Lauren Kennedy had joined her new school so as to take some 'A' levels which were not available at her former school. She had realised that the rules were much stricter there, and her mother had warned her to watch her step as the cane was still used. But Lauren did not think this would affect her in the Sixth Form.

She first realised that she could be wrong three weeks into her first term. The maths teacher arrived late for a lesson, and when she got there the class was in some disorder. Two girls, Sharon Hill and Angela Shepherd, were at the front giving imitations of the teacher's voice and manner. When Miss Peters finally arrived they rushed back to their seats and the class quietened down again. Lauren expected that the episode would be ignored and the lesson would continue. That was what would have happened at her old school. Things were different here.

"Right!" Miss Peters ordered, "Both of you come back here. And bring the Board with you!" The girls obeyed her, Sharon picking up the Board from the corner of the classroom on her way. Lauren did not know what the Board signified. She had noticed it before, though. It held a list of the names of all the girls in the Sixth Form, and there were copies in all the classrooms they used. Lauren noticed that both girls were looking very serious now, and that Angela in particular seemed really worried.

Sharon placed the Board on Miss Peters' desk and Lauren saw the angry teacher write something on it, using a ruler. Then she scribbled a brief note and turned to Angela.

"You are a very silly girl," she said. "Take this note, and the Board to Mrs Wallace. And come straight back afterwards!"

As Angela departed Lauren became aware of a special tension in the atmosphere. Could Angela be going to get the cane? But why hadn't Sharon been sent as well? It didn't seem fair!

Lauren took advantage of the teacher's turned back to whisper to her neighbour, Rosalind Baxter: "What's happening? Is Angela going to get the cane?" Rosalind nodded her head silently. She had no desire to attract the attention of Miss Peters in her present mood.

After about ten minutes the door opened and Angela reappeared. She walked slowly, with short steps, and was obviously in pain. As she entered the classroom all eyes turned to her and she blushed deeply. Lauren could see that her eyes were red and swollen. It was plain to see that she had been crying.

"Ah. Good," said Miss Peters, "You've rejoined us, then. It looks as though you've had a productive meeting with Mrs Wallace! How many did you get?"

"S-six, miss. I'm sorry I ..."

"You're sorry that your bottom hurts! All right, we've wasted enough time; sit down!"

Angela limped to her desk and sat down, carefully. It took her two attempts and even then she could not sit down properly and wriggled on her seat in evident discomfort for the rest of the lesson.

After the lesson Lauren asked Rosalind whether girls in their year were often caned, and why only Angela and not Sharon had been sent to Mrs Wallace. Rosalind explained that Angela had been 'on report'. If one of the teachers wanted to punish a girl they would place her on report, usually for between one and three weeks. This would be indicated by drawing a rectangle on the 'Report Board' against the girl's name, covering the relevant weeks. If the girl misbehaved again during a report period then she could be sent to Mrs Wallace, who would usually cane her. Angela had been placed on report earlier that week.

In answer to Lauren's other question, Rosalind said that canings were now relatively rare in their year, but had been more frequent in the more junior forms. Out of their whole maths class she said that only Jane and Wendy had definitely never been caned, and she wasn't sure about Alison. She explained that Mrs Wallace almost always gave at least six strokes when senior girls - fifth years and above - were caned, but that it could be more. Also when a girl was caned her report period was extended by a further three weeks after the week of the caning. Lauren asked her whether the cane really hurt terribly.

"Well! You saw Angie," Rosalind replied, "Of course it does! The most I've ever had was three strokes when I was in the fourth year, and I cried my eyes out. Six strokes must be sheer hell, but I don't want to find out for myself!"

Lauren resolved that she, too, would try to stay out of trouble. She was appalled at the thought that what had happened to Angela could happen to her. Her bottom had never been subject to any ministrations more severe than a few mild slaps from the palm of her mother's hand.

As the term wore on Lauren could see that Rosalind had been right. Sharon and Angela both survived their report periods without further trouble and, although two or three girls were put on report, no other girl from her classes was sent to Mrs Wallace. However Lauren could see that canings were still common in the lower years. Several times she saw younger girls waiting nervously outside the headmistress's office; and she sometimes saw them afterwards, tearful and in pain, hands clasped to the seats of their skirts.

