Lisa's pov

The four of us enter our room and collapse on our respective beds. I'm not the only one letting out a sigh of relief now that we're out of that tense situation. Thankfully, I won't be sleeping on my stomach tonight. Mike was surprisingly chill about the whole vaping situation. It kinda sucks to be grounded though.

"Hey, I'll give anybody willing to write my lines five bucks," I offer hopefully.

"Five bucks?" Julie questions incredulously, balking at what I considered to be a fair offer. "You've obviously been inhaling some damaging shit, Lisa, cuz you're talkin' crazy. Five bucks?" Julie shakes her head and scoffs, "For one hundred lines, you should be offering twenty."

"I'm not a fuckin' Kardashian for chrissake, Julie. How do you think I could afford twenty bucks a day for three weeks?" I retort.

"Just write your stupid lines yourself, Lisa," Stacey chimes in. "We're grounded from all but breathing anyway, so what else do you have to do? Read War and Peace? Plus, I'm pretty sure Mike would notice if two of us had identical handwriting. He might be old but he's not senile yet."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I reply sighing, reaching for my pen and notebook. We each start the writing assignment Mike gave us, more out of boredom than anything else. Well, boredom and the fact that we don't want to test Mike's limits right now. All of us kinda feel like we got off pretty easy.

Mike came by a couple hours later to check on us and remind us of our early bedtime.

"Lisa and Stacey, we have appointments with Dr. Evans Wednesday after school and Saturday afternoon. Okay?" Mike phrases it like a question but we both know he's not asking our permission.

Stacey says, "Fine, whatever," without bothering to look up from the magazine she's reading.

"Alright," I say, while continuing to finish my writing since I've taken several breaks in the last two hours, including a fifty minute nap.

"Those lines better be done before lights out, Lisa." Mike gives me a stern warning.

"I'm literally doing them right now in front of your face. Why are you being such a jerk about it?"

Mike can be such a nag sometimes. I'm doing what he wants but he's still gotta be a pain in the ass.

Mike ripped the paper out from under me and tore it into little pieces, right before my eyes.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I yelled. "I WAS ALMOST FINISHED!" I glared at Mike.

He slowly bends down to meet my eyes.

"Thanks to your smart mouth and snotty attitude, you'll be starting over after you clean up this mess." He points to the bits of torn up paper he left on the floor. Mike stood up to leave and from our doorway turned and said, "Oh, and if you're not done by 9pm, Lisa, I'll not only extend your grounding to six weeks, I'll also personally deliver you to Dr. Curtis for a paddling."

I crossed my arms, harrumphed, and slouched in my chair while still glaring at Mike.

"If you think I'm kidding, Lisa, go ahead and try me." Mike left, slamming our door.

"Nice job, dumbass, now you've pissed him off," Stacey admonished me.

"Whatever. He pissed me off too." I was still angry Mike ripped up my paper and expected me to start over.

"You know he's not joking, right?" Julie sat up and looked at me. "If you don't rewrite those lines, he'll most likely ground you longer, belt your ass, and have Dr. Curtis paddle you and that'll all be before noon."

"Please don't test him, Lisa," Carrie pleaded. "I don't want to see you get in more trouble."

"WHY ARE YOU ALL TAKING HIS SIDE?" I yelled. "I can't believe you guys." I was hurt and incredulous. I felt like my sisters weren't supporting me.

"Come on, Lisa, we're all in the doghouse already. Don't make things worse by antagonizing Mike." Julie sounded not only irritated, but annoyed as well.

I didn't really feel like arguing with my sisters and there was no chance in hell I wanted another paddling from Dr. Curtis so I decided to just let it go and rewrite my lines before lights out. I finished just in time and even apologized to Mike for being rude, in an effort to keep the peace.

Dr. Evans's office second appointment

Stacey's pov

During our first appointment, Mike brought Lisa and I here to talk to Dr. Evans, hoping she could help us kick our vaping habit. We listened to her go over all the health risks as she described in detail from a medical point of view the effects vaping can have on our bodies.

At our second appointment, we talked about why we tried it the first time and what made us do it several more times. In my case, it was definitely peer pressure. For Lisa, it was a mix of stress relief and the desire to fit in with her friends. A lot of the popular kids vaped so I started doing it just to go with the flow. It was easier than constantly trying to explain and defend my reasons for not wanting to vape. Lisa put a lot of pressure on herself to get good grades and do well in school. One of her friends suggested vaping might ease her anxiety but Lisa didn't find it had the calming effects she had hoped for. Unfortunately, her stupid friend convinced her that it would get better after she got used to it and that led to her dependence on nicotine.

Since I never wanted to start vaping in the first place, I didn't think I'd have a problem quitting. I'm pretty sure I haven't been doing it enough to become addicted to nicotine. Lisa, on the other hand, is most certainly addicted. I sat with Mike in the waiting room while Dr. Evans discussed with her ways to cope with the withdrawal and techniques to deny her cravings. She's going to be a real joy to be around.

Back at the NJC

Stacey's pov

When we got back to the Center, we were excited to see Shane had returned from his business trip to London, two days earlier than expected. I ran up and gave Shane a hug.

"I missed you, gov'nor."

"I missed you too, luv." Shane kissed the top of my head and rubbed my back. "Did you and your sisters behave while I was gone?"

"I missed you, gov'nor," I repeated, to avoid answering his question.

Shane pulled back, holding me at arm's length.

"So I guess Mike will have to fill me in before we have a chat?"

I hung my head low to avoid seeing the look of disappointment in his eyes but unfortunately, I could still hear it in his voice.

Shane gently tilted my chin up and smiled.

"Honestly, I didn't expect it'd be any other way, sweetheart." He gave me another hug before swatting me on the bottom. "Why don't you head back to your room so I can talk to Mike."

"Okay, Shane, love you," I said, before scooting off to my room.

"Love you more," I heard him say, before walking away.

Mike's room

Shane's pov

"Do I even want to know, Mike?" I asked, only half joking, shaking my head and sighing.

"You're going to want to sit down for this one, buddy."

Mike proceeded to fill me in on the footage of the girls and everything else that followed up to this point. I was shocked, then angry, then shocked again and now I'm back to angry. I took Mike up on his offer to have a pint at Sheffield pub before having a talk with the girls.

After the pub

Julie's pov

Shane enters our room, sits us down and says, "Mike filled me in on the vaping situation, girls. I'm not here to lecture you or punish you."

Lisa asks, "Then why are you here?"

"Who are you and what have you done with Shane?" I ask, not recognizing this man. The Shane we know would have come in yelling, ready to beat our butts.

"I know Mike and Dr. Evans spoke with you about all the different resources at your disposal and the many people you can speak with to assist you in quitting this unhealthy habit." Shane pauses, making sure we're all paying attention. "I just came to tell you that if any of you vape or smoke ever again, I will wear out my Admiral's belt while beating your bare behinds."

Ah there he is, that's the Shane we know.

"Have a good night, ladies. I'm off to slumber, ta." With that, he turned and sauntered out the door.

Shane clearly was ready to do battle against our vaping habit. Britannia Rule the Waves.