26 September 2005

Story: Practice Will Always Make Perfect

Part of Practice Makes Perfect mini-series.  Amy's substitute teacher just happens to be Jeremy.  And she's kinda craving his special kind of attention.  So she pushes every button til she gets it.

Practice Will Always Make Perfect
by Breanna Carter

It was the second week into the second semester of my senior year in high school and they still hadn't found a replacement teacher for our orchestra conductor. All we had was substitutes who couldn't tell the difference from a cello and a violin (no offense if you don't know the difference, but you'd do us no good, either!). So we were working on our second week of having not played with a surprise walked through the door that even I wasn't expecting.

"Okay, everyone... we're actually going to play today," the figure said, standing in front of the class. I don't think half of us heard him because we were all talking... and actually, I'd heard him, but didn't care much until I turned around and saw Jeremy standing there.

"Guys! It's Jeremy!" I whispered. They'd known that Jeremy and I had been good friends back in the day and they knew that I was playing in the Centenary Orchestra with him.

The glanced up and whispered back, "Wow! He is cute!"

"Settle down, guys..." Jeremy said, trying to hush the crazy class.

The noise began to die down, but not before my friend said, "You didn't know he was coming?"

"Hadn't a clue. Maybe he just decided."

Finally, the room was quiet and Jeremy was allowed to explain himself. "I'd heard that your teacher left to go to New York or something, huh?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, some of you may know me... I graduated from here two years ago as a viola player.."

I yelled, "Whoooo!!! Go violas!" You know... like violas were cool or something. Yeah, orchestra was about the only class I was a smartass in because most of the people in there liked me.

Jeremy smiled and continued. "And anyway... I'm in my second year of college and since all you have to have is some college to be a substitute, I offered to take over her classes until they can find a replacement."

I grinned from ear to ear. Hopefully they wouldn't find a replacement anytime soon!

"Now... I know how Ms. Jones was... She was my teacher for at least seven years. I know what she does and does not tolerate, and you can expect me to be the same way. You will treat me with the same respect that you do her. I won't allow you to goof off in class. Otherwise, we'll be having a fun time and we'll still get to compete in state competition and we'll still get to go to Tennessee like she'd planned."

There was an almost simultaneous, "Yay!"

Everyone got their things out of their lockers and started tuning up and stuff. No one would admit it, but I actually think we were a little excited to get to play again. It'd been a while since we'd gotten to work on any music... at least a month.

Jeremy passed out parts to some new pieces to see what we thought of them and I'll have to admit that he has good taste. Plus, he's a viola player so he didn't give us blow off parts. It was great!! I was so ecstatic that at the end of class, I went up and gave him a hug.

"How come you didn't tell me you'd be coming?"

"Were my hints too subtle for you? I told ya that I had a surprise and you'd find out in the morning."

I thought back to the evening before when we were talking on the phone. "Apparently they were a little too subtle cause I didn't catch on. But I'm excited!"

"Yeah, but Amy, be good, okay? Just because you're my friend doesn't mean that you can get away with stuff that everyone else can't."

"You shouldn't be worried about me being good," I teased, noting that the next class was coming inside.

"If you were good, you'd be getting to class!" he teased back. "Now go!"

"Aye aye, captain!" I said, saluting him and stalking off.

The next couple of days were a mixture of good and bad. Good because I got to see Jeremy everyday and he was total eye candy, but bad because he was as repetitive and boring as my old teacher. We kept playing the same parts over and over and over again until we perfected it, so I decided to be a little devious.

"Do we really have to keep playing this same part?" I complained.

He shot me a glare soooo mean. "Yes, Amy, we do." He raised his hands to conduct us over the same part again and I didn't even bother playing. "Amy, you're part of the viola section, yes?"

"I guess," I muttered.

"I asked the violas to play which means that you should be playing as well, am I correct?"

"I guess, but this is stupid. I don't want to keep playing the same part over and over and over!"

He didn't look too happy. I could only hope that this would result in a spanking after school! No such luck, however. He simply sat down and said, "Which means you've perfected it, I assume?"

"Yes."

"Let's hear it then."

"Excuse me?"

"You claim that you've perfected it, so let's hear you play it, up to tempo."

"Up to tempo?" I gulped... that wasn't quite the reprimand I'd been expecting.

"Yes," he turned the metronome on and the fast clicks matched the beating of my heart. Arggh, that damn thing drives me crazy! It's so we can keep the beat and I literally despise it. Jeremy knows that.

"Any day now," he urged.

Scowling, I raised my instrument and played the measures that we'd had to keep repeating. Of course, I failed miserably. Surprise? I think not.

"Oh? I thought you could play it perfectly?"

I blushed to no end. He wasn't supposed to humiliate me in front of the class like that!

When I gave no answer, he continued with the lesson, "Violas, from the top of the measure, and this time, Miss Amy is going to join us."

I rolled my eyes at him, casting him a look as if saying that I wanted to kill him. So, like a puppy beaten into submission, I played the damn part over and over and over again.

At the end of class, I went up to yell at Jeremy for embarrassing me in front of the class, but he beat me to it.

"How dare you act like this class is your playtime," he scolded.

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to go and embarrass me like you did!"

"I didn't? Seemed to me like you were showing out and practically asking for...." he stopped dead in his sentence. "Oh... I see. So you want a...?" he paused, not completing his sentence or allowing me to answer him. "Well, we'll see about that," he concluded, then walked off, leaving me standing in the front of the class, stunned.

I racked my brain the rest of the day to try and figure out what in God's name he had been getting at. I mean, it looked like I'd earned my spanking, but it didn't sound like it'd be one that I'd like. I spent the rest of the day fidgeting, waiting for the minutes to pass so the final bell would ring. Of course, you know how those days are. They crawl by endlessly as if they're waiting for Christmas. I felt like I was waiting for Christmas!

The 3:30 bell finally rang and everyone shoved out of my English class, talking loudly about their plans for the evening. That's what I loved about being a senior... the classes were so damn easy, you could hang out with your friends during the week!

I tried to find Jeremy after school to see what his deal was, but he was nowhere to be found. I tried calling his cell phone, but no answer. There was this feeling in my stomach that I didn't particularly care for too much. Why was he avoiding me?

Instead of going straight home like I would have normally done, I went to the park for a minute to smoke a cigarette or two. Yes, it was illegal and no, my parents didn't know I did it, nor did Jeremy. In fact, I think the only people who did were the runners on the track who saw me about once a week smoking the same pack of Salems. I only did it when I was really pissed or really stressed, and at this point in time, I couldn't figure out what it was that I was feeling.

I hadn't been at the park longer than ten minutes when I felt my phone vibrating inside my pocket. I reached it out to see that Jeremy was calling.

"Hello?" I answered, taking a final puff of my cigarette and throwing it on the ground.

"Where are you?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Don't be a brat, Amy, you're in for it enough already. Just answer me."

I scowled. "At the park."

"Come to my apartment."

"Why?"

"If you'd rather me pick your ass up from the park, I'll do that."

I had sudden images of Jeremy's tall frame dragging me across the parking lot of the park towards his car. Didn't like the sound of that. "Um, I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

I hauled ass to my car, smirking slightly. Brats like me *always* got what they wanted! What I wanted was a good spanking from Jeremy... when did I not want that? And now I was going to get it, just like a real punishment... just like the first time he spanked me!

I shifted nervously in anticipation on my drive to Jeremy's apartment. The music was blaring, but I couldn't hear it... my heart was thumping too loudly. I finally pulled up to his place and knocked slightly on the door.

He opened it and pulled me inside. "Come here," he ordered, shutting the door and walking towards the dining room table.

"What is it?" I asked exasperatedly.

"I am sick and tired of you acting up in my class and I'm going to put a stop to it, Young Lady, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," I answered sarcastically.

He groaned and moved his hands towards the button on my jeans. "Well, you wanted it, and you got it," he told me then quickly undid my jeans and tugged them down to the floor angrily. He might as well have shoved me over the table, cause that's what it felt like he was doing.

"What...?" I began, but broke off when he began pulling my panties down to the floor.

"Over the table, Amy, and don't so much as move, got it?"

"Erm, okay," I said, gulping.

I leaned over the table, arms under me, catching a sort of chill from being bared from the waist down. It was silent for a couple of seconds and then I heard it: the clanging sound and then leather sliding through loops. Ohhhh no!

"Jeremy... are you...?"

He answered me with more clanging sounds and then a slap across the bottom.

I shrieked. "OOOWWWW!!" I howled, reaching back and grabbing my backside.

He grabbed my wrists, pushing me back down on the table and landing three hard smacks right in a row on my sitspots.

"Ahhhh, Jeremy!" I squealed. "That hurts!"

"But isn't this what you wanted?" he sneered, landing more smacks.

The pain was crazy! True, I'd wanted a spanking, but not this! Each deafening smack was landing ontop of another, then followed by my screams and apologies.

"Do you see what happens when you disrupt my class, Amy?" he asked, hitting my thighs and causing me to make the same noise that an opera singer might make.

"Yesssssss, sirrrr!" I howled.

"And are you going to pop off smartass comments to me?"

"Noooo, sirrrr!!!"

"I am SICK of your defiance, Young Lady," he bellowed, not allowing me breathing time to regain myself. "And I will not tolerate this any longer. Anymore lip out of you and you'll be one very very sorry little girl, do you understand?"

"Yessssss, sirrrrrrrr!!" I said, squirming to no end. "I'm sorrrryyyy!!"

"You better be, because this will be a piece of cake compared to what happens if we have this problem again." He finished up with a very hard smack to each thigh then sat me down at the dining room table. He took out three sheets of paper and wrote at the top of the first one "I will do as I'm told in class and not make inappropriate comments."

He handed me the paper. "I want three pages, front and back, of these lines, to be turned into me tomorrow in front of the class."

I sniffled, nodding and shifting once more on my sore bottom.

He patted my head. "Good girl," he said, then smirked and handed me the pencil, then made his way to watch tv. I glowered at him from across the room. Lines are NOT fun!

19 September 2005

Story: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Misc Story.  Kelsie has recently moved in with her older half brother after her parents' death.  After failing to study for her test, she and her two friends decide to cheat, but get caught and suspended.  The ever-intelligent trio make up a complex series of lies, and eventually get caught.  Hence, the "pants on fire" part of the title.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire
by Breanna Carter

As a fifteen year old high school student, I was so interested in my half-brother's job as a professor of philosophy at one of the local colleges that I read the books he lectured on, and sat in a chair across from him Indian-style as he took notes for class, bugging him to tell me everything. I guess that's why it's so ironic that I got myself in such a mess, seeing as his current lecture was about "lying."

It really isn't in my nature to lie, but sometimes, it's just easier to get out of things. And even I knew that lying wouldn't help... Chris didn't have to add that in our weekly discussions about philosophy. I guess you're probably wondering not only why I did it, but what exactly I did. Well, it's a long story, but if you're willing, then carry on. Hopefully this will be a philosophy lesson that you'll actually learn from... I know it was for me.

"The whole point of it is to see from the perspective of the liar and the one lied to. That's what philosophy is, seeing from both point of views," Chris concluded that Tuesday evening, shutting his blue book and running his fingers through his hair.

I was sitting across from him in what I deemed "my chair" since I had sat in it twice a week for about three weeks, listening to my intelligent, 29 year old brother ramble on and on about different topics. He had just started teaching another year of college, and this year, the first book happened to be entitled "Lying." I didn't think it was much about philosophy, but being the fifteen year old I was, I didn't really know much about philosophy anyway. That's why I was so curious.

I stretched out, yawning. "About bed time, eh?" Chris said, smiling.

I nodded. "Yeah. Unlike some of us, I have to get up *early* to go to class," I teased, grinning at him.

"Poor baby," he teased back, punching me playfully in the arm.

