really you at all! It’s me! The problem is, the only way she can get to me is through you! That’s why she pulled that shit with you at the café! What she’s doing is trying to get you to quit the sorority and..."

"Well if that’s what she wants, then I can tell you she’s pretty fucking close! If this is the way you bitches operate, then..."

"Don’t you dare throw me in with Heather! You can call me a bitch all you want, but don’t compare me with her! I’m not like her, and what each of us wants for the sorority is very different!"

"Well, what’s that have to do with us? I mean, we’re already putting up with a lot of shit from you two, and now Heather..."

"Heather wants you out for a very simple reason. She wants to fuck me up as Pledge Mistress. She figures if she can get you to quit, the others will quit as well and that’ll make me look like shit. That’s what’s going on. Heather doesn’t care about you or the other pledges. What she’s after is me, and she figures the only way she’s gonna get to me is by getting you to quit. You're the one who's been keeping everyone else motivated, so it stands to reason she'd come after you first."

"But... what are you two fighting over?"

"Over who gets to be the next Four-Beta chapter president."

"So you’re running against her?"

"That’s what it looks like. It’s gonna be between me and her. You see, the problem is that, up until a few weeks ago, everyone thought that Heather was gonna be chapter president after Alexandra and that was gonna be it. They’d make me the new Sergeant-at-Arms, which would’ve made me the fourth highest-ranking member of the sorority. That would have been fine with me. The problem is that Heather’s pissed off a lot of the women (especially the sophomores) and there’s a lot of people in the sorority who don’t like her. At the end of April there was some talk about drafting another candidate to run against her. Until last week they were gonna try to get Shannon..." (who was the leader of the juniors) "...to run against Heather, but she wouldn’t have gotten elected because she’s not a senior and it would break tradition. You follow me so far?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"Well, something happened Sunday night that pulled Shannon out of the running and pushed me instead..."

With that Tracy described Heather’s effort to remove her as Pledge Mistress, the resulting humiliation, and the discussion among the sophomores to ask Tracy to run against Heather.

"Anyhow, now I’m up against her, Alexandra, and most of the seniors. And I can tell you this whole thing is totally stupid, because to be honest, I really don’t want to be the Four-Beta chapter president. I mean, I’m trying to get into OCS and I don’t need to distracted with a bunch of political shit from the sorority! But... I mean... I can’t turn it down either. If I get voted in, I’ll have to serve, because, to be honest, I think the sophomores are right about Heather. If she gets in, she’s gonna mess up the sorority. The reason the girls who don’t like Heather are looking to me is because all the other seniors are afraid of her. I’m the only one who’s not. If she gives me any shit, I can kick her ass. She knows that, and because I’m not scared of her, she’s scared of me."

"Shit."

"Yeah, that’s what it is alright, a bunch of shit. I mean, it’s totally stupid, really. But political crap is part of human nature, so I’m not surprised. You get a group of 80 women together and something like this is bound to happen. I’ve been in the Army long enough to know there’s plenty of bullshit there too. So..." Tracy shrugged her shoulders. "we just deal with it."

"But you two have no right to make us your punching bags."

"I’m not the one doing that, Lisa. I’m not the one who’s trying to use you for anything. Think about it. I know I’m a bitch around you, but I’m only behaving that way because I have to. It’s what I was elected to do. It’s what’s written down in my job title. There’s no way I would’ve done what Heather did to you, and I’m very pissed off about it."

"So is there anything you can do about it? Is anything gonna happen to her?"

"Not from the way you described the incident. The problem is that Heather did not violate any specific rule of the Pledge Manual. What she did was violate the spirit of the pledge program. What she did was totally unethical, but I don’t think I’d get President Alexandra to back me up on issuing an official reprimand."

"So what am I gonna do?"

"Well, the first thing is that you’ll have to decide what’s best for you and the people you care about. Unfortunately what’s best for you and what’s best for them is probably not the same thing. If you leave the sorority, what’s gonna happen to Kathleen and Ken? You gotta think about that, and then, if you decide to stay in, you gotta think about whether or not you can still accomplish what you wanted when you signed up. That’s item one. The other issue is whether or not you want Heather to ‘win’ this fight. Do you think we’d be better off if she becomes president? Do you think it would be better for the sorority if you leave? That is a consideration, and I think you already know the answer."

"Now, assuming you stay, there will have to be some changes, for your own good. You’ll have to stick close to me and your fellow pledges, always. You won’t be able to go off by yourself because if you do, she’s gonna find you and fuck with you. I’ve been trying to give you a little space because I think you’re far more mature than your fellow pledges. The problem is that came back to bite me. Had I kept you with me this afternoon, Heather wouldn’t have had the chance to take you out of the house. That was my fault. I should have seen it coming and I didn’t. I dropped the ball on watching out for you and I apologize."

Lisa didn’t say anything, but nodded to acknowledge Tracy’s effort to set things right with her. Tracy continued, "Obviously Heather’s thong bullshit’s got to be fixed. That I will take up with President Alexandra. I’ll make sure you get your pledge shorts back tomorrow morning before class."

"No! Don’t do that... I mean, please don’t do that, ma’am."

"Huh?"

"I’ll wear the thong."

"There’s no need to wear a thong, no matter what Heather says. It’s real simple. It’s a uniform violation."

"No ma’am. Heather issued me a challenge. I don’t turn down challenges. If she thinks I can’t handle running around all summer in a thong, then I’ll just have to prove her wrong."

"Lisa, that’s not what this is all about."

"It is for me."

"You’re actually gonna... go to class wearing a thong?"

"Yes, ma’am, that’s what I wanna do. I’ll stop if the university tells me to cover up. But until that happens, I’m gonna show Heather I’m not afraid to wear her fucking thong."

"You’re sure about this?"

"Yes, ma’am. Totally sure."

"Alright. That’s gonna be your choice and I’ll respect it. If you change your mind let me know."

Tracy paused, struggling with a simple decision, but a very momentous one. Finally she took a deep breath and plunged ahead. She had decided to let down her guard and place some rare personal trust in another person. "I don’t really know how to say this, Lisa. What makes it harder is that as soon as we step out of this room we gotta go back to our roles as Pledge Mistress and Pledge. But... all the stuff you’ve done for the other pledges... and also what you’ve done for me... it means a lot to me... a lot more than I’m capable of expressing. You’ve helped me... in so many ways... and the problem is that I have no way of showing my gratitude. We’ve got to play this thing through to the end, and I’ve got to keep dogging your ass until August... but I don’t want it to always be this way between us... and... I want you to know that how I have to treat you is not really how I feel about you."

"I know that, ma’am. I know you’ve gotta play the game."

With that the two women stood up, together. There was no shout of "Pledge, STAND UP!" because they were determined to set aside the pledge protocol for a few minutes. They would resume their roles upon leaving Tracy’s room, not before.

Tracy and Lisa returned to the library, where the three sullen freshmen continued to study. It was time for everyone to clean up and go to bed. Lisa followed her companions downstairs, noting the fading strap marks on their bottoms. The women took turns at the toilet, showered, and brushed their teeth before lying down.

Before they turned out the light, the pledges were surprised to see their mentor come into the basement completely naked. They quickly knelt, but she told them to get up and continue getting ready to go to sleep.

Tracy amazed the others when she pulled a cot from the stack in the corner and unfolded it. She lay out a sheet and took a pillow.

"Pledge Kathleen, hit the lights, please."

"Yes, ma’am."

Without saying anything more Tracy settled on her cot and went to sleep. For the rest of the summer she would sleep with the pledges. Until they swore in as members she planned not to let them out of her sight except when they were in class. Her own lifestyle would change considerably. If she was to constantly be with her pledges, she felt that it was important that she return to living the lifestyle of a pledge. She locked her room and planned to use it only as a place to keep her books and computer. The following day she would take her running shorts and T-shirts to the basement and put them inside a locker. The only clothing she would allow herself to wear for the rest of the summer would be her Four-Beta summer jogging outfit.

Tracy’s decision even extended to what she wore in the Four-Beta house. The following morning she added a hanger to the four pledge hangers in the entryway closet. When her pledges undressed, she would undress with them.

Tracy’s decision bewildered the three freshmen, who were not thrilled at having her in their midst at all hours. Only Lisa understood what was going on, but it was obvious that it would be better not to say anything to her three companions. Like it or not, Tracy now was part of their group.

