It was dinner time when everything came to a head for Deirdre Kelly.

Dierdre has spent all dinner quiet, something which had increasingly become the case ever since Donald had come into the family. Deirdre had always tended to be quiet at family meals, but that was because she had typically been on her phone, DMing Stacey or Holly or Anna. But Donald had instituted “family face time” and now Deirdre had to listen to Donald and Kevin talking about sports or school and Mom occasionally chipping in with a “Yes, dear” or “That’s wonderful, honey!”

With the meal finished, Donald had paused in his conversation with Kevin to talk to Deirdre. “I think we’re all done now, Pumpkin,” he said, using the pet name for her that made Deirdre’s skin crawl. “Why don’t you help your mother clean the table?”

“No!” she snapped back, instantly regretting that she sounded more like a spoiled brat than the rational adult she wanted to come across as. “I mean, I wanted to have the chance to talk with you first,” she quickly added, well aware of how she was undermining her attempted strong stance even more. “You and Mom both,” she finished meekly.

Donald’s jaw clenched, clearly not used to being addressed like this, especially by someone approximately the age of his students. Kevin was quiet now also, staring at her with the faint hint of the smile he was obviously trying hard to suppress turning the corners of his lips upwards. She could almost hear his thoughts: This is going to be good!

Deirdre decided to press forward. “What I wanted to say is… I don’t think I need to go to the doctor you want me to go to.” Just saying those words, especially in front of Kevin, felt crushing.

Now it was Donald’s turn for a smug smile to come to his mouth. “The dermatologist? Dierdre, your skin looks so much better already!”

It really did, which only fueled Deirdre’s frustration and anger. It made a small part of her feel like a fraud for being secretly thankful for Donald sending her to the dermatologist when he was such a… such an ass in all other respects! It muddled her view of him ever so slightly, but it was like a little imperfection causing her whole rage to somehow not fully crystallize into the perfect pattern she knew it should.

But still, Deirdre was not conflicted on this point. She glanced to Kevin, just a flicker to not reveal the humiliation that was already coloring her reduced-acne cheeks the same shade as her hair, and pressed Donald: “No, not the dermatologist, the… the….” The words just wouldn’t come out; like Donald’s kindness, Kevin’s presence – and Mom’s silence – was making this not go the way she had hoped. “The woman exam,” she lamely concluded, her voice a mix of defeated and angry that came out sounding more like a high-pitched whine than anything else.

Now Donald frowned, crossing his arms. Kevin snickered, but thankfully Mom shot him a silent glance that shut him up instantly. She still had some power, at least. “Young lady, has something happened that you need to tell your mother and myself?”

It took Deirdre a moment to realize what Donald was implying, and her eyes went wide, blush deepening. “What? No! No, I haven’t, I mean, I’m not….” Her eyes again darted to Kevin.

Donald sighed in exasperation, spreading his arms out. “So you’re still a virgin? Good. Good! Then this won’t be a big deal tomorrow, Pumpkin. Just a little peek and you’ll be done. Okay?” Mom looked down at the table at her fiancé’s pronouncement.

Now it was Dierdre’s turn to scowl. The anger was finally crystallizing. “No, Don, no it’s not okay! No, I don’t want to have to go to a doctor for that! I don’t want you telling me if I can date or not! I don’t want you locking me up after cheerleading practice like I’m some fairy tale princess! Well, maybe I am! I’m sure as hell being held captive in my own house by SOME FUCKING OGRE!”

As soon as the words poured out of her mouth, Deirdre knew she had made a terrible mistake. Donald was out of his chair and next to Deirdre with a speed more fitting for an athlete than a 39 year old professor. “Nobody,” he said, his voice cold, “Nobody talks to me that way. Certainly not a teenage girl. Certainly not a girl I’m looking after in my own home.”

His hands went to his belt, starting to undo it. Deirdre’s blood went cold. “Mom?” she asked, looking to the other side of the table. She felt weak at the knees, knew that tears were forming. The memory of Mr. Downe standing in the house in Dad’s robe came to her mind. “Mom, no, no, please…” she whimpered, as Donald took his belt off. With a strong hand, he grabbed her shoulder, his finger brushing her neck. She flinched again, openly crying now as he applied pressure, pushing her to bend over the table.

