Chew him out

As soon as the door closes, you turn back to where Mr. Carter is waiting.

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever heard of." You tell the man bluntly. "What the Hell were you thinking, telling them to strip out of their shirts?"

He starts to explain that he had no idea that the Mathewson girls were going to take off their shirts, but you cut him off before he even gets going.

"Cut the bullshit, Carter!" You don't raise your voice, but years of serving as a Staff Sergeant in the Corps put some steel behind the words and thankfully the experienced teacher didn't argue the point.

"You must know Mr. Carter," You try to soften your tone a little as you see the anger building in his face, "there are a lot of people just hoping something like will happen so they can pull the plug on this before it even has a chance."

"What about what you did?" He challenges you, refusing to sit still and let you berate him. "Do you think those people will be happy with you smacking those pretty bare asses?"

"I did that to cover your ass Mr. Carter." Your voice raises for the first time, but he doesn't look like he's going to back down. You have to remember this isn't a 19-year old enlistee, Carter has been around enough not to be easily cowed. You blow out a heavy sigh, and try again careful to moderate the tone of your voice. "Look, I wanted to try something that they were not likely to go tell their friends about. It may not have been the best idea, but you didn't give me much choice and I had no time to figure out a better battle plan."

To his credit Mason accepts you explanation with one of his now familiar deliberate nods.

"OK." You harden your voice once again as you get ready to dismiss him. "Just so we're clear, I did not do this for you. I did it because I'm trying to make this crazy plan work, and if those girls had gone to Ms. Naylor with this story on the very first day I don't think we'd even get a chance to try." Once again you see Mr. Carter starting to formulate a response, but you stop him with a raised palm. "Save it, and for God's sake Mr. Carter, don't pull this crap again."

With that you open the door and wait for the hot-headed teacher to leave.