There was no sign of her new roommate yet, and it was almost time for the first day of classes. Kayla had moved in about a week ago, anxiously waiting the whole week to meet her roommate but that day never came. Kayla was starting to feel like she had won the lottery. The lottery in this case being her own room for the entire year! It was a thought that filled her with enormous happiness, and launched her into her first day with a bright and cherry attitude.
She'd picked out the perfect outfit too, opting for an oversized chunky white sweater, and black mini skirt. She'd paired these two items with black tights, and a pair of low heeled black loafers. She'd woken up early to straighten her long black hair, making sure it framed her face evenly before finally setting out for the day.
She always loved the first day of classes. Getting to meet the teachers, reading over syllabi, and setting up her planner for the term were all activities that Kayla greatly looked forward to. To make her day even better though, but also adding a dash of anxiety, she was planning to drop off an application at the Hazeldale Inquirer, the student run school newspaper. As a journalism student, and an aspiring reporter, getting a spot on the newspaper was a big deal.
Kayla had spent a lot of time crafting her resume and filling out the application, paying attention to every little detail and making sure everything was perfect. She was not about to blow this! Even if she wasn't admitted this year, she still had her junior and senior year to apply, but the sooner she was admitted the better.
The ace up her sleeve was the online blog she ran, where she would publish her own stories about local events around Hazeldale. It was mostly small stuff like the opening of a new thrift store, or the first Asian American high school basketball player to be recognized as both the State champion and MVP. Not that those things were insignificant, they just weren't necessarily the strongest contenders for a front page story. Then again, Kayla was really proud of the piece she'd written up about the basketball player. She wasn't a big sports gal herself, but she recognized their popularity. If she was going to make it big, she had to stay up with the trends and stick to stories that would get views. Besides, she enjoyed bringing attention to Asian American news. Being Korean American herself, the daughter of Korean immigrants, she felt an affinity to these kinds of narratives.
After dropping off her application, Kayla headed back to her dorm. As she threw open the door, the sight that lay before her caused her stomach to drop. Another girl was busy setting up her side of the room. Kayla's hopes and dreams of having the dorm all to herself were crushed. Not only that, but this new roommate didn't seem any more promising than the last.
"Hey!" The girl casually tossed back her shiny blonde hair, "you must be Kayla."
"Yeah, that's me." Kayla couldn't help but look her new roommate up and down, studying her appearance.
The first thing Kayla noticed was that she was drop dead gorgeous. Her long blonde hair was immaculately maintained and cascaded effortlessly down her toned shoulders. She wore a loose fitting, cropped t-shirt, with a pair of skimpy jean shorts. Her legs were wrapped in a pair of shiny black tights, with a pair of thick white slouch socks bunched up around her ankles.
"Sorry, but I don't actually know your name," Kayla bashfully admitted.
"I'm Madelyn. Madelyn Paige. Oh my god, I am so excited to meet you! Ah! We are going to have the best year, I can already tell!"
Kayla tried her best to hide her indifference, but she wasn't known for having the best poker faces. Thankfully, Madelyn seemed totally oblivious and just carried on anyway.
"Sorry I'm so late," she said, turning around and continuing to unpack her things, "I just got back from this big modeling gig in New York. Don't worry. It was the last one for the season. I'm officially taking a break to focus on my studies."
Kayla was only half listening as she sat down at her desk, flicking her lamp on, and setting her planner out. She didn't intend to be a total ice cold bitch, but her initial meeting with Madelyn sure didn't instill a lot of confidence that the two of them would get along. So Kayla made the personal call to just keep her head down, be as polite as she needed to be, and just hope for the best.
"What are you studying?" Madelyn asked.
Kayla turned in her chair, looking up at Madelyn's beaming face.
"Journalism," Kayla responded in one word.
"Ooooh, wait that's actually so cool. So do you want to be like a journalist or a reporter or something?"
"Something like that," Kayla turned back toward her desk, not exactly eager to make small talk.
Once again, Madelyn was far too oblivious to notice Kayla's obvious indifference to their whole conversation and just kept on going with her questions.
"Okay so listen," Madelyn hopped onto Kayla's bed, much to Kayla's own chagrin. "If you're down for it, I'd love to take you out for coffee some time, you know, so we can like connect as roommates and stuff."