As the women settled down to sleep, Lisa felt deep admiration for the Pledge Mistress. She was not a nice or friendly person, but she did not hesitate to sacrifice her own comfort for the well-being of the people placed under her control.

Heather descended the stairs to wake up Lisa and continue harassing her. She was shocked to see five cots in the basement instead of four. She could make out Tracy’s bare figure asleep on the cot closest to the door. It was obvious that Heather’s rival fully understood what she had in mind for the pledges. There would be no visiting in the middle of the night and messing with them, because Tracy was right there in the basement, watching over her group like a vicious guard dog. Her astuteness and foresight only increased Heather’s hatred of her.

The Sergeant-at-Arms went back upstairs frustrated and infuriated.

That miserable fucking bitch!!!

Chapter 29 -- "Citizens’ Complaints"

The following day Tracy and her four pledges left the sorority in time to make their 8:00 classes. The three freshmen stepped outside in their normal outfits, but Lisa, true to her word, stoically walked down the sidewalk with her bottom totally uncovered as she dealt with a barrage of stares and whistles. It was a very strange sensation to feel the hot morning sun shining on her exposed bottom as the group made their way to the university. Stranger still was the knowledge that her backside probably would never be covered at all, under any circumstances, until August.

Lisa was not surprised that Burnside already knew about the thong arrangement and had approved. Burnside had been one reason Lisa had decided to go along with the change of uniform, because either the professor would count the thong as another test of her character or would flatly prohibit her from wearing it in her classes and thus the matter would be settled. Lisa calculated that the decision already had been made for her to continue wearing her thong.

As Lisa showed up to her office, Burnside had some reservations about allowing the girl’s hazing challenge to go any further because she liked to project a cold professional image in her classes. Her flamboyant, skimpily-clad assistant certainly detracted from the intimidating atmosphere the professor wanted for her students. However, in the end the professor decided not to say anything about her student’s nudity. Lisa was a Four-Beta, and the sorority had a reputation of forcing its pledges to be naked in public as much as possible and do many other strange things. Burnside would be able to fall back on the fact that Lisa simply was following orders from her sorority. If anyone challenged her about Lisa’s attire in her class, she could shrug her shoulders and say the issue was between her student aide and the Four-Beta officers.

The truth was that Burnside was much more supportive of the idea of forcing Lisa to pursue her fantasy of being naked in public than she would have let on to her colleagues. She believed that anyone with an active sexual imagination should be obligated to pursue their desires. Lisa would wear her thong, and it would be up to her to provide any needed explanation.

As Lisa followed Burnside across the courtyard to the main lecture building, every student and faculty member stared at the student’s exposed bottom. Lisa caused an even bigger sensation in the auditorium, to the point that Burnside realized she needed to address her assistant’s strange predicament. She tapped the microphone to get her audience to quiet down.

"You all have noticed that my student aide, Lisa Campbell, is wearing clothing that we normally would not consider appropriate for class. Lisa, please turn around and show everyone what I’m talking about."

Her heart pounding and her face flushed with embarrassment, Lisa stood next to the podium and turned her back to the class. There were a few claps and whistles, but Burnside raised her hand. "Lisa, please remain with your back to the class until I finish, so everyone can satisfy their curiosity and we can get this behind us."

There was some laughter at Burnside’s unintended pun. Realizing the humor in what she had just said, the professor gave her class a rare smile. "Lisa is pledging the Four-Beta Sorority, and it was an officer from her sorority who directed her to wear what she has on. What’s she’s doing is a pledge challenge, and that’s all it is. There’s something else. Lisa remains my aide and you will treat her with respect. Whatever the situation is with her sorority, it has no bearing on her responsibilities to the department. Enough said on that. Now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity about Lisa, I expect what she’s wearing to cause no further disruption in this class."

Burnside directed Lisa to take her usual seat in the first row, immediately beneath the speaker’s podium. The class settled down immediately. It was obvious that the novelty of Lisa’s thong already was wearing off.

Burnside taught Lisa an important lesson that day, one that she repeated in her other classes. The professor dealt with uncomfortable situations by addressing them immediately and directly. Rather than try to ignore the girl’s bizarre predicament, Burnside drew attention to it and resolved the matter with a truthful and logical explanation. Lisa was wearing a thong because of a sorority pledge challenge. It was that simple: no big deal. With their curiosity satisfied, Burnside’s students could direct their attention back to their purpose for being in the class, to learn economic theory and memorize how to use various mathematical formulas.

Lisa realized something else. Because the scandal of her thong already was dying down, it was very likely that she was committed to wearing it on campus for the rest of the summer. In fact, already people in the Economics Department were referring to her as "the girl in the thong" instead of "Burnside’s student aide". Within days Lisa’s thong became her identity.

Upon returning to the sorority in the afternoon, Tracy was careful to note the expression on Heather’s face to gage what, if anything, she might have in mind for the two women’s intensifying rivalry. Because the Pledge Mistress was training as a psychologist, small expressions and nuances of behavior that another person might miss could provide her with valuable insight about what someone else was thinking. Sure enough, Heather’s face reflected not anger, but instead the secret satisfaction a person gets when they are about to carry out a plot against a rival.

OK, so she’s got something in mind, but what could it be?

As the pledges received their Thursday night Four-Beta training seminar, Tracy had a few moments to think through the following day and ponder where something might go wrong. She dismissed various possibilities, including classes and anything that could happen between Lisa and Ruth Burnside. What about chores? No, it seemed the pledges were doing just fine on chores. What about... PT?

At 4:15 the next morning the group was scheduled for what Tracy hoped would be the last of Bernadette’s training runs. With luck she would test out the following week. If everything went well, the Friday morning run would be the last of the naked treks to the stadium and the last time she would have to deal with Polk’s leering presence and...

Suddenly Tracy realized what Heather was plotting. While it was true that Polk’s assistance made the run across the university relatively safe, to get to campus Tracy’s group had to run past several blocks of residences and cross a four-lane boulevard. Those blocks were patrolled not by Campus Security, but by the City Police. Heather knew the route that Tracy and her group took each morning and where they had to cross to get onto campus. As soon as the group left the Four-Beta house, all that was needed to land Tracy and the four pledges in jail would be a couple of "citizens’ complaints" about streakers.

So that was it! Tracy realized that it was quite likely Heather, and possibly a couple of her friends, would call the cops on her and the pledges when they did their pre-dawn naked run to the stadium! A very easy way to take down the entire group!

Tracy was taken aback by the ruthlessness of Heather’s plan. Were the five women to be caught streaking, for her it would be a personal disaster, because it would put an arrest on her record and probably ruin her chances of getting into the Army’s Officer Candidate School. It also would put arrests on the records of the four pledges, complicate their lives, and most certainly turn them against her.

Tracy’s attitude towards her rival changed as her dislike intensified into anger. Up until that moment the Pledge Mistress had viewed Heather’s efforts to undermine her as a minor nuisance and the result of personal immaturity. No, this was not just a nuisance; it was much more serious. It was obvious that Sergeant-at-Arms was perfectly willing to risk the good name of the sorority and mess up not only her life, but also the lives of four innocent pledges.

Tracy’s thoughts about the Four-Beta presidency changed along with her opinion of Heather. Up until that moment the Four-Beta chapter presidency had been something she had not really wanted. Now she was determined to win. Instead of reluctantly allowing herself to be drafted, she would actively campaign to take over the sorority and make sure Heather was kept out of next year’s directorate. She would become chapter president, and put Heather in her place once and for all.

OK, Heather... you want to play hard-ball with me? You got it. Hard-ball it is.

Tracy’s immediate problem was avoiding being arrested Friday morning. The only solution she could think of was to not do the pre-dawn streak at all. Instead, she and the others would go out with President Alexandra on the normal morning run, and Bernadette would have to pass the stair challenge. This was it for Bernadette. She had to pass because Tracy no longer could risk taking the pledge group out for practice runs. The next time they went out streaking, they faced being turned in to the police and taken to the city jail. There wouldn’t be any arrest, because there would be no next time.

While the other pledges were studying, Tracy called Bernadette into her room and broke the news. She told the freshman a portion of the truth; that she suspected that it was likely the city cops would catch the group if they went streaking Friday morning. Because Tracy felt that it was best to keep the pledges out of her growing conflict with Sergeant-at-Arms as long as possible, she gave Bernadette the impression that Polk had given her inside information from the police department, instead of laying any blame on Heather.

