Story: What Is Going On?

Weird Reality
Chapter 2 - What Is Going On?
by Breanna Carter

The first thing I heard the next morning was my alarm clock. That damn alarm clock -- the kind that has a loud obnoxious beep that haunts people in their sleep. That's the kind of alarm clock I have.

Like every other morning, I slammed on the snooze button, more than once. Probably a half of dozen times (or so it felt) when I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Alyssa, you'd better get up or Dad's gonna get the shits!" she said.

My heart began pounding inside of my chest. Firstly, she had a British accent. Secondly, Dad? I didn't have a dad.. at least not one that lived with me.

I peeled my eyelids open to see a girl sitting on my bed next to me, clad in a blue plaid skirt, white oxford shirt, knee high white socks, and those black shoes... you know, typical schoolgirl. She had blond hair that fell past her shoulders and gorgeous blue eyes. She seemed like a character from one of Chris's stories.

I rubbed my eyes. Who was this girl in my room sitting on my bed? That's when everything else came into focus: my room! Posters covered the walls.. posters and cds and my guitar was sitting in the corner of the room. A replica of my room when I was in ninth grade. What the hell was going on!

"Lyssa? You okay?" the girl asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... fine," I muttered, closing my eyes.

She stood up and I could hear her fiddling with something on my dresser. "Are you excited about the year?" she asked. "You're going to be in the high school now, and you'll get all the advantages. I'm jealous."

"Awww, don't be jealous," I said, opening my eyes again and propping myself up on my elbow. "I'm sure that it'll be plenty of fun for both of us," I managed to say, getting interrupted in the process.

"Mina! Alyssa! Are you two ready yet? We've only ten minutes before we have to leave," the voice said. I could recognize that sexy British accent anywhere. Wait a minute -- this was too weird. Firstly, some weird British girl is in my room, then I figure out that I'm in my fourteen year-old self's room, and then I hear Hugh Grant in my house... Did all of the things I told Chris *actually* happen?

"We're almost ready!" the girl yelled, whose name I guessed was Mina. "Come on, Alyssa, you gotta hurry and get ready!" She practically dragged me out of bed and threw the school uniform at me.

I groaned and wondered how come she was acting like the older sister when clearly, she was at least two or three years younger than me. At any rate, I decided to get dressed anyway. I let my mickey mouse pj pants fall to the floor, then slipped the skirt up. It was a lot shorter than I remembered school uniforms being. This had to be a dream. I threw my T-shirt off and finished dressing myself, then put on the knee high socks and my shoes, then brushed my hair, trying to not concentrate on the fact that a little girl was watching me the whole time.

There was a slight knock on the door and it swung open. I nearly fainted. "Girls, are you ready yet?" he said, pointing to his watch. "We're going to be late!"

I was trying not to drool and Mina just looked at me.

"For Christ's sake, Alyssa! Do you not have your stuff packed yet?"

It took me a minute, but I finally realized he was actually talking to me. Maybe it was the fact that they were both staring at me. "N-no," I stammered, not really knowing what they were talking about, but knowing that I'd only been up about five minutes and definitely hadn't packed anything.

"Alyssa! You're going to make me wallop you to start off the school year? Not good.." he said.

"I'm getting it done now!" I shrieked, my legs almost turned to jelly at the mention of being "walloped."

He sighed and slammed the door, showing clear signs of anger. "Oh my gosh, Lyss! I can't believe you haven't even packed yet! You'd better hurry! He's going to blow a head gasket!" Mina gasped.

Hehe, she'd definitely gotten that phrase from me!

"I'm going, I'm going," I said, opening the closet and letting a huge suitcase fall out. It was like it was fated to fall out or something. I opened it up and Mina threw clothes at me and I packed them all tightly, making sure to get as much in there as possible. I guess it was then that I realized I was packing to go to school.

Good ol' Hugh came back in while I was finishing up the packing... or maybe I should call him Dad?... "Jesus, Alyssa.. if we're late because of you, I swear you won't be able to sit comfortably through your classes tomorrow."

I gulped and tried to concentrate on packing instead of the excited feeling I was getting. This wasn't right, feeling this way. Isn't one supposed to, uh, not want a spanking? I was tempted to pack slower just to see what it was like! But his anger gave me plenty of good reason not to test him.

We finally had the suitcase packed as full as it'd go and Mina sat on it while I zipped it up. "Phew," she said, wiping the sweat from her brow. "That was.. close!"

I looked at my watch. "Oh no!" I said. "It's been ages since he said we needed to leave!"

She bit her lower lip.

"Girls! Are you finished yet!" he yelled from the other room.

"Your bum is toast," she told me, in all sympathy.

I nodded as she stood from the suitcase and I lifted it. "Oh," she said, "don't forget your diary!" She put it in my backpack and threw it to me. I didn't get to spend long in my fourteen year-old self's room, but I figured there'd be plenty of time for that later. I was curious to get on with the rest of this dream!

Dad was cursing profusely when we got downstairs to the living room. "How many times do you have to hear that goddamn alarm before you wake up?" he was saying. "I swear I'm going to just start coming up there with my belt and see how long it takes for you to wake up then."

I didn't answer.. a look from Mina told me it'd be best to keep quiet.

He half dragged us out to the car. Wow it was nice! I didn't have much time to think about its niceness, though. He threw our suitcases into the trunk, shoved us in the car, and sped off. He griped the whole drive, exclaiming how we were going to be late and talking about how embarrassing it was to him and all this nonsense. I wasn't really paying attention, even though I did get to be the one who sat in the front seat in good hearing distance.

The drive was really only about thirty or fourty-five minutes. We arrived at a college-looking campus with bold letters of "Elm Grove School" engraved on the main building. I found that kind of weird since that was the school that Chris and I had attended together. Maybe it was just a weird dream thing.

Dad parked the car in front of the main building, the one with the name of the school engraved in it, and opened his door, still furious with me. Mina and I opened our doors as well. I decided to follow her lead. She acted as if she knew what she was doing.

