Limits - Cover

Limits

Copyright© 2011 by Rainmaker

Chapter 36: At the Mall III

Mind Control Sex Story: Chapter 36: At the Mall III - Michael Wright found the one thing he loved better than pot. But how much of a good thing can one person stand? This is a sequel of sorts to Brain Sauce.

Caution: This Mind Control Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa   Ma/ft   Fa/Fa   ft/ft   Fa/ft   Ma/Ma   mt/mt   Consensual   Romantic   Mind Control   Lesbian   BiSexual   Heterosexual   TransGender   Incest   Mother   Son   Brother   Sister   Father   Daughter   Rough   Light Bond   Group Sex   First   Oral Sex   Anal Sex   Masturbation   Fisting   Big Breasts   School  

Carson Has A Principal?

When Julianne Robbins was named principal of Carson High not quite 10 years ago, she was already a rising superstar in the Eastern California education system. The sky was the limit; a state job, maybe even one in Washington, was inevitable.

But then a funny thing happened. Julianne Robbins fell in love with Carson High, with Daytown, with the wilderness that lay just outside the city limits. More than once; hell, more than five times, she'd refused an offer that would have caused her to be reassigned. After a while, the offers quit coming – and she was fine with that.

It was the wisdom of certain members of the board of education that hired a young-looking but already experienced Julianne back then. She was naturally blonde; she was deeply tanned (not natural) and had a body to kill for, if not die for. But her knack for local politics, her passion for education and willingness to fight for her school quickly became apparent.

What was not apparent to the school or the board was that she was deeply in love with one of her advocates, a widower named James Carr. Having met during the vetting process, Carr was smitten and they'd perfected the art of meeting on the sly. With his family grown and gone and hers 500 miles away, it was less of a chore than either expected and they maintained a strong, passionate relationship for over two years.

But then a rapidly moving cancer attacked Carr's pancreas, and the tall, strong man who used to take her on hikes in the mountains went from diagnosis to death in less than three months.

That left Julianne with her other passion. And it was enough.

The morning of Meredith's takeover, she'd been holed up in a central office boardroom hammering out ridiculous minor details for a choir trip. But since micro-managing was one of her skills, she worked out detail by detail and headed back to school triumphant if not already dead tired.

Checking her messages, she saw where her lackey, i.e. "assistant principal," Bob Karnes, had texted her over 10 times.

That's excessive even for him she thought, dialing with one hand as she drove.

"Thank God Miss Robbins," he answered breathlessly. "You need to..."

"No, you need to take a deep breath and tell me as calmly as possible what the emergency is," she said, proud of her self-control in the face of the unknown.

"We had some two dozen girls walk out before the end of school today," he said, still nearly hyperventilating. "The cream of the freshman class, in fact. And Miss Flemester left with them."

"Bob, that sounds like what we call a field trip," she replied. "You're saying it was something else."

"What, I don't know. But Miss Flemester left two freshmen girls to tend to the library, and we found them naked and having sex with both boys and girls in there."

Julianne nearly drove through a red light, but locked up her brakes and pulled off into a parking lot to safely continue the conversation.

"We had several reports of girls walking around nude today, but those were some of the girls who left," he stammered his explanation.

"So you're saying that some of our best and brightest freshman walked out of school naked? Is that what I'm getting?" she said, finally raising her voice.

"Unclear," Karnes said.

"What's unclear?" she asked, really irritated now.

"Unclear that they were naked when they left," he said.

She sighed and wondered if this were the beginning of the end of her career.

"Do we know where they went?" she asked slowly.

"Uh, the mall," he said. "Pretty certain they loaded in two fans and headed to Carson Mall. Miss Flemester's van is gone and we think a parent is involved, too."

"Carson Mall?" she repeated.

"Yes, ma'am, that's right," he confirmed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Get a list of every girl who is gone," she said. "We're sure there were no boys?"

"Oddly, no," he replied.

"Okay, then," she sighed. "And we're sure it's not a field trip."

"No, ma'am – I mean, that's correct."

"Right now, don't do anything. I'm only 10 minutes away from the mall, so let me try to find them and find out if this was merely a planned trip that somehow fell through the cracks. If they're not back by the end of the day, then we involve the parents."

