Author's Note: This story has spoilers for the episode 'With Arms Outstretched'. Written - November 28, 2003
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, and I am not making any money from these stories.
Warning: Non consensual disciplinary spanking of teens by parental figures.

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Taking Advantage


Lucas was very pleased with life. The day his mom had left to go to school in Italy for 6 weeks, his Uncle Keith had moved in with him. That was four days ago, and so far they had been having a great time. They were mostly eating out, and watching sports together. At school, the guys on the team were accepting him more, and Nathan wasn't giving him crap. He and Haley had made up, and were able to be close friends again. Peyton still wanted to be friends, even if she didn't want to be his girlfriend. But he thought the best part of all, was that he had gotten to know Brook a little better and found that he was now happy that she was coming on to him. She had even read a book that he had given her, and they were planning to out to have fun in the evening.

Nathan was not very pleased with life. His dad was mocking his skill as a player, which wasn't unusual, but for some reason he felt he needed to prove his father wrong at least this once. He had decided to take some pills to enhance his performance, but they were making him jumpy, and shaky, and he was very irritable. His parents were fighting more than usual, and his mom working at Karen's café was just embarrassing. Coach Whitey was giving the team a hard time about winning, and Haley hadn't slept with him yet. Haley really confused him. He could tell that she liked him, but still they hadn't slept together. With Peyton it had only taken one day, and he had been with Haley for four days now and still she hadn't let him do much. He thought some sex would help him relax so the pills could do their job on the court.


Lucas was ready for his date with Brook and yelled to Keith, "See you later."

Keith was busy reading a book, and didn't even look up when he said, "See ya."

Lucas picked Brook up, and she said, "Hey handsome. So where are we going tonight?"

"I don't know. This is your night, so I figured you would be making the plans."

Brook smiled and said, "Great. I know a bar over on Main street where they don't card. Let's go see if you can play pool."

Lucas felt a little uncomfortable going to a bar, but he decided to give it a try and headed over. Once they were there and playing pool he felt more relaxed. He was very impressed at how good Brook was. She was far better than he was, but she seemed to enjoy winning so it was okay. Then she got them both some beer, and showed the waitress some fake ID's. Lucas looked at her with surprise and she explained, "Fake ID's I used your yearbook photo."

Lucas didn't really like that, but he was having fun watching her, so he didn't say anything. She kept flirting with him, and playing pool. Soon he was smiling at her and having a good time again. Brook said, "I don't believe it."

"What?"

"Is that a smile? Is Lucas Scott actually having fun?"

Lucas got defensive and said; "I have fun."

"Lucas, you're the most serious guy I have ever met."

Lucas didn't want that to be a true statement. He liked Brook, and he wanted her to think he was a fun person to be around. He looked behind him and picked up the beer she had bought for him. He looked right at her as he drank some of it.

Brook was impressed and said; "Well, looks like you can have fun after all, and we haven't even gotten to the best part yet."



Nathan had gone over to Haley's house to study, but the pills were still bugging him. He couldn't sit still, and he couldn't concentrate. He thought if he could lure Haley to the bed, that he could release some of the tension. Haley did like him, so even though she really did want him to study, she let him get her on the bed. Soon, they were kissing and lying together. Nathan thought 'It's about time.' and started to undo Haley's blouse.

Haley mumbled something, but Nathan didn't pay attention. Then she pushed at him, and said, "Stop."

Nathan couldn't even process that. His hands kept going while his mind thought, 'What?'

Haley said more forcefully "Stop it Nathan." and pushed herself off the bed and away from him.

Nathan was in shock. He said, "What's wrong?"

"I think you should leave."

"You can't be serious!"

"I am."

Nathan thought this was completely messed up. Then he remembered she was very serious about his studying, and thought, 'Maybe she wants me to study first.' He said, "Okay let's study then."

Haley opened the door to her room and said, "I want you to leave now."

Nathan was now completely confused, and frustrated, and pissed off. He said, "Fine." as he got up to leave.

As Nathan walked home he couldn't help but think that while Peyton had been a pain in a lot of ways, at least she wasn't a tease. Why did Haley keep kissing him and leading him on if she didn't plan to sleep with him?



Lucas was having more and more fun as the night went by. He had had three beers, and Brook had won four games of pool. They had decided to take a break, and were sitting at a table talking about movies. Lucas was laughing more then he remembered laughing in a long time. Soon Brook dragged him into the hallway, and started kissing him. She asked, "What do you think about tattoos?"

Lucas was having a hard time concentrating, and this question seemed to be out of left field. He said, "It depends I guess."

Brook unbuttoned her pants and showed him a little tattoo of a Chinese symbol. She said, "What do you think of this tattoo?"

Lucas was staring, and said the first thing that came to his mind. "Very sexy."

"Right answer."

They were kissing again, and getting pretty heavy. Brook broke it off, and said, "You know what would be great?"

"What?"

"You could get one too!"

Lucas thought about it for a second, and knew his mom wouldn't like that at all. He had always thought tattoos were cool, but he didn't want to upset her. Then he realized she wasn't home, Keith was. Lucas thought, 'Keith is a guy, and he'll understand'. He smiled and said, "That would be cool."

Brook smiled and laughed because she was so happy. She said, "Come on."

They got to the parking lot, and got to the tow truck that Lucas had driven them to the bar in. Brook stood by the passenger door waiting for Lucas to unlock it, and then turned around confused when he didn't. Lucas looked at her. Then he looked to the truck and back to her. He said, "I can't drive. Sorry. We'll have to take a cab."

Brook pouted and said, "That's no fun."

"We can both sit in the back together, and I won't have to concentrate on the road."

Brook got an even bigger smile then before and said, "Let's have another beer while we wait for it."

After Lucas had called a cab, he looked in his wallet. He wasn't sure if he had enough, but as he was looking at his money, Brook came up with a beer in each hand. She saw him looking at his wallet and said, "Oh no mister. It was my idea to go get the tattoo, so I'll pay for the cab, and the tattoo."

Lucas thought about protesting, but he knew she had a lot more money than he did, and he didn't even know how much a tattoo would cost.

Before he knew it, they were at the tattoo parlor. Brook had him wait out front while she went to talk to the artist who did them. Lucas saw Brook handing the guy some money, and then she waved him in. While the artist went to get his supplies ready, Lucas and Brook looked at possible tattoos. Lucas said, "So do I even want to know how much it cost?"

Brook smiled and said, "No, especially since it included the bribe not to look too closely at our ID's."

Brook helped him pick out a tattoo, and soon Lucas was getting it put on his shoulder while Brook watched. He was surprised at how little it hurt, but as he kept thinking about it, he realized that the beers had helped in that department.

