Story: Chicago Fun, Part I -- Souvenir Hairbrush

Part of the Terrence/Bri and Ashton/Ana series.  The soccer teams go on a trip to Chicago where Brianna and Anastasia are as well-behaved and angelic as always... Riiiiiiiiiiight.  Instead of obeying the chaperone's orders and going straight to the bus, they decide instead to do whatever they want.

Chicago Fun – part I
Souvenir Hairbrush
by Breanna Carter

{Note: Brianna has already had her 17th birthday, for the record. She turned 17 in early March.}

Soccer is great fun because we get to miss so many days of school. We go on all sorts of trips and stuff. The “national” trip that we took my junior year was to Chicago, Illinois. Yeah, I didn’t think they played soccer in Chicago, but apparently they do! So the day before we left our teacher told us all about the itinerary and how we needed to be at school by 4am because were DRIVING to Chicago. Who in their right mind drives to Chicago from Shreveport?? It was the boys’ coach's fault. He was the one who was scared of planes. Anyway, so the trip would be with us and the JV and the middle school teams, and it’d also be the boys Varsity. Each year we went to some type of nation-wide competition, though it wasn’t all that competitive. We usually just played a few teams and found out how we ranked. The teams weren’t always that good, apparently. That’s what Jayna told me at least.

I was completely and totally ecstatic about going to Chicago. I’d never been that far out of Louisiana, you know, to Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, but most Louisianans have been all of those places before. This was a real treat for me. And Anastasia would be there and Jayna would be there and all of the kids would look up to us and it would be SPIFFY.

That night, I packed the rest of my stuff while talking to Anastasia on the phone. Her father had come in town for the week and was heading back out the same night as we were, but he’d be on a plane to New York City. Anastasia was pissed at him, but I didn’t care to get details because it was obvious to me that she’d much rather talk about the trip. I, of course, had no idea what to pack for a 4 day long trip, so I asked her advice.

“Well, clothes,” she began.

“DUH!” I said. “I have clothes. I have enough clothes to last me three weeks. What else do I need?”

She giggled. “Three weeks? Not a heavy packer are ya?”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up. What else do I need?”

“Uhmmmm, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, hairdryer...”

“Okay, got all of that. Anything else you can think of? I have the feeling I’m forgetting something.”

“Deodorant!” she yelled happily.

“Mmmmk.” I found my deodorant and threw it in my bag. “It doesn’t get hot in Chicago in March, does it?” I asked.

“Nahhhh, I don’t think so. Wow! This is going to be tons of fun!”

“Yeppers, it is.”

I grinned and kept chattering about the spiffy things we were going to do, like go to the Sears tower and stuff and take tons of pictures and maybe even a video. That was a random idea, though. Neither of us even had a video camera.

I barely made it to sleep that night, even if I did manage to go to bed at 9:30. That was the earliest I’d gone to bed in years. I kept tossing and turning, somehow managing every hour to count down how long it was until I had to wake up. I guess I was somewhere between the third and forth hour when I finally dozed off.

Terrence began banging on my door at 3 in the morning. The sun wasn’t out and I was confused as to why it was so early and I was awake. Then I realized that I was going to Chicago and got excited all over again. I hopped out of bed and dressed myself in some baggy jeans and a T-shirt, finished packing my backpack with food and drinks, grabbed my CDs, and I was ready to go. Terrence just laughed at me, saying how he wished every morning I was that excited. I just grinned and started singing that song... every morning there’s a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend’s four post bed. I’m a horrible singer.

We stopped by McDonald’s to get something for breakfast (THIS McDonald’s is open at 3am, okay?), because it was so cliché and I demanded him to stop by there. We listened to Sugar Ray (surprise, the song was Every Morning!) on my way to the school while I ate my bacon biscuit and counted down the minutes until I’d be leaving for Chicago. Terrence told me that if I began counting the minutes of how long it took to get to Chicago, by the time I actually got to there, I’d have counted so many minutes that I wouldn’t want to count again for the rest of my life. He also said that he doubted I could add up how many minutes it’d actually take to get to there. I just gave him an evil look and told him to shut up.

We finally arrived to the nearly deserted parking lot. It looked so weird being at school when it was dark outside and the parking lot wasn’t filled with cars and kids who were running to the building so they wouldn’t be late. Instead, it was filled with three huge charter buses and some parents and even Ashton and Anastasia’s dad was there! I’d only met him once or twice and it was really weird seeing him again.

