Chapter 2

          Her first week at school passed smoothly and Sandra turned out to be a great roommate, albeit a loud one. Her snarky sense of humor and abundant energy made the semi-cramped dorm room feel more like home than Jeff's sprawling condo ever had. Bella was happy she had agreed to have her as a roommate. 

      Even though her said roommate had short of bully her into going to the House of Wolf club with her. Bella had stood her ground on not entering the competition, she was going to just to chill. 

         As Bella was going through her phone, she was interrupted by loud clinking sounds coming from the trunk. Pausing, she asked, "What are you doing over there?"

      "Putting our outfits together for tonight," Sandra replied.

      "Our outfits?" Bella questioned. "I have my outfit already."

      Sandra responded, "Yeah, jeans and a hoodie. Or a sweater and a scarf, given what you usually wear to class. Not gonna fly at the Lodge."

           Realizing her plain clothing wasn't suitable, Bella frowned and said, "I guess I could wear something a little dressier, but I'm not really a clubber."

      Sandra sarcastically replied, "No kidding. Well, none of my pants will fit you, but the good news is that you don't need a shirt!"

     Bella retorted, "That doesn't sound like good news to me, Sandra."

     Sandra joked, "That's because you're a prude. Look, I know you refuse to enter the contest, but we can at least have a fun night dancing and flirting with hot guys. We deserve it for surviving the first week back, don't ya think?"

          Feeling like it could be fun, despite it being different from what she was used to, Bella agreed, "Alright, fine. But I can't wear anything too revealing."

     "Why not?" he asked. "Are you religious or something?"

       Bella explained, "Hardly. I just have some scars." Suddenly feeling nauseous, she put down her controller and moved the pastry straws out of reach.

        Sandra asked, "Scars? Whoa, you okay? You look kinda pale."

       Feeling weak and dizzy, Bella explained, "Low blood pressure and low blood sugar. Bad combo. I'll be fine, I just didn't eat much today. And yeah, I have some old scars from-" She quickly stood and barely made it to the bathroom before she vomited.

        Sandra followed her and held back her hair as she got sick. After cleaning up and getting some cold water on her face, she asked, "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the doctor? I've never seen anyone get sick that fast."

        Bella assured her, "It comes on quickly. I'll be fine now. Really. Just a weird episode, that's all."

         Sandra complimented her hair and suggested she wear it down that night, to which she agreed, feeling like it would be a nice distraction. Even though Sandra had many friends, she was the first one Bella ever had, and she didn't want to disappoint her.

       "Okay," she said, going over to the trunk to pull out what looked like a coil of belts. "Now take off your clothes."

       Bella rolled her eyes, but she slipped out of her hoodie and jeans in obedience. She had already seen her in panties enough times that modesty seemed a bit silly, even though something in her clung to it. "Yes, sir," she replied.

        Sandra looked her over and whistled. "Damn. It really is a shame you won't enter that contest."

        "Just make me look kinky enough to fit in but not so kinky I'm going to draw attention," she pleaded, covering the right side of her neck.

      "Yeah, no chance of that," Sandra remarked, stepping forward. "You're definitely going shirtless, but I've got a leather harness that would look amazing on you. I'm also thinking about—hey, what's that?" he asked, reaching for her arm. She flinched as he turned it over, revealing the white-and-pink scars running up her forearm, some fresher than others.

                   "I told you I had scars," Bella murmured.

      Sandra reached for her other arm, revealing the same. Fortunately, her hair covered her neck and those scars weren't quite as noticeable.

     "I didn't know you were a cutter," Sandra said sadly. "You could have said something, I wouldn't judge."

      "It's in the past," Bella replied, shrugging. Letting het know the truth felt too vulnerable. Hopefully she wouldn't notice how recent some of the marks were. "At least now you see why I can't enter the contest."

    Sandra frowned. "That's not true, they wouldn't disqualify you over that. But if you do want to hide it, the good thing is that fetish fashion covers almost everything but the naughty bits," she said with a smirk. "So we've got options."

      "What about this?" she asked sheepishly, moving her hair over her shoulder. Sandra's eyes widened at the revelation of the jagged little marks toward the back of her neck.

      "Whoa," she murmured. "Yeah, of course. Here," she said, dropping what she had in his hands to pull out a black leather collar with a silver ring and a dog tag on front. "This will work perfectly," she said, fitting it around her neck. She pulled her hair up so she could fasten it. The collar was certainly thick enough to do the job.

"And these," he said, rummaging through the trunk again to pull out a pair of black leather cuffs with black lace. "These will cover your forearms."

      Bella wasted no time fitting her with the cuffs, linked by a long metal chain.

    "Now the harness," she grinned, holding it out to her. She stared at it like the alien object it was. Sandra rolled her eyes and started fitting it across her chest. She felt a bit like a horse with all the leather straps, buckles, and rings.

             "What does this do, exactly?"

   "It does lots of things during play," she replied. "But tonight, it's just a shirt."

    "A shirt?" she asked, casting a doubtful glance at slightly exposed chest, the black lace isn't doing a very good job of covering her. "It's not a very good one."

    "Think of it like a shirt with windows!" Sandra turned serious as she eyed her. "You'll be laughed out of the club if you wear jeans. Do you have anything else?"

           "I have a pair of dress slacks, some khakis—”

"No, I meant anything that you wouldn't wear while visiting a nursing home."

      "I do have a pair of leather pants, but I've never actually worn them."

       Sandra blinked. "Why didn't you say so? That's perfect!"

    "I guess I I forgot," Bella admitted that she had bought the pants, but Jeff didn't want her to wear them out, so she just put them away. 

   

       "One, screw Jeff, and two, he's not here," Sandra said, going over to Bella's dresser and she started going through her drawers before she could protest and found the pants quicker than she could have. 

   

        "Aha!" She cried triumphantly, holding them up. "These are so hot. Put them on!"

        Bella started to comply when she yelled, "Wait! What are you doing?"

       "Huh?" she asked, tripping a little. "I'm putting them on."

         "With panties? No. That's just... ew," Sandra said, scrunching her face. "One does not wear tight leather pants with panties."

                       "You can't be serious."

           Sandra crossed her arms and gave her a look that said she was deadly serious. She sighed dramatically and slipped her thumbs into the waistband of her panties, pausing when Sandra showed no signs of turning around. "Ahem?"

        Sandra rolled her eyes and turned around. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, you know. Unless it's different or something ."

            "No," she laughed, letting her panties hit the floor before she slipped into the leathers. "Nothing special, I'm just a bit modest. Holy hell, these are tight."

                "Well, yeah, they’re leather."

         By the time Bella turned around, Sandra was in a pair of slightly looser leather jeans of her own. She pulled on a transparent black tank top that is slightly dense on her cleavage and a pair of wrist-length leather gloves.

               "Look at you," Bella said, laughing when Sandra twirled around playfully and did a little dance. "I can't help but notice you're not showing nearly as much skin as you've suckered me into.”

     Sandra grinned. "Like I said, I'm not a sub. I don't have to be on display at all times."

        "Neither am I. I'm not anything BDSM-y," she reminded her. "I'm just going to this thing for you."

       "I know, I know," Sandra insisted. "I just think it could be good for you if you do turn out to like it. The sub is really the one in control. She's the one who sets the boundaries, she's the one who can call it all off with a single word, and she's the one who chooses the Dom she's willing to accept."

                  "That does sound different from what I've heard," Bella admitted. "But I just don't think I'm ready for any type of relationship right now, even if it's not romantic."

     "Fair enough," Sandra replied. To Bella's relief, she moved on and pulled on her jacket and shoes. "We'd better get going. The line at the door will be insane."