"Go on, Sue, wear them!" urged Beverley. "You told me that all the girls at your school were wearing hot pants!"

It was the summer of 1970 and hot pants were the height of fashion. It was not quite true, as the sixteen year old Susan Bridger had told her cousin, that all the girls at her school were wearing them, but a good few were - despite the clear and repeated warnings of the headmaster and of Mrs Powell, the senior mistress. And Susan was very tempted to break the rules for once and wear her new hot pants. She had been trying for some time to attract the attention of David Babcock, a sixth former, and she knew that her new red hot pants would show off her curvaceous bottom to good effect. Many of her friends had worn the newly-fashionable clothes and the boys had certainly been interested. Susan decided that she would wear the hot pants to school on Monday.

The day started at first like any other. Only one other girl in Susan's class, Diane Ferry, was wearing the banned garments - in her case white and even briefer than Sue's own revealing shorts - but she had noted that a few girls in other classes had them on. It was a bit of a coincidence, though,that Stephanie Whinnett, who had worn hot pants every day of that term so far should have decided to wear ordinary, and permitted, trousers on the same day that Sue first wore the outlawed shorts.

But just before Assembly Mrs Conway, 5B's form teacher, came into the classroom and ordered all the girls to stand besides their desks. After they had done so Susan and Diane were told to go to Mrs Powell's office.

It was obvious that it was because they were wearing hot pants. Stephanie congratulated herself mentally on her prudence and turned to her neighbour. "I knew that something was going to happen after that speech Nobby made last week. I wouldn't be surprised if they got the cane! It's a pity for Sue, though,I think this is the first time she's ever worn them!"

As they walked along the corridor the two girls were also speculating as to the outcome. Unlike Sue, Diane was one of the naughtier girls in the class and had made personal acquaintance of Mrs Powell's cane on two previous occasions. She was sure she was going to get it again and told Sue that the important thing was to hold your hand up as high as you could get away with, so as to reduce the cane's swing. Sue was still hoping that it might not come to that. She said that if dozens of girls were wearing the hot pants Mrs Powell would not be able to cane all of them and might just give them a final warning or perhaps make them stand in disgrace in the vestibule. But Diane was not so optimistic. "Maybe." she said. "But if we're the only two in our class there probably aren't so many altogether. I nearly wore jeans myself today. And even if there are loads of us she doesn't have to cane us all at once. She could do some now, some at break and some at lunch hour!"

When they reached the senior mistress's office three girls were already waiting outside. Susan recognised Jean McDonald, a Scottish girl from 5A. Short and slim, with tightly curled brown hair and metal rimmed glasses Jean was wearing tightly fitting lime-green hot pants. She grimaced at the other two fifth formers and explained that Mrs Powell had asked them to wait outside. The other two girls were both fourth years whom Susan did not know except by sight. Susan was depressed that there were so few of them; it seemed to increase the probability that they'd all get the cane.

"Do you think it'll be the stick?", whispered Jean.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," said Diane. "It'll be my third time!", she added, showing off.

"Powell caned me last week!" said one of the fourth years, coming forward.

This was Julie Peters. Although she was the youngest of the girls, only fourteen, she looked older than her age with big breasts wobbling under her cotton top and long brown hair hanging loose. Her hot pants had been 'home made' from a pair of denim jeans by cutting the legs off. She showed them the palms of her hands, and the other girls, clustering around, could clearly see the remnants of the marks left by the cane.

"Does it still hurt, Julie?" asked Sheila Penman, the other fourth year, nervously. She was taller than Julie but looked much more frightened at the prospect of getting the cane. Her hot pants were a bright mixture of colours; a black base with flashes of brilliant yellow, red and green.

"No, not any more," Julie answered, "but I'm not looking forward to getting another dose on top of this lot." Sheila bit her lip and looked down at her shoes.

The girls heard footsteps coming down the corridor. They turned round to see that another culprit was joining them. It was Dawn Hollet of the Lower Sixth. Julie Peters couldn't help grinning as she saw her walking towards them in her black velvet hot pants. Dawn was a sub-prefect and had given Julie fifty lines earlier that term. Julie was not displeased to see that Dawn was to get her own come-uppance, but she didn't say anything, only grinned.

