Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 06

Ivy grabbed Katharina's arm as soon as they began walking. She squeezed it, then took Katharina by the hand, "Katja, this is it. I am so fucking excited. The ball!"

It felt a little odd, but also somehow fitting, now, to be holding Ivy's hand. The Summer Ball was a special occasion, and Katharina felt as excited as Ivy seemed to be. She felt also that the two of them had perhaps bonded a little during their brief preparation together, with Lia gone.

"Just stay with me Ivy, okay?" Katharina laughed, "You promise? Don't leave me on my own."

Ivy squeezed Katharina's hand, "Sure. If we get separated, meet back in the bar area."

Ivy quickened her pace, and despite being taller, Katharina had to briefly break her stride into a trot. "We don't have to hurry, you know," she said, "I don't mind if we've missed the address in the end."

Ivy slowed, "Well okay. But there's the first dance right after."

"Yeah I suppose it would be nice to join that. I think we have time."

Ivy nodded at the door to the showers, where the spatter and drip of falling water could be heard, "Some of them will miss it, by the sound of it."

"Oh yeah," Katharina recalled exiting the showers earlier, "Guess who I saw going in there a moment ago."

"Oh?" Ivy sounded tentatively intrigued.

"Yvonne was just going in when I left," said Katharina, "And her roommate."

"Annika?" Ivy asked, "They are so going to fuck."

"You think?" Katharina wondered.

"Of course," Ivy replied, sounding somewhat surprised, "She does it with anyone."

"Who?"

"Annika. All you have to do is ask," Ivy waved her hand as if having to explain something trivial. Then she frowned, "And I bet that fucking psycho roommate of hers doesn't even have to ask. That reminds me Katja, we have got to steer clear of her tonight."

"Yeah," Katharina replied absently. She could still see clearly in her mind the compelling, seductive menace of Yvonne's expression.

They achieved the lip of the stairs. Katharina started with her left foot, and Ivy with her right, and there was a moment's hesitation and shifting as it seemed to Katharina that they both wavered about how best to maintain their step while continuing to hold hands. Katharina laughed beneath her breath, and the two of them skipped briskly downward.

At the foot of the stairs they crossed the grand hallway towards the entrance to the Great Hall. Katharina got the clear impression of an excited, atmospheric bustle in the tall space of the hallway, despite the fact that there were only a few lone figures walking far ahead. She looked up to the arched ceiling and wondered whether in her excitement she was just imagining it, overlaying it on her senses. A moment later, she realized what it was. There was a subtle murmur in the air, the faint resonance of excited chatter from the other end of the hallway, a babble of voices all but completely smeared into a low humming sound, like a motorway or a distant waterfall.

Ivy clasped Katharina's hand and nodded silently. Katharina looked down from the ceiling to see a figure walking ahead some several meters in front of them. Louise's fine blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail. She was wearing a two-piece swimsuit not unlike her volleyball outfit, both pieces clinging tightly to her firm flesh. The weight of her big bust was implicit even from behind, in the way the straps of the top dug into the slight layer of softness that covered her muscular back and shoulders. The ridges and valleys of Louise's muscles were taut with exertion, as she was carrying a long wooden packing crate over one shoulder.

"Louise," Katharina whispered. She remembered with a brief flush of shameful excitement how she had spoken of Louise to Ivy in their dorm room just before.

"Hot," Ivy nodded again.

Ahead, Louise turned off to the right, heading not for the main entrance to the Great Hall, but down the opposite north-south hallway.

"We probably won't get to make your fantasy come true with her," Ivy sighed once Louise was out of view.

"I guess not," Katharina replied. She noticed that they had just passed the entrance to the library. She slowed for a moment and twisted her shoulders to look back. The doors were now shut. Polina would probably be in the Great Hall, along with everyone else.

"Come on," Ivy tugged at her hand, "You're not thinking of getting some last minute studying in now are you?"

Katharina shook her head, laughing. She skipped onward, and the two of them quickened their pace anew. Katharina's simmering excitement seemed to intensify in sympathy with the bustle of the Great Hall as it slowly grew louder. Ivy's hand felt warm and slightly clammy against her palm. There was a breeze blowing in through the open arched windows of the hallway that gave onto the inner courtyard gardens. The stone and the shade of the building kept the air somewhat cool even in high summer, but even now at a distance of several meters, the Great Hall gave off its own faint warmth. It was the warmth of bodies, of movement. As they approached the open doors, Katharina could see the dazzle of the low sun streaming through the tall windows inside.