I got out of my car and Anastasia attacked me. “BRIANNA!” she screamed. “We’re going to have so much fun!”

I smiled and hugged her wondering if she had talked her father into getting that video camera...

Ashton greeted me and I swooned over him, wishing that I could call him mine, and then their father told me hi and shook Terrence’s hand. I guess it was the first time they met. The coaches were calling out orders to all of the boys, getting them to load the stuff on the buses, our soccer bags and suitcases. A really cute kid got my stuff for me. He was part of the co-ed middle school team. So adorable. Not too long after that, Ashton and Ana’s dad announced that he needed to get going so he could pack his stuff, which Anastasia told me he never really unpacked, and get going. We all told him bye, he left, then our coaches ushered us towards the bus and I hugged Terrence, promising him that I’d call later in the night.

The bus that I rode consisted of only Varsity soccer girls and some of the boys. Most of the boys, however, were on the bus with the JV girls, and some of the JV girls were on the bus with the middle schoolers. It was a really messed up situation, but who cares? The point was that I rode in the backmost seat, where it was just 3 chairs and then next door was a bathroom. We didn’t really like the idea of sitting next to the toilet, but we left ourselves no choice... we had to live up to our expectations! I sat next to the window, and Ana next to me, and in front of us was Jayna and our senior friend Patrice. We goofed around for a little while as we sat in our seats, waiting for the ride to start. It was soooo boring just sitting there, but we had nothing else to do. Apparently, some kid wasn’t there and we were waiting for him. So we waited for about an hour or so and finally our coach got on the bus and announced that the kid had arrived, we clapped, then she sat down in the front seat and the ride began.

The first thirty minutes consisted of Anastasia and I talking a mile per minute about tons of different things, the trip itself, past trips we’d been on, food, and hot guys... mostly about the hot guys. After a while of that, we got kind of bored with it, running out of guys to name, trips to tell, food that we liked, and since we’d never been to Chicago, we didn’t know what other cool things were there. We played cards for a little while, eventually getting bored with that. We watched the sunrise, then watched Monsters, Inc. That’s a really good movie. Then we found some girls who wanted to play this game called Mafia with us. Then we listened to our portable CD players and went to sleep, then we stopped for breakfast. We’d only been driving for 3 hours and it didn’t seem like we’d gotten very far at all. We were only in Arkadelphia, which is about 3 hours away from Shreveport, hehe... which is why we’d only been driving 3 hours!

So, we stopped at McDonald’s, told you it was cliché, and since we were on the first bus, I managed to get my chocolate shake and apple pie before anyone else. It was super yummy, too. Instead of sitting inside with all of the annoying, screaming people, we sat on the curb outside, that is, Anastasia, Jayna, Patrice, and I, and ate our food and giggled about random things. Then we got back on the bus and resumed our seat and I found some speakers and listened to my portable CD player with Anastasia and Jayna and Patrice, and we sang along to Bohemian Rhapsody and some other songs that we all liked. All the while, we’re eating some Pringles and gummy worms, and just about any other food that people happened to have with them. We ate a lot of chocolate. Before we knew it, we were all hyper again and giggling and they turned on another movie that wasn’t funny, so we played another game of mafia and made up ridiculous stories about people dying. You know what I mean if you’ve ever played that game. If not then, uh, find out how to play it? Anyway, everyone got bored with Mafia after a while and we settled back down and listened to our CD players and I watched the TV screen although I wasn’t listening, and I looked out the window and time passed by so slowly. We finally went to eat again, after what seemed like hours on the road, or what was hours. Terrence was right, there was no way that I could count how many minutes it took to get to Chicago.

We ate lunch at approximately noon. I had Subway, because Subway is good. Well, no, mostly it was because nobody else thought about going there except the few of us that I actually liked. Then I got some ice cream and we trudged back to the bus, waiting for our change in bus drivers. I was, by this time, worn out and ready to take a nap, so I popped a couple of benadryl and had a niiiiice nap until we made it to some place in Illinois and I was awakened by our bus driver stopping at a rest area. The only thing I really comprehended was that there was a lot of green and that I desperately wanted to go back to sleep and get this ride over with. Did we honestly have to stop every three hours?

