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Quite a boarding school! 15. Welcome party It was early November, and it had been three weeks since Keith and Billy joined the group. After the initiation had proved their expertise when it came to tying knots, they met Travis, along with Lewis and his mates. They would move in to Saint Sebastian after the break. But they all stayed one extra day before they went home for one week. Travis had managed to set up an "Initiation to mountain climbing" on Saturday. No one had questioned the validity or the usefulness of such an activity, and so they all stayed in Saint Sebastian House for the session. Philip was a bit nervous when he ended up with his five new "friends." He was aware that if there was no mountain climbing planned, some initiation was, and ropes would be as much involved as in mountaineering. Only that they'd be used a bit differently. He was both looking forward and dreading this moment. He knew two of the boys a bit better than the three others, for he was in Ben's class and he had spent a weekend at his place working on a science project; Fred had been there too, and it had been quite a fun time; they got the science project out of the way on Friday evening, and they had the rest of the weekend to go take walks, play videogames or basically fool around. The fooling around had actually been some practice of escape artistry. Philip didn’t tell Ben and Fred straight away he and his brothers had trained quite a bit escaping ropes, and he had then impressed the two friends. As Ben and Fred challenged the black-haired boy to try to escape first, he had complied and let them get him in a hog-tie. But as they didn't know he was already a trained player, they had not tightened the rope too much. In ten minutes he was out, and grinned to Ben when he had removed the piece of tape mock-gagging him: "Who's next?" The sleight-of-hand he had displayed in trussing poor Ben down on his chair, and the quite muffling and mouth-filling gag that had left him speechless was evidence of previous misdeeds. The rest of the evening had been spent in telling stories of the boys' various tie-up games. They had naturally thought of him for their little troop, and had asked everyone on the following Monday at the weekly meeting. As he was a member of the football team, Billy and Keith knew him a bit, and though Philip was not the most outspoken player, he had some wry sense of humour that usually was right on target. Billy had frowned imperceptibly at Keith's mention of how good Philip's shorts looked on him; he agreed, for their team-mate had a square build, a really nice butt and nicely muscled hairy legs but this clothing detail had gotten the discussion rolling onto another item that was on the meeting's agenda. As they were to have their first full day session, they had wondered whether they should adopt some uniform for their club. Ben suggested the football kit first. He knew about the endless supplies; everyone knew about it, with all the jokes about the players' outdated looks. Lewis didn't say peep, as the idea of everybody's legs showing was compelling, but as he had himself made fun of the footie kits, he couldn't really say it out loud. Everybody raised their hand for the vote, so Lewis pretended he reluctantly agreed by raising his own. "Yeah, well, it might be more practical for playing…" he noncommittally said. And so were the six lads clad in black and yellow nylon, ready for twenty-four hours of fun. There were only eight people staying in the huge estate: the custodian at the entrance, a mile away from them, Travis and them. They were chatting as they waited for the prefect in the "screening room" on the first floor of Saint Sebastian. Philip didn't want to get paranoid, but he was throwing nervous glances, wondering when the little ceremony would start. Lewis' comments over the last few days about 'hazing', 'trials', 'initiation rites' made him want this moment to be over as soon as possible. His piercing blue eyes scrutinized the little group, waiting for any hint of them coming at him. Travis eventually walked in. He wore his regular school uniform, but didn't comment about the outfits. He thought it rather cute they had chosen to be dressed like this but as he had had no say in the choice he did not want to comment on it. No need to ruin how the whole thing was turning out. "Let's kick off this little day of fun with a film!" He inserted a DVD in the player. As the film started, he heard some bickering from Lewis but he did not have to get involved. "Lame! A black and white picture!" "Why don't you shut up, Lewis? You're being lame," Billy replied. He was always annoyed at this kind of comment he found stupid. It was an old French movie, the War of the Buttons. "Subtitles!" Lewis groaned. "Wish I'd brought a roll of tape…" Billy whispered. Soon the major drawbacks Lewis had pointed out were forgotten, and the merciless feuds of two rival gangs of country lads mesmerized the six boys. Or at least five of them; Philip felt a bit uneasy when the audience burst into laughter at the misfortune of the guys made prisoners. Just before the final scene, seeing the two leaders, Lebrac and l'Aztec making peace in the boarding school they'd both been sent to as a punishment, in a memorable pillow fight, Travis had gone out unnoticed. Lewis stood up and turned the lights back on. "Philip, it's time for your official initiation. Stand in front." Lewis and the newbie soon faced each other, with the four other boys surrounding them. Lewis handed the new recruit two sticks. "Philip, you must show us how you can use this piece of rope, and demonstrate how you can make a cross out of these sticks using a lark's head, a clove hitch and a square knot." Philip had reviewed almost thirty knots in anticipation of this moment, and he was asked to perform something barely worthy of a cub scout? It took him less than two minutes to hand out the result. The bound sticks went from hand to hand, everyone nodding and approving the job. Fred had rolled the ball for the next phase. "What's the first rule?" "Never cut off circulation." "What's the second rule?" Keith asked. "Never cut off breathing." "What's the third rule?" Billy enquired. "Always be considerate of others. No blood shall be shed." "What's the fourth rule?" Ben finished. "Never do a half-hearted job." There was silence. They all exchanged looks, and with Fred behind him and Billy and Keith by his sides, it was tough for him to look at everyone. Philip reviewed his replies in his head. He had not flunked, had he? He was puzzled. Lewis broke the silence. "So, what do you think, my fellow knot-tiers?" "HE'S IN, HOORAY!" they all shouted. Philip beamed, which was unusual. Lewis looked at him and he felt quite special. They all embraced him and patted his back. Was that it? Philip could not believe that it had all gone so fast. "OK, lads, time for action!" Lewis roared. Philip was only half-surprised by the ten arms that grabbed his four limbs and prevented him from protesting, Ben's hand covering his mouth. He struggled nonetheless, and managed to kick Lewis in his balls as he had not taken hold of his left leg strongly enough. "Ouch! You bastard! You're gonna pay for this! Up to the dorm, lads!" Philip felt lifted up and taken outside the room, wriggling and giving off muffled curses. "Watch out, Phil, we wouldn't want you to get hurt falling in the stairs, I want you in shape when I get back at you… So quit squirming!" Lewis snarled. Keith felt like taking advantage of the situation to make fun of Lewis, but part of the initiation meant they had to stick together. There would be other opportunities to ridicule the "leader". Soon they were in Lewis and Fred's room. They laid Philip on the bed and seized the ropes that were on the desk. "Spread-eagle time!" Ben joyfully squeaked. It didn't take too long before Philip was stretched over the mattress, forming a perfect X, with Ben's sweaty hand preventing him to beg for mercy. "Time for the gag, before the real crap starts. Would you mind taking care of silencing the little rebel, Freddy dear?" "Not at all, this'll be a pleasure." Fred grinned as he approached with tape and scarves in his hands… © Copyright Bondwriter 2007
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