Chapter Two: Pleasure and Pain
Mrs Andrews led them down a small hallway of cheap linoleum and bare walls. They entered a medical exam room a few doors down.
Lillian gulped. How many more humiliations could they force upon her? Mrs Andrews gestured to the exam table, which she sat on. The cold vinyl caused her butt to itch.
"Amber, go get the shower ready for us." Mrs Andrews said. Amber left the room with a nod, leaving Lillian alone with the woman.
"The shower?" Lillian asked.
"Be silent." Mrs Andrews said sternly.
"What's going to happen to me?" She asked.
The response was an iron hard pinch on the forearm from Mrs Andrews' claw like hand. Lillian cried out in pain. Mrs Andrews stopped just short of drawing blood.
"Be. Silent." She warned.
Mrs Andrews then checked her blood pressure, took her weight, and did all the things of a standard medical check up. Throughout Lillian remained silent.
"Lay down and spread your legs." She ordered after completing the final step of the regular exam.
"What?" Lillian asked, forgetting the moratorium on speaking.
This time the punishment was a pinch on her right nipple, as hard as the first. Lillian screamed.
"Next time the pinch is in a place you really don't want it to be." She warned.
Lillian laid down as instructed, her heart was pounding and a fresh wave from her seemingly infinite reservoir of tears streamed down her cheeks.
She moaned in indignity as she felt Mrs Andrews's fingers probe and explore her vagina, vulva, and labia.
"Have you had your first period?" She asked after finishing her inspection.
Lillian nodded.
"How long ago?"
"Three months." She answered, hoping she wouldn't get pinched.
"When are you due?"
"End of the month. Like ten days." She said.
"I can tell from the exam that you've never had vaginal sex. What about oral or anal?"
"I don't know what that means." She said.
"Then the answer is no. Stand up, we're done here."
Mrs Andrews marched her from the room and further down the hallway where they entered a tiled shower room with half a dozen nozzles around the walls.
Amber was there with a bucket full of hygiene stuff and a running shower head beside her. She was wearing a yellow poncho over her dress. She greeted Lillian with a wave.
Mrs Andrews pulled a yellow poncho from the bucket and donned it over her clothes as well.
"You can't be serious." Lillian blurted before her brain caught up with her mouth.
This time the pinch was to her labia, Mrs Andrews crushed the meaty flesh of her lips between her fingers. Lillian couldn't even scream.
"Now get under the water and shut your mouth." She said.
Amber gave her a sympathetic look as she entered the freezing cold spray. It was her second cold shower of the day.
Amber and Mrs Andrews proceeded to scrub every inch of her body vigorously with soap and abrasive brushes until she was pink and pruney all over. The effort not to object to their unfamiliar hands on her body was checked by the fear of another pinch.
Then came the worst part. After she was washed and toweled down she was seated on a stool. From behind her came the sound of electric clippers.
Lillian could only sob as Mrs Andrews shaved her head. She knew now why Amber's hair was so short, she'd only had it for two weeks. First they took her clothes, next they were taking her dignity and vanity. A proper slave indeed.
After she was shaved Amber rubbed her shoulder with some antiseptic ointment at Mrs Andrew's instruction. Lillian knew an injection was coming, but didn't expect to be punctured by the largest syringe she'd ever seen.
She would have screamed except she was all out of screams. The needle went in and out in a second but the pain endured for much longer.
"That's a micro RFID tracker. It's embedded into your triceps muscle. Any attempt to escape and you will be found. The penalties for escape are severe, so take my advice and don't do it." Mrs Andrews said.
She and Amber then stowed away all the things they had acquired to wash, shave, and tag her. She was ordered to stand.
"Now it's time to meet the students and staff. Amber, go and ask the High Priestess to call a general assembly in the Temple." She ordered.
While Amber hurried ahead Lillian was lead by the shoulder out of the room and into the same hallway. She was taken down to the very end where there was another door leading outside.
It was drizzling as Lillian was led across an open space of grass and trees in between the intake building and the Temple. Lillian would have considered the campus quite beautiful if she didn't hate every brick of the place.
The Temple was quite large and grand in its design. Three stories high and perhaps fifty meters wide on its thin side that fronted the open space. The facade was adorned with Greek columns and a triangular cap.
"This is the Temple. It is here that the fifteen and sixteen year olds practice their trade as acolytes to the Goddess. Worshippers travel from all over the world to make the sacrament with an acolyte. It is also where we have meetings and assemblies." Mrs Andrews explained as they approached.
