By Jamie
Copyright 2024 by Jamie, all rights reserved
* * * * *Harstons chapter 15A
The fight
There
was a massive commotion in the common room of Barnards House one Sunday
afternoon witnessed by quite a few boys. Two boys were scrapping on the
floor, and they were both really fighting, this wasn’t a play fight.
Unfortunately for them the first person on the scene were Mr. Taylor
the Housemaster and bulky frame of David Roberts the captain of sport.
Young Simon Taylor had followed his father out stood there open mouthed
as the two older boys were going for it until his father and Roberts
managed to pull the sparing boys apart.
Mr. Taylor was
furious, "what on earth is going on? " He looked sternly at the two
boys. "Whatever the reason this is simply not acceptable. Go and stand
outside my office and do not speak at all."
By this time
other prefects had arrived on scene and Mr. Taylor depute Harry
Eddington to go with the boys to ensure his orders were followed. Head
of House Phil Davis had been in the garden of the house when a younger
boy had ran outside and shouted " fight" . He spoke with Mr. Taylor
nodding as his Housemaster spoke and then replied, " yes Sir" .
Mr. Taylor walked out of the common room and the head of the house
marshaled his prefects so that they could speak to witnesses and find
out what had happened. Meanwhile outside the office the two boys one a
fifth year and one from the lower sixth stood in silence, the younger
of the two Eddington noticed was clearly still seething in anger.
Mr. Taylor noted their names, shook his head in disappointment.
" The prefects are investigating and will speak to each of you
separately. I am not having a Sunday afternoon with my family spoiled
by boys fighting. You are to go to your rooms and stay there until you
have been spoken to. Understood.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Right
go, Eddington will ensure you do as you are told. Come on Simon lets go
back to the house.” Simon dutifully followed his father thinking gosh
these lads are in for it, he’d never seen his Dad so cross!
The investigation continued that afternoon and on Monday morning Phil
had a full detailed account of what had happened and who saw what. The
only discrepancies were on the why it happened as each party presented
different accounts. He presented his findings to Mr. Taylor, and they
agreed a prefects court would find out the truth and then adjudicate on
any punishment. It was important thst this was done by three court as
the lower 6th boy was one of the 6 shadow prefects!
The two boys and various witnesses were given their notices, and all was set.
The boys Rory Collier from the 5th year and junior prefect Jay Morgan
were naturally nervous of the upcoming prefects court which was of
course the talk of the House.
The court
Check
day of the week. It was 7pm on Friday and the Prefects court was
starting its weekly meeting in the basement hall. All 6 prefects were
there along with Daniel Forrester as one of the L6th shadow prefects
who was managing the door and attendees.
“Good evening
gents, looks like we could have a busy evening ahead. Let’s get the
usual items out of the way before dealing with the fight. We have two
3rd formers, one 4th year and a first for us of a lower sixth former.
Okay lets deal with the juniors first.”
Tom asked Daniel Forrester to call in Jones and Carter.
Harry Eddington stood up. “Both of these boys have been a persistent
nuisance over the last few weeks. I have reports of mucking about
during homework period, a report from matron about their laundry not
being sorted and their bed cubicles the worst of the dorm. I believe
adding it all up they need to realise sole home truths.”
The
two 13 year olds looked very nervous. Davis asked, “have either of you
anything to say. Has Eddington given an accurate description of your
behavior?
They looked very small and the bravado they displayed in front of their peers meant nothing in this prefectorial arena.
They both mumbled, speak up. "No Davis, I’m sorry " said Duncan Jones, his mate nodding alongside.
“Ok outside.”
“Gents I think this is theur first time, 3 whacks and laundry duties
for 2 weeks with matron ? Are you happy with thst Harry?” He nodded.
“Bring them back in.”
The two nervous boys entered trepidation
written all over their faces. Davis tore them off a strip and then said
on Monday you will both be whacked here, and for the next 2 weeks will
be on laundry duty with matron. If you don’t change your attitude and
behaviours you will be back here, and it will be much more understood.”
They both nodded. “Right go and send in,” he turned to Tom who said “Richard Williams.”
Duncan Unsworth stood to see his boy enter, who was unsure why he was there.
He stood before the prefects wondering why. Unsworth spoke, Williams
doesn’t know why is here do you?” the boy shook his head. “Not a clue
Unsworth” he said confidently. A confidence that was misplaced.
Unsworth reached down to his chair and picked up a small bag, the boys
eyes gave him away as Duncan emptied out the contents on to the table
in front of the secretary. There were 2 packs of cigarettes, a lighter
and box of matches. One of the packs was open and a few cigarettes
missing.
The colour drained from his face as Unsworth
continued, “these were found under his bedside locker by the cleaners
this morning. Any explanation Williams?”
There was silence
as the boy desperately tried to think of a credible excuse, but nothing
came, confession or blame someone else was all that was left to him.
“No Unsworth they are mine.”
“Any good reason why you have them in school? Do your parents know? How did you acquire them?”