Normally a careful driver, Julianne popped off one of her hubcaps when she hit a mall speed hump at 30 mph, and ruptured a hose on the next. So it was a smoking, broken car she exited as she ran into the mall as fast as six-inch heels allowed.

But she caught up with the cluster of naked women and, despite her shock at the visual, made her way to intercept them. She hoped she came across as a one-woman wall as the girls approached.

"Ladies, I don't know what your plans are, but I am commanding you to find your clothes and return to the school immediately," she said, hands on hips.

Silence greeted her tirade, which proved to be the most unsettling thing she could imagine. Which meant Meredith had her right where she wanted her.

"Ms. Robbins! Please calm down," she said, her voice trailing off. "It's going to be okay..."

A moment's uncertainty was all she needed, as Meredith embraced Julianne, catching her totally off-guard. She resisted for a moment, but almost as quickly, something ... happened.

In a heartbeat, a career of stress, bad decisions, sexual frustration and career moves both rewarding and questionable began flowing out of her, seemingly through her pores. It manifested itself as something between a wail and a scream.

Meredith did not let go.

"It's okay, Ms. Robbins," she said softly. "I see how you really are. You're free of other people's expectations. You are who you want to be. You are wonderful for this job. You are wonderful for us."

Sobbing, Julianne slowly began to relax. Her head cleared enough to hear Meredith's reassuring words and she returned the embrace.

"You care about us," Meredith whispered into her ear as she slid her hand between the principal's legs. "You do love us, you wish you could physically be in love with some of us. Turn it all loose and you will feel young and again and it will show."

Julianne had no way of knowing that Meredith's embrace had a lasting effect on a middle-aged woman's metabolism, beginning almost immediately. It began reversing her aging process, and a few moments later, when she began undressing, several small sags were already gone and a mastectomy scar was fading.

"I know you," she said in her daze. "You're little Meredith Simmons. You're in trouble."

"And you're naked," Meredith giggled. Julianne looked down at her naked form, surprisingly void of tan lines, then looked Meredith in the eye.

"How did this happen?" she asked. "We're in public, aren't we?"

"We all have something we need to do," Meredith said. "You need to get dressed and get back to school, let everyone know we're all right."

Julianne knelt down to begin gathering her clothes.

"No underwear. Never wear underwear," Meredith said. Julianne nodded, and quickly was able to slip on her dress and still look fantastic. "Are you feeling better?"

"I don't know. I feel different," she admitted. "One thing I feel is the need for you to kiss me Miss Simmons. Please kiss me."

"Sure," Meredith smiled warmly and embraced her principal in a hug that quickly build to a passionate series of kisses and moans.

"Undress me. Fuck me," Julianne groaned.

"No. You have to go back to school," Meredith reminded her. "It's your responsibility. You are in charge and we all respect you. Some of us love you."

"I understand," Julianne said as she began composing herself. "We'll see you back in school then?"

"Tomorrow. I promise," Meredith kissed her again, but on the cheek. But as Julianne turned away to find her way back to her broken car, Meredith smacked her smartly on the butt.

"Nice ass," Meredith said. "But just you wait."

The time between leaving the women and reaching her car allowed Julianne to regroup mentally and emotionally. She frowned when she saw two different kinds of fluid pouring from the underside of her car, but she sat inside and found her purse and inside that, her cell phone.

"Ms. Robbins?" Karnes answered.

"Yeah, Bob, it's me," she said in her I'm-in-charge voice. Thing was, she'd never called him by his first name before and he picked up on it immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

"Why do you say that?" she asked as casually as she could manage.

"I wasn't even sure you knew my first name," he said. "Much less, knew how to use it."

He was surprised even more when she laughed. Heartily.

"You're right," she said. "No offense was meant."

"None taken," he admitted. "Now, what's wrong?"

"My car has died," she said. That's a lie; I killed it

"Where are you?" he said. She could hear he was walking briskly.

"The mall," she said. "Wild goose chase."

"Need a ride then?" he asked.

"That would be awfully nice of you," she said. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

Not the way I'd like[/i} he thought.

"I'll be right there," he said. "Which side?"

"The side opposite from the food court," she said. "Just follow the plume of smoke."

