Taking Over

Lydia White and Suzy Doyle stormed out of the headteacher's office, shaking with rage.

The girls had just been told by the headteacher that their applications to become Head Girls had not been successful and that he was appointing two boys as joint Head Boys, Martin Harris and Peter Jackson. It was so unfair.

Lydia and Suzy were the best pupils in that school. One or other of them was top of the class in every subject, Lydia tended towards humanities whilst Suzy was an ace in the sciences. Lydia was captain of the hockey team and Suzy was captain of the netball team. They both sat on the school council.

Martin and Peter were very average students at best. They did not have a place on the school council and neither of them was a sports star. Yet, somehow, they had achieved the best grades in a recent exam and the headteacher was using this as his reason to appoint the boys.

They must have cheated. It was the only explanation. But how to prove it?

When school was over, the girls went to Lydia's house to put their heads together and plan their next move. They were determined to uncover the truth. Lydia had a brainwave, as she normally did on a daily basis. Getting their things together, they whizzed round to the house of the school nerd, Cassie Butcher. Cassie was an expert with computers and had built her own machine with better specs than anything in the shops. She was also a hacker. It was this skill that the girls wanted to utilise.

Cassie opened the door to them and let them in. She was as indignant as the girls were over what had happened. "Boys are the most useless specimens. Appointing that pair of idiots as Head Boys is a disaster, and an insult to all girls. If there is anything I can do to help..."

Lydia spoke to her quickly, outlining what she thought had happened. The Headteacher, Mr Leslie, was an insufferable dinosaur, who still thought boys were superior to girls, in spite of the mountain of statistics that the opposite was true. His deputy, Mrs Holt, ran the school in spite of him, as he was incompetent and lazy and had only got the job because he was on good terms with the school board.

Nevertheless, he was in charge, and he had laid down a strict uniform policy. Girls had to wear black stockings and a suspender belt, regulation navy blue knickers, low heeled shoes, a white blouse and tie and a mini skirt. Boys were allowed to wear the more comfortable and less revealing shirt, tie and trousers and swaggered about in them. The girls had protested, but their arguments and pleas had fallen on deaf ears. The boys of course loved seeing the girls' legs and ogled them constantly.

Cassie was also angry that she had to wear a mini skirt. It went against her natural geekiness. She worked for only an hour before finding what the girls were looking for "Bingo!" she said triumphantly.

The following day, Martin and Peter strode through the school, proudly wearing their gold Head Boy badges. They were best friends and would use their authority to "encourage" the other students to donate money or items of interest to them. They had a whole year to fleece the student body and were getting started on this lucrative venture.

They spotted that Lydia White, one time rival for their positions, carrying a bottle of what looked to be lemonade. They intercepted her and confiscated the bottle from her. The insolent girl had argued, but had given in with an ill grace, stomping off. Laughing, the boys consumed the lemonade. This was the life!

Suzy, in the meantime, had gone to see the Deputy Head, Mrs Holt, and laid before her their evidence. Scowling with anger, she decided what she would do.

Mr Leslie sat in his office, not doing very much, as usual. He enjoyed being paid a lot of money to do as little as possible. He had the Head Boys in place, as he had wanted. He had no time for girls. Pretty little things and clever enough, in their own way, but boys were better. That uniform policy he had instituted had certainly put the girls in their proper place.

He was startled by the sound of his door opening. Initially, he was angry. This was his private sanctum! How dare anyone disturb him without so much as knocking. It was true he wasn't at all busy but still! Then he saw the dark anger on his deputy's face as she stormed into the room and knew that there was going to be trouble.

He tried to stand his ground "Mrs Holt, what is the meaning of this intrusion? How dare you.."

"How dare you!" she retorted "Involve this school in a cheating scandal!"

Mr Leslie was confident that Mrs Holt had no evidence of his involvement "I have no idea what you are talking about, dear lady".

"Don't dear lady me! I have proof here that you scanned and e-mailed copies of the exam paper and answers to those two cretins you appointed as Head Boys! Look for yourself!". She passed him a buff file.

Worried now, Mr Leslie leafed through its contents and groaned. That stupid oaf Harris had failed to delete the e-mail from his personal computer as he had been instructed. Mr Leslie himself and Jackson had been clever enough to delete all e-mails and thus cover their tracks but the other boy hadn't. How on earth Mrs Holt had uncovered this was a mystery but uncovered it she had and Mr Leslie knew he was in big trouble.