Bernadette took a deep breath:

"I... I don’t know if I can do it, ma’am. I mean... I thought I was gonna have another day."

"I thought so too, Pledge, but it’s not gonna happen that way. Tomorrow’s the day you gotta pass. This is gonna be it. Whether you can or cannot do it, you’re just gonna have to."

Tracy knew better than to send Bernadette to bed to "get plenty of sleep". It was clear that, instead of sleeping, the pledge would spend the night wide-awake from anxiety and would be totally exhausted the next morning. Tracy instructed her to do some stretching exercises and focus on her breathing to get her to relax. That was followed up by a half-hour in the pool for all of the pledges, and then yet more stretching for the entire group. The relaxation exercises worked; within a few minutes of lights-out Bernadette was asleep.

Because Tracy had not said anything to President Alexandra about having Bernadette test that morning, the other officers assumed that Friday morning the Pledge Mistress and her pledge group would go out for yet another naked escapade to the stadium. Tracy felt that Alexandra was trustworthy and had no bad intentions towards the pledges, but still, she remained Heather’s friend. If the chapter president knew that Tracy planned to have Bernadette test that morning, it was likely that Heather hear about the change through casual conversation.

Tracy had an idea that might, at the very least, frustrate her rival and get her to waste some time the following morning. At 4:00 she would wake up the pledges, tell them to move to the guest room, and order the freshmen go back to sleep. Meanwhile, Tracy and Lisa would go out through the front door, run to the nearby park, and secretly get dressed. Hopefully Heather or her friend would be listening for them to leave, but would stay hidden and not actually see that only two women had gone out instead of five. If Tracy’s suspicions were correct, Heather and her friend immediately would call the police to lodge several "citizens’ complaints" about streakers. The cops would show up and drive around the neighborhood, only to waste their time looking for something that wasn’t there.

At 4:00 Tracy woke up, unlocked the guest room door, and quietly ordered the three drowsy freshmen to change rooms and get into the more comfortable beds. Once she was sure the younger women had gone back to sleep, Heather locked the guest room and woke up Lisa. The Pledge Mistress and her trainee put on their shoes and went outside. The front door slammed with a bang as the two naked women ran down the driveway.

"Let’s go! As fast as you can, to the park!"

Less than a minute later Tracy pulled out a backpack with her nighttime disguise, two sets of dark shorts and T-shirts. As soon as they were dressed, the two women casually walked down the quiet street towards the main boulevard as Tracy explained what she thought was going on. No sooner had she finished than a police patrol car passed by. A second cop passed by the two women, and then, a few minutes later, the first cop came back and pulled to a stop. The officer put down his window, "Hi there! How are you two doing?"

"Uh, we’re doing fine, Officer."

"Going for an early morning jog?"

"Well, we’re just out stretching our legs. We might jog a bit, but we’re not sure. Right now we’re just kinda walking around."

"Are you from around here?"

"Yes, sir. We’re from the Four-Beta House."

"OK, just be careful, ladies. It’s really not a good time to be out by yourselves."

The cop drove off, but within a few minutes circled back a third time.

"Ladies, I got a question for you. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary while walking around?"

"Out of the ordinary in what way, sir?"

"Well, we’ve gotten some complaints about a group of girls streaking around the neighborhood. It’s been several calls, so we’re trying to locate ‘em and take ‘em in. You haven’t seen ‘em?"

"No Officer, we haven’t seen anything like that. Are you sure it’s not a prank call?"

"No, ‘cause it’s not been just one call. We’ve gotten complaints from different residents about it, and they’re all saying the same thing. There’s a group of five naked drunken girls running around and making a bunch of noise."

Tracy shrugged her shoulders. "Haven’t seen ‘em. Sorry."

"Alright, thanks anyway."

With that the cop drove out to the main road, turned right, and disappeared around the corner. Tracy commented, "Kind of confirms my suspicions, doesn’t it?"

Tracy and Lisa passed by the park to pick up the empty backpack before returning to the sorority. They snuck back onto the Four-Beta property and entered the backyard through a side gate. Upon reaching safety they undressed and slipped back downstairs. It was obvious that no one had seen them come back in. Perfect.

Tracy checked the time. It was 5:20, almost time to wake up the freshmen so they could stretch and go running with the sophomores. That morning was the day Bernadette finally would pass the stair challenge and everyone could move on.

Feigning innocence, Heather came down the stairs to do morning PT with the other seniors, quite satisfied with her sneaky little trick. She and three friends had made several phone calls to the police, making sure the cops knew the route Tracy and her group were likely to be taking. The pledge group was nowhere in sight and over-due coming back. HA! So I got ‘em! All that remained was waiting for a tearful call from the police station...

Then she heard Tracy’s voice in the basement, "OK, sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! LET’S GO... LET’S GO... LET’S GO!"

The Sergeant-at-Arm’s face turned white and her heart jumped into her throat when she saw the four pledges scrambling up the stairs...

What the fuck? She heard them go out at 4:15! Their cots were empty when she checked! She saw the patrol cars driving by the sorority house! How come they didn’t they get busted?

Tracy charged up the stairs after her group and noted the stunned look on her rival’s face. The Pledge Mistress couldn’t resist flashing a hostile, triumphant stare at the Sergeant-at-Arms. Her face was tight with anger and her eyes blazing with fight as she commented, "Oh, Heather, I guess I forgot to tell you that we’re gonna have Bernadette test on the stairs today. If you’re wondering why we haven’t gone out yet, that’s why. I’m so sorry if that messed up any plans you might’ve had."

"Uh... I.... uh... that’s OK..."

"That’s right. I really didn’t think there’d be a problem... you know... gotta play it safe! Wouldn’t want to risk someone calling the cops on us, now would we?"

Nausea swept over the Sergeant-at-Arms. She didn’t answer because at that moment speaking was way beyond her ability. She directed every bit of her energy to forcing herself not to throw up. Her rival knew what she had just attempted. She didn’t suspect; she knew.

Tracy’s expression reflected deep anger much more than triumph. In spite of knowing what Heather had planned, in the back of her mind she had wanted to give her classmate the benefit of the doubt, hoping that maybe she had been wrong. After all, they had pledged together and had known each other four years...

Well, she hadn’t been wrong.

Another part of Tracy wanted to hope, now that she had been caught, Heather might back down and try to avoid any further confrontation. However, she also knew that was not to be. Heather would recover from the shock of the encounter within a day or so, and then move on to plotting something else. Now that she realized Tracy was watching her, probably she would lie low for a while and it would be several weeks before she struck again.

The Four-Beta sophomores ran in formation towards the stadium, with the pledges running naked in the center of the group. Also running in the center was their Pledge Mistress, as naked as the others. The only difference was that Tracy was carrying a backpack with five Four-Beta running uniforms, with the hope that her group would be wearing them on the way back once Bernadette completed her test on the stairs.

Bernadette clearly was very frightened as the group entered the stadium. She exchanged glances with Tracy, who seemed equally worried.

"Remember what Pledge Kathleen told you. If you’re stressed out, use that to your advantage. And also, remember to keep a steady pace. Don’t start out fast. Start out slow because you’ll need most of your strength for the final part. I’ll try to pace you so you don’t burn out. You got that?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"Alright. Let’s do it!"

With that the Tracy and the pledges ran to the foot of the first flight of stairs and began climbing. Lisa and Kathleen decided not to race ahead, but stay only a few steps in front of Bernadette and Tracy. Cherine stuck next to her friend, struggling to keep moving and gasping words of encouragement. Tracy ran behind the others, but decided to let Cherine set the pace.

When the pledges finished the second flight of steps, they heard the whistling of the football players. Shit. Those assholes were out on the field, but not yet practicing because they were enjoying the spectacle of five naked women running up and down the stadium steps. Bernadette glanced at the entrance gate to see Polk and another officer from Campus Security watching as well. Double shit.

Ignore them... concentrate... concentrate... 20 more steps to go, then we start on the next set...

Alexandra watched the pledges from the field as Bernadette struggled up the fifth flight of steps. She was not running as well as the others, but she had not stopped either. If she kept up her pace through the final flight she’d pass.

Her legs trembling with fatigue and pain tearing though her guts, Bernadette put everything she had into climbing the final set of steps. The experience was one of the most horrible she ever had to endure, because the staircase seemed to ascend higher and higher, the goal ever becoming ever more distant. Through her sweat and tears she contemplated the fit bodies of Lisa and Kathleen, whose muscular legs seemed to move with ease, conquering step after step. She couldn’t do it, she just couldn’t. She hated those two bitches and their extreme fitness... she wanted so badly to catch them and trip them up...

