Flora Ramirez looked at the class page for GS 107, Manipulating Regressive Paradigms, better known as "the slut class." Every class at Maplewood University had a class page where the teachers would post assignments, with a picture of the teacher in the upper right-hand corner. Some of them had pages for the students, so they could critique each other's work, but so far not GS 107.
GS 107 was also the only class page where the picture of the teacher had her sitting in a chair, looking over glasses, with her shirt open to reveal a black demi-bra and DDD breasts. "Professor Nikki Love," it said. Flora had googled, and there were plenty of more revealing pictures of "Nikki Love" on the internet. Nikki had been a porn star before taking up teaching, and had been born Charity Nicole Lovelace.
The instructions said: "Wear separates to class. We will be taking our tops off and baring our breasts."
Well, then. She'd already taken her dress off in class once, so it wasn't that big a deal. Everyone at Maplewood could see all the class pages, and she was pretty sure this one drew attention from people who weren't taking the class. There were no windows in Nikki's classroom, but it was still a little odd knowing people would know she, and the other girls, were topless inside. Was that the extent of the exercise Nikki had planned, just to help them get comfortable in their own skin? There would be something else going on, she was sure.
Flora had taken the class partly because it was the only "woman-only" class in the schedule. She had a nasty breakup the semester before, and she still didn't enjoy seeing her ex-boyfriend, Ted, when she saw him. Maplewood was so small, though, that you couldn't help but run into people. Still, it was fair to say she was down on men, although still attracted to them sexually. She hoped taking the "slut class" would help her get over the malaise she was feeling.
Some of her girlfriends, including Carla, her roommate, had told her to get right back on the horse, but she was sure rebounding was a bad idea. She read Erica Jong's Fear of Flying and liked the idea of a "zipless fuck," but she wasn't quite ready to go for that. She still thought a lot about guys, though. One was Carson Taylor, quarterback of Maplewood's football team. Football wasn't a big deal at Maplewood, and the team had lost all but one game the year before, but Carson was still a hunk. The other was Ian McSweeney. Ian was Carson's opposite—nerdy, but oh so smart. Beauty or Brains. Women supposedly went for brains, but Flora was torn. She leaned Ian, but then wondered if that was because Carson would be more of a challenge. She'd been waiting for a guy to make the first move, even though that was a regressive paradigm, itself, putting men in the driver's seat.
"You overthink things," Carla had told her more than once, and it was true.
Flora put on a red bra and panties. She'd bought a thong after hearing her underwear termed "granny panties." She added a snug black T-shirt, with a V-neck that showed some cleavage, and a black miniskirt. Since she'd enrolled in the slut class she'd been dressing a little more provocatively. She had to, for class, or it would cost her on her grade. Half the student body had probably seen her cleavage and legs, anyway. She might as well flaunt it.
There was a small crowd gathered outside the Student Union, and she was still early for class, so she went and looked to see what it was about. They had installed a giant screen in front of the building, visible from anywhere on Maplewood's central quad. It was showing highlights from the weekend's football and lacrosse games.
Carson was one of those watching. He was talking to a blonde, which was awkward. Flora recognized Sheila Carnack, one of the four women in Flora's group house. Flora watched the giant TV for a minute. Sports were not that big a deal at Maplewood, and surely they didn't put that expensive monstrosity in just for that.
Sheila didn't talk to Carson long, and when she finished, she headed straight to Flora. Sheila grinned. "I think he likes me. He got my phone number; said he'd call me later."
"Did you get his?"
"Um, no."
"Of course he likes you!"
He's got control, and she has none. Poor dear.
Sheila grinned and walked off with a bounce in her step.
Flora walked over to Carson, who wasn't by himself very much. In fact, he was already heading into the Union, and Flora had to hurry to intercept him.
"Hey, Carson," she said.
He turned. He had a Clark Kent cowlick on his forehead that was kinda cute, and a square jaw with a dimple. "Hey. Um, Flora, right?"
"Right. Hey, could you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what's that?" He looked her up and down. She was tempted to call him on it, but then realized that was what she wanted.
"I need your phone number."
"Huh?"
"There might be something I could invite you and... some friends to?" It sounded a little lame, even to Flora, but she added, "Big plans. I think you'll like them."
Carson hesitated, then nodded. "Okay, no biggie." He rattled off a number, and Flora entered it in her phone.
"You're pretty hot," Carson said.
"Thanks." She kept her cool, sort of.
Carson thinks I'm hot. I shouldn't care that much what a man thinks of my body. He doesn't know me, really. It doesn't mean anything.
"What's your number?"
"I'll text it to you." She walked away with a wave. She didn't blame Carson for looking at her body. But she wasn't going to poach on whatever Sheila had happening. When she was out of sight, she texted Sheila. "Here's Carson's number."
