Chapter 4

In 1978, the board of trustees voted to change the name of the school from Wallchester Southern University to Stevens University. At the celebration, Amos allowed that his mother would have been humbled by this measure; after all, she had been but a house servant.

At present, Kaia’s mother, Rebecca Juliette Stevens was the Provost of Stevens University. Kaia was expected to follow in her mother’s footsteps, with an undergraduate double major of Education and Business Administration, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration and a Doctorate’s in Education. Upon receiving her Doctorate’s, Kaia would teach for a few years before becoming the Dean of one division or another. Then, upon her mother’s retirement, Kaia would assume the mantle of Provost.

Disgusted by the very rigid life she found herself trapped in, Kaia huffed, rolled onto her belly and fell asleep.

“Ack!” Kaia squealed when Grandpa grabbed her foot. “Grandpa! Quit!”

“Hey, last time I get to do that,” the man smiled sadly.

With that realization, Kaia burst into sobs. Grandpa hugged her tightly, telling her just how proud he was of her and how much the past four years had meant to him.

After a hearty breakfast, Kaia brushed her teeth, washed her face, then dressed in stylish but comfortable slacks, nice blouse and light sweater and flat pumps. Grandpa already had her trunk loaded into the rear of his SUV when she made one last look-around to make sure she’d forgotten nothing. Wistfully, she looked at her clothes hanging in her closet. Those were the clothes of her youth; Stevens University had a strict dress code.

Grandfather and granddaughter were silent as he drove through the dark streets of Burstyn, Mississippi. Crossing into Tennessee, Grandpa soon pulled into the parking lot of the Vallidan, Tennessee Municipal Airport. At the gate, he announced himself and was directed to drive to the second hangar.

The doors of the hangar were open and the pilot and ground crew were already performing the checklist for the private jet.

“So, Grandpa, what, what you going do now?” Kaia quietly asked as Grandpa pulled in front of the hangar.

“Me? Well, hell, you know that cute little waitress down at Sidwell’s? That Peggy girl? Might see if she wants to hop in my SUV, do a little sight-seeing,” Grandpa smiled.

“Grandpa, she keeps telling you ‘No,'” Kaia smiled. “Plus that, she’s what? Half your age?”

“Hey, hey, sooner or later? Girl’s bound to say ‘yes,'” Grandpa smiled, waggling his eyebrows.

“Good morning, Ms. Stevens,” one of the attendants said courteously as he hefted her trunk from the rear of the SUV.

“Good morning,” Kaia said, stepping out into the muggy dawn.

“Bye, Baby,” Grandpa said, allowing a few tears to trickle down his weathered cheeks.

“Thank you,” Kaia whispered, hugging him tightly.

“I love you,” they both said at the same time.

“Jinx!” Grandpa whooped. “Now you can’t say nothing ’til someone says your name!”

Kaia laughed, shaking her head. They hugged once more and Kaia climbed into the jet. The pilot greeted her and the man that had grabbed her trunk took his seat in the co-pilot’s seat.

Once in the air, the co-pilot asked Kaia if she would like anything to drink or eat. The pilot again informed Kaia of the time of their estimated arrival.

The strawberry flavored Coconut Water was ice cold and very refreshing. Idly, Kaia looked at her cell phone, at the picture of herself and her two lovers. With a sigh, she dropped the phone into her purse and pulled the sweater a little tighter about herself. She didn’t know why they always insisted on keeping the airplane so cold.

“Ms. Stevens is in a meeting,” the co-pilot informed Kaia as they began their descent. “She has asked that you be brought to your dorm room; you’ll see her at dinner time this evening.”

Eighteen year old girls being delivered to Marcoloni Dormitory by limousine was nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, the young men milling about outside of the female dormitory looked on with interest when the driver opened the rear door for Kaia Stevens. Kaia smirked as one or two of the casually -dressed young men perked up, struck poses, hoping to garner her attention.

“You are in Room four eighteen, Ms. Stevens,” the driver said, hefting her trunk from the limousine’s trunk.

“Hey, I, I’ll help you with that,” one young man offered, smiling widely at Kaia.

“No. You shall not,” the driver growled and the young man backpedaled.

The dormitory room had a small sitting room, a half bath and a bedroom. There were two twin sized beds in the small bedroom. In front of each bed was a desk and office chair. There were two closets and two tall dressers.

Kaia thanked the driver and he bowed gracefully. Then she set about making one bed with the brand new sheets and fleece blanket she’d bought for this purpose. Hanging her clothes and putting her things into her dresser drawers took a while. After stowing the trunk underneath her bed, Kaia explored the fourth floor of Marcoloni Dormitory. Other female students were moving in and Kaia chatted with a few of the girls. Soon tiring of this, Kaia returned to her room.

The meeting with her mother was a happy one; they’d not seen one another since Christmas. Over a truly delicious Mexican meal, Rebecca asked Kaia if she would miss Burstyn, Mississippi.

“I, I actually made a couple of friends just before leaving,” Kaia admitted, feeling her cheeks color slightly as she thought of her illicit night with Ashleigh and Marta.

“Oh? Well, how wonderful,” Rebecca smiled. “God knows, I hated sending you there, but when that horrible Achilles Robertson hatched that plan to kidnap you…”

“I know, Mom,” Kaia assured her mother. “But you know, living here in Sopopaya, my chances of just being another high school kid were uh? Slim to none?”

