The Freshman

Chapter 20 - Jason's second speech

Jason's life returned to normal that Sunday afternoon, when he and Cecilia woke up and he had to return to his room. He got cleaned up, and then, without bothering to get dressed, returned to his studies. He knew that Ken was due back mid-afternoon and that Lisa and Mike would be back late in the evening. He decided to help Ken get ready for class the next day, but it was obvious that Lisa and Mike would have to make up their studies later in the week.

When Ken returned to Huntington Hall from his vacation, he decided to get cleaned up and head over to Jason's room. As had been normal for him since the beginning of the semester, he walked down the hallway to the bathroom naked, in silent protest against the university's inadequately small towels. From the bathroom he went straight to Jason's room, knowing that Jason probably would not be dressed either.

The two freshmen relaxed for a few minutes as they talked about Thanksgiving and gossiped about Mike and Lisa. Jason gave Ken a very censored version of what happened in Wisconsin, concentrating on the one pleasant part of the trip, the visit to his grandmother's condo. The conversation then drifted to the more urgent topic of what still needed to be done to get ready for finals. Ken went back to his room to pick up his notebooks, and returned still completely nude, not bothering to get dressed. For the next several hours the two freshmen sat on towels on the floor, going over the material covered in the final two weeks of classes.

For two college-age men, there was an unusual intimacy between Jason and Ken. They had been together constantly throughout the semester, ate together, studied together, worked out together, had gone streaking together, and had shared a lot about their lives with each other in general. They both enjoyed being naked and each was happy to have found a friend who also enjoyed being naked. Because of their closeness and casual attitude about not wearing clothing, they felt perfectly comfortable sitting together in the nude. However, from Jason's end at least, the relationship was completely platonic.

Ken's interest in Jason was mostly friendship, but it also included an element of sexuality. At a time in his life when he was struggling to determine what he wanted from his personal relationships, Ken found himself somewhat attracted to Jason. He enjoyed looking at Jason's body and loved being naked around him. He always looked forward to the life drawing classes when Jason was modeling and having the opportunity to render his body to paper. Had the issue come up, he gladly would have exchanged massages with his friend and tried to increase the level of physical contact between them.

Ken was not really sure what he saw in Jason. He was not even sure what exactly he would have wanted from his friend, even if Jason were gay and available. It was not exactly sex, nor romance: but rather intimacy. What was confusing for Ken was that, while he was vaguely attracted to Jason, he also was vaguely attracted to Lisa. Night after night he fantasized about those few minutes he lay naked over her lap, getting his bottom spanked while Mike and Jason watched. He totally loved that experience and was horribly jealous that Mike had Lisa in his life and he didn't.

Once they finished reviewing the study materials for Burnside's class the following day, the two freshmen returned to talking about their personal lives and about Cecilia in particular. Jason was in a pensive mood, and decided to share a bit more about his life with his friend. He provided an abbreviated summary of the car wreck and the effect it had on him during his final months in high school. He then talked about how important Cecilia had become in his life and emphasized that she was the reason he had enjoyed a successful semester.

As he continued thinking out loud in Ken's presence, Jason examined himself and why he had become so committed to submitting to Cecilia. He realized that when he was with Cecilia he felt safe. The more he submitted to her, the more protected he felt. He realized that before he met her, his soul had been full of fear: that he had been actually afraid of his own vacillating and self-destructive nature. Cecilia was important to him precisely because she refused to tolerate those weaknesses. Instead, she insisted that, whatever weaknesses he might have in his character, he was expected to overcome them.

Jason moved on to talking about his sex life with Cecilia. He realized how much he loved striving to please her sexually, because when he brought her to orgasm he was rewarding himself by making her happy. There was plenty of pleasure in the relationship for him as well, because when she granted him permission to enter her, she always sought to ensure he had excellent orgasms. The detail he enjoyed the most however, was going over her lap. When she was spanking him, she was completely in control of his emotions and his physical sensations. Jason loved receiving a good spanking, which Cecilia always inflicted with love, firmness, patience, and the desire to bring him to intense sexual pleasure through moderate, but sensuous, pain.

