Stacy was in a pretty good mood when she walked up the stairs of Echo Hall to her room midmorning on Monday. It had been a busy morning; although she had brought her own nearly new laptop to college, she had to take it by the Computer Center in the Community Services building to get some software and authorizations that could only be handled in person. She already had a list of course work, so she planned on downloading the textbooks she would need, and maybe doing a little reading ahead.

One of the nice things about Southern was that very few actual paper textbooks were needed. Unless there was no other choice, the University preferred students to download their texts in e-book format, which was a lot cheaper than the gouge job that paper textbooks usually were around colleges. While Southern was an expensive school for a state university, this was one of the things they did to mitigate the financial stress on students.

Otherwise, things had been quiet. She’d managed to get her things put away in her room, having to do over what her mother had already done for her, and she’d celebrated finally being on her own by having a little quality time with her vibrator before she’d gone to dinner in the dining hall. The food had been good – better than some of the stories she’d heard about college dining halls. Breakfast that morning had been pretty good, too.

When she got to the ugly hall down the center of the floor of her dormitory, she noticed that the door to her room was open. She was sure she had locked it, so that might mean Laura was there, she thought. Sure enough, she found a tall, thin, very tanned girl with black hair halfway down to her butt putting things away in her dresser. She was wearing loose khaki shorts and a long T-shirt. “Hi,” she said. “Are you Laura?”

“I was the last I knew,” she smiled as Stacy got a better look at her. Laura wasn’t a bad looking girl by any means, though Stacy noted that Laura was just about totally flat-chested and had a big nose that kept her from being an absolute beauty. “You must be Stacy,” she continued. “I was wondering where you were.”

“Just over getting my computer set up at the Community Services Building. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you got here.”

“Well, no great loss. I’m about done putting my stuff away.”

Stacy looked around the room; it didn’t seem as if Laura had brought much with her. “That’s everything?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” the new girl said. “I’ve learned to travel pretty light, and I figured I didn’t need a lot of stuff here. I brought a TV, though I think we could use a refrigerator.”

“They have them for semester rental over at the Community Services Center.”

“Good, we’ll have to get one. If there’s anything else we need we can take my car and go downtown to get it.”

“You brought a car?”

“Yeah, I came by myself. I won’t be using the car much, which is probably just as well. As soon as I’m done unloading, I have to park it over in the campus parking lot and then take the shuttle bus to get to it if I want it later. It must be a couple miles.”

“Something like that,” Stacy agreed. “At least we’ll have a car if we need it. Hey, I tried to make contact with you before I came here, but I couldn’t get hold of you.”

“No big deal, I was away from home and couldn’t have been reached anyway.”

“Were you doing anything interesting?”

“Oh, I was working at a resort place,” Laura tossed off lightly. “I had a lot of fun, too. Hey, before we get too much further along, I hope you’re not some sort of Christian weirdo who is going to spend the semester trying to convert me.”

“No, and thank God for that. I’m Catholic, although not real Catholic, and we don’t go in for that kind of thing. To tell you the truth, I was hoping pretty much the same thing from you.”

“Oh, I have my odd bits and pieces, but that’s not one of them. I mostly don’t care about religion or politics and want to keep it that way.”

“Same here,” Stacy replied, with no little relief. “It would be hard to deal with a roomie like that.”

The two of them made a trip downstairs to bring up the last of Laura’s things. It seemed to Stacy that Laura hadn’t brought as much as she had. “Do you want help getting stuff put away, or should I just stay out of the way?”

“I better do it so I know where everything is.”

It took a while for Laura to get her stuff situated. Stacy helped her with some of it, but stayed out of her way otherwise. Her first impression of Laura was that she was friendly and personable, easy to get to know. They learned a few of the basic things about each other, like what they were planning on studying, where they were from, and that sort of thing.

Finally Laura was done. “What do you say we go over to the dining hall and get something to eat?” Stacy suggested.

“Works for me,” she said, then added, “Look, you can go dressed the way you are if you want, but I don’t want to be dressed in grubbies while I’m meeting people for the first time.”

Stacy really wasn’t that concerned about it, but she could see that Laura had a point. “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted.

“All right,” Laura said. “We’d better get this worked out now. I don’t have any problems changing clothes in front of you if you don’t have any with me.”

“I don’t have any problems with it if you don’t. I was on teams and stuff, so I had to change in a locker room a lot.”

“No problem on my part. I never was on any teams, but I don’t have much body modesty. After all, the place I was working this summer was a nudist resort.”

“A what?” Stacy replied, unable to believe Laura’s words. She’d started to like Laura, but this was weird! Well, she’d said she had some weird spots.

