Paige held her books for her next class in close to her chest as she stepped out to her next class, low, demure heels setting a brisk clip down the school hallway. In her final year of high school, a prestigious one where seniors only could really get down and study at Brookridge, she was taking no chances in missing the marks she needed for her college of choice. And that included her clothes too in lighter shades of pastel and white, the pink a softly sensual shade.
Flashing everyone a smile, she brushed her pink hair back over her shoulder, sweeping it away from her face. A bold choice, really, for the end of her schooling but, to heck with it, she'd worked darn hard over the recent months! She deserved a little treat! The sharp bob floated around her cheeks, the edges roughed up for a softer look, something that, at least, highlighted her easy smile and just how she loved to say hi to everyone and anyone, treating everyone the same. They noticed her, even though she was shorter than everyone else at five foot and an inch (the inch was important to her!), Paige flitting through as the socialite she'd always been.
Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't think differently about those who showed more skin than what she deemed acceptable. Ridiculously studious, it was no secret, truly, in the way that she carried herself that she thought herself above those who weren't doing as well as her at school - wasn't that why they were there in the first place? It simply didn't make any sense at all not to go hard for it, working and working so that they could go somewhere in life! And, like, coffee study sessions were the best! Who'd want to slack off with old TV shows and things like that when they could get together with friends and work super hard?
It was not the prevailing opinion throughout the school, however, and quickened her step as she walked past a group of students her own age dressed in dark clothing. Had one of them even been held back a year? What was up with that? Still, she flashed them a bright smile and a cheery 'hello' all the same, not letting her personal opinions get in the way of letting everyone know just how sweet and sociable Paige really was. After all, something like that may well get back to college admission teams and she wouldn't have wanted anyone to have a bad impression of her now, would she?
"Paige!"
Alyssa grinned, a taller blonde with as easy of a smile, swinging an arm around her shoulders and swaying her friend off-balance. Paige squealed and twitched away, eyebrows shooting up into her fringe. She was a shorter girl than Alyssa who seemed to dominate the very room she was in at all times, her smile easy in a face with sharply cut cheekbones, though Paige was more adorably doll-like in her appearance, her round face beaming with cuteness. There was no denying how one would adore her, though she was slight and lean - well, everyone in their friend group as shaped well, the good-looking girls damn well sticking together. Hell, even their bra sizes were similar, which they only knew after comparing them - shyly, of course! - on one giggly sleepover.
"Alyssa! What are you doing?"
Her best friend's smile faltered and she giggled sheepishly, tucking her hair back behind one ear. In the heat of the day, it was losing its straightness, kinking out with a light, flirty curl. And yet it meant that it was not perfect, not perfectly groomed and poised and perfect. Paige's fingers twitched, itching to fix it. Did she have her travel straighteners in her bag?
"I'm so sorry, Paige!" Alyssa chirped, her voice of a higher pitch and eyes plaintively and innocently wide. "I didn't mean to startle you!"
Everything she said sounded scripted but Paige had, somehow, warmed to her over the years. It helped some that Alyssa clearly looked up to her and adored her, mimicking her more and more over the years. Alyssa had even copied her style of dress, a preppy companion to keep her company. It was more than she could say for Lilly, who had moved abroad and was forever trying to get her to cut loose and, as she said, 'have a little fun'. She didn't have time for that kind of fun!
Paige's phone chirped and she reached for it automatically, the pink and blue case subtly eye-catching but not so loud that it would distract her. She hated things that caught her eye, that were so loud and ostentatious that one could not help but stare and stare and stare. But her hand had barely touched her phone when Alyssa gasped and stepped back, fingers flying up to cover her lips in a smear of tastefully shiny gloss.
"Oh my word!"
That was probably something that Alyssa had picked up from one of the books that she was reading at the moment and Paige sighed lightly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes with all her might, although it did so seem that Alyssa made it difficult to sometimes. And yet she could not have said that her reaction was any different as her eyes followed Alyssa's, landing on the black yoga pants with the logo on the waistband reading 'LOVE PINK' in hot pink cupping her tightly muscled buttocks like a soft hand.
It was hardly suitable attire at the best of times for school but, well, administration had become rather lax on that side of things of late, so Paige only supposed that Carley too, with her short, brown hair and glassy expression, a beatific smile plastered across her pale face, had fallen by the wayside on that count. She hardly saw the girl around school anymore, a slacker that Paige did her best to avoid for it was more than simply difficult to interact with her as if she was an equal, but to see her dressed so, flaunting her body in such a way... It was unspeakable!
"What..." Her eyes followed Carley down the corridor as the other teen bounced along her way, seeming to put an extra bit of a swing into her stride as if she was actively trying to draw attention to her ass. "What in heaven is she wearing? To school!"
Not one to usually make her opinions known within earshot of those who could say something about them, her gasp turned heads and yet Paige could not stop herself, opening and closing her mouth like a shimmering fish out of water (not a goldfish - that would be too common for her), eyes wide and popping out of her skull. The yoga pants were so loud that they were simply impossible to ignore too, the bejewelled writing proclaiming to 'love pink' - just what was all that about? How tawdry! That was an old English word and she tried not to think about just how that one had come into her mind when she'd been scorning Alyssa for using a similar expression. Maybe they really were more alike than she thought but that wasn't entirely a bad thing.
Yet Paige could not help herself, lingering as her eyes bulged, lips pressed together so that she did not say something that, maybe, she'd later regret. The yoga pants could not have been more attention grabbing if they'd tried to be, even the bright pink writing seeming to glitter and sparkle in more than one shade, standing out from the black of the pants. A sliver of ankle was on show too and that in itself made Paige frown, lips tightening together even more as something twisted in her gut. To say the least, she wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything like that. Of course, the words were going to come out whether she wanted them to or not: such was the influence of the Love Pink pants.
"This better not become a trend!" Paige huffed, crossing her arms with the books still contained within them, patting her head to put back the imaKatiery hairs that had ruffled out of place. "How people can wear things like that... It disgusts me!"
It was only natural for her to put extra emphasis on certain words but Alyssa bit her lip, eyes sliding around the hall, bouncing from one person to the other: more so than Carley, they were the ones who were attracting attention.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's just a pair of pants, it can't be that bad," Alyssa tried to talk her down off the ledge. "It won't be a thing, don't worry about it."
For the moment, Paige was mollified. Just what impact, really, did one slut have on her life? Well, she just wouldn't be writing her a Christmas card that year if she was going to flaunt herself all over school like a harlot! See what she thought about being left out of that then!
Maybe something like she wouldn't be invited to her graduation party would be better.
And yet there was something more sinister at work as Carley paused in the corner, giggling as she cornered a friend of hers dressed as she would have before in plain old jeans.
"Don't you just love pink," she breathed, eyelashes fluttering. "It makes my ass feel so good... The fabric is so soft, like getting a hug whenever I move. Why don't you try a pair?"
Her friend sweated nervously, backed into a corner of the wall from which there was no escape.
"Uh... Yeah, maybe?"
And, just like that, she was frogmarched from school before her next period had even begun, complaining and protesting weakly all the while as Carley brought in the newest victim to the hive-mind mentality of Love Pink. Of course, those on the inside knew what it was all about, whispering tales of how sensually soft the fabric was, how they made them feel like they weren't wearing anything at all. They liked to pose, to booty-tooch like those on the modelling show, drawing more and more eyes and attention to their asses. After all, with the yoga pants of Love Pink, they were their best feature: just why wouldn't they want to draw attention?
No one realised or cared really all that much, least of all Paige and Alyssa, although Paige was forced to keep silent on more than one occasion. There was so much more at stake for her than the lives of those sluts, posing up against walls in a line with giggling lips and coffee cups from that fancy chain that only had drinks full of super-sugar, frothy piles of cream to be licked saucily off finger tips in the eyes of boys. But they didn't seem to have eyes for any of the guys at their school either, just for one another and the yoga pants with the pink writing that they all boasted.
They spread through the school like the virus that they were and one could not fail to notice, as time went on, the glazed over expressions and bubbling conversations so unlike their old personalities that it was shocking, really. Was it a trend? A fad? Something that would pass? And yet the infatuation with Love Pink did not seem to at all be going anywhere as those from every clique that Paige could have thought up to slot her high school students into neat little boxes lost members to the Love Pink horde, their yoga pants obsession and teasing glances as they sought to get more and more people into the clan, so to speak.
"Alyssa... Something's happening."
