Chapter 5: Abuse of Power

I actually made it to breakfast the next morning and was busy making myself some sandwiches for lunchtime when the Head, accompanied by a young woman, joined me at the High Table.

“Ah, Mr Danvers, this is Miss Lockwood, your opposite number at St Cuthbert’s. She will be a member of the panel at the hearing on Tuesday and is here to discuss this with me and the other members. I have already asked her if she would like to help train you and she would be very pleased, depending on the outcome of the hearing, of course...”

Miss Lockwood was much younger than I had imagined - in her early twenties - and also much more attractive than I had thought. Blond, slim, tall, with a pretty face. It was hard to imagine that she was in charge of discipline at St Cuthbert’s.

We exchanged pleasantries. “I could easily mistake you for one of my ‘customers’, Mr Danvers”, she laughed. “You seem very young.”

I blushed and mumbled that I’d always had a bit of a baby face.

“No, no, don’t worry. I like it!”

Mrs Cruickshank was smiling rather enigmatically. I was embarrassed and decided to put an end to the situation by beating an orderly withdrawal, clutching the one sandwich I had managed to make for myself. Better than nothing, though!

The day was rather uneventful - two girls to get five and ten respectively on skirts at lunchtime, leaving time to actually go to lunch. There was nothing to do for the rest of the day - I was beginning to worry that the worst part of my new job might be boredom!

Yet it proved that that Thursday had just been the calm before the storm that was to be the Friday. Nicole was due to appear first thing in the morning, before lessons started, and I had got up very early to make sure I could shower and have breakfast. No time to prepare a sandwich for lunch - a crestfallen Nicole was waiting for me outside the punishment suite already as I got back. She followed me into the waiting room, where I asked her to wait. Because why have a waiting room if people don’t have to wait there?

Once in the main punishment room, I had another look at the various punishment frames. There were five in total, but only two were designed for bottom caning. One was a St Andrew’s Cross (endless possibilities there, clearly this was meant to punish the front of the girls...?), another a sort of rack, and a frame designed to secure the girl’s hands above her head with her standing up. The two meant for bottom caning were rather different in design. The one I had already used allowed arms and legs to be secured separately, and then allowed them to be freely positioned, a feature I had previously taken advantage of, it will be remembered. The other one was much simpler, just a round padding at the end of a bench, with straps for hands at the opposite end and just one strap for the legs, which would be secured closely together. Not at all as much fun as the other one, I thought. I would certainly tell Nicole to get onto the more elaborate one again, I resolved.

I called her in.

“Get undressed quickly and get on the punishment frame again”, I ordered her.

She again turned away from me to undress, but then turned towards me, naked.

“Please, sir, can I please get on that punishment frame, please?”

She pointed to the less elaborate frame.

“I’m afraid that one is not intended for naked punishments. Please get on the same one as last time.” “But it’s so humiliating!”

“You should have thought of that beforehand. Please do as I say. Don’t make it any harder on yourself.”

She finally complied. I decided not to push my luck and fixed her legs so that they were only slightly spread. Her bottom was still clearly showing evidence of her earlier canings. As I began, she was clearly more acutely in pain from the word go than during her previous punishments, screaming her head off straight away. Not much fun, I thought. Mental note: think of ways to stop her screaming until Monday...

I untied her and she gingerly got dressed again, then left. I filled in her form, omitting her pleas to be tied to the less exposing frame, and settled down for a boring morning...

When I returned from my lunch, I found a long queue of girls outside my door ... at least twenty of them! How was I supposed to deal with all of them in the remaining forty or so minutes? I decided swiftly, counted ten and told the others to return after school. The ten who remained were all down for very minor punishments - all on skirts, and no more than five strokes. Hardly worth opening the file for! But open the file I must ... unfortunately. I did not manage more than eight and told the other two to come back after school.

My phone was ringing off the hook and I answered. It was Mrs Lodenheim, summoning me, once again, to the inner sanctum. The Head explained that she had had reports from her staff that there was an unusual amount of minor misbehaviour evident among the students. “My suspicion is that they are trying to get into trouble deliberately, just to get to know you. You are, after all, a good looking young man”, she said, smiling, “so who can blame them?”

I could feel myself blush.

“No need to be embarrassed. But we cannot have this, of course. I have therefore taken an executive decision to commute their punishments into lines and academic demerits. This goes for those whom you punished at lunch as well as for those that are still to be punished after school. We need to make sure you have time for serious offenders. However, we will record their slips and should they overstep the line again, it will count towards their escalations. Anyway, it means less work for you after school. Have a good weekend, should I not see you!”