Brianna & Terrence

Sophomore Year

1. “Cheater, Cheater”

The winter air hit me fresh in the face as I walked to school on a Tuesday morning.  It was the second month of my sophomore year, and I was sleepy as hell, staying up all night studying for my Biology test.  I knew I would do great on it.  In fact, I had studied so much that I neglected to do some math homework and read some stuff for an English quiz that we were going to have.  But I wasn't worried about it.  An A in biology meant I could take chemistry honors and biology II, the two classes I wanted to take.

I finally arrived to school where I greeted my friends, screaming hey and hugging them all.  I walked with my friend, Stephanie to the end of the hallway, so she could go to her locker.  We stood there for a moment, chatting about insignificant things, then she looked around and turned back to me.

“I got a copy of the test.”

“Which test?” I asked.

“The huge history midterm that we have to take today.”

“Holyshit... that things today???” I squeaked.  Of course it'd be today, the same day as a huge biology test.

“Yeah...  but hey, I have all of the answers, and we can make copies and sell it to everyone and makes some money while we pass it too!” she exclaimed with excitement.

I shrugged.  “Sounds good, but where the hell are we going to copy it?  And besides, I need to memorize the answers anyway...”

“We can handcopy it... and look, we don't have history til 7th hour anyway.  You don't have to memorize it, just hide it in your sleeve like everyone else does.”

I grinned and nodded.

“Count me in,” I said.  We walked around the school to a big group of people.  “Okay, look... we have a copy of the history exam that's today... but tell ya what, you give me five dollars each, I'll make you all your own copy, questions and answers, or just answers if you like.”

The looked at me anxiously.  “Where'd you get the test from?” one asked.

“That doesn't matter.  But this is it,” I said, holding up a copy of Mrs. Meachum's Midterm Exam.  The kids looked at me in awe.

“Whoaaa,” one said.  “Okay, I'll take one,” he said, getting a five dollar bill out of his wallet.  The other kids did the same.  I wrote down all of their names on a sheet of paper then Stephanie and I sat off to biology where I gave her half a list of orders and I took the other half and we finished our tests then made the answer sheets.  We both already made $25 each, and we were still going.

“I'll definitely take one!”

“Me too!”

We almost had lines of people during 3rd period trying to get copies. 

“Maybe we should write down different answers,” I suggested.  “That way it won't look so suspicious.”

“Good idea.  If they say anything, we'll just have to set them straight.  If we get caught, so do they!”

I began writing down some off the wall answers for a very dumb kid named Stephen.  He wouldn't even notice that they were wrong answers. 

Finally lunch rolled around and we finished off our last orders, coming out with $75 each.  This was easy... I'd have to do it more often.  I finished copying the last of the answers, giving the kids their papers, then walked on to my next class, and finally I ended up in history where I sat in the back of the classroom, answersheet in the sleeve of my long hoodie.  Every so often, I yawned and looked at the sheet, grinning to Stephanie who sat next to me.  Everything was going smooth... that is, until I heard this voice...

“Brianna Carter!” Mrs. Meachum yelled.

I looked up.  She was holding a white sheet of paper in her hand... a white sheet of paper with HISTORY MIDTERM EXAM written in big letters across the top.

“I was wondering why so many people were getting the right answers today!”  She grabbed my left arm and my answer sheet went flying to the floor.  Some people gasped, while others tried to hide their own answer sheet, and some just looked at me with sympathy.  “How many of you have an answer sheet!” she yelled.  No one confessed.  “If you do not answer me, I will search your things until I find it!”

“I have one,” a small girl named Lily said in her quiet voice.

“Who else?”

“Me,” someone else confessed.  There was a stirring in the room and nearly 10 people pulled out their answer sheets and handed them to her.  Everyone except for Stephanie.  I eyed Stephanie, wondering if she would confess, too.

“Where did you all get these?” she asked the students.  Some of them pointed to me, a couple pointed to Stephanie.

“Stephanie?  Do you have a copy of the test?”

“No ma'am.  I gave it to Brianna...”

