Dione 2

The next few days went quite well. Dione really didn't want to get on Jurek's wrong side again any time soon, so she tried to attend all her classes, do her homework and stick to the rules. She got to know the other students of her age quickly, and liked most of them. She made friends with a girl called Lubna, who was nearly her age and quite similar to her in character and interests. Lubna had grown up on earth and had never been to space. She was immensely interested in Dione's life on the research platform and was a bit disappointed to discover that it wasn't nearly as exciting as she had imagined. On the other hand, she could tell Dione a lot about life on Earth. The two of them spent most of their spare time together. Lubna showed Dione around the city, and she encouraged her to join the floorball team – a variant of hockey that was played in a normal gym, not on ice, invented in Scandinavia centuries ago. Dione found out that she liked it and wasn't at all bad at it.

Unfortunately, the other students in most of her classes were at least a year or two younger than she was, because she was so backward in practically everything except for maths and computer sciences. The system of classes was very flexible here, not based on age, but on the students' level. She soon found out that the maths and computer classes she was in were fairly easy for her, and asked Jurek if she could try a higher level.
'Well,' Jurek said. 'I actually discussed that with your teachers. They say that you already know a lot of the things they teach, though not all of them, but that your knowledge is not very systematic. I think it would be a good solution for you to stay in that class for a few more months, until you've had a chance to catch up on the background knowledge you're lacking. Your teachers have agreed, however, to help you with this as much as they can and to additionally give you more challenging exercises and homework tasks. We certainly don't want you to get bored.'
'Uhm... okay, that sounds fine,' said Dione, a little disappointed; but she couldn't deny that Jurek't solution made sense and was really fair. In spite of the spanking he had given her last week, she couldn't help liking him. He was nice (as long as he wasn't annoyed), had a strong sense of humour, and seemed to take a real interest in her.
'Thanks for ... for caring so much about my studies,' she said, a little embarassed.
'Just return the favour by taking a lot of effort in your classes,' he said and smiled.

Well, she tried. She really tried. But there were so many things to be done that were a lot more fun than learning Hindi words, or practicing Japanese writing, or studying some theoretical maths stuff that didn't really help her in DOING anything. She found herself opening her book, while at the same time doodling with her terminal until a message from Lubna came in, asking if she wanted to go to a juice stall and have some fresh Guava juice, or just come to her room for a cup of tea and a chat. When she had been admonished several times by her teachers, she finally received a call from Jurek right after lunch one day, asking her to please come to his office. She gulped and found herself strongly regretting that she had been out to eat ice cream yesterday instead of trying to understand this complicated maths thing she had dismissed as purely theoretical and not at all relevant. Of course, she went immediately. Jurek was not the kind of person ou left waiting.

