Teen Queen

From Blushes 26

‘What shall I wear?’ wailed Tracy, the excitement almost too much. ‘Just keep calm,’ her mother counselled. ‘There’s no panic. He wants to see you in your ordinary clothes first of all. But come straight home so I can brush your hair and see you’re looking nice.’

The town’s annual Teen Queen Contest, annual since three years ago at least when Eldridge Electrical started up in the town and decided to sponsor the event as a means of getting their name known. So was it any wonder that Tracy Simmonds was excited with the contest now begun, the finals just a week away? And Mr Eldridge coming round to see her after work today.

There had been some general talk of Tracy entering last year but of course she was barely 18 then and certainly too scared.

This year though she had been persuaded. And why not: Tracy was an extremely pretty girl, a delightful blue-eyed blonde with as well a delightful figure, slim but with everything there and quite a vision in a bathing suit.

The thought of standing in front of those judges in just a bathing suit and high heels, though, brought Tracy out in goose pimples. And in the town hall before all those people. ‘I just can’t, Mum.’ Mrs Simmonds said, ‘Of course you can, dear. You only have to stand there and smile.’

Anyway Tracy’s name was down and there was no backing out now. So her mother firmly told her. And this afternoon Mr Eldridge... Mr Eldridge as Managing Director of the sponsoring firm was naturally on the judges’ panel. And clearly the one who counted, Melanie Simmonds could see that. Of course every other girl’s mother could probably see it as well. And some people could be quite unscrupulous.

Mr Eldridge arrived at a quarter to six. By which time nervous Melanie Simmonds had been able to see that dead scared Tracy had had a wash and a change and also a dab of scent here and there. The short ash-blonde hair had been brushed until it shone and also, after a little consideration, a little shiny pink lipstick applied to the soft full lips. The Teen Queen was intended to epitomise innocence and youth so discretion was the keynote and Tracy most certainly must not look like some kind of tart (as some other competitors undoubtedly would) but all the same a little gilding of the lily…

Melanie Simmonds, an attractive and still youthful woman in her own right who might 20 years earlier have been entering just such a competition herself were it not that her own mother had been particularly puritanical and God-fearing, was also in her best blue dress. With somewhat more scent here and there and somewhat more lipstick as well. And of course a splendid tea prepared.

Mr Eldridge was 56, bulky and balding, a thrusting Captain of Industry who also liked the little diversions of life. Foremost among these since setting up his firm in the New Town of Bilton Bodstock had been the Teen Queen enterprise. Like many males of maturer years he had a keen interest in younger females: and why not? James Eldridge’s interest centred on the 18 to 20 age group and there was certainly nothing particularly reprehensible in that, age of consent etc. Eighteen to 20 was the age range he had set for the Teen Queen Contest when that great idea came to him. Oh yes, a truly marvellous idea. For there was not just the competition itself and its immediate perks; the two previous Teen Queens plus a number of fellow finalists were all now employed in various capacities in the Eldridge empire. And so continued to be... ah, available.

Yes. ‘Ah yes, Mrs Simmonds.’ James Eldridge had details on a note prepared by his secretary. ‘Very charmed to make your acquaintance. And this... ah, good afternoon, young lady.’

A winner! Or a potential winner at least. It did depend naturally on other things as well. But she certainly looked a winner. Delightful. Slim and trim in blouse and skirt. Slim but at the same time... James Eldridge’s hand reached out, fingers testing the flesh of an upper arm through crisp white cotton. Choice. The hand slid round behind. More taut flesh and the tingly feel of a stretched bra strap. My word!

Tracy not surprisingly was in a state. Excitement and also sheer fear. Melanie also fluttering excitedly. Would Mr Eldridge care to take a cup of tea? What Mr Eldridge would care to do, there and then, was take Tracy up to her no doubt cosy little bedroom and have her slip out of her things. All of them. But you could perhaps hardly say that two minutes inside the house. No. Yes he would very much appreciate a cuppa. It would calm him. Keep calm. But a Captain of Industry hard at it all day when suddenly confronted with a truly exquisite example of English girlhood. Well all his instincts, sharpened in the cut and thrust of business, not to mention the experience of having got to grips, so to speak, with all those other Teen Queen hopefuls...

‘A lovely house, Mrs Simmonds. And certainly a lovely daughter. Not to mention, of course, a lovely mother as well.’

The two ladies flushed. Mr Eldridge accepted a seat on the sofa and drew the darling Tracy down next to him. She was the third he’d seen so far this time and he always liked to see them first like this, in their own homes. After that if they were promising, as this Tracy was indeed promising, further meetings would be arranged. A man could not take something like this lightly, oh dear no; one had responsibilities. One had to try to get to know the contestant, something of her character. To determine that of course you had to carry out certain little tests.

Yes tests. Those two others he’d seen already had tested up quite well. Co-operative, willing girls with co-operative, willing mothers as well.

Mothers who realised that a girl couldn’t afford to hold back when it was something like Teen Queen of Bilton Bodstock at stake. Oh yes. So the delightful Tracy would have to show her paces in addition to looking a winner. He gave her a big smile and then one for the handsome mother now seated opposite. ‘Lovely cup of tea, Mrs Simmonds.’ And yes he would take a piece of that excellent-looking cake.

He was chattering on, a bit about Eldridge Electrical and how he had brought it on from nothing, and also about the Contest. There were a couple of other judges, Major Smithers and Mr Philpot, a retired solicitor. Decisions were democratically arrived at and usually unanimous. James Eldridge said this with a smile that might have indicated that democracy did not necessarily mean all votes were equal.

