Brianna & Terrence

Junior Year

8. “Anastasia’s Birthday”
part I

“Brianna!” Terrence called one hot evening in June.

“Yeah?” I answered, walking into the living room where he stood, a wad of cash in his hands and bags surrounding him. 

“Have a seat.”  I nodded and sat down on the couch in front of him.  I was ecstatic... this was the first time Terrence had left home since I’d had that party and I was finally getting the house to myself.  Hey, I don’t care if it isn’t a smart thing to do, I was excited!  “Okay, I know summer’s coming up... You only have a week and a half left of school... and trust me, I’ll be back before the week you take finals, okay?”  I nodded.  “Okay, so I’ve been thinking, Anastasia’s birthday is next Friday, and I know you want to do something special, take her out to dinner, throw a party, I have no idea what you kids do for birthdays, but I know you intend to spend a lot of money, am I correct.” 

I grinned.  “Of course!”

“Right.  Well, don’t spend too much okay?  I’m giving you this money, it might seem like a lot, but it has to last you for the rest of the summer, and if you spend it all this week then everytime you ask me for money I’m going to give you a swat with the paddle for each dollar, understand me?”  I shuddered but nodded anyway.  “So if you spend it all this week, you won’t be able to sit all summer or you’ll have to get a job.  Anyway...” he said, handing me the wad of cash, “here’s 500 dollars -- it’s for food, gas, and Ana’s party, okay?  I wouldn’t go eat a fancy dinner every night... there’s some pizza rolls in the freezer and some sandwich stuff, okay?”

I giggled with happiness.

“I trust you, Bri, okay?  Don’t let me down.  You know the rules, no guys in the house, NO parties, which means no more than two or three people over at a time, in by 10 on school nights and midnight this weekend unless you talk to me and ask me, okay?  I have the neighbors watching and if you violate ANY of these rules you won’t be sitting for a long time, got it?”

“Yes, sir,” I murmured.  I remembered the last spanking I got and I definitely didn’t want anything like that to happen again.

“If there’s an emergency...”

“Terrence,” I whined, “I know.  Go on,” I began, standing up, “have a great trip, I have the number, the number 911 is embedded into my brain and I won’t burn the house down, okay?  Geeze!  You’d think I was 7 instead of 17.”

“Oh, you’re 17?” he teased, ruffling my hair.  “Okay, okay, I’m out of here.  Be good, okay?”

“I will,” I promised, giving him a hug and practically shoving him out of the house.  FINALLY!  A whole week to myself.

The first few days were entertaining... I listened to my music loudly and ate popcorn for dinner while watching a movie that I’d rented (thanks to my summer allotment) and I stayed up late everynight, though I tried to get in bed by 2am on the weeknights.  On the weekend, however, I managed to stay up until 5 or 6 in the morning, either watching a movie or talking to friends on the net or something.  Anastasia told me how lucky I was to get the house to myself, and I agreed, telling her that she could spend the night.  But we didn’t dare tell anyone else that I had it to myself... they’d have wanted to throw a party for sure.

After a while it got kinda boring and I found myself falling asleep on the couch while watching Brady Bunch re-runs.  And somehow I managed to make it to school late everyday.  I was even threatened with detention. 

Friday morning, however, I had another plan.  Since Terrence was out of town and Anastasia’s dad was IN town, it would be the perfect time to celebrate Anastasia’s birthday.  And besides, the day before it had been announced that I’d be next year’s team captain.  Go me!

“Ana!” I squealed, for some reason getting to school before the tardy bell rang.  “We HAVE to go celebrate!  Look, just write a letter in your dad’s handwriting and I have one from Terrence saying that we can leave school and we’ll go to the mall and eat lots of food and go shopping and all this fun stuff!!!”

She blinked.  “Are you okay?”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” I screamed and tackled her in hugs.

She struggled to get loose.  “Geeze, Bri, have you been doing drugs or something?  You’re crazy!”