We went into the building and into a room on the left where there was a huge desk with one lady standing behind it. She looked up and smiled at us. I didn't see any signs of any other people around. I assumed it was because we were late..

"I'm terribly sorry," Dad said. "We were just running a little late.."

"Oh, it's no problem, Mr. Grant. You know that," the lady said. "I was wondering about you guys... you're never late! I figured there must have been some kind of problem.."

He looked at me and then nodded at the lady. "Yes, some kind of problem," he repeated and I felt my stomach being twisted into knots. "Anyway, we're here now and ready to register."

She smiled again and pulled out two folders. He proceeded to fill out each of the registration forms, which I was kind of glad about since I wasn't exactly sure who I was. Then he handed Mina and I a handbook and a list of our class schedules. Mina rolled her eyes. "Why do we get a new handbook every year? Do they enjoy wasting trees?" I smiled, though I was glad of the handbook. Then I'd at least know what was going on, kind of.

Dad handed the registration forms back to the lady and she smiled again, as if it were plastered on her face. She then bent down, digging into something underneath the desk, and finally pulled out a manilla envelope. She searched through it, finally finding the two remaning small envelopes, one with my name on it, and the other with Mina's. They each had a different room number on them and someone else's name.

"Girls, these are your rooms for the year. Both of you will be staying in Jackson Hall.." Mina grinned widely at the sound of that. I guessed that was a good thing? "Mina, you'll be rooming with Michelle Nichols, and Alyssa you're with Bailey Sawyer. I doubt you'll have any trouble finding your room, but if you do, you can come back here and I'll direct you."

Both of us nodded and Mina was still grinning. Dad shook the lady's hand and thanked her, then led us both back into the hallway. "Okay, Mina... go on and Alyssa will find you later," he said.

Mina semi-pouted, but didn't think much of it while giving me a sympathetic look and scampering off. I just stood there, heart thumping. I mean, seriously... it was thumping loudly. Anticipation? Fear? Excitement? A combination? Yeah. Everything. You name it, I was probably feeling it. Here I was in this weird dreamworld, knowing that seconds before I'd get the spanking from this sexy British actor, I'd wake up. Knowing that made me want it even more.

He put his hand on my back which made me shudder a little. All the while I'm thinking, "OMG this is the best dream ever!"

"Alyssa, you know I'm disappointed in you. We've had numerous talks about you not waking up on time."

"I know," I said, because it felt like the right thing to say. "I'm sorry."

"You've been sorry a countless number of times, Young Lady. It's about time we do something about this. I'm not letting it slide again, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

He led me farther down the hallway until we arrived at one of those handicapped unisex bathrooms. You know, the kind that you walk in and the toilet's just right there? No stalls or anything?

He walked me inside then shut the door and locked it behind him. I stood there nervously, biting my lower lip and unable to stand still. That was the first time I'd seen myself all day -- I'd been in such a hurry, brushing my teeth in a split second, brushing my hair with no mirror, I hadn't even bothered to remember how I looked at fourteen. I'll say this much -- I looked much younger! My hair was shoulder length and wavy, my eyes deep blue. I was shorter, maybe 5'1", and definitely skinnier. My fingernails were painted black. It was me!

Dad wasn't paying much attention to my change in figure, though... he was rolling up his sleeves. That made me gulp! My heart was still racing, and I was feeling much more nervous by this time. My throat was dry, but there was this huge lump in my there so I couldn't swallow. My hands were shakey -- hell, my whole body was shakey! My knees were weak.. at any moment I might collapse.

He sat down. "All right, Alyssa, come here," he ordered.

I was waiting to wake up... waiting for the dream to end. When I realized it wasn't, I knew the sicko who imposed this upon me would make me wake up right when I got over his knee.

I slowly made my way towards him, shuffling a little so I wouldn't accidentally fall. I really didn't want to fall -- that'd be uber embarrassing. Even if he was my dad, he was still Hugh Grant, and still sexy, and still had that hott British accent, and he was Hugh Grant for God's sakes! Who stumbles in front of him?

Finally, I made it by his side, still biting on my lower lip. My nerves were bad as ever by this time. I wanted this so badly, yet was scared of what was coming, and even morely, scared I'd wake up!

He didn't even bother lecturing, just dragged me over his knee, my hands instantly hitting the floor. I was scared that I was going to fall, which I wasn't since he had a firm grip on me, so I kept my hands planted on the cold tile floor. I shivered. He hurridly lifted my skirt and pulled my panties down. Ohhh, so the evil spirits were going to actually let him get that far, *then* wake me up!

Then he started spanking! I mean, like, hard! He spanked and spanked and spanked, covering my cheeks all over, and focusing on my sit spots a little. I was actually really startled that this was happening, I forgot about the pain involved. Within no time, I was less focused on everything surrounding me and more focused on the pain being inflicted upon my backside. I bucked and kicked and squirmed, trying to get him to stop spanking in the same spot. I wanted so badly to reach back and try to block some of the smacks like I'd always done with Chris, but I didn't. I don't think I was afraid of losing my balance and falling, since that would have probably felt better than the stinging spanking! But nonetheless, I didn't reach back, only howled in pain.

"AHhhooowwwww!!!! Daddiiee!!!" I squealed as he smacked firmer. "I'm s-sorry!!!"

His response to my cries was a flurry of spanks on my upturned rump.

"Puhleeze stoppp!!"

"You will be ready in plenty of time next time, Alyssa Renee', do you understand me?"

"Y-yess, sirr!! Daddyyy!! I willl!!" I promised, trying to sort these feelings I was having. I was being spanked in real life -- or at least that's what it seemed at the time -- and I wasn't quite sure if I liked it or not..

He finally ended the spanking and lifted me up, my hands flying to my bottom to rub away the sting. Like with Chris's spankings, my bottom was red and hot and stung like crazy! I wasn't crying, but pretty damn close to it. I was whining like a baby.

"I do not want to have to call you a second time ever again, Alyssa," he told me, pointing his finger at me. "And if I hear any reports of you being late to class, this is going to feel like a warm up."

