The Pledge Mistress Ch. 39

Lisa knew that after the clean-up she would administer Brittany and Erin's first corporal punishment. Once Brittany and Erin thought their clean-up was complete, Lisa and the pledges would conduct a walk-through inspection with Pledge Mistress Tracy. Both pledges would receive a swat on the bottom from a leather strap for each violation. The initial inspection and punishment would be a hard lesson for the two newest aspirants, a painful reminder that they needed to work together and pay attention to detail when issued a pledge challenge.

Right after their punishments, Brittany and Erin would kneel before Kathleen to be drilled on that night's chapter from the Pledge Manual. They would be expected to pay undivided attention to their instructor. That would be their second hard lesson. They needed to accept physical punishment as a normal part of their daily routine and not dwell on it. The fact they had to kneel with sore bottoms did not mean Kathleen's lesson was any less important.

The two pledges finished within an hour, or so they thought. As they knelt in front of her, Lisa gave them an opportunity to reconsider:

"Are you absolutely sure that floor complies with inspection standards? You're totally sure about that?"

"Yes, Pledge Mistress, we're sure."

"You understand that I gave you two hours to do the job. Maybe you might want to go back?"

"It's OK, ma'am, we're done."

"Alright, for your sake, I hope you're telling me the truth. Just remember, I gave you two hours for a reason. You can't say I wasn't fair about this."

Of course, the job was not done right at all. Lisa and Tracy found a total of 57 violations as they did the walkthrough. As the officers patiently pointed out why each item was deficient, Brittany and Erin became increasingly frightened. They knew they had failed their first pledge challenge. Tracy commented:

"Pledges, I might have some sympathy if I knew you had used up the entire two hours and at least done some of your chores right. You quit after just one hour, thinking you if you rushed you were going to get a break. Let me explain something. When you're a pledge around here, breaks are few and far between, and we're the ones who decide when you get them, not you. Your Pledge Mistress gave you two hours to complete that task, but you made a deliberate decision not to utilize your time wisely. This'll be a learning experience for you, but unfortunately a very painful learning experience."

As the two frightened pledges knelt, Lisa went to her room and told Kathleen to go downstairs, get a strap, and report to the sitting room. Kathleen gave Lisa a scared look.

"Don't worry, it's not for you. But I need you to assist me with the pledges."

Kathleen went downstairs. She left the room naked, because Lisa had not told her to get dressed and she knew better than to ask.

Meanwhile, Lisa, Tracy, and the two miserable pledges went to the sitting room. Tracy stood in the back to observe her acting Pledge Mistress in action, to see how she'd handle her first incident of pledge discipline. She noted with satisfaction that Lisa was using her own style to inflict punishment. She did not raise her voice nearly as much as Tracy had over the summer, but instead spoke at a normal tone with absolute authority.

The strap Kathleen brought out was not the one Lisa intended, because it was too heavy to strike someone 57 times. However, rather than fumble around by sending Kathleen back to get the correct strap, Lisa improvised.

"Take a good look at this strap, Pledges. Take a really good look."

The two girls trembled at the fearsome sight of Lisa with that strap. The cruel dark leather contrasted sharply with her unadorned body. For some reason the fact she was holding the implement while naked only made her much more intimidating.

"Now, because it's your first night as pledges and you're still getting used to your responsibilities, I'm gonna do you a really big favor. I'm supposed to give each of you a stroke for every violation. Instead I'm willing to split the punishment between you. Please keep in mind tonight's the only night I'll split your punishment. The next time I hand you an inspection sheet, you'd better remember that."

Lisa ordered Brittany to stand up and bend over a study table. She directed Kathleen to stand at the opposite side, grab the pledge's wrists, and hold her in place. Before beginning the punishment, Lisa ran her hand over the Brittany's trembling bottom, which elicited a jealous look from her lover.

Lisa stepped to the side, tapped Brittany's bottom with strap, repositioned herself, and delivered a fearsome CRACK!

Brittany immediately tensed up and let out a high-pitched squeal. She kicked her feet up, but Lisa admonished her:

"Put your feet back on the floor, Pledge. If I have to tie you down, you'll get the full punishment."

CRACK!

"AIEEE...!"

CRACK!...

