A Fete Worse Than Before

The penultimate chapter is here, two installments at once this time (I really am spoiling you).
The five girls of the Sploshington Girls' School Senior Cheerleading Squad were going through their paces. They were all concentrating hard, and seemed to be putting a lot of effort into their athletic movements. They needed to, they had a big performance coming up very soon. The routine was very complicated, involving a lot of leaping, rolling, waving of pom-poms. However the girls, all from the Upper Sixth, were more than able to cope with its demands as they were all limber, fit young women who had put a lot of time into their training.
At last their gyrations came to an end, with them positioned in a line, all in the splits pose and beaming widely, flashing their perfect white teeth to an imaginary audience. Pretty soon they would be performing at the opening of the school's Spring Fete and the audience would be anything but imaginary. They were all looking forward to it, they had spent ages choreographing and practicing, and in just a few days they would have their biggest gig of the year so far.
The girl furthest to the left was called Tori. She was officially the Sploshington Cheer Captain, and in fact was the leader of the gang in more ways than just one. She was not someone to be messed with, certainly if you attended Sploshington and you wanted to continue having any sort of a social life. Her hair was thick, glossy any wavy, a rich brown in colour to match her brown eyes. As soon as her facial muscles relaxed from their theatrical smile she resumed her customary pot, her full red lips never seen in public without skillful augmentation with lipstick.
The girl immediately to the right of Tori was called Jules. She had long black hair, always straightened mercilessly and kept rigidly in place. She was slim and willowy and tall, always very careful to watch what she ate. In fact if a celebrity came out with a new diet fad, it was certain that Jules would be on it within a day or two, despite having no need to do so whatever. She was pretty, just like all the girls, if in a rather arch way. In terms of social standing she was Tori's lieutenant, and often tough about plotting to usurp her.
Continuing on down the line, the next girl along went by the name of Gemma. She was a pretty, petite brunette, her hair relatively short and not as heavily styled as most of the others. She was not a leader of the gang, nor did she ever aspire to be, she was firmly one of the followers and went along with whatever the rest suggested. Also, she wasn't too bright, and often failed to fully grasp situations.
The girl just to the right of Gemma was called Tish, and she was perhaps a little more out of breath than the other four. She was the traditional blonde bombshell with a pneumatic figure. Unfortunately the enormous breasts and hourglass shape didn't exactly lend themselves to athletic gymnastic routines, and she was by far the worst cheerleader of the squad, everyone knew that she was there more for her looks than her ability. Along with her typical dumb blonde looks she had the typical dumb blonde intelligence. However, she did have one particular area in which she would have won a Nobel prize if there was one available, and that was in using her looks to her advantage. Most men she could twist around her finger with expert skill, they were putty in her hands.
All the four that have been mentioned so far were extremely attractive, but the final girl, the one on the far right of the line was easily the most beautiful of them all. She had lovely flame red hair and startling green eyes, She had a body that went in and out in all the right places and skin that was so soft and tender, it seemed almost to be luminous. This vision went by the name of Lucy. She was the absolute antithesis to the other four in terms of personality, she was sweet, nice and caring, scornful of cliques and social climbing, conscientious in her school work. Lucy had joined the Cheerleading Squad, not for the attention or cachet that it would bring her, but because she was genuinely enthusiastic about it, she loved the school and wanted to do her very best for school spirit. The others didn't really understand her, they just couldn't understand her having good, honest motives about what she did. All their snide insults and catty comments seemed to be like water off a duck's back to her, so now they just tended to leave her alone.
"Ok," said Tori, casting a critical eye over her forces "I think that will do far today, but we need to tighten up for tomorrow. The Spring Fete is a really good occasion for us to show off what we can do, and we don't want to mess it up. Everyone will be there watching us." The rest of the squad took on board her team talk and then trooped back to the changing rooms.
The girls busied themselves changing out of their practice gear and into their normal street clothes, four of them spending rather a lot of time on their appearance and one just shrugging on her usual jeans and t-shirts. Naturally Lucy was finished and ready to go first, just as she always was, but she turned to the others with a proposal for what they should do next.
"Hey," she began in her mellifluous voice, "there's that big geography test tomorrow and it's probably going to be really tough. I'm going to the library now to study, do any of you want to come and join me? It always helps if you try to swot up in a gang." She had made such offers before but always been turned down, still she thought that this time might be different. The test really was going to be very difficult and the four weren't that academically able and could use all the help that they could get.
The reaction that she actually got was rather unexpected. The fact that it was negative was not unduly surprising in itself, but the specific nature was. The girls looked amused rather than just frosty, as if there was some great private look being shared among them. There was a definite conspiratorial air between them as well, Lucy even observed a very deliberate wink from Tori.
"No, no thank you," said Tori in a rather disdainful tone, "we'll be alright. Something tells me that we'll do just fine tomorrow."
"Yeah," added Gemma, always ready with an unoriginal thought, "we'll do just fine."
"Oh?" said Lucy in an inquisitive voice, intrigued by the way the girls were behaving, "and why is that?"
"We've got a, er, a study plan," said Jules in a knowing voice, "it's a good one. Really good." There was a moment's silence. Tish couldn't help herself and blurted out a giggle, stifling it with a hand immediately. Lucy knew that something was up, but she couldn't fathom what it was, so she decided to just forget about it. Tori decided to volunteer some more information though.
"In any case," she said, "we can't go to the library now, we have to go and sort out some outfits for the performance."
"For the spring Fete performance?" asked Lucy.
"Yeah, dur, what other performance is there?" said Jules.
"Yeah, durbrain," added Gemma for good measure.
"But why do we need them? The theme for the Fete is sports, we don't need any special outfits, we can just use our normal uniforms."
"What, use our normal uniforms?" said Tori, incredulous at the redhead's suggestion. "That way we'd be the only ones without proper costumes. No way. We're going to sort out new, special uniforms just for this show."
"Don't worry," said Jules, "we'll make sure that we all look fabulous."
"Yeah, fabulous!" said Gemma.
"Hee hee!" chipped in Tish, "the normal uniforms! No chance!" The others resumed their laborious task of self beautification and Lucy could see that they would keep at it for some time yet, so Lucy decided to cut her losses and leave them to it.
When she got to the library she had a lot to think about. The girls' confidence could only mean one thing: Trouble. Normally when a test came round they were defensive in their attitudes, worried even, but never at ease. Sometimes they would try to pretend that it wasn't happening at all, but never before had they openly bragged about how well they were going to do. The conspiratorial air was strange too, what on earth could they have up their sleeves? Whatever it was, Lucy was sure of two things: That the scheme would have been primarily thought up by Tori, possibly with help from Jules, and that it would come to no good.
Another area of concern was the fact that, contrary to Lucy's expectations, the cheerleading squad were not going to be wearing their standard uniforms, but rather especially 'improved' uniforms created by the other four girls (again, it was likely that the bulk of the creative input would come from Tori and Jules). Reflecting on it, she perhaps should have seen it coming. The standard uniforms had to be inspected by the somewhat prudish Mr. Brown before the squad could wear them, and the headmaster would never let the sort of thing that the sort of thing that the girls really wanted pass. Consequently Tori and the rest took every single opportunity to perform in non-standard outfits, usually fancy dress.
These outfits were always as skimpy as possible, and there was no way that the uniforms for the Spring Fete were going to be any different. Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish absolutely loved the attention that they got from it, it was one of the most importuned reason for them to be in the cheerleading squad. Lucy didn't like the attention so much, not because she was shy and retiring, far from it, but because she though that the attention should be focused on the quality of the routine they were doing, not how tight their tops were or how easy it was to see up their skirts.
She also preferred to a bit more classy and stylish than the clothes that they chose, as they were usually quite cheap looking. Lucy had often suggested outfits that were a bit less revealing and a lot more chic, but these had all been roundly vetoed by the other four. She had learned to just be philosophical about it all. One fact that amused her no end about what they made her way was that she invariably looked far better in all the revealing outfits than any of the other did. Each of them would always imagine that their sexy clothes would ensure that all attention was on them, and them alone, but always it would be the same, over half the crowd staring right at her, Lucy. She knew that this state of affairs annoyed the girls intensely, it really made their blood boil. This also made Lucy most amused, she didn't do it o purpose either, it just happened, and that somehow made it even more funny.
Suddenly Lucy looked at the clock. She was running out of time, this was no time to be idly worrying about things that she couldn't control. She would just have to leave the rest of the cheerleading squad to sink and swim on their own, it wasn't as if she hadn't offered to help. and now she had to concentrate on herself. Lucy buried her head in a book, and attempted to learn all that she could about lava flows.
The exam, just as Lucy had predicted, was extremely difficult. However, thanks to her diligent study Lucy found that she could make a decent stab at most of the questions, and at the end she was pretty sure that she had done alright for herself. She met up with the four other members of the cheerleading squad after coming out of the exam room, or rather they met up with her, as they seemed to want to speak to her and also to crow. There was nothing they enjoyed more than having superiority over someone else, and for some reason the quartet seemed to think that their IQs had rocketed within the last two days.
"Hey there," said Tori, in a richly mocking tone, "how do you think you did in there?" Lucy was still mystified by what was going on, but in the meantime she decided to just play along.
"Well I put a lot of effort over the last couple of days," she said, "and I think that in the end it all aid off. The test was really tough, but I think that with a little bit of luck I'll come out with a B." This was not really an amusing statement at all, rather it was pretty prosaic. Nevertheless this didn't prevent both Gemma and Tish dissolving into giggles after she had finished. Tish in particular seemed to be in the midst of unexplained fits of convulsive laughter. Most odd, thought Lucy.
"Well Miss B," said Jules, joining in with the taunting, "I think that us lot are going to do a little bit better than that."
"Yeah," continued Tori, "we're going to do much better. In fact I reckon that we're going to end up with A plusses all round." Lucy was baffled by all of this shenanigans, what on earth were they all up to? There was no way that they were ever going to get as good a grade as that, none of them were particularly bright to begin with, and they didn't seem to have spent any time at all on swotting up. She almost opened her mouth to demand an explanation as to what was going on. But at the last minute she decided to bite her tongue. They were too wrapped up in their own cares to be likely to condescend to explain things to little Lucy. Besides, it was really nothing to do with her, and the snootiness that they were displaying wasn't particularly directed at her, it was just their general attitude towards life shining through.
Having come to this conclusion Lucy shrugged her shoulders and trailed after the rest of the gang to the changing rooms to get ready for that evening's practice. They went through their choreographed routine several ties, and it was getting really tight now, even Tish was getting through it just about s well as her top heavy body would let her.
"Phew," said Tori, tired by her exertions, "that was really good girls, let's make sure that we keep it up until the actual performance." It was a sure sign that the cheerleading squad was pretty much perfect when even Tori couldn't think up at least one catty remark at the end of a practice. All five girls trooped off from the playing fields with the sense of a job well done.
Given their odd behavior before and their typically mean behaviour Lucy was in no real mood to hang around for too long, she just wanted to get home and curl up on her sofa with a nice cup of tea and watch some mindless, undemanding telly, relaxing after the mental and physical exertions of the day. Therefore as soon as she had taken her brief shower, flung her jeans and tshirt on and tidied up her damp hair into a simple ponytail, she said her goodbyes and hurried home.
The other four members of the cheerleading squad were not nearly so efficient. Many and varied implements of beautification were brought in to play, hairdryers, hair straighteners, foundation, mascara, lipstick, all were used in the four's usual orgy of prettification. After a long time they at last decided that they were just about ready to be presented to the world, and wandered out of the girls' changing rooms in a gaggle, gossiping about the latest school rumours.