The next time we stopped was for dinner and it was close to sunset. It was somewhere in the middle of Illinois. Time was of no importance by this time, and we were just ready to get to Chicago. Unfortunately, we weren’t getting there any time soon. So, I just shut up and ate my Arby’s, sat at a table with some friends, then lay my head on Ana’s shoulder to take a quick nap before getting back on the bus. I guess the benadryl hadn’t worn off yet.

Hours later, we watched another movie, or THEY watched another movie while I listened to more music, and attempted to stay awake. Then it got dark outside and I moved up to another seat with some of the younger girls on the team and we played a game of Mafia because Jayna, Anastasia, and Patrice were asleep. We played a couple of games, then got bored with it and just talked about stuff. A senior named Kelly was with us and she told us about the senior prank that they were planning and it sounded ultraspiffy. I told her that I couldn’t wait 'til my senior year, and she told me I could, because after your senior year, everything’s over and going through change is a bitch. I nodded. I definitely knew all about that.

After a while, most of the other people went to sleep, or began listening to their CD players, so I went back to my seat with the intention of listening to some music, but instead found myself in the midst of another conversation with Anastasia. Then it started lightning and I was scared to death and everyone laughed at me. I can’t help it! We were in the plains of Illinois and I didn’t like the idea of a tornado coming and sucking me up. Hard to believe that I actually like rain.

I was half-asleep when we arrived in the city limits. In fact, I had seen the sign that said Chicago was near, and at the time I was listening to this song called “Welcome To Chicago Mother-Fucker.” Great song. It was the song that I wanted to hear when I got into the glowing city... except nothing was glowing really, because it was about 1 in the morning. It seemed like when we passed over the city line, everyone awoke and got all giddy. I didn’t get that giddy, because I guess it hadn’t kicked in yet. I just watched the lights pass us in awe, then took my headphones off.

“Wow!” Anastasia said. “This is totally amazing!”

I grinned and nodded. “Definitely,” I replied, putting my CD player back into my backpack and eating a couple of gummy worms. I kept looking at the hotels close by, praying that we’d stop at one, but my prayers weren’t answered for what seemed like a loooong time. But, when we pulled into the hotel, I was the first one to hop up. Then I was told to sit down because we weren’t ready to check in yet. I glared at my coach and sat back down.

Anastasia yawned. “I’m so sleepy,” she murmured.

“Yeah, me too.”

Jayna turned around and looked at us. “Last year, Chad and some of the other guys had a party after our game. Are you guys in?”

I looked at Anastasia to see what she thought. “Hmmm, well... I dunno if it’s such a great idea, because won’t Ashton be there?”

Jayna shrugged. “Maybe... but if he is, he can’t get pissed at you for going.”

She grinned at me. “Well then, we’re definitely in!!”

I smiled as well, and I knew that it was that time where the higher power had mercy on me because our coach walked on the bus and told us to begin unloading. I grinned even wider at that comment and hopped up and practically ran to the front of the bus. A nice comfy bed at last!!!

I lugged my bag that was full of three weeks worth of clothing to my room that I was sharing with only Jayna and Anastasia due to the fact that there wasn’t a number of girls that was divisible by 4... I think. Hey, who cares, I got my stuff in my room and plopped on the bed I first came across and was almost asleep in seconds.

The next morning we woke bright and early and felt so refreshed and excited about our game. We ran downstairs for a bite to eat and it was fruit, like always, then we came back to our rooms and took showers and dressed in our uniforms and carried our heavy soccer bags downstairs. We threw the bags on the bus, in the bottom part where the luggage goes, then giddily strolled up to the bus, talking about how we were going to win. Jayna just KNEW that we’d do awesomely.

It seemed as if we drove a long way to get to the luscious green fields. A lot of Chicago is just city stuff, but it’s really beautiful when you get to the grassy part. We practically jumped off the bus and ran to the field to warm up a little bit, and we did just that because in a matter of seconds we were all sweating like crazy. It was around 9am and we were prepared for a whole day of watching other teams and playing. It started out with 8 teams and somehow by the end of the day we’d have a winning team.

It really wasn’t so hard. The first 8 teams played each other and the 4 that won then played each other. Does that make sense? Let’s see... there was our team and the first match was against this school called Britten from Rhode Island and we won 4-0 because they were a horrible team. Well, each of the other 6 teams played against another team and then the ones that won were all in the next round. Then we played another school from Ohio and beat them 6-3, because they had a horrible defense. The other teams all played each other to determine all the other places, but we only played one more team, and we beat them, 3-1, and it was sometime in the evening because when you’re on a soccer team, it’s too difficult to have all of your games right after another. We had eaten a sack lunch, compliments of the place where we were playing, and we just sat and watched the other teams for a while, trying not to fall over asleep. And when we found out that we had won, we were jumping up like crazy and hugging each other and grinning widely. It was so awesome to win! And our coach told us that we were going to have a victory dinner, and we were also excited about that.

