Under Her Thumb

Mary Piper had a good life. It wasn't a great life, but it was certainly a good one. As a straight A student, she had few worries about getting the grades required to attend her university of choice. Outside of school her days were spent joyfully filling her time with the things she loved; reading, hiking, arts and crafts. It was a peaceful life, and one with which Mary was very content.

Her social life however was a rather different story. Being a total introvert, she struggled to make friends and spent most of her time alone or in the company of her mother. Mary didn't mind too much, but sometimes she would look longingly at the other girls laughing and joking together, or walking arm in arm down the street with their boyfriends, and desperately wish she could have that kind of bond with someone of her own age.

So it came as something of a surprise when one lunchtime, as Mary sat alone eating the lunch her mother had packed for her, someone slid into the chair beside her and proceeded to strike up a conversation. Not just anyone either, but Jasmine Summers; The hottest, most popular girl in school!

Jasmine was pretty much Mary's polar opposite. The two girls had both turned 18 within a week or so of each other, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Mary was shy and retiring, Jasmine was bubbly and outgoing. While Mary hadn't a friend in the world, Jasmine seemed to collect them like stamps. Where Mary was smart and driven, Jasmine was lazy and barely scraped a D in most classes.

"Hey hun, how you doing?" Jasmine asked with a wolfish grin, chomping on a bright pink stick of bubble-gum.

Mary stared back in a state of shock. Jasmine had never said so much as a word to her, aside from the usual mocking comments and cruel tricks she played on anyone she and her gaggle of sycophantic friends deemed an easy target. Mary had spent many a lunch hour hunting for her gym kit or textbooks that Jasmine or one of her followers had hidden for their own amusement.

"Er, well I guess I'm doing alr..."

"Great," Jasmine interrupted, nonchalantly blowing a bubble with her tongue. "Hey, are you doing anything after school tomorrow?"

Again, Mary's brain struggled to form a response. How was it that being this close to someone so beautiful could be so intimidating! It wasn't that Mary was ugly. Sure, her thighs were maybe a tad thicker than she'd have liked, her chubby ass wobbled when she walked and her slight belly was certainly more flab than toned muscle; but she had a pretty face, luscious brown hair and a pair of breasts that often had the boys staring! Still compared to the beautiful Jasmine Summers, Mary felt unworthy of even breathing the same air.

"N-no, I mean, no I erm, I don't think I've got any plans," Mary stammered.

"Perfect, you can come to my house after school then and help with that big Geography project we got set last week. I'm really struggling to get it finished and I need someone to help me out."

Mary couldn't believe her ears! How could someone who had spent the last seven years either ignoring or outright bullying her just presume she'd go out of her way to help with her work? Mary wanted to tell her where to go, yet somehow under Jasmine's intense gaze she couldn't quite get the words out. Maybe it was because helping others was in her nature, or maybe deep down she just really wanted to finally make a friend. Either way Mary felt utterly unable to refuse her.

All the while these conflicting emotions played out in Mary's head, Jasmine simply looked on expectantly, twirling a strand of her jet black hair between her fingers as her eyes sparkled with amusement. When Mary finally replied, her answer surprised neither of them.

"Yeah, alright then. I've already finished the project, so it shouldn't be too hard to give you a hand with yours."

"Okay good, but make sure to do some more reading, I don't want anyone to think I just copied you."

With that Jasmine pushed out her chair and made as if to leave, but at the last minute paused thoughtfully, spat the wad of gum she'd been chewing into her hand and held it out to the dumbfounded Mary.

"Actually, one more quick thing, I'm in a bit of a hurry, can you find a bin and get rid of this for me?" She asked, as though it was a perfectly reasonable request.

Mary looked at the saliva coated ball of gum with pure revulsion. She wanted nothing more than to slap away Jasmine's hand and tell her in no uncertain terms that just because she agreed to help with her homework, that didn't mean she could be ordered around or treated like some kind of serving girl.

Yet that's not what Mary did at all. Instead, for some inexplicable reason she didn't quite understand, Mary had nodded, reached out and plucked the chewed-up gum from her new 'friends' hand. Jasmine had grinned down at her with a twinkle of victory in her eye.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow then!"

