Chapter Five: The Freshman Tease

Chapter Five: The Freshman Tease

After a week, to her very great surprise, Emily found that Rattangrove suited her. The campus was large, and while she wasn't allowed down to the village yet, there was still plenty to do. There were cafes and coffee shops dotted throughout the campus that accepted her meal card, a huge library, and a small convenience store.

She had gotten to know some of the girls on her floor and in her classes. It seemed that while there were certainly a few cis and free girls here and there, the overwhelming majority of the students here were locked. At home Emily had felt like her cage had made her stand out, but here it helped her to fit in.

More than that, it was a beautiful campus. A haven of broad green lawns and flowerbeds overflowing with colour and life. It was a place of remarkable freedom, more than she had expected, and it was a place where she felt immediately welcome.

Well, mostly welcome. It was clear that Aurora had not forgiven her for what had happened during their orientation. She wouldn't speak to Emily at all, even though they shared a common room and only lived a few doors apart. If Emily was in the common room Aurora would disappear back to the room she shared with a blue-haired girl Emily hadn't gotten to know yet for the night. It was awkward but it wasn't nearly enough to spoil the best news of all:

She had made the soccer team! Emily wasn't exactly a star player but her tryout had gone well enough for her to make the cut. She was thrilled to have gotten her first choice of extracurricular because spots on the soccer team were few and hotly contested. Her roommate Madison had also tried out for soccer but had ended up having to settle for field hockey instead. A fate Emily was grateful to have avoided.

I

t wasn't the hockey itself she minded, but even freshmen knew to stay away from that team. The field hockey coach, Miss Sharpe, was a famed sadist who stalked the sidelines with both a permanent scowl and a rattan cane. A missed play would see the unfortunate player bent over for six sharp strokes across the backs of her thigh in front of everyone before being sent right back into the game, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

Emily had watched that happen twice already as she sat in the stands watching the field hockey team's first game. She and Madison hadn't had a lot in common when they first met, but Emily had followed Madison down to the pitch this afternoon in an effort to change that.

Stretched out on the bleachers in the warm late afternoon sun to watch the game Emily could see that some girls had taken their ties and blazers off. Emily wasn't brave enough to try that quite yet, but she did loosen her tie and let her blazer hang open to let in the breeze.

The game was fast-paced, exciting, and easy to follow. Madison was a natural athlete and her blonde ponytail snapped behind her like a banner as she ran up and down the pitch. It was so nice just to stretch out in the last warmth of the day and not think about her classes...

Emily's eyes widened as she watched Madison turn the ball over right in front of her own net. She had tried to pass the ball but her stick caught a tuft of grass and she put the ball right onto the stick of a player on the other team. She scrambled to defend the goal, but it was already too late.

The opposing player didn't waste any time capitalizing on Madison's mistake. In a single fluid motion she had controlled the ball and fired it at the net. The goalkeeper had no time to move, let alone stop the shot and Madison turned away as the opposing team gathered to celebrate, furious with herself.

Her error had put her team two goals behind with only a few minutes left in the game. Emily grimaced and her hand went to her own bottom sympathetically. "Oh no... Maddy..." she whispered as she watched her new roommate slowly jog back to the sideline, shoulders slumped, as the coach motioned to her ominously with the cane.

Even sitting high up in the stands Emily could hear the little yelps of pain as the cane bit into the backs of Madison's tanned thighs. Six cutting strokes, given one right after the other left a series of neat stripes down Madison's legs as she gripped her ankles. When she was finished, the coach didn't say a word to Madison, pointing to the bench with her cane and returning to the game.

Emily felt heartsick at the tears of pain and humiliation that rolled down Madison's face as she sat on the end of the bench for the rest of the game. The fans of the opposing team had cheered as she got whipped and Emily could hear occasional catcalls drifting across the pitch as well.

Madison was a beautiful young woman. Emily was no slouch in terms of fitness, but she always felt she came off as scrawny rather than fit, especially standing next to her roommate. While Emily was slight, Madison was toned. Tall, blonde, and blue-eyed she had filled out everywhere that Emily hadn't, but it was more than that. Madison was just undeniably cool.