Lauren herself stayed well out of trouble - until just before half term. Miss Peters told her off for talking in class, and Lauren answered her back. She hadn't quite lost the habits she had learned at her old school, but it didn't do here. Miss Peters called her out and she was put on report for the next week.

Lauren was very worried, but her new friends reassured her. Christine Parrish told her that she'd been put on report about a dozen times, but had only ever had the cane once. And Wendy Yates said she had also been on report loads of times, and had never had the cane. Even so Lauren decided to watch her step very carefully over the next week.

So when her friends went out to the local pub one lunchtime, to celebrate Caroline Jackson's seventeenth birthday, Lauren didn't go with them. If they were caught they would only be told off - she could get the cane.

Lauren mooched about the school in a very bad mood. Julia Bridger, a rather nasty girl in her year, who was not friendly with Caroline or Lauren, or indeed with anybody, started to tease her. This was a favourite game of her's with girls on report, who were usually not willing to respond for fear of the consequences. But in Lauren's mood it was like a red rag to a bull. She grabbed Julia's hair and started to hit her. Julia yelled at the top of her voice, attracting the attention of the duty mistress, who told the girls to get the Board and come with her to the headmistress.

"Oh no, miss, please," Lauren pleaded, "I'm on report. I'll get the cane!"

"You should have thought of that earlier, young lady. Come on, both of you!" the mistress replied sternly.

Mrs Wallace soon elicited the whole story. She gave Julia a thorough telling off, placed her on report for three weeks, and gave her 200 lines to do by the next day - under threat of a caning if they weren't ready on time. She then dismissed the crestfallen Julia who , however, derived some twisted pleasure from the thought of how uncomfortable Lauren would find sitting down that afternoon. But Lauren's bottom was not to feel the cane that day.

Mrs Wallace told her that she did not like to cane sixth formers, and that as she was a new girl, and had never been caned, she would give her a less severe punishment than usual: "It will still be six strokes, Lauren, but with the junior rather than the senior cane, and on the hands, not the buttocks."

The headmistress selected a cane from the cabinet and flexed it between her hands. It was the first time Lauren had ever seen a cane. She remembered Denise, who had been caned both ways, saying that she actually thought it hurt more on the hands, although it was much less embarrassing.

"Hold your left hand out, Lauren." Mrs Wallace ordered, "Fingers together and hold your thumb away."

As the girl did so Mrs Wallace noticed that she was wearing a ring. This was against school rules even for sixth formers. It was not too rigidly enforced, but it was not tactful to wear jewellery on a visit to the headmistress's office. Mrs Wallace told her to take the ring off. She said that as Lauren was to be caned on the hands she would not increase the number of strokes as she would normally. Instead Lauren's report period would be extended to the end of term. Then she told her once more to hold out her hand.

Reluctantly Lauren did so. She gulped as the thin cane was raised. She could still not fully believe that she was going to be caned. Surely something would happen to interrupt it, there would be a last minute reprieve! But the cane began to whiz downwards, and Lauren closed her eyes tightly.

CRACK!!

The cane whacked into the tender flesh of Lauren's palm with full force. She gasped at the sudden stinging pain, but kept her hand held out. The second stroke followed the first with equal venom. Lauren's face crumpled and she yelped with pain. Her hand jerked away and her body doubled forward. Mrs Wallace allowed her a few moments and then told her to hold her left hand out again for its last stroke. Bravely Lauren extended her stinging hand. Tears were beginning to trickle down her cheeks. Somehow she forced herself to keep her hand held out, open. The third stroke was the hardest yet. The cane slashed down on to the tender flesh of Lauren's delicate palm, crossing the emergent weals caused by the first two strokes. Lauren shrieked at the violent pain, waving her hand wildly and hopped from foot to foot in agony.

"Now the other hand!"

Lauren's whole body shook as she raised her right arm. Mrs Wallace steadied the girl's hand and took careful aim. Then she whistled the cane down with all her skill on to the as yet unpunished palm.

WHACK

"N-n-n-n-nooooooo!" yelled Lauren, shaking her head wildly and snatching her hand away.