“Did you make copies for these students?”

Stephanie looked at me then nodded slowly.

“I cannot believe this!” she hauled me up by the arm with one hand, and then Stephanie with the other and dragged us all the way to the office, yelling at both of us the entire way there.  “You girls, cheating, copying my exams.  I bet you sold them, too.  You know better than this,” she mumbled.  “I need to see Mr. Vaughn,” she told the secretary as we entered the small room.  “You two sit right there and do not move!” she ordered.  We did as we were told, not dare moving, or even speaking to one another. 

We waited for what seemed like an eternity until the plump teacher stormed out of the office and shoved open the doors of the office and then the tall lean man appeared in front of us.

“Come in, ladies,” he said softly.

I gulped and looked at Stephanie.  I had never been in the principal's office before...

“Have a seat,” he told us whenever we entered and shut the door, taking his own seat behind the large desk.  “Okay, which of you is Brianna?” he asked.

“I- I am..” I stuttered.

“Okay, Brianna, without any interruptions from Stephanie, I want you to tell me exactly what happened, and the truth.”

I nodded.  “Well.. uh.. See last night, I studied all night for biology and forgot about this huge history exam that was way too hard anyway.. and I got the copy of the test and decided to give some friends some answers, too,” I said, not bothering to go into detail.

“Where did you get the copy of the test?”

“I found it.”

“Found it where?”

I shrugged.

“Did you sell the copies of the tests?”

This stumped me.  Should I tell the truth, or lie?  I figured I should go with the truth, since a lie could get me into a bigger mess.  So I nodded.

“Where's the money?”

“In my pocket..” I said, in a small voice, staring at the floor.

“Look at me, Brianna.”  I did so.  “Give me the money.”  I pulled 15 five-dollar bills out of my pocket and gave it to him.

He looked at Stephanie.  “Stephanie, tell me what happened,” he said, leaving the money sitting on the desk.

“Well, uh... see... I...” she paused for a moment.  “I got this copy of the test from an old friend of mine who had Mrs. Meachum a couple of years ago... and well.. I showed it to Brianna and had the idea to copy it for the other kids... and to sell it...  So that way, we could both ace the test and get some money.”

“How many people did you sell it to?”

“A lot,” she said, pulling out the 15 five-dollar bills that she had in her pocket, too.  She placed them on the desk next to my money.

“Girls, this is a serious offense.  Cheating on a midterm exam, possessing your own copy to sell to other students...  That's grounds for expulsion, do you two realize that?”

My mouth dropped.  I was hoping for a couple of days in school suspension, something where Terrence wouldn't find out.  If he did... I wouldn't be able to sit for a week...  Not expulsion though...  I couldn't get kicked out of school...

“But I won't go to those extremes since this is your first offense and the two of you have complied very well.  But I shall do no less than to suspend each of you for three days and a failure grade on your midterm exams.”  He picked up a pen, and called out my number to me.  “Is that your number, Brianna?” he asked.

“Yes.. sir..” I said, trying to contain my tears.  Suspension??  Terrence would be upset for sure...

He picked up the phone and dialed my number.  After a minute or two, he hung up.  “Is there another number that I can reach him at?”

Uhoh... Terrence wasn't home... There was only one other place he could be.  “Work,” I muttered, my hands shaking as I covered my face with them and the man called out the number then dialed it, proceeding to ask for a Terrence Carter, then telling him about the serious offense and how much I complied but he would have to pick me up from school and I was suspended for three days.  He then called Stephanie's parents, repeating the same procedure as he had with me.

“You two may wait outside until they get here.  Then I would like to have a conference with them.”  We both nodded and I went out of his office, my bottom tingling and happy that it would be able to sit for now. 

I waited no longer than five minutes whenever I saw Terrence burst through the door.  His face was clouded with anger and I tried my hardest not to break down right there, pleading for mercy.  He talked to the secretary for a moment and then the secretary got Mr. Vaughn, and called us both into the office.

“Hello, I'm Greg Vaughn,” he said, shaking Terrence's hand.

“Terrence Carter,” my brother said, nodding.