Kayla was stunned. She felt a bit trapped. If she said no, she would be an asshole for blatantly rejecting her roommates advances to connect. If she said yes, she was potentially subjecting herself to coffee date of which she had no prior interest and would most likely be a total and awkward disaster. She hated small talk, impromptu conversations, and especially one-on-ones with strangers. Her last roommate had tried the same strategy and it had utterly failed. She had this grand idea that they were best friends, and yet Kayla was so turned off by her entire aura. Kayla was not ready for round two of that.
"If you don't want to it's fine," Madelyn said, "I get it. Just wanted to see if you wanted to like try and connect and stuff. I know this whole new roommate thing is kind of awkward, but seriously, no pressure! Just let me know if you want to get together and it'll be my treat."
This was different, and it was different in a good way. Kayla had expected Madelyn to be pushy and aggressive in her efforts to get her to agree to coffee. And yet in a total turn of events, she'd left it totally open ended, giving Kayla the ultimate power to make the decision on the matter. Kayla was stunned, and yet there was a small part of her icy interior that warmed up a bit.
"I might have some time this weekend," she said, only half committing herself at this point, "I'll let you know."
"Super!" Madelyn jumped down from Kayla's bed and skipped back over to her side. "Here, give me your number. I'll need it anyway just in case. I'll give you mine too of course."
Kayla exchanged numbers with Madelyn, still wary as to whether or not they were actually going to get along, but it wasn't as much of a disaster as Kayla would have expected it to be. When the weekend finally rolled around, she was able to muster up the courage to agree to coffee. She went into the day with a massive amount of anxiety. Even as she ordered her drink at the counter, she felt herself fumbling over her words. She was a nervous wreck to say the least.
Yet as time went on and as the two of them made light conversation together, Kayla was feeling more and more at ease. Madelyn was clearly an extrovert, and Kayla had a hard time imagining they'd be any sort of long term friends, but at least for the year she felt like this would be a bearable relationship. She'd anticipated their chat would just be nothing but painful small talk that Kayla had no interest in, but she found herself relating to Madelyn quite a bit actually.
"Okay, I know it's cliché, but I have to ask," Madelyn said at one point during their conversation. "What's your favorite movie?"
"Oh um, I mean I don't know if I could pick out a specific movie, but I really enjoy the Studio Ghibli films. So like Ponyo, and Howl's Moving Castle, and..."
"No way!" Madelyn's outburst totally cut Kayla off. She immediately realized her rude mistake, and quickly worked to correct it. "Sorry, I'll let you finish, it's just...those are some of my favorite movies too."
"Really?" Kayla asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, are you kidding me? What's not to like? Miyazaki is a living legend. I remember the first time watching Spirited Away as a kid and just being blown away. The great thing too is that the movies got even better as I grew up. Yeah, a lot of the movies are like for kids or whatever, but the details he puts in are just insane!"
"For real!" Kayla could feel her entire demeanor loosening up. "I love the way he draws food too."
"Oh my god, yes!" Madelyn exclaimed, "I swear, I don't like bacon at all, but that scene from Howl's moving castle when he cooks that bacon...holy shit, talk about magical."
Kayla laughed. She then paused for a second, realizing what had just happened. She had just laughed, with Madelyn, something she never really did with her last roommate. The only times she laughed was when it was forced or Kayla felt like she had to. Now, here she was, sharing actual laughter with her new roommate, Madelyn, an individual that she didn't think she'd ever be able to get along with. Then again, Kayla had made these judgements in haste, but she'd made the same judgements about her last roommate and she'd been spot on about those.
Besides, she and Madelyn were from two totally different worlds. Madelyn was a gorgeous model, and Kayla could already tell that as they walked from their dorm to the coffee shop, everyone's head was turning as they ogled Madelyn's body. Kayla on the other hand, while decently attractive and confident in the way she presented herself, was just a nerdy journalism major who kept to herself reading and watching anime in her free time with no friends to speak of. In fact, the more Kayla thought about it, the more she realized that Madelyn probably didn't even need her as a friend anyway. She was most likely swimming in them, what with her looks and her job and all that.
