Not Having Fun

023

A note home means I get punished at home. Maybe they'll understand! Cause Mum saw me do my homework with Jemima and didn't say anything. And like I said, it isn't really cheating!

I get through lunchtime with Mrs Lammond. I don't want to talk and neither does she. When I finish re-doing my homework (with a lot of mistakes and a much lower mark), I put my hand up to as to leave. She doesn't notice. 

"Mrs Lammond?"

She looks up from her book, her reading glasses perched on her nose.

"I'm finished. Can I leave?"

With a sigh, she returns to her book. "Sit there quietly, Max,"

I look at the clock. There's still four numbers left before lunchtime is over! "Can I please go out to play Mrs Lammond?"

"Be quiet, Max. Get a book from the shelf," she looks up at me again. "Or you can start your homework for tonight,"

"No!!" I stand up and push my chair back. "I finished my homework and I'm going out to play!"

"Sit down right now!" she seems offended. Good! She should be.

"You said I only had to stay in and do my homework! Now I want to go and play!"

"I told you to stay in at lunchtime and to redo your homework. And I don't think you deserve to go play outside," she explains. "Sit in your seat or we can go to Mrs Connelly's office,"

The headteacher... oh no! I sit down at my seat, ready for four numbers of boredom.

At the end of the day, Mr's Lammond calls me up to her desk. I've realised a way that I can beat her. I'm scared about being spanked, but she doesn't have to know that. And she doesn't get an excuse to write a new note. So I smile and walk up to her desk.

"Take that home," she tells me. I can tell she's confused by my smile.

"Okay!" I go back to my desk.

"Aren't you scared?" Jemima whispers to me.

"Uh huh," I nod. Then I remember a line from one of the movies Dad watches. "But she doesn't have to know that,"

"What about when you get home?"

"I'll try to get out of it," I answer with a shrug.

When I get home, Dad tells me to do my homework like usual. But I stand in front of him and look down instead. "I have a note home,"

"Well, give it to me," he sighs. I hand it to him and he reads it.  His brow furrows as he gets more and more conflicted.

"I watched you and Jemima do your homework together. Were you copying her?"

"I don't know," I admit. "I didn't do the work but I didn't mean to copy. I just wrote the same answers she did,"

"Max, that's copying,"

"I'm sorry," I look at the floor.

"It says you were disruptive and rude to your teacher as well. Do you want to tell me about that?"

I huff. "Mrs Lammond kept me in at lunchtime so I shouted at her!"

"You did what?! Max, you can't act that way towards your teacher. If you felt she shouldn't have kept you in, you could have told me or your mum about it. I don't care about the homework, but you're in big trouble for shouting at your teacher!"

I look down, still with nothing to say. Dad doesn't tolerate shouting at grown ups.

"Stand in the corner while I make dinner, your Mum can deal with you tonight,"

When she gets home, Dad explains the situation to her. I butt in when he leaves something out, but neither of them give me into trouble for it. "I watched them do homework together too, I should've caught that Max wasn't understanding it," she looks down at me. "You Dad and I are going to start helping you with your homework more,"

"O-Okay. I'm sorry Mum,"

"You're not in trouble for the homework, Max. You're in trouble for being rude to your teacher. That's unacceptable and not the way to handle that,"

I nod. Dad already said that. Why do lectures feel like they drag on forever? 

Dad sits at the table and pulls me over his knee. "Why are you being spanked, Max?"

"Because I shouted at my teacher and that's wrong,"

"Right," he pulls down my school trousers.

"You're getting fifteen," he says. "That's three times your age. It sounds about right for your behaviour,"

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

"Ah - ow!" I start crying.

"Being rude to your teachers and getting a note sent home is terrible behaviour!"

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

"Next time, come to one of us if you have a problem at school. We'll sort it out. Don't act stupid and get into trouble over nothing!"

SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK

Dad lets me up and I whimper. It' really hurts! So I shoot my hands back and rub my bum. Dad is so mean!

"I'll write a note to Mrs Lammond that you had a family commitment and can't do tonight's homework," Mum tells me. That makes me smile a bit.

"And if she's doing something you think is wrong - tell us," Dad kneels down and hugs me. "You know why you got in trouble. But you need to know that you can trust us to be on your side,"

I start to cry. "Why are you crying?" Mum asks.

"I'm bad!"

Dad pulls my into a hug. "You're not bad. You make mistakes, like we all do," "

"Okay," I wipe my eyes and stop crying, but I'm not sure I believe him. If I'm not naughty, why do I get spanked? Grown ups don't know what they're talking about.