“I know,” I said, finally allowing her to breathe again.  “I’m serious, though.  It’s such a nice day outside it’d be a waste to stay at school all day.  And besides, since the seniors already left, Ashton won’t be here and he won’t know you’re gone.  Come onnnnnn,” I begged.

She considered the thought.  “I guess you’re right... Ashton’s gone, Dad’s in town, Terrence’s gone...”

I nodded.  “Yup, come on!”  I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the end of the hallway then shoved a piece of paper and pencil in her hand.

“What do I write?”

“I dunno.  Say you have a doctor’s appointment or something.”

She nodded then scribbled something down on the paper.  I could barely make out the words, but it said something about letting her check out of school because she had a dentist appointment.  Perfect.

We decided to meet in the office after our second period class, so it wouldn’t look as suspicious.  I waited anxiously through the morning, wishing that the time would come because I had such an amazing afternoon planned for us.

Finally, the much awaited time approached and Anastasia and I ran out of office giddily.  We were holding hands and skipping.  It was such a nice day.

We drove to the mall listening to Ana’s choice of music.  After all, it *was* her birthday and that’s what we were celebrating!  As we pulled into the mall, I discussed our plans.

“Okays, so we’ll eat at Chick-fila,” I began.

“Ooooo!!  Chick-fila!” she interrupted, mouth watering.

“Yes, Chick-fila... and then we’ll go by the cd store and you can pick out any three cds you want, and I’ll get them..”

“Any??” she interrupted again. 

“YES!  Any... stop interrupting me!”

“Oh, sorry,” she giggled.

I pulled into a parking space and turned the car off.  “Then we’ll go into Dillard’s and Rave, and yes, I’ll even go into the Limited with you, and you can pick out a stellar outfit to wear tonight cause Jayna’s having a party for you...  And then we’ll just get whatever else we want.”

She blinked.  “Do you honestly have the money for all of this?”

I nodded.  “Yup,” and opened the car door.

“You don’t hafta, Bri..”

“Shhh, I’m going to anyway, okay?  And then after we buy tons of stuff from the mall, we’ll go to Chuck E. Cheese and play and then we can go catch a movie or go out to eat, your pick.  Then we’ll go to the party that Jayna’s having... and we’ll be back home by midnight or so..”

We began walking towards the entrance.  “Yeah, but isn’t the party for both of us and the end of school?”

I rolled my eyes.  “Yes, but that’s not the point.”

She shrugged.  “Whatever, Bri.  Let’s just have fun.”

I smiled, glad she was finally seeing my point.

We did everything that I had imagined and more!  She found three cds she wanted, and I found three I couldn’t live without.  She bought a new outfit and I bought two.  We even tried on homecoming dresses for the next school year.  I considered buying it, but since it was $200, I decided I’d wait and let Terrence get it.  We ate ice cream and cookies and got our nails done (they were having a two for one special!)  By the time we left the mall, there was an obvious dent in the money that Terrence had given me.

“Maybe I should start getting job applications,” I commented as we arrived at Chuck E. Cheese, where a kid can be a kid.  And believe me, there were plenty of kids being kids.  Even Anastasia and I.  We did, however, get many weird looks.  Especially when we were crawling through the play equipment and making faces at each other.  Then we played tons of arcade games and competed against each other.  I won (even though she swears that she did). 

By the time we left Chuck E. Cheese, it was about four in the evening.  We decided to catch a movie, and it was really good.  I enjoyed it at least.  After the movie, we went by Burger King and got some chocolate shakes.  I considered, once again, looking for job applications.  Out of the five-hundred that I’d started with, I only had a mere forty bucks.  Ouch.  I wouldn’t be sitting all summer, no matter which way you looked at it.  I’d either have to flip burgers or get paddled everytime I wanted to go somewhere.  Or I could just stay home...

We arrived at Jayna’s house around 8:30.  It was a nice house, if I do say so myself.  It was large and spacious and beautiful.  I couldn’t believe she actually let so many people come over and get wasted.  If *my* house was that nice, I would only bring people over to brag to them.  Oh well, I guess that’s the difference between the two of us.