I gulped. "Y-yes, sir," I stammered.

He backed away and took a deep breath in. Finally, he came in and hugged me tightly. "You're a good girl, Lyss," he said.

I smiled, relaxing a little in his embrace. I totally hadn't been expecting that to happen and boy, he smelt good! I'd have to find out what kind of cologne he was wearing and see if that's really what he wore in real life... and even if it wasn't, I'm sure it'd make for some good gossip on the 'net!

He released from the hug. "All right, kiddo, let's find your room and let me say bye to Mina."

I nodded and pulled my panties back up, wincing a little at the material touching my tender flesh. I then took Dad's hand like a baby girl and let him walk me towards Jackson Hall.

It was a little hard walking straight after a spanking like I'd just gotten. In fact, come to think of it, it was hard to do much of anything after that spanking. Hard to walk, hard to think... My mind was completely and totally on the matter at hand. Then, I couldn't remember ever feeling any pain in dreams before, and what I felt was definitely pain. What the hell was going on? Nothing supernatural -- that stuff isn't real!

Dad and I finally found Mina in her empty room, then he hugged us both tightly and kissed us goodbye.

"I brought Lyssa's stuff to her room for her," she told him after he asked if we got everything out of the car.

"Oh, thanks, sis," I said, smiling.

"You kids are great," Dad concluded and ruffled our hair, then went on his way. Luckily most of the kids were out exploring, so they didn't see the pathetic family sight. It was cute, though, I'll admit that much.

After he finally left, Mina walked me to my room. "I figured you'd want some time alone. Dad didn't look too happy."

"He wasn't," I admitted.

She nodded. "See ya later," she said as I found my room. I saw by this time why it was so awesome to be in Jackson Hall. While the rooms weren't exactly big in comparison to my room at home, they were huge compared to the dorms at my college! However, the room was basically empty except for a large suitcase and backpack sitting on one of the beds. I just threw mine on the other and plopped on top of the bed, wincing as I did so.

I racked my brain trying to figure out what was going on and then remembered the diary that I'd brought. Maybe that had some answers..

I opened it up. It was blank. Hm.

I decided to take the Harry Potter approach.

Hi, I'm Alyssa I wrote.

Hi, I'm Chris it wrote back. I nearly jumped three feet in the air when that happened. I looked all around the room. Talk about a thumping heart! I think I was close to cardiac arrest!

I winced as I rolled over from sitting on my bum to lying on my tummy. Much better. Chris, what the hell is going on!? 

Story: Molly - Chapter 8

Molly - Chapter 8
by Breanna Carter

"Brian!!" Molly called one morning before school. I was sitting at the table sipping on a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper -- typical father stuff, huh? It wasn't exactly what I liked doing before class, but we had to pick out stupid current events for the freshman class I was in, so therefore, I had to read the newspaper.

"What is it, MollyCakes?" I asked, seeing her amble into the kitchen from her room, pitiful look on her face.

"We have volleyball practice after school and I can't find my workout clothes and I forgot that we have a match on Wednesday and I need some money to pay for the fees and to eat and stuff and I forgot about it but I need it today!" she wailed.

"Take it easy," I said, sitting the newspaper down. "Your workout clothes are in the dryer," I began, taking my wallet out, "and here's fifty dollars. Will that be enough?" I was about used to this by now -- seems like every other week Molly was forgetting about an out-of-town match and came to me almost crying. It was $25 for the bus fee, and I figured it'd cost about five to eat lunch, ten to eat dinner, and the other ten was just in case they went to more expensive places. "Just keep onto the extra $25, so you can have it for your trip, okay?"

"Thanks, Brian!" she yelped, hugging me tightly, then scampering towards the dryer to get her workout clothes. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Cute as a button, that Molly. I loved her to death.

Finally, I finished reading my article and jotted down a short paragraph about it in my notebook. It was perfect timing because that was about the same time Molly escaped from her room, fully dressed, hair fixed, makeup applied -- the works. "I'm ready!" she said, literally hopping towards me.

"You seem happy today?" I said.

She nodded. I can say I was pretty relieved. Since the incident with her running away, I was constantly worried about how she was doing and scared that she wouldn't talk to me. So seeing her in a good mood was a good thing. "Yup, I'm happy.. I'm excited about the game because I think we're going to win!"

They hadn't won a game since they started playing. It was really fun to watch, though, even if they weren't so great. Molly really got into the games, jumping up as high as she could, sprinting to the other end of the net if she had to. Not to mention that the other kids there were nearly as adorable and though some were shy, some weren't... I don't know, it was just cute!

"Really? You think you'll win?"

She nodded. "Yup. I've heard this team sucks lots!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my jacket.

"Of course, I reckon they've heard the same thing about us," she said in her best southern accent. Only the British and old rednecks use the word reckon...

"You reckon so, huh?"

She shrugged. "Prolly, since we do suck. But it's only our school's second year playing. Next year, we'll be much better!"

I nodded. "I'm sure you will. Where's the game anyway?" I asked as we arrived at my car.

"Somewhere in the boonies. They haven't won a game this season yet either."

"So whoever wins will be really excited then, huh?"

"Yep! We will!" she shrieked, turning Flogging Molly up as loud as it would go, ignoring the fact that each of us has ear drums that need to stay intact. It didn't bother me that much, though. She was happy as could be and that made it worth it.

I dropped her off at school delivering a slight kiss to her cheek, though she protested to no end. "Brian! I'm twelve, not four!" she exclaimed, but kissed me back anyway. I ruffled her hair and sent her on her way.

I decided to go ahead and go to class, even though I'd be terribly early. I could grab a bite of breakfast in the caf with some of my friends, except I didn't have a meal plan and didn't really care for cafeteria food.

After my breakfast and classes, the day went by slowly and I finally found myself comfortably lying on the couch watching tv when the phone rang and startled me. Yes, startled me because I was dead asleep. Afternoon tv is boring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brian!!" I heard the shriek on the other line. "It's Molly!"