Lillian knew better than to ask what the sacrament was. She had a pretty good idea herself but it was too horrible to contemplate. It seemed that the Temple of Venus was more than just a name.
The inside of the Temple was a large open space not unlike a church sanctuary. A pillared arcade ran around the lower half of the space, while above it was a gallery overlooking the room. There were no pews or benches, only empty tile floor. At the far end of the space, at least fifty meters away, was a large marble altar.
A pair of nude statues, a man and a woman, three meters tall and likewise made of white marble, stood on either side of the altar. The woman was looking at the man seductively, her nipples were aroused, and likewise the man's... thing was standing straight up. Lillian had heard from other girls that men and boy's things did that. She blushed a bit at the sight of the statues.
"Behold, Adam and Eve, the first lovers blessed by Venus with the ability to procreate." Mrs Andrews said.
Lillian wasn't super familiar with the religion and mythology of the old world, but she didn't think that was right. She did not dare express that thought though, so she kept her mouth shut.
"Go and stand at the altar, between Adam and Eve. The students and staff will be here soon." She was commanded.
She obeyed. Upon the altar the words "Come, virile man, and experience the blessings of the flesh in exchange for the blessing of prosperity." were inscribed.
A bell rang somewhere on the campus. Lillian stood idly at the altar as instructed while Mrs Andrews stood a short distance away.
A few minutes later the doors to the Temple began opening and closing as girls came milling into the sanctuary. Lillian's sense of nakedness increased tenfold as students of the Temple, all within a few years of her in age entered and looked at her. They whispered among themselves while others simply stared at her. Lillian was reminded not to cover herself by a curt cough from Mrs Andrews.
Among the three dozen girls who arrived in groups of two to six were a handful of adults of both genders. Everyone, including the adults, wore the same featureless white cotton dress that hung to the knees.
After a few minutes everyone in the room faced Lillian and bowed as one. Her cheeks went even redder. Why were they bowing to her?
She jumped out of her bare skin when she felt two warm hands upon her shoulders. She wheeled about and beheld an old woman on the other side of the altar, wearing the same white dress as everyone (but Lillian). Her dress was augmented by a gold colored sash and she wore a silver tiara upon her head. Lillian was looking at the High Priestess.
Lillian bowed like everyone else. What a fool she was to think they were bowing for her.
"Rise, child." She said. Lillian did so.
"What is your name?" The High Priestess asked.
"Lillian, ma'am." She said.
"My disciples and students, today we bring Lillian into our fold. Mr Reynolds and Mrs Andrews vouch for her." She said to the students and staff gathered near the altar.
"Lillian, we will teach you to give your body and spirit to others in the sacrament of lovemaking. You are a slave of the Goddess of love." She said.
"Now, let us welcome Lillian into our family." The Priestess continued.
Mrs Andrews brought forward a blindfold. Lillian's heart went into her throat. This could mean nothing good. She meekly allowed Mrs Andrews to tie it around her head. Somehow being naked and blind was so much more humiliating than being naked alone.
"Begin." The High Priestess said.
Lillian could hear someone approach her. They were very close. She felt someone's lips and tongue pass over her left nipple. She nearly cried out. The girl walked away.
Someone else approached. If all the greetings were to be like the first then this might actually be fun.
It wasn't. This greeting came in the form of a painful slap across the face. This time Lillian did cry out. The third salutation was a bite on the neck that hurt. She winced. This was not fun at all.
The fourth was a gentle caress of her vagina with soft hands. She shivered as a wave of pleasure shook her. Fifth was another slap. Sixth a kiss on the lips.
On and on it went, with some girls abusing her and others giving her affection. It was a confusing and scary experience, not knowing who was who and not knowing if the next encounter would bring pleasure or pain.
At last the High Priestess declared that the ritual was complete. Lillian's blindfold was removed. All of the people who were kind or cruel were before her. She had no idea who was who.
Amber stepped forward. Her alone Lillian could be sure had done her kindness instead of injury. In her arms was a white dress like all the others.
Lillian allowed Amber to dress her, first with a pair of simple underwear, and then the dress. Blessed covering. She wasn't naked anymore. She nearly cried for joy.
"Now it is time for lunch." The High Priestess said.
As if in answer Lillian's stomach rumbled noisily. She was reminded that she hadn't eaten anything that day.
Lunch was held in a small dining hall in an adjacent building. Like the intake building the dining hall was set on a rise, and the large bay windows gave a great view of the surrounding wooded countryside. In the distance were mountains. Lillian again reflected that under better circumstances she would have considered the place to be beautiful.