“True, true,” Rebecca agreed. “And friends? You would have never known if they were your friends because of you, or because of your money. So, tell me about these friends of yours.”

Kaia left out the sex but did tell her mother about tutoring Ashleigh in Algebra, then getting drunk and singing. Rebecca smiled indulgently; she too had been eighteen once and alcohol had played a large part of being young and dumb.

“Well, maybe you can go back on break?” Rebecca suggested.

“I uh, I don’t need to worry about Achilles anymore?” Kaia asked.

He has been terminated. With extreme prejudice,” Rebecca said, light green eyes turning hard.

“Oh,” Kaia said, resolving never to bring the subject up again.

The subject of romance came up. Kaia steeled herself, then admitted to her mother that she might be, she was pretty sure that she was gay.

“Are you now?” Rebecca tittered.

“Mom, it, it’s not funny,” Kaia huffed, indignant at her mother’s response.

“Oh, Sweetheart, I know it’s not funny. It’s just, well, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, now did it?” Rebecca giggled, hugging her only child.

“I, what? What do you mean?” Kaia asked, stunned.

“Oh really, Kaia,” Rebecca laughed, sipping her wine. “Uh? Aunt Julie?”

“Aunt, Tara’s mom? Aunt Julie?” Kaia goggled.

“We’d been lovers for, oh, the last twenty five years,” Rebecca confessed, smiling a little tightly. “That is, until she met that little Penny Kroft.”

Aunt Julie. Tara’s mom,” Kaia asked again.

“Yes, Sweetheart, Aunt Julie,” Rebecca confirmed.

“Then where, where’d I come from?” Kaia asked.

“I wanted a baby,” Rebecca shrugged. “You’d be surprised how many young boys would be willing to fuck a professor for a passing grade. Or…maybe you wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

“Oh! Oh! What, whatever happened to Tara?” Kaia asked as the maid cleared their dinner plates away.

“What? I didn’t, Kaia, I didn’t tell you? It, she, she decided to run off with her boyfriend to Colorado. Legal marijuana, you know. Of course, the minute she popped up pregnant, he dumped her. Oh, after they ran up a few thousand dollars on Julie’s credit card.”

“So, what, what did she have?” Kaia asked, sad to hear the news about a former childhood friend.

“A little girl; cutest little blonde haired blue eyed baby you ever saw,” Rebecca confirmed, getting to her feet. “Tamara Lynne Ragsdale.”

“Tuesday morning is the orientation. Eight AM. Yes, in the morning,” Rebecca reminded Kaia as the driver held the rear door of the limousine open.

“Yes ma’am,” Kaia smiled.

“We have nine hundred incoming students,” Rebecca said.

“Nine hundred? Wow!” Kaia said.

“Yes, well, we’ve added three new fields of studies; Bilogical engineering, Geopolitical, and Medical; did you see the new hospital when you flew in?” Rebecca asked, pointing in the general direction of the brand new hospital.

“No. Oh! I did see the new library,” Kaia said, hugging her mother.

Adelaide Smith, Kaia’s roommate was putting her things away when Kaia entered Room 418. The heavy set brunette was from Billingsley, Kansas and teased Kaia a little bit about her Mississippi twang. Kaia smiled and shrugged as the portly girl chattered non-stop.

“So, we’re both Education majors?” Adelaide asked. “And you believe? They’re making us wear dresses or skirts?”

“Yes,” Kaia agreed, not telling Adelaide that she was also majoring in Business Administration. “And the dress code is because we’re no longer children; we are young adults. Stevens has a reputation for turning out heads of industries, education, technology. We are young professionals and should dress and present ourselves as young professionals.”

“Wow, I can tell you read the brochure,” Adelaide laughed.

“Yeah, well…” Kaia shrugged.

“You believe we got to shower with all those girls?” Adelaide whispered, brown eyes wide with disbelief.

“After a week or two, you won’t even notice it,” Kaia assured the girl. “We had to shower after P.E. all the time and it didn’t kill us.”

Tuesday morning, Kaia reminded Adelaide that freshman orientation would be in James Hall at eight o’clock. Adelaide burrowed further underneath her blanket so Kaia left the girl to sleep.

Sitting in the fourth row; the first three rows were designated for faculty, Kaia reviewed the very thick packet. Behind her, she could hear students coming in, greeting others, finding seats. The vast majority seemed to want to congregate far in the back of the twelve hundred seat auditorium.

Kaia felt someone take the seat to her right. A millisecond before she could turn to see whom sat down, someone else took the seat to her left.

“Lying beside you,” Ashleigh sang into Kaia’s right ear.

“Here in the dark,” Marta sang into Kaia’s left ear.

**Author’s Note: I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment.

I thank you for reading my stories. I especially thank those that take the time to leave comments, good and bad. I also thank those that take the time to rate my works, those that ‘Favorite’ my words.

Amos Wallchester, his young wife Lydia, and her maid Juliette Stevens, mother of Amos Charles Stevens are all primary characters from ‘Fine Silk Scarves’ in the BDSM category. Marcoloni Dormitory is named after the cook in the same story and the auditorium, James Hall is named after Amos Wallchester’s dedicated manservant.

Adelaide Smith, Kaia’s roommate is a minor character from ‘Somebody to Love’ in the Lesbian Sex category.

Have a swell day. And some of you, have a swollen day.