Chapter 1

“Don’t look so sad, Cindy. You’ll have a great time, and the month will fly by, I’m sure.”

Cindy Powers nodded at her mother’s words and offered her cheek to be kissed.

“It’s okay to call if I get lonely, isn’t it?” the girl asked in a soft, scared voice as her mother opened the car door and got in.

“Of course, dear,” Cindy’s father said from the driver’s seat. “You know your mother and I will want to know everything that’s happening.”

Cindy took a long look at her parents. They seemed convinced that her upcoming month at the Steinway Academy for girls would do Cindy a world of good. Cindy respected her parents and looked up to them.

“Have a good time now, dear,” Cindy’s mother said.

“I’ll try,” Cindy said, forcing a smile across her beautiful young face.

She set her suitcase down and waved halfheartedly as her dad backed the car around, then tooted the horn. Cindy stared at the car as her parents started back down the long, winding road.

Cindy’s watch said it was five until nine as she turned and looked at the high iron gates of the Steinway Academy. Her parents had been instructed to drop the girl off at five before nine, having been assured that someone from the academy would be picking Cindy up at exactly nine o’clock.

The headmistress, a Mrs. Grotten, had explained to Cindy’s mother that it was better for the girls if they got all their good-byes out of the way first because it made an easier adjustment to academy life.

Cind had other plans for her summer than being packed off to spend a month in some snotty, uppercrust bootcamp high in the mountains outside of Denver. But Cindy’s parents had been insistent about the idea, and they’d agreed that her attending Steinway would be worth a set of car keys next year on her birthday.

The shapely youngster reasoned that a month of her life would be worth it to get a new sports car, but Cindy still saw the coming month at Steinway as a prison sentence, something to be suffered through.

The worst thing about the school, from Cindy’s point of view, was that there weren’t any boys. With a sigh, Cindy thought about her new string bikini, which she had planned to wear at the beach all summer.

When her parents’ car disappeared from view Cindy picked up her suitcase and walked over to the gates.

“This is gonna be some fun, ain’t it?”

Cindy spun around and for the first time saw the wooden bench that was set about twenty feet to the left of the gates. A girl who looked about Cindy’s age was walking towards her, tote bag slung over one arm.

Cindy sized the girl up — a sexy face, long black hair, tits much bigger than Cindy’s, and too much make-up. The girl wore tight, faded jeans and a T-shirt with the name of some heavy metal band.

“Yeah, lots of fun,” Cindy said glumly.

“I’m Suzie,” the black haired girl said as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from the back pocket of her jeans and offered one to Cindy. “Want a smoke?”

“No, thanks,” Cindy said with a shake of her head. “I don’t smoke.”

Suzie lit her cigarette, inhaled deeply, and gave Cindy the once-over. “You’re not a goody two-shoes, are you?”

“No,” Cindy said defensively, although kids at her own school called her that. “I’m Cindy.”

She put her suitcase down and offered Suzie her hand.

“Look like a goody two-shoes,” Suzie said as she shook Cindy’s hand and looked at Cindy’s frilly white dress. “My parents had me all dressed up like that when they dropped me off, but I went behind a tree and changed clothes.”

“My parents made me dress up, too,” Cindy said.

Suzie blew a smoke ring and walked back to the bench. Cindy followed.

“I guess we’re in this together, kid,” Suzie said. “Great way to waste a July, isn’t it?”

“You can say that again. If my folks hadn’t promised to buy me a car next year, I never would have let them talk me into coming.” Cindy babbled out these personal details because she already felt a kinship to Suzie, although the dark haired beauty didn’t seem like the type of girl that Cindy would have hung out with back at home. “Ever been here before?”

“Nope, and I damn sure won’t be back either,” Suzie said as she casually swung her legs apart, then pressed them together.

For some reason, Cindy’s gaze was drawn down between Suzie’s legs, where Cindy could see the impression of the other girl’s cunt straining against the tight jeans. Cindy swallowed hard and looked at her watch.