“Oh no,” she moaned as she felt Donald flipping her plaid skirt up. Her yellow cotton thong was on the display to the world. Terror flooded her mind. Her exposed behind. Being bent over. The belt being removed. His obsession with her virginity. Her tears turned into sobs. “Please don’t… please don’t….” she begged. “Mommy….”

“You…” Mom’s voice wavered, then steadied after Donald glanced at her. “You brought this on yourself with your choice of words, Deirdre. Now you’re going to be put back in your proper place, like… like your father would have if he were around.”

“Mom?” Deirdre gasped. She couldn’t believe what her own mother had just said. The implications. The deference to Donald. Her mother’s actions – her lack of actions, rather – hurt as much as the first smack of Donald’s belt against her pale bottom cheeks. In a way, the pain of the belt was, surprisingly, a relief. Deirdre had never been so much as spanked by Mom before; neither had Kevin. But the belt was probably much more painful than a hand was. But compared to what Deirdre had, for a moment, feared Donald was going to do to her… having it be only a belting was a genuine relief.

“Only” a belting. Deirdre felt cold at how easily that equivocation came to mind. At least the cold was a counterpart to the heat coming out of her butt.

The belting didn’t last long, but Deirdre’s tears – of shock, more than pain – continued after. Mom silently shooed Kevin out of the kitchen, but Deirdre couldn’t summon any relief or gratitude for that. Mom had, after all, been similarly silent following her voicing of support for Donald.

The new man of the house, for his part, put his belt back through the loops, then patted the prostrate Deirdre on the head like a pet. “Believe me, that hurt me more than it hurt you,” he said unconvincingly. “My job is to look after you, after all. And that’s just what I was doing with that. I’m sure it won’t be the last time. But I know we’ll get there. The spankings are for your own good. And so are your virginity exams. Which is why both are part of your life going forward, as long as you live under my roof.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “And that is going to be for a while longer… Pumpkin.”

The next morning, Deirdre got ready for school sullenly. Mom drove her and Kevin into school, dropping Kevin off first. Deirdre grit her teeth every time Mom drove over a bump in the road, as her butt still hurt from… from last night. But she would be damned if Kevin or Mom would get any satisfaction from her making a sign of discomfort. As Deirdre was about to get out of the car herself at the entrance to Central High School, Mom said the first words of the morning to her. “I’ll pick you up after cheerleading practice to take you to the doctor’s clinic.”

“I know how to get to Dr. Baker,” Deirdre replied flatly. She had been to her mother’s gynecologist twice now. For a gynecologist, Dr. Kelli Baker wasn’t too bad – she was a woman at least, and a couple years younger than Mom, the ideal age for someone to go rooting around her vag. She was understanding, and more than anything, that was what Deirdre needed right now.

“It’s not Dr. Baker,” Mom answered. She looked as uncomfortable as Deirdre to be having this conversation. That was at least some type of a win. “It’s at Pry Medical. It’s part of my new healthcare insurance provider network from work. It’s a new female-focused health service that you and I will be going to for our medical needs now.”

“Okay.” Deirdre wasn’t sure how to take that. Still, it gave her a bit of hope. Artemis was supposed to be a progressive, feminist company, right? Surely they would pick a gynecologist who was empathetic to patients. Maybe Deirdre could even talk her way out of this. She pulled out her phone. “It’s called Pry Medical? I can get a Lyft there after I get out.”

“I said,” Mom began, her voice now slightly annoyed, “that I will take you there after cheerleading practice. Pry requires that all patients who are dependents on the policy have a parent or guardian present for legal reasons. It’s either me… or Donald.”

That wasn’t even a choice. “I’ll see you at three, then,” Deirdre said as she got out of the car.

The school day went by in a haze. Deirdre couldn’t focus. Linderman gave a pop quiz in her third period Earth Science class, and she wasn’t even sure she put her name down right. It was so bad that after the period bell rang, the girl next to her spoke.

“Is everything okay, Deirdre?”

Holly Hamilton was a senior like Deirdre – also smart, but torn between cliques. In Holly’s case, it was the fact that she had been uprooted from her life in London when her mother, Gemma, moved to Zenith to work for Artemis. Holly had never really settled in. Holly was smart but rebellious, making her not fit in well with either then popular or nerdy cliques. She remained isolated from most of the girls at Central – even if a lot of the boys lusted after her. Boys would do anything for an accent… although Deirdre granted that the blonde Holly had good looks, too.

“I’m fine,” Deirdre replied. Holly reaching out at all was something shocking. “I just… it’s been weird at home lately.”