The thing is, apparently the boys teams were harder than the girls teams. And the middle school teams were even harder! I mean, come on now, we have an amazing soccer league at my school because we have the best coaches. But, the boys placed 2nd in their match and the middle schoolers 4th. We were kind of disappointed, but didn’t let it bother us because we did get first place. We didn’t really get the chance to watch any of the other teams, so we took their word that the other teams were from better schools and had more people on their team to choose from. Then we all moved in a group towards the bus with our big trophy that the team captain held high in her hands and we all gathered around it grinning widely and hugging one another, though we were sweaty and smelly. And finally we got on the bus and cheered for ourselves and watched ourselves playing, because someone had filmed the game, and we watched the final game and we played so amazingly and cheered every time we made a goal or blocked someone else’s goal. Finally we got to the hotel and all took a shower and dressed in decent clothes to have our dinner. We’re just that type of school, we eat when we win!

After dinner, we went on back to the hotel and sat around the pool for a little while, throwing people in and playing some Marco Polo... it was an indoor pool... it was way too cold outside to go swimming. Then we all sat in the hot tub and congratulated ourselves for a job well done. The hotel kicked us out of the pool area at 11 because they were closing, and we stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for Patrice who couldn’t find her room key, and there were some kids who were having some kind of dance in a ballroom which was right by the pool for some reason. I mean, there was a glass door and window and we could see them in their nice dresses and stuff. And we waved at them and they gave us funny looks, and then Anastasia said, “I wonder if they can see us.”

And I said “Probably not.”

And Chad said, “yeah, they probably can.” And then he started flexing like those models you see on TV and he looked so amazingly hot that I couldn’t wait 'til his party.

That’s when I remembered it. “Oh! When are you going to have your get together?” I asked.

“Tomorrow night. Everyone’s so tired tonight that it wouldn’t be any fun. You guys are coming?” he asked, looking at Anastasia and me.

Before I got the chance to say “Definitely!” Patrice came running up the stairs. “Found it!” she exclaimed. We all smiled, then went back to our rooms and changed into our PJs. I debated on whether or not to take another shower, and decided against it since Chad was right, we WERE all exhausted.

The next morning we woke bright and early again and I was totally sleepy and I couldn’t even move without yawning like crazy. We ate breakfast downstairs with everyone, being all happy and stuff because we were excited about the fun-filled day that we would have.

The first thing we did was go to the mall that was right next door to our hotel. We went there because some of the middle school kids wanted to go to this Ripley’s Believe it or Not place and some of us preferred to not, since we hadn’t paid for it yet or anything. I guess we’d rather spend our money on, uh, food. After the mall, we went to some exhibit building place, the museum of natural science or something to that effect, but we somehow managed to pester our coach into letting us walk to the Sears Tower instead, us being Jayna, Anastasia, Patrice, and I, along with a couple of the guys that we hung out with, since that wasn’t on our itinerary and we really wanted to go there. The walk there seemed so long, a few miles at least, and we stopped at Wendy’s on the way, where I ordered the famous Big Bacon Classic, because that’s my favorite. We sat at the table, eating and giggling, being excited about being able to go to the Sears Tower.

Believe me, if you’ve never been to that tower, it IS amazing. We rode up the elevator and went through the observation deck and I took tons of pictures of Chicago. We could apparently see like 4 states at a time or something and I felt like I was in an airplane. That’s how high above the ground we were. We couldn’t stay long, though, just long enough to take tons of pictures and buy some souvenirs. We went on back to the museum just in time to catch the rest of the school getting ready to leave. We went back to the hotel for a little while to have some of our own time, only to meet back at five for our trip to Navy Pier. I was most excited about that!

