by Jacqueline Scott
Pamela Jameson was feeling quite pleased with life as she entered her office and began the preparations for another day.
Recruited, despite her youthfulness, to be the Deputy Head of Collingwood's, a small but exclusive private school for girls in the south of England, she had been given a very clear remit that her first task was to reverse a deteriorating trend in discipline. It had been made clear to her that this would require corporal punishment and that she would receive the support of governors, staff and parents in her efforts.
At first things had been hectic and she wondered on a number of occasions if matters would ever improve, or indeed if corporal punishment was really the solution. However, over the past few weeks the situation had improved to a remarkable extent. Pamela's resolve to crack down harshly on her arrival appeared to have paid off handsomely and even the rest of the staff were taking a greater responsibility for nipping potential trouble in the bud.
This latter point was probably to do with a discussion that had taken place at a staff meeting during which Pamela had made known her views rather forcibly. It was now a rare occurrence for a girl to be sent to her for punishment, and at the weekly meeting the Head had commented on the fact that she seemed to have sorted the problems out far quicker than either of them could have dared to hope.
It was with some surprise, therefore, coupled with a sense of disappointment, when the Assistant Head, Mary Scott, appeared to say that she had encountered three girls coming in late the previous evening rather the worse the wear for drink. It turned out that they were fourth formers and so were certainly under age for visiting a pub, although when Pamela found out their names she realised that, as was often the case, they could easily be mistaken for much older when they chose to. By the time Mary Scott brought them to her office and they were standing in front of her desk, however, they looked much younger! Pale faced and dressed in their school uniforms the three, Georgina Allardyce, Caroline Bart-Watson and Pamela Bathurst, looked as if they might burst into tears at any moment.
All from impeccable upper-class backgrounds, and with no previous record of serious misbehaviour - Pamela had certainly never had occasion to discipline any of them - the girls made no attempt to make excuses for themselves. Pamela found the whole thing rather puzzling and felt that there was something she didn't understand. Putting that thought to the back of her mind (after all, she didn't need to understand what went on in silly girls' minds to punish them) she tried to establish the facts.
The story was that the trio had received permission to go into the local town during a free half-day, had stayed longer than they intended, met some boys, and finished up in a local pub. Evidently there had been no difficulty about gaining entrance and they had a fair bit to drink before returning to school where Miss Scott had caught them as they came in. They didn't say anything more about the boys and Pamela decided to leave that aspect to one side for the present.
Intuitively she felt that she hadn't heard the full story and decided to prolong the interview in the hope that something else might emerge.
"So," she said, starchly, "what am I to do with you?" She gazed at each of them in turn and deliberately let the silence build.
Eventually, it was broken by Caroline Bart-Watson.
"I suppose we will have to be punished," she said in her cut-glass posh voice.
Pamela gave her a withering stare. "Yes, Caroline, I think we might take that for granted. You will certainly be punished! The question is how?" There followed another long silence. "Come on now girls. It was last night that Miss Scott apprehended you. It is now almost nine o'clock in the morning. I don't believe that you have not thought about or discussed what was likely to happen to you. I want you to tell me what you now expect me to do." She gazed again at each in turn, then snapped, "Pamela! You first! What are you expecting?"
Pamela Bathurst, the shortest of the three dark haired girls flushed bright red. "I ... I ... I think you ... you might beat us, Miss Jameson."
"And you, Georgina?" Pamela's head swivelled round to the member of the group who had not yet spoken. "Do you expect to be beaten?"
The girl nodded and murmured quietly, "Yes, Miss Jameson."
"Caroline?" Pamela turned back to the tallest and oldest of the trio. "Is that your expectation as well?" The girl just nodded. Pamela was silent again for a while then spoke again. "Well you might get your wishes, I suppose, although I will need to speak to Miss Maclean. I have to say that my immediate inclination for three underage drunks is expulsion."
There was a collective gasp from the three miscreants and Mary Scott thought that Pamela Bathurst, whose father was an MP, was going to faint.
Pamela went on, her voice almost contemptuous, "I see no reason why we should waste our time on girls who break their trust and choose to behave as you have and I cannot believe that your parents would wish to waste their money on paying your fees when you are clearly not fit to be here." She paused and stared again at the three girls in front of her. "Tell me why I shouldn't recommend your immediate expulsion to Miss Maclean?"
The girls glanced at each other. Tears were now streaming down Pamela Bathurst's cheeks and the other two were chalk white. Eventually Georgina Allardyce spoke.
