The Italian Connection Chapter 3 by Aldric Copyright 2007 by Aldric, all rights reserved. **** This story is intended for adults only. You can send comments or constructive criticism to pietar_the_fearless@yahoo.com. This story has been copyrighted by the author. This story depicts minors in unusual conditions that may include unprotected, unsafe sex or extreme humiliation. Obviously, this is not real life and should be taken as such. **** (The idea for this story was a suggestion from a fan) Principal Characters throughout this story include: Lucia and Rossi, 13 years old twins Seth, 14 years old, step brother to Lucia and Rossi Shawn, 12 years old (Seth's brother) Bart, 14 years old, Seth's best friend The Italian Connection Chapter 3 The next morning started out predictably enough. Seth, who had always dressed very conservatively, showed up at breakfast wearing his flowered shirt (which only had three buttons, leaving it open down to the nearly the center of his chest) and his bright red shorts. Shawn, Rossi, and Lucia, who all knew what he would be wearing of course, giggled anyway. Seth's mother was, for most of breakfast, speechless. Finally, just before it was time to leave, she asked "What's up? Why the sudden change in clothing?" It was a question that was bound to be asked and Lucia had helped him with the answer rather than trust him to make up a convincing lie. "It's just some old stuff of Rossi's. He's pretty popular and has a lot of friends and I thought maybe if I relaxed a little I could become more, uh, like him." Rossi's father lowered the newspaper and looked at what his stepson was wearing. "They're Rossi's clothes, that much is true. But I don't think I ever saw him wear them to school." He looked over to his son. 'You're not pulling a prank on him, are you?" "No dad, really, I'm not. He wanted to dress like me and I showed him some of my stuff. He chose that stuff on his own." "I see," his dad said, but it didn't sound like he did. "I don't think the clothes are appropriate for school. Go up and pick out either a different pair of pants or a different shirt, but you aren't going to school with that shirt on and those shorts." They hadn't expected that and there wasn't any room for compromise, so Rossi and Seth went back upstairs. They came down again a few minutes later with Seth wearing a pair of his own long pants. His step dad took one look at him. "Hum, so you like the shirt I guess?" "It makes me look—different I guess. Is it okay?" "If you were trying for 'different' you have certainly succeeded. Mary, what do you think?" he asked, looking at Seth's mother. "I've never seen him dress in anything except conservative clothing. It does look rather odd though dear. But if it's what you want to wear, then go ahead." The four kids gathered their books and lunches and headed out the door. As they got near the bus stop, Shawn said, "It's too bad he had to change. He's never worn shorts except during gym class. Seeing his skinny, white legs would have been…" Shawn stopped talking as Rossi snapped his fingers and Seth put his books down and started removing the pants. As he pulled them down, they saw he still had the shorts on underneath. Once the long pants were off, he gave them to Rossi, who stuffed them in his bag. "Quanti anni hai?" Lucia asked. Seth looked at her, clearly not understanding the question." "She asked how old you are," Rossi said. He was also confused by the question. "I'm fourteen. You know that," Seth said. "You look more like you're ten dressed in those clothes. Very good, Rossi. You did very good indeed." Except for a lot of rude comments and giggles from the other students, the day went by without any thing out of the ordinary. While finishing the day at their lockers before going home, Seth was explaining to his best friend Bart what had happened since the day before, starting with why he had suddenly dropped out of the chat room without saying goodbye. "So she knows that I gave you the magazine," Bart said. "Is she going to tell my parents?" "You're name never came up. I don't think she's even thought about you," Seth said. "Then I need to see to it she forgets about me." Bart glanced down the hall and saw Lucia coming. "Speaking of which, here she comes. Come on over after school if you can. And lose that shirt!" He hurried off towards the busses. "Come with me a second," Lucia said to Seth. She saw him look at his watch. "You don't need to worry about the bus, remember you and I have shopping to do." Seth had forgotten he was supposed to buy some bikini-style briefs to replace his boxers. While dreading having to go and actually buy them, he was glad she had reminded him or else he might have been in trouble again after just the first day. She took him down the hall and into the library where they went to rack of periodicals. "Make sure you bring your cell phone tomorrow. I want a picture of you right there in front of the magazines, wearing nothing but your new underpants. The picture is to be sent to me from a picture taken on your phone. Send it between ten in the morning and one in the afternoon." "But how?" Seth asked. "Get Bart to take it. He can stand right where we are and take the picture." "But lots