"Hold still," he said, wrapping the second turn and pushing the working end through the back of the partially formed knot. "This is the part I've always had a little trouble with."
Chloe complied, keeping as still as she could as James tucked the working end back through the front loop and then gently pulled until the knot was tight. Once it was formed, he slid the knot down, tightening the loop formed in the end...not
too
tight...no, wait,
that
wasn't right, it was uneven. With a frustrated sigh, he undid the knot, Chloe unable to suppress a small nervous swallow as he did so, and slowly retied it.
There. That
was it! Cinching the reformed knot down tight enough to do the job, yet not so tight as to constrict or cut off circulation, he stepped back to admire his handiwork.
"I knew I remembered how to tie one of those!" he exclaimed, smiling broadly.
Almost as an afterthought, he reached out and turned down the collar of the white button-down blouse Chloe was wearing over the necktie, then paused to take in the overall effect. The tie he'd just finished tying was plaid, though James was pretty sure there weren't any authentic tartans that were predominantly bubblegum pink. The tie matched a pleated skirt, not quite short enough to qualify as mini, but almost certainly too short to pass muster in an actual school uniform. A pair of white knee socks and β Chloe's idea, those β a pair of two-tone Oxfords completed the ensemble. Her honey-blonde hair was pulled into a pair of pigtails, and her grey eyes held a mix of excitement and just the slightest bit of uncertainty: after all, this was going to be something...
new,
for them.
"Okay, you remember the arrangement," said James. "One hundred after the door closes, then follow me in." With that, he turned and went through the heavy wooden door they'd been standing in front of, closing it behind him as he did.
Chloe closed her eyes, took a deep breath, tried to stop herself trembling even though it was with excitement rather than fear...
one Mississippi...two Mississippi...what was the safety word again?...
Ninety-eight Mississippi...ninety-nine Mississippi...okay, here we go...
she raised one hand, closed it into a fist, rapped on the door...
"
Enter!
" came the sharp, loud reply. Chloe grasped and turned the knob, pulled the door open, and stepped through.
The walls of the room were paneled in dark wood, the built-in bookcases matching it and the trophy case and massive desk coming close to doing so. There was a maroon armchair in a corner, and two straight-backed chairs facing the desk from near the center of a predominantly maroon patterned rug. James was sitting behind the desk. He rose as Chloe entered the room.
"Close the door behind you, Chloe" he ordered. She quietly pushed the door to the hallway closed, walked across to one of the straight-backed chairs, and started to sit down.
"I did
not
say 'have a seat'!" barked James. Chloe straightened and stood next to the chair she'd been about to sit in, hands at her sides, just managing to suppress a smile.
Kind of like "Simon says" when I was a kid, she thought. This is a fun game, so far anyway...
"Do you know why you've been called to this office?" asked James, stepping out from behind the desk. Chloe suddenly found herself having trouble keeping straight in her head what exactly they'd decided her infractions should be...she remembered that her skirt was supposed to be too short...and the bubblegum in her mouth reminded her of one of the other infractions...but what were the others? And what was supposed to come first?
"Well, um, uh..." she began awkwardly.
Great. Our first scene and I start it out by flubbing my lines.
"Chewing gum in class?" offered James, scowling down at her.
Oh yeah, that
was
supposed to have been first on the list,
Chloe remembered. She smiled up at him and blew a bubble. As it popped she drew it back into her mouth with just the slightest little suggestive flick of her tongue and smirked defiantly up at her boyfriend.
Chloe nearly inhaled her gum in the involuntary gasp that ensued as James swiftly cupped the back of her head with one hand, pulled her close against him with the other and drew her into a hard, almost brutal kiss -- his mouth was on hers, his tongue thrusting aggressively into her mouth, nothing like the almost tentative probes she was more used to his kisses beginning with. She tried to match his movements as his tongue swirled around hers, then the kiss was breaking...and she noticed how her heart was racing and how breathless she suddenly felt -- right before realizing her wad of bubblegum was no longer in her mouth.
James turned and spat the gum into the wastebasket next to the desk. Chloe was still recovering -- even actually swaying on her feet a little -- when he said: "Now that we have dispensed with
that
, we can proceed to the next infraction: the allegation that your scooter is too short."
Scooter?
Thought Chloe with a start.
Those things like a skirt only with shorts inside? But, I'm wearing a
skirt!
That's how we planned this scene...wasn't it?
As she was pondering this, James walked around the desk, opened one of the top drawers and removed a steel ruler, and walked over to where Chloe was standing. He squatted down next to her so his head was at about waist height, then laid the ruler along the outside of her thigh. She shivered as the cold metal contacted her bare skin below the hem of the skirt, then realized she'd already been shaking with excitement -- in anticipation of what was planned...in the slight uncertainty James had introduced with his "scooter" comment...
"Yes, just as I suspected: a good two inches too short!" came the pronouncement from just to one side of Chloe's left hip. "And...what's
this
?" he added, fingering the hem of her skirt. "Why, I believe this isn't a scooter at all...no, not any shorts inside...apparently not