Chapter 9.

Cindy uttered girly little “owies” as Eleanor dragged her by the ear back to the cleaning supplies. Eleanor pointed at them while maintaining her grip and twisting as Cindy struggled to bundle them all against her body.

Eleanor continued her commanding march and Cindy concentrated hard to ensure no water spilled from the bucket over Eleanor's expensive cashmere rugs, despite the sagging of her arm.

The murmurs and music of the ballroom grew louder as they approached. Cindy stared at Eleanor’s heart-shaped buttocks swaying inside her tight-fitting mermaid gown. She smiled despite the agony in her ear and the soreness of her ass. She was so lucky to have access to the most incredible view in the world.

Eleanor threw Cindy by her ear into the ballroom. Cindy stumbled and blushed as some of the party guests tittered and gossiped upon seeing her. She ducked her chin and made her way to the broken glass. She kneeled down on the marble and carefully swept it up into a trash bag then dabbed a cloth in the warm water and used a PH-neutral detergent to ensure no mark was left on the marble. She knew if anything stained, she could never afford the repairs.

She heard the approach of Alison and her friends and looked up from her position on the floor to see them giggling down at her. They were so rich and beautiful. Their whole lives were ahead of them. They had everything they needed to succeed in life. They were like princesses. Compared to them, Cindy was like a decrepit peasant, humbled to be in their presence.

“Having fun, loser?” said Alison, gaining chuckles from her friends.

Cindy was unsure how to respond, on her hands and knees, dressed as a French Maid, with her ass still throbbing from her latest spanking. Her life had certainly taken a strange twist.

“Yes, Miss,” was all she managed. Her pathetic response brought more laughter from Alison and her friends.

“You should be,” said Alison, “don’t you realize who’s at this party? Lawyers, Doctors, Financiers, Politicians, Celebrities.”

“C-Celebrities? Really?”

Lucy, Alison’s bestie, scoffed. “Look over there,” she pointed over at a young woman with the most amazing blond hair Cindy had ever seen. It draped down her back in perfectly straight, shimmering golden strands. She wore a double-slit pink maxi skirt and a glittering strapped crop top. Gold bangles and hoop earrings made a statement of wealth. She held a selfie stick and smiled brightly into her phone. “Don’t you even know who that is?”

Cindy blinked stupidly. Everyone giggled at her cluelessness.

“Seriously?” said Alison, “that’s Madison Campbell.”

The name sounded familiar. She was sure Sarah had mentioned her before. Some sort of internet personality?

“Oh my god,” said Alison, “don’t you know anything? She’s got like forty million followers on Insta and like seventy million more on TikTok.”

“Sorry,” said Cindy, “I guess I’m out of touch. Um, what does she do?”

Alison and Lucy glanced at each other and burst into laughter at the stupidness of Cindy’s question.

“You really don’t know?” said Lucy, “that’s so sad.”

Alison scoffed. “Maybe if you spent less time daydreaming about my mom’s ass you’d actually learn something.”

Cindy dropped her head in shame which made the teens laugh even more.

Lucy took over. “She’s a fashion and lifestyle influencer, amongst other things. She gets so many gifts she has to rent an entire apartment just to store them all. She does all kinds of TikTok. You know, beauty advice, lip-synching, dance, pranks.”

“She’s such an inspiration,” said Alison. “We’re going to do a collaboration soon. She’ll help our Dumb Bitch videos go viral. It’s going to be so awesome.”

Cindy had no idea what they were talking about. “That’s nice, Miss,” she said, hoping they would get bored and leave her alone so she could finish cleaning. She had to return to serving soon. She could not keep Kourtney waiting.

Alison continued. “It was so funny seeing Sarah in that costume by the way. Take a look at these.” She clicked her fingers in the direction of one of her sycophants and they passed her a phone. She crouched down, smiling adorably with her dimpled cheeks, and showed off the pictures they had taken.

