Friday.
Friday was generally thought of as a great day.
Friday started out wonderfully for CJ, she woke to a warm sunny fall day, looking forward to spending lunch in the sunshine in the quad with her friends making plans for the Halloween prank.
Friday became the day CJ would remember vividly well into her adult life.
Friday during first period Mr. Roberts approached her desk. Eye brows raised and with a strained smile he placed a red slip of paper on her desk. In the past he had simply handed her the paper but today he added "What have you done to get yourself into this mess?"
Unable to process what was happening while he was standing there her gaze dropped to the red paper on her desk. It was similar to those she had received in the past few weeks but with two very important differences the colour which CJ was sure was supposed to elicit the feeling of danger, and the person with whom the appointment was with. It wasn't Mr. Black she would be visiting but Mr. Cooperland the principal.
The worry that she had felt that first day she had been given a pink slip was nothing to the utter panic that was bubbling up inside of her at that very moment. She was having trouble breathing slowly and sitting in the desk was next to impossible. She still had over an hour to wait. She didn't hear one word of either of the lessons she was sitting through. She went from thinking an hour was too long to wait to being thankful as she was thinking through what had happened over the past month or so. Trying very hard to come up with a good way of explaining herself she went through several scenarios and how they may play out. In the end she had her strategy lined up as she walked with leaden feet towards Mr. Cooperland's office.
The principal's office was a large room off to the left of the main office area where all the teachers had mailboxes, the main secretaries sat and several helpers worked. It was a busy place. CJ had never had reason to go there and so very much like the first time she had been called to Mr. Black's office she was unsure of the exact procedure. Unlike the deputy principals' offices there was no line up of students waiting to see Mr. Cooperland. The older curt secretary addressed CJ "What did you need?"
"Ah … I… " having been caught off guard by the harshness in her voice CJ couldn't come up with an answer and instead handed her the red piece of paper and waited.
"Oh… you're that kid" the secretary replied a little less impatience in her tone.
All CJ could do was smile and hope that this was over very soon. She didn't think she could keep her wits about her much longer.
CJ stood there in the middle of the larger office area facing the secretary's desk as people moved about her oblivious to her predicament or even that she was there at all. She wasn't paying attention to all the movement and activity that was happening and so was startled when Mr. Black put his hand on her shoulder and in a tense tone directed CJ to "Come with me". It took her a few seconds to register who it was and that he was physically but gently guiding her towards Mr. Cooperland's door. When they arrived at the entrance to the office CJ pulled back against the firm grip Mr. Black now had on her shoulder.
"I don't think that would be a good idea Miss DiNozzo." Mr. Black said quiet enough that only she could hear him.
Mr. Black deposited her in the middle of the room. The office may have been different but the scenario was 'oh so familiar' to CJ. Taking in the scene around her brought CJ back to the more than one occasion where she had found herself in Mr. Thompson's office. CJ figured the big difference here was that Mr. Cooperland didn't know her from Adam and really she found that if people knew her they tended to be a little more understanding. She stood gulping in air in hopes of not passing out from lack of oxygen, doing that would really make the day worse.
CJ turned slightly to see Mr. Black leaning against the wall watching her. Mr. Cooperland still hadn't looked up from the file on his desk. It was a thick file, was that her's she thought. Things might go from very bad to very worse if he had knowledge of her history. He cleared his throat and as he did so CJ stood a little straighter, clasped her hands in the small of her back and looked straight ahead. If she couldn't see the anger and frustration in his eyes maybe it wouldn't be there, or be as intimidating.
"Mr. Black has come to me with a problem. He has tried to counsel you on the importance of attending all classes whether or not you feel they are important or worthy of your attention. He has also told me that regardless of his warnings and reprimands you continue to challenge the rules." He paused long enough that CJ thought maybe she should say something but since no direct question had been posed she remained silent just in case her mouth got her into more trouble as it had in many other instances.
"Do you disagree with Mr. Black's rendition of the events of the past month?"
Taking a deep breath and steadying her voice she began "Not entirely… I would just like to explain what I did to try and sort things out the right way"
"I'm listening" CJ was actually able to calm down a little as she had thought that maybe he wouldn't even bother taking the time to hear why she had done what she had. She then spent the next five minutes explaining herself as she had in Mr. Black's office. Ending with "and last week when I didn't get a pink slip for missing class on Tuesday I came to what I see now as… wrong… but at the time … I came to the conclusion that Mr. Black saw my side of things and was letting me attend those classes I saw as necessary."
