The Revelation

Scholarship

"I don't know, Shane. I wasn't planning on coming home this weekend," I whined.

"So help me God, Stacey Marie, you will be home by 7pm this Friday because if I have to come to your school to sort you out, I can guarantee everyone in your residence hall will hear the strapping you'll receive when I get there. Do you understand me?" Shane was beyond livid at this point. "I'm not giving you an option. You will come home this weekend."

Recognizing the warning signs, I decided not to push the Admiral beyond his limits. I know I'm in enough trouble already.

"Yes sir, I understand. I'll be home Friday," I say in a defeated voice.

"Good, now you better start getting ready. I know your government class begins in twenty-five minutes and you WILL BE THERE ON TIME, YOUNG LADY." Shane paused, his voice softened as he said, "I love you, Stacey. I'll see you on Friday. Bye, sweetheart."

After saying goodbye and hanging up, I flopped down loudly on my bed. Ugghhh! How am I gonna get out of this one? I know if I don't go home, Shane will for sure come here and beat my ass and there's no way in Hell I want to be known around campus as the freshman who still gets spanked by her fathers. This sucks. I guess I'll just have to go home. I mean if I'm gonna get my butt blistered either way, it might as well be at home in private.

Friday night at the NJC

Shane's pov

"Where is she, Mike? I told her to be here by 7pm and it's already 8:15pm." I pace back and forth as I'm getting restless waiting for Stacey to arrive.

"Relax, Shane, she'll be here. She's most likely on her way since her phone is going straight to voicemail," Mike replied, trying to calm me down.

"I told her to be here by 7pm. She's not in enough trouble already? She has to be late as well?" I continue to pace nervously.

"In all fairness, Admiral, you did summon her home to punish her so you can't really blame her for not being in a hurry to get here." Mike slaps me on the back as he gives me a hard time.

"Don't try to make me out to be the bad guy, Mike. You know damn well she deserves everything she's got coming to her for not taking her education seriously. I mean, where are we going to get the extra three thousand dollars to pay her tuition this semester?" I stand with my hands on my hips as I question him.

"I think we both know exactly what needs to be done to pay her tuition this semester," Mike replies, sadly shaking his head.

Just then we're interrupted as we hear, "Hey, I finally made it." Stacey drops her overnight bag as she comes to greet us.

"Hi, sweetheart, it's good to see you," Mike says, pulling Stacey into his warm embrace.

Avoiding looking me in the eye, Stacey stares at the floor as she shyly says, "Hi, Shane. I'm sorry I'm late."

I pull Stacey into my arms, hug her tightly and swat her bottom twice.

"You know better than that, luv. I expect you to look at me when you're speaking to me and I'd like an explanation for your tardiness," I admonish our oldest daughter.

"Sorry, Shane," Stacey says, now looking me in the eye. "I should have left sooner but I was kinda putting it off."

"I'm glad you're home, sweetheart, I just wish it was under better circumstances," I say sternly but lovingly. "I'll address your lack of punctuality later."

Stacey looks down at her feet again, clearly ashamed of her misdeeds which led to this visit.

I gently tilt her chin up.

"How about the three of us have some dinner before you and I have our discussion, sound good?"

"Alright," Stacey mumbles sadly, clearly not thrilled, knowing what our discussion will entail.

"Excuse me," I say warningly, as I raise one eyebrow. "That is not a proper response, young lady." It appears Stacey has forgotten quite a bit since starting university. I plan on giving her some very stern reminders this weekend to refresh her memory.

"I meant to say, yes sir," Stacey obediently amends her response.

Stacey's pov

Fuck me. I knew I never should've come home. Shane's gonna be a hard-ass all weekend; three thousand dollars worth of hard-ass. Ugghh, I don't know if I can handle this.

Dinner consisted mostly of forced small-talk and polite conversation as we each avoided the elephant in the room. I just wanted to get this overwith in hopes of maybe being able to salvage some of my weekend.

As we headed back to Shane's room after dinner, I turned to Mike and asked, "Are you coming with us?"

"No, darlin', you and Shane need to talk," Mike replied quickly.

"Are you sure, Mike?" I whined, hoping he would change his mind and join us. I feel like his presence as the voice of reason might be my best shot to keep Shane from going overboard with his discipline.

"You made a promise to Shane, sweetheart, and you broke that promise. Now, you need to do the mature, responsible thing and answer to him." Mike gave my arm a little reassuring squeeze and smiled. "You'll get through this, darlin', and come out stronger for having survived it."

"I know you meant that to be encouraging but now I'm low key terrified, Mike."