The tattoo took quite a while, and by the time it was completed, Brook had passed out in the chair next to him. He thanked the artist, and called another cab. He was able to rouse her long enough for her to stumble to the back of the cab. They went to Brook's house first, and he carried her to the front door. He knocked but no one answered. He put Brook down on the porch, and looked through her purse for a key. He found it and got her up to her room while the cab waited. Soon he was on his way home.

He was trying not to wake Keith up as he came home, but he was still a little clumsy from the beer. As the door shut a little too loudly, Keith who had been standing in the hallway turned on the light. Lucas smiled and said, "Hey Keith."

Keith had been waiting for about two hours for Lucas to get home, and he was still scared something had happened. He said, "Are you okay Luke?"

Lucas smiled even bigger and said, "Perfect. Just perfect."

Keith thought Lucas was acting strange, and he suddenly realized why. He said, "Have you been drinking?"

Lucas laughs a little and said, "Oh Keith, there is this girl…"

Keith interrupted with, "Yeah. I understand. Now I know how my old man felt when I used to roll in late like this."

Then Keith had another thought. He looked out the door to the driveway as he said, "You didn't drive did you?"

Lucas found this terribly funny, and couldn't stop laughing. Keith didn't see the tow truck. He said with a barely restrained temper, "Did you drive?!"

Lucas still laughing was able to get out, "Keith man, I'm not that dumb."

Keith stared at Lucas with his eyebrows raised, and was about to go into how dumb Lucas had been, but realized it wouldn't do any good at that point. He said, "Go to bed and sleep it off Lucas. We'll talk in the morning."

Lucas thought bed sounded really good, and went to his room where he fell asleep with his clothes on. Keith sat in the kitchen for a while thinking about what to do. He decided he would ground Lucas for a week. He knew he was being kind of lenient, but at the same time, they hadn't really gone over any rules since Keith had come to stay. He thought it would be mean of him to punish Lucas for coming home past curfew when he hadn't really told him that the same curfew he had with his mom still applied. And even though Lucas had been drunk, he hadn't been driving. Keith decided a week of being grounded for drinking was probably good enough for a first offence. He was sure that in the light of day, Lucas would be very embarrassed about his behavior, and he would be beating himself up about it more than Keith would. Once he had this clear in his mind he was able to get to sleep himself.


In the morning Keith knocked on Lucas' door early. Lucas moaned and rolled over. Keith opened the door and said, "Time to wake up Luke."

Lucas pulled the pillow over his head. Keith dragged it away and said, "Up. Now."

Lucas whined, "My head hurts."

Keith smiled and said, "Take a Tylenol, and a shower. I'll be back in half an hour and you can come have a breakfast of dry toast."

Lucas moaned at the thought of eating, but did get up and walk to the bathroom. He took some Tylenol, and brushed his teeth. Then he took his shower without thinking about much. He didn't even open his eyes for most of it. He just kept thinking 'Work pills, work."

By the time the water had gotten cold, he got out of the shower and dried off. He went to his bedroom and got on some jeans and an undershirt. As he was brushing his hair, he thought he caught a glimpse of something on his shoulder. He turned his shoulder to the mirror and couldn't believe what he saw. The events of the night before came rushing into his mind. Now that his head was down to a dull throb, he noticed that his shoulder hurt too. He remembered thinking that Keith would understand, but now he wasn't so sure about that. He started looking for a shirt, and picked one out of the drawer. As he pulled it out Keith came to the partly open door and said, "Come on Luke, you're going to be late if you don't get moving."

Lucas quickly put the shirt over his shoulder as he heard Keith talking. Keith saw the move and said, "What's under your shirt?"

Lucas said, "Nothing."

"Then let me see."

Lucas cringed and put the shirt down.

Keith just stared at the tattoo for a few seconds. Then he said with a voice that was calmer then he thought was possible, "Tell me that's a joke. Better yet, wipe it off."

Lucas was surprised that Keith was so upset and he said, "It's not a joke. It's a tattoo."

"Of what?"

"It's the Chinese symbol for fun."

Keith lost it and yelled, "FUN! Don't you mean foolish!"

Lucas thought Keith was blowing things out of proportion. He really had had a good time last night with Brook. He said, "Yeah fun. Something I don't have enough of!"

Keith counted to ten in his head. He crossed his arms and pinned Lucas with a look that said cut the crap. Then he said, "Lucas, your mom trusted me to take care of you while she was gone. She has only been gone for five days, and you have scarred yourself for life."

Lucas couldn't believe that comment. He said, "It's just a tattoo, Keith."

"It's a tattoo! There is no JUST!! I don't know what you were thinking last night. You went out and got drunk, you stayed out way past your curfew…"

Lucas interrupted with, "Curfew?"

Keith growled, "YES curfew. You know that thing where you come home at a certain time so that the people who love you don't sit up worrying. It's still the same as it was when your mom was here. As I was saying, you stayed out past your curfew, and you came home with a freaking tattoo!"

Lucas just glared at Keith who glared back. Keith said, "You took advantage of me Luke. You would have never done this if your mom had been home."

Lucas didn't like the sound of that at all. He was feeling very defensive, and upset that Keith was so mad at him. He said, "All I did was have a little fun, and like you said yourself, my mom's not here."

As soon as he said it, Lucas realized that it sounded like a challenge, and maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to say to Keith at that point.

Keith also couldn't believe Lucas was being like this. He thought for sure that Lucas would be more like himself in the morning. He had thought Lucas would be very repentant, and that he would be taking responsibility for his actions last night. Keith realized that Lucas was challenging him, and he knew that if he didn't rise to the challenge the next five weeks were going to be hell. He walked right up to Lucas and got in his personal space. He could see Lucas cringe a little, and was pleased that he at least had some affect on the boy. He poked a finger in Lucas' chest and said, "Your ass is grounded."

Lucas' face got red, and he said, "Keith…"

Keith didn't let him finish. He continued with, "I mean hard core, bread and water type of grounded little boy, and that's just for the drinking, and staying out late."

Lucas didn't know what to say. He thought it sucked, but he realized that he didn't really expect Keith not to do something about last night.

Keith grabbed Lucas' arm and started to drag him over to his bed. Lucas didn't really protest, but he didn't know what was going on either. He said in a questioning voice, "Uncle Keith?"

Keith had reached the bed, and looked Lucas in the eye when he said, "I expected better from you Lucas."

Lucas felt guilt and shame at those words, but he was still at a loss as to what to say to Keith to make it better somehow. He was looking at the floor trying to come up with something when he felt himself being pulled down. Keith had sat down on the bed, and pulled a confused Lucas face down over his lap. Keith didn't waist any time, and brought his hand down on Lucas' jeans covered butt. Lucas got out, "What….Ow!"

Keith continued to spank Lucas and soon got into a rhythm.