But, as the horde of Love Pink supporters grew and grew in their black yoga pants, she could not deny that something was going on, something underhanded that none of them could have ever have expected or come to anticipate in any form. Paige grew uneasy and tugged at Alyssa's sleeve, subtly trying to get her attention. Yet even Alyssa was gawking at the horde of pink yoga pants, all seeming alike one another, although there were subtle differences between them. Some were black and pink in a diamond pattern, although there was always, always, more pink than anything else, others had pink zebra stripes slashed across the backside, the lines breaking up the image and yet still managing to draw in attention to it above all else. Regardless of the style, pink was dominant and, of course, the 'Love Pink' text emblazoned crudely across the backside of the waistband of the pants. It was always there as if it was mocking them, the horde of giggling, fancy drink sipping teenagers reverting to baser, maybe even more basic forms of the young women that they had become.
Alyssa shrugged, bored with everything and holding back a sigh behind her tight lips. That was yet another little thing she'd picked up from Paige over their years of friendship but it wasn't something that always went in Paige's favour, truly.
"Oh... Why don't you give it a rest, Paige? Leave them be, they're not hurting anyone with their black pants."
Rolling her eyes, Paige scoffed.
"Well, they're hurting my eyes! They're so loud and, like, out there! How is anyone supposed to get anything proper done around here with them flaunting their, their..." She couldn't form the cruder version of the word, lips locking up before it spilt out. "...Their butts like that! You can't look away with indecency like that around!"
And it was true, what with how many of them were, even if it was not something that Paige should have said. So many patterns caught the eye and the shimmering, bejewelled catchphrase on the back seemed to pulse like a mantra: love pink, love pink, love, pink...
Love.
Pink.
"Hey, Alyssa!"
One of Alyssa's friends or, at least, a girl that had been her friend before Paige had become the be all and end all of her life, raced over, seeming to bounce off the floor with every step in her yoga pants, the sleekest black of them all. She, Katie, spun too for the full effect, seeming to take pride in her appearance, how the yoga pants cupped her ass and made it look perfect. Paige had never really had to consider whether someone's ass was perfect or not, not even really expending much mental energy on the sex appeal of her own body. Maybe that nuance of being who she was would come to her in time. Katie, however, giggled and posed, cocking a hip out, although she somehow still managed to put her yoga pants on full display. Her booty stuck out to the side too and Paige gulped, face reddening as she fought and fought to avert her eyes. How could she act like such a whore?
"Oh, hey, Katie..." Alyssa couldn't muster up the enthusiasm, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. "You look...good?"
"Oh, I know! These pants are so super soft and comfy, so nice to show off my ass! They're just, like, super, super nice!"
Smiling widely, too widely, she leaned in, despite Paige and Alyssa tipping away distrustfully.
"Err..."
"You know, these are some really great yoga pants," she whispered in a hushed tone as if she was imparting some great secret that should not really have been uncovered, though it seemed that her ass was only barely covered by the tightly fitted pants. "The fabric is so soft and sooo stretchy, it shapes everything, gets my ass tight in all the right places. Have you ever had a pair of pants like this?"
Alyssa sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Er, well, no, but..."
"Oh, my, gawd, you should, like, totally, come down to get a pair for yourself too! There's nothing better than Love Pink and, like, they have so many pairs! All pink! Don't you just love pink?"
"Right, well... No, I've got more than enough pants for the time being, thank you..."
"But you've got to!"
Katie clung to her, her lower jaw a little slack as she ran her hands down and over the pants as if forgetting that her body was actually clad beneath the sensually soft fabric, every line of her body defined and contoured. She stood and pushed her chest out, showing off all that she had as if she could not be prouder of it, despite where she was and who she was with. Flipping her hand, she turned again so they had an eyeful of her pants, ignorant to how the other two teenagers reeled in shock at her overly crude display. The waistband was noticeable more so with her, a zebra-stripe print in black and pink with a different shade of pink slashing the logo over the top, impossible to either ignore or miss.
"So pretty and so black, they're a must have! There's nothing better than Love Pink and everyone should love pink! Don't you agree? Let me take you to the store - both of you! - and you can get a pair too so you'll love pink too!"
Two young ladies had never before made such a rapid escape but that was far from the end of it as Katie was left in their wake, giggling and shrugging and thinking that, maybe, she was due another sugary coffee, pink nails tap-tap-tapping on the plastic cup. The encounter lingered with Paige as she tried to go about her week in some manner of normalcy but there was little of the normal world to be had with the horde of yoga pants blocking her vision and her way wherever she went, those that wore them seeming to enjoy ponytails rather a lot too. They flooded in from all directions, seemingly leaving no escape to be had.
And then she saw it: the beginning of the yoga pants craze. Only, it was more than a craze as Carley laughed and touted the brilliancy of Love Pink once again to a smaller, blonde girl who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. In a plastic cup with a green straw was a pink drink that bubbled lightly - was it bubble tea? Paige would have rolled her eyes but something held her curiosity and she stayed as the blonde girl whose name she didn't know, not as yet, sipped what was more like a milkshake, now that she had a chance to reflect on it.
But the moment it hit her lips, seeping over her tongue as Paige hid behind a locker in the background, her eyes glazed over, jaw dropping as if she had seen something truly shocking. Yet there was no sense of concern or fear in her eyes, only wonder, slowly and surely repeating the words 'Love Pink' over and over again.
"What the..."
Paige half-reached out but it was too late for her as Carley whispered something in her ear, the girl who was now infected with the Love Pink drink leaving the school instantly. Paige tried to chase after her but, with a sinking feeling in her heart, she knew that there was nothing she could do to get her back. She was going where all the rest of them had gone and it was straight to the Love Pink store to get herself a pair of those brainwashing, hive-mind driving yoga pants. In her wake, Carley was left smirking but a Love Pink mind had more important things to do than congratulate themselves on a job well-done. There were spice lattes to sip and chatter over! More uninfected souls to join the horde of Love Pink!
The next day, that girl was infected, a mindless drone, in her pants and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, bouncing around her shoulders as if she was in athletic wear. Her pants, however, were the typical black with a white waistband, the word 'Pink splashed across the band. Nothing Paige did, shaking her arm or waving in her face, seemed to dissuade her from her yoga pants loving or the chanting of Love Pink over and over again.
Once Paige saw her first infection, more and more followed in quick succession, that strange, pink milkshake playing a role in each and every one. It was always there, being passed around as if it was the hottest thing on right then, but Paige couldn't even find a shop that sold it to find out what was in it. Of course, the teachers were only a little perplexed at what was going on - just a strange fashion thing that they didn't understand - and even more confused when she tried to rally them, telling them how the Love Pink yoga pants were controlling their students.
"Paige, that's simply not possible," Mr Keiran said, peering at her over his glasses. "If you want a pair yourself, why don't you go out and get some for yourself? It's fashion for you young folk. Why, you should have seen some of the strange fashions in my day!"
"No, but none of your fashions turned you into a brainless ditz either," Paige muttered, glowering as she walked away. "Why doesn't anyone believe me?"
And they should very well have believed her, even though her story was insane. As the smartest girl in the school, aiming for the highest GPA of them all at the end of final term, she should have been the one that everyone listened to, looked up to, and yet...they all turned from her. No one seemed to care that there was an infection spreading through the school and even Alyssa turned from her with a look that said more than her words.
"I think you have been studying too hard."
Such carefully chosen, poised words that didn't reveal as much as her tone. Paige begged and pleaded but nothing she said convinced Alyssa that they needed to form a resistance against Love Pink, something to stop their school from becoming a hive-mind of infected, yoga-pants wearing ditzy girls that knew nothing other than their basic girl needs. There were a couple of others that saw the change and really just didn't want to be caught up in the Love Pink chaos but they didn't really believe that it was the infection and the virus that Paige saw in their dazed expressions.
With her little group of people, however, she was at least able to make sure that neither she nor Alyssa were left alone to be targeted by the Love Pink army, for it was always the ones alone that they got. That was, until one night when Alyssa had to work late on a project, busting her ass for the grade that would get her into the college of her dreams. Paige couldn't stay with her either, not when she had to give her older sister a lift to the doctors, and nothing that she said convinced Alyssa that it was too much of a risk to stay at school so late - and alone too!
And she knew - oh, she knew - that her friend was lost to them when she didn't reply to her texts, one after the other, phone buzzing and chirping helplessly away half the night. The next day, she could not have said she was surprised, even if she was indeed horrified, to find her best friend in another pair of especially shocking pants with polka dots on the waistband, hers simply proclaiming 'Pink' with all the excitement that a pair of yoga pants could convey in a single word.
"Alyssa! Alyssa, you've got to snap out of it!"
"Snap out of what, silly?" So came the only reply. "There's nothing wrong with me! This is so super awesome, like, see how these pants line my legs, they show off so much! I even sleep in them, they're so comfortable!"
