I'm currently eighteen and in sixth form. I'm not saying I'm always an angel at school (or outside it) but if I get caught bending the rules (Only bending. I'm far too nice a guy to actually break them.) I'll cop it sweet. Sometimes, not often, I'll get nailed for something I didn't do, lumped in with a group, sort of thing. In those cases I just console myself with the thought of things that I didn't get caught for.
But what really got up my nose was being targeted for something by a student teacher and given detention, even though she knew damn well I wasn't the culprit. I argued my case and she just said, "Too bad. I've assigned a detention and that's final."
Miss Anders was, I think, only nineteen herself. Certainly not more than twenty. She was flexing her legal muscles, delighted to be able to order around students that were only slightly younger than herself. It was a matter of prestige to her that she could slap a punishment on someone and they had to take it, and she was not going to admit that she was wrong, even though we both knew she was.
The thing was, an accidental injustice I could wear. A deliberate and malicious injustice I could not and would not. I went and discussed the matter with Mr Jacques, my form teacher, explaining why the whole thing was wrong, demonstrating that Miss Anders knew it was wrong but was too full of herself to admit it. (I didn't express it quite like that, but I got the message across.)
Mr Jacques conceded that I was correct but said that he couldn't actually cancel a detention given by another teacher. Bad for school discipline generally. I would, he said, have to turn up for the detention, but he'd have a word with Miss Anders. As soon as I turned up she'd mark me as having attended and then release me, detention officially served at the cost of five minutes of my time. I conceded he had a point regarding the school discipline and resigned myself to wasting five minutes of my precious time. Almost worth it to see Miss Anders chewing on her fingernails for having to let me go early.
I turned up at the detention room like a good lad and took a seat. By an odd chance I was the only attendee. I sat and waited for Miss Anders to come along, tick me off, and let me go.
She didn't come, did she? Time dragged slowly and I was stuck there waiting, getting madder by the minute. Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty. I didn't have the any doubt whatsoever that she was doing this deliberately. She had given me a detention and I was going to have to take it, no matter what anyone else ruled. I think she was a little power mad. Ever notice how a little authority goes to some people's head and they can't help but abuse it?
I could hear the chattering of students and teachers dying away. The few cars that were in the car park drove off, and I was still stuck, waiting.
The standard detention is only half an hour and it was past that when Miss Anders finally turned up.
She came trotting in, all smug smiles.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," she said airily. "I see detention time is up anyway so you might as well just go along now."
Strictly speaking she was doing as instructed by Mr Jacques, releasing me as soon as she checked me in. The fact that she'd deliberately waited until a standard detention was served was neither here nor there. This way she had what she considered a win/win. She went along with what Mr Jacques requested and she got me to serve an unearned detention.
I got out of my seat and moved towards the door, stopping once I was between her and the door. I turned and looked at her.
"You're a real piece of work, aren't you," I said affably. "A power mad little bitch, thinking you can whistle and we'll all come to heel like dogs."
"I beg your pardon," she snapped, sounding all proud and haughty.
"Not granted," I replied. "You knew damn well I didn't deserve that detention and that you were supposed to release me at the start of the period. You were deliberately late so you could flex your authority. You just wanted a patsy and elected me. A mistake, you'll find."
"How dare you," she said, totally shocked. "You can't speak to me that way. I'm a teacher. One more word and you'll find yourself with another detention."
"I don't think so," I said quietly. "There's no-one here to see you flexing your authority. There's no-one around, come to think of it, to help you assert it, so this conversation is just between you and me. Teacher, you say? The way you act I'll be very surprised if you ever graduate as a teacher. They tend to weed out egotists with a little Hitler complex."
She was flushed and furious and at a loss for words. Her mouth opened and closed but she didn't say anything.
"Cat got your tongue, bitch?" I asked, smirking.
"I'll be reporting this conversation," she snapped, rallying. "You'll find yourself in detention every day for the rest of the year. Or maybe," she added, smiling hopefully, "you'll be subject to some corporal punishment. They still have that here, don't they?"
"You know," I said, moving towards her, "you're right. I'm so glad you brought that to my attention. I do believe that some could be applied right now. Um, you do know that as class president I have the authority to deal it if I consider it necessary?"
