Kate's First Detention

     Kate Russell rarely wore trousers or jeans.  Despite the
fact that Andy, her boyfriend, was always telling her what a
lovely bottom she had she could never believe it.  She thought
her bottom was too big and that this was revealed when she
wore trousers.  Nevertheless as she dressed for school that
Monday morning Kate decided she would wear trousers for
school.  That afternoon she had to stay in after school for
the first of the seven detentions she had earned as part of
her punishment for stealing books from the school library and
then abusing her position as a school prefect by trying to get
her younger sister, Debbie, blamed for it.  As well as the
detentions Kate had lost her position as a prefect and her
curvy bottom, badly bruised and covered in weals, still bore
evidence of the caning she had suffered five days ago.

     Kate was not looking forward to her detentions.  As a
prefect she had frequently made use of her authority to punish
naughty junior schoolgirls with lines or detentions and had
even reported girls -  most recently her sister and Susan
Allen - for the cane.  She knew that the girls she had
punished were very happy in her downfall and delighted to
tease and make trouble for her.  Normally she did her best to
keep well out of their way, but she expected to meet a few of
her former victims at the detention classes and did not expect
the reunion to be a pleasant one.

     Although Kate had been a prefect and had not been in any
trouble at school for a long time before the recent incident
she had not been quite so well-behaved when she'd been in the
junior years.  This would by no means be Kate's first
detention.  In fact her caning the Wednesday before had been
the third time she had suffered such a punishment.  The first
time had been when her twelve year old bottom had received
three stinging strokes after she'd been caught mucking about
on the gym apparatus in her second year.  That caning had
brought with it, as nearly all canings at Bishop Hardinge's
school did, a detention and apart from that occasion Kate had
been sent to the detention class at least a half dozen other
times, although the most recent had been three years ago when
she'd been in the fourth year.

     So Kate knew well enough what to expect during a
detention and the reason she had decided to wear trousers
rather than her usual skirts were the "detention punishments". 
At Bishop Hardinge's only the headmistress and her deputy were
normally allowed to use the cane and canings were almost
always administered by Mr Fowler, the deputy headmaster.  In
lessons teachers could give lines or detentions, set
punishment tasks or send a particularly naughty girl to Mrs
Woodman, the headmistress, who might well then refer the
culprit to Mr Fowler for the cane, but could not use corporal
punishment themselves.

     But detentions were an exception.  By a long-standing
tradition a large wooden paddle, brought back many years ago
by a teacher after a holiday in America, was kept in the
drawer of the teachers desk in classroom 13, which was used as
the detention room.  This was brought out at the start of
every detention class and hung on a hook on the wall, and the
teachers taking detention made sure that the best order was
kept by being ready to use the paddle at the least
provocation.  For the slightest offence, whispering to a
neighbour, stopping a detention task to look at a watch or
even, if the teacher concerned chose to take it the wrong way,
having a smile on her face a girl could be called out to the
front and told to fetch the paddle to the teacher.  

     The girl would then be made to bend over a stool, kept
for that purpose at the front of the class, facing away from
the class.  Her skirt would then be lifted, revealing the
girl's blue school panties, to the seat of which the paddle
would then be applied.  The number of whacks varied - it was
most often six but it could be anything from two to twelve -
and the severity of the punishment depended on who was
supervising the detention and on his or her mood at the time. 
Even worse, in addition to the paddle teachers in charge of a
detention class were also permitted to use a senior school
cane - three feet long and very stingy. Originally this had
been the normal punishment for misbehaviour during detention
but nowadays it was used much less often than the paddle. 
Kate's second caning had come during a detention in her fourth
year.  It had not been so painful as getting it from Mr Fowler
but it had been awfully humiliating getting the cane in front
of so many watching faces.

     Any girl sent for a detention knew that there was a fair
chance that she would be bending over for the paddle or worse. 
Out of an average detention class of twelve girls it was
likely that somewhere between four and six girls would be
whacked on one excuse or another.  The chance of the paddle
was regarded as part of the punishment of detention.  It was
not particularly rare for an entire detention class to be
paddled, one after the other, or for an unlucky girl to be
spanked two or even three times during the detention hour. 
Most teachers did not take advantage of the right to use the
cane and most of those who did so did not cane a girl unless
they had had to use the paddle on her already.

     Sixth formers, who relatively rarely suffered the
indignity of a detention, did not have to wear school uniform
and could wear trousers, although not denim jeans.  If such a
girl bent over the stool for the detention paddle or the cane
she kept her trousers on.  Kate intended to take advantage of
this.

     It was not that she was worried about the pain of a
paddling and expected the trousers to provide protection.  She
knew exactly what the detention paddle felt like, having
experienced its sting on three occasions herself - a total of
sixteen whacks - and knew that it would be nothing in
comparison to her recent caning, or even to a session with her
mother's hairbrush.  But, if she was called out for the
paddle, and it was almost certain to happen at least once over
the next seven weeks, she really did not want to have to
display her cane-marked bottom to the avid gaze of naughty
junior schoolgirls.  At least trousers would screen those
shameful cane marks, clearly visible on her curvy bottom even
when she wore panties, from sight.

     Kate did not wear the dark grey trousers she had worn for
her caning.  These had been thrust down out of sight at the
back of her wardrobe and Kate did not know if she would ever
wear them again.  Instead she put on a pair of light blue
slacks.  The seventeen year old winced slightly as she pulled
the slacks up over the five day old weals and went down to
breakfast.

     As she left for school, together with Debbie, she
reminded her mother that she would be late back that afternoon
as she was in detention.

     As the sisters walked to the bus stop to catch the bus
for school, Kate spoke to her younger sister: "I really hope I
can stay out of trouble in detention, Debs.  My bum is still
really sore and I don't fancy getting another lot on top just
now!"

     "Don't worry, Katie.  You'll be all right," Debbie
reassured her.  "Do you know who's in charge of detention this
afternoon?"

     "Yes.  Miss Holden!"  Kate grimaced as she pronounced the
name.

     Both girls knew the reputation of the young History
teacher.  She was a keen user of the detention paddle, and she
almost certainly hit the hardest of all the teachers at the
school.  Even worse she was perhaps the most ready of all the
staff to exercise her right to wield the cane in a detention
class.  There was nothing Debbie could say to comfort her big
sister.  Kate knew quite well that a year before Debbie had
been called out in one of Miss Holden's detention classes and
had received twelve whacks from the paddle over her school
panties.  For days afterwards it had been noticeable that
Debbie had sat down rather cautiously and she had complained
incessantly of how sore her bum was and how hard Miss Holden
had hit her.

     *          *          *

     When the bell went at ten to four for the end of school
that day Kate made her way to classroom 13, where the
detention class was held.  A queue of naughty girls was
already starting to form outside the classroom door.  The
procedure was that girls sent for detention had to line up
outside the classroom and wait for the supervising teacher. He
or she would then arrive and usher the girls in.  The official
time for the start of detention was four o'clock.  The
classroom door would then be closed and any girl arriving
after that time was regarded as late, and the detention paddle
was brought into use.  A register of all the girls due for
detention was then called out and the names of any absentees
noted.  Any such girls were sent straight to Mr Fowler the
next day and, unless they had a very good excuse indeed, they
were severely caned and given another detention for the next
Monday.  

     The four girls who had arrived before Kate were all
second years.  Kate felt really embarrassed at having to stand
in line for the same punishment as these little girls five
years younger than herself.  Only the week before she could
have ordered them about and even given them detention herself
if she wanted to.  Now she was back on the other side and she
didn't like it one bit.  At least the second years, occupied
with their own thoughts, ignored the tall ex-prefect.

