Chapter Three
"Tell you a secret?" she said in a pretty obvious attempt to delay.
I kept tickling although my arm was tiring, and said, "yes. Tell me something no one else knows."
"Oh God," she said and I knew she had something already in her mind.
I stopped tickling, resting my arm, and gently brushed the hair away from her face.
"Tell me," I said, softly, not demanding but encouraging.
She opened her eyes then, meeting mine, but she didn't say anything.
I let my hand settle, slowly, gently, on her back, right where the arch of her ass started up, and said again, "Tell me."
I saw her make her decision, take a deep breath, and start.
"I went to college on a combination of scholarship and work-study," she said. "I had thought about joining the service and letting Uncle Sam pay, or, you know, the Peace Corps or VISTA, or something like that, but I managed to put together a package that meant I could go and not have a zillion dollars in debt when I got out. I tracked down some scholarships, nothing big but a few thousand dollars here, purchase of books there, stuff like that. And I found a college with a pretty strong work-study program. My parents might be able to give me a few dollars from time to time, but I was pretty much on my own."
I said nothing, just held her eyes, and waited.
"It was hard work," she said. "I had to carry at least 12 hours a semester and I was working 20 hours a week in the cafeteria. I was tired all the time and my grades were slipping and I was desperate. If I didn't keep up a 'B' average I would lose one of the scholarships and it was kind of a wobbly structure anyway."
She closed her eyes and I could almost see the way she was organizing her thoughts.
"You know how it is in college. Especially those first two years, those introductory courses," she said, "when you might see the actual professor once a week but most of the time it was a teaching assistant, some graduate student like two years older than you are. Well, I was a Social Studies major," she giggled, "going to be a high school teacher. But there were all of those pesky general requirements."
The tone and cadence of her voice was changing as she got into her story. Her secret.
"Algebra was kicking my ass," she said, giggling, so I rubbed her ass a little making her giggle more, "so I worked up my courage and went to the TA. I suppose I was a cliche' in many ways. I went to him and gave him the classic, 'Mr. Roberts, I'll do ANYTHING for a 'B' grade.' And he just grinned and told me to come up to his office, that he had office hours two to three."
She took a deep breath and I could see she was winding down, so I caressed that wonderful arch at the small of her back and said, "go on."
I realized she was, well, she wasn't exactly crying, but tears were overflowing her eyes.