by Louis Woodley
Charlotte Wilson was average in all ways. Not gorgeous but not hideous. Neither flat-chested nor teased for being over-endowed. She wasn't incredibly wealthy but she also wasn't a scholarship student at the pompously named Oakdale Academy for Young Ladies. She had friends but wasn't a part of the social elite. Her grades were middle of the pack. She belonged to a couple of clubs but held no offices and was a little-used substitute on the field hockey team. If you needed someone to play an average boarding school student then Charlotte was your girl.
But a benefit of being nondescript is that they blend into the background so that you forget they're there. So if you're doing something that would get you into hot water, you could be blissfully unaware that prying eyes have secretly noticed and cataloged that information for future usefulness. Such a lapse could later literally bite you in the butt.
Yes, Charlotte was a snitch. She hadn't started out to be one; no one liked a schoolmate that sells out their contemporaries. Unfortunately, the only aspect of Charlotte that wasn't completely average was that she was a complete coward. And when she was staring at the prospect of having her bare bottom caned by Headmaster Tompkins, she turned into Judas and saved her own skin.
Selling out her classmates had been born out of the desperation caused by that horrid cow Mrs. Dunham. She knew that Charlotte had Gym the period before her Literature class. You had to be an Olympic caliber race walker to get halfway across the school in the little time allotted between classes and Charlotte was constantly tardy.
Mrs. Durham noted that girls like Ashley Griffin and Naomi Engram were able to do so, so Charlotte should be able to as well. Charlotte didn't want to incur the wrath of Ashley and Naomi by pointing out that they were Queen Bees who expected first rights to the limited number of showers. A peon who tried to usurp their place in line was setting themselves up with a target on their backs. Mere mortals like Charlotte were forced to wait until Their Highnesses had bled the hot water supply before they were allowed access. If Coach Shaw would let her out without showering, Charlotte wouldn't bother trying.
So Misses Griffin and Engram were already out the door and on the way to Mrs. Dunham's class while Charlotte was desperately drying off. She was constantly scrambling to make up for lost time, and, on the day in question, she'd run afoul of an officious Hall Monitor. The Monitor had pulled her aside and written her up for running in the halls; she'd then added a second offense of being disrespectful and insubordinate for arguing (Charlotte claimed she'd only been walking quickly not running).
So she was already saddled with a disciplinary notice that would result in a meeting with a Prefect to have her bottom slippered. The delay made her later than usual to Mrs. Dunham's class. She arrived in a foul mood and when her teacher started harping on her about being tardy yet again, Charlotte snapped.
She loudly made some impolite comments; her teacher should have been pleased with her vocabulary, since words like 'overbearing' and 'harpy' were used. However, she took offense at Charlotte's remarks. Her classmates were stunned into silence; the girl who stayed in the background was suddenly front and center where no one could miss her.
They didn't get to see her much longer that day, because as soon as Mrs. Dunham finished filling out the paperwork, Charlotte was ordered to the Headmaster's office. She moved as slowly as possible, reading the note as she went. Mrs. Dunham requested that Charlotte be given three strokes of the cane for her perpetual tardiness, and three for her disruptive behavior in the classroom. The Headmaster could add additional strokes at his discretion.
And on top of that, a Prefect would soon be swatting her with her slipper. She'd only earned a single swat for being out of bed after lights out this year; another benefit of being unexceptional was not standing out when Prefects and Monitors were on the prowl. But she was suddenly in a world of trouble and she was so nervous she felt sick.
Headmaster Tompkins listened to her explanation without sympathy. While getting to class on time might be challenging he certainly couldn't excuse the way she'd blown up at her teacher (even if he agreed with her that Mrs. Dunham was a harpy). Such behavior was totally unacceptable and she deserved all six strokes he intended to give her.
He told her to remove her underwear, lift her skirt and lie across his desk. She struggled to comply and panicked when she saw him take his cane out of the cabinet. It looked ferocious and she'd seen what it had done to other girl's bottoms. Her own bottom was now lined up and totally unprotected; any moment now she'd feel the burning lash and would bawl like a baby.
Out of desperation came the idea that if she offered the Headmaster a more valuable prize then she might worm her way out of this situation. And she knew just the right thing to tempt him.
It was a risky proposition. If she made the offer, Mr. Tompkins might decide to beat the truth out of her instead. Not only would her gambit fail but she'd make an arch-enemy out of one of the most popular girls. But when he began tapping her to line up his first stroke, her fear caused her to hop up and turn away from the Headmaster.
"Mr. Tompkins, please wait! I'm sorry I moved but I know something that you'll want to hear."