     But Kate knew that she was in for trouble when a crowd of
girls came along at the same time and she saw a third year
girl join the queue behind her.  It was Tracy Hill, a girl
whom she had actually put in detention the previous term.  And
she had given her 100 lines to do just last Tuesday - the day
before her prefectship had been taken away.

     Tracy looked around to make sure that neither Miss Holden
nor any other teacher was about and then started to taunt
Kate, showing off for the benefit of the other girls in the
queue.

     "Look who it is, girls!  It's Miss High-and-Mighty
prefect!  She enjoys giving detentions so much it's only fair
she should have some herself!  How's your bum, bitch?  Still
sore, I hope!"

     Kate did not respond in any way.  She just stared
straight ahead trying to ignore the fourteen year old.  But
Tracy was not content to be ignored.  She lifted her hand and
slapped Kate's right buttock-cheek hard.  Kate leapt into the
air, her rear was still very tender and the blow had been
unexpected, and put both her hands behind her bottom, still
facing forward and ignoring her tormentor.  No doubt Tracy
would have continued but just then Clare Smith, a girl from
her class, hissed a warning to her.  The queue was once again
silent and orderly as Miss Holden walked up to the door.

     She opened the door and ushered the girls in.  She told
them to sit down and went herself to a cupboard at the front
of the room from which she extracted a crook-handled cane. 
Then she walkled over to sit at the teacher's desk, placing
the cane on the desk in front of her, a potent symbol of her
authority.  Kate saw that Tracy had selected a desk just
across an aisle from her.  The fourteen year old gave her a
look which Kate interpreted, correctly, as meaning that she
hadn't finished yet.

     The History teacher looked around the class.  More girls
than usual were in detention that week.  Miss Holden had
expected to see seventeen girls, the number listed in the
register she had brought with her, but there were only fifteen
present so far.  Kate Russell stuck out among the other girls
like a sore thumb.  She was the tallest girl in the room,
taller than Miss Holden herself, and because she was not
wearing school uniform looked totally out of place among the
others.  As well as her light blue trousers she was wearing a
blue cotton top, rather tight across her large bust. 

     Miss Holden opened the drawer of the desk and removed the
paddle.  She beckoned to Donna Bardsley, a fourth year girl
sitting at the desk nearest her to come out and told her to
hang the paddle on its hook.  Donna walked to the back of the
class and performed this task, hoping against hope that she
would not give Miss Holden any excuse for using the paddle on
her own bottom.  Donna was not a particularly naughty girl but
seemed to have a genius for getting into trouble.  She had
been paddled on several occasions before and she absolutely
hated having to bend over for the humiliating punishment in
front of all the other girls.

     When she was back in her place Miss Holden told the
entire class to sit up straight and very still and put their
hands behind their necks.  She looked at her watch to check
the time and at four o'clock she walked over to close the
door.

     Just as she reached the door a thirteen year old girl,
rather out of breath, arrived - only just in time for her
detention.  Miss Holden looked at her flushed face.  

     "It's Kelly Mason, isn't it?"

     "Yes, miss."

     Kelly expected the teacher to tell her to go and sit down
and not waste any time.  She was much taken aback when Miss
Holden instead ordered her to fetch the detention paddle.

     "Oh no, miss!  That's not fair!  I wasn't late.  You
hadn't closed the door!"

     "I'm not going to smack you for being late, Kelly," came
the reply.  "You're right - you weren't late.  I'm going to
smack you for running in the corridor!  I saw you running on
your way here."

     Poor Kelly had no answer.  She walked glumly to the hook
where Donna had hung the paddle just a few moments before. 
She walked back and handed the paddle to the waiting teacher.

     "Over the stool, Kelly!" she ordered.

     This was not Kelly's first detention paddling, although
it was her first from Miss Holden.  She rolled her blue school
skirt up to her waist and then bent right down across the
stool, facing away from the class, taking a tight grip of the
crossbar.

     Every eye in the class was directed towards poor Kelly's
upthrust posterior.  Kate realised that she had been right to
wear trousers - she could see cane marks on Kelly's bottom on
either side of her navy blue panties, faint on the left hand
side but quite clear and distinct on the right.  There was
also some nasty bruising at the top of Kelly's right thigh,
just below the panties, where the tip of Mr Fowler's cane had
obviously dug deep into the girl's tender flesh.

     Kelly had broken a window in her classroom when
practising tennis strokes with her friend Clare Smith.  Both
girls had been sent to Mrs Woodman.  The headmistress had
decided that both girls should receive a detention but that
only Kelly deserved to be sent for the cane.  It had been
Kelly's first visit to Mr Fowler's office but, on the
headmistress's instructions, the deputy did not let her off
lightly.  The naughty girl had received six of the very best
across her tightly stretched panties.  Poor Kelly practically
crawled away from his office afterwards in floods of tears.

     The bill for the window was sent to Mr and Mrs Mason and
Kelly was told that her pocket money would be halved until it
was paid off.

     Miss Holden raised the paddle high in the air.  The
watching girls saw the muscles in Kelly's bottom-cheeks
tighten and contract as the thirteen year old tried to brace
herself for the coming infliction.  The History teacher took
careful aim and then whacked the wooden paddle down hard
across Kelly's waiting bottom. The holes in the wooden paddle
meant that air resistance was reduced and it came down really
fast and hard.

     WHACKK!

     The noise as it landed was terrifically loud in the
small, silent classroom.  Several of the girls there had not
seen Miss Holden in action before and they were shocked at how
hard she wielded the paddle.

     Kelly herself gave little sign of any reaction, although
that first whack had really stung.  She shifted position a
little and remained bent over with her bottom wriggling
slightly.

     Miss Holden whacked each cheek alternately and, Kate
noticed, took care to aim those on the right hand on to the
bruised area where it must hurt Kelly most.  Kelly took the
first four whacks in silence, but cried out after the fifth
and sixth.  Miss Holden tapped her on the shoulder after the
sixth and told her to stand up and to pull her skirt down.

     When Kelly's stinging bottom was once again obscured by
her school skirt Miss Holden handed her the paddle and told
her to hang it back up and then find a place to sit.  As she
turned to face the class Kate saw that Kelly was on the point
of crying and was trying very hard to hold back the tears. 
Kelly returned the paddle to its hook, walked back down the
aisle to where Clare had kept a place for her and, rather
carefully, sat down.  Miss Holden noted Kelly's name on a
sheet of paper, together with the details of her punishment. 
Then she looked up.

     "Right, Kelly!  Face forward, hands behind your neck!"
she said, sharply.  "Now let's get on!  I'm going to call the
register."  Because girls from different classes were given
detentions at different times the register was not in
alphabetical order and girls had to listen very carefully to
make sure that they didn't miss their names.

     "Mandy Clark!"

     "Here, miss!"

     "Andrea Collins!"

     "Here, miss!"

     "Joanna Harrison!"

     "Here, miss!"  Mandy, Andrea and Jo were three second
year girls from the same class who had been given detention by
the French teacher for mucking about in class after several
warnings.  All three girls had been in detention before but
Mandy had never had the paddle.  Jo was the naughtiest of the
three and the only one of them to have been bent over in Mr
Fowler's office for the cane.  Mandy and Andrea were sitting
next to each other and Jo had taken the seat next to Kate.

     "Heather Ashford!"