“They are my dad’s, I borrowed them from him . I know I shouldn’t have brought them into school, sorry.”
Tom Youngman interjected, “hardly borrowed Williams if you’ve smoked
them then you nicked them as you can’t give them back can you?”
The boy was sent out and a lively discussion followed but a consensus was reached, and Williams returned to face the music.
“Right here is what is going to happen Williams - 3 things” said Davis.
“1. I will have to inform Mr. Taylor and he will decide about telling your parents that’s his decision
2. We will ask Matron to talk with you about the dangers of smoking to
your health because that’s the most important thing in this matter
And 3 is punishment - you stole the cigarettes from your father, you
brought them into school, and you smoked them here in school, a direct
breaking of a school rule. On Monday you will receive a full 6 of the
best understood. Dismissed.” The chastened boy scurried out of the
room.
Phil Davis turned to Tom and asked, " and now a lower sixth boy, you have us in all in suspense Tom ."
Tom smiled “yes Phil I was only told about it at lunchtime by Mr.
Allinson.” Now they all knew Mr. Allinson was one of the PE staff and a
great rugby coach and a wielder of a plimsoll to boys behind with some
force, so it was a bit odd that he was referring a discipline matter to
the prefects of a house.
Tom explained, “Mr. Allinson after
talking with Mr. Taylor and Mr. Wilson (Housemaster of Hudsons)
referred this case to us. The boy in question is” pausing he looked at
Daniel and reminded him this information does not leave this room, “the
boy is Joel Clarke. Yesterday after rugby practice for the 2nd XV Mr.
Allinson had thought everyone had showered and gone, so he went to
close down the changing rooms and he heard a shower still running. He
fully expected to find that someone had left shower running but on
turning the corner he saw Clarke jerking off along with another lower
sixth boy from Hudsons House. He said he didn’t know who was more
shocked. Both boys were very aroused! Whilst he fully appreciates all
teenage boys masturbate he was not impressed that they were doing it in
the showers when all sixth formers have the privacy of bedrooms not
dormitories. The juniors had also been playing that afternoon and so
one of them could easily have seen what was going on. The two boys were
as you can imagine mortified but Mr. Allinson feels they both need a
reminder about where and when you can do certain things, and a shower
block is not such a place.”
There was total silence as the 7
boys in the room all thought about how embarrassing it must have been
for the boys to be discovered by a teacher jerking off.
David Roberts broke the silence by saying, " well at least it wasnt the cleaner who discovered them!” to some laughter.
“An interesting case indeed, I am guessing Tom there is no indication
of any sexual activity between them taking place just jerking off.”
Tom shook his head “no its seems just two horny teenagers finding release where they never expected to be seen.”
Phil though, well this will test us, “Daniel. Please ask Clarke to step in.”
Daniel Forrester stepped outside and moments later entered with an already red faced Joel Clarke.
“Come in Joel and stand there in front of us. This is unusual to have a
lower sixth former in front of the prefects court but as you have been
told Mr. Taylor has decided we should deal with you internally. The
same will be happening at Hudsons House and I shall speak with the Head
of House that you both get dealt with the same. Now please explain why
ypu thought it was okay to masturbate in the sports field showers?
The 16 year old was totally embarrassed but it wasn’t clear if that was
because of what he had been doing or because he had been caught.
He stammered, “well I don’t know what came over us, we were the last in
the showers as we had been asked to gather all the balls and equipment
up and put them in the field house store and a couple of other jobs so
by the time we got in we were the only 2. We were jusr chatting about
things , you know girls n stuff, and both got horny so just started
wanking. I realise it was rather stupid doing it there. It was really
embarrassing when Mr. Allinson walked in and caught us. Sorry.”
David Roberts nodded, “I get that, am I guessing you were late because
the chores you were given were a kind of punishment?” he asked, knowing
Mr. Allinson’s coaching approach, “why were you two told to do that?”
The boy blushed again, “yes it was punishment because we’d been mucking
about during training so coach gave us a number of jobs to do, it was
chucking it down too.”
Phil asked “have you anything else to say?”
The boy shook his head, there were no more questions from anyone.
“Okay you can go. We will discuss it then I’ll talk it through with
Peter Smith Hudson’s head of house and we will be in touch. But Joel
listen up, next time you want a wank do it in your room or the toilet
not in a place where anyone can see, understood?
The boy left, Alex English laughed, “I wonder if either of them came, or was about to? We need more info!”
They all laughed. “well guys what punishment - if any? We could say
being caught red handed by a teacher is bad enough, should we add to
that embarrassment?
As captain of sport I think they need
punishing, I get they were horny but they are 16/17 and should know
better. I know we are all guys who jerk off but doing it in the showers
is not okay so i think they deserve something, a whacking in my
opinion.
Unsworth nodded in agreement, “I concur David,
can’t let this slide, a little bit more embarrassment will send a clear
message out to everyone as I’m sure this will get out very soon.
