Jennifer : 20 - College (FFF/FF)

[Soraka]

Jennifer's stories
20 - College
Story index at the bottom

By Jennifer

Part 1 : The Big Day

Hi everybody. I have been writing stories on this site for quite a while. Since the beginnings of this board and even on Canuck's old page before this community got to what it has been. I remember that old dream book based site pretty well. One thing that I remember from it was there was a section for college and university stories as well as the familiar childhood stories that we all share and love to relive. I was originally going to move onto another set of stories from when I was growing up with the completion of the current set. However, I just got an email last week from a very old friend. I have been trying to get in touch with her before I stepped down this road. I believed when I left for college, that my tie up experiences would end. At least when I wasn't home on the weekends. However, I turned out to be wrong. I made a few friends at college and we had some rather interesting games.

I have been wanting to share these experiences on this forum for quite some time. I finally got the OK to go forward with them from one of my college roommates. I wanted to make sure that I had everyone's permission to share this these stories before I began posting them. I have received permission from all the parties involved in this matter and I am finally going to start posting this experience on my site and here. I should warn everyone, this is going to be a long one on this front and I have a lot to tell from this set. I will probably jump back and fourth between here and my other stories from time to time, but this is going to take the front focus for the moment. I apologize, that not all of the first few posts that I am going to make with this set of stories is going to contain tugs in their true nature to begin with. I have a large amount of ground to cover relating to the events that happened here and the background information is rather important to the story. So, please bear with me and as always enjoy the stories.

It was the Third week of August when I was 18 years old when this story takes place. I had just graduated from high school that June and was well on my way in the world. I had taken a job part time as a teller at a local bank over the course of the summer. I needed something to pass the time and help me earn some money for college. That term of employment had taught me a couple of things. Number one, I didn't want to do it for the rest of my life. If I had any doubts about getting my degree that little experience helped me close them down with out any regrets. Secondly, it also gave me a good direction to go. I was seated the second row seat of my mother's minivan. The third row seat had been removed and the whole back of the vehicle was packed from floor to ceiling with anything and everything I thought I would need for college.

The University was a good hour and a half drive from my house and I had visited several of them before ending on this one. I am not going to give out the name of where I went to college. I still want to retain a level of anonymity while I a writing here. I had visited several and the little university had a unique charm to it. It was a small private college in Ohio. Originally, when I saw the price tag for tuition, I knew that I wasn't going. Then, I got my grant awards and it turned out that it would cost me less than if I went to a state run school. It was just the right fit for me. So, the first week of June I enrolled with a declared Major of business and a minor in Mathematics. Not the best combined degree ever thought of, but it was still what I wanted to study. Business or more specifically finance was the field I wanted to pursue a career in. The mathematics minor was just one of my better subjects in high school and it seemed to fit the bill.

It was early Friday morning as the van drove down the state route towards the college. The university had a freshman weekend to get the new students acclimated to college life. It had quite a few activities advertised specifically for the new students. We got to move in a whole two days early and get a little more comfortable. Most of my older siblings had come and gone to college already. I had a whole car full of hamidown stuff from my older brother and sister in the back. Everything to make college life in the dorm a little more bearable. Originally, I had planned to commute to a closer community college and transfer over after two years. However, the money to go was already there I jumped on it. I had my driver's license for over a year already and my own car. Still, my mother had insisted on moving me in. She wanted to make sure that I got settled correctly and the van was a much better choice for hauling all of my junk out to the university. It would probably have taken two trips in my little car and with a 3 hour drive round trip that just wasn't practical. The plan was to get me moved in this weekend and then for my mother to pick me up in a week or two. Then I would drive my own car back out on my own.

You would think with everything going on around me and the whole thing barreling down my attention would be more directed towards the matter at hand. Quite the contrary. It was divided elsewhere on the ride down to the college. I sighed a loud heave as my Dragonite fell to my sister's Machamp. I was seated in the second seat of the vehicle riding next to my little sister Amy. She was 8 or 9 at the time of this story. Pokemon had just come out the fall a little over a year before for the gameboy and the cartoon series on television. I still had been watching cartoons on Saturday morning with my little sister as something to do. She got hooked on the cartoon the first time she saw it. I bought one of the games for the gameboy and last Christmas, Amy got her own copy of the game as well. Now it seemed no matter how much I learned strategy wise, it was a rare occasion if I actually defeated her. I let out another deep sigh as the game loaded back to the staging area and Amy wanted to know if I wanted to go again. I just shook my head and unplugged the link cable from the gameboy handing back over to my sister. I had other things on my mind, but the game was a pleasant enough distraction from the reality of it.

My attitude and outfit were a little over the top for the occasion, but I had wanted to make a good impression on the new girls that I would be living with for at least the next five or six months. Given the time of year and my current state of affairs, I should have chosen something else. I set the gameboy down on the seat next to me using both hands. My wrists were cuffed together in front of me with a set of hinged handcuffs. They made moving my arms around a lot more difficult than the type with the little chain between the wrist I had used so often as a kid. They were a more recent gift from my older sister Mary. Still, I had them for over a year now and used them from time to time. They were more restrictive, but they were also a pain in the but to get in and out of on my own. I had worn them on my hands for the ride down. I doubted that I would be playing any TUGS while I attended the university. In fact, my mother had forbidden me to bring any tie up supplies. What I did growing up at home with my family was one thing, what I did publicly was another. Both of my parents weren't sure how my new roommates would react to my little hobby. As a result, the handcuffs were going home with my mother at the end of this little trip. I was wearing them on my wrists to get the last of this out of my system for the week ahead. Originally, I was going to have my hands behind my back. Amy asked me to fight her on the gameboy though, and I settled for having them in front for the way down instead. It actually worked out more to my favor to have some use of my hands.

I had matured farther in my physical appearance at this point in my life. I had grown a little bigger, but I hadn't change much from when I was 16. I still had my brown hair. I cut it to neck length and wore it loosely around my head now. I had reached what would be my maximum height for my life time. A whopping 5 feet 4 inches 1.623 meters for those of you not familiar with the United States system of measurement. Not all that tall, but that was just my height. OK, so I wasn't the most gorgeous woman on the planet, that is just the way that I am. A lot of my friends still told me I looked like I was 15 or 16 at the time. I had to admit that I did look young for my age, especially the way that I normally dressed and behaved. For the most part, I knew what life was about, but I was still a kid at heart new to this whole on your own thing. I still had quite a bit of growing up to do and the next four years would be a good time for all that to happen one way or the other.

I took my cuffed hands and tried to take a moment to straighten the dress that I was wearing. It wasn't cooperating with me at all under the circumstances. The dress was just a comfortable outfit for the journey ahead. It was light blue in color and had long sleeves that came down to the wrists. The bottom of it ended in an even hem and would normally fall just below my knees when I was standing. The top of it had a peter pan style collar and a short zipper in the back closed it. I also had on a pair of white tights with it. Finally, I was wearing a pair of Mary Jane style dress shoes. The whole outfit was a little warm for summer, but with the air conditioning cranked up in the car it was still rather comfortable. This was an outfit that I sometimes wore to high school or for a more formal family occasion. The problem I was having at the moment is one that I often had when wearing a dress and riding in my parents car to get anywhere. The problem I was having was primarily with the safety harness I was wearing in the back seat of the car.

If your not familiar with the type of vest harness that I often wore in my family car, I will give a quick description for you. It was made of a seat belt like material. It had the normal 2 in wide strap setting in a rather array of a secure web. There was a strap around my waist like a normal seat belt. There were also two shoulder straps that went up over my shoulders. The attached to the waist belt in front and again in the back. The whole harness closed in the back where the two shoulder straps zipped together behind the wearer. You could also add a couple of zipper inserts to expand the back of the vest a couple of inches for heavier clothing. There was also another strap that wrapped around the upper body at about the arm pit level of the wearer for more security. The vest had 4 d-rings, 2 on the shoulders and 2 on the sides of the hips. The shoulder straps could be tightened down for a snug fit. The 4 d-rings attached to the seat with clips on a special seat mount that wrapped around the seat. If you need more information about it, see my first winter vacation story part one for a better description. It was identical to my original vest harness except this one was a light blue in color.

I had been wearing one of them from about the time that I was 8 or 9 years old on. I would use it in the back seat of my parents car and on the school bus riding too and from school. I also had a time period between when I was 12 and 16 that I wore it to bed because of a fall I had out of the top bunk of a bunk bed. More recently, I had stopped sleeping with the harness on. I still had the mount available for my bed if I wanted it and I still used it sometimes if I wanted to be secured to the bed for the night. I now being an adult was large enough that an adult seatbelt would offer me enough protection during a normal car ride. I didn't wear the vest harness all that often any more even in the family car. I had give it up for the last two years that I was in high school on the bus as well. The main stay of the matter, didn't have much to do with the fact that the harness made me fill childish or like a baby. On the contrary, I was more than used to using it by now, really all it did was make me feel safe and secure.

Really, the main reason I quit wearing the harness vest so often was that it just wasn't as practical as it had originally been. While the vest offered more protection in a crash than a normal seat belt would, take it on and off was time consuming. Also, the protection it offered on worked if it was installed properly. I could use it on a school bus or in the back seat of my mother's van. However, at my weight and size it required special mounting items to be used in a normal car. Also, I couldn't use it while I was driving at all. There was no way to secure it for a front seat in a practical matter. I had finally outgrown the harness that I had used between the ages of 13 and 16. It had originally been Scott's and I was finally too big for it. Sean's had been lost for some time after he quit using it a while ago. My mother would have been content to let that be the end of the matter if I hadn't stepped in on it.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it Amy took after my mother and Mary rather than my father like I did. She was growing rather quickly for her age by the time I started college. In fact, she had just outgrown her car seat about halfway through my senior year of high school. My mother was stuck with the problem of what to do with her. She was getting too big for a car seat and was still a little small for a normal seatbelt to be safe. She was going to get a booster seat, but Amy had other plans. She took my little sister out to shop for a new booster seat for a larger kid for a couple of more years and Amy went along for the trip. After a quick trip to the store and letting Amy have a say in the final matter, my little sister decided that she didn't want a booster seat. She wanted a big kid harness vest like the one I wore in the car. She and I were really close growing up and she tried to emulate me in a lot of ways. My mother just shrugged the whole idea and went along with it. The vest was less expensive than the booster seat and she already had plenty of experience with using them in car thanks to me and my brothers.

I happened to catch my mother on the night that she was ordering my little sister one off of the manufactures website. I mentioned to her that I had really outgrown the one I was using now. I asked if she was ordering one for Amy anyways if she could order another one for me in the next size up. At first, she pointed out how little I used the one I had any more and that I had really outgrown the need for one. However, after a little more persuasion, and a long conversation, I manage to get her to cave in and order me one too. Part of the deal of her getting it for me was that if I rode in her car, I had to use it. It was a deal that I was starting to regret today in particular. My mother did away with a lot of the childish features I originally had like the little loops that helped to keep my arms at my sides. Still, I wanted one with a strap between the legs. This was an added safety feature meant to keep the vest from pulling over the wearer's head in an accident. It was mostly meant for the younger wearers and was only a standard option on the smaller sizes of vests. Sean had never worn one with a between the leg strap.

Still, the older sizes could have one included for an extra cost, and I again persuaded my mother if she was spending the money anyway to go ahead and order one with the extra feature. The only real problem I was having was that the leg strap didn't work out too well with dresses as you can probably imagine. My dress's lower half was bunching up and getting all tangled as I moved around in the seat. I tried to get it straightened and pulled down a little more securely. I had this same problem on the school bus for years, but I learned to deal with it. It was just that the handcuffs were not helping the situation at all. Amy sat on the seat next to me still playing her gameboy in single player mode. She was dressed in a light blue t-shirt and a matching pair of short. She also had on short socks and a pair of tennis shoes over them with a baseball cap on her forehead. She was strapped in securely like I was minus her hands being free. Scott was riding shotgun next to my mother who was driving the car.

There hadn't been much argument over the front passenger seat of the car. It was a condition of Scott coming with us that morning. I had to yield it to him because of his age advantage anyways. My mother was along with us so that we could use her van to move me into college. She was driving so that she could take the van home and still have it to drive around town the next few days. Amy was along since there was nobody aside from Mary available to watch her and my eldest sister had to work that day anyways. Scott had accompanied us for a number of reasons. First, he had the day off and nothing really better to do. Secondly, my mother had bribed him with breakfast out if he came along and helped me get moved in. Which, brings us the the final reason. My brother was going to be serving as a glorified pack mule to help my mother and me move all this junk from the van to my dorm room. It was a mutually beneficial agreement on all the involved parties. In the whole of the matter, my brother would help me in a couple of other ways as well. But, I am getting ahead of myself here.

My mother pulled the van off to the side of the rode at a local diner to keep her promise to my brother and the rest of us of a morning breakfast out. It was still pretty early and the college wouldn't even begin letting us move in until an hour or so later in the day. This meant we had a little time to get settled and grab a nice meal in. My mother exited the driver's side of the van and began helping Amy out of the harness she was wearing. My little sister wasn't as self sufficient at the process as I was. I already had the four clips released by the time Scott made his way around the passenger side of the van. I would have released myself completely and easily if the handcuffs weren't on my wrists. I couldn't reach the zipper behind my back with them cuffed together in front of me like this. Luckily Scott had the keys to them in his pocket. He had been kind enough to keep a handle on them for me.

My brother freed my wrists and took possession of the cuffs themselves on my mother's instructions. He folded them over the hinge and placed them into his pocket for safe keeping. My mother didn't want me to have them to used during college. I would have enough on my plate as it was for the first weekend. I caught a quick wink from my brother as he folded them into his pocket. Once my hands were free, I rubbed the circulation back into them. Meanwhile, my brother released the back zipper on the vest harness to save me some time. I slipped my arms out of it and left it on the seat. It was warm out to be wearing long sleeves, but I needed them for this specific moment in time. I took a minute to adjust my the ends of my sleeves and pull them a little further down the end of my wrists. The main purpose in this was to hide the marks from the handcuffs on my wrists from the view of the general public. Both for now in the diner and when we got to the school. With everything handled, my mother locked the car and the four of us headed inside the diner.

We headed inside and all took a seat around a booth. A waitress came by with some menu's and silverware for all of us. She poured my brother and mother each a cup of coffee and left us to peruse the menus for a couple of minutes. I never really cared for coffee growing up. We took our time. My little sister was more than literate for the purpose of reading the menu. Still, there was a lot to choose from and it took a couple of suggestions from my mother and me to help her along in deciding. Ever forget what you had for breakfast? I will remember this weekend for the rest of my life down to the last detail. Scott had biscuits and gravy with apple juice; Amy had pancakes with orange juice; I had a combined meal with eggs, bacon, toast, and hash browns with milk to drink and my mother had 4 cups of black coffee. The waitress was in her 40's with light brown hair. She took down the order on a small notepad and told us it would be right up. The four of us sat and talked back and fourth.

The whole of the conversation is too lengthy to share here. My mother wished me luck and rattled off a list of dos and don'ts that she expected me to follow over the next couple of days. Scott gave me a few wise as remarks and a little practical advice about what was ahead for me from his personal college experience. Amy mostly commented on how much she was going to miss me and wondered who she was going to beat at pokemon while I was gone. We all shared a warm couple of laughs and good meal. The meal ended with my mother paying the check and the four of us departing the diner with a group of warm smiles on our faces. I was starting to feel a little apprehensive about going forward with moving onto this part of my life when we hit the car. It finally hit me that this was really going to happen. I was both nervous and excited at the same time as I opened the sliding door on the passenger side for what would be the last time before our arrival.

My mother went about securing my little sister. I took a moment and folded up the vest part of my harness and put it in the top of my main clothing duffel bag. My mother asked me what I was doing, and I explained that I wanted to hold onto the vest for when she came to pick me up. That way I could use it for the ride home and she wouldn't risk forgetting it. My mother was a little apprehensive about the whole idea, but didn't see the harm in my logic. After all, I could just explain it if either of my roommates came across it in the room. I folded it up and placed it in the duffel bag without much thought on the matter. Then, I took a seat next to my little sister and fastened my seatbelt for the last leg of the journey. It would still be about another 10 minutes before we reached the university. It would be a whole lot more of a journey through the week ahead.

Okay, I am going to stop here for now. I know this was a long introduction to the whole story, but I need to get a lot of details into this narrative as I go along. I remember this experience a whole lot better than many of my stories growing up and I want to make sure that I get everything just right. Please bear with me as I go along here. This will be one of my longest and most interesting stories to date. I hope everyone is enjoying it so far, let me know what you think.

Jennifer

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Jennifer's stories

• 01 - My First Time (f/mf)
• 02 - Trying New Things: Breakfast with Mom (Fm/f)
• 03 - A Walk in the Park (mm/f)
• 04 - The Pole and the Dungeon (m/f)
• 05 - A long camping trip (mmf/f)
• 06 - One Rainy Day at Home (m/f)
• 07 - Winter Vacation at Grams (both genders)
• 08 - A Long Weekend tied up (F/f)
• 09 - Shopping with Mom (F/f)
• 10 - My New Friend (m/f)
• 11 - The Bike Trip (m/f)
• 12 - Sharing With Friends (Ffff/fff)
• 13 - New Horizon (Both Genders)
• 14 - A Trip to My Aunts (mFF/f)
• 15 - A Second Christmas Story (mmff/mmf)
• 16 - Mary's Weekend (F/F)
• 17 - The Next Chapter (*/self, f/f)
• 18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?) (MFmf/fff)
• 19 - Hanging With Mary (F/f)
• 20 - College (FFF/FF)
• 21 - College Days : Stephanie's Captive (F/F)
• 22 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Gets Involved (*/self, F/F)
• 23 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Comes Back (F/F)
• 24 - College Days : A New Chapter, Normal is Good (F/F)
• 25 - College Days: Theodore Roosevelt (FF/F)
• 26 - College Days: Summer Job at the Farm (F/F, M/F)
• 27 - Holiday Trip to Grandma's (f/f, f/m, m/fmm)
• 28 - A Long Trip to Alaska (self/f, F/fmm)
• 29 - The Pioneering Experience (mmmm/f)

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Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section

[Soraka]

Part 2 : Getting Situated

Hello again everyone, I am moving onto the second part of this story. This is going to be a longer one so please bear with me.

