Chapter 12 - Mardi Gras
Amy found that she was actually enjoying economics more and more as the Spring semester progressed. She had been right about taking the two classes with Burnside. She knew what to expect from Burnside, which she found comforting in a strange way. Burnside might have given her an approving nod to see her enrolled in two of her classes, but Amy knew that meant that Burnside expected more from her, not less. For the first time in her life, Amy had found a role-model whom she wanted to impress. Economics was a tough subject, and Amy had never been good at math. She spent hours each week with Wendy going over the difficult equations needed for her economics classes, but slowly the theories and formulas in Burnside's lectures started to make sense to her.
Another person became central to Amy's ambitions during the spring semester, and that was Lisa Campbell, Burnside's TA, who was a graduate student and seminar instructor. Lisa's relationship with Burnside went back several years to her first year in college. At first she seemed an unlikely assistant for Burnside because her outward appearance was totally different from that of the impeccable economics professor. Lisa was tall and quite attractive, with bleached blond hair and a deep tan. She usually dressed in very provocative clothing and spoke with a casual California accent. She was the chapter president of one of the sororities on campus, and often walked around with a contingent of young pledges trailing behind her. Lisa, when not wearing a see-through blouse or skimpy halter-top, invariable wore a t-shirt or sweatshirt with her sorority's insignia on it.
Lisa's outward appearance and behavior were completely misleading. In spite of her social life, she was a hardened, serious graduate student. When in class she was all business; her detailed lectures, harsh grading, and strict schedule totally contrasting with her casual west-coast mannerisms and revealing clothing.
There was something more to Lisa than just her underlying intelligence and ambition, however. Amy suspected that her TA's sexual appetites were very similar to Ruth Burnside's. There was something about her, perhaps something in her expression or the way she looked at the guys in her seminars; that made Amy think Lisa could very well be a dominatrix. She could very easily picture the Californian wearing a black outfit and cruel smile, wielding a switch or paddle against some unfortunate naked fraternity pledge.
Lisa took a liking to Amy and began helping her with some of the theoretical material in the classes. Wendy had a good head for numbers and formulas, but had more difficulty with applying the math to real uses. Lisa helped Amy with applied theoretical concepts and gave her some advice about improving her writing technique and finding research sources. By the middle of the semester Lisa knew Amy well enough to confide a few details about her personal life and her sorority. She also related how she had met Suzanne when she was still a freshman, through a mutual friend who now was in working for the university's economics department as an exchange program counselor in Eastern Europe.
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Amy's dedication to her economics classes forced her to reduce her photo shoot schedule with Suzanne. Amy's roommate was perfectly willing to delay several photo shoots until the summer, and step aside to let her throw herself into her studies. Suzanne reflected that Amy had come a long way in just a year. When she had first met Amy, Suzanne thought of her as little more than a teenager who had some seriousness knocked into her by a bad experience. Amy had changed since Suzanne first saw her. She had matured and had real potential.
Along with Lisa and Suzanne, Ruth Burnside also noticed the change in Amy. The first face to face encounter between Amy and her professor, a confrontation in her office over a plagiarized term paper, was totally forgotten. Amy now did excellent work.
At Lisa's suggestion, Burnside suddenly decided to do something for Amy that she almost never did for an undergraduate; she e-mailed Amy to invite her and Wendy to her annual Mardi Gras party, this time as guests. The theme would be the same as the Halloween Party, a BDSM costume party. If she and Wendy wanted to come they would have to wear decent outfits. That was the only condition, Burnside emphasized. Amy immediately e-mailed back. "Thanks for the invite. I'll be there for sure! I'll try to get Wendy to come too."
Amy had a harder time choosing an outfit than Wendy. Wendy had a skin-tight shiny black Japanese jumpsuit that would be perfect for her. A pair of black high-heeled shoes and a borrowed black riding crop completed her costume. Amy even managed to convince Wendy not to wear anything under her jumpsuit.
Amy was stuck between wearing a Mardi Gras style outfit or a BDSM outfit. Finally she settled on going as a nurse. She found an old white nurse's dress and cap at a used clothing store. She shortened the skirt so that it ended just slightly below her crotch. She bought a pair of white silk stockings that came halfway up her thighs. She decided that she would shave off her pubic hair and go pantyless. She felt incredibly daring as she felt the thrill of the cool air on her upper thighs and between her legs when trying on her outfit. Amy stood in the mirror looking at herself. She was all in white, except her upper thighs, which were bare. She felt a twinge of anxiety when she realized that she had shortened the skirt a bit too much in the back. She noticed in the mirror that if she bent over, even slightly, the lower part of her bottom was exposed. However, she decided to go with her original plan to not wear any underwear, since many of Burnside's guests already had seen plenty of her body in the fall. As she turned around, the back of her skirt barely reaching to the tops of her thighs even when she was standing up straight, she felt that she never looked sexier in her life. Amy's accessories included an old stethoscope, a pocket of empty syringes, and an enema bottle and tube hooked to her belt.
