by Mike London
Kate Russell rarely wore trousers or jeans. Despite the fact that Andy, her boyfriend, was always telling her what a lovely bottom she had, she could never believe it. She thought her bottom was too big and that this was revealed when she wore trousers. Nevertheless, as she dressed for school that Monday morning, Kate decided she would wear trousers for school.
That afternoon she'd had to stay in after school for the first of the seven detentions she had earned as part of her punishment for stealing books from the school library, and then abusing her position as a school prefect by trying to get her younger sister, Debbie, blamed for it. As well as the detentions, Kate had lost her position as a prefect, and her curvy bottom, badly bruised and covered in fading weals, still bore evidence of the caning she had suffered five days ago.
Kate was not looking forward to her detentions. As a prefect she had frequently made use of her authority to punish naughty junior schoolgirls with lines or detentions and had even reported girls - most recently her sister and Susan Allen - for the cane. She knew that the girls she had punished were very happy in her downfall, and delighted to tease and make trouble for her. Normally, she did her best to keep well out of their way, but she expected to meet a few of her former victims at the detention classes, and did not expect the reunion to be a pleasant one.
Although Kate had been a prefect and had not been in any trouble at school for a long time prior to the recent incident, she had not been quite so well-behaved when she'd been in the junior years. This would by no means be Kate's first detention. In fact her caning the Wednesday before had been the third time she had suffered such a punishment.
The first time had been when her twelve year old bottom had received three stinging strokes after she'd been caught mucking about on the gym apparatus in her second year. That caning had brought with it, as nearly all canings at Bishop Hardinge's school did, a detention, and apart from that occasion, Kate had been sent to the detention class at least a half dozen other times, although the most recent had been three years ago when she'd been in the fourth year.
So Kate knew well enough what to expect during a detention and the reason she had decided to wear trousers rather than her usual skirts were the 'detention punishments'. At Bishop Hardinge's, only the headmistress and her deputy were normally allowed to use the cane, and canings were almost always administered by Mr Fowler, the deputy headmaster. In lessons, teachers could give lines or detentions, set punishment tasks or send a particularly naughty girl to Mrs Woodman, the headmistress, who might well then refer the culprit to Mr Fowler for the cane, but could not use corporal punishment themselves.
But detentions were an exception. By a long-standing tradition, a size 10 plimsoll was kept in the drawer of the teacher's desk in classroom 13, which was used as the detention room. This was brought out at the start of every detention class and hung on a hook on the wall, and the teachers taking detention made sure that the best order was kept by being ready to use the 'slipper' at the least provocation. For the slightest offence, whispering to a neighbour, stopping a detention task to look at a watch, or even, if the teacher concerned chose to take it the wrong way, having a smile on her face, a girl could be called out to the front and told to fetch the plimsoll to the teacher.
The girl would then be made to bend over a stool, kept for that purpose at the front of the class and facing away from it. Her skirt would then be lifted, revealing the girl's blue school knickers, to the seat of which the plimsoll would then be applied. The number of whacks varied - it was most often six, but it could be anything from two to twelve - and the severity of the punishment depended on who was supervising the detention and on his or her mood at the time.
Even worse, in addition to the plimsoll, teachers in charge of a detention class were also permitted to use a senior school cane - three feet long and very stingy. Originally, this had been the normal punishment for misbehaviour during detention, but nowadays it was used much less often than the slipper. Kate's second caning had come during a detention in her fourth year. It had not been so painful as getting it from Mr Fowler, but it had been awfully humiliating getting the cane in front of so many watching faces.
Any girl sent for a detention knew that there was a fair chance that she would be bending over for the slipper, or worse. Out of an average detention class of twelve girls, it was likely that somewhere between four and six girls would be whacked on one excuse or another. The chance of getting the slipper was regarded as part of the punishment of detention.
It was not particularly rare for an entire detention class to be slippered, one after the other, or for an unlucky girl to be spanked two, or even three, times during the detention hour. Most teachers did not take advantage of the right to use the cane, and most of those who did so did not cane a girl unless they'd had to use the slipper on her already.
Sixth formers, who relatively rarely suffered the indignity of a detention, did not have to wear school uniform and could wear trousers, although not denim jeans. If such a girl bent over the stool for the detention slipper or the cane she kept her trousers on. Kate intended to take advantage of this.
