Chapter 7

Nolan Pierce

I followed Ms. Hodes downstairs, my stomach doing flip-flops and my hands shaking. I had almost never been in trouble in elementary or middle school, and the few times I was I had cried. I couldn’t cry now. It would humiliate me, even though I would probably never see these guys again. Ms. Hodes would call the Dean of Discipline, who would call my parents to come pick me up before classes had even started. And my parents...

Her apartment was furnished as a slightly old-fashioned living room, and she gestured for the three of us to sit on a couch. She sat on an armchair across from us.

“As I have said, these are very serious offenses, but I am willing to give you a choice. If you provide the names of other students who participated, I will recommend leniency to the Dean of Discipline.”

That was no choice at all. If I ratted the other guys out my life might not be ruined, but I would live with the shame of betrayal for the rest of my life.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, ma’am.”

“Very well, anybody else?” Asher and Theo shook their heads.

“I must say that I’m disappointed in you. Your decision to protect your friends instead of yourselves was very foolish, and if you continue down that path, you are sure to come to a bad end. Nevertheless, I think you deserve a chance to turn things around, but you must be held accountable for your actions. I will impose a punishment of my own devising and refer you to the disciplinary committee for violating the dress code and being out of bed after hours. You are aware that students are expected to clean their dormitories every Saturday?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“For the remainder of the semester, you will do the same for my apartment, and you will do it in the same state that you participated in this event, i.e., nude. We will begin today. Get your clothes off and I’ll show you where the cleaning supplies are.”

We stood up, somewhat in shock, and removed our clothes, standing naked in Ms. Hodes’ living room. She showed us to the closet where we kept cleaning supplies, and she and her two daughters supervised us as we cleaned the apartment to their exacting specifications. We had to vacuum the carpet, dust thoroughly, sweep and mop the floors, wash the windows, and get down on our hands and knees to clean the baseboards. Asher and I got picked to clean Ms. Hodes and her daughters’ bathrooms, while Theo got stuck picking up the younger daughter’s toys – she really enjoyed watching him bend over. It was humiliating, but I realized that it was much better than being kicked out of school. Finally, Ms. Hodes decided that we had completed the task to her satisfaction and sent us upstairs – without giving us a chance to get dressed.