It made her think that it was because it was him, and not the situation, or her headspace.

That had pretty much been confirmed when he told her exactly how he would have punished her if she’d been his. She’d pictured things going way beyond the spanking. Being bent over and strapped, had turned into him taking her from behind while her bottom was sore and red. The image had been so clear that it sent lightning through her body.

She wanted that and it was weird. The punishment he’d described had sounded unpleasant all around. Long, painful, and the writing part would be boring as heck—she’d written enough lines since she’d been at the Ranch to know that much.

But… she couldn’t help thinking about the after part, and it kept turning into wicked sexual acts that she could only imagine. Certainly she’d never experienced them. With Angel, she wanted to. She felt a hungry neediness demanding… something.

Something that she wasn’t going to get in the dorm. And any thought of sneaking some private time to at least dull the edge vanished when she got to the third floor. She knew as soon as the elevator opened that something was wrong.

There was an aura of unhappiness that seemed almost physical. She could hear yelping and the sounds of a hard spanking. That wasn’t unusual. Demerits were often dealt with by the dorm Top after dinner, but this time it was different.

Before she’d taken more than a few steps it became clear that there was more than one spanking occurring. And aside from that, she could hear unhappy sniffling from several of the rooms she passed.

Her stomach did a queasy uh-oh kind of feeling, and she wondered what had happened while she was gone. She had absolutely no temptation to knock on one of the other doors and ask. If there was trouble, she wanted to stay clear of it, especially since her backside still hurt.

But when she got to her room, she realized that was where one of the spankings was happening. She stopped outside the door, unsure what to do. She didn’t want to walk in on the spanking, but she also couldn’t leave the Littles’ Wing.

After shifting from one foot to another for a couple of minutes, as the spanking got faster and her roommate, Chastity, got louder, she decided to go hang out in the library. Maybe she’d get lucky and there would be someone there who knew what was going on.

The library didn’t just hold books; it also had plenty of boardgames. In the evening, sometimes there would be small groups of Littles chatting as they played. It was quieter than usual, but the room wasn’t empty.

“Can I play?” she asked, approaching a few who were settled around a table with a Monopoly board set up.

“Sure. Where have you been all day?” Callie asked, counting out a pile of money for Heaven Leigh to start with.

Heaven slid the pile over and picked one of the leftover silver pieces from the box. No one ever chose the iron. “Um, well I was with Angel.” Even admitting that made her face heat and she knew it would be obvious but if she tried to evade, they’d just keep asking.

“Oooh, I like him. He’s nice.” Nat grinned. She had properties spread out in front of her, neatly organized by color.

Heaven grinned back. “He is.” She looked around the room pointedly and then back at the other Littles. “Um, where is everyone? It’s awfully quiet tonight.”

Billy’s eyes widened. “You missed it, huh? Um… Sadie staged her strike, and everyone joined in on skipping classes. They all camped out in the cafeteria and refused to go. They even made those uh, what are they called, the signs you wear that cover your front and back?”

“Sandwich boards,” Heaven said. She’d worn them often enough to advertise the bakery when she’d started out there. Wearing them was easier than carrying them.

“Yeah them. They made Halloween themed ones and demanded more party stuff.” He shrugged. “I was at work when they staged the whole thing in the middle of the dining room, during lunch.”

Heaven rolled the dice and moved the iron ahead nine places. “Callie, I’m surprised you didn’t help.”

“I was gonna, but I wasn’t feeling good after breakfast, so I was in the infirmary when it happened,” Callie explained.

Heaven’s eyes slid over to Nat who just shrugged. “I just didn’t want to. I like nursery class.”

“Huh. Well, I’m glad I missed it. I bet everyone got in big trouble,” Heaven said.

“Darn it!” Billy scowled at the board as he landed on the worst square. He sighed as he leaned over to move his piece to jail. “Well, you didn’t entirely miss it…” he said as he flopped back into his seat.

“I didn’t?”

Nat shook her head. Her mouth was turned down in a pout. “No, everyone’s getting punished for it. Gonna be sprouts for dinner every night until Halloween. And anyone who doesn’t eat ‘em, gets no candy.”

Heaven frowned. She hadn’t been looking forward to Halloween, or the candy, and she didn’t even mind Brussels sprouts, but that still struck a nerve. “But that’s not fair. Why aren’t they just punishing the ones who did it?”

Callie leaned in, even though no one was around to hear, and dropped her voice down low for dramatics. “Oh, they did. The ringleaders all got paddled right in the cafeteria, and then sent to class with sore butts. And everyone who missed class got a demerit too.”

That explained the dorm spankings. “Okay, well they all knew they were going to get spankings. I mean, duh. But why the Brussels sprouts?”

Callie shrugged. “I dunno that part.”