Lisa spaced the strokes about 20 seconds apart, to give Brittany a chance to feel each one but not prolong the punishment more than necessary. The girl was crying pitifully, but fortunately she was able to keep her feet on the floor and avoid Lisa's threat of additional strokes. As Kathleen kept the girl's wrists firmly in her grip and calmly held her in place, Lisa realized that her lover would be an invaluable help to her. If Lisa ever became anything more than Acting Pledge Mistress, she would have to see to it that Kathleen had an official position as her assistant.

Brittany's punishment was over within 15 minutes. The heavy strap left her bottom a fierce shade of red punctuated with purplish welts. Looking at the condition of Brittany's backside, Lisa knew that 28 strokes was about the limit a pledge's bare bottom could withstand from the severe implement in her hand.

Lisa ordered Brittany to stand in front of the speaker's podium, turn her back to the room, and grip it with her hands to steady herself. The other women in the room studied her injured backside as she continued to cry. Once her crying died down, Lisa ordered Brittany to remain standing with her hands gripping the podium. She was not to move or touch her bottom.

Upon seeing the condition of her friend, Erin shook with fear. She was next.

"Pledge Erin, lie over the table. Put your hands out in front so my assistant can hold them. Spread your feet on the floor and turn them inward."

Erin did as she was told and Kathleen grabbed her wrists. Noting that her lover was carefully watching her, Lisa refrained from patting or touching the pledge's vulnerable bottom. Instead Lisa positioned herself, tapped her trembling target with the strap, and struck hard with a fierce CRACK!

Lisa punished Erin using the same technique she had used on Brittany, striking the girl's exposed bottom with strokes spaced about 20 seconds apart concentrated on alternate sides. Like her fellow pledge, Erin's bottom soon was marked with reddish stripes that crossed each other. Towards the end the unhappy girl's backside was dark red and covered with purplish marks.

What was different about Erin was how she handled her portion of the punishment. Unlike Brittany, she did not cry out or kick her feet. Instead she pressed her forehead to the table surface and grit her teeth, trying her best not to show any reaction to what was happening to her. Much more than Brittany, Erin understood that the two pledges had no one but themselves to blame for their punishments. She realized that, without saying it directly, Lisa had tried to warn them that their task was not completed. Within the logic of the Four-Beta pledge program, the acting Pledge Mistress had been more than fair by giving her two pledges an opportunity to correct their mistakes, a cue that unfortunately they did not pick up on until it was too late.

When Erin stood up, her face was streaked with tears, but she had made it through the punishment without making any noise. Brittany continued to cry, devastated by what had just happened to her.

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Lisa gave the pledges a half an hour to partially recover from their punishment. She allowed them to have a drink of water and go to the bathroom before ordering them to report to the sorority library. She then turned them over to Kathleen and ordered them to kneel to receive their first formal lesson about Four-Beta sorority protocol. Kathleen knew the material she was presenting, which helped her overcome her shyness when speaking to others.

Once Kathleen's lesson was finished, Lisa took over and put the pledges on treadmills for half an hour of fast walking to work off some of the remaining soreness from their strappings. As she had planned, Lisa's pledges were totally exhausted by the time she released them. They still had to clean up, brush their teeth, and set up their cots.

Brittany began crying again, once the two pledges were alone in the basement. Erin sat next to her friend and patiently reasoned with her, explaining why their first punishment was perfectly justified under the rules they had agreed to live by. She pointed out that their mentor actually had been quite lenient, because they only had received half the swats they were supposed to get.

"The point is, she told us what we needed to do, and we didn't do it. When you think about it, Lisa was right. Tomorrow we'll just have to try harder and do what she says. That's the only thing that's gonna save our butts."

Finally Brittany stopped crying and lay down on her cot. She realized that what Erin had told her was true, that she really couldn't blame Lisa. When she signed her contract she already knew this was the way it was going to be. The Four-Betas emphasized rigid discipline and constant pledge challenges instead of drinking and taunting.

Brittany then realized something else that was very significant. In spite of her very harsh treatment, not once did Lisa verbally taunt or insult either pledge. Yes, Erin was right. Tomorrow they would just have to try harder, work together, and pay closer attention to what Lisa actually was telling them to do.

Neither of the two pledges could have known it at that point, but during the fall semester Erin would become the one who kept the others motivated. By the end of September, Pledge Erin would assume the leading role among her group, guiding her companions through the various hardships they had to face. Erin's role during the fall would be identical to the one that Lisa had performed during the summer.