A Schoolgirl Story

Principal Charles Stanton was a tall man in his early forties. He was quite a commanding presence, athletic and youthful looking. Danielle had told Wendy that Principal Stanton had been a successful amateur tennis champion in his youth and Wendy could well believe it to look at him. His sandy blond hair was greying slightly to make him look a little distinguished, he wore thin wire glasses that Wendy thought he probably wore simply to look academic. He was dressed in a neat tweed suit as he ushered Wendy into a chair in his immaculate, expensively furnished office. His desk was large and dark wood as were the packed bookcases behind him. He sat down on a leather armchair and Wendy sat in an equally comfortable chair on the other side of the desk. He looked at her with inquisitive blue-grey eyes and smiled.
"So, how are you settling in, Miss Sheen?" he asked.

"Really well," Wendy beamed, "I'm really loving everything about Firwood."

"Your mother said you were very eager and willing to learn," he said, "And I see she was right."

He smiled again, slightly wider this time, in a way that made Wendy uncomfortable for the first time and reminded her of her mother's dishevelled appearance coming out of the same office a week earlier. Once again, she wondered what her mother had done to get her accepted here, and this time she also began to wonder whether Principal Stanton was aware of her secret.

"You know Wendy, you're mother's a very special woman," he continued, "And she tells me that you're a very special girl."

Wendy felt increasingly sure that Principal Stanton must know something about her past, after all, some identification must have been needed to register with the school. Maybe that's why her mother had had to come to such an arrangement. Principal Stanton had now got up and was walking around his desk towards her.

"I try hard to pay a lot of personal attention to all my new students," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder as Wendy gulped at his closeness and her anxieties began to come flooding back, "Especially students so specially gifted as you."