Have a Heart 2 Read online

  Have A Heart

  Part 2

  By: Rachel Burns

  Have a Heart Part 2

  The Have a Heart Series

  Third Edition

  Copyright 2013-2015 Rachel Burns

  Published by Rachel Burns

  Text Copyright © 2013 - 2015 by Rachel Burns

  All Rights Reserved

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act 1976, no part of the publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by and means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Here We Go Again

  Chapter 2 – I Need You

  Chapter 3 – Caught

  Chapter 4 – Passing The Test

  Chapter 5 – Improper

  Chapter 6 – Not A Good Friend

  Chapter 7 – Guilty as Sin

  Chapter 8 – Making Up

  Chapter 9 – The Proper Care of Brianna Banks

  Chapter 10 – I’m No Fool

  Chapter 11 – First Date

  Chapter 12 – Who Am I To You?

  Chapter 13 – Best Friends Should Tell Each Other Everything

  Chapter 14 – In Sickness And In Health

  Chapter 15 – Living Together

  Chapter 16 – Will You Marry Me?

  Chapter 1 – Here We Go Again

  Here we go again, Brianna thought. She kissed her parents goodbye and waved a little.

  They heard another family fighting. A daughter, who was mad that she had to go to this school, accused her parents of hating her and not caring.

  “You’ll never be able to make this up to me,” Brianna told them.

  Scott walked up behind her and laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her.” He laid his hands on her shoulders.

  He couldn’t see the face she made, but both of her parents were grinning. “Have a good year, you two.” They both waved, thinking that Brianna and Scott already looked like a couple.

  Scott still had a hand on one of Brianna’s shoulders. “Can we talk in private for a moment?” Scott asked her.

  “I guess so.”

  Normally, he would have picked on the word ‘guess.’ But since it was her, he didn’t. He just didn’t feel that it was worth a fight.

  Scott knew that he had been acting a little weird lately, and that she had been hiding from him the last month. He needed to get back on good terms with her.

  They went into her room, and he pulled out her desk chair. Scott noticed a chill go down her spine. He hoped to avoid that as much as possible this year, especially with her. With all the money her father had given him for saving her life he could be sitting at graduate school, but the thought of someone else touching Brianna made his skin crawl.

  “When someone needs a public spanking in the lounge, you are to leave the floor. Cathy will go with you so you aren’t alone. It happens once every year. That it happened twice last year was just bad luck, but when it happens, you don’t have to be present. The school nurse, the Dean and I all sat down to discuss the matter. It isn’t worth risking your health. Nothing is.”

  He said that last part with so much conviction that she started to wonder once again if maybe he didn’t like her. She knew he had a girlfriend, but she had never seen her or heard talk of her. It wasn’t any of her business, but it would have been normal for them to go to church together on Sunday. He always sat with his family, who always sat with her family.

  Maybe he lied to Hannah. What could that mean for her? She had been avoiding him since they had been in the coffeehouse, feeling guilty because she knew he had a girlfriend. She was starting to get a little crush on him. He always seemed to be there. He was the older brother of her best friend. It was even cliché for her to have a crush on him.

  That crush would probably end quickly once the spankings started this evening. It was already starting to fade just seeing him sit on the chair where he had spanked her before. He had even given her the worst spanking she had ever had.

  Was she crazy? Where was she letting her thoughts drift off to? Just because they’d had a nice time together at the coffeehouse didn’t mean anything more. Not to forget the mysterious girlfriend, who Brianna somehow hated even without ever having met her.

  She pulled herself together, forgetting about her puppy love.

  “Thank you, and I’m sorry you have to make an exception because of me. I just don’t have any siblings. If someone got in trouble at my house, it was always me.” Brianna shrugged her shoulders.

  He smiled at her. She was so adorable. “Why don’t you go practice? Just remember to look up at the clock. Be back by six. I want you gone before you start warning the others to read their books.” He saw it in her eyes; she liked that idea. “If you do, I will spank the daylights out of you. Just go.”

  Scott watched her get out some sheet music and leave. He took off to listen to the sounds of six new girls moving in against their wills. Oh, how he hated his job. He went to hide in his room and enjoy the last couple of hours of peace that he would be having for the next nine months.

  At seven sharp, the girls filed into the lounge. Brianna and Cathy sat together. They talked with the other girls that they knew from last year. The others all seemed to have gotten a spot at a better college.

  Just Brianna was still waiting. That embarrassed her too. The colleges worried because she had missed a trimester. It hadn’t been her fault, and she was making it up by having a heavier work load than everyone else, but somehow, she took it personally.

  Scott showed up, and he talked to all the second year girls, asking them about their summers. Anyone paying attention would have noticed that he didn’t ask Cathy or Brianna, but no one noticed.

