by Sarah Veitch
She looked restlessly towards the outer doors. 'Nah, I'll go and explore the island.'
'You need an evening pass for that,' Amanda explained.
'Gee, but I'm the new girl. I didn't know,' Charlotte said.
She turned on her heel and hurried away before her German friend could say any more. It felt daring to leave the quiet school building. She hurried through the sunlit playground then began walking along the path that led away from the hockey field.
Soon she came to a row of ten shops. All of them were open. Charlotte hesitated then glanced into the first. It was clearly some kind of clothing store judging by the bales of material which were stacked against the walls. There were also several dressmaker's dummies in a corner, most of which had shirts or dresses pinned to them.
She was just turning to leave when a female voice said 'Can I help you?'
Charlotte turned and saw that a very overweight thirty-something had come from the backshop. She held a pin cushion in her chubby right hand.
'Yes, I'd like a new dress,' she said, remembering that everything had been free on isle one of the Training Grounds. Presumably this was equally true here at isle two - with the bonus that this time she was allowed to wear clothes!
'A new pinafore dress?' the woman asked.
'No, a... well, a sundress would be nice. Something casual yet tasteful,' Charlotte replied, looking around the store for inspiration. She spied a bail of maroon silk. 'This perhaps, in a style that goes in at the waist.'
'But you're a schoolgirl,' the store owner said. 'Full uniform only.'
Charlotte felt the first twinges of anxiety but she kept her voice laconic. 'Can't a girl have a bit of a change?'
'A girl can have a damn good spanking for trying to pull the wool,' the woman parried, putting down the pin cushion on the counter and making a grab for Charlotte's hand.
Realising that she had to get out of there, Charlotte ran from the shop. She started to race back the way that she'd come, damning the fact that she hadn't had a chance to explore the other outlets. She ran past a gaggle of angry geese, the first she'd seen on the Training Grounds and was so busy eyeing them carefully that she ran straight into a man.
'Oh, sorry!' Charlotte gasped. She tried to take a step backwards but the man held her fast.
'I'm not.' He looked more closely at her grey pinafore and white ankle socks. 'So, little lady, what are you doing out of school after hours?'
'I... I had to get a new uniform,' Charlotte mumbled. She glanced back over her shoulder and was horrified to see the large woman approaching with a wooden ruler in her hand.
'Nonsense, that uniform looks perfectly fine and will last you for years, girl. We're environmentally friendly here. In fact, I'm the island's Environmental Officer,' the man said.
'You fucking would be,' Charlotte muttered, beginning to think that she'd been born under a blighted star.
'She's a fraud who was trying to get a sundress,' the large woman said as she puffed her way up to them.
'So sue me, why don't you?' Charlotte replied. She'd been used to getting her own way all of her life and wasn't completely cowed by her few weeks on the Training Grounds.
'Sue you? I'm going to spank you,' the woman said - and to Charlotte's amazement she hoisted her over her shoulder in a fireman's lift and started to carry her back towards the shop.
'I'll come too and help you hold her down,' the Environmental Officer said. He grabbed hold of Charlotte's feet to stop them kicking. 'She's a lively little lass, isn't she?'
Damn them for talking about her as if she wasn't there. And damn them for carrying her like she was a sack of potatoes. And damn them for... for the spanking they'd promised to give her next. Surely they couldn't chastise her over her recent cane marks?
When they reached the shop, the owner hesitated. 'As it's such a nice night, why don't we tie her over the fence? It'll serve as a deterrent to others who're thinking of cheating on their clothes allowance.' The large woman set her down but held her fast then both she and the man turned her around to face the waist-high wooden fence.
'So I'm just supposed to have one pinafore dress and one blouse?' Charlotte muttered as they started to bend her over the hard wood.
'They're laundered frequently - and most girls are only at the school for a few weeks until they graduate to a work programme,' the seamstress said.