Navy Pier was this huge pier, obviously, on Lake Michigan with tons of shopping places and a lake! Ahem, well I was excited about the lake, and the lighthouses. Anastasia was excited, too, because the whole trip there we were singing the wheels on the bus and getting all giddy about going. The only problem was that somehow, she and I managed to get on the middle school bus, and they were being so annoying, and one of the kids even said that Lake Michigan was an OCEAN. We were just driving along and this kid yells “Hey! Look at that ocean!” and I turned around and gave him this look like “you moron, we’re not even close to an ocean.” And then another kid said “nah, man, that’s not an ocean, that’s Lake Poncatrain!” Or however you spell it. And then I looked back and actually said, “You morons!!! That’s Lake Michigan! We’re not on the coast OR in Louisiana... Jesus Christ, learn some geography!” And Anastasia giggled and I rolled my eyes, then we finished singing the wheels on the bus.

Lake Michigan is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, honestly. We stood outside on the pier for the longest time, gazing out at the ocean (hahaha) and watching the sun set behind the city. I took tons of pictures because it was so fantastic. We had somehow managed to calm down a bit, I guess the lake was that peaceful, but soon after the darkness came we were ecstatic all over again and ran to the Ferris Wheel and then went through the mall buying anything we found that we liked. Hey, we were on vacation, we were allowed to do that. We went to this one gift store and I decided to buy stuff for Terrence and Stephanie, because neither of them had been to Chicago before and they’d like souvenir stuff. I was looking around and Anastasia was, too, not because she had anyone to buy stuff for, when I found a spiffy T-shirt for both of them, and a snow globe, and a little stuffed cow that said Navy Pier that I HAD to get for Stephanie because she absolutely adored cows. Then I found myself a cute little stuffed duck that said Navy Pier and then I made my way to the check out line and found this spiffy wooden brush with Navy Pier engraved in it and it had ivory bristles and it was so beautiful that I couldn’t leave Chicago without it. As we were checking out, Ashton came behind us and playfully punched our arms.

“Heya, kiddos. Havin’ fun?” he asked.

Anastasia rolled her eyes. “Of COURSE we are... how about you?”

“Sure. We’re just about to go eat. You guys wanna come?”

I looked at Anastasia practically begging her to say yes, but uh, she must not have heard my pleas. “No, thanks,” she said. “We’re going to get some Starbucks soon and we’ve eaten so much junk food that I’m not even hungry. Are you, Bri?”

Unable to truthfully say that I was hungry, I shook my head. We really had eaten so much junk food...

“Okay, well, easy on the junk food.”

We waved goodbye to Ashton and I paid the cashier for my stuff then she put it in a bag and we were on our way. We girls are such compulsive buyers! She had about 4 bags full of things, and I had 2, and that was only because I knew I didn’t have that much money and I still had to eat the next day on our way home. We went by Starbucks and I got an espresso and we sat outside by the lake, huddling up together 'cause it was really windy, and just watching the Ferris wheel and the lake and the light houses and it was sooo beautiful. When we finished, Anastasia looked at her watch. “Well, we have about 30 minutes, let’s just go walking around for a while.”

I nodded. Walking around would be fun. We went back inside and it seemed like the first place I saw was an airbrush tattoo place. That was JUST what I wanted! I had been wanting one for the last three years or so and although I didn’t have that much money left, I knew I had to get one. “Anastasia!!!” I nearly screamed. “Look!”

She whirled around. “What is it?”

“It’s an airbrush tattoo place!!!!” I exclaimed. “We HAVE to get one!”

She looked at her watch. “Ooooo!! Okay! Let’s go!” she said.

We nearly ran inside, but before we were able to do so, a chaperone stopped us. “Girls, you need to start heading back to the bus.”

“We have 30 minutes,” I replied.

“We need to leave here in 30 minutes.”

“Well, we’re going to get a tattoo first,” I explained. “Then we’ll go to the bus.”

I saw her open her mouth to say something, so I grabbed Anastasia’s arm and pulled her away.

“It won’t take too long,” I assured her when she kind of struggled to get back.

“I’m not worried about that,” she said. “I was just going to tell her where she could go and... well, yeah.”

I smiled. That was Anastasia. I loved her so much sometimes!

We ran into the tattoo place. “Ooooo,” this one is pretty,” I exclaimed, pointing at one. I dug in my pocket and pulled out about twenty dollars. I looked up at the tattoo that was priced as $30. “Shit,” I murmured. “Next tattoo...”

“What’s wrong?” Ana asked. “That’s a spiffy tattoo. Why don’t you get it?”

I held my mere twenty dollars. “Too expensive,” I said.

“Ohhhh,” Ana said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay the extra 10 to get it and I’ll buy your food tomorrow. Just don’t go all expensive on me with food!”

