Hard Lessons

Leanne King knew so much about her situation was wrong, she wasn't meant to be in a seedy gambling den, she shouldn't have gone all in on borrowed money, and the river should not have been the queen of hearts.

"Hope you got better than a full house darling," chuckled the lady sat opposite Leanne. Leanne felt the knot in her stomach tighten knowing how much money she owed Sally Smooth. She didn't know a lot about Sally but she knew that you don't choose a name like that if you only have legitimate business interests.

"Three of a kind." mumbled Leanne, pushing her cards away from her.

"I guess that means it's time for us to have a chat in my office." Replied Sally, gesturing for a big man behind Leanne to lead her upstairs.

In Sally's office, Leanne and Sally discussed how Leanne was going to pay back the money.

"I take it you have a job?" asked Sally.

"Yes, I teach at the local school, I can pay you back." Pleaded Leanne.

"Not on a public school teacher's salary. I want 5 grand a month from you." Sarah turned to the large man that had helped bring Leanne to her office. "Derek, could you bring in a couple of the ladies that couldn't make the monthly payments?"

Derek sauntered out of the room and returned with 2 leads in his hands, the leads were attached to the collars of 2 naked women crawling on all fours, they had dog masks that covered their heads and tails that were clearly secured internally.

"This is Jenny and Alison. They missed 1 payment and now they roam our high rollers lounge. OK girls back to the paying clients, whichever of you gives out the least blow jobs will have to lick the toilets clean!" The 2 unfortunate girls rushed out of the room and Sally turned to Leanne. "5 grand in 4 weeks or you join them, I'll admit with your long brown hair and curvaceous body you would pay off your debt quickly this way but I would prefer cash... go on, off you fuck."

...

Leanne had to admit that Sally was right, a public school teacher couldn't afford those repayments. The moment she got home she started looking for better paying jobs with a quick start date. After 2 weeks the only response she got was from St. Chad's, a snooty private school in the countryside near her town. One of their teachers had suddenly left and they needed someone to replace her as quickly as possible. They wanted her to come do an interview period for a teaching job that paid double what she was currently on, this was her only chance to avoid the horrible fate of the ladies she saw that night.

She was told that at St. Chad's, teachers have to take a class for 2 weeks and then the decision of whether to hire her or not would be taken by her students. She hated these progressive fads that empowered students but if it got her out of this hole, she would become best friends with every last kid in the school.

...

The next day Leanne took sick leave from her current job and made her way to St. Chad's. She had decided that she would use the fact she was an attractive young woman to tip the scales in her favour, so she wore one of her old professional business suits. It was smart, but was also a bit tight and had a skirt a bit shorter than proper. Leanne thought this would give her the edge over the pocket mining boys of the class.

She was met at the gate by a bubbly friendly woman who introduced herself as Miss Croft, the headmistress. Leanne was able to get 3 or 4 words in between Miss Croft thanking her for appearing at such short notice, complimenting her outfit, telling her how great class 6b is and how much she's going to love teaching them and walking her to the classroom, almost pushing her through the door.

"Ok everyone, books down and eyes up!" Chimed Miss Croft. In unison the class stopped what they were doing and stared forward silently. Leanne was taken aback at how well they were all behaving, this was very different to the public school she was used to. "This is Miss King, she will be teaching you for the next 2 weeks and then we will decide if we want her to become part of the St. Chad's family. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

Leanne took a step forward and stared at the class, she couldn't help but wince at the cheeky grins of students looking her up and down, all while knowing that her fate was in their hands.

"Thank you Miss Croft, as you heard my name is Miss King. Before here I was working at Bridgeford comprehensive" a little snigger of elitism creeped out of the class. "I have been working in teaching for 3 years now and I am really excited to help mould the future leaders of this country." It was a bit trite but Leanne thought a bit of ego stroking would help make a good first impression.

"Well I'm sure you have a lot to teach them, their maths mock exams are in a week's time and with Mrs Southall leaving so suddenly they are rather behind." Miss Croft chirped on her way out the door. She closed the door behind her and left Leanne alone with the class. Leanne decided that she would start by bonding with them and then move to teaching them later.

