Page 47 of Learning Little Lizzie

“There is a difference between ‘helping’ and ‘giving someone the answers’, Eliza. And I think you know that.” Though he wouldn’t go so far as to call it “cheating”, he didn’t approve of what she’d done, either. “Which is why you are going to drop the attitude right now and accept whatever punishment Director Chambers thinks is appropriate.”

“On that note, I believe we should step into my office.” Grant gestured toward the open door behind him. “If you’ll follow me.”

CHAPTER 17

Eliza popped up from her chair, stomping her way past Mr. Chambers. “This is ridiculous.”

“Enough.” Samuel landed a hard swat to her bottom, shocking a squeal from her. “You have already earned yourself a very serious punishment for lying to your Daddy. I suggest you don’t make it worse by disrespecting Director Chambers right in front of me.”

“Yes, Sir,” she grumbled, doing her best to not cross the line into “disrespectful” again, though she was feeling anything but respectful toward either of them at the moment.

Why couldn’t they see she hadn’t meant to be naughty? She really had just forgotten her homework and she’d been so panicked about getting into trouble for it, she hadn’t thought through the ramifications of copying Reese’s homework.

But nobody seemed interested in her opinion on the matter, which was making it very difficult to accept her punishment with any kind of grace.

“Cheating is a very serious offense, Miss Bennett,” Mr. Chambers began once they were in his office with the door closed. “One that could result in expulsion from Rawhide University depending on the circumstances.”

She could feel the color draining from her face at his words. “Expelled?”

“Yes.” Mr. Chambers paused, letting the implication hang heavy in the air. “Luckily for you, I hesitate to call what you did ‘cheating’. It’s not against the rules for students to help each other with their homework. But you are old enough to understand the difference between working together on an assignment and simply copying down the answers.”

Relief warred with her feelings of injustice. “I guess. Sir,” she added with a yelp when Samuel’s hand connected with her bottom again.

Mr. Chambers’ expression softened, just a bit. “Eliza, your purpose here at the University is to learn. Do you think you would have learned anything by merely writing down Reese’s answers versus actually doing the assignment yourself? Even if you’d done the assignment together, you both would have been engaging with the material. Instead, you chose not to do the assignment and then you attempted to hide the fact that you hadn’t done it by copying answers.”

“I didn’t choose not to do it! I forgot. There’s a difference.” Maybe it wasn’t an important difference to them, but it made all the difference in the world to her.

“Did you forget when I asked you if you had any more homework last night?” Samuel asked, and her stomach twisted into those guilty knots she was becoming all too acquainted with lately.

“No, Sir,” she confessed quietly. “I had a plan to do it in the morning, and I figured that was kind of the same thing as having it done already.”

“That’s a conversation we can have at home. For now, do you understand why you’re being disciplined by Director Chambers?”

“No. I think it’s stupid.”

“Which is it? Do you not understand or do you not agree?” Samuel asked, his tone sharper than she could ever remember hearing it.

“Both.”

“Eliza Jane, I am very quickly running out of patience with this attitude. Go bend over the desk.”

The unfairness of it all crowded in her chest, making it difficult to breathe, to think. “But this is so stupid! It was an honest mistake, I don’t understand why you’re both acting like I committed a fucking felony.”

“That’s ten with the paddle, and you’ve just lost your phone privileges for the rest of the day.” Fury flashed in Samuel’s eyes. “Keep pushing me, little girl.”

Oh, fuck. She really had gone too far. “No! I’ll be good, I swear!”

“It’s far too late for that. Get into position, Eliza.”

Even knowing she’d already overstepped by a good bit, she couldn’t seem to rein herself in. Crossing her arms, she stomped her foot, realizing belatedly she was acting exactly like a bratty Little despite her constant protests that she was not, in fact, Little. “But it’s not fair!”

Something flickered in her guardian’s eyes and for a moment she was certain he was going to force her to take her punishment, one way or another. Instead, his gaze shifted to the man standing behind her. “It seems my Little girl needs some time to get in the right headspace for her punishment. Can we push this back to say, tomorrow at nine?”

Postpone her spanking? What the hell was going on?

“Of course,” Mr. Chambers said with a nod, not looking the least bit surprised by Samuel’s request. “I’ll see you both then.”

“In the meantime, could we borrow your office? And some of your… supplies?”

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