Amy bent slightly facing Megan, her tongue stuck unconsciously out of the side of her mouth in concentration as she straightened out the ends of the scarf tied around the collar of Megan's blouse. Around her, the other girls were milling around nervously backstage, listening to the sounds of the underclass girls and their guests taking seats, talking, laughing. Amy smiled at last, satisfied with Megan's identifying display. "There." One of the dangling rumpled corners of the scarf bore the seal of the Academy. The other said, in small, stitched script, "Slave Megan." Laney had dispatched Anthony the day before to make a quick run back to the Academy with the scarves to get them personalized. With one exception, each of the senior sorority girls was wearing her own scarf, the letters "Delta" and "Rho" displayed on the corners, while Linda and Amy were wearing scarves marked similarly to Megan's. Laney was dressed differently, in a form-fitting v-necked sweater in sky blue, with a yellow scarf tied around her bare neck -- the formal outfit of rival sorority Sigma Mu. The scarf nevertheless had "Slave Laney, Property of Delta Rho" stitched into its corners. Her short skirt was similar to those of the other girls.

Megan smiled. "Nobody can read it out there anyway, hon."

Amy grinned and shrugged. "It's not about people seeing it. It just makes me feel more legal." She brushed her fingers across her own "Slave Amy" on the scarf she was wearing. By law, no slave was allowed to wear clothes in such a way that her slave collar was covered up, as the blouse and scarf did for Amy at present. Amy felt confident that at this private affair, nobody would care, but she agreed with Linda that the stitching on the scarves turned them into slave collars of sorts, just in case.

The clothes felt odd in any case, but somehow exhilarating. Though Amy's dark blue skirt was very short, her long-sleeved white blouse concealed most of her upper body, and Amy hadn't been dressed to this extent in the last two years -- at Academy parties, certainly, all of the outfits were designed to be as revealing and sexy as possible, and indeed, while performing with Megan, or being hostess for whomever rented her at the auction afterwards, Amy spent most of her time at the parties naked. Tonight, Amy was dressed formally as a Delta Rho girl, in the same style Gina and the others had worn at the negotiating session at the Academy two weeks ago. It was indeed a kind of uniform, though the Delta Rho girls only wore it on special occasions. At official university events. To classes during Spirit Week. Or tonight.

Dressing that way made Amy conscious of being a full participant in Laney's hanging.

Gina looked at her watch and said quietly, "Let's get in our places in about ten minutes." Around her, the other girls nodded.

Laney, holding Linda's hand, turned to Amy and smiled. She giggled. "I know what I'm missing! There ought to be the sound of an orchestra tuning up!"

Amy laughed, trying to do it quietly. She looked at Laney's face, amazed at the blaze of light that seemed to emanate from her. Miranda, she realized, had looked the same, but Amy had not had years of intimacy with Miranda, to be able to fully appreciate the joy Miranda had been radiating on that one culminating day of her life.

Laney let go of Linda for the moment so she could put her arms around Amy, pulling her tightly against her, rubbing her head against Amy's. Amy could feel Laney's energy flowing into her like an electric current. Just at the moment Amy felt fully charged, Laney released her and repeated the hug on Megan. Megan closed her eyes and held tight, and Amy could hear her whisper "I love you" in Laney's ear. Amy blinked, not recalling Megan ever having said that to anyone but Amy before.

Laney turned to the one person in the room she'd known longest of all. Emily, dressed like the others except for the absence of any insignia at all on her scarf, was standing with her husband Jason, holding his hand. Laney gave her a long hug, then backed away slightly and kissed her.

Her arms still holding her sister loosely, Emily grinned at Laney, her eyes wide with wonder. "Laney... I... Well, being honest, I never really understood why you wanted... this life. But..." She looked around at everyone gathered, waiting to start the show, listened to the excitement building in the invisible audience. "I get it, now. I really do. I can't really imagine how rewarding it feels, all this..." she gestured to indicate their surroundings, "...all for you, but I can see it in your face. You have what every woman should have, but it's..." She shrugged. "...I don't know, magnified a hundred times. And I am so proud of you. I know it was so much work to get here."

A tear appeared at the corner of Laney's eye, and she absently brushed it away. "That really means a lot to me. I wish I could give some of my happiness to you somehow."