"OK class it sounds like we have a lot of work to do, so before we start let's relax and get to know each other better. How about we take it in turns to talk about what we feel our strengths and weaknesses are?" The whole class silently turned towards a girl slumped in the far corner, it was clear that she was the popular one and the rest were waiting to see how she was going to act. With as much contempt as she could manage she raised her hand. Leanne looked at the room plan and saw the girl's name was Becky.

"Yes Becky?"

"Can I start with your weaknesses?" This was not a good indicator for Leanne, clearly the opinion of the popular girl mattered the most and she couldn't bring down iron fist discipline like she was used to in her classes. "Your weaknesses is that you underestimate us, you poured yourself into that outfit this morning hoping that the hormone addled possessors of Y chromosomes will vote you through to a cushy job. Now you want is to be best buds because being friends with us is the most important thing, you care more about getting this job then our education, even now there is going to be no ramifications for me speaking out like this because you fear us, and a teacher who fears her students is as useful as a lion tamer with felinophobia."

Leanne stood their shocked while the class erupted into cheers around her. She struggled to think of what to do but knew she had to act fast or this girl could seal her fate as Sally's next puppy. She decided to come out swinging.

In a sweet voice that cut through the class Leanne stated. "Congratulations Becky, you are well on your way to being a stand-up comedian or chat show host, now I would never decry someone's choice of future occupation, but perhaps you could spare a thought for those who want a life beyond watching or hosting daytime television. They need to learn skills beyond meagre attempts to throw shade at authority figures." the cheers dropped to a louder silence. Becky smiled, knowing that she had found a worthy adversary.

"I love it when teachers assume they are smarter than me, it makes it more devastating when I take them down" Becky stated, never breaking eye contact with Leanne.

"Oh honey, if all you care about is undermining people who are trying to teach you then the only thing you're going to be taking down are Craigslist adverts for failing business ventures." Leanne had forgotten about everything but taking Becky down a peg, she couldn't get the job if she wasn't the dominant female in the class even if she had to lower herself to classroom insults. After all the rest of the class we're hanging on her every word far more than if she were teaching maths.

"I don't undermine people trying to teach me, I undermine people who think they are trying to teach me when they aren't as smart as me."

"Becky, I am smarter than you 7 days a week and will continue to be into the future."

"Wanna bet?" These words were Leanne's kryptonite, she had a complete blind spot for the trouble these words caused and all she saw was an opportunity.

"A bet sounds perfect. How about you teach yourself maths for a week, I teach the class and if anyone in this class gets a higher grade than you, you agree to tell the headmistress you want me to stay as your teacher." Becky shook her head.

"I didn't say I was smarter than the class, I said I'm smarter than you. How about when I do my mock exam you also do one, if you get a better score than me I will beg Miss Croft to hire you, but if I get a better score than you then next week you will be the student and I will be the teacher." Leanne didn't see any risk of her doing worse than this snotty little upstart and agreed.

...

Becky had spent all her spare time studying maths, she knew that little brat was doing the same and she wasn't going to let her win. Finally when Friday rolled around the whole class watched as Miss King set aside a desk for herself in the exam hall. Leanne could feel the excitement of the rest of the class as Becky walked in.

Miss Croft was invigilating the exam and was impressed by Miss King's show of solidarity with the class, she wasn't aware of the bet. As papers got handed out, Becky got up and placed an exam paper on Leanne's desk with a sticky note on it. The paper was titled "Advanced Mandarin, written exam." The sticky note read "you never specified that you would be taking a maths exam, who's stupid now?"

Leanne felt that same lump in the pit of her stomach that she felt when she first got into this mess. Becky was right, she just said an exam, she turned in shock to see Becky with her tongue firmly stuck out to mock her and couldn't believe she was about to lose the bet.

...

On Monday Becky entered the class as a hero, she had gotten quite a low mark on her mock as she had spent the week slacking off, but it was still higher than the 0 Leanne had gotten on her Mandarin exam. The class then fell silent as Leanne entered the room.