Jason knew that even the belt-whippings had an important role in his life. Unlike being spanked by hand, he hated the belt and was afraid of it. He also hated crying in front of Cecilia, but during a belt-whipping getting him to cry was an important part of the punishment. Still, even though he always hated receiving the belt at the moment, Jason understood the cruel whippings had helped him. He had entered the university consumed with guilt, partly because subconsciously he felt that he had not been properly punished for his stupidity from the previous year. With Cecilia there was no lingering guilt. If he did something wrong she punished him right away. The punishments always resolved any guilty feelings from a particular offense, because forgiveness and redemption were the ultimate goals of any whipping. Just as it was important to her that he was forced to cry during the whippings, it also was important that when the punishments were over, he understood she had forgiven him and still loved him. Unlike his parents, it never would occur to Cecilia to continue commenting on an offense that she considered resolved.

When Jason finished talking, Ken thought for a few minutes about how much his friend had changed that semester. He had a question for Jason.

"So, where do you think you're going with Cecilia? What do you think's gonna happen between you two?"

"I'm...I guess I'm just gonna have to do whatever she tells me. We talked about it last night, and she sorta laid out our situation...and that's...what we agreed on."

"...and it doesn't scare you? I mean, just to do what she says?"

"No. It doesn't scare me at all. What scares me is what might have happened if I hadn't met her. That's what scares me."

Ken sighed, somewhat envious of his friend. His own character was a lot like Jason's, but unfortunately for him there was no Cecilia in his life to force him to focus his energies. He remained emotionally adrift, completely unsure of his own sexual identity, and scared of having to face the future without anyone to give him guidance. He was spending the semester in absolute confusion, fantasizing about two friends, both of whom were dating other people, and not really knowing what he wanted from either. He badly wished that he could find someone, male or female, to take control of his life and give him some direction.

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Throughout the afternoon the snow continued to pile up outside. The university grounds crews desperately tried to clear the streets and the main campus in time for the deluge of students returning from Thanksgiving. After lunch, Cecilia's RA responsibilities intruded on her studies as she and the other RA's received calls from their supervisor ordering them to help shovel snow from the sidewalks surrounding Huntington Hall. The cold physical labor caused a lot of grumbling among the dorm staff, but it was the only way the building's manager could keep the sidewalks clear, given the fact the university maintenance crews were too busy clearing the streets and parking lots to worry about the dorm area. He ordered his employees to take snow shovels from a nearby shed and to spread out around the building. Cecilia's boss then picked up a snow shovel and started clearing a stretch of sidewalk alongside his staff, determined to set an example by letting them know he was not asking them to do something he wasn't willing to do himself.

Cecilia was surprised when she realized she did not mind shoveling snow. She was horribly stressed from her unpleasant weekend at the Schmidts' house, her upcoming final exams, the pending visit from the Danubian Prime Minister, and her other responsibilities to Ruth Burnside. She took out her aggression on the sidewalk; clearing her own area quickly enough to later help one of the other RA's who was moving more slowly. She worked herself up into a real sweat as she thought to herself, well, at least I'm saved the hassle of having to go to the gym today.

Once the snow shoveling was completed the dorm staff went back inside for a meeting and instructions for getting the residents through the final three weeks of classes. After a brief break, Cecilia and the other RA's had to meet with their residents for floor meetings. Jason and Ken were present, sitting together. Mike and Lisa were absent, presumably delayed getting back from California.

Cecilia exhorted her residents to study for finals, although she could tell by the expressions of several residents that they already had given up on passing their classes that semester. Giving up...no that wouldn't do. She wrote down the names of students she felt might be in trouble. After the meeting she planned to talk to them, hoping to see which ones still had a chance of salvaging their semesters if properly motivated.

