810-08-27
Nico was annoyed. She hated waiting, and this fat lady was making her do just that. Her mind was wandering, but mostly it was dwelling on her hair. It was spectacularly pink, and she really liked how it made her look. She wanted everyone she met to react strongly to it. Some people loved it, some didn’t, but she didn’t really mind which. As long as they obviously noticed, she was happy, and she could tell if they did, and they almost always did.
She redid it right before her trial, and then she realized after the trial started, they might not let her touch-up her roots, if she was sentenced to reformation. That was the punishment she should expect, if she was found guilty. And in that case, her advocate thought that the judge supervising her sentence probably wouldn’t let her continue to dye her hair. She might be allowed, towards the end, but it depended on the judge. Her advocate also stressed, however, she would probably not be too concerned about her hair, if she found herself in a reformation program.
Nico wasn’t so sure. She cared a lot about her hair. She hoped she wouldn’t have too vindictive of a bitch, for a judge. Supervising judges, the ones in charge of reformation programs, weren’t exactly known for their accommodating attitudes. That was fine. She could handle conflict much better than most people. She had always considered it one of her biggest strengths, which was good, since challenging authority was her forte.
At last, the woman smiled and called her forward. “Thanks for your patience dear.”
Nico walked up to her desk, a big frown on her face. “Finally, I was starting to worry that Judge Adams forgot to tell me that she had also sentenced me to be bored to death, and that you were my executioner.” It was supposed to be a joke, but there was more venom in voice than she intended there to be. Nico wasn’t self-aware enough to notice this, however.
The woman’s smile vanished, replaced by a severe scowl. “You must be Nico. If you were in such a hurry, honey, why didn’t you say so? Nothing is going to make me happier than sending you up to meet your next judge. That would be Judge Pamela Bragg. Actually, you can’t meet her fast enough, as far as I am concerned.”
Nico was unfazed. She put her hands on her hips and looked her straight in the eyes. “What a coincidence, nothing is going to make me happier than been sent up to meet her as well —so she can be introduced to Ms. Nico Rodríguez.”
The big lady burst out laughing. “Oh, don’t you worry hon, the pleasure is going to be entirely hers, I’m sure. I will bet you five credits she is going to help you pioneer whole new trends in fashion too —you’ll be bright pink on both ends with that attitude.” She passed her a tray with light gray clothes and white sneakers in it. “Here’s your uniform. Put it on in the change room over there, and then bring that bin back with all your things in it. Everything in the bin, goes on, everything not in the bin, goes in, and that means everything: jewelry, electronics, all your things, in the bin.“
Nico did exactly as she said, save a single piece of bubblegum, which she put in her mouth and spread out with her tongue across the roof of her mouth. She put the mostly full package of gum in the tray on top of her things to remind her when she got them back: when I get out of her and see Chris again, I am going to blow a big bubble, right in his face, when he comes to kiss me.
—
She was hungover, worse than she normally was after a night out, but it had been worth it. Last night had been the best party she had ever been to. Chris was getting them into better and better parties. He had lots of connections at least, even if was an idiot. He also brought krystals. These ones were incredible. Doing them was so much better than the time before. She knew she was going to be using krystals more, a lot more actually, after that. She was going to make Chris tell her where he got them from, because it was a mind blowing, change your life forever, kind of an experience. They jumped in the pool and then they went inside and did the krystals soaking wet. It was a pretty sweet house, and a pretty awesome night. The house was fucked after though, but that wasn’t her problem. That was the problem of the poor kid who organized it. His parents weren’t going to be too happy. Serves the rich piece of shit right. It was time for him to move out anyway. He had to be in his mid twenties, a few years older than her and Chris at least.
She was lying on one of the longer bench seats of a transit tube train. It should have been able to accommodate three, but she was taking up the whole seat, with her legs sticking out into the aisle. An old lady glared at her. The train was now getting full, and the woman and several other people were standing. Nico flipped her the bird. They weren’t hungover, and the train would be at the Trident station in five minutes. Everyone knew that usually more people got off there than on, she would be able to sit down then, and if Nico gave up her position, she wouldn’t be able to lie down for the rest of the trip. She closed her eyes and pretended to fall a sleep.
She felt the train slow down as it came into the station. She continued to feign being a sleep. She heard people getting on and off. That old judgmental hag would likely be one of them getting off. She probably didn’t even want the seat. She just wanted to deprive Nico of it. She was just like all those old ugly ladies she had to spend all day selling makeup to. She hated working in a shop, but at least it was a job at all. Chris was so lazy, he didn’t even have one. But he was going to have to get one, because krystals were expensive, and now that she was going to be doing them more often, he was going to have to start buying his own, rather than using her money.
Something brushed her leg. For a second she thought it was a person walking by, but it felt wrong. Psssssssst CLICK. There was a tiny prick on her calf. She leapt up. A medical robot with a civilian enforcement officer standing next to it had just taken a blood sample from her. “Hey, you cannot do that without a warrant or grounds for suspicion. I am contesting that. You need to destroy that sample right now.”
“Being inebriated and taking up three seats on a full train seems like grounds for suspicion to me.” The cop was such jerk. They always were. There was a long beep, and then a red light started flashing on the medical robot’s display screen.
“You just tested positive for a banned substance. You need to come with me. We are going to retest you to confirm. If you fail that test too, when you have a trial, you can dispute the legality of the first sample. Let’s hope the footage of you giving that old lady the finger doesn’t prejudice the judge against you.”
“Fuck you asshole, you knew I wasn’t passed out—and you just admitted it. That’s fucking bullshit. There’s no way this is going to stand. My friend’s Mom is an advocate. She told me about it.” Nico put her hands on her hips, confidently.
—
Five minutes after she finished with the lady who gave her her uniform, Nico was being bored to death again. Judge Bragg had a new assistant being trained by her old one, apparently. They told her to take a seat and then promptly ignored her. She hated being ignored. She kept the gum squished up against the roof of her mouth. They were surely going to take it away, so she better save it for later. She suddenly realized that she had no way of knowing the time. She closed her eyes and started to pretend that she was going to take a nap. She immediately changed her mind. It wasn’t going to bother them. They were engrossed in something the older woman was teaching the younger one, so they wouldn’t even notice her theatrics. So instead she just waited, again.
A tall and slender older woman with gray hair pulled into a bun emerged finally, half an hour later, at least. It was so silver, Nico wondered if she dyed it to make it that shiny. She scolded her and obviously wanted to see what Nico’s reaction would be. “Tie your shoes young lady and then come into my office.” Nico rolled her eyes. The woman retreated into her office. If she had been more confident, she probably would have waited longer to see how I responded.
Nico was meeting Judge Bragg. She seemed quite formidable, or at least she wanted Nico to think she was. In Nico’s experience, the ones that tried to appear especially strict, rarely were actually confident people, if you pushed back a little. It was a mistake that those who lacked confidence often made. They knew they would back down too easily, so they overcompensated by coming in harder than they needed to with stringent requirements. But then they couldn’t actually enforce their rules, which they had made unnecessarily firm, and therefore it was impossible for them to demand you follow them. They would ultimately have to make an exception, and they ended up being less powerful than if they had just been more easy going to begin with.
You just needed the courage yourself to stand up to them. She had only seen Judge Bragg for a moment, but she was pretty sure she had her figured out. You’re no match for me old lady.
