Chapter 10: Halloween

-- FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2008 --

“Wooo!!!”

“Wooo!!!”

“WOOO!!!”

There are few things in this life more entertaining than some 80-plus beautiful sorority girls screaming enthusiastically. Not all of them were screaming at the same time, but their screams were sort of like dominoes. One goes off and knocks the next one over, and then the next, and the next, and ... you get the picture.

Most of the girls I didn’t recognize. The current senior class would’ve been freshmen during my final year at Cal, and I had only become friends with five of them during Tri-Delt West: The Schenke Twins, Kirstie, and two others: Alani Williams and Arika Okuma. Alani had grown out her Afro, and had thickened in other places as well to sport a healthy pair of D-cups and some serious junk in the trunk. She was quick to flirt with me and drop innuendo-laced comments about getting together ‘just like old times’. Japanese Arika was just as petite and cute as ever, and she didn’t hesitate to rub my ass even before brightly saying “hello”.

As it turned out, there were three other Tri-Delts present of whom I fondly remembered. The first two were Natalee Kirby and Annette Bergstrom, who had graduated the same year as me. As ex-Tri-Delt Royalty (VP and Pledge Mistress three years ago, respectively), they remained in frequent contact with their sorority sisters. And much like Adrienne was doing tonight, they were taking advantage of their alumni status to come visit.

“Peyton still talks about you,” Annette informed me with a twinkle in her eyes. “We’ll have to tell her we ran into you here.”

I nodded and asked, “How is she? I mean, I see the stuff she posts on Facebook. Just started grad school at Columbia and all that stuff. But ... How IS she?”

“She’s good, she’s good. She’s ... happy,” Natalee explained with a warm smile.

“I’m glad.” I exhaled slowly and smiled. Even though I knew my little contribution to the whole McDouche situation had been relatively minor, I still felt a sense of ... pride ... that I’d done something to help Peyton get to a point where she was happy.

I was still thinking rather fondly of Peyton when a British-accented voice exclaimed from behind me, “Ohmigawd! You’re really here!” I then found my head being bodily rotated around until an aggressively aroused girl could cram her tongue into my mouth.

Nora Cavaday’s voice with her upper-crust English accent gave away her identity, so I didn’t freak out when I abruptly found myself with a new (old?) kissing partner dressed as Elizabeth Swann from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. She laid a passionate smooch on me, but released me almost as suddenly as she’d started. And holding onto my shoulders from only a couple of feet away, the brunette beauty repeated, “Ohmigawd! You’re really here!”

“Evidently,” I deadpanned.

“You know I heard that you’d been spotted in the house a time or two these past few weeks, but I didn’t believe them. Big Ben ... Wow!” Nora mimed her mind being blown. Only then did she realize I’d been chatting with Natalee and Annette. And in her inimitable accent, she added, “I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something?”

The older girls laughed and shook their heads. “Nothing important. Good to see you again, Ben,” Annette said with a smile. “We’ll tell Peyton you said ‘hi’.”

“Thanks,” I replied and waved as the two of them walked off, my eyes briefly yo-yoing down to Natalee’s massive cleavage in her sexy cop costume and then Annette’s tight ass in her NASA-themed silver bodysuit, recalling the time I took the hot blonde’s anal virginity.

Nora quickly wrapped her arms around my elbow, and at hyper-speed she rattled off a series of questions. “How have you been? It’s so amazing to see you. Do you like my costume? Would you like to peel it off me? Oh, shit, are you here with a girlfriend? Am I getting you in trouble right now?”

I chuckled, patted her forearm, and shook my head. “Uh, in order: I’ve been doing just fine, it’s amazing to see you too, LOVE the detail you put into the costume and man, Keira Knightley can’t hold a candle to you, would definitely love to peel it off you but you’d have to keep the hat on, and no girlfriend, but I did come here with Adrienne and Sasha.”

Nora’s eyes got BIG. “Ohmigawd! A.D. is here!?!” Nora raised her hands up beside her cheeks and let out a high-pitched <squeee!!!>. Without question, she seemed more excited to hear that Adrienne had come to the party than she’d been about bumping into me. “This is the best day ever!”

I spent the next half-hour with Nora by my side. Although I’d arrived with Adrienne and Sasha, the world-famous supermodel Tri-Delt alumni was more instantly recognizable than me, and I’d stepped aside when the crowd of eager fans had descended upon her. I had no idea where they’d gone to, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d holed up in a bedroom with a couple of pretty young things.