“Seems as if we've had a little trouble with Brianna today,” Mr. Vaughn said, obviously pretending that I wasn't there.  Terrence knew I was there, though.  He shot me a look that told me I was in for it whenever we got home.  I just gulped and listened.  “Apparently, she was caught cheating on her History midterm exam.”  He held up the test, my stomach cringing at the sight of it.  “She and her friend got this paper from somewhere and copied it down then sold it to students.  Made a lot of money, too,” he said, holding up the bills.  “I guess they thought they could get away with it.”  He sat up in his chair.  “Mr. Carter... cheating is a very serious offense at this school, a detention being issued if one student just looks at one answer of someone's test.  For something like this, expulsion is usually necessary, seeing as the student not only cheated, but assisted others in it as well.  Bribery, I guess you could call it?  At any rate, I have no other choice than to suspend Brianna for 3 days.  I am truly sorry about this, but no other measures could be taken.”

Terrence nodded.  “Thank you, sir,” he said.  “I can assure you that nothing like this will happen again.”  He and Mr. Vaughn stood, shaking hands once again.  He put a hand on my back and led me out the door where I saw Stephanie and her father seated next to the door.  I gave a weak smile and she returned it.  Terrence and Mr. Vaughn said goodbye to one another and we walked out the door, me dreading what was going to happen more than ever at this point.

The first thing that happened whenever we got outside was unexpected.  Terrence brought his hand down, hard, on my bottom.  SMACK!!! 

“Owwww,” I whined, rubbing slightly where he had smacked, and looking around to make sure no one saw while blushing furiously.

“Oh, that's nothing compared to what you're going to get,” he said.  I didn't like the sound of this.

We made it to his car where he opened my door then said, “get in,” very sternly, as if he thought I might run away or something, then he went around to the driver's side, seated himself, and started the engine.  We drove off of school, me yearning for the protection that it offered me...

“I cannot believe you, Brianna,” Terrence began.  Starting his lecture early... that couldn't be good.  “Stealing an exam --”

“I didn't steal it,” I said defensively.  “Steph got it from someone.”

“Copying the answers down and selling them to other students...”  I bet the sorry bastard kept the money for himself, too.  “Cheating yourself on it!  What were you doing all night last night whenever you said you were studying?”

“I WAS studying, Terrence.  I was studying for biology.  I just forgot--”

“You forgot???  That's not a good enough fucking reason to cheat, young lady, and you know that.”

“I know, I know.”  I might have needed to shut up, but I was feeling defensive.  “It wasn't a good reason, there IS no good reason.”  Good move.  “It was stupid.  Completely and utterly stupid.  And I was dumb to think I could get away with it.  I just didn't figure it would be that big of a deal...”

“Not a big deal???  How many times have you cheated before, Brianna?” he asked, as if I had just admitted to a huge crime.

“Er, uh... well none..” I lied.

“Now, come on.  Tell me the truth,” he said.  Okay so good old Terrence probably did it a couple of times himself.

“Well... I've done it once or twice, maybe three times... but it wasn't anything big, just looking on someone's paper in a quiz,” I admitted.

“Still, though, Brianna.  Cheating is wrong.  It's dishonest.  By you cheating on this exam, you could have easily passed the class with an A, but it wouldn't be a true A.  I'm just disappointed because I didn't think you would stoop too low as to cheat.  True, we don't always remember to study.  But if you don't study, face the consequences rather than make more for yourself, okay?”

I nodded.

“I admit, I've cheated a couple of times myself, and I'm not proud of it at all.  I came home with an A on a test and Mom and Dad seemed so proud of me.  But I felt so ashamed because it wasn't me they were really proud of, it was the kid who sat next to me who actually studied for the test rather than hanging out with his buddies all night like me.  But, Brianna... I know you're worth more than that.  You've got a good head on your shoulders and where I can understand you getting a couple of answers from the kid next to you, I can't even imagine you copying the entire exam and selling the copies.”

“Well, she should use different tests...”

