Anderson Prepatory Academy was the school most people who had it all sent their children to. Megan Downey, even though she came from money, had never attended such a place before. But for her senior year her parents decided that Megan needed to attend the school with the other elite of their society and class.
Packing for the trip seemed to take forever, but the trip and registration were over quickly. Before she knew it she was alone in her room. She started unpacking the few things that she had brought to Anderson. Then she went to bed. She did not want to be late on her first day.
Megan heard the bell and ran as fast as she could. The teacher, Ms. McKenna, looked at her crossly. “Miss Downey, please report to the Headmaster’s office.”
‘Great,’ she thought, ‘third day of school and I am going to the Headmaster’s office.’
She arrived and talked to the secretary. Mrs. Ladd was an older lady, about 65 years old. She smiled at Megan as she told her what happened. The secretary hit the intercom button, “Mr. Latham, a Miss Downey has been sent to see you.”
There was a brief pause. “Send her in.” A gruff voice came back over the intercom.
Megan smoother down her clothes and went to the door. She opened it slowly. Behind the large cherry desk sat Dr. Paul Latham, the Headmaster of Anderson Prep.
He looked up, “Miss Downey?”
“Yes, sir.”
He motioned her in. She stepped towards the desk, after closing the door. He put up his hand for her to stop and not sit down in the chairs in front of his desk. Latham picked up a file folder. “Miss Downey, why are you being sent to my office? Usually the trouble makers are the ones in my office the first week. Yet you have never even had so much as a detention at your old school.”
“I am sorry, Headmaster Latham. I left my Latin homework in my room and I ran back to get it. I was only two minutes late to Ms. McKenna’s class.”
He looked her in the eyes, “Tardiness is not tolerated at this school.” He said with a stern tone in his voice.
“It won’t happen again, sir.”
“I am sure that it will not.” He rose and she got a good look at him. He was in his early thirties with blond hair and almost crystal blue eyes. He was very tall, lean and muscular. “My policy is that for any infraction that results in a visit to my office, the student will be disciplined.” He moved to be beside her. “I want you to conjugate ‘to be’ in Latin. All six tenses, please.”
Megan began to do this, and then felt his hand on her waist. She stopped and questioned him, “Headmaster Latham?”
“You must be punished. Put your hands on the desk, like this.” He moved her hands so that she was bent slightly over the desk. She felt like her skirt had come up some.
“You must be punished. Put your hands on the desk, like this.” He moved her hands so that she was bent slightly over the desk. She felt like her skirt had come up some.
Megan began to get nervous. She had heard stories about boarding schools and now wondered if they could be true. The idea of being attacked or molested at school did not thrill her.
“I do not hear you conjugating, Miss Downey.” He was behind her.
“But I completed it, Headmaster.”
“Repeat it again, until I tell you to stop.”
She did as she was told. Then she felt a sting on her behind. He had put her into this position so she would not see the paddle. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, In between the ten licks he gave her; she completed the conjugation two more times.
“You may stop.”
Megan bit her lip again to keep from crying form the pain. She took a few deep breaths. Then the headmaster leaned in. “You need to return to class. Your conjugation of the future tense is wrong.”
She straightened up and then took a deep breath. “Thank you, Headmaster Latham.” Megan returned to class but remembered the incident for the rest of the day and night; especially when ever she sat down.
It would be two months later, a week after she turned eighteen, that she and the Headmaster would speak again. While most of the students were gone for Fall Break, Megan and her parents thought that it would be better for her to stay at school.
That Saturday morning she decided to go for a run. She pulled out her IPOD and left. Her hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail. She had on Capri type sweat pants and a t-shirt. She had started running around the campus as the clouds started filling the sky. She was trying to forget about the week of midterms she had just finished. “Damned Latin test. Damned Trig.” She breathed as she ran.
Suddenly, she heard her name. Meg froze and then turned off the music. She knew that voice. Turning, she faced Headmaster Latham. Megan then realized that she had run over next to the Headmaster’s home on campus.
“Miss Downey, did I hear you say something?”
“No, sir.” She lied and looked down at her feet.