However, just as Bernadette was thinking she couldn’t go any further, the pain in her body let up slightly and she realized she already was two-thirds up the final flight of stairs. That was the moment she knew she would indeed beat the challenge. She could finish without walking. She could do it, although it would take every bit of energy she still had in her. She gasped as the final step came closer, and then, it was over! She had made it!

Bernadette glanced back at the six flights of stairs and what she had accomplished, totally unconcerned about the ongoing cheers and whistling from her male audience down in the field. What mattered was that she had made it and the challenge was completed!

The pledges descended the final flight of steps as Bernadette struggled to keep her balance on the way down. Moments later came the verdict from the chapter president; that all four pledges had passed the stair run and the group was authorized to wear their running outfits on the way back to the sorority. Tracy lost no time pulling out running shorts and T-shirts and tossing them to her group. She quickly put on her own uniform, happy to be "normal" for the jog back to the Four-Beta House. Now that the show was over for the football players, their assistant coach yelled at them to get to work.

As the women ran out of the stadium, Alexandra shouted at the sophomores to give the pledges a cheer of congratulations. Hearing that cheer was one of the happiest moments of Bernadette’s life.

Chapter 30 -- Two Days in the Forest

Thursday and Friday passed uneventfully as the pledges went to class, did their chores, and attended their evening training seminars. Lisa continued to wear her thong on campus, but by Friday the novelty was wearing off. The stares and whistling had from her onlookers had diminished considerably. By the following week she would be continue to be the object of curiosity and of the numerous men who enjoyed looking at her, but within a few days everyone on campus had seen her at least once.

The planned camping trip had to be postponed for a second time because a severe weather front moved across the Mid-West over the weekend. The first thunderstorm caught the pledges Friday afternoon as they were returning to the sorority house, drenching them and pasting their skimpy clothing to their bodies. Upon getting out of the rain they opened their backpacks to see how badly damaged their books were, only to discover that everything was perfectly dry. Tracy had the foresight to provide them with waterproof book bags.

For three days thunderstorms dumped rain on the city, but that did not deter the Four-Betas and Tri-Alphas from exercising outside. As cold rain poured down on their bodies, the sophomores and pledges spent a very unpleasant hour doing calisthenics Saturday morning. They were ordered to go outside completely naked and used shower mats instead of the usual exercise mats. On Sunday the weather eased just enough to give the first and second year students a chance to get to the stadium and do their normal stair run. Bernadette continued to struggle, but she already had broken the psychological barrier of passing the stair challenge. With difficulty she was able to finish the run for the second time.

Because they were confined to the sorority house, the pledges were prohibited from getting dressed during the entire weekend. Tracy constantly stayed with the group, sleeping with them, bathing with them, and eating with them. Whenever her pledges were undressed, she was undressed with them. The other members of the sorority gossiped and wondered why on earth Tracy suddenly had decided to live like a pledge. Oh well, if that’s what she wanted to do, that was her business, but it was something no other Pledge Mistress had ever done. Maybe she wanted to establish a new tradition...

The fact that Tracy had quit wearing clothing and had given up the rights of a senior was a source of gossip and speculation among the members of the Tri-Alpha Fraternity as well. Not knowing about the intensified rivalry between Tracy and Heather, most of the Triple A’s assumed the Pledge Mistress was being punished. Anyhow, over the weekend nearly all of the fraternity members paid visits to the sorority to satisfy their curiosity about seeing Tracy without her clothes.

Tracy ignored her notoriety and spent every spare moment forcing her group to read ahead for their classes. Apart from the readings and assignments, there were house chores and constant "exercise breaks". She carefully watched her pledges’ faces: the moment she noticed one of them appearing bored or sleepy, she shouted at everyone to do 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and run in place for several minutes. The constant threat of impromptu exercising did wonders to focus the pledges’ attention on their work.

Tracy also was on the lookout for what she called "bad attitude". She kept a small leather paddle with her to punish minor infractions ranging from complaints and disgusted sighs to eye-rolling. The punishments were very quick. Tracy ordered the offending pledge to stand up and bend over the table and delivered 10 hard swats. Upon finishing, she ordered the pledge to sit back down and continue studying. The pledges were not allowed to rub their bottoms or spend more than a few seconds recovering from their spankings. Kathleen was paddled once and Bernadette, the most rebellious member of the group, received the paddle twice. On Saturday afternoon Tracy also paddled Lisa, mostly to demonstrate to the other pledges she was not playing favorites.

The pledge who was punished the most that weekend was Cherine. She received the paddle four times because Tracy was determined to break her annoying habit of eye-rolling once and for all. After the fourth paddling on Sunday she had taken 40 hard swats and gingerly rubbed her bottom as she stood up and bit her lip. Tracy was unsympathetic.

"You get your hands off your butt and get studying... now! Or maybe, if you want, I can give you a really good reason to rub your butt!"

The Pledge Mistress punctuated her statement with a hard slap of the paddle against the palm of her hand. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was perfectly ready to give Cherine another 10 swats.

The fifth week of her internment as a pledge seemed to fly by for Lisa, with her time completely taken up by studying, exercising and working. The weather cleared on Monday and the pledges spent several hours washing mud off the patio and raking leaves and storm debris from the back yard. The rest of their afternoons were filled with studying and training seminars, including several that focused on physical self-defense. In addition to house cleaning, morning PT, and the nightly seminars was Tracy’s constant exhortation to study. At the end of the week her efforts paid off: the three freshmen took exams in two classes on Friday and all scored in the mid ‘90’s.

Lisa continued wearing her thong on campus, but it didn’t matter very much because on a typical weekday she only wore clothing for approximately four hours anyway. She was dressed for attending class and for walking back and forth to the sorority, but that was it. As soon as she entered Burnside’s office she stripped, and as soon as she entered the sorority she stripped. By the end of June she was so used to being nude that she felt much more at ease being out of her clothes than being dressed. It no longer bothered her in the least to be naked in front of Ruth Burnside and Jim Halsey. In fact, whenever she entered either of their offices, she automatically took off her clothing with as much ease as an ordinary person would take off a coat upon entering a hot room.

After the Sergeant-at-Arms’ thong-buying excursion, Tracy never let Lisa out of her sight while in the house. Lisa might have resented the complete loss of any independence, but was perfectly happy not to repeat her unpleasant outing with Heather. Because the control over their lives was tightened, her sexual affair with Kathleen had to be suspended. Lisa could tell that Kathleen was deeply upset by not being able to make love and further develop the relationship. The unhappy girl cast longing glances at her and resentful looks at the Pledge Mistress for not letting them have any time alone. What made matters worse was that neither Lisa nor the Tracy felt they could explain why it was imperative that she always stay with her group and the group always stay together.

In contrast with her lover, Lisa welcomed the break from the relationship and the chance to think about topics other than her romantic problems and complicated personal responsibilities. She came to enjoy the regimented routine and the opportunity to improve her health and move ahead in her studies. She also realized the relationship had moved way too fast and was relieved that Tracy’s constant presence allowed her to slow down with Kathleen without having to risk hurting her feelings. Yes, she was in very deep with her troubled lover, but at least during the fifth week she didn’t get in any deeper.

Friday evening the sorority held its weekly meeting, which included the annual birthday spanking for a sophomore and various announcements about the house. There was a small piece of bad news; water had leaked into the dining room and the next week all of the dining room furniture would have to be moved so the room could be re-carpeted. Several members glanced at the pledges, because the burden would fall on the newcomers to move the furniture.

The meeting concluded with the announcement that the summer camping trip, after having been postponed twice, finally would take place. The Tri-Alphas had rented several SUV’s for an expedition that would last about 36 hours. There would be a three-hour drive to a remote forest location in southern Illinois followed by a nine-mile hike to an isolated camping spot. The fraternity and sorority members would camp overnight and hike back the following afternoon. The main purpose of the excursion was physical fitness, but it also gave fraternity and sorority members a chance to spend two days doing an activity that was not related to their studies. There would be several stops for swimming, some wilderness training and plenty of opportunities for nature photography for the camera enthusiasts among the group. Upon reaching the destination, a large campsite would be set up and there would be a series of group activities.