Nora and I had never been the closest of friends, but we had always been friendly fuck-buddies and I was happy to have the company of a familiar face. I loved listening to her talk in her high-class accent, and she was more than happy to keep talking. She was a fifth-year student who hadn’t graduated yet, not through lack of effort but because she was double-majoring. She filled me in on the adventures of some of the other girls from Tri-Delt West beyond what I’d seen on Facebook. Her best friend Whitney Arvidsson, for example, had just broken up with her boyfriend a few weeks ago.

“I TOLD her to come to the party tonight,” Nora complained. “San Jose isn’t THAT far away. We could’ve REALLY had fun together for old times’ sake and she’s gonna be so pissed she missed out.”

I figured Nora and I would find a way to have fun together for old times’ sake with or without anyone else. The lovely brunette kept an arm around my elbow as if terrified someone else might snatch me away the instant she let go, so I thought it pretty clear that I wouldn’t be going home tonight without first getting laid (not that I’d ever expected to attend a Tri-Delt Halloween party without getting laid). Sure, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d attended a Tri-Delt party and only ended up getting laid with ONE girl, but I wasn’t about to complain. Better to have a chill evening with an old friend like Nora than get sucked into some wild and crazy out-of-control orgy with a room full of strangers, right?

Fate disagreed.

Well, the Tri-Delt Pledge Mistress disagreed.

Now I’m not saying that had I known how things would turn out, I would’ve said ‘no’. I’m not saying that at all.

But I would’ve at least THOUGHT about it.

Anyways, as I said, Nora and I spent the next half-hour together with her arm around my elbow, but we didn’t spend that time alone. We made the rounds, chatting mostly with her friends. The seniors and one fellow fifth-year of course knew my name, even if they didn’t necessarily recognize my face. There had once been a chapter about me in their orientation booklet after all, and I imagined there were a few Ben Juniors floating around the building. Every one of them expressed a certain amount of surprise by my appearance and demeanor. One girl had assumed I would be taller. Another flat out thought Nora must be joking because I was too “nice” to be the Big Ben of legend. Two girls recoiled in fear as if I would somehow seduce them against their will right then and there. And three girls promptly showed great interest in taking me upstairs and finding out if my reputation was truly deserved (although not all at the same time).

After I’d graduated, though, the chapter had no longer been included in the Tri-Delt orientation booklet, so the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors Nora and I came across were somewhat less familiar with my legend. Still, a few of them had heard of me, although I did my best to downplay the stories as exaggerations. For some of the girls, that was enough and we chatted amiably. Others, on the other hand, lit up like it was Christmas morning when they learned my name, really turned on the charm, and several were even so bold as to cop a feel of my package!

I didn’t really think much of it, used to spending time in the Tri-Delt Chapter House flirting with all of the sorority girls, especially during a party. That was just how Tri-Delt parties went, right? Well, for me at least. It wasn’t until Nora swore beneath her breath and started glancing around that I had any sense something was wrong. And when I asked her about it, she muttered, “Where’s Jordyn? I should’ve known she’d make a Pledge Task out of this.”

I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what?”

“All the pledges coming to flirt with you. Neera just grabbed your crotch!”

I blinked twice. “She’s the third one to grab my package tonight, actually. Kind of a normal Tri-Delt thing for me. YOU grabbed my crotch when you pulled me into a makeout session twenty minutes ago.”

“That’s different! I was part of TDW. These are pledges you’ve never met before!”

“You think something’s going on?”

“I KNOW something’s going on. You remember pledge points, don’t you?”

“Oh...” I muttered lamely as realization dawned on me. I still remembered my first Tri-Delt Halloween party five years ago when I was a sophomore. The pledges had been given a pledge task to seduce another pledge’s date, and I’d wound up having a torrid threesome with Misty Madsen and Lakhi Sharma. The following year, the Pledge Mistress had put a bounty on Dawn during the Halloween party. And when I stopped to think about that night, I muttered to Nora, “YOU were the one who got fifty points for bagging Dawn when you were a pledge!”

The English rose smiled at me. “Aww, you remembered. You should bring Dawn back and I’ll get Whitney to drive up so we can re-enact it.”