We pulled into the parking lot in front of the dorm where I was going to be staying. The dorm itself was older in construction and likely built sometime back in the 50's or 60's. The dorm itself was coed but genders were partitioned by floor. One of the college students who was staffing this move in flagged my mother into a parking space close to the front of the building. My mom followed her directions and parked the van. The guy with the flag came over once we were parked and signaled for my mother to roll down her window. “Good morning and welcome to the ________ University. (I am omitting the name intentionally here.) Go ahead and check in at the lobby. They will check you in and issue you your room key. After that go ahead and inspect the room and get moved in. Once you're moved in, I want you to move your car across the street so other students can have the close parking spaces to unload.” The flag bearer finished his long speech and my mother nodded and repeated a few of the phrases he spit out to confirm she had heard correctly. Once that was done, the four of us pile out of the car and began the move in process.

It was still early in the rather early in the day. Before 9:00 in the morning. The college allowed us to begin moving in at 8 and expected the majority of the students to come later in the day. Avoiding this large rush was what caused my mother to get us up at 5 am that morning to make the trip out that early. Still, there were already several students unloading cars nearby. Maybe a doze or so total. “Well everyone, grab something we might as well not waste a trip up here.” My mother instructed each of us as we piled out of the car. We all took her up on that option. I gathered the huge duffel containing most of my clothes and now my harness. Scott went for the refrigerator since it was likely to be the heaviest thing. My mother took a small tote box containing some odds and ends and Amy ended up with my DVD player. She didn't have to carry anything, but she wanted to help. Once we were all loaded, we departed the car and headed for the main lobby. The lobby was entered through a small vestibule at the entrance and lead into a central area where tables were set up to receive students. There were several check in lines with students being sorted by their last names.

My mother guided us into the correct lane of traffic and we stood behind another waiting girl and her mother. The mother was handing out a fair amount of paperwork to the girl sitting behind the table getting everything ready for her daughter to move into the room upstairs. They were obviously new at this whole experience as they were not carrying anything of real importance on this first trip in. The mother only had her purse and a folder for the check in papers. The young woman had a little bit more, but nothing that seemed to fit the matter of being exceptionally important. She carried a small back pack over her shoulder and a large and more interesting item in her arms. It was a huge stuffed animal, more importantly, it's nature caught Amy and my attention almost immediately. It was a huge plush pikachu, my little sisters favorite creature from the game we played.

We had to wait a few minutes in line before our own check in began. The process took a couple of minutes and the students running the check in were a little slow to start out in the morning. Scott set down the fridge to spare his arms the load while he waited. My mother used it as a portable shelf and deposited the tote on-top of it while she got out my paperwork. I just stood there looking around the ground floor of the room. The lobby was set up as a study area with several large tables spread out along the floor. Off to the left of the door, there was a large sitting area with several couches and a 6 foot television. I would learn latter that there were restrooms and a small computer lab set up farther down on the floor of the dormitory. My attention spun as I realized that this would be my new home for the rest of the year. It was a lot to take in. Amy on the other hand had only one thing on her mind. The big thing in front of her face.

The girl in front of us was dressed in a set of blue jean overalls and a short sleeved white T-shirt under them. She also had on a pair of tennis shoes and a band over the middle of the top of her head that parted her blond hair. It was longer than mine and hung down near her waist when she was standing. She was slightly taller than me by a good 6 inches and had a thinner build. Her face was spotted with a few freckles nestled below her brown eyes. Her face wore an apprehensive and shy expression as she looked down at the floor in front of her. She looked more nervous than I was about the whole thing. “Wow, that pikachu is almost as big as I am!” Amy shouted towards the girl breaking the tense silence overshadowed by her mother's conversation. “Where did you get that? I want one.” My little sister's face was beaming with curiosity and desire.

The girl looked down acknowledging my sister's look. “I won it at the fair last week. You're right, it is almost as big as you are. Do you like Pokemon too?” The girl asked keeping the reserved status about herself. Amy was less hindered in her answers. “Yeah, it's my favorite thing right, now, My sister here is good at it, but I am a lot better than she is at the whole thing. I beat her all the time.” The girl shifted her gaze to me now and caught the look of embarrassment on my face as we came to stare eye to eye. I wasn't really embarrassed about liking the kids game, more about the way that my sister had just introduced me to someone who would probably be a new neighbor to me. Not in a way I was completely happy about. “Can I see your big pikachu?” Amy asked reaching up trying to take hold of it. She had placed the DVD player off next to the tote on the refrigerator. “Sure, why not” The girl replied handing the huge stuffed animal down to my little sister. It was at least half her size maybe a little bigger.

The girl stood back up and looked at me. “So, you play Pokemon on the gameboy too?” The girl asked looking at me. The seriousness melted away from her face with the question. I didn't quite know how to respond, so I just nodded out of instinct. “I am Ashley by the way.” The girl said extending her hand offering me a more pleasant greeting. “Maybe we can play it together sometime. I mean since we are going to be living in the same dorm and all.” I returned Ashley's smile as I shifted the duffel onto my shoulder to free up a hand to meet hers. “Sure, I would be glad to if you want. I am Jennifer by the way nice to meet you Ashley.” The tension over the conversation broke as we shook hands and talk for another minute or two. I learned Ashley was studying to become a teacher, math to be more precise and had come here since the school had a good education degree program. She was an only child and this would be her first time away from home. I shared the same sort of information about myself as the conversation continued. It wasn't what I expected to get a introduction out of, but I would take what I could get at this point.

The student behind the table and Ashley's mother finished talking and they handed her a key. Another student came over and explained that she was going to take her up to her room and help her get checked in. Amy was mad at having to give up the stuffed animal, but a gentle prodding from my mother got the desired effect. Ashley and her mother departed the line and headed for the elevator. We were next. The process of getting checked in took us a good 15 or 20 minutes to move through. Not all my paperwork was filled out and my mother had quite a few questions that needed to get answered. I signed all the forms and asked several questions of my own. Things weren't all that organized yet and the slow pace left us with plenty of time to check in. Once all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed, the girl behind the counter began giving us some paperwork of our own. There was a book of rules for the dorm and school, booklet on how the phone a cable worked, the room inspection form and a few other pieces of paperwork that got added to our collection. She also handed me a key to my dorm room and warned me not to loose it.

After everything was situated and ready to go, another young man came over and offered to show us the way up to my room much the way the girl had led Ashley and her mom up. All of us gathered our loads and headed directly for the elevator. My room was a triple room in the corner of the eighth floor of the building. It was an all girls floor and I would be sharing it with two other girls. My decision to attend this particular university had been a last minute enrollment. I had to be rather hasty in getting all the paperwork turned in. I didn't know who my roommates would be. Normally, the school gave out their names and contact information so that you could at least converse with each other before you came up. I didn't have that luxury.

The five of us piled into the elevator. Mostly because 8 flights of stairs with the fridge didn't seem to appealing to my brother. The guy leading us pushed the 8 button on the elevator counsel and before we knew it, the elevator began its assent towards my knew home. The elevator stopped on the floor and the doors opened into a long hallway that branched left and right. The layout of the floor was pretty simple it was set up in a big square. In the middle of the square was first the elevator by the front of the building. There were two flights of stairs one on each side of the building leading up and down. The center square also had a small kitchen with a washer and dryer in it. Finally, there were two bathrooms situated on the sides of the center square. The bathrooms were joined by a center hallway containing showers and a bathtub off to one side of the bathroom. At the end of the inner square behind the elevator, there was a large open area with several tables and chair set up for a common study area. The rooms were located around the outside of the perimeter of the long square hallway. Mine was in the upper right corner of the whole configuration.

We followed our guide around the hallway to our final destination. My door room was set up with little paper teddy bears on the door. One of them said “Welcome Jennifer”, (Actually it said welcome and my real name which, I am still not going to share here.) There were two others taped to the door of the room also bearing welcome and my roommates first names. I didn't pay the other bears much mind as I didn't know who I would be staying with anyway. I slid my key into the door and opened it into the room. I was surprised to find the room already had an occupant in it. The first thing I noticed was the large stuffed pikachu sitting on the end of one of the beds. I rounded the corner of the room and got a rather pleasant surprise on the matter. Ashley and her mom were standing inside of the room inspecting it for damages so that they could fill out the room condition form. I met Ashley's gaze as I rounded the corner of the room. There was a rather surprised look on her face.

“Hi Jennifer, what are you doing here?” That was the first response I got out of her. I returned her gaze with a war smile at least the best that I could under the circumstances. “I guess this is going to be my room for the year. I guess it's yours as well.” Ashley returned my smile with a nod and looked across at me. Our mother's took a couple of minutes and shared another short conversation on the matter. The gentleman who had escorted me and the rest of my family up went over how to fill out the report, the name of our resident assistant, how to report a problem and that my mother needed to move her vehicle once we were unload. With that, he departed and told me to turn in the room condition report downstairs when I was done.

The 6 of us looked at each other with a mix of different expressions and emotions across the space of the room. I was rather surprised that everything seemed to be falling so directly into place as the day had moved on. I looked down at the room inspection report I was holding in my hand. I wasn't sure how exactly to fill it out. I could see from the expression on my new roommate's face that she wasn't exactly sure either. She had a few thing already scribbled here and there, but it didn't look complete. Ashley's mom broke the tension in the room and spoke up first. “I guess we're supposed to fill out everything that is broken or needs to be fixed in the room. That way you girls won't get stuck paying for it at the end of the year and the college can correct any problems.” The explanation seem simple enough and I could see that Ashley already had a rather large head start on me. “Well, since you're all here now maybe we should pull our resources and inspect the room together. Ashley, my mother and I all nodded in agreement and the inspection of the room began. With the four of us covering the room it went pretty quick and nothing really got left out.

Meanwhile, Scott decided to address my little sister. “Come on squirt, let's go unload some more of the car while were waiting on all these girls.” The command was directed with a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he departed from the room towards the elevator. “Stop calling me squirt!”, was all Amy replied as she paraded out of the room after my brother. My mother gave a quick yell to watch out for cars and be careful. She also yelled to Scott to keep an eye on my sister. The process of inspecting the room turned out to be rather long and meticulous. Our mothers were quite thorough on their sweep of the room for problems. The room was just a little larger than the one that I shared with my sister at home. I really didn't believe the number of dings and problems they found it it. Ashley and I spent the better part of half an hour documenting everything that named the room less than perfect. There were a couple of holes in the wall. A broke brace on one of the wooden chairs and a few other minor nitpicks. Nothing that would make the room less inhabitable, just a few bucks to the bill at the end of the year if they were left unreported.

While the four of us were doing all of that, Scott managed to get several trips of my stuff up the elevator. Amy contributed when and where she could under the restrictions of her physical strength. Still, everything she carried up the stairs was one less thing that I had to. I had no idea what I was going to do with all this stuff, but I supposedly needed it in the room to survive by my mother's decree. We had spent a couple of days shopping to outfit this room properly. My family wasn't particularly rich. In fact, we were barely on par with the middle class for our area. Still, I was the 4th kid in the family to enter college. Most of the appliances and storage units were relics from my Mary and Sean's college days. They were well used, but still functional and more importantly paid for. The layout of the room wasn't all that complicated. I will try to give a good description of it here.

The room itself was settled at one corner of the building. When you walked through the door to the room it opened and there was a closet right next to the door. The closet was at least 12 feet from one end to the other and as tall as the ceiling of the room. At the end of the closet was a desk set into the space between where the closet jutted out of the wall. If you crossed the space of the door from the front entrance way, there was a double set of similar closets on each side of the room with an identical desk set up on the two sides. Inside of the closets was a 4 drawer dresser and a bar to hang close on above it. There were also 2 shelves with each about a foot and a half to store stuff on above the hanging bar and chest of drawers. The other two walls of the room were bear. The back wall of the room was bare minus a window that looked out. The far wall of the room width wise also had a window with a small heating unit stationed directly under it. Each of the desks had a florescent light set about 2 feet above the table surface. There were also two wooden shelves set on the walls above the desks and a drawer beneath the writing surfaces on the desks.

The room was only barely furnished as well. Other than the chest of drawers, there were 3 long beds facing the front side of the room with a walkway left between each of them. There was about a 4 foot space open in front of the beds and the same amount of space between them. There were also 3 wooden sitting chairs stationed, one at each of the built in desks in the room. All in all, the place seemed a little cramped. As I looked over, Scott and Amy had already brought most of my stuff up. The aisle way between two of the beds was already filled and one of the beds was starting to fill up as well. They had made a good 6 or 7 trips already. I signed the bottom of the form, as did Ashley. Then the four of us headed for the elevator to go down and turn them into the resident director downstairs in the lobby. We locked the door behind us and proceeded around the corner to the elevator without much of a fuss. My mother pushed the down button and soon all of us boarded the elevator for the lower floor.

“Wow Jennifer, you sure have a lot of stuff.” I nodded in agreement with my new friend. I felt a little guilty parading all that stuff in front of her. I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do with all of it. “You're really lucky to have a brother to carry all that up for you. I don't nearly as much stuff as you do, but it is going to take quite a few trips just the same to get it all up there. “ I smiled at that fact. There were times I wished I didn't have Scott for a brother, but there were also quite a few times that he came through for me over the years. “Don't worry about that, I am more than sure that my children would be more than happy to help you unload your Ashley. Isn't that right Jennifer?” My mother interjected into the conversations. I just smiled and shrugged. Ashley just replied the offer with a warm smile. I could tell she was glad at the offer of help. The elevator door opened and we stepped out into the lobby of the dorm.

Amy and Scott were coming through the front door of the place. Scott had my computer's tower and Amy had empty hands. “Be careful with that!”, I yelled as my brother crossed the room in front of me. The computer was brand new and I didn't want my brother to risk dropping it. My mother told me to give my room key to my little sister and for Scott and her to come and meet us down here when they were done. I did as I was instructed and we watched as my brother and sister disappeared into the elevator doors. The four of us took another minute to hand in the forms, then we took a seat and waited for Amy and Scott to return. It was a rather short wait of only a couple of minutes. Everything was going as smoothly as I hoped it would. After a couple of moments of idle conversation, my brother and sister emerged from the elevator empty handed. The door closed behind them.

Amy returned my room key to me at my mother's instruction and my mom informed Scott of her offer to help my newest friend unload her car. He was less than thrilled, but willing to help none the less. That was the primary reason he made the trip in the first place. The six of us headed out to the parking lot and over to my mother's car. It was now empty except for a the monitor to my computer and a box containing my school books for the semester. My brother and sister had done an exceptional job of emptying the back of the van in a timely manner. I collected the monitor and handed the box of text books to my brother. My mother took a moment to mover her car to the parking lot across the street from the doom so that somebody else could have the space to unload their stuff. We waited patiently until she got back a couple of minutes later and followed Ashley and her mom to the back of their pickup truck. The truck was old and bright red with a black cap on the back of it. All of Ashley's belongings were piled high in the rear of it. She had about two thirds the amount of stuff I had brought minus a fridge and computer. Ashley's mother opened the back of the truck with her ring of keys.

Ashley then mounted on top of the tail gate and began sliding stuff to the rear of the vehicle. Scott passed my mother the box of books in favor of taking a heavier load than the girls. Ashley found something light for Amy to carry and then handed off a medium load to her mother and herself. Then, our little caravan made the return sojourn to our room. It took the six of us another two trips out to the truck and back and everything Ashley owned was upstairs adjacent to my stuff. Our moms even made the final trip empty handed. Now, everything that both of us had brought with us was spread out all over the room and it was really starting to look rather full. Ashley and I looked around the room at all the stuff we had spread out and I was really at a loss for how to get everything organized. Ashley spoke first, although the same question was running through my mind as well. “What are we going to do with all of this stuff.”

Luckily, an answer emerged from an unlikely source. “Welcome to your first college class girls. How to live in a dorm room 101. I'll be your professor, Dr. Scott ________(my last name).” My brother offered with a bow trying to mimic looking like someone with formal training in manners. Ashley, Amy and I all had a good laugh. “All right, lets begin. Lesson one sharing things you both have. Jen, you and Ashley both have a microwave and a TV. Pick one of each and send the other two home with your mothers. Second, Ashley Jennifer has a computer. So, you don't need that typewriter you brought with you. You can just use her computer. That way you can have one desk for the computer and one open to use for doing homework on. If you two are willing to share, it will free up a good amount of room in the dorm room.” Ashley and I looked at each other and began debating what to do. “Pick out the appliances you want to keep and I will even carry the extra ones back downstairs for the two of you.”

