Chapter 1

President Trump, as he commenced his second term, signed an executive order under which corporal punishment was reinstated in all public schools in the United States. Schools were given great latitude in implementing the change; the only way for parents to object was to remove their children from the school in question and enrolling them either in a private school or in a school with a less harsh punishment regime.

Millennium High School was a public school in Bismarck, North Dakota, a State where the President gained 80% of the vote. It was also known for its severe discipline and behavioral problems, as well as its sub-optimal academic performance. Its headmaster, Mr. Barton, had previously been in charge of a military boot camp - he knew little or nothing about education but had very strong views about discipline - views that included pain, humiliation and nudity. The toughest thug and gang members had become docile if left naked in the open for long enough. Unfortunately, until now, he had not been able to have his way when it came to disciplining the students, and this had both frustrated him and given him a neat excuse when challenged by parents about the school’s discipline and academic record.

The school governors were all Trump supporters, and they trusted Mr. Barton implicitly - so much so that they had delegated all discipline matters to him personally. They had also agreed when he requested funding (taken from the fine arts, music and drama departments) to hire a school police force drawn from ex-military personnel. They were known as the school security guards, and they had until now checked pupils for weapons, drugs, and seditious literature at each of the school entrances. With the Executive Order signed, they were about to be employed in a rather more prominent role.

Just two days after the President had signed the Executive Order, the following notice appeared on the school’s Intranet:

New Discipline Regime at Millennium High

Following the President’s change of Federal Law by Executive Order, corporal punishment will be reinstated at the school.

With immediate effect, a special assembly of the whole school will be held in the school theater in the morning of the first Monday of each month. Any student having accumulated more than 10 demerits will undergo punishment in front of the whole school. Punishments can include caning (usually of the bottom) and whipping (usually of the back). The Headmaster has discretion to order other forms of punishment in appropriate cases. Students undergoing discipline may be required to shed some or all of their clothing. Punishments will be fair and proportionate, according to the maxim: “Let the Punishment fit the Crime’.

Stop Press Stop Press

The first special assembly has been called for tomorrow morning. At this assembly, the new discipline regime will be demonstrated on students who have accumulated a significant number of demerits over the past three weeks. All students please be in their seats by 9am - latecomers will earn five demerits.

Ever since Mr. Barton’s appointment, the school had been known for tough, if somewhat ineffective, discipline. A demerit system was in place by which bad academic performance, infringements of school rules and behavior outside school designed to ‘bring the school into disrepute’ earned the student in question demerits which would then accumulate over the month. 10 demerits had hitherto led to being barred from the next school trip or event (such as a prom), 20 demerits meant exclusion from school for a week in addition, 30 demerits meant having to repeat the school year (being excluded from school events throughout that year). Fewer than 10 demerits were carried over until the following month; punishment wiped the slate clean.

Burt,15, the captain of the school’s junior football team, was worried when he came down to breakfast the next morning. He had never excelled at academic work, and a number of poor performances at the white board when being tested on his homework by Mr. Jones, the math teacher, had so far earned him 15 demerits. That would not be so bad (15 did not seem ‘significant’), but he had been late the day before (his morning run had taken longer than planned), and whom would he run into but the Headmaster as he was trying to sneak into school? Mr. Barton had angrily sent him to class, giving him 10 demerits for lateness. Now, 25 was quite serious. So Burt was worried, and his Mum was concerned.

“What’s with the long face, Burt?”, she asked. “Is anything the matter?”.

“No”, Burt replied. “I’m just worried we are going to lose against the Fargo Hawks next week.” He wasn’t going to admit to his mother that he was in trouble!

Cindy, 16, was likewise morose during breakfast. She had been caught shoplifting the week before, and the shopkeeper had reported this not just to the police (she had been summarily convicted to 30 hours of community service), but also to the school. Bringing the school into disrepute carried an automatic 25 demerits, although these had not yet been formally awarded to her. She was worried, however, that they would be and that she might be one of the students that would be made an example of. She very much hoped that the shopkeeper had not told the school just what she had been shoplifting...

