by Frank Limadere
It was a Friday afternoon in the Phi Gamma Beta sorority house, and emotions were quite high. The girls of the sorority were either excited or nervous, some were both. It was not unusual for the girls to be emotionally agitated on Friday afternoons, it was a rather natural state, as all the members were paddled on Friday nights before bed. However this day's feelings were not caused by the impending paddlings, in fact the girls were not scheduled to be paddled this Friday night. It was the opening night of the sorority's mother daughter weekend.
All of the girls, with the exception of the four first years, had experienced mother daughter weekends, so knew what to expect, and what their mothers' reaction to their somewhat strict and unusual sorority would be. The first years did not have that luxury, and they all had different feelings about the upcoming weekend.
Of the four, Amy Mathieson had the least concern. Her mother, Carla, had pledged to Phi Gamma Beta, and was even friends with the sorority's strict housemother, Stevie. Amy's older sister, Jade, had also been a PGB girl, and so her mother had gone through a number of mother daughter weekends as both a daughter and a mother. In fact Amy was rather looking forward to seeing her mother and observing how she interacted with the other girls and their mothers.
Fellow first year Emma Casey had a different view of things regarding her mother Elizabeth - or Elle as she preferred to be known, who had not ever been a member of a sorority. Elle Casey was actually English, having attended boarding school, and then done her tertiary studies at a university in England where they did not have sororities. Elle was a high achiever, and she had insisted that her daughter be the same. Towards that end she had sent Emma to a strict boarding school from a very young age and, although Emma could not be certain, she suspected the college she attended had been chosen for her largely because of PGB's reputation for strict discipline. Some of the girls had said they were a little concerned at their mother's reactions to things like the weekly paddling. Emma was the same, but for the reason that she felt her mother might think it was a really good idea, and actually want to schedule additional discipline for her daughter.
Jessica Sterling was definitely not looking forward to the weekend. The pretty brunette did not have a biological mother anymore. Jessica's mother had passed away when the girl was quite young, and she could barely remember her. Her wealthy father had seen that she was cared for by a succession of nannies and nurses, and then a string of his girlfriends. Jessica's stepmother, Sylvie, her second stepmother in fact, was far younger than the girl's father, and probably younger than a lot of the other girls' mothers. Jessica had been hoping that Sylvie would not want to attend the weekend, Amy had already offered to share Carla with her, but Sylvie had jumped at the chance. Sylvie was not highly educated and Jessica was terrified the woman would embarrass her and, even worse, that she may object to the sorority's discipline techniques and try to haul her out. Jessica wasn't all that keen on the paddlings, and she did seem to get more of them than her other sisters, but she had made some really good friends, she loved her fellow first years; Amy, Emma and Sally, just as much as any real sisters, and besides her boyfriend Matthew was at the same school, and a member of their brother fraternity Phi Sigma Tau.
The bubbly, slightly eccentric Sally Fairweather sat by herself, staring into a cooling cup of coffee. Sally had a secret she had never told anyone in the house. Not her fellow first years, not her best friend and sort of boyfriend, the Phi Sig Patrick, not even her 'big sister' Veronica. Sally had never told Stevie this either, but she was aware that the housemother knew about it, because she had all the girl's details and she'd sent out the invitations for the weekend. Sally's parents were a good deal older than most first year students' parents.
The girl had been a rather unexpected arrival, and in fact of her two sisters, the one closest to her age, Nancy, had been 24 and married with a child of her own when Sally was born. That made Sally one of those rare girls who was actually an aunt to a niece who was older than her. When Sally was 15 her mother had been afflicted with severe memory loss, further investigation had proved that she had early onset Alzheimers. Sally's ageing father had not been able to care for his wife at home, and she had been placed in a care facility. Nancy had effectively become Sally's mother. She'd always been close to her little sister, and Nancy's daughter, Mandy, had been as close as a sister with Sally anyway, so it wasn't a major transition. It was just that all the other girls were going to have their mothers here, except for Jessie, and even then she at least had a stepmother and Sally was going to have her big sister, although she thought Nancy might actually be older than Jessica's stepmother. The blonde girl's eyes filled with tears as she remembered her last disastrous visit to her mother, where the poor woman hadn't even remembered who Sally was.
There was a knock at the door. A number of the girls jumped, others squealed, and a few ran to the staircase. One of the girls who ran for the staircase was bright blonde cheerleader Shauna. She leapt up, grabbed her 'little sister' Jessica by the hand and dragged her to the stairs, urging, "Come on, Jessie! We practised this."
Stevie stood up gracefully and turned around so that she was facing her eager and nervous charges and ordered, "Places ladies. We want to give our mothers a proper Phi Gamma Beta welcome just like we practised."
The girls arranged themselves in front of the stairs. They lined up in groups from smallest to tallest. The back line was composed of girls like the volleyballer Naomi, and the broad shouldered swimmer Johanna. Jessica, although a first year, was quite tall and also in the back. The likes of Amy and the petite sophomore Georgette were in front. Stevie smiled at the girls, they could be absolute angels when they wanted to be. The handsome black skinned lady opened the door, and beamed out at the women assembled on the house's lawn. "Welcome to Phi Gamma Beta, ladies. Your daughters have something they'd like to say, or sing, to you."
As Stevie ushered the women in, the girls at the staircase began singing a song of welcome. Not all the girls were good singers, but they had enough who were, and they had practised both the song and the slow, languid movements that accompanied it, all week.
When the girls brought their welcome to a conclusion the assembled mothers all clapped, and some cheered. It was a little old fashioned, but it was still fun and it was a tradition the sorority had observed almost since its formation.