  Scott started the show the same way he had last year. He had even less patience for the new girls as he did last year. Within two minutes, he had surmised that none of the new girls had read their handbooks.

  They all started looking scared when they heard that the school used corporal punishment. They all leaned away from him. Brianna remembered doing the same thing last year. So much had happened since that time.

  “You are all here because you haven’t been performing at the level that you could and should. This whole school is filled with girls like you. It is my job to make sure you all behave, as you should have from the beginning. The girls from last year can all testify that I will see to it that you all get the grades that I expect from you.”

  Scott dismissed them and went to work. He started in Brianna’s room. A little treat before he had to really earn his money.

  He knocked, and she let him in. She went and sat down on the bed. He grabbed her chair and sat down. “I have your new schedule right here. Look it over. Again, I am not setting any expectations. I know that you will do well anyway.”

  “It isn’t right that I am always the exception.”

  “Of course it is. You are the only one with five classes.”

  “Yes, but my German class is easy for me.”

  “I understand that, but it takes away from your learning time. I think this is fair, and the decision is mine to make.” He wasn’t about to do anything that could stress her. “You and Cathy have the same schedule again. This time around you will have astronomy. That will require nighttime outings. You will get written permission from your teacher to leave after curfew. Give it to me so I know where you are at all times. Please, u
nderstand that this rule means you more than anyone else.”

  They both thought back to the spanking she had gotten for coming home late. Her face dropped into a frown, and she looked down at her lap.

  “I trust that won’t happen again. I think we will get along nicely this year. No more misunderstandings. We both know what to expect from the other.” He reached out and touched her knee to comfort her. “Now take your medicine and get to bed.” He stood up and put the chair away. “What time are you planning on showering tomorrow morning?”

  “At six?”

  “If you want to sneak in a little earlier, I’ll turn a blind eye. You can take your time explaining to the new girls, but we will have a floor meeting about it as soon as things settle down a little.”

  She jumped up and grabbed him by his arm. “Scott, no. I don’t want to be a freak.”

  As much as he loved the fact that she was touching him, he had to scold her. “There will be a meeting, and the nurse will be there. Everyone is going to learn CPR, and that is final. I will do what I need to do to protect you.” He left then.

  She sat down on her bed and cried. Why was he doing that to her? That was just a freak thing last year. It wouldn’t be repeated. She felt just fine, and he knew that. What was he playing at?

  It wasn’t his job to protect her. She could do that herself. He was just being a busybody jerk. She thought about telling him that, but then she heard one of the poor new girls getting spanked, and she immediately remembered her place.

  Brianna was avoiding Scott again. She only talked to him once a week on Friday evenings. If she could have avoided that too, she would have. He just had so much control over her. She didn’t like that.

  Brianna was working on a paper that would be due at the end of the trimester. She liked to get those out of the way. This one was for her music class. She liked the idea of being able to study music. If she got accepted to Samford, she would take music.

  She was picturing herself singing and playing the piano all day when she heard the knock. She could also hear lots of feet in the hall. That could only mean two things. Either someone was in trouble, or that stupid meeting was about to take place.

  She opened her door, and Scott smiled at her. “Floor meeting,” he chirped.

  He laughed as she frowned.

  She went into the lounge with her arms crossed over her chest. She sat next to Cathy who was all smiles in anticipation. Brianna scowled at her. Cathy nudged her in a friendly way. “Don’t pout, Brianna.”

  Scott also sat down, and the nurse took over. Scott smiled up at her. He honestly felt that this was a great idea.

  He just wants to embarrass me, Brianna thought, biting back tears. She looked away from the dummy on the floor.

  The nurse went on to explain what they were going to do this evening. She gave a lecture about first aid. Jessica, one of the new girls raised her hand and asked how often a person would really need this.

  Scott gave her a mean look. “I think this is something very important that the whole floor should know how to do.”

  “I don’t know anyone who has ever had to do it. You use your cell and call for help. But we aren’t allowed phones here. Have you ever had to do it?” Jessica gave Scott a mean look.

  “Yes, I have.” He looked at Brianna, who wasn’t looking at anyone.

  “Really? How long did you have to do it?” Sandra asked. She was another first year.

  “Yes, Scott, why don’t we tell them how it really was.” The nurse gave him a look, telling him that he should start. She felt that she was losing control, and that he should regain order quickly.

  Scott looked over at Brianna, who had her head turned in such a way that he couldn’t see her face at all. Her right leg was bouncing with nervousness. He leaned into the circle and started in. “There was a girl who was at this school not because she had been lazy but because she had missed so much school. She was sick, and she had to have operations to keep her alive. Her grades were okay but not what you need to get into the kind of college that she wanted to go to.