Cliff, at 16, was the school bully. He was always one to beat up boys (and, sometimes, girls) smaller than him, and it was well known that he was very quick to grope a girl should the opportunity arise, as in line at the cafeteria, or in the scrum in the morning when everybody was trying hard to get through the narrow door when the school opened. He had received several demerits for bullying, and an investigation for groping was ongoing following a feature about the allegations against him in the student newspaper, the Millennium Herald. At the moment, he only had 10 ‘official’ demerits, so he thought himself safe as he was driving his Mustang to school.

Kimberly, at 17, was known as the school’s ‘sure thing’. Her reputation was that, if it had a penis, she would sleep with it. However, the reputation was almost entirely unmerited. Though she had recently lost her virginity to her then boyfriend, she did not ‘sleep around’. Although she dressed provocatively (or ‘sluttily’, as her jealous frenemies would describe it), she had only ever slept with that one guy. He had then dumped her, and she had tried to take some mild revenge by posting a naked picture of him (showing clearly that he was somewhat under endowed) on Facebook. This had been traced to her and she had received 20 demerits for bringing he school into disrepute. So, as she was locking her bike in front of the school, she was somewhat nervous.

Nervous described the state of any pupil of the school that had more than ten demerits, and there were many of those. They were all gathered well before 9am in the school theater - a grand, purpose-built building which a former pupil who had made it big in Hollywood had built for the school. Now that Burton had taken funding away from drama, of course, it did not really have a function any more, other than as a rather grand assembly hall with excellent sight-lines!

The stage was bare, apart from four empty chairs downstage and four members of the new school security service discretely standing at the back, under two large cinema screens.

“Welcome, pupils of Millennium High School!”, a voice (Mr. Barton’s) came over the theater’s speaker system.

“Today is the first day of a new era at the school, during which discipline problems will be a thing of the past, thanks to our revered President’s latest executive order. At this school, we are always keen to respect the democratically expressed will of the people and have changed our discipline regime in accordance with the President’s wishes. We very much hope that today’s demonstration will make future assemblies unnecessary, but that shall remain to be seen. Our motto shall be, ‘Let the punishment fit the crime’. We will demonstrate this on the four worst offenders that are currently present in the room, and hopefully this demonstration will deter those offenders from offending again, and others from offending in the future!

We shall now all rise and recite the new Pledge of Allegiance.”

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the President, who guides us, protects us and allots liberty and justice to some of us.”

That done, everyone sat down again. There was a suspenseful hush in the room.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I will now read out the names of the four worst offenders of the past three weeks. Will these please make their way to the stage and sit in one of the chairs. They are: Burt Rogerson, Cindy Honeyford, Cliff Jackson and Kimberly Johnson!”

A communal sigh of relief from those 450 or so students who had not been asked to come up. Burt, Cindy, Cliff and Kimberly, on the other hand, made their way to the stage, their hearts beating hard in their chests, and sat down on the chairs.

“The way these punishment sessions are going to proceed is by the offenders first confessing their guilt to all their fellow pupils. A member of security will hand you a microphone - please explain to us why you think you are here! Mr. Rogerson to go first!”.

Burt was unused to public speaking.

“Well, I have always been pretty bad at math - football is more my thing. And then I was late the other day ... I can’t think of anything else.”

“Mr. Rogerson, is it not true that you have not completed a single math assignment in the last three weeks?”

“Yes, I guess that’s true.”

“And that you were late no fewer than five times?”

Burt thought that the other times he was late had gone undetected, but thought confessing was the best policy.

“Mr. Rogerson, you will receive 25 cane strokes on your posterior, one for each demerit. Please hand the microphone to Miss Honeyford.”

Cindy’s voice was shaking.

“I was caught shoplifting recently and the shopkeeper reported me to the school as well as the police. I am very sorry to have brought the school into disrepute.”

“What was it that you stole, Miss Honeyford?”

“Do I really have to say?”

“Yes, you do.”

“A packet of condoms.” The school burst into laughter.