Emily laughed, a few tears of her own trickling down her cheek. "Oh, you have, Laney, really you have. And you too, Megan." She turned to Megan. "I can't say how special it is that you got me a chance to be here, and take Laney's head home with me. You're a very special person."

Megan, her face reddening, whispered, "Thank you."

Laney patted her sister's hip. "What about you? What are your plans?"

Emily's eyes widened. "Oh! With everything going on, we didn't even get a chance to talk about that! Well..." She reached to the side to take Jason's hand again. "We're trying to have a baby. We talked about giving it about three years, and if it doesn't happen, Jason's going to cook me up in a barbecue, with all our friends over." She smiled and raised Jason's hand, and rubbed her cheek against the back of it, then looked back at Laney. "Oh! And I was just thinking a minute ago -- I guess I'd assumed all along he'd just behead me, but..." She bit her lip, and smiled. "I was thinking maybe he could hang me, with everybody watching. I know it wouldn't be anything like your show, I probably would barely last a minute, but just thinking about it..." She shivered suddenly. "It seems like it could really be a lot of fun!"

Laney gaped at her. "That would be great! Oh, and there's something you could do to get ready, if you really think you want to do it." The glow in Laney's eyes intensified even more. "I can't tell you most of what I learned, even if there was time, but here's something that's public knowledge. Look in Widdell's catalogue and order a neck trainer. That's what it's called. It'll come with instructions. It's just something you can use to build up your neck muscles. You'll enjoy the hanging a lot more."

Emily hugged her again. "Thank you so much! I'll do that."

Laney grinned at her, and said, "Show me one more time where you're going to stab me."

Emily rolled her eyes and smiled. "Okay. Right here." She stiffened her index finger as if it were the knife and poked it against Laney's chest, just below her rib cage.

"Not straight in like that..."

"I know, I know! Angle it up."

Laney nodded, then suddenly said, "Oh! You've brought the jar with preserving fluid, right?"

Jason nodded. "It's out in the car. Kind of heavy to lug it around."

Laney nodded. "Just be sure to get my head in there quick. And leave it in there for three days..."

Jason smiled. "I know all that."

"Of course, sorry." She gave Jason a hug, just as Gina said, "Okay, let's get in our places, everybody."

Emily stood on her toes and kissed Jason. "Just wait here for me, honey."

Amy took a deep breath and closed her eyes as the curtain started rising. She caught Laney's eye, and Laney grinned and gave her a quick thumbs up, then sat straight and still, waiting.

There was a row of three seats in front of Amy, with three senior Delta Rho girls, Leah, Katey, and Hannah, sitting in them. Amy's row of four consisted of herself at the left end, with Megan next to her, and two more sorority sisters beyond her, April and Kelsey. The seats were oriented facing partly towards the audience and partly towards center stage. Across a gap of six feet or so, a similar arrangement of seven seats faced her, again angled towards the center and the audience. Laney was in the center of the front row of that group, with Gina and Heather on either side of her. In the row of four seats behind her, Sharon and Lindsay sat in the middle, with Linda and Emily at opposite ends, their relationships with Laney having earned them seats on Laney's side of the stage.

Amy could see the audience now. It appeared to number about fifty. Most of them were Delta Rho girls, easily identified, even the few Amy hadn't met, as they were all in their formal outfits. Several had brought girlfriends, and in a few cases boyfriends, from outside, though most Delta Rho girls had paired up within the sorority.

Rather than taking any of the auditorium seats, all of them were standing just in front of the stage. Amy was familiar with the phenomenon -- guests at Academy Girl hangings usually tried to get as close to the action as they could.

The murmur of conversations seemed to grow rather than quiet at the raising of the curtain. All of the audience members were too excited to stay still.

Amy now saw Gina, serving as director of the home-grown drama, give a little gesture with her hand that was out of sight of the audience, and a small head nod, signaling to Brenda, who entered the from left rear of the stage in a mincing walk.

Brenda, the only one of the senior Delta Rho girls onstage not dressed as a sorority member, wore a nearly ankle-length charcoal-gray skirt and matching suit coat, the white blouse underneath buttoned primly all the way to the top. As she came forward, she had to sidestep the blanket-covered hanging platform near the back of the stage, which would have to be pushed forward later.