I rolled my eyes and stood, then tottled off to my room, waving goodnight. Lying on my bed with a cd playing softly, I sighed heavily. Week three of living with Chris... and it wasn't so bad. I actually kind of enjoyed our late night discussions, and he was a good listener, when I felt like talking, which wasn't often... and, well, it was cool having an older brother for once. But my parents had just died, and week three of living with Chris meant three weeks since their death, and that it was getting to be time to move on. But it's so hard sometimes, especially when you spend so many years with the same parents, the same routines, in the same house... and then all of a sudden it's all gone and you find yourself living with an older brother that you rarely saw otherwise, only talked to on the phone occasionally. I pushed the thoughts away from my mind. Chris cared about me, else he wouldn't have offered to let me live with him. I still wanted to cry, though. But I decided to turn the music up instead and let it drown out my emotions.

The next morning I woke after sleeping only half of the night. At least I was moving up to half of the night instead of only a couple of hours..

Chris was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. The typical thing one would expect to wake up to, only perhaps not their older brother, but maybe a father drinking coffee and reading, while the mother cooks breakfast. Again, I had to push the thoughts out of my mind.

"Heya, kiddo," he said, looking up from the paper and smiling. "How ya feeling today?"

"I'm fine," I lied, and he knew I was lying, but it was a mutual lie, or something, so it was okay. I think.

He nodded and looked back down at the paper. "Hungry?"

"Nah. I'll eat a poptart or something." I plopped down across the table from him.

"Ya sure?"

I nodded.

"Want a ride to school?"

"Nah, I'll catch the bus."

He nodded again, turning the page and finally folding the newspaper up and sitting it on the table. "Kel.. if you need me, I'm here. You know that, right?"

I nodded, turning away because I could feel the tears forming.

"I just wanted to make sure you knew."

"I do," I whispered, taking a deep breath in and finally looking at him. "I should get ready," I murmured and escaped from the kitchen, hiding in my room for a few minutes until finally dressing and doing all the monotonous morning activities until I was ready to go.

"See you this afternoon!" he said, waving goodbye to me.

I waved back, smiling slightly and walking out the door, down the street to my stop. Luckily I could at least go to the same school I had been going to.

I stalked towards homeroom and my friend, Cara, met me halfway.

"I have a great idea," she said, flipping her long hair back. "You know we have that test in bio today?"

"Oh shit, I forgot," I said, slapping my forehead.

"Yeah, me too," Cara admitted. "And I'm sure Tracey did, too." Tracey was my other good friend. "But anyway, here it goes... since the test is on chapters thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, why don't we each pick a chapter to cram for during gym and then during the test we can just text the answers to certain questions to each other."

I bit my lower lip. "Great idea, Cara, really... but, erm, since we're not supposed to have cell phones, if we got caught, we'd be up a shit creek."

We walked inside our homeroom class and she patted me on the back. "We won't get caught," she assured me. "Think about it, though?"

I nodded. I mean, there wasn't much to think about. If I did get caught cheating, I could just assure Chris that it was a last resort and I felt like I had to do it. Since the death of my parents and everything... I mean, come on, anyone would buy it!

My two friends and I met up to go to French together and I explained that it would be a good idea, no matter if we got caught or not. We split up the sections between the three of us and I immediately started studying my chapter. Cara and Tracey were a lot smarter than me, so they'd catch on a lot quicker. I didn't want to let them down by not studying enough.

In gym we sat at the top of the bleachers and goofed off while studying a little. We helped each other come up with crazy acronyms to remember stuff, mostly using stupid phrases that didn't make much sense and had loads of bad words in them. Finally, after our gym class we hurried to biology where we could get our phones all set up. I felt kind of bad about cheating like this, but I was usually the doormat between my friends. If they wanted to do something, I'd probably do it, even if there was no logic in it. There was actually logic in this, though. What's the worse that could happen? And besides, I'm sly, like my friends. There's no way we could get caught!

My teacher handed out the tests, going over a couple of notes that she needed to make and then allowing us to begin. My heart thumped in anxiety. I looked at the test and noticed instantly that I was uncertain about many of the questions. I just went through and filled out the answers I knew, then felt my phone vibrating softly in my lap. I looked up and saw my teacher going through some papers in a file folder and glanced down at my phone, clicking that I wanted to read the message. It was Cara asking for the answers to a couple of questions, and not seconds later did Tracey ask for more answers. I finished the questions that I knew and started asking them for answers. It was actually going well. One cannot be too careful when cheating on a test, and I admit, we were very careful. Sometimes it took a couple of minutes before a friend would send me a message because the teacher was beginning to look around the room.

Towards the end of the test, I realized that I still had over half of the answers blank. I started panicking and decided to just write all the numbers I needed in one long text message to both of my friends. I was getting a little too into it, I guess, because I neglected to see that my teacher had begun walking around a little. Luckily, I managed to get the message sent before she came towards my table. I quickly looked at some of the questions and racked my brain for what the answer might be. My fingers were shaking because I was so nervous. I felt my phone vibrate again and nervously looked at it where Cara had answered some of my questions. I memorized the few that she'd given me then heard my teacher begin shouting.

"Cara Robinson!" she shrieked.

I jumped halfway out of my seat, quickly hiding the phone in my backpack.

She was scolding my friend to no end, waving her phone around, then glancing at it to see that her two main contacts were Tracey and me. Without another word, she found a yellow slip and began scribbling down our names on it, ordering us to the office. I gulped.

"I don't know how she fucking caught me," Cara was scowling.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have sent all those questions at the same time," I admitted.

"It was nobody's fault," Tracy said.

"You're right," Cara said, nodding. "I should have been more careful with my phone and we should have planned it out better. Next time we will."

I thought it quite ironic that we were in shit for cheating and the only thing we felt bad about was getting caught. It was amusing, really.

Our assistant principal scolded us for about ten minutes then claimed that we'd have to spend the rest of the day in In School Suspension and the next two days we were suspended. Apparently our school had a zero tolerance policy with regards to cheating.

"This time," he began, pointing his finger at us, "you are getting off lightly. If this happens again, each of your parents will be notified immediately and you will be sent home for the week. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," the three of us chanted.

"And rest assured that I will be calling each of your parents to make sure they know about this infraction."

I tried not to make a sour face when he said that, but truthfully, I was still a little crazy when people mentioned parents. I guess it happens to everyone. He didn't notice that I was taken aback, though, and dismissed us to the I.S.S. room. You'd think we'd have felt ashamed being in that room with all of the people who just blow off school, but we had more fun than we should have. The teacher was old and senile and could barely hear, and if he did hear, we straightened ourselves up and pretended like we were engrossed in our studies, so he ended up blaming someone else.

At the end of the day I'd convinced myself that I'd had the best day ever... the worst part was failing my biology test, and that would have happened no matter what!

I caught my bus, waving goodbye to my friends and somehow mustering the courage to sit next to a cute guy. He didn't talk to me much, though. He was more interested in the music he was listening to. In no time, I made it back to Chris's house, and called Cara on my cell.

"Ohmygod!" I shrieked. "I almost forgot that tomorrow's my birthday!"

"Awesome!" Cara answered.

"I just had the best idea ever!"

"Oh? Do share!"

"You know, Chris just bought that new Eclipse? Well, we're supposed to get my license tomorrow morning before he has to be at work, and I decided that I could just convince him to let me stay home, since it's my birthday and I need a break from school, because I bet that either Mr. Cruz didn't call or he just left a message, cause I bet he doesn't care that much if they know what we did."

"He left a message," Cara informed me. "And I've already deleted it."

"Perfect. Now all I have to do is delete my message, convince Chris to let me stay home from school tomorrow and then..."

She stopped me. "So what does the Eclipse have to do with this?"

"I'm getting there! So then I can beg him to let me use his car to drive to your house tomorrow night and we can all crash there and get drunk as shit and I can tell him we're studying for a big test and I want to drive us all to school tomorrow."

The other line was silent.

"Cara?" I asked, making sure she was still there and looking around to make sure that Chris hadn't magically come home and she somehow knew it.

"I'm here," she assured me, "and damn! That's a great idea!"

I beamed.

"So make sure you can get everything done, and then call me and I'll tell Tracey."

"Make sure she deletes the message first."

"She has."

"K, see ya."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and found the message machine, deleting the message from my assistant principal who had just wanted to let my brother know I was suspended for two days. Too bad I'm smarter than him.

I watched tv for the next couple of hours til Chris came home.

"Heya, how was your day?" he asked.

"It was fine. Hey, you know my birthday's tomorrow?"

"Oh, is it?" he asked sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it is."

"Well, you seem significantly happier," he told me.

"I am because I'm excited to get my license, but I'd be even happier if you'd let me skip school tomorrow."

He sat down on the recliner next to me. "I don't know about that, Kelsie," he said. "You've missed enough school already."

"Awwww, come on. I'll even go to the psycho doc so I can get an excuse. Please let me miss?"

"I'll think about it."

I gave him a puppy face, but he wasn't paying much attention. I'm sure he was thinking about my pleas, since he's all philosophical and stuff. And he can also see right through lies, for the most part. I desperately hoped that he didn't catch me in this one, though.

By dinner, my older brother had agreed to let me skip class. Unfortuantely, I had to take it one step at a time. The next morning I'd start hassling him on letting me drive his car to Cara's.

I passed my driving test with flying colors. Things were a little shakey when I had to make a U-turn at a median and didn't realize which side of the road I was supposed to be on, but otherwise, I did fine. I smiled big for my license picture and then Chris bought us a meal from Sonic which I quickly scarfed down. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty because he thought I just innocently wanted to skip school. Truth was, I couldn't go to school even if I wanted. The thought of that made it hard to swallow my food.

"You okay?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, just, you know."

I'd had many silence bouts since I'd lived with him so I'm sure he excused it as thinking about my parents like always. Well, truthfully, I was sort of thinking about them and how upset they'd be if they knew what I was doing. Here Chris was doing all he could and I was being a brat by lying to him.

He dropped me off at home, giving me a list of rules to abide by while he was at work, as if I'd never stayed home alone before. I shrugged him off, smiling and wishing him a good afternoon.

I don't understand why schools think it's a punishment when they suspend us... especially more than one of us at a time! Man, I had a good time. I talked to Cara and Tracey on three way for a little while then turned my music up super loud and played an air guitar while jumping on my bed, then settled down to watch tv for a little while. Chris despised MTV so I hadn't watched it much lately. Luckily, they were playing reruns of my favorite shows so I got to catch up on what I'd missed. When he came home, I was so ecstatic I could barely contain myself.

"CHRIS!" I shrieked, and ran up to him with a hug.

He raised his eyebrows. "What's up?"

"I've had an epiphany!"

"Oh?" he asked, moving from the doorway and throwing his keys on the table. "And what kind of epiphany is this?"

"Well, see, I have a test tomorrow and Cara got some last minute notes and said I could go over there and cram with her tonight. And I really really really wanted to stay the night and I thought it'd be *great* if you let me drive the Eclipse, you know, as sort of a birthday present." I was grinning from ear to ear.

He walked away from me, sitting in his recliner and flipping the tv to the news or something boring. "What are you going to do at Cara's?" he asked.

"Study," I lied, trying to look him straight in the eyes, even though he was staring at the tv and didn't look too keen on the idea.

"Is that all?"

"Well, you know, what do girls usually do when they stay the night at someone's house? We'll probably stay up all night and talk about cute boys."

He smiled at that statement. "And that's all?"

I shrugged. "As far as I know."

"And how do you expect me to get to work in the morning?"

"Take the bus, a cab... or you can just drive my car," I said, grinning. Yes, I had just turned sixteen and already had a car. I got most of my parents things after they passed away.

"So if I let you borrow my car I can go ahead and take back the things I've already bought you?"

"Or, erm, you could just be extra nice this birthday!"

He smiled, shaking his head. "Okay, you can go, under two conditions," he said, looking me straight in the eyes and making my heart jump.

"Mmmk."

"One: You call me when you're in for the night and you don't go anywhere else unless it's an emergency."

"Okay."

"Two: You will get up and go to school in the morning no matter what, and you'll be on time."

I nodded. "I can do that," I teased. "Geeze, I thought you were going to give me something philosophical to do!"

"Nah, but speaking of that... I need to make my notes for class in the morning. Would you like to join me?"

I wasn't much in the mood for hearing about how bad lying was, especially since I had lied to him about nearly everything the past couple of days. But I'd always enjoyed having our time together, and I knew I'd miss it if I didn't sit in there with him. "Of course I would!"

