by Geraldine Roberts
At the end of the Spring term, Susan Robins returned home from school a little more confidently than she had done before Christmas; that occasion had not been an experience she was eager to repeat. Sue was one of those self-confident, headstrong girls who seem to attract trouble, and during that first term in the sixth-form she had been in and out of detention constantly, and at one point the school had called her parents in and warned them their daughter was heading towards a suspension. The subsequent 'discussion' with her mother in her bedroom proved quite painful, and Susan had promised to change her ways.
Susan's best friend Wendy usually managed to avoid getting into trouble, although when the two of them got into some scrape or other, Wendy appeared more reserved than Susan, and also looked quite young for her age. It was generally assumed that Susan was the ringleader in any prank, so she tended to get most of the blame.
Not only were the two girls in the same class at school, but right from when they had turned fifteen, they had also worked together as 'Saturday girls' at the local Woolworths. That experience had been a bit of a lark, especially when they first started, but now they were planning to leave. Two of their older school friends were off to college after the summer and their old jobs in a shoe shop would shortly be available. At Woolworths, the main perk was stuffing yourself with free sweets from the Pick and Mix counter, but the offer of discounted smart shoes had more appeal to the girls as they got older. Also, working in the shoe shop they were allowed to wear 'normal' clothes, as opposed to the Woolworths staff uniform: a striped dress, with a silly tin badge saying 'Trainee'... and what was worse, at their store, the manager made the Saturday girls and also some junior staff who had joined straight from school, wear white knee-socks until they turned eighteen. He said that otherwise, some girls would wear tights or perhaps even ankle socks and it would look scruffy. He wanted everyone to look the same.
Both sets of parents worked. Susan's were school teachers and so were generally at home during the school holidays. She also had a younger brother, Peter, who was a bit of a pest. They lived comfortably enough and had a large semi-detached house on a leafy avenue in a North London suburb. Susan's father taught science at a mixed secondary school across town, while her mother was the deputy head of a private girls school quite close to home.
St Ursula's, her mother's school, was an old fashioned establishment, proud of its high academic standards and its traditional discipline. Since she was eleven Susan had been regularly threatened with having to transfer there, particularly when she was in trouble at her present school, or if her grades were slipping. But she was happy where she was; her city grammar school was quite modern and outward looking and it was also where all her friends were, particularly Wendy Gibson, whom she had known for years.
When they joined the sixth-form, the girls at Sue's school were told that they were now expected to behave as responsible young adults, and in recognition of this they were allowed finally to ditch the hated school uniform, and providing they were sensible, to wear their own clothes. At St Ursula's this was not so; there was no particular recognition of a pupil gaining sixth-form status and they had to wear the same green skirt, blazer, blouse and tie, together with matching long green socks, right through to when they left. Plus it was where her mother taught and so Sue certainly did not want to be forced to transfer across.
As the deputy head, Susan's mother was the member of staff primarily responsible for discipline and most break times saw one or two nervous pupils waiting outside her office door. Just as at the grammar school, teachers at St Ursula's mainly gave detentions or sometimes lines, but they also had the option of sending pupils to the deputy head, and that usually meant the cane. Mrs Robins generally gave two or three sharp strokes on the palm of the hand, but for more serious matters, or with repeat offenders, the girl would find herself bending over and holding the seat of a classroom chair for four strokes across the back of her knickers. Six strokes was the maximum, but was rarely given.
Before the holidays, the pupils at Susan and Wendy's school were each given their end of term report in a sealed envelope which required a signature from their parents on return. This report recorded the marks earned during the term and had comments on the pupil's behaviour, together with a count of any detentions given. Sue always had a few detentions, but with generally good marks she usually escaped with a telling off. But as she walked home on the last day of the autumn term, she knew she would be in trouble. Not only were that term's marks very poor, but she had somehow collected nine separate detentions - three of them for exploiting the new freedoms on dress, in particular for wearing skirts that were deemed too short.
Although she had to take a firm line in her role as deputy head at St Ursula's, at home Mrs Robins was primarily a mother and much more inclined to be sympathetic towards her children. Both Susan and Peter had received the usual smacked bottoms when they were younger but now she normally found a good scolding was sufficient. However in the wardrobe upstairs, she kept a school cane. Just in case, as she often told the pair of them. And since Sue had started at the grammar, six years ago, it had been used twice.
