As I approached the school secretary’s area outside the headmistress’s office, I saw a well-dressed man carrying a brief-case waiting. With him there, I’d be too embarrassed to tell Miss Arnold, the secretary, the purpose of my presence, so I hung back until the man was told to enter Miss Svensson’s office. Only when Miss Arnold was alone did I venture forth.

“Can I help you?” Miss Arnold asked, looking up from behind her desk.

“Mrs Thomson sent me to see Miss Svensson.” I waved the folded note the mathematics teacher, Mrs Thomson, had given me to authenticate my presence.

“I’m afraid she's busy right now. I’ll tell her that you are waiting.”

“Okay.”

Ten minutes later, the man exited Miss Svensson’s office and I was told to go in.

“What can I do for you, Velma?” Miss Svensson asked.

“Mrs Thompson sent me, Miss.” I handed over the note from Mrs Thompson.

Over to my left, I saw another girl I recognised as being in my year group, Veronica, standing facing the wall with her hands on her head. She must have been there when the male visitor had been in the office. How embarrassing!

“Disrespectful? You, Velma? For goodness sakes, you’re seventeen and in year eleven.”

“Sorry, Miss.” I looked down at the carpet in a show of remorse.

“You’d better go and stand next to Veronica, hands on head and no talking.”

I did as I was told, exchanging very brief glances with Velma before I focused my attention on the green-painted wall in front of me. After a few minutes, mostly spent wondering whether this was to be my sole punishment, Miss Arnold buzzed on the intercom and told our headmistress the man, Mr Campbell, had returned.

Oh no! Now he was going to see me in this humiliating position.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this Mr Campbell glance over at the two of us facing the wall, and I suddenly felt very warm and flushed. He was carrying two things, though I couldn’t see exactly what they were.

This is the school cane we’re recommending, Miss Svensson,” I heard Mr Campbell say. “It’s two feet three inches long and half an inch thick. It’s made of rattan and is extremely flexible so it imparts a sharp sting to the recipient’s backside. And this is the leather strap I suggested. It’s two inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick. That, too, gives a good sharp sting to the recipient. I’ll leave them with you. Hopefully, you’ll have the opportunity to try them both out and see which you prefer.”

Although I couldn’t see him, I just felt him look across at Veronica and me. Surely, Miss Svensson wouldn’t whack us in front of him, would she?

“Thank you, Mr Campbell. I will do that and let you know. If we purchase either or both, how soon would we get them?”

“You can keep these two items if you like, and we’ll just send you the invoice.”

“Okay. Thank you, Mr Campbell.”

I was just so grateful he left the office at that point!

After a couple of minutes, we heard Miss Svensson telling us to go over and stand in front of the desk. Looking down at the top of the desk, we could see the cane and the strap lying there.

“So, we have Veronica who thinks it’s okay not to do her homework, and Velma who thinks it’s okay to be rude to the teaching staff.”

I wanted to argue the point with Miss Svensson, but it didn’t seem like a good idea, at least not with those two implements of punishment so readily to hand.

“Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves, or shall we get the pair of you dealt with?”

Neither Veronica nor I could think of anything useful to say. Miss Svensson seemed deep in thought, suggesting she wasn’t expecting us to reply. Her eyes were focused on the strap and the cane lying in front of her.

“Okay, Veronica, I shall give you four strokes of the strap. Velma, you will have four strokes of the cane. In both cases, I shall administer the punishment across your bottoms. You will remove your skirts, but you may keep your knickers on. Get yourselves ready.”

I looked at Veronica, straight into her eyes. She was clearly frightened, as I was, but speaking did not seem a good move. We silently removed our dark blue pleated skirts, part of the sixth form uniform, until we were standing in front of the desk in our dark blue knickers, also part of the required uniform.

“Good girls!” Miss Svensson remarked as she stared at our underwear. “At least I won’t also have to deal with any uniform violations. Put your skirts on the table over by the window.”

We both took our skirts over to the window and placed them, neatly folded, onto the small side table. I looked down at the tennis courts below. Eight girls, all dressed in white skirts and tops, were playing tennis in fours. Thankfully, none of them looked up, for they would surely have seen us stripped to our knickers, and realised instantly what was going to be done to us.

“Veronica, bend over my desk. Velma, stay by the window.”

Veronica went over to the desk, hesitated for a few moments, and then bent over. I saw her dark blue knickers stretched tightly across her slim bottom. I remained by the window as instructed, my back to the window now, and my hands folded behind my back trying to cover as much of my bottom as I could. I looked over my shoulder several times, but never saw any of the tennis girls looking up.

Miss Svensson picked up the leather strap and stood behind Veronica and a little to the side. She studied Veronica’s bottom and then raised the strap above her shoulder. Suddenly, she swung the strap quickly down whereupon it smacked sharply across the stretched knickers. Veronica ouched and swayed her body before settling back into position.

The following three strokes were applied slowly and firmly across poor Veronica’s bottom. She ouched and swayed and wriggled after each stroke, but seemed to accept her punishment with good grace. Hopefully, I would be able to do the same.

Veronica was told to return to facing the wall with her hands on her head, but not to replace her skirt. She rubbed her bottom as she crossed the room, and was soon standing in position, meaning it was now my turn. Miss Svensson didn’t even speak, merely waving her hand to indicate my presence was now needed across the desk.

As I bent over, I could feel my knickers stretching and riding up a little so the lower parts of my bottom were exposed. I was tempted to adjust my knickers to cover up those lower portions of my bottom, but somehow felt it would not be tolerated. Perhaps it would be better to simply accept my punishment. Miss Svensson put the leather strap down and picked up the cane.

“Keep still, Velma,” Miss Svensson said, while tapping the cane lightly across my bottom. I gritted my teeth.

The first stroke suddenly swept across the full width of my bottom and stung like nothing I had experienced before. Perhaps Veronica was lucky to have got the strap. The second stroke whipped my poor backside a second time, doubling the intense stinging sensation. The third stroke was a little lower, and the fourth stroke even lower. All I knew was, my bottom really hurt!

“Go and stand next to Veronica, girl!”

I did as ordered and didn’t wait to be told to put my hands on my head. We heard the cane being placed back on the headmistress’s desk, and then Miss Svensson was standing behind us.

“You’re both old enough to know better, girls. I shouldn’t have to be smacking your bottoms at this stage in your school careers. Should I?”

“No, Miss,” we both whispered.

“Good. Get your skirts back on and get back to your classes.” We each got a slap on our bottoms, and then we fetched our skirts from the table near the window. As I put my skirt on, I looked down at the tennis girls and saw one of them staring up at me. They were fifth form girls, and within the hour the whole school would know we’d been punished. Great!

The End

© Veronica P 2024