The Pledge Mistress Copyright 2006 by EC EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/ (warnings: erotic discipline, sex between adults, medical fetish, public nudity, sexual hazing) Chapter 18 - A weakness in Lisa's character Bernadette and Cherine returned downstairs fairly late, having spent more time than they anticipated in the pool. At first they were in the pool by themselves, but just as they were about to get out, a large group of women got in, carrying a water-volleyball and a net. They explained that the Four-Betas played water volleyball in competitions against other sororities and they needed to practice. The other women invited the pledges to join them, and a minute later the two freshmen found themselves playing on opposite sides of the impromptu game. It wasn't until an hour later that they were able to excuse themselves, which set back their plans to spend the night catching up on their e-mails in the sorority library. Lisa and Kathleen were sound asleep when their companions finally made it downstairs. Cherine and Bernadette cleaned up and slipped into the guestroom, which was dimly illuminated by a single nightlight. It was just light enough that the two women could see that the main bed was occupied but the two singles were empty. Cherine was too tired to care about anything other than her own sleep, but Bernadette was curious. She slipped closer to the main bed and caught a faint whiff of orgasm. She couldn't see much in the darkness, but could tell that Lisa and Kathleen were sleeping cuddled up to each other. Bernadette pondered for a moment what she ought to do. On the one hand she was irritated that Lisa and Kathleen were not making a better effort to hide their relationship. She felt that it was somewhat disrespectful to be openly having sex in an area they had to share with the other pledges. She was certain that if Tracy caught the couple there would be hell to pay, perhaps for the entire pledge group. Bernadette wondered whether to wake up Lisa and force her to get in a different bed, leave the two lovers in place and let them get in trouble the next morning, or simply get up a bit early and force them out of bed before anyone else saw them. Finally she opted for the latter. She set the alarm clock for 5:30, which would give her enough time to get Lisa and Kathleen out of bed before Tracy showed up. She would do Lisa a favor, in spite of her unease about the relationship and her on- going resentment that Lisa had taken charge of the pledge group. The next morning Bernadette shook Lisa, who was still sound asleep. "Get up! Get up before Tracy sees you!" Lisa struggled to sit up, and covered her sleeping lover with the sheet. She was still somewhat disoriented and wanted to lie back down. "Get…UP!" Bernadette pushed on Lisa until she was awake enough to stand. As soon as Lisa was on her feet, Bernadette crawled back in her bed to get a final 20 minutes of sleep. Meanwhile, Lisa rubbed her eyes and went into the pledge room to use the toilet and brush her teeth. She realized what a huge favor Bernadette had just done for her when she heard Tracy's voice in the guest room: "OK, sleeping beauties! UP-UP-UP! Let's go…Let's go…Let's go…" followed by the usual hard slap to the bare bottom of each of her three fellow pledges as they exited the room. Lisa and Kathleen had been only minutes away from being caught in bed together by the Pledge Mistress. It was only because of Bernadette they were not facing her harsh discipline. As the other women entered the pledge room Lisa whispered to Bernadette: "Thanks. I owe you one." ---------- Somewhat better rested than they had been 24 hours earlier, the pledges began what would be the first routine day of the summer semester. There would be morning PT, clean-up, and breakfast, followed by morning inspection and the daily trek to the university. Part of the daily morning inspection included the formal presentation of assignments, a time during which Tracy ordered the pledges to kneel in the sitting room with their homework neatly placed in front to review. There wasn't any written homework yet, but the three freshmen had been assigned some reading for one class that they had to recite. After a few minutes of questioning Tracy determined that her charges were adequately prepared and ordered them to put on their uniforms. Thus, dressed and ready for another day of class, the young women departed the sorority house with their Pledge Mistress. ---------- As soon as she was deposited in her professor's office, Lisa stripped and stood at attention while Burnside talked to her about the day's lectures and seminars. She would be with the professor nearly the entire day, with the exception of a political science class that she had to take as a general requirement. However, Lisa would spend most of her time out of the office and in her pledge uniform, given that she was attending lectures and helping the professor with her freshman classes. At 9:00 a.m. Lisa followed Burnside to the main lecture hall in the adjacent building wheeling a cart full of teaching supplies, syllabuses, reading lists, and the professor's PowerPoint projector. Her shorts and T-shirt contrasted with the formal outfit of her boss and drew attention from passers-by. Lisa's bottom got plenty of stares from passing guys because it was obvious she