The Ivy Lessons (28 page)

‘Thanks,’ I say,
taking a long sip.

‘So.’
Marc
sits up and steeples his fingers together. ‘You
must be wondering what
I have planned for you this evening?’

I nod. ‘Yes. Wondering, nervously.’

‘Come sit next to me, Sophia.’ I do. The leather sofa creaks as I sit down, and
Marc
turns to look at me. ‘You
’re beautiful.
’

I don’t know what to say, so I take another sip of beer. There’s a tension in the room. I
know
we can both feel it. I’m aching for him to touch me, but as usual
this is all at his pace. I’m pretty sure
if I tr
y to touch him, he
’ll
stop me
.

Marc
turns to the television and picks up the remote. ‘I’ve been educating you about losing your inh
ibitions
,’ he says. ‘Showing you how to let go. Now I’d like to take the other perspective. I’d like you to watch
movies of
other people
letting go
.’

‘What?’ I feel scared, suddenly. What does he mean?
I have an uneasy feeling that he’s
going to show me film
s of other women he’s been with.
‘I’m not sure I’m up to what you’re suggesting,’ I say, swallowing more beer. ‘If you want me to watch your other women -’

‘I don’t.’
Marc
ho
lds up a hand.

‘So what is it you want me to watch?’

‘
Something that I hope will open up some of your inhibitions.’

I clutch my beer like a life support.

He presses the remote control
and a classroom fills the screen
. There’s a man standing by a blackboard, a mortar cap on his head, and a swooping black cape around his shoulders. He’s dressed as an old-fashioned teacher stereo-type, but he’s young, handsome and tanned.

A woman walks into the ro
om, dressed in a Britney Spears-
style school uniform
, sucking a lollipop
. She has bleached blonde hair, and huge breasts squeezed against a white blouse. She’s clearly no teenage sc
hool girl, and I’m guessing she’s in fact a few years older than me
.

The camera moves very close to her mouth, filming her sucking at the lollipop. She moves her tongue around it, and pouts at the teacher.

‘What is this?’ I ask, feeling scared and out of place.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ says
Marc
. ‘Watching can’t hurt you, I promise.’

‘
What is it
?’ I ask
again
.

‘You’
ve never watched pornography
before?’

I shake my head.

‘Not even with boyfriends? What about magazines – have you never ha
d a boyfriend who read porn magazines
?’

‘No, I’ve never seen anything like that,’ I say.

‘Sit here
.’ He lifts m
e up and sits me onto his
thigh. I feel the firmness of his leg mus
cle between my own legs. He puts
his hands on my waist. ‘Watch,’ he whispers.

The schoolgirl comes to sit on a desk in front of the teacher. Her
pleated micro-mini skirt rides
up to show stockings and suspenders.

‘Do you want to fuck me, sir?’ she asks, batting her huge false eyelashes. She lifts up her skirt, showing crotch
-
less panties and bare, shaved skin.

I swallow
and take another sip of beer. I’m so embarrassed watching this, and
Marc
must know it. But at the same time, I feel myself growing warmer and
Marc
’s thigh between my legs feels ever
present.

The teacher paces b
ack and forth, then takes a paddle
from the rim of the blackboard. ‘Ho
w dare you
behave t
his way in front of you teacher?
’ he barks, his cape flying.
‘You deserve to be spanked.’

The girl sque
a
ls as he picks her up and puts her over his
knee. He lifts her skirt
and smacks her hard on the behind. ‘You bad, bad girl.’

‘How does it make you feel, watching this?’
Marc
asks.

‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘Confused. A bit sick.’

‘It doesn’t turn you on at all?
’

I blush. ‘Yes. A little. Do you watch this sort of thing often?’

‘No. I bought this just for you.’

‘Hence the teacher, student theme?’ I ask.

‘My little private joke.’

‘I guess you don’t need to watch anything like this,’ I say. ‘There are plenty of women who would do anything you want in real life.’

Marc
gives a little smile. ‘True. But that doesn’t mean I always take them up on it. Life can get very boring
when you can have anything you like
, believe me.’

On the screen, the tea
cher flips the schoolgirl
onto her back. ‘Please sir, please no. I’m a virgin.’

‘You should have thought of that before you acted like such a slut.’

The teacher has sex with the woman on the
desk, and even though she cries
, ‘no, sir, no’, wh
en the camera films her face
she starts to moan
with pleasure
.

I feel even more embarrassed, and don’t know where to look, but I have to be honest – watching the video really is turning me on. I
wish I
wasn’t here, being scrutinised by
Marc
. I don’t know what he wants from me. Is he doing this to humiliate me?

I feel his hands tighten around my waist, and he begi
ns to slide me back and forth along his thigh
.

Chapter
60

I try to
look away from the film, but Marc
turns my head back. The school girl is on her knees now, and the teacher is forcing her head into his crotch. He undoes her shirt, and her breasts are naked underneath.