While Emily's belly button piercing seemed oddly rebellious for someone so quiet, Madison's pierced septum and gauged ears seemed so natural. It all seemed so effortless for her. Madison's uniform seemed to fit her perfectly, she had fantastic hair, and she always had the absolute latest gossip about everyone.

While Emily was still struggling with names like "the redhead" "the tall one" and "Hey You!" Madison already knew them as Erica, Mary, and Fae, seemingly from the first day. More than that, she seemed to like everyone, and everyone most definitely wanted to be around Madison. Emily would have been bitterly envious of her if Madison hadn't been so incredibly nice.

That made it harder to watch as the time ticked down. Madison was clapping and cheering on her teammates initially but that cheerful facade crumbled as her team struggled to score. The team managed one more goal, but it wasn't enough to tie the game. She buried her face in her hands as the final whistle sounded, and her eyes were fixed on the pitch as she slowly made her way off the field.

Emily hesitated. Maybe Madison would just want to be left alone after this? Then again the whole point of coming to the game was to get to know her roommate better, Maybe she'd appreciate having someone to commiserate with? Emily debated for a moment but ultimately decided to walk down to the clubhouse to wait for her.

Emily lingered for the better part of an hour as the warm afternoon slowly turned to cool evening. Most of the rest of the team had filed out and rejoined their friends, but not Madison. A chill wind blew the first of the early autumn leaves skittering across the ground past Emily's shoes as she waited.

The light faded and the warmth of the day fled. Finally, legs covered in goose-flesh, Emily retreated back to the warmth and light of the dorms to wait inside.

The room she shared with Madison was on the first floor of an older three-story building. It was an ugly, brutalist building somewhat softened by the ivy that grew on wooden trellises up the sides.

The lobby occupied the ground floor, with a wall of mailboxes, a pair of vending machines, a few worn sofas, and a battered foosball table. There were two quads on each of the two floors above, and another quad in the basement along with the laundry room. She crossed the small lobby, climbed the stairs up to the first floor, through the door to her quad, across the common room, and finally to the room she shared with Madison.

The dorm rooms were small, but functional. Emily had her own narrow single bed, desk, chair, and dresser; Madison's half of the room was a mirror image. They shared a small fridge and microwave, as well as a tiny bathroom and shower. Emily was glad that she wasn't in one of the oldest dorms, where the whole floor shared a bathroom. At the foot of each bed was a small metal footlocker, which was the only secure storage Emily had.

From what the Resident Advisor had told her at orientation thefts weren't common, but it was nice to have somewhere to keep her laptop when she wasn't around. Her parents would replace it if it got stolen, but her butt would pay the price for her carelessness over Christmas break. Better to be safe than sore.

The room still felt empty, though, especially when Madison was away. They hadn't been allowed posters or decorations from home, and so the only decor hanging on the plain white walls had been Emily's soccer team scarf and Madison's field hockey one.

There were posters hanging above the TV and couches out in the quad's common room of course, and in the lobby downstairs. Emily didn't expect Madison was going to be in any mood for company when she got back, however.

She took off her uniform, and her bra, storing them in the small dresser, then brushed her blazer before hanging it on its hook next to the door. Here in the dorms most of the girls wore the athletic wear that the school provided -- a pale blue t-shirt and dark blue shorts - as loungewear.

Their RA Angela insisted that they wore a bra out in the common room, but in the privacy of her own room it wasn't necessary. She slipped on the t-shirt and shorts over her panties, plugged in her phone, and sat down on her bed to wait.

Emily's worry grew as the minutes ticked by. The longer it took for Madison to get back, the more Emily fretted. Coach Sharpe had a temper, but even a very painful punishment didn't take all that much time. She exhausted her Twitter feed, and nothing on YouTube caught her eye as she waited and worried.

Finally the door opened, and a livid Madison wobbled on her cleats unsteadily as she entered the room. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying as she dropped her heavy bag of hockey gear onto the carpet with a sigh of disgust.