She didn’t want to appear meek in response, but timing was key.For a moment she considered refusing to tie her shoelaces. Leaving them undone had been deliberate, and she had tucked them securely under her feet, so they wouldn’t get tangled.
Nico knew she looked younger than she actually was. Older people in general treated her like this. They all seemed to think that she was too naive to realize the simplest things, like that you could trip on your own shoelaces. And they all thought that not only was it their duty to correct her, but that she should be grateful for them passing on these important lessons. Lessons that they had learned through such hard won experiences as having their shoelaces come undone without noticing. What a pity their unsought advice was also usually wrong.
She decided that this wasn’t quite the time to push back. Defying the judge in front of her subordinates might cause her to overact. If she truly was as unconfident as Nico suspected, she would do better to assert herself once they were in the privacy of the judge’s office. She tied her shoes, but made a show of it, taking more time than necessary, scowling as she did it. That way everyone knew she thought it was stupid at least. Then she followed the judge into her large office, and put her hands on her hips for a moment, glaring.
Judge Bragg just looked at her, her stern expression somewhat diminished, but not entirely. Nico knew it. She wasn’t as tough as she presented herself to be. You just need to stand up to these people and they don’t know what to do. She allowed herself to look around the office to take it all in.
It was huge, for an office. It must cost a fortune having a room this big, just so one self-important judge could sit in it all day by herself. She had a coffee table with comfortable looking chairs, a large desk by a window, and even a big conference table. It was OK, but Nico would have preferred a lighter wood for the conference table. It was by itself, next to a second window, and the light was hitting it, but you couldn’t really tell since the wood was so dark, the same kind as the coffee table and her desk. They must have been a set. She also had a security robot in the corner by a door leading to yet another room, probably a private bathroom. Nico hated the robot. It pulled your eye to the obviously most boring part of the room. Why did she even need it, was anyone really going to forget that she was a judge?
“Do you mind if I ask what you use to get your hair so shiny?”
“You will address me as ‘Ma’am’ or ‘Judge Bragg.'”
“Do you mind if I ask what you use to get your hair so shiny, Judge Bragg?”
Judge Bragg’s expression became very stern again, somehow even more than when she had been pretending before. “You may ask me questions, when I am finished telling you what I called you in here to say, but they had better be appropriate ones or you’re going to be sent for a disciplinary session in your first half hour, and the way you are acting, it will likely be your first of several.” She didn’t pause long enough for Nico to respond. “Also, I won’t tolerate a juvenile and defiant attitude just because I told you to tie your shoes. You are twenty-two years old now, not thirteen. Actually, I won’t tolerate bad behavior of any sort, and I’m sure you know what I will consider bad behavior to be.
“As you may be finally figuring out, you have been sentenced to reformation after testing positive for narcotics. Therefore, for the next six weeks at least, but maybe even as long as two years, you’re going to be living here. To start with you will be doing chores. The kind of chores that are normally done by cleaning robots. The point is to gain an appreciation for how much society provides for you, which apparently you have failed to notice up until now.
“In the beginning of the program, you will have especially long and tedious days. Eventually you will earn privileges, like access to entertainment or more interesting food, but to start with, all you’re going to be doing is working, washing windows, scrubbing floors and toilets, six days a week, eleven hours a day, plus the time it takes you to clean your room. And all of that will be to a very high standard. And in case you were wondering what happens when you don’t behave, I will send you to have your bottom spanked in a special device designed just for that purpose. We call it ‘the Chair.’ It hurts more than you think something can hurt, and for especially poor behavior, I can make it burn for days after. So keep that in mind when you are speaking to me, or anyone else here, for that matter.” She was obviously only just getting started, but Nico had already heard enough. It was time to put this old witch in her place.
She blew a big, azure blue, bubble. She had been planning to keep the gum for as long as she could. It was going to be something to occupy her while she was doing the long boring tasks this overly dramatic old lady was describing. Her advocate had warned her they were coming, and she knew she would hate it. She needed more interesting and fast moving activities in her life, so having some gum might at least help a little.
But she didn’t particularly like the flavor, truthfully. Really, it was for the color that she chose this gum. It went with her hair, and for moments just like this. The sacrifice of having it taken away would surely be worth the look on Bragg’s face. She popped the bubble, surprisingly loudly, and stared back at Judge Bragg, defiantly. She put her hands back on her hips. This is it lady. It’s time to learn if you really are confident or if you are just pretending to be. She had never seen someone look so angry.
“Pick that LITTLE BRAT up and take her to the punishment room IMMEDIATELY,” Judge Bragg exploded. The security robot leapt. It’s arms and legs extended and it pounced on her like a predator attacking its prey. Nico screamed in genuine terror. The robot was so much bigger than it looked a moment ago, and apparently it was angrier than Judge Bragg was.
“Beth, you can show Cassidy how to write a discipline report next. This girl is about to get the spanking of her life. After that skip her orientation until the end of the day and start her cleaning instead. She can scrub conference rooms floors until I say otherwise, at least until our next meeting. I want to run out of floors before she is done. And make sure she spits her FUCKING gum out and doesn’t have any more.”
The robot exited Bragg’s office carrying her. Nico was being held securely by its long flexible arms. They were coiled around her shoulders and under her arms and around her chest, and waist, suspending her in front of it, looking forward. Her feet were flailing but always passing centimeters above the ground.
Nico was panicking. Her heart was racing. She was in shock, desperately trying to squirm free. The last few seconds were a blur. She continued to struggle, but the robot’s technique was impeccable. It held her effortlessly and securely, yet harmlessly. It had its synthetic arms around her so she couldn’t gain any purchase. She wasn’t even going to have a single bruise, despite desperately throwing every gram of her strength at it. After thirty seconds they were approaching an elevator, and she was just beginning to get her wits back about her. It was dawning on her that she might have misread Judge Bragg. She didn’t seem especially to lack confidence when she ordered it to grab her, and she wasn’t so crazy about the ‘spanking of her life’ part either. They were moving down the hallway quickly. The robot was in quite the hurry.
Nico continued to recover. She forced herself to start breathing slowly. The two assistants were running down the hall to catch up with them. Suddenly the elevator door opened as they approached. She strained her neck to look back defiantly at the two women chasing after them. “Can we please go back? I seem to have misplaced my gum.”
The older lady got her arm in the closing doors so they could enter the elevator with her. They stepped inside and she moved it to allow the door to close. “No, young lady, we cannot go back. And you are really going to want to smarten up. You’re not doing yourself any favors.”
Nico frowned. “I guess this is going to hurt more than getting the discipline wand at school, huh?”
The younger one looked at her in disbelief. She was only a year or two older than she was. “Two quick taps on each cheek? Yeah, it’s going to hurt a lot more.”
Nico remembered Mrs. Brown, her vice principal, doing exactly that to her. “OK, Nico, bend over and put your palms on the wall right there.” She would poke the spot with the business end of her wand. Then one, two, three, four, little pats, left, right, left, right with the wand. They were always only the most gentle of touches, on the seat of her skirt, Bermuda shorts, short shorts, cutoffs, leggings, sweatpants, jeans, khakis, cords, dress, her pajama bottoms (that one time), or whatever else she was wearing —she did it to her a lot, actually. It made her yelp every time nonetheless, but then it would be over. It was always worse in the moment than she remembered it being the time before, but it never was that bad, truthfully. Just some tears in her eyes and a quick rub of her butt the moment Mrs. Brown turned away, so she wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing her do it, even though she must have known.