Scott was right and the offer was a good one. Ashley and I settled on keeping my microwave since it was newer and her television since it was a 19 inch set and my was only a 13 inch set. Once that was handled, Scott went to work helping us to organize the room. The first thing each of us did was unpack our clothes and put them away in the chest of drawers and hang them on the bar in the closets. Anything extra was stored in a small rubber maid tote that I had brought and a small cardboard box that Ashley had brought. They went up above on the top shelves in the closets along with the other boxes of stuff that we brought. Most dry good food also ended up being stored on the top of the closet. Some of the smaller things ended on the shelf above the two desks. Scott hooked up my computer so the monitor was one one of the desks and the tower to it was on the floor under it. He set up the printer on the lower of the shelves above the desk. Next, my brother suggested that we bunk two of the beds. There were pegs on the corners of them so that one could be place on top of the other. “I am sure one of you wouldn't mind sleeping up top or maybe your third wouldn't either way, that would free up a lot of space. “

Ashley and I agreed with my brother's plan of action and Scott helped us lift one of the tree beds on top of the other. Then, we turned the two of them so they were along the back wall of the room. We took the remaining single bed and turned it sideways along the back wall as well. With that in place, we found there was still enough room to set up my refrigerator at the end of the bed with my microwave on top of it in front of the window. This still left enough space for the chair over by the other desk to come out of to sit on. Though it would be a tight fit. We ended up taking Ashley's dresser out of her closet and placing it at the end of other bed along the wall between the bed and the heater under the window. We ended up setting up my DVD player on top of the TV and setting the television up on top of the dresser. This allowed Ashley to send a TV stand she had brought home with her mother as well. The remainder of the plan was to leave our bedding on the lower bunk of the bunk-beds until we worked out the sleeping arrangements later. Also, Scott set showed us how to make use of the space under the bed as additional storage. When we were done, we had more floor space open at the middle of the room than when we had first arrived in the dorm room. Our mothers and my siblings stayed a little while longer and we talked. They wanted to make sure we were all set and once that was accomplished we all said our goodbye's Then they departed leaving me and Ashley to fend for ourselves.

Well, I apologize that I didn't get to a tug with this part of the story. I had a lot of ground to cover getting this set of events set up and I still have a ways to go before all the fun begins. I sometimes get carried away getting a story set up. This is going to be a rather long narrative in itself. I already am up to 12 pages of text and I have a long way to go.

[Soraka]

Part 3: Three is a Crowd

Alright, I am going on with the third part of the story. I know this has been a long introduction and I have a long way to still go. Please bear with me everyone, this is going to be one of the more interesting sets of stories that I have posted here over the years but I need to go over all the introductions and events that lead up to the actual tying up so please bear with me.

There we were, Ashley and myself standing in a room together. I had been away from my family a couple of times growing up. I spent several weeks of my summer vacations away at camps and other locations. However, this was the first time that I was alone with a stranger and all on my own. It was both an exciting and anxious period at the same time. For the first part, I was finally on my own and here at college. Ready to begin my own experience and enjoy all the exciting prospects that go with it. On the other hand, I was also alone and so far from everyone and everything that I was used to. Still, I would learn soon enough just how small the world really was.

With our parents departed and everything in the room situated so far, the two of us were left without much clue really of what to do. Ashley took a few minutes and began working her way around the room. Finally, she went into her closet and came out with a large cardboard box. I on the other hand went over and sat down at my computer and began the process of firing it up to check my email. “Jennifer, do you mind if I hook up my Nintendo on the television?” Ashley asked me from behind. “I didn't want to hook it up if it was going to bother you.” I looked up from the screen where I was scrolling through my email messages. I realized that Ashley was looking down over my shoulder. It hadn't occurred to me that she could read anything that was on the screen. At the moment there wasn't anything that was all that private, but I realized the real lack of privacy the room provided to the two of us. Still, there was something about my new roommate that put me at ease on the whole situation.

“No, go right ahead and hook it up if you want to. It won't bother me at all.” In all the hype of the packing, I had forgotten to consider bringing a video game system, save for my gameboy. Ashley smiled and went to work setting the system up. I spun my chair around and watched as my roommate unpacked an older SNES from the box and went about the process of hooking it up to the television on the dresser. She was quite adept at it and the whole process took about 3 minutes for her to complete. She pulled up a chair and popped a cartridge into the system. Ashley noticed my interest in her undertaking and offered me the second controller. There was nothing interesting or important in any of my emails. So, I decided to accept her invitation to play the game without much hesitation. We ended up playing the original Mario cart for about an hour or a little longer. We ended up playing a lot of that particular game while I was in the first year of my college education . It turned out that Ashley was into video games about as much as I was.

My new roommate was much more practiced at the game than I was and after a few minutes of racing I was getting my butt kicked. But, I was still having a good time. The game was enough fun that I almost didn't catch the time as the clock turned the 10 over on the digital alarm clock that I had set up above my computer. “Hey Ashley,” I said pausing the game for a moment. “The president's address is going to start soon. I wanted to go to it, so I am going to have to cut this short. Do you want to come with me?” Ashley looked over at the clock above my computer on the wall and acknowledged the change in time. She nodded and said we could just leave the game on hold until after the address. With that, the two of us exited the room and began the short trip downstairs. The address itself was set to begin at 10:00 sharp. However, I set my clock a few minutes fast out of habit to give myself a little time. Still, the two of us had to rush to get to the assembly area on time for the address. Luckily, the place was adjacently set up to our dorm and less than a 2 minute walk from where we lived.

We arrived and took a couple of seats in the back of the room just as the first speaker was getting done introducing the president of the college. The president's address wasn't anything monumentally important. He was just the president of the university not the country or anything. It was just a welcome to college life speech for the new freshman and a bit of a history lesson on the background of the whole campus and university. It was a fascinating half hour talk and he got a round of applause afterward. Nothing particular worth taking the time to mention here. It was just part of the whole college introduction experience. After the talk was over, the person who introduced the whole thing invited everyone to head to the campus's main cafeteria for lunch below. The campus always allowed the parents of students to eat for free, but this was a chance for everyone to have a nice hot meal. I asked Ashley if she wanted to join me and she said that would be fine. The two of us were hitting it off great and it was already starting to feel a whole lot more like home.

The cafe had a variety of foods and deserts with a mix of breakfast and lunch available for everyone. There was a good selection and quite a few people having dinner. The lines were a little long, but after a short wait both of us were sitting down to a hot meal and a warm conversation. I told Ashley a little about myself and some of my experiences at home. I kept the games that I played with my siblings and some of my friends out of the conversation for now. I still wasn't sure how she would react. This topic is really a taboo for a lot of people around the world. Ashley shared some of her past with me as well. She grew up on a farm and this a quite a bit different from what she was used to. Still, despite our differences, we seemed to click together rather well. Lunch probably took us the better part of 45 minutes to an hour to complete and then Ashley remembered that we had left the game running upstairs. She suggested that we head back up and finish it or turn it off before we did anything else. I nodded and the two of us headed back up towards the dorm.

The two of us got off of the elevator and rounded the corner towards our new home without much of a care. As we walked the short distance down the hallway from where we exited the elevator, I was fishing my keys out of my pocket to open the door. However, when the two of us arrived, I was surprised to see it slightly ajar. Ashley and I turned and looked at each other for a moment. I was sure that I had locked it before departing for the address this morning. Slowly and cautiously, I began to approach the door and gently slid it open. “You can just drop it where ever for now Dad. I almost have the computer hooked up and working. I'll give you a hand in just a moment.” Ashley and I just stood there not sure of what to make of the whole address on the matter. When the girl sitting at the third desk in the room didn't get the response she was looking for, she turned around. She looked about as shocked as we were on the whole matter. After a moment cleared the confusion shared by the three of us, all of us started putting two and two together and the situation made more sense.

The third girl had long black hair that she wore braided into a tight pony tail behind her head. Her build was a little less strong and more feminine than mine was. “Hi, you must be Ashley and Jennifer.” Ashley and I looked at each other a little dumbfounded at the acknowledgment of our names without an introduction. “How did you know our names?” Ashley shot out trying to figure the whole situation out. The third girl responded with a rather sacastic tone of voice. “Hi, my name is Stephanie and I am majoring in fortune telling and minoring in psychic reading. The spirits informed me about my two roommates, including their arrival and the names.” Stephanie said as he held her hands up to the sides of her head and closed her eyes trying to look all mystical and magical. Then, she stood up and began to approach us.

Stephanie was about halfway between Ashley and me in height and dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt with the college's logo on the front of it. She was also wearing a pair of sandals and her eyes were light blue in color. Ashley's jaw dropped and all she managed to get out was a “What” immense a few stuttered words. I caught sight of the source of the quirky little joke. “No, not really. Actually, I am studying business. But, it is still nice to meet the two of you.” Ashley's eyes followed my finger to the two paper teddy bears with our names written on the door. Stephanie extended her hand and Ashley and I each took it in turn completing a proper introduction and breaking the ice a little more smoothly this time than our first impression.

“Sorry about the confusion, I was expecting my brother and my father. They are helping me unload and move in. I just wanted to check my computer first and make sure it was working before my father left. That way, he could fix it if there was a problem. They are doing all the heavy lifting for me anyways. I am glad to see you two here by the way. I had a question I needed to ask you as it is rather important to my staying here.” Ashley and I just shrugged exchanging another set of glances. “Sure go ahead and ask.” I interjected. “Hey Steph where do you want me to leave this?” I turned around and we saw a young man probably in his mid teens holding a laundry basket full of clothes. “Oh, just leave it anywhere, I'll put it away when I get around to it.” A man followed him into the room holding another small parcel. We soon learned that the two gentlemen were Stephanie's father and brother who she told us about a few moments ago. They took a moment and introduced themselves to us.

The introduction was a quick one before Stephanie got back to her question. “Yeah, I am glad you two are here now. I had a question I wanted to ask you namely about the sleeping arrangements in the room here. I was wondering if you two were planning on using the two bunked beds for yourselves?” Ashley gave me a quick glance and I said that was fine with me, but I wanted to know where she was going with this. Stephanie replied, “Well, I was thinking about having the other bed put into storage so that I can bring in a sofa. It wouldn't take up that much more space than the bed and it would give us someplace to sit during the day. The dorm's director already told me that he would put the bed into storage for me if I wanted to. However, I had to get your permission first.” Stephanie finished the long explanation about the whole matter, and waited to see how the two of us would respond. Ashley just shrugged at the matter and I responded with the obvious question about where Stephanie intended to sleep if we got rid of the last bed. She replied that the sofa had a fold out bed underneath the cushions and that she had planned on using that. I told her we could bring it up and see how everything would fit before we made our final decision on the matter. The response was that was fair enough and Stephanie's father lead the way for all of us down to the van they had moved everything here in.

The trip downstairs was short and simple as we all headed down the elevator together to the dorm's lobby. We exited the building and headed over to the parking lot as a group. Sure enough, there was a large black van parked about two spaces over from where my mother had been parked earlier that morning. Stephanie's father opened the back of the van with a key and we got our first look at the blue sofa. It was older than what I had expected. The sofa was really more of a love seat than a what I normally thought of as a couch. It only had two cushions and likely couldn't fit three people on it unless they were about the size of my little sister. It was light blue in color and looked like it had seen plenty of action. It was about two feet shorter than the bed was, but it was a good foot and a half wider as well. I wasn't sure whether or not it was going to fit. It had been neatly packed into the back of the van and buried under the rest of her stuff. Stephanie and her brother climbed into the van and began to unload some of her stuff into the parking lot so that they could get to the sofa.

I was still a little unsure about the whole idea of bringing the sofa upstairs and setting it up in the small dorm room. Ashley on the other hand was busy helping them unload it from the back of the van. I had a feeling that I was going to lose this vote any way that I cast my ballot on the matter. So, I just decided to go with the flow and offer to try and help lift the awkward thing in the middle. Each of the guys took hold of one end of the sofa with Stephanie joining her father and Ashley her brother. I took hold of the couch in the middle again and we headed for the dorm lobby. What the heck, if I was going to lose, I might as well go down with grace, besides, having a couch would be a nice addition to the room. The five of us carried the couch across the parking lot and headed into the dorm lobby again. It took a us about five minutes to maneuver the sofa around the lines of students waiting to register for their rooms and get checked in. Then, we finally set it down in front of the elevator. Ashley pushed the button for the ride up.

We had to wait a few minutes for the elevator, but it was a waste of time on our part. The doors opened to the elevator and a couple of people piled out. Then, we tried to move the sofa into the elevator. This was a difficult and futile effort. The thinks was too long for the elevator. It was also too long to be pushed up on end and we couldn't rotated to fit at an angle. In short, the couch wasn't going to be going up the elevator. It just didn't fit inside. However, Steph was determined to get the thing up to the dorm room if she had to haul it up with a rope through the window. First though, her father suggested that we try the stairs. This was much trickier than the whole elevator attempt. First, the sofa didn't want to go up the steps. Then it didn't want to go around the corner. After some wiggle work though, we worked out the bugs in the carrying system and slowly, the sofa began to make the rise up the stairs towards our floor. It was a difficult time filled with a lot of effort and a few tears about how to get the stupid thing up the stairs. Yet, after about 45 minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing, we did it and the sofa was sitting in our dorm room with no room left to move. Now that it was in the room, I was sure that I was right about it not being a great idea to move the sofa up here. However, my choices were to leave it here or leave it here. I was not going to carry it back down the steps.

Stephanie, Ashley and I made more trips down to their van to unload the rest of her stuff and bring it up. Her father and brother set about disassembling the bed and collecting its' various parts. The whole sofa problem was quite an ordeal just to get a new roommate. However, Stephanie was more than reasonable and willing to meet us half way on the rest of the furniture that she had brought. Her microwave, fridge, television and a few other big things were going back home with her father and brother. In the end, we ended up putting the sofa against the rear wall of the room We left the dresser with the television against the wall where it was and put the fridge and microwave stacked in the corner behind it. We tried unfolding the sofa bed and when it was out, there was about a foot left between it and the front of the closets at the front of the room. Stephanie let us move the double bed closer to her desk so that there would be an isle on both sides of it when the bed was folded out. With that done, Stephanie's father and brother took the bed back downstairs so that it could be stored for the school year and Stephanie put the rest of her belongings in the remaining closet and around her desk.

After another fond farewell to her family, Stephanie wave goodbye to her father and brother and they left the three of us alone for the week ahead. While Stephanie got settled into the room, Ashley and I went ahead and continued on with our game. It had been quite an ordeal getting the entire dorm room set up and ready to go. However, the place looked a lot more like home than I had anticipated it being and the other people I was going to be living with seemed nice enough to me at the moment. After Stephanie got settled into the room and had her things neatly stowed away, she came over and took an interest in the game that Ashley and I were sharing. At first she just watched, but then she asked if she could play as well. After we finished a race, I passed her my controller and at back for a little bit. We spent the next hour and half just playing the game and taking turns. We also talked to help get used to each other and pass the time.

The conversation darted around back and fourth between topics. Everyone was still a little on edge about what to talk about and which topics to guard our opinions on. I kept my favorite hobby to myself. Ashley and I repeated the bulk of the conversation we had shared over lunch about our pasts filling in the answers to whatever questions Stephanie asked us. In turn, Steph also filled us in on her own background a little. She was not that much unlike me. (Well except for the obvious) She was from a upper middle class family. Her father was a mechanic and her mother was a lawyer. They did fairly well, but she didn't consider herself rich. She was here studying business in hopes of finding a position where her mom worked and maybe bridging to law school later. Really, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life yet, but flipping burgers and McDonald's didn't sound like a fun career so here she was. Stephanie was a little sarcastic at times more of a tomboy than the rest of us. Still she put up a strong front and a soft touch to her personality where it needed it. She originally planned to bring everything up to her dorm room from home except the kitchen sink. However, she was more than willing to be reasonable since the room had such limited space.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the SNES and I showed Ashley around my computer. Stephanie said we were welcome to use her's as well, but it was a laptop and she planned to take it to class with her. Her computer was about the same as mine was by hardware standards, but not chained to the desk like mine was. Neither of us had any problem sharing, but Stephanie was a little more private than I was. I grew up with 4 other siblings. If it wasn't tied down with your name on it, it was fair game to share. We took some advice from Ashley and took dinner a little early about a quarter of five. The dinning room was much less crowded than earlier in the day and we got right in and right out without the long wait in line. I learned that evening that eating early was a great way to save some time on the day. The place really got crowded around six and closed just after 7.

After dinner, Ashley and I went to see a comedian the college had brought in to entertain all of us. Stephanie headed back to the room parting our company. She explained that she had a few more things to get settled and that she would catch up with us later than night. As evening set in, we all found ourselves sitting around the floor lobby for a floor meeting about the weekend ahead and the rules and regulation of college life in the dorm. You know, that we were supposed to be quiet late at night for the people studying here. No boys were allowed on the floor without an escort after 9:00 in the evening. We went over the fire drill plans for the one that was scheduled tomorrow evening and a few other things. After covering all the information, the RA (resident assistant for those of you not in college slang. Basically she was an upper class-man whole lived on the floor and oversaw the operations of it for the college. She got free room and board for her trouble.)

After about half an hour, the meeting ended around 8:30 or so and we all went our separate ways. We headed back to the dorm room and started getting ready for bed. Not that I planned on going to sleep all that soon. We each took a shower and got situated for the evening. I went over to the top drawer of my dresser to get some fresh undergarments to wear, and I found something I didn't expect. I found the pair of handcuffs that I had worn on the way up inside of my underwear and sock drawer neatly sitting on top with the ring of keys to them off slightly to the left of where they were positioned. I thought back to Scott and my mother's departure. Scott had winked at me and told me that everything would go smoothly. I was starting to realize what he had meant now. Everything was about to take a turn for the more interesting side of things.

Well, it looks like I am going to stop here again. I apologize for not getting to a tug part of the story yet. I know I spent a long time on the introductions of my roommates and the whole situation. This is taking a little longer than I expected it to. But, I want to make sure that I get all the details right. There is a lot coming up in the story that I am going into and I wanted to make sure that everything that is necessary to put it into context is already laid out. My roommate's are a unique couple of people and I needed to get their backgrounds laid out for where the story goes from here. We all hit it off pretty well and would continue to get along well. However, even the best of friends sometimes have a problem that can drive them apart. My little present from my brother would come in really handy.