They were stopped suddenly just outside the door by the sight of a stern faced teacher. This didn't phase the girls too much however, they were often in some trouble with a variety of the staff of the school, and at this late stage had developed a great skill in wriggling out of it. This particular teacher was Mr. Drake, not one they'd had a huge amount of experience with as they'd stopped taking woodwork at the earliest opportunity, there were far too many ways to chip a nail whilst doing it. Nevertheless, he was a man and they were sure that they'd be able to twist him round their collective little finger.
"Hello girls," he began in a stern voice, "I want to have a word with you lot." He fixed the group before him with his best 'no messing' voice.
"With us?" said Tori in her best girlish, sweet and innocent voice, "why whatever for?"
"I it about the cheerleading squad?" said Jules, "did you watch us doing our routine?"
"We're getting really good now," said Gemma.
"We sure are!" cried Tish, jumping up and down with excitement and hence causing a certain amount of pleasant looking bouncing. This was a routine that was better practiced and more slick than any that they would ever perform on the playing fields. It almost always worked, too, especially when the teacher in question was young and male. Indeed, Mr. Drake swallowed hard, he was a red blooded man after all, but he had a fixed purpose in his mind and he wouldn't allow himself to be diverted.
"I'm afraid that it's quite a serious matter girls. I think it would be better if we discussed this in private in my workshop. Come on, all of you, this way." He turned on his heel and marched resolutely away. The first alarm bells started to ring inside the somewhat dense heads, this could mean real trouble. However they were as yet unbowed, still convinced of their incredible ability to squeeze out of any sort of jam, and trailed demurely after Mr. Drake.
He seated himself behind his desk, it helped to make him feel and seem more professional. He didn't bother to offer his guests a seat, keeping them standing would make them feel more uneasy, and make it very clear that they were very definitely getting told off, and nothing that they could do would alter that fact.
"Now girls," he said sternly, steepling his fingers in front of him, another technique designed to enhance his authority, "I'm sure that you know what this is about. Make no mistake that it is a very serious matter. Do you wish to make a clean breast of it now?"
"A clean breast of it?" said Tori, emphasising the third word and deciding to play dumb, "a clean breast of what? we haven't done anything?"
"Is there anything you'd like us to do?" asked Jules suggestively. Tish and Gemma giggled coquetishly. Mr. Drake swallowed again, put refused to be distracted from his plan of attack. He cleared his throat and continued with his best prosecuting barrister impression.
"Very well, if you don't want to admit to it, that's fine. I don't need any more evidence." He turned the screen of his computer round so that the girls could see it. "Here you see the home folder of the Head of Geography on the school's internal network. Protected by a password due to its having a great deal of sensitive information on it.
"On here are lesson plans, reports, grades, and, of course, the answers to exam papers. It seems that some nefarious person has managed to hack into this folder and obtain the answers to the latest exam. I can only presume that this was done by one of the students with a large amount of expertise in IT, I don't know which one it was and quite frankly I don't really care.
"The people who I am interested in are the instigators, the people who requested the information to be purloined and the people who have profited from it. In other words, you." All four of the cheerleaders let out a single, collective, choreographed gasp.
"Oh Mr. Drake!" cried Tori, in shock and hurtfulness, "How could you ever suspect us!"
""Yes, please believe us Mr. Drake," implored Jules, "we would never do anything like that! We studied really hard for this test."
"We would never cheat," added Gemma.
"Never ever," said Tish, a little unconvincingly.
"It must be someone else," said Tori, "but how would you prove it? There's no way to tell, what a horrible predicament."
"But don't worry Mr. Drake," said Jules, "if we find out anything we'll be sure to tell you straight away. Even the tinniest little rumour."
"Is there anything we can do for you in the meantime, Mr. Drake?" said Tish.
"Yes Mr. Drake, anything at all, we'd be glad to help," finished off Gemma. It was a well oiled machine. But this time it wasn't going to work.
"Cut it out girls," said Mr. Drake, his voice becoming fiercer, "it won't wash this time. You see you happened to make a mistake. The answer sheet stored on the computer was a fake, placed there just in case someone tried to pinch it. The answers on it were wrong, and I have just checked your answers that you gave this afternoon on the geography test. They match the fake answers exactly, they are verbatim copies. There is no way that this could be other than you having cheated, or at least having tried to cheat. I have you bang to rights."
There was absolute silence. None of the girls said so much as a word. This was a real bombshell, something that they had never envisaged when cooking up their elaborate scheme. The fact was slowly percolating through their air filled minds that finally they had run into something serious that they couldn't wriggle out of, not just with a few batted eyelids and suggestive comments at least. They were in big, big trouble.
At the moment nobody else knows about your crime. the next thing I should do is tell the headmaster. Since this was just an internal test and not a public examination he wont feel obliged to call the police, but that's really the only good bit of news for you. I imagine that he'll expel you, all of you. And with your somewhat mediocre academic records and with this incident now on your files, I don't imagine that any other sixth form will want to take you on. Things don't look good." As always, Tori was the first to respond.
"Oh please Mr. Drake," she said in a voice choked with tears, "please don't tell Mr. Brown. We're ever so sorry and we wont ever do it again."
"Yes Mr. Drake," said Jules, adding her own piteous pleading, "please don't expel us, we know with did wrong and we'll do anything to make up for it. Besides, it was all really Tori's idea." Already their close partnership was beginning to crumble under the pressure. Gemma and Tish did not try to put their own cases, their forte was not in speaking. Instead they merely limited themselves to sniffling, letting the odd tear fall down their soft cheeks and generally trying to look like beautiful maidens in distress.
"Weeeell," said Mr. Drake, slowly and carefully, inwardly amused at the hope that flashed across the four girls' faces at this tiniest sliver of hope, "I do have an idea as to how I can avoid calling in Mr. Brown."
"Of course, of course," said Tori, bursting with relief, "we'll do it."
"Yes, we'll do anything for you Mr. Drake, "said Jules.
"Yes, anything," said the buxom Tish in a low, enticing voice whilst lowering her eyes and licking her lips suggestively. Mr. Drake ignored it, he had better ideas.
"Well the first thing," he said, briskly and businesslike, "is that you're going to have to retake the test, honestly this time. You're also going to have to study hard for it, the lowest grade I'm going to accept from any of you is a B." This was going to be hard work, especially for Tish. But it wasn't too onerous compared to what they had just been threatened with, and they knew several brainy boys who would be more than happy to help them out with studying.
"That's fine with us," said Tori, brightly.
"Absolutely fine," said Jules.
"No problem," said Tish.
"Yeah, no problem at all," said Gemma. All four of them had dried their crocodile's tears extremely rapidly.
"I'm not finished yet," continued Mr. Drake in a cautionary tone, "I want you to do something else for me too. The Spring Fete is coming up, as I'm sure you're well aware. The school is still missing a big charity event to go with it. This is where you four come in. You are aware, I'm sure, that at the last fete at Christmas we were most successful in raising a lot of money with the gunging of Miss Blossom, and I want to do a similar event on this occasion. I am sure that you four will raise a great deal of money." Once again the reaction was shocked silence. None of the girls could believe it. They were probably more alarmed and upset by this than when they had been found cheating. This was unimaginable, there was no way they could go through with this. As always in a crisis they looked for Tori for leadership.
"Er, but Mr. Drake," she began hesitantly, "I don't really think that's the best idea."
"I mean we're more than happy to raise money for charity," put in Jules hastily, worrying that their lifeline might be snatched away from them.
"Yes, we'll do the charity thing," continued Tori, "but I think there are probably better ways to get the money. For instance, we're already doing a cheer to open the fete, how about we ask for donations afterwards?"
"And how much do you think that will raise?" asked Mr. Drake, "I'll tell you how much, not enough. You'll have to do better than that."
"Well how about we all four of us get sponsored to do the cheer?" suggested Jules, "That would raise much more. We could do little private cheerleading routines especially for people who donate enough as well."
"That still wont be nearly enough," said Mr. Drake dismissively.
"I've got an idea," said Tish, "how about we do a calendar, we could pose in bikinis and stuff then sell it." Mr. Drake reacted with amusement.
"Do you really think people will pay good money to see the sort of thing that you doubtless have up already on your Facebook pages?," he said, the four wounded expressions confirming that he was right, "besides, there just isn't enough time to get something like that ready before the fete. No, I am adamant on this, it will have to be a gunging or the headmaster.
"Here's how it's going to work. Starting tomorrow the whole school is going to have a vote. People are going to be voting for one of you. When we get to the fete we'll open up the voting to the general public. It'll be a pound per vote. At the end we'll tally up the votes and whichever of you has the most will be gunged. That's it, that's the way it's going to have to be or I'll just have to call the headmaster."
This was different. Before they had thought that all four of them would be in the firing line, but finding out that only one of them was going to get it put a whole different complexion on things. A significant part of the psychology of all of them was that they truly and sincerely believed that they themselves were the best loved and most popular girl in the school. Therefore it would surely be one of the others who got it. Given that none of the girls really and truly believed that it would be them, and given that none of them rally cared about the others, they were all perfectly willing to agree to this.
"Do I take it that you are going to go along with my plan?" said Mr. Drake, satisfied that he had reached the desired outcome of the interview. Four mute heads solemnly nodded, each of them filled with thoughts and schemes as to exactly how they would engineer their escape from the gunge. It was clear that the meeting was now over, and the four cheerleaders left the workshop quietly. They didn't even erupt into gossip once they were out of the teacher's earshot. They were all too cautious, trying to evaluate what had just gone on.
Which of them was going to get the slime? Which one was going to be the unlucky one to take the hit for the others? The thought that one of them might take the hit for her comrades. Comradeship was the furthest thing from any of their minds. One important thing did need to be sorted out amongst them, and that was what they should say the next day at school. It was very quickly agreed that none of the details of the gunge vote would be uttered by any of them. For as long as possible it would remain an embarrassing secret kept just to themselves.
Having made their vow of silence Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish made their separate ways home, confident, each of them, that despite their crime being discovered, one of the others was going to be taking the punishment.
The next day the rumour of one of the four girls getting gunged at the Spring Fete was all over school. This was a social disaster. Nobody came right out at laughed at them, but there were a few stifled giggles and more than a few snide remarks. It soon became abundantly clear that pretty much every girl in the school was very much looking forward to seeing one of them get very messy.
The day was excruciating. For a start there was the question of who had let the cat out of the bag in the first place. Each one of them firmly denied that it was them, and there was a great deal of suspicion and mistrust amongst the girls. There were no outright accusations, but each of the girls was privately convinced that they knew who it was.
Secondly there was no way that they could outright deny the rumours, as the substance of them was perfectly true, and would be confirmed very soon. All they could do was quietly admit that yes, they had volunteered (for none of them could let the real reason slip) to go up for the gunge vote, and try to quell the more virulent and wildly inaccurate rumours. Some of them were horrific, some of them, involving the quartet being in serious trouble and some teacher strong-arming them into doing this as penance, were surprisingly near to the bone.
Finally of course, it was rather difficult for each of them to try to scheme and plot against the other three, trying desperately to convince anyone and everyone that they were good and virtuous and completely undeserving of the slime, whereas the other three were evil and conniving and ripe for the gunge. And while they were engaged in this activity each one of them was desperately trying to avoid revealing their deviousness to the other three.