Jasmine had left her clutching the ball of used bubble-gum and staring dumbly at her half-eaten lunch, trying to make sense of what the hell had just happened. Not only had Mary agreed to go out of her way to help someone who'd shown nothing but disdain for her, but she'd been thanked firstly with a demand to do more research, and then by having her hand used as Jasmine's personal dustbin. What the hell was wrong with her? Mary didn't know it yet, but that was a question she would be asking herself a lot over the coming weeks and months, as her life descended into chaos.

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Despite her earlier doubts, Mary awoke the next morning filled with a fresh sense of optimism. Today might be the day she finally made a friend! As much as she loved her peaceful little life, she had to admit it could get a bit lonely. All the girls in the books she read seemed to go on the most amazing adventures with their friends, now maybe it was her turn.

Mary pulled herself out of bed, enjoyed a lovely hot shower and slipped on her favourite dress; a lovely yellow blouse with white polka-dots that her Mother had bought her to celebrate her 18th birthday. Perhaps it was because Jasmine always looked so glamorous, but today Mary felt an unusual urge to dress to impress.

As Mary headed downstairs to make herself some breakfast, she was stopped in her tracks by a sudden knock at the door. That was odd, she thought, who could possibly be calling at this early hour? Tentatively, she paced across and opened the door revealing to her surprise, a grinning Jasmine, looking if anything more stunning than ever.

The raven-haired beauty wore the most brilliant pair of white knee-high socks, which stretched from her black stiletto shoes, right up the lengths of her shapely legs to the top of her thighs. There was then a tantalising flash of skin between them and a very short tartan skirt, above which a ridiculously low cut, white shirt struggled to contain her bulging cleavage. Her face, with its perfect features and mesmerising green eyes, could have belonged to an angel; were it not smiling down at Mary in a similar fashion to which a cat might a cornered mouse.

"Morning sleepyhead," Jasmine chirped cheerfully.

"Er, morning," Mary stammered, confused and unsure what was happening. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to collect you silly," Jasmine said as though she were speaking to a child. "You promised to come and help with my Geography project, remember?"

"Well yeah I remember, you asked if I could come round after school."

"Did I? Oh well, I meant all day. There's a lot of work and you really need to get started."

Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing! Surely Jasmine must realise other people have lives and commitments? That people can't just drop everything to help her at a moment's notice?

"Okay well I'm really sorry, but I can't come right now, I've got school all morning. This afternoon is just a study period though, so I guess I could leave and come round at lunchtime if that helps?"

"No, I'm going to need you to come round right away," Jasmine said sharply. For a moment she looked annoyed, but within seconds that sickly sweet smile was back on her face. "Don't worry about school, you can just skip it."

From the way Jasmine spoke, you'd have thought she was asking for a small favour, something trivial that wouldn't really be any inconvenience to her. But Mary had never skipped school in her life! She'd never so much as forgotten a piece of homework, so the idea of doing something as serious as bunking off was unthinkable.

"I-I-I er..."

Mary wanted desperately to refuse, but the words were somehow caught in her throat. Jasmine was looking at her with a tight smile and a glint of menace in her eye; as though challenging her to refuse. The longer the moment went on, the clearer it became that Mary wasn't capable of meeting the challenge. Plus, she thought to herself, what harm could it possibly do to miss just one day of school? She was top of every class and sailed through any exam with straight A's, it wouldn't be hard to catch up. Whereas the chance to make a friend, especially one as outgoing and popular as Jasmine, might never come round like this again.

"I... I suppose missing one day wouldn't hurt," she agreed reluctantly.

"Great," Jasmine beamed, quickly turning and pacing back up the path. When Mary didn't immediately follow, she looked back and snapped her fingers. "Come on then, we don't want to waste any more time than we already have."

"Oh sorry," Mary called. "I haven't eaten yet. Is it alright if I quickly grab some breakfast?"

Jasmine sighed and gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes.

"Ugh no, I'm not waiting around while you stuff your face. I told you; we need to leave now."

Mary's cheeks turned red as she mumbled an apology, hastily slipped on her shoes and, pausing only to grab the bag of Geography textbooks she'd placed by the door last night, hurried after Jasmine without even saying goodbye to her Mother. The two of them walked in silence for a short while; Being so used to her own company, Mary wasn't exactly much of a conversationalist. Then suddenly, a thought struck her.

