Bright Sky Beach

Lindsay insisted that they walk in the opposite direction of the hotel to make sure that they didn't get 'lucky' and make it back without getting stopped. Clara thought that made sense. She didn't think she could make herself risk it again if they did make it back to safety.

Clara imagined that lots of people were staring at them, like they knew that the two of them were about to get in trouble. It was just as likely that they were ogling them without any thought of them breaking the law.

"Ooh, there's one," Lindsay whispered.

Clara scanned the crowd and saw a police officer in his brown uniform walking the opposite way on the other side of the street.

"Don't look at him," Lindsay said, "We have to be casual." She grabbed her sister's arm and made her look into the window of the store they were passing.

Clara pretended to be engrossed by the display of branded beach towels hanging in front of her. She felt like her bright red swimsuit was a red cape being waved at a bull, luring the cop across the street to arrest them. Her heart raced and she wasn't sure if she wanted the officer to see them or not.

She couldn't deny that Lindsay's plan was exciting, but it wasn't the most full-proof plan. The idea of stripping off on top of the wooden platforms was growing on her. She might even get a front row view of a man being punished on the same stage. Of course, she wasn't looking forward of bending over and taking her spanking. Even if it wasn't that painful, it was still a stranger touching her naked body.

Butterflies exploded in her stomach when she saw the police officer's reflection in the window. Lindsay must have seen it too as she grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed.

"Excuse me, ladies," the cop said loudly.

"Huh," Lindsay said as she turned around attempting to sound surprised.

Clara was glad that Lindsay was going to do all the talking as her throat had gone dry in the fraction of a second since the officer announced himself.

"You two need to come with me," he said.

"Oh, why, officer? Is something the matter?" Lindsay said trying to sound innocent. Clara thought that it sounded fake but maybe that was just because she knew Lindsay so well.

"You're both in violation of Bright Sky Beach's dress code and you need to come with me."

"But I didn't know there was a dress code. We're at the beach. Can't I wear a swimsuit?" Lindsay asked.

"You have to have a coverup on when you're on the street. Now, come on," he said jerking his head in the direction of the police precinct. "I have to take you to the magistrate."

"Is that really necessary?" Lindsay pleaded, "Can't you just give us a warning?"

"No, policy is that everyone gets taken in. You must not have in town very long," he remarked.

Lindsay squeezed her sister's hand again. Clara knew that it was meant to be triumphant. The cop had just confirmed that the plan had worked. They weren't going to be paying a fine. They were going to be on display at the beach. "Ok, sir. Um, lead the way."

"Head that way," he said gruffly pointing back the way they came, "I won't cuff you if you promise not to run. It will just add another charge."

"Oh, we won't run, promise. Right, sis?" Lindsay said.

Clara shook her head. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Go on, then," the police officer said, "Just walk slowly."

The two sisters turned and started to head back down the way the came. Clara could hear the cop's footfalls just half a step behind them as he stayed close to make sure they couldn't get away. Again, she felt like all eyes were on her and this time she didn't have any doubts. Tourists and locals alike knew what was about to happen when a cop was escorting two underdressed coeds down the street.

Two fellow young women looked at them sadly as they walked by. Clara noticed another girl's eye bug out when she saw the officer and she escaped into a shop door. Further down the road a group of three guys stepped to the side to allow the two of them to pass. One of them was shameless enough to give them a thumbs up and Clara swore she heard another ask his friends, "Red or blue."

Clara was glad she didn't hear the answer. For now, she didn't mind the attention. That was the goal, after all, but doubts were still invading her mind. "This isn't going to work. Everyone's going to laugh. It's going to hurt. Lindsay is hotter than me. Oh god, this is so embarrassing." She shook her head trying to rid herself of the intrusive thoughts.

Trying to distract herself, she glanced at her sister. Lindsay looked like she was trying to hide a smile and Clara knew she was ecstatic. Her plan had gone perfectly. The guys ogling them and flashing a thumbs up probably just made her even happier. Clara was scared that if it was found out that they got caught on purpose that it would be bad for them. What if they upgraded the punishment or something? She hoped Lindsay's half hidden smile wouldn't give them away. "Maybe it looks like she laughs when she's nervous," she hoped.

Carefully, Clara brushed her sister's arm to try to get her attention. When Lindsay looked at her, Clara tried to flash an expression filled with every warning she'd ever given her younger sister when they were growing up. Lindsay responded with the fakest look of innocence that Clara had ever seen. The older sister just shook her head and rolled her eyes as they finally arrived at the police station.