It was exhausting work. The bonds of friendship, not exactly strong between them at the very best of times, were fracturing. The girls, once an impregnable, fashionable clique, were looking increasingly isolated. Tori and Jules were the main protagonists. Tish was going it alone too, infuriatingly having the most success in converting boys to her cause, and Gemma was biding her time, waiting to see which one of the two queen bees would emerge the stronger and side with her. Currently it as a toss up.
With all the intrigue going on it was definitely a relief for Tori, Jules, Tish and Gemma to find themselves in the sanctuary of the girls' changing rooms, free from anyone else. However they were not as isolated from the troubles of the day as they might have thought. For posted on the lockers in front of them, posted there as if deliberately designed as a slap in their faces, was the very first poster, advertising the vote for their gunging.
Tori's first instinct was to rip it down, both because it was an unpleasant reminder of their current plight, and because she wanted to hide it from Lucy, who was a couple of minutes late. However, the astute Jules stopped her, pointing at the flyer's details. They were most interesting, and didn't seem to fit with the scenario that the girls had had explained to them in one particular respect.
"Look!" exclaimed Jules, "it says there are five of us up for the vote!"
"You're right!" cried Tori, "who's the other name? Look, it's..." Before she could complete her sentence she was interrupted by the crash of the door and a figure entered the changing rooms. All four of the girls whirled round and looked at the entrance. With one voice they exclaimed:
"Lucy!" Indeed it was her. She casually wandered over to the poster which they were all crowded around.
"Oh, I see you've found out already," she said, "I was going to try to tell you before the promotional materials came out, but it looks like I'm too late. Oh well." For once in their lives these four inveterate gossips and babblers were flabbergasted, astonished in to silence.
"How...," began Tori, finding her voice from somewhere, "how the heck did Mr. Drake get you into this too?"
"Yeah," added Jules, "what has he got on you?" None of them could see Lucy getting caught cheating on a test, she was far too goody goody.
"Mr. Drake?" she said in a puzzled tone, "what's he got to do with it?"
"Er, nothing," said Tori quickly, shooting an annoyed glance at her rival for letting too much information slip.
"No, I went to Mr. Brown," said Lucy, "he's the head of the charity committee."
"How did Mr. Brown get you into this?" asked Tish, slow on the uptake as usual, "what has he got on you?"
"Sush, Tish," said Tori, "he hasn't got anything on her."
"Yeah, Tish," said Gemma, adding her own twopenn'oth.
"Yes, as I was saying," continued Lucy, "when I heard about you four I just had to go to Mr. Brown and volunteer."
"Yes, volunteer," said Tori in a pointed tone, "just like we all did, remember?" The others took the hint. None of them wanted the fact that they'd been caught cheating on the geography test to be made public.
"I think it's really great what you girls are doing," said Lucy, enthusing about what she saw as their common cause, "the school does so much for charity and it's so wonderful to be a part of it. I'm sure it's going to be a great moneyspinner, we're going to raise so much for good causes. You girls are so brave in speaking up first, I would never have dared to make the first move in setting something like this, but I'm more than happy to join in and do my bit." This little speech stunned the others.
There was nothing in it that made sense to them. They didn't believe in joining in and doing their bit. They didn't believe in volunteering, especially not if it was for anything that might be legitimately described as a good cause. They believed in getting everything they possibly could for themselves. Nothing and nobody else mattered. Jules was the first one to venture any probing, trying to find out if there was any hidden motive behind Lucy's inexplicable decision.
"You do know what's going to happen at the Spring Fete, don't you?" she asked cautiously.
"Of course," said Lucy easily, "at the Spring Fete the person who has gotten the most votes goes into a big bath of baked beans. I wonder who it'll be?" How could she be so relaxed? Why had she gone and volunteered in the first place? Why was she not at this moment not trying to undermine her opponents and plot against them?
"But what if you lose?" burst out Tish, articulating succinctly the secret thoughts of most of them.
"Well I'll just have to go in the beans," said the lovely Lucy unconcernedly, "that's just the risk that we all have to take. Though do you know," she lowered her voice at this point in order to impart a secret, "I don't think I'd really mind getting a gunging, getting dunked into all those cold, slimy baked beans. It'd be an interesting experience, a good bit of fun really." This was just so incomprehensible to the other four girls that she might as well have been speaking Martian. There was nothing else to say, and the five trooped out to practice.
That day's rehearsal did not go well at all, the routine was almost as rusty and uncoordinated as when they had first started on it. There was just far too much distraction for any of the members of the Cheerleading Squad to concentrate on their primary activity. The thought of gunging, of having to slide slowly into a big bath full of baked beans, dominated their thoughts. One was imagining what the feeling would be like. The other four were busily engaged in trying to figure out how to ensure that it was she who would get to find out what the feelings would be like in real life.
The practice session was called off early as it was clear that no progress was being made. Tori took the opportunity to give the rest of the squad a good tongue lashing, getting rid of some of the pent up emotion in her system. She really let them have it, her furious tirade re-establishing her as not only the captain of the cheer squad, but as the leader of the clique as well.
Back in the changing rooms Lucy spent no longer than usual getting ready to go home, but to the other four girls it suddenly seemed to tee a lifetime. The four who had never been known to spend less than half an hour to prepare themselves to face public gaze all at once found themselves intensely resenting the brief, efficient ablutions that took Lucy little more than ten minutes.
At last she was ready to go. At the very instant she stepped out of the door, Tori called her coven to order and began plotting.
The one poster that the cheerleaders had seen in the changing rooms had multiplied a hundredfold by the morning. Every noticeboard, every block of lockers, every single spare bit of space in the school contained one of the flyers advertising the vote. The idea of gunge had once again taken the school by storm, it was the subject on every single pupil's lips.
The fact that a gunging was actually taking place at the Spring Fete was not entirely surprising, after all there had been a similar event at the Christmas Fete when Miss Blossom had been totally slimed. However the identity of the participants was most shocking. The perfect little princesses of Tori, Jules, Tish and Gemma getting messy? It was unthinkable!
The inclusion of Lucy made the situation slightly more comprehensible. Most people assumed that the whole thing was ultimately her idea, and that she had somehow persuaded the others to go along with it. This soon became the prevailing rumour, despite Lucy's protestations that she had merely volunteered and the inspiration was not hers, and people soon forgot the (ironically much more accurate) notions of a senior teacher blackmailing them.
All of the participants seemed remarkably calm about the threat hanging over them. Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish just giggled whenever anyone asked them whether they were scared, or whether they thought that it might be them to go in the beans. All they did was lap up the attention that being in the spotlight gave them and act coy whenever prying questions were asked.
Lucy was happy enough. She was genuinely excited by the thought of raising all the money for charity, and genuinely touched by the attention being paid to little her. Her attitude towards the impending gunge was ambivalent. Half the time she was asked she decided she hated the idea, that she regretted ever volunteering and that she really hoped it would be one of the others going in. But at other times she responded with enthusiasm, saying that she really wouldn't mind if people voted for her, that it wouldn't be so bad being gunged, and that she was almost looking forward to being messed up in front of everyone.
The four girls whom the gunge was specifically designed for were much taken aback with how people looked at them once the vote became public. They had expected to be mocked, to be laughed at, they had expected it to be a major social setback through which they would have to make a long and arduous recovery. But this was not remotely the case. They had somehow achieved, quite by accident, popularity beyond their wildest dreams.
They took this all in their stride, lapping up all the attention and reveling in it. They were especially glad of even more attention than usual from all the boys (for despite it being called Sploshington Girls' School, they did accept boys in the sixth form). There were one or two disquieting thoughts among their four less than razor sharp minds about what would happen o the day of the fete itself, about how things would plan out when the gunge bandwagon came to its inevitable shuddering halt.
But for the moment they were content just to bask in the glow of everybody's appreciation, encouraging people to vote, whether for them or one of their rivals, they didn't really care. The fundraising broke all school records, and broke them easily. Every single pupil and in the school must have cast several votes, and the total raised Miss Blossom's gunging was exceeded several times over. Rumour and hearsay ran wild about who was winning. Tori and Jules were tied neck and neck. Tish had received a single donation of votes worth several thousand pounds. Lucy had an unassailable lead. Gemma was spending every penny she had in voting for herself. No body knew who was really ahead, no running totals were released except for the overall amount raised, and this spurred people on to vote for their favourite even more.
It was the day of the fete. Lucy had expected to have had a restless, but in the end she slept like a baby. As soon as she opened her eyes though, she was suddenly thrilled and excited by the possibilities that the day held. She performed her morning routine with only one thing on her mind. Would it be her that won the vote? Butterflies filled her stomach every time she thought about it and she was unable to touch most of her breakfast.
She looked at the outfit she'd been given last night, spread out on the bed. It was, just as she had expected, a much skimpier affair than her normal outfit. The top was much tighter than her normal one, and the material much thinner as well. It didn't come down to her waist either, exposing a good few inches of beautifully toned torso.
Her skirt, with big pleats and flared out nicely just like all good cheerleading skirts should be, was very short indeed. It bounced around like anything when she had it on, and barely made any effort to cover what it should do, instead revealing Lucy's wonderfully long legs, young, and taut due to her regular exercise.
The overall colour was a baby pink, not the school colours at all, but then it was supposed to be a costume rather than a standard uniform. To complete the outfit there were, all in the same colour, socks and pom-poms, and one other item. Since the uniform was going to be worn as part of a cheer routine involving much leaping, high kicking and general gyration, thoughtfully included were a pair of pants, in bright pink like all the rest, and bearing the legend 'Cheer!'.
Lucy imagined that the other four had been delighted when they saw this little detail in the fancy dress shop where they'd obtained the costumes, and would inevitably be flashing them around as much as possible at the fete. All Lucy could do was wonder whether her own outfit would become stained orange with the baked beans that day. She was still uncertain whether she wanted this to happen or not.
After some thought, Lucy packed the cheerleading outfit into a bag, and decided to wear her ordinary street clothes to the school, then change there. It was quite a long walk, and she didn't particularly want everyone staring at her, wondering what the heck she was doing dressed like that at ten in the morning. Instead she would change in the changing rooms at the school, that was easy enough. She didn't mind the skimpy uniform she had to wear, she knew that she had a good body and that she looked sexy in the clothes, it's just that she admired practicality more than looks in her choice of clothing, and baby pink cheerleading costumes with tiny skirts and tight tops weren't especially practical for a cloudy spring morning.
The quartet of Tish, Gemma, Jules and Tori also woke after a good night's sleep, and they were perfectly serene in their mood, despite the threat of the gunging. They had managed to pass the second geography test (it was touch and go for Tish, but she did make it) and had a day were absolutely the centres of attention to look forward too.
Not for them the primness of taking the costumes with them and wearing normal clothes, they were going to put on their skimpy uniforms as soon as possible, and welcome any gawping bystanders getting an eyeful of their sexy legs and bare midriffs. They were going to work the skimpy uniforms as much as was humanly possible.
They did, however, take an extra set of clothes with them to the fete. This was not in case any of them got slimed, rather they were to change into later when they inevitably got bored of the 'stupid, babyish' fete and decided to go out afterwards. All fur met up at Tori's house before going along to the school in order to compare outfits, swap clothes and prepare makeup bags. That way they could also arrive at the fete as a bunch, and make a much bigger impact with their entrance.
There were a great number of people at the fete. In fact it was a record attendance, anyone and everyone in the town wanted to be there. It was probably not unrelated to the fact that there were five lovely young ladies who were not only going to give a cute little cheerleading routine, but were also up for a messy, slimy gunge vote. The poles were not scheduled to close right up until it was time for the actual baked bean bath itself, and the pound coins were merrily clinking their way into the charity committee's coffers all the time.