They joined a trickle of other couples and groups that were funneling towards the entrance from all directions. Katharina noted the other girls' outfits as she and Ivy took up their place filing in to the hall. In their pants and tops, the two of them stood out as distinctly casual. Many girls wore skirts and dresses, some were even in full, low-cut ball gowns with long hems. Katharina was thankful Ivy hadn't wanted them to dress like that. The pants dug into her a little where she had tucked herself tightly away, and she could sense her bare chest beneath the thin fabric of the blouse. But she felt flexible, agile, and above all comfortably unassuming.

Ivy clutched Katharina's hand tighter as they filed in between two groups of elegantly-dressed senior girls, chattering loudly. As they passed under the tall archway, the sound of voices briefly intensified, then quickly died away. Katharina looked up. She couldn't quite make out the painted Roman numerals of the great clock, obscured by the thick stone pillars that lined the hall. She almost bumped into the back of the girl walking in front of her when her group stopped still. Their heads turned, and Katharina saw that everyone was looking to the far end of the hall. Katharina propped herself up on her tiptoes and looked out over the heads of the crowd to see the slender figure of Marianne standing on the dais, her long red hair and the shimmering green of her dress glowing in a ray of sunlight cast down by one of the far windows.

Katharina heard Marianne's peculiar voice, high-pitched yet bold and rich, and caught the last few words she was speaking, "... partners and join in the inaugural dance."

"We missed it," Ivy whispered, "Sorry."

Katharina felt a tiny pang of disappointment. And perhaps more than the disappointment she felt somehow disoriented, as if a tidy plan that she had laid out in her imagination had just been derailed, and she had to order her thoughts once more from the start. But it was a detail, and maybe it had been worth arriving late to spend a little time with Ivy. She shook her head in irritation at herself and squeezed Ivy's hand, "No matter."

A slow swell of excited voices rose around them as Marianne descended the shallow steps at the edge of the dais. "So," Ivy cried, smiling, "Let's go!"

Katharina felt herself yanked forward. She staggered quickly after Ivy towards the center of the room, jostling past the other girls who were hurriedly forming couples, and some who were suddenly trying to get out of the way and off the dance floor. The first fanfare of music struck up, and Ivy swung Katharina into a tight embrace. She looked up at Katharina and flashed a smile with her eyes, "Here we go Katja, next stop, the North Wing!"

They stumbled for a moment, and Katharina had to right herself by falling into Ivy's tight hold. "Am I leading?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder to find a clear spot among the other dancers.

"Yeah," Ivy nodded, "You're taller. It works better."

Katharina was caught unprepared. Unprepared for the fact that she would be sharing the first dance with Ivy, and that she would be leading. Though looking back now, she should have known it. If they arrived together, then of course they would take the first dance together. It would be too awkward to find another partner so quickly. And Katharina had always led on the few occasions that they had practiced together in Lena's dance classes.

"Okay," Katharina took a deep breath, clutched Ivy at the waist, and skipped out into the throng.

Katharina found leading was easiest if she held her partner tight, more or less pulled them with her. She knew it wasn't really the right way to do it, was something that Lena had always chided her for, dragging her partner around instead of letting her follow. But it was the only way she had found to cope.

She avoided Ivy's eyes and looked around her as they danced. She had been in the Great Hall many times before, for smaller events, dance class, lectures, ceremonial dinners. But she had never seen it so full. It felt as if its huge space were finally being celebrated, alive after a year of dormancy. She felt at once both small and curiously empowered, part of something big, something important.

Katharina was a little above average height among the other dancers, and stood more or less eye to eye with many of them. She could peer over shoulders as she and Ivy wove among the other couples, and she looked out to survey the crowd. She saw a few faces she could put names to, and many others she recognized by sight. But many of them were guests, the dmurrhisi girls that had responded to the select invites that senior girls had handed out in the weeks leading up to the ball. Katharina was grateful that that particular duty still lay some way off in the future for her. The prospect of dancing and flirting with new girls here in the safety of the Summer House was unsettling enough, the thought of having to go out and meet them in public bars and clubs was terrifying.