“I’m a nudist,” she reaffirmed. “It’s a family thing, I grew up with it. I don’t have problems being nude in front of other people, so long as they’re cool with it and are willing to live by the rules. It just doesn’t bother me. In fact it’s a little hard to get used to wearing clothes again after being without any on for months.” She giggled a little, and went on, “In fact, I want you to keep an eye on me for the next few weeks just to make sure I don’t head out the door bare-assed.”

“I guess,” Stacy replied a little dubiously. “I … I guess I’ve just never met a nudist before, at least not someone who admits it.”

“I don’t exactly want to put it on a billboard but it’s not a big deal to me; however, I figure I need to be honest with my roomie right up front.”

“Well, thanks,” Stacy sighed, wondering how this revelation was going to come out. “You’re probably right, but I don’t think I could ever do anything like that.”

“Oh, we probably both have our quirks,” Laura smiled. “It’s fun if it’s something you’re comfortable with, but it could be hell if you were required to do it and you weren’t comfortable. I mean, it’s not like I’m a stripper or something. I couldn’t handle that. The atmosphere around those places is a lot different, and I’m not an exhibitionist, at least not like that.”

“I don’t think I would want to do that, either,” Stacy said as she went over to the closet and pulled out a nice-looking sundress. “But when you put it that way, I don’t have any problems with us changing clothes around each other.”

“Good,” Laura said as Stacy turned around, to see that Laura had pulled off her shorts and started to take off her T-shirt. Rather than panties, Stacy could see that Laura had something bright and shiny fastened around her waist and up between her legs. It took her a moment to realize what it was – she’d seen pictures, but never actually seen one before: Laura, her roomie, was wearing a chastity belt!

Stacy couldn’t help herself and let out a gasp of surprise. “Laura!” she managed. “What’s that?”

“My steel panties,” she grinned. “Kinda pretty, aren’t they?”

Stacy grasped for words, and couldn’t come up with anything coherent for a minute or more; she collapsed on the bed, trying to comprehend this surprise. Finally, she managed to get out, “Why are you wearing a chastity belt?”

“The simple answer is because I want to,” Laura laughed as she walked over in front of her new roomie so she could get a good look at it. It was shiny, and Stacy could see a distortion of her reflection in the front plate, which was wide enough to mostly cover her pubes. There was a big combination padlock right above her belly button, and the waist band was up high around her waist. Laura turned around so Stacy could see a steel cable running up the crack of her butt, connecting the front plate with the back of the belt.

“But … but … but … why would you want to do that?”

Laura let out a sigh, sat down on the bed beside her roomie, and took her by the hand. “Look, Stacy,” she said. “I was raped when I was fifteen, and I decided I wanted to have a little more control of what could be done to me.”

“Raped?”

“It wasn’t fun,” she replied sadly. “In fact, it was pretty brutal, and I got beaten up pretty bad while it was happening. That was how I lost my virginity. It wasn’t anything like the way I wanted it to be.”

Stacy was still shocked by what she’d just seen. “I was raped, too,” she admitted. “Well, not really raped, not like that, it’s just that things happened a lot more quickly than I wanted them to.”

“If you got it when you didn’t want it, it was still rape,” Laura said flatly, almost angrily. “Did you tell your folks or the cops?”

“No,” Stacy admitted. “I was scared to tell my folks, but I’ve often wondered if I should have.”

“Yes, you should have, but apparently you got over it.”

“It wasn’t easy, but like I said, it was something that was going to happen, it was just quicker than I planned. I didn’t go out with the guy again, though.”

“Well, at least there’s that,” Laura shook her head. “I didn’t get over it very easily. I was pretty shy as a kid, but I was coming out of it a little before it happened. Getting raped drove me right back into my shell. I didn’t go out of the house by myself for months. I wouldn’t even go out of my room. My folks knew all about it and got me on a home schooling program, or there wouldn’t have been any school for me.”

“I guess I’m lucky. I didn’t have it anything like as bad. What happened to the guy?”

“Oh, he got away with it for a while. He was a jock, a couple years older than I was, and his folks are big cheeses around the town, so it was sort of a he-said versus she-said thing, and the cops wound up letting him go. That’s part of the reason I didn’t want to go out of the house, since I knew he’d do it to me again if he got the chance.”

“So you got over the rape by wearing a chastity belt? I’ve never heard of someone doing that.”

“That’s pretty much what happened,” Laura smiled. “Look, I’ve got absolutely the coolest dad in the world, and he understood my problem. One day, he suggested that I try wearing a chastity belt so I would feel safer. I didn’t think a whole lot of the idea at first, but the more I thought about it, the better idea it became. He’s a metalworker, and he wound up making my first one. About all I can say is it worked, though it took a while.”