     "Here, miss!"  Heather was a tiny little girl in the
first year just coming up to her twelfth birthday.  Her
angelic appearance was belied by her high-spirited,
mischievous and often thoughtless behaviour.  There was no
real harm in Heather, but she just couldn't seem to keep out
of trouble.  The eleven year old had been at Bishop Hardinge's
for little more than one term, and yet she had already been
sent to Mr Fowler for punishment no fewer than three times!

     The first time the deputy headmaster had let her off with
a stiff telling-off and a final warning.  He had taken out the
cane and showed it to her, telling her how much it hurt.  But
little Heather had been sent back to him a fortnight later and
this time he had made the naughty girl bend over for two
strokes.  He had let her off with relatively gentle strokes
but he could see that the cane had stung Heather's tender
posterior considerably.  She had cried and pressed her hands
to her little bottom afterwards, dancing about his office as
he added her name to the school punishment book.

     But when Heather had been sent back to him again at the
beginning of the current term Mr Fowler had decided that half
measures were not enough for this young lady.  Little Heather
had to bend over the deputy headmaster's stool for four
strokes - panties down.  And Mr Fowler made them real
stingers.  Heather left his office with her hands up under her
skirt howling like a baby cutting a tooth.  But she soon
bounced back and it wasn't long before she was back to her
usual mischievous self.  

     This detention was for shaking up a can of fizzy drink
which another girl was about to drink.  Her friend did not
know she had done this and when she opened the can the drink
fizzed out and went all over the classroom, over the desks and
school books and the girls' clothes.  Their form teacher was
about to send the other girl to the headmistress when Heather
owned up that it was her fault.  As she had been so honest -
after all the other girl hadn't even known she'd been involved
- the teacher let her off with a detention rather than sending
her for the cane.

     Heather was quite relieved.  She had only just got used
to being able to sit down properly again and she didn't really
fancy another interview with Mr Fowler.

     "Tracy Hill!"  

     "Here, miss!"  The third year girl with a grudge against
Kate was in detention because she and Jackie Fraser had been
seen by a teacher in a coffee bar when they should have been
at school.  Next day Mrs Woodman sent both girls to Mr Fowler
and they had each received four strokes of the cane and the
detention.

     "Jackie Fraser!"

     "Here miss!"  Jackie squirmed on her seat uncomfortably. 
Unlike Tracy the fifteen year old was not a particularly badly
behaved girl and had only twice been in detention before.  Her
first ever caning had really hurt and humiliated her, and she
had been in complete disgrace at home ever since.  Her bottom
had still not completely recovered and now she just wanted to
keep out of trouble.

     "Kate Russell!"  The History teacher read out Kate's name
with no special emphasis, the seventeen year old senior was
just another naughty schoolgirl in detention to her.

     "Here, miss!" Kate said miserably, like the other girls.

     Before Miss Holden could continue to call the register
there was a quick knock at the door and a rather overweight
fifteen year old scurried in.  This was Sharon Baker, late for
her detention.

     "Well, girl?" asked Miss Holden "What are you doing
here?"

     "Please miss.  I'm in detention miss!" Sharon answered,
nervously.

     "What do you mean by coming here at this time!  It's
nearly ten past four!  You will be marked absent and reported
to Mr Fowler.  Perhaps a caned bottom will remind you to turn
up on time next week!  Now, go away!"

     But Sharon continued to plead with the teacher.  She had
never had the cane and was really frightened of getting it and
of having to show her bottom to Mr Fowler.  Miss Holden was
adamant that Sharon deserved a sound caning and finally let
her come in on condition that she be punished by herself. 
Unlike most of the other teachers Miss Holden believed that
girls in the fourth year and above who offended in detention
deserved the cane rather than the paddle.  She told Sharon
that she was lucky that her name had not already been called
out.  As she had not actually been marked as absent Miss
Holden was willing to deal with her as a latecomer.  "But I
will do my best to teach you the importance of coming to
detention class on time!  Bend over the stool!"  

     Looking on the verge of tears, Sharon obediently rolled
up her school skirt and bent down.  She was a big, fat girl
and her plump bottom looked as though it could take a good
caning.  Miss Holden picked up the cane from her desk and
swished it loudly through the air.  The eyes of all of the
girls in the class were fixed on Sharon's large bottom. 
Several of the girls present had never seen a cane being used
before.  The eyes of some of the first year girls widened in
horror as the teacher raised the cane in the air and then
brought it down hard across the centre of Sharon's blue school
panties.  

     The senior school cane was normally intended for use on
fifth and sixth form girls and Miss Holden was an expert in
its use, able to bring out all its stinging potential. 
Sharon's first ever stroke of the cane provoked a loud cry of
pain and a frantic wriggling of her hindquarters.  By the time
three strokes had landed, leaving vivid marks clearly visible
on the girl's white flesh where the panties gave no
protection, showing how close together those strokes had
landed, Sharon was sobbing and begging the teacher to stop. 
Miss Holden had no intention of stopping there, though, and
she raised the cane again.

     Before she could bring it down Sharon released her hold
on the crossbar, half twisted round and put her right hand in
the way.  Miss Holden was having none of this!  She grasped
Sharon's right arm in her left hand and twisted it until the
girl's palm was uppermost.  Then she swished the cane down
rapidly four times really hard across the tender flesh of
Sharon's palm.  Now Sharon tried to pull her hand away - that
cane stung even more on the hand than it did on the bum - but
it was no use, the teacher's grip on her arm was too strong.

     After the fourth whack on Sharon's hand Miss Holden
released her arm and pushed her back into the proper position
over the stool.  Sharon stayed there sobbing loudly, her right
hand throbbing as she tried to hold on to the wooden crossbar.

     "Now, Sharon," said the History teacher, "it's up to you! 
If you don't want me to complete your punishment just say so! 
You can walk out of this class this minute!  And then I'll
report you to Mrs Woodman in the morning for refusing a
detention punishment!  It's your choice!"

     Sharon knew that she didn't really have any choice.  If
she was reported to the headmistress she'd get a much more
severe caning just as sure as eggs were eggs, and the strokes
she had already suffered would count for nothing.  "I'll take
your punishment, miss!" the girl mumbled through her sniffles.

     "Right then!  Three more strokes to come.  And remember,
if you interrupt the punishment once again you go to the
headmistress!"

     Sharon stayed bent over for the second half of her caning
but she made a terrible fuss.  When it was finally all over
she continued to lie across the stool, crying and kicking her
legs.  Miss Holden tapped her shoulder and told her that she
could stand up.  On rising her hands went to the seat of her
panties and she vigorously rubbed her large bottom.  As she
hopped from foot to foot her skirt fell back in place, but
Sharon's hands stayed up under her skirt trying, vainly, to
comfort her sore bottom.  She had never been caned before and
the pain was simply not comparable to that of a paddling.  She
was sure that her bum was going to be absolutely black and
blue the next morning.                            

     "Get your hands away from there, girl!" Miss Holden
ordered sharply, replacing the cane on her desk.  "Find
yourself a desk and sit down."  Tearfully the large girl did
so, sitting down - very slowly and carefully after a rather
lengthy hesitation - at a vacant desk at the back of the class
near the detention paddle's hook, still crying.  Then, like
the other naughty girls, she put her hands behind her neck and
tried desperately to control herself and stop the tears.

     The whole of the class had witnessed Sharon's painful
ordeal.  Even experienced detention-attenders were shocked. 
Although they realised that the caning had not been
particularly severe the fact that Miss Holden had used the
cane at all so early in the detention and for a girl's first
offence did not bode well for their own bottoms.

     Impassively Miss Holden continued to call the register.