She flipped the phone closed and finally a moment to consider the events of the last 30 minutes. All those naked girls. All those pretty, cute girls walking around naked. Why?

Julianne reached up under her skirt and found her long-neglected pussy with two fingers. Despite the thicket of pubes, she was able to find her surprisingly distended clitoris. She rubbed it between her fingers, sliding only her fingertips inside, and the electricity that went through her was like nothing she'd ever known. No – that's not right; she used to feel that way all the time, when she was with James.

"Oh-h-h-h James," she moaned. But then she thought of her kiss with Meredith and her orgasm came with a rush. Only her closed window allowed her scream to go unnoticed.

But by the time Karnes arrived – following the plume of steam smoke, just like she'd said – she was leaning against the broken car, arms folded and legs crossed. She was the picture of impatience.

She did not smile as Karnes rolled down his window.

"Need a ride?" he said cleverly (he thought).

"You know I do," she said. "Let me get my purse."

Julianne reached through her car window to pull her purse out – making sure she flashed her assistant principal with her uncovered ass. When she pulled out the purse, her expression had changed to a glowing smile, and as she plopped down into the passenger's seat, she splayed her legs and gave Karnes an appreciative one-armed hug.

"Thank you, Bob. If not for you, I don't know how I would have gotten back to school," she in a girly voice she did not recognize. Neither did Karnes.

"Cab? Bus maybe? Hell, with that bare ass you could hitchhike," he said sourly. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing – for a very long time," she said. "I'd like to do something about that."

"You've got to be kidding," he said. "After all this time, you're coming on to me?"

"Yes. I guess I am," she said in a coy voice. "Am I being bad? Do you need to spank me? Is that your fantasy about me?"

She turned towards the door and hitched up her skirt to again flash her bare ass.

"Jesus, Ms. Robbins – Julianne – I'm fantasized about doing things to you for years," he admitted, starting straight ahead but very aware of the exposed ass barely a foot away from his right arm. "But not that. I'm not into that."

"No, you're right," she said, tugging her skirt down and sitting back in the seat. "You only get off when you're spanking little boys and girls. Right, Bob?"

She's pegged him dead on, but he gamely played along.

"No, I dream of fucking that ass," he said. "Then having you suck your shit off of my dick. How's that for a fantasy Ms. Robbins?"

"Different," she said. "Maybe we can get out the car and do this? I really need a ride."

Julianne slid out of Karnes' car, walked around behind it and leaned over the trunk.

"Waiting for you," she called.

Karnes was out of the car in a heartbeat. He looked around and noticed that there were few people – no, no people to be seen. They were in a mall parking lot and Carson High's respected principal was waiting for him to fuck her in the ass.

"We're adults," she said. "Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck."

Karnes pulled his pants open and a chubby 6-iron python (in his own mind) strained to get at the booty before him. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"It's okay, Bob," she said. "We both need this."

"You have no idea, bitch," he said as he rammed his unlubed dick into her mostly dry anus. The pain was almost overwhelming, but her sharp mind was still functioning.

"Goddammit Bob. Use some spit or lotion or it won't be good for either of us," she said. Bob spit into his hand, rubbed the saliva onto his cock and reinserted it much more easily this time. He pumped it and soon their fluids had combined to give him a feeling akin to pleasure.

For Julianne, it was the pain of punishment; punishment for desiring a man. Karnes' average dick, now pounding away at her backdoor, might as well be a ruler, or a paddle, or an open hand. All three were familiar to her; as child, her blossoming preciosity was literally beaten into submission by an unyielding father.

Every time she was caught thinking more about boys or dating more than her academic career, she was disciplined. Even after she turned 18, she willingly allowed him to give her the third degree over her personal life and punish her indiscretions. It was only after his ugly, drawn-out death from emphysema that she allowed herself to find comfort in the arms of another, and Bob was willing to love her while on rare occasion providing the punishment that she felt she required.

Bob's death was, in her mind, the punishment for daring to go against her father's wishes and care for another. To Julianne, the message was clear: she was meant to be an educator, a teacher, a giver – not a taker. Her love was the building known as Carson High; its graduation rate her reward and her unmistakable sexual attractiveness was a means to an end when fighting for her school.