Alyssa tried to push a pink drink into her hands but Paige, at least, was wise to that trick and shoved it away, spilling it in the process.
"I'm not becoming one of you! But you've got to stop this, Alyssa, it's madness!"
But in the school grounds, there was nowhere to escape from the passion of Love Pink and its crazy, devoted followers. Everywhere she turned, there was another one, another girl giggling and flirting and flaunting her body. Even Paige was becoming increasingly desensitized to it but there always seemed to be something more they could do to rile her up: a sexualised flip of their hair, a pop out of the booty that was always, without fail, on show. They leaned back against the walls, swaying their hips, talking about normal things amongst themselves too, things that may have made them see uninfected if Paige had already not been in the know. But when it came to those who were actually not, as yet, under the mindless influence of Love Pink, that was all they could talk about - and it was Paige who bore the brunt of it, Alyssa's onslaught coupled with that of the rest of the school.
"So comfy!"
"They hug my ass!"
"So much pink!"
"The fabric's silky smooth!"
"You'd be made to not buy a pair!"
"They're the best yoga pants ever!"
"Look at my butt!"
Alyssa chattered in her ear, eyes wide and made up a little more loudly than would have been normal for her, truly, only deserting her when she flocked with the rest of the Love Pink supporters to the chain coffee shop and the Love Pink store after school finished. Sometimes, they even rolled out of school in the middle of the day, en masse, to gawk and coo at the Love Pink yoga pants on display, some of them buying more and more pairs, hungry to add to their collection and feed their passion for Love Pink above all else. To the infected, nothing else mattered, even though they, for the most part, went on with their normal lives, air blowing hollowly between their ears and their blindness to other things happening around them becoming ever-increasingly apparent. It would have been funny if the whole thing had not been so dire to Paige.
"Come on, Paige, when are you gonna give in and get yourself some yoga pants?"
Dancing around her, Alyssa wriggled her booty as if Paige had never seen it before - or heard of the yoga pants. In all honesty, over the last few weeks, she'd heard and seen more than her fair share of both. There was far too much of their bodies showing for Paige, even though they were covered up, flesh jiggling and rippling as Alyssa bent over, shaking her booty for her friend. Recoiling, Paige deliberately turned away, a flush creeping down her neck.
"I'm not going to," she forced out through gritted teeth. "And I'm going to find a cure for you, Alyssa, I swear it, I really do!"
Scoffing, Alyssa waved her hand dismissively, although that particular flip of her fingers was not anything that she would have done before if she'd been in her own mind. That was another thing: all of the infected souls spoke the same, following the same patterns of speech and mannerisms, losing their personalities as they became nothing more than one of the Love Pink hive mind. They picked up their mannerisms from others, clearly, that were infected too while their personalities were limited... But how did that come to be?
"Why wouldn't you want to get a pair of these, Paige? They come up in all the right places and, well, I can't stop looking at my ass! Have you ever seen a butt look this good, Paige? Don't you want to look this good too? I'll take you to the store and we can get you a pair!"
Paige stared, blinking rapidly. Alyssa didn't usually dress like that and it was harder than she expected to ignore the pants, the logo on them, the words that imprinted themselves into her mind.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Her sculpted body made it both easier and harder to ignore, eyes jumping and moving, cheeks flushing as she tried not to look. Yet she couldn't stay around Alyssa so much when she was one of them, one of the drones, knowing nothing but Love Pink.
However, Paige remained resilient, bearing through it all until, one night, she was lying on her bed, trying to study despite everything else going on in her life. She had to keep going, after all, and the resistance wouldn't plan itself, the little ploy to thwart the infection and the spread of the virus, all in that pink liquid that she sure as hell knew better than to accept from Alyssa. No, no... She was smarter, she was the more intelligent one. Steeling herself, she growled quietly and set herself to her work.
She wouldn't become one of them.
Her phone buzzed.
Alyssa: Paige! You won't believe this, girl - I'm cured! You were right! And I have the cure right here with me!
Paige's fingers couldn't move quickly across her digital phone keyboard, breath catching in her throat as her hair hung across her face. At least - some good news! Brilliant news, excellent news: she was getting her best friend back!
Meeting Alyssa at the park, the sun low in the sky but still lighting up the world in sunset, she thought she would be fine. There were escape routes if needed and, well, she did have her car there too if any others from the Love Pink infected horde came for her. She didn't know as yet just how far they would be prepared to go in order to make her one of their own, their gyrating hips and jiggling buttocks haunting her nightmares in those pink yoga pants, always the yoga pants...
Sitting on a bench, Alyssa beamed as she approached, barely able to contain her excitement as her friend, at last, came back to her. A black water bottle was clutched in one hand like a trophy and she brandished it at Paige, who still hesitantly kept some distance between them, offering a one-armed hug with all the cautious sincerity and relief that she could offer. Could a cure really come that easily?
"Hey... Hey, I'm glad you're looking alright now. What happened there? You found a cure?"
"Oh my god, I'm so glad you came!"
Back in her preppy clothes, her jeans were a little more casual than usual but Paige was simply so relieved to see her in anything besides those overly revealing yoga pants that she wasn't going to fuss too much about a pair of jeans. Maybe the infection had made her throw out the rest of her skirts and pants?
"The cure - it's amazing! I can't believe I acted like that!"
Rolling her eyes dramatically, Alyssa clung to Paige with such embarrassed sincerity that she could not help but believe her. That was Alyssa, wasn't it, the cutesy, over the top girl that she knew and loved?
"Alright... So, what's in the cure?"
"Right here - try it!"
In hindsight, it would have been so easy to avoid but Paige was entrapped and lifting the black bottle to her lips before her working mind caught up to the actions her body was performing. It had been a long week and studying through it all was really getting to her, trying to make the resistance something sustainable, if only not to fall prey to the airheads of Love Pink. The liquid flowed over her tongue too quickly and a strange sort of warmth flowed through her, like that time she'd accidentally drank a little of her grandmother's sherry at Christmas.
What was that? Blinking slowly, she wiped the back of her hand across her lips. And her hand came away with pink fluid streaked across it, the very concoction that had started this whole mess!
Gasping, she reeled and worked her lips but no sound came out as blood roared between her ears, the mantra already beginning in her head.
Love Pink.
Put your ass on display.
Love Pink.
Stay with Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Show off your ass.
Love Pink.
Shake that ass.
Love Pink.
You love to put yourself on display.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Love. PINK.
Smirking, Alyssa whipped off her jeans, revealing the traitorous yoga pants underneath, bling-worthy waistband glittering in the evening sunshine, the sunset a fitting tribute to the falling of one who had sought to keep herself and the rest of the school afloat regardless of all else. She pulled back, shook her head, tried to spit out the drink - of course, none of it had any effect whatsoever. There was enough of the drink in her system already to render her slow and speechless, her eyes very, very slowly glazing over as if the infection itself was enjoying making her succumb to it, submitting oh so very slowly to the capacities of a higher power.
"Please... N-no..."
She couldn't even form the words, didn't even know if she was talking. Pulling back and back inside her head, she couldn't even control the muscles that kept her mouth closed, jaw falling hopelessly slack as even her shoulders tipped forward. Since when had she been so exhausted? She knew what was happening but her body was now but a part of the hive mind, someone to be used as it willed, whispering the words over and over again as her hoarse voice came back to her, lips moving over and over again until the words themselves came out.
"Love...Pink," she whispered, eyes wide. "Love...Pink!"
"Yes!" Alyssa hopped and punched the air, her grin stretching from ear to ear. "Yes, yes, yes - Love Pink! Love Pink!"
Driven on by a force that controlled her, moving her limbs like that of a puppet, Paige joined in chanting 'Love Pink' repeatedly, rising from her lips as if in praise. Just what was she doing in a skirt? She shouldn't be wearing that! It wasn't even pink! No, when it came to the passion of Love Pink and the nuances of the virus, there was only one place that would do and it was Alyssa that whispered the address of the store that would fulfil every last one of her needs to her, eyes sparkling for she had, at last, imparted the one secret that was the worst kept of all.
Entranced, Paige found herself behind the wheel of her car again but her state of being was hardly something to be worried about, despite that one little part of her still raging and wailing against the little cage it had been locked up into. It was an annoying voice in the back of her mind more than anything else and the mind pulled her on and on, tugging her to the Pink store, infected girls just like her flooding and swarming the street outside.
No...
But the virus compelled her to park up in a space that seemed to have been left especially for her, moving woodenly, robotically as she stepped through the horde of girl sipping pink drinks and all the over the top concoctions of sugary coffee that she had, before, shunned. Now, one of those was all she could think about besides getting that first pair of yoga pants. Didn't her ass deserve to be on show, after all?