The dance floor was crowded, and warm. Katharina felt the slight dampness of sweat where her hand lay on Ivy's bare skin at the small of her back. To her dismay, Katharina could feel the slight, pleasant tightness of her dick slowly starting to stir in its confinement. Not getting hard, or at least not yet, but warming, thickening a little. She had hoped this wouldn't happen, or at least not yet, not with Ivy. With Ivy's body pressed so tight face to face, it felt just as if they were embracing, about to kiss.

Katharina suspected that the advice given by some of the senior girls wasn't that good, or at least not for her. Though she found that jerking off sometimes calmed her, it only worked if she really went at it several times over, until she was properly spent. Just one short session, or even two, only served to get her more worked up. After the one quick go in the showers and the other even quicker one with Ivy in their dorm room, Katharina could feel her body aglow with arousal.

Katharina became aware of the silence that had settled between her and Ivy as she had concentrated on the dance. The noise of the music and the crowd of shouted conversations around them was loud, but didn't preclude conversation, especially as they stood with cheeks almost touching. "Amazing," Katharina sighed, looking down at Ivy.

Ivy squeezed Katharina's shoulder, "I know, I know! So fucking exciting. And now the first switch will be coming up soon. You ready?"

Katharina slowed her steps a little in anticipation, readying herself for that nervous moment when she would have to dance away from Ivy and take hold of another free girl. She nodded, "You?"

"Bring it on," Ivy smiled.

Katharina waited, continuing her movements among the others, but not quite dancing. Then the shrill voice came, "Aaand... change!"

Katharina couldn't tell who had shouted. One of the senior girls, perhaps, or one of the ka'ini. Ivy slipped away from her and suddenly Katharina was swaying aimlessly amid a crowd of swirling bodies. Katharina's panicked wandering ended abruptly when she collided with someone. To her initial relief, the girl stood firm and took a tight hold of her. She had found a partner. Then she looked up.

"Hi," Yvonne's deceptively sweet voice belied the look on her face. It was the same faintly menacing, seductive look that she had given Katharina just earlier, one eyebrow raised, and a subtle smirk on her lips.

"Hi," Katharina managed to squeeze out the one short syllable before her voice choked off dry.

Yvonne danced backwards towards the center of the throng, pulling Katharina with her. Katharina counted it as something of a minor mercy that Yvonne wanted to lead. She couldn't imagine what she would have done if she had had to drag Yvonne around the dance floor. Both in their flat shoes, they stood almost exactly eye to eye, but Yvonne seemed somehow bigger. She took up more space, with her wide, assertive dancing strokes. As she plowed a passageway through the crowd, other couples not quick enough to dart out of her way were firmly shouldered aside.

Yvonne was a few years older, at an age when those few years made a subtle difference to her figure. Where Katharina still had the taut curves of a teenager, Yvonne's already slightly broader hips held up a shallow cushion of softness that creased into a single fold around her stomach whenever she twisted or bent for the dance. Katharina could see the contours of Yvonne's torso very clearly through her clothing. Above a simple knee-length black skirt, Yvonne wore a very tight shoulder-strapped top made of a silvery sheer material so thin that the outline of her navel and of her small, soft breasts were clearly visible. Though Yvonne's muted aggression was a little unnerving, Katharina found to her surprise that she was also very excited to be this close to her. Dancing a finger's breadth from Yvonne's thinly-clothed body, Katharina could feel a hot swell of stiffness slowly coursing out into her dick.

After they had danced several long arcs towards the thickest knot of dancers right in the center of the hall, Katharina realized that neither she nor Yvonne had spoken since their initial greeting, and the creeping awkwardness of the silence began to weigh on her. She wondered whether Yvonne were somehow testing her, sounding her out to see whether she was shy or assertive. She wondered which would be better. If she acted aloof and confident, would Yvonne back off and leave her alone, or would she sense a challenge, and feel spurred on?

While casting around for something to say, Katharina recalled what Yvonne had said to her earlier on exiting the showers, and then suddenly it escaped her lips, along with a quiet giggle, "Nice tits."

Yvonne scrunched her nose and glanced down at her own chest before looking up at Katharina, "A bit of a weird thing to say, but okay."

"You said it earlier," Katharina replied.