     "Yvonne Barnes"

     Miss Holden could see Yvonne, sitting towards the back of
the class, but there was no answer.  Yvonne was a West Indian
girl in the first year because when six girls in her class had
been given the minor punishment of twenty lines to do by their
class teacher two of the girls had not handed in the lines
next day.  These were Yvonne and her friend Ann Lewis who were
now sitting next to each other at the back of the detention
class.  The lines had been doubled and both girls had now
handed in their forty lines - but the detention still had to
be done.

     Yvonne had not answered the teacher, not because of
rudeness but because her voice had literally been taken away
in panic at the sight of Kelly's paddling and the caning of
Sharon.  She had heard that girls in detention could get the
paddle, but she had imagined it as a minor punishment, like
having your wrists slapped.  At home, if she was very naughty,
her father sometimes put her over his knee for up to six slaps
with the palm of his hand over whatever she happened to be
wearing.  But her father did not use anything like the force
that Miss Holden had used.  And the severity of Sharon's
caning - just for being a minute or so late - had come as a
appalling shock to her.

     "Yvonne Barnes"  Miss Holden repeated the girl's name a
little louder and with angry overtones to her voice.  This
time the frightened West Indian girl managed to mumble a reply
in a very faint voice: "Here, miss!"

     It was not loud enough for Miss Holden to hear it
properly.  "All right, girl," she said, "that's enough time
wasting!  Bring me the paddle, Yvonne!  I'll see if I can't
help you to find your voice!"

     Little Yvonne looked from side to side for help, but
there was none forthcoming.  Miss Holden spoke to her again,
angrily: "Come along, girl.  Jump to it!  The longer you take,
the more smacks you're going to get!"

     Poor Yvonne got up and walked to the back of the
classroom.  She took the paddle down from its hook.  It was so
big and it felt so heavy!  When the coloured girl handed the
paddle to Miss Holden she was already crying quietly.  She
raised her skirt and bent over the stool as she had seen the
other girls do.

     Yvonne's small knicker-covered bottom was a contrast to
Sharon's podgy backside but the first whack of her paddling
smashed down with all Miss Holden's usual force behind it and
the twelve year old certainly proved she had a voice.  She
yelled loudly and squirmed frantically at the awful,
unfamiliar sting.  Miss Holden applied another whack, with
similar power behind it, to Yvonne's other buttock provoking a
similar reaction.  Then she raised the paddle again.

     But before she brought it down she had second thoughts
and took pity on the little girl.  She guessed this might be
Yvonne's first paddling and that she had been too tongue tied
to reply to her.  Two solid smacks to Yvonne's previously
unpaddled rear would probably provide a sufficient lesson, she
thought.  So she tapped the girl on her shoulder and told her
to get up.

     Yvonne stood up immediately and quickly pulled her skirt
down before clasping both hands behind her rear.  Miss Holden
allowed her a little longer than she had Sharon before telling
her to take her hands away and to return the paddle to its
place.  Yvonne made her way back to her seat and Miss Holden
marked her as present in the register.

     When Yvonne was back in her place Miss Holden once again
resumed the interrupted calling of the register.  The next
name was that of Yvonne's friend who had got her detention for
the same reason as Yvonne - not handing in her twenty lines.

     "Ann Lewis!"

     "HERE MISS!"

     Ann had seen what had happened to Yvonne and was
determined that it would not happen to her.  She had resolved
to speak loudly and clearly as soon as her name was called. 
Unfortunately, in her state of nerves, she went too far and
practically shouted her answer out.  Miss Holden's reaction
was predictable, Ann had to take her the paddle.

     "Right!" Miss Holden said as Ann handed it to her. 
"You'll get the same as Yvonne.  Over the stool!"

     Ann had answered too loudly as a complete accident, but
now the little eleven year old thought she had a chance to
have a bit of a joke and to show off to the class that she was
not afraid of getting the paddle.  Unlike the other girls who
had preceded her over the stool Ann bent over it without first
lifting her skirt, presenting her bottom for punishment fully
clothed.  Miss Holden hadn't really been angry with Ann
before, but she was now.  This was time wasting!

     "Stand up, Ann!"

     When Ann was facing her the teacher asked her why she
hadn't raised her skirt.  "You didn't ask me to, miss!" was
the answer.  "You just said 'Over the stool!'"

     "Don't be clever with me, young lady!  Everyone else
knows what I mean.  You saw your friend Yvonne roll her skirt
up, didn't you?  Now, no more time wasting!  Up with your
skirt and over the stool!"

     When Ann was in position Miss Holden announced that she
would receive six smacks - two for the original offence and
four for 'time wasting'.  In fact the History teacher had been
tempted to bring the cane back into use, and would have done
so if Ann had been in a higher form.

     In any event poor Ann was really howling by the time Miss
Holden permitted her to stand up.  She didn't allow her any
time to rub her sore bottom but made her take the paddle back
to its hook straightaway.  The calling of the register
continued:

     "Sharon Baker!"

     "Here, miss!"  The plump girl, tearfully wriggling in
acute discomfort on a wealed and swollen bottom that was still
very painful indeed, was anxious not to further annoy the
History teacher in any way.  Sharon was in detention because a
teacher had seen her speaking to another girl in assembly. 
The school rules were stricter on this than on talking in
class and Sharon got a detention.

     "Donna Bardsley!"

     "Here, miss!"  Donna was the girl Sharon had been caught
speaking to.  The detention was rather hard luck on Donna, as
she had not actually said anything back, but she had a
reputation as a naughty girl, both girls had been called out
and both were in detention.

     "Julie Cox!"

     "Here, miss!"  Julie, another fourth year girl, was a
regular visitor to the Monday afternoon detentions.  Her
expression was demure now, but the fourteen year old had a
reputation as one of the naughtiest girls at the school.  Her
first encounter with the cane had taken place in the third
term of her first year, on her twelfth birthday.  Since then
only one term had passed without Julie receiving another dose
of the cane.  Her offence this time was being caught in
possession of cigarettes.  The naughty girl had duly been
caned by Mr Fowler and given detention.

     "Clare Smith!"  

     "Here, miss!"  

     "Kelly Mason!"

     "Here, miss!"  The two tennis players answered to their
names, Kelly still struggling to hold back the tears.

     "Vivien Brown!"

     "Here, miss!"  Vivien was a third year in the same class
as Kelly and Clare.  She had been given detention by her class
teacher for having been late three times in the last week. 
Vivien was a quiet, studious girl who hated being in trouble. 
A detention was like purgatory to her.  She had always rather
looked down on the naughtier girls in her class and been
positively contemptuous of the ones who earned themselves the
cane.  She had thought it quite amusing when Kelly had
tearfully hobbled back for the last class on the previous
Thursday after her visit to Mr Fowler's office in afternoon
and had giggled when the blushing girl had had to ask to be
allowed to stand up for the rest of the lesson.  She had not
found it so funny the next day when she'd been late for school
in the morning and Mrs Livesey had told her to join the
detention class next Monday.

     "Sarah Goswell!"

     "Here, miss!", came the unhappy answer.  Sarah, a fifth
former just coming up to her sixteenth birthday, was the
oldest girl in detention with the exception of Kate.  Her
normally carefree face was clouded.  Sarah was feeling very
sorry for herself.  She had been given her detention by Miss
Holden herself for not doing her History homework after three
warnings.  At first Sarah had not been too worried - it would
not be her first detention.  But now she was sure that the
History teacher had deliberately arranged it so that she would
be detained when she was in charge.  Miss Holden's
predilection for punishing senior girls with a caning even for
trivial matters in detention was well-known and Sarah was well
aware that all her friends were convinced that she would not
leave the detention with an uncaned bottom. 