Tori, Tish, Gemma and Jules loved all the bustle and excitement, and they especially loved the fact that they were partly the reason for all the hubbub. They always liked to think that they were important, and them being the main attraction for the entire fete was brilliant for them, it was like a dream come true. Lucy was merely happy to just see so many people in one place all enjoying themselves.
The cheerleading routine that formed the opening showpiece of the Spring Fete went perfectly. The five girls worked totally in harmony with each other, producing a dazzling show that had the whole crowd captivated. All the complicated twists and turns came off without incident, it was doubtful whether they had ever got the routine that perfect even in rehearsals.
The audience lapped it up, applauding and cheering wildly. All five of them loved the appreciation they were getting, Lucy because it was a reward for a job very well done, and the other five because it was praise being given to them. They provided cute curtsies to members of the crowd, flashing their knickers and the writing on them to a select few. The people clapped for all they were worth, some of the adulation doubtless due to the anticipation that one of these young beauties was soon going to get very messy.
"Thank you very much" said Mr. Brown the headmaster, taking control of proceedings, "and thank you to the girls of the Senior Cheerleading Squad." He didn't exactly approve of the outfits that the girls were wearing,but he did approve of the school spirit that they were undoubtedly showing and the crowd undoubtedly appreciated it.
"Welcome all of you to the Sploshington School Fete," he continued in his droning voice, "before I proceed any further I have been asked to make an announcement. As you may well be aware these five girls have very nobly volunteered to submit themselves to a vote. The winner of this vote will be very shortly swimming in a bath of baked beans." There were mock noises of disgust from the crowd. "Votes cost only a pound and will go towards a variety of extremely good causes."
Mr. Brown was virtually incapable of being succinct, and this occasion was no different to any other. He droned on for several more minutes, praising the great intentions of the girls, and how indicative it was of the general attitude of the pupils in his care. He prattled on endlessly about the attractions of the fete and how he wished that everyone would have a jolly good time, but said nothing more of any significance. The crowd, deprived of its eye candy, forsook him and wandered off, many deciding to go and cast their ballots for their favourite cheerleader.
The fete got into full swing, though all of the stalls and stands seemed mere distractions, mere sideshows to the main event. This fortunately was not long in coming around, which certainly puzzled Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish, they had been promised that the gunging would be at the end of the day, the crowning glory. Oh well, no matter, it was perhaps better that they got it out of the way.
Right in the middle of the playingfields the stage for the gunging. A large portable bandstand had been erected, the one that was usually used to hold the large brass band hired for every single summer school reunion. It did not only have a large surface are, but it was very high up, giving it two advantages. Firstly it meant that anyone standing on it could be seen for a long way away, and secondly a curtained off 'backstage' are could be set up around the steps up to the stage.
Mr. Drake was hanging around near the backstage as the quartet arrived. Lucy was already there. He was dressed as a cricket umpire in order to fit in with the theme of sports. The white coat and sunhat suited him well. He said hello to the girls on their way past, and they said hello back, with a surprising lack of hostility in their voices. After all, he had unwittingly given them an awful lot of popularity.
The five cheerleaders, still in their pink uniforms hung around behind the curtains awkwardly, not really saying much, though there were one or two knowing remarks aimed in the direction of Lucy. Mr. Brown, ever eager for his own little spell in the limelight and a chance to hear the sound of his own voice, was giving an introduction. A couple of sentences would have surfaced, but he went on for ten whole minutes before handing over to the mistress of ceremonies, who was that great veteran of gunge, Miss Blossom.
Miss Blossom was immaculately dressed in the outfit of a showjumper. She had on the riding hat, the smart, black jacket over a bright white top. She had on perfect white jodhpurs that clung ever so tightly to her shapely legs and peachy behind. Her riding boots were tall and made of highly polished black leather, they came right up to her knees. Miss Blossom was a vision, clothed from head to toe but just as sexy as any of the scantily clad young women she was just about to introduce, and four of them were more than just a little jealous.
The five cheerleaders were duly introduced and bounced up onto the stage. This was the first time that any of them had actually seen the bath. It was gigantic, not a normal sized bath but a prop big enough to accommodate several people. It was two thirds full of beans. The slop glistened in the sunlight that was now breaking through the clouds, the sauce shone and the beans bobbed horribly up and down. It looked disgusting. It looked ominous. To Lucy it looked almost inviting.
"Okay," said Miss Blossom, the crowd in the palm of her hand, "now it's the time that you've all been waiting for. It's time to get one of these young ladies very messed up indeed. Please give a big warm welcome to Tori, Jules, Tish, Gemma and last but not least, Lucy!" The five smiled and waved, even the four who actively sought attention were slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who had come to watch them. There was a slightly nervous air about all of them, even Tish forgot to take the opportunity of being elevated to flash her undies to the attractive boys in the crowd. The presence of Miss Blossom was comforting however, and they soon began to settle down.
"Right then," said the mistress of ceremonies, "without further ado let's get to the results. There have been far to many votes cast for a poor English teacher like me to deal with the numbers, so let's go straight to the placings. In fifth place, with the least number of votes and most definitely avoiding the beans is... Gemma!" Gemma breathed a sigh of relief in spite of herself. She had not expected to come top of the poll, but was ever so slightly upset that she was apparently the least popular.
"Now we come to fourth place," said Miss Blossom, still laying on the showbiz razzamatazz, "and the girl who has got a great number of votes, but not quite as many as the other three is...Jules!" Jules barely moved, her ice maiden mask unperturbed by the news that she'd managed to avoid a dunking. She gave the briefest of nods to the remaining girls and moved over to the other side of the stage to join Gemma.
"Now we're down to just three," said Miss Blossom, somehow managing to ratchet up the tension another notch, "how does it feel girls? Anyone scared?" Lucy most certainly was, but she was doing her best not to show it. Tori and Tish were impassive. "Okay, time to put another girl out of her misery. The girl in third place is... Tish!" Tish leapt up and down at the news, excitedly waving to the crowd and saucily flashing a bit of thigh before joining her free companions. The anticipation levels of the crowd were rising, they knew that this was time for serious business.
"Okay," said Miss Blossom, genuine excitement in her voice, "we come down to the final two girls. Only one of these pretty cheerleaders will escape clean. The other one will be forced to take a little dip in the bath of baked beans!" There were cheers and 'ewws' in equal measure from the crowd. "I bet that these young ladies are a little bit nervous right now!"
Lucy was indeed extremely nervous She couldn't take her eyes off the huge slimy mass of beans in front of her. For a moment she regretted her decision to volunteer, this situation was all her own doing, she had nobody to blame but herself. Then she thought more clearly, and didn't regret it at all, she was glad that she'd volunteered. She thought of all the money that had been raised, a huge amount, an astronomical amount. She thought of all of the people before her having fun, having a great afternoon out. She thought that she probably wouldn't mind the gunging actually, the beans started to look almost inviting again. Tori, standing next to her, was ice cold, calm and if any emotion was betrayed it was eagerness.
"So without further delay it's now time to announce the final result of the Spring Fate gunge vote. You've all been patient and now you're going to see what you've all been waiting for. In second place, the girl who has just, by the skin of her teeth avoided the horrible bath of beans is... Tori!" The crowd erupted in a tumultuous roar, almost drowning Miss Blossom's final words to them: "So going in the beans is the unfortunate Lucy!"
Tori turned to her final opponent, her face twisted in to a broad, taunting smirk, the words of Miss Blossom music to her ears.
"Ha ha!" she said, "looks like Miss Goody Goody's caring and sharing and loving the charities have got her into the gunk!" To Tori's disappointment Lucy wasn't nearly as devastated as she had hoped. Instead she was looking up at the crowd. They were all cheering for her, not against her, they wanted to see her get gunged because they loved her, because she was their favourite. Miss Blossom was looking at her sympathetically, she was a much needed friend. She squeezed Lucy's arm, a touching gesture and said:
"Have fun. It'll be great." Then she stepped off to one side and let the sole remaining cheerleader take the spotlight. Lucy was heartened by this. She was glad now, glad that she had gone to Mr. Brown to volunteer herself for the vote and glad that she had won it. This would be almost certainly her only chance for a unique experience, and now that she couldn't get out of it, she might as well enjoy it.
Lucy approached the bath slowly and apprehensively, rhythmic stamping coming from the audience, they were baying for her to et the gunging. She was the prettiest one, the sexiest one, and she was the cheerleader that would look the best in the gunge by far. She looked down at the bath. It was just so enormous, so wide, so long, so incredibly deep looking.
Lucy decided on how to approach getting in. There was no way that she could make this easy, so she might as well get it over with as quickly as possible. She perched herself on the rim of the bath, her long legs positioned neatly together, looking as demure as possible in such a skimpy cheerleading uniform. The crowd were chanting now, a rhythmic pulse crying:
"IN! IN! IN!"
Lucy flashed her fans a brilliant smile, the beautiful redheaded cheerleader, perfectly, spotlessly clean, then slid gently forward into the bath. The beans were cold, but not too uncomfortably chilly. She felt them envelop her, first her nice white trainers and her thick socks, then her tanned, supple legs, then her short, tiny little skirt and novelty knickers, resulting in a sharp little pant escaping from her lips. The cloying orange sauce crept up over her taut midriff, then her tiny, tight little top.
She loved the feelings that she was experiencing, the sauce soaking into her outfit, the lumpy beans tickling and caressing her bare skin, even working their way inside her trainers. She was very glad she had come forward and put her name down for the vote, this was a completely mind-blowing experience. She continued her slide forwards, unable to tear herself from the enrapturing grasp of the beans. She slipped under the surface, and the last thing she heard before the beans clogged her ears was deafening, applause.
The four cheerleaders who had recently been reprieved looked on at this spectacle with more than just a little envy. They hadn't expected the reaction of the crowd to be positive, they hadn't expected the people to get behind her. It wasn't a humiliating spectacle at all, and the girls were decidedly miffed that they were now unable to crow triumphantly at her downfall. In fact Tori and Jules were pondering, thinking about as deeply as they ever did, about whether they should have gone in themselves, weighing up the adulation that Lucy was now receiving versus actually having to bathe in baked beans. It was an interesting calculation. They contented themselves with the words of Tish:
"At least we have her clothes," she said, "she's going to have to go home like that."
Lucy's totally slimed head broke through the surface, the beans thickly streaming down her face, but unable to disguise the huge smile that lay beneath. It was abundantly clear to everyone that Lucy was enjoying her slimy bath very much indeed. Miss Blossom was glad to see that she was having fun, and strode out to centre stage,though keeping well away from the bath, she wasn't stupid and didn't want to mess up her pristine riding outfit, and prepared to wrap things up.
"Well done Lucy!" cried Miss Blossom, "well done indeed! I'm sure that you can see the big buckets positioned at the bottom of the stage. They are for the donations that we are continuing to collect. Please give generously, as the ordeal of our intrepid young cheerleader is not yet over! Lucy is going nowhere for the next few hours, she'll be staying in her beany bath for the rest of the fete!"
There was a definite surge of movement towards the stage and generally a lot of reaching into pockets. Lucy wasn't upset by her continued incarceration, rather she was thrilled that she got to spend more time sitting up to her breasts in cold baked beans. She played about in the slime merrily, splashing and flicking beans at the crowd.
Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish left the scene quite hurriedly. They were most disappointed in how the last part of the event had played out. It was baffling, how on earth could the girl who was made to sit in that disgusting bath suddenly be the most popular girl in the school? A silent decision had been made. They were going to hit the town early, and get out of this place as soon as possible. The girls headed determinedly towards the changing rooms.