of people come in here to study. How am I supposed to get the picture?" "I'm giving you three hours. You'll just have to find a time when nobody is here. Or do it while people are here, that's fine too. Just tell them you're trying to get a job as an underwear model. I don't care how you do it as long as I get a picture of you right there wearing nothing but briefs and the picture gets sent between ten and one." She turned and walked away, leaving him standing there speechless, wondering how on earth he was going to pull it off. He stopped on the way home at one of the smaller clothing stores hoping there wouldn't be any kids who knew him from school there. He searched for what he needed without luck until a woman who worked there came and helped him. He left with six pair of a German brand of bikini underpants in his book bag. He dreaded having to actually wear them, just buying them was embarrassing enough. Instead of going home he went to Bart's house. Sitting in Bart's room, he explained what he needed and his fear that he would get caught. "Don't worry, its easy," Bart said, looking at his watch. "Come, on, we have to hurry. The school will still be open but there is hardly ever anyone in the library. We'll just take the picture now with my phone and I'll send it to you tomorrow. Then you save it and send it to your step sister." They were almost to the door when Bart stopped and returned to his room with Seth in tow. He opened his closet door and pulled a shirt off a hanger and then went to a drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans. "I can't stand to look at you dressed like that. Put these on and let's get going." Seth gladly complied. Once they got to the library however Bart saw the plan wasn't going to work. "I've been here around lunch," he said. "The sun streams in that window over there and hits the rack." Seth looked at the rack and saw it was in deep shadows now that the sun was on the other side of the room. "What do we do now?" Seth asked. "I can't stand here in underpants in the middle of the day!" "Calm down and give me minute to think," Bart said. He paced back and forth for a few minutes before he snapped his fingers and said "I've got it! But we have to hurry." He began to pace the distance from the magazine rack to the window, and then from the rack to where he would stand if he was taking a picture. "What the hell are you doing?" Seth asked, but Bart just shussed him until he was done. "We've got to get back to my house quickly," he said. As they hurried back he explained his plan. "All I need is a picture of you in sunlight against a blue or green background. I save that on my laptop. Then tomorrow I get a picture of the magazine rack in the sunshine. I take the one of you and delete everything that is the same color as the background and paste what's left—that would be you, onto the picture of the rack. As long as the pictures are taken from the same distance and angle, it should be perfect match." "It's the same basic idea as the green screen they use in movies. Only with still pictures, it's a lot easier." It was obvious that Seth didn't understand. "Don't worry; I can do it on my laptop even if you don't understand what I'm talking about. But we have to get back before the sun gets any lower in the sky or it won't look right." They began to run. Once back at Bart's house Bart told Seth to get undressed. Meanwhile he ran to the linen closet and returned with a blue sheet. Seth had stripped to Rossi's pair of underpants and was nervously waiting for Bart while staying out of sight of the window. "Can we put the shade down?" he asked while Bart was using tacks to hold the sheet up against the wall in front of the window. "No, don't be silly. We need the sun to be shining on you." He got the sheet up and grabbed his camera. "Hardly anyone goes past there. Besides, would you rather take a chance here or at school? Get over there in front of the sheet." Seth looked out the window to make sure nobody was there before stepping into the sunlight in front of the sheet. Bart was pacing out the same set of steps he had counted in the library. "Okay, this should do it," he said, getting into position. "Oh, shit! Hang on; I have to make a change." "Why, what is it? Just let's do this," Seth said. "We can't, not until I get a different sheet. You're wearing blue underpants, so I have to get a different color sheet." He pulled down the blue sheet and dropped it on the floor. "The wall is white; can't you just delete the white from the background?" "No," Bart answered from back by the linen closet. "It has to be a color that is different than your skin and eyes or when I cut it out it'll delete too much. Here we go, this should do." He came back with a dark green sheet. "I didn't even know we had this or I would have grabbed it first. Help me hang it so we can get this over with." Once the sheet was hung and Bart found his mark again, he took three pictures of Seth before he said he was done and they started to put the sheets away before Bart's mom came home. "How much will you give me not to post these on the school's web page?" Bart asked with a laugh. "Don't even think that. If my brother got that idea…., just don't even