Cindy looked at the screen as Alison scrolled through pictures of her, Lucy, and the others in various poses, pouting their Instagram lips, next to a bewildered-looking Sarah.

“It’s too funny. I couldn’t ever imagine wearing something like that. Not even for a billion dollars. But you and your Sarah literally do it for free. Do you know how pathetic that is?”

Cindy nodded. She could hardly argue with Alison’s astute observation. What must Sarah have been thinking in those moments? Was she looking for Cindy to finally put an end to this madness? She felt a lump in her throat and her eyes water at the guilt of manipulating her daughter into this awful situation.

“Look,” said Lucy, pointing down excitedly, “she’s going to start crying.”

Alison giggled extra hard as her friends mocked Cindy with fake crying gestures, brushing their cheeks with the back of their wrists and pouting their bottom lips. Cindy felt her face contort as silent tears fell down her flushed face.

Her reaction was just what they wanted. There were cheers, fist pumps, and high fives. Alison leaned over and took some selfies. Cindy sniffled sadly into the screen. Alison looked especially beautiful, pouting into the camera with a snotty Cindy prostrated on the floor in the background. The dichotomy truly emphasized Alison’s youth and beauty.

Eleanor interrupted their fun, chuckling as she approached. “Okay, girls,” she said, affectionately, “time to leave little Cindy alone. She has a lot of work to do.”

Alison joined her mom and giggled as she showed her the pictures. Eleanor chuckled along and shook her head as if wondering how anybody could have allowed this to happen to them. Her reaction encouraged the rest of Alison’s friends to giggle along, pleased with the part they had all played in Sarah’s humiliation.

*

Cindy waited patiently, kneeling on the floor of the pavilion as the real servers, the professional, paid servers reloaded her tray. Her head poked through the hole in the middle as if from a stockade. The chefs were busy preparing the main courses for the sit-down dinner and Cindy’s stomach grumbled at the mouth-watering smells from the stovetops.

Kourtney reaffirmed that Cindy would have to work twice as hard now her lazy daughter had disappeared. Cindy nodded silently as Kourtney pressed her finger against Cindy’s nose to emphasize her point. Kourtney’s tone was another warning not to fuck up. Any thoughts she had of trying to find Sarah had been beaten out of her. She just hoped Sarah was surviving as best she could.

She was sure her fears were unfounded. What could Jessica and Kaylee really do to her? This wasn’t high school. Sarah was an adult woman with a job. If anything happened, Sarah could call the police. She would not just take their abuse without repercussions. Yes, Sarah would be fine. Cindy had more important things to worry about now, like being a good girl for her goddess.

*

She returned to the ballroom to resume her serving tray duties and Eleanor immediately beckoned her over. Cindy gulped, worried she had made a mistake and left a scuff on the marble. She was reassured when Eleanor smiled and took a glass of champagne from her tray.

“Follow me,” she said, taking a sip and striding toward the stage.

The band stopped playing as Eleanor led Cindy to a free-standing 1950s-style microphone. The guests immediately ceased their conversations and turned to them. Cindy fidgeted at the attention.

“Welcome everyone,” said Eleanor raising her glass in a toast, confident and radiant under the spotlight. “I’m so happy to see you all, my dear, dear friends.” There were raised glasses and warm smiles. “I’m sure you’ve all noticed I have some very special help this evening.” She nodded sideways at Cindy, gaining chortles. Eleanor smiled at Cindy. “Go ahead, Cindy, give them a little curtsey.”

Cindy smiled nervously and buckled her knees, cringing as the glasses rattled under her movement. There were loud snickers at the spectacle and Eleanor took a satisfying sip of champagne.

“Well,” she continued, “for those of you who may be wondering what she’s doing here, little Cindy is desperate to be awarded the position as my new housekeeper. Aren’t you?”

Cindy smiled and nodded enthusiastically, ignoring the amusement her reaction garnered. She didn’t care about how she looked. This was the first time she had heard Eleanor contemplate making Cindy’s position official. Excitement fluttered. She was close. This was everything she wanted.