[Soraka]

Part 4 : A long first night

Well, I apologize for such a long introduction to the whole thing. I know I promised to get to the TUG part of this whole story and I will this time. In fact I am moving into a series of tie ups that happened that first whole week. I appreciate everyone's patience with me so far. So, I will keep this introduction short and head right into the story this time.

Night settled in over the dormitory that first Friday evening at the end of summer. The floor had been moderately warm most of the day but the evening temperature had dropped. With two open windows and a couple of fans, our room was becoming quite comfortable for sleeping if not a little chilly. I had found the handcuffs that my brother had left for me the day before and buried them deep in one of my duffel bags behind some clothes to keep them from being discovered. I collected a few things and set of out for the bathroom on the floor. Ashley was in a short tow behind me with a similar bundle to mine under her arms. It was a small bag with a number of things necessary for a shower and a few other amenities. My plan for the remainder of the evening was to take a short shower and then lounge around for a couple of hours before heading to bed for the night. Scott and Sean had already taught me about the finer arts of staying up to midnight or later at college.

Ashley was joining me with similar plans or so I supposed at the moment. I undressed and stepped into the shower and let the warm water hit me from all sides. I would have preferred a bath, and our floor did have a bathtub, but I was more inclined to follow the norm for the moment. It was a time to let things sink in and all the difficulties of the day wash away with the water as it rolled down the drain. This was it, the part of the evening where everything would get pushed aside and everyone would get to really meet everyone. It's really amazing the things that we do to hide who we are from everyone else that we meet during the day in the world. Take me for example, I showed up to college in a semi formal dress with tights and semi dress shoes with a rather relaxed and open mannerism to myself. I put up a solid front and put my best foot forward to make a good first impression with the girls I would be staying with for the rest of that school year. Still, I had quite a few hidden things in my closet that I had kept there, both metaphorically and actually. These were the things most people spent their day guarding again the public. That was all about to change.

I turned the handle off and shut down the water falling from the spicket on the wall above my head. Then, I grabbed the towel I had brought and began to dry off. Once the majority of the water had fallen away from my body, I began getting dressed and changing into my pajamas for the night. They were a darker blue color like the night sky with a star and moon print scattered over them. They had an open hem on the sleeves and around the ankles and the top buttoned up the front. Just normal pajamas nothing special. I added a pair of slippers to my feet to keep them warm. They were the normal character type slippers that I had worn growing up except these newer ones were a little more tailored to my latest taste. Rather that teddy bears or bunny rabbit heads over top of the tops of my feet, this time I had pikachus. The little famous yellow electric rat from Pokemon My mother had gotten them for me as a birthday present the year before. I wore them around the house and to bed almost half the evenings at home now. There was no way that I wasn't bringing them to college. I gathered the remainder of my normal clothes into the small bag I had brought and headed around the corner to the area with the sinks.

I planned to brush my teeth and head back to the dorm room to relax a little bit. I was in the process of setting my hair up for the evening when Ashley came out of the shower area. She was dressed for bed as well. However, she looked a little more childish than I did. Ashley had on the same slippers that I did in a slightly larger size. It was no secret from the time we got here that she like the same game that I did. However, her outfit went a little better with them than mine did. Ashley had on a yellow pair of sweat pants and a yellow hooded sweatshirt with long sleeves. She had tucked the bottom of it into her pants and let the hood hand loosely behind her head as she walked. She had changed the band out of the middle of her blond hair and replaced it with a yellow one to coordinate with her outfit as well. I brought my hand up over my mouth to keep the snicker from coming out. Ashley caught sight of me and smiled.

“Go ahead and have a good laugh if you want to. I am quite comfortable right now and I wouldn't dress like this if I thought there would be a problem.” I pulled my hand down and let out the laugh politely with a simple compliment to her. “All you need are the pointy ears and the zigzag tail and you would be all set.” Ashley returned my little speech with a warm smile and a polite laugh of her own. I was glad to see that I was laughing with her and not at her. “Really though, that is a cute outfit. You must have put some time into planning that.” The conversation continued as I fixed my hair and Ashley brushed her teeth. “Really, this is what I always wear to bed during the year. When I got into the whole Pokemon thing my mom got me the slippers and I asked her if she could get me a sweatsuit to match.” Ashley paused putting her tooth brush into her mouth. I spit my toothpaste and water mixture out into the sink. “And here you are all set for a comfortable nap. It really looks pretty cute on you.” We both share another laugh and then headed back to the room together.

We entered the room in succession and found Steph sitting at her desk on her laptop. She had take advantage of our absence to change herself. She was still wearing the t-shirt from earlier, but she had traded in her shorts on a pair of light blue flannel pants. She still had her sandals on as well. I expected a smart remark from Stephanie when we entered the room. However, she didn't say anything to either of us. Her focus was on the computer in front of her. Ashley headed over for the alarm clock above her desk and went about setting it for the next morning. I followed in her example. Neither of us mentioned the time that we had set. I was planning on getting up around 8 or so. We had our first college class at 11:00 that Saturday. I wanted to grab breakfast before I went. We had already made the beds for the evening. This had happened a little before dinner. Ashley was willing to brave the top bunk of the bunk beds and Stephanie was going to sleep on her sofa pull out eventually. That left me with the bottom of the bunk beds for sleeping.

I had spread out my covers and sheets over it earlier in the evening and Ashley had done the same. It had taken her a little while longer to do it because of the height of her bed. However, she was better equipped for it than me. Her bed was all set up and the little stuffed electric rat was sitting at the end of her bed. I headed over to the computer and fired up the instant messenger chat on it. I wanted to see if I could raise Mary on it. She told me she would be ready for it. I was in luck and my sister was online when I pinged her account. I began the process of typing back and fourth to her. I really didn't keep an eye on the time as I was talking with my sister over the instant message chat. However, it couldn't have been more than 20 minutes after we got back to the room when the main light clicked out. I looked over to where the switch was situated next to the door.

Ashley was standing there with her hand raised next to the light switch. I looked up at the clock it was about 9:30 or so. “I'm sorry, did you guys need the light on for something? I was hoping to head to bed and get some sleep.” I looked across the room at Stephanie and then back at Ashley. My third roommate spoke up before I got the chance. “Is this the normal time that you go to bed at home?” Stephanie asked looking over at Ashley. Ashley let out a rather simple reply on the matter. “No, not really, I am usually asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 at the latest. I have to get up pretty early on the farm and do chores in the morning. That and I am pretty worn out from all the moving in.” Stephanie and I looked back at each other again unsure of how to respond. Ashley replied again inquiring when our normal sleep cycles took place in the grand scheme of things. Both Stephanie and I replied to the question in turn.

High school had started for me at 7:00 in the morning. If it was a school night I was usually out by ten or ten thirty. I was usually up an hour or two later on the weekends and during summer break. Steph put both of us to shame and explained she usually went to bed around 1 or 2 am at the earliest. I was beginning to see we were going to have a problem here. However, it was an easy problem to adapt to. “ Sorry about that.” Ashley apologized to the two of us. “No problem at all. If you're really that tired, then go ahead and get some sleep Ashley. I don't need the light on to type on the computer. Is that okay with you Jennifer?” I nodded in agreement and turned off the sound on my computer's speakers. The little ping noise stopped from when Mary sent me a message. Ashley thanked both of us for the kind gestures and went about climbing up and into bed. She lifted the covers and pulled them up over her legs. Then she raised her hood and tied the little drawstring in front to keep it up. Another minute later and Ashley had her head rested against the pillow and she was out like a light.

Stephanie and I continued on our computers for a while. I typed back and fourth with my big sister for a good hour before I looked over at Steph again. That was what she preferred to be called. We went by the shorter versions of our full names as time went on. It was Jen, Ash and Steph. Mary had to work the next day and had just logged off the computer for the evening. I was getting a little tired myself from moving in. That and the atmosphere was conducive of sleep. I was sitting in my pajamas in the dark, which usually meant bed time to my body. I let out a loud yawn and stretched my arms up over my head. I had forgotten about Ashley sleeping in bed and hadn't controlled my volume very well. It didn't even seem to disturb her rest in the least. Ash was a very sound sleeper which would turn out to be a bad thing for her later on. I shut down the computer and began heading over for my bed. I sat down, lifted the covers and swung my slippered feet under them for the evening. Stephanie looked over at me.

“You too huh?” She whispered to me when I had gotten settled. I nodded and told her that I was just burned out too. “Well, goodnight then. I will try to be quiet for you so that you can rest. Just extend me the same courtesy when you get up in the morning.” I smiled back and whispered that I would do my best. I rolled to my side and tried closing my eyes ready to drift off to sleep. However, sleep didn't come. I imagined at first that I would pass right out without much trouble. I don't know what it was that prevented me from falling asleep at first. Steph was good to her word and kept the noise down to a minimum. It wasn't enough to interfere with my sleeping. I think it was the whole new place and strange situation that kept me from sleeping.

I tried closing my eyes and trying to get some rest, but it just didn't come. The school was new to me and there were a couple of other things out of place. I was in the lower bunk rather than the top. I wasn't wearing my car vest as I sometimes still did. The temperature might have been a hair off as well. I think it was a combination of all those things and maybe something more. My car vest was still in the closet if I wanted it. However, I was took worried about the opinion that would draw if I retrieved it. So, I just laid there and tried to sleep. After a while I finally gave up on it and sat up. I caught a glimpse of Stephanie's alarm clock above her desk it was a little after 11:30 or so. She was still sitting at the desk awake. Her computer was on, but it was turned to the side facing away from her. She was using the screen as a light to see by rather than using the computer for it's normal purpose. She had a pencil in her hand and a piece of paper on the desk in front of her.

I flipped the covers off and stood up next to Stephanie behind her. She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard me rise and quickly put her hand down to cover whatever was on the piece of paper in front of her. “Sorry did I scare you?” I asked dropping an apology for making her jump. “It's okay I just thought you were asleep.” “I couldn't sleep, this place is too new for me. So, what are you up to?” I said looking down to what she was covering on the desk. There was a piece of paper under her hand and a set of colored pencils laying out on the desk. “I was just drawing, it's a hobby of mine. I am not very good at it, but it is something that I enjoy doing. I nodded. I wasn't ever very good with artwork. I looked down at the table where her hand was covering the drawing. “Can I take a look at what your drawing?” Stephanie looked up at me with a look of annoyance in her eyes. I could tell that this was rather private for her. I watched as the gears in her head slowly ground and she finally let out a quiet sigh and nodded. “I suppose if you have too.”

Stephanie lifted her hand off of the paper and revealed the half finished picture. I recognized the character in the drawing immediately even in it's half finished state. It was a character from an amine show. I am not going to embarrass Steph her and let you all know which, character she had a crush on. In reality, she was very good, by most of the standards I would have even judged her art by. The details were well done for a colored pencil drawing. The character was seated facing the viewer. However, that wasn't what caught my eye about the whole thing. “That is really good. I don't know what your embarrassed about. (Really, I did almost at once, but I didn't let on.) Why is he tied up like that though?” Stephanie's face folded back into itself as though she had just seen a bomb go off. She didn't seem quite sure how to respond to the inquiry about the whole thing. Finally, after a long and arduous pause she just spit it out. “He's tied up because I like to draw my characters being tied up. I just sort of have a thing for it if that is okay with you. It's kind of embarrassing. That is why I tried to hide it originally. I am just getting to know you and Ashley and I didn't want you to think I was weird or anything.”

Stephanie sat back letting the words hang out in the open. I could tell the whole conversation was making her uncomfortable at the moment. She hadn't been prepared for it and I was in the same boat. I didn't know where to go with it either. I took a deep breath and let it out before I proceeded with my response. I had spent most of the day trying to keep this topic buried myself and now I wasn't sure how to respond that it was out in the open. I just went with my gut. “I don't think there is anything all that weird about it. You're really a good artist and that is all there is too it. Do you mind if I watch you draw for a while?” Stephanie let out a little sigh if relief. I could tell by her face that it felt for her like a thousand pound weight had been lifted. She didn't respond verbally but just nodded and went back to work. I took a minute and crossed the floor to get my chair from the desk. Meanwhile sleeping beauty in the top bunk just kept her eyes closed. I pulled the chair up next to Steph and watched her hands work on the drawing. It took her another half hour to finish the shading then she held it up for my approval on it.

The image on the page was really well done. I was quite impressed with the whole thing and conveyed my appreciation of her work to her. “That's really good, maybe you should get it framed.” I offered with a warm smile. Stephanie's checked to make sure that was sincere and I responded that I was. I had more than a couple of pictures like it on my hard drive of my computer already. I would learn later that a couple of them had been drawn by my roommate's hand and posted online. I never really got into the pornography part of being tied up, the images I downloaded had everybody clothed, but I had a few pictures none the less. Nothing above pg-13. “Well Jen, if you like it that much go ahead and take it.” Steph offered handing me the piece of paper. I thanked her for the gesture and went over to put it in the drawer in front of my computer. Meanwhile, Stephanie shut down her computer and headed over to the sofa. She switched on the television and muted it before turning on closed captioning at the bottom of the screen with the remote.

I came down and seated myself next to her on the sofa. Nothing would make me more sleepy than a little late night TV. All of the talking we had been doing so far had been in a whisper so not to disturb Ashley. I watched the television for a little while and looked over at Steph to see what was going through her mind. I decided to press the topic a little more. “So, have you ever been tied up yourself?” I spit the question out without really thinking about the consequences of the answers it might bring. Stephanie looked over at me with a look of curiosity on her face. The matter was out in the open and she gave me a direct answer this time. “A couple of times I guess. I tried tying myself up at home a couple of times, but I never really could do a good job at it. That, and my dad caught me and got really mad. He doesn't approve of it. How about you?” I looked over at her not quite sure if I wanted to respond truthfully to that. It was my turn to sweat it out, but in the end my nature go the better of me.

“Yeah, I have quite a bit while I was growing up. My brothers and I play tie up on and off at home. They are pretty good at it and I have a hard time escaping when we play at home. Still, sometimes I return favor on and off.” Stephanie shifted her attention from the television as the conversation headed down this avenue. I gave her an example from on of the times I had been tied up before as a kid. It was on one of the experiences from the camping trip that I first wrote about when I began posting stories on this site. She listened as I went through the whole thing and gave me a good laugh over the whole thing. “They really kept you tied up for a whole hour?” I put my finger up to my lips to signal for her to keep it down. Ashley was trying to sleep after all. “Sorry about that.” I nodded and answered her question. “That's really neat Jennifer. You should write that down and post it online. A lot of people would like to hear that.” I thought the matter over and just shook my head. “I am really not all that good of a writer. Besides I don't think anyone would like to read about my experiences as a kid.” Stephanie smiled. “Alright, then maybe you could share a few more stories with me or even try tying me up some time if you want.”

“Sure, I guess I could do that if you want sometime.” An idea was rotating through my head as I pondered where this might end up down the road. I slowly got up from the couch and raise my right index finger pointing at the ceiling. I wanted her to stay put and I was signaling that I needed a minute. Steph just stayed seated where she was while I headed over to my closet. The whole matter ran over through my mind. I was already in this far, maybe I should go all the way with it. It might lead to me getting tied up later on. Still, I didn't know how Ashley would react to the whole thing, or anyone else at the college for that matter. However, Ashley was asleep and the door to our room isolated us from the rest of the campus for the moment. I decided that there was no time like the present. I slipped my closet door open and began digging around for something to do some tying with. A couple of thoughts ran through my head in my search. The handcuffs Scott had slipped into the chest of drawers came to mind first. However, I quickly dismissed that. It would be a little too over the top and she wanted to be tied up not locked up.

The problem I was facing was that I didn't have anything good to tie Stephanie up with in my closet. I already knew that I didn't have any ropes. My mother had forbidden me to pack any and I had listened. The handcuffs were out and I was running fresh out of ideas. Still, I was rather resourceful when I needed to be and I caught a lucky break. My eyes looked up from where I was looking, and I spotted my bathrobe hanging on a hanger in the closet. It would be of much use, but the belt from it would. I took hold of the belt and slipped it of the tie loops on the robe. It was about an inch thick or material and a good 5 or 5 and half feet in length. It wasn't nearly as long as I would have wanted, but in a pinch it would have to do. I turned around and began heading back towards the sofa where Stephanie was sitting and waiting.

Stephanie spoke in an elevated whisper when she saw me approaching with the bathrobe belt. “You want to tie me up now?” I looked over at her, I could tell by her expression that she was having second thoughts. “Sure why not? Ashley's asleep and the rest of the floor is pretty quiet. I don't think anyone is going to bother us.” Steph just shrugged. “It's only if you still want to. I won't tie you up if you don't want to be tied. Also, I'll let you go if you want me to at any point.” Stephanie just shrugged again, and nodded. “Okay, we can give this a try if you want to.” My roommate turned around and brought her hands together behind her back. I took two steps across the room and went to work binding her hands. I crossed her wrists behind her back and began by making half a dozen turns around them horizontally with the belt. Once that was done I made a couple of vertical turns around her wrists. I didn't get too many because of the short length of the belt. But I took the last 4 inches or so on each end and tied s secure square knot on top of the tie. Then I stepped back to see what happened.

Stephanie began her captivity in the normal way. She struggled in a couple of different direction trying to free her hands from the bonds. They held pretty good and despite the short amount of available cord they held her pretty well. I took up a seat at my desk chair and watched her attempt to escape. It was clear by her technique that she wasn't accustomed to being tied up normally. I gave her a good 15 minutes of struggling before I dropped a comment on the matter. “Well?” “Well what?” Stephanie relied. “How well did I do?” “You did just fine. In fact, I don't think I can get out of this on my own. You and your brothers must be really good at tying people up.” I nodded “It comes with experience and a little practice. Are you ready to give up? Do you want me to untie you yet?” Stephanie gave the bathrobe belt a few more tugs. Then she just sank back on the sofa and relaxed. It was starting to sink in that she couldn't get loose on her own.

