Thread: Can She Rise To The Challenge (google and skittish_butterfly)

Katherine was careful to keep her eyes on him, to show him she could meet that intense glare of his without flinching, and careful not to look around at the impressive decor of the office -- obviously leased. She didn't respect him anymore than she had at the previous week's lecture, but she did decide to listen and pay attention to his words this time, but only so she could find his soft spots and exploit them. An ego this inflated should be hard to pop. He was still fixated on her being a little late. It really seemed to irk him. Well good! Katherine tried not to smile as she felt the satisfaction steel her resolve, better not to give him anything to work with. If he liked to play those stupid games, then he should know what it felt like to be played too. She answered, wanting him to recognize he was no more entitled than she. If you want to bean-count every minute, then we can start with all the time you kept me waiting on the phone. But as he went on without addressing her point she couldn't help reading from the slope of his eyebrows and tightening of his jaw that he'd at least filed it away for later. Instead he just give her a comically imperious gesture, like the king summoning the commoner, pointing to a hard wood chair he must keep around especially for long negotiations. Well she wasn't going to bow and scrape, nor would she give him the satisfaction of seeing her whine. Nothing he did could bother her as she imagined herself surrounded by a glowing aura of confidence and justice in her cause. She didn't just meekly walk to the chair he picked out. She sauntered at her own pace, now examining the little statuettes, the faux sophisticated volumes that might just be fake shells for show without even any pages inside and certainly unread, examining some of the cushioned chairs left about the walls in comfortable reading positions as if she might prefer to choose them instead of the one he'd chosen for her. Only after she'd made sure it was clear she was doing it on her own terms did she reach his desk and take a seat in the hard chair. It was annoying but no worse than the hard seats in the old History lecture hall, and those actually had splinters that were dangerous for girls wearing shorts! This was nothing compared to what she dealt with all the time. Finally she brought her eyes and attention back to him and he went on, as if he was keeping a running tally of every second of impatience she caused him. Good, a weakness. Impatience. She could use that. Safe word and gesture? Katherine regretted cocking her head in puzzlement before she could get her expression back to blank, wishing she hadn't let on in the slightest that these weren't the kinds of things a girl like her knew much about. But she was a quick learner and caught on right away what he was about. It was his attempt to calibrate exactly how disgusting he could be with her while still faking a reasonable tone about it. She thought of a phrase she would remember but suspected you stupid asshole might get used to often by accident, so she went the opposite direction. How about 'you are such a swell guy'? And if she could only say such a thing three times, so much the better. His implications weren't lost on her completely though as she shifted her bottom a little uncomfortably on the chair. He either thought she was incredibly weak-willed, or he was planning some incredibly vile things. Or probably both. Well it wouldn't matter if he just threw in the towel before it even had to start. Three times to object to what he wanted, and then she'd have to take everything else without limit? Katherine knew immediately he was bluffing. He wouldn't even treat the girls he had under his thumb that way. How could he? They'd just leave, wouldn't they? He couldn't be paying them anything close to what he thought he was offering her if he went through with this and lost. Finally the gasbag ran out of gas and it was her turn to respond. That is utterly ridiculous. I get the safe thing, if it wasn't limited to three times and then 'anything goes' Actually, as she thought about it, she realized he probably thought he was being quite clever about it. She would know if she ran out of her reserve of three she wouldn't be able to stop him, so he probably thought she would put up with more from him, more of what exactly she wasn't sure since she'd hadn't had the stomach to watch too much of his material beyond the basics. It would make sense to want to keep them handy. And having them handy, she would be fooled by the illusion that she would always be able to stop him. Maybe the girls you usually get in this chair and fool into signing their bodies and reputations away are clueless about what you're pulling here. But I'm not one of them. I can handle whatever they handle, of course, I don't see them as somehow less entitled to protection from the likes of you than I am. But three challenges? I get it. It would never work, they'd run out in an instant or I'd be afraid to use them. It would have to be like 10 or 15 or something like that. There was one he'd have trouble swallowing, and she watched his face closely as she continued. Then there's this thing about 'no limits' on what you can do, as if the fact you treat lots of other young woman that way somehow justifies doing it even more with me. First, though I'm no lawyer, not yet, I'm not sure its even legal, I think I should point out. But even if it is I would say the comparison between me and the other girls should run the other way. Why should any woman accept whatever you want, with no limits? We're going to have to strike that one too I think. She was just warming up and reached into her purse for one of the slips of paper, and then raised her hand to him in a 'stop' gesture every bit as imperious as his waving her into this stupid chair. Wait, wait. Just hold your complaints. I'm only getting started. She pushed her glasses on her nose into a professional position and glanced down at her notes. There's the issue of classes, school work, tests, exams, labs, so we will at the least have to put some pretty strict limits on time. If you include travel, I don't see how you can expect me to make it out here more than, ohhh, I don't know, maybe about an hour a week? Remember I need time to sleep, too, and to exercise. A girl has to keep herself slender and fit and sexy, isn't that the most important thing? She stared at him with a raised eyebrow, letting that little challenge to his shallow misogyny hang between them for a second, intending it only as a pause before going on with more of her list. The moment was also a good chance for her to adjust herself in the chair once more as she watched his face for a sign he realized she saw straight through him.