Until that last Autumn term, the most recent occasion had been two years previously when Mrs Robins had found a packet of cigarettes in her daughter's sports bag. Sue had tried to lie her way out of trouble, but had eventually admitted the truth. As a result, Susan's mother had been determined to teach her a lesson she wouldn't quickly forget and so she made her daughter take her jeans right off and bend over the bed up in her room.
Then, starting with a first cut, square across the middle of Susan's white school knickers, just where the bottom was best padded, Mrs Robins slowly and deliberately smacked her cane onto its target. Each stroke was aimed about an inch below its predecessor, with the fifth and sixth striking below Susan's knickers, across the fleshy tops of her thighs, causing angry red tramlines.
Sue's determination not to cry hadn't lasted beyond the second stroke, after which she squealed and sobbed loudly. Hardening her heart, Mrs Robins delivered the six of the very best, she had decided upon, then sent her daughter to stand in the corner to cry herself out.
Peter returned from school shortly afterwards to find his older sister red faced and still trying not to sob. His mother explained to him exactly how Susan had been punished and why. It was meant to be a good lesson for both of them.
Of course none of Susan's friends knew she was still punished in that way at home. Although smacked bottoms were common for younger children in the area, they had generally stopped by the teenage years and Sue would have died if she thought anyone even suspected. Wendy had known about the cigarettes, but Sue had let her think she had just got a regular spanking. Even her best friend hadn't been told about her mother's cane. Wendy herself claimed she hadn't been whacked for years, but Sue wasn't sure about that.
So when she came home before Christmas, with her poor end of term report, Sue had few illusions about her fate. She had been caned after her parents had been called up to the school and fully expected the same again. Her mother didn't disappoint her and had then stood over her the entire holiday as she redid much of that term's work from exercise books borrowed from Wendy.
However after the holiday had ended and when Susan went back to school that January, she was determined she would do her best to make 1984 a new and better year. She had then buckled down and genuinely worked hard, regaining her usual position near the top of the class. The two detentions she then collected for her usual bolshie comments directed at disliked teachers, were small beer compared to the previous term, and she was fairly confident her mother would be prepared to laugh them off.
Not only that, but during the Spring term, she also managed to get back into her dad's good books. He had been paying for driving lessons as a Christmas present and just before Easter, she succeeded in passing her test... she passed first time too, saving her dad a small fortune in lesson costs. So Susan had been much happier as she handed over her next report in its sealed envelope.
After she read the report, Sue's mother just smiled and hugged her, pausing only to plant a couple of half hearted swipes to the back of her skirt in recognition of the term's two detentions. She then asked her daughter what work they had been set for the holiday, but said that if Susan really got on and did it properly, she might even lend her the car for a couple of day trips out with Wendy.
Wendy Gibson's parents also both worked, and because they got back late, she generally spent much of her spare time during the school holidays at Sue's house. Susan's mother fondly imagined Wendy was a good influence on her own rather headstrong daughter, but maybe she didn't know Wendy quite as well as she thought she did. Anyway, she always felt happier if she knew the two girls were together.
To celebrate the end of that term, the girls had planned to go up to town shopping the following afternoon, and when Sue phoned to fix the details she told Wendy to bring her school books round in the morning so that they could do a bit of studying before lunch. She thought it might help convince her mum of their good intentions.
When Wendy and Sue were out together, it was usually assumed by people who didn't know them, that they were sisters. Both had similar light brown hair and although Wendy was a few inches shorter and maybe looked a little less mature, people just thought she was the younger sister, perhaps by two or three years. In fact she was younger, but by eight months, with her seventeenth birthday coming up in June and of course, they were in the same school year.
When she was dressed up for going out, Sue could easily get away with being over eighteen and would walk coolly up to the bar in a pub and order anything without being challenged about her age. Wendy however, had to creep in with the crowd and hiding away in the corner, wait for someone else to buy her a drink. On the other hand, when travelling by train or bus, Wendy could go half fare, and frequently did so when she was on her own.
The two girls were both studying history and geography for A-levels, but whereas Susan also did French, Wendy's best subject was maths, so that was what she had chosen to do. That Easter holiday, they both had a big history project on the Wars of the Roses, to work on, but while Susan also had a French essay to write, Wendy just had some easy maths exercises to complete.
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