This is the sequel to A Sister's Revenge

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 knickers, 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 knickers, 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 knickers. 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.

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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 knickers, 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 knickers, 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 knickers. 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 - knickers 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 knickers.

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 knickers 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 knickers 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 knickers. "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 knickers. 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 knickers 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 knickers 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 knickers 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 knickers 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-knickered 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 knickers.

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!