But after Meredith's embrace, so much of that was simply missing from her tortured psyche, and was rapidly fading from her memory. All was left was for Julianne to rid herself of any attraction to men and the male species, and Bob Karnes was unwittingly making that a done deal by his merciless pounding of her asshole.

"Fuck, Julianne! I'm coming!" he screamed nearly loud enough to be heard inside the mall, as a load years in the making was finally finding its release up her rectum. Again and again he twitched as he found his fantasy all that he'd hoped. He finally drew out, leaving her anus gaping and dripping.

"Ready for your cleanup?" she asked, masking her pain with a smile.

"Uh huh," he grunted, still breathing hard. She knew that her suffering was not yet complete, so she knelt down on the hot asphalt of the parking lot and began deep throating his cock, almost wider than it was long. The tang of her feces was just as apparent as the golden honey taste she remembered Bob's sperm resembling.

Julianne bobbed her face up and down until he again got hard and released yet another load into her throat. She took it all down.

"Can we get back to school now?" she asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Sure," he muttered. But as she began to get back into his car, he handed her that morning's newspaper.

"Sit on that," he ordered. "I don't need your runny shit all over my carseat."

That was the final humiliation that she required to push her over the edge. Karnes wondered about the smile on her face during their trip to the school, but he was too ashamed and, oddly, content to care what she thought. But one thing he knew – that newspaper would be saved and protected.

She knew something, too – but it could wait until their returned to the school.

"Glad to be of service," he said as they pulled up in his reserved parking space, breaking the silence of the trip back. As she got out of the car, he saw with delight that she indeed left a stain on the newspaper. He sauntered back into the building, triumphant for the first time in his memory.

Julianne was standing behind her desk, speaking to her secretary.

"I need to schedule appointments with every female teacher," she was saying. "Yes, the sooner the better. And tell the central office that Carson High needs a new assistant principal effective immediately."

"Why is that?" Karnes asked, actually playing with himself as he stood in her office.

"You're done here. Clean out your desk," she said cooly. "You've done everything you've been asked to do. You need to move on."

"What? Wow," he said bitterly. "Was it something I said? Or something I did? To you?"

"Bob, don't get me wrong," she said, coming around the desk. "You were a capable lackey for a number of years. But it's time you got your own school. I am going to put my recommendation in writing for you to fill the next principal vacancy that comes up."

"Really? Thank you!" he said, grateful but now totally confused.

"But I won't be able to stand to look at you after what you did to me this afternoon," she said. "I know it was mutual, but the level of disgust I feel for you right now you cannot believe. So please leave as soon as possible."

Julianne closed the door on her former assistant principal and did not reopen it until he had left the building. Only Mary Sue Johnson, the matronly school secretary, and student aide Jade Miller were in the office. Julianne felt an immediate attraction for Jade, a redhead with braces but a nice ass in somewhat tight jeans, but this day she had bigger fish to fry.

"I'm going to be making the rounds of the school and talking to several teachers," she said as she strode confidently out the door. "Someone needs me, take a message."

Julianne carried with her a list of Carson's faculty, and she'd highlighted close to a dozen names – all women. She had a single-minded task: sleep with each of them and have it documented on the school Web site. To that end, her first stop was at the school newspaper.

"Who is a photographer in here?" she addressed the startled classroom. A tall boy raised his hand – in fact, he had a digital camera in his hand.

"Sorry, I'm looking for a female. You know, a girl?" she asked in her imperious voice. "She will be going places a boy won't be allowed."

"I am," came a small voice from behind the tall boy and a few others. She was barely five feet tall, with sandy hair and just a few freckles. She was cute as hell, Julianne realized.

"What's your name, honey?" Julianne asked.

"Chastity. Chastity Nowitzski," she said, standing but averting Julianne's piercing blue eyes. "Please call me Chaz."

"Miss ... Hudson," Julianne began, consulting her sheet to make sure she'd gotten the teacher right. "I need you and Chaz to meet me in my office this time tomorrow. Please don't worry; no one's in trouble."

A girl with striking blonde hair that practically gleamed in the florescent light raised her hand suddenly. She did not wait to be called on.

"Ms. Robbins! Can we interview you for the school paper and Web site?" she asked eagerly.