"Love Pink!" One girl grinned at her as she passed, waving frantically, although she was as much of a stranger to Paige as anyone else was now. "Love Pink! Pink!"
"Love Pink!" She chirped back, unable to help herself, even as she strove to regain her composure. "Love Pink! Love Pink! Love Pink!"
Even she felt a little silly in the heat of the pulsating moment to shout such things, yet her feet kept moving and moving, towards the massive line of girls with sweetly dazed faces, holding bundles of yoga pants, every one of which needing to be tried on for fit before purchasing. Their mouths resided agape as if they could not control their eagerness, one short girl with red hair walking in with regular clothes between them. As she queued up with her favourites - were they really her favourites? - all bundled up in her arms, Paige dully watched as she made her way to the front of the queue, sized up, fitted and, soon enough, leaving in a pair of gorgeous, pink yoga pants and a smile on her face that was infectious in itself.
She shivered. Oh, she wanted that too, to have her very own pair of yoga pants that she could twist and flaunt herself in, show off the shape of her ass, how good she looked, how wonderful the pants were. It seemed silly, in hindsight, just how much she'd fought and fought against the virus when it was so good, so sweet, the tingling of the hive mind whispering to her over and over.
Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink.
"Yes..."
Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink.
"Love...Pink..."
Her mind wandered, no longer her own. Paige whimpered but there was nothing she could do as she mouthed the words, the hive mind that was the be all and end all of Love Pink winding itself sweetly around her mind.
"Love Pink," it seemed to whisper, sinuous and sensual at the same time. "You'll be perfect soon... All you have to do is Love Pink. Love Pink, only Love Pink. There is only Love Pink and it is Love Pink that will make you more than you could ever be on your own."
She swayed. Could that be true? Could that really be true? Oh...there was more...
"Always Love Pink, think of how nice you'll look in the yoga pants," it whispered to her, commanding her very soul. "They'll fit you so well, show off your ass... Don't you want that? You want to Love Pink, now, don't you?"
Oh, but she did! She really did!
Always. More and more girls popped out of the changing rooms with their yoga pants, their old clothes mysteriously disappearing, the very epitome of a happy yet basic girl. They bounced with sheer glee with their butts jiggling, squealing and clasping hands with one another, hair swinging freely as their eyes alit, all moving and working as one.
She swallowed, unable to stop resisting, mouth slipping down and down, a gleam of saliva at the corner of her lips. Her turn came up and she stepped into the changing rooms, groaning softly as the yoga pants teased over her form, a pile of crop tops in different sizes there for her too. It was pure bliss to tease those pants up her legs, clasping her buttocks like a pair of invisible hands, but it was nothing compared to the realisation that she was right where she needed to be, perfect in her Love Pink yoga pants.
And her pants were the best of all too, black with a hot pink waistband and the words in white, spotted with tiny crystals. They were not expensive crystals but they drew even more attention to her tight buttocks, flesh formed lightly over muscle in just the right proportions. She didn't know how she could not have considered her ass her very best feature to begin with, turning to look over her buttocks in the mirror, her heart pounding, lifting her up, hair pulling back in a ponytail as she set her shoulders back a little just to lift her chest too a little higher.
And then she was gone, one of the hive mind, a cheerful, basic girl infected just like the rest of them. Alyssa could only hug her friend tightly, bouncing with her in their Love Pink yoga pants, butts jiggling.
"I'm so glad to have my friend back!" She whispered, lips pressed up close to Paige's ear as if she was sharing a secret. "It just wasn't the same without you!"
Paige's lips formed the same words, meant from her heart even as the hive mind toyed with her, pushing her to be with Alyssa, another one of the Love Pink mind. She was happy she'd given in. Turning, she posed, admiring just how the pants smoothed over her buttocks, accentuating them even as Alyssa squealed and jumped, bouncing for the sheer joy of being able to finally share Love Pink with her bestie. After all, things were so much better with her yoga pants, how they caressed her, shifting and teasing with every minute shift of her hips.
Of course, everyone had to share in the passion of the pants and her friend from abroad, well, hadn't she been saying that she'd wanted Paige to cut loose? It was Paige herself that infected her, easily tricking her into drinking the pink liquid like them and Paige taking great satisfaction in her work. Arm in arm with Lilly and Alyssa, she strutted down the hallway of school with a grin on her face, eyes hardly focused and happiness throbbing through her heart. They all looked the same but different, yoga pants bringing them together and setting them apart, but there was one force pulling them together, all from the background of the hive mind, turning them into basic, beatific drones.
In the Pink store, however, the board in the backroom stated the names of everyone in the school, the headquarter for the infected that no one knew about, although it was the perfect place for it. One by one, the names were crossed off the massive board, the mantra playing lightly over the speakers in the room, just to remind everyone what they were there to do, the infected doing their duty as one mind. It was just what the drones needed too with their fancy drinks and even more yoga pants to try, floor-length mirrors to admire themselves in, everything in the world that they could have wanted.
Even Carley and Paige managed to, finally, find some common ground in their love for Love Pink, jiggling their butts and showing off how shapely they were, their long ponytails bouncing and waving as they displayed their bodies - just for their own pleasure. Wiggling and shaking what they'd been given, they giggled and flaunted all they had, though there was always room for more of their sisters, the endless drive of the hive mind central, to join in the fun. She'd never thought though that she would have enjoyed her time with Carley of all people!
Ah, it was the perfect place to bring the last seven in the school into their grasp, the hive mind craving them, wanting them, seducing them in using their greatest weaknesses. An army of yoga pants wearing girls was a force to be reckoned with and they came together as a whole to capture the final girls in the bathroom, subduing them with giggles and smirks as they forced them to drink the liquid. After all, they couldn't have their party until all was said and done, celebrating the force of Love Pink and all that the gorgeously sleek yoga pants stood for!
And they did want to join in the party with them...right? That meant they were doing the right thing, yes, definitely... Yes.
They could not have been in greater bliss than they were right then and there, one mind coming together in the passion of the pink, chanting their mantra as one being in lieu of music, swaying and squealing as they celebrated the conquest of the yoga pants. And what a conquest it was to enslave a whole school in basic girl yoga pants needs, their butts swaying as they all admired one another, trying to find even more yoga pants to add to their collection. Yet they could not have them all, wear them all, at the same time and there would always be more for them, spinning in blissful want, knowing that they all had what they needed from Love Pink and Love Pink too would always have them.
Yet, something changed. Maybe the hive mind thought that it had taken what it needed from them but it was such that, one day, they were simply themselves again. The whole school baulked at what they were wearing (well, maybe not quite every single soul), changing back to their normal clothes and trying to cover themselves up demurely, Paige horrified that, after all she'd done, she'd fallen too. Was she really that weak? Was there really something that was bigger than her, greater than her? Could she be nothing more than...basic too?
Of course, what one wore or did not wear had no bearing on who they were as a person and that was, perhaps, the lesson that Paige herself was to take from such an experience, re-learning how to live as a singular person after the claiming of the hive mind. It was isolating in a way to return to her preppy self and yet she could no longer claim that she had not acted in what she would personally claim was a slutty fashion, revealing her body and running her hands over her ass just to feel how the fabric held her butt, pressing between the defining curves of her rear cheeks to really highlight the shape of them. Not having the fittest of bodies no longer seemed to matter when it came to wearing the pants as they were heaven and, well, the drinks too had not been as bad as she'd thought.
Was there even a little bit of a release to not acting like the most intelligent person in the room at all times too? Maybe there was a relaxation in wearing the yoga pants, something that allowed her to be another version of herself, one human being having many different facets, not all of which were on display and show at all times. And that was okay too. What was good, however, was that she kept her pink yoga pants with the glitzy text, running her fingers gently over the fabric when she knew she wouldn't get caught, just to remind herself of another time.
Love Pink?
Sometimes, she still took those pants out on an evening when no one was home and wore them herself, just to feel the soft cup of the fabric hugging her ass all over again. The soft cup of them on her ass was unlike anything else her sensible mind could have adored, smooth and teasing, a caress that made her want to arch into them, simply to show off and adore her body all the more. They were there, after all, to make her feel good and that was all that Love Pink was about, even though she only rarely managed to put them on, wriggling and kicking her feet up on her bed just to feel how the fabric pulled over her ass. And it was then that she understood the mentality of Love Pink and why the experience of becoming nothing more than one part of the hive mind would live with her forever.
"Love..."
She grinned, daring herself to complete the sentence, the phrase and the mantra that had controlled her for so very long.
"Pink! Love Pink!"
Laying back on the bed and kicking her yoga pants clad legs in the air like a mad woman, she squealed and squeaked it, heart pounded with salacious delight.
"Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink: LovePinkLovePinkLovePink!"
And so she would!
Flashing everyone a smile, she brushed her pink hair back over her shoulder, sweeping it away from her face. A bold choice, really, for the end of her schooling but, to heck with it, she'd worked darn hard over the recent months! She deserved a little treat! The sharp bob floated around her cheeks, the edges roughed up for a softer look, something that, at least, highlighted her easy smile and just how she loved to say hi to everyone and anyone, treating everyone the same. They noticed her, even though she was shorter than everyone else at five foot and an inch (the inch was important to her!), Paige flitting through as the socialite she'd always been.
Of course, that didn't mean that she didn't think differently about those who showed more skin than what she deemed acceptable. Ridiculously studious, it was no secret, truly, in the way that she carried herself that she thought herself above those who weren't doing as well as her at school - wasn't that why they were there in the first place? It simply didn't make any sense at all not to go hard for it, working and working so that they could go somewhere in life! And, like, coffee study sessions were the best! Who'd want to slack off with old TV shows and things like that when they could get together with friends and work super hard?
It was not the prevailing opinion throughout the school, however, and quickened her step as she walked past a group of students her own age dressed in dark clothing. Had one of them even been held back a year? What was up with that? Still, she flashed them a bright smile and a cheery 'hello' all the same, not letting her personal opinions get in the way of letting everyone know just how sweet and sociable Paige really was. After all, something like that may well get back to college admission teams and she wouldn't have wanted anyone to have a bad impression of her now, would she?
"Paige!"
Alyssa grinned, a taller blonde with as easy of a smile, swinging an arm around her shoulders and swaying her friend off-balance. Paige squealed and twitched away, eyebrows shooting up into her fringe. She was a shorter girl than Alyssa who seemed to dominate the very room she was in at all times, her smile easy in a face with sharply cut cheekbones, though Paige was more adorably doll-like in her appearance, her round face beaming with cuteness. There was no denying how one would adore her, though she was slight and lean - well, everyone in their friend group as shaped well, the good-looking girls damn well sticking together. Hell, even their bra sizes were similar, which they only knew after comparing them - shyly, of course! - on one giggly sleepover.
"Alyssa! What are you doing?"
Her best friend's smile faltered and she giggled sheepishly, tucking her hair back behind one ear. In the heat of the day, it was losing its straightness, kinking out with a light, flirty curl. And yet it meant that it was not perfect, not perfectly groomed and poised and perfect. Paige's fingers twitched, itching to fix it. Did she have her travel straighteners in her bag?
"I'm so sorry, Paige!" Alyssa chirped, her voice of a higher pitch and eyes plaintively and innocently wide. "I didn't mean to startle you!"
Everything she said sounded scripted but Paige had, somehow, warmed to her over the years. It helped some that Alyssa clearly looked up to her and adored her, mimicking her more and more over the years. Alyssa had even copied her style of dress, a preppy companion to keep her company. It was more than she could say for Lilly, who had moved abroad and was forever trying to get her to cut loose and, as she said, 'have a little fun'. She didn't have time for that kind of fun!
Paige's phone chirped and she reached for it automatically, the pink and blue case subtly eye-catching but not so loud that it would distract her. She hated things that caught her eye, that were so loud and ostentatious that one could not help but stare and stare and stare. But her hand had barely touched her phone when Alyssa gasped and stepped back, fingers flying up to cover her lips in a smear of tastefully shiny gloss.
"Oh my word!"
That was probably something that Alyssa had picked up from one of the books that she was reading at the moment and Paige sighed lightly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes with all her might, although it did so seem that Alyssa made it difficult to sometimes. And yet she could not have said that her reaction was any different as her eyes followed Alyssa's, landing on the black yoga pants with the logo on the waistband reading 'LOVE PINK' in hot pink cupping her tightly muscled buttocks like a soft hand.
It was hardly suitable attire at the best of times for school but, well, administration had become rather lax on that side of things of late, so Paige only supposed that Carley too, with her short, brown hair and glassy expression, a beatific smile plastered across her pale face, had fallen by the wayside on that count. She hardly saw the girl around school anymore, a slacker that Paige did her best to avoid for it was more than simply difficult to interact with her as if she was an equal, but to see her dressed so, flaunting her body in such a way... It was unspeakable!
"What..." Her eyes followed Carley down the corridor as the other teen bounced along her way, seeming to put an extra bit of a swing into her stride as if she was actively trying to draw attention to her ass. "What in heaven is she wearing? To school!"
Not one to usually make her opinions known within earshot of those who could say something about them, her gasp turned heads and yet Paige could not stop herself, opening and closing her mouth like a shimmering fish out of water (not a goldfish - that would be too common for her), eyes wide and popping out of her skull. The yoga pants were so loud that they were simply impossible to ignore too, the bejewelled writing proclaiming to 'love pink' - just what was all that about? How tawdry! That was an old English word and she tried not to think about just how that one had come into her mind when she'd been scorning Alyssa for using a similar expression. Maybe they really were more alike than she thought but that wasn't entirely a bad thing.
Yet Paige could not help herself, lingering as her eyes bulged, lips pressed together so that she did not say something that, maybe, she'd later regret. The yoga pants could not have been more attention grabbing if they'd tried to be, even the bright pink writing seeming to glitter and sparkle in more than one shade, standing out from the black of the pants. A sliver of ankle was on show too and that in itself made Paige frown, lips tightening together even more as something twisted in her gut. To say the least, she wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything like that. Of course, the words were going to come out whether she wanted them to or not: such was the influence of the Love Pink pants.
"This better not become a trend!" Paige huffed, crossing her arms with the books still contained within them, patting her head to put back the imaKatiery hairs that had ruffled out of place. "How people can wear things like that... It disgusts me!"
It was only natural for her to put extra emphasis on certain words but Alyssa bit her lip, eyes sliding around the hall, bouncing from one person to the other: more so than Carley, they were the ones who were attracting attention.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's just a pair of pants, it can't be that bad," Alyssa tried to talk her down off the ledge. "It won't be a thing, don't worry about it."
For the moment, Paige was mollified. Just what impact, really, did one slut have on her life? Well, she just wouldn't be writing her a Christmas card that year if she was going to flaunt herself all over school like a harlot! See what she thought about being left out of that then!
Maybe something like she wouldn't be invited to her graduation party would be better.
And yet there was something more sinister at work as Carley paused in the corner, giggling as she cornered a friend of hers dressed as she would have before in plain old jeans.
"Don't you just love pink," she breathed, eyelashes fluttering. "It makes my ass feel so good... The fabric is so soft, like getting a hug whenever I move. Why don't you try a pair?"
Her friend sweated nervously, backed into a corner of the wall from which there was no escape.
"Uh... Yeah, maybe?"
And, just like that, she was frogmarched from school before her next period had even begun, complaining and protesting weakly all the while as Carley brought in the newest victim to the hive-mind mentality of Love Pink. Of course, those on the inside knew what it was all about, whispering tales of how sensually soft the fabric was, how they made them feel like they weren't wearing anything at all. They liked to pose, to booty-tooch like those on the modelling show, drawing more and more eyes and attention to their asses. After all, with the yoga pants of Love Pink, they were their best feature: just why wouldn't they want to draw attention?
No one realised or cared really all that much, least of all Paige and Alyssa, although Paige was forced to keep silent on more than one occasion. There was so much more at stake for her than the lives of those sluts, posing up against walls in a line with giggling lips and coffee cups from that fancy chain that only had drinks full of super-sugar, frothy piles of cream to be licked saucily off finger tips in the eyes of boys. But they didn't seem to have eyes for any of the guys at their school either, just for one another and the yoga pants with the pink writing that they all boasted.
They spread through the school like the virus that they were and one could not fail to notice, as time went on, the glazed over expressions and bubbling conversations so unlike their old personalities that it was shocking, really. Was it a trend? A fad? Something that would pass? And yet the infatuation with Love Pink did not seem to at all be going anywhere as those from every clique that Paige could have thought up to slot her high school students into neat little boxes lost members to the Love Pink horde, their yoga pants obsession and teasing glances as they sought to get more and more people into the clan, so to speak.
"Alyssa... Something's happening."
But, as the horde of Love Pink supporters grew and grew in their black yoga pants, she could not deny that something was going on, something underhanded that none of them could have ever have expected or come to anticipate in any form. Paige grew uneasy and tugged at Alyssa's sleeve, subtly trying to get her attention. Yet even Alyssa was gawking at the horde of pink yoga pants, all seeming alike one another, although there were subtle differences between them. Some were black and pink in a diamond pattern, although there was always, always, more pink than anything else, others had pink zebra stripes slashed across the backside, the lines breaking up the image and yet still managing to draw in attention to it above all else. Regardless of the style, pink was dominant and, of course, the 'Love Pink' text emblazoned crudely across the backside of the waistband of the pants. It was always there as if it was mocking them, the horde of giggling, fancy drink sipping teenagers reverting to baser, maybe even more basic forms of the young women that they had become.
