A exchange of views

You see Dean Hawkfeather and Ms. Naylor conversing with Honey Thibodeaux, while further away Mason is standing and chatting with the group of pretty young teachers. You drift over, noting that several of the older women join the group. Miss Swanson is positively hissing with disgust.

"I think it's shocking!" she's saying as you walk up. She's keeping her voice down, but there is no mistaking her outrage "To cut that poor girl's tie off!"

"The Dean has a valid point Muriel," Donna Considine replies with a smile. "The tie was a trophy, and while she's free to wear it at other times or hang it in her room, it's not part of the school uniform."

"It was a gift from a her boyfriend, just a symbol of their friendship," the older woman sniffs. "It's wrong of him to cut it from her."

"Muriel, don't be naive," Mrs. Somersby-Walker interjects firmly. "The girls take them as trophies from boys they've had sex with. Let's not pretend otherwise. They brag about it. That's all well and good but they shouldn't be wearing them with their uniform. "

From the expressions of a few teachers, you're not the only one surprised by the older woman's statement. Donna raises her eyebrows and nods acknowledgement.

"Thank you Barbara, that exactly my point. You're big on tradition Muriel, and the uniform is part of that tradition, I'm surprised that you'd go along with alterations to celebrate a sexual conquest."

Miss Swanson looks like she's ready to burst, and glances at Barbara Somersby-Walker as though she's been betrayed. She masters herself with a little shudder and presses her thin lips together. "I just think it's wrong to cut the poor girls tie, in front of everyone. It humiliated her."

"She didn't look even slightly humiliated," Monica says with chuckle. "Surprised maybe, but not humiliated. And he gave her the tie back so she still has a memento of her tryst. I'm sure she knows how to get an uncut one if she wants it."

"There's no need to be crude Monica," Barbara says sternly. "We all know, or should know what the ties signify but we don't need to be brazen about it."

Monica shrugs and Christina turns her head and smiles, her eyes twinkling as she winks at Brian Carter. Mason is observing the interchange with bemused interest, and you smother a smile at the conflict.