Helen was of mixed minds that morning, as she was getting dressed. On one hand she was excited to be going to the Faculty of Education retreat. Only the honors students had been invited, maybe thirty of them in all. As a sophomore and only 19, she felt flattered to be included with the others and the small faculty group that were attending. On the other hand, she had a bit of an uncomfortable secret that was making her very nervous.
She held up a blouse in front of the mirror and put it down. She liked the feeling of looking at herself naked in between her clothing considerations. Pants or skirt? The retreat would be held at a nice conference centre outside of town. She turned around and looked at herself, small but perky breasts, smooth and fit body. She held up the kilt and white blouse, decided she liked the look, pulled on some panties, hooked up her bra, buttoned the blouse and pulled on the skirt. She twirled around in front of the mirror, enjoying the feeling of the swishy skirt and felt good... until the gnawing secret came back and made her heart beat a bit.
Helen had been under a lot of pressure at school this year. She came from a modest conservative family, the first of her whole family to go to college. She was going to become a teacher! But the workload had been demanding and so had her part-time job. She had to put in so many hours at the supermarket near campus that she had been falling behind in her work. Professor Porter had assigned an essay on developmental needs of teenagers. The night before it was due, two days ago, Helen had come back late to her room, was so tired and behind in other things, that she didn't know how she'd get the paper done. She couldn't think of what to write, and in desperation had found another paper on the same topic on the Internet. It had been written for an Australian university and she couldn't imagine that anyone would have read it up here. She had felt a bit guilty when she handed it in as her own work, but told herself that necessity had compelled this little bit of dishonesty. She didn't intend to ever do that again.
By the time she got to the chartered bus, a lot of her classmates were already there and so were some of the professors. Everyone was excited and in high spirits. Apparently there were going to be some interesting seminars and discussions at the retreat. Helen thought she saw Professor Porter staring at her strangely, but decided it must have been her guilty conscience giving her a hard time.
The ride to the retreat centre, settling in, the morning seminar and lunch all went by in a blur. The retreat centre had a classroom where they were to return after a little break. Helen was about to go for a little walk before the next session when a hand touched her shoulder, making her jump. It was Professor Porter.
"Helen, I need to speak to you about a very serious matter. Please follow me."
Helen's heart was beating quickly and she could feel herself becoming very flushed. Oh God! Why had she done something so stupid?
By the time they reached Professor Porter's room, Helen was fighting to keep herself from crying. All of her dreams were about to end. She was feeling almost hysterical and kept trying to breathe steadily.
"Helen, do you know why I asked to see you?"
Helen couldn't really talk; she just nodded slightly with tears welling up in her eyes.
"We take plagiarism very seriously at this university", he said. "It's an academic offence that results in immediate expulsion. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave the retreat centre, take a cab back to town, and I'll begin the expulsion procedure early next week."
Helen sat down on Professor Porter's bed in the room and started crying. It took a while for any words to be able to come out. "Please, Professor, can't you reconsider? I'll do anything... ANYTHING. I just can't give up after all my hard work. Everyone back home would be so ashamed of me. Please..." Helen continued in her quiet sobs.
A few minutes passed. It felt like a long time. Finally, the Professor sat down next to her on the bed. He placed his hand on her knee and slowly rubbed it. Helen was crying and had her face in her hands, but she realized to her amazement that the Professor's hand was slowly stroking the inside of her thigh. What was going on? He spoke.
"Helen, I'm going to give you one chance to redeem yourself. But listen to me carefully. In order for you to redeem yourself and for me to "forget" this incident of crass plagiarism, you must follow all of my instructions exactly, completely and absolutely for the next week. If you can do that, then we'll forget this whole thing happened. Do you understand?"
Helen looked up from her hands and nodded. She was so confused and ashamed. The Professor's hand was resting on the inside of her thigh and it made her feel kind of good, kind of weird, definitely mixed up.
"You understand, Helen? Absolutely anything I ask." Helen nodded again, feeling both upset and a little excited to be in such a vulnerable position.
"Good, " he replied, "then stand up in front of me."
Helen got up tentatively and stood in front of the professor.
"Unbutton your blouse and take it off".