“Bragg reminds me of one of my vice principals at school. She was pretty good with those wands though. In the end I won that battle of wills. Mrs. Brown didn’t like me chewing gum either. But she shouldn’t have picked a fight with me. I am the reason she retired early, and she wasn’t that far off from getting her full pension. She had a nervous breakdown and I chewed gum all the way through the rest of my school years.”
The young woman crossed her arms. “A tap with a discipline wand is always the same Nico, that’s the whole point. Also, you will call her ‘Judge Bragg.’ And finally, if it was you sending her to the Chair, rather than the other way around, I am sure she would still win the battle of wills.”
The elevator doors opened. The robot stepped out and stopped right away. Beth knocked on the door in front of them, and then opened it. The robot went straight in and put Nico back on the ground inside it. It kept standing right beside her though, just in case she was planning to make a run for it. An older middle aged woman wearing a white uniform was there waiting.
The older assistant spoke first. “OK, Nico, let’s have that gum before you sit down on the chair over there.” Nico stammered and then caught herself. The chair was quite terrifying looking. It was metal with a thin cloth seat. There were straps to hold you in place.
“No really, it’s gone, I don’t know where.”
“You better not have spat it out in Judge Bragg’s office. If she steps on it, just you wait.”
The young assistant interjected, “I think it’s on the robot’s foot.” Indeed it was.
The woman in the white uniform bent over and picked it up. She threw it and the disposable glove she was wearing into a trash bin. She put on another glove and walked to the chair. “OK, Nico, come here. It’s time for me to teach you a really good lesson, young lady.”
Nico walked to her slowly. She didn’t really have any choice. “OK, open your mouth, tongue up, now down. Good girl, just making sure you don’t have any more of that gum. We don’t need that going down the wrong way.” She gestured with her hand, a little pirouette motion. Nico obeyed, turning half around, so she was poised, ready to sit in the metal chair with the thin cloth seat. “OK, drop those pants and undies and sit down,” the woman said matter of factly.
Nico looked at her, in complete disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”
The woman looked very seriously back. “No, I am not, and that security robot wasn’t just to save you the trouble of walking here, so do as your told, or we will have them down and you sitting almost as easily with its help.”
Again, she didn’t seem to have a choice. All three women watched her sit down, tentatively onto the chair, her pants and panties around her knees. She was quickly strapped into it with the built in restraints. They were padded and effective. She wasn’t going anywhere. “Judge Bragg didn’t give you any instructions regarding what to say to her about what her punishment is for,” the lady observed. “I guess that’s what happens when you make her really angry. I am sure it’s fine. I bet you know what it’s for, don’t you Nico?”
She did actually have a pretty good idea.
The woman turned to Bragg’s assistants. “OK, ready you two?” The younger one in training had turned white as a sheet. She was shaking just a tiny amount too but the older assistant passed her her tablet to calm her down a little and occupy her hands. Then the Chair was activated.
The pain was incredible. Judge Bragg was right. It hurts more than you think something can hurt. It was like a hot iron pressed against every square centimeter of her butt. She wanted to beg for mercy, but it was too intense. All she could do as yell out. She couldn’t form words. She just howled and sobbed instead, only stopping to breath.
Suddenly she found her words. “STOP STOP! I AM SORRY —I’LL BE GOOD— I PROMISE.” The burning pain was relentless. She went back to crying uncontrollably. Her ass was being flayed. It seemed to go on forever. She lost count of how many times she had to stop crying, just to breath. The machine finally turned off. Nico took another breath and stopped crying quite as frantically. “Oh please I am so sorry, please. I won’t do it again.” As she became more consciously aware that the spanking had finished, she stopped pleading and just cried.
“That’s a good girl, Nico. That’s what we want to hear,” one of the older two women said. She couldn’t tell which. She didn’t really care.
The woman in white released the straps and pulled her up to her feet. She just just stood there crying. The woman had to pull her pants up for her. “That was a firm first punishment. You’re going to have an obviously red backside for the next day or so young lady. It will continue to hurt during that time, especially for the next few hours. There’s no long-term damage from this punishment, so after a couple of days, it will just be a memory, but I hope not too faint of one, or I might be seeing you again.”
Nico cried the whole way up in the elevator. She was calming down a little as the doors opened. Then they took her to a huge and empty conference room, as Bragg had told them to. She was given a bucket, a brush, and a bag full of detergent pellets. They showed her where to get water and summoned a cleaning robot. It was there to make sure she did a good job. She found herself on her knees, on a hard floor, that absolutely did not need any cleaning. She hadn’t even stopped crying yet completely.
The older assistant leaned down. “We’ll see the logs from the cleaning robot and there’s a camera right there. You better work as hard as you ever have, because Judge Bragg will sit that little fanny of yours right back down in the Chair and give you another spanking if you don’t. You may have two, ten minute breaks to have water from the fountain over there, or use the washroom over there. That’s it, any other breaks and we will see, and you will regret it.” Then they left her.
Soon she was crying hard again. Her ass hurt, her knees already hurt, they hadn’t given her gloves, so her nails were going to be ruined, and she was still in her first hour of the program. Chris had warned her against trying to sneak the gum in. She told him it wouldn’t matter.
“Don’t be stupid Chris. They aren’t going to punish me extra for it. It will be a funny story to tell people over drinks, or to my grandkids. The program is going to be the same either way. They don’t make an amusement park ride extra scary if you’re a race car driver, you idiot.”
It was her that was the idiot. He was right. She shouldn’t have snuck that gum in. He was also so fucking lucky. He did far more krystals than she did, and yet every time he was pulled for a random blood test, he happened to be clean that week. She was tested the day after her second time trying it, because of an asshole cop. That was the problem living in the eastern outskirts of the city. They were checking you more often, if you lived there.
There was a clock in the room at least. The minutes were going so slowly, she wondered if it was broken. She scrubbed and scrubbed. She slowly stopped crying, but all she could do was scrub more. She started getting angry. The more she scrubbed, the madder she got. Just after five-thirty, the young assistant showed up. “Come with me please.” By that point, Nico was furious.
Two minutes later she was back in Judge Bragg’s office. “That might have been the angriest I have been in years young lady,” Judge Bragg told her. She wasn’t very mad now, Nico figured, but you could never be too sure. Some people could keep their anger hidden well. Her Mom was like that. Judge Bragg was probably like that too.
“I see you are pretty mad now, though. That’s good. I don’t want to waste any time getting to you defiance. We’re going to break that quickly. I won’t make you sit down, but you may if you like.” She didn’t sit. She just put her hands on her hips and glared. Judge Bragg’s expression intensified.
“In some ways you remind me of myself when I was your age, though even you’re not as insufferable as I would have found myself, I am sure. My hair was green, and it didn’t suit me as well as yours does you, either. But you need to be careful mixing hair and attitude like that. You only get one chance to make a first impression. And you didn’t make one that I particularly cared for. Your second impression leaves a lot to be desired as well. That being said, it’s my job not to let first and second impressions weigh too heavily on my perception of you. I am much more concerned with what my final impression of you is going to be.
