A custom had been established at Chatswood High that detentions were presided over by the coach. This was a change from the old custom where the newest teacher was the bunny in charge, and no-one knew for certain why the change had been made.
Well, some people obviously knew, but they certainly weren't sharing the knowledge with anyone. Rumours however, abounded. Pretty little cheerleader, Beverly Sender, had heard certain rumours, told to her on the quiet by some members of the team who were trying to talk her into bed. (And up to this point, failing.) Intrigued by some of the information supplied, Beverly decided to follow up on it.
"How can I earn myself a minor detention?" Beverly asked Katrina, one of her friends.
"And just why would you want any sort of detention?" asked Katrina.
"I need a valid reason to be kept after school for a while so that I can be late going home, but I don't want the detention to be for something so serious that I get into trouble at home."
"And why do you need to be late going home?" pushed Katrina, and laughed when Beverly just smirked. "OK. Your simplest bet is to be ten minutes late for Mr. Stafford's class. He hates late comers and always gives them a minor detention while they write 'I won't be late' lines."
"Uh-huh. And is there any way you can tell who else is going to be in detention?"
"Sure. The serious detention list is on the teacher's notice board. Minor detentions aren't on it, but minor detentions don't really need to go to the detention room. If you weren't such a goody-goody you'd know all this."
"Oh. Does that mean that if there are no serious detentions, there'll be no teacher in the detention room?"
"Not really. Coach apparently spends time there every day doing some of his work. If there are any detainees, he can then keep an eye on them?"
"Coach? I thought they just used the newest teacher?"
"Not any more. They used to, but they changed for some reason. No-one knows why."
Beverly thought she knew why but just nodded thoughtfully and changed the subject.
A few days later, due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, Beverly was late to a certain class. Refusing to accept a perfectly good reason, Beverly found herself with a minor detention, the first of her school life. Resignedly, she prepared to visit the detention room after school.
Coach wasn't expecting any detainees that afternoon. There were no serious detentions on the list and minor detainees tended to just sit in their form rooms to rush through whatever small assignment they'd been given. He was somewhat surprised when Beverly came waltzing in.
She explained she had a minor detention and had to write lines which, in her opinion, was a childish punishment and totally not worth giving out. Didn't teachers have any sort of imagination when it came to handing out punishments?
She then settled down at a desk and started scribbling. Fifteen minutes later she was finished.
"Coach, I've finished."
"Very good, Beverly," muttered Coach, not even looking up. "You may go."
"Um, Coach, how come you now take detentions?" asked Beverly, innocence glowing in her voice. "I thought it used to be the newest teacher?"
At that, Coach did look up. "It was just a change of policy decided on by the principal. He decided it would be better to have male teacher here to ensure that there was no trouble from some of the rougher detainees."
"Oh. I heard it was because you raped Miss Jackson here last term while she was taking a detention, so I was just wondering."
Coach went very still, thinking she couldn't have said that, knowing full well that she had.
"Really?" he said, ice in his voice. "And who would have been spreading unfounded rumours like that?"
"I'm a cheerleader, you know," said Beverly cheerfully. "The whole team seems to know the story, or parts of it, and they tell it to us girls when they're trying to get us to have sex with them. They think the story will impress us."
Making a note to train the team so hard they wouldn't have time to either gossip or have sex, Coach rallied quickly.
"Not a word of truth in the story I assure you, so you don't need to worry about being here alone with me."