“Well of course we wanted someone who would visually appealing.” Mr Harcourt smiled a little awkwardly as if choosing his words carefully. Kerry was under no illusion about being the prettiest girl in the school or even her year but many of the girls who were more conventionally beautiful were probably on the thin side for a roaster. Besides, she knew that she was pretty in her own cute, simple way and supposed this was actually what they were looking for to avoid accusations of trying to promote their young students’ sex appeal. “And Miss Whitlow did mention that you had an ideal body for spit-roasting.” Miss Whitlow was the PE teacher who, as the one who often supervised the girls going in and out of the shower, was the only member of the teaching staff until a few minutes ago who had seen her naked. “But more important than that,” the Principal beamed indulgently again, “we wanted someone who we believed would properly represent the values of the school. A good and diligent student who we could all feel proud of! We want, you see.” he continued, “to show people that becoming a Sidney’s academy will not dampen the academic excellence we are known for. So I asked my staff to recommend a girl who was pretty, would be good to eat and who properly represented the kind of student we want to attract and, almost unanimously, they picked you!”

“Oh!” Kerry smiled in a more genuine way this time, unable to help feeling proud about what she heard. Perhaps she had not been the first choice and was simply the first whose parent had agreed, or maybe there had been several potential candidates and her name had been drawn from a hat but she didn’t really care. Mr Harcourt was presenting the selection as a strong compliment and she chose to take it that way! “Thank you!” She hesitated for a moment or two. “So… what now? Should I get dressed again if we’re going over to the other school?”

“Actually I have this you can put on if you’d rather?” Josie reached into her bag. “If you don’t mind, that is?” She pulled out something pink in a crinkly, clear plastic sleeve like shirts often come in. She passed it to Kerry who opened the top, pulled out the soft garment inside and shook it out, finding it to be a soft, satin bath robe with the Sidney’s logo across the back. It was undeniably very pretty, even if baby-pink was normally her colour. She slipped it on, finding it fit well, and tied the chord around her waist. “We thought it will help put your counterpart at ease.” Josie explained. “But we knew you might not be ready to show everything off so publicly just yet. Oh!” She pulled out a second packet. “There’s these too!” This packet contained a fairly cheap-looking pair of flip-flops, the kind that might be given out free at a swimming pool. These were the same pink as the robe and had the Sidney’s logo across the bridge. Kerry realised that these were probably things the more modest meat-girls at the restaurant were given to wear while waiting their turn. “Great!” Josie smiled once Kerry was dressed and her mum started packing away her school clothes into a carrier bag she had brought with her. “Let’s get the papers signed then we can head over then, once we’re done, I think Mr Harcourt said you can head home?”

“Yes, absolutely!” the Principal smiled again. “We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow and Friday of course then Monday will be your big day!”

“The deposit will be paid today.” Josie assured Mrs Mulligan. “You should see it in your account first thing tomorrow at the very latest. We hope it will allow the two of you to do something fun over the weekend. As long as you’re careful of course!” she turned back to Kerry with a wink. “No rock-climbing, sky-diving or other extreme sports, please!” Kerry giggled, sitting down in Josie’s vacated seat as the smartly-dressed woman moved to the sofa. “There’s not a lot to fill in.” Josie explained as Kerry began to look through the sheaf of papers from the envelope. “It’s mostly just consent forms. There’s more than usual because of the filming as well as the normal cooking stuff. Basically, aside from waiving your human rights and allowing us to cook you and serve your meat, you’re granting us permission to film and photograph you both before and during cooking, and serving of course, and to use the footage for any purposes we deem fit, okay?”


(To be continued...)