Julie's pov

Riding the bus home from school, I reached out to my sisters for advice on my dilemma. Do I come clean and tell Mike and Shane I skipped English class and study hall and earned myself two office detentions or do I lie through my teeth in an attempt to spare myself an assuredly unpleasant punishment? To tell or not to tell? That is the question.

"It's kind of a lot to try and get away with to be honest, Julie," Lisa says, mulling it over. "I mean, you have to hide skipping class and two days of coming home late due to office detentions."

"Nah, it's not that hard. You can do it, cuz. I have faith in your deceptive capabilities," Stacey weighs in, favoring not telling Mike and Shane.

"I think you already know what I would advise you to do," Carrie says, ever so innocently.

Meanwhile at the Foundation

Mike's pov

"Horton and Donovan, MY OFFICE NOW!"

Shane and I hear Neil yelling for us outside his office even though we're at the other end of a long hallway.

"What did you do to piss him off, Shane?" I ask, as I stand outside his open door waiting for him to leave his office and meet me in the hallway.

"Me? I didn't do anything. It must be you he's pissed at," Shane defends.

"No, I know I haven't done anything to anger him. Well, nothing more than the usual," I state.

"QUIT YOUR COFFEE CLUTCHIN,' LADIES AND GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE NOW!" Neil shouts, glaring directly at us.

Shane and I roll our eyes and take a couple of deep breaths as we head to Neil's office to face the music. Neil slams his office door shut as soon as Shane and I enter.

"Sit down, gentlemen," Neil orders, pointing to two chairs in front of his desk.

We reluctantly sit and ready ourselves for Neil's oncoming tirade.

"WHY DID I JUST RECEIVE A CALL FROM ONE OF YOUR WAYWARD DAUGHTER'S TEACHERS ABOUT HER SKIPPING ENGLISH CLASS?" Neil's face is reddening as he unleashes on us. "ISN'T THIS SOMETHING THE TWO OF YOU CAN HANDLE?" The vein in his forehead is really bulging now. "DON'T YOU THINK I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN DEAL WITH THESE TRIVIAL MATTERS?"

Shane and I have learned by now it's best not to interrupt Neil until he's done venting.

"I MEAN, GOOD LORD, THE GIRL HAS NOT ONE BUT TWO GUARDIANS WHO SHOULD BE WELL EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH THIS SITUATION. DO I NEED TO HAVE A MORE EXPERIENCED GUARDIAN PUT THE TWO OF YOU THROUGH TRAINING AGAIN, FOR CHRISSAKE?"

It appears Neil is actually expecting a response from us this time.

"No sir, that won't be necessary," I say, hoping to appease Neil and shorten the duration of this beatdown. No such luck.

"WHY DO I EVEN HAVE THE TWO OF YOU AROUND IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS THIS? DO I HAVE TO HOLD YOUR HAND WHEN YOU CROSS THE STREET, DONOVAN?" Neil pauses, hands on his hips, waiting for Shane's response.

"No sir," Shane answers immediately, upon realizing the question wasn't rhetorical.

"DO I HAVE TO WIPE FOR YOU, HORTON, AFTER YOU USE THE JOHN?"

"I certainly hope not, sir," I reply humbly.

"WELL, THEN WHAT ARE THE TWO OF YOU WAITING FOR? HAVEN'T YOU WASTED ENOUGH OF MY GODDAMN TIME? GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE AND GET BACK TO WORK AND DEAL WITH YOUR DAUGHTER ON YOUR OWN TIME, WHEN YOU GET HOME."

"Excuse me, sir, but which daughter was it?" Shane makes the mistake of asking.

"OH MY GOD! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?" Neil is incredulous Shane had the audacity to ask such a stupid question. He throws his hands up in despair. "GET OUT!" he yells, throwing his pen and pounding his fist on his desk.

"Yes sir," we both echo, as we hustle out of Neil's office.

"What the Bloody Hell? One of the girls skips class and we get our asses handed to us," Shane laments.

"Why in the world did the school call Neil instead of us?" I ask, as I pull out my phone. "Oh shit, my battery is dead."

Shane quickly pulls his phone out of his suit pocket.