When the laughter had died down, the voice asked: “How old are you, Miss Honeyford?”

“16, Sir”.

“So, is a 16-year-old allowed to have sex in this State?”

“No, Sir.”

“What did you need the condoms for, then?”

“Well, I wanted them as a precaution. I was worried that I might get raped, and, if that were to happen, I wanted to ask my rapist to put on a condom.”

Uproarious laughter.

“That must be the worst excuse I have ever heard. Your punishment shall fit the crime. To put sex out of your mind once and for all, you shall take off your skirt and panties. You will then be strapped to a special punishment horse and whipped on your vagina 25 times. Please pass the microphone to Mr. Jackson!”

Cindy all but fainted - she simply could not believe what was about to happen to her. In a daze, she handed the microphone to Cliff. He was actually the guy who had threatened to rape her. She’d been too embarrassed to buy the condoms - and she thought she might get into trouble if she tried. She was a good girl, trying to do everything right, and now this horrible thing had happened to her.

“Can we have some quiet, please?”

The pupils were still going nuts over what was about to happen, and it took some time for them to quieten down.

“Mr. Jackson, why are you here?”

“Well, I guess I have beaten up a few smaller boys from time to time - disciplining them, so to speak. Believe me, they deserved it!”

“Do not try to justify yourself - that’s what Twitter is for! So, you have been bullying younger boys?”

“I guess so.”

“How about girls?”

“If they deserved it, I have from time to time beaten up small girls, too”.

Boos and catcalls from a large number of female pupils.

“Is it not also true that you have often been accused of groping women on the school premises?”

“Accused, yes, but it’s all a campaign by the fake student paper! I would never grab a woman by the pussy - after all, I’m not a celebrity (yet)!”

“Your attempt at humor is misplaced, Mr. Jackson. The difference is that our President can grab women by the pussy because women enjoy being grabbed and groped by him, the most powerful, potent and handsome man in the universe. This does not apply to you! We consider the case against you proven! You shall receive thirty cane strokes entirely naked. You shall then be strapped down and we shall invite any of your female fellow pupils who have been groped by you to come up and give you a kick between the legs! Let the punishment fit the crime!”

The girls in the audience went wild with delight.

“Please pass the microphone to Miss Johnson!”

Kimberly was feeling weak. She was now sure that she would be forced to strip for her punishment. This was just so unfair!

“We haven’t got all day, Miss Johnson!”

“Ok, this is what happened. My boyfriend got me to sleep with him and then dumped me the next day. In revenge, I posted a naked pic of him on Facebook. I am very sorry, I should not have done it, I was just so hurt!”

“A handsome apology. Still, your sentence must fit the crime. You shall be given 20 cane strokes entirely naked, 10 whip lashes on your back and 10 whiplashes on your front. Please hand the microphone to one of the security guards. We shall now commence. Mr. Rogerson, please stand up and move center stage!”

A large punishment horse was wheeled onto the stage by one of the security guards. This had been specifically manufactured to Mr. Barton’s specifications: it allowed the culprit to be firmly secured in any position desired. There were Velcro straps all over it, allowing endless possibilities.

While one of the guards took Burt’s arm and moved him over to the contraption, the voice warned that the use of video equipment was strictly prohibited and would be punished by 20 demerits.

Burt was somewhat relieved to hear this! Relief was, all things considered, the predominant emotion he was experiencing, anyway. He was wearing thick jeans and was pretty sure that the cane would not hurt all that much through them. Having listened to what was about to happen to the other three he was both relieved it was going to happen to them and not him, and excited, particularly about the punishment that the two girls were about to receive! He had developed an erection, mercifully hidden by his jeans (if he’d been asked to strip, that would have been a major embarrassment!).

He lay down on the punishment horse, his bottom facing the audience, and the security guard had secured one of his legs, when another guard hastened towards the horse and whispered something in his colleague’s ear; the latter then unstrapped him again.

They both felt the thickness of the material of his jeans - then shook their heads towards the back of the theater.