“I take contraband substances very seriously here, especially from someone found guilty of a drug offense, but perhaps I shouldn’t have had the robot treat you so roughly. I am noting it in your record. When your reformation is reviewed, it will be addressed and to your benefit. I am reassigning your chores as well. You will do a standard rotation, not just floors for your first week, after all. Further, I also should have told you that we will be meeting frequently to discuss your progress. Cassidy and Beth will give you your orientation now, unless you have any questions.”
As Nico was leaving Judge Bragg added a final thing. “Its your attitude we’re going to focus on first, I have decided. To start with you will be especially careful by the way you stand and look at people. I don’t want to see your hands on your hips again young lady, until either you have children or you start working here, and I am not hiring another replacement for Beth.
“You may think of it this way, if it helps: when you put your hands on your hips, it’s like you are pointing right at your backside and indicating precisely the spot where you need some special attention, and if you do it again, I will ensure that that is exactly what you will get, understood?”
Nico turned and looked at her defiantly. She caught herself though as soon as she saw the look in Judge Bragg’s eyes. She had started to, but didn’t, put her hands on her hips. The judge wasn’t kidding.
“Good girl. That was close, but just on the right side of the line, at least for now. Slowly but surely we’re going to improve that even more. By the time you leave, you’re going to make Cassidy look like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.”
That last comment was too much. She had been accused of throwing temper tantrums her whole life, and she hated it. Maybe because she used to do it when she was little, and until later than when most other kids had stopped. The other children used to tease her about it. “I don’t understand why nobody knows what a temper tantrum looks like. I am not throwing one. This is nothing like a fucking temper tantrum.“
“Too bad, and you were so close. What did I just say about those hands and your hips?”
Nico realized she done it again. She hadn’t meant to. She could tell by Bragg’s look she was going back to the Chair. “Fuck you. Sorry, I mean, fuck you, Ma’am.”
Judge Bragg pressed a button on her tablet. “Cassidy, Beth, would you please take Nico back to the punishment room, and don’t worry ladies, I won’t have you work much more overtime on Cassidy’s first day. After Nico is done getting her spanking, put her in her room for the night and you can give her her orientation in the morning. She will miss all of her lunch, dinner, and breakfast tomorrow morning, but that’s fine. I don’t mind —robot, if this girl is still here in five seconds, carry her out of my office and then either way, follow Mrs. Martin’s instructions.
She figured out who was who at least. Cassidy was the young one. They kept Nico by what was now Cassidy’s desk while Beth tracked down who the backup operator for the Chair was today, since Mrs. Bailey, who must have been the lady in white, had gone home. It was another Judge’s assistant called Barb.
They had her on speaker. “OK, let me just check with my boss that I can be gone for a few minutes and then we will have that brat spanked for Judge Bragg, no problem,” As they waited for her to confirm, Judge Bragg poked her head out of her door. “Cassidy, Beth, I am putting a standing order in Nico’s file. If you see her hands on her hips, with even the slightest hint of defiance in her body language, she will be taken to the punishment room as soon possible to have exactly this session repeated, with absolutely no exceptions, and make sure you let Barbara know too, for the weekends.”
Barb’s voice came back on speaker. “OK, I will meet you down there, and don’t worry Judge Bragg, I caught that about her hands on her hips. I will keep my eye out for it.” Nobody seemed to be paying attention to Nico, even though she was standing right there and they were all talking directly about her, but then Beth and Cassidy led her back to the elevator with a security robot, and she realized she preferred being ignored for the first time in her life.
It was finally sinking in. It was about to happen again, and there was nothing she could do about it. “Wait, please wait, can I please go back and apologize to Judge Bragg? I don’t want another spanking, please.”
“No, no we cannot go back. But keep that thought in your head, because in around a week, probably, you are going to see her again, and it’s the best idea you have had in a long time, I suspect, to apologize to her,” is all Beth said.
Of course she would say that. Now she had just shown weakness for no reason. She wasn’t going to get out of her spanking and now they knew: she had cracked under the strain. Nico yelled in frustration, “You know what, fuck you, actually. I don’t need to apologize. I am not apologizing to anyone. I am certainly not apologizing to you, for saying that.”
“I guess it’s lucky for me I didn’t especially want you to, but I bet you will be anyways, in around two minutes from now. Just like last time.” They took her in to meet Barbara.
Nico liked Barbara even less than she liked Mrs. Bailey. Barbara didn’t ask her to take her pants and panties down. She just tugged them down herself as Nico walked past her to go to the chair, before she had even turned around. Her ass was exposed for them all to see. “Oh, it looks like you have already been here today, huh? Let’s see if a second dose improves your attitude.” Barbara glanced at Beth. “This is her second, or is it already more?” Beth flashed two fingers, like a peace sign. “Just a second. I guess on the bright side, it could be worse then, but don’t worry, it doesn’t run out of charge, so I can spank you with it again, after, if you need it. Just put your hands on your hips, if you want me to.”
Nico suddenly started to cry. She was breaking down. She couldn’t believe it. They had already spanked her, and then she had to scrub a floor for hours, and now they were spanking her again, and they didn’t seem to care in the least about her. This new woman was even enjoying it.
“Sit down young lady,” Barbara commanded. She said it so firmly, Nico sat without questioning. Then she was strapped in again.
Beth said, “Nico, Judge Bragg doesn’t want you putting your hands on your hips defiantly any longer. Let’s see if this will help you remember,” and then she passed her tablet back to Cassidy. Nico started uncontrollably crying even before the chair turned on. Beth was right. The first thing she did was apologize. Just like Beth told her she would. Then she promised, and then she begged, and then she just cried. Finally, she screamed. The pain just kept getting worse. It didn’t start quite as bad as the first time, but the longer it went, the more it burned. It finished with her ass having a hot iron pressed on it again, and then finally it was over.
Barbara walked up, “Open your mouth.” She did, and there was a quick drop on her tongue. They were obviously nanites of some sort, but they didn’t seem to do anything, other than taste a little funny. They didn’t even tingle like nanites normally do. Barbara undid her restraints and pulled her up and then pulled her pants back up too. “You’re going to have a bright red bottom. When you get a second spanking, it makes the burn from a recent earlier one last longer. I checked the logs while you were getting it, and this is similar to your last one, but not quite as severe, so now it will hurt for two to three days, especially for the next twenty-four hours. I also gave you some nanites to make sure your vocal chords aren’t damaged, just in case. Rarely they can get scar tissue, and we don’t want that, given that you were likely screaming during your last one too. OK, you’re done. I don’t want to see you down here again, got it?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Nico said crying.
“Good girl,” Beth said surprised. “We’re making some progress already, and it’s not even been a day yet. In a week you will probably be a little angel.” Nico just kept crying. She wasn’t listening. She heard the words but they hardly meant anything to her.
They took her to her room and locked her in it with a glass sliding door. There were a few other girls watching, all silently when Beth and Cassidy brought her through a large common room. One of them waved to Cassidy and smiled. Cassidy waived back, but she was quite restrained, given the circumstances. Nico was sobbing, and they escorted her to her room solemnly.
“If you want to use your toilet, or do anything else in private, you can press the yellow button.” Beth’s voice came on over speaker. The glass was obviously sound proof, otherwise. “The glass will become opaque when you do that, but only for ten minutes at a time, and you can only do that twice an hour. Once you step back from your door, it will open again, if you want to introduce yourself to your fellow wards or hear what they are saying. If ever you are close though, it will be closed, while you are confined to your room. We will see you in the morning.” Cassidy hugged the girl who waved earlier, and then hugged a second older ward too. Then they were gone, and it was just her and the strangers, all wearing the same light gray uniforms.