It was some time before Mrs Wallace could persuade the now weeping sixteen year old to proffer her painful right hand once more. Lauren pleaded to be let off but, although Mrs Wallace could see that the girl had already been punished severely she could see no reason for her to be given less than six strokes, the usual minimum for senior girls. She told Lauren that if she did not immediately hold out her hand Miss Kilmister, the secretary, would be called in. Lauren would then be forcibly held down to receive a further six strokes on her bottom.

With a groan Lauren obeyed. Mrs Wallace did not deliver the next stroke with full force, but it still stung sharply on the teenager's tender palm. Lauren yelled once again, but managed to keep her hand in position.

But as the cane hissed viciously down for the final time she withdrew her hand at the last moment. The cane caught the ends of her fingers and Lauren shrieked at the top of her voice. That last stroke had hurt most of all. She bent forward with both hands squeezing frantically into her stomach. She was sobbing like a baby and totally oblivious to her surroundings; she was only aware of her hands, burning with intense pain.

Mrs Wallace allowed the shaking girl a few moments to pull herself together and recover from the initial shock of the caning. Then she dismissed her, reminding her that she was on report until the end of term and that if she got into trouble again it would mean a return visit. "And if there is a next time I won't be so lenient!" she said.

Lauren didn't think she had been lenient. Her hands felt raw and swollen and even manipulating the handle of the office door on the way out was difficult and painful.

By the time that her friends returned, undetected of course, at the end of lunchtime, Lauren had recovered more of her self-possession. She was no longer crying and had dried her eyes. Both her palms still stung like crazy and the fingers of her right hand throbbed unbearably. The other girls were very sympathetic and tried to comfort her. Caroline told her not to feel ashamed about crying. "Nearly everyone cries the first time they get the cane," she said, "I know I did!"

Lauren found it practically impossible to write that afternoon. The worst of the stinging gradually faded into a soreness and then a tingling, but the effects of the last stroke took longer to wear off. Her fingers felt as though they had swollen to the size of sausages. It was to be two full days before Lauren ceased to be aware of her painful right hand constantly reminding her that she'd had the cane.

Lauren's friends tried to get Julia into trouble, and serve her as she'd served Lauren, by getting her a caning. But Julia was too wary for them and survived her report period unscathed.

Two days before school broke up for the Christmas holidays it was the turn of Sue Hillard, another of Lauren's new friends, to celebrate her birthday. Once again Lauren was urged to accompany the others to the pub during the lunch-break.

"Come on," urged Sue, "Staying behind didn't do you much good last time, did it! And Chrissie's coming, and she's on report as well!" Lauren allowed herself to be persuaded. After all it was the end of term, and it was Sue's birthday. Even if they were seen, surely they would be let off.

Lauren's luck was really bad that term, and this time it affected her fellow pupils. Mrs Pringle, the Latin teacher, was passing the entrance to the pub just as the group of high-spirited schoolgirls was leaving, still chatting excitedly and giggling. Lauren and Sue were smoking cigarettes. A shocked silence fell as the girls realised they had been recognised. Mrs Pringle wrote down the names of the seven girls, confiscated the cigarettes and told them all to report to Mrs Wallace's office at breaktime that afternoon.

The headmistress gave the naughty teenagers a severe dressing-down, telling them that under-age drinking was against the law. She turned to Lauren and addressed her: "You must be a very stupid girl, Lauren Kennedy," she said. "You're still on report and I have no choice other than to give you another caning. Last time obviously wasn't effective enough."

She then asked the girls whether anyone else there, apart from Lauren was still on report. Nervously Christine admitted that she was. "Right," said Mrs Wallace, "You'll be another one finding it difficult to sit down comfortably to Christmas dinner!"

She next turned her attention to Sue. "Well, Suzanne," she said, "I understand that this was all in aid of your birthday, that you provided the cigarettes that you and Lauren were smoking, and that it was you who invited the other girls along. Is that right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sue replied.

"Right then. You, Lauren and Christine can leave my office now. You will return after school and I will deal with the three of you then."

Christine asked Mrs Wallace to let them off, saying that it was Christmas time after all, and it was Sue's birthday. But the headmistress remained adamant and told Chrissie that if she continued to argue she would receive more strokes. So the three condemned girls left the office and returned to their classes.

As they trailed dismally down the corridor Lauren discovered that Chrissie was just as upset about getting the cane as she was herself. Christine had only ever had the cane once before and that was way back when she'd been in the second year. She had only received three strokes but she could still remember, all too clearly, just how much they had stung.

