The Adventures of Fiona McCormack
A Story by Jenny O’Brien
When the call came, Fiona was happily engrossed with the long skipping rope that she was turning in the playground at Saint Mary’s Convent. She was concentrating hard, trying to keep in time with her best friend Rebecca, while about a dozen other girls weaved in and out, and attempting ever more complex tricks as schoolgirls had done for generations. Fiona was well aware that turning the rope was a skilled job and that failure to do it properly, would lead to them being replaced. At that moment, for this eleven-year-old girl at least, the four metre long rope, which was alternately brushing the dusty tarmac and then looping to six foot in the air, was the most important thing on earth. As she swung the rope, Fiona carefully watched the other girls, hoping to pick up some ideas for the future. Each girl in turn, skipped into fray, performed her party piece and exited on the other side, joining the back of the queue. The effect wasn’t unlike watching a military marching band, with the schoolgirls forming a figure of eight as they played. Each girl was identically dressed in a dark grey knee length gymslip (or potato sacks, as the girls referred to them), white long sleeved blouse, white knee high socks and black lace-up shoes. Their uniformity only added to the impression that this was like a regimental parade. Elsewhere in the playground that lunchtime, things were less orderly. Some of the younger girls (Saint Mary’s took boarders from the ages of eight to eighteen) ran around wildly or played hopscotch, while the seniors, who felt that games were somewhat beneath them, sat around on steps and walls and gossiped. Fiona and her friends however, were at the age where they could organise themselves and had yet to acquire the studied disinterest of teenage schoolgirls.
Fiona was happy at Saint Mary’s. Although the school was a little old fashioned and quite strict, She had now been here for three years and, as with all boarding schools, the staff and pupils had become her second family. She had come to Saint Mary’s after the death of her mother. Her dad, who was something important in Hollywood, hadn’t wanted Fiona to go to a school in America, fearing the levels of drugs and violence there, so he enrolled her in an old fashioned convent school in Sussex, run entirely by the nuns. Unlike most of the other girls, Fiona didn’t even get to go home during the holidays, as her dad was far too busy at work to look after her, so she stayed at the convent during the holidays as well. Because of this, Fiona had a very good relationship with the nuns, who during the holidays, fussed over her and took her on trips outside the school. She did see her dad several times each year as, whenever he was in London, he would drive down to the school to see her. Occasionally, the Mother Superior would allow Fiona to skip lessons for a day so her dad could take her up to London to see the sights or go to a cinema. These trips were normally the highlight of Fiona’s year, but on this July day, as she swung the skipping rope, had something better to look forward to.
Two weeks earlier, Fiona had received the most wonderful news. Her dad had managed to arrange some time off and wanted her to fly to America to spend the summer holidays with him in Hollywood. She had been almost unable to contain her excitement and had spent so much time thinking about the trip that her schoolwork had suffered. So much in fact, that she had been summoned to the Mother Superior’s office to receive a stern warning about her lack of concentration. In the space of a few days, Fiona had gone from being the girl that everyone felt sorry for, as she had to stay at school all year round, to the most envied girl in the convent. For a week or so, everyone wanted to hear about the trip, but soon, even her best friends had grown weary of the endless talk about film stars and Hollywood studios, and yawned theatrically every time the subject came up. To top it all, Fiona had received five hundred pounds from her dad, so she could go shopping for clothes for the trip. She had even persuaded her favourite nun, Sister Teresa, to take her into Brighton next Saturday to go shopping. Fiona was determined that she wouldn’t be accompanied by one of the older nuns, who may have prevented her from buying the sort of fashionable clothes that she would need on a trip to Hollywood. Sister Teresa was different. For a start, she was still in her early twenties and had only recently taken her vows. When Fiona had arrived at the convent, Sister Teresa was still a novice, having been a Saint Mary’s pupil herself. The whole school had been present when she had taken her vows and in the view of many of the girls, it seemed to be a bit of a waste. She was after all, quite young and pretty and didn’t fit in with the normal stereotype of a nun, not least because, when she took gym lessons, she wore a short games skirt over a leotard rather than the all enveloping habit that Sister Gertrude, the previous games mistress always wore.