     Sarah was one of the girls who had never seen a cane used
before.  She had shuddered at the sight of Sharon's punishment
and at the thought of what that viciously supple rod might
feel like across her own ample behind.

     "Melanie Stephens!"

     "Here, miss!"  The last girl was a second year who was
starting to become a regular detention attender.  This time
her offence had been rudely answering a teacher back, and she
was well aware that she had had a narrow escape from the cane.

     "Good!" said Miss Holden. "All present and correct! 
About time too!  Let's get started!"  She walked around the
classroom, handing five sheets of imposition paper to each
girl.  

     The History teacher did not really have eyes in the back
of her head, but it sometimes seemed like that to naughty
girls:

     "Donna Bardsley!  Stand up!  What were you doing, girl?"

     The fifteen year old stood up, a look of horror on her
face.

     "Well, Donna?"

     "Please, miss," the girl mumbled, "I was just trying to
signal to her", indicating Mandy, "to ask if I could borrow a
pen.  I forgot my biro, miss."

     "I see," said the teacher.  "This isn't your first time
in detention, Donna, is it?"

     "No, miss."

     "No!  And how long have you known about this detention?"

     "Thursday, miss."

     "Since last Thursday.  The school rules state that girls
must bring their pen to detention class.  You've had since
Thursday to think about it and her we are!  No pen!"

     "I'm sorry, miss," Donna said nervously, "I just forgot".

     "I see.  And did you also 'just forget' the rule about
not communicating with any other girl in detention, Donna?"
enquired the History teacher sarcastically.  "Remain standing
in your place and put your hands back behind your neck.  I'll
deal with you in a moment."

     Donna stood dismally, facing the front of the class.  She
knew that her poor bum was going to sting like hell in a few
minutes time, but there was nothing she could do about it.  In
contrast to her thoughts of a few minutes earlier she now
hoped that it was the detention paddle that Miss Holden would
use.

     Miss Holden continued to hand out the imposition paper to
the girls.  When she got to Kate's place she sharply told the
seventeen year old to sit up straight and not to fidget unless
she wanted a sore bottom.  "You're not too big to have your
bottom smacked, young lady!" she said.  Kate immediately
obeyed in silence.

     Tracy Hill, and a few other girls, were delighted to hear
the ex-prefect being told off like that.  But Tracy, at least,
would not be satisfied until Miss Holden's threat had been
carried out.

     The teacher finished handing out the paper and came back
to stand at the front of the class.  She turned her attention
to Donna, still standing in her place.

     "All right, Donna.  Let's get this over with.  Come out
here!  You needn't bother to bring the paddle!"

     Donna looked towards Sharon's desk as she rose and glared
at her.  This was all Sharon's fault.  It was little comfort
to her to see Sharon shift uncomfortably on her seat, still
crying quietly and nursing a very sore bum of her own.

     Donna got four strokes, one for forgetting her pen and
three for signalling to Mandy.  The fourth year took her
punishment well and in complete silence until the last stroke. 
Unlike Sharon this was not her first encounter with a cane but
her frantic writhings and squirming over the stool showed that
her bottom was really smarting from the intense sting imparted
by that most vicious punishment instrument.  And despite her
best resolutions poor Donna could not help screaming out loud
at the last stroke.

     After her punishment Miss Holden handed Donna a biro and
asked her to let her have it back at the end of the detention. 
She also suggested to the girl that she should buy another
pair of panties.  "Those are a little threadbare, I think!" 
Donna angrily reflected that getting the paddle and cane as
often as she had over the last year must have considerably
reduced the life expectancy of her underwear.

     Miss Holden now informed the class of their detention
task.  They had to copy out the entries in the school
dictionary, starting from the letter 'E'.  She told the girls
to open their desks and take out the dictionaries which they
would find there.  Donna cursed her luck when, on opening her
desk, she saw several biros lying inside.  If she'd only
waited she could have avoided her caning!

     The girls all closed their desk lids very carefully. 
They knew that any noise would result in a bottom-warming
session over the stool at the front.

     Miss Holden told the girls to start copying out the
dictionary entries.  She said that she would look at their
work at five o'clock to check that they had copied out a
sufficient quantity and that their work was neat; any girl
whose work was not satisfactory would get a smacked bottom. 
The girls started working as carefully as they could.  For
those whose bottoms were already sore it was hard to
concentrate but everyone in the class knew that Miss Holden
did not make idle threats and no-one wanted to have to bend
over that stool.  There was complete silence, except for the
occasional sniffle from one of the girls whom Miss Holden had
punished.  Sharon and Ann were still crying, but quietly, to
themselves.

     The teacher made sure that all the girls were busily
engaged in their tasks and then turned her attention to some
paperwork she had brought with her, looking up from time to
time to check on the class.

     Tracy Hill had been waiting all this time for an
opportunity, and now she took it.  She checked cautiously to
make sure that Miss Holden wasn't looking and then quickly
stretched out her left arm and knocked Kate's pencil case off
her desk on to the floor.  Immediately afterwards the fourteen
year old returned to copying out the dictionary as if she'd
been doing so all along.

     The noise of the pencil case falling sounded very loud in
the silent classroom.  Miss Holden looked up "Who did that?"
she asked.  There was no reply.

     The teacher saw the fallen pencil case by Kate's desk.  

     "Is that your pencil case, Kate?" she asked.

     "Yes, miss."

     "Pick it up, then.  And bring me the paddle!"

     Most of the girls supposed that Kate had knock the pencil
case off her desk herself.  But a few had seen what Tracy had
done.  These wondered if Kate would tell on her or not.  Tracy
was just annoyed that it was the paddle and not the cane.

     Kate brought the paddle out to Miss Holden.  The
schoolgirl was an inch taller than the History teacher and she
handed the punishment instrument to her without a word.  Then,
with a half-audible sigh Kate bent over the stool.  Several
girls looked up from their work as the seventeen year bent
down, her blue trousers tautening over her shapely rear.  She
made sure her knees were absolutely straight - she didn't want
to give Miss Holden any excuse to give her extra strokes. 
"Back to your work!" said Miss Holden to the class, "There's
nothing to watch here!  If any of you still don't know what a
paddling is like I can arrange for you to find out!"

     The girls who had been punished earlier that afternoon by
Miss Holden would have found it difficult to credit, but she
had not hit any of them as hard as she could have done.  She
spanked to hurt but she was not cruel.  However she now
intended to use all her strength and skill for the benefit of
Kate's bottom.  She did not feel that the cane was justified
but she intended to prove that the paddle could be almost as
effective a punishment implement in her hands.  This girl was
an upper sixth former, two years ahead of the next most senior
girl there, and her bottom had the protection of trousers as
well as panties.  Miss Holden realised that, on the other
hand, the humiliation of bending over was worse for the senior
girl, but she wanted to be sure that Kate really knew her
bottom had been smacked.  

     The eight whacks that Miss Holden administered to Kate's
beautifully rounded backside were among the hardest that the
teacher had ever applied in a long career.  The paddle thudded
down onto the seat of Kate's trousers with terrific impacts,
sounding like the explosions of fireworks as they dented the
blue material deep into her fleshy buttocks.  As Kate had told
Debbie that morning her bottom had not yet recovered from the
joint effects of her mother's hairbrush and Mr Fowler's cane. 
Just two whacks of Miss Holden's paddle were sufficient to set
her posterior ablaze with intolerable burning agony.