Looking over the girl like a fat man might eyeball a buffet, she smiled warmly.

"Of course you may? Please remind me of your name," Julianne said, knowing she should already know it but somehow had forgotten. "I know I know it; but it's been a hectic day."

"That's okay!" the eager beaver replied. "Christine Tucker. Call me Chris."

"Well, Chris, you are welcome to attend our meeting tomorrow. My office at 1 p.m." Julianne said. "Miss Hudson, you'll be sure to bring she and Chaz at that time?"

"Yes, ma'am," the reading teacher/media sponsor agreed nervously.

Without a word, Julianne was out the door to complete her rounds:

Kylie Davies, Social Studies; Taryn Gilbride, P.E.; Joan Acuff, history; Kendra Ivins, math; Val Ogle, advanced placement; Charlotte Manning, special ed; Jessica Dixon, performing arts; Erin McCloud, English; Gina Sanchez, Spanish; Paige Duncan, typing/vocational; and Mia Ford, French – all where young enough and cute enough to fill Julianne's wants as well as her needs. The other female teachers, either older or homely, were encouraged to engage the relatively small number of male teachers in the school as much as possible.

But Julianne's list was impressive as the women were themselves. Meredith agreed to be in Julianne's office the next day at the end of classes for these women to be brought to bear. But first was the matter of Chaz and Christine.

Miss Hudson, who was promptly sicced on the unsuspecting men of Carson High, had brought Chaz to her office. The petite strawberry blonde wore a nice enough dress, but style was a stranger to her.

No matter.

"Chastity – Chaz – this is Meredith. Please submit to her requests," Julianne said.

"Oh, hi Meredith!" said her sometime classmate. "What do I need to do?"

"Just stand there," said Meredith, this day dressed in a teenager's typical comfortable clothes. She placed her hands on Chaz's cheeks and drew herself to kiss the compliant girl without resistance. Meredith then began sliding her hands down Chaz's lithe body.

"M-m-m. I like that you're not wearing a bra either," she said.

"Not much reason," Chaz said. "Left my panties at home, too."

Making another sound of contentment, Meredith slid her busy right hand under the girl's short skirt and quickly found a surprisingly and willing pussy to take her right up to the wrist with no lubrication or effort. Chaz grinned at Meredith's look of surprise.

"You could probably slide your hand all the way up my asshole, too," she said. "One of my foster homes was big into that kind of abuse."

"Really?" Julianne said, head snapping up in attention. "Is that the case now?"

"No, ma'am," Chaz grinned as Meredith worked her magic. "My current home is awesome. All of our sex is consensual."

"That's okay. I'll stay out of your ass," Meredith said, glancing at Julianne. Instead, she began wiggling her fingers inside of her classmate and Chastity Nowitzski began feeling the change. Writhing on her hand, she began forcing it farther up into her, humping and screaming all at once. But just that quickly, it was over.

"Christine Tucker. You have consented to be part of this as well, correct?" Meredith asked as she wiped her hand clean. "You wearing panties."

"Just a thong," she said, sliding it off her ankles even as she answered. Meredith repeated the procedure with Chris and drew a surprisingly strong wail at the peak of the penetration."

"I'm sorry. I was still thinking about my boyfriend – my former boyfriend," she said, wiping tears. "I was a very happy heterosexual girl, you know."

"Now, you and Chaz are inseparable lovers away from school and when you are with Ms. Robbins," Meredith said. "Christine, you will help Chaz learn how to dress like a girl and Chaz will help you learn so much you don't know about sex.;"

Chaz's eyes opened wide at the comment.

"It's my gift now," Meredith explained. "I can see how you really are."

"Oh, really?" Chaz said warily. "Is that good or bad?"

"It's awesome," Meredith said. "I helped you shed the pain and hatred of those memories. Can't you tell?"

"There's ... nothing there," Chaz said as she looked within. "You cleaned me out, didn't you?"

"Yes, I think so. And I thank God I don't have to live those memories for you," Meredith said. "They're just gone."

Right about then, Christine slid her hands around Chaz's ribs and cupped them up against what would have been boobs on the girl. She kissed her neck and whispered a private comment into her ear. Chaz moaned, but turned and nodded at the girl. To the arousal of all concerned, she raised the leg of the former cheerleader high enough to rest on the upper shelf of an office bookcase and Chaz ran her tongue down her leg until reaching the newly shaved promised land.