say it, please." "Don't worry, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do it. At least not with these. But if I had a good camera, or you were naked-" He saw the look on Seth's face. "Okay, I'm just pulling your chain a little. I have three pictures of you in underpants and I can't wait to get rid of them before someone sees them and asks why I have them. So don't worry, you can be there when I delete them." Seth had to put the clothes he had left the house in back on. As he was putting the shorts on he suddenly remembered something. "Crap! I have to call home," he said, picking up the phone. "Rossi, I'm glad you answered. I need my pants back," he said into the phone. "You did what? Why did you have to do that?" He was quiet as he listened, then he said goodbye and hung up. "My wonderful step brother told my mom that I put the long pants on over the shorts without him knowing it until he saw me in school. He said he told her that he got them out of my locker and she's pissed at me and that means I'll have to face Lucia again." "I feel sorry for you dude. Are you sure you don't want to just tell the truth? Besides, you could tell your mom it was all her idea to start with and that she knew all along you were lying. That would take some of the heat off you." "I can't, you don't know how much that cane hurts. She thinks I'd get ten strokes and I couldn't even handle three. Besides, how can I prove she knew I was lying?" "That's a good point. Are you sure she really knew or did she just trick you into agreeing to all this?" "Oh, she knew; I don't know how, but she knew. She repeated the words I typed to you word-for-word without error. Somehow she knew what I typed. But if Shawn nearly got caned again for saying it wasn't his magazine to start with unless he could prove it was mine. I've got to go through with this however bad it gets." "I'm glad I'm not in her sights. Although I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't allow anyone to actually use a cane on me. She used a brush one time and when it bruised my butt she cried almost as much as I did. That was the last time she ever spanked me and I was like ten years old when it happened." "You're lucky. My mom had to marry into a family that believes it's the girls' job to punish their brothers. Lucia really gets into it." He looked at his watch. "I guess I'd better get going. I'll see you tomorrow in school." Bart walked to the door with him and as he was leaving Seth turned back and asked, "You really won't do anything with those pictures, would you? I'd die if kids at school were to see me undressed." "I promise, I'll delete them permanently as soon as we merge the two pictures into one. And I won't make any copies either. I really don't want anyone to see that I have pictures of you like that, it would cause a lot of talk if you know what I mean." Seth walked home, dreading what would happen. His mom was waiting in the front room for him. "After Antonio told you that wasn't appropriate dress you went to school like that anyway? What is the matter with you? Didn't you realize your brothers and sisters would see you and tell me or your dad?" Antonio was Seth's step dad. "I'm sorry mom; I really wanted to wear these. I didn't think they were inappropriate. Does Rossi's dad know yet?" "He's your dad now too, and no, he isn't home yet. He said this morning that Lucia is in charge of punishment and I'm going to let it go at that. She says you learned at school that the clothes weren't that cool after all and she's going to go easy on you. But don't you ever go against Antonio's orders or mine again. And that goes for Lucia's orders too. Now get upstairs and get it done and then get started on your homework." He trudged upstairs feeling like he was climbing to his doom. As he entered the room he shared with Shawn he saw the cane lying across his bed. Shawn was sitting at the desk doing homework. "She said to strip to your underpants and then go and get her," Shawn said. Shawn stared at him as he undressed, making him feel even more powerless. He wasn't sure about the shirt but rather than take a chance he took that off too. Then, with just a pair of too small Speedo-style underpants on and carrying the cane in his hand, he went down the hall and knocked on her door. "You didn't need to bring that, we're going to use it in your room," she said. "But the thought was nice. Rossi and Shawn want to watch." Rossi had heard them and was already in the room with Shawn when they got back. "You followed orders very well today," she said to him. "Since you only did what you were told to do, I have something more pleasurable than painful for you to do for your punishment." She paused to watch Seth, noticing how uncomfortable he was standing there in front of her and his two brothers. He was too nervous to wait her out. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Instead of the cane, I want you to take off the underpants and play with it." "What? Here, in front of you?" He looked around and saw Rossi and Shawn move closer as their grins got bigger. "In front of all of you? I can't!" "Your other choice is the cane. Your mother said she thought three strokes would be appropriate." "Oh my god, I can't take three more already; I'm still sore from yesterday." He looked at her face and saw she wasn't going to give in. "How long do I have to do it?" "Until you cum of course. I know you can, I've seen the signs of many happy nights on your sheets." Rossi and Shawn both laughed until she added "He's not the only one who leaves spots on his sheets." "So what's it to be? A little humiliation doing something you normally would enjoy or a session with the cane?" She knew she had him, she could see him working it out in his mind. She would much rather watch him masturbate that beat him any day and just the threat of using the cane was enough to get him to do it. "I don't even know if I can get it hard with you guys watching," he said as he pulled the underpants down and off. But he quickly showed that he could indeed get it hard. He closed his eyes, trying to get the image of the three of them watching him out of his mind while he concentrated on the feeling. He almost made it to climax two times but a giggle from one of the two boys threw him off. On the third time he was able to cum, the sticky-white cum flowing across his fingers and dripping onto the floor. "There, see, that wasn't so hard after all. You can clean that up after we're done here." Lucia picked up the cane. "No, that isn't fair, you said you wouldn't use it if I did this," he said in a panic. "I'm not going to hit you, but we need to make your mother think I did. Just play along and yell at the right time. But I hope you remember how to count or I'll give you one for real as a reminder." She slapped the cane down across his bed where it hit with a satisfying thump. "Ouch!" Seth yelled, right on cue. Then he remembered he had to count it or get a real one. It took him half a second to remember the word but as soon as he did he yelled "Uno!" Fifteen minutes later he was downstairs wearing nothing but a pair of the new underpants he had just bought. The underpants only came in white, and barely covered him. They fit him properly but still left almost everything except his dick and balls exposed. His mother raised her eyebrows as he walked past. "She says my backside is getting too bruised, so she's going to use humiliation as a punishment. I have to do my homework down here and then set the table. I'm not allowed to dress or hide in my room until I'm ready to go to bed." "Considering how disobedient you were I think you're getting off easy. Although I realize you are very uncomfortable being seen like that. Maybe some humiliation will do you more good than the cane." "Mom, she said I have to stay like this even if someone comes over. Could you please let me go upstairs if someone does? I don't think I could stand it if the kids at school knew about this. They'd be coming over all the time just to make fun of me." "If I think their coming here just to tease you then I'll talk to Lucia about it. But if they are here to visit or do homework than I guess you'll just have to beg her for forgiveness because I'm not going to override her. Except for one thing." She saw the look of hope in her son's eyes and quickly dashed it. "You'll wear a shirt while we're eating. You can take if off as soon as we're done." Seth sat down to work on his homework, sick with the thought that his step sister had just watched him beat off and could order him to do it anytime she wanted. But except for that he had made it through the first day and it hadn't been too bad. And the deal was that it would be a maximum of fourteen days as long as he did what he was told. And the picture tomorrow should go smoothly thanks to Bart's idea. The next day went fine. The clothes Lucia had bought had all come from a used clothing store and all of them were worn and frayed. And even though she had measured him, none of the clothes fit right. The pants (all of them shorts) were either too big in the waist or too small. The shirts were short and wouldn't stay tucked in; leaving his belly exposed much of the time. Again, kids stared at him at school and he could here giggles and laughter as he walked past, but nobody accosted him directly. He met Bart just before lunch and Bart had already taken the picture in the library. Seth leaned over Bart's shoulder as he cut and pasted the picture of Seth onto the picture in the library. He opened a series of menus and performed options called "smooth edges" "Lock layer," and "adjust light" and when he was done even Seth believed the picture of him had been taken right in front of the magazine rack with the sunlight streaming in on his body. "It'll be even more convincing when I lower the quality and then save it to your phone. The picture quality in a phone is pretty bad already; by the time you send this to her there's no way she can tell what I did. He completed his work and connected a cable to transfer the image to Seth's phone directly. As soon as it was saved, Seth sent the picture to Lucia's phone. Since Lucia had sentenced him to three days of humiliation at home (which was actually Rossi's idea) he decided to go to Bart's house again after school. He even was hoping he could have dinner at Bart's house, but Lucia told him to be home by five o'clock. Bart loaned Seth some decent