"Are you the only one from the Sixth?" asked Susan.

"Yes, I'm the only one,' answered Dawn with a rueful smile. "Last week everybody seemed to be wearing them, but today I was the only girl mad enough!"

At this point the girls heard a sound from the office and fell silent. The door opened and Mrs Powell came out.

"You are all very silly and disobedient girls," she said. "I'm going to the Assembly now and I'll deal with you all when I come back." She walked off down the corridor and left the girls standing there.

Susan now realised that they were almost certainly going to be caned. Mrs Powell's words could scarcely mean anything else. She examined her palms and tried to imagine what the cane would do to the tender flesh. The other girls were wrapped in their own thoughts.her palms and tried to imagine what the cane would do to

After a while Dawn walked over to Julie and said "I'm sorry about the lines, Julie. We're in the same boat now!"

Julie immediately lost all her animosity towards the sub-prefect. "Don't worry,' she said, "I deserved them!" Changing the subject she said "After I got the cane last week my boyfriend told me that the thing to do is to spit on your hands and rub it in. I told him that it was a bit late to tell me that after I'd had the cane! But maybe it'll come in handy now. I don't know how he'd know, anyway. Lawson whacks the boys on their bums! Still it can't do any harm!"

The others agreed and all six of them spat on their hands and rubbed the spittle in. Dawn and Jean were wearing rings and they took these off, putting them in Jean's briefcase, which she had brought with her.

"How many do you think we'll get?" Dawn asked Julie.

"I don't know," she replied. "Maybe we'll all get the same, but you might get more as you're a sixth former and a prefect."

"I think it'll be four, two on each hand," Diane said. "I hope it's not six. I got six last time and it was absolute Hell!"

They heard the sound of the Assembly breaking up and a short time afterwards the firm tread of the senior mistress's footsteps. Susan felt quite sick.

Mrs Powell walked through the group of girls and entered her room, beckoning them to follow. She stood behind her desk and the girls lined up in front of her on the other side. On the desk was lying a crook-handled cane nearly three feet long. Julie and Diane were surprised. It was not the one they had been expecting. That had been straight-handled, shorter and thinner, and lighter in colour.

"You are very silly girls," Mrs Powell repeated, "Both I myself and Mr Lawson have repeatedly explained that the wearing of the so-called 'hot pants' is strictly against school rules. You have chosen to ignore these warnings and I now have no alternative but to administer condign punishment. I think I can guarantee that after today you will never want to wear such revealing garments to school again!

"You have chosen to wear short trousers, in some cases very short," continued Mrs Powell, glancing at Diane, "to school. As this is a form of clothing more appropriate to schoolboys than to teenage girls I have consulted with the headmaster and we have decided that you will receive a schoolboy punishment. Mr Lawson has kindly lent me his cane!"

The senior mistress paused and there was a gasp from the girls as they realised what this might mean. Mrs Powell picked up the cane and flexed it between her powerful hands before continuing.

"You will receive your punishments on the seats of those ridiculous garments which you have stupidly persisted in wearing. 'Hot pants' will become a quite apt description! Julie and Sheila, as fourth years you will receive four strokes. You three, Jean, Diane and Susan, will receive five strokes. And you Dawn, as a sixth former and a sub-prefect, will receive eight strokes!"

Susan had admired Dawn's black velvety hot pants and, if she could have afforded them, would have bought the same ones herself. But she no longer envied the elegant seventeen year old!

"When you have all taken these canings you will each in turn receive a further stroke across the backs of your thighs,where it will clearly show beneath your 'hot pants'", Mrs Powell continued, "You will stand on the chairs in the vestibule, facing the wall for all break periods and for the second half of lunch hours for the rest of the week. And you will wear these 'hot pants' to school for the rest of the week so that the marks of your disgrace will be clearly seen as you stand in the vestibule! I can assure you that you will all be cursing the name of 'hot pants' before the week is over!

"Right! Fourth years first. You stay here Julie; the rest of you wait outside."

