for my Uncle Mike who never gave up on me...
Mara knew she was going to get it when she got home. Not only had she failed her biology test, but the girls in athletics had thrown all of her clothing into the toilet, including her bra. Luckily, she had taken her panties in the shower stall with her and hung them on the loop with her towel. Those were the only (fairly) clean and dry garments she had left.
She walked down the street, carrying her soiled school uniform in a plastic bag and her back pack on one shoulder. She stopped and shifted the weight of her bag. No sooner than she was done, she felt the first drop of rain on the top of her head. Mara sighed. She knew the long walk home was going to be even longer.
Mara bumbled through the door of her home and immediately dropped her bags. She reached over and gently shut the door. She instantly realized how cold it was. Her gym uniform was totally soaked through. The tight white shirt with red bands around the sleeves and neck clung to her perky b-cup breasts, and nicely accentuated her small, curvy waist. The shirt was thin enough to see right through it. One could see the heart shaped birthmark on her shoulder...one could see her quarter sized brown nipples harden as she shivered.
As she slid down the wall she hoped she hadn't made too much noise and her uncle, Edward, wouldn't yet know she was home.
Mara had lived with Edward since she was 6 years old. Her mother had left her on his doorstep with a trash bag full of her clothes and a couple of My Little Ponies. She then hopped into a Camaro and sped off to Vegas with her boyfriend. Edward very reluctantly took the little girl in and eventually began to love her, but never loosened the tight grip he held on her and almost ruled Mara's life with an iron fist. He told her that his house was a dictatorship not a democracy and if she didn't like it, she could leave and end up like her "whore of a mother." This is why she was afraid to go home. Not to mention the fact that corporeal punishment was a regular occurrence in their house.
Mara's butt gently hit the floor and she bent her knees upward towards her face. She had just rested her forehead on them when she heard him coming down the stairs. She sat still and breathed very slowly in an attempt to be as quiet as possible, but it was useless. Uncle Edward knew she was there. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at her. She stared back at him wide-eyed.
"Mara, where the hell are your clothes?" Mara pointed to the plastic bag that sat leaking in the corner.
He tilted his head and spoke again. "And why the hell aren't you wearing them?" Mara opened her mouth to speak, but Edward cut her off. "You know, I don't even want to hear one of your idiotic excuses Mara," he sighed. "Just give me your test...NOW."
Mara leaned over and opened her back pack. She took out a folder and leafed through the mass of papers in it. She pulled out the very last stapled set, stood up, and slowed walked over to her uncle. She reached out her hand and Edward snatched the papers from her. He looked it over and lowered his eyes at her.
"57?! 57?!! What in the fuck would cause you to make a 57 on a test? This is Advanced Biology! Do you know how much more it cost me to put you in this class? I stayed up and helped you study and you make a goddamned 57?!!! WHAT'S THIS ABOUT MARA? ANSWER ME!" He was very close to her face now. "Hello? Are you retarded or something?" Edward took his finger and poked her hard in the middle of the forehead.
"No, I just..."
"You just what?"
"I – I just froze up. I couldn't think!"
"There you go again with those damn excuses Mara! I allow you to live in my home, I feed you, clothe you, pay for you to hang out with you dumbass friends, I send you to the BEST private school in the state and this, THIS is how you repay me? With 57s on tests and a $200 uniform dragged home in a bag and tossed into the corner? Huh?" Edward was yelling so loudly Mara's eardrums throbbed. She opened her mouth again to speak and a single tear ran down her flushed cheeks.
"Go upstairs into my office. I'll be up there in a moment. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING." Edward shoved the test in Mara's chest and turned to go into the kitchen.
She quickly climbed the stairs and turned into Edward's large office. It was very nice there, filled with rich dark woods and a roaring fire place that was going no matter the time of year. She would spend much more time there if she could, but as it were, she was forbidden to be there without her uncle's accompaniment.
The pleasant sound of the crackling fire was soon interrupted by Edward slamming the door. He paced around behind her.
"Put the test on the desk. I want you to bend over and get your face as close to it as possible. Place your hands on either side of it." Mara turned around to look at her uncle.
"I-I don't understand..."
"There's nothing to understand," he snapped. "Now just do it."
She placed the papers on the desk and slowly bent over. Mara's palms lay face down on both sides of the test. She held her face only inches away from its surface.
"Closer," he said. Closer, Mara moved.
"Closer," Edward said again. This time more emphatically. Closer again, she moved.
"WHAT PART OF CLOSER DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" Edward grabbed the back of Mara's neck and pushed it so that the tip of her nose touched the paper.
"Now read it to me."
"Excuse me, s-sir?"
"READ IT!" there was a pause. Then a more hushed tone, Edward said, "Read it to me. First the question, followed by the choices, your answer, and then the correct answer. I want it read verbatim. Now, start."
Mara began slowly and quietly. "Test: Classification, Viruses, and Bacteria. Number 1. Who discovered the system of binomial nomenclature? A. Aristotle B. Haecked C. Linneaus D. Chatton. My answer was D. Chatton...the correct answer was," she hesitated, "the correct answer was C. Linneaus."
SMACK!!!!!
The horrible stinging sensation Mara felt on her ass made her face blush. She cried out. She turned to protest but Edward would not let her start.
"KEEP READING!"
"Number 2," she squeaked. "Two organisms in the same class, but different orders will A. be in different kingdoms B. have the same genus C. be in the same phylum or D. be members of the same species. My answer was B. be in the same genus, the correct answer was C. be in the same phylum."