Food Fight

"Brianna Nicole Carter! If you don't get up right now, I'm going to take my belt off!" Terrence yelled. What a cheerful way to begin the morning of my senior year in high school. Still being threatened with spankings. Lucky me.

I rolled out of bed and onto the floor. "I'm up," I groaned, not exactly up, seeing as I was lying on my nicely carpeted floor.

I imagined that by this time, Terrence was rolling his eyes and sighing at me. It was my fault for staying up so late the night before... and Terrence had warned me. Said that I wouldn't want to get up in the morning after staying up past midnight. But, I didn't listen. Come to think of it, did I ever listen?

After a few minutes of wishing it were the last day of school rather than the first, I finally sat up and stretched out. Then, I sat there for a little bit and looked at the clock. In about five minutes, Ashton would be pulling into my driveway and honking the horn. The first day of school and neither Anastasia nor I could drive. And that sucked.

I pushed myself up from the floor and grabbed my school uniform. This time the next year, I wouldn't have to worry about a uniform. Hell, this time the next year, I would probably still be asleep. I'd decided that for college, I was signing up for afternoon classes. Screw getting up early in the morning!

I heard the sound of a car horn in my driveway and hurriedly dressed myself, tie and all, in a good thirty seconds. "Bri! They're here!" Terrence yelled, as if I couldn't figure that out for myself.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back. Next thing I knew, Anastasia came bolting through the door and tackled me in a hug.

"Bri! You're a senior! You get to park..." she stopped mid-sentence. "Never mind."

I blinked, giving her an awkward look.

She shrugged. "I was going to say you get to park in the senior lot, but then I remembered... and yeah."

I nodded. "Yeah, sucks, yo. But, next semester, I'll get to!"

She grinned. "I'm sick of having the same teachers."

"Yeah, and I don't want to take physics or advanced math. This sucks."

"But it'll be a spiffy year, 'cause you're the team captain!"

"I guess."

"I wonder what cool trips we'll be going on this year. Someone mentioned Italy..."

I giggled. "You wish. Anyway, if we could go to Italy, I doubt I could find the money to go, too."

"I'm sure we could arrange something."

"ANA! BRI! Come on!" I heard Ashton yell.

I skipped to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then my hair, then skipped towards the doorway. Ashton stood there, keys in hand, hair fallen over his eyes. Terrence stood next to him, arms folded. I grinned, feeling very immature and young in the stupid school uniform, but Ashton was just so darn cute, I couldn't help but be excited that he was taking us to school for half of the year, or at least until Ana got her license.

The ride to school was uneventful, to say the least. Ana and Ashton kept fighting over which station to listen to until finally they landed on country music and Garth Brooks was on. Who can resist singing "Friends in Low Places"? We sure couldn't.

When we got to school, I hugged Ana and headed towards homeroom. The same people filled the hallways, and everyone greeted me, asking me how my summer was, all that jazz. I felt the senior ring on my right hand. This was it... I was finally a senior. I'd soon be 18, and then I'd be in college and I'd have to move on with my life. I was terrified.

The day was bland and boring. That's why when lunch came around, Ana and I decided to brighten up the day a little. We'd purchased a lunch, for some reason, and it was really gross looking. And that's how it started...

"Do you think these mashed potatoes will stick to the ceiling?" Ana asked.

Jayna and I looked at her. Then, I giggled. "I bet they will..." I offered, grabbing a little in my hand. Like a 12 year old, I looked at her and said, "Dare me?"

She giggled, and like a 12 year old's best friend, not missing a beat, she said, "I double dare you to!"

I laughed a little, looked around, then threw it at the ceiling, but it missed and came plopping down, right on Ana's plate.

"Hey! That's not cool!" she wailed.

I was choking on my laughter, though, so I couldn't even apologize. She glared at me as best as she could, then took a big chunk of potatoes and threw them right at me. Unfortunately, they landed right in my hair. I was still giggling, though, and glad that the day was going a little more interestingly, so I chucked more potatoes at her, and she threw some peas, and I threw some back, and then we started chucking meat at each other, and before we knew it, other people had joined in the fight and nearly the whole cafeteria was chucking food at one another when I realized, wow, this is a food fight.

It's weird when you see something on TV, or read about it so much, but never experience it. Like, I've always heard about food fights, but never seen one, or been in one. It never really occurred to me that it could really happen, I guess. And I guess even more so, it never occurred to me that one could get in trouble for such a thing until I found myself next to Ana, still giggling, in the very same chairs that we became friends in.

"Hey," I sniggered. "This day last year, we were in these same chairs."

Ana tried to contain her laughter, but mashed potatoes were dripping from her hair, and I had different sorts of veggies all over me, so it was a little hard to contain ourselves.

"Miss Carter! I do not find this funny!" I heard the familiar voice of the principal shriek.