“Your dad made that?” Stacy said, nodding toward the chastity belt.

“This one, no. I outgrew the one he made for me, so since I’d proved that it worked and I liked it, he bought this one for me. It was custom made in Germany. It fits a lot better and is even more secure.”

“Can you take it off?”

“I could if I called Dad up and asked for the combination,” she grinned. “He’d give it to me, but I can wear this for months if I have to. It was a little strange this summer to not have it on!”

“I’ll bet,” Stacy shook her head. “But wearing that chastity belt made you feel a lot better?”

“Oh, yeah. I got about ninety percent of my confidence back. Then I got the rest of it back and more when the son of a bitch tried me again while I was at a mall one day.”

“What happened?”

“Let’s just say that my steel panties stood off his second rape attempt,” Laura sighed. “I got beaten up again, but we were both raising so much hell that it drew the attention of a mall guard, who pulled the son of a bitch off me with his dick hanging out. It got a little complicated after that and he tried to make out that I wanted it, but between the mall guard and my steel panties, the jury didn’t believe him and found him guilty of attempted rape. When he went to trial, some other girls came forward and admitted he’d done it to them, too. Two of them were while he was out on bail, and he got convicted of those, too. The son of a bitch is in the state prison now, and I devoutly hope he’s finding out what it’s like to be beaten up and raped.”

“Then it worked out pretty well for you,” Stacy said, just a little incredulous. “But since he’s in jail, why are you still wearing it?”

“Like I said, the simple answer is because I want to,” Laura smiled. “I got used to it, and, like I said, I like to have a little control of what happens to my body. I think I have a good reason for that.”

“I could see how that could happen. I don’t think it’s something I would do, but I might if I’d gone through what you did.”

“I’m damn glad I did,” Laura said seriously. “All that was with the old belt. This one has stood off a rape attempt too, although it wasn’t quite as serious.”

“Another one?”

“It was at the senior prom,” she smiled. “One of the jocks didn’t think I’d wear my steel panties to the prom, but guess what? His hand went to my crotch, and he got a surprise. What’s more, he got the message real quick what would happen to him if things went any further.”

Something didn’t quite make sense to Stacy. She thought about it for a moment, then said, “You mean you went back to school? Wearing a chastity belt? I can’t believe it!”

“Believe it,” Laura grinned. “We had a little hassle with the administration over it, but that ended with the rape trial. Look, the kids in school all knew I was wearing it. I didn’t hide it. They started calling me ‘The Steel Virgin,’ even though most of them knew about the rape. I guess my steel panties sort of restored my reputation.”

“That sounds strange. I can’t imagine it happening around my school.”

“It was actually a little strange to me at first, too,” she laughed. “But then, I told you that I have some odd bits here and there. Look, I suppose I’d better ask before we get any further. Are you going to have a problem with it? I don’t want to go through the hassle of moving or having you move if you think you can deal with it.”

Stacy stopped and looked at her roomie for a moment, naked except for her shoes and the chastity belt – she hadn’t been wearing a bra and Stacy could see there was no need for it. Laura was a lot stranger than she had imagined – but she also had courage and understanding that was pretty awesome, and she seemed a real nice person, too. “I guess I can live with it,” Stacy said. “At least you’re not some God-boxing Christian who’s going to be out to convert me.”

“That would suck,” she laughed. “But then, my steel panties would probably have driven her off long before this.”

“Screaming and praying at the top of her lungs,” Stacy smiled. “You know, you’re pretty cool.”

“I hope so,” she nodded. “I sometimes wonder. Look, one more thing. I don’t plan on hiding my chastity belt here, either. That probably means you’re going to have to put up with some screwy stuff, but some of it could be fun if we handle it right.”

“I could see how it could be,” Stacy laughed. “The Steel Virgin rides again, right?”

“You got it. Now let’s go get something to eat.”

Stacy put on the sundress she’d been hanging onto for dear life for the last few minutes, while Laura put on a low-riding thigh-length skirt and a rather short camisole top with ruffles across the chest that made it look like she had at least some boobs. It revealed the upper half of the chastity belt quite clearly, even the padlock on her belly. “Are you sure you want to show off your steel panties like that?” Stacy asked.

“I probably won’t all the time,” she shrugged. “Especially when it gets colder. But I figure it’s a good idea to get the message across right at the beginning.”

“If that’s how you want to do it, there’s no reason not to,” Stacy replied, a little unsure of herself. It was pretty blatant, after all, but like Laura said, the kids at her high school had known she was wearing a chastity belt. “But you know, Laura, you’re a little strange.”

“It’s very likely,” she smiled. “If you’re ready, let’s go.”