I grinned. “Thanks, Ana, but it’s okay...”

“No, really, I want to do this for ya. Besides, I’m going to spend all the money I have anyway, and you’re the coolest person to spend it on, besides myself of course,” she added, giving me this huge grin.

I rolled my eyes. “Only if you really wanna spend it on me...”

“Can I help you ladies?” a man said.

“Yes, we’d like a tattoo... I want this one,” Anastasia said, pointing to this nifty design, “And she wants this one.”

The man nodded. “Okay, come over here. Where do you want the tattoo?” he asked her.

She pointed to her ankle and when he looked at me, I nodded, 'cause that’s where I wanted mine, too. He patted the seat and Anastasia hopped on the chair. It looked like a dentist chair. It kind of freaked me out. He began airbrushing her tattoo and it was soooo cool how they did it. “One day I'ma get a real one,” Ana said.

The guy looked at her. “Really? Those things hurt like hell.”

“I can tolerate pain.”

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

I figured if he said that it hurt like hell, it probably did. After all, he had a tattoo and he had some piercings. Totally hot if you ask me. I was about to ask him if he’d ever met the guys from Kill Hannah, a band I like who’s from Chicago, but before I had the chance, Anastasia was hopping down from the chair and he patted the chair for me to hop up, too.

“Shit,” I heard Ana mutter when I sat town.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, we’re just a little late, that’s all. Can you kind of hurry it up?” she asked him.

He nodded. “Sure thing.”

I wondered how late was a little late, but I didn’t wonder too long because right after he finished outlining my tattoo and telling us not to wet our tattoos for 24 hours, we were greeted by a very angry coach who was yelling that we were told to meet back at the bus over 30 minutes ago and we weren’t there and they were worried sick and the chaperone had told her what happened. The two of us blushed furiously because we were standing there in front of a hot guy getting yelled at. I was just glad that Terrence wasn’t around because then I’d be four times as embarrassed. Anastasia hurriedly paid the money and we got out of there as quick as we could.

“I cannot believe you girls,” our coach scolded. “Disobeying a chaperone like that, not showing up even after we waited for you thirty minutes. You two are in serious trouble! You are old enough to know when an adult, especially a chaperone, tells you to do something, that you should do it and not be disrespectful. What on earth were you thinking? You’re on my varsity team and the younger kids look up to both of you and if they see this type of behavior, next thing you know, they’ll all be talking back to chaperones and staying out too late!” I tried my hardest not to blush anymore than I already was because she was embarrassing me like crazy... pushing Anastasia and me through the large mass of people and yelling at us. “I’m going to call your brother, Brianna, and Anastasia, I’m going to call your father.”

“But, my dad’s not home...” Anastasia said.

“Well then I’ll just talk to Ashton about this. I’m seriously considering sending the two of you home right now at your own expense.”

I gave Anastasia a worried look. Could she really send us home for this? Terrence would be pissed as hell...

We finally made it back to the bus and Ashton was standing there with his hands on his hips glaring at us both. I heard Anastasia gulp and wondered if I should be gulping myself. I didn’t want to imagine the look on Terrence’s face when he found out what happened...

But, Ashton didn’t say anything, just gave us that look and told us to get on the bus and he’d deal with us later. Poor Anastasia... and poor me! Both of our bottoms were toasted when we got home.

The coach made us sit in the front seat next to her on the JV bus, which happened to be the same bus that Ashton was riding on... and I wasn’t as embarrassed because at least Chad wasn’t on that bus 'cause then I’d be mortified. I really didn’t care what the other kids thought about us.

My coach called Terrence on the way to the hotel. I was so totally blushing...

“Yes, Mr. Carter? This is Brianna’s soccer coach... Yes, everything is fine except that Brianna got into some trouble... Yes, we were out at a mall and she was told to meet back at the bus by 10 and when a chaperone told her not to get an airbrush tattoo, she walked off and got it anyway, knowing full well that she didn’t have the time, so she was late and I myself had to go down to the tattoo place and get her at 10:35.” She paused. I could only imagine how pissed Terrence was and I buried my head in my hands. Oh, geeze... that’s not cool... not cool at all. “Yes, just a minute,” she told him then tapped me on the shoulder. “Your brother would like to have a word with you.”

I took the phone out of her hand, then put my head in one hand, shaking furiously. “H-hello?” I said.

“Brianna Nicole Carter, what is going on?” he said, on the verge of yelling.