Lucas started to struggle and yelled, "What are you doing?!!"

Keith said in a clam voice, "This…SMACK…is for the tattoo….SMACK, SMACK….., and for your attitude….SMACK, SMACK….about it."

Lucas quickly realized he couldn't get up, but he decided he wasn't going to make any more noise. He thought if he was stoic about the whole thing, that maybe he could keep his dignity.

After a couple dozen smacks, Keith could tell he wasn't getting through to Lucas. He thought his hand would give out before Lucas would, since Lucas still had his jeans on. Keith stopped spanking and said, "Stay where you are, or you will be even more sorry."

Lucas didn't understand what Keith meant, until he felt the arm that had been around his waist restraining him come up. His first instinct was to jump up, but he didn't want to make Keith angrier. He stayed until he heard Keith unbuckling his belt. Then Lucas did jump up and put his hands over his butt when he said, "NO WAY!"

Keith left his belt on, but kept it unbuckled. He was calm when he said, "Well, I was going to let you keep your jeans on, but since you didn't listen to me, I guess they're coming down."

Lucas shook his head no, and started to back up. Keith stood up and grabbed Lucas by the arm again. Lucas started to struggle. Keith gave Lucas a little shake and said, "Stop it right now. You're making it worse. Think about it Luke. Think about what you did last night. Think about how you betrayed my trust in you."

They stood there for a few seconds while Lucas thought about it. He did feel guilty that Keith felt betrayed, and he knew his mother would not have been happy about the choices he had made. He said quietly, "I'm sorry about last night. I really am, and I know what I did was stupid, so can't we just leave it at being grounded?"

"No. I'm glad you realized that what you did was unacceptable, but I'm still going to spank you. I want to make sure that we don't have a repeat performance, and I also want to make sure that you understand that I'm your stand in parent for the next five weeks."

Keith started to walk Lucas to the bed again, and Lucas didn't struggle, but he did say, "I do understand. Believe me I do."

Once they reached the side of the bed, Keith reached down to start to undo Lucas' jeans. Lucas put his hands on Keith's wrists to try and stop him. He yelled, "I'll tell mom what you did!"

Keith stopped what he was doing and looked up at Lucas. He said, "Did you really think that I wasn't going to tell her myself?"

Lucas couldn't look in Keith's eyes anymore. Keith said, "You can undo your pants, or I can, but either way they are coming down."

Lucas really wanted the morning to be over. He hated feeling so much guilt, and he hated it that his Uncle who he thought was his friend was so disappointed in him. He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, and then stood there with his head down waiting to see what Keith would do.

Keith pulled Lucas back down over his knees as he sat on the bed. Once he had Lucas in place, he pulled Lucas' jeans down to his knees. Then he pulled his belt off, and doubled it over in his hand. He put an arm around Lucas' waist, and brought the belt down on Lucas' boxers. Lucas was already feeling close to tears from the emotional confrontation, and when he felt the first blow, he couldn't be quiet. He started to struggle again, and between yelling Ow with each blow, he said, "Please stop Uncle Keith!"

Keith didn't respond he just kept spanking. When he got to ten stripes of the belt, he could hear Lucas crying. He put the belt down on the bed and said, "No more staying out late."

Lucas nodded and Keith gave him five swats with his hand. Lucas yelled, "I promise!"

Keith said, "No more drinking."

Lucas started to say "Yes sir!" But it came out "Yes...Owww!" because Keith had given him five more swats.

"No more attitude when I'm talking to you."

"I'm…Owww….Sorry!"

After five more swats, Keith said, "And absolutely no more tattoos, or any other damage to your body!"

Lucas didn't get the chance to respond before Keith gave him ten very hard swats. Lucas was crying hard by the time Keith was done. Keith took his arm off Lucas, so he could get up if he wanted, and rubbed Lucas' back while he cried. When Lucas didn't get up right away, Keith said, "Okay kiddo, we're done. Things are gonna be all right. You made some bad choices, and you've been punished for them. I forgive you, and we can move forward from here."

Lucas pushed himself up on shaky legs, and pulled up his jeans as quickly as possible even though it hurt. He wiped off his face with his hands, and tried to get himself under control. While Lucas stood there and looked at the floor, Keith put his belt back on. He looked at Lucas, and felt bad for him but at the same time, he knew he had done the right thing. He pulled Lucas into a tight hug. Lucas was a little surprised, but soon hugged Keith back. After a few minutes Keith pulled back, and said, "Finish getting ready, and come downstairs to try and eat some breakfast."

Keith left the room, and went to go make toast. Lucas just stood there feeling sore, and hurt, but at the same time kind of better than he had when he first remembered that he had gotten a tattoo. At least now he wasn't worried about what would happen, and Keith had said that it was over. He looked at the tattoo again in the mirror and said, "Stupid." to himself as he went back to the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.

He went downstairs, and saw that Keith had already eaten, and was sipping coffee. Lucas took a piece of toast off the table and started to eat it while standing up. Keith said, "Where's the tow truck?"

Lucas mumbled something around his toast.

Keith said, "I couldn't understand you."

Lucas who had been looking down looked up at Keith and tried to be brave when he said, "Parked outside of that bar on Main Street."

Keith didn't start yelling again as Lucas had expected. Keith nodded his head and said, "Okay I'll go pick it up this morning before I head in to work. You can walk to school."

Lucas kind of choked on his toast, and said, "I thought maybe I could stay home. I really don't feel very good."

Keith gave Lucas a stern look and said, "If you don't feel good, it is your own fault. You will go to school today."

Lucas looked down and nodded. He couldn't believe how much torture the day was going to be. Keith said, "And tonight for the game, you can get dressed here, and tell everyone you have to go home with me before you shower. I don't want you to be embarrassed in front of the other guys, but I do expect you to be responsible and play in the game."

Lucas nodded again and finished his toast. He said, "Okay. I'm gonna go to school now I guess."

Keith nodded and said, "I better not find out that you didn't go."

Lucas looked surprised and said; "I wouldn't lie to you."

"Good."

Lucas left for school, and Keith left to get his truck and go to work.


Lucas didn't have a good day in school. His butt really hurt, and he had to try not to squirm around in every class. His shoulder had started to hurt even more as the day progressed, and soon it was hurting and itchy at the same time. The only high point was having lunch with Haley.

When he got home he did some homework and waited for Keith to get home. Once Keith was there they had a quick dinner of sandwiches, and then Keith said, "Okay Luke, you better get ready for the game."

As Lucas was getting his basketball shirt on Keith came in with some tape and tossed it to Lucas. Keith said, "For your arm."

Lucas looked at his arm, and was surprised to see it was still oozing, and it looked more swollen then the night before. Keith saw it too and said, "Jeez Luke, where did you get that done? You know you can get hepatitis, or HIV from those."

