Breeders

Bargained Punishments

Ally and I both held our breath as Miss Dayglow made her way from the platform to our table, a look of sheer dissatisfaction on our fellow classmates. “Do these sinners have anything to say for themselves?”

They all remained silent, lest they talk out of turn. Talking unless given express permission to do so was minus ten points, precious points that would take all week just to earn back. I saw Maybel bite her tongue, holding in her breath as she refused to look at any others around her.

Sit looked like she had avoided most of the splatter, only getting a few drops on her dress hem; but a blemish was a blemish. “Maybel; perhaps you have something to say?” Miss Dayglow picked up on it, giving her permission to speak.

“It is my own fault, Miss Dayglow. If I had been properly prepared, I would have foreseen such an unfortunate accident and taken the correct measures to be presentable.” It was smart of Maybel to word it such a way. Her discipline would probably be less than the others because of it. Blaiming others for your own failures was another ten points.

“Hmmm… and you, Trixie.” She pointed at Maybel’s roommate, more than likely in front of Maybel when the mess dropped.

“I agree with Maybel. Of If I had been paying attention more and properly prepared, this would have been easily avoided. I ask to have no less than fifteen points be removed from me for my errors.” Another smart move, showing proper remorse and giving herself an out for worse punishments.

“Alright then. Twenty points will be deducted from each of you and your… appearance. You will be given one half hour to change and present yourselves back here. Any late will be doing extra gym and stretching exercises.” She turned from our table and paused, speaking out loud to the rest of the room. “They will also not have food for the next two days for the sake of their errors.”

“Yes, Miss Dayglow.” We all chimed together, a collective relief going about the room. They had gotten off easy it seems, our school headmaster probably in good spirits to have new arrivals for the day.

The room filled with a soft chatter soon after when food was brought out, the staff serving us all. I had two egg whites, apple cinnamon oatmeal, a slice of bacon, half a cup of orange juice, and a small blueberry muffin. I savored each bite of my food, Ally sighing next to me. “Man, I miss being in first place and getting the muffin.”

“Here.” I took a bite and handed her the rest, watching her pop it into her mouth and stifle a small moan.

“God. It tastes like heaven.” Ally moaned a little as she savored the bite, Judy glaring at us from a few seats down. Only the most pure got a something little extra with each meal, meaning that her jealousy would probably never end.

The rest of our class finally made it back to us, all of them waisting no time in their new roles. “At least we don’t have to worry about cleaning up all of that.” Ally whispered to me, a ping of sympathy for the staff who would be cleaning it all up making me nod my head.

A thought occurred to me then about all of the silly tasks they have us do, like sitting prettily or even making a bed correctly; but a deep cleaning wasn’t one of those things. I remembered in year three when a classmate had asked about that during etiquette class and receiving the answere that us ladies would be having more important jobs than cleaning; that job was for the help. The more I thought about it though as I savored my orange juice, the more things seemed slightly silly to me. It was as if I was having a brief moment of clarity as I focused on my upbringing in this school.

We had classes of etiquette and manners, how to dress and how to do our hair and makeup in various styles our suitor might like. We learned about building nests with bedding if we ever decided to have babies, how to stretch and bend in all shapes and poses, one class even taught us how to hold bodily functions until we could be excused. It all really didn’t make much sense to me; but then again, I was only an omega.

The bell chimed as it signaled that breakfast was over, all of us dropping what we had been eating if we hadn’t been done as we all stood as one and dispersed into lines to our classes. We had gym next, the thought of bending and stretching or even running after my meal a tedious thing after having just eaten, but it was what it was. I also detested spending any real time near Instructor Peterson, the man making my skin crawl any time he corrected me for too long.

“Ladies, good morning!” Instructor Peterson beamed at us all as we filed into the gym, a bag and some mats laying beside him. “Let’s do some yoga poses this morning, shall we?” He smiled as we all obediently went and got a yoga block from the bag and a thin mat, the balding man holding out an arm to stop me from grabbing one as well. “Not you, Pearl.” He said in a loud voice. “Since it’s your birthday, I have something extra special for you to learn in my office today.”