There was an early midterm in both of Burnside's classes a couple of days before the party. Amy suspected that Burnside had scheduled the tests early in the hope of recruiting hosts or hostesses for her party. This time Amy had studied hard and was confident going into both tests. She was determined to be Burnside's guest, not her hostess. Lisa proctored both tests, pacing about the room while Burnside watched the students from her podium
During one of the midterms, Amy noticed the guy sitting next to her looking over onto her paper, as well as onto the paper of the guy sitting on his other side. He was handsome, but was an arrogant fraternity type of the sort that did not interest her. The second time he peeked onto her paper, she gave him a cold stare and twisted in her seat to keep him from seeing her answers.
"Stupid bitch." mumbled the frat guy. Amy was furious at her neighbor. No wonder Suzanne freaked at the slightest hint of plagiarism. Why was she a "stupid bitch" just because she didn't want someone else copying her test?
As Lisa slowly walked up the side of the room on the lookout for cheaters, Amy's neighbor twisted to the other side look at his other neighbor's paper. The other guy was just as irritated as was Amy, and a bit more vocal. "Look, shithead, do your own fucking work."
Lisa quickly looked over to the three students. She had heard the other guy's comment. Amy's eyes met the TA's, then moved in the direction of her cheating neighbor, then back to Lisa's face. The TA nodded slightly. YES!! Looks like Burnside has herself a host for her party, thought Amy to herself.
Two days later Burnside returned the tests. Amy was sitting next to the same fraternity guy. Lisa handed him an empty manila folder. Amy smiled wickedly. The guy gave her a sharp look.
"What's so funny?" he snapped.
"You'll find out."
That night Amy e-mailed Burnside. "The guy sitting next to me insulted me during the test. Will he be hosting for you?"
Burnside responded. "Elaborate".
"He called me a 'stupid bitch' when I wouldn't let him see my test."
"Then he will need an attitude adjustment as well as a lesson in academic integrity. Be at my place at 5:30. -Burnside-"
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Amy and Wendy showed up at Burnside's house at 5:30. Wendy's face was heavily made up to emphasize her Asian features. She looked great in her tight black jumpsuit. The curves of her thin body were clearly visible under her outfit. Amy felt wonderful in her sexy nurse outfit, but she could tell that Wendy was nervous about facing Burnside again.
"Relax." said Amy. "You're not even in her class anymore. Besides, didn't she tell both of us that she actually learned something from our paper? You won't hear that from Burnside too often."
As they walked from Wendy's car to Burnside's door, Amy felt the cold winter air blowing against her bare thighs and up her skirt on her bare bottom. She could tell that she had goose bumps on her bottom and thighs. She was incredibly aroused.
When Burnside opened the door she was again in outfit. This time her students were not shocked. The professor looked over Amy and Wendy approvingly and invited them in. The living room was decorated differently than for Halloween. There were glittery decorations everywhere on the walls, punctuated with fake flowers and strings of beads.
This time Burnside had her leather switch in her hand and was dressed in a one-piece leather outfit. From the front it looked something like a black swimsuit, but in the back it was cut very high. A thin string of leather running between Burnside's tanned bottom cheeks and halfway up her back was the only covering that she had below her waist in the back. She has a nice bottom, in spite of her age, thought Amy.
Amy, for the first time, was able to appreciate how sexy Ruth Burnside truly was. Burnside was over 40, but had not done anything to attempt to conceal her age. Her hair was just starting to go gray, and anyone standing close to her would see wrinkles starting to form around her eyes. Burnside had not taken any artificial steps to hide what was happening to her body, but in a natural way, it was obvious she was determined to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Her body was toned and hardened from years of intense physical exercise. Burnside had a figure that many younger women would have envied and her whole demeanor demonstrated her excellent health and confidence in herself.
The detail about Burnside that made her truly sexy, however, was not her physique, nor even her erotic outfit; it was the intense eroticism in her eyes and her expression. In class Ruth Burnside pushed an image of harshness and severity. In her own environment, she exuded the same harshness, but it was mixed with her love of sex and of exploring all the physical sensations that a human body could experience. Burnside knew her own body much better than most women. Time and time again she had pushed herself to her physical limits as she explored her world in which pain constantly intersected with intense pleasure. It was that confidence in herself, and in her ability to help others explore their outer limits of intense sexuality, that was reflected in Burnside's eyes. Her expression was that of a person who had "been there".
Amy and Wendy's attentions were quickly diverted from Burnside's bottom. Lisa came into the living room from the kitchen. Her exhibitionist personality (as well as her body) was even more fully on display than the professor's. She wore nothing except a small red French maid's apron, a matching maid's hat, and a pair of red slippers. Her shoulders, breasts, legs, and entire backside were completely uncovered. Seeing Lisa so exposed left Amy with the odd feeling of being over-dressed for this party instead of under-dressed. Compared to Burnside and Lisa, her outfit seemed relatively modest.
Standing at the back of the living room were three naked male students. They were facing the wall and had their hands behind their heads. They already were wearing Burnside's servant uniform, metal cuffs and temporary tattoos around their upper arms and thighs. Their legs were slightly more than shoulder-width apart and Amy could catch a glimpse of the backs of their testicles between their legs. Two of the trio had 16 dark reddish stripes on their bottoms and were shifting uncomfortably from side to side, sighing every so often. The bottom of the third student was still white.
"Bill, turn around please." said Burnside, with a mocking sweetness in her voice. "There's someone here to see you."