The girls grouped disconsolately outside the door. Eventually Diane broke the silence. "Shit. That's much worse than I expected."

"It's all right for you," Dawn said, all the spirit taken out of her, "I'm going to get eight plus the one on the legs! That's twice as many as Julie and I've never even been sent to Mrs Powell before!" She tried to pull her hot pants down to give herself as much protection as she could, but it made little difference. Susan tried to listen to what was going on inside the office, but she could only make out an indistinguishable sound of voices.

Suddenly the girls heard a loud CRACKK! as the cane made contact with Julie's denim-clad behind. The noise was surprisingly loud even through the door. The girls did not say a word and could not look each other in the face. Sheila, who knew she was next in line, was shivering and had placed her hands on the seat of her brightly coloured hot pants. Three further reports were heard at regular intervals, the last followed by a sharp gasp. As each stroke landed Sheila's body quivered almost as though she had been hit herself. After the fourth stroke there was a pause and then the door opened and Julie emerged, walking slowly.

Mrs Powell shouted "Next girl!" and, taking a deep breath, Sheila walked into the office looking as though she was about to burst into tears. The door closed behind her.

Julie's hands went to the rear of her hot pants and began to massage her stinging rear. 'Owww! Ouch! I'm glad that's over!" she said.

"How was it, Julie . . ? Was it as bad as on the hands . . ?" Jean asked hesitantly.

"It's not so bad. It does sting, but I've had worse from Mum's hairbrush! It's much worse on the hands. But I'm glad I only got four!

CRACKK! Julie fell silent, continuing to rub her bottom, as they heard the first sound of Sheila getting the cane. This time the sound was followed by a sharp yelp and then the sound of the fifteen year old bursting into tears. The next two strokes were each succeeded by yells of pain, louder each time. Then there was a pause, during which the girls could hear Sheila sobbing aloud and then another echoing whack. Sheila's reaction was an uninhibited wailing shriek followed by a continuous keening. =20 All the girls, with the exception of Julie, were fear-stricken at the sound of how much Sheila had been hurt. Julie had her own smarting bottom to think of, and in any case she had not expected Sheila to take the cane well. She knew that she was a bit of a crybaby and had never been spanked before either at school or at home - where she was badly spoiled by her parents. =20 Sheila's yells gradually faded away, but the waiting girls could still hear her loud sobs. There was another pause and then the door opened and they saw Sheila. She was still crying and her pretty face was tear-stained and distorted with pain. Her hands were clamped to the seat of her multi-coloured hot pants as she stumbled out into the corridor. =20 It was now the turn of a fifth former. Diane felt that, as the only one of the three who had had the cane before, it was up to her. With a sigh she determinedly entered the office and closed the door. =20 Sheila didn't say anything. She turned away from her fellow culprits, moaning and tenderly rubbing her chubby bottom. The three uncaned girls were struck by the contrast between the first two girls. Each had received four strokes, but Julie seemed to have taken it almost in her stride - although the fact that she was still holding her bottom showed it had hurt - whereas Sheila, the taller and older of the two,was evidently in agony. =20 "What does she do? Do you have to bend over the desk?" Jean asked Julie. =20 "No, it's over the chair." Julie answered, "I had to hold on to the bar underneath. Whatever you do don't let go! If you grip it very tightly it helps a bit." =20 And now Diane's caning started. Once again the talking stopped, although this time Sheila's whimpers could still be heard as she tried to stop the tears coming. Julie let go of her bottom and silently raised one finger of her left hand each time the thwack of impact was heard. Diane took the first two strokes in silence, but the girls heard her shout out at each of the last three strokes, the final yell almost becoming a howl. After a short interval the door opened and Diane walked out unsteadily, but with head held erect; she was not crying but was very close to tears. Her hands were clenched into fists by her sides. =20 Sue looked at Jean, wondering if it was now her turn for the ordeal. But the Scottish girl smiled and said "Well, here goes!" and entered the office, leaving her briefcase with Dawn. =20 As soon as the door closed Diane's fists unclenched and her hands went to her outraged rear. She was ashamed at not having taken the caning so well as Julie. As her hands tenderly pressed her searing posterior Susan was horrified to see, through the outstretched fingers, swelling purpling weals on the bare flesh of Diane's upper thighs. Her minuscule hot pants afforded less protection than Julie's denim cut-offs and two strokes had partly landed below the thin white material. Also Mrs Powell had not handled Mr Lawson's cane until that morning. Thus Julie had escaped relatively lightly, whereas by Sheila's punishment the senior mistress was more used to the unfamiliar implement - and by Diane's turn she was quite an expert! Now Jean was to benefit from Mrs Powell's learning curve. =20 Diane, trying to preserve her reputation as a daredevil who didn't care about punishments, attempted to act as nonchalantly as was possible for a sixteen year old whose hands were pressed to a wealed derri=8Are. She managed a painful smile and said "Christ! That was awful! Oh, my poor bum!" she hopped from one foot to the other and turned to Julie. "If your mum hits you like that you're unlucky! My mum gives me the hairbrush and I've never had it half as bad! I won't be able to sit down today!" =20 Diane hardly knew what she was saying. She was talking at random to try to hide the fact that she was really in bad pain. Susan surreptitiously pulled her hot pants down a fraction of an inch as Dawn had done earlier; the sight of Diane's visible weals really frightened her and she was beginning to feel sick. The sound of Jean's bottom receiving its dose of punishmenttook the girls' attention away from Diane. =20 This time the sound of the cane landing was not followed by any reaction from the girl. Once again Julie raised a finger each time the cane made contact but the waiting girls had heard no sound from Jean by the time the fifth finger was raised.

