The College Days Ch. 01: The Setup

My name is Priya and I am now 31 years old, married and with a kid. After all these years, this is the first time I have had the courage to write about this phase of my life. I met my old friend, Anu, last weekend, for the first time, since my college days. The memories came flooding when I saw her. Anu and I share a past which invokes very conflicting emotions. If I look back in a longer time frame, I often think it was one the good things to happen to me, but, not everything about it was fun. It all started with two gullible 19-year olds, who had just finished high school & were about to start their bachelor's degrees. We were from middle class families, not poor, but, we could not afford any luxuries either. I had a younger brother and so did Anu. Our parents were typical hard working Indian parents, who would sacrifice everything for their children. But Anu and I, like most rebellious teens, always dreamt of parties and typical Bollywood fanfare. This led to the mistake that changed our lives.

Through some contacts, we learnt about a special party in a luxurious cottage by the beach in one of Mumbai's suburbs. We lied to our parents and concocted stories about studying at some friend's place. It was typical rave party with drugs and booze flowing and lots of young boys and girls. At the gathering, we met a guy who went by the name Paddy. He was rich, stinking rich from what we could gather. He was quite good looking as well and was about 6 years older than us. We learnt that the cottage belonged to Paddy and this was his party. Paddy was inquisitive and asked us lots of questions. He wanted to know about our parents, our college plans etc. We told him about our plans and challenges of getting into a good engineering college. He was very easy to talk too and for some reasons we opened up to him.

Now when I look back, I don't remember anything else about the party. I know we got drunk and it felt like a good time. I remember the phone call from Paddy, that changed things. Paddy invited us to a different house, which turned out to be his main living accommodation. A stylish apartment in a posh Mumbai complex. Paddy told us that there was something important to discuss and we could not turn it down.

"Hello girls. Glad you came. Do you want a beer?"

His first words still ring in my ear. We said no.

"Looks like you have become good girls, suddenly." He laughed.

She stared at him, not knowing what he meant.

"I will cut to the point. I have some pictures of your naughtiness, from the party."

He handed an envelope and all hell broke loose. He showed us some really compromising pictures of us. In a few we had stripped off our pants and while we were not naked, we were in different stages of nudity. We also seemed to be in compromising positions with a few random guys. Overall it was stuff that our parents would call 'shameful' acts, and, if these leaked, we would be in lots of trouble.

"They were just pictures from the party. There are others as well. Now, let me explain why I am showing them to you."

He then spoke for the next several minutes, explaining, the he had chosen us for a special reason, and, we had a lot to gain from this. He offered a deal that according to him would change our lives. If you boil it down, it was blackmail but there was something different about it as well. In return for keeping this private, he offered us admissions in one of the best colleges in Mumbai and he offered money. Then he gave us the bad news. He would decide everything we did for the 4 years we were in college. We had to live by his rules and he made it clear there would be sex involved. Essentially, his words were "I will own you, but you will get a lot out of this as well." He gave us two weeks to consider and asked us to come back to the same place with our decisions.

Anu and I labored over it. It felt like we did not have a choice. He held the advantage over us, with the pictures. And he was offering us a lot, stuff, which our parents could never afford, and we could never get into that college with our education. The other side of the bargain was horrible to imagine. We both had past boyfriends and were no longer virgins, but we still had moral standards and were conservative for most part. Paddy never threated us with consequences and it was left unsaid. His calm demeanour made it worse. We spent many sleepless nights over it. Finally, it was Anu who first said the dreaded words. "I think we should do it." Over the next few days, I got on board as well. We finally met him as per our agreement.

"So, you girls on board with this?" He asked as we entered his house.

"We wanted to talk about it." Anu found the courage.

"Go ahead." He gestured.

"For these weekends you mention, what would you want from us?"

"Mainly fun and games. Some you will enjoy, some you won't."

"What do you mean by that?" Anu asked.