As if I didn't know. "Hey MollyCakes... what's up?" I grumbled, still groggy from sleep. I was hoping that I hadn't forgotten to pick her up, but when I looked at the clock it was only 2:50 and she didn't get out of practice until about four.

"So we're in gym, right? And we're playing volleyball and my friend Ciara asks me if I want to go with her and some friends to get pizza after practice and then her mom will bring me home. Is that okay? Sorry to wake you up..."

"I wasn't sleeping, just resting my eyes," I said like one of those old men who jump up when you change the tv channel from what they were "watching." "And anyway, yeah it's okay. What time will you be home?"

"I dunno," she said. "Sometime around six or seven I guess.."

"Okay, well call and let me know something," I said, knowing that she had no idea what time she'd be home and really probably hadn't a clue where she was actually going.

"Thanks, Brian!" she yelped, and I heard her cover the phone with her hand to tell her friend that I said yes. "See you later!"

"Bye, Molly. Be careful!" I don't know if she heard my last words or not because she hung up the phone so quickly.

After that there was no way I could go back to sleep, so I fixed a sandwich to eat and began doing some of my homework. None of it was due anytime soon, and I really wasn't feeling up to it, so that lasted about ten minutes before I plopped back down on the couch to see if anything was on tv. Nothing.

I decided that instead of staying home, I'd go to the skating rink and see what was up there. I could work any time I wanted, since I was a manager, but I usually limited it to nights and weekends, since that's when most of the people were there and it would save us the most money. Sometimes, however, I went during the weekdays to see how things were going, catch up on the afternoon gossip, and make sure everyone was doing their job. You'd be surprised at how many people don't do their job when the top manager isn't around. I didn't usually have problems, though.

The skating rink was nearly deserted when I got in there, only a birthday party with a few toddlers and their moms. I don't know why they bring kids so young to the skating rink... it's not like they can skate. They were amusing, though, I'll say that much. I sat up in the DJ stand watching parents skate their kids down the rink. It was mildly entertaining when one of the parents fell and the kids laughed at them.

"How's Molly?" Heidi asked. She's the daytime DJ, a twenty-two year old bartender who played in rockband. Weird, huh? Babysitter by day, hardcore rocker alcoholic by night.

"She's doing okay," I answered, then looked at her. "I don't know what to do about court, though. I don't know if I can get legal custody over her or if they'd put her in a foster home or what."

"Since she's been living with you, they'd probably let her stay there, unless there's someone related that wants her."

I nodded. "I'm just worried. If I can ever get in touch with my friend, I'm going to find out some stuff. But until then, we're just going to wait and see what happens."

"Sounds okay. Just don't get too stressed out, Brian, okay?"

I smiled. "Don't worry, Heidi.. I don't get stressed out."

She rolled her eyes, muttered, "yeah right," under her breath before announcing that the next song was the "chicken dance" and for everyone to follow the ref's lead. Now *that* was an adorable site... watching two and three year olds try to do the chicken dance.

About 3:30 was when things got a little busier. That's because one of the schools has a hockey team and they practice on the rink sometimes. Today wasn't an official practice, but a lot of kids came in anyway to play a little hockey. I told them it was okay, as long as they didn't run over the little kids and if it got too crowded with people who wanted to skate instead of play hockey, they'd have to leave.

Otherwise, things were uneventful. Molly called my cellphone about four o'clock announcing that volleyball practice was over and Ciara had said she'd be back home about eight, they were going to the mall, then for pizza and to watch a movie. I was a little sketchy about letting her stay out so late...

"It's fine, Molly, but you have to do your homework right when you get home, okay?"

"Don't worry.. I'll do it," she promised.

I sighed. "Okay, see you later then."

"See ya!"

So I ended up staying at the skating rink until after the night shift came. Things didn't get much busier, and I finally decided to go home, patting Brad on the back and telling him to have fun with screaming kids.

By the time I got home, it was pitch black dark outside and there were actually some decent shows on tv. I watched some sit-coms, munching on Chinese food leftovers (Molly hated Chinese food, so I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing it!), and waiting for Molly to come home. When I wasn't working, or going to school, I really had a boring life. Oh well. Television was interesting enough, and I even got interested in some of the stupid reality shows on tv.

Molly finally came bouncing in about eight, as promised. "Heyyyyy Brian!" she said, backpack on her shoulders and scampering to her room to sit it down before she talked to me. It was fine with me -- I was watching a dumb reality show and it had my full attention.

She came back in and plopped down next to me. "Eewww, what are you watching?" she asked, and when I didn't answer she hit me on the knee. "Guess what!?"

I looked at her, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"We did super good in practice today!"

"Well," I corrected.

"... whatever. Anyway, we did go-- er, well-- and our coach is really excited and thinks we're going to win! Isn't that awesome!"

I smiled. "That is awesome. I hope you guys do, but I'm sure you'll do fine anyway, even if you don't win."

"Shhhh, don't give us bad luck!" she said.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Did you have fun with Ciara?"

"YES! We went to the mall then had a pizza and watched a scary movie. And guess what? She's going to have a sleepover this weekend and invited me to come! Isn't that so cool!"

"That is cool."

"And guess what else? I talked her into inviting Ali! So Ali can eat pizza and watch scary movies and have girltalk with us all night!"

"Hey, that's really cool."

She nodded matter-of-factly. "When I have my birthday, I want to do a kidnapping sleepover party."

"A... what?"

"It's where all the parents get together and kidnap the kids."

I gave her a confused look.

She sighed, aggravated with having to explain things to me. Sorry, Molly... I'm not a twelve year old girl... "Like you'd talk to Ciara's mom and Ali's dad and tell them that you're going to kidnap them.."

"I think if I did that they'd call the cops on me..."

