I spent much of the afternoon in a state of some anxiety, which was hardly new, about how I’d behave when Lily came to my door. Her record spoke for itself, with more red notices than almost anyone else, and I thought if this was the ideal opportunity for me to live up to my colleagues’ expectations — none of them seemed all too keen for me to go easy on students, as I had with Emma and perhaps had with Hannah, and I knew I wanted to do more, and if anybody could prove the ideal chance to plunge into the deep water than surely it was Lily with her very unclear ‘misbehaviour.’ So the question now was very simple — did I have the guts?

3.45 edged closer and closer. Outside, the Recreation Ground was a mass of people, the football, rugby, tennis, and netball teams all out in force with their white shirts and black shorts, and I watched for a while with my chin resting on my hand, my stomach churning. At some point, Kam sent an email wishing me luck — which I could have used two students ago — and the sense of pressure grew. They would all be leaning on my words next time I saw them and I needed to have something to give them. So, too, did I need to have something to give myself. Images swam in my head of Alexa, Kam, Hannah, Emma, all of them over my lap, all of them to some degree or another at my mercy, and something in those images was unsatisfactory still. I wanted more. I could do more. So why not have more?

A knock at the door. I almost fell off my chair — staring at the clock, which read 3.45, I was ready to accuse it of lying to me. Had I really been daydreaming this long? Another knock. More impatient.

“Uh, come in!” I called, and the door swung open. There stood who could only be Lily Razowski. She was petite, with messy short brown hair, as if she’d just woken up, and round glasses over warm, soulful hazel eyes. Freckles dotted the cheeks on a soft, impish face. ‘Impish’ was definitely the word, I wondered — it summed up a lot of the energy she brought with her. She wore dark, high-waisted jeans, a black belt loosely snaking through the loops, and a black t-shirt with the red lettering of some band on it. The shirt’s hem was tied in a loose knot, becoming something of a crop-top, so a strip of her pink belly was visible even with her jeans as high as they were.

“Hi,” Lily said brightly, “I’m here for a spanking?”

“Oh,” I said, surprised by her candour, “uh, okay. Lily, right?”

“That’s me.” She smiled expectantly, closing the door behind her, locking it, and looking around. “Nice place you got here.” She had a sing-song Eastern European accent, probably Polish, which flowed off her tongue like water.

“I like to think it’s cosy.”

“Cosy’s good,” she replied. “So, where do you want me?”

“Someone’s eager,” I joked, and Lily’s face fell, sucking in her lips, almost like she was trying not to laugh.

“No, it’s just I’ve got, you know, rehearsals,” she said, her arms limp at her sides, and I sensed something new here. Something I didn’t quite get.

“Well, before we start,” I said, “I just wanted to know why you got sent here in the first place.”

“Cause I got a red notice.”

“Sure — but the notice just says it’s down to misbehaviour. What’s misbehaviour?”

“That’s it?” Lily laughed. “I guess they’re bored of explaining. I just make comments a lot. You know; challenging comments. It’s what I do.”

“How come?” She shrugged.

“Funny?”

“Classic drama student,” I said, and she cocked her head. “Pushing the envelope.”

“That’s what I do,” she sniggered. “So, you gonna spank me, or what?”

“Sure,” I said, pushing myself up from the chair to stand, “but this doesn’t feel like it’ll be much of a punishment. You get sent here all the time, apparently.”

“Well, not here, but my professors, and that Kam person, yeah.” Her eyes glowed. “I’m curious what you’ll be like, though.”

“Curious?”

“Yeah — there’s this rumour going round that if you wanna get a red notice then get it in now, cause you go pretty easy compared to some people before. Wanna see if it’s true.”

“Easy, huh?” Lily raised her eyebrows in a teasing, daring sort of way, and I felt like I was being challenged? Was I up for it? I leaned back and sat on my desk’s corner, praying it wouldn’t flip under my weight, which would be exactly the kind of thing to happen to me. When it didn’t I regarded her, crossing my arms. “So what’s the worst spanking you’ve gotten since you started here?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Lily, her smile seeming almost perpetual. “Professor Ellsworth brought me to her office one time and absolutely wrecked me. Don’t remember what I did but I probably deserved it. She made me stand naked in the corner afterwards for like twenty minutes.” It was taking a lot of effort to keep my eyes on hers because, in my most distant periphery, I was sure her legs were fidgeting, and I thought if her thighs were, as discreetly as they could, rubbing together. I was probably imagining it — and I hadn’t the guts to look and figure out.

“Well, you probably don’t have to worry about that with me,” I replied.