I hate that
Marc
is watching this naked woman. It feels like an intrusion.
But t
he friction between my legs, as he rubs me back and forth, is making me ho
tter and hotter. I feel like I’m
burning.

‘Stop,’ I say, climbing off him. ‘I can’t watch any more of this. It’s ... it doesn’t feel right.’

‘Why not?’
Marc
asks, turning off the TV. ‘Is it the teacher pupil
thing?
’

‘
No.
’ I shake my head.

‘I know that little scenario turned you on,’ says Marc. ‘I could feel your breathing getting quicker. Who’d hav
e thought? You liking the
teacher ...’ A smile grows on his face.

‘
I didn
’t like watching it with you. I don’t
like
you seeing another woman naked.’

Marc
laughs. ‘That’s what it is? Jealousy?’

I smile, realising he’s right. ‘How do you feel about me watching another man like that?’

Marc
shrugs. ‘It doesn’t bother me. All I care about is whether you’re turned on or not.’ He slips a hand down the back
of my jeans
. ‘And from what I can feel, you are.’

I squirm away fr
om him. ‘Maybe this is all too fast for me.’

‘Mmm.’
Marc
downs his beer, and puts the bottle on th
e floor. ‘Then I’m doing my job
well. That’s my whole aim, Sophia. To open you up. To help you experience new things. That’s what a good teacher does. Wait there.’

He leaves the room, and I take hurried sips of beer. I’m feeling so self-conscious now, and so tiny in this huge place.

When he returns, he has a school uniform hanging from his fingers. ‘
Put this on
,’ he says.

I shake my head.

‘A good actress will try on many different costumes in her life,’ says
Marc
, lifting me from the sofa by my hands. ‘And I know you’re a good actress. Put it on. See how you feel.’

I hesitate. What is it about Marc that makes me do things I’d never ordinarily do?
I
feel safe with him, I have to admit. Even though he’s testing my boundaries, I feel as though he’d never hurt me.

‘Right here?’

Marc
nods slowly. ‘Right here.’

I slip off my shoes and tight jeans, feeling his eyes on me the whole time. The room is nice and warm, but I still
shiver
. I take off my jumper and vest until I’m stood in the room with my underwear.

I wrap my arms around my torso, waiting for
Marc
to hand me the uniform.

‘Don’t cover yourself. I want to see it all.’

I let my arms fall to my sides.

‘Take off your underwear.’ His voice is stern now. ‘I won’t tell you again.’

I peel off my bra and panties and let them fall to the floor.

He holds out the school uniform, and I put on the nav
y blue pleated skirt, short-slee
ved blouse and grey and red-
striped tie.

Marc
watches me for a moment without saying a word.

‘How do you feel?’ he asks.

I look down at myself. It’s been a long time since I wore a school uniform, and it’s straining in all the right places. Under the blouse, I see the shadows and fullness of my naked breasts, and my hips and rear end are tight in the skirt.

‘
Good
,’ I say.

‘How would you feel if I told you that, we
aring that, every man in the country
would want to fuck you?’

I shrug my shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Okay. Then take it off.’

I’m surprised. I’d have thought he was going to have sex with me in the uniform, and I was kind of looking forward to it.

‘You’re not going to ... do anything to me?’ I ask.

‘Do you want me to?’

I nod.

Marc
shakes his head. ‘
Not today. Things are getting ... too close for me, right now. Y
ou’ll have to entertain me instead.’ He pulls a drawer at the bottom of his leather sofa, and inside I see a hug
e black vibrator and what I can only guess are other sex toys. There are soft pink objects, and black spiked things and strings of beads.

‘Here.’
Marc
hands me the vibrator.

‘What should I do with it?’ I ask, feeling self conscious.

‘I want you to put it ins
ide you and pretend it’s me
,’ says
Marc
. ‘And I’m going to watch.’

He clears the bottle opener and remote control from the giant glass coffee table.

‘Get up on this table.’

‘On the glass table? It’ll break.’

‘No it won’t.’
Marc
shakes his head. ‘It’s specially made.’

He puts two cushions on the table, and lifts me onto it. I kneel on the cushions and take the vibrator, feeling how heavy it is. It looks and feels sort of s
inister, and even holding it in my hand feels alien and strange.

Marc
takes something else from the drawer, then slides under the table effortlessly, in a way that tells me he’s done it dozens of times before. I don’t like that thought at all, but seeing hi
m beneath the glass, those dark-
blue eyes staring up at me, I can suddenly think of nothing but him.

I want to touch him, and put a hand to the glass. It’s cold.

‘Slide the vibrator inside yourself,’ says
Marc
pushing his palms to the glass. ‘Let me watch you.
’

I slide the vibrator into myself. It’s cold and thick, and feels nothing like
Marc
.

As h
e watches
,
his eyes seem to cloud over. Then he snaps something in his palm and the vibrator begins to buzz.

‘Oh!’ It takes me by surprise.
‘How did you do that?’
He must have some sort of r
emote control
.

‘Push it further inside yourself,’
Marc
says.