As soon as Brenda came into view, the audience erupted into appreciative laughter -- they all instantly recognized her portrayal of a well-known and much loathed female faculty member, Dr. Loomis, who taught the university's Women's History course.

Lindsay and Heather, in writing the script, had originally thought to have their Hanging Girl play the role of Miss Loomis, but had realized that, despite the renowned talents of Hanging Girls, they could not expect one to do a convincing impression of a particular teacher she had never seen. Brenda, on the other hand, had kept her sorority sisters in stitches for years with her imitations of various faculty members and administrators. Lindsay and Heather had arrived at the solution of having the Hanging Girl play a member of the hated Sigma Mu sorority.

As Brenda reached the space between the seated girls on either side, and the audience quieted, she began, in a nasal voice with a trace of foghorn, "Now, students..." The audience broke into laughter again, several of them applauding.

Brenda went on as the audience subsided, "Students, who can tell me the importance of Jeana Riley in the Women's Rights Movement?"

Several girls raised their hands in a bored manner. Only Laney did so eagerly, waving it excitedly. Brenda looked solemnly in that direction, but said, "Yes, Sharon?"

Sharon responded with the answer everyone in the auditorium knew. "Ma'am, she was the first woman to attend high school."

Brenda nodded and frowned slightly, and said, in what Amy had been assured was a dead-on impression of Dr. Loomis, "But is that really the whole story of her importance?"

The "students" all wore puzzled frowns -- all except Laney, who was again waving her hand frantically, as if competing for attention with a roomful of other waved hands, rather than being the only one. Brenda nodded to her. "Elaine?"

"Ma'am, she attended high school by disguising herself as a boy, and that gave other women the idea of pretending to be men, to get jobs."

Brenda nodded and cracked a small Loomis smile. "Very good, Elaine. Now, did this work right away? Anyone?" She looked around.

In front of Amy, Leah had her hand raised listlessly. When Brenda called on her, she said, "Yes, ma'am, men could see that women could do the jobs just as well as men could."

Laney almost seemed to wrench her shoulder out of its socket with a renewed burst of handwaving. Brenda turned to her. "Elaine?"

Eagerly, Laney said, "Oh, that's not really true, ma'am. At the beginning, any woman found impersonating a man was executed and eaten immediately. They even passed the Gender Identification Law to try to discourage women from trying to get jobs."

Brenda nodded again. "Was the eventual success of women in the workplace a result of persistence?"

April raised her hand and was called on. "Yes, ma'am. Community organizers started spreading the idea of waiting until men stopped doing gender checks for hiring, and then they'd try it again. So over a period of years, it was... almost like a game."

The "students" murmured in assent, with nodding heads. Once more Laney raised her hand. Brenda called on her, and Laney said, "There was really more to it, ma'am. Some heads of major corporations decided that they could hire women more cheaply and make more money, because women worked just as well as men, like Leah said. I think most women today don't even realize that women used to be paid less than men. Anyway, that was what finally made it work."

Brenda beamed at Laney. "That's very good, Elaine. Now, I think all of the rest of you should be doing your reading more closely. You have learned many of the surface facts, but with the exception of Elaine, you have not really dug deeply enough. Since the final exam is coming next Friday, I expect all of you to explore the subject more seriously." She looked sternly to both sides, and said, "Class is dismissed," before turning and leaving the stage.

The curtain fell, long enough to drag the chairs away to the sides of the stage and push two beds in from the wings. Amy and Megan, and five of the senior girls who had played students, did most of the moving, since the next scene involved only Laney's four owners, along with Linda and Emily. The six of them now draped themselves in elaborate poses of relaxation on the two beds. Amy watched from the wings, her hand resting on Laney's left shoulder, absorbing more energy from Laney, Megan similarly resting her hand on Laney's other shoulder, as the curtain was raised again.

As soon as the audience had had time enough to take in the scene, Heather, on her stomach, raised herself on her elbows, her face a mask of gloom. "What are we going to do now? We're barely passing Women's History as it is. If we don't make it, they'll keep us out of extracurricular activities."

Sharon, in the same mood, added, "And take away our scholarships!"

Gina wailed, "We won't even be able to stay in school!"

