Title: Charlotte's Tumbling TIme Travel

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on Otlander, I'm only borrowing them for the story.

A/N: I apologize for how long it has taken me to update. I have the next chapter practically finished so I promise you will not have to wait this long for the next one.

CHAPTER 6

Lottie made a point to be on time every morning from now on and she hoped that Fordyce would some day acknowledge that by giving her a smile or a nod or something similar. But no. Not one time did he praise her for being on time or doing anything correct. It was like she was either air to him or some sort of scapegoat that could be used as an example of how not to behave.

For the past week Lottie had walked to school through the woods every morning, but on the fourth school day Jamie finally allowed her to ride Seoc to school. She tied him to a water through behind the schoolhouse and made sure to check on him every recess they got. It made her feel a little happier and freer when she could feel the wind in her hair and the warmth of her horse below her on her way to school. But it still wasn't enough to make her come to terms with attending school. The subjects so far were mostly spelling and reading, neither which were her specialty. But finally one morning the schoolmaster announced that geography and arithmetics would be on the schedule for today. He looked out over the classroom and added:

"The girls will continue devoting themselves to their embroidery. Mrs. O'Cain will be arriving shortly and take ye outside to sit on the logs and do yer work."

Lottie's mouth fell open at hearing this news. She had actually been looking forward to Geography and Arithmetics a little, since they were two subjects she mastered just fine, one might even say well when it came to arithmetics. Could she have understood him correctly that she wouldn't be allowed to join? Hoping she had misunderstood she raised her hand high in the air.

The schoolmaster stopped talking and sucked in a breath as he realized who it was that had interrupted him.

"Yes, what is it?" he snapped in his usual nasal voice.

"Sir, I was just wondering if I misunderstood…"

"Yes, that is likely," he sighed and rolled his eyes a little at the same time. Someone sniggered behind her but she ignored it.

Lottie chose to ignore his remark and continued even though he seemed to think he could just continue with his instructions from there and pay no mind to her question.

"Because I thought I heard you say the girls wouldn't be attending the class?" she continued, forcing him to face her real question.

Fordyce sighed and pursed his lips in annoyance over her continued interruption.

"You will be attending yer class of course, learning what is important for you in yer life as an adult woman in charge of a household."

Lottie blinked a few times and gazed quickly around the room. No one else seemed to react to how strange this was. It probably wasn't the first time the class was divided up like this and the girls were forced to embroider instead of learn something useful. Just when she had thought things couldn't get much worse in school…

"That is ridiculous," she spat out.

The silence that followed was deafening. Until finally schoolmaster Fordyce found his nasal voice again, after a surprised clearing of his throat.

"Excuse me, Ms. Fraser? Would ye repeat that, please?" he said in a threatening tone, as if he was daring her to reconsider.

She didn't reconsider though, thinking this was something she had to face since the injustice of it was so huge that she just knew she wouldn't be able to just swallow it and continue on like nothing was wrong. She stood up, as she had learned one was to do when speaking in a classroom in the 18th century.

"I said this is ridiculous, Sir. Why should the girls miss arithmetics and geography? It is our right to be in this classroom with the boys when you teach them about the world and about numbers."

She felt the eyes of every student on her. Even the little ones in the front row had turned in their seats to stare at her. They had fear and surprise in their round eyes. She caught Coinneach's eye though, on the other side of the room in the third row, and he actually looked like he had some awe in his brown eyes.

Schoolmaster Fordyce pointed a finger at her and with a very sharp glare he ordered:

"Come up here, lass."

When she hesitated to approach him he yelled so loud it made her jump where she stood.

"I said come up here now, Charlotte Fraser! Or whatever yer true name is, or I shall come and get you."

Lottie gulped. She had really stepped in it now she realized. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down but it was unsuccessful. She squeezed past the girl and marched up to Fordyce's desk.

"Ye think you have a right to an opinion on my teaching methods in this school? Ye're just a sassenach lass who thinks too highly of yerself. Yer attitude needs adjusting or ye will amount to nothing in life and I'm going to give ye a lesson right now."

He went over to the shelf on the wall and grabbed the cane that hung there. He swoshed it through the air once and then beckoned her to come to him. She could hear some of the younger children in the front row gasp and one small girl hid her face in her small hands.

