The Pledge Mistress Ch. 28

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.

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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 distressed 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.

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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!!!