No Pain, No game

"Told you that it wasn't any good to lie," Alex scolded us Friday afternoon after practice.

"Stop rubbing it in," I whined, lying down in the grass and drinking some water. I'd just ran two miles, and here Alex was fussing at me. "I know it was a bad idea, but it's too late now."

"What'd he do anyway?"

I blushed. "Nothing," I lied.

"Ah, mentirosa," he said, shaking his head at me.

"I am not a liar!" I claimed, propping myself up on my elbows. "Okay, maybe I am," I admitted after catching his gaze. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, obviously he didn't do anything too terrible because you're still here." He paused. "Ah... he hit you?" he asked.

My face must have been as red as a firetruck... "Something like that."

"Why are you blushing?"

"I'm not!!" I squealed and rolled over on my stomach to hide my face.

He chuckled and rolled me back over, kissing me on the cheek. Gah, I was turning into what I *hated*! Stupid love.

That night we had a soccer game against the school from Ireland. Alex had told us prior to the actual game that it'd be an easy win, and like always, he was right. They were no match for us. Because we kick ass.

After going back to Lizbeth's house to shower and change, Mr. Hernandez told us it would be okay to go out since it was Friday night, and we told him the truth this time, that we were going with Alex and Raoul and we'd be back by two, and would probably only go to the Kumbala bar and perhaps a couple of clubs.

The rest of the week seemed to breeze past us. After having a partyful weekend with a couple of games mixed in, we spent the weekdays after practicing our asses off. We'd made it past the first few elimination rounds and the teams were getting better and better. Not only that, but they were tougher, as in, they'd do nearly anything to win! It was stressful practicing all the time, and sometimes we wanted to give up, but we had enough people pumping us up to where we didn't quit. We couldn't quit. Not with our team. We had too much positive reinforcement to quit.

It was the Wednesday night before we'd leave and we were up in one of the final games. By Friday, we'd know who the champions were, and Saturday morning we were leaving. We were playing against a Columbian team, who had been doing really well. In fact, so well that they'd won all of their games. Of course this scared the hell out of us... but we were still confident.

We were doing pretty well, keeping the ball pretty much in the middle of the field, our defense blocking them from scoring. The problem was that their defense was just as good as ours, so we were kept from scoring as well. It was the third quarter before anyone scored anything and unfortuantely, it was them. Then they scored again. Our hopes were down, but we kept the peptalking up... Then, as if we hadn't had enough bad luck already, someone unintentionally slammed into Ana, causing her to plummet to the ground. There was only a couple of seconds left in the game, so she shook it off saying that she was fine, though most of us doubted it because she wasn't standing right. It didn't take long, however, to prove that she wasn't okay. She collapsed as the buzzer went off announcing the end of the game.

Now, I'm a fairly nice person when it comes to winning games. Yeah, I get pissed when we lose, but I'll at least say good job to everyone, including the other team. I was so worried about Ana, though, that it was the only thing on my mind.

"Ana?!?" I yelled, dropping to my knees. "Ana? Are you okay?"

"No," she whined, and I could see the tears forming. "It hurts."

"Just take it easy, babe. You're okay, you're okay," I assured her.

My teammates started to gather around me. "My leg.. it hurts. Oh Bri... it hurts... I can't see..."

"Calm down, Ana... you're okay," I promised her. My voice was starting to panic as I told Coach we needed an ambulance. They hauled my friend off of the field on a stretcher and I was close by, trying not to cry.

"Bri? What happened?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," I wailed. "She's hurt.."

Alex began talking to the ambulance man in rapid Spanish, so much that it confused me. I didn't care though. I was only caring about Ana.

"Bri... she'll be okay. I'll be up there soon, okay?"

I nodded, plopping down on a seat in the ambulance. I buried my head in my hands.

"I'm okay," Ana assured me, seeing that I was the one going crazy. "I'm going to be okay, Bri. You're scaring me."

"Sorry. I can't help it. I'm worried... and dammit, we'll NEVER be able to win without you!"

"Gah, I'm glad you're concerned about me!" she said sarcastically, mustering up a grin.

I grinned back.

"I think it's broken... but that's it. I'll be better soon."

I nodded. "You'll be okay," I assured us both, holding her hand to help ease the pain.