clothes so they could go outside and shoot hoops until it was time for Seth to go home. While Seth was playing basketball at Bart's, Lucia, Rossi, and Shawn were looking at the picture on Lucia's phone. "Man, how did he do that without getting caught?" Rossi asked. "I don't know," Shawn said. "He's always so been so shy. But the sun is coming in just like you said it would be. I can't believe he did it, but he must have." "He must have found a time when nobody was there or I'm sure we would have heard about it," Lucia said. "It would be hard to see a boy having his picture taken in nothing but underpants in school and not have everyone talking about it." "Wait a minute, you said underpants. Look at what he's wearing," Shawn said, pointing to the picture on the tiny phone screen. "Down load this to your computer so we can see it better." Once the image was on Lucia's flat screen monitor, Shawn pointed out what he had noticed. "See? He's wearing the blue underpants Rossi made him wear yesterday." "So? I don't see you point?" Lucia asked. "He wasn't wearing that pair today. He had on one of the new ones he bought. And all of those are white. This picture was taken yesterday." "But how? Seth didn't even know about it until after we got home yesterday." "It was Bart. He's got a program for working with pictures on his laptop. I'll bet that's why he had it in school today. He took the picture of Seth in his house yesterday and the picture in the library today and then combined them." Lucia didn't waste any time; Shawn's explanation made too much sense. She went straight over to Bart's house and got there just as the boys were heading inside. "Where did those clothes come from," she said, seeing Seth dressed in Bart's clothes. Where are your clothes?" "Uh, they're in the house. Bart just gave me these so that, uh, so that I could uh…" "Save it. You're in enough trouble as it is." She pushed past the two boys and entered the house ahead of them. "Hey, this is my house. You can't just walk in like that," Bart said. Lucia was already turned on his laptop. "That's mine! What's the big idea?" he asked. "I'll tell you what the big idea is. Seth, take those clothes off!" She waited while he quickly undressed. "Are those the underpants you had on in school?" "Yeah," he said, wondering if he should grab his clothes or remain standing there in his underpants. "You saw them yesterday and didn't say there was anything wrong with them." "Then how come in the picture you sent me today you have on blue underpants?" Seth gulped, realizing the mistake they had made. By this time the computer had started and Lucia opened the software Shawn had mentioned. The three photos of Seth in the blue underpants were all still there. Lucia stepped back and took a picture of the monitor with her cell phone. "So, the big idea is that you lied to me. You didn't stand there in the library in your underpants, did you? And you," she pointed to Bart, "you were in on it. You helped him lie and cheat. You're also the one who gave him the dirty magazine, weren't you." "No. I don't know anything about any dirty magazines. You're just guessing it was me; you don't have any real proof." "When do you parents get home?" Lucia asked. "An hour and a half, maybe two hours," Bart answered. "Then you have two hours to come to my house and admit your guilt or I'll come over here and show them the picture of what was on your laptop AND the proof I have that you supplied at least one magazine to Seth. Then your parents can deal with you. Come on, Seth, we're going home." Seth reached for his shirt and pants but Lucia grabbed them from his hands. "If you don't want to wear them outside that's okay, you don't have to. Now get going home." She pushed him out the door ahead of her. Once outside Seth started to run for home but she called him back. "Put your hands behind your head and walk home. Stay on the sidewalks all the way, no shortcuts. And cross the street at the corner, not in front of our house." She pushed Seth onto the sidewalk and pointed him towards the corner. She watched for a few seconds to make sure he walked with his hands behind his head, noticing for the first time that the bikini briefs left most of his ass exposed. Once she was sure he was following directions she cut across the yard and across the street and entered the house, locking the door behind her. Seth figured she would be watching him so he didn't dare run or put his arms down. He prayed that he could make it home before any of the neighborhood kids saw him. He kept up a steady pace all the way to the front door. When he tried it he found that it was locked and immediately set out for the back door. Lucia was waiting for him on the back porch and she had a ping pong paddle in her hand. As Seth came up the steps she told him to take the underpants off. "Please, please, Lucia, not outside. Everyone will know!" "Good. Let them know. I hope they hear and come over to watch. We are going to see how well you can count to ten in Italian. So take the pants off and get over my lap now." He hesitated until she added, "Unless you want to learn how to count to twenty-five. He stripped off the tiny underpants, ashamed that his dick was once again growing