"Huh?" Sheila texted back. "Thanks, but why?"
"Equal footing, sister," Flora texted.
"Ah. LOL."
At that point, she had to hurry to get to class on time. As usual, there was a small crowd outside, mostly guys, watching the girls go in. There would be a larger one on the way out. Didn't they all have studying to do?
There was a man up front, wearing a uniform. There had never been a man in GS 107 before. Flora had enrolled in the class because they listed it as 'women only.' And yet, there was a cop there, talking to Nikki. Was the teacher in trouble? But Nikki casually perched on the edge of the desk, looking relaxed, swinging her legs now and then.
If she ever taught guys,
Flora thought,
they wouldn't hear a thing she said. She looks like she could be the sexy teacher in a music video. Are we going to get half-naked in front of a cop?
On each desk was a small camera, in an open box so it wasn't taking any pictures at the moment of anything but the side of the box.
The students filed in, talking only in whispers. Nobody said anything to Flora. Usually Stella would give her an annoying wink, as if they shared some secret, which they totally didn't. Stella didn't seem to get feminism at all, and she always dressed deliberately low brow. The pink in her blonde hair had faded a bit. Today she'd skipped the crop top for a halter that didn't quite cover all that her lacy black bra did, and she'd ditched cut-offs for a too-short skirt that probably left her bare butt on the chair. Hopefully she was at least wearing underwear, because she didn't have her legs crossed, either.
Flora was getting on board with reclaiming the word "slut," which Nikki had been pushing since the start of class. But Stella took it to a level Flora still wasn't on board with. And Stella seemed to love poking at Flora.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Nikki said, letting herself down from the desk to stand on the floor. "We have a lot to do today, and we're going to do an exercise that is going to help you along on your slut journey. But first, we have a message from our special guest, Officer Sanborn. Clive is in charge of Campus Security here, and he'd like to say a few words."
First name basis, hmm?
Officer Sanborn puffed out his chest and took a step forward. He had a gun strapped to his side and a flashlight on the other, and he was balding on top, but he looked fit.
"Hello ladies," said Officer Sanborn, seeming to stumble over the word just a little. "I've been talking to, um, Dr. Love here, about some of your future class assignments. As you know, it's my job to enforce the law on campus, and to protect all of you. Especially to protect vulnerable young ladies."
He paused, letting that sink in for a moment.
Flora was totally on board with that, in a way. Campus rape happened at most colleges way more than was reported, and Maplewood's closed campus was attractive partly for that reason—no outsiders allowed without a pass. But having a cop tell her what to do was the very epitome of the patriarchy, and she braced herself for a lecture on how the way women dressed "invited" assault. A cop had told University of Toronto students that, once, and it hadn't gone well for the cop, but that was Canada.
Officer Sanborn continued. "As many of you know, Maplewood's campus is private property. That means that whatever you do here isn't technically "in public" and we have some latitude as to how we enforce things. Nikki, er, Dr. Love has convinced me that for, er, educational reasons, you need to be exempt from certain enforcement mechanisms, specifically as regards indecent exposure and lewd behavior. She's sent me a list of your names, with pictures, so that me and my deputy don't hassle you if you, are, um, indecent or, um, lewd, or..."
Nikki came to his rescue. "What Officer Sanborn means is that you can dress however you like, and do whatever you like sexually, anywhere on the campus of Maplewood without fear of being arrested."
"Um, yeah." Officer Sanborn looked a little startled, but nodded.
"Even if there is an orgy right in the middle of the quad in broad daylight, Officer Sanborn and his deputy won't interfere, other than to protect you from uninvited people joining in."
"Well, wait a min—" started the Officer.
"Because we," Nikki interrupted, "Have a deal, right Officer?"
Officer Sanborn stared with the look of a man who hadn't realized quite what he had agreed to. Then he looked at Nikki's chest. Then he looked back up. "Um, yes," he said. "We have a deal."
Whatever Nikki had offered him, clearly, he didn't want to pass it up over a little thing like coeds fucking in public.
"Good. And don't worry class. The orgies are optional, and we'll work our way up to it. Thank you, Officer. The young ladies are going to remove their tops shortly, so I think it'd probably be best if you came back to visit me later this evening."
Oh good, he's leaving.
Flora had been afraid that part of Nikki's deal was a free peek at all the young women in exchange for the officer's cooperation. Flora watched as Officer Sanborn made his way out. He paused at the door, either to say something, or because he hoped to watch what would happen next, but Nikki gave him a look over the top of her glasses, a look that made Flora imagine Nikki would take a ruler to him if he didn't behave. He left and closed the door behind him. Nikki crossed the room to lock it.
"Now, sluts, off with your tops. It's time to be more comfortable with your body, and that starts when it's just among us."