“Mr. Rogerson, unfortunately the fabric that your jeans are made of is too thick for our purposes. You are therefore required to take them off before the punishment can commence. Please step to the front of the stage, face the audience and slowly take them down. Then hand them to one of the guards and remain standing until further notice.”

Disaster! This was terrible. He could feel his penis pushing against the fabric of his jeans ... he was wearing loose boxers and his erection would be obvious to everyone! If only he had put on a longer T-shirt – the one he was wearing was a tight sports jersey. Still, there was nothing for it.

He walked to the edge of the stage. The auditorium appeared dark to him - the lights illuminating the stage were blinding him.

“We haven’t got all day, Mr. Rogerson!”

He slowly undid his belt. Then the button. He opened the zipper. If only these weren’t so tight! It took quite a lot of effort to slide them down, and the first obstacle was his hard and throbbing penis! Oh no! The boxers actually came down with the jeans, and for two seconds his penis was exposed. He quickly pulled the boxers up again, but the damage was done. The audience went wild with catcalls and whistles. His boxers made quite a sizeable ‘tent’, but then, everybody knew he had an erection now, anyway.

“Well, well, Mr. Rogerson. I’m pretty sure you should not be enjoying this! Let’s get your punishment started!”

Two guards took one arm each and led him to the horse. He was strapped in, secured by one large strap across his back, as well as at his ankles and wrists. He could not move.

“Will all pupils please count each stroke.”

One of the guards raised a heavy cane and brought it down on Burt’s scantily clad bottom.

“ONE’. The cane bit into his flesh - these guards knew their stuff, but Burt could not really rejoice in the knowledge that Barton wasn’t wasting the school’s money on them.

“TWO”. This wasn’t getting any better.

In fact, each successive stroke was more painful than the last, and soon Burt’s bottom was on fire. Stroke after stroke landed on his butt.

“24”. Oh God, almost at the end. Not before time.

“25”. Pain, and relief. In roughly equal measure. This had not been a positive experience.

He was unstrapped.

“Mr. Rogerson, please stand at the at the front of the stage again.” If he had thought he’d get his jeans back, he was wrong. Instead, the guard handed him a microphone. He was glad that the pain had caused his erection to subside.

“Please describe what you are feeling right now, and what you were feeling during the punishment.”

“Well, I am relieved it’s over. It was really painful. And humiliating. I will try to pay more attention to my studies from now on, I promise. Anything to avoid a repeat of this!”

“Those are good sentiments. A round of applause for Mr. Rogerson.”

The applause was lukewarm at best. The audience could not wait for the next punishee.

“Please return to your chair and sit down.”

Two guards accompanied him and took one of Cindy’s arms each, escorting her to the front of the stage. During Burt’s punishment, Cindy had been doing some thinking. Surely, even with the famous executive order, they could not possibly be allowed to do this to her? Surely there were still laws against stripping minors and punishing them by whipping their sex? Surely that was sexual assault of the worst kind? She would protest and refuse to cooperate. She would threaten that her parents would sue. She would certainly not submit without a fight!

“Miss Honeyford, you have been sentenced to be whipped on your vagina 25 times. You are required to take off your skirt and panties. Please do so now, facing the audience.”

“No, I certainly will not! This is assault! This is criminal! My parents shall sue! I am not cooperating! This is unfair, immoral and abusive!”

The voice went ice-cold: “The school is entirely within the law in pronouncing this sentence. The executive order is very broad and covers us. Should it be overturned by the fake judges, the President has vouched to pardon any person or institution acting in accordance with it in good faith. You can comply willingly, or we will compel your compliance. It is your choice. Should we have to compel you, your punishment will be doubled, by the way. And you shall suffer it entirely naked.”

Faced with this awful prospect, Cindy’s resistance crumbled. Cliff and Kimberly were also revising their plans of rebellion. They began to realize that this was going to happen. The reality of it was hard to take in.

Cindy now slowly and sullenly undid the clasp of her skirt and let it fall to the ground. She then put her fingers under the waistband of her panties and slid them off. Her blouse was very long, though, and it covered her private area almost completely.