In a little bit, a few more wards joined, and then they all went to have their dinner. She couldn’t see them eating, but she could smell the food. She was suddenly incredibly hungry, and she realized she was going to miss her breakfast too. She fiddled with her terminal for a couple of minutes, but there was nothing on it, other than a whole bunch of laws, a calendar, which was entirely empty, except for her schedule. That was entirely cleaning duty. At least it had a clock. She went back to her door and it closed so at least she wouldn’t have to smell the food. Her bum hurt constantly.
The older ward came a little closer half an hour or so later and gestured for her to step back. She had to be in her early thirties, or even a little older. She did step back as the woman wanted, and her door opened. “My name is Lisa. I am sorry, it looks like you had a hard first day. I remember the first part of my reformation. It was hell, but don’t worry, it gets easier. You might even stop hating Judge Bragg so much. I did, and I had more reason to hate her than you, I am sure.”
“Oh really, why is that?”
“My reformation started very badly, or at least I thought it did.”
“Are you going to give me some words of wisdom now, after all you have learned?”
“Sure, why not? Most wards have a turning point. It’s not when you are ‘fixed’ and could leave if only Judge Bragg agreed. That’s your last day. Or at least almost your last day. Another judge will review your reformation first, after she recommends your release. Your turning point is when you know you’re going to change and everything is going to work out. For me it was the happiest day of my life. It came right after the worst day of my life. But for most wards it’s more complicated, unfortunately.
“In one way it feels like the old you has given up, and you just lost the hardest and most important fight of your life. But it also feels like the new you just won the most important fight of her life, at the same time. For almost everyone it’s worth it. Most of us prefer who we become to who we used to be.”
Nico was suddenly very sorry she asked. She didn’t care what this woman called Lisa thought. “You know what? I am glad for you, but I think I am going to keep hating her. Almost as much as I am going to hate the pathetic cunts who let her break their wills and start kissing her ass and apologizing for her.”
“OK, suit yourself. The tall redhead over there is Brianna. I will let her know you are coming for her title of lead bitch of our dorm.”
A couple of the other wards laughed. Brianna just raised her middle finger and gestured to the whole room. “Fuck all y’all. I am the lead fucking bitch, and none of you forget it.”
For a moment Nico thought she was joking, but then she realized she wasn’t.
Five minutes before eight there was a chime and the other wards all shuffled into their rooms. An hour after that, all the lights shut off.
Lisa was right about one thing. This place was hell. Nico cried for two hours after the lights went out. Someone yelled at her to shut up, probably Brianna. Whoever she was, she started to threaten her, but Nico didn’t get a chance to hear it. That ward’s door suddenly slid shut, and she was cut off, mid sentence. Nico just kept crying. Fuck them. She didn’t care what they thought anyway.
All their alarms went off at six. The other wards all got to work cleaning their rooms. She couldn’t see them, and her door still closed whenever she got near it, but she could hear them. The distinct sound of brushes scrubbing, spray bottles spritzing and smooth surfaces squeaking as they were being wiped. She just lay in bed. Her butt still hurt, but a little less maybe, at least.
Around half of the other wards left right after breakfast, and then a little while later Cassidy came in, holding a bag. She could hear her talking to Lisa. Cassidy mentioned something about how good Lisa looked in that outfit. Apparently Lisa was wearing regular clothes. She couldn’t make out what they were talking about, something about going to the museum again. At first she thought Lisa was upset, but then she realized she was crying for joy. Maybe she was being released. She saw her heading out, right after, and she was definitely wearing regular clothes. She didn’t think they looked very good, more like what Judge Bragg, probably, would think looked good.
Cassidy came to her next and opened her door. “OK, tomorrow, you’re going to clean your room thoroughly. You see that closet? It will have everything you need. It will also have fresh clothes for you and sheets for your bed. Make sure you make it with the clean ones. You will throw all your dirty laundry in that basket. Do all your toiletries before you clean your room because it will be inspected. It needs to be spotless. To start with in particular, wards struggle to clean their rooms well enough. You might want to use some of your breakfast time to do a really good job. Any problem found in your room will be marked with a dot. On Sunday you will need to scrub it off. The dots get more stubborn to scrub for repeat infractions. And they are nanites, so they won’t come off other than on Sunday, after your room’s inspection and before eight in the evening, so don’t bother trying. If all the dots aren’t off by eight, you will be punished.
“Those three doors over there are showers. I would bring your cleaning bucket with some water from your room before you have your shower, to shave your legs with. The water only runs for a short time, and once it starts, you cannot pause it. Or you can stop shaving them while you are here, you’re always going to be wearing long pants anyways. They’re razors in the showers, if you do want to shave. Throw the one you use in the disposal slot in there when you are done. The door won’t open until you do.
“That is ‘Dinning Room A’. Unless you have been confined to your room, you will always have access to it during meal times. The food in it is very bland. You earn the privilege of access to ‘Dinning Room B.’ Once you have, you will be able to order your next day’s food for each meal from a menu on your terminal. You will then eat those meals in there only.” Suddenly she stopped for a second as Beth entered the room with a security robot. “By the way, there’s no talking after eight, and you must be in your room from then on. If you do talk, your door will shut, and you will likely be punished in the morning when Judge Bragg arrives and reviews the audio.” Nico suddenly realized one of the other ward’s doors had remained closed. Beth opened it and marched Briana out of the room.
“You will earn extra privileges for good behavior and have easier work assignments. You will also get Saturday off at one point. To start with, all you will have is Sunday off, and even then you will have to clean your room for inspection and then scrub off your week’s worth of demerit spots. That can take the whole day, if you haven’t done a good job during the week.
“To start your schedule is like this: it’s wake up at six, shower and brush your teeth, etc., right away, then clean your room till seven. Then you have breakfast until seven thirty, then you start working. Lunch at one, for half an hour, then a second shift working. At six-thirty dinner starts which you can have for an hour. Quiet time in your room from eight to nine, then lights out. Again, no talking after eight. Clear?” Nico didn’t say anything.
Any questions?” Nico still didn’t say anything. “Good, go brush your teeth and have a shower and change. Here are some clean clothes, a toothbrush and toothpaste.”
She handed her the bag she was carrying. Inside the shower room was a small counter to organize her clothes and a dispenser for disposable razors. Then there was a small glass cylinder with the shower head above it, and a button. She undressed and stood inside. She pressed the button and warm water started spraying everywhere, cleaning her quickly. At first there was mild soap and then it was pure water. It was really quick, as she had been warned. It started beeping right before it shut off. After it ended, there was an incredibly strong blast of hot air to dry her. It was so intense it flared the pain in her bottom again, reminding her of yesterday’s visits to the Chair. The pain was surprisingly sharp. She tried to get out, but the door wouldn’t open until the air blast stopped. That took just as long, if not longer than shower, and the air was much hotter than the water had been. She came out with tears in her eyes.
“Sorry I should have warned you. The blast of air is very hot and dry. It really hurts a sore bum, but showers are not optional. Whether you have been spanked or not, if you are assigned to do work, you have to have one. There is no camera in their, obviously, but there are other sensors, and we do log them to make sure they happen. Next time, put your back to the glass as the water stops, and it’s not quite as bad. And try not to get any more spankings. Those actually are optional. You don’t need to worry about cleaning your room or making your bed, but put yesterday’s clothes in your hamper. You will get one room cleaning on us.”
