Last week I finished revising the sorority girl story. The hardest part was the spanking court scene; because I aged her up a few years, out of college, and because I changed the thing she got punished for, I had to make some changes and the scene, I think, lost some of its impact. It still had plenty of physical impact — Kristen’s ten paddle swats were just as painful this time around as they were last time — but whenever I revise this much I always worry that something is going to come out clunky or weird.

You be the judge. So to speak.

Teal75 gently hammered a gavel on a wooden disc three times — the table shuddered, which explained the gentleness; Teal must not have wanted to collapse it accidentally — and then set it down. “This session of Spanking Court is called to order,” she said. “The plaintiff is KLM44, and the defendant is KenDragon. What names would you like us to use during these proceedings?”

Ken looked over to Kristen, who gave a nod. “My name is Ken, Your Honor, and this is Kristen.”

Teal75 nodded. “Very well. Kristen, present your case.”

“Your Honor,” Kristen said, trying not to smile at the forced seriousness of it all, “I feel as though I’ve been wrongfully punished.” She hadn’t really rehearsed what she was going to say, but she had been thinking about this for weeks and knew more or less what needed to be said. “I technically broke a rule at work, but since I committed my act privately, I should not have been punished; I should be allowed to express myself privately without risk of reprisal.”

“What rule did you break?” ClaudeHopper asked.

“I spoke negatively about a coworker, using a work computer. But I did it in a private chat.” She figured reiterating the important point — that the message was supposed to have been private — couldn’t hurt. “Even though the message got back to my boss somehow, I still feel my punishment was unfair.”

“What was the punishment?” That was _Danielle_.

“Twelve paddle swats on her bare bottom, Your Honor,” Ken said, “delivered cold.”

_Danielle_ nodded. “That seems reasonable to me.”

“But Your Honor,” Kristen protested, “what about my right to privacy?”

“Ken,” Teal75 said, “state your case.”

“Yes, Your Honor.” He cleared his throat. “Kristen and I have been friends and play partners for five years, and I’m more or less her top, as well as her disciplinarian. As such it falls to me to mete out punishment when it’s earned. I’ve always tried to be as fair as possible. In this case, Kristen clearly broke the rules at work, but that isn’t why she was punished.”

“What do you mean?” asked SamsonSpanks. Kristen wanted to know too.

“There are two rules: take care of yourself, and don’t be dishonest. She lied to her friend, and that was why she was punished.”

Kristen felt the blood drain from her face. Ken had her dead to rights there. She’d been so set on being vindicated at Spanking Court that she’d changed the narrative in her head to one where she’d gotten spanked for something she sent privately. But as she thought back on it, she remembered that Ken hadn’t seemed ready to punish her until she’d admitted to lying to her friend.

“What’s your opinion on her argument?” asked _Danielle_. “That the message was sent privately.”

“Well, even though it was private, she knew the rules: anything done on a company computer can be viewed by the company. But the lie definitely happened.”

“What was I supposed to say? That I got sent home because I was in trouble?”

Teal75 picked up her gavel, but Kristen didn’t continue the outburst. “Ken?” she said, prompting him to continue.

“Rules exist for a reason, Your Honor. Sometimes there’s a good reason for breaking them, but this wasn’t one of them.”

“Your response, Kristen?” SamsonSpanks said.

“I… I did lie. I admit it.” Kristen had a feeling SamsonSpanks was on her side, at least as far as her privacy went, but she knew none of them would balk against her being punished for breaking an established rule. “I wanted to maintain my privacy, though.”

“Very well,” Teal75 said. “Final arguments? Kristen, you first.”

“I shouldn’t have to tell people about things that happen because of private messages.” She had a bit of inspiration. “It sets a bad precedent for privacy in general.”

Teal75 looked over to Ken, who said, “She broke the rules. That means punishment.”

“All right,” Teal75 said, picking up the gavel. “We’ll deliberate. Wait here.” She tapped the gavel on the wooden disc, and the five of them went through the door behind them — Kristen figured it was the bedroom — and closed it.

“What do you think?” Ken asked her.

“I’m screwed,” she admitted. “I know that now.”

“I did warn you.”

“Well, that’s not fair.” She heard the pout in her voice and tried to make it go away. “You’ve been to way more spanking parties than me; you should’ve warned me.”

“I did try.” He shrugged. “It’s Spanking Court, Kristen. You’re not in front of the Supreme Court here. Ultimately it’s all supposed to be for fun.”

“Maybe, but I still want to win.”

The door opened and the judges filed out, taking their seats. Teal75 tapped the gavel three times. “Ken, Kristen, we have a verdict. It was a 5-0 vote in Ken’s favor.”

Kristen felt her heart drop into her shoes. “Oh.”