Eleanor chuckled along with her guests at Cindy’s pitiful display. She shook her head jokingly at her audience as if to question how anybody could be this tragic. “Of course, this a position she has to earn. She should consider tonight her audition. And what better judges are there than you? My dear friends.”

Cindy felt her skin prickle with dread. This was not exactly what she had in mind. There were a hundred or more people in the ballroom. She had to somehow impress them all? She tried to maintain her smile, aware that the judgment had already begun.

“With that said,” continued Eleanor, waving her hand at some of Kourtney’s smirking servers carrying IPads. “You may all give her a rating from one to ten. And feel free to leave a comment. We’ll read some of the best ones after dinner and tally Cindy’s average. Remember, Cindy has to earn the privilege of being my housekeeper so I want you to be brutally honest with your evaluations. You shall remain anonymous, so there’s no reason to hold back.”

There were delighted murmurs and more snickers.

“And just so you’re aware,” added Eleanor, “little Cindy knows full well what a low score will mean for her.” She turned to Cindy and grinned. “Don’t you?”

Cindy whimpered and nodded.

“Then you’d better get started. I see quite a few of my guests without drinks in their hands. That’s exactly the kind of carelessness that could be held against you.”

Eleanor raised her glass at the laughter and applause of her guests as Cindy skulked off stage, desperate to find someone to serve.

*

Cindy rushed around as quickly as she could without risking the contents of her tray. The last thing she needed was to trip and end up like Sarah. She smiled politely and curtsied to each guest as they took their time deciding which appetizer to take, clearly enjoying her plight.

She hovered on the outskirts of conversations. She heard mention of crypto, real estate, NFTs, the stock market, union busting, and tax breaks. She understood little of what she heard. These were topics not for the likes of her. They were for superior minds like Eleanor to exploit.

When she ran low on champagne, she returned to Kourtney for a refill. She had to be quick. If someone blamed her for not having a drink then it would not only mean her prospects as Eleanor’s housekeeper were in jeopardy but also her chance to be unlocked.

Her feet were torture. It seemed like the only thing that kept her arms from falling off was her wrists still bound in manacles to the bottom of the tray. She plodded across the floor in a zombified state. Her ass was still sore from her spanking and her ear had never recovered from Eleanor’s rough treatment. She needed water. She needed rest. She would have done anything for a Tylenol. But no, she had to push herself. This was her moment. She had been waiting for this since she was eighteen. She would not allow her weakening body to fail her now.

Kourtney’s servers made regular rounds so the guests could input their ratings into the IPads. Everywhere Cindy looked, she saw lipstick and big white teeth, mocking her.

Two of Eleanor’s friends, Carla and Mandy were enjoying themselves as they wrote their feedback. Carla collapsed her forehead onto Mandy’s shoulder and pointed down at the screen. Mandy grinned at whatever message she had left. Cindy knew it was not going to flatter her.

Alison, Lucy, and their fawning friends were all giggling as they passed the pad amongst themselves, no doubt attempting to one-up each other in the outrageousness of their comments. Lucy caught Cindy staring at them and pointed her out to Alison. Alison giggled and gave Cindy her middle finger. They all found it hilarious, especially when Cindy’s only reaction was to blush and scuttle away.

Eleanor was in discussion with two women who appeared to be a mother-and-daughter duo. The petite mother wore a long-sleeved blush maxi dress with a plunging V-neckline, a seamed bodice, and an open sash tied back. The younger wore oversized eyeglasses that gave her an air of intelligence and a mid-length light sheer fabric dress with a butterfly lace pattern that highlighted her large, round breasts.

Cindy approached, seeing Eleanor was almost done with her glass. Eleanor glanced at her and gave her a quick smile before placing her empty glass on the tray and retrieving a fresh one. It filled Cindy with joy to be of service to her. The mother did the same while the daughter appeared to not be drinking.

“I must say,” said the mother, “this one certainly has been receptive to your training, Eleanor.”

