Maurecia woke up.

A bright flash of light above her head dominated her view at first, igniting part of the table where the upper half of her body was spread across amongst the darkness.

"Uh...w...wha..." she asked, her movement furthered the situation she now found herself in.

Half of her body was shackled by the wrists to the same table whilst the standing half stood firmly on the floor, cuffed by the heels.

She also realized that her roller blades and helmet were the only articles of clothing she was wearing. The rest were piled up to her left on that same table.

Never in her life had she felt this vulnerable.

"What's going on!" she yelled, wriggling even more as she began panicking "where am I!"

She tried her best to squeeze her way out. She could either be drawing attention or wasting her time. It was past around a minute of raw fear when footsteps were heard.

They were like drops of water amplified in sound.

"I think we both know the answer to that" echoed the voice inside that darkness. Unlike the space's actual size, which was around an abandoned warehouse's for all anyone knew, Maurecia recognized Todd's voice.

And his face as the direct light managed to shine upon.

"Todd!" she yelled, her shock made her forget the possibilities his presence could stand for "What's going on? What is all this? What happened to me?"

Todd didn't reply, he only stared down on her, begrudgingly. She wasn't sure if something she mentioned might've easily upset him when she didn't care. Maurecia carried on with her desperate force to remove herself from this incarcerated pose, almost realizing she was indeed naked.

"How would I know what you're thinking?" he asked, never once directing his eye away from her struggle hungry face.

She didn't look back at him after hearing his reply. Her only desire was to get the cuffs off her, shielding her concern to focus on the only person there besides her.

"Then...why are you still standing there! Stop starring and do something" commanded Maurecia, assuming Todd would follow after she tried her best to squeeze her way out "Are you even listening to me? Get me out of here now!"

Todd knew Maurecia was going to ignore him until she either gave up or if he returned the favor. Catching her attention, he sat on the table before she directed her angry gaze back at him. She seemed more determined to escape than actually upset about anything.

"Oh I'll get you out, Mau, but first, I need to know something" he asked gently, looking profoundly into her distracting scowl "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"OF COURSE I DO!" yelled Maurecia angrily "You're just going to leave me here tied up naked to this table while you're off wondering why!"

Todd grasped Maurecia's chin, knowing she didn't have the luxury of movement whatsoever, so therefore the same applied with freedom in general.

"Yes" he said in a deep whisper "Except I wouldn't if I wasn't the one who did in the first place"

Maurecia saw the cold glare that made her lose herself in Todd. She relinquished her common sense when fear got the best of her, unable to see Todd was far from his quizzically carefree self either.

Now she relinquished her unrepressed courage, knowing she was just confused.

"What…for?" she asked, calming down by the theory this wasn't in any way nightmarish.

Todd stood up from the table, returning a gaze that implied there wasn't anything happy left in this situation.

"Normally, I can handle defeat as long as I'm not weakened enough to let my breaking point take over. However, to some extent, even the gayest guys need to be reminded what gender they belong to. I certainly did when I almost became one of them." A bright brown suitcase thumped onto the table in the midst of Todd's explanation. "For that, tomboys should also learn not to betray their feminine nature, don't you agree?"

Maurecia's sideways gaze kept her from seeing Todd press a set of numbers. When it opened, he continued his gaze.

"Before I tell you why you're bound gag less for, please let me ask you something"

Maurecia prepared herself for the worst. She was finally conscious of the fact this was all unusual for the both. And yet she still hoped whatever twisted reason behind this had some common ground they could both agree on. She had to allow him, however difficult it would be some way or another.

"What do you want from me, Todd? I'm scared and I don't know what's going on!" she let out as an honest outburst.

She tried to clutch as much patience as she could to keep her from hyperventilating. It was then when Todd began taking a set of odd paraphernalia out of the case. First was a sapphire brush, only adding more confusion to the equation.

"Simple…If either one had the same amount of force, what do you think would hurt more?" said Todd as he took the next item out and laid it on the table: a shiny leather belt. Maurecia didn't dare assume anything more when connecting the image to Todd's fragmented statement.

Then he reached for the last item.

"A punch...or..."

Todd didn't finish, but instead, revealed the extreme fright Maurecia never thought her face would show. His grasp was occupied by the thin riding crop he mock flailed through the air. The goose bumps surfaced, especially down her nether regions, from imagining what the use was most likely there for.

Revenge was the foremost thing that came to mind.

"Todd… please let me go. Let me go and I promise not to punch you ever again. I know better now, so please?" beseeched Maurecia who no longer saw her explicit fear taking over once more. She even wriggled a bit, albeit to no avail but to capture Todd's dominant attention.

"See, unlike you, I took the time and thought about everything, considering every detail." said Todd before bringing out a big jar of coins to the table and sliding them close enough to bump her nose.

"Desperate times called for desperate needs. Like you said, you're just scared into denial. I know I was when...a little help offered me the chloroform and this room in exchange for a little patience within the jar."

"But it's not fair; you're going to torture me just because I punched you?"

"Get real, Mau. Torture has nothing to do with corporal punishment. I just want you to see what hurts more, pain or humiliation."

"PAIN, TODD! I CAN PROMISE YOU THERE'S NO GREATER PAIN THAN THE PHYSICAL KIND!"