They walked up the steps and pushed open the front doors of the police precinct. Inside was a lobby with an information window where another uniformed officer sat. Hallways split off to the right and left. The two girls stopped and waited for direction and the officer pointed them to the left. Reading the signs on the wall, Clara learned that they were walking toward the magistrate's office.

Clara felt even more underdressed in her one piece and sandals, now. Everybody else in the building was either a cop or a professionally dressed office worker and her arms and toned legs were completely uncovered. Lindsay was even more bare in her bikini, and Clara couldn't help but be embarrassed for her.

They walked through the building rounding corners when the officer ordered and eventually, they entered a room with a handful of chairs bolted to the floor and another door across from them.

"Ok, girls, take a seat," the officer said, "I'm going to search your bags. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Lindsay said as the two sisters sat down in adjoining chairs.

The officer looked at Clara, who realized that he expected an answer.

"Yes," she croaked, as she watched him. For the first time she noticed he had a name tag which read, 'Officer Tyler Noble."

Officer Noble pulled a notebook out of one of the pouches on his belt and a pen, "What's your names?"

"Lindsay Riley."

"Um, Clara Riley."

"Ages?" he asked as he scribbled their information.

"Nineteen," Lindsay answered.

"Twenty-one," Clara said.

"Alright, good. Glad you're not minors. Do you have IDs in your bag?" the officer asked.

"Yes," Lindsay said as she reached for her bag.

"Keep your hands out of the bag, please," the officer warned her.

He didn't seem angry. It was like this was completely routine to him take young women's information before they were sentenced to public nudity and a spanking. Clara realized that was exactly true and, again, questioned why she had agreed to this. This whole situation was insane, but they were stuck now. "Might as well make the best of it," she told herself, "Maybe Lindsay will be right."

The officer dumped out Lindsay's bag first and shuffled through the contents, "One towel, one book, ah, there's your coverup." He found her saffron colored wrap and raised an eyebrow at the girl, "Here put this on before you see the magistrate. If you'd been wearing it before you wouldn't be here."

"I know. I'm sorry," Lindsay replied still trying to sound like this wasn't her plan all along. She stood up and wrapped the fabric around her waist and tied a bow on her hip. Now she had a skirt that still fell well above her knees, but it was enough to be considered covered when off the beach.

The officer continued to search through the pile of clothes listing everything that he found. Finally, he found her wallet and opened it to inventory its contents. He kept her Driver's License out, but he stuffed everything else back into her bag.

As he dumped out Clara's bag, she spoke, "Um, I have shorts in there, too, sir. Can I put them on?"

"Hmm, you could have avoided this too. Tsk, tsk," he tutted as he found her canvas navy shorts and tossed them into her lap.

He continued going through Clara's bag as she stood up to step into her short shorts. She realized how ridiculous the law was as, even with the shorts, perhaps the top quarter of her thigh was covered so it wasn't like she was any more modest than before.

The officer read Clara's ID and finished taking notes. "Alright, I'm going to go write you up so I can hand you off to the magistrate. I have to handcuff you now since I'm not here to watch you."

Clara hadn't thought of that, but it wasn't that surprising. The officer took Lindsay's left wrist and closed the cuff around it. Passing the chain under the arm of the chair, he attached the other cuff to Clara's right wrist, locking it tightly.

Clara waited a few beats after the officer left the room before whispering, "You need to look less excited, Linz."

"What?" she said, still with faux innocence.

"You're going to give the plan away. At least I'm actually nervous. You're going to get us in trouble," Clara said, "And try to be quiet. You don't want people to hear us."

Lindsay frowned, "Sorry, I didn't know you were still nervous. Isn't this what we wanted?"

"Shhhhhh. What did I just say? You can't be saying that out loud in here," Clara reiterated.

"Sorry," Lindsay muttered, "We're going to be fine. It won't be that bad."

Clara shook her head, "Aren't you just a little scared?"

"I mean sure. I'm nervous, but in a good way."

Clara sighed knowing there was no reason to fight. This was going to happen, and Lindsay was going about this the right way. "Just relax and have fun," she told herself. She had convinced herself it was going to be fun to strip off in front of everybody but being paraded down the street had made her scared again. "Lindsay's plan is going to work. We'll be swimming in guys when this is over."

Her thoughts were interrupted when the second door opened and a scared looking woman with long, curly red hair and thick black glasses walked into the room with another police officer pushing her forward. She was fully, though informally, dressed in a salmon tank top and a frilly navy-blue skirt.

Clara's stomach dropped as she realized that this woman probably just received the same sentence that they were about to hear but she wasn't a volunteer. Was it fair to her to be having a good time while she was suffering? "Stop, Clara," she told herself, "I don't know her. Who cares about her? She'll never know what is going through our head."

