Back to Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - A high stakes wager
The following Monday morning Cecilia breathed a huge sigh of relief,
when she woke up and realized her period had started. Her menstruation
normally was a source of irritation that intruded on her routine once a
month, but for once she was very happy to see the familiar spot of
blood. She changed her panties and stuffed a pad in the crotch of the
clean pair, relieved that her moment of carelessness with Jason the
previous Friday night would not disrupt her life.
She spent a normal Monday morning, going to her early class, then
drawing her boyfriend during the 11:00 Life Drawing class, then spending
"quality time" with her strange economics professor during the hour
leading up to the 1:30 economic theory class.
Burnside already was thinking about the class midterm. She had decided
to split the midterm into two parts, one to be given at the beginning of
October and the other at the beginning of November. Although Cecilia
really had nothing to do with writing the test or grading it, Burnside
confided some of the exam plans to her scholarship student.
The professor also confided another piece of exciting news, that it was
likely the Prime Minister of Upper Danubia would visit Chicago and
the university sometime late in the semester. The student's reaction
surprised and impressed her.
"You mean Vladim Dukov is gonna be here?!"
"You actually know who he is?"
"Yeah, Dr. Burnside, he was Kimberly Lee's defense attorney when she got
arrested...you know Kimberly Lee of 'Socrates' Mistresses'. I'm a big
fan of that group and I know all about him, 'cause of what he did for
Kim. So he's actually coming? Do you think I could meet him?
Please...I'd really like to meet him!"
Burnside thought for a minute, trying to see how Cecilia could be
brought into the planned visit of the foreign dignitary. The Prime
Minister would attend an international economic seminar in downtown
Chicago and speak about his plans for his country's economic
development. He was scheduled to visit several political think-tanks and
then give two speeches at the university about his views and goals for
the future of his country. His final stop before flying on to Canada and
Europe would be a day in Washington DC to speak at the National Press
Club.
Vladim Dukov had been Prime Minister of Upper Danubia for less than a
year, but was well-liked within his own country. He was not a popular
figure in the US, because of his nationalistic ideology and rejection of
globalization. He was not friendly to international business concerns
and perfectly willing to walk away from negotiations if he felt the
interests of his country were not being served. He recently had caused a
sensation in Europe by withdrawing Upper Danubia's application to join
the EU because he felt the previous government had made too many
concessions in its effort to join. Dukov had his own philosophy about
economic development, based on the needs of a rather isolated and
backwards society instead of popular economic models. The Prime
Minister's goal in coming to the US was to speak directly to the public
and intellectuals about what he wanted for Upper Danubia and ultimately
where he hoped to lead his country.
The political issues where of only passing interest to Cecilia. Her
desire to meet Dukov was much more personal. The Danubian leader was a
direct link to her favorite singer and the music that had transformed
her outlook on life.
To Burnside the issue was a practical one, finding a student for the
university delegation who actually knew where Upper Danubia was located
and enough about the country to not look like the typically ignorant
American. It was obvious Cecilia was a bit star-struck at the thought of
meeting her favorite singer's former guardian, but if she could tone
that down a bit, she would make a good addition to the student
representatives.
"I don't see why you couldn't be part of the student delegation. Most of
the group will be graduate students, but I think you'd do a good job
representing our department. I'll add you, under a condition. I want you
to pick a Danubian topic for your term paper for the Theory of
International Development course. Do some research, get yourself ready
to meet Prime Minister Dukov, and you'll make a real contribution."
----------
After her daily workout with Lisa, Cecilia sat with the other RA's for
their nightly dinner. The dorm director surprised his staff when he
announced he wanted to have a formal meeting with the RA's following the
meal.
The staff met in one of the dorm's small conference rooms. There was a
series of issues to discuss, including a new duty roster, a review of
the previous weekend's fire in the adjacent building and Huntington
Hall's own evacuation procedures were a similar emergency to take place,
and an announcement there would be a fire drill later in the week.
Following the serious topics, the dorm director gave the group a
sarcastic smile and passed out flyers for a 10 kilometer run that would
be held Saturday of the following week. It was sponsored by the
Tri-Alpha fraternity and was a yearly tradition at the university, an
essential task of the fraternity's initiation for new pledges. What set
the Tri-Alpha run apart from any other university-sponsored 10-K run was
that all runners had to be completely nude throughout the entire race
and the ceremony preceding the event. The only permitted items of
clothing for anyone participating were running shoes and socks.