“No, I don't need to be untied yet. I am not ready to give up on getting out on my own yet. Even so, do you think that you could tie my feet up to? That way we'll know if I can really get out on my own or not.” I looked over at her and her request. “Sorry, I don't think I can.” A look of disappointment shot over her face. “Why not, don't think I can take being completely tied up?” I shook my head again. “No it's not that, I just don't have anything to tie your feet with.” Stephanie caught on quickly and gave me some advice. “I have a robe in my closet too. You can use that if you want to. It's hanging up on the far left side.” I nodded and rose from where I was sitting on the chair in front of my computer. I crossed the room to Stephanie closet and opened the door. I found the robe inside like she said and slipped the belt out from it like I had on my own. It was about the same length maybe 5 or 6 inches longer or shorter one way or the other. Either way it would be sufficient to bind Stephanie's ankles.

I crossed the room over again and set to work on tying my captives feet together with the belt. I pulled her ankles together and wrapped and cinched them off in the middle of the tie. Again it wasn't my best work, but it was more than sufficient to keep her from moving her feet. Once her legs were tied together, Steph pulled herself backwards onto the sofa and laid down on her side. It was easier for her to struggle without any weight on her ankles. I just sat back and watched as she squirmed around for another 20 minutes or so. Steph wasn't making a whole lot of progress with the two bathrobe belts. I was starting to get a little sore from sitting so long on the wooden chair and I was also getting a little chilled sitting next to the open window and fan. My pajamas were more than warm enough for the sleeping conditions that we had, but I was still cold out in the open like I was. It was already getting close to 1 am. I got up and came over to where Stephanie was laying on the couch.

“I still can't sleep, do you want me to untie you yet?” Stephanie shook her head and said she wanted to get out on her own. “Okay, I'll give you another half hour to escape then I want to go to bed. I am getting a little cold so I am going to go and sit under my covers and warm up. I left her laying on her side on the sofa and seated myself in bed. Then, I lifted the covers and laid down so that I could start to warm up. It felt good to be in a nice warm bed at the end of a long day. I was tired and it was finally catching up with me. I looked over at Stephanie still struggling on the sofa trying to get loose from the two belts holding her captive. It felt really good to be lying in bed all warm and comfortable. It felt really relaxing. Unfortunately for my roommate, I was out cold in a couple of minutes. This left her tied up on the couch without much hope of escape. I stayed asleep until an alarm clock I didn't set awoke me from my slumber.

Well, that ends part four of this story. Again I apologize for taking so long to get to the getting tied up part of it. Still, I think it will be worth the wait. From here on all the incidents involve someone getting tied up for the weekend. I have several parts and lost of pages to go. Stay tuned for the next part.

Jennifer

[Soraka]

Part 5 : There are no cows here

Hello again everyone. I thought I would move onto the next part of my story now that I have had a chance to finally sit down and do some real writing. I hope everyone enjoyed the last part.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Thud! Beep! Shuffle. Beep! Beep! Silence finally hit the room as I slowly jerked awake after a half restful night. I sat up in bed and looked around the room. It was still dark save for Stephanie's computer's screen and the little bit of light that came from the outside window from the lamp post outside a couple of stories down. Like Ashley, I was a rather sound sleeper growing up and I could rest through almost anything. Anything accept an alarm clock. I watched as the big yellow thing crossed the room to where I was lying in bed. She stopped and looked down recognizing my movements. “Sorry Jennifer did I wake you?” Ashley whispered in my general direction. I sat up and rubbed my eyes looking over at her. “No, I am still fast asleep peacefully. I talk in my sleep and I am really sarcastic when I do.” I looked up at Ashley and met her gaze in the darkness of the room. “Sorry about that I think you should just go back to sleep and I will be quiet for the rest of the day. The two of us heard movement from across the way where I had left Stephanie.

It hit me just then that I hadn't remembered to unite her before falling asleep. She hadn't woken me up to get freed and I couldn't imagine her staying tied up for so long. She must have actually managed an escape on her own. Still, I got up out of bed just to check on her. “Are you okay Steph?” I asked as I crossed the room to where she was sleeping. Click. The ceiling lamp flashed on from above our heads. While I had been crossing the room to Stephanie, Ashley had made her way over to the light switch. “Geez that's bright.” Stephanie said as she squinter her eyes to attempt to block out the bright light coming in from the ceiling above us. I brought my arm up a moment too late to shield my own. After giving my eyes a few moments to adjust to the new contrast, I lowered my arm to look around the room. Stephanie didn't have the same luxury that I did. She was still lying on her side with her arms wrapped around behind her back. The second bathrobe belt was still visibly binding her legs together at the ankle.

Steph slow eased herself into a sitting position with a little help from me. “Sheash maybe you should have tied her up instead just so that we could get some sleep. Ashley, could you please turn of the light it's hurting my eyes.” Ashley caught a quick glance of our situation before she complied with the request. “Sorry again, I didn't mean to wake either of you up. I just turned on the light since Jennifer was concerned about you for some reason.” The light flicked off before any more time passed leaving the three of us in the dimly lit darkness that flowed across the room. Ashley padded her way across the floor to where I was standing next to Stephanie. Ashley headed over to her desk and retried a flashlight from the main drawer. She turned it on being careful to keep the beam aimed at the floor as she came over towards us.

Ashley shined the flashlight on Stephanie's ankles and then walked around to confirm her suspicion about her hands. “Why are you all tied up?” The question seemed a little out of the blue to the two of us, but it was obvious to the person asking it. The reaction to the situation was better than I had expected it to be. “We were watching a movie last night after you went to sleep. There was a scene were an someone got tied up and I thought I could escape it I was tied up and Jennifer tied me to see if I could.” Stephanie blurted out in one long string of a lie. She needed a plausible explanation and didn't want to reveal everything that the two of us had gone over the night before. I could see from the still way Ashley held the flashlight that she had several questions going through her head at the moment. She was about to ask one when Steph cut her off. “What time is it anyways?” I looked around trying to find an answer. I couldn't clearly see any of the clocks from where I was seated with my eyes so out of focus. Ashley answered the question for me. “It's about 4:30 or so in the morning.” Both of us looked up at Ash as if she was crazy.

“What the heck.” Steph blurted out. “Sorry, this is when I normally get up in the morning at home. “Why on earth would you want to get up at 4:30 in the morning? What could possibly be so important?” We waited for Ashley's reply. “To milk the cows of course. This is a normal wake up time on the farm. That's why I go to bed so early.” “Well then, you better go and start milking all the cows in the building. I sear if there aren't any cows and you woke me up at this hour I am going to . . . . . “ I am going to omit the last part of that. Stephanie started struggling rather hard trying to get up from the sofa. I caught her by the shoulder and held her down gently. It was a good thing for everyone that she was still tied up rather securely. “Calm down, we don't want to wake the whole floor up at this hour.” Stephanie ceased her struggles and relaxed at my warning. Still, I waited another two minutes before I proceeded further.

“Look Steph, Ashley already apologized for waking us up. It wasn't something she did on purpose. The best thing to do now is calm down and let me untie you so that we can get back to sleep” Steph took another minute to finally cool down and then she looked over at Ashley. “Alright, go ahead and untie me already. I am really getting tired and we have class in a few hours.” I nodded. “Ashley could you shine the light over here so I can see to untie her?” Ashley approached with the light. “Are you sure if we untie her that she isn't going to . . . . . “ she said repeating the threat that Stephanie had made earlier. “I promise that I won't I was just blowing off some steam earlier. Sorry about that.” Ashley shifted her position so that I could see the knot in the belt binding Stephanie's hands. In a couple of minutes and some work, my roommate pulled her hands out from behind her back and went to work massaging the circulation back into them.

Meanwhile, Ashley and I moved onto her feet trying to free them. The knots in a belt can get really tight under stress and it took me a lot of work to free her bound ankles. “Thanks Jennifer, that was a lot of fun, but it feels good to get loose from that.” I nodded, I was sure she was glad to be free of the bindings. “Why didn't you wake me up to untie you?” I asked looking at Stephanie. The reply was two fold and actually rather obvious. “Well, first you fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you up. Also, I fell asleep myself and was resting peacefully until someone's alarm went off.” There was a pause between the two statements and an emphasis on the last part of the second. “Are you okay Stephanie?” I asked wanting to make sure that the bindings hadn't caused her any real pain. “I am fine just a little stiff. We'll have to try that again sometime, maybe with some real rope next time.” The continuation of the conversation perked an interest from the third party in our room.

“So, what movie did you two see that started her getting tied up in the fist place?” The question was directed at Stephanie trying to pry loose the statement that she had offered earlier that was quickly loosing legitimate ground with Ashley. I was too tired to let this argument continue so I put a stop to it. “We were talking last night after you went to sleep Ashley. There is game I sometimes play at home with my brothers where we tie each other up for a period of time and then let them go. Stephanie was interested in it and wanted to try it so I decided to tie her up. However, she didn't want to be untied and we both ended up falling asleep until you woke us up. End of story.” I finally paused drawing in a couple of deep breaths. The whole cat was out of the bag now for better at worse. For the first time since I got here, I really didn't care one way or the other. I just wanted to climb back into my warm bed and get a little rest. Ashley wasn't sure how to respond. The story was too complex to be a lie at all and she believed every word that I had fed her.

The whole purpose here was to get the heat off of Stephanie and to allow me to bring the whole matter out into the open. Steph had been really nice in going along with my plans and allowing me to tie her up. I was also the one who mistakenly fell asleep on her and left her tied up for a good while longer than I intended to. She had taken the matter as far as I was concerned with a good deal of grace on her part. I decided to draw the attention of the matter away from her. Also, it let me bring the whole situation out and into the open without nearly the pressure that I originally had on it. I had been so careful about my conversations the last few hours with my new roommates guarding the topic carefully. It really was a relief to get it out in the open and off my chest. The only thing that was left now was to see how Ashley would react to the whole situation. I can say that her initial reaction wasn't what I was hoping that it would be.

Ashley took the whole explanation for what it was at it's face value. She really didn't know how to react in the first place. After a few moments of pause, she finally gave me a verbal response. “Really, that seems like a strange hobby to have . So, you and your brother's tie each other up for fun?” I nodded in response to the question. “Yup, that is pretty much the gist of it. I know it sounds a little strange. It did to me when I first got introduced to the whole idea.” Ashley looked at me not quite sure how to react to the situation. I could tell by her facial expression that the topic was one that was uncomfortable to her in nature. I wasn't sure whether or not to continue the conversation. She did it for me. “Why would you want to do that?” A short pause happened before she continued. “I mean why would anyone want to be tied up? Wouldn't it make you uncomfortable and unable to move around? You had Stephanie tied up so tight she couldn't even itch her nose. I was surprised she was able to fall asleep like that.”

The truth of the matter was that was a surprise to me as well. I had tried sleeping with my hands tied behind my back more than once growing up. I could doze off for a little while here or there, but I could never stay asleep for more than half an hour without it being uncomfortable. “What I don't understand is how you can get up at 4:30 in the morning. I mean there are times I haven't fallen asleep by then, but I never got up that early in my life.” Stephanie entered the conversation with an angry tone in her voice. I saw a couple of tears beginning to form across the top of Ashley's face. She stared to sob quietly as she spoke the next phrase that came out of her mouth. “I already said I was sorry. You don't have to keep yelling at me. I didn't mean to wake you two up so early.” Stephanie continued with her verbal assault. “Well, you failed miserably we're both awake now. Thanks a lot! I still say we tie her up next, that way we could probably get some sleep.”

The look on Ashley's face turned from one of sadness to one of fear. “Look you two, I am sorry. I shouldn't have gotten you two up so early. But, please I don't want to be tied up. If you try to I scream for help and wake half the floor up. I'll go to the RA in the morning and ask for a new room, but please don't tie me up!” Ashley was reaching the point of hysteria and if things didn't get under control we would probably end up waking up the whole dorm at 4:30 in the morning on their first weekend. I took a few steps across the room and turned the lights on. This withdrew the darkness and dimness from the atmosphere. It also gathered the attention of my two roommates. Stephanie brought her arm up to block the incoming lights from her eyes. Ashley just lowered her head as she continued to sob. I needed to get this situation under control before we woke up the whole floor.

I gave the two of them a moment to adjust to the situation. I served a lot of roles at home within my family. One of the most common was peace maker when things turned difficult. I decided to try my hand at the current set of affairs that sat in front of us. “All right everyone let's just calm down and look at the picture here. First of all, Ashley you don't need to cry. We're not going to tie you up over this whole thing.” Ashley drew in a deep breath and calmed down a little. “You're not?” I shook my head to reaffirm my first response. “No, we're not. All of us are a little tired at the moment. Stephanie I know your a little sore because I left you tied up. I apologize for falling asleep. But, you don't have to take it out on Ashley it's not her fault. I know you're a little peeved about the early wake up call, but let it go. We have a busy day ahead of us and we could all use some sleep.”

Ashley finally dried the last of the tears falling from her eyes. “I think the best thing we should all be doing right now is heading back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep.” Steph looked over at me and just shrugged. “I think you're right Jennifer. If you'll turn out that light I'll try to get back to sleep and I suggest you do the same.” I nodded and looked at Ashley. “All right with you?” I asked looking over at her. “It's okay with me, but I am not tired any more.” She replied. “That's okay then go ahead and find something to do that won't disturb us or the rest of the floor. You can use my computer if you want to.” Ashley just shook her head, “No I'll take my gameboy and head out into the lobby. That way I won't disturb either of you sleeping again.” I nodded back at her and the three of us parted company. Ashley went out the door to the room as she had promised. Stephanie returned to the sofa and laid down on it. She threw a blanket over herself and just laid back. I turned the light back off and climbed back under the covers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Morning came quicker than I would have wanted it to. The light shinning through the window behind my bed rolled across my face and drew me awake earlier than I wanted it to. I was still tired from the whole ordeal of the day and evening before. Still, the sunlight shinning in my face wouldn't allow me to fall back asleep. I looked up at the clock I had on the wall and it was about a quarter to 7 or so. I could go to my closet and dig out a sleep mask if I wanted to, but by the time I got it on it would be pointless to go back to sleep. I reluctantly climbed out of bed and set my feet on the floor folding the covers back into place behind me. I looked around. Stephanie was still on her side asleep on the sofa and Ashley was missing from the room all together. I slowly crossed the floor. The slippers I was wearing kept my walking noise down to a minimum. After earlier that morning I didn't want to wake Steph up accept on her own terms.

I took advantage of the privacy the situation offered and decided to get dressed for the day. I opened my closet and took the first available outfit that I could find. I grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a red short sleeve t-shirt with a logo on it. Though I don't remember what it was. I changed out of my pajamas and got dressed for the day ahead. I finished my outfit with a pair of white socks and headed out the front door of the room on tip toe. Once I was in the hallway area, I leaned down and put my shoes on before I began heading out. It was just a little before 7:00 now and I had a few hours to kill before the class started at 10:00 in the morning. I took a short trip to the bathroom and pulled a comb out of my pocket. I took couple of minutes to fix my bed hair and then I decided to head off and find Ashley. I still needed to patch a few things up after what happened earlier this morning. I went around the corner to the lounge area to look for her, but she wasn't there. I made a full circle of the floor looking for her, but ended up not finding her.

Without a lead to go on and nobody else being up at this hour, I decided to let the matter work itself out. I checked the contents of my pockets and made sure I had my wallet and room key. I didn't often carry a purse with me. At least when I wasn't going shopping somewhere big. With the contents secure in my pockets I headed for the elevator. I hit the down button and waited for the car to arrive. The wait was a short one and I entered the car and hit the button for the lobby. I figured some fresh air would do me good for the day. My plans were to take a short walk and then come back and see if Stephanie had woken up or if Ashley came back. The trip to the ground floor was silent and soon the doors opened to the lobby of the building.

AS the doors to the elevator opened, my attention was drawn off to the right side of the lobby by the sound coming from the television. There on the big 60 inch screen was a red and white ball flying towards the ground. It landed and a big stone cartoon snake came out of it. Somebody was watching Pokemon the cartoon version of it in the lobby. The sound was quietly set so not to disturb anyone more than 20 feet from the television. Still, I caught wind of it from the elevator. I had already seen the episode, but something made me walk over an sit down in front of the television. It was a common practice for Amy and me to catch the silly show every Saturday morning. I would get up early and put some breakfast together and then wake up my little sister so we could watch it together. Something about it seemed familiar and reminded me of home. I hadn't realized how much I missed it already in all the excitement. I seated myself on one of the lobby sofas and began to watch the show. It wasn't until the first commercial break that I noticed Ashley was on the other couch adjacent to the one I was on.

My current roommate was laying with her back supported by one of the arm rests of the sofa. She was still dressed in the yellow sweatsuit and her slippers from the night before. She was half sitting up half laying with her legs drawn up to support her balance in front of her. She had her hood folded back and her eyes were mostly on the gameboy in front of her. Ashley's attention seemed divided between the game and the show. She didn't even seem to notice me, or if she did, she didn't acknowledge my existence over her current activity. The two of us just sat and watched the show until it concluded about half an hour later.

“Hi Jennifer, did you sleep okay now that I got out of the way?” Ashley's voice was quieted and a little timid. She righted herself and sat up to make eye contact with me. I could still see the dried tears on her face from earlier this morning. Maybe they were fresh either way I didn't know what to make of it. “Not as much as I wanted, but I will be okay. How about you?” “Don't worry about me. You two won't have to live with me getting you up so early much longer. I already saw the resident director this morning. He is off at a staff meeting right now, but he said he would discuss the matter with me when he got back. He said that he would be happy to find me a new roommate if my current ones weren't working out.” Ashley paused to gauge my reaction to the whole little speech. I wasn't sure quite what to say back to her. We had gotten off to a good start the day before, but everything had deteriorated in a matter of minutes this morning. I took a deep breath and responded the best that I could.