Lindsay moaned, "It's that damned grading scale that old bat uses for the class! Basing everything on the highest score. I've talked to girls in last year's class. There's been times when a 70 average got you an A in the class, because nobody scored any higher than that. She figures it just means her tests were really hard. But that damned Elaine! She hasn't scored below 95 yet!"

Sharon sighed theatrically. "I can just hear the professor now. 'You could do as well as Elaine if you put your mind to it!' " Sharon's imitation of Dr. Loomis was only a near approximation of Brenda's. "We are putting our minds to it. It's just not fair Elaine ended up in our class!"

Heather groaned. "We've just got to start studying." She listlessly reached to the side and picked up her book.

Gina wondered, "Where do we even start?"

Lindsay answered, "Well, there's sure to be stuff on Gertrude Hollis on the test. There's a whole chapter on her."

Sharon shook her head. "That's too easy. Every woman knows about her. We've been reciting that since first grade. 'When we women give our lives...' We need to study the more obscure stuff."

Gina suddenly sat upright and shouted. "I've got it!"

The other five girls responded eagerly, "What?"

"I know how we can pass!" Gina looked around. "We just need to get Elaine to..." she paused. "...help us." She giggled.

The others gathered in a huddle around her and, as she whispered in their ears, they nodded eagerly, and the curtain came down again.

Amy resisted the need to put her arms around Laney one last time. Their goodbyes were done, they had said everything to each other that needed to be said. All she could have done now was distract Laney's focus. As Laney walked to her spot on the stage, Amy sighed and said "I love you" under her breath, too softly for Laney to hear. It was something she only needed to say for herself. She picked up her sponge and took up her own position with Megan.

In front of her, Linda had pushed the hanging platform to the front of the stage, lining it up carefully with the lines of masking tape on the floor. She looked up to the catwalk above, where Stacia, a junior in the sorority, holding the loop of the noose in her hand, nodded that she was ready. Emily, after pulling in the table with drink glasses and helping hand them out, gave her sister a quick peck on the cheek, but aside from that was as unwilling as Amy was to do anything that would have interrupted Laney's concentration to any greater extent.

The curtain was raised.

All fifteen girls were on the stage now, arranged similarly to the way they had been in the opening scene, but standing. Brenda had changed out of her severe-looking Dr. Loomis outfit and now wore the Delta Rho "uniform," and occupied the spot between Gina and Heather, where Laney had been in the first scene. Laney herself stood between the two groups of girls, all of them facing her. They all stood with drinks in their hands. A haphazard scattering of tables and lamps gave the impression of the sorority common room -- the hanging platform played the role of one of the tables. It was clear to the audience that a Delta Rho party was in progress, Laney being the lone cast member dressed as a Sigma Mu.

Laney raised her glass and pretended to drink from it -- she'd ingested her last food and drink hours ago, and at this point didn't want any foreign substances coating her throat and possibly interfering with breathing. She beamed at the surrounding girls. "It's so nice of you guys to invite me to the party!"

Lindsay said, "We just thought we should get to know you better, Elaine."

"Oh, call me Laney, please. All my friends do. Does this mean we can be friends? I didn't think you really liked me."

Gina took a sip of her drink, not needing to pretend. "Well, we're all in the same boat, you'd have to say. I mean, we're all working to get through that class. Maybe somehow we can all help each other, Laney."

Laney nodded eagerly. "It's so great you feel that way! I mean, we may be from different sororities, but we're all women. We should always help each other any way we can."

Heather responded, "That's right! It's like what Gertrude Hollis said three hundred years ago. 'We... when we...' " She frowned. "How did that go again?"

Laney looked at her in open-mouthed surprise. "But every woman knows that credo! 'When we women give our lives to help others live better, our lives are not lost at all. They are our gift to those around us.' "

All around her the girls nodded. Sharon said, "That is so true. And you'd be willing to give your life to help others, right?"

"Oh, of course! Wouldn't you? I mean... that's what women do!" She looked at Lindsay, puzzled. "What's with the phone?"

