The Roommates - Short Stories (F+/F+) - Story 4 (Part 3)

[AlexUSA3]

Karissa's ego gets the best of her. She's too controlling and demanding, and she makes her world hell without anyone else trying by her insistence on everything being played by her rules... she even expects to abide by different rules for TUGs. I don't mean limits, either. She thinks there's one rulebook for Floria and Camilla to obey and a different one for her, and naturally her rulebook gives her more freedoms as a captor than the others get.

[GreyLord]

The need for revenge is building.

[Mineira1986]

Cami tries to play nice, but why does everyone always have to take it too far, far beyond fun?
You are still using Explorer? That's an interesting choice...

I hope that wasn't a complain, heh. And I meant browser. Just typed quickly and Explorer came out. But I meant "browser". Sorry for the confusion.

Karissa's ego gets the best of her. She's too controlling and demanding, and she makes her world hell without anyone else trying by her insistence on everything being played by her rules... she even expects to abide by different rules for TUGs. I don't mean limits, either. She thinks there's one rulebook for Floria and Camilla to obey and a different one for her, and naturally her rulebook gives her more freedoms as a captor than the others get.

Ah yes, that pretty much describes Karissa.

The need for revenge is building.

Yes. Alas, the revenge would come in the first entry of The Roommates. These short stories may be considered as the prequels (sort of).

STORY 4: FIVE MONTHS BEFORE THE ROOMMATES 1
ONE WEEK AFTER FLORIA MOVED IN WITH KARISSA

PART 1

Plop. Plop. Plop.

The table tennis balls hit the wooden surfaces and bounced. From side to side, from player to player. Mac and the other eleven players trained in the Table Tennis Hall. Although training didn’t accurately describe Mac’s game. Despite her skinny look, Mac was the college champion and had very strong hits. Her straight red hair danced above her black-white striped tank top as she smashed her sparring partner for a second set.

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

Mac played more intensely than usual. She needed to get her competitive energy out of her system. As soon as she ended the training, she would meet with Barbara to test some new items and techniques. Mac got ready to serve. Her eyes moved to the Hall door from time to time, awaiting for her best friend to appear.

“1-0!”

She looked at the door again and served. The point didn’t last long and Mac was up 2-0. She cleaned her hand in her purple shorts. As her opponent prepared to serve, Mac glanced at the door. Barbara entered the Hall. Mac smirked. But she wasn’t alone. Behind her, the tall Floria walked in.

Plop. Plop.

“2-1!”

Mac winced. She asked her partner for a break and walked towards Barbara. Barbara met her halfway, leaving Floria behind.

“Hey yo. Mac! Ready to go?” asked Barbara.

Mac glanced at the big clock over the coach’s office and back at her sparring partner. She shook her head. She whispered and nodded at Floria, “What’s she doing here?”

“Funny story.” Barbara sighed. “I know we scheduled today for just the two of us. But, there’s been a situation. Karissa related.”

Mac placed her hands on her hips. “What kind of situation? Is she having trouble living with her best friend? Shocking. What a surprise. Since they both have incompatible personality types and their…”

“Geez, keep your voice down!” hissed Barbara. She looked at Floria, who hadn’t heard anything. “Karissa went loco. She took something Floria’s food from the fridge.”

Mac blinked three times. “Oh no. I wonder if they’ll the military police to solve this case.”

“Hey, that’s a big deal. You don’t take another people’s things.”

“Are we doing this or what?” the sparring partner yelled.

“Give me a second, OK?” yelled Mac back. She turned back to Barbara. “Question. Did they agree on specific levels where to place their foods and drinks?”

“Uh? What does that have to do with it?” Barbara crossed her arms.

“It means, if they did establish rules and fridge disposition, then there’s no reason to…”

“Oh, so you’re siding with Karissa here?”

Mac dropped her arms. “Look, I’m not siding with anyone. I’m just saying that following the correct disposition…”

“Sounds like siding with Karissa…”

“I’m not side… Look, I’m not doing right now. We agreed on a session. We. You and me. What’s Floria doing here?”

