Ava Loses Clothes but Gains Friends

5) Meet up by 8:30 at the patio on the quad side of the Student Center. To keep the college administration out of this, instead of current students we have arranged for volunteer alumni ZSA sisters to be your guides at the checkpoints on your route. You'll be met at the starting point by Meredith Taranni, a ZSA sister and Oxmoor graduate, class of 2017. You'll be able to recognize her by the pink t-shirt with large letters spelling 'ZSA' which she will be wearing.

Have fun and good luck! See you all later tonight!

Love, Marjorie

"Nothing here to settle my nerves, but nothing to make me worry even more," she thought. She didn't own a baseball cap and had lost her sunglasses a few weeks ago, so once she had tucked her keys into a pocket on her skirt she was ready to go. She was still a little surprised that the event was set to start so early; having reason to expect that some part of the evening's activities might be embarrassing, she had hoped it would all take place later, when fewer spectators would be around.

During the short walk from her dorm to the Student Center she wondered if the early hour meant that all Marjorie's hints that the event would be embarrassing had just been some sort of mind game, mumbling to herself as she walked, "I wonder if I made a big fuss about buying lingerie for tonight for nothing!"

Approaching the student center, Ava saw a half dozen of her fellow pledges already at the patio, clustered around a woman in a pink t-shirt. Maria and Emily were there already, listening to Meredith describing the challenges she'd been faced with when she was a pledge. After another 10 or 12 minutes of chatting she did a head count and seeing that all sixteen pledges left in the group were present she called for quiet and said, "it looks like everyone who's going to be here already is, so let's get you ladies started!"

"The first leg of tonight's adventure begins right here. You are to march in single file from here to the lobby outside the Theatre department's auditorium in Edmunds-Whyte hall; do you all know where that is?" Seeing only half of the pledges nodding their heads, she continued, "Okay, those of you who DO know where it is, please be so kind as to lead the group there. You will be met there by another ZSA member, named Ellie, class of 2011, who will give you instructions for the next part of your journey. One more thing -- you are to wave these pennants high over your head at all times," she said as she passed out white triangular pennants attached to foot-long sticks with ZSA printed in red. "Also, whenever you are outdoors during tonight's event you need to shout out 'ZSA', loud and proud, at least once or twice per minute."

"Alright, nothing too hard so far," Ava thought, "a little silly, but no big deal." She was getting more sure by the minute that her investment in her daring new bra and panties had been pointless. Strangely, now that it was beginning to look like she might make it through the night's festivities without anyone seeing what she had on underneath her shirt and skirt, her nervousness was quickly being replaced by disappointment!

The procession of pledges slowly strolled the quarter mile to their destination in high spirits, having a hard time not laughing at their mission. There weren't many people out walking around the quad, but those that were present all stopped to watch, adding their own laughter and a few catcalls. When the pledges reached Edmunds-Whyte hall, Ellie waved them over to doors at one side of the glass-enclosed lobby and welcomed the group. "Hello, ladies," Ellie said, "I hope you've all enjoyed your evening so far. Your tasks will be somewhat more demanding from this point on, but as I remember the night I did the same challenge, the more difficult phases were also the most exciting!"

"Follow me, ladies," Ellie said, then began walking toward a door at the corner of the lobby marked "No Admittance". The pledges wondered what sort of trouble they were being led towards, but they all fell in line behind Ellie and marched through the door and down a long, narrow corridor lined on one side with shelving loaded with props and costumes the college's Theatre department used for their productions. Ava had been to several plays here during her freshman year but Ellie was setting too quick a pace for her to recognize any of the props.

After making a few turns deep inside the building, Ellie stopped as quickly as she'd started, telling the baffled pledges to stay in line. She picked up a stack of paper bags from a shelf and handed them out, one to each pledge. "I'm passing a marker to the lady at the front of your little parade, as soon as she's printed her initials on her paper bag she is to pass the marker down the line. When you've each printed your initials on your own bag we'll get on with your latest challenge."