He read the chapter of the book aloud and made notes as he did so, allowing me to ask questions. It was the same as it'd been two nights ago, but this night, I felt terrible because he was talking about the one who is lied to, and how bad they feel to be deceived.

After about an hour, he said, "I guess that Cara knows you're coming over?"

"Of course!"

"Well, it's getting late, maybe you should go ahead and get your stuff together."

I glanced at the clock: 7:25. I wouldn't call that late, but it was getting dark outside and I'm sure she wouldn't want me stalking in at nine. "We're not going to finish?"

"I'll talk to you about the rest later. Of course, I'm sure most of it is pretty self-explainatory."

I nodded. "Okay then," I said. I could feel something different in his voice and actions, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He couldn't know that I'd lied to him, could he?

I arrived at Cara's house about thirty minutes later, dialing Chris's number to assure him that I'd made it there in one piece and his car was fine. Cara literally squealed when I came inside.

"We're going to have soooo much fun tonight!" she said, opening her front door to reveal Tracey who was sitting on the couch watching tv. "Parents are gone to some social thing, Amelia got us some vodka and orange juice..."

I cringed... that didn't sound some great together!

"And they agreed to let us stay in the camp house since there's three of us and it's bigger than my room. That way we can stay up all night drinking and they'll leave before we would anyway."

I nodded. "Sounds great! Where's Amelia?"

"Oh, you know her, she's never home." Amelia is her older sister.

"Hey Tracey," I said, waving at my friend.

She smiled. "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks!"

The three of us gathered our things and stalked down to the camp house, which was a tiny loft-like building near the lake. It was great for sleepovers and drunken nights, according to Amelia. Amelia was nineteen, but had her share of friends who were over twenty one, not to mention that she loved Tracey and me because we were natural trouble makers.

We hadn't been down there ten minutes before Cara was mixing us drinks. The first one I had was really gross and took me forever to drink, except that my two friends kept trying to get me to have chugging contests with them. After that drink, I made the rest of mine, and they weren't too bad. Cara said I was a natural-born bartender.

"To Kelsie!" Cara announced, raising her glass.

Tracey raised hers as well, "Kelsie!" she chanted and we all clanged our glasses together.

We were three-fourths of the way through our bottle of vodka, and as you can imagine, walking was beginning to become a chore.

"Hey! Remember when we used to go to summer camp?" Cara asked, gulping down her drink.

"Ohmigod! Yes!! Those were the days!" I giggled.

Tracey didn't look so great and sort of stumbled towards the couch, plopping herself down.

"Trace? You okay?" I asked, attempting to walk towards her but crawling instead.

"Ohhhhh!!! I just got a great idea!!" Cara shrieked, causing me to jump a little then start giggling in amusement. Tracey's eyes were closed so I figured she was asleep.

"What?" I asked, deciding to stop crawling and listen to what my friend had to say.

"We can go check out the camp! It's not too far from here... about ten minutes or something."

I digested that, not realizing that in order to go there, I'd have to drive, and that driving was illegal in my condition. "GREAT IDEA!" I announced. "Tracey!! Wanna go?"

She shook her head, mumbling something I couldn't make out.

Cara stood and helped me to my feet. We stumbled out the doorway and somehow managed to find my brother's new car. I actually pet the damn thing, like it was a dog or something, then started talking to it, announcing that we were just going to take him out for a little ride, then we'd come back home.

I inserted the key in the lock and for the life of me couldn't figure out how to get the damn car open. Cara was laughing so hard that it made me giggle and finally I was like, "if you don't stop, I'm going to piss all over myself!"

That just made her laugh harder.

Somehow, I managed to open the door without peeing all over myself, then reached over to unlock her side. After numerous tries, I got the key in the ignition, still not realizing I was in no condition to drive. I turned the car on and backed out of the driveway, concentrating as hard as I could.

Cara wasn't helping. She turned the music up as loud as it would go, singing and dancing along with it, until I was doing the same. So much that I hadn't realized it started raining, nor did I realize that the light we were approaching was red and that a green Mustang was headed straight towards us.

Guess I didn't realize it til I heard screeching breaks and felt it slam into the side of my brother's car. I screamed. Cara screamed. The cd kept playing.

I nervously turned the car off and opened my door, falling onto the concrete into some glass. A man with a mustache and baseball cap came up to me.

"Are you okay?" he yelled.

I stared straight at him, not answering.

"Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"Please don't be too mad at me, Daddy," I replied, weakly, swearing that the man speaking to me was my father. "I didn't mean to wreck Chris's car. I'm sorry for drinking... please don't be mad.." And I don't remember what happened after that.

I guess the police brought Cara and me to the station, though I don't remember the trip. I don't remember them hauling me in and placing me in the hard plastic chair, either. I remember Cara giving me a worried look.

"Cara? Do you remember what happened?" I whispered as they escorted us to a holding cell.

"I don't remember what happened five minute ago. I think we got in an accident. Is that what happened?"

"Why is your hair wet? Did you take a shower?"

"I think it was raining."

"Why is everything spinning?"

"I don't know."

A police officer opened the cell and helped us inside.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"In jail.." I answered.

"My parents are going to kill me."

"And Chris is going to kill me."

"Maybe they won't tell them."

"They will," I answered, lying back on the bed and closing my eyes. "I feel so sick."

"Me too."

I think we talked the whole time we were in there, until the officer came and told me that my brother was there for me. In any normal situation, I would have been scared to death, but I felt so sick and dizzy and confused, that there wasn't any room for fear.

I pushed the wet hair out of my face and allowed Chris to lead me to my car.

"How did you expect you could drive when you can't even walk straight?" he muttered rhetorically to himself, but at the time I didn't realize that.

"I've always been a better driver than a walker."

"Obviously not tonight."

I leaned my warm cheeks against the cool window, listening to Chris start up the car and drive off.

"I'm not feeling so well, Chris."

"I'd imagine not.. looks like you've drank a lot."

"Too much," I mumbled, looking around for a bag of any sort, finding a walmart sack with a shirt that I'd bought a couple of days before. I dumped out the shirt and threw up into the bag a couple of times, beginning to cry for feeling so rotten. I'd sort of fallen asleep in my bag of puke when we got home and Chris helped me out of the car, escorting me towards our house. I barely made it up the porch stairs without falling. Hell, if Chris hadn't been there, I would have fallen and just slept in the yard.

I wheezed into the Walmart sack some more until Chris brought me to the bathroom and helped wash my face off, then lay a pillow down on the floor, and a towel next to me.

"You're still going to school tomorrow," he told me after I lay down beside the toilet.

"I'm suspended," I answered.

"You're what?"

"Suspended. Can't go tomorrow."

"Well, I'm glad you told me that while you were sober and not half-passed out on the floor. But we'll talk about that tomorrow. You're coming to work with me in the morning."

"I'm sick."

"You're drunk."

"Sick, too."

"That's what happens when you drink too much."

I tried to speak some more, but fell asleep in dizziness too soon.

Everytime I woke up during the night to throw up in the toilet some more, Chris was there. At the time I thought he was just like superman and knew exactly when I was sick, but now that I think about it, I can sort of remember seeing him sitting against the wall, reading one of his books and underlining different things.

The next morning I woke up by myself around six in the morning. I felt like complete and total hell. The first thing I noticed was that Chris was fallen asleep on the floor close by me. Then I wondered what the hell had happened. I looked at the ceiling and pieced my night together. Drinking, driving, accident, jail, vomiting. That's about how it'd went. I'd never been told exactly what happened, but I wasn't itching much to find out, either.

I left Chris lying on the floor and stalked to the other bathroom to have a shower. I thought maybe a nice warm shower would ease the pain in my head and stomach, and make me feel a little better. The only thing it did was make me wish I was still sleeping so I wouldn't have to deal with my brother's disappointment.

I dressed in something halfway nice because I'd remembered Chris telling me that I was going to work with him. Or maybe I'd just dreamed it. At any rate, I dressed decently anyway. I brushed my teeth half a dozen times to get the stupid throw up taste out of my mouth, then felt like gagging again. I went to the kitchen to think about eating, but passed and plopped down on the couch anyway, not feeling anymore rejuvenated.

Chris emerged from the bathroom a couple of hours later, after I'd dozed on and off for a little while. "How are you feeling?" he asked, buttoning up his shirt.

"Like hell," I answered.

"Not surrpised. Are you almost ready to go? Want something to eat?"

"Nothing to eat, and yeah, I'm ready whenever."

I was glad he didn't want to talk about the previous night's events so early in the morning. I wasn't too clever at thinking up excuses that early. Of course, lying's what got me into the whole mess, so maybe the truth would get me out.

He drove me to the college in my car, parking miles away from campus and making me walk for what seemed like forever. His office and classroom were on the second floor, so we had to climb some damn stairs and I hate stairs. When we finally made it to his office, I plopped down across from him.

"If a student comes in, you're going to have to move."

I nodded, "okay."

He didn't much talk to me, just graded some papers and stuff, drinking his coffee.

"I'm sorry?" I said, wanting to have some form of communication with him.

"We'll discuss it later. I don't want to talk about it right now," he answered, not looking up from the papers.

I just looked around the room, reading the titles of the books on the bookshelf. I'd expected well-known philosophers like Plato and Socrates, but there were only a couple of those. Most of them were books like the one he'd been reading to me on lying. There was one about the existence of God, one about racism, and one about animal liberation. Then there were a few that looked like they hadn't been opened in ages, some by Locke, Rosseau, Descartes... a bunch of guys that I didn't care to read.

After a few minutes, he looked at his watch, then up at me. "Come on. My first class is about to start. There's some extra seats and you can grab one."

I nodded and followed him a couple of doors down to the classroom. I found an empty seat next to a dorky guy and a girl who looked like she was just taking the class 'cause she had to. Both extremes. The girl sort of smiled.

"Are you new?"

"Nah, Chris is my brother."

"Oooh, that's cool."

I nodded. Chris was handing out different notecards to different students.

"Wanted to see your brother in action?" she asked.

"Something like that."

"Are you interested in philosophy?"

"Sort of.."

"That's awesome."

The class fell quiet as my older brother went to the front of the room and began writing on the board, explaining things. His classes were just as interesting as our nightly discussions, and his lecture was just as he'd discussed it with me the night before. Wow, it was hard to believe that the day before was my birthday... that within the last 24 hours, I'd gone from being on top of the word to being in loads of trouble. How does this happen?

The first class was over and the girl next to me asked if I'd enjoyed the lesson and of course I had. If I'd been in college, I would have definitely taken philosophy... at least my brother's classes, cause they had to be interesting.

Other students came filing into the room. This wasn't the same class, but an ethics class or something. Yeah, it just happened to be that when I lied the most, it was all being rubbed into my face. First a book about lying and next was making ethical decisions. What class would be next?

After his second class, we took a little break and he took me out to lunch at a pizza place across the street, but I didn't eat anything because my stomach wasn't feeling happy enough with me. Students must have approached him dozens of times while we were there.

"How are you feeling?" he finally asked.

"I'm okay. Not okay enough to eat."

"I'm not mad at you, just disappointed."

I blinked. That was random. "Okay."

"You've been giving me the sad puppy look all day, and I know that I'm hurting you by being distant, but I'm so disappointed and upset that I don't want to say something that might hurt you even more."

I nodded.

"Hopefully by the time we get home, I'll be calm enough to where we can talk about it rationally."

I nodded again.

I sat in his office for another couple of hours, then he taught his last class which was another lecture on lying. I'd enjoyed it a little more than the first because I wasn't feeling as crappy and the class got more into the discussions since it wasn't so early in the morning.

About two, we went home. He drove in silence... the kind of silence when you're in deep thought. I guess he was racking his brain to figure out what he was going to do with me. I was sort of scared, to tell you the truth. I'd never seen Chris so upset before. He never lost his temper and never really got upset. He always wanted to be calm and rational, and, well, lying was one of his pet peeves, and since he knew that I knew it was wrong from all of those damn conversations we'd had, I guess this would be his time to get upset.

We walked inside and I waited for his instruction before doing anything. He pointed towards the couch and I sat.