She was right when she said it was broken... the doc agreed and showed her the xray explaining it to us in broken English. He was a really nice guy. Coach and the rest of the team was at the hospital waiting for us when we got there, as was Mr. Hernandez and Lizbeth. When we all found out that Ana was okay, people started leaving and wishing her well. The doc wanted to keep her overnight to make sure that everything else was okay.

"I'm going to stay with you, Ana," I announced.

"Please do.. I don't want to be left up here alone... I'd go crazy cause I can't understand anything anyone says!"

"Haha... No sabes Espanol?"

"Talk to me in English, dammit!"

"No hablo Ingles."

"Shut up," she said, throwing a pillow at me.

I giggled and threw it back.

Mr. Hernandez and Lizbeth came in seconds later. "Your coach said that you were planning on staying with Ana tonight?" he asked.

"Yes. Is that okay?"

"That's fine," he said, and smiled, patting Ana on the shoulder. "Do you girls need anything? We'll bring you some clothes tomorrow when we pick you up."

"I'm fine," Ana told him.

"Me, too. Thanks so much for everything. You guys are the best."

They both smiled and Lizbeth hugged me, then Ana. Mr. Hernandez squeezed Ana's shoulder. "We're out of here then." He looked at Lizbeth. "Como se dice? Get well soon?"

Lizbeth smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Get well soon, Ana. We'll see you tomorrow."

We said our byes to our host family and watched the Spanish MTV for a little while because it was about the only thing we could stand. We talked for what seemed like the longest time... talked about everything, like we always do. Mostly about Mexico, though. About how I loved it and Alex was so much fun to be with and she liked Raoul and if she lived in Mexico she'd definitely hook up with him. Then she expressed her hatred for the Spanish language and we talked about the difference in women's roles in Mexico and America. I was about to mention how much I loved the Spanish music when there was a slight knock on the door and it swung open, Alex and Raoul appearing.

"Aye, she is alive!" Alex said, kissing her on the cheek and handing her a card. He plopped down next to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder.

Raoul leaned over and gave Ana a kiss as well, handing her some flowers and a stuffed animal. "I figured you'd need something to snuggle with since we couldn't go out tonight."

She giggled. "Thanks," she told them both, opening up the card.

"It's in Spanish... I thought you'd appreciate it," Alex told her.

She rolled her eyes at him and opened the card. "So what does it say?"

He handed her a dictionary and laughed. She threw it at him. "Gah, I'm in so much pain and you're not nice to me," she said.

"Do you want me to kick his ass for you?" Raoul asked.

"Si!" she said, sticking her tongue out at Alex.

"So how are you feeling anyway?" Alex asked.

"Great until you got here," she teased.

They joked around for the rest of the evening, Raoul taking up for her and the boys goofing off. A couple of times the nurse came in to tell us to settle down, but I don't think she cared much. Raoul and Alex were too cute for anyone to be too angry with.

"Do you need anything, Ana?" Raoul asked her. He was sitting at the foot of her bed, hands entwined in hers.

"I think I'll be okay," she answered.

He said something to Alex in Spanish to which Alex replied back in Spanish.

Ana just sighed heavily. "What have I told you about speaking in ENGLISH."

Alex just kept talking in Spanish. "Just kidding!" he told her. "Geeze, lighten up."

I snuggled closer to Alex.

"What the hell are you watching anyway? MTV? Fuck MTV."

"Hey! I happen to like it," I said.

"You would," he said, smiling at me and kissing my forehead.

"Besides, what else are we going to watch?" Ana asked.

"If you'd learn Spanish, you wouldn't have any problems."

She sighed. "Bri! Next year we BETTER go to a damn English-speaking country!"

I nodded. "That's right."

Alex and Raoul must have stayed until after midnight because both Ana and I were drifting off to sleep. It'd been an extra long day to begin with, and having a broken leg just added to the stress. For both of us, even if it was only her with the broken leg. The boys must have noticed this because they announced their departure, much to our sadness.

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay? You need your sleep, team captain, and Spanish-speaker."

"Shut UP," Ana said sleepily, yawning. Raoul stood up and kissed Ana passionately, as did Alex for me. Then Raoul gave me a hug and Alex one for Ana.

"Que te mejores pronto," he told her.

"Blah blah blah blah blah..." she answered.

"Get well soon," Raoul translated.

Alex giggled and waved goodbye, then they disappeared and each of us fell asleep to the sound of Spanish music with thoughts of hott Latinos prancing in our minds.