That night Cecilia became the perfect picture of authoritarian bossiness, as she strutted around the hallway confronting her residents about their studies. She spent the next three hours talking to several residents and put them in touch with available tutors. When Lisa and Mike finally came in following a grueling flight from San Francisco, Cecilia immediately confronted Lisa to order her and Mike to report to Jason to receive information from the floor meeting they had missed and an update on Burnside's class.

Jason and his friends ended up being drafted into their RA's efforts to salvage several students' semesters, as she ordered them to make themselves available to answer classmates' questions and go over coursework. Cecilia knew that in helping others, Jason and his friends were helping themselves by learning how to explain coursework in a clear, concise manner. Not only had Jason's group learned the material by heart, but also, over the next several nights they would have to learn how to explain it to others. By the end of the semester they would be more than ready to provide coherent, well-written answers in their final exams.

After a very busy night, Cecilia escorted Jason to her room to receive her usual massage and round of oral sex from her boyfriend. She was exhausted from stress, shoveling snow, helping panicked residents, and finally from the orgasm she enjoyed as Jason's tongue explored her clitoris. He massaged her a second time as she fell into a very deep sleep. Jason was relieved. His life with his mistress had returned to normal.

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The following week was a hectic one for Jason and Cecilia. Jason received a second invitation to speak about the Tri-Alpha race to a Chicago clothing optional resort for the following Saturday. The sponsors of the event also hoped to invite Lisa and perhaps allow the organization's members a photo op session. To Jason's surprise, Lisa agreed, and Mike agreed to drive both of them to the event.

Later in the week there was a problem, the nudist group's photographer got sick and there was no replacement. It seemed the photo session would have to be canceled, until Jason remembered Cecilia's friend, Suzanne Foster. He decided to see if she might be available to take pictures. Cecilia passed the request along to Suzanne, who agreed to participate. Ken, upon finding out about Jason's expedition, asked if he could go as well. In the end, what started out as a simple speech turned into a full-day event for Jason and four classmates.

Jason's speech was part of an all-day symposium on nudism and physical fitness. The day would start with features about the origins of nudism in the 1920's and its beginnings as a fitness movement. The event sponsors wanted to emphasize that tradition and bring exercise and over-all fitness back into the nudist lifestyle, to counter the stereotype of a bunch of overweight old people sitting around trailers and swimming pools. Jason was asked not only to give a speech about the Tri-Alpha race, but talk about running in general and lead a panel discussion of exercise and what the resort could do to encourage physical fitness among its members. In exchange for his efforts, he would be rewarded with a year membership and a pass to bring a guest.

Jason had wondered how Cecilia was going to handle being at a large full day event at a clothing optional facility during which the speakers and most of the audience would be nude. That issue, however, never came up. Cecilia got a phone call from Ruth Burnside Friday night instructing her to report to the Economics Department first thing the next morning. Burnside wanted to give Cecilia some final instructions concerning the Danubian visit and have her attend a meeting with the other members of the Economic Department's student delegation. Cecilia was both disappointed and relieved. She was disappointed at not having the opportunity to see Jason speak in public, but relieved that she didn't have to face the issue of whether or not to take off her clothes in front of Jason's friends and a bunch of other people at the resort.

After Mike drove the group to the resort and they checked in, the students went into a coed locker room and undressed. To everyone's surprise Suzanne undressed along with the others. She seemed to have such a quiet, conservative demeanor that it was hard to picture her comfortable being nude in public. However, once she had her clothes off she seemed quite at ease, her pale voluptuous body reminding her companions of a Greek goddess statue or a Victorian painting. The photographer loaded herself with her camera equipment, looking quite strange as she walked down the hallway with several camera bags slung over her bare figure.

Jason was busy the entire day, jumping from one event to another and barely having time to prepare his presentation. Suzanne, as usual, spent her time setting up her photography supplies and checking lighting. Lisa only had the photo op session to worry about, while Mike and Ken had nothing at all to concern them. They needed to attend Jason's speech and the symposium he was moderating, but apart from that they could relax. The three freshmen spent some time in the pool and the sauna while Jason talked to the event's organizers and finalized his presentation about the race.