"So uh, what are your friends up to today?" Kayla asked strategically.
"My friends?" Madelyn scoffed, placing her elbow on the table as she leaned into her hand with her chin and smirked. "Did you just assume that because I'm a model I have tons of friends?"
Kayla's mind went into a panic. She had been totally caught! She could feel her face turning a bright shade of red, but thankfully Madelyn didn't notice.
"I'm only teasing," she leaned back and giggled, "but no, I don't really have any friends. I mean, I've got a lot of followers online and stuff, but like...as for in person friends I don't really have any."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised," Kayla admitted in a moment of surprising honesty, at least by her standards.
"I know right!? It's strange isn't it? But I mean, it kind of makes sense when you think about it. Don't get me wrong, I love modeling, it's super fun. But the industry is soooo fucked. People are the worst! It's either a bunch of old creeps, trying to tell you that you're too thin, or too flabby, or your heads too big, or too small, bla, bla, bla. I fucking hate it."
"Oh..."Kayla was admittedly taken aback by Madelyn's response. "Do you mind if I ask why you do it then?"
"I've seen myself in a mirror," Madelyn shot Kayla a cheeky grin. "But seriously though, I do it because I'm good at it. It comes naturally to me, and it's led to some cool opportunities. It's just I wish the industry as a whole was a bit better. That kinda blows. But the kind of modeling I do is great. I do ads for clothing companies mostly, and I really try and work with brands that have good mission statements. Like oh my god, I just signed this contract with this company that makes the cutest tights! They're eco-friendly and everything. It's perfect. If you want, I can totally see about getting some extra samples. Do you wear tights often?"
Kayla laughed, "yeah I do. Like...that's kind of what I wear most often actually. I got it from my mom, growing up she never let me wear a dress if I wasn't wearing pantyhose underneath it."
"Oh, well I'm surprised you still like wearing tights then!"
"Yeah, I mean you'd think I would have grown to hate it, but they're actually really nice. I've never liked the look of my bare legs anyway, so they help with that. Plus, on the bright side, now that my mom can't tell me what to do anymore, I'm also not wearing skirts as modest as I used to. That's a really nice thing about tights, you can wear really short skirts and dresses and it's no worries."
"Yes, exactly!" Madelyn said, "okay, it's settled then, I'll definitely get you some of their tights when I get the chance."
"Thanks, that's really nice of you," Kayla said.
She was feeling genuinely happy with how her time with Madelyn was going. She was nothing like Kayla had imagined her to be.
"Oh hey," Kayla blurted, abruptly changing the subject, "listen, this has been great, really, but I actually need to run."
"Literally no worries, go do your thing. I'll just be chilling at the dorm."
"Thanks, I'll see you around," Kayla said.
Before she had the chance to leave, Madelyn stopped her one last time.
"Oh wait! Before you go, I just wanted to say, your fit is fire. Speaking of tights, your legs look killer in the one's you're wearing!"
Kayla looked down at her outfit, similar to the one she'd worn on the first day of classes, just a chunky sweater with a mini skirt, tights and loafers, nothing fancy at all.
"Thanks," Kayla said, not quite sure what was making her look so "fire" but appreciating the compliment nonetheless. She decided it might be nice to return one back to Madelyn.
"You've got a nice fit going yourself."
She meant it too, Madelyn looked great. She was rocking a long rust colored sweater dress over a pair of sheer tights with little star patterns on them. Her feet were tucked into a pair of black ankle boots with thick white socks bunched up over the tops of them. She'd taken the time to curl her hair today too, her beautiful blonde locks pillowing down her back and over the tops of her shoulders.
Kayla waved goodbye before finally taking off. She'd actually planned her escape days in advance, making sure that she made plans so that she wouldn't be stuck with Madelyn all day. Even with how great their time was, Madelyn's energy was still a lot for Kayla to take in, and while they shared a love for Studio Ghibli movies, and hosiery, Kayla wasn't about to let that seal the deal on a potential friendship. Perhaps she was being a bit too guarded, but after the events of last year she felt like she owed it to herself to be cautious.