That set me off more. "Miss Carter! I do not find this funny!" I imitated to Anastasia. She burst into another fit of giggles.

The principal stomped away. "I am calling both of your brothers this instant!" she said, then slammed her office door.

"She's so dramatic," I told Ana.

"Ashton's going to be pissed. This is the third year in a row I've gotten in trouble on the first day of school."

"Well, it's my second, and I don't expect that Terrence'll be too happy with me either, but it was fun while it lasted, huh?"

She grinned. "Sure was. But, I don't know how fun it'll be when I'm staring at the carpet and Ashton's beating the hell out of my ass."

That made me shudder a little and I slouched uncomfortably. "Yeah, you're right." I winced, remembering how a spanking felt. I'd managed to stay out of trouble since my drinking and driving incident, and I knew I'd never get anything that bad again, but the memory still lingered and the thought of getting into remotely that much trouble again scared me a bit. I hoped Terrence saw the fun in this like I did. I mean, after all, he had been 17 once...

"Girls, in my office!" the witch lady called.

I stood up, gravy falling to the floor, then led Anastasia towards the office.

"I cannot believe you girls would start a food fight in my cafeteria!"

Ana rolled her eyes and I knew she was thinking some smartass comment and then averting her attention elsewhere. I wish it were that easy for me.

"That is very inconsiderate of school property and the cafeteria workers who have worked hard to prepare meals for the students. I have called each of your guardians to pick you up from school, but as for now, the two of you will march back to the cafeteria and clean up the mess, then you will go home. You both have cafeteria duty for the next two weeks, and after school detention next week. Anymore trouble out of either of you, and you'll be in I.S.S. faster than you can say it!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Anastasia chanted, saluting her.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

The principal didn't seem too happy. She stood and opened the door. "Lucy, take these girls to the cafeteria, and don't let them out of your sight!"

A young girl, maybe in 8th or 9th grade, nodded slowly and followed us to the cafeteria.

"I don't get her sometimes," Ana began. "She treats us like we're prison inmates. 'And don't let them out of your sight!'"

I laughed. "Yeah. What a loser. 'You two will march to the cafeteria!'" I mimicked. "Give me a break," I muttered and rolled my eyes.

Ana looked back at Lucy. "Are you an office worker for the year?" she asked.

The small girl nodded.

"Have fun. You'll probably be seeing a lot of us. We like to piss that dumb lady off. She won't do anything, though. She needs as many students as she can get."

I'd never thought of that... but I didn't want to piss the principal off too much, though it was fun. Every time I pissed her off, I ended up taking a nice trip over Terrence's lap, and that wasn't fun.

We arrived to the cafeteria and the workers were totally pissed at us. We both apologized for making such a mess, and immediately helped clean up. Ana explained that we had cafeteria duty for the next two weeks, so we'd get to know them pretty well. After talking to them for a while, they seemed not to hate us so much. I guess that's a good thing, because if they held a grudge, it'd be hell to pay for two weeks.

They explained to us that with cafeteria duty, we wouldn't be able to go to our own lunch shift, but instead, we'd have to help serve the food, and we'd have to clean up, and our lunch time would be in between the time that the middle schoolers and high schoolers ate. At least we got to miss a class, though, right? I guessed that I'd have a good time attempting to make up that work while I was in detention. I knew that Ashton would help me, though, with anything I didn't understand, and I could help Ana with what she didn't understand. Besides, we really did deserve the lunchroom duty. The food fight was hell to clean up.

When we finished cleaning up the cafe, Lucy led us back to the office where Terrence and Ashton were sitting in front of the witch's desk.

"Here it goes," Ana muttered, then we went through the doorway. Everyone's attention was suddenly adverted to us.

"Hello, girls. I was just explaining today's incident to your brothers. Please come in and shut the door."

Something flickered in Anastasia's eyes, a flame of anger. She hated it when the principal tried to be all nice and stuff, or acted like she was better than everyone else. I touched Ana's arm gently and closed the door. She looked back at me and rolled her eyes at the principal. I saw Ashton give her a warning glare. They were definitely not pleased with the situation.

The principal smiled. "I'm sure the two of you had a great time cleaning up the cafeteria. Perhaps by the end of this two weeks, you will have learned your lesson?"

I kept my hand on Ana's arm so she wouldn't say something that she'd regret. "Yes, ma'am," I murmured. "I think we pretty much learned our lessons from cleaning up the cafeteria today, but we do deserve the lunchroom duty."

"Believe me, you deserve much more than lunchroom duty," Ashton said. "Miss Jamison explained to us how the two of you were rude to her."

"We were only rude to her because she was rude to us!" Ana yelped. "It's not fair! I hate this fucking school!" She pulled away from me and punched the wall, which sounded like it hurt a lot, but I guess she was too angry to feel the pain.

