Mike Ross discreetly looked at the clock while pretending to be focussed on his exam. He knew the material pretty well but stuck to his mantra of staying under the radar and made sure to score between 40-50 out of a 100. He had lost his parents early in life and then his grandma tried to take care of him but her health didn't allow that to happen either. So when she was institutionalized the government put him into this school run by some of New York's top attorneys to give back to society. Mike didn't need anyone's charity but he didn't have any other avenues till he turned 18 either. So he just put his head down and tried to bide his time.

He suddenly felt a kick and knew that it was Trevor, wanting some answers. The risk of cheating did not fit into Mike's plan of laying low, especially because the school was very old school and used corporal punishment liberally. But for the same reason, Mike couldn't let his friends Trevor and Jordan fail the test and incur the paddle. Plus, if he didn't help them, he'd not only lose the two people who were kind of nice to him in this place but they would also turn against him and make his life miserable. So Mike sent up a prayer to the powers that be and turned his paper so that Trevor could see.

But today was not his day as just then Jesica Pearson walked past the window and got a clear view of what was happening. She strode into the classroom and without a word, tore all three of their papers and calmly said, "My office, now." Mike gulped and started to apologise but when Jessica raised her eyebrow, the three of them scampered off. Jessica left the room with a, "eyes on your papers." She sent a message to her right hand man, the history, economics and law teacher, Harvey Specter to come to her office to assist with discipline.

Harvey and Jessica reached her office almost simultaneously and saw that the three miscreants were standing in the waiting area with their nose to the wall. One of them was already crying. She realised that she had never seen him in her office before. The first experience of the cane can be terrifying but in her experience, rather effective in molding these kids who often had 'nothing to lose' attitudes. She took pride in the fact that despite the children being orphans and starting with nothing in life, the school shaped them to become attorneys that held major power in the city, country and world. And if it took a sore bottom for them to grow up to their potential, then that is what she would deliver. Or at least get Harvey to deliver. But the kid's quiet crying, trying to hide it from his friends did break her heart a little bit.

She asked them to enter her office and stand in front of her. Harvey took to pacing behind them, clearly freaking them out as they couldn't see him, just feel his cane when he deliberately brushed it on them. Harvey was a genius in general but he was particularly skilled at mind games and manipulating human emotions. The students were terrified of him. His strong belief in firm discipline further intensified that image.

Jessica cleared her throat and said, "How did you idiots arrive at the plan to cheat so openly?"

When none of them answered, Jessica said, "Not a rhetorical question" and Harvey tapped the cane on Trevor's leg who jumped like it was red hot iron and blubbered, "I… we… didn't understand and and … if we didn't pass, we'd get the paddle. So we … cheated."

"Mr Evans, congratulations, you have upgraded yourself from the paddle to the cane. And not just that, to give you further incentive to study, for every mark that you lose in the coming exams, it will be a whack with the ruler and for every 10 marks, a stroke of the cane. So you better study hard. And of course you will be much more closely monitored to prevent any cheating at all. And, for today you will be getting 8 strokes of the cane each, on your clothes. I will not be so generous for your next punishment session so you better study hard."

Mike, who was crying the whole time, tried to speak up, "I'm really sorry. But I did not cheat, I knew enough material to pass."

"Yes, Mr Ross I clearly saw that you were sharing your answers with your friends. You better learn that there are no shortcuts in life. The rules are the same for everyone. If you want to share answers, you can share punishments."

"No, please, I can't take it. Can you please punish me in some other way? Please?"

"Enough!" Harvey said his word word since entering. "Stop blubbering, Front and center, bend over. You can show your friends how to take punishment too."

"No, please…" Mike just cried.

"Now, unless you want extra." Harvey snapped.

Mike walked to where Harvey was pointing and bent down. He was crying so hard that he was hiccupping and struggling to breathe a little.

Harvey decided to get it over with. He raised the cane and brought it down on the boy's bottom. If he was being honest with himself, the stroke wasn't even half as hard as he would have normally given for cheating but the boy screamed like he had poured hot oil on him. Harvey gave him one more, an inch below the other and the boy broke position and started rubbing his bottom.

"Stop this dance at once and get back into position. Any more nonsense and I am adding strokes."

"I really can't take it." Mike sobbed.

"You should have thought of that before you decided to cheat. You've made your bed, now you got to lay in it."

Mike bent back down but was only able to stay down, with tremendous effort and screaming for one more stroke. Normally Harvey would have added strokes and made the boy hold himself down but he could see that the boy wasn't lying, he really couldn't take it. So Harvey held the boy's bicep, dragged him to Jessica's desk, bent him over it and while holding him down said, "you just earned an extra." He gave the boy four quick, and significantly lighter strokes, not that the boy or anyone else seemed to notice. And then said, "let that be a lesson to you."

"May I be excused, sir?"

"No, you shall stay and witness your friend's punishments too. If you do the crime together, you should suffer the consequences together."

MIke flinched each time the cane fell on Trevor or Jordan. Both of them had some practice and neither had to be held down or earned extra strokes. It almost looked like Mike was suffering more than they were.

Finally, sensing that none of them were in a state to absorb a lecture, Harvey dismissed them saying that, "Remember your bottoms have another date with my cane. It would serve you well to study really hard. Dismissed."