As promised, Ana got out of the hospital the next day. Unfortuantely, she wouldn't be able to play on the team for a while and she was a great asset. We didn't do too badly, though. Thursday we lost our game, though we won on Friday. We ended up placing third, which was the coolest thing ever because it was out of the whole *world*! To celebrate our victories, Coach took us out to a nice dinner on Friday night and most of us decided to make our last night Mexico very memorable. All of the seniors and a couple of juniors decided that we wanted to go out and party and our families were okay with it, as long as some guys went with us. Of course Alex and Raoul went, but so did some other guys. We partied so hard... Most of the girls got drunk, even though it was against the rules, and we ended up staying out until after 3. Mr. Hernandez had told us to stay out as long as we'd like, just to let him know when we got home.

When I say we stayed out til 3, I actually mean we clubbed until about then. The other girls went home afterwards because most of them could barely walk, but the four of us didn't. We walked around downtown for a little while, carrying on a conversation, more serious than usual, and then broke away from Ana and Raoul for a while, promising to meet at the car in about fifteen minutes.

"Brianna.. I've had a lot of fun with you being here."

A smile spread across my face. "I've had fun being here with you."

Gah we were so cheesy. "Do you know where you're going to University yet?"

"Anywhere that'll accept me and give me scholarships."

"I've already applied at the University of Guanajuato and got accepted... and I'm sort of obligated to go at least for my first year. I want to go to America... Quiero estar contigo."

That meant I want to be with you... And that was totally not what I was expecting. "I don't know enough Spanish to go to school in Mexico, or I'd go with you."

"I'm going to give you my address tomorrow, and I want you to give me yours, too. We're going to keep in touch, okay? I want to know how things are going at home, and at school. I want to talk to you after you leave. I like the way I feel when I'm around you."

I must have been blushing like crazy. "Me too."

"So promise me you'll keep in touch? And when you get the internet you'll email me?"

"Promise," I said.

He embraced me tightly and we kept walking, hand in hand. By the time we made it back to the car, Ana was already there with Raoul.

"Took ya long enough," Ana said, playfully glaring at Alex.

"Shut up," he answered. "You're just jealous 'cause you didn't get to spend the time with me."

"You wish."

He unlocked the doors and I scooted in next to Ana instead of sitting in the front. At that time I wished that I spoke a different language that the guys couldn't understand because I wanted to tell her everything! My heart was racing.

"I have something to tell you when we get home!" I whispered.

The guys were talking in Spanish.

"He likes you a lot?!?" she whispered back.

I nodded.

"STOP talking about us in Spanish, dammit! You could at least wait til we're out of the car!"

They laughed at her and began talking obnoxiously loud in Spanish, just to annoy her. They weren't talking about us, though. I could tell. I don't know what they were saying, but I'd be able to tell if they were talking about us...

The next day we woke up fairly early and were tired as hell from being up all night. It was our last day in Mexico. It seemed so weird, getting up and throwing all of our stuff back into our suitcases, listening to the babies cry when they wanted something and couldn't express themselves in any other way, or listening to Lizbeth and Brandon get in a fight. I'd finally gotten semi-used to eating Mexican food and as I sat at the table for breakfast, I found it hard to believe that it was the last morning I'd be spending in this country with this familiy.

Mrs. Hernandez asked us something in Spanish, but no one was around to translate so she said it in simplier form. "Quieres ir a tu casa?"

"Eh, a little," I answered, holding up my fingers to show her how much I was ready to go home. Truth was, I wanted to stay with the Hernandez family longer and I wanted to hang out with Alex, but I was getting sort of homesick.. I missed Terrence and missed school (surprisingly enough!) and I missed everyone around me talking in the same language as me. But I loved Mexico and definitely planned on going back.

Mr. Hernandez helped us throw our suitcases in the trunk and sped off to the school in which the awards ceremony would be held. Apparently they were holding something for us at the host school as well, so neither Mr. Hernandez or Lizbeth stayed for the awards ceremony, just dropped us off. We met up with the rest of our school, everyone still asking Ana how she felt and everyone congratulating everyone else for their hard work.

The awards ceremony was in Spanish for the most part, which was confusing as hell. Luckily, Pedro and Benito were around to help translate... well, Pedro translated. Benito didn't say much of anything, just kept a smirk on his face the whole time.