"W-we ... never thought you'd ... expel us, Miss. We've never really been in trouble before. And ... and we're desperately sorry. Please don't ask Miss Maclean to expel us. We've ... we've not really told you ... I mean, last night wasn't quite like we said."
"Go on," said Pamela, fixing her with a steely stare.
And so the whole sorry stupid tale came out. There had been no boys. There had been no pub. They hadn't even been late back at first. It turned out that the whole scheme had been concocted as the result of a discussion among a whole group of fourth formers about corporal punishment.
Some had been beaten or spanked at home or at a previous school; some, including the three now standing distraught in Pamela's study, had never experienced it. As is often the case in such discussions, although more commonly among boys, some boasting had occurred and it had been implied that to have been beaten or spanked was somehow something of which to be proud. Later Georgina, Pamela and Caroline had come up with a scheme of their own which they thought would result in them receiving a beating from the Deputy Head. This would settle a degree of curiosity that they had and would also give them some sort of badge of honour among their fellows.
Somehow they had acquired a bottle of gin and had slipped out of school late in the evening and consumed enough of the contents to make sure that when Mary Scott discovered them she would have no doubt about what they had been doing.
"We actually had to wait quite a while for you to appear, Miss," Georgina said apologetically to the Assistant Head. "We thought that you weren't going to come."
Pamela was silent for quite a long period. What was she to do with them? Part of her wanted to burst out laughing at their stupidity. The thought occurred to her that if she gave them a beating now she was in effect assenting to their wishes. On the other hand they couldn't be permitted to get away with what they had done. That would be unfair to Mary Scott even if she had been fooled by them with rather less difficulty than Pamela would have liked - that might be something she would have to take up with Mary. Eventually, conscious of the anxious faces in front of her, she made up her mind.
"Right," she said, "I can hardly ask Miss Maclean to expel you for plain stupidity. If we did that there might be very few girls left at the school by your stage."
There was an almost perceptible collective easing of the tension in the room.
"However, you have deceived Miss Scott and wasted a considerable amount of her time and mine. And there is also the matter of the alcohol which you are all certainly too young to have been drinking legitimately. You wanted to find out what it is like to be beaten ...well, I will comply with your wishes, but don't think for a second that you will enjoy it! You can tell your friends about it - boast to them if you wish - but I think they will see from your demeanour and inability to sit down that it is not a matter to take lightly!"
Pamela's voice was rising gradually as she spoke; she had decided that if she was going to punish them it would have to be in a way that made sure they would not wish to have the experience again. She continued. "I could suggest to Miss Maclean that you are beaten in front of the whole school, but that would give your exploits a spurious sort of legitimacy which they certainly do not deserve. You will each receive three strokes of the paddle and three strokes of the cane." Pamela paused for effect. "Here and now on the bare bottom."
There was a collective gasp from the miscreants and the blood drained from their cheeks.
"Wishing you'd had second thoughts, are you?" Pamela smiled grimly at them. "And well you might. But I'm surprised if you thought you would get away without having to bare your bottoms. Or did those brave girls who told you that a beating is something to be proud of omit to mention that aspect of the punishment?" Without waiting for a response to what was a rhetorical question, she went on. "Right, lets get this silly nonsense over with. Let's have your tights and panties off ... and skirts as well - I find they can get in the way so it's simpler if they are removed. You can put your discarded clothes on that seat over there, if Miss Scott could kindly move these papers on to my desk. You could perhaps then get the paddle and the cane for me, Miss Scott - they are in that cupboard - while I take care of the necessary paperwork."
Slowly and reluctantly the three girls removed the clothing from the lower half of their bodies. They avoided each others' eyes as they did so and it was clear that they all wished that they were anywhere but in the dreaded Miss Jameson's office. If only they hadn't been so daft.
"Now, line up against the wall and I'll tell you how I am going to proceed,"
Pamela rapped out this command as the last pair of panties were placed on the chair indicated. The girls did as they were told although they found it very difficult to meet the Deputy Head's gaze. Pamela once again wondered at the variety of girls' bodies as she looked at their half-naked forms. Although they were all dark haired, the similarities stopped there. Caroline Bart-Watson was tall and slim with long, well shaped legs with a slight gap between her upper thighs. Pamela Bathurst was the complete opposite. She was short but perfectly proportioned. Georgina Allardyce was somewhere between the two others in terms of height but was rather plump in comparison, probably puppy fat that had not yet disappeared.
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