“It is NOT her fault, Brianna Nicole.”  Uhoh, he was adding middle name in there.  “I am trying to talk to you about this and all you're going to do is pop off to me?”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Brianna, you were just suspended from school, okay?  I'm not thrilled to death about having to leave work to come up here and get you.  You need to respect me, understand?”

I nodded, slowly.

“I don't care if the teacher should have used different tests or if Stephanie shouldn't have gotten the copy, the point is, you did something wrong, and you need to accept that.”

I nodded again.  “Sorry,” I muttered again.  “I know what I did was wrong... I shouldn't have done it.  I do feel really bad,” I said, feeling a pit in my stomach.

We pulled into the driveway.  “I want you to go to your room and wait for me.  I'll be in there in a moment,” he said, then I trotted off to my bedroom, hand shaking, heart beating quickly.

I sat on my bed and stared at the wall.  It really wasn't that great of a wall, kind of offwhite, cracking a bit.  Oh look, a stain.  Where'd that come from?

tap tap tap!

Holyshit.. I jumped about 4 feet in the air then realized it was just Terrence tapping on my door.  My nerves were on edge, definitely.

“C- ahem. Come in,” I said, weakly.

The door opened and Terrence came inside.  “Brianna,” he began.  “I've already talked to you about what you've done wrong.  Is there anything you'd like to say?”

I fumbled around inside my head, thinking of something that sounded good and sincere.  I didn't want to say it if it wasn't sincere.  “Well, ah, the only thing I can think to say is what you probably are thinking that Ima say, and that's that I'm sorry, and I won't do it again.  I really learned my lesson, with being sent to the office, suspended, and then you talked to me about it... I know how disappointed you are in me, and I didn't want to disappoint you like that, I didn't want to break your trust.  But I did, and now I have to accept the consequences.”

He nodded slowly.  “I guess you already know what your punishment is then?” he asked.  I did, I knew in fact what it would be, although I wished like hell that it wouldn't be the case.

“Terrence,” I said, my voice in a whine, “can't we try something else... can't you ground me..” I pleaded.

He ignored me.  “I have a punishment planned out for you.  Since you are suspended for three days, I will get you up every morning at 6am, as if you were going to school, you will help clean the house, help me out in the yard, take a shower, and get a spanking to remind you of why you are at home instead of school.  You will write me a one page essay each night on your thoughts about cheating on tests at school, and you will go to bed at 7pm, sharp.  No telephone, no computer, no tv.  As for right now, I'm going to spank your barebottom with this hairbrush, and then you can stay in your room until dinner.  That should give you enough time to think about what you've done.  Any questions?” he asked.

Okay, whenever I asked for being grounded, I hadn't exactly asked for this.

But I nodded my head, knowing I had no other choice but to accept my punishment.

He sat down on my bed and I stood up, then he pulled me over his lap, lifted my skirt and tugged my panties down to my knees.  I winced as my barebottom was exposed.  I tried to convince myself that I deserved this, but it wouldn't help the pain at all.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!!

He began, his strong arm pounding the hairbrush onto my bare skin.  “Owwww,” I exclaimed, although the spanking had barely begun.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

“Owwwwwww, owwwieeeee,” I whined, my legs beginning to kick furiously trying to stop the pain.

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

“Arghhhh,” I whined, my eyes beginning to tear up, although I did not want to cry...

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

He was showing no mercy on my bottom, and at this time I had broken down and began bawling like a baby.  “I'm sorrrrryyyyyy,” I pleaded through tears.  “I--”

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK WHACK!!!

“Owwwwww,” I whined, sobbing and sobbing over his lap, tears streaming down my face.  I couldn't move I felt so bad.  There was a pain in my stomach for disappointing my brother so much, and there was the pain in my bottom, the result of disappointing him.  “I'm sorrryyyy,” I muttered.

“Shhh, shhh, Brianna.  It's okay,” he said, patting my bottom lightly, then lifting me up.  “It's okay, hon.  Calm down.”  He hugged me tightly until my crying had died down a bit then kissed me on the forehead and left me in the room to think about what I had done until supper.