"No they wouldn't!" she said, not realizing that it was a joke. "That's what you're *supposed* to do. You tell them that it's my birthday and you're going to kidnap the kids. And then they all go to bed a little early, and we get a van and go over there and their parents help you run into the kids room, cover their mouths and blindfold them and throw 'em into the van. And then when they get into the van you can take the blindfold off of em and they're scared to death and then they realize it's only a party!"

"Um, okay."

"And then when we kidnap everyone, they're all in their pjs and we go to IHOP or someplace and eat and we're loud and annoying and stay there til we get kicked out!"

"Uh... I don't know if that's..."

"Just *kidding* Brian!"

I shook my head. "It sounds like fun, Molly," I said, not letting her know if I was up for the idea or not. "And what about homework?"

"It'll be my birthday, I won't have homework," she said.

"No, Molly.. I mean your homework for tonight."

"Oh," she giggled. "I already did it!"

"You.. did?"

"Yeah! Ciara and Kelly and Annie and Joanne all have math with me so we did our homework together, and that's all I had tonight."

I nodded. "Okay, but let me check over it anyway. Did you understand everything okay?"

"Yep.. I'll take a shower while you're checking it." She ran to her room and came back with the paper in her hands. "Here ya go!" she said then scampered off to the shower.

It was cool seeing Molly back to her old hyper, happy self. I can't say honestly how relieved I was. I went ahead and checked over her math homework only to find that there were no errors, which was kind of weird for Molly, since math wasn't her strongest point. But she did say that she'd done it with Ciara and... all those other people that I couldn't remember, so maybe that helped out a little.

She came back minutes later, hair dripping wet, clad in a Lucky Charms T-shirt and some green pj pants. Normal attire for Molly. "How'd I do?"

"You did very well, Molly."

She grinned the biggest grin she could muster, then added, "that's because Ciara's mom checked it for us. But I had you fooled for a few minutes!"

I shook my head, smiling. "That's good that she checked it for you. Come on, watch some tv with me."

"As long as you change it from that crap," she said.

I rolled my eyes and flipped it to Full House. It was a girly show, but both of us liked it, for some reason. We were both sappy at heart.

When the two episodes of Full House and the MTV reality show that Molly just *had* to watch were over, Molly yawned and I suggested it was bedtime. She argued for a minute, but I could tell that she was genuinely tired and she went on to bed anyway. She was only arguing because she felt the need to.

After she went to bed, I watched tv a little longer, catching the news and finally deciding to go to bed. Before I did that, though, I had to get some laundry finished -- like Molly's gym clothes. I wasn't sure if she had practice the next day or not, but either way, it'd be good to have them done.

Molly was sound asleep when I went into her room. I searched for her uniform, but it wasn't on the floor like her school uniform was, along with a few other various clothes. If it wasn't on the floor in plain sight, it was probably in her backpack -- that's where I usually found it. Like I've said before, I don't go through her stuff, it's not right. But this wasn't going through her stuff, this was just getting her volleyball uniform.

As I opened the green backpack and pulled out the white and red uniform, a bag fell out. It read "Hot Topic" which was a store in the mall. I'd wondered why she hadn't shown me what she'd gotten.. until I saw a receipt on the floor that'd fallen out when I pulled out the rest of the stuff. I glanced at it, my heart nearly stopping. It was some kind of skirt that cost $35 and a little bit more, totaling up to over $60. I didn't know if she was good at saving money or not -- but I did know that she didn't get that much money, and probably some of it came from the $50 I had given her for the trip. But I wasn't going to jump to conclusions. I'd just ask her about it in the morning.

I was curious to see what was in the bag that would amount to $60, but instead I just sat it down on the floor next to her backpack and gathered the dirty clothes in my arms. I was a little dizzy.. I didn't like the bad feeling I had about this...

Story: Catholic School Dreams

Weird Reality
Chapter 1 - Catholic School Dreams
by Breanna Carter

"Nooooo, Chris... pleaseeeee!" I begged, squirming to no end over his lap and moving my hands back so many he'd give me a break from the spanking for a bit.

"Alyssa," he warned, grabbing my wrists with his left hand and smacking my rear again, "stop struggling."

"B-but.. it... ahhh.. hurts!" He didn't let up any on the spanking, though. His ears were deaf to my pleas. I can't say that I'm not glad of that, though. I was enjoying this to no end. "No, more... pleaseee..."

"Yes, more," he replied. "This is for all the schoolwork that you waited too late to finish."

Wow, that's a lot of schoolwork, I thought to myself. I was in my second semester in college and having trouble getting things finished on time -- Chris could bear witness to that. But think of all the years before that... I hadn't *actually* done homework since like, fourth grade. Uh, this was going to be one long spanking.

"Ohhh, owwww... but, Chris! I'll finish it next time!" I promised.

He actually laughed! "Yeah right.. and I bet you'll stop being bratty and stop drinking and never smoke again, too, huh?"

"Yessss!" I howled, squirming again and trying to free my hands.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! "Alyssa, if you turned into an angel from this spanking, it'd be a miracle," he told me.

He was damn right about that. I mean, yes, it hurt like crazy (I was kind of new to *actually* getting spanked... I'd only written, read stories, and saw videos of others and thought it wouldn't be so bad, but I was wrong!), but he was only using his hand, and it felt good enough to where I'd want it again. Did I mention that I wanted this spanking? And the fact that I was aching just made me want it more... even though I kinda wanted him to stop, too. Weird mixed feelings, I know.

"Chris -- ow -- agh, it hurts!"

I knew he was smirking. "Just as I hoped," he commented then delivered two VERY HARD smacks to my sitspots and lifted me from his lap.

I stood weakly in front of him, rubbing my bottom. It was very hot, stung tons. How was I going to be able to make it through the rest of the night without bursting from excitement?

He opened his arms and pulled me in for a hug, nearly squeezing the mess out of me. He placed his hands on top of mine, which were conviently on top of my bottom, which made me even more excited. "How ya feeling?" he asked. "You okay?"

I nodded, head pressed against his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm good... realllly good," I murmured. He moved me from him and lay me on my stomach on the bed, lying himself next to me after planting another solid smack on my still bared bottom. "Ouch! Hey! What was that for?"