Eleanor smiled. “Thank you, Shannon. Yes, she’s adapting well.”

Cindy felt herself grow taller with pride.

Shannon sighed. “We’re going to be in a similar position as yourself soon. Right, Luna?”

Her daughter, Luna, frowned and folded her arms.

“Oh really?” said Eleanor, “the peasant has finally reached the end of her cycle?”

“Urf,” said Luna, “it’s so frustrating. She’s been my primary test subject since I started the Paradise Project. I’m going to be so mad if she breaks before its completion.”

“I know, precious,” said Shannon, taking a sip of her champagne, “but the submissive brain is only capable of taking so much before it short circuits. Between us both, we’ve been using that peasant for…gosh, thirty years now? Has it really been that long?”

“But there’s still data to extract. She’d better not give up.”

Shannon laughed and put her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Isn’t she amazing?” she said to Eleanor.

Eleanor smiled. “I honestly can’t wait to experience it all for myself. I have to say, I was skeptical when you first pitched 'Paradise Project' to the sisters. I mean the funding and resources required were astronomical, but you’ve proven with your drive and genius you truly can make it a reality.”

Luna smirked. “That means the world to me, Eleanor. Rest assured, you will be amongst the first to test it once I have a fully functional beta.”

A server arrived with an IPad. Eleanor smiled as she took it and tapped around on the screen. Cindy raised herself onto her tiptoes to try and get a peek at what Eleanor was inputting. Eleanor caught her and hid the screen against her bosom.

“Ah ah,” she said, tapping Cindy’s nose with her fingers, “no peeking you naughty girl. Get going. There are plenty of thirsty guests for you to serve.”

“S-sorry, Goddess,” she said without thinking. She gasped and looked at Shannon and Luna. They appeared unphased by her slip, much to her relief. She curtsied and moved on, hoping Eleanor would not hold her faux pas against her. The thought of receiving a low mark from Eleanor was like a knife to the gut.

She looked for the next guest to serve and found the famed Madison Campbell waving her over, still holding her selfie stick and talking into her camera.

As Cindy approached, she saw herself appear in the background of Madison’s screen in some sort of live stream. Madison expertly maintained herself as the focus of her video while speaking to her fans.

“What do we have here?” she said, reaching behind to take a glass and appetizer from the tray without turning away from her camera.

Cindy wasn’t sure if the question was meant for her or Madison’s stream. She thought it better to answer than risk rudeness. “Crème fraîche, caviar tartlets, and Lobster Toast with avocado and epelette pepper, Miss.”

“And to drink?”

“Champagne, Miss.”

Her laugh was angelic. “You’re like so cute. Oh my god. No, silly. What vintage is it?”

Cindy blushed from her foolishness. Crying laughing faces appeared on Madison’s text chat, clearly as a reaction to her stupidity.

“Sorry Miss, I don’t really know.” She lambasted herself for not finding out. Obviously, superior palettes like Madison’s would want to know what they were drinking. “I’ll find out for you, Miss. I can say for sure that it’s a good one. Mrs. Noble would not serve you anything cheap.”

Madison tried the lobster toast, closing her eyes and slowly chewing, moaning with pleasure, for the apparent entertainment of her fans who sent her hearts and compliments.

“Delicious,” she said and washed it down with champagne. “So, what’s the deal with you? Chat is super curious about why you’re dressed like this. Spill the tea.”

Cindy flushed. How many people were watching her right now? She tried to lower her face toward the tray in the hopes of hiding it. She knew she was being stupid. A whole ballroom of people had already seen her and now she was feeling self-conscious?

“The deal, Miss?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m, um, trying to get a job, Miss.”

Madison laughed. “Oh my gosh, you’re right,” she said, ignoring Cindy in favor of her chat, “I hadn’t seen her wrists strapped to it. That’s so weird. Why did you do that?”

“It helps keep the tray steady. I can carry a lot more and for longer this way.”

“Aren’t your arms tired?”