was not wearing any underwear under the thin fabric of her gym shorts. As she continued to push the cart behind Burnside, Lisa's shorts began riding up into her bottom and she could feel the hot morning sun shining on the lower part of her buttocks. Every so often she had to stop and pull them back down, but as soon as she started moving again the shorts immediately began working their way back up. Lisa sighed as she helped Burnside set up for her lecture. She was beginning to feel aroused from being so scantily dressed in public and having had part of her bottom on public display. Her outfit (especially from the waist down) left very little to the imagination and barely stayed within the limits of what was considered acceptable clothing in public areas of the university. Her feelings about her exposure were complex and contradictory. Perhaps wearing the skimpy shorts was somewhat embarrassing, but deep down Lisa enjoyed the stares and attention directed at her body. She remained quite the exhibitionist and secretly enjoyed being stared at. Fortunately Lisa was able to push aside her erotic thoughts and focus on her duties as Burnside's student and student aide. She spent the rest of the day attending a total of five classes, the two sophomore-level lectures that she was taking as a student, the two freshman-level classes she was proctoring, and the political science class. During the later part of the afternoon she returned to Burnside's office, stripped off her uniform, and worked on an assignment for Dr. Halsey's class. Lisa was not nearly as tired as she had been 24 hours earlier, so she was able to concentrate on her assignment. Burnside, meanwhile, was in and out of the office with various errands and thus not really paying much attention to her student. The strange flirting that had taken place between the two women the day before was absent that afternoon and they talked normally with each other. Lisa still had to be naked whenever in the office, but by the third day had become used to it and automatically undressed as soon as she was in the room and the door was shut. Within a few days even standing at attention in front of her boss with her hands behind her head and her legs spread would become routine and something she did automatically. ---------- Tracy entered the Economics Building in the evening with the other three pledges trailing behind her. As the group entered Burnside's office, the three pledges immediately sank to their knees. Lisa nervously stood at attention while the professor and the sorority officer discussed the day's performance and her work plan. Burnside handed Tracy a diskette with her notes for the day's training log and released Lisa for the evening. Lisa turned to Tracy and knelt, asking for permission to get dressed. A minute later Tracy and her pledges left the building and continued on their way to the sorority house. The pledges stripped off their uniforms and dropped them in the washer upon being informed they would not be going back out that evening. As usual, they ate dinner with the sophomores, cleaned the table, and knelt in the sitting room. The pledges noticed three massage tables set up and realized the night's lesson would be in giving massages. Tracy entered the room with Lisa's acquaintance Suzanne Foster, who had just been certified as a massage therapist. As the pledges continued to kneel, Tracy announced that learning massage therapy counted among the expectations the sorority had of them. Suzanne began the presentation with an overview of the various muscle groups in the human body, focusing the differences between women and men as the introduction of a comprehensive course that would continue throughout the summer. She would start by teaching basic Swedish massage, concentrating on a different section of the body each week. Her program would continue with other types of standard massage such as sports massage, and finally would finish in August with two sessions of erotic partner massage. She added that the pledges would first learn how to massage each other, and then would learn how to massage male subjects. "The Triple-A pledges are doing this as well, starting with each other, and then they'll be practicing on you." Suzanne briefly discussed the issue of "draping", the practice of covering a massage patient with a sheet. She noted that in Europe "draping" was less important than it was in the US, and that she preferred for her patients not to be draped. "I like to see my patients as nature created them and not worry about moving a sheet around. Anyhow, with you modesty is not an issue, so we won't be worried about draping." With that Suzanne directed the pledges to pair off. Lisa knew better than to pair off with Kathleen, in spite of her lover's longing expression. Take it easy, Kathleen, thought Lisa to herself. We'll have plenty of time to massage each other later in the summer. Instead Lisa paired off with Cherine, leaving Kathleen to take Bernadette as her massage partner. Lisa instructed Cherine to hop up on the table and awaited Suzanne's next instructions. Tracy dimmed the lights, stripped off her own clothing, and sat on the third table. She would serve as Suzanne's instruction subject and get several free massages in exchange. As Tracy lay quietly on her back, Suzanne began by explaining the importance of warming