*   *   *

Susan was just settling into her new office, on the main floor of T-Hall. She’d had to work in the conference room longer than she would have liked, but it had taken this long to get everything rearranged.

There wasn’t much in her new office – a desk, a desk chair, a file cabinet without much in it, a couple of chairs for visitors. The rearrangement hadn’t involved such things as fresh paint, since if plans went as intended, T-Hall would be a pile of rubble in a couple of years. She’d put a couple of favorite posters on the wall, one showing the lights of Chengdu at night during Chinese New Year, and the other a classic photo of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. Hanging them up was more to cover a couple of ugly, aged water stains on the wall than it was to decorate the place.

But then, she still had the international programs as part of her job description – though she hadn’t done much about it – and some posters of foreign sights would at least remind her of what she was supposed to be doing.

Ever since her return from Spearfish Lake she’d been concentrating on the orientation plans for the incoming freshmen. The plan had changed considerably from the one the previous year, as more ideas came to her. The insight she’d had the day before about giving the new freshmen more quality-of-life information had gelled significantly as she worked on it, and in the end she’d programmed more time for it into the sessions, rather than just the few minutes she had planned. It was still a lot to throw at the new students, but at least this would be a little lighter.

Orientation would be a busy three days. To keep the group sizes down and allow a little more intimacy, the one day of actual orientation was spread over three days of repeated lectures and presentations, many of which she would be the major speaker for. It didn’t intimidate her, but it would be a lot of work.

She was going over the plan one more time when the IM bar on her laptop lit up. She glanced at it, to see that it was Dr. Thompson; the message was, Why don’t you come up and see me for a minute?

Be right up, she messaged back, then got up and headed up the stairs to Dr. Thompson’s office. Natalie wasn’t at her desk, of course – Dr. Thompson always seemed to have her running some errand or other – so she stuck her head in his office and said in a poor imitation of Bugs Bunny, “Eeeeh, what’s up, Doc?”

“I just wanted to talk to you for a minute,” he said. “I see we’re finally starting to get some new students appearing around campus. It’s always good to see that.”

“We’re getting a few,” she replied. “We had five move into the house I live in over the weekend. They’re still learning their way around. I haven’t spent much time with them but they seem like good kids.”

“Most of them will be,” he mused. “There are always a few who seem to want to drive you up the wall. No ombudsman issues yet, I take it?”

“No, still waiting on the first one, and I’ll be happy if I’m still waiting at the end of the year.”

“Fat chance of that. Anyway, I spent some time looking at the orientation plan. You made several changes from the last time I looked at it.”

“A few,” she admitted. “I got to thinking that while we do a pretty good job of getting students ready to go to class, Mr. deRidder may be right in that we need to spend some more time on non-class issues. All work and no play, that sort of thing.”

“He may have been right on that, but in my opinion he went too far the other way. I see you programmed some time for that.”

“Yes, and I’ve been making a list of things I want to mention. I think it will help if the kids realize the opportunities they have, and not just the rules.”

“Good thinking. DeRidder may have had a point with that, but he doesn’t know enough about the place to be able to present it. So how are you getting along with him?”

“Not as well as I would like,” she admitted. “He’s still pretty snarky about the orientation being taken out of his hands, and he’s sniped at me a few times over it.”

“That’s unfortunate. The bottom line is that even when he’s seen this place in operation he may be a while understanding it. We’re just going to have to put up with him until he gets the message.”

“I wonder how long that’s going to be,” Susan shook her head. “From what I hear, he doesn’t have a good track record at getting the message if it’s not something he wants to hear.”

“Something in that tells me you know more than you’re telling me.”

“I guess I do,” she replied. “I didn’t want to get into it, but this isn’t the first time I’ve run across him, though I don’t know if he’s figured out who I am, yet. If so, he hasn’t given me any indication of it, and I’ve tried to let on that I don’t know him, either.”

“How do you happen to know him?”

“He was the school superintendent where I went to high school,” she replied. “I never got to meet him myself, since I was mostly gone when he arrived. So it’s understandable if he doesn’t remember me. But my father is the editor of the local paper, and he tells me that Mr. deRidder, uh, well I can’t say he was fired but the school board didn’t offer to renew his contract.”

“I hadn’t heard that. Can you tell me more?”

“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the details,” Susan told him. “In a thumbnail, the high school principal lost the confidence of the school board, who wanted him out of there. Mr. deRidder didn’t exactly get the message, so the board lost confidence in him, too. He would know that I would know that story, which is why I’ve not gone out of my way to let him know who I am.”

“I guess that’s understandable, too,” Dr. Thompson said after thinking about it for a moment. “And I suspect we’d be wise if we kept it that way. But Susan, you’ve given me something to think about, and I thank you for that.”

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.