I do not own Glee or any of the characters created by Ryan Murphy. If I did we would see way more of Shelby. This story will contain spanking of a teenager. If that's not your thing stop reading now and go read something else.
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Chapter 19
"I still can't believe that you're leaving already," Rachel hugged Emily tightly. "I had a lot of fun, Bubbe."
"So did I, Rachel." Turning to her daughter Emily grinned. "You are officially off of punishment, Shelby."
"About damn time."
"Shelby, language." Emily fussed pulling her daughter into a hug and kissing her on the cheek. "Be good, young lady."
"I'll try, Mom." Shelby smiled and hugged her mother once more. "Tell Daddy we said hello and I hope we can see him next time."
"I will." Sliding into the car Emily waved once more to her girls before backing out of the driveway.
"Mama?"
"Yes Rachel?" Shelby put her arm around her daughter and led them back into the house.
"Being grounded really sucks doesn't it?" the girl teased before running ahead of Shelby laughing the entire time.
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Ending the Skype call with her dads Rachel picked up the thick Spanish dictionary on her desk and threw it as hard as she could against her wall. Feeling better at the thud when it hit the wall, she wiped the tears roughly from her cheeks and took a few deep breaths. They were shutting her out again, and Rachel was beyond angry –she was furious.
Even though her daddy, Hiram, met her with a smile on Skype, she noticed it didn't reach his eyes and he looked beyond tired. LeRoy wasn't having a good day and Hiram had been brave enough to tell her that, but he hadn't shared any details and the unknown was scarier for Rachel than if they'd just tell her what was going on. Why couldn't they see that she needed to know? Anything in her imagination was worse than the reality, but they just didn't seem to understand.
Moving from her desk, Rachel picked up her cell phone and dialed a number. "Yes, this is Rachel Berry, could I please have an update on my father, LeRoy Berry? What do you mean they've said it's not allowed? Do I need to get Sue Sylvester to call you?" Rachel demanded. "Fine, I'll let Sue know. What's your name?" Shaking her head at the immediate dial tone, Rachel threw her phone across the room and smiled as it crashed against the wall.
Noticing that it still seemed to be in once piece she cursed the armor case that her mother had insisted upon, and glowered at the phone once more. Seeing the picture of her and her dads on her bookshelf taken at her fourteenth birthday, Rachel smiled. Picking up the frame she hurled it as hard as she could at the door. Unfortunately Shelby picked that moment to see what was causing all the noise from her daughter's room.
"Mama!" Rachel rushed forward, her anger gone in seconds as Shelby sank to the floor clutching her now bleeding forehead.
"What in the hell?" Shelby murmured.
"I am so sorry, Mama. I never meant to hit you with that. I was just so angry and I threw the picture frame and now you're bleeding everywhere!"
"Get me a towel, Rachel." Shelby's voice was even as she held the cut on her head. "Now."
Scrambling to do what her mother told her, Rachel returned a few moments later with a thick towel from her bathroom. Placing it on her mother's head, Rachel gasped when she saw how deep the cut was. "Mama, I think you might need stiches."
"I'll be fine," Shelby pressed the towel hard to her head. "Head wounds just bleed more. Help me up, please."
Slowly being pulled to her feet Shelby felt a little dizzy. Turning her head slowly she looked into the hallway and noticed the now cracked picture frame. "Care to tell me why you were throwing picture frames?"
"I'm mad at my dads, and it seemed like a good idea at the time," Rachel said quietly. Moving forward she helped her mother to the bed. "You'd better sit down, Mama. You don't look so good."
"I don't feel so good," Shelby admitted. "We will discuss you throwing things later, right now, I want you to help me to the bathroom. I want to see the damage and at least get a bandage on this."
"Okay," Rachel helped her mother to her bathroom and Shelby winced as she saw the cut. Cleaning the wound she put a bandage over the cut and sighed. Rachel was right, it was going to need stiches.
"Call Billie Jean for me, I need a ride to the hospital."
"But Coach?"
"I'm not arguing with you, Rachel. Call her now. The number is in my phone."
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"Thanks for the ride, Billie Jean." Shelby sank onto her couch as Sue helped her down onto it and Rachel raced up the stairs slamming her bedroom door.
"Not a problem. Would hate to see you driving with a concussion or blood obscuring your vision. Can't have Brillo's glee club winning because you weren't able to work your kids to the bone."
"Thanks." Shelby leaned back onto the couch and sighed. "Thirteen stiches. I can't believe it."
"Believe it, Ethel." Sue shook her head. "I had no idea Mrs. Focker Jr. had such an arm on her. Maybe I should have recommended her to Coach Beastie for the football team."
"No football for Rachel, Billie Jean. Thanks for thinking of her though."
"Not a problem. Okay, I need to get to my Sunday afternoon rituals. Let me know if you need a ride tomorrow."
"I will, thanks again. Can you see yourself out?"
"Not a problem." Sue left Shelby on the couch and the moment Shelby heard the door close she opened her mouth.
"Rachel Barbra Berry get down here!"
Coming down the stairs slowly, Rachel slinked into the living room. "Is yelling something you should be doing, Mama? After all, the doctor said you didn't have a concussion, but should be taking it easy. Thirteen stiches is a lot."
"Sit down." Shelby pointed to the chair by the end of the couch. "Now," she added.
Rachel sat slowly and tucked her legs up under her. "Did the pain medicine help the throbbing?"
Rolling her eyes, Shelby sighed, "Yes Rachel. The medicine helped. Now, enough of trying to distract me, young lady. We need to have a serious talk."
"Remember that the doctor said to rest," Rachel interrupted. "You aren't to do anything too strenuous."
"I. Am. Fine." Shelby's tone made Rachel gulp look down at the floor. "What happened today?"