I blushed. “And you think Jordyn put a bounty on me tonight?”

“She knows you’re here, doesn’t she? You said the Schenkes invited you.”

“Yes.”

Nora gestured with her hand as if to silently say, ‘There you have it.’

I chuckled and squeezed Nora’s arm that was wrapped around my elbow. “Relax. I’m not planning to abandon you tonight.”

Nora tried to give me a brave smile, but she popped her eyebrows. “Be that as it may, these are my sisters. Nobody’s gonna force you into anything, but you have to understand I would willingly step aside for them if it came down to it. That’s our bond. That’s our promise to each other. ‘Let us steadfastly love one another.’ People like to joke that the Tri-Delt motto symbolizes that we’re all a bunch of carpet munchers, but it truly does go beyond that.”

“Well, maybe it won’t come down to that.”

“Perhaps.” Nora smirked and shook her head ruefully. “But don’t count on it.”

Over the next hour or so, a lot more girls came my way as Nora and I meandered through the crowds from one area to another, stopping to refill our drinks at one location and then finding seats on a couch in a lounge somewhere else. We also spent a good amount of time by the dance floor, where girl after girl wearing a prominent pledge pin asked to dance with me. I danced with a sexy nurse, a Playboy bunny, and a blonde Tinker Bell that made me think back fondly on DJ. I danced with a French Maid, a sexy Construction Worker of all things, and a vampy witch. All in all, I had to guess that I’d interacted to some degree with all of the twenty-odd girls who must’ve been pledging this term, some of them just casually dancing with me, but others pressing themselves close so that we were skin-to-skin, their bellies grinding against my bulge.

And yes, I’d developed quite a bulge. The girls were dressed to impress, and it was impossible for me not to react to so many pretty faces flaunting their tight asses and exposed cleavage. My package got fondled quite a few more times, although I started to get into the mood of rubbing a few asses as well. But unlike my previous Tri-Delt Halloween parties, none of the pledges invited me up into their bedrooms. And after I was ready to leave the dance floor, I found Nora waiting for me with a drink in hand.

“Thanks, Nora,” I said warmly, taking a sip and then smiling as she leaned in to peck my cheek. Then I turned with surprise to smirk at her two new companions.

“Where the hell have YOU guys been?” I asked with mock anger at Adrienne and Sasha. Both lovely ladies were grinning ear-to-ear, and when I stepped forward to hug them both, I sniffed the aromas of post-orgasmic pussy. “Perhaps I should ask, WHO have you been with?”

“The Schenke Twins, of course,” Sasha laughed.

“Twins are just so ... yummy...” Adrienne sighed with glittering eyes. “Tell me the thought hasn’t crossed your mind.”

I got her drift immediately and averted my gaze, but I think she already knew. Adrienne didn’t share the same kind of quasi-telepathic link I had with Dawn, but we still vibrated on the same wavelength, if you will.

“In any case,” Adrienne continued, “I think it’s time we moved this party to the next level, huh?”

I frowned in confusion, already sensing the game was afoot. After all, Adrienne’s face had shifted to its ... diabolical ... expression. I sighed and shook my head, muttering, “Don’t say it.”

She said it anyway.

“Trust me, Tiger.”

You’ve read this story before. Adrienne comes up with some crazy multiple-girl sex game that usually involves a blindfold or tying me to a chair and sometimes both. She gets herself some Grade A hotties by convincing them the gateway to Big Ben’s Magic Dick™ is through her pussy, and I let her get away with it because deep down I want those Grade A hotties myself. It’s usually all fun and games, and let’s face it: I love it when my Alpha Bitch “girlfriend” (or adoptive sister or fiancée or whatever title happens to serve as an insufficient representation of the state of our relationship in the moment) takes charge, surprises me with pussy after pussy after ass after blowjob after ... you get the idea. I’m sure if I went back and did the math, a significant percentage of the names on my personal “List” first got on that list during one of Adrienne’s “Trust Me” moments.

Did I enjoy spending intimate one-on-one time with a beautiful soul who attracted me with our interpersonal bond as much as her physical attributes?

Absolutely.

Did the sexual creature inside enjoy fucking the hell out of nubile teen hotties, leaving their unconscious, drooling bodies leaking my sperm out of their sodden holes in my wake and letting Adrienne’s sex drive take the ethical fall for my uncouth, quasi-morally-bankrupt behavior?