Amber sat with her but no one else did. The tables were round, each with five chairs, all made from dark colored wood. There were more seats than was needed so they had a table to themselves. Food was served from a window into a large kitchen. Lunch was mashed potatoes and meatloaf with asparagus. It was delicious.
"Yeah the food is good here, I'll give them that." Amber said as Lillian tucked in.
"It's so weird. One second I'm getting pinched and told to be silent, the next I'm sitting here eating five star food." She said.
"I don't get it either. You got through intake a lot better than I did." Amber said.
"How could you have been worse? I was a weeping wreck the whole time." Her nipple and labia still hurt from the pinches.
"Trust me I was worse. I almost got the fourth stage of corporal punishment. You only got to three once." She said.
"What's stage four?" She asked. Before Amber answered she realized that she didn't want to know. Too late.
"Penetration by object." She said lightly. "They almost never do that though. Stage one is pain on arm or leg. Two is pain on nipples or butt. Three is pain in the private parts. Four is when they stick a big dildo in one of your holes and make you walk around like that all day."
Lillian was horrified. "I hate this place."
"They almost never do four. They'll give you multiple threes first. I've only seen one stage four in two weeks." Amber said.
"Why were you sold?" Lillian asked. She felt like a person in a prison movie asking what someone was in for.
"We don't talk about our old lives here. You can even get in trouble for it." She answered.
"Oh. Sorry."
"It's easier to just pretend like you were always a slave." Amber said.
After they finished eating Amber cleared their trays. "C'mon I'll show you our room." She said after depositing them in the dish room.
She led Lillian to yet another building, this one a little larger than the others. Inside was an atrium with a staircase and a connecting hall that ran the length of the building.
Down this hallway were dorm rooms, six on a side. Amber took her upstairs to the second floor which was identical to the first. From there they went down the hall.
"And here we are." Amber said as they arrived at one of the rooms.
Lillian was surprised. It was roomy and well furnished. There was indeed only one bed, but it was a full size mattress. There were two desks with chairs, two wardrobes, a closet, and a good amount of empty floor space. The room was lit by an overhead light and ceiling fan fixture in addition to lights on the desks. The whole affair was larger than her bedroom in her old life.
Her old life. Just this morning she was Lillian Harcourt. Student at Jefferson Middle, friends with Sammy and Kenna and all the others. She would never see her mom or dad again. Well, maybe her mom but not likely ever her dad.
She sat on the bed and stared at her feet. This was all so much to take in. Amber sat beside her.
"The first day is the hardest." She said, putting her hand on hers.
Lillian made the decision not to cry. She'd been crying all morning and it had gotten her nowhere. This was her new reality.
"It must have been a lot harder for you without a buddy." She said.
"Well we're together now. We'll get through this." Amber said.
"Was it real, in the van, or was it because Mr Reynolds told us to?" Lillian asked.
Amber answered by cupping Lillian's face in her hands and kissing her on the lips.
A bell rang somewhere and the moment was over.
"Class time." Amber said.
"Oh, okay. I guess I didn't expect to start classes my very first day." She said.
"Yep. Don't worry on being behind. It's mostly self study with teacher supervision. I'll help you as much as I can. Girls are always coming and going so they don't stick to a rigid curriculum." Amber explained.
Amber took Lillian to yet another building, this one full of classrooms and "practice rooms." Lillian didn't need to ask what happened in those rooms.
Their first lesson was reading.
"Reading?" Lillian asked incredulously.
"Yeah, they think well educated women are more attractive, so they teach us things like history, literature, philosophy, and stuff." She said.
It was as good a first lesson as Lillian could have hoped for. The teacher was a man named Master Roberts, who took no extra notice of Lillian as they discussed the previous week's book, Jane Eyre.
After that was pornography appreciation. Lillian left with a face as red as tomato. She saw more of the human body than she ever cared to. The class taught them how to choreograph sex and demonstrated how porn was both realistic and unrealistic when it came to pleasing a partner.
"Most of the girls think that's their favorite class." She said as they left.
"What's yours?" Lillian asked.
"Yoga and calisthenics." She said "They want us to be as fit, and flexible as possible. It's a very relaxing class."
"How about least favorite?" She asked.
"Oral. They make you practice on these gross dummies. Sometimes for detention they make you practice on one of the male teachers. That or kissing, because I didn't have a partner so I always had to swap with other pairs." She answered.
