The Pledge Mistress Ch. 27

Lisa flexed her body to expose herself even more as she casually pulled off a shoe and dumped a pebble out. She was totally shameless and loved the feeling of absolute exposure. Even more, she was fascinated at the thought of controlling Polk's emotions by doing something as simple as showing off her body.

The distraction allowed Tracy to break off the conversation and order her group to "move out!" She wasn't sure whether Lisa's performance had been deliberate, but was grateful for the interruption and the chance to tactfully escape from the security guard. Of course, Monday morning they'd have to show up naked yet again, but the Pledge Mistress could worry about that in two days.

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As the weekend progressed, the Tracy became increasingly worried about the newcomers' academic performance. On Saturday afternoon, following house clean-up, she rounded up her group, ordered them to pack their book-bags, and marched them to Ruth Burnside's house in the stifling afternoon heat. The young women undressed in the living room and spent the next eight hours hunched over their books, while Tracy made herself available to answer questions and help them get caught up with various homework assignments.

On Sunday night Tracy planned another study break, one that would include the males. She announced that immediately after dinner both groups of pledges were to pick up their backpacks and go with her to the university library. They would study from 6:30 to 10:00 before returning to the sorority house. Upon getting back, the women would go straight to bed, while Tracy would take the men back to the Tri-Alpha house and release them back to the fraternity.

Tracy's plan caused resentment among the other members of the sorority, because she was shortening "Hell Week" and taking the Tri-Alpha males away from their duties to pleasure the women. She also was taking the Four-Beta pledges away from their clean-up responsibilities. However, Tracy sharply rebuked her peers as she held up a copy of the Pledge Manual:

"Any of you who don't like what I'm doing had better take a good look at what's in this manual. I am responsible, first and foremost, for the academic success of the pledges. It's been this way since 1946, and I think you'd better remind yourselves why that rule was written. If those pledges fail their classes, it's my ass! So guess what? Tonight they're gonna study, and then they're gonna sleep, because tomorrow's a school day! That's my decision, and if you don't like it, tough shit! If enough of you have a problem with that, then go right ahead and elect yourselves a new Pledge Mistress while we're gone!"

As soon as Tracy left with Pledge Master Arnold and the nine pledges, Sergeant-at-Arms Heather made a very unfortunate miscalculation. She expected that the resentment against Tracy was enough to have her voted out as Pledge Mistress and called an emergency meeting of everyone present in the sorority house. Because she was an officer, she had the right to call an instant meeting, even without the prior approval of President Alexandra.

Heather laid out her case against Tracy, that she was overly-protective of the pledges and taking her duty as Pledge Mistress way too seriously. The position had made her combative and unwilling to cooperate with the other members of the sorority. One problem with the way Tracy was handling the pledges was that she was not letting the other sorority members participate in their hazing and preventing anyone else from having the opportunity to get to know them.

"I don't know what's gotten into her. She's got no respect for any of the rest of us, and to be honest, she's really starting to piss me off! Maybe she's taking her Army shit too seriously or something. Anyhow, you've heard my thoughts. We ought to get rid of her, before things with the pledges go any further!"

President Alexandra took a deep breath. She liked Heather a lot more than she liked Tracy. They had been friends since they were pledges and Alexandra had been expecting that Heather would succeed her in the fall as chapter president. However, the Sergeant-at-Arms had just made an enormous mistake by calling the meeting, because the other officers disagreed about the need to replace Tracy.

Yes, it was true that none of the seniors really liked Tracy. Yes, it was true that Tracy was uncompromising and obnoxious. However, Four-Beta tradition mandated that her behavior was what was expected of a good Pledge Mistress. Tracy's job description not only required her to be tough on the pledges, but also tough about protecting their interests, watching over their well-being and willing to confront other sorority members if necessary. Being Pledge Mistress was a difficult and unpopular assignment, not one suited for a member interested in being friends with everyone else.

Alexandra had nominated Tracy to be Pledge Mistress precisely because she had the character traits that best suited her for that job. She was not particularly gregarious, somewhat aloof from the other members, and did not care whether she was well-liked or not. Of all the women in the sorority she was by far the toughest and most inflexible, and also the one most obsessed with learning and following rules and traditions. She most certainly had a unique style of handling pledges, but so far it had been successful. They were doing quite well and it looked like none of them was going to drop out of the program.

Heather had the shock of her life when only one person, the junior who was her best friend, seconded her motion to remove Tracy as Pledge Mistress. The other seniors and many of the juniors may not have liked Tracy, but very few of them thought anyone else was better suited to be Pledge Mistress. It turned out that the grumbling about the pledges being out on a study break did not translate into any desire to replace her. Heather glanced at Alexandra, silently pleading for help.

Alexandra's look gave Heather her answer. Sorry Heather, I can't support you on this. You shouldn't have called this meeting without talking to me first. You're on your own.

Heather's face turned white as she realized that she had just totally humiliated herself. Lacking support from Alexandra, the Sergeant-at-Arms knew better than to proceed with a formal vote. It was clear there was almost no support among the others for her effort to remove the Pledge Mistress. In fact, the meeting had achieved the exact opposite of what she wanted by making the juniors and sophomores who supported Tracy realize that plenty of others in the sorority felt the same way. Heather, who up until that moment was guaranteed to be elected chapter president in the fall, had just placed her ambitions in jeopardy. Now that the rivalry was out in the open, many of the younger women began to wonder if Tracy would actually make a better leader than Heather.

Heather retreated from the meeting, unsure how to handle the rebuke. Had she been able to put the incident into perspective, she would have realized that the best way to deal with it would have been to do nothing and let it fade with the passage of time. However, she saw the sorority presidency slipping away from her, which distorted her thinking and her perception of her duty as a Four-Beta officer.

Heather needed to figure out how she could undermine the Pledge Mistress. If she didn't, Tracy would become the next chapter president. No, that could not be allowed. Somehow, Tracy had to be stopped.