Barbara bit her lower lip. “I told her she could come. Great idea, right? What? Oh, stop bitching and be a good friend, will you?”

“Will I?” Mac glanced at Floria. “Fine. I’ll be a good friend. If she behaves…”

“She will.”

“And if she…”

“Mac! I’m serving!” the sparring partner yelled.

Mac pointed at Barbara. “I need to finish my training.”

The remaining of the set didn’t last long. If Mad had been playing strong, she unleashed the beast for the last set. And slaughtered her sparring partner in quick nine consecutive points. Once the match ended, Mac approached Barbara and Floria next to the door. Floria greeted her with a nod and a plain “Mac”.

“Greetings to you too”, replied Mac with a raised eyebrow.

“So, what are we doing today?” asked Floria.

We? thought Mac. Barbara gave her a warning look. Mac forced a smile. “We were planning on testing some restraints tonight.”

“Oh, like an escape challenge?”

“No, it’s not.” Mac opened her big sports bag and showed them a black plastic bag inside. “We were going to time each other with each restraint and then tabulate the results…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, escape challenge, whatever.” Floria dismissed Mac with her hand. “What you got in here?”

Before Mac could close or move the bag away, Floria snatched the black plastic one. Mac cocked her head and stared at Barbara with an open mouth. Barbara stopped her with her hand and tapped Floria’s shoulder.

“Flo, maybe we should wait and move to a less crowded space.”

Floria looked at the two other girls. “Fine.”

Mac extended her hand. Instead, Floria took the bag and walked to the coach’s office, which was closed and empty. Mac exchanged another surprise look with Barbara.

Barbara raised her hand. “You said…”

“I know what I said”, hissed Mac. “And you said that she…”

“Oh look.” Barbara pointed at the clock. “Training time is over. You do your, captain… thing and I’ll keep Floria under check. No worries.”

Barbara made an uneasy smile. Mac tightened her jaws and snorted. “Fine!”

She walked away and called the other players. Time was up and they needed to leave. Since the coach and teacher were gone, Mac had the responsibility to clean up everything and lock the Hall. The players started to pack their things. Mac took a deep breath and walked to the office.

“Hey, look!” Floria exclaimed, taking out a couple of flex cuffs from the black bag. “Zip-ties.”

Mac snatched them from Floria’s hand and put them back into the bag. “Those are flex cuffs. And will you keep it down?”

The other students were more worried about their own business and hadn’t heard anything. Floria rolled her eyes. “Is this what you guys wanted to try? I’ve read about this. There are like tons of ways to get rid of zip-ties.”

“Flex cuffs. And no. I’ve ranked them like fourth on my Excel sheet, based on material and…”

“Yeah, yeah. So zip ties, huh?” Floria took them out of the bag and checked them. “I bet I could get rid of these in like a minute.”

Mac snatched them again and put them back inside. “Flex cuffs. And no, it won’t be a minute. You see, the thing about flex cuffs is…”

Floria grabbed them again. “You know there are like tons of YouTube videos about how to get out of zip ties, right?”

“Half of them are fake. It’s not that easy to get out of flex cuffs.” Mac reached for them, but Floria moved them far from Mac’s reach.

Mac stared at Barbara. Barbara scratched her curly black hair and looked at the rest of the Hall. Half of the students have already left. Half of them were still packing their stuff. She glanced at Mac, who kept her eyes fixed on Barbara and her hand stretched towards Floria.

Barbara cleared her throat. “So, girls… what about… you do turn this into an actual escape competition?”

[Beaumains]

Something tells me Floria will regret annoying Mac... And she let herself be tied up. My guess: Floria is unable to escape and hence remains tied (for too long).

“Karissa went loco. She took something Floria’s food from the fridge.”

I love this detail. It really immerses me into the world and the timeline.

[AlexUSA3]

If Mac's biting sarcasm gets any stronger, she'll break her own teeth.

