Fred Andrews pulled into the parking lot of Riverdale Middle School. He had left work to pick up Archie from school. The principal had called... Archie had been suspended for fighting. When Fred walked into the office he saw his son Archie sitting in a chair a bag of ice to his chin. On the other side of the room he saw Chuck Clayton, who had been on Archie's baseball team last summer, holding ice to his eye.
Fred walked up to the secretary and spoke. "Hi I'm here to pick up my son, Archie Andrews."
"Yes, Mr. Andrews. The principal wants to speak to you before you go. Go ahead into his office." The secretary told Fred.
Fred entered the office. Fred and Principal Weatherbee shook hands. "Have a seat Mr. Andrews." Fred sat down. "Archie has a 5 day suspension for fighting. Mr. Andrews, this is Archie's third fight this semester. If Archie wishes to continue to attend Riverdale Middle then something needs to change. He cannot continue this. I will be the principal at the High School next year, and will not be as lenient with Archie next year as I have been this year. I'm afraid Archie really is on his last chance." Mr. Weatherbee exsplained.
"I understand. Archie is going through a hard time right now with his mother and I separating. I haven't been as strict with him these last couple months." Fred exspained.
"Mr. Andrews, I am sympathetic towards what Archie has been through, but there is really no excuse here. Archie's behavior is unacceptable. I cannot put other students at risk because Archie is quick to fight. When Archie returns to school he cannot get in another fight or it result in his expulsion from this school." Principal Weatherbee said.
"I understand. I will be having a long discussion with Archie about his behavior tonight." Fred told Mr. Weatherbee.
The two men shook hands before Fred left the office. "Let's go." He said to Archie. Archie grabbed his backpack and followed Fred to the truck. Fred didn't say anything the entire drive home. He needed to cool down first. If he spoke now he would just start yelling. When they pulled into the driveway Fred spoke for the first time. "Go to your room. I'll be up shortly." Archie obeyed without question. He was in deep trouble this time, and he knew it.
20 minutes later Fred came into Archie's room holding an empty laundry basket. He began putting Archie's belongings in it, starting with the boy's comic book collection. He put Archie's baseball glove in the basket.
"Dad, what the hell are you doing?." Archie spat out, sounding panicked.
"You're grounded Archie. Hard core grounded. Now go get your IPod, computer, game boy, play station controller and put them in the basket." Fred told his son. Once Archie's room had been purged of anything fun Fred told Archie to go down stairs and sit down at the kitchen table. "Archie, I'm going to give you the chance to explain, but this cannot happen again son. Weatherbee is talking expulsion son. No matter what your reasoning is this behavior is unacceptable. Not only are you grounded son. You are getting spanked as well." Fred told his son.
Archie's jaw dropped. He thought, or hoped, that he had outgrown the spanking phase of his life. After all he was 13 years old, he would be 14 soon and he was in the 8th grade. Next year he would be in high school. "Dad, I'm 13... I'm too old to get spanked. I'm the only kid in 8th grade that still gets spanked." Archie tried to explain. This of course wasn't true, and Archie knew it. Two of Archie's best friends Jughead Jones and Reggie Mantle still got spanked at home. They had both confided about this to him in the past.
"Really son. You are the only one? So you mean to tell me if I called FP Jones right now he would tell me that Jughead doesn't get spanked anymore?? When I know Jughead got spanked a couple of weeks ago for taking FP's motorcycle?" Fred asked his son. "FP works for me. You think we don't talk about you kids? Because we do. Because I know Jughead told you about getting in trouble for this, and you tried to tell me that none of the other kids in your class still get spanked you can add lying to the list of things you are in trouble for son."
Archie starred at his father. "What happened son? And I want the truth." Fred asked calmly.
"Chuck was making fun of Jughead. He called him trailer trash, and he had been for weeks now. He has also been pushing Jughead into things. Jug has a bruise on his arm from being pushed into a door frame. Jug won't stand up for himself, and he won't tell either. He is afraid it will make things worse, and no one will believe him. I just got sick of watching Jughead get bullied every single day, and no one doing anything about it, so I did something about it today." Archie told his father not quite meeting his father's eye.
"Who threw the first punch?" Fred asked still calm.
"Me." Archie sighed.
"Why?" His father asked.
"Chuck pushed Jughead... hard into a set of lockers. Then I started yelling at Chuck to leave Jughead alone. He started yelling back, and said he was just trying to get rid of the trailer trash. That's when I punched him." Archie said.
"Why didn't you tell an adult?" Fred asked
"I tried weeks ago... Jughead begged me not too. So I didn't. Every time I told Jughead that we should tell, he got really upset, said he would never trust me again, and it wasn't that serious, and he was fine, and it would just make things worse... I couldn't betray Jughead's trust." Archie told his father. Are you going to tell his mom?" Archie asked worried.
""I have to kid." Fred told Archie.
Archie started crying. "He doesn't want Gladys and FP to know. He made me promise."
Fred put a hand on Archie's shoulder. Arch... you come to me. You tell an adult. Jughead might have been mad at you for a little bit, but not telling put his safety at risk. It is better for Jughead to be mad at you and safe, then him to not be mad at you, but be in danger. Does that make since?" Fred asked.
Archie nodded. "I'm sorry." He said drying his tears on his shirt.
"I know that you were standing up for Jughead, however I cannot ignore the fact that you got in another fight. You are being punished for fighting Archie." Fred said to his son. Archie sighed, but didn't argue. "Let's Get this over with then. Stand up and bend over." Fred instructed Archie taking off his belt.
Archie stood up. "How many swats am I getting?" Archie asked nervously.
"Seven." Fred responded.
Archie bent over and waited. Fred doubled over his belt and snapped it a few times before starting the spanking. WACK the first swat caused Archie to jump in pain. CRACK the second swat brought tears to Archie's eyes. SMACK WHAP Archie bit his bottom lip to keep from crying out. THWAP WACK. Archie was now sobbing. CRACK Fred raised his belt high and landed one last lick on Archie's bottom. Archie stood up and his hands went to his aching backside. He was trying to rub the sting out.
Fred pulled Archie into a tight hug until the boy's breathing slowed and he stopped crying. "Archie you need to spend the rest of the day in your room." Archie went to his room without argument.
Please review!!! Thanks.