The camping trip was a favorite event for many of the members of the sorority and fraternity. People in sexual relationships were encouraged to take advantage of the natural setting to enjoy each other’s company, since the normal restrictions against public displays of affection were suspended in the forest. Couples could sleep together in the same tent, go skinny-dipping alone, or make love in the open air in one of the numerous clearings near the stream that flowed near the campsite. There were organized games such as volleyball and naked twister. The hike was entirely clothing optional, although normally only a few of the Tri-Alphas chose to do the entire hike in the nude. Once the group arrived at the campsite everyone was required to be fully naked, weather permitting.

The camping trip was somewhat more demanding on pledges than on members-in-full-standing. To begin with, pledges were required to be naked during the hike as well as at the campsite. The only articles of clothing they were allowed to take were their hiking shoes and several changes of socks. Everything else needed to stay behind in their lockers. Also, pledges were required to pose for anyone who wanted to photograph them. Following the excursion there would be a figure photography competition followed by a public exhibition and fund-raising art auction of the better pictures. Many other photos were posted on the official Four-Beta website, which helped boost web traffic and advertising revenue. The pledges, since they had to be naked anyway, provided very convenient models for the upperclassmen and their cameras.

There was a final detail about the trip. All participants, both men and women, were expected to carry their own items and water. To that rule there was one exception. The Four-Beta pledges were not allowed to cover themselves at any time during the hike, which meant they could not carry backpacks. The solution was for the Tri-Alpha pledges to carry supplies for both themselves and a female counterpart. To prevent chafing on their shoulders, the male pledges wore special T-shirts for the trek that were cut off just below the chest. From their ankles to their mid-sections the males were as naked as the females.

Everyone in both the fraternity and sorority wondered what Pledge Mistress Tracy would wear on the hike. Since she was committed to living with them, the pledges expected she would go on the hike naked. However, because she was not a pledge, she had to carry her own camping supplies. Her solution was to find an old T-shirt that had become too tight and shorten it to match the shirts the male pledges had to wear. Like the male pledges, she would hike totally bottomless.

The trip started on Saturday at 4:30 when Tracy woke up her group and told them to put on their hiking shoes and grab extra pairs of socks. Tracy picked up her backpack and led her group outside, where the Tri-Alphas’ line of rented SUV’s was waiting. Each SUV was half-filled with fraternity members, with the remaining seats left open for members of the sorority. The vehicles’ occupants would be balanced by sex to encourage more interaction between the men and women.

The pledges had expected to ride down together, but Tracy ordered them to split up. Only one pledge was allowed in each vehicle, to force her to converse with upperclassmen and get to know them better.

Lisa started towards the SUV at the end of the group, but Tracy stopped her. "I want you in the third one, over there."

When Lisa obeyed the Pledge Mistress and entered the vehicle, she saw Ken in the back, and an empty seat next to him. She realized that Tracy had wanted to give her and Ken the opportunity to ride down together and the chance to talk. Their conversation would not be private, but still, they could converse about mundane topics and at least get caught up on each other’s lives. It turned out they would have a small amount of privacy, because no one else would be sharing the back seat with them. Tracy dragged her backpack to the back of the SUV and put it on the floor next to Lisa. She then ordered a Tri-Alpha to move two more backpacks to the back, effectively blocking access to the seat occupied by Lisa and Ken.

As she sat next to her former boyfriend, several thoughts ran through Lisa’s mind. It was strange, and also very tempting, to be sitting right next to him with neither of them wearing any clothing. Lisa also was surprised that she was quite happy at the thought of sharing the trip with him. She realized that while she might have thought her relationship with Ken had ended, apparently Tracy did not agree, because she had carefully set up an opportunity for them to spend three hours sitting by themselves. It was obvious that the Pledge Mistress was convinced that Ken and Lisa needed to share as much time together as possible, because this was not the first time she had arranged for them to be together. Lisa wondered what Tracy expected, apart from encouraging her to come to terms with Ken. Did she want Lisa to renew her relationship with him and break off her relationship with Kathleen?

The convoy pulled away from the Four-Beta house and within a few minutes was headed south on an Interstate. The sky already was getting light as the vehicles passed out of the suburbs and into the open countryside of central Illinois. Although most of the vehicles had a naked occupant, there would be no problems with other drivers because the windows in the back were tinted. It was very strange to ride along the freeway, totally naked, and watch trucks, busses, and minivans full of unsuspecting families pass by.

Lisa took advantage of her situation to talk to Ken about what he had done over the past two weeks. She always had enjoyed talking to him and was genuinely concerned about how he was coping with his sexual confusion and struggles. She also wondered how the Tri-Alpha pledge group was doing, given that she had only seen them from a distance since their week at the sorority house.

Ken related that Pledge Master Arnold had offered his resignation upon returning to the fraternity and the directorate considered his request to be relieved of his duty. In the end the chapter president decided that, if he could draw up a training plan for the pledges and submit it for approval, he would prefer that Arnold continue as Pledge Master. Arnold e-mailed Tracy, who responded by sending him a copy of her own training plan. Arnold made a few modifications and submitted it. The crisis passed, and Arnold returned to his position in the Tri-Alpha directorate.

During the week Bernadette was struggling to overcome the stadium stair challenge, the Tri-Alpha pledges received a series of classes in male sexual awareness. There had been some lessons and practical exercises in masturbation techniques, followed by lessons on anal sex and anal stimulation. The session concluded with two live demonstrations of anal sex. The first one was given by a Tri-Alpha member and his girlfriend. The second demonstration was given by a gay couple, both of whom were Tri-Alpha juniors.

Following the demonstrations, the Tri-Alpha pledges were offered the opportunity to participate in practical exercises. The practical exercises were voluntary, one of the few times the Tri-Alpha pledges had a chance to turn down a portion of their training. Of the five remaining pledges, three, including Ken, decided to participate.

The volunteers were paired off with upperclassmen and were given the choice to experience anal stimulation by hand, anal stimulation with sex toys, and anal intercourse. Ken volunteered for everything, determined once and for all to find out if he was gay or not. He discovered that he liked having his bottom rubbed and his sphincter stimulated by hand. However, he was surprised to find out that he did not enjoy being entered by a male partner. In fact, he found the experience very disappointing, comparing it to feeling badly constipated.

Ken somewhat more enjoyed the experience of entering his practical exercise partner, but had trouble achieving an erection until he fantasized about Jason. Once he was able to focus on that increasingly vague vision of his friend, he was able to push into the other guy’s bottom and enjoy a decent orgasm. He found the experience somewhat similar to his lovemaking with Bernadette. He was able to perform only when he became detached from what he was doing at the moment.

That was it for Ken’s curiosity. After several years of wondering, now he knew what having sex with another man was like from personal experience. He had discovered that, while he found some of what he did pleasurable, his orgasms with his practical exercise partner did not come anywhere close to the orgasms he had enjoyed with Lisa.

"Looks like I’m back to square one," he noted sadly.

By 7:30 the convoy was passing through forested hills as the trip was nearing its destination. Lisa chatted about her own experiences; the story behind her thong, Bernadette’s struggles on the stadium stairs, and the pre-dawn streaking adventures with Tracy. She gave a partial explanation about Tracy’s lack of attire and mentioned that she now was sleeping in the basement with her pledge group.

There were several significant details about her life that Lisa chose to omit, including the impending confrontation between Heather and Tracy. A much more important omission was her sexual relationship with Kathleen. She decided not to bring that up because she no longer was convinced her relationship with Ken had ended. She thought about his comment "looks like I’m back to square one." Did that mean "square one" with her? What about Lisa’s thoughts on the matter? Was she willing to go back to "square one" with Ken? If that happened, what would that mean for her relationship with Kathleen?

The trailhead had a small parking lot with 16 spaces. The Tri-Alpha convoy had 16 vehicles, which meant all spaces would be taken over the weekend and no one else would be likely to use the trail. Just to be on the safe side, the fraternity had contacted a forest ranger and had made private arrangements to reserve the entire lot until the fraternity vehicles were parked.

The walk itself was not particularly hard for Lisa and her companions. The group passed through stands of old-growth forest mixed with meadows and open woodland. As the pledges walked, the photography enthusiasts took numerous pictures of both the group and of them individually. Some of the pictures were posed while others were taken while they were walking.