“Birthday girl and team captain!” Jayna greeted us.

“Heys!” I squealed, hugging her.

Jayna hugged Anastasia and smiled.  “Glad you’re finally here!”

“Yeah, we went to see a movie.  It was awesome!” Ana said.

“Yeppers, and we went to Chuck E. Cheese... now THAT was amusing.”

“Yeah, everyone noticed that you two were skipping today,” Jayna teased.

I rolled my eyes.  “Nobody cares.”

“Would you like a drink?” she offered.

I declined.  “Designated driver, here.  But go ahead, Ana, drink as much as you’d like.  You can crash at my place.”

She giggled.  “Okay, I’ll have a little,” she decided.

Jayna led us into the dining room where the table was littered with different types of alcohol.  Some I’d never even heard of.  Anastasia picked a kind called Hypnotic, simply because it was blue.  I was craving some, but I decided not to.  I’d seen all of those productions that had been done about drinking and driving... I’d heard the stories of the little kids getting killed... I wasn’t going to be so stupid. 

Ana hadn’t drank that much when things started getting wild.  Everyone was drunk and acting goofy, and I found it utterly amusing.  I wasn’t around drunk teenagers often.  We had a toast, to the end of school, to my team captainness, to Jayna for letting us use her house, and to Anastasia, who was finally 16.  Then the guys started singing “Happy Birthday” off-key, slurring their words, and everyone joined in, including me.

“Happpppieeeee birrrrrthdaeeeee tew yewwww!” they bellowed.

She blushed madly.  “Guys, stop..”

“Happppppieeeeee birrrrthdaaaeee teeewwwww yeeewwwww!  Happy burfdaeee to Annnnaaaaa!  Happpppy birfdaeeee ttteeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww........  yeeeeewwww!!!”

Everyone clapped and cheered and Anastasia buried her head in her hands. 

“Birthday spankin’s!” someone called out.

Anastasia removed her hands and backed up against the wall.  “Noooo,” she whined, but she was giggling and having a grand ol’ time, so I decided, as designated best friend, it was my duty to deliver the 17 smacks to her precious little bottom.

“Ohh yes!” I said, laughing as well.  “Come on, Jayna!”

Jayna and I bolted towards her, I faster than she because I wasn’t impaired, and Anastasia instantly took off.  I finally caught up to her and Jayna held her down.

I landed the first smack down and she let out a slight yelp.

“ONE!” the guys chanted.

“Geeze, Bri!  That hurt!”

SMACK!

“TWO!”

SMACK SMACK SMACK!!

I kept smacking and Ana tried to wiggle but she couldn’t because Jayna’s grip was far too strong... she was practically on top of her.  Everyone in the room chanted, and then I got to the final smack, number seventeen, and everyone clapped and cheered, then I felt a hand on my shoulder.  I looked up into Ashton’s face.  He grabbed my upper arm as well as Ana’s, and we were both dragged out of the party.

Talk about embarrassing.  I wouldn’t have been more embarrassed unless it was Terrence himself who dragged me out of there.  Ashton was fuming with anger!

“In the car!” he ordered.  “Both of you!”

“But, Ashton,” I began.  “I haven’t been drinking.  I can drive...”

“Right now, Brianna!”

I gulped and held Ana’s hand and we walked to the car.  I plopped down in the back seat.

“But Ashtonnnn,” Anastasia whined.  “It’s myy birfdaeee!”

He slammed the keys into the ignition.  “Not anymore, kiddo.  It’s past midnight.”

She whined more.  “I dun wanna be in truwble on my birfdaee!”

He sighed, backing out of the driveway.  “I don’t want you to be in trouble either, and you wouldn’t be if you didn’t skip school today.”

I gulped.  So this wasn’t about the damn party after all?  I guess I could’ve been relieved, except he found out about the fact that I’d skipped school... and that wasn’t cool.  So I decided to pretend like I had no idea what he was talking about.

“We didn’t skip school..”