Lillian's head was spinning. Pornography appreciation, oral practice, yoga, kissing, reading. This was getting weirder and weirder. She knew that there'd be things like this but now actually being in the thick of it it didn't seem real.
So far the other girls left them alone. It seemed that girls primarily interacted with their buddy. No doubt she'd get to know them in time, but for now Lillian was fine with being left alone.
"I'm really glad to have a buddy." Amber said as they arrived at their final class of the day: oral. The sun was finally coming out.
The oral room was an open space with no desks, only open floor. Scattered about the room were lifelike dummies of males and females, anatomically correct in every way.
"Ugh." Amber said.
"Good afternoon girls. Welcome to beginner oral." Said the teacher. She was a young woman, thin and prim. She looked like a librarian. She introduced herself as Master Penelope.
The other students in this class were the younger brood of girls like Lillian and Amber, about ten in all.
Lillian and Amber positioned themselves on either side of a pair of dummies, one male and one female.
"We have a newcomer today. Lillian, have you ever given oral sex to a boy or a girl before?" Master Penelope asked.
"N-no." She answered.
Master Penelope whacked her arm with a metal ruler. It stung.
"Try again." She admonished.
"No ma'am." Lillian corrected.
"Better. Give it a go on the dummy, just you, I want to see how you do it."
"So I put his thing in my mouth?" She said.
"It's called a penis. And yes. These are state of the art sex dummies. He will respond to your actions and I will critique you.
Feeling very unsure and awkward Lillian took the soft, small penis of the dummy and put it into her mouth. It felt like real skin.
"He's never going to get hard that way. Put some effort into it." Master Penelope said.
She tenderly began working it with her mouth. To her surprise the penis began to grow and became stiffer in her mouth.
"Very good. Faster now. Play with his testicles, but gently." The teacher said.
Lillian obeyed. Somehow this wasn't so bad. She felt the penis begin to throb in her mouth.
"You're a natural Lillian. Keep going. Put it all the way in until it touches the back of the throat. Yes, like that. Careful not to gag." She continued while Lillian worked. Amber was staring at her in surprise.
"And there we go!" Master Penelope exclaimed as the dummy emitted an electronic beeping noise.
Suddenly a squirt of water came out of the penis and landed in her throat. Lillian disengaged, coughing and choking.
"Don't worry, not real semen, obviously. Just salt water. Well done Lillian! That was very, very good for a first timer, and substantially better than some of our less talented girls who have been here a lot longer." She said. She directed the last part at a small, dainty girl with brown hair who was sitting in the back.
"You deserve a reward. When you come back tomorrow, I'll have one for you." She continued.
The other girls were looking at her with wonder and envy. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention to herself. Lillian suddenly felt naked again.
What had come over her? One second the dummy seemed gross and sucking its fake penis was a stupid idea. But somehow in the act she got carried away. As the other girls took turns practicing she wondered what it would be like with a real boy.
After the lesson was over they had some free time before dinner. As they walked Lillian noticed Amber was being unusually quiet. They went to their room, Lillian intending to nap before dinner, being exhausted from the day's events.
"What was that?" Amber asked as Lillian climbed into bed.
"Hmm?"
"Back there. You went nuts on that dummy. No one has ever earned praise from Master Penelope on their first day." She said.
"Guess I'm just good at it." She said sleepily.
Amber crawled into bed beside her. Lillian was grateful for the warmth and companionship. They snuggled up side by side. Soon they were asleep and remained so until dinner.
After dinner (spaghetti and sausage), it was time for homework. That involved reading from the next book selection (Lolita), doing a history worksheet (Amber helped), and then watching a pornography together on their school issued tablets kept in their desks.
After that Lillian went to sleep early. It had been a trying day in every sense of the word. She was horny from the porn however. But sharing a bed she couldn't do the rubbies.
Amber snuggled up in bed beside her once again. Both were wearing only underwear. The Temple did not issue them pajamas.
Subconsciously Lillian's hand went to her girl area as she dozed. When she was brought back to alertness by a bang from upstairs she noticed Amber was looking at the shape of her hand in her panties under the sheets.
"Oh. Sorry." She said, turning pink.
Amber did not speak but gently pulled Lillian's hand away, and replaced it with her own.
Lillian gasped as she felt Amber's fingers in her girl place. She looked at Amber who had an impish grin. Lillian smiled back and put her hand into Amber's panties, so their arms were crossed.
Giggling they fingered each other. Lillian loved the warm, moist feel of Amber's hairless, smooth girlhood on her fingers. Amber reached over her body with her other hand and massaged Lillian's right breast. Lillian followed suit with Amber's right.