I took a deep breath in. “Ana and I were sitting out on the pier and drinking coffee and she said we had 30 minutes 'til we had to go back so we walked around and I found an airbrush place and I really really, really, wanted a tattoo so we stopped to get one and we thought we’d have enough time.”

He waited, but when he noticed I wasn’t saying anything else he said, “and what’s this about disrespecting a chaperone?”

“Well, uh, we were on our way in there and the lady told us that we needed to go back to the bus, but I reallllly wanted this tattoo, so I told her that we’d go back to the bus after we got the tattoo and I didn’t want to argue and waste time so we went on in there. Then, we got our tattoo and next thing I knew, the coach was in there yelling at us about being late and I didn’t even know we were late...” I said, halfway lying.

“You didn’t know you were late? There wasn’t a clock in the room or anything?”

“Uh, I don’t think so?”

“Well you need to pay more attention, Brianna. Tell Ashton to call me.”

“Why?”

“Do you want a worse spanking when you get home, Brianna?”

I gulped. “No, sir,” I said.

“Then tell him and don’t question me about it, got it?”

“Yes, sir,” I said, then hung up the phone.

I was on the verge of tears. “Hey, you okay?” Anastasia asked.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “Terrence wanted me to tell Ashton to call him.” There was no way I could do anything other than whisper... I felt so horrible and there was a huge knot in my stomach.

I felt Anastasia nod beside me. “I’ll tell him, okay?”

I nodded.

She left my side and I tried to calm myself down. I knew I was in deep shit... Terrence getting a call from Chicago saying that I’d gotten into trouble... I dreaded to know what was going to happen. Well, at least it didn’t look like she was sending me home right away.

After a few minutes of sitting alone in the front seat of the bus, my head still buried in my hands, Ana came back to sit next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. “Bri, it’s okay,” she muttered, but I could tell that she was crying, too, and just as scared as I was, and felt just as lousy.

When we got to our hotel, they arranged it to where Jayna would stay in Patrice’s room since they had the extra space, and Ashton would have a talk with us in our room. I guess they figured that Ashton would be talking for a long time or something, and come to think of it, Ana and I figured that’s what it was, too. But as you probably guessed, that wasn’t the case.

He followed us to our room, none of us speaking a word. Both Anastasia and I were nervous and holding hands, and my hands were sweaty and hers probably were, too, but I couldn’t really tell. We got to our room and inserted the key, waited for the green light, then walked inside.

“Geeze,” Ashton said. “This room is messy as hell... how’d you manage to do that? We’ve only been here for a couple of days.”

I shrugged.

He cleared off a spot on the bed and we both set our bags of souvenirs down against the wall.

“Okay, now, I want to hear from both of you what happened, and I don’t want any lying or it’ll be worse,” he stated calmly. I was surprised that Ashton was so calm with the situation... Terrence would be flustered by this time. Of course, I can’t honestly say that because he was pretty calm when I had talked to him earlier.

We sat on the floor in front of him then Anastasia began explaining the situation, telling everything with detail, about how I wanted the airbrush tattoo and how she really wanted one, too, and how the lady came up and told us not to and how we went anyway and didn’t argue with her, and how she knew that we were late, but knew how much I wanted the tattoo so didn’t say anything, and that’s when I intercepted and said that she had said something about being late, but I didn’t bother to leave either. Ashton just listened and nodded.

“Girls, I think you know that what you did was wrong.”

“Yes, we know,” both of us said.

“When a chaperone tells you to do something, you’re supposed to do it, okay? You’re not supposed to just brush off what she says and tell her that you’re going to do what you want.” He paused. “Brianna, I talked to your brother on the phone...” he began. I had figured he’d lecture us more than that... “and he told me that he wanted me to spank you so on the trip home tomorrow you’d remember what happens when you don’t do as you’re told. So, I want you to get me that hairbrush you bought today, and then you and Anastasia are each going to get a bare bottom spanking, understand?”

My mouth dropped open. “What? You can’t spank me...” I said.

“I can’t? Would you rather call Terrence and have him pay for a plane ticket home? Because if I don’t punish you tonight, you can’t stay in Chicago. It’s an agreement I had with your coach. And I’m sure Terrence won’t be pleased to dish out hundreds of dollars...”

I gulped. “Ashton... please don’t do this... it’s too embarrassing... can’t you just tell them that you spanked us?”

“No,” he said. “Now get me that hairbrush.”