He smiled. "Because I wanted to do it."

I smiled back, tugging my panties and pants back up, and just lying there next to him. We stayed silent for a moment, he staring at the ceiling and I trying to steady my heartrate... as you can imagine, it was racing!

Our silence was interrupted by the sound of the school bells down the street. "I sometimes wished that I went to the Catholic school down there," I told him, pure randomness.

He gave me a weird look as if wondering why I said that, but then he heard the bells, too -- it was nine o'clock, they were all probably making their way to their dorms for curfew. "You wanted to go to a Catholic school? But... you're not Catholic..?"

I snuggled towards him. "I know, but I wanted to go to a private school and wear those cute little schoolgirl uniforms and get spanked in real life, ya know? Like, for being late or something. Just in general. But I guess Catholic school wouldn't be where I would want to go, because they have nuns. I'd have to go somewhere where at least the dean was male, and hopefully some of the teachers..."

He nodded. "Sounds good. I wouldn't mind dressing you up in a schoolgirl uniform and playing teacher while you played the naughty student," he told me, wide grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "I think I'll pass on that," I said, knowing that it probably meant a paddle or something other than a hand would be involved. "It'd be better, in real life."

"You're right about that," he said, stretching out a little bit and laying on his side to talk to me. "So if you could actually go back and be at a private school, how would you want it to go?"

I raised my eyebrows. Maybe this meant he'd write a story for me! I mean, we'd known each other for years, but only after knowing him for a while did I realize that he was a spanko, too. He'd always written stories, but one day I came across them on the net and realized how much the characters resembled... well... him, and I'd like to hope that the others resembled me, but I never asked. And anyway, since we'd been seeing each other, he'd write stories for me, and it was great!

"I mean like, how old would you want to be, and would you want to have gone there all your life, or would it be your first year?" he asked.

"I'd want to be fifteen or sixteen," I began, thinking about the other question. "And maybe my mom got married and shortly after died or something, and I was living with my stepdad, who would conviently be Hugh Grant and..."

"Hugh Grant is British," he told me, like I didn't know.

"So? He's still sexy!"

He rolled his eyes at me.

"*Anyway,* so after Mumsy died, stepdad would be super busy with his spiffy acting career and stuff, so he'd send me and his daughter to private school... so I guess I would have been there a couple of years."

"Is his daughter British or American?" he teased.

"British, duh," I said.

"And what else?"

"Hmm, so it'd be our like, third year or so at this private school and the dean would be hott and I'd get sent to him a lot. Hey... that rhymes!" I exclaimed excitedly.

He shook his head at me. "I think if you spent a year in a private school, you probably..." he began but was interrupted by someone walking inside the house.

"I'm home!" he yelled, and I knew it was Chris's roommate, Cole. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, then just opened Chris's bedroom door like if he had interrupted, we'd have gotten our clothes back on by then.

"Don't you ever knock?" I sneered, glaring at him.

He grinned, ruffling my hair. "Of course not. What's the point?"

I rolled my eyes. "Take it easy," Chris whispered in my ear then sat up, patting my bum. I winced at his touch. He honestly thought I hated Cole with a passion, but that wasn't true -- I just didn't care for him too much. "What's up, Cole?" he asked as the tall lanky boy opened his room across the hall and threw his jacket inside.

"I might have a date for Saturday night!" he exclaimed like a fifteen year old girl.

"Who would date you?" I muttered and Chris flashed a glare at me as a warning. Cole knew about my spankings, and Chris let it be known that he would do it in front of him if he had to.

But Cole ignored me. "Anyway, I'm ecstatic! She's twenty, third year college student majoring in pre-med... she's great!"

I bit my lip to keep from making a comment. I think it's just the relationship Cole and I had... we loved to tease each other!

"Is she great because she's a 'third year college student majoring in pre-med' or is she a third year college student majoring in pre-med because she's great?" I asked, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Shut up, baby Alyssa. You're just jealous because you got stuck with Chrissypooh who doesn't even know what pre-med means!"

I glared at him.

"Children, enough," Chris said. "And I do know what pre-med is, thankyouverymuch.. it's just not interesting to me, that's all."

Chris was a philosophy major. He was twenty-two and finishing his last semester in college. That's more than I can say for Cole -- he was barely able to legally drink and finished community college only to work as a manager at a pizza place... and the pizza wasn't even that great! But that's probably because I ate it all the time.

"I gotta go anyway," I said, sitting up and wincing from the pain in my backside. I could tell Cole was biting his lip to keep from giggling. I pulled on my socks then my green shoes, tying them tightly. Looking at those green shoes, I remembered something... "Chris, I'd want to be fourteen again -- ninth grade, where I had posters of my favorite bands plastered on my walls and I listened to heavy music and wore baggy jeans. *Those* were the days..." Cole hadn't heard that -- he'd gone to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat.

"Yeah, your freshman year was fun," he said. That was when we met -- he was a senior and I a freshman, and he and his friends used to always take me with them to local concerts. "Lots of memories."

I nodded, kissing him on the cheek and walking away, letting him follow me. He'd never let me walk out to my car alone, nor would he let me leave with just a kiss on the cheek. We made it outside and he hugged me tightly to block the wind from making me too cold.

"Have a good night," he said, smiling.

"You too... don't work too hard!" He worked night shifts at one of the radio stations.

"Don't worry, I won't," he assured me, then kissed me like I was in a sappy love teen-movie. "See you later."

I plopped down in my car and began backing out of the driveway, his last words ringing through my ears. See you later? Didn't he mean "see you tomorrow"?

Story: Molly - Chapter 7

Molly - Chapter 7
by Breanna Carter

I panicked. I mean, literally. My heart began pounding so quickly that I felt my head begin to spin, and finally, I had to sit myself down on the chair so I wouldn't pass out. That's when it caught my eye -- on the computer screen was the website " and it showed the cost for a ticket from Atlanta, Georgia, to Dublin, Ireland.