"Ellie," a pledge named Deirdre asked, "are we still supposed to be waving our pennants?"

"Yes, definitely," Ellie chuckled, "but you'll have to do it with your left hand; you'll need your right hand for something else." Seeing the last pledge in line was finished with the marker, Ellie took it back and told the 16 pledges to line up neatly, one arm's length apart "So you can put your right hand on the right shoulder of the lady directly in front of you." After a few bumps and relocations the group was set up as directed.

"Good job," Ellie told the pledges, "now you should open your bag up, completely unfolded, then place it over your head, completely covering your face. Once your head is completely covered, put your right hand on the shoulder of the pledge in front of you."

Ellie ignored the murmuring of a few pledges who really didn't like this latest challenge, and a few seconds later the group settled down. Though quieter, collectively they were experiencing all sorts of inner turmoil. Several were a little nervous, some were practically panicked, a handful found to their surprise that they were enjoying being controlled remotely by whoever had made up the instructions, and one or two were positively eager to find out what was coming next!

With the lead pledge gripping her shoulder, Ellie led her sightless gang down another corridor and through a door. Though they couldn't see anything beyond the inside of a brown paper bag, the pledges could tell they had left the corridor; they heard what sounded like a large fan or air-conditioner, noticed the sound of their footsteps was different, and even through the bag could tell that their new location was much brighter. They had only been in the new space a short while when Ellie told them to stop, let go of the girl in front of them, and carefully make a quarter turn to their left.

All 16 pledges complied, some more reluctantly than others, finding it difficult to let go of their neighbor without anything or anyone else to orient themselves. When they were all standing independently Ellie paced back and forth in front of them and gave them their latest instructions. "I hope you're enjoying the mystery you're living right now; if not, don't worry, you'll understand it soon enough," she told them, "Your next task is simple, but a few of you might not find it easy. You are now required to remove your skirt, just unbutton it, unzip it, and let it drop to the floor, then take a small step back out of it."

More urgent whispering ensued, with at least one pledge saying out loud that she wouldn't do it. As before, the group eventually quieted down, and as before, they all began to comply with their latest task. Most of the pledges hesitated a bit, and some truly had a hard time following through with their latest instructions. Eventually, the sound of a zipper being pulled down next to them, followed soon after by the sound of their neighbor taking a step backward, convinced even the most reluctant members of the group that crazy as this adventure was becoming, they were in it together. Before long not one of the 16 pledges was wearing a skirt.

"Well done, ladies," Ellie praised the group, "way to stick together as a team! I'm told that Marjorie suggested you all wear clean underwear tonight, is that right?"

Several pledges confirmed her advice and said they were glad that they'd taken it to heart.

"Yes, it was good advice,' Elli agreed, "but the thing is, at this point, as long as the tails of your shirts are, it really doesn't make much of a difference what condition your lingerie is in; it's all covered up. I'm sure none of you want to make a liar out of Marjorie, what can you do to prevent that from happening?"

"Um, we could take our shirts off, couldn't we?" suggested Tanya.

"Excellent idea," Ellie answered, "but I'm guessing at least a few of your fellow pledges might not be comfortable wearing nothing but lingerie, so I'm going to propose a less demanding option; instead of taking your shirts off, how would you all feel about just unbuttoning them and opening them up? Does anyone object? No? Good."

Despite feeling a bit like they were being manipulated, all but a few of the group were genuinely relieved to just be taking a step that a few minutes earlier would have shocked them. Most of the group had expected all along that they were bound to end up wearing nothing but a bra and panties at some point during this test. Since most of them had gone out and bought brand new lingerie for just that reason, pretty racy items in most cases, it seemed kind of hypocritical to object.

So they didn't. Object, that is.

The nervous among them were even more nervous than before as they slowly unbuttoned their shirts, while a few members of the group unfastened the 6 buttons in seconds and would have been glad to let their shirt join their skirt on the floor in front of them!