Lucas looked very worried, and Keith regretted saying that. He said in a more clam voice, "We'll go to the doctor's on the way to the game and get it checked out, okay?"

Lucas nodded and kept thinking about infection.

They got to the emergency room, and were happy to see that there wasn't anyone else there. They got in to see a doctor very quickly. The doctor told them that it was a bit infected, and gave Lucas some antibiotics to take for the next few days. He also took some blood to do a couple of tests for infectious diseases.

At the game, Lucas was not up to his usual standards of playing, but he decided that considering the condition of his butt and his shoulder he was doing just fine. Nathan was in enough of a mood, that no one really noticed Lucas not playing very well anyway. Nathan was making lots of shots, and he had an amazing amount of energy. He was also sweating much more than normal, and he was shaky if he tried to stand still. He was short with everyone on the team, and could only concentrate on making the next shot.

Just as Nathan was about to beat his father's old score, he passed out on the middle of the basketball court.



Nathan woke up to see his father's face staring down at him. His dad said, "Hey."

"Hey."

"You collapsed on the court, but the doctor said your gonna be just fine. We were pushing you too far. You just need to cut back on things and relax a little more often, and then things should be okay."

Nathan didn't know what to say to that, so he just nodded. The doctor came in and said, "Oh, I'm glad to see you're awake. You were severely dehydrated, and your temperature was way too high. You seem to be doing better now that we have you on some fluids, and since we put some ice packs around you to bring the fever down. How do you feel?"

Nathan felt like crap. He said, "I need to take a piss."

The doctor said, "I need to ask you a couple of questions about what kind of supplements you are taking."

Nathan got kind of scared, and decided he should just keep his mouth shut as the doctor went through a list of drugs. He shook his head no, and tried not to look guilty. Soon the doctor was listing off illegal drugs, and still Nathan just shook his head no. Soon Nathan's father, Dan, got angry and pulled the doctor aside. He said, "Look doctor, if my son says he is clean, then he is. The things you're talking about could ruin his career, and I can't have that. If you insist on continuing with this line of questioning, I think I will be bringing in my lawyer, and you will have a very unpleasant law suit on your hands."

The doctor looked both startled, and unhappy. He walked away thinking about how some parents made their kids worse off by trying to protect them.

Dan went back to Nathan and said, "Don't worry about that son. It's taken care of."

Nathan smiled and was grateful to his father, but at the same time his nagging guilt was still there in the back of his mind. He knew full well that what he had done was wrong, but he didn't want anyone else to call him on that. He kept thinking about Haley, and how much he wanted to see her.

At Karen's diner, Haley came in to see Nathan's mom, Debbie. Haley said, "Hey Deb, I was on my way to the hospital when I realized I should come take over at the café for you so that you could go instead."

Debbie looked at her in confusion and said, "The hospital? Why?"

Haley looked even more confused then Debbie and said, "To be with Nathan."

"What happened to Nathan?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you would know. He collapsed during the game, and no one could wake him up. I don't know what's wrong."

Debbie knew that she and Dan had their problems, but she never thought that he would just not call her if something happened to their son. She said, "Thank you for coming Haley. Please close up for me."



Keith and Lucas had gone straight home after the game. They were both a little nervous about Nathan, and what might be happening to him. Once they got home, Keith gave Lucas a list of chores to do while he sat down to watch some TV and relax. Lucas said, "Can't I watch some TV with you?"

Keith didn't even look up when he said, "No. You're grounded, remember. Get to work on those chores."

Lucas thought that sucked, but stormed off to start working anyway. Soon Keith got a phone call from Dan. Keith was shocked, because Dan never called him. Dan asked him to go talk to Coach Whitey, and let him know that Nathan was going to be just fine, and that he would be ready for the game next week. Keith was glad to hear that Nathan was going to be okay, and agreed to go talk to Whitey for Dan.

Keith yelled up to Lucas, "I just got a call from Dan. Nathan's gonna be fine. I'm gonna go to the school and talk to Whitey for a little while."

"Okay."

"Keep working, and no TV."

Lucas thought that comment was annoying, and said, "I know."



At the hospital, Dan had taken care of calling everyone he thought he should call except Deb. He was still pissed off at her for working at Karen's diner, and decided he wasn't going to call her. He wandered off to go find some coffee. When he came back he found an empty bed where Nathan had been. He was about to go check the bathroom when he saw a very pissed off Deb in front of him. He said, "There you are. I tried to call you, but your cell phone must have been off."

Deb felt like yelling and punching Dan in the face, but she didn't. Instead she said, "My cell phone has been on the whole time, and you could have looked up the number to the café in the phone book. Where is my son?"

Dan said, "He was just here. He must be in the bathroom."

"What did the doctor say?"

"Just too much stress. Nathan will be fine by tomorrow. Don't worry about it. Don't you have to get back to the café?"

"I know we have our problems Dan, but I can't believe you didn't call me to let me know that our son was hurt so I could be here."

"Well you weren't interested in coming to the game, so why should you be interested in being around Nathan now?"

Debbie said, "Bastard." and walked off to go find the doctor.

Dan started looking for Nathan, and soon realized he was no where to be found.

Debbie soon found the doctor, and introduced herself. Then she said, "What happened? Why did Nathan collapse?"

The doctor looked at Debbie, and said, "Do you want the real version, or your husbands version?"

Soon Debbie got the whole story, and the doctor was able to convince her that Nathan had been taking some kind of drugs to enhance his performance, and because of the severe reaction Nathan had had, the doctor was sure that Nathan had been taking them for a few days.

Debbie got back to the bed Nathan was supposed to be in and found it still empty. Dan had left as well. She informed the doctor of this, and he said he was planning to release Nathan soon anyway, but that once she found him, she should bring him back to get the official release.

Debbie headed for home and hoped that is where Nathan had gone.

Debbie and Dan both got home about the same time, and found that Nathan was not home. Debbie said, "I want you out of this house."

Dan tried to calm her down and said; "Now Deb, let's talk and try to work this out."

"I swear to you, if you don't leave, I'll stab you in your sleep."

Dan got mad too and said in a condescending tone, "It's my house."

"Fine then I'll pack some stuff for me and Nathan, but no matter where I go, Nathan's coming with me. "

Dan shook his head and went to back an overnight bag. As he was leaving, he said, "Do you really think that Nathan would choose you over me?"

Debbie didn't say anything else. She had a sinking feeling that Dan was right. Nathan probably would choose Dan over her. She hadn't been around as much. She hadn't gone to most of Nathan's games. She hadn't been much of a parent, but she also didn't push Nathan, or make him feel bad about himself by putting him down the way Dan did. She wasn't sure what would happen, but she was going to try and convince Nathan to stay with her.