"Young lady why are you not in school uniform!" Announced Becky, to cheers from the class. Leanne was about to ignore the bet and let Becky have it when she was interrupted. "And before you think about welching on the bet, the class and I were talking and we agreed that if you are a good student and obeyed teachers command for the week, we would give you a glowing review and you will get the job." Leanne was in shock, one week tolerating Becky's nonsense and her problems were over. She decided to roll with it.

"I'm sorry miss, I forgot my school uniform. I will find one for tomorrow." Leanne said, hamming up her teenage accent.

"No need" replied Becky, "I thought this would happen so I borrowed my younger sister's uniform. You are to put it on immediately."

Becky took a school uniform out of her bag and handed it over to Leanne, it was immediately apparent that it was far too small but Leanne decided it was better than naked with a dog mask.

"Thank you Miss, may I be excused to go change?" Asked Leanne.

"No you have wasted enough time as it is, you are to change here." stated Becky, Leanne looked aghast as all the class murmured around her, she was going to have to strip down to her underwear in front of her class.

With trembling fingers Leanne unbuttoned her blouse and let it drop to the floor. She then unzipped her skirt and also let it drop, she rushed to pick up the school uniform and put it on as quickly as possible but Becky interrupted.

"Excuse me young lady but you appear to be wearing coloured underwear." Leanne looked down at her bright red bra and knickers, she was happy she had chosen a matching pair but was feeling humiliated that Becky was bringing attention to them. "The student handbook clearly states that coloured underwear is forbidden." Becky stated. Leanne knew what Becky wanted to happen and started to shake.

To underscore her point Becky threw a booklet onto Leanne's desk. It was a glossy booklet with a group of cheesy smiling students on the front cover and "student handbook" written in efficient but friendly lettering.

"If you turn to page 5 regarding standards of school uniform you will confirm that coloured underwear is banned." Leanne flicked through the booklet like her life depended on it and sure enough the booklet confirmed Becky's assertion.

"Well now that we have gotten your thick skull caught up with this school's standards, please remove that underwear before you put on your school uniform."

Leanne decided to move as fast as she could, all the time aware her whole class was watching her. She started by unclasping her bra, before whipping it to one side and quickly pulling on the small blouse. The white blouse barely fit across Leanne's ample chest while the bottom stopped short of her midriff. She could feel the buttons straining against her girth and could definitely see the shape of her nipples pushing against the fabric. She put on the tie and blazer to finish the look of her top half before turning to her knickers with a gulp.

Once again Leanne needed to be quick, she crouched low and had the red plaid skirt laid out next to her. The class had started cheering "Off! Off! Off!" But Leanne had drowned the out with the sound of her heart beating in her ears.

She whipped down her knickers and in one move pulled up the skirt. The skirt was so short it barely covered the curve at the bottom of Leanne's buttocks, and as she sat down she felt the wood of her chair press against her bare skin.

"OK class, time for today's lesson. We are going to have a creative writing session, where everyone writes a story of how a student was punished for being stupider than the teacher. I really want to see some creativity in the punishments as you will be presenting them to the class later this week."

Leanne knew exactly what Becky meant by that and sunk deep into her seat as the class around her started writing with sideward glances.

...

After what seemed like an eternity the lunch bell rang and the students filed out of the classroom. Leanne remained behind with her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry Leanne but students are not allowed to spend their lunch break in their classroom." Announced Becky with a wicked grin.

"You don't expect me to go to lunch in the staffroom wearing this?" sobbed Leanne.

"No," replied Becky, "Students aren't allowed in the staffroom, I expect you to go to the student's canteen wearing that." Leanne's face turned crimson, soon every student in the school would see her in this tiny school uniform with no underwear. "Oh and in case you're thinking of hiding in the toilet, turn to page 9 of the student handbook and look at the 4th rule down.

Page 9 of the student handbook was dedicated to student mental health, the 4th rule stated:

"If a teacher suspects that a student is not eating lunch, they will accompany the student to the canteen to ensure a healthy diet."

Becky leaned over the handbook and looked directly into Leanne's shocked face.

"Now are you going to go get lunch or am I going to have to force you."

...

