The Pledge Mistress Ch. 30

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The following morning's routine was very relaxed, because the first group meeting for the campers was at 11:00. Until then everyone was free to sleep, swim, hike, explore the lake, play volleyball, or go off in the woods to have sex. The majority of the campers slept until about 9:00, then made their way to lake to rinse off. Lisa and Kathleen slept until 9:30, before finding Bernadette and Cherine to join the Tri-Alpha pledges for a swim. After getting out of the water, the pledges, with the exception of Kathleen, had to report to the cooking tent to help set up lunch. Kathleen was left with nothing to do, so she returned to the lake and quietly sat on the shore.

At 10:30 Pledge Master Arnold blew a whistle as a warning that everyone needed to return to the base camp within 30 minutes. At 10:45 he blew his whistle a second time, and at 10:55 he blew it for the third and final warning. Lisa noticed Tracy carrying several willow switches that had been cleaned and soaked in water. She asked Elaine, the leader of the sophomores, what was going on.

"When you have a group as large as what we've got here, there's always some idiot who doesn't make it back in time for the midday meeting. So, whoever's not at the meeting gets their butt whipped."

At 11:00 the presidents of the fraternity and the sorority stood together on a picnic table and ordered a head count of their parties. The campers organized by sex and by class, to allow the class leaders to make sure all their groups' members were present. President Alexandra called out:

"Sergeant-at-Arms Heather!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All seniors present or accounted for, President Alexandra!"

"Junior class leader Shannon!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"Two juniors missing, President Alexandra! Michelle and Carrie not present!"

"Noted, two juniors missing. Sophomore class leader Elaine!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All sophomores present or accounted for, President Alexandra!"

"Pledge Mistress Tracy!"

"Yes, President Alexandra!"

"Roll call!"

"All pledges present, President Alexandra!"

The same process was repeated for the Tri-Alpha Fraternity, but fortunately none of their members were missing. The next priority was determining what had happened to the two missing Four-Beta juniors. The last anyone had seen of them was earlier that morning when they left to go for a walk. They no longer were at the campsite and had to be found before the group could start back.

While everyone else ate lunch and began cleaning up the campground, the Tri-Alpha seniors set out to find the two missing women. After an hour, they returned with the wayward Four-Betas. The two women were covered with mud, had scratches on their legs, and wore very sad expressions on their faces. It turned out they had left the main trail to climb a hill and take some pictures, only to get lost on their way down and wander into a swamp. They managed to get out of the water but were totally disoriented when they finally returned to the main trail. They heard the first whistle from base camp at 10:30, but panicked and took off in the wrong direction. They were still going the wrong way when the Tri-Alphas found them.

The seniors who rescued the two women ordered them to rinse off in the lake before they cleaned and disinfected their scratches. After the two wayward Four-Betas were clean and their injuries treated, the Tri-Alphas handcuffed them and ordered them to kneel on one of the picnic tables.

President Alexandra announced the verdict. Michelle and Carrie had missed the midday assembly because of their careless behavior in the forest. For that offense, and for disregarding several safety rules, they faced corporal punishment. Each woman would receive one stroke of the willow switch from every member of the Tri-Alpha team that rescued her.

Michelle went first. Without saying anything, she got off her knees and was helped off the picnic table. Arnold unlocked her handcuffs and directed her to bend over the end of a second picnic table. Once she lying over the table, he told her to grip the other end with her hands and spread her feet. She was to stay in that position until the punishment was finished; if she let go of the table or tried putting her feet together, she would be tied and the punishment would start over.

As the Tri-Alpha seniors lined up next to the offender, Tracy waved three of the willow switches she was carrying to shake off the extra water. She handed them to Pledge Master Arnold, who in turn passed one of the switches to Vice-President Jacob. The VP quickly positioned himself behind Michelle, tapped her with the switch, and sharply struck at the base of her bottom-cheeks. Upon feeling the first blow, she let out a faint whimper, but did her best to stay quiet. Jacob handed the switch to the next senior, who positioned himself and laid another thin welt across the Four-Beta junior's backside. Arnold noted the first switch was starting to fray after the sixth stroke and passed the seventh member of his group a fresh switch.

There were 18 seniors total, which meant that Michelle's bare bottom was marked with 18 thin red lines. The switching went fairly quickly and was over within 15 minutes. However, after the final stroke it was clear that Michelle was in a lot of pain and struggling not to let go of the table and risk extra strokes. Pledge Master Arnold gave her a few minutes to recover and handed her a cup of water before ordering her to stand up. Her punishment was not over, because she had climb up on another picnic table. Until her companion's switching was finished she had to remain standing with her feet spread and her hands behind her head. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, but she dared not move until she was released.

