Because of not being a head girl or deputy head girl I could not change in our own office and everybody would see the six lines across my bottom and the bruising left by the two slipperings.
Julie tried to cheer me up saying just to laugh off the comments.
As we both dressed ready for breakfast and assembly I did an extra check of my uniform just in case there was another inspection.
Everything was okay.
I was just going to open the door to our dorm when Julie shouted. “Stop! You are not wearing these.”
I had forgotten my sashes so I quickly put on the two red sashes and then over the opposite shoulder I put the yellow sash which indicated that I had also been caned.
We went to breakfast and I was not allowed to sit at the top table and everyone was looking at me and smirking.
It was so embarrassing.
The week soon passed and without any more serious trouble.
However, I did get my legs smacked in front of the history class.
Somebody slapped my sore bottom as we filed into class and I yelped just after we had been told to enter quietly.
The day finally arrived when I handed my sashes back to the headmistress’s secretary.
At break time both Julie and I were told to report to the head’s office which we did.
I was given back my head girl’s badge and got another lecture from her saying that she hoped there would be no repeat.
I assured her there would not be.
We were asked to attend her office again after lunch to meet Mr Thomas, the new Geography teacher, and to show him around the school.
We arrived at the head’s office and knocked on the door and were told to enter.
The head introduced us to Mr Thomas and asked us to sit down while she finished going through the school rules and punishment system.
After this, the headmistress asked us to show him around school and to answer any questions that he may ask and to take him to the staff room before afternoon break.
After leaving Mr Thomas at the staff room we returned to our little office next to our dorm.
I said to Julie that he appeared very interested as to what punishments he could hand out.
He only looked to be mid-thirties and with a very strong-looking physique.
I said I was glad that we did not have Geography so we shouldn’t have any dealings with him.
Over the next two weeks I handed out several slipperings and I heard whispers that I was using the slipper more and with more force since I had been punished.
We had several uniform inspections and I passed every one.
Julie did however have her legs smacked for having a dirty water splash on the back of her white socks but escaped a slippering.
Word had also got around that Mr Thomas used his slipper on a regular basis and had girls in tears a lot of the time.
But he apparently rarely gave more than two strokes as he did not believe in the sash as he found that to be degrading.
His thought was a short sharp lesson as the sash was only worn if you got three or more.
That way, prefects who could give two with the slipper could not give out sashes.
After Half term, things were getting ready for the Easter break and Julie and I had become a very close pair.
We had been asked to assist on Monday mornings with the third-year hockey training as we were both very good ourselves.
On this particular Monday, we had just had to punish two fifth-year girls and also Miranda.
This was especially sweet after her reporting me and I did not hold back, so she left our office with a very sore bottom.
We were running a little late but if we took a shortcut through the hall we would still be there before all the girls were changed.
So we quickly put on our yellow hockey shirt and red games garments and red skirt and set off for the changing rooms.
We rushed through the hall which was normally out of bounds and were just staring to panic as we could hear the girls making a noise.
We ran to the top of the stairs and had just got there when we heard this voice.
“You girls! Stop where you are, put your hands on your heads and then come here.”
We stopped, looked at each other as we put our hands on our heads, and turned to face Mr Thomas stood in his classroom doorway.
“Get in here at once,” he said as we walked into the class he was taking.
He asked why we were running along school corridors and we explained we were a little late.
He said that was no excuse.
He walked past me to Julie and stood behind her.
Then there were four almighty loud smacks to the back of one of Julie’s thighs.
Julie let out a scream of pain before he applied another four loud smacks to her other thigh. This left her with tears in her eyes.
He then stood behind me and I felt the four blows to my right thigh followed by four to my left thigh.
I realized that the stories we had heard of him using the slipper must be true if he hurt so much smacking our thighs.
He came round to the front of us and said that was what naughty girls got for running in school.
He then asked us where we had been and we said we had just come from our office.
At this point, he said to us that when we showed him around the school and showed him our office the only way we could get to go past his classroom was if we came through the hall.
We agreed that we had come through the hall but it was because we were helping in a lesson and we thought we were allowed to under these circumstances.
He told us that rules were rules, as we would find out.
He went to his desk and pulled out a very large slipper and told us both to bend over and touch our toes.
We looked at each other with fear in our eyes.
We bent duly over.
Julie lined up behind me and I felt the slipper against my bottom, then move away, then a loud bang as I was pushed forward by the force.
The sudden pain made me scream out. A second stroke followed.
Then Julie got the same with similar results.
We were then told to stand and go and help with the Hockey training.
As we went downstairs our legs and bottoms were on fire and it was taking all our willpower not to cry.
We arrived at the Sportsfield to help with the training and had to explain to the teacher why we were late.
She looked at our legs and agreed they were sore.
After the training was over we returned to our office and had a shower next door in our dorm.
When we had dressed we strolled along to the prefect room and, on entering, it all went quiet.
We looked at everyone and asked if there was a problem.
They just said they had heard we had both had the slipper off Mr Thomas and wanted to know if he was really hard.
We both explained that it was and advised everybody to avoid punishment by him if possible.
We made a cup of tea and got on with our prep for the following day’s English lesson.
After about an hour the door burst open and Cathy and Sheila entered in floods of tears.
They said they had to report to the Headmistress before supper as they had been caught by Mr Thomas coming back into school after visiting the local shop.
He had given them both smacks on the thighs and said he was reporting them to the headmistress.
This would mean six with the slipper.
They were the only two girls who had never been slippered.
I said: “Look, you both have had the cane and that is far worse than the slipper.”
This meant now that out of the twenty girls in the upper 6th we would all have been slippered and only Julie had never felt the cane.
When we were getting ready for bed I said in a joking fashion that I would have to find an excuse to report Julie to the prefect meeting and get her caned.
At first Julie was shocked and said that she would never give me a chance to do that.
After a while she asked me if it really hurt being caned compared to getting the slipper of Mr Thomas.
I said it was about 10 times worse and it hurt for several days after, every time I sat down.
She said she had often thought about doing something to get caned but had always chickened out as she was really scared of it.
Also she said she could not face the embarrassment of being caned at the prefect meeting like I was.
We then let the subject drop and went to sleep.