"That miserable old harpy paddled all three of us!" Madison said by way of greeting, taking off her grass-stained jersey and throwing it into the small laundry hamper at the foot of her bed. "Anita and Carmen got it too, but I swear she gave me the worst of it. I was over that vicious old crone's lap for a good five minutes." She griped as she gingerly pulled down her dark blue shorts, revealing a very red, sore, and puffy bottom.

Madison paused, very carefully rubbing the sting out of her skin, and inspecting the damage in the mirror. She turned back to Emily; "Then she had us run laps for the better part of an hour, before sending us off with another dose of the paddle." Madison turned to face Emily, crossing her arms in an aggravated pout. "Feel bad for me, damn it!"

Emily did feel sympathetic but her eyes were drawn elsewhere. She didn't mean to stare, but she found her eyes unavoidably drawn to Madison's waist. Unlike most girls at Rattangrove, there was no telltale bulge in Madison's panties. To Emily's absolute shock Madison was cis!

"Look at this!" Madison turned around, showing Emily her dark red bottom and cane-striped thighs. She pulled her panties to the side to show off the damage to her left cheek. "I missed one play, Emmy. One. I played my guts out and all I got for my trouble was a bright red ass."

Madison kicked off her cleats and peeled off her socks. "If she hadn't benched me I could've scored a goal to get us back in the game, but noooooo... I had to get my butt paddled instead." She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat as she slipped off her sports bra and threw that in the hamper as well.

Emily felt a small stirring in her cage. Madison was clearly not shy. They had barely been roommates for a week, and this was... unexpected. She had seen Maddy in a towel, but she didn't know that much about her. She couldn't help but stare a little at her roommate's chest; she told herself it was mostly jealousy, or curiosity, but it was more than that.

Madison was at least a C-cup, with pale areolas and puffy nipples. They had a pillowy softness and roundness that Emily couldn't help but envy. Her own small bust seemed so small and girlish by comparison. Madison was unmistakably all grown up. Emily knew she shouldn't compare herself to Madison like this, but she couldn't help it.

Madison peeled off her sweat-soaked panties with a squeak of pain, throwing them into the hamper with the rest of her clothes. She rubbed the sting out of her scarlet posterior with both hands, pushing her hips forward in a pose that Emily couldn't help but find suggestive.

Despite herself Emily's eyes were drawn to the delicate pink folds of skin between Madison's legs. She flushed and looked away before she was caught staring, but her cage was unquestionably tight now. She crossed her legs in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner and tugged the front of her t-shirt down over her lap. The cage was small enough that it didn't usually show, but she wasn't taking the chance.

"Still not as bad as I got it at home though." Madison said, opening her dresser. "What about you, Em? Strict parents?" She asked casually, sliding on her Rattangrove gym shorts without panties.

Emily laughed at that. "Very." She said. "Hairbrush, strap, sometimes they'd even send me out to the yard to cut a switch... and don't even get me started about how long they kept me locked..." Emily clamped her hand over her mouth. She really hadn't meant to let that slip, especially now that she knew Maddy was cis. Locked girls would gripe about their cages with each other, but never to someone who had their freedom.

Maddy turned around, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "Locked?" She asked as Emily blushed scarlet and tried to think of any way to change the subject. "Ohhhhhh..." she trailed off as comprehension set in. She looked away, clearly feeling a little uncomfortable, but then looked back with keen curiosity.

Emily wasn't naive. Living in such tight quarters Madison would have found out eventually, but hadn't Madison already assumed she was locked? Emily had certainly assumed it about Madison. There simply weren't enough cis or free girls on campus to make it likely you'd have one as a roommate.

"Maddy... I..." Emily struggled. What was there really to explain? She hadn't lied, exactly. She hadn't really even tried to hide it. They'd only known each other a week, after all. Madison hadn't told her she was cis, and that was far more unusual at Rattangrove than being locked. Emily sputtered for another moment before giving up trying to explain.

Madison finished pulling on her t-shirt, and padded over to her bed, bare feet nearly silent on the carpet. She lay down on her stomach, sore bottom in the air, and propped her head on her arms looking across the narrow gap between their beds.

"You're from out west then?" She asked Emily, a little hesitantly. "I'm from Vennel City myself, we uh... we don't really have a lot of locked girls." She tried an awkward smile despite her sore bottom and aching legs.

