I spent much of the afternoon in a state of some anxiety, which was hardly new, about how I'd behave when Lily came to my door. Her record spoke for itself, with more red notices than almost anyone else, and I wondered if this was the ideal opportunity for me to live up to my colleagues' expectations -- none of them seemed all too keen for me to go easy on students, as I had with Emma and perhaps had with Hannah, and I knew I wanted to do more, and if anybody could prove the ideal chance to plunge into the deep water than surely it was Lily with her very unclear 'misbehaviour.' So the question now was very simple -- did I have the guts?
3.45 edged closer and closer. Outside, the Recreation Ground was a mass of people, the football, rugby, tennis, and netball teams all out in force with their white shirts and black shorts, and I watched for a while with my chin resting on my hand, my stomach churning. At some point, Kam sent an email wishing me luck -- which I could have used two students ago -- and the sense of pressure grew. They would all be leaning on my words next time I saw them and I needed to have something to give them. So, too, did I need to have something to give myself. Images swam in my head of Alexa, Kam, Hannah, Emma, all of them over my lap, all of them to some degree or another at my mercy, and something in those images was unsatisfactory still. I wanted more. I could do more. So why not have more?
A knock at the door. I almost fell off my chair -- staring at the clock, which read 3.45, I was ready to accuse it of lying to me. Had I really been daydreaming this long? Another knock. More impatient.
"Uh, come in!" I called, and the door swung open. There stood who could only be Lily Razowski. She was petite, with messy short brown hair, as if she'd just woken up, and round glasses over warm, soulful hazel eyes. Freckles dotted the cheeks on a soft, impish face. 'Impish' was definitely the word, I thought -- it summed up a lot of the energy she brought with her. She wore dark, high-waisted jeans, a black belt loosely snaking through the loops, and a black t-shirt with the red lettering of some band on it. The shirt's hem was tied in a loose knot, becoming something of a crop-top, so a strip of her pink belly was visible even with her jeans as high as they were.
"Hi," Lily said brightly, "I'm here for a spanking?"
"Oh," I said, surprised by her candour, "uh, okay. Lily, right?"
"That's me." She smiled expectantly, closing the door behind her, locking it, and looking around. "Nice place you got here." She had a sing-song Eastern European accent, probably Polish, which flowed off her tongue like water.
"I like to think it's cosy."
"Cosy's good," she replied. "So, where do you want me?"
"Someone's eager," I joked, and Lily's face fell, sucking in her lips, almost like she was trying not to laugh.
"No, it's just I've got, you know, rehearsals," she said, her arms limp at her sides, and I sensed something new here. Something I didn't quite get.
"Well, before we start," I said, "I just wanted to know why you got sent here in the first place."
"Cause I got a red notice."
"Sure -- but the notice just says it's down to misbehaviour. What's misbehaviour?"
"That's it?" Lily laughed. "I guess they're bored of explaining. I just make comments a lot. You know; challenging comments. It's what I do."
"How come?" She shrugged.
"Funny?"
"Classic drama student," I said, and she cocked her head. "Pushing the envelope."
"That's what I do," she sniggered. "So, you gonna spank me, or what?"
"Sure," I said, pushing myself up from the chair to stand, "but this doesn't feel like it'll be much of a punishment. You get sent here all the time, apparently."
"Well, not here, but my professors, and that Kam person, yeah." Her eyes glowed. "I'm curious what you'll be like, though."
"Curious?"
"Yeah -- there's this rumour going round that if you wanna get a red notice then get it in now, cause you go pretty easy compared to some people before. Wanna see if it's true."
"Easy, huh?" Lily raised her eyebrows in a teasing, daring kind of way, and I felt like I was being challenged? Was I up for it? I leaned back and sat on my desk's corner, praying it wouldn't flip under my weight, which would be exactly the sort of thing to happen to me. When it didn't I regarded her, crossing my arms. "So what's the worst spanking you've gotten since you started here?"