Tim and I had a free period after lunch. We were supposed to find a vacant classroom or go to the library to do some studying or work on assignments but neither of us was in the mood for that. We were restless and started wandering around the school.
Don't get me wrong. We didn't want to get into mischief of any sort, just to find some way to relieve the tedium. I finished up suggesting to Tim that we wander over to the gym and do a bit of working out, sweat off our excess energy. We checked the roster outside the office which showed which rooms were in use and the gym was vacant and just waiting for us.
"Let's go," I told Tim. "We'll grab a basketball and do a little bit of one on one. If anyone catches us we can claim getting some exercise is a legitimate way of using our free period."
Tim was quite happy to agree, mainly because he's competitive and thinks he's better at basketball than me. (He is, but there's no way I'd admit it to him.)
As we approached the gym I heard some girls laughing but didn't think anything of it until I opened the doors and walked into the gym, Tim right behind me. As soon as we walked in the laughter cut of instantly, to be replaced by a couple of shocked squeals.
I looked around and said, "Fuuuuuck."
"What he said," was Tim's comment, jerking his thumb towards me.
Already in the gym were a couple of lovely young cheerleaders. Well, all our cheerleaders are young, I've never heard of an old one, so I'd better clarify that. Alison and Jeanne are two of our cheerleaders. They're both blondes (the coach likes to have several blondes on the team at all times) and both slightly younger than Tim and me. Hence the young cheerleaders. Seeing they were both eighteen they're not that much younger, but I do like to flaunt the fact that I'm older and wiser than them. It irritates the hell out of them.
Finding the girls in the gym wasn't the cause of my swearing. Even though they were deliciously clad in those sexy cheerleading outfits that wasn't enough to dismay me. (Quite the opposite, seeing those two in their outfits usually cheered me up no end. A very attractive pair.)
What did distress me was the fact that they'd been laughing because they'd been up to mischief and I was now at the scene of the crime. If a teacher walked in at this point I just knew who'd get the blame, and it wouldn't be a pair of charming blushing young ladies. Not when there're a couple of brutal young thugs to blame. (I'd like to point out than we could only be considered brutal young thugs when you compare us to the girls.)
When I say the girls had been up to mischief I meant just that, mischief. Nothing criminal per se, no vandalism or anything, just irritating mischief. Basically they'd been having fun spreading all the gym equipment, and I mean all of it, all over the place. Even the vaulting horse was located in three different spots.
"Fucking hell," I groused. "You idiots know who'll be blamed if Coach or someone comes in, don't you? No way are we wearing the blame for your idiocy."
"Then you'd better hurry up and tidy up," said Alison with a giggle. "We'll leave you to it."
"The hell you will," I snapped. "Tim and I will give you a hand but you're not leaving the gym until everything is back in place. If you don't like it then we're out of here and we'll find Coach and explain exactly what happened."
"You'd tell on us?" asked Jeanne, sounding shocked that we'd be so mean.
"I'll rat you out in an instant if it looks like we might get blamed," I assured her. "No way are we taking the fall for you. Now get to work. You two start putting the small stuff away. Tim and I will work on the bigger items."
We scored some very dirty looks from the girls but they started remedying the mess and, with Tim and me helping, things started to get back in order quite quickly. It was fortunate that we did as Coach dropped by the gym for some reason.
He looked at the four of us beavering away, a questioning look on his face.
"Someone made a mess of the gym, Coach," I told him. "We came in to shoot a little ball and found the mess and thought we'd better clean it up. Nearly done now."
"Okay," said Coach, speaking slowly. "I'll leave you to it. Don't forget to tidy up your own equipment after you're done."
"Really, Coach," I said. "Do you think we'd leave our own balls out after tidying everything else?"
Coach departed and we got back to work. With the four of us it didn't take long. Work done Alison gave us a nasty look.
"We've put everything back and we'll be on our way now, if you have no objections." Her sarcasm was so thick you could have scraped it up with a knife and plastered it on a slice of bread.
"As a matter of fact I have an objection," Tim said.
"What? We've finished. It's all done," Alison snapped at him.
"True. We'll call that restitution for your behaviour. Partial restitution, anyway, seeing as you had Brandon and me helping you. What you haven't had is any retribution to educate you. We'll call it a teaching moment, prompting you to think before you do something stupid again."
"What do you intend to do?" demanded Jeanne. "I don't trust you."
"And that shows you're already learning wisdom," said Tim happily. "Don't worry, it won't be anything too onerous. Did you notice that we left the vaulting horse in two sections, leaving the base off for the time being?"
"So?"
"By my estimate the horse is the perfect size for the pair of you to bend over it while Brandon and I paddle your sweet little tushes. Nothing too vigorous, of course. Just an embarrassing reminder of the trouble you might have got into."
"You've got to be kidding," said Alison, seeming rather shocked.
"Hey, I think it's a brilliant idea," I put in. "I'll take Jeanne. You can handle Alison but be careful she doesn't bite you. She might be venomous."
"What?" exclaimed Jeanne. "You don't really think I'll go along with that stupid idea do you?"
"Well, yes," I said, quite confident that she would. "You'll probably do it just for the experience and the excitement, knowing that with Tim and Alison here it's safe enough."
While I was talking I'd taken hold of her arm and was leading her over to the horse. Even as I was coaxing her to bend over with both hands on the horse I was challenging Alison.
"Are you going to leave Jeanne to be spanked while you stand back and whimper about how brutal we are? I'm just going to warm her bottom up, not beat the living daylights out of her. She'll still be able to sit down for her next class."