“Probably?”

” I doubt I’ll ever be stripping anyone — but we’ll see.” This was fun. Anticipation built up inside me — in an instant, I had concluded that this girl was simply too cocky for her own good. She wouldn’t be leaving this room with the same attitude. “So, shall we get started?”

“Yes,” Lily said, quickly. “Where do you want me?”

“I’ll sit on the sofa, and you lie over my lap,” I replied.

“Sounds good!” I looked at her. “Not good, I mean…” She sighed and shook her head.

“I know what you meant,” I said, and I went to the sofa, sitting in the middle.

Lily followed and stood over me, her eyes wide and expectant. “Okay, could you take your jeans down, please?” I wondered I told you not to ask, but to tell. Lily just nodded and quickly, almost enthusiastically, unhooked her belt and unbuttoned her dark jeans. They came down to her knees in a quick, well-practised motion, and she stood there with hands on hips — with her shirt as high as it was, her briefs, pale blue with a lace trim, tight on a waist against which pressed sharp hipbones, were entirely on display. There was a narrow gap between her milky thighs and her belly was more toned than I’d expected.

“My underwear, too?” Lily asked. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to do even worse, to prove myself, to her, to them, to me, but still there was some indefinable block in my head which refused to let me. Like dawdling on a diving board, hyping yourself to jump, but knowing even from the begin you’ll never do it — no matter who’s watching.

“Not this time,” I said, trying to put on a confident, in-control kind of face.

“Oh,” Lily replied, her face dropping a little, which surprised me, looking down at her briefs. “I ho… I thought that…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

” Do you wanna get over my lap?”

“Okay,” she said, quieter than I’d yet heard her, and she climbed onto the sofa and lay across my lap, positioning herself well, her chin resting on crossed arms as seemed to be the style. She felt light on my legs and I allowed myself a moment to waste admiring her butt — it was round, soft yet tight, her underwear permitting her cheeks to be half-visible, and it quivered as my hand rose.

“Now then, Lily,” I said softly, “tell me what’s gonna happen, now.”

“You’re gonna spank me, I guess,” she replied blandly, almost detached, and I felt a twinge of disappointment with myself. I didn’t feel like I was the only one who felt it.

H ard as I could, I brought my hand down on Lily’s nearest cheek, and she hissed in reply, which made me feel better. I did the same to her further cheek and alternated, almost as fast as I could, and Lily groaned and mumbled all the way through it, her rear tensing and fists balling until her knuckles turned white. I moved to her thighs, turning them pink, filling the room with slaps, and Lily gasped in surprise as I began, grunting and whining, and I resolved to keep going until I could elicit tears. I’d get something new out of this one — I knew I would. I kept going, ignoring my burning hand, from thigh to cheek and back again, her newly pink skin turning darker as I went, and Lily whined almost pitifully into the sofa cushion. Eventually, my hand impossible to ignore, I stopped, and stroked Lily’s thigh gently, feeling how her skin — and mine — had been hardened a little from the experience.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“Like I just got spanked,” she mumbled, but there were no tears in her voice. Not good enough. Without a word, I rose my hand again and, playing through the pain, continued, my palm demanding that Lily break. She yelped at the first strike, then went back to a soft whining into the cushion, her legs bending and feet starting to kick involuntarily.

“Okay, okay!” she whimpered, but still I heard no tears, and though I desperately wanted to stop, even apologise, some dark voice inside urged me on. Lily’s back arched and her face left the cushion as she stretched up, pushing her butt down and away from me, her eyes clenched shut, breathing quickly, her cheeks and thighs a bright and pretty pink. Her breathing became more rapid as the strikes kept coming until, suddenly, like a crashing wave, she cried out and fell back onto the cushion, quivering, barely responsive to any subsequent spanks. I stopped and stared at her — I’d tried to get her to cry but, clearly, I’d gotten something quite different.

” Are you okay?” I mumbled, and she nodded quickly, breathing heavily. “You can get up now.”

“In a minute,” she said through her heavy breaths, and I let her lie there, her pink butt on display, until finally she slowly pushed herself to her knees and, eyes watering but not streaming as I’d hoped, climbed off the sofa and yanked up her jeans, wincing as they reached her rear.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” I asked, more than a little bit stunned.

“I’m fine,” she said quickly, staring at me, more than a little guilt and embarrassment across her face, the likes of which I hadn’t seen from her before. ” Well, I’ve, uh, I’ve got rehearsals.”

“Yeah.” Without another word, she scampered from the office, leaving me sitting there in the afterglow of something I had certainly not bargained for.