Nathan had gone to Haley's house. He couldn't think of anywhere else that he wanted to be. At least with Haley he could be himself. He didn't have to pretend to be the big star, and he didn't have to be cool. He also felt bad that since he had been taking the pills, he had brushed her off more than once, and he knew he had been coming on too strong with wanting sex. Haley answered the door and was shocked to see Nathan. She said, "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"I had to see you."

"Where are your parents?"

"Probably looking for me."

Haley gave Nathan a look that he had come to realize meant Haley thought he could do better somehow. He was quick to add, "I just had to tell you something."

Haley relented and said, "Okay. My parent's are gone. Come on up to my room, and we can talk."

Nathan was obviously still shaky, but made it to her room. He said, "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I saw you out there watching me right before I passed out, and I promised myself that if I could just get to you I would tell you that I want to be with you. Nothing else matters to me except being with you. Everything in my life is a mess. My parents suck, and so does school. Everything but you."

He leaned in to kiss her and she kissed him back. He said, "Let me spend the night."

Haley was caught up in her emotions. She had fallen in love with Nathan, and here he was telling her that basically he loved her too. She nodded and shut her door. They lay down on the bed together, and Nathan started to undo her shirt while he was kissing her. Haley put a hand over his and said, "Nathan, I'm….I'm a virgin, and I plan to stay that way for a while."

Nathan stopped cold. He had been with two other girls besides Peyton, but he had never been with a virgin. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that had been the missing piece to the puzzle. Haley wasn't a tease, she just really didn't know that he had assumed more was going to happen. Nathan said, "I didn't know. I'm sorry if I was going too fast. We can just sleep. I'm really tired."

Haley nodded and cuddled up next to him. Nathan fell asleep very soon. Haley was lying there smiling and watching Nathan sleep when her phone rang. When it rang, she was pretty sure it was going to be about Nathan. She knew people were bound to be looking for him. She answered the phone with, "Hello."

Debbie was on the other end. She said, "Hi Haley. I'm sorry to call so late, but Nathan has left the hospital, and no one seems to know where he is. I was wondering if you had seen him."

Haley felt kind of bad for not making Nathan call his parents as soon as he got to her house. She had intended to when she first asked him about it, but he had surprised her by talking about how much he wanted to be with her, and everything else had gone out of her head. She said, "I'm sorry I didn't call you. Nathan is here with me. He just fell asleep."

"Oh God. I'm so glad he's okay. I'll need to come get him. He was never released from the hospital, so I'm gonna have to take him back."

"Okay. I'll make sure he's ready. Do you need my address?"

After getting off the phone, Haley had a hard time waking Nathan up, but was finally able to. She said, "Hey, you have to get up."

Nathan looked confused and said, "Are your parents coming home?"

"No, but yours is."

Nathan started to panic and said, "Crap. I don't want to see him. I need to get out of here."

"Calm down and listen to me for a minute. It's just your mom coming over. I don't know where your dad is. Also your mom is going to be taking you back to the hospital. You can't just walk out without being released. It isn't nice to all those people who are working there, and besides that, if they didn't release you it probably means that you could still get worse instead of better."

"I don't want to go back there. I'll be fine."

Haley got mad and said, "Nathan, you know what is right and what is wrong. Do the right thing."

Nathan started to get upset, but was distracted when Haley kissed him. They made out on the bed for a little while until Haley pulled away. She said, "Let's go downstairs and wait for your mom."

Nathan wasn't sure why he just sat there passively until his mom got there, but he knew it was more because of Haley than anything else. He heard the doorbell, and Haley went to get it. His mom came in and went over to Nathan and hugged him. She said, "I was so worried about you. Come on, we need to go back to the hospital."

"Can't we just go home Mom? I'm sure there isn't anything else they can do at the hospital."

"No. We're going back to the hospital."

Nathan was pissed, but didn't say anything else. Haley stood at the door and watched them go.



Keith had gone to see Whitey at the school. Whitey was just getting himself a drink as Keith walked in, so he poured two. Whitey had been thinking about how messed up things were. He thought for sure he was the reason that Nathan had been pushing himself so much that he had passed out, and he was pretty sure there had been some kind of drugs involved, since they weren't able to wake him up right away. He had been thinking he was a horrible coach, and he was getting pretty deep into some self-pity when Keith walked in. Keith said, "I just came by to let you know that I talked to Dan. He said that Nathan is going to be just fine, and that he'll be ready to play next week."

Whitey looked off into the distance and said, "I never thought it would come to this."

"What do you mean?"

"After thirty five years of coaching, I've realized that I'm a big part of the problem. I pushed Nathan too far, and made him do something stupid. I've decided that I'm done. I'll forfeit the game before I loose another boy like that. I've got to be the sorriest son of a bitch on the planet right now."

Keith gave a somewhat embarrassed smile when he said, "I don't know about that Whitey. Karen has been gone for five days, and Lucas went out last night and got drunk, and came home with a tattoo."

Whitey laughed and said, "Well then, I take it back."

They both had a drink, and Keith said, "You should know that it isn't all your fault. I know you push the kids hard, but Nathan has a very different home life then most of the other boys. His dad pushes him much harder than you do."

"I know he does, but there isn't anything I can do about that. What I can do is shut down the game for a few weeks, and re-evaluate how I should be coaching."

Keith thought about that for a few minutes and sipped his drink. He said, "I don't think that would be fair to the rest of the kids Whitey. I think you should deal with Nathan on his own."

"I have tried to Keith. I can't get through to him. Every time I try to talk to him he doesn't listen. He thinks he's above everyone else, and very much above the rules that apply to all the other players. Like at practice the other day, I told him to stop playing like he was the only one who could have the ball, and he stormed off. And if I suspend him for a few games, I think that will just make things harder for him at home."

Keith said, "I wish I were closer to Nathan, but he doesn't trust me, and I know he won't listen to me. Dan won't listen to me either. You might have some luck talking to Debbie about it, but I don't know how much she'll be able to change the way Dan interacts with Nathan."

"I don't see any other alternative. I'm closing the game. Maybe even for the rest of the season."

Keith looked into his cup and said, "Whitey, if I tell you something, can I trust you to keep it here?"

"You should know the answer to that by now."

"Well, I have an idea, but you may think I'm insane."

Whitey laughed and said, "Son, I've heard ideas you wouldn't even believe."

Keith laughed too, and said, "Okay then. When I found out that Lucas had gotten a tattoo last night, I kind of snapped. It was like I saw things very clearly, and knew what needed to happen."

Keith paused, and Whitey said, "You yelled, read him the riot act, and grounded him, even though you aren't his parent."

"Yeah, I did, but I also spanked him."