Once all 16 pledges had finished unbuttoning their shirts and had pulled the two sides apart, Ellie congratulated them and gave them new instructions, "Well done, pledges! Now that your lingerie is visible it's time to move on. When I say GO, take the bag off your head and put your skirt in it. Leave the bag right where you're standing and follow me down the steps from the stage to the center aisle and up to the lobby door where you came in. GO!"

Squinting in the bright stage lighting once they'd removed their bag, none of the 16 could see a thing beyond where Ellie was standing at the edge of the stage. They each stuffed their skirt into their bag and looked around at each other. When they'd last seen each other, they had all been dressed normally; now they were barely dressed at all, with their skirts gone, their shirts half off and lingerie on display. They started toward Ellie, who reminded them to line up in single file and started down the steps. By the time they stepped halfway down the 6 steps, they were out of the spotlight and could see the rest of the auditorium, including the fifteen or twenty students sitting a few rows from the front, who now began clapping!

Ellie called back to the pledges, "No point covering up now, and no running, just follow me." She kept to her slow strolling pace all the way to the lobby. None of the pledges bothered to cover up, not even Ava, who turned out, as she'd sort of expected, to be wearing by far the sheerest bra and panties of anyone in the group.

"Sorry to be so sneaky," Ellie chuckled, "but we've learned over the years that a lot of ladies have trouble showing even a bit of skin, but get over their nervousness if they have it sprung on them; kind of like ripping off a bandage instead of pulling it off slowly. We've found that by asking you to step outside your comfort zone we can identify the kind of bold, risk-taking, team-oriented young woman we want to join us at ZSA. Being willing to do something most people find embarrassing to help the group reach its goal is exactly the kind of commitment we're looking for. By the way, all the men and women in your audience back there are Theatre majors, so seeing fellow students in their underwear isn't all that unusual for them!"

"So, Emily asked, hopefully, "we all passed?"

"Yes, so far. I can happily recommend you all," Ellie answered, "but you're not quite done. You need to head to the library next, where you'll meet another guide. Her name is Linda, she's ZSA class of 2008.Good luck!"

As instructed, the 16 pledges hiked across the quad, then worked their way further west toward the library, passing three large buildings holding the Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science departments. Ava knew from her own experience that the Computer Science building usually was busy at all hours; her fellow nerds put in crazy hours, weekend or not. She couldn't help wondering if any of the guys she saw there regularly were there right then.

If they were, would they happen to look out towards the quad and notice the procession of less than fully dressed young women passing by, waving pennants and chanting "ZSA"?

If they did notice the procession, would they recognize one of the marchers as a classmate of theirs, as well as a member of a couple of their study groups?

Ava smiled as she imagined her coding study group having more to discuss than usual at their next meeting, and waved at their building just in case anyone she knew was watching.

The wind had picked up considerably while they were inside the theatre building. The gusts were strong enough that the pledges couldn't do much about the wind flipping up the tails of their shirts or just blowing them open, especially since they were dutifully waving their pennants high above their heads. Most of them concluded it was a losing battle, and that their efforts to hold the uncooperative garments in place just called more attention to what they were trying to downplay. By the time they were nearing the library almost all of them had surrendered to the wind, with their shirts wide open and pushed back off their shoulders.

Laughing at their situation, none of the pledges noticed the tall, lean woman standing near the library entrance until she yelled to get their attention, "Yo, ZSA pledges! What the hell are you doing?"

The only pledge to speak up was Ava, who tried to change the subject, asking, "Are you Linda?"

"Yes," Linda replied, "and who might you be?"

I'm Ava. We were just laughing at how ridiculous we all look trying to keep our shirts from falling off."

"You're right about that," Linda agreed, "since they're already half or more off, you might as well get them off and be done with it."

"Wait, what...you want us to actually take our shirts off? Out here?" Maria asked nervously.

"I thought I was fairly clear. Yes, take your shirts off. Here. Now." Linda said, "most of you are hardly wearing them now anyway!" She handed out plastic shopping bags and a couple of markers, telling the stunned pledges to print their initials on the bag, put their shirt in, and drop the bag into the shopping cart near the library entrance.