"I will explain. But essentially, I will make two successful women out of you. I will give you lots of benefits and perks. In return you will provide me some personal pleasures and live by my rules."

He then handed us two envelopes.

"Read this and take as much time as you want to decide. I will be back in 2 hours. There is some food and water in the fridge if you want."

He was gone, leaving us standing there. We gingerly opened the envelope. It had two pieces of paper. The first one was titled 'What you get' and it listed that we would get admissions to the college and our hostel charges would also be paid for. On top of that, we will be given 25,000 Indian rupees every month as an allowance and any other help needed as part of our education. This was beyond our wildest dreams in terms of what we would be getting.

That did not take too long to understand. We then turned to the paper title "What you give" and it hit us. There was lot of details in it, but, in summary it boiled down to four things. We were expected to excel in our studies and pass with good numbers. We were expected to be well behaved and Paddy would set the rules for it. We were expected to share all the details of our life with Paddy. Then the kicker came. Once every month, we were to be fully available to Paddy. The paper called it the 'Payback' sessions and it would happen on a weekend of his choice. It then went in to full detail on what would entail. Paddy would get to do as he chose. He could punish us if we did not do well with our studies or if we misbehaved. While the normal days were ours to manage, for one weekend, every month we belonged to him. The entire thing would be kept secret from anyone other than us three and this would end upon our graduation, with, no contact after that. Anu and I were stunned, and it took several minutes for us to say anything.

"This is shit. Who does he think he is?" I spoke first.

"He has the pictures." It felt like Anu had already gone past what she had read and was looking at the consequences if she said no.

"This does not say anything about it."

For the next half hour, we debated this. We both agreed that there was not much we could do because this was blackmail for most part. He seemed rich and powerful and even if we called his bluff, he did not have much to lose. What swayed us was all the other perks he was offering. We talked about going to our parents or the police and none of them made sense. The deal made us look like prostitutes but put in perspective, was the easiest and only option for us. Anu was the first to cave in and say the words.

"I think I will do it."

Anu was always the most practical of my friends. She had reasoned the dirty asks against what she got and made her mind. For me, till this day, I can't decide. Even that day, I did not make the decision. I just did not disagree with Anu.

Paddy came back on time. He grabbed himself a glass of water.

"So, what do you girls want to do?"

Neither of us wanted to answer.

"Some of this is blackmail and I know that. But I am also sweetening the deal with other things. You have to give me an answer today before you leave. What happens after that will be decided by me."

He stared at us and we looked down. Finally, Anu spoke up.

"OK. You win. We will agree."

I did not object.

"Great. I was hoping you will say that. Now, I need some assurance and I also have a test for you. I want you both to strip to your underwear and follow me to that room."

"What?" I screamed.

"Keep the voice down. If you agree to this, I need to see your compliance. I also want to see what I will get for my payback weekends."

Reading the document was one thing but having to submit to his deviant desires was another. I wanted to run away at that time. Anu started stripping first and then I followed. We took ages to step out of our jeans.

"I don't want to do this." I mumbled.

"Nor do I but we are stuck." Anu tried to be the bolder one.

We both stripped to our panties and bra. Paddy returned with a beer and watched us closely. He walked around us, inspecting our bodies.

"You both look great. I know this is hard for you but trust me in due time, you won't mind it."

He ran his hands over my shoulder and slowly moved his hands down my back onto my ass.

"Good ass." He played with it more and gently patted it. He did the same with Anu.

"Turn around."

We did.

"Remove your bra."

I almost cried when I heard it but fought back my tiers. Slowly we both removed our bra and exposed his breasts to him. He made us pose together. And finally, we had to sign the papers and write in our own handwriting that we agreed his twisted plan. He then explained how the college stuff would pan out. He had everything figured out and we were to lie to our parents about some scholarship and some charity. It became very clear to us that we were dealing with a very powerful person, who was not only rich but also well in control of the situation.