the oil before applying it to the patient. She spread the oil over the lower part of the Pledge Mistress's body, explaining that she would concentrate on her subject's feet, the fronts of her legs, and her abdomen during the first part of the class. Lisa followed suit on Cherine's body, applying oil to her feet, legs, and abdomen. Suzanne's disregard for modesty became even more evident as she ran her fingers over the upper part of Tracy's pelvis, applying oil in that rather private spot at the same time she lubricated her stomach. Cherine's body seemed to get darker and more exotic-looking when her skin was wet with oil. Lisa felt a surge of erotic longing sweep through her. Now, on top of everything else that was messed up about her life, she was feeling sexual desire for Cherine. Guilt swept over her as she glanced at Kathleen, but her guilt only increased her secret attraction towards the unsuspecting freshman lying on the table in front of her. Lisa finally pushed her thoughts aside and concentrated at the task at hand, using her hands to bring pleasure and relaxation to the young body under her control. She would do her best to give Cherine a good massage, and look forward to the massage she would be getting in return after a few minutes. However, as her hands worked their way up the soft flesh on the inside of Cherine's thighs and her fingertips came close to touching her dark vagina, Lisa's feelings of arousal returned. She worked her way around to her companion's stomach and followed Suzanne's instructions to massage in a circular motion to help her digestion. Then her fingers ventured towards the top of Cherine's pelvis, working their way into her short black public hair. Lisa so badly wanted to continue downwards, touch Cherine's clitoris, explore the young virgin's vagina, and bring her to orgasm. So close…and yet… Lisa sighed with a combination of disappointment and relief when Suzanne ordered the women to switch places. Tracy sat up as well, but Suzanne explained that she would need to lie back down to serve as her model for the second half of the class. Tracy certainly had no problem with that; she was getting a double- massage on her legs as a result of her role as Suzanne's model. As Cherine's hands worked their way up her legs, Lisa continued to feel very aroused. She was getting wet between her thighs, and because she kept herself completely shaved, there was absolutely nothing to hide what was happening to her vulva. Her clitoris was swollen and her vagina increasingly wet. Of course, Cherine did notice the wetness building on her companion's most intimate areas, but decided not to make an issue out of it. She quietly followed Suzanne's instructions and simply hoped for the uncomfortable session to end quickly. What Cherine wished was that she could have been massaging Jacob. If only Lisa were Jacob, then she really would be getting some pleasure out of the experience. As she thought about Jacob, Cherine resolved to learn how to give a proper massage, because that would be her first intimate gift to him. Cherine thus ended by giving Lisa a very good massage, not because she was interested in pleasing Lisa, but because she was fantasizing about massaging Jacob. ---------- Fortunately Bernadette and Kathleen got through the session without any hint of sexual arousal. Kathleen was so enamored with Lisa that she paid no attention to Bernadette, apart from making the effort to give her a proper massage. Bernadette, meanwhile, was totally straight and never would feel any attraction towards another woman, no matter how attractive. Now if Kathleen were a guy…then Bernadette's physical reactions would be completely different. Yes, she most definitely would be aroused if she were massaging a guy in such an intimate manner. In fact, she very much was looking forward to the upcoming practice with the Tri-Alpha pledges and hoped to exchange massages with all of them. ---------- The massages put the three freshmen in a better mood and made them more relaxed for their next activity, the nightly study session. Because they were taking the same classes, Tracy expected them to study together and exchange knowledge and ideas with each other. The study groups were an important part of the pledge program, because the sorority wanted the pledges to learn to work in a group and also bond with each other. Assuming that the freshmen were not used to college- level academics, Tracy sat with them and directed the study group during the first week of classes. Lisa presented a bit of a problem to the study program because she was a sophomore. She already had taken the classes that her group-mates were enrolled in, so to study with them would do her no good. Had she not been worried about all of her responsibilities to Ruth Burnside and the Economics Department, Tracy might have wanted Lisa to lead the study group. However, she was smart enough to realize that Lisa's time was very limited and that she would need the opportunity to study separately. So, while Tracy and the freshmen talked in the library, Lisa quietly sat in the sofa in the guest room downstairs with her economics textbooks. Taped to the sofa was a hand-written note from the Pledge Mistress, authorizing Lisa to be separated from her group and to use the guest room, which normally was off-limits to pledges. At 10:00 p.m. Tracy