"Can you start out by telling me why you're suspended?"

Ech, I'd forgotten about that tiny detail. "Erm, because I cheated on a test."

"I wonder why your principal didn't get ahold of me..."

"Because, er, I deleted the message."

"Ohh, I see. So I guess you and Cara cheated and then decided to make it look like just an innocent sleepover when you stayed at her house? But wait... you didn't go to school on your birthday.."

I nodded. "Because I was suspended."

"And why didn't you tell me?" he asked and I could tell he was getting angrier by the second.

"Because, uhm, I didn't want you to be mad at me."

"And you didn't think you'd get caught?"

I shook my head.

"So my lectures haven't taught you a damn thing?"

I bit my lower lip.

"Okay, let me get this straight.. You cheated on a test Wednesday, and got caught, so your principal suspended you and you erased the message he left me, then tricked me into letting you skip school, and finally begging to use my car to stay at Cara's house so I wouldn't know you were suspended?"

"I wouldn't call it 'tricked,'" I answered.

"Well, I would. So when you got to Cara's what'd you do?"

"Um, we drank a little."

"A little?"

"And then a little more?"

"Apparently. Do you remember the agreement I made with you with regards to whether or not you could stay over there?"

I shook my head.

"You promised me that you wouldn't go anywhere after you called me and said you were in for the night, and that you'd be going to school the next day. So I guess you lied to me about both of those, too, huh?"

I hung my head, fighting back tears. "I'm sorry.."

"So what happened after these drinks."

"Cara decided that we should go look at the camp we went to when we were kids, so we did."

"And then?"

"I don't remember."

"The police says that you ran a redlight and someone ran into you... does that sound familiar?"

"It was raining, I tried to stop."

"Don't lie to me," he said, shooting me a look that caught me in the pit of the stomach. "You've lied enough. It's time to tell the truth."

"Okay, maybe I didn't try to stop. I don't remember it that well."

"You were drinking and driving, do you realize you could have killed someone? Not to mention that my car is totaled, not to mention that you lied about the whole situation."

"I'm sorry... it won't happen again."

"Oh, you're right, it won't happen again. Because in the first place, your car is mine for a very long time. I'm sure when you go to court, you won't be having a license for quite some time, and the community service you're going to have will be outrageous. Secondly, you'll be getting a job and saving up to reimburse me for my insurance costs and the fines I'm going to pay. And thirdly, you're going to get the spanking of your life."

I looked up, a tear streaming down my face. "A spanking?" I asked.

He nodded.

I hadn't gotten a spanking from Chris since I was a kid. In fact, I must have been eight and was staying with him for the weekend while my parents were away and strayed out a little too far after dark when he'd told me to stay close and come home early. And that spanking had hurt like crazy, I'd bawled for hours while I was over his knee and my pants and panties were down to my knees. But he couldn't do that now, could he? I was sixteen and older and... oh man. The look in his eyes told me that he *could* do it and he was going to, no matter what.

"Chris, please... isn't the rest enough? You haven't spanked me in years."

"I'm going to make sure that you will never drink and drive or lie to me again. Something much worse than the punishment you're getting could have happened."

"I knowww, but still.."

"You can't tell me that your dad wouldn't have done the same thing."

I wanted to cry with him saying that. Parents were a touchy subject, and I wasn't quite ready to start talking about them like that.

"He would," I murmured.

"I'm disappointed in you, Young Lady. I know you have a good head on your shoulders. Why'd you have to let me down like this? If you hadn't lied, we would have been spared all of this mess, wouldn't we? Because cheating is dishonesty and lying, so without cheating, you wouldn't have gotten suspended and lied to me about borrowing the car and hadn't been staying at Cara's house and wouldn't have been drinking. See what one 'little' lie can get you into?"

I nodded.

He stood up, bringing me to my feet.

"Please, Chris. I'm sorry."

"I know you're sorry, but it doesn't help the fact that the damage is done, and like I said, you will not be lying to me ever again."

"I won't," I pleaded, but he'd already started unbuttoning my jeans and tugged them down to my knees.

"Get on your knees on the couch, and bend over the back," he ordered, then grabbed my upper arm, deciding that I needed his help. I did as told, throwing my arms over the back of the couch, bending over slightly with my bum up in the air. I'd already started crying.

He tugged my panties down to meet my pants, then I heard him unbuckling his belt and looked back in time to see it sliding through the loops.

"Noooooo, please," I begged.

"Back over the couch, Kelsie," he ordered, folding the belt over.

I bawled to no end, bracing myself for the first lash of his belt. I knew the belt would feel loads worse than the last time he spanked me, using only his hand. But my dad had spanked me with his belt before when I got "too big for my britches" as he put it.

The belt was raised high in the air and he crashed it down on my tender backside, a howl erupting from my mouth.

"Ooooohhhhwwwww."

"I expect you to be smarter than to lie to me, Young Lady," he scolded, landing another stinging lash to my bottom.

"Ooowwww I knowwwwwwww," I yelped, crying even harder now.

"And drinking and driving is one of the most stupid and irresponsible things you could ever do." He landed another smack, and then another right after it.

"Oowwwieeessss!! I was stupid, I'm sorrryyy I'm sorrrryyyyy!!!"

He pushed me down slightly, then smacked me three times in a row which caused me to squirm and cry out more than ever.

"Are you learning your lesson?" he asked.

"Y-yessss," I hicupped.

"Good," he answered, then gave me three more.

My bum was hurting sooooo badly that I could barely feel it. He just kept spanking, though, til I was a sobbing mass. Actually, I'd been a sobbing mass the whole time, but you know, when I'd become so exhausted in my crying and struggles that I just kind of lay there limply.

He put his belt back on and plopped down on the couch, helping me to his lap, where I sat down on my tender bum, even though it hurt like hell. But the fact that his arms were wrapped around me and he was hugging me tightly made up for that. "I love you so much, little sis, and it would hurt me so much to see something happen to you," he said.

I nodded, face buried into his chest.

"I want to trust you, but you can't lie to me, hon, okay?"

I nodded again.

I snuggled up against him, sniffling. "I'm sorry," I muttered when I was able to talk.

"You're forgiven."

I gave a halfway smile and felt like a burden had just been lifted off of me. I was forgiven, and that meant that this wouldn't be hanging over my head anymore.

He kissed my forehead then helped me to my room. "We'll look for a job on Monday?" I asked.

"Yep, we sure will," he answered, smiling.

I smiled back and snuggled into my blankets, drifting off to sleep for the first good sleep in a loooong time.

06 September 2005

Story: The Good Old Days

Part of the Terrence/Brianna & Ashton/Ana series.  Ana wants to go out with her boyfriend, but Ashton insists that she's grounded.  Ana sneaks out anyway, and Ashton catches her, giving her a good spanking right there in the living room without even taking into account that Bri's sitting there watching.

The Good Old Days
by Breanna Carter

The next morning I woke up fairly late and everyone else was already up... everyone else being Ashton and Ana and they were at each others' throats. I could actually hear them screaming from where I was sleeping. I pattered down the stairs in my pjs rubbing my still-sore bottom, trying to figure out what was going on.

"... me that you had it finished," Ashton was shouting, waving a sheet of paper in the air.

"It's not that big of a deal! I can finish it tomorrow morning!"

"You're wrong there, Young Lady, it is a big deal," he said, pointing a finger in his face. "When you begin lying to me about your schoolwork and casually forgetting to show me notes from your teachers, it is a big deal." I sat down on the couch, trying to watch tv and ignore what was happening before my very eyes... but it's like a car accident, you just can't stop looking. "Ever since you started going out with that Blake guy this shit has been happening and frankly, I'm tired of it."

"Don't blame him!" she shrieked.

"I'm not blaming him, I'm blaming you."

She folded her arms, sulking.

"You are not to go out with him for the next two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS!?!" she yelled, so loudly that I jumped a little.

"Yes, two weeks, and keep it up and it'll be more."

"That's not fair!"

"Not fair? You leave the house after school and come strolling in at midnight, all the while promising me that your homework is finished, and then I find this note from the teacher explaining that you've been slacking up on your work... now, tell me what's not fair."

She looked like she was about to explode. "You don't understand! I have to see him! You can't ground me! I'll go anyway!" she said.

"I don't think the three things you need in life are food, water, and seeing Blake, Young Lady... and I can and will ground you."

"But I already promised him I was going out today!"

"Guess you'll have to cancel."

"He's on his way!"

"Call his cell."

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

I was beginning to find some sort of amusement in this, then I realized that I probably looked as pathetic when I was arguing with Terrence. I couldn't help it, though... Ana was blowing it waay out of proportion... but that's teenage angst for you.

My friend gave an exasperated sigh at the top of her lungs then stormed off, muttering things about Ashton on her way. I quickly turned away to the tv.

"Do you do that to Terrence?" Ash asked me, plopping down beside me.

"You know it."

"Girls are so overdramatic."

I responded with, "Guys are stupid."

"Yeah well..." he tried to come up with something clever, but instead got lost into the tv. It didn't matter because I wouldn't have been listening to him anyway.

I have no idea how long we were sitting there, engrossed in some crazy movie on HBO, but suddenly, something caught our attention.

"Who in God's name is honking their horn.." Ashton muttered, then got up and looked out the curtain.

It took all of the power in me not to giggle. I knew *exactly* who was honking!

I perked up, especially when Ashton said, "I know she's not..." The curtain was wide open and there was Ana, running across the yard to meet Blake in his car. Ah, yes, the crazy things we do for love and the drama I was about to see! It's really mean of me to wish such things upon my best friend, but I needed someone to humor me.

Ashton swung open the door so fast it slammed against the wall... hard! He was outside in no time, yelling.

"Anastasia! You better get inside this house if you know what's good for you."

She hurridely opened the door on the passenger's side and jumped in. I saw her frantically yelling at Blake, and Blake was talking calmly and rationally back. Meanwhile, Ashton's walking down the driveway and I swear I could see steam blowing out of his ears. Ohhh man, he was soooo mad.. I hadn't seen him that mad since the first day of school when Ana kept smarting off.

I guess Ana had been telling Blake to take off, but Blake was a little scared of Ashton and instead of obeying his girlfriend, he sat there in the driveway like a dud. Ashton ripped the door open and said something to her. Probably something like, "Get out."

She was arguing with him... not smart. Who argues with someone who's so pissed that steam's coming out of their ears?!?

He asked her two times to get out and when she wouldn't budge, he grabbed her upper arm and tore her out of the car, saying a couple of words to Blake, then slamming the door shut. He hauled Anastasia back towards the house. He was walking so fast and angrily that I don't think she was really walking... he was morely carrying her with one hand, scolding her the whole way.

As he walked inside, I sat back down on the couch, pretending to be more interested in the tv than the situation presented to me.

Anastasia seemed to be a bit subdued... I think she finally realized what she was in for.

Ashton slammed the door enough to make the walls rattle. He dragged her inside the living room, still scolding. "...don't know where you get this idea that you're all high and mighty, but I'm about to put a stop to that. You're not going to deliberately disobey me like this. When I tell you not to do something, you are not going to do it whether I have to spank you everyday for the next two weeks or not. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," she mumbled.

He finally arrived at the couch perpendicular to the sofa I was sitting on. He angrily released his grip on her and wasted no time forcing her pants and panties down to the floor, then pulling her over his lap. I shifted nervously in my position semi-watching the scene and noting that my backside was still throbbing from last night so her's would definitely be sore in a few minutes!

He lifted his hand high in the air and rained down smacks on her upturned bottom. It didn't take long before she was screaming and pleading for him to stop, promising that she'd be good and she wouldn't do anything like that ever again. He wasn't buying it and damn, he was spanking hard! The sound of the slaps could be compared to thunder... that's how loud they were! She was bouncing up and down and kicking and bawling, but he kept up the rhythm, not slowing down a bit. Her backside was quickly turning red.

"I will not tolerate this, Young Lady, do you understand?" he bellowed.

"Ooowwwieeee yeesssss!!"

He kept up a steady pace and must have spanked her for at least five minutes straight without even giving her so much as a breather. By the time he finished, her poor bottom was dark and she was shivering in pain. He lifted her up and pulled her panties up as well.