The plans that she had made involved a potential story that she was working on. Compared to every other case she had done so far, this one had the potential to be a big one! Well, maybe not gigantic, but it was definitely a step up from her usual works. This particular story involved the universities volleyball team, and it was centered around the rumors that the team captains were regularly hazing new members. Now, the things that they had been accused of weren't horrible, but it certainly wasn't a good look for them, the team, or the university. Kayla hoped to write a story on it, with the ultimate goal of putting enough public pressure on them to get them to back off with the hazing.
She was hoping to catch them after practice, thinking that maybe she might be able to get an interview with some of the players. She arrived at the gym, the team still in the middle of an intense scrimmage. Kayla took a seat in the stands, watching the incredibly talented women go back and forth. It was like a dance, watching the two sets of players go at it, their coordinated effort was inspiring to say the least. This was so much different than high school volleyball. These girls were on an entirely different level.
When the practice finally came to a close, Kayla took a deep breath before heading down to the floor, her notebook and pen in hand. She walked right up to the captain of the squad, doing her absolute best to radiate as much confidence as possible, even though she was actually terrified. The captain, Shelby Waters, was for one thing a giant compared to Kayla. She stood about six feet tall, a solid 8 inches taller than Kayla was. She had an intense look on her face too, her forehead glistening with sweat after a hard day of practice.
Oh, and she was also, stunningly beautiful too, at least in Kayla's eyes. Maybe it was the tight pair of shorts she was wearing, or the form fitting top, but Kayla was having a real hard time staying focused. She finally managed to gather her courage, and introduced herself.
"Hey, Shelby," she said, unable to fully hide the slight tremor in her voice, "My name is Kayla Grace. I have a blog featuring stories about events around Hazeldale, and I wanted to know if you'd like to be a part of an interview?"
Shelby stared down at Kayla, raising an eyebrow and sizing her up from head to toe. Kayla felt like an ant in comparison.
"Sorry, who are you?" Shelby asked as two of her teammates now flanked her on either side, each of them just as intimidating if not more so.
Kayla swallowed hard. "My name is Kayla Grace, I have a blog online where..."
Shelby cut Kayla off, "yeah, okay, this is like a total waste of time. Forget it."
Without another word, she walked away, leaving Kayla feeling truly stunned. She knew it was going to be tough to get the players to agree to an interview, but she hadn't anticipated such open hostility.
"Yeah, they're a bunch of ice queens," said a nearby voice.
Kayla turned, laying eyes on another player, but this one didn't look nearly as intense. She had a kind look in her eyes, one that seemed to sympathize with Kayla's recent experience.
"Are they always like that?" Kayla asked.
"Pretty much," the girl replied. "I'm Ashley, by the way. I heard your name was Kayla?"
"Yep. Hey, if you don't mind, I'd love to not walk out of here totally empty handed. Do you mind answering a few questions?"
"Totally," Ashley said.
She and Kayla sat down on the bleachers as Kayla pulled up her notes and clicked open her pen.
"Okay," she said, finally finding her confidence again, "there have been some rumors that there are some...less than savory hazing rituals going on. Do you know anything about that?"
"Do I ever," Ashley groaned, "and you know what's funny, Shelby's the one who's behind it all. No wonder she didn't want to be interviewed. She looks like a dumb jock, but she's smart as a whip. I'm almost certain she knew that's why you're here."
"Kind of feels like it." Kayla furiously scribbled away at her notepad, making sure to write as much as she could down. "Can you describe what they did?"
Ashley tensed up a little bit. Kayla noticed, and tried to course correct.
"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to..."
"No, it's totally fine," said Ashley, "I'd love to get into it. I'm just worried about anyone else hearing. If we can find some time to talk about this privately I'd love to sit down and spill all the juicy details."
Kayla couldn't have agreed more. The plan was, Ashley would head back to the locker rooms, change and wash up, and then meet Kayla back at her place. They swapped numbers just in case, and then Kayla headed back to her dorm, thankful that she had the whole place to herself for the time being. Madelyn had texted her that she'd stepped out for a bit to run some errands, and so Kayla was able to flop down on her bed and just enjoy the silence for a bit.
*bzzzzz!*
Kayla's phone rang. It was Ashley:
"Hey! Sorry for the change of plans, but I was pretty sore after practice and ended up soaking in the hot tub for way longer than I thought. If you want to just meet me here, everyone else has gone home for the night. I need to pack my stuff up anyway, and I'd hate to keep you waiting too long."
