Chapter 5

EMILY

Deep in our safe places, we went to the cafeteria and got in line. It was still a little early, so the line was kind of short. A couple of times, people approached us to make requests. Once they got good looks at our faces, they changed their minds.

Once we had our trays loaded, we turned and headed to the office. We walked somewhat slower than our OBL, but our burdens provided us with a degree of protection. I had to be careful how I held the tray, so I didn't cover anything important. That only served to make me more conscious of my nakedness, which drove me deeper into my safe place.

We walked into the office, and turned toward Ms. Ackerman's office. One of the secretaries waved us into Principal Murrow's office instead. I expected a crowd. I was wrong.

The first thing he asked was whether I had my recorder running at the time. I said I did. He asked whether it was still running, and I realized that I never stopped it. He asked me to stop it and give it to him. I did so. He connected it to his computer and ran some sort of program. My guess would be that he was downloading the file.

"This is going to be interesting. Miss Reilly is not sure she wants to proceed. Why don't you tell me what happened."

John described his observations and actions. When he got to the cannon, Mr. Murrow asked about it. I got my empty one out of its place in my bag and showed him it was basically a spring loaded confetti ejector. His mouth quirked when I described the way I had handcuffed "Jerry", but he quickly returned to his serious neutrality. He asked how we could show that I hadn't unzipped his fly myself, and I pointed out that it would have taken far too long to unzip him, fish out his cock, thread the handcuffs, move his wrists in range, and close the cuffs. There was barely time to do what I did.

He seemed satisfied with that. He asked why we didn't stay around. We said that things were stabilized and people, including teachers, were coming. We thought we would just muddy the waters by being there, since we weren't part of the original confrontation. He was not satisfied with that. He was also unhappy with us leaving the confetti littering the hallway. We apologized for that, but John put in that we thought saving Mary was more important.

"Well, about that. There are some things you should know. Jerry O'Connell has a long record of misbehaviors, but most of them are relatively minor. With his record, it would be relatively easy to have him expelled and to get a conviction on the relevant charges. He also has a long history of targeting Miss Reilly, in ways that his family has refused to believe. But... he is her cousin. Miss Reilly puts a great deal of store in family, even unworthy family, and she does not want to be the cause of his destruction. She is afraid of the effects on his immediate family, who she gets along with. And she is afraid of what it would do to the relationship between their families."

"So we are in a bit of a dilemma, here. In the past, Mr. O'Connell has apparently been able to talk his way out of a number of things. Especially with his family. Usually, by blaming others in a believable way. Not to put too fine a point on it, he is a bully and an accomplished liar. If he survives school, he might have a career in politics one day. There are a number of people here who would love to use this as an excuse to nail him once and for all. And not just teachers." His computer dinged He excused himself for a moment, and picked up the phone.

"Hi, Joan. The recording has been transcribed. Yes, I have them here with me. Fine." He hung up the phone, disconnected my recorder from his computer, then gave it back to me. I put it away. He pulled out John's recorder and returned it as well.

"I intend to run a bit of a bluff, and I need your help to do it. In a moment, we will be going over there to have you release the handcuffs and identify the active participants. They know about the recordings, but not how short they are, how many there are, or who made them. I want them to think the entire confrontation was recorded. They are being reminded about the three boys who were jailed yesterday for attempting to lie their way out of such a situation, and that they are facing a similar fate if they try to do the same. We are hoping to get statements that are complete enough that his parents cannot ignore them."

"One thing I need is a clearly incriminating exchange, one I can point to and say that it is enough even without their statements. But we don't have time to search for one. Can you give me an idea where I could find one?"

John told him about the "bitch" comment and her reply, near the beginning. He brought up some editing software and quickly found them and made another file with just that part of the recording. He sent a copy of that file to Ms. Ackerman.

He had us take our trays to the small conference room, and asked me to wait there while he took John in to her office. I took the chance to enjoy our private dining room, and waited.

