I'd stayed back after the final bell went, marking a few papers. I only had a dozen or so to go and I was damned if I was going to take them home and have to work on them there. Once I was out of the school grounds I was through with the place until Monday.
I was nearly finished when Moira Ashcroft came rushing in.
"Thank god someone else is here," she said. "I've got some girls coming for detention after their practice and I can't stay for it. My husband's been in an accident and I've got to go to the hospital and I need someone to take the detention."
"Ah, why not defer it until next week. I'm sure the girls won't mind. In fact they'd probably prefer it. Today is Friday."
"That's precisely why I don't want to defer it. I want to teach the little bitches a lesson. They've been acting up all week. Most of the stunts they've pulled they've been able to skate through but I finally got them for talking in class."
"You gave them a Friday night detention for talking in class?"
"No. I gave them detention for being real little bitches all week and they know it. The talking is the excuse and being a Friday is just a bonus. Be a sweetie and sit in for me. All you have to do is keep an eye on them for forty minutes. Make them sit down and write an essay or something."
With her husband in hospital I couldn't very well refuse. I put a smile on and agreed.
"Just head around to the detention room and wait. They'll be there right after practice."
Before I could ask what practice Moira had turned and bolted. I shrugged, gathered up the last of the papers, and headed around to the detention room, wondering which girls I was going to be stuck with.
The answer to what practice and which girls came moments after I finished marking the papers. I'd just tucked them away in my briefcase when the offenders waltzed into the room.
It was blatantly obvious that the practice referred to was cheerleader practice and that the offenders were all cheerleaders. Apparently it had been a full dress rehearsal and the girls were still in their uniforms. Why the hell they hadn't got changed I don't know. It was probably intended to annoy Moira who was a bit sticky about appropriate clothes for girls.
I wasn't too happy with Moira, either. When she'd said the girls were being little bitches I'd assumed juniors mucking around. Not seniors. If any of that bunch was under eighteen I'd eat those damn exams I'd just marked. Girls of eighteen plus are actually young ladies, not children.
In this case they were young ladies in abbreviated dress. The tops were skin tight and showed the midriff. I remembered some of the debate about the amount of cleavage the tops would have and I was under the impression that the cleavage would be minimal. Either my impression was just plain wrong or a couple of the ladies were sufficiently endowed so as to turn minimal into maximal.
Mini-skirts were the order of the day. As far as I was concerned those skirts were little more than wide belts. Thank god the girls had to wear modesty shorts under them.
"Mr Adams," said Cheryl. "Where's Mrs Ashcroft?"
"Mrs Ashcroft's husband was in an accident and she had to go to the hospital," I explained. "I'm filling in for her. Do you have any homework assigned for the weekend? If so, now's a good time to get on with it."
I just smiled and added a killer.
"If you haven't any homework, I know you've all been studying Shakespeare's Julius Caesar this term. You could spend the next half hour writing an essay about it. We'd spend the last ten minutes reading them and having a laugh."
The girls conceded that they did have some homework they should do and I directed them to sit down and get on with it.
The girls dropped their bags and settled into the front desks. They all found reasons to bend over and burrow through their bags, fishing out books and pens and things. It was noticeable that the two young ladies with the biggest cleavage happened to be facing me when they bent over, giving me an eyeful. It was even more noticeable that the other two girls were facing away from me when they bent over and gave me a different eyeful. It seems I was mistaken about the modesty shorts. Where Cheryl was concerned, for a moment I was a little doubtful that she had panties at all. Skin coloured bikini briefs were apparently the order of the day. (Very brief.)