To her immense relief, she saw no paddle lying around upon entering Jurek's room. However, he still looked much to serious for her liking. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk and, as was his habit, wasted no time, but came straight to the point.
'I've had several complaints about your work, Dione,' he said. 'From nearly all of your teachers. Even in maths. You seem to be doing well in history and geography, but slacking in anything else. You don't do your homework properly, and you don't seem to review any of your lessons in your spare time. You had promised me to try and do well in your classes, but it seems to me that you're not applying yourself. Can you give me any reason for this behaviour?'
She shrugged helplessly.
He sighed. 'When I ask you a question, I expect an answer. An honest answer. How else could I be able to deal with this situation?'
She looked at the carpet. 'I tried to do my work, really,' she said. 'It's just... oh, it's difficult to explain.'
'I don't care,' he said calmly. 'Difficult or not, give me an explanation. And look at me when I'm talking to you.'
She looked at his serious face and took a deep breath. 'There is no real excuse, I guess,' she said. 'Just that... well, I'm probably not used to studying really hard. And there are so many diversions here, I'm not used to that either. It's new for me to be with people my age, and to be able to go out and do things. Every day, when I'm trying to do my homework, something I don't want to miss pops up. I mean, this is the first time I've ever had a friend, apart from my brother, who is not at all like me and who was mainly getting on my nerves all the time.'
'And vice versa, I guess,' Jurek said with a tiny smile.
'Probably,' she admitted, relieved that he didn't seem to be really mad at her.
'Well,' Jurek said, 'this is all quite understandable, but it can't go on like that.'
Dione felt a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. This is it, she thought. Now he's going to tell me to pull down my pants.
She slowly got up.
'Excuse me?' Jurek asked astonished. 'What do you think you're doing?'
She stared at him. 'I'm sorry,' she mumbled, flushing, and sat down again. He frowned at her, puzzled, but decided to continue.
'First of all, it's nice that you have found a friend so fast, and that you have so much fun in the floorball team, but I wouldn't go along with everything Lubna suggests. She's a nice girl and can be really amusing, but she tends to get in trouble all the time because she just doesn't take any effort with her schoolwork and prefers to play the fool instead. In the past months, I haven't been happy with her results at all, and it has become worse after you arrived here. Obviously, if you've spent all your spare time together, she has had no more time to get her homework done than you've had.'
'However, we are not talking about Lubna now, but about you. I think what you need is some fixed time set aside for your homework and studies every day, without any disturbances.' He called up her timetable on his screen, looked at it for a few minutes and made some changes. He then handed her a palm screen to show her what he'd done. 'I've set aside two hours every school day for homework, reading and studying,' he said. 'To make sure you use this time properly, you will report to me every day at the designated time, and I will assign you to a small workroom where you have nothing but a terminal and your school things to concentrate on. No comm line, no games, nothing to draw your attention from school work. When I'm convinced that you're starting to take your studies more seriously, you can go back to doing your homework in your room like every other responsible person your age.'
She flushed. 'I'm sorry I disappointed you,' she said quietly, to her own surprise finding that she really meant it.
'I'm sure you'll do better soon, with this unique opportunity to completely concentrate on your homework each day,' he said with a hint of a smile. She just nodded. She hated having her homework controlled like a little child, but she knew she couldn't expect anything else after having ignored so many warnings. In fact, she felt lucky Jurek hadn't punished her worse. E.g., spanked her.
When she got up to leave, he suddenly asked: 'Dione?'
'Yes?' she said.
'Why is it you have been getting so much better at history and geography, of all things?'
She hesitated. 'I haven' really thought about it... I guess it just seems to mean something to me for the first time, now I'm here on Earth. And I've discovered it's interesting to know how people live their lifes, or how they've lived in the past. Compared to the people I see around me. I don't know if that makes sense?'
'It does,' he said, and smiled.

When Dione had left the room, he sighed. 'So, what am I going to do with Lubna?' he wondered.

Dione went to see Lubna and tell her about her talk with Jurek. Lubna of course sympathized with her. She knew Jurek quite well, as he had been her tutor since the beginning of the term – he was taking care of about half of the students of their age. Lubna just told Dione about her last serious talk with Jurek, where she had been admonished 'one last time', when her comm line beeped. Lubna threw one look at it and said 'Damn, talk about the devil... I hope you haven't told Jurek anything about me that could make me look bad?' Dione shrugged and replied, 'Just that we like to do stuff together in our spare time – and that it sometimes prevented me from doing my homework. But I didn't say that's your fault. Well, it isn't, it's my own stupid fault.' Lubna sighed. 'Wonderful. Thanks a lot. I'm sure Jurek doesn't share your point of view, which means I'm in trouble.' She got up. 'I gotta get going,' she said. 'Wish me luck. If I don't come back, look for my will in the left bottom drawer of my desk.'