While the Four-Beta pledges enjoyed their walk totally unencumbered, the same could not be said for their male counterparts. The guys sweat heavily under their backpacks, weighted down with double-loads of camping equipment and water. Nine miles was a long way to go, but fortunately the Tri-Alpha pledges had spent the past month getting into shape and were up to the task being thrust upon them. Even the guy Heather targeted had made remarkable progress shaping up over the past five weeks. He still was slightly overweight, but certainly no one apart from Heather would feel justified calling him "fat bitch" and "blubber boy".

Tracy led her group stoically carrying her backpack, sticking close to the pledges and keeping an eye on Heather. Hiking with a backpack was nothing new to her, although she felt very uneasy about her lack of attire. She wondered if there really was any point to what she was doing, pursuing her strange idea of living like a pledge because she was so determined to watch over her group. Was all this really necessary? Oh, well, nothing she could do about it now, even if she wanted to. Like the pledges, she had left her clothing behind at the sorority house and was committed to spending the next day and a half wearing nothing but her shoes and cut-off T-shirt.

During the walk, Kathleen’s behavior surprised her companions. She seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself as the journey progressed. Most of her shyness wore off as she had a chance to show off her physical fitness. For the benefit of the cameras and an approving audience she ran and did summersaults across open meadows, jumped over logs and rocks, climbed several trees, and even scaled a rock-face. Of the four pledges, Kathleen’s athletic abilities made her the favorite subject among the photographers. Lisa noted that her lover liked showing off and the open sunny environment had made her quite cheerful.

While Kathleen jumped around for the cameras, Bernadette and Cherine walked at a relaxed pace and chatted about their lives. After the first rest break Tri-Alpha Vice President Jacob joined them and began chatting with Cherine. Bernadette realized, as she noted Cherine’s starry-eyed expression, that she should gracefully exit the conversation. She excused herself and moved ahead a few steps to join Tracy.

With Bernadette absent, Cherine and Jacob finally had a few minutes together to start getting to know each other. She was extraordinarily nervous, not only because she finally had the chance to talk to the guy she had been fantasizing about, but also because she was naked. Granted, she had been naked most of the time over the past month and a half and was used to it, but now she was confronted with the presence of a man she badly wanted to impress. How could he take her seriously if she wasn’t even allowed to wear any clothes?

Jacob did take Cherine seriously, very seriously. As June went by and he caught brief glimpses of her, the pledge filled his thoughts and desires. He couldn’t explain, even to himself, why he wanted her so badly. As for her nakedness, seeing her body had the opposite effect on him than she thought. Cherine’s nakedness only enhanced her innocence in his eyes, because in her unadorned body he saw a pure and unencumbered soul. Precisely because she was denied the accessories of modern civilization and was presented to him as God had made her, he was able to idealize her.

It was a strange coincidence that the snack for the pledges for the half-way rest stop was apples. Tracy passed out an apple to each member of her group. Cherine took an extra apple and offered it to Jacob. To see that lovely young woman in her naked innocence offering him an apple made Cherine the true reincarnation of Eve.

Fortunately for the VP’s aspirations, he was good at casual conversation and at getting other people to put themselves at ease by talking about their lives. He used that talent on Cherine and was rewarded with a lot of information about her family, her ambitions, and her reasons for joining the Four-Beta sorority. Cherine talked about her friendship with Bernadette and her changing opinion of her Pledge Mistress. As the miles passed and the day grew hotter the conversation became more two-way, as he talked about his own pledging experience with the Tri-Alphas and his years as an officer in the fraternity. He became class leader when he was a sophomore, then Social Director as a junior, and finally VP as a senior.

Jacob answered one of Cherine’s questions before she had a chance to ask it. As he talked about his studies, he mentioned that he planned to attend graduate school at the same university. He had not yet decided whether he wanted to seek the chapter presidency of the fraternity, although he did want to continue serving in the directorate.

Lisa and Ken continued their conversation as they walked together. She realized that pledging with the fraternity had been an enormously beneficial experience for him, because he had been able to explore some of the questions he had about himself and what he wanted from his life. There were plenty of hints that he wanted to get back together with her, but there also were plenty of hints that something was still missing. He needed something more, but wasn’t sure what.

At the half-way point there was a pond with a small beach and a couple of picnic tables. It was a good spot to rest, take a short swim, and have a snack and some water. Up until that moment only the pledges had been naked, but most of the fraternity and sorority members stripped to go into the water. The nudity rule about the sorority’s pool applied for the pond; no one was allowed to swim unless completely naked. After swimming many of the members of the expedition sat on towels at the picnic tables, enjoying the sun on their bare bodies and resting up for the final portion of the trip.

When the group started hiking again, the amount of clothing they were wearing had diminished considerably. About half of the Tri-Alphas continued the journey completely naked, along with 9 of the sorority’s members. President Alexandra’s outfit was reduced to a sports bra and panties, while Heather stripped completely. Also completing the trip in the nude were Tri-Alpha Vice-President Jacob and Pledge Master Arnold.

Jacob had decided to complete the trek in the nude partially to put Cherine at ease by making her see him more as an equal. Seeing him wearing nothing but his backpack did not put her at ease, however. Instead, seeing him in his entirety filled Cherine with sexual desire. She very badly wanted to touch him... and... to give up her virginity. Unfortunately, on that trip a sexual encounter was not to be, because of the prohibition on sex between pledges and fraternity members. No matter what feelings or desires they might have had, they would have to wait another six weeks.

The presence of Cherine complicated Jacob’s life and put his self-control to the test. He couldn’t make love to the pledge, but he was determined not to do anything that would hurt her feelings or jeopardize whatever relationship he had pending with her. That meant he could not risk making love to anyone else on the trip. He worried that various women in the sorority would want to spend some time with him, but he would just have to let them know that he preferred to be with Cherine, and no longer was interested in anyone else.

The group arrived at the overnight campsite at 1:00 in the afternoon. The site was an actual campground that overlooked a small lake and included amenities such as barbeque pits, benches, and a small beach. Upon arriving, everyone who was not yet naked got undressed and stowed their clothing in their backpacks. The hike was clothing optional, but tradition mandated that the overnight camping was a nude event. The fraternity and sorority members spent the next hour setting up several group tents, a volleyball net, and finally, several two-person tents. There was a quick lecture on avoiding hazards such as ticks and poison ivy, with the comment that, because the group was naked, poison ivy was a much worse hazard than ticks.

"If a tick gets on you, you’ll see it and feel it right away. That’s a big advantage about not wearing any clothing out here, there’s nowhere for them to hide. Of course, your skin isn’t protected, either, so be very careful about what you brush up against."

Once the group was released, most of the fraternity and sorority members headed straight for the water. A few paired off and disappeared into the woods or into one of the tents, and a few others started an impromptu volleyball game.

There was another tradition that was mandatory for anyone who was good at running. Tracy grabbed Kathleen and three sophomores before meeting up with Pledge Master Arnold and four members of his fraternity. There was a race challenge for the best runners; a five-mile path that climbed a hill before circling the lake and returning to the campsite. The runners were expected to complete that challenge, the reward for participating being not having to do any further chores at the campsite. For the winner there was an additional reward, being excused from having to do any chores the following week. Certainly that was motivation for Kathleen, who was thrilled at the prospect of a break from her onerous daily duties as a pledge. Five miles of running in exchange for not having to do any chores for a week? Oh yes!

Tracy had thought about having Lisa participate in the run as well, given that Lisa was the winner of the women’s division of the Tri-Alpha nude 10-K run the previous fall. She’d make a good runner, but there was no way she’d win against Kathleen. Besides, Lisa needed a break and perhaps some additional time to spend with Ken. Tracy decided not to include Lisa in the race, but decided to run herself, to see if she had any hope of keeping up with Kathleen. At 2:30, wearing nothing but cross-country shoes, the runners took off towards the hill and disappeared into the forest.

With Tracy and Kathleen gone, Cherine with Jacob, and Bernadette swimming in the lake with the sophomores, Lisa realized the Pledge Mistress had given her what she most needed, an hour to be alone with Ken. She lost no time finding him and tapping him on the shoulder. The only comment she had was, "Let’s go back to square one."

Ken followed Lisa away from the campsite, not really sure what she meant by her last statement. They walked nearly a mile before she found what she was looking for, a place to sit down. What she discovered was perfect for her purposes, an abandoned side trail with an old stone bench that was out of site from the main trail.