"They're to third place," Pedro told Coach.

"Team captain and Anastasia... I want you two to get the trophy!" Coach told us.

Ana's eyes got wide. "Me? Why me?"

"Because I said so. Now get ready!"

The man on the speaker blurted out something in Spanish then announced our school's name, from the USA and everyone burst out in applause, at least we did. I walked towards the stage, Ana hopping along behind me since she was on crutches. We graciously accepted the trophy and held it high, then waltzed back down to our seats. Everyone hovered around us to catch a glimpse of the trophy, or to touch it, or take pictures of it. We were so excited that we didn't even listen to the first two places...

We rode the bus back to our host school, singing the Spanish song that Pedro had taught us the first time we'd ever stepped on the bus. We were so excited and dancing and it was awesome. Even the hung-over girls were looking like they felt better!

Back at the school they were waiting for us in the gym. I had the strange deja vu feeling. It was so familiar to the first time we'd been to the school... our team so excited, everyone chattering about Mexico... except this time it'd be our last time to see everyone, instead of our first. I sucked in a deep breath and tried not to think about it. I was actually really sad about leaving!!

There was a fiesta going on inside the gym. Salsa music blared from the speakers and everyone was wearing a sombrero and there was loads of food. We mingled for a little while, thanking our families and talking to everyone else. Shellie's host family was around, Francesca and all of her kids. Mr. Hernandez and Lizbeth were there, but the rest of the family had stayed home because of something with Mrs. Hernandez's parents. Alex and Raoul were there... and I somehow got to spend a minute alone with Alex.

"Here ya go," Alex said, handing me a shoebox. "Put it in your soccer bag and don't open it til you're on the plane! Promise?"

I sighed. "Why?!?"

"Because, I want you to open it on the plane. Promise?"

"Fine, I promise."

He hugged me tightly. "I'll be expecting a letter from you within the next month, got it?"

"Geeze, you sure are demanding."

He smiled.

From there, the soccer coach announced that we got third place and congratulated us, then everyone clapped and hooted for us. He then thanked us for the trip and our Coach thanked them for having us, and then told us it was time to get ready and get on the bus... our plane would leave in two hours.

I had to bite my lip to keep from tearing up. I hugged Alex again, still holding the shoebox. I then followed Mr. Hernandez and Lizbeth out to the car and got our luggage, hugging my host family one final time before telling them "adios."

The bus was still pumped up on our trip to the airport, but I just stared out the window, gazing at the city I probably wouldn't see again for a long time -- the experience I'd never forget. Pedro passed around a sheet of paper for us to write our email addresses on, but since I didn't have one, I told Ana to put hers and she could keep me up to date. Then we arrived at the airport. The men helped us get our luggage out of the bus then waved goodbye. I couldn't help it... I had to hug them both... they'd been a part of my experience as much as everything else, and I felt close to them.

"Aye, adios senorita. Keep speaking Spanish," Pedro told me while I was in his hug.

"I will. Adios, Pedro."

I then hugged Benito. "Adios," he told me, because I think that's all he thought he could say that I'd understand.. and it probably was.

"Adios."

Adios... the word to describe that whole day... a day of goodbyes..

On the plane I couldn't wait to see what it was that Alex had given me. Luckily I had a seat next to Ana and Shellie this time, so I wasn't sharing my stuff with a random Mexican man that I didn't know. I opened up the shoebox and was greeted with a couple of cds and pictures... and one letter.

Brianna,
I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed the last two weeks that I've been able to spend with you. You told me that you loved Alex Ubago and La Oreja de Van Gogh, so I figured I'd make you a cd... And another time you said that you wanted to know what some of the lyrics were... well, I won't translate every song for you, but I'll give you this much.
There's an Alex Ubago song called "Aunque No Te Pueda Ver"... it was one of those that you liked... This lyric is for you: "Si te sientes sola hablame que te estare escuchando aunque no te pueda ver." It's one of my favorite lyrics ever... in English it'd probably best be translated as if you feel alone just talk to me... I'll be listening even though I can't see you. Another lyric is by Tiziano Ferro... porque la vida duele, duele demasiado aqui sin ti. Because life hurts, it hurts so much here without you. That's all I'm giving you. Your homework assignment is to figure out some of the rest of the lyrics on your own.
I'll miss you while you're gone... hell, I'm already missing you and you're not even gone yet... well, by the time you're reading this you'll already be gone. Anyway, I'm going to come see you in America. Soon, I promise. I plan on getting a job over the summer and saving up before I go to college, and then maybe getting a job in Guanajuato. Please write me.
Hope you like the pictures! They weren't all from when you were here, but some of them I thought could sum up your vacation..
Love,
Alex

"What's it say, what's it say!" Ana was yelling in my ear.

