The Headmaster Ritual (2)
Friday, 24 May
Portia hunted through her drawers frantically.
"Hey, have either of you taken any of my clothes?" she snapped, addressing the other two girls in her dorm. Tara and Lizzy both shook their heads as they got dressed.
"Why, what's wrong?" Tara asked, a concerned look clouding her pretty face as she brushed her hair.
"I don't seem to have any white underwear. I was sure I had loads left," Portia said, feeling herself starting to panic as she searched through her drawers.
"Don't worry about it, just put something else on, who's going to know?" Lizzy said, as she buttoned her blouse.
Portia continued to mutter angrily as the other girls finished dressing and went down to breakfast. Finally, she conceded defeat, and instead started looking for something similar to the regulation white cotton bra and knickers. There was nothing similar at all; no ivory or cream or even yellow. It was as if they had all disappeared into thin air.
She stood, hands on hips and considered her options. Maybe it didn't matter; after all it wasn't as if anyone was going to see. In the end, she figured she might as well wear her favourites, a rather sexy red bra with matching panties that her ex-boyfriend had given her last Valentine's Day.
"Maybe Lizzy was right, who's going to know?" she thought to herself as she ran down the corridor hoping to catch up with her friends at the breakfast table.
----
Wicklow was surprised to find Sadie waiting outside his classroom. She was normally one of the last to arrive but she looked up at him expectantly as he unlocked the door.
"Good morning Sadie," he said. "You're early, is there something wrong?"
"Well I know it's not right to snitch on a fellow student but what if I knew someone was violating the uniform code? Should I inform one of the teachers?"
Wicklow smiled as he opened the door and she followed him inside.
"Well I suppose if one of the girls isn't obeying the rules, it isn't fair on the rest of you. Who are we talking about here?"
"Well I really shouldn't say..." she said, coyly.
"Come on girl, don't play games. I know you. You wouldn't have said anything if you weren't serious about telling me. Who is it?"
"Well just between you and me, it's Portia, Sir."
"Portia?" he repeated looking surprised. "I saw her earlier at breakfast. I didn't notice anything odd."
"She may seem to be properly dressed on the surface but she's not fully compliant Sir, if you get my meaning," Sadie said, tapping her nose.
"Not fully compliant? Oh, I see! Portia, hmm?" Wicklow said. "Well I shall have to have a word with Portia. Thanks for letting me know. If you're right you can expect some, shall we say, sympathetic marking on your next assignment."
----
At the end of class, Wicklow sat on the edge of his desk and watched as the girls filed past.
"Can you spare me a minute, Portia?" Wicklow asked.
"Yes Sir, what is it?"
"I wonder if I could have a word with you in private," he said, in a tone that suggested it was more an order than a question.
Portia felt her heart thump as she followed Wicklow upstairs to his study.
"What's this about Sir?" she asked nervously as he opened the door and stood aside, motioning for her to enter.
"Well Portia, I think you understand the importance we place on discipline here. And I'm sure you understand that means every girl following the school rules to the letter," he said, following her in and locking the door behind them.
"Yes Sir," she said anxiously, still wondering what was going on.
"Especially the rules regarding school uniform," he continued.
In the time it took him to walk from the door to his desk, she realised what had happened. It was the oldest trick in the book. Someone had set her up; they'd hidden her underwear and snitched on her to Wicklow, who had a notorious reputation for punishment amongst the girls. Only last night, Tara had explained in explicit detail what she'd been forced to do to get a decent grade from him.
"So is there anything you'd like to tell me?" he said, leaning against his desk.
He crossed his arms and looked her up and down. She was an attractive girl in a dark, dangerous sort of way with prominent cheekbones, smoky dark grey eyes and black hair scraped back into a neat ponytail. The school gossip was that she'd been involved with Professor Carter, and he could see why Geoff had been tempted.
Portia felt him mentally undressing her; his eyes crawled up over neat black shoes, her white knee socks, her creamy thighs disappearing beneath her smart green and grey-checked skirt. Although it was knee-length, it felt a lot shorter under his intense gaze.
"I'm really not sure what you mean Sir," she replied innocently as she tugged the hem down over her knees.
"Then let me be crystal clear, girl. A little bird has told me that you're violating the uniform code. I assume you're aware that the rules specify you must only wear plain white cotton underwear."
Portia's heart sank to her patent leather shoes. Clearly, he knew. Maybe her best strategy would be to come clean. Perhaps they could come to some kind of arrangement, like she'd had with Professor Carter.
"I ran out of white bra's Sir, so I had to put something else on this morning. Sorry Sir, I didn't think it was that important."
"Not important? We have very high standards here girl. Everything's important, you can't decide which rules to follow and which to ignore."