Alyssa shrugged, bored with everything and holding back a sigh behind her tight lips. That was yet another little thing she'd picked up from Paige over their years of friendship but it wasn't something that always went in Paige's favour, truly.
"Oh... Why don't you give it a rest, Paige? Leave them be, they're not hurting anyone with their black pants."
Rolling her eyes, Paige scoffed.
"Well, they're hurting my eyes! They're so loud and, like, out there! How is anyone supposed to get anything proper done around here with them flaunting their, their..." She couldn't form the cruder version of the word, lips locking up before it spilt out. "...Their butts like that! You can't look away with indecency like that around!"
And it was true, what with how many of them were, even if it was not something that Paige should have said. So many patterns caught the eye and the shimmering, bejewelled catchphrase on the back seemed to pulse like a mantra: love pink, love pink, love, pink...
Love.
Pink.
"Hey, Alyssa!"
One of Alyssa's friends or, at least, a girl that had been her friend before Paige had become the be all and end all of her life, raced over, seeming to bounce off the floor with every step in her yoga pants, the sleekest black of them all. She, Katie, spun too for the full effect, seeming to take pride in her appearance, how the yoga pants cupped her ass and made it look perfect. Paige had never really had to consider whether someone's ass was perfect or not, not even really expending much mental energy on the sex appeal of her own body. Maybe that nuance of being who she was would come to her in time. Katie, however, giggled and posed, cocking a hip out, although she somehow still managed to put her yoga pants on full display. Her booty stuck out to the side too and Paige gulped, face reddening as she fought and fought to avert her eyes. How could she act like such a whore?
"Oh, hey, Katie..." Alyssa couldn't muster up the enthusiasm, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. "You look...good?"
"Oh, I know! These pants are so super soft and comfy, so nice to show off my ass! They're just, like, super, super nice!"
Smiling widely, too widely, she leaned in, despite Paige and Alyssa tipping away distrustfully.
"Err..."
"You know, these are some really great yoga pants," she whispered in a hushed tone as if she was imparting some great secret that should not really have been uncovered, though it seemed that her ass was only barely covered by the tightly fitted pants. "The fabric is so soft and sooo stretchy, it shapes everything, gets my ass tight in all the right places. Have you ever had a pair of pants like this?"
Alyssa sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Er, well, no, but..."
"Oh, my, gawd, you should, like, totally, come down to get a pair for yourself too! There's nothing better than Love Pink and, like, they have so many pairs! All pink! Don't you just love pink?"
"Right, well... No, I've got more than enough pants for the time being, thank you..."
"But you've got to!"
Katie clung to her, her lower jaw a little slack as she ran her hands down and over the pants as if forgetting that her body was actually clad beneath the sensually soft fabric, every line of her body defined and contoured. She stood and pushed her chest out, showing off all that she had as if she could not be prouder of it, despite where she was and who she was with. Flipping her hand, she turned again so they had an eyeful of her pants, ignorant to how the other two teenagers reeled in shock at her overly crude display. The waistband was noticeable more so with her, a zebra-stripe print in black and pink with a different shade of pink slashing the logo over the top, impossible to either ignore or miss.
"So pretty and so black, they're a must have! There's nothing better than Love Pink and everyone should love pink! Don't you agree? Let me take you to the store - both of you! - and you can get a pair too so you'll love pink too!"
Two young ladies had never before made such a rapid escape but that was far from the end of it as Katie was left in their wake, giggling and shrugging and thinking that, maybe, she was due another sugary coffee, pink nails tap-tap-tapping on the plastic cup. The encounter lingered with Paige as she tried to go about her week in some manner of normalcy but there was little of the normal world to be had with the horde of yoga pants blocking her vision and her way wherever she went, those that wore them seeming to enjoy ponytails rather a lot too. They flooded in from all directions, seemingly leaving no escape to be had.
And then she saw it: the beginning of the yoga pants craze. Only, it was more than a craze as Carley laughed and touted the brilliancy of Love Pink once again to a smaller, blonde girl who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. In a plastic cup with a green straw was a pink drink that bubbled lightly - was it bubble tea? Paige would have rolled her eyes but something held her curiosity and she stayed as the blonde girl whose name she didn't know, not as yet, sipped what was more like a milkshake, now that she had a chance to reflect on it.
But the moment it hit her lips, seeping over her tongue as Paige hid behind a locker in the background, her eyes glazed over, jaw dropping as if she had seen something truly shocking. Yet there was no sense of concern or fear in her eyes, only wonder, slowly and surely repeating the words 'Love Pink' over and over again.
"What the..."
Paige half-reached out but it was too late for her as Carley whispered something in her ear, the girl who was now infected with the Love Pink drink leaving the school instantly. Paige tried to chase after her but, with a sinking feeling in her heart, she knew that there was nothing she could do to get her back. She was going where all the rest of them had gone and it was straight to the Love Pink store to get herself a pair of those brainwashing, hive-mind driving yoga pants. In her wake, Carley was left smirking but a Love Pink mind had more important things to do than congratulate themselves on a job well-done. There were spice lattes to sip and chatter over! More uninfected souls to join the horde of Love Pink!
The next day, that girl was infected, a mindless drone, in her pants and her hair pulled back in a ponytail, bouncing around her shoulders as if she was in athletic wear. Her pants, however, were the typical black with a white waistband, the word 'Pink splashed across the band. Nothing Paige did, shaking her arm or waving in her face, seemed to dissuade her from her yoga pants loving or the chanting of Love Pink over and over again.
Once Paige saw her first infection, more and more followed in quick succession, that strange, pink milkshake playing a role in each and every one. It was always there, being passed around as if it was the hottest thing on right then, but Paige couldn't even find a shop that sold it to find out what was in it. Of course, the teachers were only a little perplexed at what was going on - just a strange fashion thing that they didn't understand - and even more confused when she tried to rally them, telling them how the Love Pink yoga pants were controlling their students.
"Paige, that's simply not possible," Mr Keiran said, peering at her over his glasses. "If you want a pair yourself, why don't you go out and get some for yourself? It's fashion for you young folk. Why, you should have seen some of the strange fashions in my day!"
"No, but none of your fashions turned you into a brainless ditz either," Paige muttered, glowering as she walked away. "Why doesn't anyone believe me?"
And they should very well have believed her, even though her story was insane. As the smartest girl in the school, aiming for the highest GPA of them all at the end of final term, she should have been the one that everyone listened to, looked up to, and yet...they all turned from her. No one seemed to care that there was an infection spreading through the school and even Alyssa turned from her with a look that said more than her words.
"I think you have been studying too hard."
Such carefully chosen, poised words that didn't reveal as much as her tone. Paige begged and pleaded but nothing she said convinced Alyssa that they needed to form a resistance against Love Pink, something to stop their school from becoming a hive-mind of infected, yoga-pants wearing ditzy girls that knew nothing other than their basic girl needs. There were a couple of others that saw the change and really just didn't want to be caught up in the Love Pink chaos but they didn't really believe that it was the infection and the virus that Paige saw in their dazed expressions.
With her little group of people, however, she was at least able to make sure that neither she nor Alyssa were left alone to be targeted by the Love Pink army, for it was always the ones alone that they got. That was, until one night when Alyssa had to work late on a project, busting her ass for the grade that would get her into the college of her dreams. Paige couldn't stay with her either, not when she had to give her older sister a lift to the doctors, and nothing that she said convinced Alyssa that it was too much of a risk to stay at school so late - and alone too!
And she knew - oh, she knew - that her friend was lost to them when she didn't reply to her texts, one after the other, phone buzzing and chirping helplessly away half the night. The next day, she could not have said she was surprised, even if she was indeed horrified, to find her best friend in another pair of especially shocking pants with polka dots on the waistband, hers simply proclaiming 'Pink' with all the excitement that a pair of yoga pants could convey in a single word.
"Alyssa! Alyssa, you've got to snap out of it!"
"Snap out of what, silly?" So came the only reply. "There's nothing wrong with me! This is so super awesome, like, see how these pants line my legs, they show off so much! I even sleep in them, they're so comfortable!"
Alyssa tried to push a pink drink into her hands but Paige, at least, was wise to that trick and shoved it away, spilling it in the process.
"I'm not becoming one of you! But you've got to stop this, Alyssa, it's madness!"
