Tables Turned Pt. 01

Up until 6th period everything had been going well for Mr Ritz.

He had found that his fellow teachers and his new pupils were all somehow refreshing to the fusty boarding college in Coventry where he had been an English teacher before. Here were American students and teachers with their fresh irreverence and lack of uniform or regulations. And Summer Heights as a modern Californian school came without the ode to God and everything else he had feared from the US system.

And now these girls threatened to ruin everything.

He had been warned of the girls before of course. In the staffroom at lunch, when he had asked "is there anything I should be aware of?" (more to pass the time than to glean information) he had witnessed the sly smile exchanged between Miss Fern and Mrs Porter.

Miss Fern was in her early twenties, one of the many hip new teachers who dressed almost as inappropriately as some of the more risqué student but defended herself with standoffish sassiness. Her smile forced the nose stud higher on her face and her green eyes shone.

"Watch out for some of your sixth formers."

"I will," Mr Ritz had said, though not understanding what his colleagues found so funny.

Now he did. But he couldn't quite bring himself to smile.

"Ladies, if you could please close your books and put away your phones, we can start the test."

There is no reply to Mr Ritz's request. The girl closest to him turns a page in her biology textbook. The one by the window scrolls through something on her phone.

Somehow Mr Ritz is hesitating. He knew he was going to come across problem-students sooner or later on his first day; rebels who would want to at least test what kind of teacher he would be. He just hadn't expected them to be in his senior class.

And he hadn't expected them to be girls.

He considers his next move. The rest of the class is waiting patiently before their paper, a little anxious to start the test and get it out of the way. A few have noticed an altercation is brewing and are watching Mr Ritz and the girls curiously.

Mr Ritz opens the clipboard he's holding and scans the seating pattern.

"Emily Reese," he says.

The girl beside him looks up and smiles.

Like her friend, Emily looks far older than just a Senior year student. It isn't just how she's dressed, in a black, strapless dress, or even the hockey player figure it hugs. It's the look in her pretty blond face that displays a confidence far beyond her years.

And it's because of this, and her undeniable prettiness, that Mr Ritz loses the ability to speak. His stern resolve to chastise Emily and make an example of her fails him.

"P-please put away you book," he says. And then looks away, almost embarrassed. "It's a test," he mumbles.

But Emily just sits there, continuing to look at him.

Mr Ritz feels himself turning red. He starts to sweat. He hastily puts a test paper underneath Emily's book. He shuffles towards the other girl.

At the nearby desks, the audience that have been watching start muttering. One girl gasps in gleeful shock. A handful of students snicker.

Mr Ritz becomes so flustered that he has to check for the other girls' name again.

"Hannah Jackson" he says.

Hannah's look takes Mr Ritz aback for quite different reasons. Where Emily showed confidence, Hannah shows outright hostility.

From his years in the boarding school and abroad teaching English, Mr Ritz is quite unused to such anger.

Hannah is dark skinned and dressed in sporting gear, also a member of the hockey team perhaps. She is even more muscular than Emily and her anger makes her frightening. But it can't camouflage her prettiness. Stretched back in a tight bun, her black hair can't cause a blemish on her clear, brown skin.

But Mr Ritz knows he can't repeat the previous display of amateur weakness.

"Hannah, put away your smartphone. It is time for a test."

Mr Ritz is pleased to hear his voice doesn't shake, even if it is a little too loud. A few heads look round.

Hannah keeps looking at him.

"Hannah, do I have to teach you English from the very start?" Mr Ritz tries.

A few students chuckle and for a second Mr Ritz almost relaxes. But then Hannah looks back at her smartphone. The class behind Mr Ritz grows too silent.

Mr Ritz clears his throat and finds himself still somehow unable to look at Emily. So he says, "very well girls, in that case you will both find yourselves with detention and a visit from the Principal later."

Flustered, Mr Ritz, leaves it at that and hands out the rest of the papers. He starts the test.

The class is silent and in a way that seems to be the end of it. Most of the students are busy taking the test. But Mr Ritz can't get over the fact that Hannah and Emily continue to do their own thing.

They start talking - not all that quietly - and laughing. A few of the students look at Mr Ritz and he wants to say something. But somehow he still can't look straight at Emily. He grows angrier but does nothing.

Five minutes before the end of the class, Mr Ritz calls an end to the test. He goes around collecting the papers off his students. But he can feel that he's lost all respect from the class and he needs to get it back.