I grinned and showed it to her, and looked through the pictures while she and Shellie read it. The first picture I saw was one of Alex and me that we'd taken only a couple of days before, and right under it, one of Raoul and Ana. Then one of the four of us, and a couple of goof off pictures. They were totally adorable. He also had a picture of the Kumbala bar and the Mexico City skyline and a picture of La Oreja de Van Gogh that he'd printed off of his computer. Just a random thing to remind me of him, I guess. There was also a few pictures of him, a picture of his car, a picture of his house... a picture of the sunset. It was all really cool and I'd barely had the chance to look through them before Ana was bugging me again to see what they were. I didn't mind, though.. I'd have been the same way if it was her and Raoul.

"Wow... guess Alex really liked you," Ana said. "Raoul just gave me his email address."

I smiled.

"Must be love," Shellie said.

"Ewwww!" I answered, still in my anti-love stage. "Definitely not."

She was going to say something but instead of listening I put one of the cds in my portable cd player and listened to it instead.

*****

Terrence and Ashton were soooooo excited to see us back. I thought Terrence was going to cry, which is pretty amusing seeing how he's supposed to be a tough guy and stuff. He must have hugged me for a good ten minutes!

"Terrence, if you don't loosen up, I'm going to suffocate and never make it home."

"Oh, right," he said, letting go. "I missed you!!"

"So I noticed," I teased, waiting for my luggage.

"I want to hear all about your trip."

"I've already told you all about it," I answered. "Remember? We talked like... every night."

"I'm sure there's more for you to tell!"

There was probably plenty more to tell, like staying out all night and lying to Mr. Hernandez about where we were going... but Terrence was NOT going to find out about that. All that mattered was that we were okay and didn't get into any *real* trouble.

"I want Wendy's," I told him when we got in the car. "I haven't had good food in two weeks."

"What do you want from Wendy's?" he asked.

"A chicken sandwich. I'm soooo hungry." And I was.. my stomach was growling!

Lucky me, he pulled in the drive thru at Wendy's and ordered my chicken sandwich. I couldn't look at the menu because everything looked so good!! It was also sooo weird being around non-Mexicans and listening to everyone speak English! You don't realize stuff until after you've been away from it for so long!

I told him about my trip, about Alex, and about the Kumbala Bar, even though he didn't approve of bars. I did, however, promise him that we didn't drink and that the boys didn't drink and it was basically just a place for the locals to hang out and listen to music... like the venue downtown. And it was... mostly.

When we got home I passed out on my bed while watching tv in English. I missed little things so much! Terrence woke me up from my nap to get me up to eat porkchops for dinner... and mashed potatoes, and corn... mmmm I missed southern American food sooooo much!!

I was halfway through my meal with Ana called.

"Hey, can I call you back?" I asked.

"Bri, Ashton wants you to come over ASAP..."

"Why? What happened?"

She paused for a moment and I could hear her moving. Then she said softly, as if she didn't want Ashton to hear, "he found my fake ID... and he knew you got it for me, don't ask me how cause I didn't tell him!"

"How'd he find it? I thought you were going to get rid of it?"

"I was going to! I'd forgotten about it, cause we didn't even use it. He asked if I had any advil and I told him it was in my purse and as he dug through my purse he found it. He's not happy.."

"Shit, okay. I'll be over there when I finish eating. Tonya's over here so I'm sure Terrence won't mind."

We hung up the phone and I went back to the table.

"You've been around Ana for two weeks and you're still not sick of each other?"

"You can't be talking," I told him. "How long have you and Tonya been together?"

He rolled his eyes at me.

"And anyway, I really wanna go to Ana's house... I'm going through Ashton withdrawals."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. It's Saturday night anyway... just come back home at a decent hour."

"You know I will," I told him, finishing up my food and helping myself to seconds. I love American food. I waved goodbye and grabbed the cd that Alex had made me. There'd be no way I'd be parting with that damn cd for weeks... I loved it too much! It just sucked that I didn't know any of the words.

