Friday morning assembly drew slowly to a close. Mr. Beattie, the headmaster of St. Mary's slowly rolled off the list of upcoming events. Jane tried in vain to suppress a yawn and Shona did her best not to laugh at her friend. Jane had had a late night. It had been almost 3am when she'd finally sneaked back to their room. Shona suspected that her friend had spent the evening with Matt but they had both been too tired to do more than give each other a quick goodnight kiss before Jane had peeled herself out of her clothes and climbed into bed. No doubt Jane would tell her all about it tonight, unless they were both otherwise occupied Shona hastily amended to herself.
Mr. Beattie droned on and on. Both girls were suddenly jerked fully awake when they heard him mention their names. "Miss Fraser and Miss Jones are excused from classes this morning," he said looking in their direction, "They will report to my office at 9:30, immediately after registration, for a special duty. He dismissed the girls and they started to make their way out of the assembly hall.
"Wonder what the old codger wants us to do this time," said Jane to her friend.
"Beats me," said Shona with a shrug. "I had to do his filing for him yesterday so it can't be that."
The girls laughed, they had both endured Mr. Beattie's 'punishment' for various misdemeanours in the past.
"You never told me about that," said Jane, smiling.
"How could I?" replied Shona. "I was too knackered to talk about anything by the time you made it back this morning."
Jane laughed. "True enough," she said, "so what did you do this time?"
"The Battle-axe," Shona was referring to Mrs. Carlisle, their house mistress, "caught me with the top two buttons of my blouse undone. Said I was immodestly dressed." Jane laughed again. "Still I was lucky," continued Shona, "all hell would have broken out if she'd found me a few minutes earlier having a fag with the cleaners."
"Quite right too," said Jane with mock piety, "it's a disgusting habit!"
"Yeah right!" said Shona, "Doesn't stop you from scrounging 'em off me when the mood takes you. I should make you buy your own."
Jane laughed, it was probably Shona's favourite complaint. Jane hardly ever smoked and it was always Shona, who'd been smoking since they were both thirteen, who supplied her with her occasional fix. She hadn't really scrounged that many over the years but it didn't stop Shona from moaning about it.
At the stroke of 9:30 the friends arrived at the door of Mr. Beattie's office. Shona raised her hand to knock on the door. "Hold on a mo," said Jane hitching her skirt up so that the hem was well above her knees. Shona looked at her. Jane shrugged. "You know how much he likes it," she said in a voice full of mock innocence. Shona laughed. She adjusted her own skirt slightly then rapped on the door.
"Come in," came Mr. Beattie's voice from the other side. Shona pushed the door open and the girls stepped into the headmaster's office.
"Ah girls, come in come in," he said effusively, "I'd like you to meet Mr. Peters and his associate, Mr. Brown." He nodded in the direction of the two men who had stood up as the girls had entered the room. "These two gentlemen are from the States," continued Mr. Beattie. "Mr. Brown intends to send his daughter to our school next term and I thought I might impose on you both to show these gentlemen around."
The first man offered Jane his hand. "Mr. Peters, this is Miss Jones," he said indicating Jane, "and her fellow head girl, Miss Fraser. Girls this is Mr. Peters," and he nodded to the man who had just shaken hands with Jane, "and Mr. Brown."
Shona shook hands with them both. "Pleased to meet you," she said demurely. She was almost certain that she had caught Mr. Peters looking speculatively at Jane and so she flashed a smile at Mr. Brown.
"Well then girls," said Mr. Beattie, "please don't keep our guests waiting. I'm sure I can rely on you both to show these two gentlemen all that St. Mary's has to offer."
The girls stepped out into the corridor. Shona suppressed a giggle as she noticed the exaggerated sway of Jane's hips. Jane turned, put her hands on her hips and winked at Shona, "This way please, gentlemen," she said with just a hint of mischief in her voice.
"We needn't be so formal," said Mr. Peters. He was tall, about 6'2", good looking in a rough sort of way. His dark hair was receding slightly. Shona guessed that he was in his late thirties or early forties. "My name is Gerry," he said, "and this," pointing to his companion, "is Bob." Bob was shorter, about 5'10" and stockily built. His hair was lightly touched with grey, yet he appeared to be younger, if only slightly, than Gerry.
"Well," said Jane, "if it's first names you want, I'm Jane and this is Shona."
Bob nodded his head in acknowledgement, "Jane, Shona, it's a pleasure," he said.
"The pleasure's ours," said Shona, "Now if you'd like to follow us...," she turned and began to walk ahead with a slightly suggestive sway of her hips.
Shona could feel Bob's eyes on her, mentally undressing her, as she lead the way. Jane was keeping up a running commentary as the girl's showed their guests around. She was flirting outrageously with Gerry and it was clear he was responding in kind. Almost by default, Shona was forced to direct her attentions towards Bob.
By the time the tour ended almost an hour later, the girls knew they had the men in their grasp. The flirting had become more and more direct and by the time they'd returned to the door of the headmaster's office the girls had managed to imply, without ever saying so outright, that they would be willing to provide their guests with further hospitality of a more intimate nature. For their part, Gerry and Bob seemed to be more than willing to take the girls up on their tacit offer.
Shona went to knock on the office door. To her surprise Bob put out his hand to stop her. "Look girls," he said, "Gerry and I fly back to The States tomorrow. We'd like to thank you properly for the time you've spent with us. We're staying at the Four Towers, why don't you two come by for dinner this evening? If you're allowed out, of course."
Shona exchanged glances with Jane. Jane flashed the men a knowing smile. "Sure," she said, "sounds great, doesn't it?" she asked, giving Shona a wink.
