Willow Academy (Spanking Story)

Chapter 16, Part 1: Owen's POV

Freedom. Sweet. Fucking. FREEDOM! Pardon my French, but my past week of being ungrounded had been the best seven days of my fifteen year old life.

Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit, but I felt like I was a new man... er, teenager. 'A Whole New World' would have been my background music for the last week. Never, never, was I going to allow myself to be grounded again! I had all but developed chronic depression in those grueling two weeks.

Business was booming in the Willow Academy Deal or No Deal. That group of hippies had grown on me; Riley was becoming one of my closest friends. The cons of this drug dealing were slowly disappearing, as the pros kept adding up. I forgot why I even hesitated to do this in the first place.

Dylan Peters had even warmed up to me, as much as someone like him could. He didn't look at me like he wanted to pound me into the ground, so that was a start. He was currently making a B in Calculus- legendary for him- and warned me of the upcoming test. I only had about a week to find some way to snatch that answer key from Dana. I didn't think I could get away with locking a freshman in the bathroom again!

I couldn't bring myself to worry too much about stealing the answer key. My life had been running smoothly with my numerous lies and quick thinking, and I didn't see any reason to change that. I was positive I could come up with something.

Now that I was off the Kingda Ka and escalating Mt. Everest at record-breaking speeds, I began to reconsider a lot of the decisions I'd made recently. Okay, one decision I'd made recently- quitting soccer.

I wanted to beat my past self to a bloody pulp and demand why he thought quitting soccer was even a remotely good idea. I mean honestly, what in the HELL had I been thinking?

Soccer was the one constant thing in my life. Even if my friends had changed, and my relationship with my siblings had changed, and even if I had changed, that didn't mean soccer had to change, too. Who cares if all the guys on the team thought I was a recluse? I wasn't there for my teammates; I was there for me, for the ball, for the completely natural feeling of dribbling that sphere between my worn out cleats. Sure, soccer was a team sport. But passing didn't actually involve communicating- at least, not verbally.

Anyway, I had no desire to try to become friends with those stupid jocks. Shows what good "friends" they were, when they leave you behind at the first sign of abnormality.

Besides, I had all the friends I could ever need. High school wasn't looking so bad after all. In fact, I think I was better off now than before all this shit had happened.

~*~

Cooper was in his office, just like I knew he'd be. Technically, I was skipping study hall, but I couldn't bring myself to care. This was more important right now.

My brother was leaned back in his chair, two of the legs dangling precariously above the dirty floor. A chewed up ballpoint pen was encased in his clenched teeth, and his brow furrowed as he clicked away at something on his computer. He had absolutely no idea I was standing right there.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, causing dark eyes to dart to the doorway where I was hovering. I shouldn't have been so nervous, but then again, I'd never done something this stupid before.

"Owen?" Cooper questioned, righting his chair and standing up slowly. My school trainers squeaked on the concrete floor as I shuffled more into the room, and it just helped to strengthen the tense atmosphere of the office.

"Uh, hey Coop," I muttered, hand automatically going to scratch at the back of my neck. How the hell was I supposed to even begin this conversation?

"Don't you have study hall?" I don't know why he bothered asking- Dana'd forced both him and Ben to memorize mine and Penny's schedules, the creep. Coop knew where I was for practically the whole day. Well, where I was supposed to be, at least.

I nodded, swiping the back of my hand across my nose. Stupid fall allergies.

"So..." he trailed off, leaning against his desk and looking around the room, seemingly bored. 'Why are you here' remained unspoken, but was as clear as if Cooper had just said it.

I let the awkward silence envelop us for as long as I could stand, then resorted to the thing I do best in stressful situations.

"I wanna join the team again!" I blurted out. My-mind-to-mouth system had no filter when it was under pressure. I'd planned on going about it a bit more subtly, but I guess this worked just the same.

Cooper didn't say anything for a moment. He just kind of stood there, staring at me. He looked like he'd half been expecting me to say that, but he was still surprised. I was surprised, actually. Usually, I'm more stubborn than a brick wall. I wouldn't have been shocked if I never touched a soccer ball again.

However, I was changing, so my attitude had to change, too. I couldn't keep living in the past; I wasn't my parents.

"Owen... why?" he asked. That was the last thing I'd expected him to say. Why? Wasn't it so glaringly obvious?

I trudged further into his office and plopped heavily into the chair in front of his desk. Cooper didn't move, didn't turn to face me, didn't question me further. I guess this was left up to me; I was the one who'd gotten myself into this situation, after all.

"I... I just want to come back. I was an idiot for quitting. I'm still an idiot." My khakis were slowly being shredded, thread by thread, as I waited for my brother's response. I didn't expect special treatment, but I didn't think he'd ban me from ever playing on the team again. It just depended on how generous old Coop was feeling today.

A calloused hand settled over my fidgeting ones, and my pants were salvaged for the mean time.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, Owen! How many times do I have to say it?"

I gaped at up Cooper, resisting the urge to slap my hand on his forehead and make sure he wasn't running a fever.

Now it was my turn to ask. "Why?"

My brother chuckled, casually walking around his desk and sitting back down in his chair. He looked at me over the disorganized piles of papers and smiled- really smiled- for the first time in a while.

"Because," he said simply, twirling the chewed pen between his fingers.

My resounding silence was enough to get him to explain further.

Cooper sighed, folding his hands and leaning towards me, catching my bewildered gaze with his solemn one.

"You made a mistake. You realized that you made that mistake, and you came and fixed it. You didn't blame it on anybody, and you didn't expect your problem to be fixed just because you owned up to your actions. You handled this situation like an adult, and I'm proud of you. That's why; that's because. You're back on the team, simple as that."

My cheeks were burning- I wasn't used to this direct praise. It was kind of embarrassing, in a roundabout way. I managed a quiet "Thanks, Coop" and resumed looking at my hands. I hoped I came across as humble and not ungrateful.

He stood up again and came around to the back of my chair, placing his hands on my hunched shoulders.

"You know, I've been waiting to say this to you again for a long time. Go get dressed out."

I smiled, and hurriedly made my way to the locker room.