"You're ... very flexible," Julianne said as she reached down under her skirt for relief.

"I know," Chris moaned. "Can't believe I didn't make varsity."

"Their loss," Chaz said into Chris' pussy.

"Mary Sue, send in the first teacher," Julianne said into her desk console.


Kendra Ivins, the math teacher on her list, was the first in. Owning the legs of a former dancer or cheerleader herself, she was very much like the rest in that she dressed down her looks. One by one, Meredith changed that so that even as the majority of the Carson High faculty converted into lesbianism, they began dressing to heat up both sexes in the classroom.

One by one, the teachers were fisted by Meredith with some surprisingly powerful reactions along the way, and once converted, admitted to Julianne their idea of a dream vacation. In some cases, Julianne had ideas of her own – including for Kendra.

That's why, a matter of days, Kendra has served notice on her husband of a year and was riding in the back of a limo with Julianne on their way to Vegas. The champagne flowed and the two women laughed hysterically as Chaz – now dressed to kill herself – snapped away. Christine poured.

Chaz had proven to be a quick study at understanding what Julianne wanted: content for the Web site and the school paper/yearbook/online edition. The first day she'd shot some photos of just Julianne, she was at home washing her car in the hottest black bikini Chaz had ever seen.

"Slip yours on," Julianne said. "The first rule is, whatever I'm wearing, you're wearing. If I dress up, you're dressed up. If I'm naked, you're naked. And so is Christine."

Chaz undressed right in the driveway, pulling out a red-and-white number that meant there were two hot bikinis on display in the Robbins driveway moments later. She took 100 photos in minutes on her new digital equipment (officially courtesy of Carson High) and a half-hour later, they were reviewing them on Julianne's computer – and a half-hour after that, Chaz was showing her principal some of that lovemaking technique that Meredith sensed during their session.

Julianne had never come so hard or so often. That meant that Chaz would seldom use her newly arranged bedroom in Julianne's spacious place.

But when others were present – especially Chris – they followed the terms of the arrangement, just as now when they were rolling into the Las Vegas city limits. The official story here, as in future trips, is that the blonde Chris was blonde Julianne's daughter/niece/sister and Chaz was the eager beaver daughter of whoever was along. It was a bachelorette party, graduation gift, or even a celebrated divorce; Julianne was careful to switch the story around.

Both Chaz and Chris had fake ID's that pegged them as 22 years old. It was easy to believe with Chris, but with Chaz, who would always look young for her age, the war paint and clothes were required to help sale the charade.

But on this initial trip to Vegas, they were doing just as they'd planned – making money at the blackjack table. Kendra's finely tuned mathematical mind was perfect for card counting, which she'd never done before so was on no one's watch list. In no time at all, they'd won over $5,000, which was Julianne's cue to step away – much to the displeasure of the pit boss, but who understood the giddiness of the sexy first-timers.

Chaz and Chris had stayed in the suite fucking one another while they were betting, but the foursome got together for a joyous walk down Clermont Street and a dinner fit for queens. The restaurant of choice was no accident; while there, Julianne got the attention of the head waiter and words were exchanged.

Once they'd gotten back to the room, heels came off and dresses gave way to fluffy robes – one of Julianne's weaknesses. Each locale would find itself a robe short the next day, but since the women were paying cash, there would be no tracking them down.

"Julianne, this has been the greatest night of my life," Kendra said, embracing the shorter woman.

"Prove it," whispered Julianne, and the math teacher quickly slipped off both of their robes. Chaz snapped away and Chris quietly took notes, but after about 30 minutes of lovemaking, the faculty members were interrupted by a light tap on the door.

"Throw on a robe and get that, Chris," her principal instructed. She opened the door to a stunning brunette not much older that the girl who greeted her. She looked surprised for a moment, but smiled her best professional smile.

"Hey," she said casually. "I was given this room number by someone."

"And you've come to the right place," Julianne shouted from the main room of the suite. "It's good to see you, J.J."

The source of this story is Storiesonline

To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account (Why register?)

Get No-Registration Temporary Access*

* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.

Close
 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.