The run had been a yearly tradition since the early 1960's, when the
Tri-Alphas began incorporating nudity as part of their initiations.
During the first two decades of its existence the 10-K route had gone
through not only the university, but also through Fraternity Row and a
couple of nearby commercial streets. In 1985 the race was scaled back.
The Tri-Alpha fraternity and the university agreed to shorten the run to
just 2 miles and have it contained completely within the campus area. A
few years later there was talk of banning the nude 10-K race altogether,
given that most of the universities around the US that had nude student
runs were stopping them.
Talk of banning the Tri-Alpha nude run came to an abrupt end when a
fraternity alumnus and multi-millionaire died and left a huge grant to
the university. The benefactor left his money in a trust fund,
stipulating that $ 10 million would be paid out each year until the
account was exhausted. The grant had two conditions. The first condition
was the entire amount had to be used to pay the salaries of non-tenured
professors and Teaching Assistants. The second condition was that the
Tri-Alpha nude run had to be held each year, restored to its original
10-kilometer length and held in the middle of the day on the last
Saturday each September.
Whatever moral objections there might have been to the spectacle of
naked runners streaking through the university each year, no one in the
Board of Regents was going to argue against $ 10 million in guaranteed
salary money for instructors. Money talks, and bullshit walks. So, the
Board of Regents negotiated the details of the revised race with the
directors of the Tri-Alpha fraternity. The race would remain within the
confines of the university, but would be a full 10-K run. The starting
line was at the Memorial Stadium. The runners would do two laps around
the football field, then leave the stadium to follow a route around the
university, pass through the old part of campus, then circle back to the
Stadium and do a final lap around the track to the finish line. The
event drew a large crowd that filled the stadium and lined the race
route around the university. Attendance was restricted to students,
active alumni, faculty members, and reporters. The campus was sealed off
to outsiders during the race, but even with the restriction, typically
between 50,000 and 60,000 spectators attended the event each year.
Participating in the race and running the full 10 kilometers non-stop
was a requirement for all Tri-Alpha pledges. The fraternity encouraged
other students to participate by offering a trophy and $ 1,000 in prize
money to any non-Tri-Alpha member who managed to win the men's race. A
second prize of $ 1,000 was offered to the winner of the women's
division, as an incentive to encourage female students to run. During
any given year there were a few participants from other fraternities and
sororities, a few from the dorms, and always students representing the
Art Department, the Theater Department, the Athletic Department, and the
School of Music. However, the male 10-K winner usually was a Tri-Alpha
pledge, because the fraternity forced its prospective members to train
for the race.
The RA's smiled and laughed at the idea of getting someone from
Huntington Hall to run in the nude for an hour, but the director had an
offer that made his staff take the whole affair more seriously.
"I've got a $50 gift card to any store in the mall for anyone who can
get me a runner to represent Huntington Hall in the 10-K. If you get me
a winning runner, I'll give you a $ 500 gift card. I think it'd be good
for morale if we could have someone to cheer for in this race, one of
our own. Anyhow, you all have floor meetings scheduled this Sunday and
I'd appreciate you bringing it up to your residents."
Most of the RA's figured they had their work cut out for them, getting
any of their floor residents to participate. The race was not an
experience for anyone with any modesty, because the time the runners
spent in the nude extended way beyond the hour of running. There was a
pre-race ceremony and a march around the stadium prior to the run
itself, and then post-race events and a coronation ceremony for the 1st,
2nd, and 3rd place winners in separate divisions for male and female
runners. The six winning runners could expect to be nude in public for
at least six hours and pose for hundreds of pictures. Yes, $ 1,000 was a
nice amount of money for a student, but actually winning the prize was a
tough challenge, given the competition from the well-prepared Tri-Alpha
pledges.
Cecilia was the only RA who was confident that she could supply at least
two runners, and possibly four. She was sure that with a little coaxing
she could get Jason and Ken to run, but she wanted to get Mike and Lisa
to participate as well. That would mean four gift certificates and $ 200
to spend on new clothing. If either Jason or Ken won the race, she would
get the $ 500 gift certificate and finally supplement her meager
wardrobe in a meaningful way.
As Cecilia pondered getting her runners for Huntington Hall, the
director set down a stack of flyers and registration packets for the
race. Most of the other RA's took just one packet, but Cecilia
confidently took four.