He stepped closer and grabbed her chin, turning it up to look at him. “I don’t tolerate liars, Miss Downey.”
“I said, Damned Latin test. Damned Trig, sir.” She looked at him defiantly. Her jaw was hurting from the force of his holding her face.
“Here at Anderson profanity is not allowed.”
“Sir, I thought I was alone and it is fall break.”
“There is no excuse. Besides what are you doing here?”
“I am out for a run, sir.”
He dropped her face and crossed his arms while he looked at her. “I can see that, Miss Downey.”
“Are you asking what I am doing on campus, Sir?”
“Yes.”
“I decided to stay here and study, Sir.” She said a little defiantly and put her hands on her hips.
“Well, then study, you will.”
Latham grabbed her arm and headed towards his house. She tried to struggle a bit, but his grip was too tight for the brunette. He threw open the door and led her to the study. “Sit.” He put her at the desk. Then Paul grabbed some paper, a pen and the dictionary. “I want a three page essay on profanity and why it is not tolerated at Anderson.”
She looked up, glaring at him. “If I don’t?”
“I will put you on probation for two months.”
“Big deal. It’s not like I am going anywhere anyways.” She crossed her arms. Megan was starting to get mad as hell that he had dragged her in to write an essay over two words. It just compounded a sucky week for her.
He grabbed her out of the chair. Latham put her at the desk and put her hands on it, preparing for another paddling. This just infuriated Megan and she started shooting off her mouth.
“Is this how you get your jollies?”
He took her by the arm and spun her around. “What?”
“You paddle students because it gets you hard, doesn’t it sir?”
“How dare you!” He was shocked. No one on campus had ever talked to him like this before. “I don’t tolerate misbehavior.”
“You paddled me ten times for being two minutes late to class. Why the hell would you do that? Besides to get a hard on.”
He smacked her across the face. Latham and Megan both were shocked by what he did. She turned and bolted out the front door. He followed her out into the storm that was starting. She was off the path and running through the trees.
Just as he got to her, lightening hit the tree in front of them. A branch fell and he pulled her back. “Come on. It’s too dangerous to be out here.” He yelled into her ear.
Paul got her back into the house and locked the door. They stood there listening to the storm, dripping water on the floor. He looked crossly at her, “Come.”
She followed him through the kitchen and into the laundry room. Latham took out the two towels from the dryer and passed them to her. Then he took one out for himself.
Megan began drying herself. But she was soaked to the bone. He left the room for a moment and returned with a pair of shorts and Anderson sweatshirt. “You can change in the bathroom.”
She hesitated and then looked at the weather and realized she would be there a while. Megan went into the bathroom and stripped off her outerwear and changed into his extra clothes. She hung her clothes on the shower bar. When she came out of the bathroom, she stepped into the kitchen. He had changed into dry clothes himself. Latham was cooking something in a pan. “Do you like grilled cheese?” He did not look up at her.
“I am not hungry, sir.”
“You may be here a while.” He motioned towards the TV and the weather report.
“Yes, sir. I like grilled cheese.” She stood there with her arms crossed.
Paul continued to cook and watched her out of the corner of his eye. The recently turned eighteen year old was five-foot-seven, with a dark Greek complexion and brown hair with blond highlights. He usually did not allow seniors to his program that were not already at another prep school. But Megan Downey was a smart young woman, with many athletic abilities and a bright future. She wasn’t a trouble maker or a problem child, like many of his transfers. This behavior today was out of character for her and shocked him.
Then again his own behavior had shocked him. Why had he slapped her? Was she right? Hadn’t he been unreasonable? “Would you sit down please?” Megan sat down on a stood at his little island table and waited. “I’m sorry I slapped you.”
“Whatever, sir.” She spat.
He took the sandwich off the grill and put it on a plate for her. He sat it in front of her. The he took her face in his hands more gently than he had before. “I am sorry. Anderson has quite a few problem students. If I don’t play games, my students don’t cause problems. You are correct that I did take out a little too much punishment for being late, but it is not to get enjoyment out of it. It’s to make this a good school. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Paul dropped her face, took his sandwich and put it across from her. Then he went to the fridge. He started to get out a beer, but realized his company was under age.