He looked into the rearview mirror, straight into my eyes.  “Oh?  You didn’t?” he said sarcastically.  “Then how come a good friend of mine claimed to have seen Anastasia roaming around the mall with a friend of hers whom he recognized as a soccer player with blue eyes and light hair, fairly short, and they were both wearing school uniforms?”

“He must’ve mistaken us for someone else,” I concluded, “‘cause we were at school all day.”

“You were, huh?  What was the lesson in American History about?”

“Vietnam,” I said, suddenly.

“Vietnam?  This late in the year?  I’d think you’d have been reviewing for the final already...”

I bit my lower lip.  “We were reviewing the Vietnam part of the final.  Besides, what would I know?  I hate that class anyway.”

“So I guess if I called your teacher she could tell me that you were present in class today?”

I rested my head against the seat.

“That’s what I thought,” he said after a few minutes of silence.

“We were celebrating.”

“I don’t care what the hell you were doing.”

“Why didn’t you let me drive home?”

“You’re changing the subject...”

“I haven’t been drinking.”

“Because everybody in that house has been drinking and, although right now I can tell that you’re sober, at the time I couldn’t.  And I wasn’t going to take any chances.  Last time someone I knew drove after drinking, she ended up hitting a mailbox.  I didn’t want something like that to happen to you, only it be a car instead of a mailbox.”

I felt my stomach tie up into knots.  Did this mean he really cared about me?  “Ashton, do we really have to tell Terrence about this?”

“It’s only fair, don’t you think?”

“It’d be more fair if neither of us got into trouble.”

He laughed.  “Yeah, right.  This is the second time that Anastasia’s skipped, and I’m not letting her off easy.  And besides, I’m not telling Terrence... you are.  And I expect him to know when he comes home tomorrow, got it?”

I sighed.  “It’s just be better if he didn’t know, that’s all.”

He pulled into my driveway.  “Have him call me after you’ve broken the news.”

I opened the door.  “Are you going to take me to get my car tomorrow?”

“I’m sure Terrence’ll take you to get it...”

“I want my car while I’m still able to sit...”

“I’ll think about it.”

I walked into my house and flopped down on the couch, letting the tears stream down my face.  I’d really done it this time... not only had I skipped school, I managed to spend nearly all of the money Terrence had given me and be at a party where there was underage drinking *and* I was out past Terrence’s curfew.  I was sure, though, that I’d be in the most trouble for skipping.  Especially since I’d done it, what, twice before?  Poor Anastasia... Ashton had been so upset with her..

My thoughts were so distorted that I didn’t even notice the phone ringing until the answering machine picked up.

“Brianna?  Are you home?” Terrence’s voice was saying.  I ran to the phone.  “It’s me... I figured you’d be in by now since...”

I picked up the phone.

“Your curfew is midnight..”

“I know, I know..”

“Oh, there you are.”

“Sorry for the delay.  I didn’t hear the phone ring.”  I sniffled.

“Where were you?”

“On the couch..”

He paused.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, though I figured it must be obvious that I was crying.

“How was your day?”

“It was pretty good.”

“Really?  What’d you do?”

“Went to see a movie then to Jayna’s... but I’ll explain it all when you get back tomorrow, okay?”

“Are you sure everything’s okay..?”

“No,” I admitted.  “But we’ll talk when you get home.”  I let another tear fall.

“Bri... you’re worrying me.  Do I need to come home tonight?”

“No, no, it’s okay.  I just got into some trouble, that’s all.  And I feel really bad about it.”

“It’s not about being out past curfew, huh?  Cause I basically gave you the okay to be out a little later tonight...”

“No, it isn’t that.  We’ll talk when you get here.”

He sighed.  “Okay, Bri.  Talk to you tomorrow then.”

“Okies.  Goodnight.”

I dropped the phone on the receiver and slid down to the floor, knees to chest, crying like a baby.  I knew in about 24 hours, I’d be all forgiven, but my ass would be hurting more than it’d ever hurt before... probably more than it did after I got home from Chicago.  I wasn’t looking forward to that.

TO BE CONTINUED!

click here for part 2!