Whitey kind of choked on his whiskey at this statement. Once he was done coughing he said, "Well, that is a surprise. How did that go over?"

"Pretty good really. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, so I didn't really have much time to think about what would happen after it was over. Maybe if I had thought about it and worried over it, I wouldn't have done it. I would have worried that Lucas would hate me, and that his mom would sue me. But it actually turned out better than I could have imagined. Lucas hasn't told me that he hates me now, and he even seems to respect me more. When I talked to Karen on the phone, she was upset, but she also agreed that it was the right thing to do. So I guess what I'm saying is, that I would do it again if I thought it would help Lucas, and I think it would help Nathan."

Whitey thought about it for a while, and Keith didn't interrupt the silence. Whitey said, "I guess it could work, but Dan would never go for it."

"I wasn't talking about Dan, I was talking about you."

"I can't do that. I'm his coach, not his father."

"He has a sorry excuse for a father. That's the whole problem. I bet, if you did it here at school, and made sure Nathan knew it was just for this one offence, things would go over pretty well."

"But if it didn't go over well, I'll get fired, and Dan will sue me."

"Actually I think it's legal here, and even if Dan is an ass about it, I doubt Debbie would be."

Whitey said, "I'll have to think on it for a while."

"You do that. I've got to get home and make sure Lucas isn't in front of the TV since he's grounded."

"Thanks Keith. Talk to you later."



Lucas had been cleaning the kitchen, and thinking about how much the weekend was going to suck when he heard a knock on the door. He answered it to find Brook there. He let her in, and they started to talk. Soon they started to kiss on the couch. As they were making out, Lucas heard another knock, and found Peyton at his door. She surprised him by saying that she really did want to be his girlfriend and that she had just been nervous the night before. Just as she was explaining things, Brook walked in. They all stood there in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Then Keith walked in. He glared at Lucas, and Lucas shrugged and gave Keith a look that seemed to say 'I can't help it that they came over'. Keith cleared his throat and said, "Sorry girls, but I'm gonna have to ask you to go home. Lucas is grounded for the next week. You can see him again next weekend."

Lucas got bright red, and thought Keith was an ass. Both the girls were kind of embarrassed too, and were at a loss for words. Finally Peyton said, "Um, okay then. I guess I'll see you on Monday in school Luke."

Brook said, "Yeah, me too. Bye."

Both girls left quickly, and Lucas and Keith stood in the kitchen glaring at each other. Once they heard the cars driving away Lucas whispered in an angry voice, "How could you do that?"

Keith said in a normal voice, "How could YOU do that."

"Couldn't you have asked them to go home because it was late. Now everyone will know that I'm grounded. That is so humiliating."

"Lucas, you shouldn't have had them here. Being grounded means that you don't get to have your friends over, and you certainly don't get to make out with your girlfriend!"

"What makes you think I was making out?"

"I think the lipstick gave it away."

Lucas wiped his face off and said, "I couldn't help it that they came over. What was I supposed to say!"

Keith shook his head and said, "You could have told them the truth. It may be embarrassing to you that you're grounded, but if you're going to have a relationship with one of these girls, you should be honest with them. Or if you just can't do that, then you better think up some excuses, because I won't be letting you get away with this kind of crap just because you don't want to be embarrassed."

"I hate you."

"That's fine with me. Why don't you go to bed."

"It's not even 10:00 yet!"

Keith took a few steps towards Lucas with a determined look, and Lucas backed away a few steps and said in a panic, "Okay! I'll go to bed. See you in the morning."

Keith stopped and nodded, and Lucas turned to go upstairs. On his way out of the room Keith swatted him, and Lucas yelped as he picked up the pace.



At the hospital, Nathan was getting released. It had been a silent trip with his mother, and when they got there, the doctor had been pleased to see them. He talked with Nathan about how dangers of leaving a hospital before being released, and Nathan tried to ignore him as much as possible. After a few hours of tests he was ready to go home and sleep for a few days.

Once they got home Debbie said, "You must be exhausted, I know I am. Let's get some sleep, and we can talk tomorrow."

Nathan nodded and went to bed.

The next morning Debbie woke up before Nathan. Debbie sat at the kitchen table and thought about what had happened last night. Nathan was way out of control. She thought about all the things he had done and gotten away with. He had wrecked Peyton's car, and walked away. He had taken a school bus for a joy ride, and his father had paid off the cops so that Nathan got off for that too. Now he had taken drugs. The more she thought about it, the more she thought that this was the last straw for her.

Debbie didn't realize it until Nathan came down the stairs in his pajamas, but she had been sitting there thinking about things for a couple of hours. Nathan sat down at the table and said, "I'm hungry. What's for breakfast."

Debbie looked at him like he had lost his mind. She said, "How can you think things are normal this morning?"

Nathan glared at her and said, "Dad already took care of the doctor. I'm fine and… where's Dad?"

At first Debbie couldn't believe Nathan already thought the whole issue of him taking drugs was over, but when she really thought about it, she knew that was the way things had been handled his whole life. Why should he think this was any different? She said, "Dad isn't here right now. It's just you and me, and we're gonna talk about what you've been doing for the past few days."

Nathan rolled his eyes and said, "Jeez Mom, please lets just drop it. I'm not going to do it again. It made me miss part of the game, which made me miss out on beating Dad's score. I'm not dumb enough to make that mistake twice."

Debbie said, "Well, I'm glad to hear that you don't plan to do it again, but I think we need to still talk. Things are going to change around here. You've been getting worse and worse, and I'm going to make sure that stops."

Nathan got up said, "How rediculous, worse my ass. I'm too tired and hungry for this."

He started to make himself a bagel, and hoped his mother would give up and go away.

Debbie did get up. She went to her bedroom, sat on the bed, and almost cried. She kept thinking, 'this can't be my son'. She was able to pull herself together with some difficulty, and decided she needed to take control with Nathan, and she needed to do it now before it was too late. She was very nervous about it, but she grabbed her hairbrush off her dresser and went to find her son. As she was walking out she started having some doubts. Nathan was taller and physically stronger than she was. She wasn't sure how it would work if he didn't agree to it, and she suspected he wouldn't.

She found him bent over the kitchen counter looking at the paper while finishing his bagel. As she noticed that her son's butt was sticking out, and that the kitchen counter was just about the perfect height for him to bend over she thought, 'That's a sign of good luck.' She casually came up behind him and said, "Could you hand me the living section of the paper please?"

As she had hoped, he didn't even look back, he just looked through the paper, and found the right part, and then reached behind him to hand it to her while he stayed bent over. Instead of taking the paper, Debbie grabbed Nathan's wrist and quickly twisted it behind his back. He was a little startled, and his body jerked in reaction to the sudden movement. After the initial shock was over, he laughed a little nervously and said, "Okay, Mom. I'll talk now that I've eaten. You don't even have to hold me down."