Kayla immediately texted back:
"Not a problem! I'm on my way."
Grabbing her bag, she headed out and back to the volleyball courts. Stepping into the locker rooms she scanned around, looking for Ashley. She hadn't been kidding, there really was no one else around.
"Ashley?" Kayla called out, "you here?"
A voice responded from behind Kayla, but it sure wasn't Ashley!
"Looking for Ashley?"
Kayla spun around on her heels, once more coming face to face with Shelby. The star player towered over Kayla, her two sidekicks standing on either side of her.
"Um, hey guys." Kayla was very surprised to be running into them, especially given the fact that Ashley had mentioned that everyone had gone home by now.
"We heard you were meeting with Ashley," boomed Shelby, "if you're looking for her she's right over here."
Kayla was surrounded on both sides by Shelby's posse, the other two players bumping Kayla forward a bit. She figured it would be best to just play along for now, even if she was getting some seriously bad vibes from the whole situation.
Shelby led the way, through the locker room and all the way to the back. She opened the door to one of the supply closets, the shelves lined with gear and various pieces of equipment. In the center of the room, sat Ashley, although she wasn't sitting there willingly by any means!
"MMMMMPH!"
Her arms were lifted above her head with her wrists crossed and tied together with socks, another pair connected her bound wrists to the shelving unit behind her. Her legs had been thoroughly tied as well, splayed out in front of her and tied together at multiple points with more and more socks. Given that this was the locker room, there seemed to be no shortage of laundry laying around. Her captors had helped themselves to plenty of long volleyball socks to restrain her, with what looked to be one of them stuffed in her mouth and held in place with another one tied between her lips.
She stamped her own sock clad feet on the floor, eyes wide with alarm as she stared up at Kayla. She could do nothing but sit there and curse into her sock stuffed mouth, wriggling her bound body in alarm. With how her arms had been tied she was pretty much stuck in place.
"Mmmrmmph ffmmmrmph!"
Kayla turned to face Shelby and her gang, not afraid to hide her anger from them.
"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Her voice was a mixture of confidence and panic all at once.
"Teaching you losers a lesson," Shelby barked.
She nodded at her two companions, who sprang into action and grabbed Kayla's arms. Their grip was strong as they bore down on her, they were college athletes after all.
"You want a story about hazing?" Shelby jeered. "How about an up close demonstration instead?"
Kayla gulped, knowing full well what she meant by that. A few minutes later the girls had used dozens more socks to bind Kayla's wrists and ankles, fixing her to the shelving just like Ashley. They weren't the best restraints, but the girls had pulled the socks tight leaving little slack for Kayla to budge. Above her head she flexed her wrists, but the socks held fast. A knot started to form in Kayla's stomach as she wondered how the hell she was going to get out of this mess...
Shelby bent down near Kayla, a final pair of socks in her hand.
"Look, Kayla was it? You're new around here, a sophomore, yeah? I don't expect you to understand how things work yet, but that's fine. Maybe this will teach you a little lesson then. Bottom line: don't fuck with us, got it? And if you even think about telling anyone about this, just remember that it's your word against ours. Who do you think they're going to believe? Some random sophomore, or the university's star volleyball player?"
"Wow, that's a pretty shitty way to be," said Kayla, "you should be ashamed of yourself!"
"Please, look who's talking? What was your plan here? To write up a little piece for your stupid blog? Pathetic."
Kayla could tell Shelby was trying to get under her skin, but she knew she had to be tough. She wasn't about to crack under pressure.
"Go ahead," said Kayla, "laugh all you want. The world isn't kind to people like you. You'll see. Have your fun now because it sure as shit won't last."
Shelby scowled at Kayla, her comeback clearly striking a nerve.
"We'll see about that," she said, scrunching up one of the long volleyball socks. Kayla gulped, realizing Shelby was planning to stuff the whole thing in her mouth!
"Be a good girl why don't you? Open wide!"
Kayla was not about to just obediently comply with this bully.
"If you think I'm scared of you, you're wrong. I may be a sophomore, but don't underestimate me!"
Shelby laughed.