"Go outside and get me a switch," he ordered.

She was in no condition to argue, so instead, stepped out of her jeans and shuffled out the doorway. They had a high privacy fence so no one would be able to see her unless they were looking.

"Don't you EVER do anything like that, Brianna," Ashton warned me, giving me a look that made my stomach churn.

"I won't," I muttered back, adverting my attention to the tv.

When Ana came back in, her bottom looked as sore as ever and she hadn't let up at all on her crying. Probably because she was scared shitless of having that damn switch applied to her backside. I'd have been scared, too! It didn't look like it was going to feel so good!

Ashton took her upper arm in his hands and rushed the process along by leaning her over the dining room table which gave me too good of a view of the spanking. She buried her head in her arms and bawled for a little while, body shaking in sobs. I gave her my sympathy... It was bad enough to get a hand-spanking all on your thighs and sit-spots, which is what he did. But then, on top of that, he was going to spank her with a switch!

He pulled her panties down to her knees and gave her a countless amount of stinging whacks with that damn switch. Most of them were one right after another with no hesitation on Ashton's part, but every so often Ana would squirm enough to make him slow down a bit. I have no idea how long he spanked her with the switch because by that time I was wincing each time I heard it hit her tender flesh. I was wishing it'd be over, though not quite as much as Ana was, I'm sure.

He finally lifted her up off the table and she almost instantly fell into his arms in sobs. I almost started crying myself, then realized that I had completely given up to trying to watch tv instead of what was happening. Like I said, the same thing we do with car accidents.

Ashton hugged his little sister tightly, rubbing her back and letting her cry in his arms. It was a pathetically adorable sight. After a while, she pulled away and he pushed her hair out of her eyes, holding her cheeks in his hands to where she was looking in his eyes.

"Anastasia, I love you, but you're not going to mess up your school grades to have a social life. School is more important. And you know I don't tolerate you disobeying me like you did today."

"I know," she whispered.

He hugged her again and then they released, Ana wiping her eyes and tugging her panties back up. I found it rude to stare, but I couldn't help it.

She half smiled at me, then blushed.

I didn't know what to say.

She stood there for a minute, then came towards me, hugging me tightly. "You're the best friend ever... I'm sorry you had to see that."

I blinked, hugging her back. "Thanks Ana... I'm sorry I did, too..."

Then, like it was a tradition or something, we walked hand in hand up the stairs and to her room. She washed her face good while I found her a pair of loose pajamas. She came back in the room and took a glance at her bottom, scrunching up her eyes. "Wow... that looks bad."

I nodded.

"But we've had worse, haven't we?"

I smiled. "Probaby. We're just trouble-makers."

She took the pj pants I'd lain on the bed and carefully pulled them over her backside. "Will you help me do my homework?" she asked.

"Of course. What do you have homework in?"

"Chemistry," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Ew, I don't know if I can help you with that..."

She pulled out her notebook and a worksheet, lying down on her stomach and scribbling down some answers. I helped her out with some of it, glancing through a magazine when she didn't need the help. After a while, we got bored with doing our own thing and started talking, surprisingly, about spankings.

"When do you think we've gotten it worse than what I got today?" she asked.

I thought back, though it wasn't a topic I actually liked to discuss. "The Chicago trip," I said, remembering how we'd gotten spanked by both Terrence and Ashton. "Our butts looked terrible!"

She giggled. "Or that time that we snuck into that rated R movie and ran away from that police officer! And I bit him!"

"Ohmygosh! I remember that!" I giggled back. See? I knew one day we'd be laughing about our previous spankings. "And I tried to pick a fight with him. Haha... that was funny."

"Yeah, but we got our buns roasted for sure that time!"

"That damn paddle... I hate that thing!" I admitted. "He used it on me after your birthday, when I convinced us to skip school for some strange reason."

"Ohhh, damn, yeah, I got it bad that time, too! WIth a switch!"

I winced. "What about that time we got in the food fight and you smarted off to Ashton? You got it bad then, too.."

"Oh yeah... that was realllllly bad. And then that time that you were hanging out with Jayna and had the bright idea to steal something," she teased.

I rubbed my bum, "that one hurt!" I admitted. "I think that was the worst I've ever gotten. And when I drank and drove... I don't like thinking about those two nights."

"One thing about it, at least we deserved most of them. What about the ones we don't deserve? Like when I brought my cell phone to school!"

"I know... you were just talking to me in the bathroom. That wasn't fair, I was having a nervous breakdown!"

"Nobody would understand, though."

"And I didn't think we deserved to get into so much trouble for having a food fight, or for pulling the fire alarm!"

She laughed.

"Hey, Ana... are you going to get in trouble next year on the first day of school?"

"Probably."

"Even without me there?"

She bit her lower lip, sitting up slightly. "Can I tell you something, Bri?"

"Of course," I said, nodding.

"Well, I know I've been hanging out a lot with Blake lately, but it's nothing against you, I promise. I'm just worried that you're going to want to hang out with your senior friends and you're leaving soon anyway and I'm going to be alone so I want to have some friends."

"Awww, Ana!!" I said, hugging her. "I know it's nothing against you, but I'm only leaving school and you'll only have to stay there a year without me, though I know it'll be tough," I said, winking. "But either way, I'm sorry for being so jealous about you and Blake. I know I've been giving you a hard time about it, but sometimes it just seems like you don't even listen to me. Like when I got Cosmo."

"Cosmo?"

I smiled. "See?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well I'm listening now. What's Cosmo?"

"My cat! He's beautiful... you'll have to come over and see him!"

She laughed. "Oh, Bri... I'm sorry for being that way. I didn't realize I was ignoring you. Sometimes I get excited about random stuff and I don't know how to shut up. Just tell me to shut up next time!"

"I promise!"

"So I'll start paying more attention to you and you'll stop being so jealous and we'll be good friends again like we used to?"

I nodded. "That's right."

"Hey, I heard that the junior guy named Cole likes you!" she said suddenly.

"Ana... he's a junior.."

"So? I am, too! We're going to go on a double date.." I didn't have the heart, nor the time, to turn her down. Ashton was knocking on the door.

"Bri, your brother's here."

I gulped... utoh... that was something else I didn't particularily want to deal with. But at least Ana and I talked out our differences and I admitted that I was being annoying, so maybe the same would happen with Terrence... Hopefully Ashton wouldn't tell him about my rampage the night before.

05 September 2005

Story: Molly - Chapter 13

Molly - Chapter 13
by Breanna Carter

The next morning, Molly called and woke me up. I wasn't surprised that she woke me up because I usually outsleep her, but I *was* surprised when I saw that it was only a little after seven.

"Molly?" I asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered. "Everyone's asleep, though.. I wanna come home."

"Why?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Can't you tell me over the phone."

"No," she said, then I could hear her begin to cry a little. "I really wanna come home."

"Take it easy, babygirl. I'll be over there in a couple of minutes, okay? Just let me get some clothes on."

"Okay," she whispered then hung up the phone.

I could only expect the worst. I mean, what would you do if she called you crying? She hates crying in front of other people, including me. The fact that she called me in that state just scared me more.

I made it to Ciara's house in record time. Molly ran out to the car, eyes a little red and puffy.

"What's up, kiddo? Does Ciara and friends know you're gone?"

"I left them a note," she said.

"Did you have a good time last night?"

She nodded.

We didn't speak for a while. I figured it was best to leave her be until she was ready to tell me what was going on. I was curious as hell, though, so I was glad when she said, "I wanna tell you something when we get home."

I wanted to say, why not now?, but I didn't. Just said, "okay, babe... whenever you want."

I think I drove home a little faster than I would have had Molly not had something to tell me. It's normal to be curious about stuff like this, but I'd learned not to push someone to tell me something.

We walked into the apartment and I noticed the purple circles under her eyes. "Did you not sleep at all last night?"

She shook her head.

"And why not?"

She rolled her eyes, as if I should have known the answer to my own question. "You don't sleep at sleepovers!"

"Oh... I thought it was called a sleepover because you were *sleeping* over at someone's house..."

"Nope."

"So why not call it a 'stay-up-all-night-over'?"

"I guess cause they don't want to."

I plopped down on the couch and patted my hand on the cushion for her to sit next to me. "What's up, kiddo?"

She sat down, giving me a puppy look. "I feel bad."

"Oh? Why's that? Are you coming down with something?"

"Only guilt."

It took a minute for me to register what she was saying. Did that mean that she...

"It wasn't Cole who called 911 last night..."

I could feel myself tense up. I kept repeating to myself to stay calm. "Oh? It wasn't?"

She shook her head, staring at the carpet.

I lifted her chin, making her look me in the eyes. "And who was it?"

"Me," she said softly, in almost a whisper.

"I see."

There was a moment of silence.

"The first thing I'd like to know is why you let him take the blame if he didn't do it."

"Because I was scared of getting in trouble. I didn't want you to be upset at me."

"So why did you call it in the first place?"

"Because it was a dare."

"A dare?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, getting a little angry. "So you broke the law because someone dared you to? Would you jump off of a bridge if someone dared you to?" I know, I sounded like a grandpa... but I was so upset that I couldn't help it!

"I don't know... maybe," she admitted.

That just pissed me off more. "We're not going to discuss this right now. Go to bed, we'll discuss it when you wake up, Young Lady."

"Okay," she said weakly. "I'm sorry, Brian."

"I know you are. If you weren't, you wouldn't have fessed up. I'm proud of you."

"And you'll take that into consideration when you punish me?"

I smiled. She was growing up more and more everyday! "Yeah, I reckon so."

She smiled back and kissed me on the cheek. "So Cole can go to the skating rink tonight?"

"Oh, he can, but I don't know about you."

She pouted slightly.

"To bed, Missy," I ordered, halfway teasing, then popped her on the bottom as she walked off.

I stretched out on the sofa, wondering what I was going to do about this. Sometimes it was hard to remember what it was like being twelve, but this particular instance, I remembered exactly what it was like. It was cool being the one who did all the dares... the one who would do anything... the fearless one who just knew they wouldn't get caught. And Molly even fessed up to it, which showed a great sign of maturity, and I admired that. So would it really be necessary to punish her so severely? I think the biggest punishment was the guilt she felt for letting someone else take the blame.

About two that afternoon, Molly came stalking out of her room, still looking as guilty and rundown as ever. She sat down next to me, lying her head on my shoulder.

"I hope Cole's mom wasn't too hard on him last night."

"Me too," I answered, putting my arm around her.

"I wish I could call him and apologize.. to both of them."

"I have the number at the skating rink."

She looked up at me, a look of terror, not realizing that she might actually have to call them after saying that. "Oh."

We were quiet for a little while.

"Are you going to spank me?" she finally asked, staring at the tv so she wouldn't have to look into my eyes.

"I don't know. Do you think I should?"

She shrugged. "Probably so. I mean... I don't know." It was like she didn't want to give into her fate.

"Go get ready, we're going to go to the skating rink and have a talk with Cole and his mother."

She looked at me again. "Do we hafta?"

"Didn't you just say that you owed them an apology?"

"Yes," she muttered, standing up.

"Then yes, we hafta... go."

She shuffled off, taking her time to get ready. She took a long shower, then dried her hair and fixed it all up in braided pigtails, then applied her makeup like she was going on a date or something. Finally, after a little over an hour, she was ready.

"Took ya long enough," I said.

"Was thinking about what I did," she answered, smiling at me.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said playfully.

She didn't even bother turning the radio up to listen to whatever band she had in the cd player. I think she was a little nervous about what was going to happen with Cole, not to mention that she still had no idea how she was going to be punished by me. I'd already told her that she was going to lose skating rink priveleges for the night as well as next Friday, since Cole was asked to leave early on a Saturday night.

We arrived at the skating rink minutes later and Molly was a little hesitant to get out of the car.

"Come on, MollyCakes," I said sternly.

She sighed and got out of the car, poking out her lower lip and gently touching her backside. Ah, yes, she was suspecting what was going to happen, she just wasn't sure yet. And quite truthfully, I wasn't exactly sure, either. But we were to find out very soon.