Excel sheets to tabulate results... We're getting into serious nerd stuff here.

[DommeKirsten]

I love a good data base! Might have to do something that will annoy my victims some ha

[Caesar73]

Excellent @Mineira1986 - I love the idea of a competition. Somehow I have the feeling Floria will win that competition as easy as she thinks. Bring the popcorn and let the Games begin!

[Mineira1986]

Something tells me Floria will regret annoying Mac... And she let herself be tied up. My guess: Floria is unable to escape and hence remains tied (for too long)

Excellent @Mineira1986 - I love the idea of a competition. Somehow I have the feeling Floria will win that competition as easy as she thinks. Bring the popcorn and let the Games begin!

Well, we shall see.

If Mac's biting sarcasm gets any stronger, she'll break her own teeth.

Excel sheets to tabulate results... We're getting into serious nerd stuff here.

Mac is quite a nerd. She even mentioned wanting Floria and Karissa to get personality tests in story 2. So more nerdy stuff is expected when Mac is around.

I love a good data base! Might have to do something that will annoy my victims some ha

Heh. Nice!

Part 2

At first, Mac refused the competition. As the Table Tennis Team Captain, and with the coach’s absence, she was in charge of cleaning up and closing the Hall. It took some taunts from Floria, calling her a chicken, to nudge Mac in the right direction. But the red-haired girl still had three objections.

First, it was a matter of “where”. The Hall was big, but it had large glass doors and even larger glass walls. Any person passing by could become a spectator. And the girls didn’t want that. Barbara pointed out that Mac had the key to the coach’s office. This was a small room located at one corner of the Hall. It had a wooden door and concrete walls, with only a window that faced the rest of the Hall, not the outside. It was the perfect place.

Again, Mac answered a “no”: the coach’s office was only for the coach. This time, Barbara convinced her. With the teacher coach absent, the Team Captain became a sort of temporal coach. That loophole was enough to overcome Mac’s second objection.

It came down to Mac’s duties as Team Captain. During the escape competition, and after, if she lost, she would be tied up. That meant she wouldn’t be able to clean and get the Hall tidy. And Mac had her specific standards to get it tidy. In the right way. Floria resumed her taunting and even threatened to leave. Barbara had to step up again and propose her idea.

“Are you sure you can get this tidy? I mean, really tidy?” asked Mac with her arms crossed.

“Yup. If that’s what it takes to get this escape competition done”, replied Barbara.

“Chicken", repeated Floria.

“Do you realize there are fifteen specific steps on how to get this Hall in order? And that they must be done in exact order, with the exact specifications?”

“Chicken.”

“Come on, Mac. I’ll do my best. You go and have some fun trying to escape.”

“Chicken.”

“Did you say fun? With… OK, OK, I’ll be a good friend…”

“Chicken.”

“I’ll be… Barb?”

“I’ll do my best, Mac. Gimme the instructions and we can start.”

“Chicken.”

“Fine. But you better follow each of my instructions. To the point.” Mac sent them to Barbara’s phone. “So, standard rules?”

They all knew what it meant. The two contestants would have their hands restrained behind their backs, and would have a time limit to try and escape. If one escaped and the other didn’t, then the winner would have her way with the loser. If neither succeeded, then a third party would keep them as prisoners. But if both managed to escape, the third party would become the captive.

“Wait. When did I agree to this?” asked Barbara.

Mac put her hand on Barbara’s shoulder. “You. When you said we needed to be good friends.”

“Whatever. Who wanna go first?”

Floria volunteered. Mac didn’t argue with her. Instead, she picked up her sports bag and left. She returned after changing her shoes, into purple ones with black thick shoelaces. Floria had her hands restrained behind her with the flex cuffs. She wiggled her wrists to test her binds. “Not bad, not bad. Comfy, actually.”

“Do not start your escape attempt. That’s cheating”, hissed Mac.

Barbara placed the flex cuffs on Mac and secured them. “Relax. Be a good sport.”

“I am a good..”