"Jesus, you're corny as fuck. I'm only going to say this one more time. Open. Wide."
She grabbed Kayla's face, pinching her cheeks.
"Ahmmmmph!" Kayla yelped as the long volleyball sock was stuffed into her mouth. At least it tasted clean...
Shelby could barely fit the whole thing in, but that didn't stop her from trying! She worked as much of it in as she could before tying the other one between Kayla's lips, tufts of sock poking out from the sides of her cleave gag.
"Mrrrmmph fffrmmph mmmph," Kayla's speech was totally muffled under the weight of her gag.
She'd seen this kind of thing in movies before, read about it loads of time in novels as well, but this was her first time experiencing such a thing in person, being tied up and gagged that is. A damsel was usually depicted bound with ropes and a simple cleave gag, but Kayla knew that in real life that was never going to cut it. Her captors knew this too, making sure Ashley and Kayla were more than restrained. For what was supposed to be just a hazing ritual, they sure treated their work like professionals!
"Have fun chewing on those socks," Shelby said before slamming the closet door shut on the two captives.
"Wrrmmmph," Kayla moaned.
She glanced over at Ashley, the look in her eyes seemed to convey the fact that this wasn't her first time in this kind of a situation. When Kayla had heard about the hazing rituals she sure hadn't imagined this! At least she had what she needed now to write her story, the only question now was how were she and Ashley going to get out of this mess?
Kayla tossed and turned, straining her wrists against the bundle of socks that kept them bound. She tried to find a way to pick the knots with her fingers, but they were just out of reach. Ashley was struggling just as fervently against her bindings, squirming on the floor of the dark closet beside Kayla. The taut fabric of the volleyball socks dug into their skin with each futile attempt to break free. The tension on the socks around their wrists and ankles only served to bind them tighter, and the gags in their mouths only seemed to make it harder for them to breathe.
"Nrmmm mnnnn nhnmmmph?
Kayla tried to ask Ashley if she was okay, but all that came out was muffled incoherence. Still, it seemed like Ashley had managed to pick up the general tone of Kayla's gagged mumbling.
"N'mmmm fnnmmph. nnphph hmmp phphrnggmnng, mmm hnfm phn gmph nnph nf hmrm!"
Despite Ashley's fervent attempts to communicate back to Kayla, there was no way Kayla was going to understand her garbled reply.
"Phrm nnn fnnn phnmm phmnch nn phhm phnchph." That was the last thing Kayla said, or rather attempted to say before she picked up her efforts to try and find a way free.
She and Ashley spent a solid ten minutes or so, wriggling around the closet floor with little to no progress made on their restraints. Kayla had seen people get free in the movies, but given how tightly the socks had been knotted she could find no give in them whatsoever. Plus, with the way they were both secured to the shelves, it meant that they could do little to aid the other in getting free.
Luckily, Kayla had an idea. Shelby and her crew had made the mistake of leaving Kayla's purse within reach. If she could just reach it with her feet, get out her phone, and call for help, she'd be free!
"Mrrmmph!" Kayla grunted, kicking out with her feet toward her bag. Her loafers proved too clumsy, and she was having a tough time getting a grip on her bag. Ditching her shoes, she kicked them aside and instead used her nylon-clad feet which were much more nimble. She flexed her toes as they stretched against her sheer tights, just barely making contact with her purse.
A bead of sweat dropped down Kayla's face. She knew if she kept at it she could do it, but god was it challenging! By this point, Ashley had paused her struggling and was eagerly watching Kayla, cheering her own with muffled encouragements.
"Mnn gnph phhnph!"
"Phrmnngggph!"
Kayla grunted and groaned, her feet just barely making contact with her purse.
"Mrmmmmmmph!"
With one final flick of her sheer-clad toes, she finally nudged the bag close enough to where she could get enough of her feet around the straps and pulled it over toward her waist.
"Nncm mmnrh mnn nnn nph!" Ashley congratulated Kayla, equally as excited.
"Phhnnh mnnmph," Kayla responded, as she twisted her body and plunged her bound hands into her bag.
She was able to fish out her phone, but sadly, despite the enormous effort it took to retrieve her bag, that had all just been the easy part. The hard part was who on earth would she call to come rescue them? Should she call the police? No, that would cause such a fuss, and Kayla really didn't think a situation like this warranted such a clamor.