"Shit," I muttered to myself, tilting my head back as if I were praying to a God. "She can't be gone," I was saying.. "she doesn't have the money, doesn't even have a way to get to Atlanta. Oh please, Molly, don't go.."

I sat like that for a few minutes and finally decided that I had to try and find her. Atlanta was a few miles away. By car, you could get there within about an hour. Unless Molly had hitchhiked, which I seriously hoped she wouldn't, she'd either take a bus, taxi, or walk. I hoped for the latter as I grabbed my jacket. I dialed my friend's number -- you know, the one who doesn't ask questions.

"Jason, it's Brian. Remember Molly? She's gone," I said in one quick breath, trying to hurry the conversation along so I could go look for her already!

"Whoa, Bri, take it easy. What happened?"

"She left. I got up this morning and she wasn't here... she's going to Ireland."

He was silent, probably confused with my latest statement. "Ireland? Did she tell you that or what?"

"No, I saw it on the computer, and I need help finding her!"

"Just because it's on the computer doesn't mean anything. Have you tried calling any of her friends?"

I paused. Hadn't thought of that... "... no," I said stupidly.

"Well, try that before you jump to conclusions about stuff. I'll be over there in a few minutes. Find her friends' numbers and call some of them, see if they've heard from her."

I nodded. "Thanks, Jason," I murmured, then hung up the phone.

Call her friends... why hadn't I thought of that? I picked up my address book that lay on top of the counter. I flipped towards the back where Molly had scribbled down various telephone numbers of her friends. Every time she wanted to go to someone's house, I'd have to make sure that I knew their phone number first, just in case. Molly didn't really mind much... she just pouted that adorable little pout she had and then wrote down the number of every possible person she knew...

The thought of that made me want to cry. Why had I punished my babycakes so harshly?? So much where she'd want to run away to Ireland!

I must have called over two dozen people by the time Jason arrived in my apartment. It was basically the same monotonous story each call -- "no, haven't talked to her.. no, she didn't mention going anywhere... yes, I'll let you know if I hear from her."

"Any luck?" Jason asked.

"None," I replied, throwing the pen down that I'd been doodling with while talking to the obnoxious pre-teens on the telephone.

"How many people have you called?"

"Too many."

"Are those all the numbers you have?"

I shrugged.

Jason walked past me towards Molly's room, motioning for me to follow. He sat down on the chair in front of the computer. "She really left this up?" he asked.

I nodded, running my fingers through my hair and sitting on the bed, elbows on my knees, head propped up on my hands.

"Weird," he commented.

"Weird?"

"Yeah, because, if she was really going to Ireland and really didn't want you to know, she wouldn't have left it up. She's gotta be either at a friend's house or wandering around town trying to find the Atlanta airport."

I digested this, concentrating on it for a minute. He did have a point. Molly wasn't careless at all... with her privacy, I mean. It's not like I searched through her stuff or anything... in fact, if I saw her diary lying on the couch, the thought of reading it wouldn't even pass through my mind. But the thing is, her diary was never lying on the couch, or anywhere visible for that matter. She had told me once that she kept a pack of cigarettes in the house, "just in case." But she never left them lying around either... never left them anywhere I could see them. So how could she be so careless as to leaving a website up? It'd have to be purposely!

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked when I realized that Jason was checking out her email. That was a no-no..

"Just looking to see if she gave anyone any clues as to where she was going... Relax, Bri, I'm not going to read anything that wasn't sent late last night or early this morning -- which is nothing."

I exhaled, burying my face in my hands. How could all of this happen? I thought things had been going so well with Molly... I thought we were getting super close.

"Are you ready?" he asked, leaving the computer as it had been when I'd gotten there earlier.

"I guess."

He escorted me out of the room, knowing I was on the verge of a panic attack. If you've never had one of those, believe me, you don't want to. My hands were shaking and my pulse racing, my head all distorted. I was so nervous... so scared for Molly.

Jason drove -- surprise! I don't think I could have made it out of the damn parking lot without having a wreck. He was listening to classical music -- Haydn, that's the only composer he really liked. When you're stressed, Haydn isn't the best music to listen to.. it's not good for your nerves. I was on edge enough as it was.

We drove for hours. Every time we passed someone walking on the street I started shrieking, thinking that it was Molly. We took every route possible to get to Atlanta. No sign of Molly.

I was about to give up. I was about to throw my hands in the air and tell Jason that Molly was gone for good... gone to Ireland, to never come back. Then I saw her -- a petite girl, red hair, a little past her shoulders, wearing a green backpack and a black hoodie. Her jeans were so long and baggy that I couldn't see her shoes. It took me a minute, but I realized it was Molly, and this time, my shrieking was genuine.

"JASON! JASON!" I yelped like a crazed teenybopper who was seeing her idol. "It's her! It's Molly!!" I nearly jumped out of the car before it stopped and ran over to her. "Molly!"

She looked up, face tear-stained. I tackled her in a hug, and she didn't resist, just hugged back as much as I, if that's possible. We were both crying like crazy. "Ohmygosh you came, you actually came," she sputtered through the tears, face buried in my chest where her words were muffled. "I was so scared... Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry."

"Shhhh, Molly, it's okay," I cooed, stroking her hair and squeezing her tighter. "It's okay, Babygirl. I missed you. I'm sorry for upsetting you. Pleaseee don't run away again!" I begged.

"I won't, I won't. Don't worry."

We stayed on the side of the road forever.. I know the people who drove by probably thought we were psycho, but they were the farthest thing from my mind at the time. All I wanted was a happy twelve year old who would allow me to adore her as I did.

Finally, Jason dragged us away from each other. "Come on, guys, there's time for that when you get home. It's cold out here..."

I shivered, remembering that it was a bit chilly, and with night falling on us, it'd be getting super cold soon. I took Molly's hand in mine and lead her to the car.

"I'm so sorry," she kept saying.

"Take it easy, babygirl. You're okay. We're okay now."