Then, when the door opened, Jean walked out with a cheeky grin on her face. As Susan, drawing a deep breath, walked past her to the door Jean encouraged her: "It's all right, she can't whack!" All the other girls admired the way Jean had taken her caning so bravely. What they didn't know was that, although Jean had kept out of serious trouble at school, she had, up to about a year before, been frequently punished by her parents at home with a leather tawse. Five strokes from the boys' cane over her shorts was painful, but it wasn't half as bad as the eight whacks her mother had given her on her bare backside the last time she'd got the tawse!

Meanwhile Susan's heart was in her mouth as she closed the door and stood inside the office, her bare knees knocking together. The senior mistress, an ominous presence, stood before her holding the quivering cane.

"Susan Bridger, isn't it?" Mrs Powell asked.

"Yes, ma'am," mumbled Susan in reply.

"I am very sorry to see you here, Susan. Unlike most of your colleagues today you have never been sent to me for punishment before," Mrs Powell continued. For although only Diane and Julie had been caned by the senior mistress before both Jean and Sheila had been sent to her and given lesser punishments - lines for both of them and Sheila on one occasion being made to stand in disgrace in the vestibule. And, surprising though it seems, Mrs Powell's predecessor had had occasion to slap the legs of the sophisticated Dawn when she'd been twelve years old for showing her knickers to the boys!

"However I cannot have two sets of weights and measures. You will receive five strokes of the cane on the seat of those ridiculous shorts in which you have chosen to attend school. It will hurt a good deal but I expect you, as a senior girl, to accept your deserved punishment and remain in position until I tell you to get up.

"Now bend over that chair and grasp the bar!"

Sue turned and began to bend down, but suddenly she gathered her courage and stood and faced the teacher once more.

"Please ma'am, this is the first time that I've worn these, honestly! I only got them on Saturday! It's not fair that I should get the cane and other girls have worn hot pants for weeks and nothing's happened to them!"

"I am punishing the girls who wore these clothes today," replied Mrs Powell. "You were warned like everyone else. You made the choice to wear those disgraceful things in flagrant defiance of the school rules, repeated warnings and common decency. Those other girls had the good sense to profit from warnings and wore acceptable clothes today. You and your colleagues outside did not, and you are paying the penalty. Now, bend over that chair immediately or it will be six and not five!"

With a deep sigh Susan bent over the chair and grasped the bar tightly, a red blush on her face. The bar was still warm from the grips of her predecessors. Her long blonde hair fell forward and obscured her vision of the floor. She resolved to take her punishment as bravely as she could. If Jean could take it then so could she! But to a girl like Susan just bending over the chair with her bottom sticking in the air was a punishment in itself - it was so shaming.