Very soon of course, when everyone was nice and relaxed, he was going to have to say it: the first test. And then... It didn’t really matter if the young lady or her mother expressed surprise, slight shock even. Just so long as the fair contestant was prepared, was allowed, to co-operate. Yes. At last after a second cup of tea and another slice of cake, James Eldridge’s initial requirement briefly stated. His eyes lifting momentarily upwards: the upper regions where no doubt were the bedrooms, Tracy’s bedroom.

Melanie Simmonds nervously biting her lip. Did Mr Eldridge mean Tracy in her swimsuit? Oh, he didn’t. She flushed as Mr Eldridge laughed. ‘Her birthday suit. Afterwards I’ll see her in her swimsuit, but not first of all.’ It was the normal thing. ‘I have to, er, check. Uh, everything.’ That word everything spun in Melanie Simmonds’ mind as James Eldridge recalled those other two he had already seen. One of them, Sandra Deacon, had proved quite a little raver up in her room in the altogether.

Mrs Simmonds swallowed. ‘Oh well, if it’s the normal thing.’ Clearly Tracy was not going to get anywhere if she couldn’t accept the normal thing.

‘It’s best if it’s just Tracy and myself. That’s normal too. They’re, uh, less nervous then.’

Ah. Melanie wasn’t sure if that would be so with her Tracy but again if it was normal. Not being used to Beauty Contests she didn’t really know these things. Mr Eldridge had got to his feet. Tracy had been listening to all this dawning horror. She was going to have to take all...

Mrs Simmonds gave her daughter a forced smile. ‘Right Tracy, off you go. Up to your room with Mr Eldridge.’ Tracy knew now she had been right to be dead scared of this whole business.

In her room he simply told her to take all her clothes off. ‘I’ve got to see.’ No stranger had ever seen her with no clothes on. She felt simply awful but there was nowhere to go, you couldn’t run and hide, you were here, caught, trapped, in your room with this Mr Eldridge. Who was offering to help you with buttons and zips and things. Downstairs her mother waited, heart in mouth. She just hoped Tracy was doing all right, doing whatever she was supposed to and not being too silly and shy. No doubt it was an ordeal, poor thing, but Melanie knew that all those other little hussies would be simply revelling in something like this. Flaunting their bodies — which were not a patch on Tracy’s.

A really agonising experience. Time crawling like a snail. And what were those sounds? Not Tracy’s cries? And sort of... well, smacking sounds.

Eventually, at long last, the sound of feet on the stairs. Tracy red-faced. Dressed again. Well of course. Mr Eldridge... ah, looking pleased. That surely was a good sign.

----//----

‘He smacked my bottom!’ Tracy’s voice incredulous, also shaky with a hint that at any moment she might burst into tears.

Mrs Simmonds produced another of those forced smiles. Mr Eldridge had just left. Yes, Melanie knew he had smacked Tracy’s bottom. Those unmistakeable sounds from upstairs and then in the hallway with Tracy still in the sitting room he had cheerfully referred to it. ‘I gave her a little smacking. Just to see how she’d take it.’ He had gone on to say he would like to see Tracy round at his place tomorrow, after work. Some more tests. Bring her swimsuit and did she have any very high heels?

Melanie naturally said ‘Yes of course.’ It meant Tracy was in the running, in with a chance. And Mr Eldridge had confirmed this. ‘She’s very promising.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ she told her daughter. ‘It was nothing, just his little joke I expect.’

Tracy’s eyes did some rapid blinking. ‘It really hurt and it was awful.’ A very traumatic experience. Made to take all your clothes off for this stranger and then have him put his hands everywhere. Checking, he said. And then pulled over his lap as he sat on her bed and his big hand first groping her bum and then really bashing it.

Melanie put her arm round Tracy. ‘He said you were a really promising candidate so you mustn’t worry about his little ways. I’m sure it’s the same for all the girls.’

Yes. No doubt. And when you thought about some of the young tarts who would be going in for this, egged on by equally tartish mothers, well... What would they be inviting him to do in order to gain favour? Tracy certainly would not be doing any of that. But if Mr Eldridge wanted to smack her bottom... In a perfectly harmless way.

‘You’re to do exactly as he asks, Tracy. I mean he’s not going to ask you to do anything you shouldn’t.’

----//----

And so Tracy Simmonds duly presented herself for Mr Eldridge’s further delectation the next afternoon. Instructed to do her very best. She had that new swimsuit with her, white and tight and brief. You could see her nipples through it but then Mr Eldridge had seen her nipples already. Bare. Not only seen: stroked; pinched.

Tracy trembled. She was also carrying in the bag with her swimsuit a new pair of shoes. Glossy pink with three-inch block heels. They were to wear with the new swimsuit. It was all exceedingly scary. She gave a scared little knock at his door.

In fact she didn’t wear her new pink high heels with the swimsuit first of all. First of all she had to wear the shoes by themselves. Take off her clothes like before and her undies and put just the shiny pink shoes on. Tracy could hardly walk in them but that didn’t matter because she didn’t have to walk, what she had to do was just bend over. Over the edge of Mr Eldridge’s polished table and grip the edge and stick her bare bottom out. So that Mr Eldridge could cane her.

He said it was another test, a test of character, and the girl who got to be Teen Queen didn’t just have to be a pretty face or even a pretty bottom, she had to have character as well.

Did Tracy have character? She certainly had some nice red stripes on her bottom when she got home. Her mother gave a little gasp when she saw, but, well, no doubt all the other girls were getting the same. She made Tracy a nice hot drink and said she wasn’t to tell Dad. At least Mr Eldridge had told Tracy she was very, very promising. He wanted her to go back again tomorrow. More testing no doubt.

So Tracy was clearly still very much on course for the coveted title. And in any case, Melanie Simmonds thought, there was no point backing out now she had invested in the new swimsuit and the quite expensive shoes.

Continued in Teen Queen Trials