Max slammed the shopping bag onto the coffee table in front of Caroline, her face looked like thunder. "What the hell is this?"

Caroline looked stunned and offered no reply.

"Seriously what the hell is this?" Max continued, "Don't tell me it's shopping."

Caroline looked down at her shoes, high heels she was very fond of. She said nothing. Max wasn't letting her off the hook that easily she crossed her arms and waited for a response. After an uncomfortable silence Caroline found her voice.

"There was a sale," she offered up meekly, a little terrified of the rage on Max's face, "So I got some new shoes"

At this Max plunged her hand into the bag and pulled out the receipt. She shoved it under the blondes nose. "What kind of sale has $500 shoes in it?" she asked her voice bouncing along the words playfully but Caroline felt the menace in them, "More importantly where did you get $500?" Caroline's big doe like eyes, which had been fixed on the receipt, shot a look at Max and quickly looked away.

She stood up, determined to make her point seem reasonable but her voice shook a little. "I was going to replace the money when I got my next paycheque." Max had heard enough and with a light push on Caroline's shoulders the slender girls frame fell back onto the couch. Max towered over her, "So you stole from the cupcake money?" she asked, "GOD, you're just like your father, you have to learn that just because you can take money doesn't mean it's yours."

Caroline sat there in silence, the comment about her father hurt a little too much. "You know my mom caught me stealing from her purse once," Max said, "You know what she did?" Caroline shook her head so max continued. "She whipped me with a belt. That's what happens to poor girls that get caught stealing, rich girls get new shoes and a place at business school." At this last comment Caroline's eyes started to sting as tears welled up in them. Max threw the receipt on the floor, worn out and disappointed. She turned and walked off towards her bedroom.

Caroline stared forward biting back tears and croaked in a voice almost too low to hear, "You're right." Max turned

"What did you say?"

"You're right Max I shouldn't steal."

"Well no shit?"

"and… and…"

"and what Caroline?"

Caroline couldn't look at Max and summoned up all her courage as she blurted out,

"and you should punish me."

Max was so surprised by this she was almost speechless.

"You think sending you to bed without supper is going to fix this?" She finally answered

"No" Caroline said, "I need to be punished like you were."

Max stood there thinking, not sure what to do next. "Are you sure?" she asked. Caroline turned her head towards Max her eyes wide and glistening with tears. She nodded and Max knew she was deadly serious.

"Wait there" Max said, turning on her heels and heading into the bedroom. She knew she still had it in here. Max pulled out the bottom draw of her dresser and rummaged under the piles of unused and unloved clothes. There lay the thick, brown, leather belt. Seeing it could still turn her stomach. She held it in her hands for a moment, remembering. Then she returned to the living room.

Caroline had been sitting on the sofa and slowly becoming more terrified she felt a lump push on her throat and her stomach knotted and unknotted wildly. When she saw the belt in Max's hands she knew now Max was going to go through with this.

"Stand up" Max ordered and Caroline jumped to her feet. She regretted this as her legs had turned to jelly and she nearly fell sideways. Max walked round and sat on the coach pointing in front of her. Able to get the hint Caroline stood on the spot Max had indicated.

"Now," Max asked, "Do you know why I am doing this?"

"Yes Max" Caroline was now fighting back tears.

"Look at me."

Up until this point Caroline had been desperately attempting to avoid eye contact with Max now she fixed her gaze on those big smoky eyes that looked so disappointed.

Max continued, "I only want to do this once, so this is not going to be easy. But maybe it will show you what happens when you steal."

Caroline scrunched up her face and bit her lip. She would not cry, well not yet.

Max rested the belt beside her and reached up to the waistband of Caroline's Jeans and undid them. She pulled them down over her hips, down her thighs, until they rested around her ankles. Caroline looked mortified but seemed to know better than to argue. Max then brought Caroline's underpants down to join her jeans. Caroline stood there her face prickled with hot shame.

With a pat on her lap and a sharp look Max told Caroline all she needed to know. Caroline moved round to Max's right side, only slightly impeded by the jeans at her ankles. She closed her eyes breathed in and lay over her roommate's lap. She shoved her hands out to stop her banging her face into the floor and let her toes rest on the floor by their very tips. She felt her blouse being pulled up ever so slightly at the back and she felt the skin of Max's finger against her bare back. She obediently arched her back offering her bottom up to Max despite that being the last thing she wanted to do. She felt Max rest her palm against the cheek of her bottom, then the pressure disappeared and then the force of the first swat she had ever received hit her.

Caroline jerked wildly on Max's knee and nearly fell to the ground. She kept her balance and Max's hand struck her again. The force shocked her, then there was a moment where she thought it was fine and then the sting erupted across her bottom. Max's arm moved firmly and swiftly, each swat stinging more than the last. Caroline let her arm swing round in a vain attempt to cover her bottom. Noticing the hand Max decided to remind her friend this was a punishment. Peppering her bottom on every word max growled, "Take. Your. Hand. Out. Of. The. Way." Needless to say Caroline would not try that again.

The spanking continued and Caroline started to let out a low grunting on each swat. She still refused to cry. Her bottom burnt and her eyes stung. But it was not over. Not by a long shot.