Not long after that they both reached the top within moments of each other. After waves of pleasure courses through her body Lillian's emotion changed faster than a traffic light.
Suddenly she was weeping. It was as if the orgasm had uncorked even more bottled up emotions. That morning she had been a free person, and now she was a slave in bed with another girl who had just fingered her. It was too much.
Amber held her hand and offered her bare shoulder which Lillian cried into gratefully. They fell asleep in this way.
The next morning began with showers. In an adjacent building was a common shower room where all of the girls showered together as one.
Lillian would have in her old life been mortified by getting naked and showering with a bunch of other girls. However given the circumstances of her first day at the The Temple it was surprisingly easy to strip off her underwear and join the thirty five other girls under the spray.
She and Amber soaped each other up and scrubbed each other's scalps. She noticed that most of the girls were completely shaved down below, no hair at all. In fact with her small tuft she was one of the hairiest girls in the school.
There was one girl who caught her eye. She was younger, like them, and was not with her buddy. It was the girl who Master Penelope had looked at when she referred to the less talented girls in oral class.
"Hey Amber why is she alone?" She asked, pointing her chin towards her. She was trying to scrub her own back with a sad expression.
"Oh her buddy hates her. She's terrible in all our classes. She was the newest girl before me and I was the newest before you." She answered.
"So not all buddies bond like we do?"
"Most do, but not them. Poor thing. Her name is Emily." Amber said.
"She's not worth your time." Came another voice. It came from one of the oldest girls, sixteen or thereabouts, and fully developed.
"Oh, hey Miriam. I think Emily is nice." Amber said.
"Take my word for it you'd do better to leave that one alone. Not even her own buddy likes her." Miriam said.
"Well Fatima is a bitch. Everyone thinks so." Amber said. Lillian suppressed a chuckle.
"Ah, the new girl. Lillian, right? I heard you put on quite a show in your oral class." Miriam said.
Lillian felt distinctly awkward trying to have a conversation completely naked with a likewise naked girl.
"Uh, yeah. I guess." She said.
"Maybe you'll get to practice on a real person soon." She said.
"Ew." Lillian said automatically.
Miriam frowned. "You are new. Once you've been here a little while all concept of grossness goes away."
"Say, where's your buddy, Miriam?" Amber asked.
"Oh, Samantha is already done. I like to take the full time to shower. I think Lillian likes the showers too." She said.
Lillian realized that she had been staring at Miriam's vagina for almost a minute straight.
"Oh, uh, sorry." She said hastily.
"Nothing to be ashamed of. If you like it, look at it. I like looking at you. Most of us turn bisexual within a few months here. A natural byproduct of the training." She said.
Lillian turned her eyes to Miriam's face. She was quite pretty, but then all the girls at the Temple were. She had curly black hair, almost shoulder length, and a middle eastern complexion.
"Lillian turned bisexual the first time we kissed." Amber said. Lillian might have slapped her.
Miriam laughed. "That good at it are you? I heard you two fooling around last night when I walked by your door."
Lillian averted her gaze, her face going red.
"Aww, she really is new. You need to leave shame in the past sweetie. I was complimenting you. It's a sign of a good buddy bond. Some buddies have full blown sex together on the regular. Makes me sad for Emily, but she has it coming." Miriam said.
Suddenly the shower heads around them turned off as one. Showertime was over.
"See you around newbies." Miriam said with a genuine smile and left them.
"I like her." Amber said as they began toweling each other off.
Emily was a short distance away further down the bench where everyone was drying and dressing. Lillian wrapped a towel around her waist and wandered over to her.
"My name's Lillian." She said.
"Hi. I'm Emily." She said.
"Do you want to hang out sometime?" Lillian asked.
"No." Emily said. She stood and walked away.
"See? She's the problem. We aren't mean girls here. Mean girls get it hard here, and bullying and cliques are forbidden." Miriam said.
After showering they had an uneventful breakfast. After that it was class time. Their first lesson was oral, which was one of the classes they had every day. As they entered they noticed that there weren't any dummies on the floor.
"Good morning girls. We have a special activity today. I have a real treat for you. Our first human on human demonstration." Master Penelope said.
There was some excited muttering around the room. Amber looked nervous and Emily petrified.
"Everyone, stand over there and watch. Lillian, step forward." She continued.
"M-me, ma'am?" Lillian asked.
"Yes you. How many Lillians are there?"
Lillian nervously stepped forward and stood next to Master Penelope.
"This is your reward for doing so well yesterday." Master Penelope said.