----------
The evening returned to normal, as Cecilia went to Jason's room, where
he was waiting for her to review Burnside's materials. As instructed, he
was naked and stood obediently as she questioned him about his studies.
Eventually she planned to train him to always greet her by getting on
his knees and kissing her hands, but that would come later.
She confidently sat at his chair and snapped at him to get the right
answers to questions about the assigned readings. Once she was sure he
knew the Monday material, she released him to tutor his three friends
while she went back to her room. The RA spent an hour studying for one
of her classes, then returned to Jason's room to escort him to her room
for a massage.
Once Jason was undressed and ready to massage her, Cecilia ordered him
to strip her to her panties. She was wearing a regular pair of women's
briefs instead of her usual thong because of her period. Obviously for
the next several nights Jason would be restricted to massaging her back,
arms, feet, and legs. Cecilia sat in her armchair as Jason knelt to
begin massaging her feet. As usual he moved up her calves, then massaged
her hands, arms, shoulders, and neck. Once the chair portion of the
massage was complete, Cecilia would lie on her bed to have her legs and
back massaged.
Cecilia fell asleep and Jason covered her up. He quietly got dressed,
gave her a very gentle kiss on the cheek, turned out the light, and
slipped back to the commons area.
----------
Lisa owed Cecilia a Poker game. Cecilia's original idea was to play
one-on-one, with high stakes between the two women. Cecilia was not
planning to wager money, however. The stakes instead would be favors and
a period of servitude.
Cecilia changed her plans for her Poker wager upon returning to her room
with the four Tri-Alpha race registration packets. She would make it a
five-person wager, with participating in the race a penalty for the
losers of planned game. The three males would end up in the race for
sure, and if Cecilia's plans worked out and she won against Lisa, she
would pass out registration packets to four losing freshmen. There was
no question they would participate, because she still had the pictures
from that wild Sunday night two weeks before and would use them as
leverage, if necessary, to pressure everyone to play.
Cecilia was aware that Lisa really might be a good player, and there was
a risk that it might be Cecilia, not Lisa, who would be take the fourth
packet and run the race with the three guys. Yes, it was a risk, but if
she lost, the RA was fully prepared to honor the bet and run the 10-K.
Cecilia was not much of a risk-taker in her daily life, but for once she
was willing to face the prospect of losing to Lisa and running 10
kilometers in the nude. The uncertainty would make the evening's card
game an interesting experience and a challenging one for the RA.
During her workout with Lisa on Tuesday, Cecilia brought up the idea of
a Poker game Friday night.
"We'll have the guys play with us, so we'll start with five players.
We'll play strip Poker. First we strip the guys, then you and me go
head-to-head."
"Are we playing for penalties?"
"Yeah, but just one each. We'll be playing for elimination. Whenever
someone loses all their clothes, they're out of the game. There will be
a single penalty for each loser."
"What is it?"
"I've got four envelopes. Each loser takes an envelope. It's a surprise,
but it'll be the same for each loser."
"You too? If you lose, you'll do the penalty?"
"Of course. If I lose, I'll do the penalty."
"And what makes you so sure you can beat me?"
"Lisa, I'm not sure about that at all. I don't know how good you play,
and you don't know how good I am. That's what'll make Friday night so
interesting."
----------
Friday night Lisa and Cecilia made the final arrangements for the card
game. They counted pieces of clothing to make sure each was starting
with the same number of item. Cecilia ordered Jason and Mike to bring a
small round table into Lisa's room from the commons area and to borrow
five folding chairs from the dorm's conference room. The players would
sit in a circle, each the same distance from the others. Lisa pulled out
her digital camera and Cecilia borrowed Jason's 35-mm camera, for full
body portraits to be taken of each loser as soon as he or she was
eliminated from the game. Cecilia sealed the four registration packets
and laid them on Lisa's desk.
Jason, Ken, and Mike looked at each other nervously. There was a grim
determination about the two women that unsettled them. The knowledge
that each of them was sure to lose and take a penalty also concerned
them. The game really was between Cecilia and Lisa, and the guys figured
once they were eliminated, they would be standing at attention in the
nude for a very long time while the two women battled to see which of
them would end up with the fourth envelope.
The guys did not bother to count how many articles of clothing they were
wearing, since they were destined to lose anyway. Jason was wearing only
four items; a pair of loose-fitting shorts, a shirt, and a pair of
casual deck shoes. Ken had six items of clothing; the same outfit as
Jason, but also a pair of socks. Like Jason, Ken normally did not wear
underwear. Mike had on five items of clothing; shorts and underwear,
shoes, and a shirt.