Mrs Powell took aim by laying the cane across the centre of Susan's bottom. Sue flinched even at that first gentle touch of the cane. The teacher drew the cane back and brought it whistling down to collide with the thin material tightly stretched over the girl's proffered posterior. The cane dented the fabric deeply into Susan's flesh before bouncing back up.

THWAAACK! . . . Sue clenched her teeth but remained silent although it took all her control. Like Sheila, but unlike the other girls, Susan had no previous experience at all of corporal punishment and the shock of that first stinging stroke was correspondingly worse. A line of searing pain was burning across her behind, seeming to increase in intensity.

Mrs Powell drew back the cane and lashed it back down again just as the pain reached a climax.

CRAAAACK! . . . "Owww! Ouch!" Sue could not help her reaction as she felt the cane bite again into her bottom, close to the marks left by the first. Her entire body shuddered as she felt the force of the blow. She intensely desired to stand up and rub her flaming rear but pure willpower kept her bent over. She kicked her legs and wriggled desperately as she felt the pain flood over her.

Mrs Powell observed the squirming bottom with a faint smile. She was getting through to this young lady!

WHAAAACK!! . . . "YOOOWWW! OWWWW! OOWWW!!!"

This time Sue straightened and put her hands to her pain-stricken rump. The blush had left her face, which was now pale, and tears filled her large blue eyes and began to trickle down her face. Mrs Powell waited a couple of moments and then said "Come on, Susan, two more to come! Back over the chair!"

Susan looked back over her shoulder at the teacher, through a mess of hair. There was no mercy in Mrs Powell's appearance. "Now, Susan!" she said.

Susan bent forward again, gripping the bar, hardly knowing how she could be voluntarily consigning her injured rear to further punishment.

Swiish . . . THWAACK! . . . "Oww! Nooo! Owwwch!!"

Once again Susan lost her hold on the bar, but this time she regained it quickly without standing up, although her hindquarters gyrated wildly. She told herself that it was nearly over, just one more stroke . . .

Mrs Powell waited until the frenetic writhings of Susan's behind had somewhat diminished and then fairly walloped the cane down for the hardest stroke yet.

Swiiishhh!! . . . THWAAAACKK!! . . . "Owww! Oowww!!! Oowwwch!!"

Susan leapt up and danced around the office, clutching herself and howling in pain.

"Stand still, girl!" ordered Mrs Powell.

Sue brought herself under control and stood as still as she could, still cradling her blazing cheeks in her hands and sobbing openly.

"I'm sorry that was necessary, Susan!" said Mrs Powell, "I hope this painful experience will be of benefit to you. Now wait outside. Remember you have still to receive a final stroke of the cane on your thighs."

Susan hobbled to the door slowly - but as fast as she could manage, because she wanted to escape from Mrs Powell before she decided to cane her bottom again! When she reached the door she took one hand from her bottom, opened the door and walked out, resuming her clutching. m again! When she reached the door she took one hand from her bottom, opened the door and walked out, re

As she stumbled out Dawn walked in to take her place in the office. Susan hardly saw her; she could only think of the unbelievable pain in her bottom. Jean went up to her and held her by the shoulder. "Are you all right, Sue?" she asked.

"Oh . . oh . . oh! Yes, I'm all right now. Ow! It stings! How could you say she can't whack? You must have an arse like concrete!"

"Don't I wish! Look at this!" and the little Scottish girl carefully pulled up the legs of her green shorts revealing angry red weals. "She hurt me too, but I wanted to encourage you."

All the girls outside had now been caned and there was little interest in listening for the sounds of Dawn's chastisement. But Julie noticed that there was a longer wait than usual. "What's going on in there?" she wondered.

The cause of the delay was that Dawn, alone of the six girls, was wearing tights as well as knickers. Mrs Powell was not prepared to accept this greater degree of protection, even though Dawn was to receive three more strokes than anyone else. So the humiliated sixth former had to strip in front of the mistress and then put her hot pants back on again over her brief panties. Mrs Powell quite welcomed the delay. Although she was superlatively fit her right arm was beginning to feel the strain!