I made it to Ana's house waay too soon. I wanted desperately to listen to the cd some more or to at least hang out in my car because I knew Ashton would be livid with me.

We were almost past the point of knocking on each other's doors, especially when we knew the other was coming over, but I knocked anyway. I guess to prolong getting fussed at.

"Come in!" Ashton yelled from inside.

I cleared my throat and pushed the door open. Ashton and Ana were sitting on the couch in front of the tv, each of them glancing up as I came inside.

"Ah, very nice to see you, Brianna," Ashton said.

"And you, too. Missed ya tons while I was in Mexico!!"

"Have a seat," he answered, ignoring my statement.

I gulped and gave Ana a pathetic look, then plopped down next to her.

"I want the truth out of both of you," Ashton began. "And if I find out that you're lying, I promise the reprecussions will not be good, do you understand?"

We both nodded.

He held up the ID. "Explain this ID to me, Brianna."

"Uhmm... well, we figured that there wouldn't be any way to get into any clubs in Mexico without both of us being eighteen, so I decided to have my friend make an ID for Ana... so we could go clubbing together... but we were only going to go for my birthday!"

He sat the ID down and sat down on the coffee table in front of us, staring deep into my eyes. "Did you drink?"

I shook my head. "No... neither of.."

He cut me off, staring deep into Ana's eyes and asking her the same question... "Did *you* drink?"

She shook her head.

"Did you sneak out of the house?" he asked us both.

We shook our heads again.

"Did you lie about where you were going?"

We sort of paused there, both of us looking at each other.

"I take that as a yes. Elaborate, Anastasia."

"Erm... well, uh," she stammered. "We sort of told our host family that we had late soccer practices and.."

"And then we got caught and were punished, so the lying only lasted a couple of days and we felt really bad about it!" I interjected.

"Oh? You were punished?"

I nodded. "Mr. Hernandez spanked us... because he said he could call you and Terrence or could tell Coach and then told us that he'd spank his daughter, so we asked if he'd spank us because we figured that it'd be better than getting sent back home or better than getting yelled at twice, or even more... and we felt soooo bad about it!" I told him in one breath.

"I see." He paused. "Does Terrence know about this?"

I shook my head. "Please don't tell him."

"I'm not because I know you were planning on telling him anyway."

"Ashton... really? Do I have to?"

He didn't answer, just kept on with his lecture. "Fake IDs are not something to mess around with. It's the same thing as fraud... which is completely and totally illegal. If you would have gotten caught with this you could be in jail, young ladies, do you hear me?"

We nodded.

"And it'd be a hell of a time trying to get you out of a Mexican prision, I'll tell you that much. Now, Anastasia... go to your room... I'll be in there shortly to discuss this with you further. I need to talk to Bri for a couple of minutes."

Ana nodded then hobbled off without her crutches. I shivered and glanced up at Ashton. "Please, Ashton... either spank me or don't make me tell Terrence... I don't deserve three spankings for the same thing.."

"Firstly, you're not going to get spanked for the same thing. The lying thing is over, though I really ought to tear your ass up for that because I think that you and I and Terrence have all had plenty of discussions about lying. But nonetheless, it's over and you straightened up, right?"

I nodded.

"I'm going to spank you for getting that fake ID for Ana. It's against the law and another form of deceit. You girls are going to learn to stop being so damn dishonest."

"But Ashton... we didn't even use it."

"But if they'd have asked for it, you would have, wouldn't you?"

I bit my lower lip. "I guess you're right... but we just wanted to have fun and we weren't going to use it once we got back home... just for the trip!"

"I don't care. It's still dishonest and illegal, and you're still getting spanked for it. Oh, and while I'm at it... how come you didn't talk to Terrence after you promised me you would?"

I turned away. "I don't know."

He grabbed my chin and turned my head towards him. "I don't appreciate that, Brianna. I really don't."

I looked deep into his eyes. "I know."

"I trust you to tell Terrence what happened in Mexico, because I assure you that he will find out, and I can guarantee that he'd rather you tell him than me, understood?"

I nodded.

He stood up and grabbed my hand, standing me up as well. "Believe me, Brianna.. this spanking is nothing compared to what would happen if you were to get caught with a damn fake ID."

"I know."

