Shelby Strode clutched the straps on her backpack nervously as she stepped through the doors of the Mary Louise Academy for Girls. Today was the first day of school, but that was not why she was nervous.
Shelby caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass entry doors, so she stopped to check it once again. Her appearance hadn't changed much since she checked it for the fifteenth time that morning in her bedroom mirror.
Her light brown, shoulder length hair was clean and fresh. Her white blouse was ironed and neat. Her red and black plaid skirt was buckled snugly around her slim, eighteen-year old waist. Although she'd grown an inch or two over the summer, her skirt was still at regulation length, stopping at three inches above the knee. Her nails were freshly painted a bright crimson, her favorite color. Her feet were adorned with a pair of black leather shoes. Beneath her skirt, a brand new pair of white cotton panties were wrapped snugly around her firm teenage buttocks.
A shift in the wind sent a cool gust of September air up Shelby's skirt, sending a wave of goosebumps across the surface her bare legs. Shelby hurried inside the building and rubbed her palms against her skirt to warm her thighs.
"Shelby!"
Shelby didn't need to look up to know who called her name. Emmy, her best friend since Kindergarten, stood across the hall smiling. The two girls outstretched the arms and ran towards each other to celebrate their reunion with a tight embrace.
"How are you, babe?" Emmy squealed.
"Great, so good to see you!" Shelby said. They playfully rocked each other back and forth, not releasing their grip even slightly. Emmy was dressed the same as Shelby, as did every girl at the Mary Louise Academy for Girls. Shelby and Emmy hugged each other tightly while the other students walked past them on either side.
"Sucks we only got two classes together this semester," Emmy said, chewing on a piece of bubble gum.
"I know, right?" Shelby said, finally releasing her friend.
"Well, we always got text messaging," Emmy giggled, holding up her cell phone and wobbling it left and right with a grin.
Shelby's expression dropped.
"Not a good idea," Shelby muttered. "If we get caught-"
Emmy rolled her eyes.
"Oh don't worry about that, we're allowed to get in a little trouble now! We're Seniors, baby!" Emmy exclaimed.
Shelby shook her head. She did not want to get in trouble. Not this year.
The reason for Shelby's nervousness for this school year started because of what happened at the PTA meeting the previous May. While Shelby did not attend, her father told her afterwords what had happened.
A new superintendent had been hired, a very no-nonsense, by the book former principal named Vera Harradine. She would oversee both the Mary Louise Academy for Girls and the nearby boys' school. Upon her introduction to the PTA, her first announcement was the introduction of her newly implemented policies.
"I am reinstating corporal punishment in both of these schools," Harradine said. A hushed tone overtook the room, with many teachers and parents alike shocked by the announcement.
"Corporal punishment was practiced regularly when I was a student, and schools did not have anywhere close to the behavior problems they've been experiencing recently," Harradine said. "Therefore, beginning this fall, I will be re-instituting corporal punishment as the primary disciplinary method for all infractions."
Superintendent Harradine's announcement was met with much opposition among the parent and teachers, however it was met with equally as much support. After much disagreement and debate, the PTA settled on a compromise. Students could be punished via corporal punishment only if the parent of said child signed a consent form and submitted it to the school's main office.
A month before the new school year started, one such form arrived in the mailbox at the Strode household.
"No, Daddy, PLEASE, don't sign it!" Shelby had pleaded to her Father.
"Shelby. Stop." Shelby's father looked her straight in the eye, and Shelby knew saying another word would be a big mistake.
It was all because of Cara. Shelby had never been spanked as a little girl, or any time in her life for that matter. Her mother had been opposed to it and her father was the type of man who always deferred to his wife for such matters. After their divorce Shelby had free reign to do as she pleased for a few years and play her parents against one another for her own purposes. Then Cara came along.
Shelby did not like her father's new girlfriend and Cara did not care for Shelby either. Shelby knew Cara had something to do with her father's decision to sign the corporal punishment consent form. It was the way she smiled when her father announced at the dinner table that he was considering it. After dinner, Shelby watched as her father sat at the kitchen table and placed his signature at the bottom of the page. All the while Cara casually whistled while washing the dishes just a few feet away.
Hence, Shelby was going to make an extra effort to stay out of trouble this year. No senior skip day. No senior prank. Shelby had gotten this far in her life without ever getting a spanking and she did not want to get her first in Principal Lightner's office.
"So where's your locker this year?" Emmy asked.
"It's B-383," Shelby said. "I think that's over in the science wing."
"Cool, mine's B-371. We're probably pretty close," Emmy said.
The two girls hurried down the hallway, weaving their way between the throngs of students packing the narrow walkspace. Turning a corner, Shelby ran smack into Judy Schrein, almost knocking her over.
"Watch where you're going!" Judy snapped. She glared back at Shelby. Judy had small beady eyes that made her look as though she was always angry, even when she wasn't.
"Sorry, Judy," Shelby said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Judy said. "You're not supposed to run in the halls."
"We weren't really running, I just turned to see if Emmy was still next to me and I didn't see-"
"Shelby,' Judy said. "All you need to say is 'yes.'"
"Okay," Shelby said, defensively.
Shelby was not going to like having Judy as a TA. Judy and Shelby had never been friends. To Judy, Shelby was always the pretty one, the popular one. In her four years as a student, Judy had not once been invited to a party or social gathering. It didn't help that Judy was not particularly friendly, but Judy didn't think there was anything wrong with the way she acted. To her, everyone was just mean and disrespectful because she came from a poor family.
Now that Judy had graduated, she was back this year as a TA. This gave her some limited power over her former classmates, which she was all too happy to wield.
Shelby and Emmy continued down the hall, slowing their pace somewhat as they could feel Judy's eyes burning into them as they walked away.
Judy dusted herself off and walked briskly to her first class. She shot another glance back at Shelby, only to see she had now disappeared into the crowd. It made her blood boil how Shelby had tried to claim she hadn't been running. That was a straight-up lie. Judy was a TA now. She deserved respect, and she was going to get it.
It seemed to Judy that Shelby was such a privileged child. Shelby went home every day to a three-story house, after her father picked her up in a Mercedes. Judy had to get by on food stamps to support her handicapped mother. If it weren't for her father's life insurance policy paying the way following his death five years earlier, Judy would not have been able to attend this school. And Shelby's father literally bought her a pony for her sixteenth birthday. A pony! Judy bit her lower lip as she assertively strode down the hallway, fuming. It was actually a horse Shelby's father had bought her, not a pony, but it made little difference to Judy.
While Judy trudged into her first class of the day, Shelby made her way to the science wing to find her locker.
"Here it is, where's yours?" Shelby asked.
"Right here," Emmy said, at a locker little more than fifteen feet away.
Reading off a small card, Shelby entered the combination to her locker and pulled up the latch.
An empty space consisting of two hooks and a shelf appeared before her. Shelby knew she would have no trouble filling all of this space within the week. Shelby removed a photograph from her book bag and taped it onto the inside door of her locker. The photograph showed Shelby riding her horse, Pepper in a meadow over the summer. Shelby smiled and checked her watch, counting the hours until school was out so she could ride her again.
After her first hour English class was concluded, Shelby stepped out of the classroom only to find Principal Lightner waiting for her.
"Shelby, may I speak to you please?" Lightner asked.