She threw her old clothes in her basket as she had been instructed.
“Alright Nico, time to start your chores.”
They passed Briana on her way back as they left. She was crying and rubbing her ass. Beth was unsympathetically returning her to her room for the day, by the looks of it.
She started her cleaning chores. There was a tablet with various instructions and illustrations of her doing the chores. She hoped the depiction was reasonably accurate. It probably was. She actually liked the uniform and sneakers on her. It was a good look.
The first half of the day she was washing windows. Then she had lunch. The food sucked, but she was so hungry she ate two big helpings. Then she cleaned bathrooms all through the Halls of Justice and even on the eighteenth floor where the wards and Judge Bragg’s office was. There was a set path snaking through the building from one to the next to the next. Occasionally she was told by an assistant, or someone else, to skip one and a cleaning robot would take care of it later, but normally the various rooms were empty. All the judges had big luxurious offices like Judge Bragg’s, with private bathrooms, though most weren’t big enough to have whole conference tables. There were also lots of other bathrooms for the rest of the staff spread out around the building. Judge Bragg’s office had one next to it. Beth and Cassidy watched her go in. Then she went to do the one in Judge Bragg’s office. “It’s fine, she is in the library. You can go in. That is one you had better do an especially good job on young lady. We don’t want Judge Bragg to be disappointed in your work there, do we?” Beth said she as she approached the door.
Nico spun around. “Hey, I’ll clean it how I like.” Her hands had gone instinctively to her hips.
Beth didn’t hesitate. She just pressed a button on her tablet and said “OK, let’s go. You know what the consequences are for doing that.”
Nico jumped. She put her hands up like she had been caught trying to steal something. “No please, I am sorry, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to, I promise. It just happened. It was an accident “
“I know, some girls like Brianna are stubborn and stupid enough to do that intentionally, but you’re obviously just a brat who needs to have the defiance spanked out of her. It’s not going to be fun, but it will be worth it —at least for the rest of us.” Beth was reaching for her hands.
Nico dropped to the ground so she couldn’t be pulled to the elevator “No, please, I will stop. I promise. I am not trying to do it. I promise. I will do my best to stop doing it now.”
A security robot came around the corner. “I told you, already, I know that. Now would you rather be carried or walk yourself? Judge Bragg’s orders were crystal clear yesterday. It’s not our decision. It’s hers, and she made it, and she hasn’t changed it yet, so until she does, we aren’t making exceptions. You’ll have a really hot bottom after this one, but it can get more painful still. At one point it will become sore enough that you will figure it out.”
She was carried. It should have been humiliating and yet she didn’t care. Both Beth and Cassidy came to watch her punishment again. The robot helped Mrs. Bailey put her in the Chair and then they spanked her exactly the same again. She spent the whole time screaming in raw frustration. Then they took her right back to Judge Bragg’s office and made her keep cleaning, tears still flowing.
Beth spoke to her on her way out of Judge Bragg’s office again. “You will be having a meeting with Judge Bragg on Monday. Until then she won’t be rescinding that order. She might not do it then either, but definitely not until then. So if I were you, before I said anything to anybody, I would think about it carefully.”
She was incredibly miserable. She was scared to talk to people. She couldn’t trust herself not to get angry and accidentally put her hands on her hips. Especially with most of the wards, since they were such bitches that would provoke her. The nicer ones were avoiding her after her first night. Even Lisa, who hadn’t been released as it turned out, steered clear of her.
Lisa continued to be often wearing regular street clothes, but only briefly each time. She wondered if that was one of the privileges you could earn, though Liz and Madeline, who were also near the ends of their reformations, hadn’t earned it, if that was the case. She caught herself longing to earn that privilege too, but then she buried the thought. That was what Judge Bragg wanted her to do, and she hadn’t even earned a single other one yet. There was no point thinking about it anyway. She wasn’t going to break for Judge Bragg, so what did it matter?
She didn’t get spanked again during the wait for her next meeting with Judge Bragg at least. Mostly because she hardly spoke to anyone. That was made easier because she spent almost all of Sunday scrubbing the stupid spots out of her room. Ultimately, she decided she was going to have to apologize to Judge Bragg about her hands on her hips, and then at least she wouldn’t have to worry about being spanked just for getting annoyed. That wasn’t that big of a concession. She would refuse to bend further for her, but she had to be able to speak to people again.
The meeting was at ten in the morning. Cassidy came to get her. She was cleaning in the lobby with a couple of the other wards. “OK Nico, time for your meeting.”
In the elevator Nico couldn’t help herself. She had to say something to someone else about her imminent capitulation. Somehow she knew that would make it easier to apologize. And Cassidy seemed to be the nicest person here. “Thank God. I am so sick of this standing order. She can’t take it away soon enough.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure that that is what is going to happen. I think she is more likely to get even more demanding and add to it, but don’t worry, you can do it. You’re getting better.”
Nico looked at her concernedly but annoyed. “How would you know? You started the same day I did.” She took a deep breath. Calm yourself Nico. Don’t put your hands on your hips. Especially not with Cassidy.
“You see, you’re doing it! That’s good, and I know her better than you might think, actually. Knock on her door and then just go in. She is expecting you.”
Nico bit her tongue. She didn’t want to be congratulated for not putting her hands on her hips by Cassidy, like a four year old, but she didn’t want to push back either. That was the kind of thing that led exactly to what she needed to avoid. And annoyingly, Cassidy had been right and read her perfectly, She had just caught herself, and changed how she was going to respond. She took a deep breath and opened Judge Bragg’s door.
“Good morning Nico, please take a seat.” Judge Bragg was sitting at her coffee table with a teapot and a pair of cups.”
Nico sat down and swallowed hard. “I just wanted to start by saying I am sorry. I know I have an attitude. My teachers and my parents have always told me that, and I am going to work on it. I am also going to put my hands on my hips much less, like you told me.” She threw in a quick joke, hoping to ease the tension. “I am even tying my shoes for you, Ma’am.”
“Thank you Nico. I am glad. I think you’re right about all of those things, but especially the hands on your hips part, except you’re not going to do it ‘much less,’ you aren’t going to do it at all, or at least you won’t be by the time you leave, because my standing order on that is staying all the way until you do.”
“Oh please Ma’am I am so sorry. I will be better, please. I can’t even talk to people, I am so worried about it all the time.”
“Well it’s time to learn. All you need to do is not put your hands on your hips. The rest of us manage to talk to each other every day without doing it. Actually, as of now we’re going further. I am not altering the order for Cassidy, but going forward you won’t be defiant at all, when you talk to either me or her. Also, you will not be rude to anyone else here. I will find out if you are. And I will spank you every time.”
Nico wanted to scream. “Ma’am please. I’m trying so hard for you. I am going to do it, I promise. I just don’t want to be sent to the Chair every day.”
“You haven’t been sent to the Chair since Wednesday.”
“Really Ma’am, do you want me to beg? Is that what it is?”
“Nico! You’re getting close to the line of defiance. This is a reformation program. The point is to change, and not just a little. And no, I don’t want you to beg. I have had to listen to far too much of that in the last fifteen or so years. What I want you to do —and it is exactly what you are going to do— is to drink your tea and calm down. Then you will say something you think I might be interested to learn, on another topic.”
