“There was this girl,” added Mandy, ” don’t remember her name, but she had this raging argument with Ellsworth about coursework one time — then she swore at her. Ellsworth wrecked her.”
“What does ‘wrecked’ mean in this context?” I asked, anxiously.
“It depends who you ask,” said Kam. Even their face looked grave. ” I heard she stripped her and spanked her in front of a whole lecture hall to set an example.”
Said Beth: “I heard she made the whole lecture hall do the spanking.”
Said Mandy: ” I heard she went so hard the girl’s arsecheeks were bleeding.”
Said Archie: “I heard none of this happened and people made it all up.”
“Well,” I said to Archie, “hopefully you’re the correct one.”
“I often am,” he sniggered.
“Well,” I said, “I’m just gonna keep doing it my way and maybe my way’s gonna change, maybe it’s not, but it’s how I’ll do it.”
“Well,” said Beth, mocking my repeated use of the word, “good luck to ya. I know none of us are gonna say a word about it — and a student would have to be mental to go ratting to her that you didn’t punish them enough.” Everyone laughed and Kam made a ‘sealed lips’ gesture to me. I smiled, with a new thought drifting about in my mind — were I to go further, to practice a bit more intensity, I’d have some rather more satisfying stories to tell, and that pleasant feeling of people hanging on my every word could come back. I could even take requests, I thought in a moment of inspiration, on what they wanted done to those they sent my way. Opportunities were most certainly available — if I could break through my own internal blockages.
I glanced back to Archie.
“Is it not weird to you?” I asked suddenly. “As a guy? Talking about, you know, this kind of stuff? About girls?”
“Not really,” he replied. “I’ve been here three years, now, and I’ve never had to do any of that stuff. Or see it — male staff members never have and, now you’re here, never will. Thank God.”
“Why thank God?”
“Well, first of all, I’m married, and second of all I don’t wanna think about them in that way. They’re students — we’re Student Support. We look after them, you know?”
“Yeah,” interjected Kam, “and this is part of how we do. Discipline.” Archie shrugged.
“Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. It’s not for me to say.”
“It works,” Kam insisted. “Repeat offenders are super low.”
“That’s true,” said Mandy, as Kam leaned close to me.
“But,” they whispered in my ear, “if you get any girls you fancy a second go with, I can always find a reason.” They winked at me — I just stared at them, as the conversation drifted towards an upcoming music festival just outside the village.