Lindsay was holding her cell phone up, open. "Oh, just needed to make sure we had that on video." Ironically, capturing video of the scene on a cell phone was something neither she nor anyone else in the room could do at present. Anthony, in the wings, stood beside a device that broadcast an electrical signal that scrambled all communication devices in the immediate area. The day was long past when the Academy could simply enforce, by physical means, the prohibition of recording a hanging. Countermeasures of a higher order were needed these days.

Laney shook her head. "Why do you need to record this?"

The group surrounding Laney shouted, "So we can do this!"

As rehearsed, they crowded together now in front of Laney. Unseen by the audience, Emily jerked the back of Laney's sweater out of her waistband. Laney was already holding her wrists behind her, and Emily, her own hands shaking, tore away the tape on the handcuffs, fumbled her sister's wrists into them and snapped the metal bands closed. As Laney shouted from behind the wall of girls, "Wait! Stop! What are you doing?" she kicked her shoes off. Amy and Megan knelt on either side of her and quickly began rubbing her legs with the cooking-oil-soaked sponges they had brought onstage with them. From the hem of Laney's skirt up to her neck, her skin was already oiled, all of it covered by her clothing, but it seemed better to wait until the last possible moment to do her bare legs.

From the front of the knot of girls, Linda turned and jumped onto the hanging platform. Above her, Stacia let go of the noose, and Linda reached up and caught it with one hand.

The group in front of Laney moved to the sides now, and helped those pushing her from behind as she was shoved towards the platform, still protesting, and lifted onto it.

With barely enough room for them, Gina and Sharon hopped onto the platform beside Laney while Linda was dropping the noose over her roommate's head, positioning it, and tightening it. Both of them grabbed a fistful of Laney's sweater and gave it a yank. The sweater, held together by a minimal number of widely separated stitches in the side seams and arms, came apart easily. Gina then ripped off the Sigma Mu scarf, while Lindsay and Heather, standing below the platform, pulled at Laney's skirt, equally flimsily secured by a few stitches on either side, and tore it away. Laney had been wearing nothing else. Gina, Sharon, and Linda jumped down, as a new spotlight came on to shine directly on Laney -- alone on the platform, facing the audience, naked, without even her slave choker, with only an all but invisible band of wire around her neck that monitored her heartbeat, her hands helplessly cuffed behind her, held standing upright above all the others by the noose, her oiled skin gleaming in the sudden brightness of the spotlight.

Amy was familiar with the audience reaction, which was always punctuated by loud gasps at this point. Even to the girls onstage, prepared for the sight, the sudden eroticism of the visual image was overwhelming. For a moment, none of them could breathe.

All of the girls moved forward on the stage, to the sides of the platform rather than in front of it, avoiding blocking the view, and sat on the floor. Once more, there were seven girls on each side -- three girls in front on each side, the other four on each side behind them. The six in front were Linda, Emily, and Laney's four owners.

Laney, squirming to try to release her wrists and looking up as though to judge how securely the rope was held from above, at last looked down again. She moaned forlornly, "Why are you going to hang me?"

Heather said straightforwardly, "We really need to pass Women's History, and this is how you can help us do that."

"But... but... but..."

Sharon insisted, "That's exactly the kind of thing you just said you wanted to die for, isn't it? Your death helping others? We've got that on video, so this is all legal."

"But... but..." At last she wailed, "I want to die with my friends and family!"

All the girls cried out in unison, "We're your sisters!"

Gina explained, "We are so grateful to you for doing this, that we've voted to make you a member!" Grinning, she hopped onto the platform, pulled a red scarf from the small pocket in her skirt, and tied it around Laney's collarless neck below the noose, as Laney gaped at her, seeming barely to comprehend.

As Gina jumped down, Laney at last managed to gasp, her eyes wide, "You mean... I'm in??"

Together, the girls shouted, "YES!!"

Laney moved her mouth, seemingly speechless, and finally said breathlessly, "I... I always wanted... but in Rush Week, freshman year... they didn't... I couldn't... I had to settle for Sigma Mu... But I..." She stopped. "Do just one thing for me, Okay?"

Lindsay asked, "What's that?"

Awkwardly with her hands bound behind her, Laney bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement, her breasts jiggling. "Tell my family I died a Delta Rho!!!"

The audience, in which giggles had been building over the last few minutes, suddenly burst into laughter and loud applause, punctuated by shouts of "YEAH!" and "DELTA RHO! DELTA RHO!"