Don't show that you need the Principal.

"Emily Reese and Hannah Jackson, please stay behind."

Strangely, there is a lack of "oohing" or "ahhing" from the class. They start to shuffle out fast, but as they are, Emily says "Kim, Sophie, stay as well."

Two of the girls step out of the line that's leaving and make their way over to Emily and Hannah who have now risen to their feet.

"Wha-?" Mr Ritz begins, flustered. "Kim and Sophie have done nothing wrong and will go to their next classes!"

"Stay," says Emily decisively.

The girls stay.

Mr Ritz looks at them for a second. Kim is a short, Asian girl, pretty but very conservative looking, with girlish pigtails. Sophie looks like the local high school diva in a short skirt and blouse with pretty red hair. Mr Ritz looks back at Emily.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asks.

Bizarrely, the girls advance as if this is planned and stop short of the front desks.

"I want them to see this," says Emily. Finally Mr Ritz forces himself to make eye contact with Emily and sees that she is still smiling, but with somehow even more gleeful determination in her eyes. Then she looks down to get her phone. She holds it up.

"Tell us your name," she orders. Mr Ritz gets an uncomfortable feeling looking at the black camera lens.

"You girls are all in serious trouble," he begins.

"Well, I guess we can tell it's you," says Emily. "It would be polite if you said your name though. Is it Mr Tits?"

Kim and Sophie begin giggling behind their hands.

"How dare you?" says Mr Ritz, feeling himself grow red.

"Mr Tits! Mr Tits!" says Emily

The girls begin to shriek with laughter.

"My name is Mr RITZ!" Mr Ritz finds himself barking.

There is a silence. Then Hannah steps forward. She puts her school books down carefully on a desk.

"Good boy!" Says Emily. "I want the people to know it's you. Before we do this.

"Do wha-?" Mr Ritz starts, but the wind is knocked out of him by the first punch to the face. A second blow strikes his stomach and Mr Ritz falls to his knees gasping.

When he looks up he sees Hannah's white sneakers and her dark, muscular legs.

Hannah takes hold of his hair and drags him up to his feet.

Emily is standing close, smiling behind the phone in her outstretched hands which films Mr Ritz' dishevelled face.

Sophie and Kim lean over the desks watching in shock and bemusement at their pathetic new teacher.

"No!" Mr Ritz begs, but Hannah strikes him across the face anyway. For a moment the world darkens, he can't feel his face. Then there's a second hit and a knee strikes him in his testicles. He falls as far as Hannah will allow him, with one hand still on his hair.

The camera is pushed close to his face.

"Please," Mr Ritz begs. He can feel tears falling down his face. Emily begins laughing and Hannah smiles an evil, wide smile. Kim and Sophie are laughing themselves now.

"What was that?" says Emily.

"Please, please, please!" says Mr Ritz. You don't have to do this."

"Do what baby?" Emily asks and nods her head. Hannah knees Mr Ritz hard between the legs again. He crumples and this time Hannah lets him go. His crying face meets the floor and the camera follows him. Emily kneels gently beside him.

"Do what, bitch?" she repeats the question with more venom.

"Please don't hurt me."

"Okay," she says and stands up. She nods her head again.

Hannah kicks him a few more times, full force in the stomach, the chest and then when he curls up into a ball she relents and puts one sneaker on his cheek.

"Strip." says Hannah. It is the first time she has spoken. Between sobs, Mr Ritz undoes his shirt and Hannah takes her foot off of him. Then he takes off his shoes and socks and then, under the glare of the girls' stares he takes off his trousers.

He stands in his white underwear.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" says Sophie.

Mr Ritz looks timidly up at Emily, unable to look at Hannah as he quakes with fear.

"Now please let me go," he begs.

"You have to strip first," says Hannah.

"Please no!" He says to Emily.

"I don't know what you're asking me for!" Emily says innocently. "It's Hannah who is talking to you. Don't you think you should apologise to her, for ignoring her?"

Mr Ritz sobs. "I'm sorry," he says.

Hannah raises a hand and Mr Ritz recoils in fear. Then he reaches for his underwear and begins pulling them shamefully down.

Kim and Sophie can no longer control themselves. They howl like hyenas with laughter. Mr Ritz drops his underwear beside his other clothes and involuntarily covers his genitals.