That's when it hit her. She needed to call Madelyn. The very thought pained her. She sat there for a moment, agonizing over the fact that this was definitely her best option, albeit one she was currently dreading. What would Madelyn think of her after finding her like this? This was a pretty compromising position Kayla had found herself in, tied up with a bunch of socks in a damp and dusty sports closet. Then again, it would perhaps make the year a bit easier. After giving Madelyn the ick, Kayla could just stick her head down and focus on her studies. Hell, maybe Madelyn would even try and move out in search of a roommate who wasn't a total loser!
Yes, that was the thought that gave Kayla hope as she twisted her bound arms to her side, phone in hand, texting Madelyn her location and asking for backup. She didn't expect a response to come through so soon, but seconds later, Kayla's phone lit up:
"OMG! HANG TIGHT! I'M ON THE WAY!!!!!"
Kayla was shocked to say the least. Madelyn didn't seem the least bit worried about having to drop everything and come to her rescue. In fact, less than ten minutes later, she could hear Madelyn enter the locker room, calling out Kayla's name. As soon as she heard her voice, Kayla started shouting through her gag as Ashley joined in and did the same.
"Mmm'rm nnnn hmrmmph! Hmmmmmph!
She and Ashley shouted as loud as their sock gagged mouths would allow. Madelyn quickly ran over, throwing open the door as a burst of light flooded the closet.
"Fucking hell...I'm gonna' kick the ass of whoever did this to you! Let me at least get you untied first though, hang on."
Thanks to Madelyn, both Ashley and Kayla were finally free of their predicament. They all took a moment to catch their breaths on the nearby benches, but Madelyn's thirst for vengeance was raging. She was ready to spring into action right away.
"Do you know where they went? I'll track them down and give them a piece of my mind!"
"Madelyn," Kayla interjected, surprised at her roommate's gusto, "it's fine, really, you can just let it go."
"What? You don't want to go and get some good old fashioned payback?"
"Against the star of the volleyball team?" said Ashley, massaging her wrists, "no thanks. They'll just tie the three of us up anyway. It's no use."
"So that's who did this then, huh?" responded Madelyn.
"Yep." Kayla slipped her nylon clad feet back into her loafers. "It's part of their hazing ritual, right Ashley?"
"Is it ever," she said, "I was hoping to like just tell you about it, but as you clearly saw for yourself, they're horrible. They do this to all the new players, and they think it's so funny every time."
"Do the coaches know?" Kayla asked.
"Oh they know, but they don't really care. I mean they're the best players on the team. What are the coaches going to do? Drop them and throw an entire season out the window? The only thing they do is like bench them during a practice, but even then, they're still allowed to run drills after hours. The whole thing is bullshit."
"Not for long," Kayla remarked confidently, standing up with resolve. "I'm going to expose them and show the world just how vile they are. I need your help though. Have all the other players who have ever been tied up email me their story. I'm going to compile everyone's testimony, anonymously of course, and write up a post about this."
"You can try," Ashley sighed, "but I doubt it'll stop them."
"It doesn't matter." Kayla had really found her voice now. "It's the least I can do. Sure, it might not change anything, but I have to at least try, you know?"
"I guess you're right," said Ashley, "okay, I'll see what I can do. Thanks, by the way."
And so the three girls went their separate ways, Ashley heading off by herself and Kayla and Madelyn walking together back to their dorm room.
"Are you okay?" Madelyn asked Kayla, genuine concern in her voice.
"Yeah, a bit shaken up I suppose, but I'm fine. Thanks for saving the day."
Madelyn planted her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest as she did so.
"It's all in a day's work," she said with a deep voice.
Kayla smiled, once again realizing how at ease Madelyn's presence was putting her.
"In all seriousness though," continued Madelyn, "if you need some space to relax or whatever, that's totally fine. If you want though, we can like throw on a movie and I can order some food. I need to order food anyway. I was going to get some groceries, but I had to just leave my cart when you texted me."
"Wait, you did what?" Kayla stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
Madelyn laughed. "Yeah I kinda just like left my groceries in the middle of the store. I saw your text and just ran to my car. I probably should have told someone but eh...it's whatever now."