ordered the pledges to put away their books and go downstairs for bed. Lights-out was at 10:30. The pledges would be restricted to their cots, permitted to get up only to use the toilet. When the three freshmen went downstairs, Tracy chased Lisa out of the guest room and locked the door. With that the normal daily routine of the summer pledge group was established. On weekdays the schedule was as follows: 5:30 – 6:00 – wake-up, pledge area cleaning, and personal inspection by the Pledge Mistress 6:00 – 7:00 – morning PT with the sophomores 7:00 – 7:15 – personal hygiene and packing book-bags for class 7:20 – 7:45 – breakfast with the sophomores, clean-up from the meal, and brushing teeth 7:45 – 8:00 – walk to the university for the first class of the morning 8:00 – 17:00 – classes on campus and chaperoned library study breaks 17:00 – 18:00 – return to the sorority house, dinner with the sophomores, clean- up, personal hygiene 18:00 – 20:00 – Four-Beta pledge training 20:00 – 22:00 – study group and homework assignments 22:00 – 23:00 – personal hygiene, uniform maintenance, and lights-out ---------- At 10:30 Lisa's three companions fell asleep immediately, even Kathleen. However, as was becoming normal for her, Lisa lay awake on her cot in restless thought. She glanced at Cherine's body in the dimly-lit room and felt her erotic desire return full-force. She quietly began masturbating as she remembered Cherine's lovely dark skin glistening with massage oil and sliding under her hands. She relived the feeling of her fingers pressing through the freshman's black pubic hair and being so close to…oh yes…oh yes… Lisa climaxed and came to her senses. Then she felt horrible about what had just happened, deeply troubled by her sudden sexual attraction to Cherine. What's wrong with me, she wondered to herself. What the fuck is wrong with me? Lisa realized something very distressing about herself, a huge defect in her personality. Her mind ran through the events of the past two weeks and her fleeting attractions to various people in her life. On the very first day she had wanted that guy examining her to fuck her up the ass, then fantasized about giving herself to Tracy. After that came Kathleen, a frighteningly serious relationship she had just walked into with almost no thought or hesitation. With no thought at all she briefly reunited with Ken, only to yell at him and insult him seconds after he had given her what she wanted at the moment. The following morning she had flirted with Ruth Burnside, vaguely hoping for a sexual encounter with her professor. Hours later she was again with Kathleen, pleasing herself with no thought about her earlier encounter with Ken. Finally, with very little consideration for Kathleen, who now adored her, she found herself attracted to Cherine. With Cherine there was absolutely no way she could hope to pursue her desires, because it was obvious that she was as straight as Bernadette and never would be attracted to Lisa at all. Not to mention the devastating impact such a betrayal would have on Kathleen. There was more, much more. Over the past week, Lisa had wondered about her sexuality. Before her relationship with Kathleen it never had dawned on her that she might be lesbian, because her two previous lovers had been male. So, had she discovered that she was lesbian? If only it were that simple. Lisa's attraction for various guys had not diminished, even though at the moment she had a female lover. So, was she bi-sexual? Well, not exactly that, either. She realized that, if not restrained by personal commitments or the disapproval of society, she would be sexually attracted to whoever happened to be close at that moment, male or female. Lisa's short attention span explained why her relationships had started so abruptly, going back to her sudden attraction towards Ken in January. United with him by random circumstances, she became attracted to him. The moment she was separated from him, her attention shifted elsewhere and within a week had focused on Kathleen. The moment her hands touched Cherine, her sexual desires shifted yet again. Fortunately for Kathleen, Lisa knew that there was no way Cherine could ever be interested in her. Whatever sexual experimenting Lisa might have wanted to try with her would have to remain within the confines of her own fantasies. In other words, Lisa would not cheat on Kathleen because the opportunity had not presented itself. Not a very pleasant thought. Lisa's mental journey returned to her first boyfriend Mike and their break-up. As she re-examined her role in the break-up of their relationship she wondered how much she really had loved him. She had always thought that the reason she had broken up with him was because she had changed in Chicago, while he had not. Now Lisa was forced to re-examine herself. She realized that what had changed had not been her, but instead her circumstances. The moment her environment changed and her options opened up, she got bored with Mike and the restrictions the relationship with him placed on her. The only reason she had not been bored with him earlier was because her life did not give her many other romantic options while still in high school. In reality her relationship with Mike had been doomed from the start, although it took her nearly five years to realize that. What he had to