Cecilia let Lisa deal first. She passed the freshman an unopened deck of
cards, which Lisa quickly unwrapped. Cecilia carefully watched as Lisa
expertly shuffled, with the calm expression of a person familiar with
gaming. Poker face. OK. She looks calm, but we'll see what's she's
hiding later on, thought Cecilia to herself.
The two women played very carefully, eager to keep as many articles of
clothing possible during the first phase of their game in which they
eliminated the guys. Jason was the first to be eliminated. At the end of
the seventh round, Ken had lost two shoes and Mike one shoe, but Jason
already had lost all four articles of his clothing. He pulled down his
shorts and handed them to Cecilia. Lisa then ordered him to stand
against the wall to pose for several pictures with both the 35mm and the
digital camera. Cecilia then ordered her boyfriend to put his hands
behind his head and remain standing while the game continued.
Ken was eliminated next. In quick succession he lost his socks, shirt,
and shorts, while Mike lost a second shoe. Once again, the two cameras
clicked as the loser submitted to having multiple full-body shots taken
to record his loss. Once his body was documented on film, Lisa ordered
him to put his hands behind his head and take his place next to Jason.
Jason felt a rush of erotic excitement as he stood, completely uncovered
in front of two women, his hands behind his head and his entire body on
full display in the well-lit room. There was the thrill of being
exposed, but also the thrill of submitting to his role as a loser of the
game and the ominous envelope that was waiting for him on Lisa's desk.
He knew that whatever was in that envelope, it would be a huge erotic
challenge and an opportunity to prove his willingness to do whatever
Cecilia wanted him to do. He glanced over at Ken, whose penis was
stiffening and who was clearly enjoying himself.
Mike put up a much better fight then Jason and Ken. In the round
following Ken's elimination he managed to take Cecilia's first article
of clothing, a shoe. He won the next two rounds against Lisa, and got
her two shoes off. Then he lost a round, giving up his shorts. That loss
left him wearing a shirt and underwear. During the following round he
took a second shoe from Cecilia, and a sock from Lisa after that. Mike
lost his shirt, but then won two more times against Cecilia, getting the
belt off her skirt and then her blouse. Cecilia became very nervous,
realizing she was down to three articles of clothing and still had not
eliminated Mike from the game. Mike got a second sock from Lisa before
finally losing his final article of clothing, his underwear. Lisa stood
up and pulled his underwear to his ankles. Then Mike dutifully stood
against the wall for pictures. Following the shots of Mike, Lisa ordered
all three guys to stand together for a couple of group shots.
Lisa and Cecilia were left evenly matched. Lisa was wearing a pair of
jeans, underwear, and a t-shirt, while Cecilia was wearing a skirt, a
thong, and a bra. Lisa won Cecilia's skirt in the next round. She now
was confident of winning the game. She decided to embarrass Cecilia by
briefly ordering her to stand in front of the three naked guys so they
could see their RA in her underwear.
Cecilia sat down, only two articles of clothing away from losing the
game and having to take a registration packet for the race. However,
without realizing it, Lisa now was in serious trouble. She had assumed
that forcing Cecilia to stand in front of the three males in her
underwear would make her too nervous to think straight upon returning to
the table, but quite the opposite happened. Cecilia's mind was sharply
focused, while Lisa was completely distracted at the thought she was so
close to winning. Cecilia could read her opponent's expression with each
hand and knew exactly how to counter. Lisa quickly was stripped to her
panties and her mood went from elation to panic. Sure enough, she lost
the final round. With her eyes wide from the shock of actually having
lost after being ahead, she stood up, folding her arms across her
breasts. Cecilia, still wearing nothing but her thong and bra, stood
behind Lisa and slowly pulled her panties to her ankles, relishing the
hard-earned victory and her opponent's complete embarrassment.
"Lisa, please hand me the cameras and stand next to the wall, facing me,
with your hands at your sides."
Lisa, her face still reflecting the amazement she actually had lost,
quietly obeyed, as the three guys watched her. Jason and Ken were
fascinated with Lisa's tall attractive body, but both of them had to be
careful about looking at her too hard. Ken would have to contend with
Mike's jealousy if caught eying Lisa. Jason would have a much worse
problem to contend with if Cecilia caught him looking with too much
interest at another woman.