     But Kate stubbornly set her teeth and remained in
position throughout without uttering a sound.  She was not
going to let a class of junior girls, and in particular not
Tracy Hill, see that she'd been hurt!  After the eighth whack
Miss Holden allowed her to get up and told her to put the
paddle back and sit down, warning her that any further noise
or misbehaviour would mean the cane.

     Kate did her best to walk normally, trying to hide how
much that paddling had hurt her already so-tender rear.  As
she returned to her seat she directed a look of contempt at
Tracy, but the third year just grinned inwardly at the success
of her plan.

     The girls continued to write out their detention tasks
quietly.  The silence was suddenly broken by Miss Holden's
voice: "Vivien Brown!  Stand up!"

     Very surprised and alarmed, the bespectacled girl stood
up in her place.  

     "Bring me the paddle, Vivien!"

     "Oh no, miss!  Please!  I haven't done anything!"

     "You were looking out of the window, Vivien.  I saw you! 
You're supposed to be copying out the dictionary.  You're in
detention to be punished, not to look at the scenery!"

     "Oh, miss!  I didn't!  I never looked out of the window!"

     "Now, Vivien!  I told you I saw you.  You've been a
naughty girl and you're going to get a smacked bottom!  If you
fib to me I'll have to give you a lot more smacks!"

     Reluctantly Vivien left her place and did as she'd been
told.  She picked up the punishment instrument and carried it
out to the teacher in utter misery.  She couldn't believe this
was happening to her.  Surely Miss Holden wasn't going to give
her the paddle just for looking out of a window!  She had
thought the teacher liked her.  Only last week she'd got top
marks in a History test and Miss Holden had fulsomely
congratulated her.  But the History teacher did not have
favourites - so far as she was concerned Vivien was a naughty
girl in detention who'd broken the rules and richly deserved a
smacked bottom.

     Vivien arrived at the front of the class but stood in
front of Miss Holden without handing over the paddle.

     "Come on, Vivien!" said the teacher angrily, "Hand me
that paddle and get yourself bent down over the stool!  I'm
giving you four smacks."

     Vivien still held on to the paddle.  "No, please miss!  I
wasn't looking out of the window, honestly," lied the
frightened girl, "I just looked up for a second, honestly!"

     "Right, young lady," said the teacher, "that's eight
smacks now  - four for looking out of the window and another
four for fibbing and time wasting.  Now give me that paddle
and bend over that stool this instant!  Otherwise it'll be the
cane!"

     Vivien looked at the teacher's angry face.  She knew Miss
Holden wasn't bluffing; the History teacher did not make idle
threats.  Bursting into tears the wretched schoolgirl passed
the paddle over and pulled up her blue skirt.

     "Over the stool, girl!  Bottom in the air!  I'm going to
give you something to really cry about!"

     Poor Vivien!  The History teacher certainly carried out
that threat!  The previously unspanked thirteen year old had
never imagined just how much sting was imparted by only one
whack from that maple wood paddle wielded with all Miss
Holden's expertise behind it.  Vivien yelled and screamed for
mercy at each whack, but Miss Holden had no mercy on her.  She
knew that she was hurting the girl - but she meant to do so. 
Vivien had broken the rules and now she was paying the price -
a well-smacked bottom!

     When the paddle walloped down for the third time to whack
into Vivien's already intensely stinging right cheek the girl
jerked her head in involuntary reaction with so much force
that her glasses came off and fell to the floor.

     Miss Holden retrieved them and passed them to Heather
Ashford, sitting in the front of the class, asking her to hold
them for her "While I deal with little Miss Sore-bottom here!"

     The weeping Vivien stayed bent over and did not take
advantage of the respite to try to stand and rub her painful
behind.  She was only too well aware that she still had five
more awful whacks to come, and that she owed four of those to
her stupidity in not passing the paddle to the History teacher
when she'd told her to.  She didn't want to give Miss Holden
any excuse to add to her spanking.

     Vivien was unable to keep still for the rest of her
punishment and Miss Holden had to hold her down for the last
three whacks which, however, she administered these with full
force to the unfortunate girl's bouncing and acutely sore
posterior.

     When told to get up Vivien's hands went straight away to
her poor rear, trying to comfort her smarting backside.  But
Miss Holden did not allow her even this meagre comfort for
long.

     "Hands away, girl!"

     Vivien obeyed immediately.  She had learned her lesson!

     The thirteen year old, her glasses restored, hobbled back
to the back of the class carrying the paddle and replaced it
on its hook.  As she hovered by her desk, unwilling to sit
down, it came to her mind that she was now in much the same
position as Kelly Mason had been when she'd giggled at her
last Thursday.  She realised how stupid she'd been.

     "Sit down, Vivien," called the teacher, "unless you want
me to smack you again!  And stop that awful noise.  You're not
a six year old, and you're not made of china!  You're not the
only naughty little girl in this class with a smacked bottom!"

     It took two efforts for Vivien to manage to sit down. 
She could not stop the tears but she managed to cry quietly. 
Trying with all her resources of will to ignore the pain in
her stinging bottom she started to copy out from the
dictionary again.

     Several of the girls had glanced up away from their work
to see why Vivien was making so much fuss.  Miss Holden did
not really mind this, so long as they did not stop work for
long, but it now gave her an opportunity to give what she
regarded as a well-deserved caning to the girl who had refused
to do her History homework.  Sarah was staring, horrified, at
Vivien as she made her painful effort to sit down.


     "Sarah Goswell!  Stand up!" ordered the History teacher. 
I would have thought that Vivien's experience would have
convinced you that you are here to work, not to look around
you.  You are a senior girl and should know better.  Come out
here!"  And Miss Holden picked up the cane and hefted it
meaningfully.

     Poor Sarah fell right into Miss Holden's trap.

     "Please, miss," she said, "it's not fair!  I only looked
up for a second and everybody stopped, not just me!"

     "I will not have argument!" snapped the History teacher. 
"That's another four strokes!  Now come here!"
     
     The tall fifth former had to obey.  She felt awful as she
raised her skirt and bent down over the stool, aware of the
humiliating fact that every girl in the class could see her
panties stretching tightly across her large bottom, but even
more terrified at the thought of how much Miss Holden was
going to hurt her.  

     The teacher regarded the girl as she stretched herself
over the stool.  Young Miss Goswell had needed a lesson for
some time and now she intended to impart one which she would
not forget for some time.  Sarah's long white socks seemed to
emphasise the length of her shapely legs whilst her thin white
cotton panties fitted her rounded bottom like a glove.  Her
position had caused them to ride up so that the lower part of
her bottom was bare and they would provide very little
protection from the biting sting of the cane.

     The teacher swished the cane through the air and Sarah
wriggled her body across the stool and quaked inwardly as she
heard it.  She knew that when she next heard that sound it
would immediately be followed by the pain she dreaded.  

     "Now Sarah," said the History teacher, "I am going to
give you eight strokes of the cane.  Four strokes for
inattention and a further four strokes for arguing with me. 
It will hurt you a great deal, but you only have yourself to
blame.  And perhaps it may help to remind you to place a
higher priority on doing your History homework!"

     Miss Holden finished speaking and carefully measured the
cane across the waiting buttocks.  Sarah felt its touch and
instinctively tensed her muscles as she waited for the first
stroke.  The teacher raised the cane and swished it down hard
full  across the middle of its beautifully rounded target. 
Sarah gasped with pain and her body jerked as the fiery streak
burned across her bottom.  "Oh God," she thought, "that hurt! 
I can't stand another seven like that."

     Almost immediately the next stroke followed, slightly
lower than the first and even more painful because it landed
on the unprotected part of her bottom.  "Ooh ohh," she cried
as she squirmed on the stool in an attempt to relieve the
pain.