"I'm not here," I told Heidi, the morning DJ, as I walked inside.

"Could've fooled me," she answered, smiling at me and waving to Molly as we stalked off to my office. I sat down behind my desk and she took a seat in front of me. I dialed the number that I'd scribbled down on a sheet of paper the night before, then put it on speaker phone.

"Hello?" the lady on the other line said after about two rings.

"Hi, Mrs. Lofton?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Hi, this is Brian from the Skating Palace... we talked last night."

"Oh, yes," she said and it sounded like she was sitting down.

"I have someone here who needs to speak to you," I said, then looked at Molly.

Molly gave me a pleading look then cleared her throat. "Mrs. Lofton... this is Molly Collins," she said.

"Ah, yes, hello Molly."

"Um, I wanted to tell you that... It wasn't Cole who made the prank call last night. I'm sorry for getting him in trouble, but it wasn't him. It was me."

She bit her lower lip, waiting for the lady's response. "Oh," was all she said.

"I really am sorry."

There was nothing said on the other line.

I spoke up. "I'd like to let you know that Cole is not kicked out of the rink for the day and I apologize for the misunderstanding."

"But didn't he tell you that he was the one who did it."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So are you sure he didn't."

"Pretty sure. If you could, Molly has something she'd like to say to him as well."

"Okay, just a minute," the lady said then covered up the phone to yell at the boy to come there.

Seconds later I heard the muffled voice, "Hello?"

"Hey Cole, it's Molly."

"Oh, hey Molly..."

"I'm sorry for letting you take the blame."

"It's okay... we all egged you on and I knew you didn't need to get in trouble 'cause you've been in trouble at the rink so many times."

"But I should stand up for myself, and shouldn't have got you in trouble. I told Brian that it was me, and he said that you can come back whenever you want."

"You didn't have to tell him."

"Yeah, I did... I felt bad because I got you in trouble."

"Thanks, Molly."

"No problem.."

"Cole? May I speak to your mom again please?" I interrupted.

"Okay." He handed the phone back to his mom and I picked up the receiver, apologizing again for what had happened and finally asking her the question that would determine Molly's fate: How had she punished her son.

She was quite taken aback until I explained to her that I was Molly's guardian until her mother came back from a family emergency and I felt it appropriate to punish her in a similar way as her peer. With that statement, she was more than willing to let me know that Cole had been put on restriction from the skating rink for the next three weekends, and that he could not use the phone or internet for the week, nor could he hang out with any friends. Seemed like quite a punishment to me, but that was because I wasn't used to putting Molly on restriction. I preferred to get it over with so she wouldn't have to dwell on it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Lofton. I apologize again for the inconvenience and assure you that Molly will be punished accordingly."

As I hung up the phone I caught a glimpse of Molly staring at me with her puppy eyes.

"Don't even try it, Molly," I said.

"I called and apologized, wasn't that enough?"

I shook my head. "I wish it could be, baby..."

"But don't you get to choose? If you wish it could be, couldn't it?"

"Did you know that had you not fessed up, Cole would have been grounded from the skating rink for two weekends and not been able to do anything for a week?"

"Wow... that, um, sucks."

"You're telling me. I felt sort of sorry for the kid. Thinking he was just helping his friend out but getting into so much trouble."

"Does that mean that I'm grounded for a week?"

"Do you think you should be grounded for a week?"

"I don't like it when you answer me with a question," she pouted.

"Well, let me explain the situation to you. Someone at this skating rink committed a federal offense and her friend stood up and admitted to it when he hadn't done anything to begin with. His parents were called and she felt totally embarrassed that her son would do such a thing, when he didn't even do it. Then, when he got home, he was fussed at and scolded and probably sent straight to bed after being grounded for a week. It's, what, nearly four o'clock right now... so since he's been awake this morning, he hasn't been able to do anything but sit around in his room. Now, what do you think about that?"

She hung her head. "Sounds like I deserve a lot worse than being grounded for a week."

"I don't know about that, but I did like it when she said that he couldn't come to the rink for the next two weekends. I think that since I have to work anyway and I don't want you staying at home by yourself, instead of not being able to come here for two weeks, I'll have you write lines next weekend and allow you to come back the next weekend without being grounded for a week. But I also think that a spanking is in order."

She winced at that statement. "Somehow I knew that a spanking would be brought into the picture."

"Well, then, I'll let you decide. I'll either spank you or let you be grounded for the week... but let me remind you what being grounded means -- you come straight home after school, no sleepovers, no talking on the phone, no computer, and no tv."

Suddenly I saw the look in her eyes that said a spanking sounded better. "Oh."

"You can think about it on our way home," I said, then stood up, opening the door for her.

I could see her weighing her punishments as I drove home. I was also weighing them. I had no idea which I'd rather she choose, though I was leaning towards the spanking. As much as I hated hurting her like that, I don't think I could bear to see her moping through the house for a week. The worst part about that would be that I'm such a softie that I'd end up letting her do something. Hopefully she wasn't thinking about that...

When we walked into the apartment, I said, "Okay, what'd you decide?"

She bit her lower lip. "Erm... I never thought I'd say this... but, um, I'd rather take the... er, spanking," she stammered.

I tried not to breathe a sigh of relief. I pep talked myself not to go as easy on her as I'd wanted. I mean, I was proud of her for standing up and taking responsibility, but couldn't she have done that the night before when I first addressed the question?

"Very well then, come here," I sat down on the couch and she followed me, standing in front of me. "I want you to know that I'm very disappointed in you for lying," I said, and before she opened her mouth to refute my statement, I added, "I know that you don't consider it exactly lying, but it's still dishonesty because you didn't fess up to the truth. I think I'm more disappointed in that than what you actually did."

She nodded.

"But, it is still not wise to make prank phone calls. You could get in serious trouble for that with the law, okay?"

"Okay."

"Come here, baby."

She inched closer and I unbuttoned her jeans, lowering him to her knees before turning her over my lap. She whined slightly as she found herself in that position once again. I tugged her panties down to meet her jeans and took a deep breath in, bracing myself. She was most likely doing the same.

I lifted my hand and landed a loud *pop* on her backside.

She yelped. "Owww.. that hurt!"

I ignored that comment and slapped down again and again, concentrating mainly in the same spots on her cheeks. It didn't take much spanking before she was squirming. I'll have to admit, I had started the spanking off a little more severe than usual.

"I do not want you to do anything like this again, Young Lady, do you understand?" I asked, peppering her bottom with hard smacks.

"Ooowwwwwieeee, yeeesssss!! I promiseee I won't!!" she howled, squirming enough for me to circle her waist with my left arm.

I kept up the spanking, focusing on her sitspots for a little while and noting that her sobbing usually meant that she was broken. Now, while she probably deserved a bit more, it just wasn't in my heart. I truly felt like she'd learned her lesson and that she honestly wouldn't do anything so stupid again. But just to make sure, I wanted to hear it from her.

"Tell me why I'm spanking you, Molly."

"B-because I made a prank call and let someone else take the blame and I'm reallllly sorry!" she begged.

I delivered about three more smacks to each cheek and then two very heard smacks to her thighs. She wailed then lay limply over my lap. I let her lie there for a few minutes until she realized that I was all finish. She was probably a little shocked that the spanking had been so short. I was a little shocked myself.

I lifted her off my lap and looked into her big blue eyes, full of tears. "Listen to me good, Molly. I am very disappointed in you, but I trust you've learned your lesson. Can I rest assured that you won't be putting the blame on anyone else?"

She nodded, wiping the tears out of her eyes. I hugged her tightly then dismissed her to her room to get herself cleaned up. It was Sunday night and nothing great would be happening at work, so I decided it'd be a good night to hang out with Molly and watch tv. The next day was a school day anyway and she had her big volleyball game, so she'd probably be going to bed early anyway.

She shuffled back into the living room about thirty minutes later clad in her pjs and snuggled up on the couch next to me, Bonkers in her arms. "I'm sorry for what I did."

"I know, hon. And I know you won't do it again."

She smiled, resting her head on my shoulder and petting her cat softly. We went through our typical Sunday night tv schedule, finally watching Full House and then some stupid Ashton Kutcher show on MTV. Finally I carried Molly off to bed and tucked her in, just in time for my phone to ring. I kissed my babe's forehead and ran to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brian," I heard the voice say. It sounded strikingly familiar... like an old friend I haven't talked to in a while... "It's Rachel... I know you've been calling me a lot lately, and sorry it's taken so long for me to get back to you. Law School is hectic!" she teased.

I smiled. Just the person I'd been waiting to hear from.

04 September 2005

Story: Livin' La Vida Loca

Part of the Carlos/Danielle Series.  Danielle uses a fake ID to sneak into a club.  Hmmm... wonder how she gets caught...

Livin' La Vida Loca
by Breanna Carter

"They're staying until Saturday?" I pouted, folding my arms.

Carlos nodded. "They're going to fly into Dallas, though, because it's cheaper and the flight time is more convenient."

"Not fair."

"Well, they reserved us a nice hotel in downtown Dallas so we can stay the night there Friday and pick them up Saturday morning and come back home."

I blinked. "They reserved us a hotel room?"

Carlos nodded.

"Kick ass!" I squealed, doing the happy dance. I had a good friend who lived in Dallas. Her name was Aneesa and she was 17. Carlos had some friends in Dallas, too, so the chances were that he'd let me go out and he'd go out on his own.

The next day at school, I was ecstatic. "You'll never guess what," I told Michelle.

She looked at me. "What?"

"Carlos and I are going to Dallas!! Aneesa lives there! I get to hang out with her and do spiffy stuff!"

My friend, Sara, butted in. "They've got a really cool club in Dallas called Club Uropa. My boyfriend took me there for my eighteenth birthday."

"Is it an all ages club?" I asked, my voice dripping with curiousity. I'd love to go to a club!

"No, it's eighteen and over..." she said, not catching that I was three years younger than she. "Oh, right.." she said, then took out her license, putting it near my face. "You know, really, we don't look that much different. My hair's a little shorter, but the pic was taken when I was sixteen... so hair grows." She paused as I stared directly at her trying to get what she was saying. When I didn't answer, she said, "so, do you want to borrow my ID for your trip to Dallas?"

I thought Michelle was going to have a heart attack next to me. "SHIT YEAH!" she squealed.

I glanced at her. "Wait..." I took the license from her hand. She was right, we did resemble each other enough. Brown hair, blue eyes, about the same height. The only thing I'd have to memorize was her full name and birthday, then I'd be set. The next problem. "What am I going to tell Carlos, though? He knows Dallas well enough to know there aren't any clubs I can get into."

"So don't tell him, duh," Michelle said, snatching the ID.

"But *what* will I tell him then?"

"Don't you have a friend who lives there? Tell him that you guys are going to see a late movie or something. Anything. You gotta go clubbing and tell me all about it!"

There she went again, being a bad influence like always. But she had a point, and I did want to get into that club...

"I'm in."

I think Michelle was more excited than me. She told me hundreds of things that I just had to do and made me promise to pick her up a good-looking guy. Friday morning, Sara gave me her license, and that afternoon, I was off to Dallas with my step brother.

"Hey, why can't we listen to American music!" I whined as we set out on the highway towards Dallas.

"Because I'm driving, not you," he teased.

"Well, I don't mind driving..."

"Whose car is it?"

I folded my arms, pouting. "Not far!"

He ignored me and sang anyway. I have to admit, at least it was good music. I mean, I enjoyed it. The name of the band was La Ley... I understood some of the lyrics, but not every last word. After all, he was the bilingual one, not me. I only spoke enough Spanish to get by. At least that was more than Michelle, who could say "Hola, como estas?" and you still really couldn't tell what she was saying...

"So what are you going to do tonight?" I asked him, hoping that he'd hang out with his friends.

"It all depends on what you're doing."

"Hanging out with Aneesa, duh," I said.

"Where do the two of you plan to go?"

"We haven't discussed that much yet... but you have to let me go with her, and we'll meet you back at the hotel at like, one.." when he gave me the look, I added, "or something. I don't know. We're in Dallas, no parents... we gotta have fun, Carlos! You can go hang out with your guys and pick up some hott chicks and I'll hang out with Aneesa and pick up some sexy dudes."