The woman produced silken ropes from her copious apron pocket and she and the Environmental Officer set to work, binding Charlotte's wrists and ankles to cleverly-fashioned holes in the woodwork. Soon she was arched and tethered in place. Only then did the seamstress edge her pinafore up over her back and pin it there before pulling down her protective navy pants. Charlotte could feel them sliding their way down to her ankles where they remained bunched around her socks.
'Kiss the ruler and beg forgiveness,' the Environmental Officer said kneeling in front of her and holding the wooden implement out. Blushing, Charlotte obeyed. The wood tasted surprisingly metallic, as if it had been stored in a metal drawer.
'Good girl,' the man said then handed the ruler over the fence to the seamstress who was already beginning to stroke Charlotte's naked bum.
'I wager this striped bottom has seen its share of punishment,' she said breathlessly.
'Oh, run the betting shop as well, do you?' Charlotte muttered. Immediately she said the words, they were rewarded by a sharp ruler-sized shock.
'Aaah!' She tried to jerk upright but the various cords held her fence-bound and she could only jerk her bare buttocks a few millimetres to the right and then the left.
'If sarcasm earns you one stripe, how many does fraud earn you?' the seamstress asked.
Charlotte fought back the retort 'is this quiz night?' Her smart mouth was always earning her a smarting arse.
'Two more, miss?' she queried softly.
'I think at least twenty, given that she planned to misuse the islands resources,' the Environmental Officer said.
Charlotte looked at him but he stared straight back at her, his gaze unwavering. She was disconcerted by the fact that he was kneeling only a few centimetres away. It meant that he could study her face as it creased in anguish when the ruler was applied. She tried to look for the silver lining. On the other hand, it meant that he was spared the view of her newly-bared bottom with its reddened ruler stripe.
'Twenty it is,' the seamstress said. Seconds later she applied the second rulering to the centre of Charlotte's pink and white expanse. It was immediately followed by the third, fourth, fifth and sixth lashes, all of which made the tethered girl cry out.
'Oh it hurts, it hurts,' she wailed, tugging ineffectually at the cords which held her wrists in situ.
'Of course it hurts. And it'll hurt a lot more before we're finished,' the woman replied.
Charlotte cast a quick look at the man and could see an obvious tenting in his linen suit trousers. The sadistic bastard was clearly getting off on this.
A few seconds later it was clear that other residents of the Training Grounds were also getting off on this. Charlotte heard a few giggles and shuffling sounds. Looking through her legs she could see several pairs of feet somewhere behind her as a small crowd gathered to view her increasing shame.
'Can't I have any privacy?' she mumbled to the Environmental Officer.
'You had privacy in school. Don't they have games in the Rec Room at night? You'd have had stimulus and conversation.'
'I only wanted a walk,' Charlotte muttered.
'And you could have had one if you'd applied for an evening pass.'
'I just wanted to go window shopping.'
'No, you wanted to take away an outfit you hadn't earned.'
'So how do I earn it?' Charlotte asked, aware that whilst she was talking they weren't reddening her helpless bottom.
'You earn it by doing well at your lessons and by graduating to become a good worker,' the man explained.
'All right, so I'll...'
The man held u
p his hand, indicating silence. 'But for now you've earned yourself twenty lashes with the ruler and you've only had six so far.'
To Charlotte's dismay, the seamstress immediately applied the wooden implement again. She seemed to line the ruler up so that every blow struck horizontally across the girl's haunches. Charlotte could feel each new line as a distinct band of hot pain which blurred at the sides into previous pains.
'Nice shot,' someone said.
'Good one,' another member of the crowd commented.
Charlotte gritted her teeth and promised herself that she wouldn't add to their entertainment but when the ruler fell she gasped loudly and scrunched up her backside the little she could.
'But I didn't steal an outfit!' she gasped.
The ruler rose and fell, rose and fell, rose and fell.
'The intention was there,' the seamstress said after laying on yet another striping.
'You break the rules, you pay the price,' the Environmental Officer cut in.
'And haven't you ever broken the rules?' Charlotte mumbled, trying to put off the rest of her punishment.