She nodded, easing herself down onto the seat in the car. I knew she was probably still in pain from the previous night's events... In fact, I was certain she was. "You're not mad at me?" she whispered.

"No, baby, I'm not mad. I was just worried." I sniffled a little and wiped my eyes. I hated crying in the first place, much less in front of other people. But I was just so glad to see her I couldn't help it. "I thought I'd lost you forever," I told her.

"I didn't mean to worry you," she said as Jason started the car up and we headed back to home.

"I know."

We didn't say much more on the ride home, probably because neither of us felt too comfortable with Jason there. He was a good friend, after all, but we needed some time alone to discuss everything that'd happened.

He finally pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car, not even bothering to park.

"Thanks, man," I said, patting him on the shoulder.

"No problem. Anytime." He smiled. "See ya later, Molly."

Molly smiled through the tears that were still falling. "Later, Jace."

Both of us opened our doors and I put my arm around her shoulder, as if shielding her from everything outside -- not just the cold. We walked side-by-side into my apartment.

She sat down on the couch as if she were an actor in a movie and knew that was her cue. I mean, she didn't really have to sit down there... she could've gone to her room and played on the computer or something.. but I figured that she wanted this talk as much as I did. That's why she went ahead and sat down.

I took off my jacket and threw it on one of the bar. There were still two plates full of food sitting on the table. It's a wonder that there weren't any ants in them or anything. I went ahead and dumped them out -- I didn't want to attract any ants -- then fixed two mugs of hot chocolate.

I plopped down next to her on the sofa, handing her a mug. "What's up, Molly? What happened?" I asked, not wanting to break down and start crying again.

She looked away from me, averting her eyes to the ground. "I- I don't know, honestly," she answered. "I guess I've just been so mad and stuff. Like... it's hard to explain... but when I met Ali, it kinda hit me that my mom left me... my dad left me... everybody's left me... and I..." she paused.

Spit it out, Molly, I wanted to say.

"I dunno," she said.

That wasn't quite spitting it out. "What is it, Molly? You can tell me.."

She shrugged, looking back up at me, the tears threatening to fall once again. "I figured I wasn't that great, and you... well... you'd prolly leave me, too."

There, she'd said it.

I wasn't shocked -- I guess I was kind of expecting it. I just didn't know how she could think that I'd leave her, too. How had I given her that impression?

"I mean... it's just that... I'm scared that it's my fault everyone leaves me, and maybe if I go to Ireland, I can live on my own and I'll be okay..."

"Aww, babycakes..." I said, hugging her tightly. "I'll never leave you! I promise. And your dad didn't leave -- he passed away. You know, death is a part of life... everyone has to go sometimes, right?"

She nodded. "It's so hard, though," she said.

"I know it is. It's super hard... and it always will be. But your dad still loves you, more than anything." I wished that I could add some words of Christian encouragement, but my faith, or lack thereof, wouldn't allow it. "And I love you, too. And plenty of other people! You're a great kid, Molly."

She shrugged. "That's why I'd left that website up, so you could find me. And I was getting scared that you didn't care and really did want me to go to Ireland."

"Nooo, I don't want that," I promised, just squeezing her tighter. "I want you to stay right here with me. You're the best kid ever and I love you tons. I wanna keep you forever, okies?"

"But... what about legal stuff?" she asked.

I raised my eyebrows.

"I mean, I overheard you talking to someone on the phone the other night... and you were talking about how the school probably wouldn't believe for much longer that I was just staying with you while my mom was out of town and that you'll need to go to court to get full legal rights over me. What about that? I don't want to live with a foster family!" With that last statement, she almost began wailing.

"Don't worry about that, baby," I said, keeping her close to me. "We'll go see about that one day. I won't let them put you in a foster home... I'll research into it -- one of my friends is in law school.. I'm sure she can tell me some stuff."

She nodded weakly. "So you're not going to leave me?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No, I'm not going to leave you."

"Are you going to spank me again for running off like I did?"

I had to smile slightly at that one. "No, baby, I'm not going to spank you. But pleaseee don't do this to me again? If you're ever scared or sad or lonely, I'm here for you to talk to, okay? And if you don't feel comfortable talking to me, there's plenty of other people." I was sort of hinting around to a counselor, but most kids don't feel comfortable talking to them anyway, and I didn't want her to think that I thought she was crazy, so I wasn't going to suggest one.

She nodded. "I promise I'll talk to you next time instead of running away. I was scared. I didn't know where I was and cars kept slowing down asking me if I was okay. I cried all day wishing that you'd hurry up and find me."

"Well, I found you, and you're okay. But I trust you know how dangerous what you did today was?"

She nodded.

"I wouldn't want anyone to kidnap you, and with you staying with me and everything, it'd probably be best if you didn't get into any trouble with the law. No telling what would happen then."

She nodded again.

"But nothing happened and we're okay now, right?"

She grinned slightly and looked into my eyes. "Right," she said, hugging me tightly. My arms had been around her the whole time, but this was the first time that she'd hugged me as well. "I'm hungry, though."

"Me too. How 'bout some pizza rolls and we can watch 'Friends'? Hm? That sound okay?"

"Matthew Perry and pizza rolls? You know I'm in for it!" she said, grinning from ear to ear.

I rolled my eyes.

"But you gotta go to work soon, so hurry up!"

"How come you know my work schedule better than me?" I asked.

"Because I'm smarter, duh!" she giggled.

I raised my eyebrows. "Smarter, eh? We'll see about that," I teased and began tickling her like crazy. She giggled and squirmed, trying to kick me away, to no avail.

"Okay! Okay!" she squealed, still giggling. "You're smarter, you're smarter!"

I giggled myself and stopped tickling, planting a kiss on her forehead. "You're sweet, MollyCakes."

"You are, too, Brian...Salad?" She shrugged.

"Cute, Molly... BrianSalad."

"I know," She said, sticking her tongue out at me and setting the tv up to watch "Friends." I'd bought her the fifth season on dvd and we'd watched about half of it. "Now, get to cookin' those pizza rolls!"