"Ye will learn to respect yer elders and me as the head of this school. I suspect that will be the most important lesson that I teach you as long as I be schoolmaster here, lass. Now, hold out yer hand."

"Sir, I think I hear Mrs. O'cain approaching outside! Should the lasses go outside and take their seats?" The voice of Coinneach Shaw suddenly pierced the silence of the classroom.

But the schoolmaster simply dismissed his notion with a scoff and a wave of his hand. He didn't seem the least bit interested in Coinneach at the moment. There also wasn't any knock at the door signalling someone's arrival so he must have been mistaken.

Lottie contemplated turning around and running out of the room, but she knew there was no point in doing that. She would have to go back tomorrow anyway since Jamie would have it no other way no matter what happened in this room. She lifted her chin and stared right at Fordyce's pale face and into his icy eyes.

"You can hit but I won't ever cry, you moron," she said in a slightly hushed tone and with a slight quiver to her voice due to her boiling anger mixed with fear.

Schoolmaster Fordyce's mouth fell open slightly, but he found his bearings again fast and grabbed her forearm with his left hand, jerking her forward and forcing her to turn her palm towards the ceiling while he held onto her wrist.

Next Lottie felt the cane land on her fragile palm, leaving a searing pain and a welt across it. Lottie closed her eyes and then continued to stare at him while she took the six strokes he delivered quietly and without shedding a tear.

When he was finished she was sent back to her seat and took her seat just in time to hear Fordyce order the girls out of the classroom and to the logs under the oak tree outside to wait for Mrs. O'Cain to arrive, while the boys were ordered to take the seats in the two front rows.

The next hour was spent practicing decorating fabric with a needle and yarn, something Lottie normally wouldn't have had much trouble learning how to do but right now it seemed impossible. Her hand stung and ached and she was so angry that she felt ready to explode.

Seated next to her on the log was the blond girl who had seemed so horrified over Mathanas entering the classroom on Lottie's first day of school that she had yelled. Now and then she glanced sideways at Lottie's feeble attempts at embroidery through clenched teeth. Every time Lottie tried to meet her gaze she quickly looked away. Finally she sighed and put down her needle.

"You have something you want to say to me, do you?" she asked sharply and loud enough for everyone gathered to hear, including Mrs. O'cain.

"Is there a problem Ms. McNab? Ms...uhm, Fraser?" Mrs. O'cain asked stuttering a bit around Lottie's last name, obviously unsure of whether or not it was correct to call her Fraser.

"Her name isna really Fraser, Mrs. O'cain. It be Dawson."

Lottie stared at the McNab girl, whose first name was still unknown to her. She wore a simple brown dress that made Lottie guess she came from a quite simple family that didn't have a lot of finances. She was clean in both face and clothes though and had the posture of someone with a lot of confidence. How had she known that Dawson was her given last name? She hadn't used it since she got to Lallybroch and had been introduced as Jamie's ward to his family.

Mrs. O'Cain, who was a short and plump woman in her late fifties, looked at Lottie with a questioning look.

"Oh? Is that true, lass?"

Lottie shook her head, picked up her needle again and resumed trying to create something that resembled embroidery.

She managed to keep her head down the rest of the school day and stay out of trouble and when it was finally time to head home she was the first one out the door. She didn't want to risk Fordyce deciding to keep her after school for some imaginary reason of his own.

She headed straight for Seoc's and took his reins, turning him around facing the forest trail home. She put her foot in the left stirrup when she heard the honeyed voice of the blond McNam girl.

"Ye hurry home and tell the laird of yer day at school like a good lass. Perhaps practice some embroidery too while yer at it. Ye certainly need it," she giggled.

Lottie had a mind to smack her in the face but she managed to keep her temper under control. She wondered what the smug girl had against her anyway.

"Friendly lass that Annella McNab. Just dinna let her get to ye and she'll back off," said a familiar voice from behind.

There stood Coinneach Shaw and took a bite off a red apple in his hand. Lottie mounted Seoc and glared at him across her shoulder.

"When I want your advice I'll ask for it," she said and rode off.

To be continued