He sat down on the couch and tugged at my jeans, then gently placed me over his lap. I clutched onto the couch cushions for dear life, gritting my teeth and closing my eyes to await the first smack. Of course, before it was delivered, Ashton pulled my panties down and rested his hand on my bum.

"You understand why I'm spanking you, then?" he asked.

"Yes," I whined.

"And why is that?"

Damn, the anticipation was eating me alive.. there I was, lying over his lap bare from the waist down and he was trying to carry on a conversation like we were at dinner or something! Gah! "Because I got that ID for Ana and it's illegal and dishonest and I promised you that I'd talk to Terrence and I didn't."

He landed a smack, hard and on the center of my bottom. I winced in pain. "That's right," he told me, and smacked me again and again, then concentrated on my sit spots for a little while and my upper thighs. I was kicking and trying to keep my hands in front of me so I wouldn't try to cover. But it was hurting like hell!! He was spanking sooo hard and scolding me, but I was concentrating so much on the pain that I couldn't even hear what he was saying... or I heard it, but it didn't register, I just answered in the way I figured would be best to answer.

"Puhleeezeeee Ashtonnnnn!!" I begged, nearly to tears. "I'm sorrrry!!!"

"I'm glad to hear that," he answered, but didn't let up on the spaking.

"Ashtonnnn no moreee, I've learned my OWW lessonnnn..."

He didn't answer. Instead, he spanked more, even harder, all over my throbbing bottom. His hands felt like steel! Like in that song... Daddy's hands... soft and calm when I was crying, Daddy's hands... hard as steel when I'd done wrong. Ouch!!

He stopped spanking and lifted me up. "Get the hairbrush. It's in the bathroom, probably in the cabinet. And quickly," he added with a quick smack.

I scurried to the restroom and opened the cabinet, wiping the tears out of my eyes and catching a glimpse of my burning backside before returning to Ashton, wooden hairbrush in hands. I quivered. "Pleaseee Ashton... don't use that on me..."

He pulled me back over his lap. "Too late, kiddo... should've thought about all of this before the fact, right?"

I nodded, burying my head in my hands and sobbing as instantly as he gave me that first smack with the hairbrush. Before a minute was up, I was squirming and bawling and trying to dodge smacks, which only earned a firmer grip on me... My pleas were useless because I could barely breathe I was crying and gasping so much.

After what felt like hours, but was really only a couple of minutes, Ashton sat the brush down and rubbed my back, letting me sob for a little while before scooping me up in his arms and cradling me like a small child. He rocked me back and forth, snuggling with me... it was so nice to be snuggled by him.. So nice, in fact, that I was almost confused as to who I'd rather be with.. Ashton or Alex... or even Cole... too many damn boys...

After a while, I was able to pull my pants back up and Ashton hugged me, walking me to the door. "Don't forget to tell Terrence... I'll be calling him to make sure you did."

I nodded. "See you later, Ash."

"Later, Bri," He said and smiled. That gorgeous smile.

I walked uncomfortably to my car and then sat down on my aching bottom... Now I had to go home and tell Terrence and who knows what he'd do... Hopefully he wouldn't take my car away again... but I didn't exactly want to be spanked again either. Dammit...

Tonya was gone when I got home... I guess Terrence could see my tear-streaked face because he immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

I sat down on the couch, patting a spot next to me for him to sit. "Terrence... Ashton spanked me."

"Uhoh... what for?"

"Because I got Ana a fake ID so she could get into the bars with me in Mexico." He opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted. "But we didn't use the ID and I promise promise promise that we didn't drink... we just wanted to go dancing for my birthday and Ashton already explained how dangerous it was and he spanked me for it." I paused to take a breath. "And we sort of lied to our host family and told them that we were practicing when we really weren't, but Mr. Hernandez found out and spanked us for that because we suggested he do that instead of telling you or Coach because we didn't want to be yelled at more than once about it because we honestly learned our lesson and didn't lie anymore the rest of the trip." I paused as if telling him it was okay for him to talk now.

"That sure was a mouth full, Brianna."

I nodded solemnly.

"I won't spank you again for either of these things, but I want you to know that I'm disappointed."

"I know," I said.

"I trust you're not irresponsible enough to do any of those things again?"

"Definitely not."

"Good. Go on to bed... I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, Terrence."

"Night, Bri," he said, kissing my forehead and hugging me tightly. "I missed you while you were gone!"

"I missed you, too!"