Sue, on the other hand, was one of the most often caned girls in their year. She boasted to Lauren that she'd been caned at least once in every term so far, and said that it would have been a pity if this term was an exception. She was annoyed about getting the cane on her birthday, though. "She could have let me off, the bitch! I wasn't even on report! Still, it makes a change from the bumps, I suppose!"

Lauren found out what happened to the four other girls from Caroline. She told her that Mrs Wallace had not put them on report as it was so close to the end of term and all report periods were automatically cancelled by the holidays. Instead she had told them to do 300 lines which had to be handed in to her by the end of term. Any girl who didn't do the lines to Mrs Wallace's satisfaction would get the cane.

Lauren was not able to pay much attention to her work for the rest of that afternoon and four o'clock came before she was ready. Together with Christine she made her way back to the headmistress's office. Sue was already waiting there. As soon as she saw the other two arrive she knocked gently on the door and they were told to enter.

Mrs Wallace surveyed the three miscreants standing in front of her, before reaching a final decision as to the punishments they would each receive. Surprisingly Suzanne Hillard, the birthday girl, was the only one of the three wearing full school uniform. This was not compulsory for sixth formers although it was for the rest of the school.

Sue had big blue eyes, shining apple cheeks, and just a hint of lip gloss. The small pink flowers on her bra could be seen under her white nylon blouse. Her tie was loosely knotted at her neck. She had on a grey school skirt and a pair of white knee-length socks, one of which was an inch lower than the other. Her pretty face was surmounted by a mass of bubbly blonde curls.

Christine was the tallest of the three girls, taller than Mrs Wallace in fact, but despite the absence of school uniform she somehow looked much more 'school-girlish' than Sue. Her long brown hair hung loosely around her shoulders. She wore a woolly pullover and a pair of blue denim jeans. Her large glasses somehow made her appear even more vulnerable. Behind them she looked as if she was ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Lauren was slightly slimmer than Sue and taller, at 5'4". Her black hair was neatly tied in a pony tail. She was wearing a brightly coloured T-shirt and a tight-fitting black skirt. She shivered with apprehension.

Mrs Wallace addressed Sue first: "As it is your birthday, Suzanne, and as you were not on report this time I am going to make an exception. I will give you four strokes of the cane, rather than my usual minimum of six for senior girls.

"There are no special circumstances in your case, Christine, and you will receive a full six strokes. And as for you, young lady," she said, turning to Lauren, "You are a new girl at this school, still in your first term, and yet this is the second time that you have been sent her for the cane. I was easy on you last time, but I won't make the same mistake again. I am going to give you eight strokes. And I shall do my very best to ensure that you remember this caning for a long time!"

Lauren felt sick; it was even worse than she had feared. Only one or two of the worst behaved sixth form girls, such as Sue, had ever had eight strokes. Now she was to join them.

Mrs Wallace turned to her cabinet and extracted a cane. Lauren bit her lip. It looked longer and more painful than the one she had felt on her hands.

"Come on, Suzanne," the headmistress ordered. "You're first. You know the form. Skirt up, then over my desk." Sue didn't protest. She positioned herself in front of the desk and then eased her grey skirt up revealing brief, semi-transparent, white panties marked with the same pink flowers visible on her bra. Mrs Wallace produced a safety-pin and pinned the hem of the girl's skirt to the back of her blouse. Then Sue lowered herself across the desk, grasping the other side. The desk was old- fashioned and wide, and only the tips of Sue's toes touched the ground as she stretched out to grip the edge. Mrs Wallace lightly tapped the cane against Sue's upthrust posterior, exposed in the girl's tightly stretched thin briefs. Lauren saw Sue's bottom tense, and then the headmistress drew the cane back.

She slashed the cane down for the first time. It landed with a tremendous Thwack squarely across Sue's bottom. Her body jerked, but she made no sound and remained in position. Sue gasped sharply at each of the next two strokes, but gave no other sign of how much they must have hurt her. Mrs Wallace paused for a while before the last stroke. While she admired the girl's courage she intended to elicit a more dramatic response to the final stroke. She stepped back and delivered a really venomous cut with all her strength right across the tops of the girl's thighs where the delicate flesh was deprived even of the slight protection afforded by her skimpy panties.