Holly nodded. “I can understand that. Listen, if you ever-”

“I’m fine,” Deirdre shot back, harsher than she had intended to sound. She was about to apologize, but Holly was already hurrying off. Great, another point for the day, Deirdre thought to herself.

Finally, eighth period came and went, and cheerleading practice had arrived. Usually, it was Deirdre’s favorite time of the day. She had worked hard to rise up the social ladder, and her skill in gymnastics had helped compensate for her bad skin. She had made Varsity Cheerleading Squad her freshman year, going on to become gold medal winner in the District Cheer Finals, the Valley Cheer and Dance Challenge, and winning the Regional Cheer Challenge.

But as good as she was, Deirdre always was reminded of how she was still beneath Anna Park.

Anna was captain of the cheerleading squad, but her true power was social rather than institutional. She had been born in Seoul to a Korean minister and a Swedish aid worker, and had emigrated with them to the United States at a young age. Her parents ran a Korean Protestant church in Zenith’s Chinatown district, and it was that strict conservative upbringing that Deirdre supposed had turned her fellow senior into such a… well, a thot.

That, and the fact that Anna was inherently sexy, taking the best of both parents’ genes. But it went beyond looks, even her imperious attitude. It was her mystique.

Some thought that DeShawn King, the head quarterback for the Central High Warriors, pimped Anna out to the teammates who did well. Others said she only let DeShawn touch her when he won. And some said that she actually only fucked rich white men in the Financial District. Or that she charged certain boys at Central’s rival high school to get access to her secret Snapchat account. Deirdre thought the claim that Anna danced at Pussywillows on the weekend under the stage name Lotus was probably correct; it seemed too accurate to be made up, and Stacey had shown her a clip on Pornhub that looked a lot like Anna on stage in an electric green bikini and fishnets.

Anna had gradually raised Deirdre up the social ladder, with the implicit understanding that she could be dropped back down at any time. And the last week, it seemed like that process might have begun, thanks to Donald’s imposed curfew. It was less the curfew itself than the laughing fact that Deirdre was actually having one imposed, like a ten year old child. Privately, however, Deirdre wondered if her clearing skin might also have something to do with it. The zits marring her otherwise porcelain skin and fire hair had safely kept Deirdre from becoming too much of a rival to the striking Eurasian cheer captain. Deirdre thought that Anna had helped isolate Holly from the rest of Central’s girl society for much of the same reason.

Either zits and friends, or clear skin and getting isolated. Deirdre felt like she just couldn’t get a clean win!

Even Stacey had started to notice. “How’s it going at home?” she asked as they were changing into their cheerleader outfits in the locker room. “Not too boring? You should have been at Mandy’s bomb party last Friday night.”

Stacey Wayne was Deirdre’s closest friend, the one she used to sleep over with often, or vice-versa. They had loved nothing more than tormenting Kevin together. But even before Donald, their relationship had started to strain. She hadn’t told Stacey about seeing Mr. Downe in… in the house that morning when Mrs. Wayne took them both into school. Stacey had sensed immediately something was off, and it wasn’t usual for the BFFs to hide anything from each other. Not a single thing. Deirdre’s silence about her mom sleeping with her boss had been the first brick in the wall between them. She couldn’t blame Donald for that.

“I wish I could have been,” Deirdre replied, just standing there.

Stacey got out of her tank top and jean shorts without an ounce of self-consciousness. It wasn’t like they hadn’t gone skinny-dipping together before. In her frilly bra and panties, she stopped to stare at the fully-clothed Deirdre. “What’s up? Why aren’t you changing?”

“Nothing,” Deirdre muttered, looking down.

“Well, whatever,” Stacey said after a terse moment of silence. Another brick up, Deirdre thought.

Thankfully, rescue came from an unlikely source. “Stace!” Anna called from across the gym. “Let Carrot Top finish up there! Come help me stretch.”

It was an offer which every straight boy and gay girl in Central, and probably more than a few beyond those limits, would have killed to hear. “You got it, A!” Stacey said, before turning to Deirdre. “See you out there?” It was phrased as if cheerleading wasn’t Deirdre’s life.

“You know it,” Deirdre replied weakly.

In a moment, she was once more alone. Hurrying, she changed before anyone might come back in and see her reddened butt, and then hurried out.

As awkward as practice might be, Deirdre was determined to make it last as long as possible. She wasn’t looking forward to what was waiting for her after.