If we meet again

Chapter 8

Brooks POV

"BROOKLYN! NOW!" Kevin wouldn't yell one more time, but I wasn't going to listen. It was Friday and I had absolutely no interest in getting out of bed. Kevin couldn't expect me to go easy on him, even if it was his first day taking care of me. A split second later Kevin pulled the covers off my head, then grabbed my arms and pulled me off the bed so I was on the floor. I just reached up onto the bed and pulled the covers down, intent on sleeping on the floor. Kevin grabbed the further corner and pulled it to the side. I rolled on top of it, and then realized the trap. Kevin grabbed it like it was a basket, then lifted me off the floor and carried me down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he dumped me on the floor under the table.

"One of those days?" snickered Joe as I climbed out of the comforter and onto the chair.

"Shut up, Joe." I snapped, grabbed the piece of toast he was about to eat out of his hand.

"Hey!"

"I'm hungry."

"So am I! That's my food!"

"Not anymore!" I said and took a giant bite out of the toast. "What'd you guys wanna do this weekend?" I asked. They all shrugged. "Well, I'm going to a party tonight." That got their attention real quick.

"A boy-girl party?"

"Who invited you?"

"Where is it?"

"It's just a party my friend told me about and it's at some nice guy's house." I answered truthfully.

"But is it a boy-girl party?" asked Joe again, peering at me as though through a magnifying glass.

"Yes." There was an instant uproar from all of my brothers as they listed reasons why I couldn't go. Jerks. "Listen, I'm going and there's nothing you can do about it." I snapped.

"Yes, I can." Kevin said, and the other two nodded in sync.

"It's just a party." I said, annoyed.

"It's a boy-girl party." corrected Joe impatiently.

"What do you have against boy-girl parties?" I asked.

"Gosh, I don't know, maybe the BOYS?" Nick said, looking as though he wanted to chain me to a pole until the end of time. I rolled my eyes.

"Ooh, the boys, cooties, I'd better not go!" I said mockingly.

"Now you don't take that tone-" Nick started but Kevin cut him off.

"Ah! She's gonna be late!" he screeched, somehow picking me up from the table and getting me into the car with my bag in less than a minute.

Later that day

I have never seen Nick so angry, except when he's acting. I don't think he was acting when I sent me to my room at ten o'clock at night for trying to sneak back in from the party. Then Joe came home.

"Are you out of your mind?!" he shrieked once Nick told him the story. "Kevin is going to kill me and Nick, and then he's going to-"

"Send me to hell to live with the devils?" I asked lazily.

"EXACTLY!!" he yelled. I jumped.

"Text him. Text him right now and tell him what you did." Nick said, throwing my phone at me and pulling Joe out of my room with him. I gulped, then started typing.

Hey.

Yeah?

I know I'm not supposed to be on my phone but this is really important.

Is someone hurt? I'm coming now.

NO! I mean no one's hurt.

So what did u want to tell me?

Remember the party?

U can't go, I told u.

Um would u be mad if I went anyway?

BROOKLYN IZABELLA!

I'm sry.

We'll discuss ur punishment when I get home. Give ur phone to Joe right now.

Okay I'm sry again.

I know. Give Joe ur phone. I'll c u in a bit. 

Okay Kevy bye.

I have never been so scared in my life. I gave Joe my phone and waited in my room for ten minutes, until I heard the door open downstairs. Terrified, I sat at my desk and opened a notebook and started scribbling in it at my desk while I waited for Kevin to come upstairs. He didn't come for one painful half hour, because he knows that suspense is the worst punishment he can give me. When he opened the door he seemed half calm.

"Okay, Brooklyn, I want to hear your side of the story, including why you didn't listen." he said, very father-like, standing in front of me.

"So I really wanted to go to the party and I know you didn't want me to but it was such a big deal at the time and all my friends got to go and it just didn't seem fair so I left and I'm really sorry." I said in one breath.

"Brookie, why was it such a big deal?"

"Because everyone else got to go!" I said, knowing it sounded like a really childish answer. There was a moment of silence.

"Do you have any ideas what your punishment will be?" asked Kevin. I looked down at the ground and shook my head, even though I knew exactly what it would be. Kevin knelt down to where I was sitting and looked straight up into my face like I was three years old. I averted my eyes, blinking very fast so I wouldn't cry. "I think you do know." he whispered, but I could hear him perfectly. I nodded and started to cry. "Okay, then I want you to pick a corner and stand in it until I get back. I'll be right back. Don't move." I nodded again. It had been ten minutes, and I was sure Kevin was done doing or getting whatever he needed but I was still standing there. Fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, twenty-five minutes, half an hour. I was tired of it and my legs were starting to hurt. I walked to my bed and sat down, and when Kevin came I expected him to yell at me for leaving the corner. But instead he flipped me over and I heard the sound of his belt slipping from the loops. 

"No! Don't use that on me!" I cried, trying to get away. But Kevin rested his hand on my back, which for some reason was enough to make me stop moving. 

"I'm sorry baby girl, but remember why you're here." Kevin said. I was crying at only the third hit because it was so painful. By nine I was pretty sure I was a ragdoll, lying over the bed lifelessly. After the tenth one Kevin dropped the belt and pulled me into his lap, calming me down. 

"I hope you'll remember this the next time you think you're gonna sneak out." Kevin said, and I nodded. "It's late now, baby. You gonna go to bed or do you want some time in the corner?" I shrugged and kept crying. "Okay, then come over here." he said, taking me back to the corner while I cried. "Let's wait here until we're calmed down, huh?" I nodded and pressed my forehead against the wall, crying. "Shhh, it's okay, baby girl." he said, rubbing my back while I stood against the wall. Finally, ten minutes later, Kevin picked me up and took me back to my bed and left.