Just when Maurecia though no other items could invade their space, another light went on to reveal the entire right side of the table. On that side was what Maurecia immediately made out as a video camera, turned on recording and nothing more. Normally she could say what she wanted about the situation, but this took it to a whole new level of perversion. It was then when Maurecia finally considered herself a defenseless victim.

"You're...you wouldn't record all this, please tell me you're not that sick, are you Todd?" begged Maurecia, with a high-pitched approach she never found herself in. She was starting to see what Todd meant when misplacing her true gender on modish trinkets.

"It's no sicker than punching me in public. How can I be the judge of that when all I'm doing is echoing the sentiment?" asked Todd as he placed the tip of lengthened stick on her back.

"Please Todd. If my parents ever find out about this-" said Maurecia, before another motion ceased her chance to bring a lot more personal issues to the table. Her face blushed to a sun burnt red in a second once she felt it. Todd wedged the stick between the rift of her backside, without once breaking eye contact.

"And that…is where the line of embarrassment is crossed." replied Todd, eyeing Maurecia with covert malevolence. He found his dream of lowering Maurecia to that of a victim's level somewhat enticing, if not guilt free when come true.

That never stopped him from giving half a smile.

"I can see your face is getting the hang of it. Want a quick tap just to see what's in store?" he joked, now laying the tip on one cheek. Maurecia began pouting in suggestion of emotional woe the more Todd reminded her of the embarrassing state she was in. It also reminded him why he was really doing all this.

He moved the whip away, along with himself, as he turned his back on her. She didn't have time to ask once an exhausted sigh introduced his next elaboration.

"You're missing the bigger picture here. The thing is...I have nothing more to lose." He began, turning back around as he continued his admission.

"My life in Wayside is nothing but a joke. Call me full of myself but I'm a gifted student sent to a school where common sense is frowned upon, and really, I'm sick of it."

He looked down on Maurecia, whose lower eyelids glimmered with the failed attempt to swallow the submission already in progress. She saw how Todd was entirely drained of sympathy once he bent down to look closely at her before continuing. How was so serious the whole time?

"I could run away, I could just start a new, away from this confusing puzzle with too many missing pieces to really enjoy, do you understand?"

Maurecia couldn't talk as much as she was able to when she'd recently discovered the setting. The quivering made it hard for her lips to enunciate the words needed without pronouncing them wrong. Yet if one thing's for certain, it's that a world without Todd isn't much of one.

"No..." she managed to yelp out. Todd was not impressed, lingering his sad yet serious glare until Maurecia had to close her eyes to prevent it from entering her mind.

"Sigh. Let me make this very clear for you, Maurecia." He said, which forced her eyes open as keeping them closed wouldn't do much good once she heard him out.

"My residence in your world will depend entirely on you. Only if you're willing to endure what I'm about to slam at you once…every month…for as long as we stay in this school… will I delete this recording and will we be free to be friends."

She refused to believe this. Todd was practically treating her like a puppet that he knew was capable of working beyond its tangled strings should chance allow her. But in reality, he wouldn't be giving her any choice knowing her as more than a friend.

"You mean...There's no way out of this?" she asked, trying to contain her capacious scorn.

"That's the benefit. If you decline, I'll run away and this will go viral on spankingtube dot com. That way, you can truly see what lies beneath the infernal abyss." he replied, leaving behind the only smug of regret she would ever detect from him. She finally saw how hard this must've been in choosing to roll the dice on something so uncertain.

"I… I can't do this, Todd! You're still not giving me a fair choice!" yelled Maurecia, hiding her intentions to get back on her resolute feet. All she wanted was for Todd to see she was willing to stop punching him if he'd just trust her.

Then again, she was still under the assumption it wasn't too late.

"That's congress for you. Besides, what else is this little session for?" said Todd, laying the whip down to reclaim the brush, his real weapon of discipline in mind. "You said so yourself: explicit pain is the real pain."

Todd was right. Not only was he going to put her faithfulness to the test, but also her certainty. He really did have this ready before she was ever abducted, leaving her to doubt only herself. Todd knew what it was to be in pain enough to judge it, not her. The very empathy this all amounted to was pain enough as she allowed one tiny globule to fall down her face.

Todd walked behind Maurecia, reaching the back half of her body. She aimed for her protruding bottom, almost peach like at the shine of the light once he came close. A chair remained there right from the start as he sat down to get a better glimpse.

"SOB, I'm sorry, Todd. I just…I wish I knew it hurt you this much" she cried gently, ready to let him release his unavoidable anger on her sit spots.

Todd rested his hand on her arms, admitting the obscure sympathy he had for her, as fake as it might seem. Deep down, he only wanted to bring back the real Todd once this was over. He finally saw Maurecia was more sensitive than any other girl in Wayside now that she saw he wasn't.

In spite of it, maybe she was still more than willing to endure it for him.

"This was my only way of telling you, Maur." he responded, too preoccupied with the ghastly task to evade lying. He took one indubitably motionless look at her behind and raised the blue brush in place.

"You've got twenty seconds before the real tears begin to shed."

So how did I do for my first Wayside story? Feel free to review, please!