The Pledge Mistress Ch. 26

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.

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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.