"Anastasia, watch it," Ashton warned. "Unless you want me to spank you right here in front of everyone."

She glared at him, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Well, I guess I'll leave the four of you alone to discuss things further," Miss Jamison said, standing from her chair. Ashton and Anastasia were still glaring at each other like they were about to start a fight. She slipped past them and out of the door.

Terrence stood from his chair, calm as could be. "Anastasia, sit down," he ordered, pointing to his chair. He looked at me. "You, too."

I kept my eyes on Ana and Ashton, though, because he looked like he was about to wallop her, and I was prepared to protect my friend.

"Brianna, now," Terrence said.

I sighed and walked through the two siblings, breaking their eye contact and taking Ana's hand. I walked her to the chairs and we sat down. Ashton still stood, facing the wall where Anastasia had been.

"Listen, Ana," Terrence began, trying to be the peace keeper. "I know you don't like Miss Jamison, and clearly, neither do I. But she's your principal and she's an authority figure, and I don't care how much she bugs you, you just have to suck it up, got it? When you get out of school and get a real job, if you speak to your boss like you have spoken to your principal, you'd be fired in a heartbeat. They don't spoon feed you in the real world, okay? This little stunt you pulled today, I don't want to see it again, Young Lady. Otherwise, I'll take care of you myself."

My heart thumped wildly inside my chest. I couldn't believe that Terrence was scolding Anastasia like that! "B-but I wasn't exactly the nicest person, either," I said, trying to get him to back off of Ana.

He looked at me. "I know that, Brianna. And the same goes for you as it did Anastasia."

I finally heard Ashton turn around. He walked towards us. "For God's sake, you know how much I hate that woman. But, at least I try to be polite to her. Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes."

The words fell out of her mouth. The three of us stared at her. Had she honestly just said that? To Ashton?

"Excuse me?" Ashton said, mouth dropped, staring at his younger sister.

She buried her head in her hands, finally realizing how much shit she was in.

Terrence broke the tension again. "Look, guys, let's not make this a trend to get into trouble every year on September 2nd, okay?"

I let out a slight smile. "Okay."

"I remember being in high school, and I know that it might seem like fun to have a food fight, but, come on, that's a lot of shit to clean up and really, it is disrespectful to the people who labored to make that meal."

I tried desperately not to roll my eyes at him.

"I trust that neither of you will try something this stupid again?"

Both of us nodded.

"You're both still getting punished when you get home, though. And don't try to talk yourself out of it, Brianna."

"Okay."

Terrence looked at Ashton. "I just want to say that I'm disappointed that you girls would act so immaturely. Not only with the food fighting, but also with disrespecting authority. You girls know better than that."

I nodded again.

"I expect an apology out of both of you," Terrence said, then opened the door. Ana lifted her head for a moment, then stood, and I stood up behind her.

"It'll be okay," I whispered.

She just glared at me. "Ashton's going to kill me."

I gave her a sympathetic smile.

When we saw Miss Jamison again, both of us apologized and then were sent on our way. I watched Ana plop down in Ashton's car, then I opened Terrence's door and plopped myself down.

"I hate it when I get called from work for this shit," he muttered, slamming the key into the ignition. "They couldn't just put you in detention for the rest of the day or something?"

I shrugged.

He backed out of the parking lot. "Well, next time they call me out of work for something like this, believe me, I'm not even going to wait 'til we get home to blister your rear. And I'm serious, Brianna. It's ridiculous for me to be called out of work so often for these things. I thought you realized that last time you got in trouble at school, but apparently not."

I stared out the window. "I guess I got it last time, but I didn't think she was going to call you."

"And you know she said she wouldn't have called without the smartass comment that you made?"

I slouched in my seat. "No, I didn't know that."

"Next time, think about something before you say it. If you'd have just stopped and said, 'hey, she might not call Terrence if I act really sorry,' you might not be on your way home to get spanked right now."

I winced at the word "spanked."

"But, you didn't think, so guess what?"

"I'm getting spanked," I murmured.

"Exactly." He paused for a moment, pulling into the driveway. "I'm not mad about the food fight, because frankly, I think that having you clean up the cafeteria for two weeks is plenty of punishment. I'm mad because you smarted off to her and she called me at work. Got it?"

I nodded.

"Go to your room," he ordered. "I'll be in there shortly."

I nodded again and scurried to my room, leaving Terrence sitting in the car.