Absolutely.

Nice Guy Ben wanted to be a nice guy.

Nice Guy Ben wanted to treat women as more than sex objects to be used and discarded.

Legendary Sex God Ben rather enjoyed treating women as sex objects to be used and discarded. But much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Nice Guy Ben didn’t magically wake up the next morning having conveniently forgotten what he’d done with (and “to”) those girls. And so when morning came, Nice Guy Ben very much preferred to get to know his conquests personally – even if a little bit after the fact – to assuage his own guilt over what he’d done.

Natalee Kirby and Annette Bergstrom were perfect examples. At a Tri-Delt party quite similar to this one, I’d ravaged both of them (plus Peyton and Adrienne) in all three holes (Annette’s backdoor being previously pure). The very next day, I got shot in the head and had a whole host of other problems fall down on me. But still, I’d made sure to go back and check on both of them to make sure things were “cool” between us and that neither of them had any regrets.

Well, Annette had a boyfriend, so there was some regret, but she didn’t particularly blame me, so there’s that.

The point is: we were still friendly enough to hang out and chat shortly after I’d arrived tonight. And further, building relationships had been the entire point of Tri-Delt West for me. The ever-growing roster of girls subject to seizure and insemination weren’t exactly my girlfriends, but nor were they disposable playthings. The vast majority of them weren’t new conquests, but rather girls I’d already developed relationships with. And in the end, they became my closest circle of friends for that period of my life.

But this was different. I wasn’t a college student anymore. Yes, at present I was occasionally schtupping three Tri-Delt babes. But all three of them were ex-TDW friends. None of us had any illusions about becoming romantically involved (I think), and I knew at the end of each evening we would part as friends with no regrets.

Freshmen and sophomore Tri-Delt pledges I’d never met before? THAT’S a different story. And THAT’S where I drew the line.

“Trust me, Tiger,” Adrienne said.

“No, no, no.” I held both index fingers up, glared at my ex-fiancée, and then grabbed her by the hand. I practically dragged her away from the dance floor, up the stairs, and down the hall. At the first open bedroom door, I turned and yanked Adrienne after me before spinning around and slamming the door shut.

“Tiger, I--”

“Don’t you fucking ‘Trust me, Tiger’ on this one,” I growled angrily. “The answer is: NO, I don’t trust you.”

Adrienne was visibly taken aback. “I ... uh...”

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “What’s the Pledge Task?”

“Tiger, I--”

“What’s the fucking Pledge Task, Adrienne?” I raged behind clenched teeth.

My ex-fiancée pursed her lips and took a deep breath. “It’s nothing. You don’t even have to fuck anybody. It’s just ... it’s just a GAME. Entertainment, y’know?”

“Don’t make me fucking repeat myself again.”

Adrienne sighed. “Ten points to any pledge who can deep-throat you.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Ten points to any pledge who can deep-throat you,” she repeated as casually as if she’d recited the McDonald’s menu of soft drinks.

I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re asking a bunch of teenage girls who’ve never met me to give me a fucking blowjob?”

“They don’t have to blow you to completion or anything. Just ... get their lips all the way down.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s a dare. The pledge tasks are always dares, but they’re still in good fun. It’s not like we’re asking any of them to put out for you.”

“Well, actually, I seem to recall certain pledge tasks DID ask them to put out for me. I still remember Misty ... and Lakhi ... getting points for bagging me. Nora – downstairs right now – got points for bagging Dawn. Andie, Jocelyn, and Tonya got points for putting out for me. Kirstie got points for putting out for me.”

Adrienne narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re rattling off a list of occasions where you had zero moral hiccups about Tri-Delt pledges getting points for letting you shove your dick into their tight cunts. This is just completing a deep-throat. What’s the big fucking deal?”

I rubbed my forehead again, needing a moment to think about it. “Misty was already a friend and the attraction was mutual. Lakhi ... well, Lakhi got horny and joined in, and we turned out to be pretty good friends. Andie, Jocelyn, and Tonya chased me a LONG time before I let them catch me. Kirstie, too, actually, spent a ton of time in the house before I finally caved. Each of those girls made clear they wanted me for me before we hooked up, and not JUST for pledge points.”