Yvonne gave a sharp snort of derision, "Yeah but you actually do have nice tits. Or big ones at least. I very obviously don't."

Katharina stole a glance at Yvonne's expression, trying to gauge whether she was offended or merely surprised. Before Katharina could offer a response, Yvonne continued, lowering her voice a little, "But I have compensatory qualities."

"Like...?" Katharina began warily.

Abruptly, Yvonne tightened her grip on Katharina's waist and hugged her tight, before spinning round and through a loose circle of other dancing couples. She pressed her face to Katharina's and Katharina felt the warmth of Yvonne's cheek.

Katharina caught the scent of a vaporous, bitter perfume as Yvonne whispered huskily in her ear, "I'm going to the toilets after this dance."

Katharina waited to see whether Yvonne would elaborate on her remark. There was nothing. Yvonne merely held her tight, and Katharina felt her limbs slowly flood with warmth in response to the softness of Yvonne's body. She sensed a faint purring murmur in Yvonne's chest.

Katharina almost missed the call to swap partners when it came. It was much further off than the first one, from somewhere out at the edge of the dancing surface. A different voice, perhaps, hoarser, one of the ka'ini that Katharina recognized but couldn't quite place. Looking about her, Katharina noticed that not all the couples were switching this time. Some continued to dance. They had perhaps not heard the call, or were satisfied with their current match.

Then without even glancing back, Yvonne flung her arms out to release Katharina and flounced off through the crowd, brusquely pushing aside another girl who was just stumbling away from her partner. Katharina stood still for a moment, watching the space into which Yvonne had disappeared. She was suddenly unsure of herself. Her exchange with Yvonne had been brief, but she was left with a vague impression that it had not gone too badly. She felt that she had, in some small way, stood her ground, shown Yvonne that she was not intimidated. Perhaps that would be enough to keep Yvonne off her back for a while. On the other hand, Yvonne's embrace and her parting remark seemed to mark a very clear escalation. She had no idea what might await her if she followed Yvonne to the toilets. A beating? Or a passionate tryst? At the thought of the latter, her shoulders shook with a tight shudder of excitement and trepidation.

Someone bumped into Katharina from behind. By the time she had turned round to apologize, whoever it was had staggered off into the jumble of the dance. As she was looking about and wondering what to do, someone else took a tentative hold of her shoulder.

"You don't mind?"

Katharina turned her head to face her new partner. For a splitsecond she didn't recognize her. Vera had changed into a long, shimmering burgundy red dress with thin shoulder straps. She had perhaps also washed and dried her hair. She looked somehow younger in formal dress.

"Oh. Miss Vera," Katharina stammered, "No. No, of course not."

"Good," Vera smiled and set her hand more firmly on Katharina's shoulder.

Katharina twisted to bring her body round to square against her mentor. She set one hand at the small of Vera's back, and took hold of Vera's free hand with the other.

Vera's smile brightened and she looked into Katharina's eyes, "So."

Katharina drew a quiet sigh and gathered her wits. Vera wanted her to lead. That was inevitable. Vera would want to test her, even now.

As Katharina made the first few careful sweeps across the dance floor, Vera squeezed her shoulder, "Relax, Katharina. Just dance, move. Your partner will follow."

It took some concentrated effort to keep from slipping into her favored strategy for leading, holding her partner tight and dragging them along. Katharina found to her chagrin that she had difficulty talking at the same time as maintaining her carefully controlled movements. "Um, okay. How is it going...?" she mumbled, staring blankly over Vera's shoulder.

"Very well so far I believe," Vera replied, "It's early. You just focus on the dance. You are doing well."

"Oh. Thanks."

"But of course, you should try to dance with dmurrhisi girls at some point," Vera grinned.

"Oh I'm not... Yes. Right."

"No pressure. Take your time," Vera said softly, "Your friend Ivy is dancing with a new girl I think. Maybe she will have some friends to introduce you to."

Katharina felt a tiny pang of competitive envy. As she danced with Vera through a thicker part of the crowd, she twisted her neck to see whether she could catch sight of Ivy, "Oh. Good for her. That's good. She's, um... confident. Attractive. Girls like her."

Vera seemed to check herself. Her smile straightened, serious, "But of course the main thing is simply that you should enjoy yourselves. Have fun. It should also be an evening off from your studies."