Carrie's self discipline came nowhere close to Michelle's. She cried pitifully starting with the first stroke. After the fifth stroke she tried to cover her bottom with her hands, only to be tied to the table and forced to start over. She received a total of 23 strokes and was left tied up and sobbing while the expedition's other members finished getting ready for the hike back. Michelle, on the other hand, was allowed to get down from her picnic table and help with packing one of the tents. Her punishment was over and she was allowed to re-join her classmates.

Lisa thought Michelle and Carrie had been treated rather harshly and commented her thought to Elaine. The sophomore disagreed:

"Pledge Lisa, we're on a very tight schedule. We can't leave until everyone's back, and if they weren't so strict about the meeting, we would've had 10 or 20 people wandering around instead of just two. We've got to be out of here by 1:00, so we can be back at the parking lot before 5:00, so we can get back in the house by 9:00. How're we supposed to do all that if everyone's not ready to leave on time?"

"I 'spose that's true, ma'am."

"Anyhow, those two shouldn't have gone wandering off like that, without even bothering to tell anyone where they were going. And they knew what was gonna happen if they weren't back here by 11:00. It's not as though it's any big secret."

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The hike back to the parking lot started at 1:00, right on schedule. It was rather hot and Lisa noticed the expedition's members were wearing much less clothing on the return trip. Over half of the Tri-Alphas walked the entire nine miles totally naked, along with 27 members of the sorority. Jacob was among the naked Tri-Alphas, walking with an equally naked Pledge Cherine. Michelle and Carrie also were forced to hike in the nude, as part of their punishment. Even President Alexandra hiked completely uncovered, as part of her forfeit from the previous day's loss playing twister.

Upon returning to the parking lot, all of the fraternity and sorority members got dressed, with the exception of the pledges and the two wayward Four-Beta juniors. Michelle and Carrie faced several more days of exposure, because once they were back in the sorority house they would not be allowed to cover their bottoms until their welts were completely healed.

Tracy ordered the Four-Beta pledges to get into separate vehicles so they could continue to socialize with upperclassmen on the way back. To Lisa's dismay, Ken was assigned to a different vehicle, as was Kathleen. Tracy was determined that Lisa would ride back with people she didn't know very well so she could converse with them.

Pledge Cherine rode back with the Tri-Alpha officers. Letting her travel with the top members of the fraternity was not what the Pledge Mistress had intended, but Jacob wanted her to sit with him. Tracy was not at all pleased about the blatant display of favoritism, but unfortunately the wishes of the VP overrode anything she might have wanted for her pledge.

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The SUV's returned to the Four-Beta house shortly before 9:00, right on schedule. The fraternity members off-loaded the tents and other camping equipment and carried everything into the back yard of the sorority. It would be the duty of the sorority to clean the equipment, while the Tri-Alphas took care of washing and returning the vehicles. Lisa sighed upon seeing the mountain of camping gear piled on the back porch, because she knew that the responsibility of cleaning it would fall mostly on the pledges.

The first priority, however, was showering, checking for ticks, and going to bed. The following day was Monday, the start of yet another week of classes. Tracy warned the pledges that she expected them to be in their cots with their eyes closed no later than 10:00. Bernadette and Cherine did not have to be told to go to sleep; they were so tired that they drifted off within minutes of lying down. Lisa was the last member of the group to brush her teeth and crawl into her cot, but she noticed Kathleen was still awake. Without saying anything, she got up to give her lover a goodnight kiss and squeeze her hand. Kathleen drifted off to sleep and Lisa made it back to her cot just before Tracy entered the room.

Lisa had greatly enjoyed the camping trip, even though it had done nothing to simplify her personal life or her romantic pursuits. Within a 12-hour period she had made love with two different people, but she did not feel guilty about that. She rationalized that she was not cheating, because she did not see her lovers as directly competing against each other. They were not the same sex, their needs were very different, and what she needed from each of them was different. Also, neither was innocent or inexperienced. Ken had just experimented with gay sex while Kathleen had various lovers before she met Lisa. Both of Lisa's love interests were imperfect, troubled individuals who needed her support. She saw herself as deeply caring for both of them and obliged to bring sexual fulfillment into their lives.

In the back of her mind Lisa understood that someday she would have to choose between Ken and Kathleen. However, she reasoned with herself that day of reckoning was years away and thus not something that needed to concern her at the moment. Perhaps there would be a tense moment or two, but as long as she could compartmentalize her life and keep her lovers separate from each other, there was no reason why she couldn't continue both relationships.