Dawn managed to stay bent over the chair for the whole of her 'eight of the best', although the already-punished girls outside heard her loud yells of pain at each of the last four strokes. After the final stroke Dawn's yell lengthened into a whining wail and, her resistance completely broken, she began to sob.

The door opened after the conclusion of Dawn's punishment to reveal not the well-caned sixth former, but Mrs Powell, still holding the cane! She ushered the five chastened girls back in to stand in a line next to the sobbing Dawn. Susan was also still crying and Sheila was trying to sniff away her tears. Dawn's tights were lying on the desk. Mrs Powell addressed the wriggling teenagers:

"You decided to wear clothing suitable to little boys and therefore you have received a little boy's punishment. Now you will each stand on the chair in turn to receive one final stroke of the cane so that signs of your disgrace and punishment will be visible to all.

"Julie, go to the back of the chair and hold it steady. I shall deal with you last!"

Julie walked around and grasped the back of the chair. Mrs Powell surveyed the five other miscreants. "Right then, who's first?"

After a brief pause Jean bit her lip and climbed on to the chair. She had to swallow a gasp of pain as she did so.

"All right, Jean. Hands out of the way and brace yourself. This is going to sting!"

And Mrs Powell slapped the cane hard across the middle of Jean's bare thighs. It was not so hard as the strokes she had applied to the girls' backsides, but it was not just a flick either. The four watching girls saw a white line form across the thighs and then rapidly redden.

Diane followed Jean on the chair and then, as no girl moved forward, the mistress pointed the cane at Susan "Come on Susan you're next!"

Sue yelped as she ascended the chair and her hands went back to her throbbing bottom. "Hands away!" ordered Mrs Powell.

Sue stood unsteadily on the chair. Mrs Powell told Julie to hold it tightly and than unloosed Susan's final stroke. It was no harder than the strokes Jean and Diane had received but it felt to poor Susan as if she had been branded with a red-hot poker. She yelled blue murder and all but fell off the chair. Luckily Julie did a good job of holding it steady. Once safely off the chair Susan clasped her bottom again and resumed crying in earnest.

Sheila was next and, like Susan, she screamed at the stinging pain inflicted on her thighs.

Dawn had just about stopped crying by the time it was her turn to stand on the chair and she took her final stroke bravely and in silence. As she was much the tallest of the girls it landed lower down, just above the backs of her knees, but she just bit her lips at the accession of more stinging pain.

"Right, Julie, your turn now!" said Mrs Powell. Jean was made to take over the duty of holding the chair and the senior mistress turned her attention to the naughty fourth former.

Mrs Powell was aware that Julie had escaped relatively lightly earlier, both because she had been punished before the teacher had become used to the cane and because of the extra protection of the denim hot pants. She intended to compensate with this final stroke.

It was delivered with full force, at least as hard as any that morning, much harder than the thigh strokes the others had received. Landing directly on Julie's bare, delicate flesh it hurt like hell itself. Julie hadn't been expecting it. She jumped into the air, missed the chair as she came down, and landed on the floor in a crumpled heap. She was uninjured, though, apart from the effects of the caning, and soon stood up. She had started to cry at the shock of that last stroke.

Mrs Powell put the cane down on her desk and glanced at her watch. It was nearly half an hour since the punishments had begun and the first lesson of the day was due to end soon. She dismissed the girls, telling them not to linger in the corridors, but suggesting that they make use of the girls' washrooms to tidy themselves up before the second lesson. She reminded them to report to the vestibule, outside Mr Lawson's office, at the start of morning break. "The whole school will see the marks of your shame!" she said. She picked up Dawn's tights and handed them back to the embarrassed sub-prefect.

Once outside the office the girls made their slow and painful way to the washroom. They washed their faces, removing the tear marks, and tidied their hair. Jean put her ring back on and returned Dawn's. The sixth former did not try to put her tights back on but handed them to the Scottish girl and asked her to put them in her case and look after them for her. The hapless girls leaned on the washbasins moaning and breathing deeply, trying to get over the worst of the pain before they had to return to their classes. Each girl's bottom and thighs still blazed with excruciating pain.