The cameras went off, then the RA ordered her rival to turn around so
she could take several pictures of Lisa's bare backside. Finally Cecilia
ordered Lisa to step outside into the hallway, and took several pictures
of her as she walked to the end of the women's wing and then back to her
room. She sadly re-entered, wondering what Cecilia's "high stakes bet"
would entail for the game's four losers.
Cecilia ordered Lisa and Ken to fold and stack the chairs and push the
table to one side of the dorm room. She then told the four naked
freshmen to line up and handed each of them an envelope.
"I know all of you've been jogging, so you ought to be ready for this."
She passed out four pens and continued. "Once you have these filled out,
pass them back to me, and I'll run 'em down to the dorm director's
office first thing tomorrow. He'll be real happy to know you're gonna
represent Huntington Hall in the race."
The freshmen opened their envelopes with very mixed reactions. Jason was
elated, not having known the university sponsored a nude run every year.
Cool! His heart jumped in anticipation, especially once he saw that the
route would have him running naked past all the areas of campus he
already was familiar with. This was his lifelong fantasy, a serious nude
run, a real race in which he could enjoy the freedom of having his
entire body exposed to the cool fall breezes of a late September
afternoon. He was thrilled at the thought of being completely naked in
front of 50,000 strangers. Also, the old competitive spirit from his
high school track team experiences resurfaced, making him wonder if he
had a realistic chance of actually winning the race.
Ken was more dubious about the whole adventure, but realized it
would be possible to have some fun with it. His mind wandered to the
thought of running naked among all those other guys, and suddenly he
found the whole thing very erotic. He then checked himself, wondering
about fantasizing about being in the middle of a bunch of other naked
men and then felt guilty about his fantasy. His mind wandered back and
forth, but finally decided he was looking forward to the run.
Mike was not thrilled at all. The thought of running nude in front of
50,000 people made him cringe. He was not a particularly modest person,
but he certainly was not an exhibitionist like Jason. He looked at the
run as an ordeal he simply wanted to get out of the way and was mad at
having allowed himself to get dragged into doing it.
Lisa still was in shock. She couldn't believe she had let Cecilia win
three rounds of cards in a row. Now here she was, stuck with this awful
commitment that not only entailed placing herself on very public
display, but also the grueling physical challenge of running a full hour
without stopping. Oh how she'd like to see Cecilia having to do this!
Yeah right! The RA probably couldn't even run one mile, let alone six.
Yes, that would have been fun, seeing that Ghetto bitch naked, sweaty,
gasping for breath, and holding her hands at her side from runner's
cramp while struggling to keep up at the tail end of the race. And it
could have happened that way, if she had just paid closer attention to
the cards during that last couple of rounds! This was ridiculous...she
was a good card player, actually slightly better than Cecilia, but still
she had lost, because she wasn't paying attention and her rival was!
The four freshmen spent the next few minutes filling out their
registration forms, which asked basic questions to ensure the runners
were over 18, currently enrolled in classes, and in good health. There
was a map of the route with a signature line to assure the runner
understood the route and agreed not to leave it during the race. There
was another signature line to make sure each applicant was aware that
all clothing, with the exception of running shoes and athletic socks,
was strictly prohibited and that wearing anything above the knees would
disqualify a person from the race. Finally there was a question asking
what university entity the runner was representing. Jason, Ken, and Lisa
put down Huntington Hall. Mike decided to declare he was representing
the political science department.
----------
Following the card game, Mike, Lisa, and Ken decided to go out, while
Cecilia asked Jason to follow her back to her room. Once in the room
Jason undressed, folded his clothing, and then undressed Cecilia and
folded her clothes. As she sat down in her armchair he knelt and
followed the usual routine of massaging her feet, her calves, her hands,
arms shoulders and neck. She then lay on her bed on her back, with her
leg spread slightly and the exposed intimate area between her legs
beckoning her boyfriend's anxious gaze.
Jason massaged Cecilia's thighs, all the while looking longingly at her
relaxed vagina her partially shaved pubic hair. Cecilia left only a very
small strip of pubic hair when she shaved, because she liked having a
clean bikini line for her favorite thong underwear. As Jason's hands
massaged her upper thighs and closed in on her most intimate areas,
Cecilia spread her legs and clasped his head with her hands. She
directed him to begin kissing the insides of her thighs. As Jason began
his task of satisfying her desires, Cecilia directed him by guiding his
head with her hands. Eventually he began kissing the soft shaved area
between her legs, gently biting and licking her labia and inserting his
tongue into her vagina.