hard as he stood naked in front of her. She motioned for him to get over her lap and once he did she pushed him forward until his head was hanging down on the porch and his butt was up in the air. "When I hit you, you count," she said. "Wait a minute, I don't remember," he started, but the paddle hit him with a smack that echoed off the wall. "Awww, ono," he said. The paddle hit him again. "Ouch! I don't remember the word for two; I think its dos." "That is Spanish, not Italiano; two is due. Now we start again from the beginning." The paddle rained down twice in quick succession. "Ohh, that hurts, Lucia. Uno, Due!" She hit him again. "I'm so sorry for lying; I'll never do it again. I don't remember how to count." That was tre. Now we start over again. I'll bet by the time we reach ten you will remember." She started again. By the time he had counted to five he had been paddled fifteen times. He wasn't going to make it to ten, he couldn't, the pain was too much. He was crying and begging her to stop. Rossi and Shawn, having heard the noise, had come out to watch. The paddle rose and fell six times, interrupted only by Seth's counting through his tears and moans. "Uno, due, tre, Quattro, cinque. I don't know the rest, please, please, no more!" "Sei; six is sei," Rossi said. He saw Lucia glare at him and shrugged his shoulders and said to her, "you told him to have me help him learn them." "Sei," Seth said. "I can't take any more, please Lucia, please stop!" She was just about to start over again when Bart came across the backyard and up onto the porch. "I rang the doorbell, but I guess you couldn't hear me." Lucia stared at him for a second. "I guess we couldn't hear over the yells of your friend. Did you come to watch or do you have something to say?" He hesitated a few seconds, and then he looked down at Seth's bright red bottom. "Okay, it was my idea to fake the picture, not Seth's. And you're right; I'm the one who gave him the playboy." "I told you it wasn't mine," Shawn said. "Now we'll tell your dad and then…" "No we won't Shawn. We'll punish these two ourselves. You can't take back the punishment you've already received, so what good would it do to tell papa? Just forget about it." Shawn scowled, but didn't say anything. Lucia turned her attention back to Bart. "So do we tell your parents or do you submit to my discipline?" "You're not going to cane me!" Bart said. "No, you're right, I can't. I'm not even allowed to cane Seth or Shawn without permission. But I can paddle you." Bart looked down at Seth's upturned bottom. "Uh, how much?" "Enough for you to learn. And then you'll be involved in some more of Seth's school activities too." She watched the expression on his face as he figured out what she meant. "So, do I finish with him or do you want to take his place?" She saw him thinking about it and put more pressure on him. "Spankings are done in the nude. Unless you're ready to replace him, I'll just continue and you can wait your turn. Or go home and tell your parents." She raised the paddle again. "Wait a second, I'll do it," Bart said. He looked around as he pulled his shirt off over his head and then unbuttoned and dropped his shorts. He looked at her for mercy, but when she only smiled at him he pulled his boxers down and stepped out of them. "Uh,uh, keep your hands to your sides," she said when he tried to cover up. This was going way better than she could have planned and she took a good look at the thirteen year old boy standing naked in front of her. His dick was about the same size as Seth's, but a little thicker. And while his balls were mostly hair-free, the darker and thicker hair above the base of his dick was much more noticeable. She let Seth up after telling him to stand there at attention and motioned for Bart to take his place. "Rossi, go through the rest of the numbers with Seth one time. Then we'll see how well he remembers them." "Uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque, sei, sette, otto, nove, dieci," Rossi said. As soon as he was done Lucia started using the paddle on Bart's backside. Seth counted correctly until he reached eight; then he said 'Ocho' and Lucia stopped and corrected him. "That was Spanish again. Eight is Otto. Now I will start again." Bart was already right on the verge of tears and just the fact that she was going to start over sent him over the edge. He cried as the paddle came down ten more times, but fortunately for him, Seth didn't make any more errors. With as much noise as the two boys had made she couldn't believe the neighbor kids weren't out here watching. She figured it must be the boy's lucky day but decided they needed a half hour of corner time—naked of course. She sent them to opposite ends of the porch where anyone in the back yard would have a clear view of them. "I have to go start supper. Bart, you are welcomed to stay for dinner if you want, but bad boys in this house wear only underpants. Tomorrow we'll continue Seth's punishment and start on the rest of yours. Don't either of you talk or move until I say it's okay." She went in the house, leaving Bart wondering if he had made the right choice. He and Seth were now both dreading what would happen at school tomorrow.