Megan had seen him reach for a beer. “Can I have one?”
“You’re underage.”
“You’re underage.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good beer.”
He turned and looked at her. She was serious. So he pulled out two Sam Adams and took the tops off both. He gave her one. “I guess I haven’t already broken enough rules to day.”
She ate her sandwich and drank a beer. Megan even looked to him like she was enjoying it. “Thank you. It’s good.”
“Being a bachelor I have to know how to cook.”
“I’m sorry for the comments I made earlier.” She took a swig of beer and then looked like she was lost in thought. “I hate it here.”
Surprised he looked up at her. “But according to your teachers you are doing so well.”
“I’d rather be back at my own high school with my own friends.”
“Then why did you agree to come here?”
“My parents wanted me to be at a school with people of my own standing. I want Yale. Anderson is the only way to get there.” She shook her head as if she was coming out of a trance. “Sorry.”
Now he understood why she hadn’t tried to make friends and why she had kept to herself. “Then why did you not go home this weekend?”
“I don’t want to see my parents.” She laughed. Paul watched her as she got up and walked over to the window to watch the rain. Then she turned around. “Should I go write that paper now?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Then can I get a tour?”
“It’s just a house.” Then he realized that the young woman was bored. “How about a game?”
“Of what?” She asked skeptical.
“I mean a board game.”
“Can I have another beer?”
He thought twice, but then nodded. She got them each one. When she moved into the living room, he had out Monopoly. “Is this okay?”
“I’m the Monopoly queen.” She sat down on the floor across from him and passed him a beer. She opened hers and took a swig.
After three hours and two more beers, Megan did indeed win the game. She was also quite tipsy. Even thought the rain had died down, he couldn’t let her go back to the dorm. “How about a nap?”
She smiled at him and in an almost flirtatious voice, “Alone?”
“Yes. Alone.”
Her lower lip pouted up. “Okay.”
He helped her off the floor and the couch. Paul took an afghan and covered her up. She curled up and started sleeping.
Paul went into the kitchen and started cleaning up. Then he fixed some coffee and went into his study to work. A few hours later she showed up at the door to his study.
“Did I win?”
“You whooped me.”
She bit her lip. “Did I do anything…strange?”
“No.” He lied to make her feel better. He actually thought it made her look cute to do that seductive voice. But there was no need to embarrass her.
Looking out the window she replied, “It’s stopped raining.”
“Yes, it has, Ms. Downey.”
She looked towards him. “I recall you calling me Megan when we were playing Monopoly.”
He took a sip of his coffee and looked up at her. “I have had a wonderful day, but once you leave this house, you become Ms. Downey and I become Headmaster Latham.”
“I understand, sir.” She turned and started towards the bathroom. “I’m going to change and leave. Thank you for a nice afternoon.”
“It’s almost six. I can make dinner.”
“I’ll eat in the dining hall, Sir.”
“The dining hall doesn’t have steaks.” He got up. “I took some out while you were sleeping. But no beer this time.”
She looked at him strangely and shrugged. Then Megan went into the bathroom and changed back into her now dry clothes. Folding his clothes up, she left them on the side of the sink. She looked at herself in the mirror and laughed. There was a hairbrush on the side of the sink. She took her hair down and brushed it out, letting it fall down around her shoulders.
Returning to the kitchen, Megan smelled the steaks go down on the grill. “Can I help?”
“No, ma’am. Just have a seat.” The table was already set. There was water in both glasses. He was very serious about the drinks.
About fifteen minutes later, he had steak and fresh veggies prepared and on plates. They dined and talked about her classes. Despite the fact she was not happy being at the school, the brunette really enjoyed her teachers and classes. She also had a love of history.
Paul thought for a moment. Then asked carefully, “Have you gotten off campus much?”
“Just to the store.”
“There is a Civil War site nearby and museum about thirty minutes from here. I’ve been meaning to get out there. Would you care to join me, Megan?”
“I thought you said…”She was caught off guard.
“We’re a lot alike, Megan. Neither of us have many friends here. I was just thinking you and I could spend the day at the history site.”
“Okay.”
“Meet me here at 8:30 on Monday morning.”
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