The five girls of the Sploshington Girls' School Senior Cheerleading Squad were going through their paces. They were all concentrating hard, and seemed to be putting a lot of effort into their athletic movements. They needed to, they had a big performance coming up very soon. The routine was very complicated, involving a lot of leaping, rolling, waving of pom-poms. However the girls, all from the Upper Sixth, were more than able to cope with its demands as they were all limber, fit young women who had put a lot of time into their training.
At last their gyrations came to an end, with them positioned in a line, all in the splits pose and beaming widely, flashing their perfect white teeth to an imaginary audience. Pretty soon they would be performing at the opening of the school's Spring Fete and the audience would be anything but imaginary. They were all looking forward to it, they had spent ages choreographing and practicing, and in just a few days they would have their biggest gig of the year so far.
The girl furthest to the left was called Tori. She was officially the Sploshington Cheer Captain, and in fact was the leader of the gang in more ways than just one. She was not someone to be messed with, certainly if you attended Sploshington and you wanted to continue having any sort of a social life. Her hair was thick, glossy any wavy, a rich brown in colour to match her brown eyes. As soon as her facial muscles relaxed from their theatrical smile she resumed her customary pot, her full red lips never seen in public without skillful augmentation with lipstick.
The girl immediately to the right of Tori was called Jules. She had long black hair, always straightened mercilessly and kept rigidly in place. She was slim and willowy and tall, always very careful to watch what she ate. In fact if a celebrity came out with a new diet fad, it was certain that Jules would be on it within a day or two, despite having no need to do so whatever. She was pretty, just like all the girls, if in a rather arch way. In terms of social standing she was Tori's lieutenant, and often tough about plotting to usurp her.
Continuing on down the line, the next girl along went by the name of Gemma. She was a pretty, petite brunette, her hair relatively short and not as heavily styled as most of the others. She was not a leader of the gang, nor did she ever aspire to be, she was firmly one of the followers and went along with whatever the rest suggested. Also, she wasn't too bright, and often failed to fully grasp situations.
The girl just to the right of Gemma was called Tish, and she was perhaps a little more out of breath than the other four. She was the traditional blonde bombshell with a pneumatic figure. Unfortunately the enormous breasts and hourglass shape didn't exactly lend themselves to athletic gymnastic routines, and she was by far the worst cheerleader of the squad, everyone knew that she was there more for her looks than her ability. Along with her typical dumb blonde looks she had the typical dumb blonde intelligence. However, she did have one particular area in which she would have won a Nobel prize if there was one available, and that was in using her looks to her advantage. Most men she could twist around her finger with expert skill, they were putty in her hands.
All the four that have been mentioned so far were extremely attractive, but the final girl, the one on the far right of the line was easily the most beautiful of them all. She had lovely flame red hair and startling green eyes, She had a body that went in and out in all the right places and skin that was so soft and tender, it seemed almost to be luminous. This vision went by the name of Lucy. She was the absolute antithesis to the other four in terms of personality, she was sweet, nice and caring, scornful of cliques and social climbing, conscientious in her school work. Lucy had joined the Cheerleading Squad, not for the attention or cachet that it would bring her, but because she was genuinely enthusiastic about it, she loved the school and wanted to do her very best for school spirit. The others didn't really understand her, they just couldn't understand her having good, honest motives about what she did. All their snide insults and catty comments seemed to be like water off a duck's back to her, so now they just tended to leave her alone.
"Ok," said Tori, casting a critical eye over her forces "I think that will do far today, but we need to tighten up for tomorrow. The Spring Fete is a really good occasion for us to show off what we can do, and we don't want to mess it up. Everyone will be there watching us." The rest of the squad took on board her team talk and then trooped back to the changing rooms.
The girls busied themselves changing out of their practice gear and into their normal street clothes, four of them spending rather a lot of time on their appearance and one just shrugging on her usual jeans and t-shirts. Naturally Lucy was finished and ready to go first, just as she always was, but she turned to the others with a proposal for what they should do next.
"Hey," she began in her mellifluous voice, "there's that big geography test tomorrow and it's probably going to be really tough. I'm going to the library now to study, do any of you want to come and join me? It always helps if you try to swot up in a gang." She had made such offers before but always been turned down, still she thought that this time might be different. The test really was going to be very difficult and the four weren't that academically able and could use all the help that they could get.
The reaction that she actually got was rather unexpected. The fact that it was negative was not unduly surprising in itself, but the specific nature was. The girls looked amused rather than just frosty, as if there was some great private look being shared among them. There was a definite conspiratorial air between them as well, Lucy even observed a very deliberate wink from Tori.
"No, no thank you," said Tori in a rather disdainful tone, "we'll be alright. Something tells me that we'll do just fine tomorrow."
"Yeah," added Gemma, always ready with an unoriginal thought, "we'll do just fine."
"Oh?" said Lucy in an inquisitive voice, intrigued by the way the girls were behaving, "and why is that?"
"We've got a, er, a study plan," said Jules in a knowing voice, "it's a good one. Really good." There was a moment's silence. Tish couldn't help herself and blurted out a giggle, stifling it with a hand immediately. Lucy knew that something was up, but she couldn't fathom what it was, so she decided to just forget about it. Tori decided to volunteer some more information though.
"In any case," she said, "we can't go to the library now, we have to go and sort out some outfits for the performance."
"For the spring Fete performance?" asked Lucy.
"Yeah, dur, what other performance is there?" said Jules.
"Yeah, durbrain," added Gemma for good measure.
"But why do we need them? The theme for the Fete is sports, we don't need any special outfits, we can just use our normal uniforms."
"What, use our normal uniforms?" said Tori, incredulous at the redhead's suggestion. "That way we'd be the only ones without proper costumes. No way. We're going to sort out new, special uniforms just for this show."
"Don't worry," said Jules, "we'll make sure that we all look fabulous."
"Yeah, fabulous!" said Gemma.
"Hee hee!" chipped in Tish, "the normal uniforms! No chance!" The others resumed their laborious task of self beautification and Lucy could see that they would keep at it for some time yet, so Lucy decided to cut her losses and leave them to it.
When she got to the library she had a lot to think about. The girls' confidence could only mean one thing: Trouble. Normally when a test came round they were defensive in their attitudes, worried even, but never at ease. Sometimes they would try to pretend that it wasn't happening at all, but never before had they openly bragged about how well they were going to do. The conspiratorial air was strange too, what on earth could they have up their sleeves? Whatever it was, Lucy was sure of two things: That the scheme would have been primarily thought up by Tori, possibly with help from Jules, and that it would come to no good.
Another area of concern was the fact that, contrary to Lucy's expectations, the cheerleading squad were not going to be wearing their standard uniforms, but rather especially 'improved' uniforms created by the other four girls (again, it was likely that the bulk of the creative input would come from Tori and Jules). Reflecting on it, she perhaps should have seen it coming. The standard uniforms had to be inspected by the somewhat prudish Mr. Brown before the squad could wear them, and the headmaster would never let the sort of thing that the sort of thing that the girls really wanted pass. Consequently Tori and the rest took every single opportunity to perform in non-standard outfits, usually fancy dress.
These outfits were always as skimpy as possible, and there was no way that the uniforms for the Spring Fete were going to be any different. Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish absolutely loved the attention that they got from it, it was one of the most importuned reason for them to be in the cheerleading squad. Lucy didn't like the attention so much, not because she was shy and retiring, far from it, but because she though that the attention should be focused on the quality of the routine they were doing, not how tight their tops were or how easy it was to see up their skirts.
She also preferred to a bit more classy and stylish than the clothes that they chose, as they were usually quite cheap looking. Lucy had often suggested outfits that were a bit less revealing and a lot more chic, but these had all been roundly vetoed by the other four. She had learned to just be philosophical about it all. One fact that amused her no end about what they made her way was that she invariably looked far better in all the revealing outfits than any of the other did. Each of them would always imagine that their sexy clothes would ensure that all attention was on them, and them alone, but always it would be the same, over half the crowd staring right at her, Lucy. She knew that this state of affairs annoyed the girls intensely, it really made their blood boil. This also made Lucy most amused, she didn't do it o purpose either, it just happened, and that somehow made it even more funny.
Suddenly Lucy looked at the clock. She was running out of time, this was no time to be idly worrying about things that she couldn't control. She would just have to leave the rest of the cheerleading squad to sink and swim on their own, it wasn't as if she hadn't offered to help. and now she had to concentrate on herself. Lucy buried her head in a book, and attempted to learn all that she could about lava flows.
The exam, just as Lucy had predicted, was extremely difficult. However, thanks to her diligent study Lucy found that she could make a decent stab at most of the questions, and at the end she was pretty sure that she had done alright for herself. She met up with the four other members of the cheerleading squad after coming out of the exam room, or rather they met up with her, as they seemed to want to speak to her and also to crow. There was nothing they enjoyed more than having superiority over someone else, and for some reason the quartet seemed to think that their IQs had rocketed within the last two days.
"Hey there," said Tori, in a richly mocking tone, "how do you think you did in there?" Lucy was still mystified by what was going on, but in the meantime she decided to just play along.
"Well I put a lot of effort over the last couple of days," she said, "and I think that in the end it all aid off. The test was really tough, but I think that with a little bit of luck I'll come out with a B." This was not really an amusing statement at all, rather it was pretty prosaic. Nevertheless this didn't prevent both Gemma and Tish dissolving into giggles after she had finished. Tish in particular seemed to be in the midst of unexplained fits of convulsive laughter. Most odd, thought Lucy.
"Well Miss B," said Jules, joining in with the taunting, "I think that us lot are going to do a little bit better than that."
"Yeah," continued Tori, "we're going to do much better. In fact I reckon that we're going to end up with A plusses all round." Lucy was baffled by all of this shenanigans, what on earth were they all up to? There was no way that they were ever going to get as good a grade as that, none of them were particularly bright to begin with, and they didn't seem to have spent any time at all on swotting up. She almost opened her mouth to demand an explanation as to what was going on. But at the last minute she decided to bite her tongue. They were too wrapped up in their own cares to be likely to condescend to explain things to little Lucy. Besides, it was really nothing to do with her, and the snootiness that they were displaying wasn't particularly directed at her, it was just their general attitude towards life shining through.
Having come to this conclusion Lucy shrugged her shoulders and trailed after the rest of the gang to the changing rooms to get ready for that evening's practice. They went through their choreographed routine several ties, and it was getting really tight now, even Tish was getting through it just about s well as her top heavy body would let her.
"Phew," said Tori, tired by her exertions, "that was really good girls, let's make sure that we keep it up until the actual performance." It was a sure sign that the cheerleading squad was pretty much perfect when even Tori couldn't think up at least one catty remark at the end of a practice. All five girls trooped off from the playing fields with the sense of a job well done.
Given their odd behavior before and their typically mean behaviour Lucy was in no real mood to hang around for too long, she just wanted to get home and curl up on her sofa with a nice cup of tea and watch some mindless, undemanding telly, relaxing after the mental and physical exertions of the day. Therefore as soon as she had taken her brief shower, flung her jeans and tshirt on and tidied up her damp hair into a simple ponytail, she said her goodbyes and hurried home.
The other four members of the cheerleading squad were not nearly so efficient. Many and varied implements of beautification were brought in to play, hairdryers, hair straighteners, foundation, mascara, lipstick, all were used in the four's usual orgy of prettification. After a long time they at last decided that they were just about ready to be presented to the world, and wandered out of the girls' changing rooms in a gaggle, gossiping about the latest school rumours.