A playful pinch to her butt silenced Mac. She glared at Barbara, who shrugged and whispered to her to be a good friend. Barbara picked up her phone and the black plastic bag. “Alright, cleaning, dull time for me. And your ten minutes start… now!”

Barbara exited the coach’s office to clean up the hall and shut the door. Mac took a deep breath. She sat down on the floor, which made Floria snorted.

“Giving up already?”

Mac ignored Floria’s smug smile. “No. This is strategy.”

“Dumb strategy. Be prepared to be my prisoner, ‘cause I’m getting out as easy as… this!”

Floria raised her bound arms as far as they could go. And slammed her wrists against her back. The flex cuffs didn’t break. Mac raised an eyebrow and kicked off her right shoe. Floria attempted this a second and a third time. With the same unsuccessful result.

“That won’t work.” Mac removed her other shoe.

“Shut up. I saw this on YouTube. It totally…works!” Floria hit herself a fourth time.

“Yeah, if the flex cuffs are tight enough. Which isn’t the case.” Mac got up on her knees and crawled to her shoes.

Mac sat away from Floria. She smiled. Barbara had reminded her to be a good friend. But she hadn’t specified the how. “If you want to try your approach, I can help with that.”

“Ha, you just want to make things harder.”

“Have it your way then.”

Mac removed the shoelace from her right shoe. Floria gave her strategy another shot. But the restraint wouldn’t give in. She rubbed her wrists against each other. Her fingers looked for the stem to pull them, and make the flex cuffs tighter.

“Do you want my help?” asked Mac, pulling the shoelace from her second shoe.

“No.” Floria slammed her wrists against her back again. With extra strength. Which generated an involuntary moan. “Fine. Pull them tight.”

“And where’s the magic word?”

“Oh, just pull the freaking zip ties tight… please.”

“You sure? Because there is no way to loosen them once I…”

“Just do it!”

Floria turned around and Mac approached her from the ground. With her teeth, Mac pulled the stem as Floria pulled her wrists back. Floria tried her restraints again. “That’s tight.”

“Alright. Give it a go.”

The tall girl braced herself. She raised her hands and hit herself. And again. And again. The flex cuffs wouldn’t break. She wiggled her wrists to get into a better position. And she tried once more. Same result.

“What is… why it doesn’t work?”

Mac sat on the floor and put on her shoes again, as best as she could. Floria looked at her. Mac had put the shoelaces back on her shoes, but she had tied them as one, sole large shoelace. It ran from the right shoe, through her flex cuffs behind her, and into the left shoe. Mac raised her legs and started pedaling.

“What… are… you doing?” asked Floria, trying to catch her breath.

“Creating friction.” Mac pedaled and pedaled again. She leaned backward and put her weight on her back. The pedaling got more intense. “The friction should burn into the stem and break it. It should take some more seconds.”

“That’s idiotic.”

“AHA!”

Mac dropped herself on the floor. Her hands and arms rested next to her. A broken stem lied next to her feet. She chuckled and rubbed her thighs. “God, that was intense.”

“Damn it.”

Floria came to a realization. Mac had escaped. That meant she needed to escape to avoid becoming Mac’s prisoner. She kicked off her shoes, one almost hitting Mac.

“Hey! Watch out!”

“Shut up. You cheated! You told me I needed to make the zip ties tighter!” grunted Floria as she picked up her first shoelace and sat down.

“You wanted to try your approach. And for that, the flex cuffs needed to be tight.” Mac got on her knees and raised her broken flex cuffs in front of Floria’s face. “However, I did tell you it wouldn’t work. This headlock is beefier than what zip ties have. You need to have friction.”

“Shut up!”

Mac crossed her legs and watched Floria. It took her one minute to pick up her other shoe, remove the shoelace, and tie it to the other shoelace. Floria put on her shoes and dropped herself on the floor. Lying on her back, she started pedaling like Mac had done.

“We should have some time before…”

“I said, shut up!”

The pedaling intensified. Floria’s face turned red. She kept going and going until…

“What the hell?”