'We make the rules,' the Environmental Officer said.
'And we work hard so we deserve to make the rules,' the seamstress added tritely.
Yeah, you work hard at over eating too, Charlotte thought, but she kept these thoughts to herself.
'Maybe I'll work so hard here that I can make the rules,' she said desperately.
'Who knows? But for now, your ambitious plan won't save your arse from stinging hard.'
When she'd had at least twenty, she heard the ruler fall to the ground.
'Let's leave her here for ten minutes as a warning to other miscreants,' the seamstress said.
The officer nodded then vaulted over the fence to Charlotte's rear end. 'I must just admire your handiwork.' He paused for a moment, clearly scrutinising Charlotte's scarlet haunches. 'Oh, you've done well, Christine. There's isn't a patch of white to be seen.'
'I overlapped a bit too much there,' the woman replied and Charlotte cringed anew as she felt the woman tracing the tramlines on her nakedness.
'Maybe so, but she has quite a small bottom, that makes it harder to get a good swing at. And I'll bet she was wriggling a lot too.'
'Like an electric eel,' the seamstress said with feeling. 'If I'd thought, I could have brought out one of those big bolsters to hold her in place.'
When he replied, the officer sounded unconvinced. 'Oh, I like to see a girl squirm whilst she's taking a thrashing, especially when she knows that she isn't going anywhere.'
'I'll second that,' said a fervent male voice in the crowd.
For the next ten minutes, Charlotte skulked about over the fence and listened to the others discussing the shade and size of her denuded bottom. At least two of the island's residents went further, laying their palms upon her sore flesh and commenting on its heat.
At last the Environmental Officer scrambled over the fence again and knelt in front of her.
'Okay, let's get you untied and take you back to Mr Steen for a damn good caning.'
'Christ, no - not the cane,' Charlotte gasped, appalled. Her backside already felt swollen and very painful and she couldn't bear to taste the merciless rod.
'I reckon he'll give you six of the best,' said the man.
Charlotte stared at him with fear-filled eyes. She noticed belatedly that he was still sporting an erection beneath his suit. Maybe if she... it couldn't hurt to ask.
'If I was very nice to you, maybe you wouldn't have to tell the headmaster about my little trip?' she said.
The officer hesitated then looked over at the watchful crowd. 'All right, show's over,' he called.
Charlotte heard the little group disperse. She looked back at the man and watched as he unzipped himself.
'Suck it good and hard,' he said.
Charlotte's first instinct was to take his cock in her right hand and guide it towards her mouth - but her wrists were still bound to the fence, making this impossible. Instead, she was reduced to a helplessly gaping mouth. She stretched her lips apart as widely as she could then watched and felt his hardness disappear inside.
'Suck it,' the man said again.
Obediently Charlotte moved her mouth up and down on his manhood, sensing his increasing excitement.
'Oh, her little red bum is twitching with the effort,' said a woman's voice and she realised belatedly that Christine, the seamstress, was standing behind her and watching the entire show.
'Christ, I wish I could see that,' the officer muttered then cried out and filled her mouth with his desire.
He closed his eyes in rapture and Charlotte spat out the sour liquid.
'Now that wasn't nice. I like a girl to really appreciate what I give her. I like her to lick her lips and go mm, mm, mm,' said the man.
'Mm, mm, mm,' Charlotte repeated, feeling even more ridiculous.
'No, you're really not trying,' he admonished but she could see from the gleam in his eyes that he was really enjoying himself. 'Christine and I will have to confiscate your school uniform as a punishment.'
'But the school will be mad at me and they'll...'
'Tell them that you handed it in to my sewing shop,' Christine cut in.
'But I wasn't supposed to be there,' Charlotte said.
She could see the couple grinning as they untied her and suspected they wanted an excuse to get her into further strife.
At last they straightened her up and stripped her of all of her clothes though they let her keep her plimsolls.
'Have a nice walk back to school, dear. It's fortunate for you that it rarely gets cold here,' Christine said.