"Oh. My. God." says Emily "Mr Tits. Mr Tits, look at me," she says. Mr Ritz looks at Emily. "Mr Tits, what do you think would happen if we called anyone in now? You'd be fucked, right?"

It'd be strange to think that someone could have a sense of self-preservation in Mr Ritz's situation, but it rose through his shame. "I'd be fucked," he admits, knowing his only defense to these girls is complete submission.

"Well, we're still gonna," admits Emily.

"Please don't!" Mr Ritz cries. He can feel himself falling to his knees, clasping his hands together. "Please!"

The girls are all laughing except Emily. Mr Ritz can see determined satisfaction in her eyes and he knows he has to honour it if he's to have any hope of getting out.

"Okay," says Emily, exactly as if agreeing to an inconsequential matter.

"I'm still going to," says Hannah and turns to walk out the door.

Mr Ritz can't control himself and bows to the floor before Hannah's feet. "Please don't, please." He says. There is a small intake of breath before all the girls start laughing as one.

He gets up to his knees but a foot pushes his head back on the ground. This time it's Emily.

"Okay, we'll let you off this time," she says, kneeling close. From their bags, Kim and Sophie get out their phones and start their own videoing. "But we're the Big Bosses in this school okay? You don't ever tell us what to do. In fact, we tell you what to do, capiche? You might have to listen to management and school boards, but we're the ones with the power to destroy you now. The buck stops with us. Okay?"

Mr Ritz can only murmur his assent. But it's not good enough.

"Who do you serve?" Emily asks.

"You."

"Who do you serve? Louder. Say it in to the camera." Emily kneels down and yanks Mr Ritz's head back by the hair. She presses her own smiling, beautiful face beside it and smiles at the camera as if taking a selfie.

"I serve Emily Reese," Mr Ritz says, utterly defeated. Emily kisses Mr Ritz on his swollen cheek.

"Yes," she agrees, simply. She lets the head fall back down. Mr Ritz groans.

He can hear the girls' footsteps rescinding out of the classroom.

For a moment, Mr Ritz just lies there. Unable to process what has happened to his life. All he feels is numb and before he can be overwhelmed with shame again he remembers he is a teacher lying naked in a high school classroom. He gets up and dresses, painfully. Then he collapses on to his chair at his desk.

Thank God there's only one more period to teach today, he thinks.

It's the final period by the time it comes Mr Ritz has his alibi that he slipped on his desk ready to explain the bruise on his face.

Some of the third graders snicker when he tells him this. Then they go back to their pop test.

But the day isn't quite over. Just as Mr Ritz is packing up, the head of his department comes in to check on him. It's Mrs Farnworth. She is a thirty four year old veteran of the school. Putting on maybe a little weight, but still curvy and very attractive.

"Hello! Just checkin-" she begins but then stands still on seeing Mr Ritz face. He looks away before he can help himself.

"What happened?" Mrs Farnworth says with concern.

Mr Ritz burns red with shame. "I slipped. It's nothing." He says. Then, in the awkward silence he forces himself to smile. "I feel so ridiculous on my first day."

"Well alright," says Mrs Farnworth skeptically. "But I know how these students can be and if anything's going on, it's best to tell me straight away."

Mr Ritz can't even meet her gaze. "Please, as if!" he says, a little too shrilly.

Another pause, in which Mrs Farnworth stands over Mr Ritz's desk a little awkwardly and straightens her blouse. She seems to make a decision. She reverts back to her original light, breezy but very much in charge manner. "How did the pop-tests go?"

"Oh fine," says Mr Ritz quickly. "Should get a good idea through marking them tonight of how the students are."

"Well, if you need anything at all, you better take my number." Mrs Farnworth makes Mr Ritz take her number and then leaves.

Mr Ritz spends longer than he needs to marking tests in the classroom, unable to face going back to his wife. It's half seven before he finally he leaves.

When he drives back Marla, his young slim, blonde wife is waiting for him with dinner.

"Oh darling! What on earth happened?" She puts a hand to his bruised face.

He turns, unable to look in her eyes. "It's nothing, just slipped."

"Oh baby, be more careful."

She kisses him on his bruise and Mr Ritz burns with shame.

Then to his surprise she playfully slaps his other cheek twice. "I'm the only one who can hurt my little teacher.

And she smiles from ear to ear.