Nico was about to make a big gesture of exasperation, but she caught herself and drank the rest of her tea instead, like she told her to do. She thought for a whole minute before saying the next thing. “Until I get more interesting work, can I wash windows and do the long series of bathrooms through all the Judges’ offices as much as possible, for my chores? I like seeing many different rooms, especially ones where someone has chosen to intentionally decorate.”
Judge Bragg looked at her with a subtle smile. It was the first time she had seen her do it. “We still have a long ways to go, because there’s a fair bit of defiance left in you yet, but don’t worry, we are making progress.”
Then Judge Bragg surprised her. “I want to know about the krystals you used at that party in the Reynolds house, the night before you were arrested. I know you got them from Christopher, but how did he get them?”
Nico was taken aback. She hadn’t mentioned Chris or that party to the police. She didn’t want to get him in trouble and there had been a lot of damage to the house, much of it caused by her. She didn’t need any more problems, so she had just told the police that the krystals were left over from the party a couple weeks before, when she did them the first time. There was lots of them going around that night, so it was a plausible lie. They didn’t seem to be especially interested at the time, anyway.
“You have three seconds to answer or I am spanking you for an entire minute, so hard you are going to be screaming the whole time, and then you’re going to be crying all night. I guarantee you that that’s exactly what is going to happen. And if you lie to me —and I know more than you think— you’re going straight to Chair, just like I said, and then I am going to ask you again tomorrow, and we’re going to do this all over again. Three seconds, starting right now.”
Nico yelped in absolute shock. She answered right away. “I am sorry I don’t know Ma’am. He just had them. I have no idea where he got them. I only used them twice, and the first time I didn’t get it from him I—”
She interrupted, jumped right down her throat, “I don’t care about the first time. Where did he get it the second time?”
“I have no idea. I promise. I am not lying.” She looked at her, terrified.
“Did Chris make any new friends, or have you noticed anyone new anywhere that stands out somehow?”
“No, nobody.”
“OK, last question,” Judge Bragg was easing off, “Does the name or word ‘Raven’ mean anything to you?”
“No Ma’am, I don’t know any Ravens, and it doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“If you think of anything, you are going to tell me, because if you don’t, I am going to find out, and then you’re going to be the sorriest girl in this whole building for an entire week, and there’s a lot of sorry ones in here. Is that clear?”
“Yes Ma’am, I promise I will tell you, but I don’t know anything, I swear it.”
“Good, now, would you like some more tea?”
Judge Bragg moved on, like nothing had happened. Nico remained in a state of shock for a few minutes longer, but Judge Bragg kept it light for almost the rest of their meeting, talking about her friends and her interests. They went on for another half an hour, when Judge Bragg suddenly called it to an end.
“There’s one more thing I wanted to say before you resume your cleaning duties. There’s nothing wrong with having brightly dyed hair and a lot spunk. Particularly when you’re twenty-two and still really cute, but there’s a big difference between spunk and having giant a chip on your shoulder and flipping nice old ladies the bird. That’s the kind of thing that some of us not as nice old ladies take the wrong way.
“I noticed that the store where you were working was suddenly having a recurring problem of a particularly expensive pink hair dye going missing. At least it was in the three inventory reports starting after you joined their team. When you leave here, you’re going to be buying your cosmetics, but in the meantime, I am having Cassidy order touch-up kits for you. I’m also going to remember what you said about washing windows and seeing lots of different rooms. I am keeping your privileges as they are, as well as the standing order about your hands on your hips, but if you behave, you will get your entertainment privileges next meeting. You’re dismissed young lady.”
That night she sat near Lisa in the common room after their dinner. She needed to talk to someone, and Lisa seemed like the most likely candidate who wouldn’t push her buttons. Lisa graciously picked up on the point right away. She didn’t make it awkward. She just moved a couple of seats closer and made it clear she was listening, so Nico could talk if she wanted to.
“I had my first progress meeting with Judge Bragg. Maybe you’re right. She’s not quite as bad as I thought. Why did you hate her so much again?”
“It was because of my son. I don’t want to talk about it, if you don’t mind.”
Nico resisted the urge to ask about it. Lisa was old enough that she would have had the choice not to undergo reformation, but alternative punishments taken instead would probably be longer, maybe that was why. Even so, it was surprising that Lisa was put in reformation at all. She was already older than who trial judges would normally consider such a punishment for.
“She asked me very aggressively about where I got my krystals from. I thought reformation judges aren’t supposed to care about your crimes so much, but are instead supposed to focus on your rehabilitation and future.”
“You’re not alone. She has been on a krystal obsession according to the gardeners. Most of her new wards are here because of krystals. That’s probably my fault —another thing I don’t want to talk about. You’re probably lucky, if it’s any consolation. The other judges wouldn’t go any easier on you, and she has the highest success rate in the system. She gets her pick of wards as they come in, and she usually takes the most difficult ones. My advocate petitioned her directly to have me accepted into reformation. If she hadn’t agreed to request me, I probably wouldn’t have been sentenced to it.”
Nico looked at her very surprised, “And yet you hated her?”
The chime warning them that it was nearly eight sounded.
Nico didn’t let her answer her question. She had a more important one. “What was your turning point and how did you know?”
“Mine was right after I realized I didn’t hate Judge Bragg as much as I hated somebody else. I hope you have your turning point soon.”
“I was wondering if I just had it my meeting with her today. Do you think that is possible?”
“Everyone is different. Some wards don’t have an obvious one at all. But no, I doubt you had it in your first meeting. Good night.”
—
“I am going to start by picking up all the garbage they left. Why don’t you make sure all the chairs, booth piping, and drapes go back into storage properly. Then we will have to the clean the bathrooms. Whoever is done first can start on them and then we’re both going to have to do the floors.” She bent over to pickup some masking tape that had been crushed into a ball.
Nico and Brianna were tidying up after a trade show. Nico was taking charge. Last week they did the same thing, and it had been a disaster. Brianna insisted on doing the piping and the drapes entirely by herself, and that meant that Nico would inevitably run out of other work and would be stuck doing all the washrooms herself, as well as starting on the floors long before Brianna was finished. Nico didn’t like it, and they had a huge argument.
Then, when the work was inspected, it was found deficient. The floors had smudges. They weren’t even punished. They just had to scrub the floors in a few more places rather just sweeping and mopping them. Cassidy just wrinkled her nose at it a little and ticked them off, before making them do it.
It wasn’t a big secret: cleaning robots would come and redo it all anyway. Brianna was furious though and she declared that she never wanted to work with Nico again. Nico pointed out that it wasn’t the part of the floor she started on when she was doing them alone, anyway. It was the part they had done together that Cassidy claimed had smudges on it.
Judge Bragg suggested at their next meeting that she should have tried taking on the harder work intentionally, and just embraced it, because it was better than fighting about it. That would likely be psychologically easier for both of them, and she might even feel good about it. “Everyone has to accommodate other people being unreasonably demanding some of the time, after all.”
Nico wasn’t crazy about that idea. For her entire life, she was the difficult one that other people tiptoed around. Suddenly the shoe was on the other foot, and she didn’t like it. They had been put together again, almost right away, to do exactly the same job. This was obviously a test, so she better do it, even if just to humor Judge Bragg.
