With the Headmaster's Approval by Jan Hurst-Nicholson

wouldn’t put it past her to have put pin pricks in them, so the best place is probably the bin. But you’d better put them inside something else – we don’t want the cleaners gossiping,” he said, with a rueful grin.
     
    The final day of term brought with it an air of excited anticipation as the girls arrived in their ‘civvies’. They were looking forward to seeing the staff wearing fancy dress and speculated on what Adam would be wearing. He strode into school carrying a suit bag hooked through his thumb and slung over his shoulder, but they had no idea what it concealed. He stored it the head’s cloakroom away from prying eyes.
    At morning assembly they had a carol service and then Adam presented Fred Smith with his gift of a warm winter cardigan, which had been discreetly selected by his wife.
    When the bell went for morning break the staff streamed into their cloakroom with their costumes and began changing, amid squeals of girlish laughter.
    Barbara Crook was decked out as Annie Oakley with a button-straining check shirt and complete with toy rifle.
    Dee Taylor had decided on Boadicea and wore an ankle-length woollen dress with a cape made from an old curtain.
    Kate O’Brien had hired an Alice in Wonderland outfit.
    Annette Woolf had found an old shawl and a shabby skirt in the props wardrobe and had dirtied her face with stage make-up to look like a beggar. She was carrying a begging bowl with a few coppers rattling around in the bottom.
    Hayley Price had used her artistic talents to create a hippie outfit.
    Lauren Mathews wore a calf length skirt with scarves layered over it and an off-the-shoulder low-cut cotton blouse. A red headscarf and long gold earrings completed her ensemble as a gypsy.
    Eleanor Stannard had scratched through the props and found a pointy hat and a cloak and made a name badge declaring herself Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter.
    Lisa wore one of Neil’s shirts, a pair of bedsocks and a knitted bobble hat and carried a candle as Wee Willie Winkie.
    When the y had all gathered in the staffroom there was still no sign of Adam. Lisa was about to call him when he suddenly appeared in the doorway, his tall frame almost filling it. There was a collective gasp of approval. He was wearing his naval uniform. The black double-breasted jacket had six gold buttons, gold stripes on the sleeves, and ribbons over the left breast pocket. His crisp white shirt was set off by a neatly knotted black tie. But it was the white peaked cap pulled low over his brow that gave him a movie star appearance. What was it about a man in a uniform? Perhaps it was the symbol of authority that made it such a powerful aphrodisiac.
    There was an amused smile playing on his lips as he shifted his weight onto one foot and leaned on the doorpost surveying them.
    “Wel l, hello sailor,” said Barbara Crook. “Come on in and join us.”
    He pushed himself off and walked into the room just as Jenna emerged from the kitchen. She had done a role reversal with her costume and was wearing a junior girl’s school uniform. Her long hair was divided into bunches tied with burgundy ribbons. The yellow cotton blouse was worn under a burgundy pinafore dress that fitted her slim figure while still following its subtle curves, but was way shorter than school rules allowed and showed off her long smooth legs that ended in white ankle socks and black shoes. She was every man’s sexual fantasy and as she slunk cat-like across the room and sat primly on the couch there was no mistaking the look that flashed fleetingly across Adam’s face – which did not go unnoticed by Barbara Crook.
    He sprawled on the sofa opposite Jenna, his arm resting along the back, his legs spread wide. Her lips curved into an amused smile. “What does your cap badge say: The Dorchester or is it The Hilton Hotel ? Is there valet parking?”
    He fixed her with a quiet gaze. “Careful Miss Murray,” he said. “Cheeky girls get detention.”
    “A nd