Lisa sat down, and suddenly Ken understood what "square one" meant to Lisa. She wanted to go back to that evening, nearly a year before, when he lost a game of strip Poker and had to go over her lap for a hand spanking as one of his penalties. Although they were not yet going out, last September’s hand spanking was one of the most sensuous experiences of his life, something that filled his fantasies for weeks afterwards.

Ken was not sure what Lisa planned to do was exactly what he wanted, but he compliantly settled over her lap, figuring it was worth a try. She was trying to reach out to him, trying to figure out what he needed. She was making the attempt, something that no one else in Ken’s life had ever done for him.

She did not start spanking right away. Instead she massaged his bottom, taking her time to stimulate his skin with gentle touches and caresses with her fingertips. Within a very short time his posture relaxed, as he began to enjoy what she was doing to him.

To his more comfortable posture there was an important exception: she felt his penis stiffening against her thigh. His organ became harder and harder, which surprised her. She had not yet started to spank him and yet he was just as aroused as he was when she had severely whipped him in the spring. She had made a very important discovery about him. It wasn’t the pain that excited him; it was the submission, the act of surrendering control of himself to someone else.

Lisa started spanking Ken, but the spanking was nothing like his last punishment back in May. She spanked him gently and sensuously, taking her time to massage and stimulate his bottom cheeks between slaps. His bottom would not bear the marks from a severe punishment, but instead the faint pink of an experience that was much more stimulating than painful. As the spanking continued, his penis pressed ever harder into her leg.

"I really don’t know what I’m gonna do with you, Ken, I really don’t know. This cute bottom of yours is so naughty, but I ‘spose even naughty bottoms need love."

With that she leaned down to kiss him, which only made his erection start to pulsate. She realized he was ready.

Lisa ordered him to get up. She got on her hands and knees on the bench, lewdly exposing herself and begging to be entered. He wasted no time pushing in, thrusting vigorously... just like old times... oh yes... just like old times...

There was one important difference. Ken’s thoughts at that moment were on Lisa. For the first time what was on his mind matched what he was doing. Making love to her in the woods that afternoon was one of the most honest things Ken ever did.

Reeking of sweat and orgasm, Lisa and Ken walked back towards the lake. Instead of going straight back to the main campsite they took a detour, pulled off their shoes, and jumped in the water. Once they were reasonably clean, they picked up their shoes and waded along the shore to the main campsite.

Already there was a smell of barbeque and the sound of cheering. Lisa was just in time to see Kathleen sitting on the shoulders of two Tri-Alphas, smiling shyly and giving a "victory" sign with her hands. It turned out that she had won the footrace, even beating her male competitors. Cherine and Bernadette were in the audience, enthusiastically cheering for their fellow pledge. Tracy stood with them, exhausted but happy that now she knew who was going to run the Tri-Alpha nude 10-K race next September on behalf of the Four-Beta Sorority.

There were some other games that afternoon, the most important of which was naked twister. The twister games each had four players, two men and two women. The games were played very seriously, because according to the rules the winner of each round had absolute control over the losers, including the right to demand sexual favors, for the following 60 minutes.

Lisa was amazed as she watched President Alexandra participate in a game of twister and lose to a Tri-Alpha sophomore. The sophomore, dumbfounded at his extraordinary luck, quickly got rid of the game’s other two losers and forced the Four-Beta president to kneel while he took several pictures. He then ordered her to put her hands behind her head and follow him away from the campsite. The imposing Four-Beta chapter president was due for a nice over the lap spanking, followed by a round of sex. Yes, Alexandra might have been the most important member of her sorority, but she had just lost a competition and had no more rights than any of the other losers. As she always said in such situations, "if you can’t pay, then don’t play". Later, Lisa wondered if Alexandra had lost on purpose, just to have a chance to step out of her role for a few minutes and submit to someone else.

In the next round of twister Bernadette came out the winner, defeating two Tri-Alphas and a Four-Beta junior. In Bernadette’s case, the rule against sex between sorority pledges and fraternity members had to be suspended so she could claim her victory. There was no risk of her being victimized, because she was the one who had won temporary ownership of her three competitors. Once she was assured she could do what she wanted with her new servants, she dismissed the Four-Beta junior. She was only interested in the men. She ordered them to bring her a picnic blanket, a paddle, and some condoms. She made them kneel and kiss her shoes before directing them to stand up and follow her into the woods.

There was no doubt Pledge Bernadette was getting the hang of being a Four-Beta.

Following a very late dinner, the members of the camping party gathered around a large bonfire for yet another public spectacle, midnight tribal dancing. The six Tri-Alpha officers pounded improvised drums while the Four-Beta officers gave a performance that exceeded anything in that style that Lisa ever saw on stage. The six naked sorority officers performed very strenuous movements for over 40 minutes, their sweaty bodies moving in harmony around the fire as the drums pounded and 130 spectators clapped and chanted.

Lisa later learned that tribal dancing was a tradition for the sorority and that knowing how to do it well was a prerequisite for running for a position as a Four-Beta officer. The performance was an important part of any camping trip, something that the sorority officers had to prepare for in secret. Even Tracy and Heather had to put aside their differences for the dance. A proper performance came before everything, even ahead of a nasty personal feud. The next day the two officers would continue their rivalry, but that night they worked together as their undulating bodies complimented each other in the eerie fire-lit summer night.

Lisa and Kathleen finally got into a sleeping bag at 1:30 in the morning. Lisa had thought that they would be sleeping in one of the communal tents, but Kathleen had made arrangements to get them one of the smaller tents designed for two people. As a pledge, ordinarily she could not have made such a request, but because she had won the footrace President Alexandra granted her one of the smaller tents.

Lisa rewarded her lover with a pleasant orgasm, although she wanted to keep things quiet and somewhat restrained. There was no spanking, and Lisa did not want to lick her lover’s bottom-hole because she did not have the chance to properly clean up. However, after nearly two weeks of going without sex, Kathleen was very happy with finally having the chance to make love to Lisa. The day had been truly wonderful for her; an enjoyable hike, swimming, winning that race, the entertainment from the sorority officers, and finally a love-making session with Lisa. Very happy, she fell asleep in her lover’s arms.

Lisa waited for the sound of Kathleen’s breathing to change so she could slip out of the tent without waking her. She wasn’t yet sleepy and wanted to take advantage of the quiet night to go for one final swim. She put on her shoes, exited the tent, closed the entrance, and made her way through the dark to the flat moonlit surface of the lake. She groped her way to the beach and slipped into the water. It was cold at first, but as she swam out to the center of the silent lake her body became used to the temperature.

Lisa knew that what she was doing was not smart. If anything went wrong she would go under the surface and no one would see her. However, that night she had been seduced by the lake, drawn into the water so she could be forced to reflect on what was happening and put her thoughts in order. She spent several minutes swimming and floating, enjoying the quiet and darkness of her surroundings. Finally she felt enough at peace to work her way back towards the shore. She swam in far enough to put her feet on the bottom of the lake and satisfy her nagging conscience. There. Now my feet are planted on firm ground and I won’t drown. Happy?

With just her head sticking out of the water, Lisa reflected on her situation. The day had been a momentous one for her, because she had begun the important task of fixing her relationship with Ken. She also was very relieved to find out that he had experimented with other guys and had not found the experience as enjoyable as he was expecting. That disappointment put him back at "square one", in other words, back with her. She was pleased about that, because she had missed him more than she cared to admit. Whatever his faults, he still belonged to her.

With Ken still on her mind, Lisa shivered as she left the water. She grabbed a towel that someone had left out to dry, wiped off her body, and put on her shoes before finding her way to the tent she was sharing with Kathleen. She was quite cold, and was grateful to get into a sleeping bag with her lover’s warmth. At that moment Lisa did not see the extreme irony of her situation: thinking about Ken while getting into a sleeping bag with Kathleen.

The following morning’s routine was very relaxed, because the first group meeting for the campers was at 11:00. Until then everyone was free to sleep, swim, hike, explore the lake, play volleyball, or go off in the woods to have sex. The majority of the campers slept until about 9:00, then made their way to lake to rinse off. Lisa and Kathleen slept until 9:30, before finding Bernadette and Cherine to join the Tri-Alpha pledges for a swim. After getting out of the water, the pledges, with the exception of Kathleen, had to report to the cooking tent to help set up lunch. Kathleen was left with nothing to do, so she returned to the lake and quietly sat on the shore.

