It’s Easter holidays now, so schoolgirls can do whatever they like in their spare time, right?
Well, not according to one Headmaster. He is walking in town in the afternoon, and happens to see two of his girls smoking outside the pub, pint glasses in their hands. He know very well that they’re not old enough to be drinking, and certainly not allowed to smoke.
He purposefully strides over to them. They see him, and visibly shrink away.
“Would you like to explain yourselves?” he demands. “Before we go and ask the barman how it is that two 17-year-olds got served beer?”
The story comes out, tortuous and embarrassing, as they produce the fake IDs that had got them the booze. What the Headmaster would like to do right now is march them to his office, but he can’t detain them during the holidays. Instead, he icily informs them that he’s expecting them first thing, before the assembly, on the first day of term.
But this isn’t the end of their misfortunes for today. They beg the Headmaster not to tell their parents. He’s unrelenting. He demands the phone numbers of their parents, and calls them right there, outside the pub. From the girls’ faces he knows that nothing pleasant is expecting them once they return home.
“My father’s going to whip me,” one of the girls says ruefully, confirming what the Headmaster has suspected anyway. “Do we still need to see you at the start of term? Even though we’re getting punished at home?”
“What your parents do, doesn’t concern me,” he says tersely. “You represent the school during the holidays just as you do in term time. For this, I will be dealing with you at school. Now I suggest both of you return home.”
The girls walk away, heads hung. The Headmaster watches them as they go, and though he feels a pang of sympathy for their predicament, discipline is not something that he will compromise.