"Oh-o-o-Owwww!" Sue yelled, her resistance finally broken. Mrs Wallace regarded the quivering bottom in front of her for a few moments. A vivid weal was already springing up as a result of that last stroke and marks left by the cane's earlier visits were visible through the nearly transparent briefs. The headmistress congratulated herself mentally. Even though Suzanne had only received four strokes she would feel the effects of the caning for some time.

Mrs Wallace unpinned the girl's skirt and told her to stand up. Then Sue was told to go and stand by the wall, facing it, with her hands on her head.

"Right," said Mrs Wallace. "It's your turn now, Christine. Take down those jeans!"

Christine blushed bright red with embarrassment as she undid the zip and lowered her jeans. Her panties were white and covered a larger area of her bottom than had Sue's. She later told Lauren that she always made a point of wearing larger and thicker pants when she was on report 'just in case'. But, as she was soon to find out, it made very little difference.

She bent over the desk, where Sue had been, with her trousers down to her ankles. As Christine was taller than Sue her feet were further from the desk. Mrs Wallace told her to keep her knees straight and then raised the cane again.

THWACKKK!

Christine squealed as the cane thudded into her vulnerable behind. It hurt much more than she remembered.

THWACKKK!

Mrs Wallace brought the second stroke down directly on top of the first. Christine's head shot up, her brown hair flying wildly, and she yelled loudly.

THWACKKK!!

The third stroke landed about an inch below the first two.

"OOOWWWH . . . AAAAAHHH!"

Mrs Wallace aimed the next stroke so that the tip of the cane fell halfway across Christine's right buttock, digging in painfully. Once again the agonised yells of the tall seventeen year old echoed round the room. She lost her grip on the desk and shot upright, clasping her sore rear with both hands. She twisted round unsteadily on her long legs and implored Mrs Wallace to let her off the rest of the punishment. Lauren saw that tears were flowing down Christine's pretty face.

But Mrs Wallace had no mercy. She ordered the girl to get back into position unless she wanted extra strokes. Tearfully, and painfully, she did so. Mrs Wallace swished the cane across the girl's calves, hard enough to elicit a surprised yelp. "Straighten those knees, girl!" she ordered.

When she was satisfied with the girl's position Mrs Wallace lashed the cane down twice in quick succession across the lower part of Chrissie's bottom, just where she would sit down.

THWACKKK!

"OOOOW . . . O-O-O . . . OWWWW!!"

THWACKKK!!

"AAARGH . . . OWWWCH!!"

Immediately the last stroke landed Chrissie shot up like a released spring and pressed both hands to her smarting behind, weeping bitterly.

Regardless of the spectacle she was making of herself the caned teenager danced in agony as she tenderly massaged her blazing posterior. The reactions of the others to this performance were varied. Mrs Wallace was amused and gratified, but Lauren was horrified. Sue, meanwhile, had remained facing the wall throughout Christine's punishment. She didn't want to give Mrs Wallace any excuse to make her already sore bottom hurt even more.

After about a minute, for Mrs Wallace felt that her right arm needed a bit of a rest, Christine was told to put her trousers back on and to go and stand next to Sue with her hands on her head. Chrissie's jeans had come off completely as she had danced about after the caning and it took her a long time to put them back on. Finally she manoeuvred the jeans into place and limped over to join Sue. Now it was Lauren's turn.

Mrs Wallace turned to look at the trembling girl, whose bottom had as yet never felt the cane. A new girl sent to her twice in her first term! For drinking and smoking! And after being let off with a hand caning last time! Well, this time she would not escape so lightly.

Lauren's skirt was much tighter than Sue's and Mrs Wallace told her to take it off completely. Lauren undid the skirt and stepped out of it, revealing a minuscule pair of black panties and the tops of her self-supporting stockings. Lauren always wore very brief panties with this particular skirt so that the shape of her bottom cheeks was clearly to be seen, without any panty-line showing. Mrs Wallace smiled grimly, this would effectively be a bare-bottomed caning. Lauren draped her body across the desk. The other edge was still warm where Sue and Christine had gripped it, and she trembled as she saw the wet marks of Chrissie's tears on the desk.

THWACKKKK!!!