At 10:30 Pledge Master Arnold blew a whistle as a warning that everyone needed to return to the base camp within 30 minutes. At 10:45 he blew his whistle a second time, and at 10:55 he blew it for the third and final warning. Lisa noticed Tracy carrying several willow switches that had been cleaned and soaked in water. She asked Elaine, the leader of the sophomores, what was going on.

"When you have a group as large as what we’ve got here, there’s always some idiot who doesn’t make it back in time for the midday meeting. So, whoever’s not at the meeting gets their butt whipped."

At 11:00 the presidents of the fraternity and the sorority stood together on a picnic table and ordered a head count of their parties. The campers organized by sex and by class, to allow the class leaders to make sure all their groups’ members were present. President Alexandra called out, "Sergeant-at-Arms Heather!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All seniors present or accounted for, President Alexandra!"

"Junior class leader Shannon!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"Two juniors missing, President Alexandra! Michelle and Carrie not present!"

"Noted, two juniors missing. Sophomore class leader Elaine!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All sophomores present or accounted for, President Alexandra!"

"Pledge Mistress Tracy!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All pledges present, President Alexandra!"

The same process was repeated for the Tri-Alpha Fraternity, but fortunately none of their members were missing. The next priority was determining what had happened to the two missing Four-Beta juniors. The last anyone had seen of them was earlier that morning when they left to go for a walk. They no longer were at the campsite and had to be found before the group could start back.

While everyone else ate lunch and began cleaning up the campground, the Tri-Alpha seniors set out to find the two missing women. After an hour, they returned with the wayward Four-Betas. The two women were covered with mud, had scratches on their legs, and wore very sad expressions on their faces. It turned out they had left the main trail to climb a hill and take some pictures, only to get lost on their way down and wander into a swamp. They managed to get out of the water but were totally disoriented when they finally returned to the main trail. They heard the first whistle from base camp at 10:30, but panicked and took off in the wrong direction. They were still going the wrong way when the Tri-Alphas found them.

The seniors who rescued the two women ordered them to rinse off in the lake before they cleaned and disinfected their scratches. After the two wayward Four-Betas were clean and their injuries treated, the Tri-Alphas handcuffed them and ordered them to kneel on one of the picnic tables.

President Alexandra announced the verdict. Michelle and Carrie had missed the midday assembly because of their careless behavior in the forest. For that offense, and for disregarding several safety rules, they faced corporal punishment. Each woman would receive one stroke of the willow switch from every member of the Tri-Alpha team that rescued her.

Michelle went first. Without saying anything, she got off her knees and was helped off the picnic table. Arnold unlocked her handcuffs and directed her to bend over the end of a second picnic table. Once she lying over the table, he told her to grip the other end with her hands and spread her feet. She was to stay in that position until the punishment was finished; if she let go of the table or tried putting her feet together, she would be tied and the punishment would start over.

As the Tri-Alpha seniors lined up next to the offender, Tracy waved three of the willow switches she was carrying to shake off the extra water. She handed them to Pledge Master Arnold, who in turn passed one of the switches to Vice-President Jacob. The VP quickly positioned himself behind Michelle, tapped her with the switch, and sharply struck at the base of her bottom-cheeks. Upon feeling the first blow, she let out a faint whimper, but did her best to stay quiet. Jacob handed the switch to the next senior, who positioned himself and laid another thin welt across the Four-Beta junior’s backside. Arnold noted the first switch was starting to fray after the sixth stroke and passed the seventh member of his group a fresh switch.

There were 18 seniors total, which meant that Michelle’s bare bottom was marked with 18 thin red lines. The switching went fairly quickly and was over within 15 minutes. However, after the final stroke it was clear that Michelle was in a lot of pain and struggling not to let go of the table and risk extra strokes. Pledge Master Arnold gave her a few minutes to recover and handed her a cup of water before ordering her to stand up. Her punishment was not over, because she had climb up on another picnic table. Until her companion’s switching was finished she had to remain standing with her feet spread and her hands behind her head. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, but she dared not move until she was released.

Carrie’s self discipline came nowhere close to Michelle’s. She cried pitifully starting with the first stroke. After the fifth stroke she tried to cover her bottom with her hands, only to be tied to the table and forced to start over. She received a total of 23 strokes and was left tied up and sobbing while the expedition’s other members finished getting ready for the hike back. Michelle, on the other hand, was allowed to get down from her picnic table and help with packing one of the tents. Her punishment was over and she was allowed to re-join her classmates.

Lisa thought Michelle and Carrie had been treated rather harshly and commented her thought to Elaine. The sophomore disagreed, "Pledge Lisa, we’re on a very tight schedule. We can’t leave until everyone’s back, and if they weren’t so strict about the meeting, we would’ve had 10 or 20 people wandering around instead of just two. We’ve got to be out of here by 1:00, so we can be back at the parking lot before 5:00, so we can get back in the house by 9:00. How’re we supposed to do all that if everyone’s not ready to leave on time?"

"I ‘spose that’s true, ma’am."

"Anyhow, those two shouldn’t have gone wandering off like that, without even bothering to tell anyone where they were going. And they knew what was gonna happen if they weren’t back here by 11:00. It’s not as though it’s any big secret."

The hike back to the parking lot started at 1:00, right on schedule. It was rather hot and Lisa noticed the expedition’s members were wearing much less clothing on the return trip. Over half of the Tri-Alphas walked the entire nine miles totally naked, along with 27 members of the sorority. Jacob was among the naked Tri-Alphas, walking with an equally naked Pledge Cherine. Michelle and Carrie also were forced to hike in the nude, as part of their punishment. Even President Alexandra hiked completely uncovered, as part of her forfeit from the previous day’s loss playing twister.

Upon returning to the parking lot, all of the fraternity and sorority members got dressed, with the exception of the pledges and the two wayward Four-Beta juniors. Michelle and Carrie faced several more days of exposure, because once they were back in the sorority house they would not be allowed to cover their bottoms until their welts were completely healed.

Tracy ordered the Four-Beta pledges to get into separate vehicles so they could continue to socialize with upperclassmen on the way back. To Lisa’s dismay, Ken was assigned to a different vehicle, as was Kathleen. Tracy was determined that Lisa would ride back with people she didn’t know very well so she could converse with them.

Pledge Cherine rode back with the Tri-Alpha officers. Letting her travel with the top members of the fraternity was not what the Pledge Mistress had intended, but Jacob wanted her to sit with him. Tracy was not at all pleased about the blatant display of favoritism, but unfortunately the wishes of the VP overrode anything she might have wanted for her pledge.

The SUV’s returned to the Four-Beta house shortly before 9:00, right on schedule. The fraternity members off-loaded the tents and other camping equipment and carried everything into the back yard of the sorority. It would be the duty of the sorority to clean the equipment, while the Tri-Alphas took care of washing and returning the vehicles. Lisa sighed upon seeing the mountain of camping gear piled on the back porch, because she knew that the responsibility of cleaning it would fall mostly on the pledges.

The first priority, however, was showering, checking for ticks, and going to bed. The following day was Monday, the start of yet another week of classes. Tracy warned the pledges that she expected them to be in their cots with their eyes closed no later than 10:00. Bernadette and Cherine did not have to be told to go to sleep; they were so tired that they drifted off within minutes of lying down. Lisa was the last member of the group to brush her teeth and crawl into her cot, but she noticed Kathleen was still awake. Without saying anything, she got up to give her lover a goodnight kiss and squeeze her hand. Kathleen drifted off to sleep and Lisa made it back to her cot just before Tracy entered the room.

Lisa had greatly enjoyed the camping trip, even though it had done nothing to simplify her personal life or her romantic pursuits. Within a 12-hour period she had made love with two different people, but she did not feel guilty about that. She rationalized that she was not cheating, because she did not see her lovers as directly competing against each other. They were not the same sex, their needs were very different, and what she needed from each of them was different. Also, neither was innocent or inexperienced. Ken had just experimented with gay sex while Kathleen had various lovers before she met Lisa. Both of Lisa’s love interests were imperfect, troubled individuals who needed her support. She saw herself as deeply caring for both of them and obliged to bring sexual fulfillment into their lives.

In the back of her mind Lisa understood that someday she would have to choose between Ken and Kathleen. However, she reasoned with herself that day of reckoning was years away and thus not something that needed to concern her at the moment. Perhaps there would be a tense moment or two, but as long as she could compartmentalize her life and keep her lovers separate from each other, there was no reason why she couldn’t continue both relationships.