Willow Academy (Spanking Story)

Chapter 15, Part 2: Owen's POV

To say Riley was ecstatic would be an understatement; he was absolutely bouncing off the walls.

He kept running over to me and grabbing my arms, almost as if to hug me, and then he'd let go and find somebody else to harass. He hadn't stopped babbling since I'd brought back the bag. Apparently there was a lot of merchandise in the crinkled, old thing.

I wasn't entirely certain that Riley hadn't already sampled some of the loot, given his extremely hyper behavior. I was ready to high tail out of there, especially since I was already late, but the guy had yet to leave me alone for more than a few seconds.

Danny seemed on the fence about this whole thing. He hadn't outright congratulated me, but I knew he was impressed. Impressed for the wrong reasons, though. I'd revealed something he hadn't known about me- my morals weren't as high as most people thought they were. I was a teenager, and if it was between values and reputation, the latter would win almost every time.

The look on his face almost made me turn around and forget the whole thing. Almost. Like I said, I'm a teenager.

As of right now, Danny didn't seem to be too mad at me, so I chalked the whole thing up to an avid success overall. Our friendship wasn't damned yet, and there was always time for makeup later.

Nevertheless, the walk from the courtyard to our dorm was elapsed in tense silence.

It'd been a while since I'd been in my own dorm before dinner, considering my everlasting grounding. I was already an hour late, so I figured an extra twenty minutes wouldn't get me in any more trouble than I was already in. I had a feeling Dana wouldn't be as forgiving as he was last week.

"Thanks for walking me back, man," Danny remarked awkwardly, plopping down on his bed and looking at his hands. He hadn't met my eyes since I'd come back from my infamous meeting.

"No prob," I mumbled, searching for something, anything to talk about. That shouldn't even be a thought that runs through my head when I'm with my best friend.

"Why are you even doing this, Owen?" he blurted, standing up and pacing to our window. Danny could never sit still when he was nervous.

First Penny, and now him. How many more would contradict me before I decided to just drop the whole thing? I didn't know, and that scared me.

I leaned against our TV stand, fidgeting with the buttons on my shirt. "I...uh...I don't actually know anymore."

Whoa! That was not supposed to come out! I was supposed to say something like "Just trying to hang out with your crowd, dude" or "Making the best of my high school, man". I wasn't supposed to tell the damn truth! Since when did I do that?

Danny was my best friend. I think he knew the answer before I even said it, because he was already nodding his head and turning back to me. "Then get out, get out before you get messed up!" he all but pleaded.

I put my hands defensively in the air. This felt eerily similar to my encounter with my little sister last week.

"I'm not even taking them, dude! I promise. I'm just the middleman... If it gets to be too much, I'll back out, I swear!" My response was eerily similar also. I kept making promises I wasn't even remotely sure I could keep. This was dangerous business.

Danny didn't look the least bit convinced, but he didn't push it. He just nodded and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door. I heard the shower start up a few seconds later, and left with a lump in my throat and a lead weight in my stomach.

Even when I tried to make things better, they somehow always got worse.

~*~

I think I would have rather faced Dana. That's who I was expecting to meet me at the door when I showed up almost two hours late for my temporary curfew. It would be my luck that practice was let out early today because lightning was spotted and considered a "safety hazard." Whatever happened to going inside and conditioning? Obviously, Cooper wasn't in the mood to deal with the team anymore, so he sent them home after only a half hour of practice.

His mood must have skyrocketed downward when he discovered I wasn't at home where I was supposed to be; even Penny had been abiding by the rules to her grounding. It was a surprise I wasn't.

"Owen David Kherrington!" was my welcome home, and I cringed outwardly, shutting the door as softly as I dared. I wasn't stupid, and there was no way in hell I was crossing that tone.

I looked up timidly to see Cooper stalking into the foyer, presumably from the kitchen, where he'd been waiting for his wayward little brother. I decided to let him do the talking for once.

"Where have you been?" he roared, taking my backpack from me and throwing it on the ground. This didn't look good.

"Studying," I squeaked, resembling my voice from the prepubescent days. I felt my cheeks grow hot from embarrassment.

"Have you forgotten you're grounded? Or did you just decide our rules don't apply to you anymore?" he lectured, crossing his arms forebodingly. Did I have any chance in hell of making it out of this alive? I wasn't so sure...

"Sorry, Coop. I just, well, I just... forgot! We have this huge Chem test tomorrow and..." I trailed off, praying for Ben or Dana to come home and get me out of this. I felt more vulnerable than I had when Cooper walloped me a few weeks ago. Let's hope it remained a few weeks ago- I had a feeling I might be looking at the floor in the near future.

Cooper sighed, uncrossing his arms and straightening up from his slightly bent stance. He still looked angry, but he no longer resembled the Hulk, thankfully.

"You expect me to believe that? You haven't studied a minute of your life, Owen!"

Okay, that was low. He could lecture me for coming home late, but insulting me was an entirely different thing.

"How can you even say anything? You would have flunked out if Ben hadn't of tutored you all the time! Even then, you still made C's!" I remarked, trying to keep from raising my voice. My heart was pounding, both from anger at my brother's comment, and from nervousness on how he would respond.

Let's just say it wasn't a good response.

Ding, ding, ding! I was correct! I would be seeing the floor in my near future! Right about now, actually.

Cooper had me bent over his arm before I could even attempt to get away. Apparently, he'd reached his breaking point much sooner than I'd imagined.

I was glaring at my brother's dirty tennis shoes when a hand slammed into my backside.

"Ow!" I mumbled, biting my lower lip. Why was he spanking so damn hard? And in the middle of the freaking foyer?

"I will not tell you again. You are grounded. You come home straight after school. No questions. No excuses. Got me?" Cooper lectured as he continued to pound my ass into oblivion. I was on the edge of tears, but stoically held them in.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed, voice strained. I knew Penny could hear upstairs, and all I could think about was how I wanted to lock myself in my room and never come out again. Oh, and the fact that my posterior was currently hurting like hell.

My brother let me up, and I turned away in embarrassment. No way was I looking at him after he did that to me!

"Owen." His voice was firm, but there was an undercurrent of regret there. "I'm sorry I had to do that," he sighed.

"You didn't have to do anything," I found myself saying, slowly retreating to the hall that led to the staircase.

All of a sudden, I was whirled around and engulfed in a hug. My head only met Cooper's neck, so my nose was kind of smashed against his shoulder. I didn't move, though.

It was awkward. Brothers aren't supposed to hug compassionately. Hell, older brothers aren't supposed to spank their younger brothers! But since when had the Kherrington's ever complied with social norms?

I hugged him back, and when he released me, the lump in my throat was gone. For just a little while, I didn't feel so guilty. I wish life was like that all the time.