offer her was stability, and stability was something that Lisa Campbell could not handle. Lisa sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. What she had just discovered about herself frightened her. Was she even capable of maintaining a long-term relationship? What if she couldn't, and was condemned to spending her life going from lover to lover, hurting everyone she came in contact with? If that was all she was good for, then did she have any value as a human being at all? She had to talk to someone. The only person who she could talk to in the entire sorority was her Pledge Mistress. She took a deep breath and nerved herself to go upstairs. She was fully aware that she was risking being disciplined by being out of the pledge room without permission after hours, but she would just have to take that risk. She had to talk. Lisa nervously slipped into the quiet hallway of the sorority house, hoping to find the Pledge Mistress in the office or the library. She tried the office first, and to her huge relief saw Tracy sitting alone in the room at the computer. Lisa nervously sank to her knees and requested permission to speak. "You can speak, Pledge, but I hope you have a real good reason being out of your bed at this hour. If you don't, the next thing you'll be doing is bringing me a strap out of the storeroom." Lisa swallowed and began trying to explain her inner struggles with her relationships. To Tracy's credit, as soon as she realized that Lisa was trying to share something very important about a personal situation, her entire demeanor changed. She put aside her Pledge Mistress façade and began speaking to Lisa in the same manner that a psychologist would use with a patient. She asked Lisa some questions about her high school experiences and her emotional dependence on Mike. Very haltingly, Lisa continued by confessing everything that she had felt over the past two weeks and her very confused state of mind. She even admitted her fleeting attraction to her listener, expecting a harsh reaction, but instead she just got more questions. Finally Tracy was ready to share some of her opinions. "Pledge Lisa, let's break your feelings and your situation down person by person. I think we can knock-off myself and Dr. Burnside from the start. The deal with us is that, for you, we are authority figures. You have to bust your ass making us happy, because if you don't, we can make your life miserable. Constantly having to put forth effort to please an authority figure will invariably affect how you feel about that person. You have to make a real effort to please us, and when you do manage to please us it makes your life a lot easier. In other words, our mood affects your life and sense of accomplishment. That's going to affect what you think about us, and it's very easy for that feeling of emotional dependency to get sexual. So that's where you stand with me, and presumably with Dr. Burnside." "I…uh…I 'spose so, ma'am." "As for the guys in the fraternity, yes, we will expect you to be open to sexual exploration. But that's part of the pledge program and is more for your own knowledge than anything else. So that leaves four people in your life that you need to be concerned about: Mike, Ken, Kathleen, and Cherine." "Yes, ma'am." "Let's eliminate a bit more. Mike's in California and out of the picture. Cherine's also out of the picture, because you've told me yourself there's no way she'd be interested in you. That leaves just Ken and Kathleen. Kind of simplifies things, doesn't it?" "Not really ma'am, 'cause my attention's going all over the place. It's like…I want whoever's in front of me. I mean, what happened with Pledge Cherine…I mean…" "Well, Pledge, you know what? I think your situation is a lot simpler than what you think it is. It's real simple, in fact." "I…don't…" "Let me finish with my thoughts. Your short attention span in your relationships is due to a lack of maturity in your personality. You didn't have a lot of excitement in high school and only one relationship, so you don't know how to balance your needs against those of everyone who's close to you. You're extremely impulsive, and to me that explains what's going on with your personal life and your sexual whims. As for excitement, subconsciously you think you're entitled to it now, because you didn't have it before. The problem with that mentality is that you're not thinking about the consequences of letting your attention and sexual energy jump around so much. Not once did I hear you say 'I'm going to do what I can to overcome this, because if I don't, I'm gonna end up hurting myself and a whole bunch of other people.' Not once did I hear that from you." "So you're blaming me?" "No, I'm not. I'm simply stating a fact. I think you've got this idea that you're going to simply indulge yourself, even though you know perfectly well that you can't. You don't have that luxury, because too many other people depend on you right now." Lisa stared straight ahead, not knowing how to respond. Finally Tracy added: "A minute ago, I said your situation was simple. I didn't say it was easy. Simple and easy are two totally different things." "Ma'am. I never wanted all this responsibility. This isn't what I came here for. I just wanted to get some experiences and find out who I am." "Yes, I remember that from your pledge packet. You