"Yeah." Emily said. "I'm from Ruswich, out in the middle of nowhere."

Emily had dreamed of living in Vennel; the capital city and cultural heart of Hartia. Fine dining, art, theatre, music, and a much more relaxed approach to how trans girls were treated. It was where Emily planned on moving after she graduated, if she could afford it.

Madison looked sympathetic. "Huh. You must've really got it at home then. My friends all thought my parents were crazy, but they both grew up out west and moved to the city later. I guess that's why they were always so strict." She rubbed her bottom. "I never got the strap, but I still got it bad enough, and my dad liked to threaten me with his belt when I got too far out of line."

Emily smiled. She still was a little chagrined at letting her... situation slip, but Madison seemed to be over her initial shock. She was grateful that they had something in common at least. Madison was so cool. Emily really wanted them to be friends.

"I got my dad's belt a few times." Emily admitted. There was no shame in it, knowing that Madison had grown up in a similarly strict family. "I usually deserved it and it sucked but it wasn't as bad as the strap." Emily lay back on her bed, beginning to relax. "They left it hanging on a hook in my bedroom to remind me to behave." She grinned over at Madison. "Didn't seem to work though."

It was always the spoon for me." Madison said with a laugh. "The worst was when they found out I'd been stealing them and hiding them in my room. My mom gave me a dozen with each spoon I'd stolen, and there were six or seven spoons by that point."

Both girls laughed at that. Emily told Madison about the time she had tried stealing her own spanking brush and hiding it from her parents. Her father had made her kneel in the corner until she had confessed where it was. Emily giggled as she described the battle of wills between herself, kneeling bare-bottomed in the corner, refusing to confess, and her father reading his book in his easy chair a few feet away.

"The best part was when he finished his book, and had to get up and start another one!" Emily was giggling as she reached the end of the story. "Eventually I cracked because I had to pee and he wouldn't let me leave the corner until I told him; he tanned my ass right afterwards with the brush, but I still wasted his whole afternoon."

The awkwardness was gone, and to her surprise she found herself comfortable with Madison. She was cis and Emily was locked, but the usual awkward social gap hadn't materialized.

Emily had felt a little homesick and while she was getting to know some of the other girls around campus she had missed having someone with whom she had a real connection. Laughing with her roommate was the first time Rattangrove had felt like a place she could really call home.

Emily continued the story, feeling a bit more confident; "After he finished with me, when my mom came upstairs to rub cream on my bottom before bed. She told me that she'd never seen my father so angry. It was almost like she was proud of me for holding off so long."

Madison laughed and Emily was relieved to see Madison happy. It seemed that swapping spanking 'war stories' had made her forget all about her most recent paddling, right up until she rolled over onto her back.

Madison's back arched immediately, lifting her backside off the bed as she sucked in her breath with a hiss at the sharp pain. Wincing she rolled onto her side and pulled her pillow to her chest. "My... my mom used to do that too." Madison whisper. The laughter was gone and replaced with a wistful sadness and vulnerability she hadn't shown before. "The cream, I mean."

Madison reached back with her hand and cupped her sweltering cheek gently, still wincing at the gentlest touch. She looked over at Emily, the homesickness plain to read on her face. "Would... would you do it?" She asked.

Emily swallowed hard. "I..." She felt her face growing hot at the idea of touching Madison like that. "I... I shouldn't..." she stammered.

Madison's face dropped. "No... I... I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry. It just really hurts and I saw your jars in the fridge and..."

Emily hopped off her bed and sat down next to Madison on hers. Her hands were cold and she pressed her right hand very gently onto the cane welts on the back of one of Madison's thighs. She could feel the heat rising from the welts. "Of course, Maddy." Emily said, trying to sound soothing rather than excited, as she very tenderly stroked her skin. "Let's make you feel all better, okay? I'll go get my cream."

The fridge was tiny, more a bar fridge than anything else; but the girls weren't really supposed to do any real cooking in their rooms. The microwave was too small for anything larger than a bag of popcorn or a mug of tea anyway. They each had their own shelf in the fridge, and Emily had brought two jars of cream from home.