Debbie kept a strong grip on Nathan's wrist, and kept it in the middle of his back so she was pretty sure he couldn't get away. She said, "You know that I love you, right Nathan."

"Yeah, Mom. I know."

"Try to keep that in mind."

SMACK…SMACK…SMACK.

Nathan jumped at each smack, and tried to move away but found himself pinned. He yelled, "What the hell Mom?!"

SMACK….SMACK….SMACK….SMACK….SMACK…SMACK.

"Mommm!!"

Debbie continued spanking Nathan with the brush as she said, "I should have done this…SMACK…SMACK… a long time ago. SMACK…SMACK…As I was saying earlier…SMACK…SMACK, you are way out of control…SMACK…SMACK, and it is going to stop…SMACK…SMACK…SMACK."

Nathan was getting angry that he couldn't seem to get up, and his butt was really starting to hurt. He was struggling, but his mom had a tight grip on his wrist, and he had socks on which didn't give him much traction on the kitchen floor. When he tried to push himself up with his free hand, Debbie would wrench his wrist further up his back. He said, "Where the hell is Dad?! Ow! He won't let you do this! Ow damn it! You're hurting my arm!"

"Dad isn't here,…SMACK…and if you stop trying to get away,….SMACK…I'll stop pulling on your arm….SMACK…SMACK."

Nathan rested his upper body on the counter and tried to stop struggling. He thought his mom would let go, and then he could get away. She didn't loosen her grip, but she did let his arm slide back down his back about an inch. Nathan was getting close to tears, because he was so frustrated that his mom was spanking him, and that he couldn't seem to get away. It was also more painful than anything he could remember feeling. He soon yelled, "Please stop Mom….Aaahhh…..I'll talk to you I swear….Shit!"

Debbie continued to spank him and said, "I'm glad to hear you're willing to talk."

Soon, Nathan could tell that if the spanking kept on much longer, he was going to cry, so he started to struggle again. It didn't do him any good, and all he could do was growl in frustration. Then he felt the first tear roll down his face.

Debbie soon heard her son take a ragged breath, and then she could see and feel his shoulders shaking. She kept spanking him, and said, "No….SMACK….more …..SMACK….Drugs….SMACK."

Nathan couldn't get any words out because he was crying, but still trying to hold it in. Debbie knew this might be the only time she would ever be able to spank him, because once it was over, she was sure that Nathan would demand to live with his dad. She gave him ten more hard swats a little lower on his upper thighs. Nathan couldn't hold it in for these, and he hollered very loudly with each swat.

Debbie stopped and put the brush down on the counter, but she didn't let go of his wrist. She ran her fingers through his hair, and patted his back with her free hand while he cried. Soon she said, "Okay. Let's talk."

"Can I….Sniff….Get up?"

"Not just yet. I want to make sure we're clear on some rules first. You have been getting more and more out of control this year, and it is going to stop. I think you know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, but you somehow think the rules that the rest of society lives by don't apply to you. You took drugs, and justified it to yourself by saying it was to improve your game, but it was still the wrong thing to do."

"I know mom. I told you I'm not going to do it again. I swear I won't."

"Yes, I believe you, but the only reason you aren't doing it again is because it didn't help you the way you thought it would. If it had helped you, you would keep doing it even though you knew it was wrong."

"I don't know what you want me to say."

Debbie sighed and said, "I don't need you to say anything Nathan, I just want you to know that if I find out you have taken any kind of drugs, you can expect me to spank you again."

Nathan thought to himself that he would never let her do this again, but said, "Okay."

"Next up is taking responsibility for things, like a few weeks ago when you crashed Peyton's car and walked away. I should have spanked you for that too, but I just hadn't realized things had gotten so bad. What were you thinking when you walked away from that?"

"I don't know Mom. I guess not much."

"Well you need to start thinking about what the right decision would be, and that usually doesn't mean what would be the easiest thing for you to do."

Nathan was getting a little mad and said, "You know I couldn't have just turned myself in. What would that have done to my basketball career? I have to always keep that in mind you know."

Debbie picked up the brush and gave Nathan six more swats to his sit spot. Nathan hadn't been expecting it and yelled through it. When she was done, she put the brush back on the counter, and said, "Doing the right thing doesn't have anything to do with basketball. It has to do with respecting other people."

Nathan couldn't believe this whole thing was happening, but he decided to agree with everything his mom said until she let him go. He said in a shaky voice, "Okay mom."

"The last thing I want to talk about is your attitude. You will be more respectful of me, or you will find yourself grounded or worse."

Nathan nodded and said, "I'll do better, I promise."

Debbie nodded and said; "Okay then I think we are done."

Debbie let go of Nathan's wrist, and Nathan slowly stood up, and rubbed his shoulder. He wiped his face, and tried not to start crying again. Debbie didn't know if he would push away or not, but she pulled him into a hug as soon as he stood up. Nathan just stood there for a second, but then hugged her back. She put one hand on the back of Nathan's head, and she rubbed the other hand up and down his back. She said, "I do love you Nathan. I just can't let things go on the way they have been."

Nathan didn't know what to say. He did love his mom, and he knew he shouldn't have taken the drugs, but he was also still angry that she'd spanked him. After a few minutes Debbie let him go and said, "Why don't you go take a shower, and then we can talk when you're done."

Nathan nodded and headed to the bathroom. He couldn't believe how much just walking hurt. When he got to the bathroom he started the shower, and looked at his butt in the mirror. It was bright red with a couple of darker raised spots that he thought would be bruises soon. He got in the shower, and rinsed off, and tried to think about things. He stayed in the bathroom as long as he thought he could without being obvious about it. He was torn between telling his mom that he hated her and she better never touch him again, and that he was sorry and could she please forgive him.

Debbie had put her brush away, and picked up the paper from the floor. She was nervously pacing and thinking about what to say, when Nathan came back. When they made eye contact, they both said, "I'm sorry." at the same time. They both looked surprised, and then Debbie started laughing a little bit. This made Nathan laugh, and soon they were both laughing hysterically even though neither one of them knew what was quite so funny to start with. Once the laughter had died down, Debbie said, "I'm sorry that I haven't been a very good parent to you over the past couple of years Nathan."

Nathan looked surprised again and said, "You're a good mom."

"No. I haven't been. I was working so much, that I didn't really know what was going on at home between you and Dan."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the way he treats you isn't right. He's more like an older brother to you than a father. He covers for you when you really screw up, but only because he sees the benefit to himself, and when you aren't his version of perfect, he taunts you. It isn't normal Nathan."

Nathan shrugged and said; "Well at least he knows how important basketball is to me. He has been at all my games, and he helps me train."