The first stroke of the cane that Lauren's bottom had ever felt was one of the hardest that Mrs Wallace had delivered that afternoon. It crashed into Lauren's tender flesh just above her thighs. Two white weals instantly formed on either side of her tiny briefs, only to be quickly suffused with vivid red. Lauren shrieked out her pain and shock, but forced herself to remain in position.

Mrs Wallace drew the cane back and raised it above her shoulders. She took two steps back and delivered the next stroke with her full power, moving forward at the same time, in order to increase its punishing intensity. As she'd intended it landed just half an inch above the first.

"OOOOWWW! NOOO!! YEOWWW!!!" Lauren howled. Her head shot up and her legs kicked wildly. "PLEASE MA'AM!" she wailed, "PLEEASE, not so hard! It hurts too much!!"

"It's meant to hurt, young lady," Mrs Wallace answered, "And it will hurt a great deal more before I've finished!"

Lauren grasped the edge of the desk more tightly, her knuckles turning white. Once again the cane lashed down on to her tender seat with all the force and skill at Mrs Wallace's disposal. The headmistress's plan of attack was becoming clear. The third stroke contacted Lauren's bottom a further half-inch above the last.

THWACKKKK!!!

Continuing the sequence the fourth stroke whipped across the crown of Lauren's haunches. The accumulation of pain was too much for Lauren. She howled in anguish and her hands left the desk and flew to her bottom. She had never known that pain like that could exist, let alone be deliberately caused as a punishment just for visiting a pub. Mrs Wallace allowed her a few moments and then told her to bend over again.

Despairingly the miserable girl did so, sobbing at the pain. As Mrs Wallace inspected the quivering bottom in front of her she mentally congratulated herself on her accuracy. Four equidistant red lines traversed the pale flesh in a narrow band less than two inches wide. She intended that the next two strokes should diagonally cross the first four to produce a 'four barred gate' effect.

Lauren shrieked loudly at each of the next two strokes, and drummed her feet hard on the floor, but somehow she forced herself to stay in position even though it hurt like hell as the cane landed across existing weals.

"Two more to come," Mrs Wallace informed her.

She gave Lauren her last two strokes in quick succession, lashing them down, very hard, across the previously uncaned bare flesh of Lauren's thighs, just above her stocking-tops.

Lauren jumped up and clutched at her blazing bottom with both hands, sobbing her heart out. She was totally oblivious to everything except the searing agony in her nether regions.

"Put your skirt back on!" ordered Mrs Wallace.

Lauren did so, unsuccessfully trying to fight back her tears. As soon as her skirt was in place, the tight black material clearly revealing the shape of her swollen buttocks, she pressed her hands firmly to its back, trying to contain the intense sting.

"Hands on your head!" said Mrs Wallace severely, telling the two other caned girls to come over and stand next to Lauren in front of her desk. Then she once more lectured them on their stupidity, and told them that they had to do the same 300 lines she had given the four other girls. They were given a bit longer to do them - their lines had to be handed in at the beginning of the next term.

"Remember you all start with a clean sheet in the new term," she said, "and I don't want to punish any of you again. And as for you, Lauren Kennedy, I am very disappointed with your behaviour since you joined this school. I shall be writing to your parents with my comments and advice." She then dismissed the girls, telling them to go home directly and not loiter in the school.

Lauren found that each step sent additional waves of pain through her throbbing bottom. She could only walk by taking very short steps. As soon as they were outside the office she and Chrissie Parrish both clasped their hands to their bottoms and hopped frantically. The pain was unbelievable. Sue watched them ruefully. Her own bottom was still very sore but she was more inured to the effects of the cane, and this time she had been let off more lightly than the others. "I'm really sorry I invited you two and got you into all this," she said, "But I got my comeuppance as well! God, she was in a foul mood!"

Lauren had a miserable Christmas, unable to sit down in any comfort until the new year. She became the subject of many family jokes, and various relatives took pleasure in applying a gentle slap to her hindquarters and observing the disproportionate reaction.

But undoubtedly the worst event of the holidays for Lauren was the arrival of an unusually shaped parcel addressed to her parents. It was long and thin and, despite the colourful Christmas wrapping, Lauren knew what it must contain even before her mother drew out the headmistress's Christmas present - a senior school cane!