“Fiona, Fiona McCormack”. The call finally snapped her out of her daydream and she looked up to see Sister Teresa running across the playground towards her. She was easy to spot, as she was still wearing her games kit. “Fiona McCormack, you are to go to the Mother Superior’s office immediately” the sister said on spotting her quarry. Fiona stopped swinging the skipping rope, immediately entangling a girl who had been attempting to perform a handstand within it. The girl crashed in a heap and glared at Fiona ruefully as she picked herself up and dusted off her gymslip. “Straight away Fiona” insisted Sister Teresa, who had now arrived amongst the group. “We don’t want to keep the Reverend Mother waiting, now do we?” Fiona shrugged, handed the rope to another girl and started to follow the nun, who was already half way back across the playground. As she hurried after Sister Teresa, past the science block and into the quad, Fiona racked her brains to think why she had been summoned in this way. She didn’t remember doing anything wrong, at least nothing bad enough to warrant a trip to the Mother Superior’s office. Maybe, she thought to herself, she was going to get another lecture about her concentration. She had tried to concentrate on her schoolwork, but it was difficult. As they entered the hall, outside the Mother Superior’s office, Fiona saw a group of three girls standing to attention next to the door, obviously waiting to be reprimanded for some offence or other. They didn’t seem to be together, as the youngest, who was sniffling a little, was a first year of only about eight years old, while the oldest must have been seventeen. All three were dressed like Fiona in the full Saint Mary’s uniform. Unlike many other schools, even the senior girls had to wear uniform at all times as the Mother Superior felt that this encouraged pride in the school and benefited discipline. Despite pleas from some of the older girls, she failed to see why the seventeen and eighteen year olds shouldn’t have all the same advantages of wearing the uniform as the juniors had. The result of this policy was that at Saint Mary’s, almost fully grown young women spent their days dressed like little girls and the most frequent reason for senior girls to be visiting the Mother Superior’s office was for uniform violations. As Fiona watched, the older girl of the three tugged at the hem of her gymslip in a vain attempt to pull it below the mid thigh length it had illegally been shortened to. It was crystal clear why she had been sent here. Many of the older girls sewed their hems a little higher than the knee length prescribed in the regulations. This girl seemed to have got a little carried away.
Fiona recognised the third girl immediately. Pippa Harris was the naughtiest girl in Fiona’s class, maybe in the whole school and despite not being in the slightest bit malicious, contrived to spend a large part of her time waiting to see the Mother Superior. Fiona smiled at her classmate, who winked back. Before lunch, Pippa had had the entire French class, including Fiona in stitches with her impression of Sister Dominique, the French Mistress. Unfortunately, Sister Dominique had seen the performance and Pippa was about to get the opportunity to explain the joke to the Reverend mother who wasn’t generally noted for her sense of the ridiculous. Visits to the Reverend Mother were more scary than anything else. She had a remarkable ability to fix a girl with a steely glare, which made the victim pray that the floor would open to swallow them up. Fiona had stood outside the door on several occasions, normally for a ticking off, but a couple of times for a spanking. The spankings didn’t hurt that much, but the indignity of having to lie over the Reverend Mother’s knee, having your gymslip raised up and having the seat of your knickers warmed up by her bony hand was enough to persuade most girls of the error of their ways. Most girls that is, except Pippa. Pippa had gained some notoriety within the school, as well as considerable admiration from her classmates, with her ability to drive the Mother Superior to distraction with her antics. So much in fact, that she was the only girl in the class and one of only a few in the whole school, who had felt a ruler across her knickers, rather than the more usual hand spanking. Pippa had suffered the ruler on several occasions, with little effect on her behaviour and the Reverend Mother was beginning to consider purchasing a more severe implement, solely for use on her bottom. Pippa didn’t seem to mind the ruler too much, especially as even the senior girls, lined up with everyone else to pay their respects and to view the blotchy red marks that she delighted in displaying to an admiring audience.
“Wait here” ordered Sister Teresa as she walked towards the door. Fiona obediently joined the queue next to Pippa and stood to attention like the other girls. “It’s alright Fiona, you can sit down” said the nun, gesturing towards a large leather armchair in the hall and then disappearing into the office. Fiona sat down. This was something new, she thought to herself. It was one of the great unwritten rules, that when you were summoned to the Mother Superior’s office, you stood to attention outside the door until she was ready to deal with you. She had never heard of, let alone seen, anybody being allowed to sit down and wait. “What are you here for?” Pippa whispered, obviously equally confused by the turn of events. She had spent a lot of time standing outside the door and considered herself to be something of an authority on the subject, but she had never seen anyone sitting down before. Fiona shrugged and mouthed, “I don’t know” back to her classmate. “But I don’t think that it can be something bad” she whispered. Pippa nodded in agreement, but before they could continue the conversation, Sister Teresa emerged from the office. Turning first to the three girls she said, “Now run along girls and consider yourselves lucky. The Reverend Mother doesn’t have time to see you”. They obviously did consider themselves lucky as they all broke out into broad smiles. Even the youngest girl who had clearly been terrified and for whom this was almost certainly the first visit dried her eyes and grinned sheepishly. “And girls” Sister Teresa added as they left, almost as an afterthought “Whatever it was you were sent here for, don’t do it again”. They all nodded earnestly, with Pippa giving Fiona a thumbs up before she rushed off to find something else naughty to get into trouble for. “The Reverend Mother will see you now” said Sister Teresa to a now confused Fiona as she ushered her through the door.