Davis reflected, and asked Forrester his opinion, “Daniel you know Clarke, and the other boy. “
“Yes both nice lads, who will both be really embarrassed by it all. I
get the comments about punished for doing something wring but it must
be proportionate. They are going to get a fair bit of stick for it
anyway, a few people already know about it, so soon all the lower sixth
will.”
“Right okay everyone will have a chat with Petter Smith
over the weekend and we will take it from there.” He looked at his
watch it was now 730pm. “Right we’ve got time for a quick break grab a
drink and then we shall deal with this fight. Daniel please check the
boys and witnesses are all present, Thanks.”
The hearing
The
prefects grabbed some drinks and Forrester ushered in Rory Collier and
Jay Morgan, who nervously stood before them. Davis explained what would
happen.
“We have invest aged the fight, both of you have
given your accounts and a number of witnesses have been spooks to and
it seems a clear picture of what happened has emerged. We have a
summary of it and if you both agree then we shall send all the
witnesses away, let each of you speak and then we will decide what will
happen. Youngman will read the summary, Tom.”
"It seems this
all started a few days before the fight over a disagreement about who
could tell who what to do. Morgan is shadow junior prefect to Alex
English responsible for the 5th year. He and Collier have clashed over
a number of matters where we are told Collier believes that Morgan has
been pushing his weight around ordering boys around in his new role.
There was an argument over lights out on Saturday evening and the next
morning Morgan apparently ordered Collier to have a cold shower as a
punishment for being rude and swearing at him the evening before.
Collier and a couple of witnesses state that Morgan made jokes about
the size or lack of it of Colliers penis, and was laughing at him.
Later that day Sunday the two got in another argument and Collier lost
his temper and shouted at Morgan that “he was a wanker and a pervert”
and then pushed him hard so he fell over. Witnesses have said that both
boys started fighting and grappling and punching each other until Mr.
Taylor intervened. Both boys have not spoken to each other once and
have given each other a wide berth lest we assume they start if again
making things worse. That’s the summary of what we have gathered Davis.”
“Thanks Tom. Right I realise you may disagree over some of the fiber
points of that but in essence is there anything fundamentally wrong
with that account?” Both boys shook theur heads.
“Good.
Daniel can you therefore tell the waiting boys they are not needed.
Thank you. Right mitigation. Morgan you first - what would you like to
say on your behalf.”
Morgan looked cross and it was clear he thought he hadn’t done anything wrong.
"I was just trying to do my job and I thought I had to make sure rules
were followed. Collier didn’t follow the rules so I punished him, yes I
am sorry I did make remarks, but I was trying to be funny. I didn’t
realise it would make him angry. We have never got on but he pushing
the limits and I thought getting tough would be best. I know we
shouldn’t have been fighting but he started it by his behaviour and by
pushing me on Sunday. I don’t believe apart from my jokes about his
willy I’ve done anything wrong.”
David was not impressed
with the answer but kept his thoughts to himself and turned to Collier
who was far more contrite as he realised, unlike his older rival, that
they were in serious trouble. He adopted a complete stance of
contrition and apology.
“I was out of order I know and I’m
sorry. We were winding him up as a junior prefect and we should not
have done it, but I thought the cold shower was harsh, but he
definitely shouldn’t have been making remarks about my willy. It’s not
my fault its small. Those comments hurt and he made fun of me. Everyone
was laughing. When he started ordering me about again I just lost my
temper so I shouted at him and pushed him which I shouldn’t have done,
and I apologized. But he didn’t just step away, he could have just
reported me, and I would been sent here, and no doubt whacked, but he
came straight back and punched me and so the fight started. I’m sorry
Davis.”
Thank you both, you shall now wait outside, and we
will decide what will happen to you both but suffice to say we are not
impressed, and neither is Mr. Taylor and we all know what that means.
Get out and do not speak to each other whilst we discuss your fates.
Well gents thst was interesting, initial thoughts?
Alex
English spoke first – “well I know them both well. Morgan is an idiot
and I have had some of my lads complaining that he is a bit up himself,
you know ‘ I’m a prefect you’ve got to do what I say’ etc. rather than
being a leader and getting alongside them especially when he’s only in
the year above. I don’t think he’s cut out to be a prefect, and he
shouldn’t have been making fun of Collier. That’s not right. As for
little collier he is a little pain , cheeky often misbehaves but he’s
not nasty just silly. He is one of the youngest and takes things to
heart so I can see why he reacted to the cold shower and being made fun
of. So both guilty but different degrees.”
Eddington agreed,
“I like Collier, but he is silly, young for his age. I think he is
truly sorry whereas Morgan comes across as still believing he has done
nothing wrong.”
Roberts added, “Morgan should have known
better, as collier said after the push he could have said enough, you
are on report, but he fought back. That’s a big red flag in my book.”
A general consensus emerged, and a punishment response agreed.
“Ok thanks I will have to run our proposed punishment for migrant past the boss obviously but let’s have them back in."