"Okayyy... thank you, ma'am." She said. This was really weird.
"Please undress." She commanded.
Some reward! Lillian wanted to refuse, but knew it would not go well if she did. By now the state of nudity was losing its terror for her. It was only with some hesitation that she stripped off her dress and underwear. So there she was, stark naked in class. She shivered a bit.
"Lay down." Master Penelope said once she was nude.
Now she was really scared. She had some idea about what was going to happen but didn't want to think about it. She obeyed.
"Emily! Step forward and bring Lillian to orgasm with your mouth. Fail at this and you'll get a gauntlet. I'm tired of your lack of enthusiasm in this class and it's time you caught up with your fellow girls." Master Penelope ordered.
There was a collective gasp from the eleven other girls at the mention of a gauntlet. Lillian had no idea what that was but it did not sound good.
Emily stepped forward and knelt in front of her. Her eyes were red. She was so sure she was going to fail. Lillian felt a mixture of apprehension, excitement, and pity.
"Begin." Came the order.
Emily knelt and put her tongue to Lillian's vagina. She gasped in surprise even though she knew what was about to happen.
"Spread your legs Lillian." Master Penelope commanded.
She did so. Emily positioned her head between her thighs and began working Lillian's private parts with her mouth and tongue.
It felt good, but not great. Occasionally waves of pleasure would come but she never orgasmed. Emily kept at it for over five minutes, very unsure and reluctant. Every time she did something that felt good she failed to follow up with it.
Master Penelope began tapping her feet impatiently. When Emily came up for air she noticed tears were on Emily's cheeks. In that moment Lillian knew what she had to do.
"Oh, oh yes. Yes. Yes yes yes. Like that, right there, ohhhhhh!!!" She said, squirming and wiggling in fake delight. She completed her fake orgasm with a loud moan that she hoped was realistic.
It seemed to fool the teacher at least. "Well it seems you've learned something after all." She said.
Lillian stood as Emily returned to the other girls. She looked at Master Penelope who was stripping.
Lillian noticed that Master Penelope was quite young and very beautiful. She finished taking her clothes off and stood naked beside her pupil. The class watched in rapt attention.
"Now Lillian, I want you to try to bring me to orgasm." She said. She laid down and spread her legs.
She was completely shaved down there. Lillian was very scared. She was fine with fooling around with Amber but this was different.
"What are you waiting for?" She demanded. Lillian knelt.
She lowered her face to Master Penelope's vagina and started to work. She tried to everything that she'd wished Emily had done. She was vigorous with her tongue, slathering it over every part of her teacher's labia, vulva, and vagina. She found the "magic bean" and licked it ferociously.
Just like when she'd done the dummy something took hold of her and she lost all inhibitions. This was fun. The taste of flesh under her tongue and on her lips was intoxicating.
It wasn't long before Master Penelope was shaking and moaning. Then, as Lillian's tongue was exploring the inside of her vagina she convulsed and let out an exclamation of joy. The classroom applauded.
"I can't believe you Lillian, you're so gifted!" She said as they returned to their feet. Her face was sweaty while Lillian's was soaked.
After that the girls listened to a lecture on the techniques used in female to female oral sex, with Lillian's performance used as an example.
After class Lillian and Amber spent the ten minute break underneath an old oak tree outside the classroom building.
"You make the rest of us look bad." Amber said.
"I don't mean to. I'm just good at it," Lillian said.
"Last night you cried yourself to sleep, and today you're eating the teacher out." Amber said.
"It's a confusing time for me. I mean I enjoy doing these things, especially with you. But I'm still getting used to all of this." Lillian answered.
They were interrupted by the arrival of Emily. Again, without the benefit of her buddy by her side.
"Thank you." She said.
"For what?" Lillian said thickly. A moment later she remembered why and mentally slapped herself.
"For faking it. You saved me from a gauntlett." She answered.
"What is a gauntlett?" Lillian asked.
"You don't want to know." Emily said quickly, cutting off Amber who was about to speak.
"Think of it like a level five punishment." Amber said.
"Every time I start getting used to this place I learn something else that's completely awful." Lillian said.
"It's not awful here. You get used to it." Amber said.
"You've only been here for a day. Wait, you'll hate it as much as I do. Thanks again, I owe you one big." Emily said. She walked away before either of them could speak.
"That's the first time she's opened her mouth to say more than two words to anyone." Amber said.
"Well I know for sure I won't hate everything about this place." Lillian said.
"Oh?"
"I don't hate you." She said.