Once the song of welcome was done the girls broke from their assembly, and began to mingle affectionately with their mothers, hugging and kissing. It wasn't lost on Amy, as she was embraced by an effusive Carla, that neither Emma nor Jessie hugged their mother or stepmother. In fact Emma was very formal and cool with Elle, who was equally stiff, and Jessica didn't seem to know quite how to react to Sylvie, the beautiful blonde trophy wife who was rebuffed when she attempted to hug her stepdaughter. Amy wasn't the only person who saw that. Stevie also noticed it, and her eyes flashed ominously.
It was pretty redheaded self-appointed mistress of the kitchen, Heather, whose mother Ivy suggested that the mothers could all use some refreshment. Heather apologized for their lack of hospitality, grabbed Georgette and Shania and headed for the house's kitchen, followed by Ivy, who was a plumper version of her daughter. Obviously the interest in cooking had been handed down from mother to daughter, and Ivy liked to test her work.
Whilst coffee and tea were being prepared, the mothers settled down with their offspring. Amy was nestled in between Carla and Naomi. Caroline, Naomi's mother, was on the other side of her daughter. "Caroline!" Carla Mathieson greeted the olive skinned woman joyfully. "So nice to see you again!"
"You too, Carla," Caroline returned the greeting. "I was so pleased when Naomi told me that Amy had joined the sorority and was her little sis, because I knew I would get to see you again at this weekend."
"Jade couldn't believe it when her little sis got to be mentored by the very same girl to whom she had acted as big sis during her final year."
Caroline beamed. "It's wonderful how these things happen."
Amy took the opportunity to snuggle Naomi and examine some of the mothers. Naomi had inherited her jet-black hair and her dark skin from her mother, but the height had come from somewhere else. Caroline wasn't a midget, but she was nowhere near as tall as her daughter. That must have been from Naomi's Dad.
She could see a real resemblance between Emma and the reserved Elle. The hair, complexion and build were very similar, especially since Emma's recent interest in lacrosse had melted away the puppy fat she'd initially been carrying when Amy first met her out the front of the house at the beginning of their first semester. Emma smiled a lot, she didn't think Mrs Casey did a lot of smiling. Frowning... that she did a lot of, she was frowning at her daughter right now and Emma was squirming uncomfortably. Amy gave a little shiver, and hugged both her mother and Naomi tightly.
Jessica sat next to Sylvie, although she was careful not to sit too close and nervously watched the conversation between her stepmother and her big sister Shauna, and Shauna's mother Elise. Elise was a little taller than her daughter, but she had same cheerleader's body, peaches and cream complexion, and although her hair was long and fair like her daughter's, Amy doubted it was natural, there was definitely colouring in it. From what little she had seen of Sylvie she seemed really nice. Amy hoped Jessica could get over her dislike of the woman.
Sally looked positively miserable, and Amy couldn't understand why. The blonde girl's mother looked really nice. She had dark blonde hair, she was probably a little younger than most of the mothers there. Amy heard a comment from Veronica - Sally's 'big sis', that explained her friend's demeanour. "You're not Sally's mother?"
Nancy smiled at the dark haired girl and replied, "No, I'm her sister. Sally was born when Mum and Dad were older. Mum's not well, and couldn't look after Sally, so big sis stepped in."
Sally rolled her eyes, and sighed.
"Oh c'mon sis," Nancy tried to cheer her sister up. "I'm not that bad. Mandy's the same age as some of the girls here, so I am a Mum of a college-aged girl, just not you."
The ladies were soon taking coffee and tea as Heather and her two assistants served it.
Stevie got to her feet and said to Sylvie, "Would you like to discuss Jessie in my study, dear?"
"That would be lovely, thank you Stevie," Sylvie replied, with a smile.
Jessica frowned, there was something wrong here. For some reason Stevie and her stepmother were acting like they knew each other, and they shouldn't, beyond the invitation Stevie had sent for the weekend. Jessica tried to get away without mentioning much about school when she returned home for holidays, Jessica tried to avoid Sylvie where she could when at home.
"Jessica," Stevie said over her shoulder as she led Sylvie to her study, "we'll want some tea, darling. Can you organize that, please?"
Jessica got to her feet, and was going to argue that she wasn't a servant, but felt some eyes on her, and remembered the last response like that to Stevie had earned her an appointment with the housemother's wicked rubber paddle, christened Miss Sting by the girls, and she had spent the night sleeping on her stomach. She nodded meekly, and went to the kitchen to make and take tea to the ladies.
"So Jessie's settling in well?" Sylvie asked Stevie a little anxiously.
"Did you think she wouldn't?" the housemother asked.
"She can be a little rebellious," Sylvie admitted.
"Oh, she's far from the first hard case we've had here, and she's not the worst either. She may need a hot bottom more often than her sisters, but we're getting there."
A gentle knock on the door interrupted the conversation.
"That'll be Jessie with the tea," Stevie told her guest.
Sylvie shook her head, and commented, "I don't know how you've done it, Stevie. She throws a tantrum at home if she's asked to rinse out a cup."
"You just have to be firm with girls," Stevie advised, and then called calmly, "Enter."
Jessica entered bearing a tea tray with a pot of tea, steam curling lazily from the spout, it had two cups and saucers, milk, sugar and a plate of sweet biscuits. Jessica set it down on the table between the two ladies, poured a cup for Stevie and added milk and sugar as the housemother liked, then asked her step-mother, "Tea, Sylvie?"
"Yes please, Jessica. No milk, one sugar."
Stevie blew on her tea to cool it, sipped appreciatively and asked, "Jessica doesn't know how you take your tea?"
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