JOHN

I took a quick drink of my milk, then followed him. Just as we got to the door, he glanced at me, then pointed to his upper lip. I used the back of my arm to wipe my mouth. He rolled his eyes, but opened the door. I followed him in.

I was surprised to see five clothed, confetti sprinkled kids. Mary was not there. I recognized the other person. Suzi Smith was in some of my classes, and was generally a good person. I pointed to her and shook my head. He nodded.

"Miss Smith, would you come with me, please?" he said.

As they left, Ms. Ackerman continued what she had probably been saying. "with the recording and the witnesses, we have enough to expell you and have you prosecuted. This part alone would be enough to do it." She typed something into her computer, and the exchange I overheard in the hall came out of its speakers. Jerry slumped, and she gestured for me to release him. I produced a key and unlocked the cuffs, removing them. I waved toward the girl, and she nodded again. I released the girl's ankles.

"Our choices are limited. Your cousin is involved in a dance demonstration which has international implications, and we are being carefully watched. If you had been paying attention to the announcements this morning, you would be aware that we have already had one such group removed from the school in handcuffs. They have been suspended, and are awaiting expulsion hearings and criminal charges. Three of them are only facing charges because they tried the 'our word against hers, four against one' approach when questioned by the police." She looked around at the others. "When their claims were compared with the recordings, it was clear that they were lying about some parts and deliberately witholding information about other parts. They spent the day in police custody, until their parents were able to have a long talk with the police and arrange a temporary release. The ring leader," she looked right at Jerry, "may be spending the rest of his life as a convicted sex offender."

She seemed to notice that I was still there, and waved me out the door. I returned to the conference room, and yet another cooled-down lunch.

After what seemed like an hour, Principal Murrow came in again. He asked after our lunches, and I mildly complained about two days of cold cheeseburgers and warm milk. He expressed sympathy and offered his hope that these lunchtime meetings would not be necessary any more. Then he got down to business.

In deference to Mary's wishes, her four attackers were not facing quite as severe a set of sanctions as Emily's. Since we stopped Jerry before he did what he intended, they can justify the reduction on that basis. However, they will be spending two weeks in the Program, which will not count as their required Program time, and will be required to do some Community Service. He was not sure yet whether the latter would be treated as a school activity, requiring their nudity. In addition, all four would be on probation for the rest of the year. The tape exerpt was played for Jerry's parents, and they were sent an audio transcript of his more detailed confession. They clearly understood that it was ONLY Mary's intervention that kept him in school and out of jail.

On another note, he thought we would want to know that the investigation had found that there were clear improprieties in the selection of this week's participants. There were only two people on the Committee who could have individually done it all, and two others who could have joined forces to do so. The National office has decertified the entire Committee, until such time as we can clear any of them conclusively. Temporarily, a group of teachers and administrators will take over.

He then handed us late slips, and dismissed us to our after-lunch classes. Despite the half day or so it felt like, we had only been there a little less than an hour. He arranged for someone to take care of our lunch trays.

I was looking forward to Chemistry, and if I hurried, I would not actually be late. I hurried.

Slipping in with the last of the other students, I hurried into my lab coat and grabbed my gloves and goggles. Blissfully dressed, I took my seat. Today we went into more detail on the changing colors, comparing them to printed scales to gather more information. Not exciting, but interesting in its own way. I was more relaxed than I had been all day, but for some reason I did not come all the way out of my safe place. Given the way the week had gone, I was not altogether suprised.

Class ended and I reluctantly hung up my lab coat and headed out to HHS. Looping to my locker allowed my OBL to take me into class just before it began. As I had yesterday, I allowed each step to take me deeper into my safe place. As I passed through the door, Ms. Prothrow frankly looked at my flaccid dick and called me to her desk. She handed me a questionaire and asked me to fill it out and return it to her desk. She waved me toward my usual seat, and then picked up a stack of papers from her desk. Turning to the class, she announced a pop quiz on yesterday's lesson. She excused Bridget and me, and expressed her confidence that everyone in class had been paying enough attention to easily pass the quiz. The resulting groans included my own, as I looked at the sheet in front of me.