When Jason spoke, his friends were impressed with his ability to express himself with confidence in front of an audience. He was a dynamic and entertaining speaker, capable of using just the right amount of humor and antidotes to amuse the audience and draw their attention. It seemed that he was a totally different person when standing at the microphone. The nervous 18-year-old the others knew from their daily lives was completely absent from the person standing up on stage.

Following Jason's speech there was a presentation by a representative of the Tri-Alphas to discuss the fraternity's attitude about nudity and the history of the race Jason had won. There was a banquet dinner and finally the photography session, which actually was a fund-raiser for a member of the resort who had to pay for a cancer operation. As they posed in the nude with one resort member after another, Jason and Lisa experienced an odd feeling of nostalgia as Suzanne's flash continuously went off in their faces for the next couple of hours.

After the photo session ended, Mike and Jason were hoping to head back to the university before it got too late. However, Suzanne was talking to several resort members who wanted a photographer for an upcoming wedding, and Ken was talking to the Tri-Alpha representative.

It seemed no one was going anywhere for quite a while, so finally Jason approached the director of the resort to see about getting a couple of rooms to stay overnight. He called Cecilia to ask her permission to stay at the resort until the next day. She thought about it, not happy that her boyfriend would not be returning to the university that night. However, he needed to stay because of Suzanne and Ken, not because of himself. In the end she gave him the permission to make the room reservations, pleased that he was smart enough to check in with her before making the decision to stay at the resort.

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Ken's talk with the Tri-Alpha representative went very well. He realized that the fraternity's spirit of adventure, sexual openness, and experimentation might be just what he needed. Perhaps joining the Tri-Alphas would help him figure out what he wanted in life. As he learned more about the fraternity he realized he probably would enjoy being a pledge. The prospect of being naked in public for an entire semester, submitting to sexual servitude to both men and women, and being constantly spanked and paddled appealed to him. He liked the Tri-Alphas' emphasis on discipline and their focus on academic success. It seemed the fraternity gave its members a very strong sense of identity and direction, something in his life he felt was lacking. Yes, that was indeed what he wanted to do, to pledge with the Tri-Alphas.

The Tri-Alpha representative added a detail that made joining even more appealing to Ken. He related that each year there were a few pledges that joined during the summer, in a sort of pre-pledge program. The vast majority of members pledged in the fall. However, there was an advantage of being a summer pledge, because at the end of the August the fraternity normally selected and trained a "pledge leader" to handle the group of incoming freshmen pledging the following September. Being a pledge leader had several advantages and disadvantages. In some ways being a pledge leader amounted to pledging twice, because the pledge leader was expected to complete a full summer as a pledge, and then submit again as a pledge along with the new freshmen. The pledge leader had to spend a second semester living in the nude alongside the new pledges. He also was subject to the same sexual servitude and punishments from upper classmen and sorority members that an ordinary pledge had to endure. However, the pledge leader was the undisputed ruler of the other pledges. His role was to guide the others through their various ordeals and challenges, which included the fall 10-K run. His duties included training new members to open themselves to new physical experiences, ranging from yoga and massage to various sexual practices and techniques for sexual stimulation. Another role of the pledge leader was to make sure any contact between the upperclassmen and the other pledges adhered to the fraternity's rules. If someone crossed the line he had the authority to report any violations directly to the Tri-Alpha National Directorate. The pledge leader had the discretion to punish the other pledges as he pleased, within the general fraternity guidelines for pledge discipline.

The Tri-Alpha representative brought up the detail about the fall pledge leader position because he sensed right away that Ken might be a good candidate for the job. It definitely seemed he had what it took to be an enthusiastic Tri-Alpha member. Assuming he worked out as a pledge, there was a very good chance the fraternity had found its pledge leader for the fall. By the time the evening was over, Ken had set up an appointment to visit the Tri-Alpha Fraternity for preliminary interviews and to fill out paperwork needed to join. If everything went according to plan, he would begin his arduous journey to becoming a Tri-Alpha at the beginning of June.