The Re-Set

Meltdown

"She did what?" Beth hissed, genuinely surprised as I finally managed to bring her up to date at break the next morning. No secrets between best friends forever. I told her about the wedding date, the spanking and everything that had been said, both at breakfast and the night before, in hushed whispers, not wanting anyone else to know or hear. Felicity, my shadow, had wandered off to talk to one of the other former Grammar School girls, to give us some privacy, and I had talked non-stop, for about five minutes, ending with the real bombshell news.

"She spanked me...and Dad didn't care." I admitted, chewing my bottom lip. "Basically, she is going to be my stepmother whether I like it or not...and he thinks I deserved it...because my grades are bad and I have a bad attitude...and everything she says, he does...he was really cold with me?"

"Well, your grades haven't been great, have they?" Beth suggested, frowning at me. "Lately I mean?"

"Just because you only get A's...I get mostly B's...that's not so bad..."

"And you have been arguing a lot, this year? I mean...he is always confiscating your phone and stuff...isn't he?" Beth pointed out, which was sort of true. Before Caroline introduced him to the idea of beating me, taking my mobile away was Dad's punishment of choice. "I mean, I am not saying Mrs Buckingham should have spanked you...just that your dad might have just about half a reason to be...disappointed? And lots of girls do get spanked, right?"

"Do you?" I demanded, and she frowned again.

"No..."

"Last night was just awful...and this morning wasn't much better...she has put a note in my stupid diary asking the teachers to make sure I am wearing the uniform properly?" I moaned as we walked down the playground, away from everyone else. "And Felicity and I are invited to tea with Catherine and Charlotte Martin this afternoon...it's a nightmare!"

"Felicity is okay...though? And everyone likes Cate?"

"I know she is...but Caroline treats her like a toddler...and have you actually seen Catherine Martin? Everyone who has been signed up for Deepdene is turning into Hermione Grainger without the magic...it's scary?" I insisted, trying to make her see how awful it all was.

"Dad says Deepdene is going to be super academic...like really strict...but entirely focused on making everyone study...there are places at the Grammar School, because quite a few girls are transferring here, but he thinks I might be better off here?" Beth suggested, understandably thinking about her own future. "And he really likes Mrs Buckingham..."

"She is actually insane, Beth? She spanked me?" I protested, although it sounded a bit like a whine again. I had gone beyond the Deepdene versus Redstone debate. Beth was still concerned with that, because her parents still had a choice to make, and they were happy to involve her in the decision-making process, unlike my father. And it was a big decision, because like me, she had been at Redstone since she was a toddler, so leaving to go somewhere else would mean leaving a lot behind, including me. Until I saw the uniform, and then fell under Caroline's spell almost immediately after seeing it, which made everything worse, I was reasonably happy to stay at what would become Deepdene. But I did not like what was happening to me since that basic decision was made at all and although I blamed Caroline for most of that so far, Deepdene was beginning to sound exactly like the sort of school I would hate. I mean, I hated it already and it did not even officially exist at that point.

"You did sort of go off on one though, didn't you?" Beth sighed, looking suitably uneasy as she tried to remain objective. "I mean, telling her that she had no right to tell you what to do in her own house? You really need to control your temper and talk to your dad calmly...losing it with his love interest is not likely to make him happy, is it?"