Leanne wished the ground would open up and eat her as every student in the school stared at the 29 year old wearing a teenagers school uniform. She picked up a tray and got her food from the kitchen staff who had a clear look of scorn on their face as they served sausages and mashed potato onto her plate. She found an unclaimed table in the corner and sat down, once again acutely aware that no fabric was touching her seat. All colour drained from her face as she saw Miss Croft enter the canteen and make a beeline for her.

"Excuse me Miss King, could you explain what is going on for me." Demanded the headmistress. Without thinking, Leanne spurted off the quickest excuse that could come to her mind.

"Yes Miss Croft. As you know recently I have been breaking down the barriers between my pupils and me, well some confided in me that they felt self-conscious at lunch, so I decided to experience lunch from their perspective to help counsel them through this difficult time." Leanne explained, amazed that she was able to come up with such a good on the spot excuse.

"But does the outfit have to be so small and revealing?" asked the headmistress

"Of course, I'm comfortable with my body and so wouldn't feel any anxiety if I wore clothes that fit me well. This way I'm making sure I really connect with my students." Leanne bullshitted. She was even more shocked when the saw Miss Croft become visibly moved by her commitment.

"You know what, that is amazing, I love this experimental teaching, it really adds creativity to the school environment. If you need any help with these ideas just let me know." As if drawn to the situation, Becky emerged from behind the headmistress and Leanne swore internally.

"Oh my God Miss Croft I'm so glad you agree, we were worried that she would get in trouble, that's why we convinced her to tone down the exercise." Becky gushed while grinning with knowledge that she knew exactly how to play the headmistress.

"Tone it down?" Miss Croft enquired, rising to Becky's bait.

"Oh absolutely, when I told Miss King about my anxiety, I told her it felt like being naked in public, she was fully prepared to eat lunch naked until we said that we didn't want her getting fired, we really care for her." Miss Croft was now visibly crying. She wiped a tear from her eye and straightened up with a steely resolve.

"The students need more teachers like you Miss King. They need to know that teachers understand the anxiety and fear they are going through. I'll tell you what, tomorrow I want you to take morning assembly, talk about your experiences, and be reassured this is going to be real, you will not get in trouble regardless of what you decide to do." Miss Croft announced.

"Miss Croft you are the best headmistress we could ask for, I'll make sure to tell my mum how supportive you and Miss King have been when she decides how much to donate to the school's alumni fund." beamed Becky, while flashing a malevolent grin at Leanne.

...

That afternoon Becky announced the lesson plan.

"OK class, one of our students has been asked to take assembly tomorrow. The problem is she is really stupid and we can't let her mess it up, so we're going to prepare her assembly for her, while she writes "I will not be a thick whore in public" 100 times on the blackboard." The class was filled with cheers and murmurs while Leanne walked up to the blackboard at the front of the class. Becky made a point of swiping all the chalk on to the floor, so Leanne had to bend over in front of the class to pick it up, giving everyone a good look up her skirt.

...

The next day it was only the image of Sally's 2 "dogs" that dragged Leanne out of bed and to school, she figured this was just a week, whereas god knows how long Sally would keep her and how much worse she would make things.

Leanne had read the handbook cover to cover and although she didn't have the money to buy a school uniform and was forced to wear the tiny one given to her by Becky, she at least remembered to wear white underwear underneath.

As she arrived Becky met her at the gates and guided her to the classroom before assembly, she then pointed to a rule in the student handbook that...

"A teacher may confiscate any of a student's possessions without explanation. Those possessions will be held in the safe until such time as the teacher wishes to return them."

"Well young lady, I have decided to confiscate your bag, jewellery and all of your clothes. Hand them over." demanded Becky.

"You can't do that." pleaded Leanne.

"If you have any objections to the actions of a teacher, the handbook makes it clear that you can ask for a second teacher to be present." Threatened Becky with a sweet smile.

Leanne began trembling as she removed all her clothes, one by one she handed them to Becky whose grin grew more wicked by the second. Eventually she removed her underwear and covered herself with her hands while Becky slowly walked over to the safe built into the teacher's desk and locked away everything Leanne owned. Becky then returned with a small white towel which she handed to Leanne. Leanne snatched the towel out of Becky's hands and quickly used it to cover herself.