Justice Delayed: a tale of reform school discipline Read online

"No," she replied, perhaps a touch too quickly. "I mean the Governor said that we would look right at home here in one of those uniforms. I was wondering, for the report you understand. I was wondering if I could try one on and see what I look like in it. For the report."

  The last came out in a rush but at least she had got the words out. With any luck they would put down her nervousness to embarrassment as revealing a private kink. Sir Morgan looked like he had been hit between the eyes. For some reason Donald looked from Justine over to her. Victoria was careful to appear engrossed in the worn leather of the punishment frame but from the corner of her eye she saw his gaze descend on her for a minute before returning to Justine.

  "I think we can accommodate you and I think you will look very nice in one of our uniforms." Then in a louder voice designed to carry over to her the Governor asked, "And you Miss Victoria, would you like to see what you look like in one of our uniforms?"

  She turned to look at him and she gave him a look of amused surprise. "No thank you. It's Justine who likes to play dress up." There - that should set some seeds in their minds, seeds that she would harvest later.

  ---oOo---

  "This is one of our typical schoolrooms where our delinquents receive classes in the usual subjects ... English, Mathematics, History, Geography, etc," Donald explained as they made their way down a corridor. "We can arrange for delinquents to take their A-level exams if they did not finish their formal schooling."

  Concentrating on what he was saying was hard, so very hard when there was the enticing sight of Justine in her new uniform. It was one thing to see two complete strangers go through processing and emerge in their cute little uniforms to when she had seen Justine come around the corner in her new outfit. Victoria could not believe her eyes.

  Her step-sister had been completely transformed. It was not a full processing of course, more's the pity, but she should not be greedy, not yet. No one would know that Justine still had her big girl hair unless she stripped off, but in every other way she looked just like any other delinquent here.

  The collar of her short sleeved crisp white blouse with its reformatory tie was tight around her neck. It did not obstruct her breathing but it was snug enough that Justine would be constantly aware of it around her throat. Gone was her knee-length pencil skirt and in its place was a lovely blue gymslip that was so deliciously short that it left quite a lot of bare thigh on display. Her grown-up stockings had been taken and replaced with the cutest little white ankle socks that showed off her lovely calves, well as much as could be done in the flat Mary Jane style black shoes that had no heel that Victoria could see.

  Normally Justine dressed so modestly which was another mystery as far as Victoria was concerned. The girl was reasonably attractive but for some reason she hid behind heavy jackets or jumpers but while the gymslip might have been light it was certainly snug. With the attached belt pulled tight to show off her narrow waist, it clung to her like a second skin showing very pleasing curves in all the right places. She could almost taste Justine's humiliation.

  It was the skirt portion of the gymslip that kept drawing Victoria's attention. It was so very short. Why, when Justine was standing straight with her arms by her sides her fingers would brush against her bare legs, for the skirt did not reach that far. Just looking at it gave Victoria the almost overwhelming urge to have her bend over and pull down those tight blue school knickers she was forced to wear and give her a good spanking.

  With her naturally black hair drawn back into a strict braid that ran down to her shoulder blades, the uniform stripped years off Justine. She could easily have passed for sixteen, albeit a well-developed sixteen. Victoria could see the effect the uniform was having on the girl. She could not even consider her a young woman any more, the uniform stripped her of that title.

  Justine looked every inch the image of a naughty young delinquent just waiting to be punished. It was too bad she did not have a camera to capture that look of deep mortification on her face or the way her fingers kept curling up around the hemline of her gymslip in a fruitless effort to tug it lower down.

  Never the most talkative of people, Justine had barely uttered a word since she had arrived back. Perhaps she thought that in that uniform she might be punished for speaking out of turn.

  Now all she had to do was to make sure that Justine got to wear the outfit a bit longer than the tour. And there was Linda to deal with as well.

  With some reluctance Victoria turned her attention back to the schoolroom before her. It looked like any typical classroom except for the desk. Made from wood, with the desk and the bench where the delinquent sat all one piece joined by a metal frame at the base, it looked like something from a Victorian-era museum. It was functional but it looked uncomfortable. Without a back to the bench-like seat there would be no leaning back. A student had to sit with their back straight or at the very least lean forward.

  As they entered, Victoria could see a number of students being called forward to receive what looked like test results. The teacher was a woman and with her hair tied back in a bun, looking the very image of a strict Victorian governess.

  "Margaret Peoples."

  One of the delinquents flinched at the sound of her name but she quickly slid off her bench and walked to the teacher's desk at the front of the class. There she made a deep curtsy and the teacher handed over a sheet of paper.

  "There is some room for improvement but I can see you put your heart into it, girl. Well done." As she spoke the teacher's expression warmed and she reached up to briefly stroke the girl's arm.

  The girl looked shocked but that was quickly replaced by a look of almost ecstasy that came over her as she gazed up with adoration at the teacher. Almost reluctantly she gave a "Thank you Miss," and she gave another curtsy deeper than before and retreated to her desk.

  "Jacinta Simmons."

  This girl moved forward with none of the obviousness nervousness of her processor. If anything she looked confident, almost arrogant.

