I can't explain why I decided to dob myself in for smoking. I tried to come to terms with this a few days ago and couldn't really justify it. Not like me at all. Martell thought it was stupid all the same. Though she didn't like it when we spanked each other when we go on our picnics. I have stopped that now. I gave in to her wishes. I miss doing that to her though. Still we love each other enough to do other things.

Why on earth did I choose him? This was stupid. This was going to hurt! I chided myself for being so stupid. Of course it was going to hurt. I smoked a Benson and Hedges! He will go mental. He hates B&H. It is quite probably the worst rule a girl could break in his eyes. I really didn't find that little joke funny under the circumstances. His pet hate was smoking.

I knocked on his door. Hopefully he wouldn't be there. I considered making a dash down the corridor to safety. Come on Fi, this is going to be something. I thought long and hard as I walked up to his study. Now I had just rapped on the oak panel of the door, mouth dry. Too late to quit as I heard his voice inform me he would be just a minute.

10 minutes later the heavy door opened. I wasn't ready for the person who opened it. Alyssa! Her tear-stained face expressing to me more than words could ever say. I would see her later in her dorm. My darling little sister. What on earth had she done? The whatever it was must have been serious for that kind of face.

Alyssa's slight American accent seemed to break the tension between them.

"Thank you Sir!"

"Don't try that trick again, Miss Hopson!"

That name. Not one to tie me to her. That was dad's surname. Dad, there was an ache in my tummy. I was lumbered with mum's name though she had given up on me the day she caught... never mind, don't dwell on that at the moment. Alyssa will need me later I was sure of that!

"Ahh! Miss Holden. This is a pleasure." Indeed it was, I knew he liked me. After all, wasn't I the best Head Girl the school had appointed for years?   "As you can see your sister was just getting a lecture in manners! Now what can I do for you Fiona Natalie?"

"Well... er..." I paused then motioned for my little angel to go. She didn't need to involve herself in my matter. I knew she would want to try and stop me. When did she ever do anything different? She even stopped me from going off on that foreign yacht that was in the harbour the last time we had a holiday with daddy. She can be such a spoilsport sometimes. I realised that he was waiting for my reply. "I need to talk to you about the third year girls," finally giving up on a decent excuse.

"You had better go in and wait for me. I have just got to see Mr. Latham." He realised about the same time as I did Alyssa still standing there. Stubborn, just like me, I guess.

He put his hand on the small of Alyssa's back and walked off down the hallway, turning his head to me he sent out a friendly warning. "Oh! And Fiona. Please try not to touch anything!"

I walked into the spacious study and headed to the cabinet by the window. I helped myself to a scotch and watched a group of presumably first years playing hockey. Mmm! His scotch always tasted scrummy. I ran my fingers along his bookcase. Nice collection of first editions. Though I was more interested in his copy of Lolita. Funny it wasn't in its usual place. This mystery absorbed me so much I was startled when I heard the door opening with its familiar St. Elliotts squeak. Why the doors do this I'll never know, even after the oiling they get from Joe and Adam.

"Fiona, what's this really all about?" He smiled at me. Though I knew in my heart that it would be wiped off soon enough.

"Really, Sir?"

"Yes Fiona, really!" He moved behind me and I could feel his breath on my neck for a fleeting moment. "You know that Miss Bradford handles the third years." He sat down in his big heavy leather chair.

"I want to report myself for smoking in the school grounds." It all came out at a hundred miles an hour.

"You did what?" He stood up again. Why on earth he couldn't just sit still and let me get on and explain I didn't know. "Fiona, I'm very disappointed in you. Honestly! A girl with your responsibilities too. You are meant to set an example. So what do you want me to do about it?"

I couldn't even reply to this.

"Do you want me to punish you, is that it? Child, I have known you for a long time  and I still don't understand your reasoning. I have been teaching longer than I care to remember and never have I met a girl like you. How the hell did you get to be Head Girl anyhow? It's almost like you want to be punished. Yet the example you set the others is exemplary!"

Almost, I thought with a little giggle. Almost.

He moved round to face me again. I could smell coffee on his breath. I felt a rush of air and a watery slap on my cheek. I could feel the redness growing on my face. I stood my ground. I wasn't going to break that easily. This was new though.

"Bend over, you little bitch. I'll show you what you can get for smoking!" He walked over to the tall thin cabinet by the books. Not where the drinks were. This would contain a different warmth for me.

"Fiona Natalie! Do you want it on the bare?" he approached holding his favourite weapon.

"No Sir, I do not!" I replied as expected of me.