I've always been told to go to my room and "think about what I've done," and I'm sure plenty of people have, but I think this time, I really did think about what had happened. I thought about Terrence having to grow up too quickly. I thought about him having to take care of me when he was only a kid, just graduating from high school. I thought about how he gave up so much for me, got a job so I could have a decent life, even managed to scrape up enough money to buy me a car. I thought about how he had been sitting at work and received the call, then shook his head wondering what kind of trouble I'd gotten myself into. I thought about my parents and how they would react to seeing me let my brother down like this. Would they shake their heads at me, or would they want to spank me themselves for treating him so horribly? Yet, no matter how much trouble I managed to weasel myself into, Terrence was always there for me, and I knew I could count on him. Just like Ana knew that she could always count on Ashton. And then I began to cry because I felt bad for ever letting my brother down, and I felt bad for Ana letting Ashton down, and I didn't want to be spanked again, and I wanted my parents to be alive so Terrence could be my brother instead of my guardian. So he could listen to me ramble about how much I hated my parents for grounding me, and he could sneak me some alcohol or a cigarette and lie for me. And I cried so much, I thought I was going to suffocate myself in the pillow, because I didn't want Terrence to know I was crying.

But the second he opened the door, he didn't have to see my puffy red eyes or hear my wailing to know I was crying. He has the brotherly instinct.

I felt him sit down next to me and throw his arms around me, rubbing my back and stroking my hair. "Shhhh, Bri. What's wrong, baby? What's wrong, Bri? Shhhhhh... you're going to make yourself sick. Talk to me."

"I love you, Terrence," was all I could spit out.

"I know, I know. Shhhhh, calm down."

I think we stayed like that for a good thirty minutes, he trying to soften my sobs, and I trying to explain to him why exactly I was crying. It would be hard enough to explain to him in a normal mood, much less with me crying and carrying on like I was.

But my crying finally died down and he looked me in the eyes, wiping my tears away. "Bri, I still am your older brother, no matter what, okay? You're a great sister, and you know that. And I love you more than anything. I know you feel bad, but it's going to be okay, all right?"

"Do you regret taking care of me instead of letting them put me in a foster home?"

He rolled his eyes. "Give it a rest! You're not getting out of being spanked," he joked.

I smiled a little. "I know, I was just making sure."

"Bri, I wouldn't trade these last five years I've spent with you for anything, okies?"

"Okies."

There was a brief silence. "You going to be okay?"

I sniffled. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I wiped my face a little and stood up, lifting my skirt and lying over Terrence's lap. I knew I had to get it over with, and after all, I did deserve it.

He rested his hand on my bottom. "Brianna, I love you, Little Sister, but you gotta stop getting into trouble at school."

"I know."

"I know we're not going to have this conversation anymore, are we?"

"No, sir."

"Good." He tugged my panties down to my knees, then rested his hand on my rear again. I shivered a little, my bottom tensing up. "I'm disappointed that you talked back to your principal, Brianna. And as I told Anastasia, there's going to be plenty of bosses that you don't like when you get into the real world, and you can't go yelling at them or mimicking them while they're right there, or you'll get fired. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

SMACK!!!

The first one caught me by surprise and I yelped, shutting my eyes and balling my fists up.

"I won't be called at work again to pick you up, will I, Brianna?" he asked, delivering two more very hard smacks.

"Ow, ouch... no, sir."

"Good, SMACK! because if I am, SMACK! do you know SMACK! what will happen?" SMACK!

"Yes, sir."

He gave me a few more smacks, then asked, "What will happen?"

"You'll spank me at school," I answered in a whiney voice, exclaiming "ow!" or "ouch!" each time he spanked.

"That's right," he said. "And you won't like that at all."

"I know."

He stopped talking for a little while and concentrated more on making my bottom nice and red, and wow, he did a good job of it. He just kept up a steady pace, spanking in all different places, then my sit spots, and a few smacks to the thighs, then he'd start all over. Within minutes, I was back to bawling, feeling so young and vulnerable. I felt so guilty for what I'd done and told myself, as the pain was being inflicted to my backside, that I'd never do anything to where he'd be called from work again, and I'd even try not to bug the poor principal lady. But, that didn't help the pain subside any.

After a few minutes of intense spanking, he finally let up a little, giving me a few soft spanks. "I love you, Brianna," he was saying as he spanked softly. "I love you more than you probably think. But I won't tolerate this kind of behavior, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm going easy on you. But believe me, if this ever, and I mean EVER, happens again, you won't be sitting for a while."

"Yes, sir." He ended with two very hard smacks on my sit spots, then lifted me up. My hands flew to my bottom to rub the sting out. I guess that's when I noticed that although there was a fire burning on my rear end, that guilty feeling I had had in my heart had subsided. Yes, I'd let my brother down, but he'd also forgiven me, so I was okay now.

I stayed in my room most of that evening. I slept a little, drew a little, watched some TV. I even talked to Anastasia and she was also sitting on a sore backside. Apparently, her's was more sore than mine... she'd gotten a taste of Ashton's belt and it wasn't very delightful. She apologized to me for being such a nuisance, and I apologized to her for being the one who got our brothers called in the first place. But she said it was okay, if I hadn't said anything, she probably would have. We really were like sisters... No matter what, we made it through and forgave each other, just like our brothers did for us.