The shoelaces broke. Floria panted for a moment. She raised her head and glared at Mac. “What kind of trick is this?”

Mac smirked. “No trick. You have old shoelaces. Newer would work better. Or you could have come prepared.”

Mac pointed at her shoes. Floria blinked. Those weren’t regular shoelaces. They looked different. “Paracords?” asked Floria.

“You’ve got it correct. Parachute cords. ABR. Always Be Ready.” Mac nodded. “Now hurry up. You could still tie your shoelaces again and retry. And again, and again…”

That was Floria’s only option, besides surrendering. She tried to sit up and grab them. One slipped and she grunted. Time was running. Floria took the laces and tried to tie them together. But the flex cuffs were too tight. Floria’s face turned red as her fingers rushed to get the laces tied together. Only for them to break a second time.

“Damn it!”

Mac watched with interest. She kept her eyes narrowed and tried her best poker face. Floria went for the broken laces a third time when Barbara opened the door.

“Time’s up, ladies!”

“Nooooo!”

[GreyLord]

That was interesting. Now Floria is in trouble.

[Beaumains]

Nice chapter. I think Floria got what she deserved and what was coming. Her confidence was so brazen you would almost think she wanted this to happen. I am sure Mac will make sure she learns her lesson.

While scrolling through the story I noticed this:

STORY 4: FIVE MONTHS BEFORE THE ROOMMATES 1
ONE WEEK AFTER FLORIA MOVED IN WITH KARISSA

So Flo and Kari survived 5 months with each other? That's a lot longer than I would expect.

[Caesar73]

That was interesting. Now Floria is in trouble.

Somehow I guessed that would be the case Now she will pay up!

[Mineira1986]

That was interesting. Now Floria is in trouble.

Oh yes, she is.

Nice chapter. I think Floria got what she deserved and what was coming. Her confidence was so brazen you would almost think she wanted this to happen. I am sure Mac will make sure she learns her lesson.

Thanks.

So Flo and Kari survived 5 months with each other? That's a lot longer than I would expect.

I remembered that the flashbacks in The Roommates 2 happened about 2 and half months before The Roommates 1, and Floria and Karissa were already in bitter terms by then. So I kind of needed to establish a timeline before that. So technically it would be 2 and a half months trying to live with each other, and 2 and a half months when they are just sick of their roommates.

Now she will pay up!

Yes, she will!

Part 3

“That was so freaking unfair!”

Mac chuckled at the fifth of Floria’s protests. She had added her rope cuffs on top of the flex cuffs already on Floria’s wrists. Mac applied another set of rope cuffs to Floria’s ankles. She attached the coil to Floria’s hands, restricting her movement.

“Is this necessary?”

“Like you wouldn’t have done the same if you had won,” replied Mac.

Barbara snorted. “Looks fun.”

Floria glares at Barbara. “You would’ve so been in this situation if it hadn’t been for Mac’s stupid magic shoelaces.”

“There’s nothing magic about being prepared.” Mac fetched inside her bag. “Now, I had this little thing prepared for Barbara. But since you stepped in, I might as well use that with you.”

“What is that?” asked Barbara.

Mac held an orange table tennis ball. It had two cuts in the middle, at opposite sides. A black elastic strap ran through the cracks and looped all the way around. Mac tested the elasticity and grinned. “What do you think?”

“Dope.”

“Is that…?” Floria grunted. “Keep that thing away from my mouth.”

Mac fetched for her alcohol spray and disinfected the orange ball.

“I said keep that thing away from my mouth.”

Barbara chuckled. “Oh, come on, big Flo. You played the game, you lost. Deal with it.”

“The hell I will.”

“You wanted in, remember?” said Barbara. “You agreed to the escape competition. Not my fault that Mac was smarter.”

“Or cheater.”

“Hey! Learn how to lose. Open up. Don’t be such a bad loser.”

“Oh, bite me.”

Barbara’s look turned dark. She walked in silence to Mac and took the orange ball from her hand. Still quiet, she approached Floria.