He tossed the file onto his desk resignedly "What can I say Marcia? I wanted Head Boys. It was the only way to justify their appointment".

"You despicable creature!" hissed Mrs Holt "You help two boys to in order to cheat two girls who are infinitely superior to them in every way of their rightful place".

Mr Leslie winced under this onslaught and tried begging "Look, Marcia, if I rescind the appointments and appoint these girls, can we not overlook this? No real harm has been done after all. You wouldn't get me sacked over a tiny thing like this would you?"

"A tiny thing like this? You have harmed and insulted two girls by denying them their positions and appointed two boys who are neatherthrals by comparison. You leaked exam answers to pupils! I should report this to the authorities at once".

Mr Leslie almost got on his knees but stopped himself, seeing his life in ashes. All he could do was await whatever fate Mrs Holt chose for him. He dreaded being led away from the school by the police. The humiliation would be unbearable!

Mrs Holt tapped her foot, thinking and then said "For the good of the school's reputation I will not be contacting the police. However, I think it is time you retired. You're not young anymore and frankly you are not capable of running this school. If you agree to retire and write a recommendation to the school board that I be appointed in your place and are gone from this building within one hour, you can enjoy a quiet retirement. And I'm not doing this for you, but for the good of the school".

Mr Leslie let out his breath in relief. She was offering him an honourable way out. He quickly wrote out his letter of resignation on the grounds of early retirement and a letter to the board strongly recommending Mrs Holt as his replacement and was gone.

Mrs Holt took her place at the Headteacher's desk and called Suzy in to see her, explaining what had happened "Needless to say, I am rescinding the appointments of those two imbeciles immediately and I am appointing you and Lydia White as Head Girls, as should have happened in the first place. Unfortunately, I cannot expel the boys as I would need to explain why and that would implicate Mr Leslie when I promised him I would not, and drag the school into this"

Suzy smiled. Satisfied that justice had been done "What about the uniform policy Mrs Holt? You are going to revise it aren't you. Let us girls wear trousers"

Mrs Holt smiled "Oh no, my dear, I have no intention of revising it. It is a very good uniform policy".

"What? You actually agree with it?" said Suzy, disappointed.

"Yes, I agree with it. But the uniforms are not the issue, only the pupils wearing them. The girls should be in trousers and the boys should wear the miniskirts, so I'm going to impose a reversal of the uniforms currently worn by boys and girls!"

Suzy's smile broadened "We girls will get to see the boys' legs! Fabulous!"

"I'll call an assembly straight away and make the necessary announcements" said Mrs Holt "Oh, by the way, are Peter and Martin ready?"

Suzy's smile grew even broader "Oh, yes, Mrs Holt!"

Cheers came from the girls and groans from the boys as Lydia and Suzy were given their Head Girl badges and the new uniform code was announced. Pupils were given a grace period of a week to conform with it. The boys looked humiliated at the prospect of having to wear a miniskirt "They'll be able to see my legs! It's not fair!" the boys protested. The girls sat smugly. They would be in trousers, as they deserved, and could ogle the boys as they walked past in their miniskirts and stockings.

The announcements were over, but there was one more item of business. Two figures were dragged into the hall. It was the former Head Boys, Peter and Martin, but unlike the last time they had been seen, their swagger and confidence was gone and they looked dejected and defeated.

The shame of being outwitted by a mere girl was bad enough. The lemonade that they had confiscated had contained a drug that had knocked them out, but what had followed was much worse. They had been stripped of their clothes, dressed in girls' uniforms and had had make up put on their faces. They were blushing with shame. They actually looked quite pretty with their shapely legs and prettified features and if they could look pretty then most of the boys would look even lovelier concluded the girls.

The Acting Headmistress decided that the two miscreants should be punished for abusing their power whilst they had been Head Boys.

The two miniskirted boys were dragged to the front of the assembly and made to bend over. Their miniskirts were flipped up to reveal their navy blue knickers and stockings, and then their knickers were pulled down to reveal their bare bottoms. Lydia and Suzy took their positions, canes in hand, a new privilege only just granted to Head Girls to administer corporal punishment. Let the fun begin, thought Suzy and Lydia in unison as they raised their canes.