After a minute, Gina waved her arms for quiet -- even the cast members were joining in the shouting -- and the noise gradually subsided. Picking up from the last line, Lindsay held up her phone again. "Tell them yourself. I'll record it for you."

Beaming into the phone's camera, Laney said, "Daddy? Lara, Cindy, Marianne, Elle, Darla, Emily..." Laney named her real life sisters, including the one sitting right in front of her, "I'm giving it all for Delta Rho! I got in!! All of you be good, and remember me, and be Delta Rhos when you grow up!" The audience, which had been trading audible background murmurs, broke into applause and laughs again.

Amy wished Laney's younger sisters could actually see that last speech, but not even a Hanging Girl could violate the rule against recording any part of a hanging. Laney would have to rely on Emily's powers of description. At least, thanks to Megan, they would have her head.

The audience quieted of its own accord, as everyone knew the moment was here.

Heather looked up at Laney and asked the question so rarely put to Hanging Girls, but appropriate in this case: "Are you ready?"

Laney nodded eagerly, and shouted, "For Delta Rho!"

As the audience moved in still closer to the stage, Linda, Emily, Gina, Sharon, Lindsay, and Heather all leaned forward and each put a hand on the lever, on the side of the platform behind Laney. As planned, they waited, holding the lever, about ten seconds, to allow Laney to steady her breathing -- she seemed to be the only one in the auditorium who was breathing. Directly behind Linda, Amy felt her heart pounding, and was not aware of her fists being clenched and softly pounding her thigh in excitement. She kept her eyes glued to Laney's face, her inner voice asking the familiar question How will it feel when I do it? How will it feel? How will it feel? The only answer she could read in Laney's face was that intensified glow that seemed to go far beyond what the spotlight could account for. She could see that Laney's eyes were sweeping back and forth across the audience in front of her. They were the core of what hanging meant to any Academy Girl. It was for them that she had trained so intensely for three years, so that she could give them this one memorable performance.

At last Amy heard Gina mutter softly under her breath, "One, two, three." On three, all six girls, either pulling it toward them or pushing it away, depending on their positions, threw the lever.

Amy had been unable to tear her gaze away from Laney to keep track of what the audience was doing, but as the platform began sinking she could hear at least two soft feminine moans, and realized some audience members had already begun masturbating at this early point. And several quiet gasps echoed Laney's soft choking sound as her toes lost contact with the descending platform and her body was held aloft by the rope around her neck.

Laney, in spite of training for more than a year before she'd even met Megan, had been an apt student of Megan's new choreography of hanging. After allowing herself about thirty seconds to settle into the routine of hanging, she began, for lack of any better way to describe it, making love to the audience.

For a few minutes, Laney did the Megan-type hip thrusts and leg wraps while turning very slowly, facing one side of the audience and then the other. From all around, Amy could hear rasping, rapid breaths, occasionally tightening into moans of arousal. About once each minute, Laney straightened and stretched desperately downward for support, her body rigidly quivering as if she were trying to make it several needed inches longer -- she'd also been a good student of Shawna, who still did that move better than anyone but Megan.

Laney turned farther left, now, and directly faced the girls onstage below her, giving a perfect frontal view to Gina, Sharon, and Emily. Amy watched Laney's straining arms and back muscles for a moment and then looked at Emily. Amy couldn't suppress a smile at seeing Emily's degree of fascination -- the girl was staring unblinkingly, slack-jawed, at her hanging sister. Emily, like probably everyone else here other than Amy and the other Academy girls, had never seen a Hanging Girl in performance before, and no mere speculation beforehand about what such a performance might consist of could prepare her for seeing this talent in the sister she had known all her life. Like siblings almost anywhere, Emily had probably grown up thinking of the younger Laney as an inferior version of herself. That Laney was capable of developing such abilities, and eliciting such an explosion of arousal in all of the people watching her, no doubt left Emily awash in an awe she had never felt for her little sister before.