Both men had stayed quiet and still during her rationalization and took several more minutes before either of them spoke. It was the principal that broke the silence first.
"CJ… I have another question for you. What did your father think of your cutting class and your feeble excuses?"
Not expecting that question CJ's immediate response was "pardon me".
"You had several detention slips and a couple of punishment slips, each of them signed by your father."
He waited and when CJ wasn't forthcoming with a response he continued.
"I guess I would have expected that if a parent had to sign that many forms in such a short span of time they may have said something. Expressed their displeasure in some way."
"OH… yes… well…" CJ had been caught so off guard and hadn't anticipated enquiries about the signature that she hadn't formulated appropriate answers prior to arrival. "Well you see… my father… he was a bit of a… trouble maker in his youth you see … "and before she got into actual lies she decided to quit while she was ahead or at least the semblance of being ahead.
Addressing Mr. Black behind CJ he said "You know Albert.. that is the problem with today's children… permissive parents that think they need to be their kids best friend and not a role model and disciplinarian."
CJ smirked and easily suppressed the snorted laugh as she thought to herself "No … I don't think that is the problem… not with THIS kid anyway…" .
"Mr. Black you are free to leave, CJ and I can handle things from here. Thank you for being here so that we could make sure we had an accurate account of the situation."
Both CJ and Mr. Cooperland followed Mr. Black's exit with their gaze and as soon as the door was closed the principal stood up. CJ had never seen him up close before, he was a very large man and his imposing figure made CJ swallow involuntarily. He removed his blazer and hung it over the back of his desk chair. He then undid each of his shirt sleeve buttons and one at a time rolled them up to mid forearm. This little ritual although somewhat foreboding actually brought CJ's thoughts into focus. She always felt better if she knew what was going to happen. And when the principal prepared himself in that manner it could only mean one thing. So when the order was given "assume the position". CJ was not at all shocked and was able to comply with only a second of reluctance.
It wasn't until CJ was bent over, hands gripping the closest edge of the desk for all she was worth that she saw Mr. Cooperland pick up the paddle that must have been to the side of his chair. CJ pursed her lips and held her breath awaiting the first lick. It landed with an enormous thwack and the breath was forced out of CJ. "Count aloud Miss." Was the instruction given when nothing came from CJ.
"One" CJ spat out through gritted teeth. Counting was not fair. It made it much harder to hold it together.
The second made contact almost immediately after the count. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly CJ spoke "two" quite softly. The surface of her ass was on fire and the underlying throbbing was incredible and she'd only taken two.
Swats 3 through 5 landed in succession and each was counted out in a growl by CJ, each harder to say as her voice was cracking and her backside was screaming out that it felt like it was about to explode.
CJ had taken many more licks in the past from Principal Thompson but they were nothing like this. Mr. Cooperland had a heavy hand was definitely trying to drive his point home.
Swat six landed with a deafening thwack and CJ was barely able to count it out as she was trying to hold it all together. Gibbs' line of 'you do the tricks you take the licks' ringing in her ears. She had without doubt pulled the tricks, taking the licks was not as easy has she had imagined.
Mr. Cooperland invited her to stand, which she did carefully as her well chastised bottom continued to yell out of its own accord. Standing in the office staring straight ahead, her cheeks glistening with quietly shed tears she waited to be dismissed. The man having replaced his clothing was seated at the desk filling out a sheet of red paper. Handing her the paper across the desk he added "Make sure you get your father's real signature on that piece of paper. I doubt you'll be able to the fact you've been paddled today."
"Yes, sir" CJ affirmed and cautiously walked out of the office and into the closest bathroom to get herself presentable for her next class.
She was miserable for the rest of the day. Sitting was beyond uncomfortable and Mr. Cooperland's last comment kept replaying in her head. The part that played most often was 'real signature', suggesting that they knew the others were fakes. If that was the case then how did they know? Did they trying matching it to one in her file, did they just assume because no parent would let their kid cut that number of classes without contacting the school directly, or heaven forbid had they called him. That last thought was the most worrisome. Yet they hadn't threatened to, they hadn't suggested in any way they had or would call. And the thing that convinced her that neither of them had talked to her father was his absence. He wasn't there, at the school, yelling alongside these two men.
It was the belief that her father didn't know that kept her sane for the rest of the day, allowed her to get on the bus and head home, allowed her to walk into house and smell coffee and not bolt down the street.