I remember when I was about 15, if the weather was cold, instead of going outside at school we used to hide in the broom cupboard next to the gym. There were some pipes in there and it was nice and warm. This particular day, my friend, Susie, and me had gone in with a girl who was quite new to the school called Annette. She was a good girl and wouldn’t normally have done this sort of thing, but we naughty girls persuaded her as the staff would have all been in the staff room at the time.
Unfortunately, this particular day the gym mistress was on the prowl, possibly hunting for miscreants in the changing rooms. We held our breath as we heard footsteps outside the door where we were, hoping she wouldn’t open it. Unfortunately, the cupboard was pretty dusty and some of it had gone up Annette’s nose, and at that moment she betrayed our presence with a loud sneeze. We froze in horror as the door opened and the gym teacher beckoned us out.
Of course, what happened next was pretty routine as she ordered us to bend over the benches in the changing rooms while she gave our upturned bottoms six good whacks each. Two of us were old stagers at feeling the sting of the slipper, but poor Annette was new to such things and howled as the slipper made contact with her cute little bum.
We all went out into the cold snivelling, but with bottoms that we felt could have melted the Arctic. This was the sort of central heating we didn’t want! We all felt most uncomfortable the rest of the day, sitting on sore bottoms.
I thought that might be the end of our friendship, but Annette actually apologised to me for giving us away. I told her there was no need to worry as we were all to blame and we remained good friends, although she never did trust herself to hide in the cupboard again!
WW