Tilting her head high, Charlotte began the walk back to the school, her bare breasts and reddened bottom jiggling. When she was at last out of sight of her watchful tormentors, she ducked behind a bush then dashed to the next bush then the nearest tree.
Eventually there was no further camouflage so she had to openly run the rest of the way back to school. Thankfully the other pupils had obeyed the curfew and she saw no one until she was safely inside the school's double doors. There she encountered two youths who were clearly about to step outside for a quiet smoke.
One of the adult schoolboys grinned and said 'nice birthday suit.' The other simply stared as if he'd never seen a naked female before.
'Can I borrow your shirt?' Charlotte asked breathlessly, opening her eyes wide and trying to look appealing.
'No way. Steen goes nuts if anyone fucks with their school uniform,' the youth said.
Charlotte turned her doe-eyes on his friend, but the boy also shook his head.
Miserably she hurried back to the dormitory and slipped into bed, planning to ask Amanda for clothes as soon as she returned from the Recreation Room. But the events of the day had tired her and she soon drifted into a very deep sleep.
The next morning Charlotte was woken by the pre-breakfast bell. Sleepily she sat up and reached for her uniform then remembered the previous night's ignominy. She pulled the blanket more closely around her breasts and waited for Amanda to go past. When the German girl did, Charlotte grabbed her by the elbow.
'Can you lend me some clothes? Some bastard took them off me last night.'
'What bastard? There are rules...'
'He said that he was the Environmental Officer.' Reluctantly Charlotte told her the whole story.
'Oh, I thought you meant they'd been stolen by another pupil. The Environmental Officer is an overseer. He can do what he likes,' Amanda explained.
'Steal my clothes?'
'Make an example of you because you tried to get additional clothes by fraudulent means,' Amanda clarified.
'It's hardly the Great Train Robbery,' the British girl said dolefully.
'It's an unnecessary waste to a community with limited resources,' Amanda replied.
'Just my fucking luck to encounter a Puritan,' Charlotte said. She looked down at her pouting pink nipples. 'Anyway, I can hardly go to breakfast l
ike this and I'm starving. How about you lend me your blouse and I can rip this blanket in two to make a skirt?'
Amanda shook her head. 'No can do. Mr Steen would notice I had nothing on under my pinafore. He's really strict about us wearing full uniform. And you've felt his cane...'
The twenty-something shivered. She had indeed tasted the headmaster's merciless rod and was desperate to avoid a repeat performance. But she had to eat.
'A home made sari it is, then,' she said dolefully and wrapped the thin cotton sheet around her breasts, waist and hips. Then she tore a pillow case into a long strip and bound the sheet in place.
Breakfast was its usual leisurely affair but everyone was so focused on the numerous dishes of delicious food that no one paid much attention to the seated Charlotte. And Amanda proved very helpful in bringing her friend food from the buffet counter so that Charlotte didn't have to stand about in her sheet.
'Are you going to Philosophy Class like that?' she asked, looking both concerned and curious.
'No, I'm going to scout around and try to nick someone else's uniform,' the British girl explained.
'Charlotte, don't! We all have our names sewn into our uniforms. You'll just end up on extra charges. And if you do badly in school they may move you on to the reformatory...'
Charlotte paused, a piece of golden hash brown en route to her mouth. 'You mean there are more punitive establishments than this?'
Amanda vigorously nodded her head. 'You start off here when you're moved to isle two - but if your schooling goes badly you're sent to a more severe training facility. This isle has several. For God's sake, don't blot your copybook further than you've already done.'
Charlotte hesitated. She was desperate to get into a pinafore dress and blend in with everyone else but she was also keen to avoid further reprimand. Her bottom still felt bruised from the application of the ruler last night and she could remember how humiliating it was to suck the stranger off whilst tied over the wooden fence.
'All right, I'll go find Mr Steen and tell him what I did,' she said dejectedly. 'Any idea where he is?'
'He has a study on the first floor,' Amanda offered. 'You can't miss it - it has a picture of a crook handled cane on the door.'