But in the school grounds, there was nowhere to escape from the passion of Love Pink and its crazy, devoted followers. Everywhere she turned, there was another one, another girl giggling and flirting and flaunting her body. Even Paige was becoming increasingly desensitized to it but there always seemed to be something more they could do to rile her up: a sexualised flip of their hair, a pop out of the booty that was always, without fail, on show. They leaned back against the walls, swaying their hips, talking about normal things amongst themselves too, things that may have made them see uninfected if Paige had already not been in the know. But when it came to those who were actually not, as yet, under the mindless influence of Love Pink, that was all they could talk about - and it was Paige who bore the brunt of it, Alyssa's onslaught coupled with that of the rest of the school.
"So comfy!"
"They hug my ass!"
"So much pink!"
"The fabric's silky smooth!"
"You'd be made to not buy a pair!"
"They're the best yoga pants ever!"
"Look at my butt!"
Alyssa chattered in her ear, eyes wide and made up a little more loudly than would have been normal for her, truly, only deserting her when she flocked with the rest of the Love Pink supporters to the chain coffee shop and the Love Pink store after school finished. Sometimes, they even rolled out of school in the middle of the day, en masse, to gawk and coo at the Love Pink yoga pants on display, some of them buying more and more pairs, hungry to add to their collection and feed their passion for Love Pink above all else. To the infected, nothing else mattered, even though they, for the most part, went on with their normal lives, air blowing hollowly between their ears and their blindness to other things happening around them becoming ever-increasingly apparent. It would have been funny if the whole thing had not been so dire to Paige.
"Come on, Paige, when are you gonna give in and get yourself some yoga pants?"
Dancing around her, Alyssa wriggled her booty as if Paige had never seen it before - or heard of the yoga pants. In all honesty, over the last few weeks, she'd heard and seen more than her fair share of both. There was far too much of their bodies showing for Paige, even though they were covered up, flesh jiggling and rippling as Alyssa bent over, shaking her booty for her friend. Recoiling, Paige deliberately turned away, a flush creeping down her neck.
"I'm not going to," she forced out through gritted teeth. "And I'm going to find a cure for you, Alyssa, I swear it, I really do!"
Scoffing, Alyssa waved her hand dismissively, although that particular flip of her fingers was not anything that she would have done before if she'd been in her own mind. That was another thing: all of the infected souls spoke the same, following the same patterns of speech and mannerisms, losing their personalities as they became nothing more than one of the Love Pink hive mind. They picked up their mannerisms from others, clearly, that were infected too while their personalities were limited... But how did that come to be?
"Why wouldn't you want to get a pair of these, Paige? They come up in all the right places and, well, I can't stop looking at my ass! Have you ever seen a butt look this good, Paige? Don't you want to look this good too? I'll take you to the store and we can get you a pair!"
Paige stared, blinking rapidly. Alyssa didn't usually dress like that and it was harder than she expected to ignore the pants, the logo on them, the words that imprinted themselves into her mind.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Her sculpted body made it both easier and harder to ignore, eyes jumping and moving, cheeks flushing as she tried not to look. Yet she couldn't stay around Alyssa so much when she was one of them, one of the drones, knowing nothing but Love Pink.
However, Paige remained resilient, bearing through it all until, one night, she was lying on her bed, trying to study despite everything else going on in her life. She had to keep going, after all, and the resistance wouldn't plan itself, the little ploy to thwart the infection and the spread of the virus, all in that pink liquid that she sure as hell knew better than to accept from Alyssa. No, no... She was smarter, she was the more intelligent one. Steeling herself, she growled quietly and set herself to her work.
She wouldn't become one of them.
Her phone buzzed.
Alyssa: Paige! You won't believe this, girl - I'm cured! You were right! And I have the cure right here with me!
Paige's fingers couldn't move quickly across her digital phone keyboard, breath catching in her throat as her hair hung across her face. At least - some good news! Brilliant news, excellent news: she was getting her best friend back!
Meeting Alyssa at the park, the sun low in the sky but still lighting up the world in sunset, she thought she would be fine. There were escape routes if needed and, well, she did have her car there too if any others from the Love Pink infected horde came for her. She didn't know as yet just how far they would be prepared to go in order to make her one of their own, their gyrating hips and jiggling buttocks haunting her nightmares in those pink yoga pants, always the yoga pants...
Sitting on a bench, Alyssa beamed as she approached, barely able to contain her excitement as her friend, at last, came back to her. A black water bottle was clutched in one hand like a trophy and she brandished it at Paige, who still hesitantly kept some distance between them, offering a one-armed hug with all the cautious sincerity and relief that she could offer. Could a cure really come that easily?
"Hey... Hey, I'm glad you're looking alright now. What happened there? You found a cure?"
"Oh my god, I'm so glad you came!"
Back in her preppy clothes, her jeans were a little more casual than usual but Paige was simply so relieved to see her in anything besides those overly revealing yoga pants that she wasn't going to fuss too much about a pair of jeans. Maybe the infection had made her throw out the rest of her skirts and pants?
"The cure - it's amazing! I can't believe I acted like that!"
Rolling her eyes dramatically, Alyssa clung to Paige with such embarrassed sincerity that she could not help but believe her. That was Alyssa, wasn't it, the cutesy, over the top girl that she knew and loved?
"Alright... So, what's in the cure?"
"Right here - try it!"
In hindsight, it would have been so easy to avoid but Paige was entrapped and lifting the black bottle to her lips before her working mind caught up to the actions her body was performing. It had been a long week and studying through it all was really getting to her, trying to make the resistance something sustainable, if only not to fall prey to the airheads of Love Pink. The liquid flowed over her tongue too quickly and a strange sort of warmth flowed through her, like that time she'd accidentally drank a little of her grandmother's sherry at Christmas.
What was that? Blinking slowly, she wiped the back of her hand across her lips. And her hand came away with pink fluid streaked across it, the very concoction that had started this whole mess!
Gasping, she reeled and worked her lips but no sound came out as blood roared between her ears, the mantra already beginning in her head.
Love Pink.
Put your ass on display.
Love Pink.
Stay with Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Show off your ass.
Love Pink.
Shake that ass.
Love Pink.
You love to put yourself on display.
Love Pink.
Love Pink.
Love. PINK.
Smirking, Alyssa whipped off her jeans, revealing the traitorous yoga pants underneath, bling-worthy waistband glittering in the evening sunshine, the sunset a fitting tribute to the falling of one who had sought to keep herself and the rest of the school afloat regardless of all else. She pulled back, shook her head, tried to spit out the drink - of course, none of it had any effect whatsoever. There was enough of the drink in her system already to render her slow and speechless, her eyes very, very slowly glazing over as if the infection itself was enjoying making her succumb to it, submitting oh so very slowly to the capacities of a higher power.
"Please... N-no..."
She couldn't even form the words, didn't even know if she was talking. Pulling back and back inside her head, she couldn't even control the muscles that kept her mouth closed, jaw falling hopelessly slack as even her shoulders tipped forward. Since when had she been so exhausted? She knew what was happening but her body was now but a part of the hive mind, someone to be used as it willed, whispering the words over and over again as her hoarse voice came back to her, lips moving over and over again until the words themselves came out.
"Love...Pink," she whispered, eyes wide. "Love...Pink!"
"Yes!" Alyssa hopped and punched the air, her grin stretching from ear to ear. "Yes, yes, yes - Love Pink! Love Pink!"
Driven on by a force that controlled her, moving her limbs like that of a puppet, Paige joined in chanting 'Love Pink' repeatedly, rising from her lips as if in praise. Just what was she doing in a skirt? She shouldn't be wearing that! It wasn't even pink! No, when it came to the passion of Love Pink and the nuances of the virus, there was only one place that would do and it was Alyssa that whispered the address of the store that would fulfil every last one of her needs to her, eyes sparkling for she had, at last, imparted the one secret that was the worst kept of all.
Entranced, Paige found herself behind the wheel of her car again but her state of being was hardly something to be worried about, despite that one little part of her still raging and wailing against the little cage it had been locked up into. It was an annoying voice in the back of her mind more than anything else and the mind pulled her on and on, tugging her to the Pink store, infected girls just like her flooding and swarming the street outside.
No...
But the virus compelled her to park up in a space that seemed to have been left especially for her, moving woodenly, robotically as she stepped through the horde of girl sipping pink drinks and all the over the top concoctions of sugary coffee that she had, before, shunned. Now, one of those was all she could think about besides getting that first pair of yoga pants. Didn't her ass deserve to be on show, after all?
"Love Pink!" One girl grinned at her as she passed, waving frantically, although she was as much of a stranger to Paige as anyone else was now. "Love Pink! Pink!"