“I should apologize to you too. I had no right to yell at you last night.” I began slowly choosing my words carefully. I had already molded this over several times in my head on the way down. “We just weren't expecting the early wake up call, that's all. I am also sorry about the whole tie up thing you saw upstairs. I guess that has to seem pretty weird to you. It's just a game I play with my brothers at home sometimes for something to do. Nobody ever gets hurt or tied up if they don't want to be. It's just something fun to do that's all. You don't have to be involved if you don't want to be. I guess the whole thing seems a little weird to you.” Ashley took a moment and looked down at her outfit. Then she gave me a little chuckle. “I guess it's not all that weird. After all you must think I am pretty strange for dressing like this.” I gave her a quick smirk and a giggle back. “Not really, you should see some of the stuff I wear to bed sometimes. As long as your comfy who cares what you sleep in.” Ashley returned my smile.

“Look Ash, this whole college thing is new to us all too. There are a lot of new things that happen here and we all have to adapt and get used to them. Are you sure that you want to move out? After all, Stephanie and I are a little goofy, but you could always get someone worse. Besides I still want to try my skills as a trainer against you.” Ashley looked down at the gameboy sitting on the couch next to her. She looked back up and returned her gaze towards me. For the first time since I had met her, the quiet timidness had left her and a more solid look of confidence replaced it. “I guess I could give it another try if you two are willing to give me a second chance.” Ashley laughed again and looked over at me before changing her tone of voice to something a little more sarcastic. “But, I still don't want to be tied up okay?” I nodded and looked over at her. “All right you have a deal. Now about that battle.”

I waited for Ashley to respond that I needed to go and get my gameboy. Instead, she put the gameboy back down on the sofa next to her. “Actually, I think I would rather get some breakfast first. I am kind of hungry. Do you know what time the food plaza opens for breakfast?” I thought the matter over. “I think it opened about half an hour ago. Do you want to head over there now?” Ashley nodded in response. “Yeah, that sounds good. We can do this after breakfast if you want to.” “Okay, I'll wait here while you go and change.” Ashley just shook her head again. “Nah, let's just go.” I paused a minute and looked over at her. “Are you sure? I can wait if you need a minute.” Ashley shot me another quick smile.

“Nope, there just pajamas and we are at college after all. If anyone has a problem with how I am dressed, then that's their problem not mine.” Her little speech made sense especially after the little talk we had that morning. “Besides, Stephanie needs her beauty sleep and I am not going to go upstairs and risk waking her up earlier than she want to be again.” “Good point.” I added. The two of us got up from where we were sitting and headed out towards the front door of the dorm. We ended up passing the resident director, a guy I will name Tom for now. He said he was glad he caught up with us and asked where we were off to. Especially so early and if Ashley wanted to discuss her living arrangements with him that morning. After all he had about a million things to do that day. We responded that we were off to breakfast together and the nature of our conversation. He nodded and told us that it was fine with him and that he was glad things smoothed out. It meant less paper work for him in the long run.

The two of us headed off to breakfast together. I had to admit things were working out a lot better than I had thought they would. Ashley and Stephanie would end up working out their differences in the end. It would take a couple of weeks, but the whole situation sorted itself out and we all found a peaceful coexistence with some compromises. Other things we just let go and put up with as time went on. I would find out at breakfast that Ashley didn't mention that I had tied Steph up the night before to anyone. She was concerned about her living with the two of us, but she respected our privacy. Something I have to give her credit for all the years I went through college. I didn't post this set of stories without her permission up to this point. I wanted to return that respect all these years later. I am just glad she was willing to let me go over all of this with everyone.

Jennifer

[Soraka]

Part 6 : More Surprises

Hi again everyone, I finally got around to continuing with this story again. I am already up to 30 pages before I started typing this part out. Hopefully this will be another fine addition to this growing novel I seem to be writing.

The morning air was warm and the sun had driven away the coldness of the summer evening. I looked over at Ashley as the two of us walked to breakfast. She must have been warm all bundled up in her sleepwear, but she wore a warm smile on her face. The two of us headed down the steps towards the building. We opened the door and headed in. The air conditioning hit us rather quickly and I knew Ashley would be just fine. An older woman was sitting by a cash register near the entrance to the building. She shot each of us a warm smile and took our student id's to credit our accounts for the meal. We returned the gesture for the morning and headed into the eatery. The area was set up like the day before but much less crowded at this hour. There weren't too many people here at this hour, but there were a few. We picked out a table and went about the process of getting our food before sitting down.

Everyone there was a little different. The whole place was a hodgepodge of styles and outfits. Ashley was not the only one in pajamas in the room, but I think she was the most unique. She caught a few looks for her outfit, but nobody paid her any real attention. We both got something to eat and sat down. We shared the early meal together and shared a conversation with a few laughs. I watched with peace of mind as all the turmoil form earlier this morning seemed to fade deeply into the warm atmosphere of the morning. I shared quite a bit in common with Ashley. We were both early risers, although she liked to be up a little earlier than me. We both liked video games, Pokemon in particular. Our last names even shared the first three letters. We were a reasonably good match up for roommates as the situation started to unfold. After breakfast was finished, we took our trays to the dish room and headed back upstairs to pit our skills against each other. The trip was a short one and we made it without a whole lot of fuss.

I opened the door with my key as we arrived at the room. It was a little after 8 and we still had a little time on our hands before we were do at our first class. Stephanie was already sitting up on the sofa her hair wrapped up in a towel drying from her recent shower. Her mood had infinitely improved from earlier that morning and she bid both of us a good morning. “Thanks for being a little more quiet getting up this time. I got a shower and thought about heading down to breakfast. Do you two want to join me? I could use some coffee.” Ashley shook her head and explained where we had just come from and filled Stephanie in on the remainder of our talk from earlier in the lobby. “Well you could have come and got me.” She complained looking at us. She was already up and dressed for the day. She was wearing the same clothes from the day before. I would learn after living with her for a while that she sometimes wore the same thing two days in a row to save doing laundry. She was already dressed and out of her pajamas as well.

“Well, you two have fun, I am going to hike down and grab a bite to eat. Then I am heading over to class. I'll catch up with the two of you this afternoon.” Both Ashley and I nodded and watched as Stephanie departed leaving the couch empty for the two of us to share. I went ahead and dug my gameboy out of the closet while Ashley dug up a link cable. I dug though my boxes in the game and put a team together. Then the two of us linked up and played our teams against each other. Ashley beat me hands down, but I was more than a gracious loser. Then, I caught a look at the time it was already going on 9:30. It had taken us a little while to get the whole game set up and actually play though the battle. “We really need to get going to class. Ashley nodded as we both began to scurry around the room getting a few things together. I collected a few notebooks and a couple of pens. Ashley gathered up some paper. The main agenda for the morning was our first class on Saturday at 10:00 and then a writing test to see where we were in that regard.

Once all the things we need were gathered, the two of us departed together. We reached the elevator a couple of minutes later. The whole floor was rather busy at this point with everyone scrambling to get ready and head off to class. I pushed the down button and we waited together for the elevator to come up. It wasn't until we got inside that I realized that Ashley was still wearing her sweatsuit and slippers. “Aren't you going to change? I'll wait for you if you want.” Ashley just shook her head. “We don't have time. Besides, we're in college now. I stay in pajamas for chores back home. I don't see any problem with going to class like this anyways.” The doors to the elevator close behind us. I pushed the button for the lobby floor below and we began our decent. It was too late to argue with Ashley about how she was dressed. The elevator was already going down. I had to admire her courage on the matter. I didn't have the nerve to show up dressed like she was for my first class.

The two of us departed the building together and began the trek across campus. The class I was going to was on the far side which, was about a mile away. Not a terribly long walk, but a hike none the less. Ashley kept pace with me most of the way there. The class we were going to was know as introduction to college life or something like that it. It was basically a how to live at college 101 course all the freshmen had to take. It was a 1 credit class that met twice a week for an hour and our first session was scheduled for this Saturday. It would be the only Saturday course I would attend in college and only this one time. The classes were set up by the last names of the students. Ashley and my closeness in lettering put us together. The class was held in the basement of the performing arts center on the far side of campus. Although this building also housed the musical area and normal art classes. We found our way and ended up in a modest looking class room on the basement floor of the building. Ashley and I walked in together and each took a seat at an empty desk next to each other.

Despite the late departure from the dorm we had arrived a few minutes early before the class was scheduled to start. A whole group of students probably numbering someplace between 30 and 35 headed into the room in a stead stream from before the time we arrived and the time the class actually started. Their outfits were a whole mix of things. One guy was in a suit and tie, and Ashley wasn't the only one wearing slippers either. After what seemed like a good 15 minutes or so, a guy in his mid 30's came into the room and began to introduce himself. He was the professor for the class. The man wrote his name on the board and explained that he was the head of the theater department for the university. He then proceeded to pass out a syllabus outlining what we were going to be doing for the semester. I had several items listed on it. Mostly, the class was just going to be a discussion class. We were going to be required to attend a few events on campus throughout the semester and write a couple of papers about them and some other things. There was also going to be a debate and some information about the history of the college and college life in general.

The professor was a little quirky to say the least. He took a real 'Thinking outside the box' approach to teaching. A good number of us clicked with him right away. The first class was a lot of fun and we got to know a few of the other students in the class. Most of the rest of the hour was spent doing an icebreaker introduce yourself activity. It passed rather quickly. Once the class period ended, the professor said that he was going to give us the writing test. The writing test was really a misnomer. It would be graded, but there was not credit being given. Mostly, it was just a way for the college to collect a sample of our writing abilities for the English composition classes. He told each of us to get out some paper and a pencil. Then he gave us a topic and told us to compose an essay on it.

I had been worried about the whole thing all day yesterday, but I found out that there was no time limit and that it really didn't count for anything. The topic wasn't difficult, just a famous quote and our response to it. I sat back and began to write. I spent the next hour or so pouring out a five paragraph essay on the topic. The phrase didn't really have all that much meaning to me. I managed to get the thing written and handed it in. I had read over it twice before I gave it to the professor, and I really wasn't all that happy with it. I wasn't much of a writer and I knew it from the C's I got in high school English. (I know a lot of you might think differently after all the postings I did on this site. However, I got better on my trip through college.) I exited the room with my backpack over one shoulder and my head held low. I wasn't really happy with the essay as a whole, but I didn't want to spend any more time on it.

Ashley had finished her composition about a half hour before I did. I would learn later on that she was quite bright for her age. She was here on an academic scholarship. I had expected her to head back to the dorm room when she finished. However, I found her sitting cross legged on a sofa in a nearby lounge area. She was seated in the middle of a large comfortable looking chair with her slippered feet folded up under he knees. “Hey Jen how did it go?” I looked over at her and just dropped my gaze to the floor. “Not so well how about you?” Ashley just shrugged and looked over at me. “It went alright I guess, I waited for you. Did you want to go and get some lunch before we head back.” I nodded and the two of us departed from the building together. We made the short trek across campus and over to the cafeteria. It was a little after 12 by this point in the day. Ashley and I headed down and got some lunch. The place was a little more crowded than it had been earlier in the morning, but we still managed to get something to eat before heading back to the dorm room.

The whole experience had been a lot more fun that I anticipated it would, except for the writing test. Ash and I had probably spent a good 45 minutes or so eating lunch. We hadn't run into Stephanie at all. I opened the door to the room and the two of us entered. So far, neither of us had seen any sign of Stephanie since we had left for the first class that morning. It had been a rather full day so far and it felt good just to get back to the dorm room and have some down time to unwind. Ashley sat down on the now vacant sofa and switched on the television. There wasn't a whole lot on during a Saturday afternoon. The college supplied basic cable television, but that was not all that many channels. Ash flipped through several of the channels on the television before settling on something which, really didn't interest me all that much. I instead took a seat at my computer and began digging through my emails. There was nothing new in the in-box other than a few adds that I had gotten from a mailing list something signed me up for. It was going to be a quiet afternoon without something to do soon. Luckily, help for that little problem was already on its way.

We sat there a good 20 minutes or so before Stephanie returned from the hallway. Ashley and I looked over at her and saw she was carrying in her backpack. “So, Steph how was your class and the writing test.? Don' tell me that it took you that long to finish it.? Did you eat yet?” Ashley rattled off a long list of questions looking for a response from our third companion's late arrival. “The class was boring, I have to read a novel and write a paper about it. Plus, our professor is from the English department. Who did you get?” Ashley and I responded with a quick explanation that we shared a class and a good outline of the man who was teaching it. We also talked a little about the writing test. “Well, he sounds like a real goofball, anyone want to trade?” Stephanie said holding up the book. It was a hard cover book and it had about 500 pages between the covers. For once, I really didn't envy her situation. I originally had disliked the professor we had gotten, but at least we weren't reading a long novel and writing a paper on it.

“The writing test went pretty quickly for me. I had a good teacher in high school, so banging out an essay was no big deal. I did have some lunch, I made a run out to Walmart to get a few things that I thought we might need around here. I drove through McDonald's on the way back and ate in the van. “So, Steph what did you buy at Walmart? What was so important that it couldn't wait for the rest of us to tag along?” I asked looking over at her and the knapsack that was dangling from her left arm. Stephanie opened the bag and reached inside. She retrieved one item from the bag and gave it a gentle toss onto my bed. It was a plastic bag that contained a large coil of rope. It was quite similar to the rope that my siblings and I used at home to play our games with. It was 3/8's inch thick white clothesline. I looked over at it with quite a look of anticipation. Ashley looked at Stephanie like she was crazy.

“How much did you buy?” I asked looking over at her. “200 feet.” “200 feet!?” I replied looking at the large coil of rope on the bed. “Why 200 feet?” “Well, I figured that would be enough to tie somebody up pretty good. The little stunt you pulled with the bathrobe belts last night worked pretty good. But, any idiot knows if you want to tie somebody up you need rope to do it properly. So, I figured I had some time to kill this afternoon so I went out and bought some.” Stephanie finished her long speech about the whole situation. Now, I was looking at her as if she was crazy. Two hundred feet (61 meters) of rope was quite a bite more than anyone would need to tie somebody up. Maybe if it was Harry Houdini, but not for a normal person. I think about half that much, was the most ever used on me without tying to something a little over the top. However, Stephanie wanted to make sure that she had purchased a sufficient amount to get the job done.

“Alright Jennifer, I was wondering if you would mind tying me up again like last night. I had fun with the whole thing and thought I should give it another try when I can see what I am doing and not half asleep.” The request was more than fair, under the circumstances and she had already gone to quite a bit of trouble to get all the rope. “Okay, we can give it another try if you want to, but I think you have a little more rope than you need. I really only need about 20 feet or so if I don't want you to escape. Is it okay if I cut it into some smaller sections?” Stephanie nodded at the request without much though on the matter. I asked her if she had a pocked knife or something that I could cut the rope with. It turned out that Ashley did in her belongings and after some nagging allowed me to borrow it just to get me out of her hair. She still didn't want anything to do with this whole tie up ordeal.

Once I had my roommates' blessings, I retrieved the knife from Ashley's closet and went to work. It was a little old, but more than up to the task at hand. I measured out 2 lengths of rope each about 12 feet or so in length and cut them. I put a small overhand knot at the end of each end of the cuts to prevent the ropes from fraying. Once I had my two pieces of rope cut, I asked Steph if we could go ahead and get started with the whole thing. “Alright, come over here and let me have your hands please.” I instructed. Stephanie came over and turned her back to me without much fuss. I pulled her wrists together parallel behind her back and began wrapping one of the ropes around them. I used up most of the length of the rope with about 10 coils or so. I used the rest to cinch up the middle vertically to snug the tie down some. The rope was a little heavier gauge than I was used to, but it worked well enough for the task at hand. I was careful to leave a little slack and not tighten the ropes down to the point they would hurt.

Once, I had Steph's wrists tied behind her back, I had her sit down on the floor and put her ankles together. I tied and cinched her ankles similar to how I tied her hands and knotted them off as well. “There, that should keep you out of trouble for a while.” I commented looking down at my handiwork. “I bought all that rope and this is all you're going to use to tie me up?” Stephanie looked up at me with a look of disappointment on her face. “I don't think that I need to use any more rope than that to keep you tied up for the afternoon. If you can get out of that, I'll add some more next time. Are the ropes too tight?” I asked looking down at her. Stephanie gave her limbs a few good tugs and shook her head. “No, they're okay. Now I am going to get out of this one. Don't help me okay.” I nodded to her request and gave her my promise that I wasn't going to help her escape. I seated myself on the couch and watched Steph test my skills. I was already quite confident in what the outcome of the exercise would be.

Stephanie shifted around on the floor struggling in a number of different fashions. She tried pulling her hands back and fourth and up and down. She even looked over her shoulder trying to find the knot. I had left it out in the open on the top of the tie. There was no way she was getting anywhere near it with her fingers. Her feet had a similar problem and no amount of tugging or shifting seemed to be gaining her the proper leverage. I was a real expert on how to tie somebody up and she wasn't getting out of this until someone untied her. Stephanie put on a pretty good show for about 15 minutes or so before she tired herself out. She sat on her side on the floor drawing in deep breaths all exhausted and helpless. The tie was very simple in it's construction, but it was also quite effective under the circumstances. She sat there for another 10 minutes resting before she resumed her attempt to free herself. The performance was a repeat and left her with similar results. She got tired quicker this time and finally just collapsed on her side drawing in a lot of air again.