  "Another excellent result," the teacher remarked but for some reason she did not hand over the paper as she had done the last time. The smug look on the delinquent's face began to waver under the teacher's scrutiny. "I have been thinking, with your third level education these tests are probably not the same challenge to you as they would be to your fellow delinquents who have not had the same education."

  "Miss?" The swagger was gone from Simmons now. In fact she was starting to look almost as nervous as the first girl.

  "So from no one, just so that you are on even footing with the rest of the class, I think you will carry a negative grade into each test. Say..." the teacher mused for a few seconds and with every moment that passed Simmons looked more and more worried. "Say minus forty per cent. That should be enough to make the test interesting for you."

  The delinquent's mouth dropped open and Victoria could see that her mouth was silently forming the words 'forty per cent'. The teacher handed over the paper with a tight smile. "You may go."

  The curtsy the girl gave bordered on collapse before she made her way back to her desk. Victoria looked at Donald who was standing beside her, their backs to the one of the walls.

  "The pass requirement is fifty per cent," he explained in a low voice so as not to disrupt the rest of the class. "If she is starting off at minus forty she effectively needs to score a mark of ninety to pass the test."

  "And if she fails?" Victoria wanted to know. She was sure a fail would be painful.

  "First fail is an automatic slippering before the class. A second fail is detention and a good strapping. A third successive fail and she will earn herself a place on Punishment Parade."

  Punishment Parade, she liked the sound of that but decided against asking any more questions. Linda had always been such a swot, picking up prize after prize for her exam results. Victoria could just imagine her at one of those desks in one of those uniforms with a suitable handicap as she fretted over her test paper and desperately tried to do
well enough to pass. How shaming would it be for the bookworm to be punished for failing a test?

  "Kimberly Cooper."

  It was remarkable how the delinquents all resembled each other. They might be different heights and builds but with their braided black hair and identical uniforms they did look almost like cousins if not sisters. Cooper moved forward far more slowly that the other two and it did not take long for Victoria to see why.

  "This is a disgrace," the teacher declared as she brandished a paper before the delinquent's face. "I fail to see any hint of effort or study whatsoever. Present."

  Cooper shook under the reprimand and there were tears bubbling in her eyes even before the order came to present. All the same she carefully pulled down her regulation knickers and stepped out of them before handing them over to the teacher. She took the underwear and casually dropped them into the waste basket at the side of her desk as the girl pulled back her gymslip and bent over to grip her ankles.

  The teacher made a few quick adjustments to the gymslip to ensure that the skirt was tucked in snugly behind the belt that circled her waist. There would be no danger of it falling loose. Then she picked up a light running shoe from her desk and without any more ceremony began to slipper the bottom of the girl before her.

  Victoria watched her with a critical eye. She liked to think that her own technique with the slipper had been honed with use at school and after a while she had to admit the teacher had some skill. Her blows were not long and drawn out things with her arm held high to come crashing down. Rather she used a quick flick of her wrist to give each strike added force.

  From experience Victoria knew that a plimsoll could affect a wide area very quickly and sure enough the girl's cheeks were quickly turning a very pleasing pink with every meaty thwack. Nor would they mark with the distinctive stripes of a cane. As well punished as this bottom was going to be, it would be ready to receive more later.

  The girl rocked forward from a particularly stinging blow of the slipper and for a moment Victoria debated with herself if the girl would fall or have to release her hold on her ankles. Would there be an extra punishment for moving, she wondered? She was not to find out. Somehow the girl regained her balance and the slipper made a hearty thwack as it landed again. The teacher seemed to aim her blows so that they were actually moving up from the floor. Each blow would almost lift the girl off her feet and it did not take long for the girl to begin to howl. Victoria grimaced. Some people just had no reserve at all. Did she not realise she was making a spectacle of herself with all that fussing and crying?

  It seemed the teacher shared her view. She paused, leaving the flat sole of the plimsoll resting directly against the upturned cheeks. "Really girl, with all this fuss you are making I have to think its Punishment Parade you are really after. Is that want you are looking for?"

  Bent over with her glowing bottom showing to all her fellow classmates the girl looked up at the teacher with a look of horror on her face. "No Miss, please Miss. Please may I have the slipper?"

  This Punishment Parade was sounding more and more interesting. If it could evoke such fear in the delinquents it was something Victoria wanted to learn more about.

  The girl received another minute of so of the slipper before finally being allowed to return to her desk. Victoria had to bite her lip to stop letting out a little giggle of joy when she saw that the knickers which had been discarded in the waste bin were left there and when the delinquent finally eased herself very carefully onto the hard wood of her bench, it was with her gymslip still rolled up at the back and tucked into the belt so that her blazing bottom cheeks had no cushion against the unyielding wood. And with no backs to the benches anyone sitting behind her would have a very good view of her glowing derrière.

  Donald held up his arm to examine his watch for a moment, then tapping it in the sign that they had to continue on, he gestured to the door. As they headed out leaving the rest of the class to watch the girl finish their slippering, Victoria touched Justine's arm.