“It’s nine on the dot,” Cindy said. “Guess they’ll be here to pick us up any time.”

“Yeah,” Suzie said as she took a final drag on her cigarette, then flicked it away. “Might as well get this stupid shit started so we can get it over with.”

As if on cue, the big gates began to slide open.

“There’s the bell for the first class,” Suzie said as she stood up and grabbed her tote bag.

Cindy noticed that her new friend wasn’t wearing a bra. Nipples the size of half-dollars jutted against Suzie’s T-shirt, and Cindy swallowed again.

The girls stood side by side, neither of them saying a word as the gates opened and a big black limousine pulled out onto the highway, swung around in a wide circle, then came to a stop beside them. One of the rear doors swung open. “Don’t just stand there, ladies, get in! You’re at Steinway now, so you’d better learn to jump!”

Cindy glanced toward Suzie, frowned, then stepped into the limo. Suzie followed. The door slammed shut behind her and the limo pulled back through the gates, which began to close automatically.

The girls were sitting on one of the jumpseats opposite a big stern-faced woman who was looking through a file folder.

“You must be Cindy,” the woman said. “And you’re Susan.”

“Suzie.”

“At Steinway, we address each other by our proper names, Susan. I suggest you learn that quickly. Welcome ladies. I’m Mrs. Grotten, the headmistress.”

“Hello, Mrs. Grotten,” Cindy said weakly.

Mrs. Grotten was a beautiful woman, but she did little to show it off. Her sharp features were without a trace of make-up, and her blue eyes seemed to sparkle with cruelty. Her red hair was cropped close to her scalp. She was in her fifties, but her body hadn’t gone to seed. The headmistress was in fact built very well, a fact accented by the tight black leather dress she wore. Cindy noticed that there was a short leather riding crop on the seat beside her.

“This,” Suzie whispered as she leaned close to Cindy, “is going to be worse than we thought.”

“Another rule,” Mrs. Grotten said sharply as she dropped the folder on the seat and picked up the riding crop, “is that the new girls don’t talk out of turn. Understand?”

Suzie rolled her eyes.

“I asked you if you understand, Susan!” Mrs. Grotten snarled, bringing the riding crop down across Suzie’s knees.

“Ouch!” Suzie squealed. “You old bitch, that hurt!”

Cindy shrank back into the seat as she watched Mrs. Grotten’s blue eyes grow wide.

“James!” Mrs. Grotten tapped the riding crop against the glass that separated the jumpseats from the driver’s compartment. The window slid down. “Pull over, James! Little Susan here is going to be trouble. We may as well start breaking her in now.”

“Yes, Mrs. Grotten,” the handsome blond driver said, and the limo veered onto the shoulder of the road and came to a stop.

Mrs. Grotten touched a button on the control panel, and the door next to Suzie swung open. The woman struck Suzie with the crop. The girl cursed again and jumped out of the open door and into the waiting arms of James.

The big, hulking driver gripped the dark-haired teenager by the shoulders and threw her roughly to the ground.

“Bastard!” Suzie screamed as she rolled over on her hands and knees and started trying to crawl away into the trees.

Mrs. Grotten got out of the limo, then turned back to look at Cindy. “Watch closely, Cindy. You’ll learn what happens to girls at Steinway when they disobey.”

Cindy’s mouth dropped open, but the frightened girl couldn’t find her voice. Instead she could only stare at the unfolding scene with a kind of unbelieving horror.

Suzie only managed to crawl five feet or so before James’s big black boot came down in the middle of her back and pinned the girl to the ground.

“Fuckers! Oh, you’ll pay for this!” Suzie shouted.

Suzie flailed her arms and legs, but she was trapped and helpless.

Cindy wanted to shut her eyes, to look away, but found that she couldn’t. She watched as Mrs. Grotten walked slowly around Suzie, slapping the crop into the palm of her hand.

“Shall I strip her?” James asked in a voice without emotion.

Cindy thought that she saw just the trace of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.