came here to have some fun, and to find out who you are and what you want. You're now starting to find that out, and it isn't what you expected. Maybe the answer to your question is starting to get a bit scary, because you're not quite who you thought you were. And as for the responsibility, you're stuck with that. You've got commitments to the sorority and the Economics Department, and more specifically, to Dr. Burnside and your fellow pledges. And you'd better think long and hard before doing anything that's going to hurt Pledge Kathleen or Pledge Ken." "But, ma'am, Ken's out of my life." "No, he isn't. You jumped to a conclusion about him, when what I was telling you was to keep an open mind. You're still jumping to conclusions about him, and you'd better knock it off. You don't know what's going to happen with Ken. No one does, not even Ken himself. Now here's something else for you to consider. I know that in your own mind you've used Ken's confusion about his sexuality to justify some of your own behavior. I suppose you think that Ken's even more self-centered than you are, which I admit he is. However, he'll have to work through his own issues with the Triple-A's, just like you have to work through yours with us. You have no business using his problems to justify your own irresponsibility." A surge of anger and frustration swept over Lisa. Why was she getting all the blame? "Ma'am, how come you're ripping into me like this, calling me irresponsible? What is it that you want me to do?" "I'm not ripping into you. I'm simply saying that you have an issue in your life, something that I would consider a weakness of character. You've identified it, and if you don't want to hurt the people who care about you, you're gonna have to deal with it. That's all I'm saying." Tracy stayed silent for a moment, giving Lisa a moment to think over what she had just said. When Tracy realized that Lisa did not have any more pending questions or comments, she shouted: "PLEDGE! STAND UP!" Lisa scrambled to her feet and was dismissed. ---------- Lisa went back downstairs with Tracy's psychoanalysis still ringing in her mind. The Pledge Mistress, in her usual blunt manner, had given Lisa a new perspective about herself. It had not been what she wanted to hear, but if Tracy was right, Lisa's problems grew out of a single weakness in her personality that she could combat, now that she had identified it. The conversation already had resolved an issue Lisa's life by settling her feelings towards Cherine. The temptation she had felt earlier in the evening had passed. Cherine was off-limits and Lisa was able to accept that. Lisa's feelings towards Kathleen also were settled, at least for the time being. Lisa felt committed to giving Kathleen a decent relationship, doing what she could to satisfy her needs, and using their time together to help her lover build up her confidence and self respect. The difficulty facing Lisa (and Kathleen) was that Lisa was not lesbian. She enjoyed sex with guys and usually men figured in her erotic fantasies much more than women. Her attraction to Kathleen began not because of sexual orientation, but because of the two women's personal circumstances and isolation from the outside world. Her attachment to Kathleen was still much more emotional than sexual. As for Kathleen, her emotional needs were quite clear. Her soul was starved for affection and she needed someone to care about her. However, her sexual needs were a different matter. Lisa suspected that she was in the same situation as Ken, not sure what her sexual needs were. Lisa knew that in high school she had been sexually active, but her partners always had been the type who had taken advantage of her desperation for love as an opportunity to have easy sex. Kathleen's experiences with guys were nothing but a collection of bitter memories of betrayals, and as a result her perception of men was very warped. Kathleen hated young men because nothing good had ever come out of them as far as she was concerned. However, did that make Kathleen gay, or was she just embittered against men due to her personal experiences? What would happen if she did meet a guy who treated her decently? Lisa pondered that question, because it was important for the future direction of her own life. In spite of her relationship with Kathleen, there was no way she wanted to give up sex and relationships with men. That night she had resolved to stay loyal to Kathleen, but that loyalty would only extend to encounters with other women. To deny herself the pleasure of sex with men was to deny part of who she was, and Lisa suspected that was not what Tracy wanted her to do. The issue of men brought her thoughts back to Ken. Lisa realized that she had been unfair to him, in spite of having plenty of reason to be angry at his deception throughout the spring semester. Lisa wanted to somehow atone for her unpleasant behavior and maintain a relationship with him, even if they ended up as just friends. The next time she saw him and had some time alone with him, somehow she would have to take the initiative to make up for her recent nastiness Lisa finally managed to go to sleep; satisfied that some of her questions had been resolved. As for her other personal issues, at least Tracy had helped her identify some of her weaknesses and now she could confront them.