They were killing her. “No, Miss,” she said as happily as she could, the last thing she wanted was to be caught on camera complaining. “I’m super grateful for the extra support. It makes it so much easier.”

“Wow. So do you like…actually like doing this?”

Cindy nodded. “I love it, Miss.” She wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not.

Madison shrugged. “I don’t get it either,” she said to her chat. “Awww, be nice. It isn’t her fault she looks like that. Oh right! The best part is we get to rate her performance. What do you think we should give her guys? A zero?” She laughed. “That’s mean. I think the lowest we can give her is a one anyway. Oh my gosh, one, one, one, one, one, oh gosh guys, stop spamming the chat with ones.”

Cindy stood awkwardly. She had other guests to serve but there was something special about Madison that made Cindy want to please her. Was it her celebrity charisma or unreal beauty? Whatever it was, it seemed as if a single ten from her would be worth a hundred other tens.

“You guys can be such dicks sometimes. But I love you all anyway.”

“That’s okay, Miss, I actually have to-”

“Here we go!” said Madison interrupting. “This is what I’m talking about. Hey, cutie, chat has an awesome idea. This'll be super fun. They want you to start hopping on one leg. For every minute you hop, we’ll give you a boost. So like, if you hop for ten minutes, you’ll get a well-earned ten. Isn’t this great?”

Cindy stared, momentarily dropping her fixed smile before realizing her mistake and recovering. There was no way she could do that for ten minutes and not spill the contents of the tray.

“It’s okay if not, cutie,” said Madison, still speaking to her chat rather than Cindy. “It does mean I’ll have to give you a one, though. Chat really seems to really have it in for you. I’ve no idea why. I think you’re adorable. But chat has spoken.”

Cindy knew she needed as many tens as possible to counter the terrible scores she knew Alison and her friends had for sure given her. Madison was at least offering a real ten. She could not risk another one.

“O-okay, Miss, I’ll try.”

Madison’s bright smile somehow became even more radiant as Cindy lifted her right leg and started to hop on the spot. Her glasses rattled. There was some slight splash that trickled down the tray to her face.

Hearing Madison’s laugh somehow made it seem worth it.

“M-Miss? Are you going to time me?”

“Oh sure, we’ll time you, cutie. Off you go. You have drinks to serve, don’t you?”

Cindy took her time as she turned on one leg, shuffling in small hops and cringing for fear the glasses would spill at any moment. She headed for the group closest to Madison. She doubted she could make it ten whole minutes but if she just made it six, that would be six times better than one.

The group looked at her like she was insane. Her jerky movements made it awkward for them to take their glasses and the annoyance showed on their faces. Cindy suspected they would all now leave her negative feedback. She had now gained several ones in the hopes of avoiding one from Madison.

She turned away from the peeved faces, switched legs, and hopped back to Madison. She could not risk the ire of more guests just to entertain the blond influencer and her fans. She hopped on the spot behind her, hoping to catch her attention.

Madison finished whatever story she was sharing with her feed before registering Cindy’s existence. “Oh, hi, cutie,” she said, not turning away from her camera.

“M-miss, can you tell me how long I’ve been doing this?”

“Like four minutes. Not that it matters. Sorry, cutie, but chat saw what you did.”

“Wh-what did I do?”

“You switched feet. That’s against the rules. We’re going to have to give you one after all. Hope you’re not like, too upset?”

Cindy continued to hop as if the revelation was somehow just a test. She continued to smile waiting for the psyche moment. Alison did say Madison had made prank videos.

“You can stop hopping now, cutie. Honestly, it’s become kind of sad.”

Cindy stopped and felt her eyes well with tears. Her smile risked cracking. There was no way she would ever get a high grade now. Madison ignored her and continued conversing with her chat as she scrolled through her most recent gifts. $50, $120, $10, $20, $500. On and on. A seemingly endless list of dollar amounts and fawning to which she cooed thanks, fluttering her long eyelashes into the camera.