"I know he does those things for you, and I'm glad, but that isn't all there is to being a parent. I think you should know that I asked your Dad to move out."

Nathan got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He said, "What?"

"I told Dan that I wanted a divorce, and I asked him to move out."

Nathan looked bewildered and said, "Why?"

"Dan and I haven't been happy for a while now, and last night when you were hurt and in the hospital, he didn't even call me. He was so angry with me for running Karen's café, that he decided to punish me by not telling me about you."

"So, are we staying here while Dad lives somewhere else?"

"Yes. Dan will want you to live with him, but I don't think that would be best for you, and I'm going to fight for you if I have to."

"Do I get any say in this?"

"If it goes to court you probably will, but for now, you and I will be staying here."

Nathan wasn't sure that he liked that, but until he was able to talk to his dad he would leave it there.

Debbie said, "Listen Nathan, aside from that, I want you to know that I meant what I said about your behavior. It had better improve, or I will spank you again."

Nathan scoffed and said, "You were lucky that you were able to get me in a position that I couldn't get out of today. It won't happen again."

Debbie glared and said, "So you think it's right to physically fight me and overpower me just because you're bigger?"

"NO! But it hurt, and it was mean"

"I guess if you are going to fight me, I could always call your Uncle Keith and have him come help me."

Nathan paled. He was not at all comfortable with Keith, and he certainly didn't want anyone else to know what had happened. He said, "You wouldn't."

"I would. Nathan, I can't let you spin out of control, and end up like your dad. You need someone to step in now while you're still young and show you how to be an adult."

Nathan was still trying to get thoughts of Keith out of his head. He said, "Look Mom, I agree that I have made some bad choices, and I will do better, but I'm not going to let you hit me again."

Debbie sighed and said, "If you really screw up, I'm going to spank you again whether you let me or not, and I think we are done talking about that. Let's just say you have fair warning."

"We'll see about that."

"Yes, we will."

The rest of the weekend went by without any major confrontations between Nathan and Debbie. They even found time to enjoy each other's company while watching some TV on Sunday. Nathan wasn't nearly as sore on Monday as he had been on the weekend, but it was still uncomfortable to sit down for any length of time, so classes were not much fun. Then after practice, Whitey asked to see him. He went into the office, and Whitey said, "We're gonna wait until everyone is gone, so make yourself comfortable."

It didn't take long for the locker room to clear out, and Whitey said, "I want you to know that you scared the hell out of me on Friday, and you also should know that you opened my eyes too."

Nathan didn't want a lecture from Whitey and said, "I really don't care."

"You might change your mind about that. I'm not gonna let you keep screwing up. I'm gonna give you a choice. I'll either shut down basketball for the season, or you'll let me punish you for taking drugs and almost getting yourself killed."

Nathan laughed and said, "They won't let you shut down the games."

"You might be surprised at the kind of pull I have here after all my years."

Nathan thought about it and said, "If you shut the game down, I'll go to another school to finish out the year."

"I already talked to your mom about shutting down the game, and I don't think she'll be letting you go to another school."

Nathan couldn't imagine anything worse than no more basketball so he said, "What punishment?"

"I'll spank you."

Nathan got beet red and said, "I'm sure that's completely illegal."

"No it isn't. It's quite legal as a matter of fact. I'm a teacher, and you're my student. Here in this state, that makes it okay to spank you when you screw up."

Nathan said, "But you can't!"

Whitey said, "I gave you a choice, and it's time for you to make a decision. You can take the spanking, or you can have no more basketball for the rest of the year."

Nathan knew he couldn't go without basketball, so he only had one choice, but at the same time it didn't seem fair to get spanked twice for the same thing. He wondered exactly what Whitey meant. He said, "I'm not sure. Tell me exactly what you plan to do."

"I would have you bend over the desk, and give you fifteen swats with a paddle."

Nathan thought about it. His mom had given him much more than fifteen swats, but at the same time she probably wasn't hitting as hard as Whitey would, and he was still sore. After thinking for a while he said, "How about five?"

Whitey smiled and said, "No deal son. It's fifteen or no basketball."

Nathan rolled his eyes and said, "But it's not fair."

Whitey looked at Nathan with pity and said, "I'm sure you think that, but believe me it's really lenient."

Nathan almost blurted out that his mom had already spanked him, but he didn't want anyone else to know, so he just nodded and said, "Fine."

Whitey said, "Good. Let's get this over with. Stand up and bend over the desk."

Nathan looked a little like he was frozen as he watched Whitey pull a ping pong paddle out of his desk drawer. Whitey said, "Come on son, let's get it done."

Nathan found it very hard to stand, but soon did. He put his hands on the desk held him self in position. Whitey said, "I don't want to ever hear about you taking any kind of drugs again. Do you understand me?"

Nathan said, "Yes."

Whitey let the paddle swing and fall for the first swat. Nathan yelled, and jumped up out of position. As Nathan was muttering profanities, Whitey was just standing there a little confused. He hadn't expected Nathan to be still through the whole thing, but he thought Nathan would be able to take at least five without pulling away. Nathan knew he couldn't take fifteen and said, "I changed my mind. No more basketball."

Whitey said, "Too late."

Whitey grabbed Nathan's arm and pulled him back to the desk. Nathan said, "No more please. I… My mom… She already…."

Whitey stopped and said, "She what?"

Nathan looked down and his face got even redder than it had been when he said, "She already spanked me."

Whitey looked very surprised and said, "She did?"

Nathan nodded. Whitey stood thinking and said, "Okay then, we'll go with eight instead of fifteen."

Nathan shook his head no and said, "I can't. It hurts too much."

Whitey said, "Part of being responsible means sticking to the decisions you make, even if it's hard. If you can't stay over the desk I'll help you."

After saying this, Whitey pulled Nathan back to the desk and he sat on the edge of the desk with one leg resting on the desk, and the other leg on the floor. He pulled Nathan down over his leg, and wrapped an arm around his waist. Nathan yelled, "You can't! I'll make sure you get fired!!"

Whitey brought the paddle down again. Nathan stopped talking and started to make incoherent loud noises as the paddle continued to come down on his already sore butt. After the eight swats, Nathan was crying. He couldn't believe that he had been spanked twice in the past three days when he had never been spanked even once before that.

Coach Whitey helped him stand, and he couldn't help but rub his butt a couple of times before he put his hands down. Whitey said, "Okay son, we are done. I hope you know that if I didn't care about what happens to you, that I wouldn't have taken the time to do that."

Nathan nodded.

"You still plan to get me fired?"

Nathan shook his head no.

Whitey said, "Okay. Why don't you go grab a shower, and go on home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Nathan showered, got dressed, and headed for home.


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