"Hang on, aren't you supposed to be in school too?" Mary asked curiously.

"No, I'm suspended," Jasmine tutted dismissively. "For bullying, can you believe it?"

"Bullying?"

Mary could most certainly believe it, but she felt telling Jasmine that probably wouldn't be the best start to their friendship.

"Yeah, I got caught by a teacher making Misty Weaver sit on an ants' nest," Jasmine couldn't suppress a chuckle at the memory. "I don't see how it can be bullying though. I didn't force Misty to do anything, I just pointed out the ants' nest and said I thought it would be really funny if she sat on it."

"You mean she just sat on an ants' nest because you asked her to?"

"Yeah, she did! It's really weird, I don't know if it's because I'm pretty or just like, really persuasive, but people always just seem to do whatever I tell them to. Do you know what I mean?"

Thinking back to the way she'd been so easily convinced to skip school, not to mention the bubble-gum incident yesterday lunchtime, Mary couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah, I guess," Mary replied as casually as she could, looking away to hide her flushed cheeks.

"It's super annoying, now Misty's parents have moved away so she can't see me anymore," Jasmine went on as if Mary hadn't spoken. "Misty was like my little friend who'd always come over to play with me when I got bored. I couldn't believe it when I heard she was leaving, but it's alright, because now I've got you to take her place!"

Though she couldn't put her finger on exactly why, something about those words sent a shiver running up Mary's spine. That feeling of unease remained with her as Jasmine led the way through a maze of twisting suburban streets, and to the door of an impressively large, Victoria era house on the edge of the city.

"My Mom's away for the night on business, so we've got the place to ourselves," Jasmine jangled her keys as she unlocked the door and led Mary inside.

Once they were in, Jasmine wasted no time in getting started; grabbing Mary by the hand before she even had a chance to look around and half dragging her down the hallway and up a polished wooden staircase to the first floor. The whole time Mary couldn't help but ogle Jasmine's peachy round ass, transfixed by the way it jiggled and bounced as they climbed each step. Stop that, she thought, shaking her head as she realised what she was doing. She was no lesbian, why was she thinking like this?

Jasmine's bedroom was large and luxurious, with a grand four-poster bed at its centre, stylish furnishings throughout and what looked like a very comfortable chaise longue beside the gleaming bay windows. Mary was led to the bed and gratefully accepted Jasmine's offer to take a seat. She perched on the edge of the fantastically soft mattress, pulled a wire-bound notebook from her bag and flicked it open to the notes she had spent last night painstakingly writing up.

Nerves threatened to get the best of her, but Mary steeled her mind. She may not be great with people, but this was where she shined. In her hands she held 5 pages of detailed notes and the outline of a top-class essay. She knew she could help Jasmine craft this into a brilliant project, and once they'd bonded over that, who knows where their friendship might take them

"Okay," Mary began, starting to feel a little more confident. "So, I don't know how much you've worked on this already, but I thought a good place to start would be..."

"Oh I haven't done any work," Jasmine interrupted. "I've been waiting for you to tell me what to write."

Before Mary could form a reply, Jasmine flopped lazily onto the bed next to her and shuffled so that she reclined in comfort on the mound of pillows piled across the bed sheets. Then to Mary's disbelief, the dark haired girl kicked off her black high-heels and casually thrust her stocking clad feet into her lap.

"Ahh that's so much better," Jasmine sighed contently. "Now go on, what was it you were saying?"

"I-I-I-erm," Mary spluttered, her newfound confidence deserting her at Jasmine's display of dominance.

"Come on, spit it out," Jasmine giggled.

Breathing deeply, Mary drew on every reserve of strength she possessed and attempted to compose herself.

"Well, I erm," she swallowed before continuing. "I was just saying that I thought we should start by writing a plan."

"Yeah, I think you should definitely do that," Jasmine looked on with disinterest. "What's the essay going to be about?"

"Er that's up to you I suppose, but I thought maybe coastal erosion might be a good..."

"Great, do that then. You'll have to do most of it though, I think I skipped that lesson."

"O-okay well that's no problem, I can help you with that. You see coastal erosion is when..."