It was not that she was worried about the pain of a slippering and expected the trousers to provide protection. She knew exactly what the detention slipper felt like, having experienced its sting on three occasions herself - a total of sixteen whacks - and knew that it would be nothing in comparison to her recent caning, or even to a session with her mother's hairbrush.
But, if she was called out for the slipper, and it was almost certain to happen at least once over the next seven weeks, she really did not want to have to display her cane-marked bottom to the avid gaze of naughty junior schoolgirls. At least trousers would screen those shameful cane marks, clearly visible on her curvy bottom even when she wore knickers, from sight.
Kate did not wear the dark grey trousers she had worn for her caning. These had been thrust down out of sight at the back of her wardrobe, and Kate did not know if she would ever wear them again. Instead she put on a pair of light blue slacks. The seventeen-year-old winced slightly as she pulled the slacks up over the five-day-old weals and went down to breakfast.
As she left for school, together with Debbie, she reminded her mother that she would be late back that afternoon as she was in detention.
As the sisters walked to the bus stop to catch the bus for school, Kate spoke to her younger sister. "I really hope I can stay out of trouble in detention, Debs. My bum is still really sore and I don't fancy getting another lot on top just now!"
"Don't worry, Katie. You'll be all right," Debbie reassured her. "Do you know who's in charge of detention this afternoon?"
"Yes. Miss Holden!" Kate grimaced as she pronounced the name.
Both girls knew the reputation of the young History teacher. She was a keen user of the detention slipper, and she almost certainly hit the hardest of all the teachers at the school. Even worse, she was perhaps the most ready of all the staff to exercise her right to wield the cane in a detention class. There was nothing Debbie could say to comfort her big sister. Kate knew quite well that a year before, Debbie had been called out in one of Miss Holden's detention classes and had received twelve whacks from the plimsoll over her school knickers. For days afterwards it had been noticeable that Debbie had sat down rather cautiously and she had complained incessantly of how sore her bum was and how hard Miss Holden had hit her.
When the bell went at ten to four for the end of school that day, Kate made her way to classroom 13, where the detention class was held. A queue of naughty girls was already starting to form outside the classroom door. The procedure was that girls sent for detention had to line up outside the classroom and wait for the supervising teacher. He or she would then arrive and usher the girls in. The official time for the start of detention was four o'clock.
The classroom door would then be closed and any girl arriving after that time was regarded as late, and the detention slipper was brought into use. A register of all the girls due for detention was then called out and the names of any absentees noted. Any such girls were sent straight to Mr Fowler the next day and, unless they had a very good excuse indeed, they were severely caned and given another detention for the next Monday.
The four girls who had arrived before Kate were all second years. Kate felt really embarrassed at having to stand in line for the same punishment as these little girls five years younger than herself. Only the week before she could have ordered them about and even given them detention herself if she wanted to. Now she was back on the other side and she didn't like it one bit. At least the second years, occupied with their own thoughts, ignored the tall ex-prefect.
But Kate knew that she was in for trouble when a crowd of girls came along at the same time, and she saw a third year girl join the queue behind her. It was Tracy Hill, a girl whom she had actually put in detention the previous term. And she had given her 100 lines to do just last Tuesday - the day before her prefectship had been taken away.
Tracy looked around to make sure that neither Miss Holden nor any other teacher was about and then started to taunt Kate, showing off for the benefit of the other girls in the queue.
"Look who it is, girls! It's Miss High-and-Mighty prefect! She enjoys giving detentions so much it's only fair she should have some herself! How's your bum, bitch? Still sore, I hope!"
Kate did not respond in any way. She just stared straight ahead, trying to ignore the fourteen-year-old. But Tracy was not content to be ignored. She lifted her hand and slapped Kate's right buttock-cheek hard. Kate leapt into the air - her rear was still very tender and the blow had been unexpected - and put both her hands behind her bottom, still facing forward and ignoring her tormentor. No doubt Tracy would have continued, but just then Clare Smith, a girl from her class, hissed a warning to her. The queue was once again silent and orderly as Miss Holden walked up to the door.
She opened the door and ushered the girls in. She told them to sit down and went herself to a cupboard at the front of the room from which she extracted a crook-handled cane. Then she walked over to sit at the teacher's desk, placing the cane on the desk in front of her, a potent symbol of her authority. Kate saw that Tracy had selected a desk just across the aisle from her.
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