They were stopped suddenly just outside the door by the sight of a stern faced teacher. This didn't phase the girls too much however, they were often in some trouble with a variety of the staff of the school, and at this late stage had developed a great skill in wriggling out of it. This particular teacher was Mr. Drake, not one they'd had a huge amount of experience with as they'd stopped taking woodwork at the earliest opportunity, there were far too many ways to chip a nail whilst doing it. Nevertheless, he was a man and they were sure that they'd be able to twist him round their collective little finger.
"Hello girls," he began in a stern voice, "I want to have a word with you lot." He fixed the group before him with his best 'no messing' voice.
"With us?" said Tori in her best girlish, sweet and innocent voice, "why whatever for?"
"I it about the cheerleading squad?" said Jules, "did you watch us doing our routine?"
"We're getting really good now," said Gemma.
"We sure are!" cried Tish, jumping up and down with excitement and hence causing a certain amount of pleasant looking bouncing. This was a routine that was better practiced and more slick than any that they would ever perform on the playing fields. It almost always worked, too, especially when the teacher in question was young and male. Indeed, Mr. Drake swallowed hard, he was a red blooded man after all, but he had a fixed purpose in his mind and he wouldn't allow himself to be diverted.
"I'm afraid that it's quite a serious matter girls. I think it would be better if we discussed this in private in my workshop. Come on, all of you, this way." He turned on his heel and marched resolutely away. The first alarm bells started to ring inside the somewhat dense heads, this could mean real trouble. However they were as yet unbowed, still convinced of their incredible ability to squeeze out of any sort of jam, and trailed demurely after Mr. Drake.
He seated himself behind his desk, it helped to make him feel and seem more professional. He didn't bother to offer his guests a seat, keeping them standing would make them feel more uneasy, and make it very clear that they were very definitely getting told off, and nothing that they could do would alter that fact.
"Now girls," he said sternly, steepling his fingers in front of him, another technique designed to enhance his authority, "I'm sure that you know what this is about. Make no mistake that it is a very serious matter. Do you wish to make a clean breast of it now?"
"A clean breast of it?" said Tori, emphasising the third word and deciding to play dumb, "a clean breast of what? we haven't done anything?"
"Is there anything you'd like us to do?" asked Jules suggestively. Tish and Gemma giggled coquetishly. Mr. Drake swallowed again, put refused to be distracted from his plan of attack. He cleared his throat and continued with his best prosecuting barrister impression.
"Very well, if you don't want to admit to it, that's fine. I don't need any more evidence." He turned the screen of his computer round so that the girls could see it. "Here you see the home folder of the Head of Geography on the school's internal network. Protected by a password due to its having a great deal of sensitive information on it.
"On here are lesson plans, reports, grades, and, of course, the answers to exam papers. It seems that some nefarious person has managed to hack into this folder and obtain the answers to the latest exam. I can only presume that this was done by one of the students with a large amount of expertise in IT, I don't know which one it was and quite frankly I don't really care.
"The people who I am interested in are the instigators, the people who requested the information to be purloined and the people who have profited from it. In other words, you." All four of the cheerleaders let out a single, collective, choreographed gasp.
"Oh Mr. Drake!" cried Tori, in shock and hurtfulness, "How could you ever suspect us!"
""Yes, please believe us Mr. Drake," implored Jules, "we would never do anything like that! We studied really hard for this test."
"We would never cheat," added Gemma.
"Never ever," said Tish, a little unconvincingly.
"It must be someone else," said Tori, "but how would you prove it? There's no way to tell, what a horrible predicament."
"But don't worry Mr. Drake," said Jules, "if we find out anything we'll be sure to tell you straight away. Even the tinniest little rumour."
"Is there anything we can do for you in the meantime, Mr. Drake?" said Tish.
"Yes Mr. Drake, anything at all, we'd be glad to help," finished off Gemma. It was a well oiled machine. But this time it wasn't going to work.
"Cut it out girls," said Mr. Drake, his voice becoming fiercer, "it won't wash this time. You see you happened to make a mistake. The answer sheet stored on the computer was a fake, placed there just in case someone tried to pinch it. The answers on it were wrong, and I have just checked your answers that you gave this afternoon on the geography test. They match the fake answers exactly, they are verbatim copies. There is no way that this could be other than you having cheated, or at least having tried to cheat. I have you bang to rights."
There was absolute silence. None of the girls said so much as a word. This was a real bombshell, something that they had never envisaged when cooking up their elaborate scheme. The fact was slowly percolating through their air filled minds that finally they had run into something serious that they couldn't wriggle out of, not just with a few batted eyelids and suggestive comments at least. They were in big, big trouble.
At the moment nobody else knows about your crime. the next thing I should do is tell the headmaster. Since this was just an internal test and not a public examination he wont feel obliged to call the police, but that's really the only good bit of news for you. I imagine that he'll expel you, all of you. And with your somewhat mediocre academic records and with this incident now on your files, I don't imagine that any other sixth form will want to take you on. Things don't look good." As always, Tori was the first to respond.
"Oh please Mr. Drake," she said in a voice choked with tears, "please don't tell Mr. Brown. We're ever so sorry and we wont ever do it again."
"Yes Mr. Drake," said Jules, adding her own piteous pleading, "please don't expel us, we know with did wrong and we'll do anything to make up for it. Besides, it was all really Tori's idea." Already their close partnership was beginning to crumble under the pressure. Gemma and Tish did not try to put their own cases, their forte was not in speaking. Instead they merely limited themselves to sniffling, letting the odd tear fall down their soft cheeks and generally trying to look like beautiful maidens in distress.
"Weeeell," said Mr. Drake, slowly and carefully, inwardly amused at the hope that flashed across the four girls' faces at this tiniest sliver of hope, "I do have an idea as to how I can avoid calling in Mr. Brown."
"Of course, of course," said Tori, bursting with relief, "we'll do it."
"Yes, we'll do anything for you Mr. Drake, "said Jules.
"Yes, anything," said the buxom Tish in a low, enticing voice whilst lowering her eyes and licking her lips suggestively. Mr. Drake ignored it, he had better ideas.
"Well the first thing," he said, briskly and businesslike, "is that you're going to have to retake the test, honestly this time. You're also going to have to study hard for it, the lowest grade I'm going to accept from any of you is a B." This was going to be hard work, especially for Tish. But it wasn't too onerous compared to what they had just been threatened with, and they knew several brainy boys who would be more than happy to help them out with studying.
"That's fine with us," said Tori, brightly.
"Absolutely fine," said Jules.
"No problem," said Tish.
"Yeah, no problem at all," said Gemma. All four of them had dried their crocodile's tears extremely rapidly.
"I'm not finished yet," continued Mr. Drake in a cautionary tone, "I want you to do something else for me too. The Spring Fete is coming up, as I'm sure you're well aware. The school is still missing a big charity event to go with it. This is where you four come in. You are aware, I'm sure, that at the last fete at Christmas we were most successful in raising a lot of money with the gunging of Miss Blossom, and I want to do a similar event on this occasion. I am sure that you four will raise a great deal of money." Once again the reaction was shocked silence. None of the girls could believe it. They were probably more alarmed and upset by this than when they had been found cheating. This was unimaginable, there was no way they could go through with this. As always in a crisis they looked for Tori for leadership.
"Er, but Mr. Drake," she began hesitantly, "I don't really think that's the best idea."
"I mean we're more than happy to raise money for charity," put in Jules hastily, worrying that their lifeline might be snatched away from them.
"Yes, we'll do the charity thing," continued Tori, "but I think there are probably better ways to get the money. For instance, we're already doing a cheer to open the fete, how about we ask for donations afterwards?"
"And how much do you think that will raise?" asked Mr. Drake, "I'll tell you how much, not enough. You'll have to do better than that."
"Well how about we all four of us get sponsored to do the cheer?" suggested Jules, "That would raise much more. We could do little private cheerleading routines especially for people who donate enough as well."
"That still wont be nearly enough," said Mr. Drake dismissively.
"I've got an idea," said Tish, "how about we do a calendar, we could pose in bikinis and stuff then sell it." Mr. Drake reacted with amusement.
"Do you really think people will pay good money to see the sort of thing that you doubtless have up already on your Facebook pages?," he said, the four wounded expressions confirming that he was right, "besides, there just isn't enough time to get something like that ready before the fete. No, I am adamant on this, it will have to be a gunging or the headmaster.
"Here's how it's going to work. Starting tomorrow the whole school is going to have a vote. People are going to be voting for one of you. When we get to the fete we'll open up the voting to the general public. It'll be a pound per vote. At the end we'll tally up the votes and whichever of you has the most will be gunged. That's it, that's the way it's going to have to be or I'll just have to call the headmaster."
This was different. Before they had thought that all four of them would be in the firing line, but finding out that only one of them was going to get it put a whole different complexion on things. A significant part of the psychology of all of them was that they truly and sincerely believed that they themselves were the best loved and most popular girl in the school. Therefore it would surely be one of the others who got it. Given that none of the girls really and truly believed that it would be them, and given that none of them rally cared about the others, they were all perfectly willing to agree to this.
"Do I take it that you are going to go along with my plan?" said Mr. Drake, satisfied that he had reached the desired outcome of the interview. Four mute heads solemnly nodded, each of them filled with thoughts and schemes as to exactly how they would engineer their escape from the gunge. It was clear that the meeting was now over, and the four cheerleaders left the workshop quietly. They didn't even erupt into gossip once they were out of the teacher's earshot. They were all too cautious, trying to evaluate what had just gone on.
Which of them was going to get the slime? Which one was going to be the unlucky one to take the hit for the others? The thought that one of them might take the hit for her comrades. Comradeship was the furthest thing from any of their minds. One important thing did need to be sorted out amongst them, and that was what they should say the next day at school. It was very quickly agreed that none of the details of the gunge vote would be uttered by any of them. For as long as possible it would remain an embarrassing secret kept just to themselves.
Having made their vow of silence Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish made their separate ways home, confident, each of them, that despite their crime being discovered, one of the others was going to be taking the punishment.
The next day the rumour of one of the four girls getting gunged at the Spring Fete was all over school. This was a social disaster. Nobody came right out at laughed at them, but there were a few stifled giggles and more than a few snide remarks. It soon became abundantly clear that pretty much every girl in the school was very much looking forward to seeing one of them get very messy.
The day was excruciating. For a start there was the question of who had let the cat out of the bag in the first place. Each one of them firmly denied that it was them, and there was a great deal of suspicion and mistrust amongst the girls. There were no outright accusations, but each of the girls was privately convinced that they knew who it was.
Secondly there was no way that they could outright deny the rumours, as the substance of them was perfectly true, and would be confirmed very soon. All they could do was quietly admit that yes, they had volunteered (for none of them could let the real reason slip) to go up for the gunge vote, and try to quell the more virulent and wildly inaccurate rumours. Some of them were horrific, some of them, involving the quartet being in serious trouble and some teacher strong-arming them into doing this as penance, were surprisingly near to the bone.
Finally of course, it was rather difficult for each of them to try to scheme and plot against the other three, trying desperately to convince anyone and everyone that they were good and virtuous and completely undeserving of the slime, whereas the other three were evil and conniving and ripe for the gunge. And while they were engaged in this activity each one of them was desperately trying to avoid revealing their deviousness to the other three.
It was exhausting work. The bonds of friendship, not exactly strong between them at the very best of times, were fracturing. The girls, once an impregnable, fashionable clique, were looking increasingly isolated. Tori and Jules were the main protagonists. Tish was going it alone too, infuriatingly having the most success in converting boys to her cause, and Gemma was biding her time, waiting to see which one of the two queen bees would emerge the stronger and side with her. Currently it as a toss up.