“What do you think the last hour and a half of flirting has been about? We didn’t just bring you into the Chapter Room, tie you to a chair, and have the pledges line up completely naked beneath hooded robes taking turns one-by-one to kneel before you and worship at your... unnghhh ... Okay, sorry, I got a little distracted there.” Adrienne bit her lip and I could see her rubbing her thighs together.

I rubbed my forehead again and sighed.

Adrienne cracked a smile and began, “Where was I? Oh, the point is: We put the word out that you were the Big Ben of legend, gave all the pledges plenty of time to size you up, get the chance to talk to you, flirt with you, dance with you, and all that. None of them are gonna be forced to go down on you. You know we don’t work that way. But the ones who are interested? Is ten points for a deep-throat such a big deal?”

It was my turn to narrow my eyes. “I don’t actually believe the bounty stops at ten points for a deep-throat.”

Adrienne blinked and looked away so quickly I knew with absolute certainty I’d caught her. She gulped. I stared her down. And after a moment, she sighed and waggled her head, “Well, that was Jordyn’s pledge task. She said they’d already had the pledges try deep-throating a Ben Junior like ... weeks ago ... So deep-throating the real thing seemed in keeping with the theme and all. Plus, she said she and Jayden kept getting stuck on the real you with about two inches to go.”

“Oh, right.” I’d almost forgotten about that part. I arched an eyebrow. “But YOU couldn’t leave it at just a ten-point deep-throat bounty.”

“Well, I figured at least ONE of the girls who went down on you would be ready and willing to suck you to completion. It made sense to give twenty-five points for that.”

I frowned. “What if more than one of them wanted to go for twenty-five?”

Adrienne shrugged like it was obvious. “One-minute timers.”

“Oh.” I blinked. “Waitaminute. Misty brought me up into a bedroom and signed her initials on the whiteboard outside five years ago. Andie, Jocelyn, and Tonya were allowed to seduce me whenever and wherever they wanted. How exactly – and where - were the pledges supposed to deep-throat me if using timers is your recommended solution?”

“You’re curious now, aren’t you?”

“Just fucking tell me. I have to assume you weren’t expecting one of them to bring me up to a bedroom, give me a quick deep-throat, and then leave.”

“Well, no. I mean, there’d be no way for us to verify she did it that way.”

I stared at her expectantly.

Adrienne smirked. “We were gonna bring you and all the pledges into the Chapter Room, tie you to a chair, and have the ones who want to try line up and take turns one-by-one to kneel before you and--”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!?” I interrupted. “I thought that was a joke!”

“Well, they won’t be completely naked beneath hooded robes and all. I mean, it’s Halloween. The girls are all in costume.”

I rubbed my forehead and muttered, “How much for fucking me?”

“We weren’t ... I mean ... The bounty was just for--”

“Adrienne.”

She sagged and admitted, “Fifty.”

I sighed. “Do I wanna ask if there’s an anal bounty?”

“I dunno. Do you wanna ask?”

I sighed again.

“It really is just a game, Tiger. Entertainment. I thought you’d enjoy it, honestly. This is a Tri-Delt Halloween Party. You knew what you were signing up for before you walked through the door. And you KNOW Sasha really wants to see you destroying a few pretty little things tonight to satisfy her voyeuristic thrills.” Adrienne held her hands up. “Is pounding a bunch of beautiful, horny teenage girls really such a chore? C’mon, I promise you’ll be the only guy in the room with more than twenty pledges dressed up in their sexiest costumes.”

I screwed up my face. What she’d described DID sound pretty entertaining.

Adrienne leaned forward, smelling blood in the water. “You’re gonna do it, aren’t you?”

I rubbed my forehead again. Part of me felt manipulated ... again ... but for all the shit Adrienne had pulled on me over the years, I honestly couldn’t look back and say I didn’t enjoy it at the time. I sighed and held up three fingers. “Three conditions.”

Curious, Adrienne nodded. “Go ahead...”

I switched to holding up only one finger. “Number one: NOBODY does anything they don’t want to do. I don’t wanna hear any peer pressure egging on some poor froshling who doesn’t really wanna do it.”

“Totally understand. I promise I’ll cut that shit off myself if I hear anything like that.”

My grin widened to Grinch-like proportions as I raised a second finger as well. “Number Two: Entertainment, right? You and Sasha have to go first.”

Adrienne snorted and grinned with me. “Exhibitionist Sasha won’t be hard to convince.”