“Don’t tell me what to fucking do. I know how to clean a conference room.”
Nico spun around, her hands on hips, but only for a second. She yanked them off as soon as she realized what she had done. There had been a few times recently when it had happened, but Cassidy had already left, so she was probably safe. But it pissed her off. It was just that kind of bullshit from Brianna that could make her life miserable.
“Well I guess if you are a fucking retard, that is how you would have taken me offering to do more of my share of the hard work.”
Brianna screamed, and charged her. Nico hit her with a chair. That slowed her down, but only for a moment. They hit the ground screaming and throwing punches and scratching at each other. Nico tried to bite her, but Brianna got her arm on her neck. She was much bigger, and had been in lots of fights. She had her completely at her mercy, her hand held over her head menacingly. “Go ahead bitch, call me a ‘retard’ again. And then I am going to break your nose, how about that? Actually, maybe I am going to do that anyway, but first you’re going to apologize. Do it. Say you’re sorry.”
“I am sorry, I won’t do it again, I am sorry, Brianna please—”
The bigger girl’s arms were suddenly entangled from behind. A security robot pulled them apart, lifting her up and away from Nico. Before Nico could get up, a second one had come from behind her, and picked her up too. They were both carried to temporary detention cells, facing each other.
Mrs. Bailey arrived almost right away and put a couple small bandages on her where she had been scratched and gave her a quick look over otherwise. Then she went to check on Brianna. “How are your hands? That wrist looks swollen. This is a mild pain killer. It will help.”
“Yeah, the bitch hit me with a chair.”
“Can I have a pain killer too? My head hurts.” Nico asked.
“I checked you. You don’t have a concussion, and young ladies about to go the Chair don’t get pain killers.” Mrs. Bailey turned and spoke to her curtly.
“She attacked me, and I am going to the Chair, that’s bullshit.”
“You will be glad you’re still being sent to the Chair, after you have had some time to think about it.” Mrs. Bailey was quite upset, Nico suddenly realized. “I will see you in a few minutes, and this time I am not going to mind giving a ward an extra hard spanking,” was all Mrs. Bailey said, and then she left abruptly.
Five minutes later Judge Bragg arrived. She had a small folding chair with her. She didn’t say a word to Nico. She just sat down beside Brianna, her back turned to Nico. “I am sorry Briana, but I told you last time, you were only going to find yourself in one of these temporary detention cells one more time.”
“Are you sorry Pamela? I don’t think you are. And I am calling you ‘Pamela’ from now on by the way, and you aren’t going to be able to do anything about again, are you? You cannot send me to the Chair now for it.”
“You can call me Pamela now, Brianna. That is what everyone calls me outside of here. And it’s not going to be as bad as you think. It’s a lot like your life now, but no more losing and gaining privileges, no more Chair. Your room will be cleaned for you, for a change. And there are people there too, people like you all working to improve, just at a slower pace. It’s not over forever necessarily either. It’s often just for a few years. You will get another chance, a better chance. We all change over time, whether we mean to, or want to, or not.”
“Maybe I don’t want another chance. Maybe I am not done with this one. I told you I wasn’t ready to give up my reformation yet. Maybe I want to be a normal person. Did you ever think of that?”
“Yes, Brianna, I have. You still can be. But you need time. This isn’t helping you, so we are going to try something else, something probably better.”
Cassidy arrived with a security robot, she opened Nico’s door. “OK Nico, let’s go. Show’s over.”
The moment she went around the corner, she could no longer hear Brianna properly, only Judge Bragg.
“—I didn’t say we couldn’t talk anymore. I am glad you want to. If you find our meetings worthwhile, we will continue them. I will make time for a call with you every week, just like now. And once a month I will come in person, for as long as you want. And of course we can talk now too. I will stay here all night if you like, or at least until you fall asleep.”
Suddenly she could hear Brianna screaming, and pounding the glass between her and Judge Bragg. And then they were gone. The elevator was right there.
Nico’s turning point didn’t happen until a couple of days later. Lisa was long gone by that point, so she didn’t have the chance to tell her that she had been right, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need Lisa to tell her that it had happened. She knew it all by herself.
She had the hardest spanking in the Chair yet, immediately after Brianna was sent to indefinite detention, but it wasn’t the spanking that did it. She tried to brush off Brianna as best as she could, but she couldn’t get her out of her mind.
She made a joke out of it with the other wards, but it affected her more than she acknowledged to them. She just couldn’t stop thinking about her and Mrs Brown, of all people. She had a few relapses, when it came to her defiance, but they were incidental, just her old bad antics refusing to die. The thing that she realized that was going to be different about herself from then on, was that she wasn’t going to be the cause of other people being forced into doing something they didn’t want to do, especially if it was important.
—
She rolled over and punched Brian in the shoulder, not too hard. He was ten years older than her, but yet he slept a lot more than she did. She met him when he came to pick her up from the Halls of Justice when she got out, and they started dating almost immediately. She didn’t blow a bubble in Brian’s face as she left. She had thrown the gum out before she even knew it wasn’t going to be Chris meeting her. That was just as well. Brian wouldn’t have liked it. He was a pretty serious man, most of the time.
Christopher had asked Brian to pick her up. He had promised her that he would do it himself, right before she went in, but by then he was well into boot camp. His mandatory service wouldn’t end for years. In a few months he would be able to come back, but then only for brief stints.
She wasn’t going to date a soldier, unfortunately for him. That was a hard call, when she told him. Not only that, he would soon discover she was with Brian. But also, unfortunately for him, she loved Brian a lot more than she ever loved Christopher. With him, she only liked the rebellion and the drugs, but that was over now. She didn’t want them anymore, and that was also just as well. If she even so much as mentioned krystals, Brian would be barging into Judge Bragg’s office, her slung over his shoulder, shortly there after: “Nico is going to need a little more reformation.”
“Owwwww, take it easy, it’s Sunday.” Brian rolled onto his side, pretending her punch hurt more than it had, and looked at her.
She didn’t care. “How many times have I told you. Sundays are games day. Cassidy is coming and so is Hannah, with her new boyfriend Carl, along with Lisa and James, of course. I want to clean before they do, including making this bed.”
“What does that have to do with anything? You clean and make the bed every morning, and they aren’t going to be here for hours. You know this building has cleaning robots? They are included in our rent, whether we use them or not. Our days are Wednesdays and Sundays. You don’t have to do it all today.” Then he added after a moment, “And I don’t like it when Hannah comes —I think she cheats. I just cannot figure out how.”
He asked her a dumb question out of the blue, like he so often did. “If we had more money, how would you decorate here? Like if you were doing it up for one of your clients?” That was putting it generously, she hardly had any clients, mostly she decorated for friends, but she liked it, and she was finally starting to get some paying work.
She answered cautiously. “If we had more money, I would get a bigger apartment and move to where we had a view of the lake. I wouldn’t get different stuff. Why?”
He looked at her. “I got promoted is all. They made me an apprentice, and they are going to pay for my time while I do classes. I think they like me. Actually, I am sure of it. I don’t think we will be able to afford a view of the lake, but maybe a little bigger.” She yelped with delight and punched him in the shoulder again. She had to admit, he wasn’t as dumb as he looked, certainly a lot less dumb than his younger brother. He grabbed her and pulled her underneath him. “You can make the bed after we’re finished with it.”