Her body writhing, her legs pedaling, Laney turned herself still farther to present her back to the audience for a moment, then rotated back the other way, gradually coming to face Amy's side of the platform. Nominally, she was now performing for Heather and Lindsay -- but Amy could see that, in fact, she wasn't really. The only person Laney was looking at was Linda, and she was now dancing for Linda alone. The thrusting of her hips was slower, more intense, more sincere, as she projected her love to Linda one last time. Automatically Amy reached forward and put her hand on Linda's shoulder, and saw that Megan was doing the same on the other side. There was no sign that Linda was aware of either touch. All of her being was focused on Laney.

As Laney rotated to face the audience again, Amy could tell Laney was tiring. She discarded the Megan-kicks for more standard random kicking, though she continued to work in Shawna-stretches periodically. At last the crotch rope came into play, and the audience could see she was working for her own pleasure now.

Unexpectedly -- Amy hadn't thought she would have this much strength in reserve -- Laney rotated herself again, facing Linda once more as she masturbated on the crotch rope. Behind her, Gina, Sharon, and Emily arguably had the best view -- they could watch Laney's hands pulling rhythmically on the rope as she rocked her hips to accentuate the friction of the rope -- though the frontal sight of her was very arresting too. But once more, Laney's world now consisted of no one but Linda, and she clearly wanted to dedicate this last act of passion to her roommate.

Amy could see the signs of oncoming orgasm, and thought consciously that she should do something to encourage one of her own -- then nearly laughed to realize that her hand had taken on the task long before her head was aware of it, and that she was already furiously rubbing herself between her legs. The panties under her skirt were soaked completely through. She hadn't known any of that. Around her, all of the girls were doing the same, and tensely trying to hold off their climaxes just a little longer. Including Emily.

Laney suddenly stiffened and shimmied from head to toe. Unable to give voice to the explosion inside her, she quaked, her eyes screwed shut for the first time, her mouth open wide. Others in the room weren't able to be silent, and Amy could hear the wide variety of yelps that accompanied orgasms before finally giving in to her own, letting it wash over her as it expelled all the breath from her, leaving her gasping and shaking. Even after all the hangings she had seen, each one still affected her intensely, though rarely to the same extreme as this one.

In the relative silence that followed, Amy heard the awestruck whisper one of the few men in the audience: "I think she just came!", followed by an exasperated whispered response from his girlfriend: "Duh!"

Laney had nothing left to give, now. Her legs quivered in small jerks as she swung slightly in pendulum fashion. She was still for a moment, then kicked twice with her right leg, and hung motionless again.

Amy clapped her left hand against her sticky right, and applause almost instantly swept through the audience. As far as Amy knew, Laney could still hear it, and she didn't want to let the opportunity escape to convey to Laney how deeply the crowd appreciated her performance.

In front of Amy, Linda held the heart monitor. Amy could see her looking down at it intently, as Laney's bladder voided itself onto the platform below. At last Linda looked up, and Amy knew that Laney was gone. Amy sighed, thrilled that her friend could have such a perfect show. Linda, in fact, showed no inclination just yet to move the play into its final act -- some people were still clapping, and there was a lot of murmuring expressing appreciation for what everyone had just seen.

The audience quieted at last, and seemed unsure what to do, not knowing whether the play was over and whether they should be leaving.

Linda, finally, nodded to the girls beside her and across from her, and at a hand signal from Gina the six principal cast members jumped to their feet as the other seven, including Amy, scooted back. Lindsay started it off, exclaiming exuberantly, "We're going to make it through the class!"

Heather shouted, "Yes!" then looked at the dangling Laney uncertainly. "Are we sure she's really dead?"

This was the cue for Emily's big moment. She gave an exaggerated shrug and said, "One way to find out!" At that, she pulled a knife out of a pocket in her skirt, custom-made for this purpose, reached out to steady Laney, whose twisting, swinging motion had nearly but not completely subsided, and plunged the knife into Laney's stomach, just below her ribs.

The cascade of blood plunging from the wound told Amy that Emily managed it exactly the way Laney had specified. In most hangings Amy had seen, there was rarely as much blood as one would expect, with no functioning internal pump to propel it, but Laney had wanted a more dramatic display, and now had it -- Emily had sliced through the bottom of Laney's heart, and a major part of Laney's blood supply came spilling out. A significant amount splashed onto Emily's shoes, which she would no doubt keep as a memento, after passing Laney's head along to her father so the younger sisters could have it at home.

