scarlett and the conspiracy
scarlett was nervous, she always got a very active set of butterflies when meeting with Headmistress Viola Parker. Being summoned to her office, scarlett shifted on her feet nervously at the door; she had a moment of wanting to run away into the woods, but she took a deep breath and knocked, how bad could it be?
Beyond bad, with a capital B. Standing there, next to Headmistress Parker was madame Penelope; Headmistress's demonic little servant. At least that was the first image that popped into scarlett's mind. The butterflies froze in her stomach and crashed together. This was not at all what scarlett was expecting.
Headmistress sensed this and put scarlett on edge, she wasn't just there for a check-in. No, the madame was there to administer corrective action, because Headmistress had determined that scarlett needed it -- she had not fulfilled her assignment, as Headmistress's and the madame's informant. scarlett had sent incomplete emails, with poor spelling and grammar. scarlett backed up against the wall, looking for an escape.
The close quarters made scarlett a little light-headed. Headmistress was sharp and no nonsense, scarlett could usually count on Headmistress's compassion. Not at the moment. The madame, well, she was another story; scarlett was looking for a way to escape the madame's intense gaze, as if she were ready to strike at any moment, held back only by the Headmistress. But, sadly, there was nowhere to run and hide, scarlett was cornered.
With a flourish the madame opened the curtains to Headmistress's office and scarlett noticed a bevy of implements laid out. Each one seemingly scarier than the last. As Headmistress and the madame sized her up, she was beginning to wilt under their dual gaze. scarlett had never been so frightened. As she stood for inspection, she could hear the Headmistress and the madame discussing her, pointing out each little infraction, each flaw. A ruler? scarlett felt the cool metal of a 12" ruler pressed against her legs, the madame pointing out how askew her stockings were. As the Headmistress looked on, the madame was right in scarlett's space now, suggesting that after yet another uniform violation, perhaps scarlett should be sent out onto the campus without any clothes, with nothing to hide behind.
Despite her soft protest, she was trying, neither of these women were having it. With each word, both grew sharper, the sting that scarlett felt had her on the verge of tears. She was confused, upset, afraid. Both the Headmistress and the madame were especially cross with scarlett, their scolding was intense. scarlett could choose -- be stripped bare and sent out, or stay and be subjected to corrective action.
This was no choice at all. Either way, scarlett was trapped. Make your choice, the madame's near hiss in her ear rang loud. scarlett could barely get the words out, agreeing to stay. Out of the corner of her eye, scarlett could have sworn she saw the madame break into the most evil cheshire grin imaginable. Another choice, this time from the Headmistress: choose three implements, quickly. scarlett nearly stumbled as she picked a cane, a paddle, and another implement that looked hard.
Why the cane scarlett chided herself, remembering the bruises the madame had left, the point that she had made on scarlett's backside. Ordered to the bench, scarlett knelt, awaiting her fate.
Taking the implements in hand, the Headmistress began to explain to scarlett what was going to happen, starting with a paddling, because she hadn't had one in 28 days. She would receive one stroke for each day that had elapsed. And the Madame had the paddle in her hands...scarlett braced herself but the first blow the crashed against her bottom elicited stars and a yelp as scarlett rose up to escape the intense pain. The madame was not fooling around.
Another, another, scarlett had to take it and count out each one. The Headmistress continued to correct her, to explain the importance of her punishment, that it would not end until Headmistress was satisfied. The madame was mean, even switching the paddle to her non-dominant hand offered little relief. scarlett could feel her bottom on fire with the last stroke.
The madame was in front of her, kneeling, her gloved hands on her shoulders, nearly taunting her, telling her that she herself submitted to the Headmistress for corrective action, which only seemed to fuel her sadism. scarlett could barely talk, the feelings were so overwhelming.
What was the Headmistress asking about? Jenna? Even through the pain, scarlett froze. How did they know about Jenna? This was going from bad to absolutely worse. scarlett had never thought that other girls would be informing, even as Headmistress and the Madame told her that was exactly what was happening.
And now it was the Headmistress's turn. As she began to strike scarlett's bottom with the bruiser, she started to interrogate scarlett. scarlett mumbled, barely audible, which just spurred the Headmistress to strike harder, telling scarlett to use her words, that they needed to come back. scarlett squealed in pain and agony but she finally began to get the words out, confessing to her tormentors that she had continued to be in contact with Jenna, despite Jenna's expulsion. scarlett confessed she had not told either the Headmistress or the Madame of the conversation, that she wanted to protect Jenna and thought she was helping her. The confession of a plot to take revenge came out and that it was only scarlett and Jenna talking about it.
It was all a mix and a tumble. The Headmistress turned scarlett over to the Madame, who was wielding the cane. scarlett wasn't even ready for the sting of each stroke, the Madame landing blow after blow all over her backside. The relentlessness, the interrogation, scarlett was bent into knots. Even when the Headmistress held her hair and soflty consoled her, there was an edge to it that kept scarlett from relaxing. Even as the Madame seemed compassionate, scarlett was just knotted up further - how could such a sadistic person be so compassionate and then sadistic all over again, it was as if the Headmistress was flipping a switch on the wall. scarlett confessed everything to them, using her words, but when it came to confessing Jenna's plan, scarlett still tried to resist, even as the words were beaten out of her -- it was now a conspiracy according to the Madame, and scarlett found herself right in the middle of it, again. With the words hanging in the air the Headmistress returned to punishing scarlett, intent on getting every detail out of her. the Madame interrogated scarlett, who was barely able to keep up with the questions and what the Madame, and the Headmistress were saying.
scarlett confessed Jenna's plan to use one of the campus's rumors about the Madame to her advantage -- to embarrass the Headmistress and bring the authorities onto campus. As scarlett told about Jenna's plan to release live animals, she wouldn't say which ones, which the Madame took as a demented guessing game — each guess by the Madame or the Headmistres punctuated by a smack of the cane, until scarlett confessed that geese would be used and Jenna had planned to sacrifice them, suggesting the rumor of Madame's interest in blood sacrifice was true. This news seemed to excite the Madame, who quickly laid bare Jenna's plan, pointing out the rumor of animal sacrifice and the conservative nature of the location the Institute was in and how it made sense. scarlett marveled at how quickly the Madame put the pieces together, it had taken her an afternoon with Jenna to fully understand what the plan was and why.
None of this pleased the Headmistress, who administered a paddling with a heavy round paddle, which was not one of scarlett's choices. At this point scarlett would promise anything again, and she did. This pleased the Headmistress, who, rather than allowing the punishment to be done, allowed the Madame 10 more strokes of the cane. 10 strokes the Madame delivered with an intensity that nearly sent scarlett over the edge.
The corrective action complete, the Headmistress gently consoled scarlett, praising her for being truthful, reminding her of how important she was to the Institute, and how important the Institute was to her and how terrible being expelled would be for scarlett. Even the Madame, who scarlett was now convinced was the actual devil incarnate, was kind. But scarlett knew that she remained on thin ice, and would have to behave, or else.
But what would she say to Jenna? with whom she was supposed to meet later, to continue putting their plans into motion.