When Lubna got into Jurek's office, she immediately saw that her tutor was not in the mood for arguments. So she prepared herself to admit everything, whatever it was, be very meek and apologetic and promise to do better the next time. She hoped that would somehow get her out of trouble, like the last time. However, Jurek didn't leave her any chance to convince him of her good intentions. He didn't even bother telling her to sit down.
'I assume you know why I summoned you here,' he said calmly, but very firmly. 'The last time I had this kind of talk with you, I made it quite clear that I would'nt tolerate any more of your lazy, irresponsible behaviour. It seems that I haven't made any lasting impression on you. You not only continue to neglect your studies, but you have also encouraged a new student to do the same without even thinking about the trouble you get her into.' Lubna wanted to protest, but Jurek cut her off. 'Yes, I know, it's her own fault if she rather goes out with you than do her homework, and I have dealt with that problem, but that doesn't make YOU look better. In contrast to Dione, you know very well what kind of trouble you both got yourself into with your behaviour. You also know that she isn't used to studying responsibly on her own, and you didn't give her any chance to learn to do so. What's worse, the reports I get from your teachers don't get any better, on the contrary. I obviously haven't been getting through to you, and I intend to change that here and now. Drop your pants.'
Lubna blanched. 'But... you can't...' she stammered.
Jurek raised her eyebrows. 'Excuse ME?' he asked coldly.
Lubna gave in to the inevitable. 'Yes, Sir,' she said and slowly lowered her pants.
'Step out,' Jurek said, while opening his desk drawer and getting out the big paddle. Lubna swallowed hard. She had hoped to at least get away with a handspanking, but apparently, this wasn't her lucky day. Following Jurek's orders, she slowly lowered herself over the back of the chair in front of Jurek's desk and grabbed its front legs, which pulled her up until she was standing on tiptoe. She shivered as she felt Jurek pull down her panties sharply.
Then the paddle shortly touched her bottom, left and came back with full force. WHAP! Lubna yelped. She hadn't known how much this hurt. She had been spanked lots of times before, but had always managed to avoid more than a handspanking or the ruler. But she didn't have time to reflect on this, as the paddle connected with her bottom a second time. WHAP! Lubna resisted a strong urge to cover her bottom and grabbed the legs of the chair more tightly. WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! Lubna pressed her lips together, but the sixth spank elicited a whimper. WHAP! 'Ouch!' WHAP! 'OUCH!' WHAP! 'OWWWIIEPLEASEITHURTS' WHAP! 'AAAAPLEASEPLEASE' WHAP! 'SOOOORRYI'MSORRYI'LLWORKHARDERIPROMISE!' WHAP! After the twelfth spank, Lubna's wails became incoherent, and she lost track of the count. She couldn't think of anything than the throbbing pain in her bottom and the need to grip the chair's legs – she knew very well that any attempt to touch her bottom would earn her extra spanks. This was by far the longest and hardest spanking she had ever received. Lubna was absolutely hysterical when the spanking finally stopped, and it took her several minutes to regain enough of her composure to realize that the spanking was over and she was allowed to stand up. Jurek had already put the paddle away and sat behind his desk, waiting silently. Finally, Lubna gingerly pulled her panties up. Her frantic sobbing became even louder when the material touched her scorching bottom. Nevertheless, she knew better than to stall, and collected her pants and put them on. She looked in her pockets for a hanky and didn't find one. Jurek took one from his drawer and handed it to her. ''nkyou,' Lubna murmured, then blew her nose and wiped her tear-streaked face. She was still crying softly, but finally in a state to listen.
Jurek calmly asked: 'Will you try to work harder from now on?'
'Y-Yes, Sir,' Lubna managed to say, her voice shaking.
'Will you stop distracting Dione from her work that you very well know she has to do?'
'Yes, Sir, I promise,' Lubna replied, and meant it. She felt that she would never be so stupid again to give Jurek a reason for a spanking like that.
'Good,' Jurek said. 'Nevertheless, some additional motivation won't hurt. The same rules that apply to Dione will apply to you until further notice: Two hours assigned for your homework every day, to be spent in a special workroom, starting tomorrow. I've already registered the times in your timetable. Have a look at them some time today. You may leave.'

Lubna left the room, still shaking. Dione was waiting for her in the corridor and ran towards her when she got out. 'I'm so sorry!' she cried. 'I hadn't meant to get you in trouble, really!'
Lubna's previous anger with Dione faded. 'Oh, forget it,' she said. weakly. 'This would have happened sooner or later anyway – I just didn't care enough for my work, and that pissed him off. I guess we should both try to be good girls now, at least for a while. Trust me, you don't want to make the acquaintance of that paddle. And I don't want to know what Jurek has in store for me if he has to have that talk with me another time. No, really, I don't want to know.'