Mary tried her best to ignore the feet on her lap and explain the ins and outs of coastal erosion to someone who clearly wasn't the slightest interested in the subject. The task proved rather difficult however, as Hasmine appeared to be far more amused by Mary's discomfort than paying any attention to what she had to say.

"...which is why this kind of environment is particularly prone to erosion. This is interesting because..."

Mary froze as she felt movement across her legs and a sudden, gentle pressure against her cheek. Jasmine had lifted her leg and now, with a wolfish grin on her face, seemed to be stroking her toes across Mary's face!

"W-what are you doing?!" Mary gasped.

"Oh nothing, just thinking how cute you look all hot and flustered like that. Do carry on."

Surely she couldn't be expected to carry on as normal with Jasmine's feet pushed against her face, could she? Mary looked on pleadingly, but Jasmine's foot stayed right where it was.

"O-okay, well y-you see it's important because in many coastal areas, limestone..."

"Hey can you do me a favour and tell me if my feet smell?" Jasmine interrupted yet again.

"W-what? Your feet?"

"Yeah I've been wearing these socks for a couple of days now and I want to make sure they don't smell."

"I-I-I-" Mary was lost for words. This wasn't normal behaviour! You couldn't just ask someone for something like this!

"Oh come on, it's no big deal. Just give my feet a little sniff and tell me if they smell."

Not allowing time to be refused, Jasmine pushed her feet into Mary's face so that her toes practically filled the terrified girl's nostrils.

"Come on, sniff my feet!"

Overwhelmed and not knowing what else to do, Mary gave in and breathed deeply through her nose; allowing the scent of the stale sweat that had soaked its way into Jasmine's stockings to flood her senses. The smell repulsed her, but at the same time Mary felt a strange thrill run down her spine.

"Well?" Jasmine asked expectantly. "How do they smell?"

"They're er, fine I guess," Mary stammered, unable to look Jasmine in the eye.

"Good, now check the other one."

This time Jasmine held her foot a few inches from Mary's face, forcing her to endure the added humiliation of bringing her nose to the sweat soaked socks herself. Without question, Mary began to sniff. Hesitantly at first, but with a little encouragement she soon found herself inhaling deeply; hating the fact that even as her cheeks burned red with shame, a part of her found it almost exciting.

"So?"

Jasmine abruptly pulled her foot away and smiled sweetly as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Y-yeah, er they're fine too."

"Ah excellent, you can never be too careful," Jasmine sighed with satisfaction. "Thanks for that hun, I knew I could count on you."

"Oh well, er, you're welcome."

"Honestly, I can't tell you how nice it is to have a little friend to help me out with personal stuff like this. Actually, it would be really helpful if you could do this every day. Maybe we could meet up at school and you can check my socks for me then?"

"A-at school!" Mary spluttered incredulously.

"Yeah, that would be perfect; we could do it in the bathroom. You could kneel on the floor, peel off my shoes and give my feet a good sniff to make sure they're nice and fresh!"

"Hey, wait I..."

"I guess the bathroom's pretty dirty, it probably won't be nice getting your face that close to the piss covered floor. But I reckon you'll be able to handle it."

"Woah, look I'm sorry but..."

"Oh don't worry we'll figure out the details later. Now what were you talking about before? Erosion or something?"

Mary blinked, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. After all that had just happened, Jasmine sat watching her with anticipation, seemingly expecting to return to their work without mentioning what had just happened. As though having Mary sniff her feet was no more unusual than having her pass over a pencil or lending her some money for the bus.

What was all that about her doing it every day before school too? That was a joke, right? Surely that had to be some kind of bizarre joke that Mary didn't quite understand. Jasmine couldn't possibly think Mary would actually do that, could she?

No, of course it was a joke. Mary almost rolled her eyes that she'd been gullible enough to fall for it. This must just be the kind of good natured teasing that was a part of normal friendships. Taking so long to realise that had Mary feeling like more of a social outcast than ever. Still, if that was ever going to change, now was her moment.

"Oh yes, I was erm, I was just saying how if we focus on coastal areas made up of..."

"Actually, you know what?" Jasmine butted in yet again. "This is just too boring for me to ever understand. I think it would be better if you just write the whole thing."

"W-what do you mean? I can't just write the whole thing for you. That would take hours!"