Cue that eyeroll. "You're such a girl."

"Duh!"

But I think I'd convinced him anyway. We didn't talk much more about it. Most of our conversations consisted of what the hell the song was saying on the cd or whether we were going to make a quick pit stop (so I could waste his money on chips and soda!). We got in Dallas about seven and checked into the hotel our parents had reserved for us. Ohhh man, saying it was nice was an understatement! They must have had a great anniversary and decided to stock us up as well! And the best part: it was downtown! I'd say it was about two miles or so from the club I wanted to go to. That meant that I wouldn't have to bug Aneesa to drop me off or anything. She couldn't exactly go to the club... but she was ecstatic that I was going and made me promise to call her if anything out of the ordinary happened. So I could take a taxi to the club! Super cool points for my parents!

"So have you decided what you're going to do yet?"

"Have you told me what you're going to do yet?" he asked back.

"Grrr fine! I'll call Aneesa and see what she wants to do." When he turned his back, I gave him a very evil look while dialing my friend's number. "Hey, 'Neese... Carlos is bugging me about what we're going to do tonight."

"Danielle?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, hey... are you guys in Dallas? We gotta hang out before you go out tonight."

"Duh... what are we going to do?"

"Ummm..." she thought for a second. "We can go to the mall or something til they close... Ohh! There's going to be a kickass concert tonight down here in Deep Ellum at this place called the Gypsy Tea Room. Ya gotta be seventeen to get in, but if you don't tell him, I'm sure he won't know. Or you can just tell him that tonight it's all ages."

"Score. All right... I'll tell him. Are you going to pick me up?"

"Of course. Where are you?"

I explained to her where the hotel was (as if she wouldn't have been able to figure it out on her own), then hung up.

"Okay... we're going to the mall for a little while then going to this concert in Deep Ellum."

"Where at?" he asked, taking some clothes out of his suitcase.

"I dunno, Gypsy Tea Room or something."

"Listen, Danielle. I'm not playing. You be careful out there tonight. Downtown is crazy, especially for a couple of teenaged girls."

My turn for the eyeroll. "I know, I know. Give me a break."

"Can't help it, I'm your bro, I worry about you, hermana."

Ach! That made me kind of regret that I was sort of lying to him about what I was going to do... "I know, but I'm not stupid. I am almost sixteen, ya know. I can handle myself."

"Well, sometimes it doesn't feel like it. But I trust you tonight, okay? Don't do anything stupid. Promise me."

"Promise," I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

"I'm going out with some guys tonight."

"Yay! Pick up some girls! You need some lovin'!"

He glared at me. "Anyway... I should be in by two, at the latest, and I expect you to be here by then as well, understand?"

I nearly jumped with excitement, screaming. "I'll be here by two, I promise!! Thanks soooo much!"

"Don't let me down," he said, then took some clothes and went to shower.

While he was showering, I watched tv for a little while, playing in my mind what would happen during the night. Carlos didn't know it, but I'd brought something to wear to the club... something I'm sure he wouldn't exactly approve of. Come to think of it, I don't think he approved of most of my clothing. But this... it brought a new meaning to the word "clevage." It was a halter top that showed more than it covered up. Now, of course, I wouldn't wear it out of the house with him around. If he happened to be home before I left, I'd wear a T-shirt over it. Yeah, rock concert ya know. Gotta love 'em!

When I got out of the shower, one towel around my body, the other around my hair, Carlos was dressed and ready.

"Whoa! You really are going to pick up some girls tonight!" I said as he put some gel in his hair.

"I'm going to try," he admitted.

"Awesome!"

"And you're going to try to pick up some guys tonight I assume?"

"Of course! When do I *not* try to pick up guys?"

His back was turned but I knew he was rolling his eyes, like always. He ran the comb through his hair, making sure it was slicked just right. He was wearing blue jeans with that damn belt I hated and a dark green polo shirt. "Do I look okay?" he asked as he turned around.

I smiled. "Ya look like a million dollars."

He smiled back. "Good. Wish me luck?" he asked, spraying on a little cologne.

"With that cologne, you don't need my luck."

He sat down next to me on the bed, putting on his shoes. "You're not wearing anything too showy, huh?"

"Me? Of course not!" I said, sarcasm apparent in my voice.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He paused, tying his shoe, then putting the other one on. "Well, just be careful, like I said... and when you come home, pretend like you were actually wearing something, but it was hot in the hotel so you had to take it off."

I had to laugh at that statement. He knew me too well. "Okay, I will."

He stood up, kissed my head, then grabbed his keys and wallet. "I'm out. I'll have my phone on if you need me. Stay out of trouble."

"I will," I smiled. He smiled back, then waved goodbye to me... and thus, I was granted freedom!

I really did deck myself out. I was determined to make myself look as old as my ID said I was. I dryed my hair then straightened it. I caked on the makeup like my life depended on it, finishing it off with some bubblegum lipgloss that just made me happy. Lastly, I somehow managed to fit in my super tight jeans, a size smaller than I usually wear, then put on my strapless bra, and slipped on my halter top. I sprayed some body splash on me and put on some shoes and socks, just in time to hear my friend knocking on the door.

"Ohmigosh! You look... amazing!" she said, mouth dropped.

"Thanks!" I said, smiling, throwing my purse over my shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yeah, but I'm a little dressed down!"

"It's fine. I just wanna make sure I can get into that damn club."

"I'm sure you will. Especially since the ID itself isn't fake. They can usually spot fake ones, but even if they scanned that one, they'd know it was real."

I nodded.

"What'd you tell your brother?"

"That we were going to that concert... and you'll not believe how dressed up he was! He's going to pick up some girls tonight!"

"Oh, wow! That's awesome."

I nodded. "I'm proud of him. He's usually so dull you'd think he picks up girls from school. But now he's actually trying!"

She smiled. "Well, I didn't have anything super planned for us to do. We can go down to the concert if you want."

That's where the two of us were different. She was a little more on the punk side than I was. I mean, punk's not the word... punk's a new school name. She was old school, listened to 90s rock like Nirvana and Korn, bands like that. Then she had this weird thing about Indie rock music... She didn't even listen to punk. I liked some 90s rock, and some Indie bands, but I wasn't much of a fan. Actually, looking at the two of us at that moment, you probably would have thought we were step sisters instead of friends. We didn't look or act anything alike.

"Wish you could go clubbing with me."

"Clubs aren't really my scene," she admitted. "I'm not a big fan of rap music."

"We could go to a techno club!"

She smiled.

"There's a techno club in Austin that Carlos loves to go to. He said it's filled with hott Mexican guys... well, he didn't say they were hott... but you know. Maybe for your birthday we can go. I know you like techno!"

"Love techno."

We got to her car and drove around for a while, catching up on the old times. She informed me on how school was going and the like, and I told her all about my end of the world. I told her about my mom's anniversary... Aneesa had known me forever, even before my mom had gotten married.

"So you like your step family?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're pretty cool. Just like a real family, I guess."

"That's good."

Yeah, her step family was terrible. Her step dad liked to beat her up and talk down on her like an asshole.

"Yeah... Carlos is more like a real brother than a step brother... did I tell you what happened?"

She shook her head. Embarrassing as it is for your friend to know that you get spanked, I went ahead and told her the story anyway. All about how I was caught doing stupid stuff and how he made me sit with him while he worked and then spanked me on top of everything else. But the whole time he was there for me... held me while I was scared and crying, talked to me about it rationally... not all brothers would do that. Some would just be like "whatever" and go on with their lives. Not Carlos.

"Well, all I have to say is that you deserved it. What the hell are you doing messing with ecstasy to begin with?"

"Ahh I know... it was stupid and I did deserve it. But I learned my lesson."

"Good."

We arrived at a parking lot in Deep Ellum.

"I'm just going to park here and we can walk to our places. The club is right next to the Tea Room if you need me. Just call my cell, I'll have it on and on vibrate so I can feel it. Be careful, okay? No drugs?"

"No drugs, I promise," I said, getting out of the car.

She walked with me a little while until we found the club. My heart began to thump wildly inside my check. There was a line along the wall of the building, tons of people crowded together, their IDs out, money in their hands. They were all so much older than me... they'd have to know I was three years younger than them!

"Did you bring some cash?"

It took me a minute to realize she was talking to me. "Oh, um, yeah!"

"It'll be fifteen dollars to get in."

I blinked. "How do you know?"

She pointed to the sign.

I smiled.

"Have fun, but not too much! Dance with some hott guys!"

"You know it!" I said, giving her a hug, then stalking off to the end of the line, taking out Sara's ID. I kept repeating her full name to myself, and her birthday. Then, as if I didn't have enough numbers floating around in my brain, I decided to memorize her address as well. By the time I got to the front of the line, I'd memorized almost the entire license. So much that if they asked me, I'd probably mix up the numbers. Oh well, all that time learning was wasted anyway because all the did was glance at the ID, glance at me, then mark two big X's on my hands. YAY!!!

I gave the man my money and headed inside, taking a right turn towards a dance floor. I decided to tour for just a minute. In this room there was a cage that some girls were dancing in with their drinks in their hands, just like something out of the Real World, and then there was a dance floor where tons of people were meshed together rubbing their bodies against each other. Did I mention I have NO rhythm whatsoever?

I pushed passed the crowd of people and found another room that was quieter and playing techno music with a tv showing the dance floor next door. There were couches and stuff in there so I figured that was where everyone made out. Lucky them.

I decided to go back to the dance floor and try my hardest to move my body to the music. At that moment I was so full of adrenaline that I didn't care much about my rhythm. I was so excited to be in the club... illegally! Doing illegal things is always an adrenaline rush. I wouldn't recommend it, though... causes too much trouble!

Anyway, so there I was on the dance floor, shaking my ass and looking absolutely pathetic, and all of a sudden this realllly cute guy comes up to me! We start dancing together, his arms around my stomach and my arms high in the air as I shake my ass closer and closer to his groin area. Sorry! Can't help it.. I'm a female! What else was I supposed to do... just stand there and let him lead? No way! So this went on for a little while then he finally turns me around so we're facing each other. His cologne smelt great! I kept my arms around his neck so maybe some of it would rub off on me and I'd be able to smell him through the night to remember how great looking he was. Of course, thinking about cologne made me think about Carlos and I wondered if he was having a good time then I felt guilty because he thought I was somewhere that I wasn't...

"What's your name?" the guy asked.

"Danielle," I answered, smiling and still dancing with him. "And yours?"

"Robert," he replied, grinning from ear to ear. "You're a great dancer."

I blushed. "Thanks! You are, too!"

"I'm only a good dancer when I've been drinking a lot."

I smiled. Hmm... he was over twenty-one... he could buy liquor..

Noooo, bad Danielle! You should NOT ask anyone to buy alcohol for you! They might feel obligated and then if they got caught they'd end up in jail!

"You're very beautiful."

"Thank you."

We danced a little longer then he disappeared to get some more to drink and promised that we'd see each other again later. Of course, it wasn't long before I found a really hott Latino guy dancing alone. I guess I'm like my mom in the sense that I can't resist Hispanics. I love their accents, I love Spanish, and they're just beautiful. So, I went and danced with him. I think he was sort of surprised.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Hey."

I introduced myself, and he did the same, then I said, "What country are you from?"

"Guatemala."

"Awesome! My step family is from Mexico. Hablas El Spanisho?"

He laughed at my terrible Spanish then spat something out that I had no idea what it was.

I just said, "Si."

For all I knew he could have been asking me to sleep with him and I'd just agreed, but apparently that wasn't it because he just laughed.

We must have danced for about thirty minutes or so, then he said, "Do you like beer?"

"Of course."

"Would you like me to buy you a drink?"

I was now faced with a dilemma. Should I take it or not? If I were a good little sister, and a good friend, I'd have said no... "Si!"

He grabbed my hand and led me to the bar, but I stayed closer to the dance floor so he could buy the drinks without them seeing me. Minutes later he came back with two Bud Lights. He handed one to me and I was going to chug the damn thing, but it was so gross and I really don't like beer, so ya know... I took sips.