With all the intrigue going on it was definitely a relief for Tori, Jules, Tish and Gemma to find themselves in the sanctuary of the girls' changing rooms, free from anyone else. However they were not as isolated from the troubles of the day as they might have thought. For posted on the lockers in front of them, posted there as if deliberately designed as a slap in their faces, was the very first poster, advertising the vote for their gunging.
Tori's first instinct was to rip it down, both because it was an unpleasant reminder of their current plight, and because she wanted to hide it from Lucy, who was a couple of minutes late. However, the astute Jules stopped her, pointing at the flyer's details. They were most interesting, and didn't seem to fit with the scenario that the girls had had explained to them in one particular respect.
"Look!" exclaimed Jules, "it says there are five of us up for the vote!"
"You're right!" cried Tori, "who's the other name? Look, it's..." Before she could complete her sentence she was interrupted by the crash of the door and a figure entered the changing rooms. All four of the girls whirled round and looked at the entrance. With one voice they exclaimed:
"Lucy!" Indeed it was her. She casually wandered over to the poster which they were all crowded around.
"Oh, I see you've found out already," she said, "I was going to try to tell you before the promotional materials came out, but it looks like I'm too late. Oh well." For once in their lives these four inveterate gossips and babblers were flabbergasted, astonished in to silence.
"How...," began Tori, finding her voice from somewhere, "how the heck did Mr. Drake get you into this too?"
"Yeah," added Jules, "what has he got on you?" None of them could see Lucy getting caught cheating on a test, she was far too goody goody.
"Mr. Drake?" she said in a puzzled tone, "what's he got to do with it?"
"Er, nothing," said Tori quickly, shooting an annoyed glance at her rival for letting too much information slip.
"No, I went to Mr. Brown," said Lucy, "he's the head of the charity committee."
"How did Mr. Brown get you into this?" asked Tish, slow on the uptake as usual, "what has he got on you?"
"Sush, Tish," said Tori, "he hasn't got anything on her."
"Yeah, Tish," said Gemma, adding her own twopenn'oth.
"Yes, as I was saying," continued Lucy, "when I heard about you four I just had to go to Mr. Brown and volunteer."
"Yes, volunteer," said Tori in a pointed tone, "just like we all did, remember?" The others took the hint. None of them wanted the fact that they'd been caught cheating on the geography test to be made public.
"I think it's really great what you girls are doing," said Lucy, enthusing about what she saw as their common cause, "the school does so much for charity and it's so wonderful to be a part of it. I'm sure it's going to be a great moneyspinner, we're going to raise so much for good causes. You girls are so brave in speaking up first, I would never have dared to make the first move in setting something like this, but I'm more than happy to join in and do my bit." This little speech stunned the others.
There was nothing in it that made sense to them. They didn't believe in joining in and doing their bit. They didn't believe in volunteering, especially not if it was for anything that might be legitimately described as a good cause. They believed in getting everything they possibly could for themselves. Nothing and nobody else mattered. Jules was the first one to venture any probing, trying to find out if there was any hidden motive behind Lucy's inexplicable decision.
"You do know what's going to happen at the Spring Fete, don't you?" she asked cautiously.
"Of course," said Lucy easily, "at the Spring Fete the person who has gotten the most votes goes into a big bath of baked beans. I wonder who it'll be?" How could she be so relaxed? Why had she gone and volunteered in the first place? Why was she not at this moment not trying to undermine her opponents and plot against them?
"But what if you lose?" burst out Tish, articulating succinctly the secret thoughts of most of them.
"Well I'll just have to go in the beans," said the lovely Lucy unconcernedly, "that's just the risk that we all have to take. Though do you know," she lowered her voice at this point in order to impart a secret, "I don't think I'd really mind getting a gunging, getting dunked into all those cold, slimy baked beans. It'd be an interesting experience, a good bit of fun really." This was just so incomprehensible to the other four girls that she might as well have been speaking Martian. There was nothing else to say, and the five trooped out to practice.
That day's rehearsal did not go well at all, the routine was almost as rusty and uncoordinated as when they had first started on it. There was just far too much distraction for any of the members of the Cheerleading Squad to concentrate on their primary activity. The thought of gunging, of having to slide slowly into a big bath full of baked beans, dominated their thoughts. One was imagining what the feeling would be like. The other four were busily engaged in trying to figure out how to ensure that it was she who would get to find out what the feelings would be like in real life.
The practice session was called off early as it was clear that no progress was being made. Tori took the opportunity to give the rest of the squad a good tongue lashing, getting rid of some of the pent up emotion in her system. She really let them have it, her furious tirade re-establishing her as not only the captain of the cheer squad, but as the leader of the clique as well.
Back in the changing rooms Lucy spent no longer than usual getting ready to go home, but to the other four girls it suddenly seemed to tee a lifetime. The four who had never been known to spend less than half an hour to prepare themselves to face public gaze all at once found themselves intensely resenting the brief, efficient ablutions that took Lucy little more than ten minutes.
At last she was ready to go. At the very instant she stepped out of the door, Tori called her coven to order and began plotting.
The one poster that the cheerleaders had seen in the changing rooms had multiplied a hundredfold by the morning. Every noticeboard, every block of lockers, every single spare bit of space in the school contained one of the flyers advertising the vote. The idea of gunge had once again taken the school by storm, it was the subject on every single pupil's lips.
The fact that a gunging was actually taking place at the Spring Fete was not entirely surprising, after all there had been a similar event at the Christmas Fete when Miss Blossom had been totally slimed. However the identity of the participants was most shocking. The perfect little princesses of Tori, Jules, Tish and Gemma getting messy? It was unthinkable!
The inclusion of Lucy made the situation slightly more comprehensible. Most people assumed that the whole thing was ultimately her idea, and that she had somehow persuaded the others to go along with it. This soon became the prevailing rumour, despite Lucy's protestations that she had merely volunteered and the inspiration was not hers, and people soon forgot the (ironically much more accurate) notions of a senior teacher blackmailing them.
All of the participants seemed remarkably calm about the threat hanging over them. Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish just giggled whenever anyone asked them whether they were scared, or whether they thought that it might be them to go in the beans. All they did was lap up the attention that being in the spotlight gave them and act coy whenever prying questions were asked.
Lucy was happy enough. She was genuinely excited by the thought of raising all the money for charity, and genuinely touched by the attention being paid to little her. Her attitude towards the impending gunge was ambivalent. Half the time she was asked she decided she hated the idea, that she regretted ever volunteering and that she really hoped it would be one of the others going in. But at other times she responded with enthusiasm, saying that she really wouldn't mind if people voted for her, that it wouldn't be so bad being gunged, and that she was almost looking forward to being messed up in front of everyone.
The four girls whom the gunge was specifically designed for were much taken aback with how people looked at them once the vote became public. They had expected to be mocked, to be laughed at, they had expected it to be a major social setback through which they would have to make a long and arduous recovery. But this was not remotely the case. They had somehow achieved, quite by accident, popularity beyond their wildest dreams.
They took this all in their stride, lapping up all the attention and reveling in it. They were especially glad of even more attention than usual from all the boys (for despite it being called Sploshington Girls' School, they did accept boys in the sixth form). There were one or two disquieting thoughts among their four less than razor sharp minds about what would happen o the day of the fete itself, about how things would plan out when the gunge bandwagon came to its inevitable shuddering halt.
But for the moment they were content just to bask in the glow of everybody's appreciation, encouraging people to vote, whether for them or one of their rivals, they didn't really care. The fundraising broke all school records, and broke them easily. Every single pupil and in the school must have cast several votes, and the total raised Miss Blossom's gunging was exceeded several times over. Rumour and hearsay ran wild about who was winning. Tori and Jules were tied neck and neck. Tish had received a single donation of votes worth several thousand pounds. Lucy had an unassailable lead. Gemma was spending every penny she had in voting for herself. No body knew who was really ahead, no running totals were released except for the overall amount raised, and this spurred people on to vote for their favourite even more.
It was the day of the fete. Lucy had expected to have had a restless, but in the end she slept like a baby. As soon as she opened her eyes though, she was suddenly thrilled and excited by the possibilities that the day held. She performed her morning routine with only one thing on her mind. Would it be her that won the vote? Butterflies filled her stomach every time she thought about it and she was unable to touch most of her breakfast.
She looked at the outfit she'd been given last night, spread out on the bed. It was, just as she had expected, a much skimpier affair than her normal outfit. The top was much tighter than her normal one, and the material much thinner as well. It didn't come down to her waist either, exposing a good few inches of beautifully toned torso.
Her skirt, with big pleats and flared out nicely just like all good cheerleading skirts should be, was very short indeed. It bounced around like anything when she had it on, and barely made any effort to cover what it should do, instead revealing Lucy's wonderfully long legs, young, and taut due to her regular exercise.
The overall colour was a baby pink, not the school colours at all, but then it was supposed to be a costume rather than a standard uniform. To complete the outfit there were, all in the same colour, socks and pom-poms, and one other item. Since the uniform was going to be worn as part of a cheer routine involving much leaping, high kicking and general gyration, thoughtfully included were a pair of pants, in bright pink like all the rest, and bearing the legend 'Cheer!'.
Lucy imagined that the other four had been delighted when they saw this little detail in the fancy dress shop where they'd obtained the costumes, and would inevitably be flashing them around as much as possible at the fete. All Lucy could do was wonder whether her own outfit would become stained orange with the baked beans that day. She was still uncertain whether she wanted this to happen or not.
After some thought, Lucy packed the cheerleading outfit into a bag, and decided to wear her ordinary street clothes to the school, then change there. It was quite a long walk, and she didn't particularly want everyone staring at her, wondering what the heck she was doing dressed like that at ten in the morning. Instead she would change in the changing rooms at the school, that was easy enough. She didn't mind the skimpy uniform she had to wear, she knew that she had a good body and that she looked sexy in the clothes, it's just that she admired practicality more than looks in her choice of clothing, and baby pink cheerleading costumes with tiny skirts and tight tops weren't especially practical for a cloudy spring morning.
The quartet of Tish, Gemma, Jules and Tori also woke after a good night's sleep, and they were perfectly serene in their mood, despite the threat of the gunging. They had managed to pass the second geography test (it was touch and go for Tish, but she did make it) and had a day were absolutely the centres of attention to look forward too.
Not for them the primness of taking the costumes with them and wearing normal clothes, they were going to put on their skimpy uniforms as soon as possible, and welcome any gawping bystanders getting an eyeful of their sexy legs and bare midriffs. They were going to work the skimpy uniforms as much as was humanly possible.
They did, however, take an extra set of clothes with them to the fete. This was not in case any of them got slimed, rather they were to change into later when they inevitably got bored of the 'stupid, babyish' fete and decided to go out afterwards. All fur met up at Tori's house before going along to the school in order to compare outfits, swap clothes and prepare makeup bags. That way they could also arrive at the fete as a bunch, and make a much bigger impact with their entrance.
There were a great number of people at the fete. In fact it was a record attendance, anyone and everyone in the town wanted to be there. It was probably not unrelated to the fact that there were five lovely young ladies who were not only going to give a cute little cheerleading routine, but were also up for a messy, slimy gunge vote. The poles were not scheduled to close right up until it was time for the actual baked bean bath itself, and the pound coins were merrily clinking their way into the charity committee's coffers all the time.