The tall girl didn’t have much of a choice. Barbara placed the homemade ball gag in her mouth and secured the straps behind Floria’s head. The tennis ball wedged between Floria’s teeth. Floria glared at Barbara with her black eyes as her curly hair fell over her right cheek.

“Sore loser.” Barbara booped Floria’s nose. “Let me get you more comfortable.”

Floria had been on her knees while Mac restrained her. Now, the red-haired captor led her to the floor, face down. Floria grunted through her gag.

“I knew we had to test it first,” said Barbara.

Floria didn’t have enough time to brace herself for the pinch that Barbara gave to her bottom. It did generate a loud muffled curse, though. The two girls chuckled. Mac took Floria’s discarded shoes and carefully placed them next to the desk with careful.

“Now, to the victors…”

“I think she needs a time out,” said Barbara, walking out of the coach’s office. Mac blinked and looked from side to side. Barbara cleared her throat. “We can take that time to check on my work.”

“Mmm, OK. Wait here.” Mac told Floria and turned to Barb. “Wait.”

Floria began her struggle. Mac shut the door behind her and tapped Barbara’s shoulder. “Are you OK? You seem mad.”

“I don’t seem mad. I seem even.”

“That’s not the expression.”

“Whatev'.” Barbara puffed. “What? Aren’t you gonna grade me or something? You like to grade stuff. Hope that doesn’t come with a punishment.”

Mac blushed. “It didn’t cross my mind, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Let’s see.”

To Mac’s surprise, Barbara had followed her instructions as best as she could have hoped. Mac had a particular, very specific way of doing things. And that included cleaning up and tidying up the Table Tennis Hall. Each girl who had a captaincy treated it differently. Karissa focused too much on her training and gave lots of freedom to her Athletics teammates. Gaby liked to pull strings and get gossip from the other captains. Mac was very fond of strict procedures. And she liked things done her way.

“Tables stashed in 35 degrees instead of 45, that has to improve… Chairs stashed in even numbers, that’s good. Did you use the recycling bin?”

“I did. Just like you said it,” asked Barbara.

“In a minute. The water… that’s the right temperature. Well, you lived to your expectations, Barbara.”

“Yi liv ti yir ixpictitins,” mocked Barbara. Mac stared at her in disbelief. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just… I thought it would be more fun. Wasn’t expecting Floria to be such a sore loser.”

“Because she had been such a fair one in the past?” asked Mac. “It was your idea to get her involved.”

“I know…”

“And it was you who said that I needed to be a good friend.”

“I know! I thought it’d be fun.”

“It can still be fun.” Mac winked. “Wink.”

“You don’t have to say ‘wink’. Just the wink is enough.” Barbara shook her head. “And how does this work with being a good friend?”

Mac looked at her sides. “Well, for starters, that may take her problem with Karissa out of her mind… Maybe?”

“Mmm. Maybe. Could work.” Barbara cocked her head. “At least we could try.”

“It never hurts to try. But first, the honors.” Mac sent a text to Barbara’s phone.

“B+.” Barbara frowned. “B for Barbara? B for Best?”

Mac blinked. “Yeah… sure… why not? Come on.”

The two girls returned to the coach’s office. Floria had tried her best to get free of her restraints. Like the flex cuffs earlier, she hadn’t succeeded. Mac’s rope cuffs held her tight. Floria, trapped in her hogtie, continued her struggle on the floor.

Mac clicked her tongue. “Why is everybody such a bad sport?”

“I don’t know, but it sure gives us reasons for punishment!”

“MMPHH!”

Barbara sat behind Floria and raised her gray t-shirt. Floria protested to no avail. Barbara poked her exposed ribs and soon, the tickling started. Floria thrashed her bound body left to right, right to left. There was no escape. She bit into the orange ball gag. After a few minutes, Barbara stopped and tapped Floria’s jean-cladded thigh.

“Mac, you’re up.”