“But, Ashton,” I whined. “I just bought that hairbrush...”

“BRIANNA!” he yelled. “Get it, now!”

I growled but complied. I didn’t want to be sent home. That’s when I realized something. “Wait, you told coach that you were going to spank us?”

He nodded. “Yes, I did.”

I blushed like crazy and looked at Anastasia who was staring at the floor, ears a bright red color. I imagined that my face was a similar color.

I handed Ashton the brush. “Please, don’t hurt the hairbrush...”

“Oh, it’s not the hairbrush I’d be worried about being hurt...” he said. “Come on, Anastasia, you’re first.”

“Do you want me to stand in the corner or something?” I offered, not caring to watch my best friend be spanked. At least Terrence had the two of us bent over so we had our mind on something other than what was happening to the other.

“No, I want you to sit there and watch. You were both involved in this and part of your punishment is watching the other receive theirs.”

I gulped, just in time to hear Anastasia speaking so softly that I could barely hear her. “Please, Ash, don’t do this. We’re really, really sorry.”

“My mind is made up, Anastasia, and if you two don’t quit stalling, I’m going to take my belt off and use that tonight, too.”

Anastasia hurried towards him and he didn’t even have to ask her to pull her pants down, I guess she was just so used to it. She was blushing like crazy, and I was, too. He steadied her over his lap then tugged her white cotton panties down to her knees and raised my beautiful souvenir hairbrush up high. I knew I shouldn’t have bought that damn thing.

He cracked it against my best friend’s upturned bottom, alternating cheeks, slapping the right cheeks twice, then the left, then the sit spots, and he was spanking so hard and it was so loud that my bottom already hurt. Anastasia instantly began kicking and screaming and yelping and squirming and crying and it was so sad, I almost began crying, too. I remembered her telling the tattoo man that she could tolerate pain, and I almost grinned when I thought about that, but it seemed like before I got the chance to, Ashton was lifting her up and bidding me to come forth.

My eyes were glued to her bottom that was bright red as she tried to rub the sting away. I gulped. There was this big lump in my throat from being so nervous and my heart was pounding and I remembered how I’d much rather be spanked by Ashton than Terrence because, come on, Terrence is much stronger than Ashton, right? So, I took a deep breath in and stood, then moved towards Ashton.

“Pants down,” he commanded and I did as instructed, but not without blushing and almost falling across his lap because I was so embarrassed to be standing there like that. I took another deep breath in, trying to steady myself, as I felt him pulling my panties down to meet my jeans. Before I had the chance to even think, I felt the hairbrush crashing down on my rear end and I yelped so loudly that I figured everyone in the whole hotel could hear me. Terrence was stronger than Ashton, but Ashton didn’t bother to warm up or anything before he started! He just began whacking me as hard as he could and it was harder than some of the spankings I had gotten from Terrence. I, too, was kicking and screaming and yelping and squirming and crying just as Anastasia was. The pain was becoming unbearable and my bottom was getting numb and it hurt so badly I just wished he’d stop. And when he did, I probably wouldn’t have known it except he stood me up and commanded me to sit down next to Anastasia, who was sitting on a hard wooden hotel chair by a small table. I winced as I hobbled over there, my backside throbbing. When I sat down I howled in pain, but Ashton wouldn’t let me get back up.

“I want each of you to write me 100 lines that say ‘I will obey all adults, especially chaperones, at all times and do as I’m told and I will be on time.’ Do you understand?”

We both nodded, tears still rolling down our cheeks. I shifted as I wrote the lines. My bottom hurt soooo much.

Ashton paced around the room and the two of us finished, so he told us to change into our PJs, and then commanded that we get some rest. We were DEFINITELY going to get some rest because both of us were exhausted from the spanking.

When Ashton left, I looked at Anastasia. “I’m sorry for getting us into so much trouble,” I said, sniffling.

“It’s not your fault. It was both of ours. I know it was super embarrassing for you.”

“I’ll live,” I admitted.

We both washed our faces and compared bottoms, just like little kids do, arguing over whose was redder and finally decided that they were equally red, mine probably a little redder because I had been the most recently spanked, and just as we were about to turn the light off and head to our beds, we heard a noise at the door, the noise of someone pulling tape off, which is funny because we didn’t even know they had put it on there (that’s what they do on trips, put tape on the doors so they know if we’ve snuck out or not), and then there was a soft knock on the door...