Tori, Tish, Gemma and Jules loved all the bustle and excitement, and they especially loved the fact that they were partly the reason for all the hubbub. They always liked to think that they were important, and them being the main attraction for the entire fete was brilliant for them, it was like a dream come true. Lucy was merely happy to just see so many people in one place all enjoying themselves.
The cheerleading routine that formed the opening showpiece of the Spring Fete went perfectly. The five girls worked totally in harmony with each other, producing a dazzling show that had the whole crowd captivated. All the complicated twists and turns came off without incident, it was doubtful whether they had ever got the routine that perfect even in rehearsals.
The audience lapped it up, applauding and cheering wildly. All five of them loved the appreciation they were getting, Lucy because it was a reward for a job very well done, and the other five because it was praise being given to them. They provided cute curtsies to members of the crowd, flashing their knickers and the writing on them to a select few. The people clapped for all they were worth, some of the adulation doubtless due to the anticipation that one of these young beauties was soon going to get very messy.
"Thank you very much" said Mr. Brown the headmaster, taking control of proceedings, "and thank you to the girls of the Senior Cheerleading Squad." He didn't exactly approve of the outfits that the girls were wearing,but he did approve of the school spirit that they were undoubtedly showing and the crowd undoubtedly appreciated it.
"Welcome all of you to the Sploshington School Fete," he continued in his droning voice, "before I proceed any further I have been asked to make an announcement. As you may well be aware these five girls have very nobly volunteered to submit themselves to a vote. The winner of this vote will be very shortly swimming in a bath of baked beans." There were mock noises of disgust from the crowd. "Votes cost only a pound and will go towards a variety of extremely good causes."
Mr. Brown was virtually incapable of being succinct, and this occasion was no different to any other. He droned on for several more minutes, praising the great intentions of the girls, and how indicative it was of the general attitude of the pupils in his care. He prattled on endlessly about the attractions of the fete and how he wished that everyone would have a jolly good time, but said nothing more of any significance. The crowd, deprived of its eye candy, forsook him and wandered off, many deciding to go and cast their ballots for their favourite cheerleader.
The fete got into full swing, though all of the stalls and stands seemed mere distractions, mere sideshows to the main event. This fortunately was not long in coming around, which certainly puzzled Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish, they had been promised that the gunging would be at the end of the day, the crowning glory. Oh well, no matter, it was perhaps better that they got it out of the way.
Right in the middle of the playingfields the stage for the gunging. A large portable bandstand had been erected, the one that was usually used to hold the large brass band hired for every single summer school reunion. It did not only have a large surface are, but it was very high up, giving it two advantages. Firstly it meant that anyone standing on it could be seen for a long way away, and secondly a curtained off 'backstage' are could be set up around the steps up to the stage.
Mr. Drake was hanging around near the backstage as the quartet arrived. Lucy was already there. He was dressed as a cricket umpire in order to fit in with the theme of sports. The white coat and sunhat suited him well. He said hello to the girls on their way past, and they said hello back, with a surprising lack of hostility in their voices. After all, he had unwittingly given them an awful lot of popularity.
The five cheerleaders, still in their pink uniforms hung around behind the curtains awkwardly, not really saying much, though there were one or two knowing remarks aimed in the direction of Lucy. Mr. Brown, ever eager for his own little spell in the limelight and a chance to hear the sound of his own voice, was giving an introduction. A couple of sentences would have surfaced, but he went on for ten whole minutes before handing over to the mistress of ceremonies, who was that great veteran of gunge, Miss Blossom.
Miss Blossom was immaculately dressed in the outfit of a showjumper. She had on the riding hat, the smart, black jacket over a bright white top. She had on perfect white jodhpurs that clung ever so tightly to her shapely legs and peachy behind. Her riding boots were tall and made of highly polished black leather, they came right up to her knees. Miss Blossom was a vision, clothed from head to toe but just as sexy as any of the scantily clad young women she was just about to introduce, and four of them were more than just a little jealous.
The five cheerleaders were duly introduced and bounced up onto the stage. This was the first time that any of them had actually seen the bath. It was gigantic, not a normal sized bath but a prop big enough to accommodate several people. It was two thirds full of beans. The slop glistened in the sunlight that was now breaking through the clouds, the sauce shone and the beans bobbed horribly up and down. It looked disgusting. It looked ominous. To Lucy it looked almost inviting.
"Okay," said Miss Blossom, the crowd in the palm of her hand, "now it's the time that you've all been waiting for. It's time to get one of these young ladies very messed up indeed. Please give a big warm welcome to Tori, Jules, Tish, Gemma and last but not least, Lucy!" The five smiled and waved, even the four who actively sought attention were slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who had come to watch them. There was a slightly nervous air about all of them, even Tish forgot to take the opportunity of being elevated to flash her undies to the attractive boys in the crowd. The presence of Miss Blossom was comforting however, and they soon began to settle down.
"Right then," said the mistress of ceremonies, "without further ado let's get to the results. There have been far to many votes cast for a poor English teacher like me to deal with the numbers, so let's go straight to the placings. In fifth place, with the least number of votes and most definitely avoiding the beans is... Gemma!" Gemma breathed a sigh of relief in spite of herself. She had not expected to come top of the poll, but was ever so slightly upset that she was apparently the least popular.
"Now we come to fourth place," said Miss Blossom, still laying on the showbiz razzamatazz, "and the girl who has got a great number of votes, but not quite as many as the other three is...Jules!" Jules barely moved, her ice maiden mask unperturbed by the news that she'd managed to avoid a dunking. She gave the briefest of nods to the remaining girls and moved over to the other side of the stage to join Gemma.
"Now we're down to just three," said Miss Blossom, somehow managing to ratchet up the tension another notch, "how does it feel girls? Anyone scared?" Lucy most certainly was, but she was doing her best not to show it. Tori and Tish were impassive. "Okay, time to put another girl out of her misery. The girl in third place is... Tish!" Tish leapt up and down at the news, excitedly waving to the crowd and saucily flashing a bit of thigh before joining her free companions. The anticipation levels of the crowd were rising, they knew that this was time for serious business.
"Okay," said Miss Blossom, genuine excitement in her voice, "we come down to the final two girls. Only one of these pretty cheerleaders will escape clean. The other one will be forced to take a little dip in the bath of baked beans!" There were cheers and 'ewws' in equal measure from the crowd. "I bet that these young ladies are a little bit nervous right now!"
Lucy was indeed extremely nervous She couldn't take her eyes off the huge slimy mass of beans in front of her. For a moment she regretted her decision to volunteer, this situation was all her own doing, she had nobody to blame but herself. Then she thought more clearly, and didn't regret it at all, she was glad that she'd volunteered. She thought of all the money that had been raised, a huge amount, an astronomical amount. She thought of all of the people before her having fun, having a great afternoon out. She thought that she probably wouldn't mind the gunging actually, the beans started to look almost inviting again. Tori, standing next to her, was ice cold, calm and if any emotion was betrayed it was eagerness.
"So without further delay it's now time to announce the final result of the Spring Fate gunge vote. You've all been patient and now you're going to see what you've all been waiting for. In second place, the girl who has just, by the skin of her teeth avoided the horrible bath of beans is... Tori!" The crowd erupted in a tumultuous roar, almost drowning Miss Blossom's final words to them: "So going in the beans is the unfortunate Lucy!"
Tori turned to her final opponent, her face twisted in to a broad, taunting smirk, the words of Miss Blossom music to her ears.
"Ha ha!" she said, "looks like Miss Goody Goody's caring and sharing and loving the charities have got her into the gunk!" To Tori's disappointment Lucy wasn't nearly as devastated as she had hoped. Instead she was looking up at the crowd. They were all cheering for her, not against her, they wanted to see her get gunged because they loved her, because she was their favourite. Miss Blossom was looking at her sympathetically, she was a much needed friend. She squeezed Lucy's arm, a touching gesture and said:
"Have fun. It'll be great." Then she stepped off to one side and let the sole remaining cheerleader take the spotlight. Lucy was heartened by this. She was glad now, glad that she had gone to Mr. Brown to volunteer herself for the vote and glad that she had won it. This would be almost certainly her only chance for a unique experience, and now that she couldn't get out of it, she might as well enjoy it.
Lucy approached the bath slowly and apprehensively, rhythmic stamping coming from the audience, they were baying for her to et the gunging. She was the prettiest one, the sexiest one, and she was the cheerleader that would look the best in the gunge by far. She looked down at the bath. It was just so enormous, so wide, so long, so incredibly deep looking.
Lucy decided on how to approach getting in. There was no way that she could make this easy, so she might as well get it over with as quickly as possible. She perched herself on the rim of the bath, her long legs positioned neatly together, looking as demure as possible in such a skimpy cheerleading uniform. The crowd were chanting now, a rhythmic pulse crying:
"IN! IN! IN!"
Lucy flashed her fans a brilliant smile, the beautiful redheaded cheerleader, perfectly, spotlessly clean, then slid gently forward into the bath. The beans were cold, but not too uncomfortably chilly. She felt them envelop her, first her nice white trainers and her thick socks, then her tanned, supple legs, then her short, tiny little skirt and novelty knickers, resulting in a sharp little pant escaping from her lips. The cloying orange sauce crept up over her taut midriff, then her tiny, tight little top.
She loved the feelings that she was experiencing, the sauce soaking into her outfit, the lumpy beans tickling and caressing her bare skin, even working their way inside her trainers. She was very glad she had come forward and put her name down for the vote, this was a completely mind-blowing experience. She continued her slide forwards, unable to tear herself from the enrapturing grasp of the beans. She slipped under the surface, and the last thing she heard before the beans clogged her ears was deafening, applause.
The four cheerleaders who had recently been reprieved looked on at this spectacle with more than just a little envy. They hadn't expected the reaction of the crowd to be positive, they hadn't expected the people to get behind her. It wasn't a humiliating spectacle at all, and the girls were decidedly miffed that they were now unable to crow triumphantly at her downfall. In fact Tori and Jules were pondering, thinking about as deeply as they ever did, about whether they should have gone in themselves, weighing up the adulation that Lucy was now receiving versus actually having to bathe in baked beans. It was an interesting calculation. They contented themselves with the words of Tish:
"At least we have her clothes," she said, "she's going to have to go home like that."
Lucy's totally slimed head broke through the surface, the beans thickly streaming down her face, but unable to disguise the huge smile that lay beneath. It was abundantly clear to everyone that Lucy was enjoying her slimy bath very much indeed. Miss Blossom was glad to see that she was having fun, and strode out to centre stage,though keeping well away from the bath, she wasn't stupid and didn't want to mess up her pristine riding outfit, and prepared to wrap things up.
"Well done Lucy!" cried Miss Blossom, "well done indeed! I'm sure that you can see the big buckets positioned at the bottom of the stage. They are for the donations that we are continuing to collect. Please give generously, as the ordeal of our intrepid young cheerleader is not yet over! Lucy is going nowhere for the next few hours, she'll be staying in her beany bath for the rest of the fete!"
There was a definite surge of movement towards the stage and generally a lot of reaching into pockets. Lucy wasn't upset by her continued incarceration, rather she was thrilled that she got to spend more time sitting up to her breasts in cold baked beans. She played about in the slime merrily, splashing and flicking beans at the crowd.
Tori, Jules, Gemma and Tish left the scene quite hurriedly. They were most disappointed in how the last part of the event had played out. It was baffling, how on earth could the girl who was made to sit in that disgusting bath suddenly be the most popular girl in the school? A silent decision had been made. They were going to hit the town early, and get out of this place as soon as possible. The girls headed determinedly towards the changing rooms.