"Oops, I accidentally left my do not disturb on. It went straight to voicemail," he says, while holding the phone to his ear to listen to the missed message from the school.

"So which wayward daughter do you think is responsible?" I ask Shane, as we head back to our offices.

"Hmmm, fifty fifty Julie Stacey," Shane says.

"I think seventy thirty Julie Stacey but we'll see when we get back to the Center," I reply.

At the Center

Julie's pov

I still haven't decided if I'm going to confess my truancy to Mike and Shane. I guess I'll just play it by ear. When they got home from work they didn't seem to be in the best of moods so I decided to hold off on doing anything that might further dampen their spirits. We all went to dinner together around 6pm and it was largely uneventful.

We were almost finished eating when out of nowhere, Shane asks, "So, which one of you skipped English class yesterday?"

Completely taken by surprise, I started choking on the drink of water I had just accidentally inhaled into my windpipe, instead of swallowing.

"I think we have our answer, Shane," Mike stated calmly, folding his hands in front of him and placing them on the table, without taking his eyes off me.

"Girls, you may be excused," Shane said sternly, while glaring right at me. I started to get up from the table with my sisters when Shane said, "Not you, Julie. SIT!"

My sisters and cousin were gone in a flash, leaving me alone to face our two very angry guardians.

Shane leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, Julie, what do you have to say for yourself? You've barely been in school for two weeks and you're already in trouble for skipping class."

I struggled to come up with a satisfactory answer as I was completely caught off guard. I never envisioned this scenario. I naively assumed the decision whether to come clean or not would solely be at my discretion. So I did what any mature intelligent responsible person would do in this situation, I ran.

I ran into the women's washroom and locked myself in a stall. I have no idea what my master plan is here. I just need a few minutes to get my bearings. I'm not accustomed to having so little control over a situation and I'm finding it very unnerving. I take a few slow deep breaths to calm my anxiety. I might as well just go out there and get this over with before I make things worse for myself. One more deep breath and I slowly exit the bathroom, only to have Mike and Shane scare the crap out of me as they're literally standing right outside the door.

"Jeez, you scared me," I say, as my heart rate jumps about forty beats more per minute. I see Mike and Shane exchange an amused look. At least someone's enjoying my misery.

"What's your endgame here, darlin'?" Mike asks, as he not so gently grips the back of my neck and leads me out of the cafeteria.

Damn, he knows me too well.

"I don't have one," I mumble, as we walk to Mike's room.

Mike chuckles at my embarrassment as I feel my cheeks blush.

Shane's phone rings and he says, "Sorry, I have to take this," when he sees the number of the caller.

"That's okay, Admiral, I've got this," Mike says, as Shane leaves us to take his call in private.

As we enter Mike's room, he grabs his desk chair, places it in the middle of the room, and then closes the door.

"I'm not going to yell, Julie. I am, however, going to demand an explanation for your truancy before I punish you." Mike sits down in his desk chair and crosses his arms before sternly ordering, "Well, let's hear it," as he darkens his expression and narrows his eyes at me.

"Uhhh, hear what?" I ask, trying to stall for time to think of a way out of this that leaves my derriere intact .

Mike sighs and shakes his head.

"You know very well what I want an explanation for, Julie, so stop stalling."

"No, I really don't," I say, clearly still trying to stall.

"Stop being evasive, Julie, before I lose my patience and we finish this conversation in a much more unpleasant way." Mike rises and grabs his belt buckle, alluding to what the unpleasant end of this conversation would entail.

I swallow hard and reluctantly resign myself to accept there is no way I'm getting out of this unscathed, although I will not go down without a fight.

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this, Mike. You and Shane are so ridiculous, you blow everything out of proportion. So I skipped a stupid class to go out to breakfast with a friend, it's not the end of the world. JUST GET THE FUCK OVER IT ALREADY!" I don't know where all this false bravado is coming from but judging by Mike's reaction, I'm definitely going to regret displaying it.

Mike slowly approaches me with possibly the most stern look I have ever seen on his face. I back up slowly until I'm pressed firmly against the wall. Mike leans in, his left hand on the wall directly next to my right ear, placing his face within inches of mine. I gulp, incredibly intimidated by his dark demeanor.

"Whom the hell do you think you're speaking to right now?" he hisses angrily, in my ear.