"Love Pink!" She chirped back, unable to help herself, even as she strove to regain her composure. "Love Pink! Love Pink! Love Pink!"
Even she felt a little silly in the heat of the pulsating moment to shout such things, yet her feet kept moving and moving, towards the massive line of girls with sweetly dazed faces, holding bundles of yoga pants, every one of which needing to be tried on for fit before purchasing. Their mouths resided agape as if they could not control their eagerness, one short girl with red hair walking in with regular clothes between them. As she queued up with her favourites - were they really her favourites? - all bundled up in her arms, Paige dully watched as she made her way to the front of the queue, sized up, fitted and, soon enough, leaving in a pair of gorgeous, pink yoga pants and a smile on her face that was infectious in itself.
She shivered. Oh, she wanted that too, to have her very own pair of yoga pants that she could twist and flaunt herself in, show off the shape of her ass, how good she looked, how wonderful the pants were. It seemed silly, in hindsight, just how much she'd fought and fought against the virus when it was so good, so sweet, the tingling of the hive mind whispering to her over and over.
Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink.
"Yes..."
Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink.
"Love...Pink..."
Her mind wandered, no longer her own. Paige whimpered but there was nothing she could do as she mouthed the words, the hive mind that was the be all and end all of Love Pink winding itself sweetly around her mind.
"Love Pink," it seemed to whisper, sinuous and sensual at the same time. "You'll be perfect soon... All you have to do is Love Pink. Love Pink, only Love Pink. There is only Love Pink and it is Love Pink that will make you more than you could ever be on your own."
She swayed. Could that be true? Could that really be true? Oh...there was more...
"Always Love Pink, think of how nice you'll look in the yoga pants," it whispered to her, commanding her very soul. "They'll fit you so well, show off your ass... Don't you want that? You want to Love Pink, now, don't you?"
Oh, but she did! She really did!
Always. More and more girls popped out of the changing rooms with their yoga pants, their old clothes mysteriously disappearing, the very epitome of a happy yet basic girl. They bounced with sheer glee with their butts jiggling, squealing and clasping hands with one another, hair swinging freely as their eyes alit, all moving and working as one.
She swallowed, unable to stop resisting, mouth slipping down and down, a gleam of saliva at the corner of her lips. Her turn came up and she stepped into the changing rooms, groaning softly as the yoga pants teased over her form, a pile of crop tops in different sizes there for her too. It was pure bliss to tease those pants up her legs, clasping her buttocks like a pair of invisible hands, but it was nothing compared to the realisation that she was right where she needed to be, perfect in her Love Pink yoga pants.
And her pants were the best of all too, black with a hot pink waistband and the words in white, spotted with tiny crystals. They were not expensive crystals but they drew even more attention to her tight buttocks, flesh formed lightly over muscle in just the right proportions. She didn't know how she could not have considered her ass her very best feature to begin with, turning to look over her buttocks in the mirror, her heart pounding, lifting her up, hair pulling back in a ponytail as she set her shoulders back a little just to lift her chest too a little higher.
And then she was gone, one of the hive mind, a cheerful, basic girl infected just like the rest of them. Alyssa could only hug her friend tightly, bouncing with her in their Love Pink yoga pants, butts jiggling.
"I'm so glad to have my friend back!" She whispered, lips pressed up close to Paige's ear as if she was sharing a secret. "It just wasn't the same without you!"
Paige's lips formed the same words, meant from her heart even as the hive mind toyed with her, pushing her to be with Alyssa, another one of the Love Pink mind. She was happy she'd given in. Turning, she posed, admiring just how the pants smoothed over her buttocks, accentuating them even as Alyssa squealed and jumped, bouncing for the sheer joy of being able to finally share Love Pink with her bestie. After all, things were so much better with her yoga pants, how they caressed her, shifting and teasing with every minute shift of her hips.
Of course, everyone had to share in the passion of the pants and her friend from abroad, well, hadn't she been saying that she'd wanted Paige to cut loose? It was Paige herself that infected her, easily tricking her into drinking the pink liquid like them and Paige taking great satisfaction in her work. Arm in arm with Lilly and Alyssa, she strutted down the hallway of school with a grin on her face, eyes hardly focused and happiness throbbing through her heart. They all looked the same but different, yoga pants bringing them together and setting them apart, but there was one force pulling them together, all from the background of the hive mind, turning them into basic, beatific drones.
In the Pink store, however, the board in the backroom stated the names of everyone in the school, the headquarter for the infected that no one knew about, although it was the perfect place for it. One by one, the names were crossed off the massive board, the mantra playing lightly over the speakers in the room, just to remind everyone what they were there to do, the infected doing their duty as one mind. It was just what the drones needed too with their fancy drinks and even more yoga pants to try, floor-length mirrors to admire themselves in, everything in the world that they could have wanted.
Even Carley and Paige managed to, finally, find some common ground in their love for Love Pink, jiggling their butts and showing off how shapely they were, their long ponytails bouncing and waving as they displayed their bodies - just for their own pleasure. Wiggling and shaking what they'd been given, they giggled and flaunted all they had, though there was always room for more of their sisters, the endless drive of the hive mind central, to join in the fun. She'd never thought though that she would have enjoyed her time with Carley of all people!
Ah, it was the perfect place to bring the last seven in the school into their grasp, the hive mind craving them, wanting them, seducing them in using their greatest weaknesses. An army of yoga pants wearing girls was a force to be reckoned with and they came together as a whole to capture the final girls in the bathroom, subduing them with giggles and smirks as they forced them to drink the liquid. After all, they couldn't have their party until all was said and done, celebrating the force of Love Pink and all that the gorgeously sleek yoga pants stood for!
And they did want to join in the party with them...right? That meant they were doing the right thing, yes, definitely... Yes.
They could not have been in greater bliss than they were right then and there, one mind coming together in the passion of the pink, chanting their mantra as one being in lieu of music, swaying and squealing as they celebrated the conquest of the yoga pants. And what a conquest it was to enslave a whole school in basic girl yoga pants needs, their butts swaying as they all admired one another, trying to find even more yoga pants to add to their collection. Yet they could not have them all, wear them all, at the same time and there would always be more for them, spinning in blissful want, knowing that they all had what they needed from Love Pink and Love Pink too would always have them.
Yet, something changed. Maybe the hive mind thought that it had taken what it needed from them but it was such that, one day, they were simply themselves again. The whole school baulked at what they were wearing (well, maybe not quite every single soul), changing back to their normal clothes and trying to cover themselves up demurely, Paige horrified that, after all she'd done, she'd fallen too. Was she really that weak? Was there really something that was bigger than her, greater than her? Could she be nothing more than...basic too?
Of course, what one wore or did not wear had no bearing on who they were as a person and that was, perhaps, the lesson that Paige herself was to take from such an experience, re-learning how to live as a singular person after the claiming of the hive mind. It was isolating in a way to return to her preppy self and yet she could no longer claim that she had not acted in what she would personally claim was a slutty fashion, revealing her body and running her hands over her ass just to feel how the fabric held her butt, pressing between the defining curves of her rear cheeks to really highlight the shape of them. Not having the fittest of bodies no longer seemed to matter when it came to wearing the pants as they were heaven and, well, the drinks too had not been as bad as she'd thought.
Was there even a little bit of a release to not acting like the most intelligent person in the room at all times too? Maybe there was a relaxation in wearing the yoga pants, something that allowed her to be another version of herself, one human being having many different facets, not all of which were on display and show at all times. And that was okay too. What was good, however, was that she kept her pink yoga pants with the glitzy text, running her fingers gently over the fabric when she knew she wouldn't get caught, just to remind herself of another time.
Love Pink?
Sometimes, she still took those pants out on an evening when no one was home and wore them herself, just to feel the soft cup of the fabric hugging her ass all over again. The soft cup of them on her ass was unlike anything else her sensible mind could have adored, smooth and teasing, a caress that made her want to arch into them, simply to show off and adore her body all the more. They were there, after all, to make her feel good and that was all that Love Pink was about, even though she only rarely managed to put them on, wriggling and kicking her feet up on her bed just to feel how the fabric pulled over her ass. And it was then that she understood the mentality of Love Pink and why the experience of becoming nothing more than one part of the hive mind would live with her forever.
"Love..."
She grinned, daring herself to complete the sentence, the phrase and the mantra that had controlled her for so very long.
"Pink! Love Pink!"
Laying back on the bed and kicking her yoga pants clad legs in the air like a mad woman, she squealed and squeaked it, heart pounded with salacious delight.
"Love Pink, Love Pink, Love Pink: LovePinkLovePinkLovePink!"
And so she would!