The Headmaster was furious that Charlotte had dared to move, but if she was willing to do so and risk his wrath then he'd wait to hear what she had to offer. If it was worthless he'd just add extra strokes for stalling. He told her to talk quickly and that it had better be worth his time.
"Sir, I know who's supplying the cigarettes in our dorm. She's got an entire carton and I know where she keeps it."
Well, that attracted the Headmaster's attention. Smoking had been a problem lately as several girls had been caught with cigarettes in their possession and he'd caned them for it. They all claimed to have either taken them from a family member or acquired them while off campus. But now Charlotte said that she knew who was running a black market operation in their dorm. So what did she hope to accomplish by making this offer?
What she proposed was a simple tit for tat transaction. She would give up the information in return for being let off the hook for her caning. Like a prosecutor, Mr. Tompkins wanted to catch the bigger fish and was willing to plea bargain with a small fry to do so. However, there was no way that he would allow this impudent girl to dictate the terms of her spying to him.
Instead, he claimed her proposal was unacceptable because she didn't deserve to get off scot free for her behavior. Besides, people knew she'd been sent to his office and would be suspicious if they didn't hear any thwacking sounds. Instead, he would give her two strokes over her skirt as a reduced sentence. If she could be a convincing actress, he'd whack his couch pillow the other four times and she'd cry out like she'd been beaten. That was his final offer, take it or leave it.
Charlotte realized that she'd overplayed her hand and was at the mercy of the Headmaster. So she agreed to those terms. She pulled her underwear back on before bending back over the desk. Then she felt the tell tale tapping begin...
TWACK!
Since the two strokes would be muffled by her skirt; Mr. Tompkins put extra zip behind them so the little snitch would feel them. And feel them she did!
"Ohhh!" Anyone in the hallway would know that a Tompkins thrashing was in progress.
TWACK!
Charlotte groaned again as the second stroke made a parallel line slightly above the initial one. She knew she'd made the right choice because those two hurt like blazes; she couldn't imagine receiving six on the bare.
Then she had to put her acting skills to use as Mr. Tompkins whacked the pillow four times and she cried out in mock pain. Having upheld his end of the bargain, he demanded the name and hiding place of the cigarette czar.
"It's Ashley Griffin sir. She's got them hidden in her field hockey bag." This was a dangerous situation she'd just put herself into. She felt a sense of justice, since Ashley was partially responsible for her being perpetually late and in trouble with Mrs. Dunham in the first place. It would be nice for her to suffer for once. On the other hand, if Ashley ever discovered who'd sold her out, then she'd make Charlotte's life a living hell. But the die was cast and now she had to live with her choice.
This was a prize fish indeed. "Thank you, Miss Wilson. I hope you aren't telling me a tale, because I will repay your dishonesty in spades." Charlotte assured him that she was telling him the truth.
And that was when the Headmaster dropped the sledgehammer on her.
"Before you go we need to decide how you'll be submitting your reports from now on."
Wait a minute! She hadn't agreed to "from now on." She informed him that this had been a once-only deal. She had zero interest in becoming a career stool pigeon. But Mr. Tompkins informed her that, in fact she'd just started her career as his auxiliary eyes and ears.
She said she wouldn't do it. He reminded her that Ashley's cigarette operation was about to be broken up and it would be a terrible shame if he accidentally let it slip how he'd become aware of it. And if the cigarettes weren't where Charlotte had claimed, then he'd presume that either she'd lied to him or had warned Ashley of the impending search. Either way, her backside would pay the price for wasting his time.
Charlotte realized that her attempt at salvation had turned into a deal with the devil instead. If she refused to accept, either he'd find the stash and let Ashley know who'd narced on her, or he wouldn't find it and hold her accountable. Either way she would lose, so she saw no other choice than to become what her classmates despised most - a snitch.
Once she agreed to his demands there was the matter of how to keep him informed without arousing suspicions. Having a military father, Mr. Tompkins had grown up on old war movies. One of his father's favorites had been Stalag 17 about a WW II POW camp. The Germans had situated a spy among the American prisoners; when he had something to report he'd leave a note inside a hollow chess piece and loop a light cord a certain way. The guards would see the cord and then force everyone outside for an inspection so they could retrieve the message.
Mr. Tompkins ordered a similar gambit for Charlotte. She couldn't risk writing him notes or dropping by his office without attracting suspicion. But since she already had an adversarial relationship with Mrs. Dunham, when she had something to report she could act out in her class and get sent to his office. He would fake thrashing her for anyone who might be listening but her 'misbehavior' wouldn't get counted against her. That would give them the pretext to be alone together and no one would suspect a troublemaker of being the snitch reporting on other troublemakers.
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