We danced a little longer and I wasn't even halfway finished with my beer when he finished his off. He excused himself to go get another and I sort of stayed on the dance floor shaking my ass and sipping my drink when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I was expecting it to be that hott guy I'd left earlier for the Latino, but was sort of surprised when I turned around.

Okay, so sort of is a bit of an understatement. I was so surprised that I choked on the Bud Light I had been drinking.

"Sorry, but you look a lot like my fifteen year old sister who I know couldn't be here..." Carlos said.

"Yeah, you must be misunderstood."

"Well, maybe I should call her to make sure she's okay.." he said, making sure that I noted the sarcasm in his voice.

I glanced at his friend behind his shoulder. Ohhh how I hated to be embarrassed in front of his cute friends. Damn. "Maybe you should?"

He shook his head and grabbed my elbow, dragging me to where he friend stood. He proceeded to talk to his friend in Spanish, saying something to the effect of having to go but letting him know when he came back to Dallas. Hell, how would I know? I don't speak Spanish.

After babbling to his friend he just kept dragging me, right out of the club and on the streets. He was walking fast as hell and my feet were starting to kill me, not to mention my elbow that he still had a good grip on.

I hated to interrupt him while he was cursing to himself in Spanish, but I had to... "Carlos? Aren't you going to call a cab?"

"Hell no I'm not going to call a cab. The hotel is only two miles away and we're walking. And oh, little girl you better HOPE that I blow off some steam while we're walking because right now I'm VERY upset."

I gulped. Utoh... that didn't sound too great.

I swear, that was the longest two miles I've ever walked. First of all, it was the middle of the night. Secondly, Carlos was dragging me the whole way and we must have passed a dozen good-looking college guys on the way. Thirdly, I was hot and sweaty enough as it was, and all this fast walking was just making it worse! But I couldn't even complain... I was scared to even talk seeing Carlos like that, much less complain. If I'd complained, God only knows what he'd have done... maybe even start spanking me right there in the middle of the street! I can only imagine how many college guys would have been around to see that!

We finally got to the hotel and I was hoping that he'd at least let us sleep off the anger, but no... of course not.

"Danielle Grace!" he yelled in the hotel room, finally letting go of my elbow. "I am NOT happy right now."

"So I noticed," I said... it kind of just fell out... I didn't mean to say it!

He raised his hand to slap me across the face and I turned my head to avoid it, but he took a deep breath and realized what he was doing before he did it.

"Sit." he ordered, pointing to the couch.

I did as told, seeing that I didn't have many other options.

He paced back and forth in front of me, muttering things in Spanish so softly and quickly that I couldn't make out anything he was saying. Finally, he stopped pacing, stooped down to my level, looked into my eyes and said, "Are you crazy?"

I blinked. "I guess so."

"Seriously, Danielle. What goes through your head when you walk into a nightclub with a bunch of older guys wearing that shit. Not to mention that you somehow managed to get a beer and no telling what the asshole who bought it for you could have slipped in it. Not to mention that you are only FIFTEEN YEARS OLD and could have gotten arrested for even being in the damn place. Tell me how the hell you managed to get in!"

"Um... I, er, borrowed someone's ID," I stammered.

"Give it to me," he ordered.

"I... uh... er.."

"Right now, Young Lady," he said, holding out his hand for it.

I nervously dug in my purse and pulled out Sara's ID, handing it to my brother.

"And where is Aneesa?" he asked, standing back up and gazing down at me.

"At that concert."

"And how do you think she feels that you ditched her to go to some club you're too young to go to?"

"I didn't --" I broke off. Maybe I had kinda ditched her. "I mean... I guess I probably hurt her."

"Yeah. You don't go to Dallas that often, but when you do, you choose to go to a damn club instead of hanging out with your friend?"

I looked down at the floor.

"Not to mention you lied to me about where you were going, so if something happened and I didn't know where you were, then what?"

I shrugged.

"And I thought you promised me that you wouldn't do anything stupid?"

I shrugged again.

"That shrugging's not going to cut it, Young Lady. I trusted you to do as you were told, to stay out of trouble, to stay safe, and you blew it. You just lost any chance of me trusting you. All because of some stupid club you wanted to go to so you could pick up guys. You're too young. You can pick up guys that are at least close to your age at concerts or at the mall or ANYWHERE that's safe, but not a damn club."

He began pacing again.

"And to think, I thought that I could go out and have fun for a night and leave my little sister with her friend to do as she pleased... to do *legal* things I might add. Of course I was wrong. Guess next time we'll just have to get up at the crack of dawn and come to Dallas to pick them up, huh?"

If he was trying to make me feel guilty, he was doing a good job.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

I thought for a moment. "You're right and I'm sorry for letting you down when you trusted me."

He shook his head at me. "I know you're smarter than this, Danielle."

I nodded.

"I'm going to give you two choices."

I perked up to hear my options. Hopefully one of them didn't involve the word "spanking."

"Either I can spank you tomorrow morning or when we meet up with our parents, you can tell them what you did."

The obvious choice was letting Carlos spank me. I mean, not because he spanked less hard than my mom (because he didn't), but because I'd already gotten griped at once and realized how stupid what I did was, and didn't need to hear it from both mom and step-dad. Not to mention, my mom would probably have it where both of them spanked me, and it'd always be better having one person spank you than two.

The downside, however, to a spanking from Carlos would be that we *were* in a hotel so everyone on the seventh floor and probably the sixth as well could hear me getting it!

I weighed my options carefully before I said it. "I'd rather you spank me."

"Okay, well, we won't do it tonight... wouldn't want to wake anyone up, huh?"

I shook my head.

"I just want you to know that I love you a lot, hermana, and I don't want to see you getting into trouble. And I am very disappointed in what you did tonight. I honestly thought you knew better than to do that."

"I know," I muttered.

He held out a hand and helped me up then hugged me tightly. I could tell he was having one of those moments, thinking about how bad it'd be if I'd gotten raped or killed or something. You know, like on Lifetime movies. Ah well, at least he cared about me. That's all that really mattered.

I crawled into bed that night with the worst guilty feeling I'd ever had. I think some part of me wished that he'd have gone ahead and spanked me before bed, so then I wouldn't feel so bad. The feeling you get when you let someone down really sucks, and doesn't make it very easy to sleep. The conversation that he'd had with me kept playing through my mind... the hurt in his voice, the look in his eyes. How could I let someone down like that?

Somehow sleep managed to find me, but not long after, Carlos woke me up.

"Rise and shine. Gotta long morning ahead of us," he said.

"What time is it?" I mumbled, rolling over.

"It's seven-thirty in the a.m."

I groaned. "Why are we awake so early?"

"Because we need to take care of some stuff, then have a shower, and still manage to be at the airport about eleven."

That didn't help me get up any better... I still wanted to sleep for the next two hours and then go. "Do we hafta...?"

"No, we don't have to. I gave you your options last night, though.. are you changing your mind?"

"No."

"Then get up."

I rolled back over on my back and stared at the ceiling. Carlos was throwing some clothes in the suitcase, or something... "I'm so sleepy, though.."

"Well, just think... if you'd done as you were told last night, we could still be sleeping right now."

Blah... he didn't want to be up anymore than I did... "I know," I whined, then pushed myself out of bed.

"Let's get this over with," he said, slipping the belt out of his jeans that had been draped across his bed.

"Y-you're not going to use that... are you?" I asked, voice almost pleading.

He glanced at me. "What gives you the idea that I wouldn't?"

"Heh," I said.

He sat down on the couch, bringing the belt with him. Dammit... not that thing again...

"Come here," he ordered.

I waddled towards him, hands behind my back, somewhat covering my bum. I stopped a little far away from the couch, seeing that belt and knowing that it wasn't going to feel too good coming down across my backside. When he realized that I wasn't going to inch up any closer, he grabbed my arm and tugged me towards him, then pulled my pj pants to my knees, leaving me standing there in only a T-shirt and panties.

"Over my lap," he commanded, but I was frozen in that position. He waited patiently for about thirty seconds then said it again, this time more firmly: "Danielle... Over my lap... now."

I tried to take a step forward but my brain must have targeted the wrong body part because instead I started talking. "Carlos... pleaseee don't spank me! I'll be good and I won't do it again and I'm really really really sorry!"

"I gave you the choice and this was it..." he began, still holding that damn belt. "Now, get over my lap or I'm going to pull you over here myself." I took a tiny step forward. At least I was progressing a little. Of course, a little wasn't enough. Carlos raised the belt up high, threatening me with it. It worked. Within seconds I was over his lap. I didn't want more than I was already getting!

He positioned me as well as he could, then tugged my panties to my knees. He didn't waste any time getting down to business. "I will not tolerate you pulling a stunt like you did last night," he said, swatting my bottom with all of his strength the whole time he lectured. "What you did was dangerous and unacceptable. If I ever hear you sneaking into a club again, not only will I literally roast your bottom, but your mother and my father will both know about it and I'm sure they'll do the same, do you hear me?"

"Oooooowwwwwww, yesss!!"

"And you will NEVER lie to me again, Young Lady," he added, giving me extra hard swats.

It wasn't long til he stopped. Unfortuantely, it wasn't over. I knew I still had to endure that damn belt and that wouldn't be a pretty sight!

He suddenly lifted me up and put me over the arm of the sofa. "Keep your hands away, Danielle. This is the only warning I'm going to give you."

I nodded in agreement as I felt my body being shifted down, my head buried into the cushions and my arms underneath it. I squeezed my eyes shut. As I awaited the first blow, my mind was racing on what all I'd done to deserve this and how I'd do it differently next time... and then he slapped the belt down on my tender backside and I let out a shriek and buried my face more into the cushions so it'd be muffled a little.

And he didn't stop there. I'd expected him to give me a little of a break, but he kept up a steady pace of spanking, one right after another, landing them almost right on top of each other. However, he had me pinned down for the most part, so the only movement I could make was kicking my legs and crying at the top of my lungs. I tried to plead with him, but everytime I attempted to let out a work, another blow was delivered to my battered backside. He concentrated mainly on my sitspots and thighs, which didn't surprise me much because he knew that's where it'd hurt the most. It didn't take long before I was broken and a sobbing mess, but he still didn't stop.

"Are you going to think about this next time you decide to roam around downtown Dallas without telling me where you are?"

"Y-yessssss," I gasped between cried of "owwww" and "ahhhhhh!"

"And are you ever going to sneak into a club again?"

"N-noooo sirrrr!!" I wailed.

"Then I assume you're learning your lesson?" he asked, delivering four of the hardest smacks I think I've ever received.

"Y-yessss!!!!"I bawled after the four smacks.

He dropped the belt and helped me up, dragging me to the corner. I wasn't much concerned with walking... between the amount of pain I was in along with the tears and snot, I was a little too preoccupied to think about walking.

He put my nose in the corner. "Stay there until I get out of the shower, then you can have your shower, and then we're going to discuss the situation a little. Be glad I'm not making you write me an essay like last time."

Boy was I glad!! My bottom was aching so much, it would have been terribly hard to concentrate on writing a paper!

Nonetheless, I kept my nose planted into the corner and regained my composure by the time Carlos got back in the room. He excused me to clean myself up and I did just that, taking a glance at my bum in the mirror in the process. Wow... it was redder than I'd ever seen it and I could tell that it was going to bruise a little on the sitspots and thighs. No surprise there... He'd been extra hard on me... but who could really blame him?

After I was all cleaned up and dressed, we sat down (in some very hard chairs might I add!) and talked about how wrong what I did was. I think he knew that I understood everything, but he wanted to make sure that I realized he wasn't just being an asshole when he spanked me. He wanted me to know that he really cared about me. Like I didn't know already... but I guess some kids don't realize it.

The drive to the airport was the longest ride I'd ever taken... at least it felt like it. I vowed to myself that next time I did something so stupid, it wasn't close to a time in which I'd be having to sit down for long periods of time. It seemed kinda weird, but I was getting sort of excited.

"Yay!!! They're coming home!" I said when we got to the airport.

Carlos looked down and smiled. "Yep... does that mean you're going to behave??"

I choked on my laughter. "Yeah, right..."