  “I didn’t know that was the reason, but everyone could see that something was wrong with her after Christmas vacation. It got worse daily, but still she said nothing.” He glanced over in Brianna’s direction. She still wasn’t looking. “She was so weak in the end that just getting up from her desk chair made her drop to the floor. Another student found her and called me. I checked her over in the exact way that the nurse just explained. Pulse, heart, then I checked to see if something was blocking her throat. It was obvious that she needed CPR, and that is what I did until the paramedics took over.”

  “How long did you have to do it?” Sandra, who was interested in mystical things, asked.

  “I don’t know? I lost all sense of time. Sometimes it seemed like it had been a long time, and sometimes it felt like I had just started.”

  “Around twenty minutes.” Gretchen said. She looked over at Brianna too. Stephanie was holding the hand that Cathy wasn’t.

  “Did she live?”

  “I’m very glad to say that, yes, she did live.”

  “Is she still alive?”

  “Yes, she is alive and kicking.”

  He smiled over at Brianna. Her leg stopped bouncing.

  “How can you be so sure? Are you still in contact?”

  “Yes, we are.”

  The nurse continued, “When I came in, I took over the breathing. Scott was already very winded by then. Breathing for yourself and for someone else is a very difficult thing to do. Scott was completely drained by the time he was finished.”

  “Okay, let’s practice.” Scott jumped up ready to get started, and the girls slowly stood up. They lined up to take turns. Cathy pushed towards the front of the line, and Brianna hid at the back.

  Cathy was tired after five minutes. She needed a break.

  “Maybe you should get up a little earlier and start jogging?” Scott scolded her.

  Cathy nodded meekly and went to Brianna. They others went back to their rooms after they were finished.

  Cathy jabbered at Brianna, mostly that her arms hurt. The nurse paired the girls up so it would go faster. One would breathe and the other pump, and then they traded places. After a bit, it was Brianna’s turn. Cathy still looked so eager. Several of the girls were still hanging around in the lounge.

  “I can’t do it,” Brianna whispered to Cathy.

  “Okay, Brianna, your turn.” Scott was still chipper.

  Brianna shook her head.

  “Don’t test me. Just do it.” Scott’s smile was gone.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  “You mean you won’t.” He was getting loud, and the others turned to look.

  “No, I mean I can’t. Remember my birthday. Those stupid candles. I’m telling you I can’t do it. And I don’t want to.” She too was getting loud and folded her arms over her chest, mirroring him.

  “And I told you if you pout about this, I would spank you.”

  “We both know that in this scenario that I’m the dummy and not the hero.” She pointed to the plastic armless half man on the floor.

  Scott grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into her room. “Why are you acting like such a baby?”

  “How would you feel if it was the other way around? If you had to listen about how you died and got brought back to life? It’s bad enough to have to live through it but then to have to talk about it.”

  “What are you saying? That you would rather be dead?”

  “No, I appreciate it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying that – Never mind.” She bowed her head and turned away from him.

  He turned her head towards him again. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, letting her bawl on his shoulder.

  “I can’t do it. I couldn’t even blow out my birthday candles. I can’t do anything. This is it all my life has in store for me.”

  “Hush, that’s not true. You will have a long life, and things will get bet
ter for you from day to day. I promise.”

  “What are you saying? That you can see in the future now?”

  “This is a side of you I’ve never seen before. The big baby, smart mouth side.” He laughed as he held her closely.

  “You don’t understand. You see the big house and probably cheesecake, which I don’t even like, and you think she can’t have it that bad.”

  “Tell me what’s it like to be you. I’m listening.”

  She moved away from his embrace and went to her pill drawer. He reached for her water and unscrewed the lid. She sat down on the bed, and he sat next to her. He wasn’t allowed to sit or be on a girl’s bed, but he ignored the rule. “I’m listening.”

  “The house is my cage. If the little bird has the strength to get out, they pull her back in. I feel like I’m being kept like a little girl, like with driving. I’m sure I am the only one you have ever had here who couldn’t drive a car. I’m right, aren’t I?”

  “Maybe, I don’t know. Did you talk to your parents about that over the summer?”

  “Yes, I did. After the birthday thing, they changed their minds and said no. My father even made a joke about it.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. What did he say?”

  “He said my husband can decide whether or not I may.”

  Scott burst out shaking with laughter.

  “You see, even you think that it’s not probable.” She hung her head all the more. She was sniffling and crying so softly.

  “What’s not probable?” Scott asked her.

  “That anyone would marry me. What kind of answer is that? It would have been nicer if he just said no.” Brianna was insulted that her father could be so cruel.

  “I’m positive that you will find someone who wants to marry you.”

  “I’m not. You saw those scars. They are hideous. If I tell a guy before we start dating that I have them, he will say ‘goodbye.’ If I wait, he will say ‘why didn’t you tell me sooner?’ No matter how you look at this I lose. My heart has been hurt enough already. I just want to be left alone.” She laid her head on his shoulder.