As she dabbed water on her face Susan felt relieved that her caning was over and that she had taken it without making a show of herself; but the prospect of the other pupils in her class, especially the boys, seeing those shameful marks on her legs and of then having to stand up in the vestibule with everybody else was dreadful. She felt herself beginning to cry again before bringing herself under control. Diane asked her if she was OK and she said "yes".

The bell rang for the end of the first lesson. The girls didn't respond at first but then Jean said "Come on girls! We've got to go!"

"No. Let's wait till everyone has gone past,' said Dawn. "I don't want anyone asking questions or sympathising just now!"

So the girls waited for a couple of minutes, listening to the bustle in the corridor, and when it was empty once more finally emerged. They split up, each going to her own class.

Susan and Diane made their way to the classroom where 5B had just started an English lesson. They had left their cases in their form-room and they didn't know if their friends would have taken their books in for them or not. Everybody's eyes turned to them as they pushed open the door. The whole class knew that they had been sent to Mrs Powell for wearing hot pants but no one had guessed the nature of the punishment. In assembly Mr Lawson had said that the girls would be caned but had not been more specific. Now, as the pupils noticed how stiffly the two girls were walking and spotted the vivid weals on their legs, a murmur of surprise ran around the class.

"Silence!" ordered Miss Lucas, the English teacher. She told the two girls to sit down and not to waste any time. Susan saw that her friend, Cathy, had kept her a place by her side. She was conscious of everyone watching as she reached the desk and slowly began to sit down. She blushed as she carefully lowered herself onto the hard seat. She winced and gasped as her wealed bottom made contact - it felt as though the swollen weals were bursting - but once she was down she found it was just about bearable. English was normally Susan's favourite subject but she could not pay any attention to that lesson. Fortunately Miss Lucas ignored both the caned girls for the rest of the period.

When the lesson was over everyone clustered round wanting to know what had happened and to see the damage. But Diane and Susan would not say a word and just shook their heads in answer to all questions. Sue explained to Cathy that they had to go and stand in the vestibule and asked her friend to get her case and bring it along to the lessons after break. Then she and Diane made their way silently to the vestibule.

Mrs Powell was standing there waiting for them. Near her six chairs were lined up outside the headmaster's office, with Dawn already standing on one at the end, facing the wall, her hands on her head. The senior mistress hurried the girls along and made them climb up and stand alongside Dawn. "Hands on your heads and no talking!" she ordered.

Jean came next and mounted her chair in turn and finally Julie and Sheila arrived. When all six girls were lined up, hands on heads, Mrs Powell addressed them: "You will remain in this position for the rest of morning break and you will spend all break periods this week, and the second half of lunch hours, standing here like this! Miss Richards will tell you when you can go. You will not leave without her permission. And remember. Today you wore these "hot pants" in breach of the rules, but for the rest of the week I am ordering you to wear them! I want everyone to see just what happens to silly, naughty girls!"

Mrs Powell marched off. As soon as she was gone a swarm of boys and girls, kept away by her presence, descended on the vestibule. Susan closed her eyes tight, but she couldn't close her ears, and it was like a purgatory to hear the giggling and joking boys. The girls were not so bad, most were shocked at the severity of the punishment and many were thanking their lucky stars that they hadn't worn hot pants that day. But the boys had a field day. They compared the marks on the girls' thighs and looked closely at Diane's and Jean's bottoms where their brief shorts revealed more weals. The girls could not escape or even say a word.

Dawn also came in for a lot of attention. Not only was the sixth former the tallest and most mature-looking of the group, but she had, in her capacity as a sub-prefect, given lines to many juniors and reported others for more serious punishments. Now these boys saw the chance to get their own back and they taunted poor Dawn unmercifully.

Susan began to cry again quietly to herself. It would be like this every break and lunchtime that week and she still had to tell her mother what had happened. Even the prospect of going to the toilet was a nightmare. And worst of all the sound of a sixth former laughingly making a rude remark to his chums revealed that David Babcock had finally seen her new hot pants!