“Okay, I give up, I cannot get out of this without some help. You're really good at this aren't you Jennifer. I thought I would be able to escape with a little more work. But you obviously know what you're doing. Do you think you could untie me know?” I looked down at Steph as she lay there secured on the floor. I could have been mean and kept her tied up a while longer, without worrying about upsetting her. She was having a good time with the whole situation, but I decided not to press my luck on the matter. She obviously wasn't an expert on escapes and if she wanted out I should grant her wish on the matter. “Sure, sit up so I can get to the knot on your hands.” Stephanie righted herself as I requested. I hopped down from the sofa and untied the knot on top of her hands. “There, that should make it a little easier , try getting out now.”

Steph resumed her struggles again. Without the knot securing the tie on her hands, she managed to work her way loose after a few minutes of squirming and pulled her hands free from behind her back. She began massaging some feeling back into them before moving onto untying her legs from the second coil of rope. There were indentation on her wrists and ankles from where the rope had been. They weren't red in color yet, but you could tell she had been tied up. I looked the marks over and decided to give her a short lecture on the subject. “You know Steph, if you are going to be tied up and try to escape, you should probably have on long sleeves and something over you ankles. Just to keep the ropes from digging in like they did there. It's nothing to worry about, but those marks take about an hour to go away and you're going to be sore for about half an hour. Just something to keep in mind for next time.” Stephanie said she agreed with me on that and that she would take the advice under consideration the next time she was tied up.

Once she was finally free and she had worked some of the stiffness out of her limbs, Stephanie got up and headed over to her computer. She fired it up and went online for about the next hour or so. Ashley continued to watch television and I joined her. Stephanie's performance had been an interesting thing to watch, but it was over. I really didn't have much interest in what was on the television, but it helped pass the time between freeing Stephanie and heading down to dinner. The plan was to go and eat about 4:30 or so. After the program ended, Ashley offered me a rematch from our battle earlier that morning and I accepted her challenge. I got beat again, but it was just something friendly to do while we were waiting for the day to go by. It was getting close to dinner time when Stephanie finally spoke up and rejoined our conversation.

“Hey Jen, I was wondering. You tied me up twice already and I couldn't get out. Well. I just wanted to know if it would be okay for me to try my hand at tying you. Turn about is fair play after all. So, what do you say?” I let the thought roll over a couple of times in my head, looking like I was thinking it over carefully. Really, the whole idea didn't need any real thought on my part. The answer was a simple one and I am sure all of you know what it was. “Alright, I will give you a chance to get even, but only if you promise me that you're not going to use all that rope you bought on me. I don't want to end up being a mummy or anything like that.” I said with a little laugh at the end of it. The thought of being tied up with that much rope was just something funny to me. “Alright, you have a deal. I'll cut an inch off the end of the big piece and use the rest of it.” The sarcastic comment helped to liven the mood up a little before we moved on with the remainder of the conversation. Ashley threw in that she thought we were both nuts, but she was willing to put up with us as long as we were willing to return the favor. That and she didn't have to be tied up herself. So, Stephanie and I reached a deal on the matter and we switched the conversation to other things.

With the conversation on the matter handled and everything else moving towards getting done for the day we headed down to dinner. We had quite a few things to still do for the evening before going to sleep and I guess Stephanie planned on adding one more to the mix. I suppose that it was only a matter of time before I ended up the receiving end of this little game that I had began. I said after dinner and the plans I had already made for the evening that I would give her a chance at tying me up as well. Steph was content with my offer and we left it at that. The three of us headed down to the cafe to eat as a group. There was still a good deal of fun to come that first weekend and in the week to come. However, that will have to wait until I am ready for the next part of this story.

[Soraka]

Part 7 : Stephanie Gets Schooled

Hello again everyone, sorry for keeping you all waiting as long as I did on this next section of the story. I am going to skip the pleasantries and get right onto the story itself here.

The three of us met up with a couple of other students from the dorm. There were three other girls that I had met at our class and around the campus over the last day and a half. The plan was for the six of us to head down to dinner and then over to a performer that the campus had brought in for the weekend. He was a magician if I remember correctly. Either way, we all headed down to dinner together. The dining hall was still pretty vacant since all the upper class-men had yet to arrive on campus. They would be pouring in tomorrow and it was going to be a chaotic scene for sure. It was rather nice to have a couple of days to get used to the whole area before the whole weight of the world fell on all of us. I was still a little unsure of whether or not college was the right choice for me. However, it was a little late to be making that determination at the moment. So, I just went with the flow.

The dining hall wasn't crowded at all when we all got there a little after 4 o'clock or so. The six of us got some food and sat down for the evening meal. The evening's entertainment was scheduled for around six or so. That left us more than enough time to eat and share a rather long conversation. The whole matter was rather short lived and I don't remember exactly what we spoke about. We all still had introductions to get out of the way and mostly about the classes that we had coming up. I am sure a few other things came up as we shared ideas and dinner. Either way, I don't remember exactly what was said by six people over the course of that meal. A little after five, the dining hall began to get much busier. However, we had pretty much finished up eating and were on our way out. The show was located at an auditorium in the theater building back across campus.

The six of us departed together without much trouble. It was a ten minute walk in good weather if you know where you were going. So, it took us about twenty minutes to make the trip as we were taking our time. The six of us went ahead and headed into the auditorium and took seats in the middle section of the theater and waited for the performance to start. We still had about 25 minutes to wait, it wasn't enough time to head back to the room, but it was longer than most of us wanted to sit there. More conversation transpired between the six of us. (I am not going to provide names for the other three girls at this point as they don't add anything to the story. They were there and I thought I should mention that there were more than just the three of us.) The conversation jumped between several different topics as the three of us discussed what was going on for the evening and the week ahead. As we got closer to the time of the show more and more students began to pour into the auditorium from the doors located around the huge stage area.

Finally, at a couple of minutes after 6, an upper class-man from the welcoming committee came on stage and gave the magician an introduction before the show started. In reality, the whole show as a little corny. It probably would have been better if I had been about 12 at the time I started college. It was clear by watching everything go forward that he was used to entertaining a younger crowd of kids. Still, the price of admission was right and we still had a fun time with it. There was one trick in the show that was worth mentioning. The magician gets handcuffed, put in a bag, and locked in a trunk. Then his assistant stands on top of the trunk with a sheet and counts to three. Then she says a magic word and ducks behind the sheet and the magician stands up and takes her place. Then he unlocks the trunk and shows that she is in the bag handcuffed. The trick is a classic illusion and I know how it is done. Still, it made a good finale for the whole show. After that, there were a few other illusions and a finale before the performance ended and the magician and his lovely assistant took their final bows.

After the show had concluded, the six of us headed back to the dorm and up to our respective rooms. There was a lot on our minds, but the magic show was the freshest. Ashley seemed rather impressed with the trick that I had mentioned above. “Wow, that guy was really a quick escape artist. He got out of that bag and the locked trunk in three seconds and tied up his assistant all at the same time.” Ashley commented on the part of the performance. I am not sure exactly what she said, but that is reasonably close. “Yeah, he was a pretty quick escape artist.” Stephanie added. They were both rather intrigued by the whole thing. I was a little fed up with the over-enthusiasm they were sharing. “It's just a trick guys, the handcuffs and locks aren't real. Nobody could escape from that in such a short time if it was. Look at Steph earlier. She was tied up with just two pieces of rope and she couldn't get out with over an hour to escape.” I offered the comment to bring my two roommates back to earth. Then I went into the explanation about how the trick is done. The whole of the matter took about 4 or 5 minutes to explain, but all I managed to do was start an argument with Stephanie.

The matter escalated rather quickly with a lot of shouting back and forth. Ashley stepped in and told us to tone it down so that we didn't disturb the whole floor. It was late enough that quiet hours were in effect. I didn't think that anybody was studying at this point in time. But, I didn't want to upset the balance on the floor or be rude to my new neighbors. So, I apologized to Stephanie and asked if we could agree to disagree. The core of the argument wasn't about the magic show. She agreed with me that it was a cheap trick. Steph's main point was that she would have been able to get of out being tied up earlier. She just needed more time to accomplish the task. “I just need more practice and I could probably be just as good as he was at getting free tonight.” She ended with a rather bragging comment that I didn't much care for.

Steph had a rather robust personality that I was just getting to know. She had a rather sarcastic streak mixed with a smart mouth. She also like to exaggerate her abilities and brag where she really had no point to. She was a pain in the butt to put up with sometimes, but we still managed to get along during my time at college. She went on for another couple of minutes about how I just got lucky at keeping her tied up earlier. I decided to put her in her place finally after a couple of minutes of listening to her yak. “Fine, if you think that you can get out on your own, maybe I should tie you up again and give you another chance to escape. That is if your up for another try at it.” My plan was to tie her up rather well and show her just how hard it was to really perform an escape without some proper skills in the area. However, my plan backfired quite a bit.

“Well, Jen if your such an expert on the subject, why don't you show me how it's done?” I looked over at her for a moment unsure of how to respond. So, I just stood there with a rather blank expression on my face. “You did say that I could tie you up earlier today didn't you? Let's see you get tied up and escape if you're so good at it.” I met her gaze now with some determination of my own. My response was rather quick and well devised. “Sure, go ahead. You can tie me up if you want.” Stephanie smiled back at me and had a look of solid confidence in her eyes. Despite everything that was about to happen, I had finally found a way to shut her up. She didn't waste any more words on the matter and went over to her closet to retrieve the ropes from earlier in the day.

Steph collected the two pieces of rope that I had bound her with earlier in the day and approached me. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.” She instructed me. I complied silently with the request and she began the process of tying my hands together behind my back. She took a 10 foot section of rope and wrapped it around my parallel wrists making a good number of coils using up the length of the rope. Then she knotted it off on the bottom of the tie with a square knot. She gave it a couple of tugs along the way to make sure that the ropes were snug and secure around my wrists as she bound them . I just stood there and let her secure me as solidly as she could. Once she was content with my hands being bound, Stephanie asked me to sit down on the floor and put my feet together, She wrapped my ankles in the same manner that she did my hands and tied them off securely. “There, let's see you get out of that.” Steph spat out mocking me. “I am going to make a quick run to the bathroom and then we'll see if you can get out.”

Stephanie left the room for a minute and headed off to do her business. I twisted around in the ropes for a moment and looked at them. She had made a rather amateur mistake on tying me up. The knot for the ropes that were securing my hands was located at the bottom of the tie. I could easily get at it with my fingers and it took me less than a minute to undo it. Once the knot was loose, it took me about 30 seconds to unwrap my hands from the ropes and free them. Afterwards, I just sat back and untied my feet. I got up from the floor and deposited the ropes on my bed neatly. Then I sat back and waited for Stephanie to return from her errand. I didn't have to wait long. Pretty soon the door opened and Steph came back in through the door. Needless to say, she was a little surprised when she found me sitting on the edge of my bed untied. The look on her face was priceless.

“How in the heck did you get free so quick? It's not possible. Ashley must have untied you.” She dropped out a few phrases trying to put the most logical idea forward. I just shook my head. “Ashley didn't untie me, I got out on my own. You have a lot to learn about tying somebody up.” Steph looked over at Ashley trying to verify my claim one way or the other. “She's telling the truth Steph, I didn't have anything to do with her getting free from the ropes. She did that all on her own and rather quickly I might add.” I smiled at the support from my new friend. Stephanie was a little less pleased with my abilities than Ashley was. “You've got to be lying, there is no way that you could escape that quickly. It took me longer to tie you up that it did for you to get out of the ropes.” I took a short sigh followed by a smirk. “Yup, you're right; it did take you longer to tie me up that it did for me to escape.” Stephanie was getting furious again. “Well, I would like to see the liar do it again.” I just shrugged and told her to get the ropes.

Stephanie repeated her first attempt to tie me up. This time she took a little more care and did the ropes up tighter than she had the first time. Still, it was a repeat performance with a repeat mistake. Once I was tied up, she stepped back. “Okay, Jen let's see you get out of that.” I wriggled around in the ropes a little until I could get he knot where I could pick it loose. After about 2 minutes I managed to release it. After that, the rest was pretty easy and I was free in a total of about 4 minutes this time. Steph just stood there with her jaw almost hitting the floor. A mouth full of crow doesn't usually taste good, and she was getting a full course dinner of it right now.

“See, I told you I didn't untie her. She can do that on her own.” Ashley offered with a smug look on her face. Finally, Stephanie swallowed her pride and offered me an apology on the matter. “Sorry I called you a liar Jennifer. I guess you're a better escape artist than I am. It's just that it took me so long to escape and you got out in like 2 minutes.” I nodded. “It's okay Steph, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I was in your shoes. Next time, though don't tie the ropes so tight; that can hurt if you do it up really hard like that. The ropes need to be snug, but if they are that tight they can really get uncomfortable in a hurry.” Steph nodded and apologized again, this time for drawing the cord so tight. I decided to go ahead and point out her mistake. I wasn't planning to rub it in any more, I just thought she should know how to tie someone up properly. Especially, if she was going to make a habit of tying me up on any sort of a regular basis.

“It looks to me that you're still kind of new to this whole thing. At least in the application of how to tie someone up properly. Just now, you made a couple of amateur mistakes. Do you want me to show you how to tie someone up correctly so that they cannot escape in 5 seconds?” Stephanie responded. “Alright, I came to college to learn, and I guess this will be a valuable first less on the matter.” It was decided that a lesson was in store for the whole matter. I headed over to the bed where I had left the ropes that Stephanie had used to bind me. I collected one of them and came over to where she was standing. “Alright, let's get started with this whole thing. I can explain it to you, but it would probably be better if I showed you. Would it be okay if I tied you up one more time for demonstration purposes? I'll still let you tie me afterwards to get even on the matter if you still want to.” I stood there awaiting her response.

“I already got tied up twice this weekend, maybe you should tie Ashley up instead. That way I can watch you do it on her.” The suggestion was a good one. I don't know whether she was just tired of being the one who got bound or if she was trying to draw Ashley into the game. Either way, the response from our third roommate was the same as it was earlier that morning. “Hey, you two can do what you want, but keep me out of it. I already told you that I don't want to be tied up. I . . .” Ashley continued with her protest, but Stephanie cut her off. “Okay, you don't have to be tied up if you don't want to. We already had this conversation earlier today. I just thought it would be easier to see if Jennifer tied you up instead of me. But, since you're afraid Jen can just do it on me like she planned to in the first place.” Stephanie finished turning around and brought her hands together behind her back. A look of relief fell across Ashley's face and she dropped her defensive stand on the matter. “Okay let's get this show on the road.”

I approached Stephanie from behind and began working on the process of tying her up. I took care to take my time and explain each step as I did it. I began by tying an overhand knot around her left wrist and leaving about a 7 or 8 inch tail hanging from it. “Alright, you start by knotting one end of the rope around your prisoner's wrists like this. It will keep the rope from pulling loose while you're doing the coils and it keeps the other end free for when you want to tie the know at the end.” Stephanie was looking over her shoulder and listening carefully to my explanations as we went along. She didn't want to get embarrassed again. It would have probably been easier to watch if I had tied her hands in front, but they were already behind her back and I was already started. I began making coils around her wrists which, were parallel behind her back pointing downward with the palms inward. “Once you get started, you make coils around the arms with most of the rope. Pull it snug with each pass, but make sure that it's not too tight. You don't want them to escape, but you also want the ropes to be comfortable. You don't want to hurt the person your tying up. If they have on long sleeves, make sure the clothing is between the ropes and the skin to help keep if from digging it. You can also wear gloves or mittens if you want more protection.”

I made several wraps around Stephanie's wrists one after the other. I made a little tug at the end of each pass to tighten the ropes down a little. After I made about ten coils or so, I was down to the last foot and half of rope trailing from one of my hands. I began applying the center cinch to the tie and explained it's purpose to Stephanie. “Once, you get down to your last little bit of rope, you take the last length of it and begin to wrap it around between the hands.” Stephanie had not cinched my ties either, which helped contribute to my quick escape from being tied up. “This draws the ropes around the wrist more securely and prevents the prisoner from pulling their hands out of the coils of rope. You only need a few for it to be effective, but it helps to prevent escape.” I made about 3 or 4 passes around the center of her tied hands. I tightened the tie down gently and got ready for the finishing touch.

Stephanie watched and she was starting to see what made this method of binding someone so effective. “So, we're down to the last few inches of rope and we're at the most important part of the whole thing. Now, we're going to tie the knot that keeps the whole thing together. This is where you made your main mistake and what allowed me to escape from the tie so easily.” Stephanie watched me more closely and took in what I was saying. She was concentrating on every word that I put out on the matter. “Alright, first do you remember the little tail I told you to leave on the fist knot, this is where that comes in really handy. You take the tail and bring the remaining end up the middle of the tie like your doing another wrap. Then, you tie the ends together on top of the tie with a double knot and that does it. There is no way that your prisoner can escape without some real effort on the matter. The problem you were having before Steph, is that you were leaving the knot on the bottom of the tie rather than the top. If you tie somebody up and they can reach the knot, they can just untie it and the whole thing falls apart rather quickly. Do you follow me?”

Stephanie gave her new ropes a few good solid tugs. She tried moving up and down and pulling her wrists in a couple of different directions. She was back to square one. Struggling with her hand tied behind her back and not having any real means of escaping. She gave it another 4 or 5 minutes of struggling, before she finally gave in to being beaten. “Well Jen, I have to hand it to you. You're a lot better at tying somebody up that I was. I assume that you do the same thing when you tie somebody's feet together as well.” She waited a minute for me to respond. “Yeah, it's the same idea except that you run out of rope a little quicker. It really makes a difference on how you tie somebody up on whether or not they can escape.” I have a question for you.” Ashley spoke out. “The wrapping around the middle of the tie thing, that makes the ropes harder to get out of? How does it do that.” “I thought you weren't interested in all this stuff.” “I'm not, I was just watching and thought I would ask since I was curious.” Ashley responded to Stephanie.