"I am so sorry." Kayla truly felt bad for inconveniencing Madelyn like this. Her face would be beet red for a while!
"Sorry? What are you sorry for? It's not your fault that those volleyball players are total ass-hats!"
Madelyn's eagerness to defend Kayla and take her side in all of this was...comforting. Kayla thought the whole experience was rather embarrassing, but Madelyn was just rolling with the punches. She hadn’t teased or made Kayla feel bad about the situation one bit.
"Look," she continued, "it's fine, really. Besides, I was only going to get groceries because I'm trying not to eat out as much. I'll take any excuse to order food though, so really, I should be thanking you!"
Kayla smiled again. Even though Madelyn was from this totally different world, she treated Kayla with such warmth and kindness. She spoke to her like they'd been friends for years. Kayla felt at ease just walking by her side, and that was something she hadn't really felt before.
Madelyn was this gorgeous model, who Kayla had thought would have never even bothered to give her the time of day. And yet underneath it all, she was really down to earth and easy to get along with.
"So you're going to post about this on your blog, right?” Madelyn looked at Kayla with genuine interest. “That's actually so cool by the way, I love that. You gotta drag their sorry asses all over the internet!"
"Oh I mean, it's kind of whatever right now," Kayla said sheepishly, "I barely get any visitors."
"Well if you don't mind, I'd love to at least be one of them. Send me the link and I'll check it out. You don't have to, but if you want I'd love to give it a read."
"Oh um, sure," Kayla was surprised Madelyn was taking interest in her like this, but it felt good. Her old roommate barely took the time to try and get to know Kayla, opting to just assume she'd be into the same stuff she was into anyway. Madelyn was totally different though, and it really meant a lot to Kayla. She decided it was time to stop putting up walls.
"Listen, thanks again for rescuing me. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous texting you and asking for help, but I'm glad I did."
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"Well..."
Kayla was debating internally as to how honest she should be, but against her better judgment she ended up just letting it all spill out.
“I just…I mean I felt bad bothering you. You’re this perfect gorgeous model and I’m…some weirdo amateur journalist who got tied up with a bunch of socks and stuffed in a closet. I’m not popular, I don’t have any friends, and I just…I didn’t think you’d bother.”
“You’re forgetting the fact that I don’t have any friends either.”
Madelyn skipped ahead of Kayla, standing in the middle of the road and planting her hands firmly at her hips. She had a stern yet motherly look in her eyes.
“Everyone thinks that because I’m a beautiful model that I have sooo many friends and I’m this mega popular superstar and everyone wants to hang out with me. The truth is, I don’t really have any friends either, close friends at least. Everything is so…surface level. It’s just a bunch of dudes who want to get in my pants, girls who want to get in my pants, or people who think being my friend will earn them social clout.”
Madelyn’s words hit Kayla like a ton of bricks. She felt bad for jumping to so many conclusions about Madelyn.
“That actually all makes a lot of sense,” Kayla confessed.
“Look, Kayla, I know we’re really different. I can tell you’re not as outgoing as me, and that’s fine. Maybe we won’t be best friends, that’s fine too. At least for a year we’ll be roommates, and that means we have to have each other’s backs.”
Kayla was truly touched. Madelyn was unlike anyone she had ever met before, but in the best way possible. Her icy exterior had all but melted, and every wall she’d been so adamant about putting up came crashing down.
"Okay, roomie," Kayla finally responded, playing off Madelyn’s energy "I promise to have your back too. By the way, I definitely owe you after everything you did today.”
"How about I order pizza and we watch a movie together? We can call it even at that."
Kayla smiled. “That sounds perfect. You pick the movie, I’ll pay for the pizza.”
“Deal! How does A Whisper Of The Heart sound?
"A Whis...that's like my second favorite Ghibli film."
"Yeah, well it's my all time favorite, so suck it."
The two girls shared a good laugh together as they continued to make lively conversation all the way back to the dorm.
That night, as Kayla laid her head down, her stomach full of pizza, and her heart even fuller thanks to her company, she couldn't help but smile as she gazed up at the ceiling. It was going to be a great sophomore year, and it was all thanks to Madelyn: Kayla's new friend.