     "Keep still, girl," called the teacher, "you've six more
to come yet!"  She aimed the next stroke so that it fell
mainly across the right cheek and the whippy cane followed the
curve to leave a long weal down her right thigh.  Sarah's
awful cry of distress and hurt shocked the other girls who,
fearing for their own posteriors, were still busily engaged in
their detention tasks. 

     Sarah lost her grip on the stool after the next stroke
and only resumed her position after a stern reminder from Miss
Holden.  The History teacher continued to thrash the girl's
bottom steadily.  By the sixth stroke Sarah, almost demented
with pain, was crying loudly.  After the eighth she hung over
the stool weeping copiously, her weal-marked buttocks wobbling
as she sobbed.  Miss Holden told her to get up and she rose
stiffly, her hands going behind her to pull her skirt down and
then pressing themselves to her swollen and agonised bottom. 
Sarah danced up and down in agony, her large breasts wobbling
under her school blouse.  Finally she had to return to her
place and attempt the painful feat of sitting down.
     
     *         *         *

     Jo Harrison, the twelve year old second year sitting next
to Kate, had been thinking as she copied out paragraph after
paragraph of boring definitions.  She had seen Tracy's earlier
manoeuvre and had grinned inwardly at its complete success - a
sore bottom for the tall seventeen year old with no come back
on the third year girl.  Now she was thinking out a plan of
her own.

     The dark haired second year had no particular grudge
against Kate.  As a prefect she had never punished Jo or any
of her friends.  But she just thought it would be funny to get
the ex-prefect another dose of the paddle.  Jo's one
disappointment with Tracy's little trick was that Kate had
accepted her undeserved spanking in silence and without
bursting into tears.  Jo would have preferred it if the sixth
former's reactions had been more like those of Vivien Brown. 
She reckoned that just a couple more whacks would have the
superior girl in tears and she looked forward to boasting to
Mandy and Andrea about what she'd done.

     Unfortunately for Jo, although she was just as naughty as
Tracy,  she was not nearly so cunning as the older girl.  Jo
took a pair of compasses from her pencil case and plunged the
points deep into Kate's left thigh, through her trousers.

     The seventeen year old reacted with shock.  "JESUS!!" she
yelled loudly, squirming on her seat in pain.

     Miss Holden was scandalized.  "Kate Russell!  Stand up
girl!" she ordered brusquely, "Hands on your head!"

     The ex-prefect rose to her feet feeling sick.  Even at
this extreme provocation she did not intend to tell on another
girl.  She did not even look towards her tormentor as she
slowly stood up and thrust her hands into her long blonde
hair.  Her swollen and bruised bottom throbbed with pain under
her light blue trousers.

     Jo, sitting next to her was delighted.  Now Miss Holden
would tell Kate to come out to the front for the cane!  And
she would be able to show off to Mandy and Andrea about how it
had been her all along.

     But the second year's jubilation was cut short.  "Joanna
Harrison!  Stand up!  Fetch me the paddle!"

     Jo scrambled to her feet.  "Oh no, miss!  What for?  I
never did anything!"

     "Well, I think you did, Joanna.  I think you stuck
something into Kate Russell's leg!"

     "Oh, miss!  I never!"  Jo put on her best expression of
injured innocence.

     "I suppose you need those compasses to copy out a
dictionary!" said the sharp-eyed and sarcastic teacher. 
"You've gone too far this time, young lady!  Now bring me that
paddle!  I'm going to give you a smacked bottom you won't
forget as long as you live!  And you will be coming back next
week for another detention."

     Instead of showing off her cleverness to her two
classmates Jo had to show off her blue panties to the class as
she bent over the stool.  Unfortunately for her they were a
bit small for her and most of her small white bottom was
exposed.  As with Ann earlier it was only Jo's age that saved
her from the cane.  In any event Miss Holden made an example
of the twelve year old.  She slammed down the slaps with real
force, harder than she had paddled anybody that day except for
Kate.

     Naughty little Jo had bent for the paddle on three
previous occasions and had been quite proud of her ability to
take a spanking.  But now she found out for the first time
what a paddling could be like at the hands of an angry and
experienced punisher.  Jo was yelling after three whacks, in
tears after four and, like Vivien had to be held down for the
last part of her punishment.  Jo received the full quota of
twelve whacks and her little bottom was fiery red around her
small panties long before the infliction was at an end.  To
Mandy and Andrea, sitting at the front, it seemed that they
could feel the heat coming from their friend's bottom.  Mandy
had to struggle against tears to stop herself crying in
sympathy.  

     Jo was ashamed of herself for not taking her punishment
more bravely.  She could not believe how much that paddle
hurt.  It was much worse than the two strokes of the cane she
had got from Mr Fowler.  Miss Holden told her to go back to
her place and gave her the paddle to return to its hook.  

     When she got back to her desk the naughty twelve year old
stood with downcast face, tears pouring down her cheeks.  She
made no move to resume her seat.

     "Sit down, Joanna!  Back to work!"

     "Oh . . oh . . p p please, miss!  Can I stand up for the
rest of detention, please!  Ow!  Oh!  My bottom!"

     Miss Holden smiled.  She knew the little girl was not
trying it on, she had meant to hurt her and she had done so. 
But Sarah had been hurt just as much and she had sat down. 
She told Jo to stop making a fuss, to sit down and to carry on
writing out the imposition.  Still crying Jo obeyed.

     The History teacher turned her attention to Kate who had
been standing, apparently impassively, throughout Jo's
paddling, her hands linked together in her blonde hair.  The
seventeen year old's only reaction had been an intake of
breath when Miss Holden had given Jo the paddle to take back. 
She knew what that must mean.

     Swearing was regarded as a very serious matter at Bishop
Hardinge's school.  Any girl heard by a teacher in school
hours blasphemously using the word Kate had let slip could
normally expect at least detention and would quite likely end
up bending over in Mr Fowler's office for the cane.  Miss
Holden knew that Kate had been provoked and that her swearing
had been involuntary but she felt that she could not let the
girl off too lightly.  And Kate had already been paddled.  The
History teacher picked up the cane, flexed it slightly, and
called Kate out to the front of the class.

     Kate bent over the stool for her second punishment within
less than half an hour.  Her bottom was already throbbing with
pain and the ache became more acute as she lowered her body
over the stool, but the ex-prefect was determined to try not
to let herself down in front of the class of naughty
schoolgirls.

     This time Miss Holden was not happy with her position. 
Kate had to move her feet slightly and bend further over the
stool before the teacher was satisfied that her bottom was in
the ideal place to be stung by her cane.

     When she finally started Miss Holden did not lay on the
punishment as hard as she could have done.  She knew that,
although Kate deserved to be punished for swearing, she had
been severely provoked.  

     Kate's bottom, however, was in no state for even
relatively minor punishment.  From the very first stroke the
seventeen year old knew that she would need every ounce of
courage and concentration to take this caning in silence.  As
the cane thwacked down on to Kate's right buttock cheek for
the first time the rest of the detention class saw the shudder
which ran through the girl's body, but they didn't hear her
involuntary gasp of pain although Miss Holden did.  The
following strokes landed with equal force, but Kate bit her
lip, twisted her hands tightly around the crossbar and endured
the humiliating punishment in silence.  

     Miss Holden did not stop until the cane had lashed into
the seventeen year old girl's bottom a full half dozen times. 
The last stroke was the hardest - worthy of Mr Fowler at his
most angry -  the cane sliced down across the tightly
stretched light blue trousers with a resounding crack.  Once
again a shudder went right through the suffering girl, but
nothing was heard from her except a sort of loud hissing sound
as she sucked air through her clenched teeth.  Miss Holden
told her to get up.