*

Kourtney’s servers expertly ensured dinner arrived fresh and hot. The guests enjoyed a choice of tenderloin filets, seared salmon, or wild, porcini mushroom tartlets. To drink, there was a choice of a rich pinot noir or a light pinot grigio.

Cindy’s champagne had been replaced by liter glass bottles of Penta water and rocks glasses. Her load was more difficult than ever to carry and by now, every bone in her body ached. It made it worse that her new role seemed completely superfluous. It would have been simpler to just leave the water on the table. It was obvious that convenience had been sacrificed for the purposes of entertainment since she had to drop to her knees by each table to ensure the water was at hand level for the guests to retrieve.

Cindy watched longingly as they slowly cut into their exquisite steaks and guided pieces into their mouths, closing their eyes to enjoy the taste sensation. Her own stomach felt like it was eating itself. Her mouth watered just to imagine licking their plates clean. It would be like an orgasm in her mouth.

The music suddenly ceased and the guests murmured excitedly amongst themselves. Cindy shifted her knees over the floor to see Eleanor back on stage. She felt sick with nerves.

“Dear friends,” said Eleanor into the microphone, commanding the ballroom to attention, “please show your appreciation to my party planner. The woman who without none of this could be possible. Miss Kourtney Callahan.”

There were whoops and loud applause as Kourtney strutted her way to the stage, grinning widely and waving as the band played her onto the stage like a wrestling theme tune. Cindy smiled along with the audience at Kourtney’s sense of humor but soon found her heart sinking when she saw Kourtney waving an IPad above her head triumphantly.

Eleanor gave Kourtney a big hug and then motioned for her to speak into the microphone.

“Thank you, Eleanor,” said Kourtney, “it’s always a pleasure to work with you. Let’s make sure your next soiree is even bigger and better than this.”

There was more applause. Eleanor and Kourtney shared a smile and reached for each other, grasping their pinkies and swaying their arms in a display of deep kinship which made Cindy feel sad that she would never share that with Eleanor herself.

Kourtney continued. “But, I think it’s time we all found out what score little Cindy received. Where is she?” She placed her hand over her eyes in a theatrical salute as she searched the hall. “I see her,” she said, pointing, “kneeling on the floor. Give a wave, Cindy. Oh wait…you can’t.”

There was great laughter. Cindy smiled nervously and nodded.

“Sooooo,” she said, clutching the IPad against her bosom, “drum roll, please.”

The drummer obliged.

“Little Cindy received a grand total of…..1.8!”

It was a punch in the gut. Cindy slumped into a sitting position and hung her head, defeated. Her exhaustion overwhelmed her. She had tried so hard. What did they want from her? What more could she have done? She sniffled to herself as her pussy screamed at her for being so useless. Worst still, her audition as the housekeeper had ended in failure.

She couldn’t help but cry. It was a mercy that she was drowned out by mocking jeers and boos from the guests who for several hours she had tried so hard to please.

“Some of the comments,” continued Kourtney, happily. “—Is this thing supposed to be a woman? —She makes me want to throw up just so I can make her lick it up —This lazy bitch needs to be kicked in the pussy —I never realized someone this ugly could exist. —She looks like a cross between a weasel and mole rat —Seriously, how hard is it to carry a tray? Does she expect a reward for this? Fuck her. —I would have given her a ten, but then I remembered I hate her —Eleanor deserves better than this. —She makes my skin crawl.”

Each insulting comment was met with laughter and applause from the drunk guests. Cindy blubbered to herself, twitching her hips to try and satisfy her growing arousal.

Eleanor laughed along, clapping her hands at some of the more creatively mean comments. Once Kourtney had finished she gave an elaborate bow and the guests awarded her with an ovation. She gave Eleanor another hug and Eleanor leaned into the microphone.

“Such awful people,” she joked, “but the decision has been made. You know what that means, right, Cindy?”

Cindy’s spine chilled. She knew exactly what her failure meant…

Punishment.