"Daddy and I had our Skype chat and he said that Dad couldn't make it," Rachel began. "But when I asked, he wouldn't tell me exactly why and my imagination started to go into overdrive. I decided to call the hospital and they've been told not to give me any more information. I got mad so I threw a few things."
"A few things?"
"A dictionary, my phone, and the picture frame," Rachel admitted.
"All of this because your dad wouldn't answer your question?"
"They don't know what it's like and they don't seem to care!" Rachel exploded. "Anything I come up with in my head is probably worse than what's really happening. Why are they keeping me in the dark? I'm not a little kid anymore and I hate this! I hate that they won't tell me shit!"
"I understand that you're frustrated, Rachel," Shelby's voice was even and quiet. "However, that does not give you carte blanche to throw a tantrum like a toddler. Throwing things around your room is never okay, Rachel."
"When are they going to start telling me the truth?" Rachel whined ignoring her mother completely.
"Rachel!" Shelby's voice deepened and she finally got her daughter's attention. "Enough. I will speak with your fathers later this evening and try to get to the bottom of this. I know that you're hurting, Rachel. I know that you're scared and upset. I do understand that," Shelby's voice softened. "But it still doesn't excuse what you did today. Feeling like that does not give you the right to try and destroy things in your room. People get hurt when you act that way, Rachel."
"I just…" Rachel's voice quivered and Shelby opened her arms not surprised when Rachel moved into them from the chair.
"I hate this, Mama. I hate being so far away and them not telling me anything. I hate being mad at them all the time."
"I know, sweetie. I'm not too happy with them myself, but there's not much we can do if they choose not to tell us anything. I will speak with them about this, and try to get them to understand our viewpoint."
"Okay," a deep sigh came from the petite teenager. "So how much trouble am I in for almost killing you?"
Shelby chuckled, "You didn't almost kill me, Rachel. I know it was an accident, but this accident could have been prevented."
"Yeah. I am sorry, Mama."
"I know that you are," Shelby looked at her daughter's face and brushed the bangs off Rachel's forehead. "I still got hurt, sweetie. You were throwing a temper tantrum and I paid the price. What do you think is a fair punishment for that?"
"A stern talking to?"
"I think we've covered that," Shelby patted Rachel's bottom gently. "Keep trying."
"Am I grounded?"
"From your phone. Throwing it against the wall means that it's mine for the week." Shelby smirked at the deep sigh. "What else do you think this Mama is going to do to help you remember not to throw tantrums?"
Rachel's eyes opened wide and deep brown looked up into hazel, "No, anything but that, Mama. Please."
Shelby smiled and kissed Rachel on the forehead, "Nope. I think it will do just fine since it's gotten such a reaction from you. An early bedtime all week."
"Can't you just spank me and get it over with?" Rachel whined. "I mean, I gave you thirteen stiches. That's more than an early bedtime, isn't it? A spanking would be better and then I could just have my normal bedtime."
Shelby pretended to think for a moment, "Well, if you want a spanking that badly," she began biting her cheek as Rachel laid herself over her mother's lap, "then I guess I could give you one." Shelby gave Rachel light swats. "However, you'll still have an early bedtime."
"Mama," Rachel whined. "That's not fair."
"Nope." Shelby patted Rachel's bottom gently. "So do you still want the spanking, Rachel? You do seem awfully ready for it," Shelby teased.
"No, let me up. Come on, Mama, this isn't funny." Rachel yelped as two hard swats fell on her upturned bottom this time. "Mama!"
Laughing Shelby allowed Rachel to sit up once more, "Never try to negotiate a punishment, Rachel. Trust me, I learned how to deal with that from the best."
"Well it would have been nice if Bubbe would have warned me," Rachel pouted as Shelby pulled the girl into a hug.
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"What happened to Ms. Corcoran?" A rather loud whisper rippled through the students in VA.
"Do you think she was in a fight?"
"If she was, she won," came the reply.
"How do you know? That's a long row of stitches."
"It's Ms. Corcoran, you idiot. Of course she won," came the hissed reply.
Holding in her smirk, Shelby strode to the center of the stage, her heels echoing as she walked. "Alright people it's time to really start working your butts for our last competition. I found out this morning that we'll be going up against McKinley and you know how much I like beating them. I've devised a new set list and some dances to go with them. This isn't going to be easy."
A hand was raised and Shelby's eyebrow raised in response to it. One of her freshman obviously had a death wish. "Sydney?"
"What happened to your head, Ms. Corcoran?"
A chorus of groans surrounded Shelby and this time she smiled. Directing the not so friendly smile at the girl the crowd of students parted like the Red Sea leaving Sydney alone on stage. "Does my injury have anything to do with our new number, Miss Brandon?"
"No ma'am."
"Does my injury have anything to do with how well I can direct this show choir or do my job?" Shelby asked.
"No ma'am."
"Then you can think about that while you run twenty laps around the auditorium. Go!" Shelby barked as the frightened girl moved as quickly as her legs would carry her towards the steps leading to the balcony. "Everyone else get your butts on the stage and get ready to learn the new set by Wednesday. That little bit of time wasted cost you an extra thirty of rehearsal time tonight. Move it people!" Shelby commanded turning her head to watch Sydney run all the while biting her lip to hide the smile.
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Thanks for all the PMs and for those who have added the story to their lists. I hope this chapter was enjoyed.
If you are so inclined please check out: The Art of Discipline: Dani's Discovery and Running Toward Trouble (The Mockingbird Chronicles). These are books that I co-wrote under the name Alexandra James with Stardawn Cabot.
They are available at most major retailers of ebooks such as Amazon, Stormy Night Publications, Blushing Books, Barnes and Noble, etc.