In a circle around Laney, the other five girls, including Linda, now pulled out knives of their own and thrust them into Laney, sending her into a renewed swinging motion. They all pumped their fists over their heads and shouted in unison, "Delta Rho!!" The audience echoed the cry, and broke into applause again.

In indication of the true end of the show, the six girls around Laney backed away on the stage, as the other seven, including Amy, came together in front and bowed to the audience, and the audience responded with loud applause. The seven of them trotted off to the wings on either side, and the first six came forward, holding hands in two groups of three, for their bows. Linda and Emily backed away to make the four sorority sisters who had made the show possible the focus of attention, and the applause grew louder, punctuated with shouts of "That was great, Gina!", "Thanks, Lindsay!" and similar sentiments.

At last, the four sorority sisters left, and Linda stepped up again, to gesture with her arm at the true star of the show. She retreated then to the wings so that the audience could applaud Laney, still swinging slightly, now a life-sized pincushion for a half-dozen knives. And they did, with cheers mixed in, which now certainly Laney could no longer hear. That didn't matter. Laney had known, at the end, how well things had gone.

The curtain, finally, came down.

Amy stood with Emily and Megan, watching as Linda carefully lowered her end of the wheeled cart down from the curb to the level of the parking lot. Emily's husband Jason, at the other end of the cart, did the same.

Anthony stood at a discreet distance, his hand in his pocket, on guard against the potential theft of the Academy's slaves.

The cart, borrowed from Delta Rho, held the jar of preserving fluid, Laney's head floating peacefully in it, a small smile on her face.

Emily, after watching to make sure nothing happened to the jar, turned back to Amy, and asked her in a voice of wonder, "Is it always like this?"

Amy grinned. "It's always a little different, but as far as how people react to the shows, yeah, it's pretty much like this."

Emily's eyes were wide. "Jason says she kicked for twenty-four minutes!"

Amy nodded. "We always hope for about twenty to twenty-five." She looked at Emily seriously. "I do want you to know Laney was one of the very best. This was the kind of show all of us dream about. You know fewer than half of the girls who enter wind up graduating, right?"

Emily nodded. "I remember Laney said that before she went. She was so excited about just getting in, but she was so adamant that she'd be one of the ones who made it through." Emily smiled. "She always worked so hard for what she wanted. I knew she'd do it."

Amy giggled. "Yeah, that's Laney." Her nostrils flared as the aroma of Laney's meat cooking drifted in from the sorority's courtyard. "You sure you don't want to stay for the picnic?"

Emily sighed and looked towards the Delta Rho house, then squatted down and stroked the side of the ice chest she had set down at her feet for the moment. "I'll be eating Laney tonight, but I want it to be a family thing. These girls..." She swept her arm towards the sorority. "They have been so sweet, and I can't believe what they've done for me. Making me part of the play, letting me have Laney's head... and now I've got this big slice from Laney's butt and thigh. And her heart!" She goggled at Amy. "Amy, they gave me her heart! But I want to be there to share her with my family. I'd love to eat Laney with these girls, but I can just manage one big meal tonight, and I want it to be with Daddy and my sisters. Her sisters."

Amy smiled, and reached out to rub Emily's arm. "That makes perfect sense to me."

At the car, Linda and Jason had maneuvered the jar into the back seat of the car, and Linda locked the seat belt around it as Jason rolled the cart back to the sorority house. Emily would be riding with the jar in the back seat, to make sure it travelled safely. Linda squatted now beside the open door of the car, leaned forward and kissed the side of the jar and rubbed her cheek against it. Amy could hear her say, "Bye, hon. You were fantastic today! I'll love you always." She kissed the jar once more, then stood.

Emily gave Linda a tight hug. "Thank you for being a sister for Laney when I couldn't be there."

Linda returned the squeeze. "Thank you for having such a great sister."

Emily turned to hug Amy as well, and then gave an especially warm one to Megan. "Thank you again, for everything you did." Megan smiled and said nothing.

Minutes later, Linda stood between Amy and Megan, all of them waving as the car rolled out of sight.

Linda sighed, then grinned. "Let's go eat some of our best friend." She took both of their hands and led them trotting back to Delta Rho house, followed by a relieved-looking Anthony.