Temporal Exploring 101 - Cultural Immersion

II.14 A simple fact check

"You know, Cathy, your new class teacher was here yesterday, to talk to me about you," Allie casually remarked.

"Ms Jefferson? Really? What specifically did she want to discuss?"

I was paying one of my obligatory visits to my tutor, Alison Thomas. In theory, we ought to be discussing my academic progress as well as possible school problems. In practice, most of the times we met I just chatted with Allie and her friend Lena and we exchanged the newest gossip.

"Specifically, she asked me about my general impression of you. She told me that she already had to compose and mail a letter to your dad on the very first day as your new class teacher."

My cheeks grew hot. "That was a bit unfortunate, yes."

"So I heard. An unfortunate little incident that involved you mooning commuters on the Arlesten urban motorway from the Ramond Bridge."

I winced. "In my defense, that was not exactly my own idea."

"Not your own idea, and not very a original one either," Lena agreed. She turned towards Allie. "We have been doing the same kind of thing ourselves already, in our first year at St. Albert's, haven't we?"

Allie laughed. "We most certainly did."

"They told me that it was Mallory Carmichael's idea originally," I observed.

"Carmichael's idea? No way. She must have picked it up after talking to some higher-year students," Allie replied.

"So Ms Jefferson came to talk to you about me, because of that incident?"

If that was the case, I had reason to worry.

"Nah, it's not like that," Lena assured me. "Your class teacher approached me too, to talk about Barnett. From what I heard, she talked to all the tutors of students in your class."

"Barnett? You mean, Dorothy Barnett?"

Lena nodded.

I frowned. "You never told me that you are her tutor."

"Well, you never asked about her, Cathy. Besides, it does not really concern you, does it?"

"No, I suppose it does not. Not really." But that reminded me of something. It was time for a little fact check. "You know, Barnett boasts that she never gets spanked at St. Albert's because her parents donated so much money to the school."

"What? Are you sure?" Allie looked incredulous. "She must have been joking."

"No, she was perfectly serious. She claims that her family's donations bought her immunity, so to speak."

Lena shook her head. "That is utter nonsense, of course. It's true that I have never spanked her, so far. But that is because she never has given me a reason to do so. Trust me, I am not in the habit of playing favorites."

"She isn't. Lena is not like that, Cathy," Allie confirmed.

I blushed. "I never said you were, Lena."

Lena smiled. "It would appear that compared to you and your roommate Barnett is extremely well-behaved. At least none of your teachers has ever sent her to me with the request that I discipline her."

"I see. Then perhaps the teachers here have decided that Barnett is sacrosanct?" I mused.

"That is possible but highly unlikely. As far as I know, the Turner Corporation has donated at least as much as the Barnett family, and everybody at St. Albert's knows that the Turner twins are getting their butts beaten here on a regular basis."

"I see. So Barnett is lying about being sacrosanct as a result to her parents' donations to the school?"

"I guess so. I mean, perhaps she believes that, herself. Anyhow, this is not okay. I am going to have a word with her about that," Lena announced.

"Are you going to take her over the knee?" I hopefully inquired.

Lena laughed. "Nah, I don't think so. Not this time."

"I get the general impression that Cathy does not like Barnett very much," Allie observed.

"Damn right I don't," I muttered.

"Why not?" Lena appeared genuinely interested. "What specifically don't you like about her?"

"You really want to know?"

Lena nodded. "I do."

"Well for starters, all Barnett and her cronies – I am talking about girls like Bradford, Mellon and Lane – seem to care about is owning fancy, expensive things. Like rings and necklaces and stuff, but also things as mundane as pens or notebooks. They will go like, 'Ah have you seen that adorable little necklace Barbara wore last night?' They can spend hours boasting about the places where their families can afford to go over the holidays. Stuff like that." I scowled.

"Well yes, that doesn't sound very nice, does it?" Allie agreed.

"And it's not only that. Just because they happen to be good at playing badminton, they taunt and insult people like Natalie during a match. That's pretty disgusting behavior, if you ask me."

Allie winced. "Did you talk about that to your class teacher, Cathy?"

I shrugged. "Ms Jefferson is also our PE teacher. She watched Barnett and her friends taunt my roommate during badminton practice."

"Actually, your class teacher mentioned that particular incident when she talked about Barnett with me," Lena explained. "I asked her explicitly if she wanted me to discipline Dorothy for that, but Ms Jefferson said she had already had a word with the girl and that she was willing to give her a chance to show that she had learned her lesson."

I was less than impressed. "Great. Funny how Jen Turner did not get such a chance, at the time."

"Why? What did Turner do?" Allie asked.

I told them how Jen had deliberately slowed down when Ms Jefferson had us running laps, and how that had gained Jennifer a perfunctory spanking.

"That was a different situation," Lena insisted. "It sounds like the Turner twins were trying to provoke Ms Jefferson."

"I agree," Allie came to her help. "My guess is that they were testing the new teacher. Ms Jefferson had to react to that. There was no way she could ignore that."

"Maybe so." I was not entirely convinced yet. "But why did she not just talk to Jen, the way she did with Barnett?"

Lena shook her head. "You said the Turner girl actually asked Ms Jefferson: 'Is there a problem, Officer?' You know, everything considered I'd say Jennifer Turner got off lightly."

"So did Dorothy Barnett, though," Allie added. "If I were in her place I'd tread damned carefully, after this."

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