Mac disinfected her hands with the alcohol spray and removed Floria’s socks. She placed them inside Floria’s socks and disinfected her hands again. Mac sprayed some of the alcohol on the bare soles, causing an involuntary giggle from Floria. Barbara patted Floria’s curly black hair.

“Be strong. OK?”

“Nmmph!”

Mac scratched Floria’s feet with a single finger. Floria grunted. But again, she had nowhere to go. Mac tickled her soles with both of her hands. Floria struggled and twisted her body. The hogtie left her feet exposed with no protection. The tall captive tried to cover one foot with the other, in a desperate attempt to slow down Mac. But the red-haired girl grabbed her ankles with one hand and let her other one do the tickling.

“There you go.” Barbara ran her fingers through Floria’s hair after the tickling had ended. “You did great, Flo.”

“Mmpph… mmphh…”

“Don’t need to get all fuzzy.” Barbara tapped Floria’s behind twice. “We are almost done.”

“Almost?”

Barbara grinned. “Of course. We haven’t got to the spanking part.”

“Nmphh!”

“Barb, you said…”

“I know what I said. And I know you said last week that I couldn’t do that to Karissa since she hated it.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“But Floria doesn’t hate it.”

Floria didn’t hate it. But she wouldn’t say she liked it. A part of her thanked that it wasn’t Karissa on the other side. The other part of her wished she had won the escape contest. It didn’t matter now. Barbara helped her to get, from face down on the floor, to up on her knees. Barbara cleared some of Floria’s curly hair away from her red face. Floria took this window to glare at Barbara.

“Ah, you’ll love this. Be a good sport. Remember: you would’ve done the same if you had won.” Barbara booped her nose. “Now, assume the position.”

Barbara helped Floria to bend forward. Despite her frustration, Floria didn’t resist. Soon, she was pressing her forehead against the coach’s office floor, bending on her knees, leaving her behind as an easy target.

“How are you going to do it?” asked Mac.

“Well, we are in the Table Tennis Hall, right?”

Mac huffed. But she knew there was no way to change Barbara’s mind. She opened the lower drawer of the coach’s desk and retrieved a spare paddle. She tossed it to Barbara.

“Thanks!” said Barbara. She moved the paddle until it touched Floria’s bottom and kept it there. “Feel that? The sooner this goes, the sooner we end. And you will count the smacks. Got it?”

Floria grunted back. She had no other choice. Barbara raised the paddle.

“And one!”

“Mmph!”

“And two!”

“Mmmph!”

A total of five good smacks fell on Floria’s rear. And Floria counted them all. They weren’t hard. They stung but didn’t hurt. If anything, Floria wondered how this could be a good punishment, in case she needed to put Karissa in her place. Eventually.

Barbara tossed the paddle back to Mac, who disinfected it and stored it back in its drawer. Barbara rubbed Floria’s behind to soothe any of the pain. And to taunt her. “There you go. Such a big, good girl.”

“Grmph…”

The untying process began. The two girls rolled Floria on her side and worked on the knots.

“So, should we get ready for some revenge?” asked Barbara.

“Well, yes. Thanks to Gaby, they owe us.”

Barbara shook her head. “I mean, for this one.”

“This one was fair and square. I won the contest competition. The rules were clear.”

“Mmmphh…”

“Sure, sure, I’m totally confident Floria will understand that.” Barbara winked at Floria.

Floria glanced at Barbara. She blew hard through her nose. Rules or no rules, she knew she had to be smarter. She stayed still on the floor, listening to the girls’ chat. She had to wait until the girls had released her. And the girls took their sweet, sweet time.

[AlexUSA3]

Well that was an interesting series of developments in that chapter. Mac suffers from a beautiful case of germophobia that I find completely relatable. It will be interesting to see if someone uses this against her later.

I also see that using random balls as gags is contagious.

[Beaumains]

Nice addition. It flows well.

I have to agree, Floria is a poor sport. I am still not understanding her plan. Does she secretely love being tied up? Or was she just showing her typical hubris?