Donna May bides her time. On Saturday she is far too mellow after her orgasm to think of punishing other girls. But on Sunday she runs through a few possibilities in her mind. There is hog-tying, which was so effective the last time. But ideally she'd like something different, and something which does not require her to wake herself and get out of bed before rising bell.
Then there is Squeal Piggy Squeal. Of all possible punishments, that is the one that would give Donna most pleasure. But to be enjoyed to the maximum it requires two people: and much as she would like to rope in Ruth Bowers, Miss Lucy was clear: this is something Donna must do alone.
She falls back on that old staple, wetting the bed. It is quick and easy: all the girls dread it for the humiliation which follows. And Clare Davenport has never had the pleasure of being put into nappies before. It's true that two nights running Donna will have to hold in her evening piss, and stay awake maybe half an hour later than she would like. But that is a small price to pay for such a cathartic orgasm. And Donna gets the feeling that Miss Lucy would approve.
Very soon Clare Davenport is going to find herself sleeping in a piss-soaked bed.
Karen Frayn is worried sick. Although she left Miss Lucy's Consulting Room unscathed, she has no illusions as to the kind of treatment she can expect in the future.
For all her physical grace she cuts a dismal figure in the Recreation Yard: she has no close friend, and is aware that most of the girls do not like her. She longs to have somebody to share her troubles with, and wonders whether to confide in Clare Davenport, who seems more intelligent than the rest, and has never been unfriendly towards her.
She is pleasantly surprised, then, when Clare Davenport approaches her.
"Karen," Clare says. "Could I talk to you?"
"Of course," says Karen.
It's a blustery day: the wind eddies noisily around the high brick walls, which is helpful for private conversation. Instinctively, though, the two girls walk as far away as possible from the overseeing Wardens.
"What do you think of Miss Lucy?" Clare asks.
A change comes over Karen's features: she stops dead in her tracks, stares at Clare, takes a quick look around her and says:
"She's evil Clare. Pure evil. Have nothing to do with her."
Clare nods slowly:
"I'm afraid it's too late for that."
Karen breathes out heavily and looks down at the asphalt.
"You as well," she says.
"What has she done to you?" Clare asks.
"Horrible things," says Karen. "I don't want to talk about them. Things even Bulstrode wouldn't do. Just don't cross her Clare: and don't trust her: one minute she's nice as pie, but the next..."
"Couldn't we stop her?" asks Clare. "If we went to Miss McCloud, say?"
"No," says Karen, thinking of what would happen to her if it came out about the five thousand pounds. "Who's going to take our word against hers?"
"If we both went, independently?" suggests Clare.
"Don't be naΓ―ve Clare: she's clever: she'd have an answer. Remember Matron is her Aunt. We'd both end up being thrashed."
"There must be other girls," persists Clare.
"If there are they're not saying," says Karen. "Though I did overhear Kelly badmouthing her once."
The girls have reached one of the brick walls, and turning see Miss Barker take a look at her wrist watch and finger her whistle.
"Can I ask you one last thing?" says Clare. "Miss Lucy told me to ask you what she did to girls who cross her. She said it rhymes with fucking."
"Plucking," says Karen bitterly, practically spitting out the word. "Where it hurts most. You don't want to go there Clare, believe me. Just don't cross her, whatever you do."
The whistle blows, shrill and piercing, and the thirty girls in the Recreation Yard form up into two lines.
Clare is trying to find her way out of a building comprising endless identical corridors when she becomes aware of pressure over her mouth. She wakes uncertainly - Who? What? - and hears a voice in her ear shushing her.
"Not a sound," whispers Donna. "Move over."
Too groggy to resist, Clare finds Donna May pressed up in her bed behind her.
"What's going on?" she breathes.
"Relax Clare," whispers Donna into her ear. "This won't take long."
"Go away," Clare hisses.
"That's not very friendly, is it?" whispers Donna, sliding her hand under Clare's night dress and cupping it over Clare's breast. When Clare tries to pull away, Donna takes Clare's nipple between her finger and thumb and fondles it in a menacing sort of way.
"You've been a naughty girl Clare," says Donna. "Now it's punishment time."
"Leave me alone," says Clare. "I've done nothing to you."
"You've upset one of my friends," says Donna.
"What friend?" asks Clare.
"Never mind that," says Donna. "Just shut up and listen: if you do as you're told you won't get hurt. All I'm going to do is piss in your bed."
"No," says Clare: "you're not. Just go away."