I decided to put the matter to rest rather than start an argument. “Cinching the ropes off in the middle makes the tie into two coils of rope rather than one. It makes the rope more like a set of handcuffs with a cuff around each wrist rather than just a coil of rope. It is a lot harder to get out of being tied up like that if you use the middle ties. Does that clear it up Ash?” My roommate nodded and politely ducked out of the conversation without involving herself further in the matter. Stephanie was still standing there with her hands tied behind her back.

“Thanks for the lesson Jennifer, I guess there is a lot more to tying somebody up that it appears in cartoons. You really have some experience with this don't you?” I looked down a little embarrassed by the whole thing. Stephanie was right of course. I had a lifetime worth of experience at being tied up and I had picked up quite a bit along the way. I was more than happy to share my knowledge with everyone who was there, but I never really thought of myself as an expert on the matter until later on. However, it was really starting to show. I was going to suggest that I let her go, to give her a chance to return the favor. I got cut short, as a loud siren went off in the room and around the building. It was the fire alarm and it was really loud.

I am going to break this part of the story here. Everything works out fine, and Stephanie got a chance to practice her new wisdom on me. Ashley remained aloof for the rest of the week ahead. Stay tuned for the next part of the story.

Proofread by Rebbecca, thanks!

[Soraka]

Part 8 : The First Big Test

Hello again everyone. I am writing the next part of my story here. Last time I ended quite abruptly, but it seemed to be an okay place to part the story from where I was. Still, I apologize if I left anyone hanging too long on the last part. There has been quite a bit going on in my life right now.

It was growing later into Saturday evening of my first weekend at college. I had been showing Stephanie the ropes about how to tie someone up. (Sorry about the pun, couldn't resist.) Of course, the fire alarm had to go off right when we were in the middle of things. Well, the first thing that we all did naturally was panic. Especially Steph who was now standing in a burning building with her hands tied nice and snugly behind her back. Steph began to pull away from he and head for the door still tied. I caught her on the shoulder and went to work untying her hands. The whole process took about a minute and a half. I was a real expert at tying someone up. I was almost equally good at untying someone when we were under pressure. With the fire alarm blaring in the background, we were under pressure. Still, I was able to free Stephanie's hands after just a couple of moments of working the ropes free.

Once the ropes were off, the three of us headed out of the building as fast as we could. The Resident Assistant was standing at the top of the stairwell and told us to head down to the ground floor by taking the stairs. The place was rather crowded with everyone leaving the building at once. The dorm was only about 1/3 of the way full with the upperclassmen not having moved in yet, but it was still crowded on the stairwell. We made our way down to the lobby and out the front door of the building. All the time, the siren was blazing in the background. We headed outside and into the parking lot with the rest of the people. I was looking around for the smoke and the fire trucks and such, but there weren't any. After a short while, it appeared that everyone was out of the building. The three of us waited together to see what was going on. Eventually, the Resident Director came to the front of the huge group of people and began to speak.

“Everyone listen up and quiet down please.” He waited until everything quieted down before he continued to divert information. “Thanks everyone for your participation in the fire drill. We have a few of these a year and this one is went pretty well. Now, if you hear the siren like that it means that the building is on fire and you need to get out quickly. Take the stairs and stay away from the elevators. The next drill will be about half way through the semester and we will announce it. So, if you hear that alarm again between now and then it means we have a real fire. That or somebody burned popcorn in the microwave. Either way, head out here and get clear of the building until we give you the all clear to head back inside. Any questions?” He waited and got a few smart remarks, but nothing really serious in nature. “Well, the drill is over, so you can all head back inside and head up to bed.” With that, he lead the way as the mob of people headed back inside of the building after him. I had completely forgotten about the fire drill, but it all went rather smoothly.

There was a huge line for the two elevators. So, we decided to take the stairs back up to save time. We had moved that whole couch up them earlier, just ourselves went a little quicker. Upon returning to the room, we had some discussion about the fire drill and everything else that had gone on. Ashley let out a loud yawn after we had been back for a few minutes and the excitement had died down. “Boy, I am beat. It's been a long day. I don't know about you two, but I am going to get ready for bed and get some sleep.” They say you should never yawn in a dorm room. It can turn out to be quite contagious. I followed Ashley's Yawn with one of my own. I had got some sleep the night before, but not as much as I wanted. Stephanie, despite her usual late night sleeping, was in the same boat as the rest of us. She hadn't gotten much sleep either especially since she had spent half the night tied hand and foot with the two bathrobe belts. The response that came from both of us was similar to Ashley's suggestion.

Ashley and I hit the showers and got changed for bed. She wore the same sweatsuit as the night before with her slippers. I went with a fresh change of pajamas. They were the same style as the ones from the night before. I had 4 sets of them packed with me. They were all basically two piece cotton pajamas with a button shirt. Though, they differed in print and color. By the time we got back to the room, Stephanie was already laying on the sofa tucked in under her covers. It didn't take Ashley or me long to follow her example.

. . . . . . . . .

Morning came rather peacefully that Sunday without much trouble. I ended up sitting up in bead and yawning lifting my arms above my head. I woke up much more refreshed than I had the day before. No alarm clock going off at 4:00 in the morning. No forgetting about leaving Stephanie tied up on the sofa, nope, everything seemed to be going my way today. Ashley was seated over in the corner the room on my computer. She was reading something on the screen and didn't pay me much attention. I looked over at one of the alarm clocks. It was a little after 8. I pulled back the covers and put my slippered feet on the floor. I had been asleep since 9 the night before and forgotten to set an alarm when I went to bed.

I walked across the room slowly and came up behind Ash as quietly as I could. Still, she noticed my approach. “Good morning, get some sleep last night. You look rested.” Her voice was quiet, but not in a whisper. “I am just reading my email, I hope you don't mind. You said I could use your computer any time I wanted.” There was a warm and sincere smile on her face. Things seemed a little bit simpler this morning. “No, you're welcome to use my computer any time you want, if I am not using it first. So, when did you get up?” Ashley turned and looked at me. I noticed she had a cup of coffee sitting next to her. “I got it at burger king down the street. Though, they don't open until 6. I was up about an hour before that.” I looked at her blankly not sure how to respond. “I grew up on a farm, we learn to rise with the sun. With or without an alarm clock. It looks like Steph rise with the lunch bell.” I couldn't help but smile back at the last comment she added to the conversation.

Ashley got up for a moment and went over to the microwave. She opened it and put a cup in it and then hit the reheat button for about 1 minute. “I brought you some sugar, but I don't have any creamer. I am not sure how you take your coffee.” Ashley said looking over at me. Ashley wasn't dressed in her sweatsuit and slippers any more. She was actually dressed rather formally this morning. She was in a mid length dress with short sleeves and a pair of dress sandals. “I take it black in a cup.” I replied looking her over up and down. The whole outfit seemed out of place for her. “You look nice by the way. What's the occasion?” Ashley looked at me with a quiet smile. “Church, I am heading out in about an hour. My mother and I passed one on the way in and I thought I would go there. Your welcome to come if you want.” Ashley said with a warm smile on her face again.

Now, I was not a confirmed atheist, but my family usually went to church twice a year. It wasn't Easter or Christmas Eve at the moment so I was a little outside of my comfort zone. My mother had been raised as a Catholic, and she managed to drag us to mass twice a year. She sometimes went with her sister Bonnie when she went out to visit my aunt for a weekend. Still, I wasn't a normal church goer growing up. I was still trying to find a polite excuse when the microwave went off with a couple of short beeps. I went over and opened the door looking down at the cup. There was a quick and solid movement behind me. “I smell coffee! Stephanie lurched up quickly in bed as the smell came from the microwave to her nose. “Yeah, I picked some up at Burger King earlier this morning. I was just warming a cup up for Jen, I got one for you as well.” I could see a look of both disappointment and happiness across Stephanie's face at the same time. I knew like what she heard, but was a little annoyed at having to wait. I decided to offer her my cup and wait for the next one. Stephanie took it quite happily and took a few sips. “Ash you're the best.”

Ashley smiled at the comment. “You're welcome, I thought I would bring you both a cup back with me. It would be rude otherwise.” Stephanie took another couple of swallows of her beverage before responding. “Thanks a lot Ash, I knew I forgot something. I need to get my coffee maker out here. I'll have to head home Friday and get it.” Ashley nodded. “Jen and I are going to head down to church in a little while. Do you want to come with us?” Stephanie nodded and asked where we would be going to. It's a little Lutheran Church, about a mile and a half up the road. I looked over at Ashley not having actually accepted her invitation yet. “I guess I can come, but I don't have anything really to wear. “ Ashley looked at me for a moment. The excuse wasn't all that formal, but it was the best I could think of at the moment. “What about that dress you wore on Friday, that would be more than formal enough.” The microwave beeped signaling the end of my cup of coffee heating up.

“That has been at the bottom of the closet for two days. I am not sure that it's clean enough to wear.” Stephanie put an end to the whole matter quickly. “Then throw on some blue jeans and a clean shirt like I am going to. I am sure nobody will notice.” I took the coffee out of the microwave and got myself a sip. Steph took another of her's as well. “You know, we really need to get some milk up here. Coffee just isn't coffee without it.” Ashley spoke up as well. “And just where do you plan to keep it?” The fridge is already full with all that pop you bought yesterday.” Stephanie finished her last sip of coffee. “I guess I will have to bring my fridge back out when I go home this weekend. The one just isn't enough. Besides, I know where we can put it. Between the bed and the sofa. There is plenty of room. “All right, I am going to get a shower and change. We'll take my van when you two are ready to go.”

Ashley nodded as Steph left the room with a clean change of clothes and her bath towel “I head out for a minute as well Jen, so that you can change.” With that Ashley followed Steph's lead out of the room and left me by myself. After they left, I was left alone with my thoughts sifting through the closet trying to find something to wear. I hadn't even said that I wanted to go, but everyone else seemed to answer for me on the matter. Oh well, I thought it's not like it's going to kill me. I rummaged through my closet and collected the dress I had worn on Friday. I had hung it up after changing. It was a little wrinkled, but not too bad. I sipped into a pair of white tights and slipped it on over my head. I finished off the outfit with my maryjanes and waited for my friends to return. After a while, Steph came back wearing Jean and a polo shirt with a nice collar. Soon after the three of us departed down to the lobby and out to Stephanie's van. It was more of a minivan, with three rows of seats counting the driver and front passenger seat. Still, it beat walking a mile in the summer warmth.

Ashley let me have the front seat and rode in the second row. Steph drove us and soon we were heading into the small church just up the road from the college. I am going to skip the details of the service itself. This story is getting long already as it it. It wasn't quite like what I was used to. Still, it was a warm and inviting atmosphere and I didn't regret coming as much as I thought I would. Afterwards, Steph droves us back and we headed down to the cafe for a quick brunch. However, our return trip to the dorm was an interesting experience. All of the upper class-men were moving into the dorm when we arrived. I would have to say that about 45% of our population in the building were freshmen, but still there were a lot of people moving in amongst the chaos. Still, we managed to make our way back up the room without much of a fuss. We headed inside and sat down. We were just happy to get away from the hustle and bustle going on outside.

The church service had been nice and I thanked Ashley for the invitation. I finally let the cat out of the bag about my whole inexperience with religion. Stephanie commented as well. Her family wasn't much of a Sunday morning church goers either. However, several of her friends from high school went and she sometimes joined them on Sunday mornings. She didn't belong to any particular church either. Ashley was a protestant raised in the Methodist tradition, but she was just as much at home where we had gone as anywhere else. He grandfather was a Lutheran minister. We put the whole thing behind us and moved on with the rest of our day. Ashley stayed in her dress, but exchanged her sandals for her pika slippers. Stephanie and I just stayed as we were. This wouldn't have been an out of place outfit for me at home during the day. There were times I just liked getting dressed up and went with it for the day. However, there was still one piece of unfinished business to deal with.

“So, Jen now that lunch is out of the way. You promised to give me a chance to tie you up yesterday. Would now be a good time?” I nodded at her again. “Sure, go ahead, just make sure you close the door first I don't want someone to walk in on us by accident.” Steph said that would be fine and made her way over to the door to close and lock it for some privacy on the matter. Next, she got one of the lengths of rope from her closet and closed the door before bringing it over to where I was standing. I had already turned around and brought my hands together behind my back and into the position that I had used to teach Steph how to tie someone up the night before. “Not too tight, I want to be comfortable if I am going to be trussed up all afternoon.” Steph came forward and looped one end of the rope around my left hand with an overhand knot. “Don't worry, I won't do it too tight.” I looked over my shoulder as the coils of rope encircled my wrists securely and began drawing them together. Stephanie was slow and methodical about her approach. She took her time and seemed determined to get the job done right the first time.

She went through the motions as I had taught her the night before. When she finished binding my hands, she knotted the rope off on top of the tie like I had shown her. Then she stepped back and asked me to check out her work. I gave the ropes the usual tugs and felt around trying to reach the knot. It wasn't the best job ever done in the history of tying somebody up, but it was a whole lot better that the night before. I wouldn't be able to slip out of it without a considerable amount of work or some help from somebody else. “You did a much better job this time around, I don't think I am going to be able to get out of this nearly as easily as last night.” Stephanie smiled obviously pleased with herself on the matter. “Let me tie your feet together too before you start trying to escape. By the way where do you want to be tied up?” The question was a less obvious one than the night before. Steph and I had both been trussed up sitting on the floor in front of the couch before. However, the bed was still out and that space was currently occupied. “Could I sit on the couch? That is if you don't mind.”

Stephanie's nodded and replied, “Sure you can if you want to. Just let me clean it up a little first. I stood there with my hands tied behind my back for a few minutes while my roommate removed her bedding from the sofa bed and threw it into her closet. Then, she folded the bottom part of the couch back up and put the cushions on it concealing the bed below us. Once that was done, Stephanie bowed slightly and offered to let me have a seat on the sofa. I took her up on her request and sat down facing forward with my feet on the floor. Not long after I seated myself, Stephanie was sitting right by them and began the process of binding them together with the second piece of rope. She did it the same way she did my hands. She made about 8 coils around my ankles and cinched them off in the middle. Then, she knotted the ends together and I was really secure.

Once I was secured properly, Stephanie stepped back and asked me if I could try and escape. I decided to humor her and squirmed around testing the ropes quite a little bit. They were properly tied and I didn't find a fault I could exploit at current. After about 5 minutes of struggling, I just sat back and admitted defeat on the matter. Stephanie seemed really pleased with herself and declared that I was going to stay that way for at least the next hour since I couldn't escape on my own. My response was asking her to turn on the TV for me so that I could watch it while I was tied like this. It was a fair request and it was quickly granted, although I didn't get to choose the channel. I shifted a little against the ropes and tried to right myself so that I could see the television a little easier. “Steph, would it be okay if I put my feet up on the sofa and lie down a little? I thought I should ask first.” Stephanie replied that it would be fine if I wanted to.

I shifted my position so that I was half sitting and half laying with my feet stretched out forward and my back was supported halfway by the armrest on the sofa. I was still sitting up for the most part with my feet stretched out in front of me. I gave the ropes a few more good tugs and noted that they were quite secure and escaping wasn't on the horizon for me. Stephanie pulled up the chair from her desk and sat next to me joining in watching the television. Ashley climbed up into her bed and started playing Pokemon. She switched her attention between the gameboy and the program on television. I really didn't pay much attention to what she was doing as I was facing away from her and the ropes had my immediate attention.

Now, anyone who has read any of my earlier stories know that I could have gotten free of this without an amazing effort on my part. I would have had to work my hands to the front and worked the knot free with my teeth. Then untied myself from there. However, this was the first time I had actually been tied up half decently since I started my college experience. I was relaxed and rather comfortable at the moment. The truth of the matter was that I really didn't want to be untied at the moment. There was that, and the matter that it was still a rather warm day in the dorm room. With the windows open and the fans on, it was bearable. But, it was still warm and I wasn't dressed for struggling at the moment. I didn't want to get all hot and sweaty just to get free of the ropes. So, I just decided to stay put and relax for a while. Besides, I didn't want to give all my secrets away just yet.

The first hour went by without a hitch. I just sat there and enjoyed the way the ropes felt against my limbs. I was rather restricted in my movements and comfortable at the same time. Stephanie check on how I was doing after the first hour and offered to let me go if I wanted to. I said that I didn't mind staying tied u a little longer. So, I spent most of the rest of the first half of the afternoon trussed up rather securely on Stephanie's couch in our dorm room. About 45 minutes later, having to use the restroom prompted me requesting to be untied. At first Steph thought I was finally ready to admit defeat or getting sore from the ropes. When she heard my real reason, she just laughed and untied my hands for me. The were a little sore, and the ropes left some light markings. However, they disappeared in about half an hour. It was another interesting experience and one of my favorites from my first weekend at college. It was unfortunately the last time I was tied up before Wednesday evening that week. Stephanie ended up tying my feet to the end of my bed and my arms to the sides of the bed frame for an evening. This was done at my request of course. There isn't all that much of a story there to share. She tied me up and I went to sleep. I tied her up once as well for about half an hour later in the week as well.

The rest of the first week went by without much more TUGs going on. I hadn't expected all that from the two roommates that I received when I started college, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I would have a lot of fun experiences to share with them as the weeks moved along. Stephanie's rope work got better as me moved forward. For the week ahead, Ashley still remained aloof but tolerant on the matter. She watched our tie ups with a distance between herself and us. The three of us managed to get along despite a few differences and there was more in store. Much more than I ever anticipated on the matter. However, that is another story for another time.

Jennifer