“I didn’t think so either,” I agreed.

Adrienne laughed, sighed, and then asked, “What’s Number Three?”

I raised both eyebrows and grinned. I was pretty sure my own expression had become a little bit ... diabolical.

Adrienne actually shrank a little, asking a somewhat nervous, “What...?”

“Wooo!!!”

“Wooo!!!”

“WOOO!!!”

There are few things in this life more entertaining than some 30-plus beautiful sorority girls screaming enthusiastically. And they were all pretty much screaming at the same time.

There were twenty-four pledges in the Tri-Delt Chapter Room along with Jayden, Jordyn, Kirstie, Adrienne, Sasha, Nora, Arika, Alani, Natalee, and Annette. I expected the trio of current Tri-Delt Royalty plus Adrienne and Sasha, but the last five were something of a surprise. Given that I was the only male in the room, I had to assume their presence was specifically because they were all previously-connected to me.

Some days I looked at my life and wondered how in the world I’d gotten so lucky, figuring that some higher power really, really liked me. Other days I looked at my life and wondered how in the world I’d gotten so royally screwed (and not in a good way), figuring that higher power really, really hated me.

And then there were days like today, when I looked at my life and figured that higher power was a sick fuck with a really twisted sense of humor.

Immediately after the Chapter Room doors had been closed, Pledge Mistress Jordyn (dressed as Chun-Li from Street Fighter) took me by the hand and led up onto the stage where a familiar-looking couch/futon had been placed. I took a seat, smiled at the gaggle of semi-nervous girls standing before me, and began re-thinking whether or not this was a good idea.

The lights suddenly went out, and almost everyone squealed at the sudden pitch blackness. But a second later, an overhead spotlight came on, directly over me. And right after that, Adrienne and Sasha joined me on-stage.

Perhaps for old times’ sake, Adrienne had gone with a blast from the past for her costume tonight: Princess Aurora. It was the same costume she’d worn for our first Tri-Delt Halloween party five years ago, although I was no longer her matching Prince Phillip. See, somehow the girls had convinced me to dress up as one of the Spartan warriors from the movie 300: Helmet, red cape, boots, and what felt like a brown loincloth. No shirt. Legs mostly bare.

“Dude, you’ve got the body to pull it off,” Adrienne assured me when she pulled the costume out of her bag back at my house.

Sasha was quick to rub my torso, murmuring, “These abs are made of steel, and your pecs are just sublime.”

I had been a fairly ordinary teenager back in high school. But ... well ... fucking improves muscle tone, y’know? And the girls had certainly been right about the costume being a hit during the party. See, I’d assumed the reason why so many girls wanted to rub up against me and fondle my package had been because of the costume, not the Pledge Task.

Probably both.

Probably.

In any case, Adrienne came to sit beside me, rubbing my torso and fondling my pectorals much in the way Sasha had done back at my house as soon as I came out of my bedroom. I exhaled slowly, telling myself to relax and forget there were thirty other girls staring at us, puckered up, and accepted my ex-fiancée’s kiss.

Meanwhile, Sasha had also gone back to an old standby costume: her outfit from Nocturne. Hey, when it works, it works. On stage only a few feet before me stood a gorgeous young woman with lustrous dark hair wearing the sexiest version of a tuxedo I’d ever seen. Her pinstriped black jacket finished with long tails fastened just beneath her large breasts, while also baring the skin of her taut tummy (Sasha had pretty damn good abs, too). A black bowtie was centered on a white collar, albeit without a shirt, drawing one’s attention to a wide expanse of exposed cleavage. Black panties were pulled over black garters that held up mesh stockings, finished with black four-inch heels. Her wrists were adorned with oversized white cuffs, she carried a black cane topped with a gleaming gold knob, and perched upon her head was a white-banded black top hat.

I don’t necessarily think she’d known what would be happening tonight (although I wouldn’t have necessarily put it beyond the reach of Adrienne’s schemes), but she certainly was prepared. That single overhead spotlight cast harsh shadows, as Sasha came to a dead stop at the front-center of the stage, masking her face in darkness from the wide brim of her top hat. She planted the cane straight in front of her with both arms extended, cocked her hip as she struck a pose, and tilted her chin downward ever so slowly. Big band jazz music slowly grew from the speakers surrounding the room, the audience went quiet...