  It was time for step two. Justine was wide eyed and her eyes had been riveted to the bottom being slippered. She certainly had looked odd standing there with all the adults while she was dressed as if she belonged at a desk. Perhaps waiting to take her turn to be called to the front of the class and get her exam mark, and the way she kept trying to smooth down the gymslip, was more than enough to give Victoria a very warm feeling in certain parts of her body. Justine normally never wore shorts or short skirts. She must have felt dreadfully exposed in that short gymslip.

  Victoria let Donald and her father get a bit ahead of them as she closed the classroom door behind her then in a voice that was not overly loud but would carry to the two men she said, "Don't worry, I will ask for you, if you are too embarrassed." As she spoke she made a show of rubbing Justine's bare arm in a reassuring manner.

  "Donald, Daddy," she started as he crossed the distance between them. She glanced back at Justine who was playing her role just perfectly with her head bowed and her eyes fixed on the floor.

  Looking back at her step sister Victoria shook her head slightly. "I think the classroom has affected Justine. She was wondering if she could actually sit in on a class. She says it's for her report but... well I think Justine gets excited by certain things that ... well let's say that it's not mainstream." She turned to look straight at her father. The next part was vital if her plan was to bear the sweet fruit she wanted but she knew exactly how to play him. "We've been getting to know each other and it doesn't bother me. Consenting adults and all that but I think that she is afraid you will think less of her. She said she does not want you to think she is some sort of ... deviant." She all but whispered the last part but put all the undertones she could into the word.

  The surprise that flashed across her father's face was exactly what she expected. And sure enough a moment later there came the equally expected fatherly concern and understanding. Victoria had no idea why her dad wanted to treat this blow-in as if she was his daughter but it was useful all the same.

  He was standing beside Justine in a moment and before she could say anything and complete headless of Donald's presence he wrapped an arm around the girl. "Justine, Justine, I don't want you to ever be ashamed of who you are. Your mother and I will love you whatever your ... orientation. I will always consider you my daughter." He took a step back so that he could look her in the eye. "I want you to know that you can always talk to me about your feelings or anything else that is on your mind. You don't have to be ashamed of what makes you happy."

  Justine looked him straight in the eye and opened her mouth. Victoria felt a cold hand grip her heart as she realised that Justine just might see that as an invitation to unburden herself. The girl hesitated and for what seemed the longest time Victoria felt as if the ground beneath her feet was giving way beneath her, and then thankfully she saw Justine bow her head.

  "I love you." With that she threw both her arms around Sir Morgan and gave him a hug.

  Victoria breathed easier. The girl was trapped by her compassion, by her love and by her determination to live up to other peoples' expectations of her. With her arms around Sir Morgan, Victoria saw Justine look over his shoulder at her. For a second their eyes met and the shame Justine typically displayed whenever the subject of that night came up was still there, but there was also the beginnings of a hard enmity. Then the girl looked away.

  It was almost enough to make Victoria snort in derision. The girl could feel whatever she wanted to. She lacked both the will or the tools to extricate herself from the trap Victoria had woven and she had walked right into.

  "I do hope she realises that if she sits in on a class she will have to be treated exactly the same way as any other delinquent," Donald cautioned.

  At the sound of his voice Victoria almost jumped. She had been so wrapped up in Justine and her father she had never noticed him moving closer to her. His eyes rested on Justine but Victoria had the sudden feeling that he was really looki
ng at her.

  "Given her lack of knowledge of our rules I doubt if she would get through any class without getting a slippering," he went on as if she cared.

  "I don't like to judge," Victoria told him. "If this sort of thing makes Justine happy then I am happy for her."

  "Very commendable," Donald muttered dryly. He glanced at his watch. "If you will excuse me for a minute, I will make the arrangements before we continue with the tour. And then I must introduce you to my niece Amanda. She is over from America for a bit and I am sure she will love meeting you."

  ---oOo---

  She recognised her immediately. It had been two years since she had last caught sight of Linda Evens but there was no mistaking those grey-blue eyes or the light brown hair that she still wore shoulder length. Her school uniform had been replaced by a navy blue skirt suit and blouse and she still wore those thin-rimmed glasses instead of some more fashionable designer frames.

  She looked pale and when their eyes met Victoria saw with some pleasure that the girl almost flinched at the sight of her. Did she know why she was here, she wondered? From the way her hand kept smoothing her knee-length skirt she appeared to be less at ease even if she was sitting comfortably in one of the armchairs that littered one side of the room. At the sight of Donald she climbed to her feet very quickly. Victoria had to struggle to keep a smile from breaking out. She might not be wearing a uniform yet and that suit gave her a far too much of an underserved look of authority, but the way she jumped as soon as the Governor entered would have done any delinquent proud. All she needed now was the uniform.

  They were not alone, however. There was another young woman there. Her hair was jet black, almost identical to the shade of the delinquents and she was dressed far less formally in light blue jeans that hugged slender legs, and a tee shirt, with a very curious logo plastered across it: I'm read only too. What the hell was that supposed to mean? She had heard it somewhere, then she relaxed. It was some sort of computer term. Was the girl some sort of computer geek? Whoever she was, she was holding Linda's hand in a very familiar fashion and Victoria did not fail to notice the little squeeze she gave Linda's hand when they came in.