Linda's authoritative manner overcame the natural hesitance all but a few of the pledges felt about stripping down to a couple of skimpy pieces of lingerie right there on the walkway surrounding the quad. Since their new state of undress would be in line with Marjorie's comment on the advisability of wearing clean underwear, the pledges felt like however stressful it was becoming, the night's tests were more or less what they'd expected.

Linda led the group into the library, saying, "Good evening," to the librarian at the front desk like she brought packs of barely clothed girls through every night! Linda's nonchalance was matched by the librarian, who smiled and nodded a silent welcome. Surreal as the greetings seemed to the pledges, the unconcerned way the adults were acting actually settled the jangly nerves many of the pledges were suffering from.

It was obvious that Linda wasn't winging it; she never broke her stride as she led the group deep into the library and up to the third floor. Though the library was far from being busy, they crossed paths with a few students who were way less jaded than the librarian had been, staring slack-jawed at the procession. She led the pledges to a far corner of a sea of study carrels and told them to find and sit at the carrell that had a plastic bag with their initials already written on it. "Yes, we've been preparing for tonight's challenge for a while," Linda said, smiling as she saw the pledges react to the detailed planning these SZA alumni had done.

Linda gave what seemed like another sales pitch to the pledges, which would have seemed unnecessary for a group so close to being full-fledged SZA members if not for the latest bag, sitting there on the work surface, silently demanding their attention. As Linda droned on about the various CEO's, politicians, and scientists who were SZA sisters, all the pledges could think about was the damned bag...

Was it there for the reason they thought it was?

When would Linda bring up the subject?

What were they going to do when the expected order came?

"So," Linda said, her voice rising well above the library-appropriate level she had been maintaining, "are you up for the challenge? Are you ready to join us?"

"Yes, hell yeah!" shouted Ava.

"Count me in!" shouted another.

"Absolutely!" said a third.

After several more affirmations, the whole group had answered, with no exceptions. Talking among themselves later many of the group said that the way Linda had concluded her talk without mentioning the bags had made them think the bags were just a way to see if they would be rattled. A few of the group admitted to being swayed by hearing other members of the group enthusiastically say yes.

"Excellent," Linda shouted, "then follow in the footsteps of decades of your ZSA sisters! Take off your bra and put it in the bag in front of you, then line up and follow me!"

"You want us to get topless and follow you?" Emily asked, "where exactly do you plan on having us go half naked?"

"That's correct," Linda replied, ignoring the second part of Emily's"query. You won't see it on their resumes or in their Wikipedia entries, but every last one of those distinguished women I was just telling you about was once a pledge hoping to become a member of ZSA just like you, facing the same challenges, and worried about what people would think about them refusing to be bound by society's rules. They got over being controlled by the opinions of others; I sincerely hope you can all do the same!"

Ava had expected something like this, but knowing the way she felt whenever she thought about her essentially topless exposure at the concession stand, she had thought it might not be too hard for her to take off her bra if, or more likely when she was asked to. Now that the time had come, she found herself hesitating; intentionally getting almost naked in public turned out to be way harder for her than having the same level of exposure happen accidentally.

The nervous chatter coming from her fellow pledges eventually let Ava ignore the way her pulse was pounding in her head. Her hands were shaking as she unhooked her bra and dropped it into her lap; she couldn't help giggling at the sight of her uncovered boobs in the cold fluorescent light of the library, just as covered with goosebumps as the rest of her body. She stuffed her bra into the bag and joined the other topless pledges lined up and waiting for Linda to lead them back the way they came through the library.

The route back to the quad seemed to have twice as many spectators as had been there earlier; word that the ZSA pledges were doing something outrageous had apparently spread in the time Linda had been making her speech! Ava felt herself blushing as she passed by several dozen bystanders, many of them stationed just a few feet from her path. Once Linda had overseen the trip back to the quad she told them to go past the last two buildings bordering the quad, all the way to the far West end of the campus where their last guide would meet them.