"Good girl. That's what I like to hear. You know what to do."

"Yes Sir!" I gave him the correct answer. Bending over his desk I lifted up my gymslip, exposing my buttocks, encased in my crisp white panties. I don't know why but I always thought the white looked better on us older girls. Martell looked very pleasing in hers. She was a little slimmer than me and her shape when she bent down offered something different compared to me. Not better, just different. I kinda guess it was all the horse riding I used to do. The difference was noticeable when we both got punished during a tedious Mathematics lesson. I confess to feeling a little excited when Mr Latham gave her five on her taut bottom.

"Ahh...!" I whimpered.

The single most painful blow I had ever experienced.

That brought me back to the present. Where did that come from? No warning. No 'this is going to hurt me more than you' kinda speech. This, I could tell immediately after having my face slapped, would be a different routine to before, but not that much!

"Fiona, you drifted off. This isn't a lesson now. Not that sort of lesson anyway." He chuckled.

A swish and I felt the thin line of hot agony across my tight panties.

Mmm nice thought that. Tight panties.

"Come on, Miss Holden. You know the drill. Count out with me."

"Two Sir!"

"Good girl."

Thwack. in my mind's eye I could see my buttocks being crunched under the weight of the strokes.

"Three Sir!"

I could feel that one had hit just below the second. 

The cane whipped through the air again.

I was trying my hardest to stay still. Squirming only made the blows hurt more. The air rushed out of my lungs with my held-in breath. My brain swam with multi-coloured lights.

"Yoww!" Two in succession. I was beginning to lose count. Fatal with him. If I didn't get it right the missed strokes would be double.

My face was burning now along with my bum and I felt the first trickle of salty water on my cheek.

Where the fuck was I? That's it!

"Six!" I let myself relax for a second with relief that I was back on track.

"No Fiona! You must learn to count, girl!" He shouted at me. "You won't get away like that. Thought you'd get it over quickly then, eh? It was five, you stupid girl." He raised his arm again.

The cane tapped me once more.

"Argghh... six, Sir!" I gurgled, resisting the urge to spew.

"Excellent. I'll make a mathematician out of you yet!"

I fought back the rising panic and tried to rise to the challenge. I just had to. He'd made Alyssa cry. He wouldn't get me that easily.

"OK Fiona, now for the last few I want you to repeat what I say! Ready girl?"

Before I could answer another blow assailed me.

I felt dazed.

"I" he said in a soft voice.

"I" repeated parrot fashion.

Another sharp sting. Another thwack on my body. My poor, poor body.

"Very good! Maybe we can get you to obey school rules in future."

"Must."

"Must." my voice was turning into a squeak. I wasn't called "mouse" for nothing.

A double again. How many would I finish up with? No wonder he wasn't getting me to count anymore. He must really hate smoking!

"Not."  He shouted out again. "Fiona Natalie, I want to be able to hear this! Come on girl, louder!"

"Not."

That unmistakable thwack again. Pain again exploded on my backside.

I gripped the edge of the desk tighter than I ever have before. My teeth grated together. I was losing it, I knew then I couldn't take anymore. He was beating me in more ways than one.

I cried. Snotty fat tears.

"Nearly done. It's for your own good. You don't want lung cancer do you?"

I couldn't answer. The pain was intolerable. My legs wanted to buckle.

"Smoke."

Before I could repeat the word another blow hit me. In a totally different area. God, that one hurt more than the rest. I feel faint.

"In."

"In." I blubbered. "Thank you Sir!" I didn't have to add that, I thought I just should. I hadn't lost all of my defiance. One more. I knew I could do it. Couldn't I?

A rapid whoosh. Another excruciating blow. That wasn't fair! That one hit me just below my bottom.

"Aggh... ngghh... Oh god! Oh god! Oh God!"

"School!" he shouted at me.

"School." I finally managed.

The final blow was a peach of a stroke. The pain shot all the way into my spine too.

Pain, relief, gratitude all mingled into one as I lay there sprawled on his desk, crying my heart out. That was something else. Never have I felt so content as then. I stayed in that position for a couple more minutes. Composing myself I straightened up and arranged my crumpled uniform. Somehow my yellow house band had come undone in the process. I tied it back up.

I walked towards him and allowed him to cuddle me in his arms. This was the best bit, I told myself. This is why it's worth going through all that pain. He stroked my blonde hair. I cried heavily in his arms. I went to the mirror above the drinks cabinet and wiped my eyes.

"Cigarette?" he asked, offering me the packet.

"Thank you Sir!"