I can feel my heart ready to beat right out of my chest. Clearly, trying to downplay the gravity of the situation was a huge mistake on my part.

"In case you are unclear, let me spell it out for you. You're in no position to backtalk or disrespect me."

I don't think I've ever witnessed Mike this calm and this furious at the same time. Well, maybe once or twice, now that I think about it.

"I'm far from amused by your lack of remorse, Julie Elizabeth, and the attitude you're taking with me right now, not to mention your colorful choice of language."

Ouch, middle name. That's so not a good sign.

"Perhaps a trip over my knee will change your tune." Mike grabbed my right arm and forcefully yanked me over his lap as he sat in his desk chair. "Let's find out. Shall we?"

He swiftly unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans, pulling them down along with my underwear to bare my bottom. He then wasted no time delivering one of the harshest hand spankings I've ever received. He had me squirming uncomfortably in less than a minute's time.

"MIKE, STOP!" This is so embarrassing, getting spanked over his knee bare assed. "I'M TOO OLD FOR YOU TO KEEP TREATING ME LIKE A LITTLE KID. I'M FOURTEEN, NOT FOUR, FOR CHRISSAKE!" I continue to struggle over his lap, attempting to get myself out of this humiliating position. I don't know how he continued to spank me with such force without the sting in his left hand becoming unbearable because the sting on my buttocks was certainly reaching that point.

"You clearly are not too old to be reprimanded over my knee at the mercy of my hand as you continue to throw a tantrum like a petulant child refusing to accept responsibility for her behavior."

My eyes quickly welled with tears as he continued the intense spanking. As my bottom became redder and redder with each well positioned smack, the tears started to stream down my face. Clearly my petulance struck a nerve with Mike as skipping a couple classes, one of which was study hall, didn't seem worthy of such a severe punishment.

"Mea culpa is a phrase you'd do well to embrace, Julie."

I tried unsuccessfully to shift into a less painful position on his lap but he quickly immobilized me by pinning my legs beneath his. I tightly gripped his pant leg with my right hand while planting my left on the floor to steady myself as he harshly slapped my upper thighs. He continued spanking me repeatedly without letting up on the intensity behind each painful slap to my ass.

"I'm sorry, Mike. Please stop. I'm really sorry." I sobbed freely now as the pain on my backside intensified.

Mike paused the spanking and gently rubbed my bottom as he spoke.

"Well, it seems my hypothesis has been confirmed. A trip over my knees certainly has changed your attitude tremendously now. Hasn't it, Julie?"

"Yes sir," I responded respectfully, as Mike patted my sore bottom. I held my breath in fear my punishment wasn't quite finished.

Mike smacked my ass hard and I whimpered.

"Do not ever speak to me that way again. Understand?" He delivered five more loud smacks, hitting precisely the same spot each time, on my already thoroughly punished bottom before I could even respond.

"Yes sir, I understand. Please stop. I'm really sorry for what I said." I'm having trouble catching my breath, due to the intensity of the pain I'm currently experiencing in my backside.

"For the first time tonight, I actually believe you, Julie." After one more wicked spank to my left buttcheek, which caused me to yelp and buck up off his lap, he stood me up in front of him between his knees.

I immediately reached back to rub some of the sting away but Mike quickly swatted my hand. After pulling up my underwear and jeans, he took hold of my chin and forced me to make eye contact.

"You have no idea how much it upsets me when you treat me with such disrespect," Mike says, with a sadness and hurt in his voice that cuts through me like a knife. He gently wipes the tears from my cheeks. "I love and treat you girls with respect and I expect the same in return. I don't think that's too much to ask. Is it Julie?"

I don't know how it's possible but Mike's words hurt so much more than the severe spanking he just delivered. Somehow, I'm always surprised when my misbehavior hurts him or Shane personally.

"I'm sorry, Mike, please don't be mad at me." My heart genuinely aches right now seeing the disappointment on Mike's face.

"I've already forgiven you, darlin'." Mike pulls me into a warm embrace as he whispers in my ear, "You're grounded for two weeks though for skipping class."

"Groun..." I start to complain, before Mike shushes me while firmly holding my head against his chest before I can protest my added punishment any further.