Back to School

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Students did not return to Cobham High until Wednesday because Monday had been a public holiday, and the staff always had a day at the start of term to prepare for their classes.

Like his teachers, Sebastian had spent Tuesday in preparation for the term ahead and now had a stack of blank exercise books on his desk, each with “Sebastian Oliver Barlow” scrawled on the front. He had also brought his school uniform in from the clothesline, where he had hung it out so the hot sun could remove the musty odour of a summer spent in storage. Now hanging in his closet were five sky blue polo shirts and, despite the blistering heat that would no doubt continue into autumn, three pairs of grey trousers. Sebastian felt he was too old to wear shorts, and his pale legs weren't much to look at anyway.

Cobham High's uniform was plain and unimaginative, and would have been unremarkable had it not fallen into the hands of teenaged girls. Most of the girls seemed to wear the polo shirt at least two sizes too small, which did wonders for even the modest of busts. Girls could alternatively wear a sky blue blouse, but this was typically only the choice of the more well-endowed girls who needed the extra room. Still, they managed to test the staying power of the buttons.

Girls also had a choice between navy slacks or a blue plaid skirt, and here too the girls perverted the uniform beyond anything the Parents Association could possibly have intended. The slacks clung tightly to the curves of their thighs and buttocks, while the skirt, almost always worn a good distance above the knee, gave students like Sebastian a glimmer of hope that they might catch a glimpse of their knickers.

It is a simple reality of school life that girls wear skirts and boys want to see up them. Sebastian was no exception. Knickers were the final frontier. Only a thin piece of material stands between boy and the most intimate part of the female body. Most girls at Cobham High weren't shy about showing off their legs, but they took a frustrating amount of care to keep their legs together and skirts down, making the rare sight of their knickers proverbial forbidden fruit.

Sebastian particularly liked pink knickers. Though he himself didn't know why, it stemmed from a particularly dull mathematics lesson being taught by the equally dull Ms Johnson. Sebastian had been seated behind Maya, who had suddenly stood up and leaned over her desk to pass a pencil to the student in front of her, causing her skirt to ride up over her treacle-coloured legs and revealing a pair of pink lace knickers. The girl sitting next to Maya responded quickly and urged Maya back into her seat while casting Sebastian a suspicious look, but it was too late. It was enough to warrant a relieving trip to the lavatory.

On Wednesday morning, Sebastian was showered and finished with breakfast by seven o'clock. He had the option of taking one of two buses to school. The earlier bus got him there unnecessarily early, but it was better than catching the later bus, which was almost always standing room only by the time it stopped outside his house.

“Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?” Laura asked, rattling her car keys and looking up at the charcoal sky through the bay windows of the living room.

“I'll be fine,” Sebastian replied. “The bus will be here soon, and besides, I want to catch up with Ruth and Paul.”

Laura smiled. “Suit yourself. I'll see you when I get home.”

Sebastian watched and waved as his aunt reversed out of the driveway. The sky was indeed dark.

At ten-past-seven, Sebastian shouldered his school bag, locked the front door, and strode down the path to the kerb.