     It took all Kate's resources of will to prevent her hands
going to her poor bottom as she straightened.  Instead she
clenched her hands into tight fists by her sides and waited
for the teacher to tell her to return to her place.

     Kate walked stiffly back to her desk and stood there for
a second or two next to Jo.  The naughty twelve year old was
still crying, tears running down her face as she did her best
to continue with her detention task. Kate lowered herself
slowly and carefully next to her and immediately tried to
concentrate on her task and to ignore the awful stinging.

     The girls realised that the hour must be almost up and
that freedom was just a short time away.  For the next few
minutes the class was silent as the naughty girls continued to
copy out from their dictionaries.  But then, at just two
minutes to five Miss Holden's voice was heard.

     "Jackie Fraser!  Stand up!"

     All the class were shocked at the sudden sound of the
detention mistress's voice, poor Jackie most of all.  The
silly girl had been unable to resist the temptation to briefly
stop work and turn her head to look over her shoulder at the
clock at the back of the room, she couldn't believe it wasn't
five o'clock yet.

     Miss Holden was not prepared to stand for this.  The
girls were there to work, to be punished, not to watch the
clock!  However she felt that Jackie's offence did not merit
the cane and sent her out for the paddle. 

     As she walked towards the dangling instrument of
punishment Jackie had ample time to look at the clock, but she
was no longer interested.  Instead she could only think about
what was in store for her poor bottom.  She was praying that
Miss Holden would not hit her as hard as Jo had been paddled. 
She trembled with apprehension as she handed the paddle over
to the teacher.

     As Jackie bent over, skirt raised, her blue-pantied
bottom was revealed.  Unlike Kelly's bottom earlier, however,
no obvious cane- marks were visible.  Jackie's caning had
taken place two days before Kelly's and had been considerably
less severe. Her bottom did still bear marks caused by the
caning, but these were covered by the girl's school panties.

     Miss Holden let Jackie off lightly, merely delivering two
stinging whacks, one to each cheek, before telling the girl to
stand up.  The girl's offence had not been particularly
serious, it was nearly five o'clock and, in any case the
History teacher's right arm was beginning to ache.  Miss
Holden wanted to keep something in reserve in case any of the
girls hadn't done their detention task properly.  She told
Jackie to return to her place and sit down, but did not give
her the paddle to put back.  When the fifteen year old was
back in her seat Miss Holden told the class that they could
stop work.

     She told them that she would now walk round the class and
check their work.  "You'd better sit down now, Joanna," she
said, "any girl standing up after my inspection will be
getting a dose of bottom medicine!"  Just in case any girl
might not understand what she meant the teacher slammed the
paddle down emphatically onto the seat of the punishment
stool.

     Even with this incentive Jo found sitting down properly
difficult.  Instead she crouched over her seat, supporting her
weight on her hands.  Miss Holden walked over to Heather's
desk and picked up the first year's work.  The teacher had
worked out in advance roughly how much the girls could be
expected to copy out in the time available to them.  She
thought that a girl working steadily ought to have copied up
to 'Easter', or as a minimum up to 'ease'.  And she was quite
prepared to make reasonable allowance for those girls whose
bottoms had been stung by the detention paddle.

     Little Heather knew what was expected in detention and
had been working methodically.  Miss Holden looked at the
girl's work and replaced it without comment, before moving on
and picking up the work done by Tracy Hill.  This, too, was
satisfactory.

     The History teacher continued her progress around the
classroom until she came to Kate's desk.  The seventeen year
old wriggled painfully on the hard seat as the teacher
inspected her detention task.  She had only managed to get as
far as 'earnest'.  However her work was neat and Miss Holden,
bearing in mind the punishment her bottom had received was
satisfied.

     So far no girl had been told to stand up.  This changed
when Miss Holden inspected the work done by Andrea Collins,
sitting in front of Kate.  The thirteen year old had covered
enough ground but her writing was very untidy and, although
she had been copying out of the dictionary the teacher could
see several careless misspellings.  Miss Holden angrily told
her that she was not prepared to accept such poor work and
ordered her to stand up in her place.

     The work done by the next few girls was satisfactory, but
Clare Smith was a slow writer and had only managed to get as
far as Kate, but without her excuse.  Miss Holden told her to
stand up.

     As might have been expected Sarah Goswell's work had not
been very good after her encounter with the cane.  But for
once Miss Holden was merciful and passed it over in silence. 
The last girl whose work was to be checked was Vivien.  Miss
Holden did not expect to find anything seriously amiss here
and was prepared to ignore any deterioration in writing
quality after the girl's spanking.  But when she looked at her
work she was amazed to see that the third year had been in the
middle of copying out the definition of the word 'damn'.  

     "Stand up, Vivien!" the teacher shouted.

     The still-tearful schoolgirl gasped in surprise.  "Why,
miss?" she protested.

     "I said 'E', not 'D'," thundered the teacher.  "You're
going to learn to listen to what you are told when you're in
detention and to do what you're told to do.  You can come back
to next week's detention class to see if you can do what Mr
Wingfield tells you to.  And in the meantime I'm going to give
your naughty bottom something to remind you to pay attention
to me in future!"

     Viv tried unsuccessfully to sniff back the tears as she
stood up and placed her hands on her head.

     Miss Holden told the girls, apart from Andrea, Clare and
Viv, to go, warning them that if any of them were still in the
school after five minutes they would be seeing Mr Fowler the
next day.  None of them were sorry to see the back of the
detention room!  Of the sixteen girls in detention eleven had
already been punished by Miss Holden.  Two who had so far
escaped were now being held back.  In fact out of all the
class only Mandy Clark, Tracy Hill and Melanie Stephens had
managed to avoid the paddle or the cane and out of the four
girls who had never been paddled before that afternoon only
Mandy remained with an unscathed behind.

     Outside in the playground Kelly Mason hung around for her
friend Clare.  The mothers of some of the younger girls had
come to take their daughters home.  Mrs Lewis and Mrs Barnes
collected Ann and Yvonne, bundling them quickly away.  Mrs
Brown, Viv's mother, looked around for her daughter.  It
seemed that all the girls had come out but their was no sign
of her.  She recognised Kelly as a girl in Vivien's class and
beckoned her over.

     "Do you know where Vivien is, Kelly?" she asked.

     "Erm . . . Miss Holden kept her in," the girl answered,
"I'm waiting for Clare.  She's been kept back as well."

     "Why did she keep them back?"

     "Oh!  For the paddle I think.  They didn't do the
detention task properly."

     Mrs Brown looked quite shocked at the news that her
little Vivien was getting the paddle.  She was never smacked
at home.  But the reality for Vivien was even worse.

     After a few minutes the three girls emerged.  Poor Vivien
was last, a long way behind the others, sobbing and holding
her bottom and stumbling painfully forward with tiny steps. 
The sight of her mother only served to increase the flow of
tears.  Andrea and Clare also displayed signs of their own
very sore bottoms.  As they walked away Kelly asked Clare what
they had got.  Her friend told her that she and Andrea had
each got six whacks from the paddle and that the unfortunate
Viv, who had already been paddled, had got six of the best
from the cane on her already very sore bum.  She said that she
and Andrea had been told to hold her down for the last two
strokes and that she was surprised that Kelly hadn't heard her
yells!

     Meanwhile Kate was standing up on the bus home, grimly
reflecting that she had another six detentions to go!