He would have liked to insert another part of his body into that secret
opening, but unfortunately for Jason, tonight that was not to be. He
already understood his place in the relationship. He could enter her
only when she was in the mood and gave him permission. She would tell
him when that would be; it was not his place in the relationship to
bring it up.
Finally Cecilia directed Jason to kiss and lick the area around her
clitoris. For a very long time she gasped and shuttered as he performed
his duty in satisfying her need that night to have a nice orgasm.
Cecilia smiled, squeezed his hand, and flipped over on her stomach for
the second part of her massage. Jason, his face tired and sticky from
servicing Cecilia's sexual needs, continued his task of relaxing her.
Beginning with the soles of her feet, he worked his way up her legs,
kneading and massaging her muscles. He was rewarded by getting to his
favorite part, her lovely dark bottom. He spent a very long time
exploring those lovely mounds of tantalizing flesh, massaging and
caressing that intimate part of her body. To have those lovely buttocks
in his hands and under his care was his reward for his efforts to make
her happy. After he massaged her bottom, he spent a long time kissing
it, even venturing between her bottom cheeks. He was rewarded by a happy
sigh and a supportive comment from his love:
"Hmm...that feels good. I like it when you do that to me."
He finished massaging her upper back and, as usual, covered her up
before leaving her room.
----------
Cecilia insisted that Jason spend most of the following Saturday
studying, given that he was not likely to have much time to study the
following weekend. She ran into Ken in the hallway and "strongly
recommended" that he join Jason as he reviewed for the first midterm in
Burnside's class, as well as midterms in a couple of other classes.
Cecilia, meanwhile, went to the gym with Lisa. Fortunately her companion
had recovered from the shock of the previous night's Poker game and was
resigned to running the following weekend. To prepare for the run she
changed her workout, explaining to Cecilia why the altered workout was
better for a person preparing for a 10-K run. Cecilia followed Lisa's
lead and decided to add jogging to her exercise routine.
There was the usual theater and dinner date Saturday night, with Jason
appropriately dressed in a new suit, new shoes, and conservative tie.
Cecilia, as always on such outings, wore her Danubian dress, which was
the only article of decent clothing she owned.
That night Cecilia led Jason even further into the world of high
culture, by asking him to take her to a production of the famous opera
"Madame Butterfly". The production was located in downtown Chicago,
which involved a 40-minute drive into the center of the downtown area.
Jason had to spend most of Saturday morning scrambling to make
arrangements for getting himself and Cecilia from the university to
downtown and back again. Cecilia wanted to see "Madame Butterfly" and
she expected to be taken to see "Madame Butterfly". The details were
Jason's problem, and he was expected to make whatever arrangements
necessary to comply with her desire. It was that simple. In the end Mike
came to Jason's rescue by lending his car and showing his friend the
best way to get to the downtown theater. He also knew of an expensive
downtown restaurant close to the theater, which solved Jason's other
problem, where would they eat.
Once downtown, Jason took Cecilia to what turned out to be a very
elegant restaurant before taking her to the opera. He treated her in a
proper and respectful manner, seating her, opening doors for her, and
doing everything else he could think of to make her experience more
pleasant. After dinner they walked arm-in-arm to a theater production
that had been written a century before by someone her had never heard
of, in a style of music he never listened to. As always, what Jason
might have wanted didn't matter. The night belonged to Cecilia.
Cecilia's reaction to the opera surprised Jason. While he tried to hide
his boredom as best he could, she really got into the production. As the
final act ran its course, Jason glanced over at his girlfriend to notice
tears running down her cheeks. She truly was moved by the desolation of
the main character's downfall from happiness to despair, fully
understanding the very thin thread that kept her own life from returning
to the dark world of despair from which she had emerged. How difficult
it is to escape; how easy it is to fall back in! She rested her head on
his shoulder, thinking about the bleakness of not only the opera's
depressing ending, but also of her own life and the dysfunctional
society that had produced and then exiled her.
As they left the theater to return to Mike's car, Cecilia showed her
gratitude to her boyfriend with smiles, by holding his hand, and
cuddling up to him. He was the one man in her life who seemed to
understand what she needed, and more importantly, was willing to give it
to her. She was genuinely grateful for the attention he was giving her,
fully realizing that what she wanted from him was completely
unreasonable. In her own way, after only a month of being with him, she
was falling in love.
The
Freshman - Chapter 9