The woman was told to sit, and her police officer handcuffed one of her wrists to the arm of the chair and left. Clara took the time to examine her, her vanity getting the better of her. If she was going to be on the same platform, and there was no guarantee of that, she wanted to know if she was any competition. She already knew that Lindsay was hotter, so she didn't want to be third out of three.

Luckily, Clara thought she outclassed the new arrival. Her face was pretty and pale red heads always had some allure, but she was a little too round to compete. Her breasts were large, and she had round hips, but she didn't seem to have the hourglass figure to take advantage of those assets. The stranger might be some people's type, but Clara was confident she was hotter.

Clara judged the girl in just a couple seconds and immediately she felt guilty about it. She knew that she shouldn't be so competitive with other women especially when she was going through something so difficult, so she decided to make up for it by trying to be her friend.

She nudged Lindsay and indicated the new girl. Lindsay shrugged her shoulders like she was planning on ignoring the girl. Clara sighed and spoke up, "Hi, I'm Clara. Are you ok?"

The woman picked her eyes up from the floor and Clara could see that her eyes were red like she had just recovered from crying. She sniffed as she answered, "Hazel."

Clara waited for her to continue but when she didn't, she said, "So, I think we're in this together. What're you in for?"

Hazel smiled at the cliché, "Supposedly, I rolled through a stop sign. I don't think I did, but they believed the cop."

"Can you appeal?" Clara suggested, knowing what the answer was.

"Not until Monday and I'd have to stay in jail until then."

"Better to just take it," Lindsay piped up.

Clara rolled her eyes, "This is my sister Lindsay who is not taking this as seriously as she should."

Hazel frowned as Lindsay spoke but smiled at Clara's joke, "What about you?"

"Dress code violation," Clara said peevishly. The ridiculousness of the rule still got to her even if she had broken it purposefully.

"Well coming here is a risk, but I hadn't even made it to beach yet."

"Have you been here before?" Clara asked.

"No, I was just visiting with friends. Ugh, they must already be settled at the hotel. I hope they don't see me."

"It will be ok. I think it will, at least," Clara said hopefully.

"It will be over quickly," Lindsay added.

"Have you seen what the spankings are like?" Hazel asked nervously.

"Um, yeah, we've seen a few," Clara started.

"They don't seem too bad," Lindsay cut her off.

"Yeah, but are you, you know, um," Hazel hesitated, "Completely naked?"

"Yeah," Clara said.

Hazel looked at the floor and took a deep breath that caught in her throat.

"You'll be ok. You won't be up there alone," Clara offered.

The stranger nodded, "I know we just met, but thank you. I hope they don't split us up."

Clara felt even worse for sizing Hazel up the way that she did. That wasn't fair to her and she seemed nice. "Me too," Clara said, "We can get through this together."

As Hazel smiled, the officer that had arrested the two sisters returned and stood in front of them. He bent over and unlocked them from the hand cuffs and handed them both a clipboard with a stack of papers. "Read the top sheet. That's the inventory of your bags. Make sure it's correct and sign it," the officer said.

He waited as they read it and signed their names before continuing, "Flip to the next sheet and read the report that I'm about to file. Tell me if there is anything that you disagree with."

Clara skimmed over the man's version of events and she couldn't find anything with which to quibble. "It looks fine," she answered.

"Yeah, mine too," Lindsay said.

"Alright, good," the guard answered as he signed his name to his report, "Now make sure to tell the magistrate the same thing when he asks. It saves time."

Clara and Lindsay nodded.

"Get up. Go through that door," he said, motioning toward the door that Hazel had recently exited.

The two sisters stood up and followed directions. Clara felt a lump form in her throat as she walked through the door and willed herself not to cry. Lindsay must have noticed and tapped Clara's hand, flashing a weak smile and a wink, as if to remind her not to worry and this was the plan from the start.

Clara tried to relax and swallow the lump in her throat as she took in her environment. In front of her, the magistrate's courtroom was underwhelming. It seemed like it was a modified conference room. Against the wall opposite the door, two officials sat behind a table and another guard, probably the bailiff, sat to the side in a metal folding chair. The two officials at the table had name placards: Mr. Fisher, Magistrate and Ms. O'Neil, Stenographer. The arresting officer followed them in and closed the door.

"You too can stand right there," Mr. Fisher said pointing at a spot on the floor about five feet from the table. Clara and Lindsay complied as the officer laid the clipboards that the women had just signed and moved to stand behind the defendants.

The magistrate read both statements with a bored looking expression like he read the exact report hundred of times. "Ok, are you ready?" he asked looking at his stenographer. She nodded and he continued, "I call this court to order. Please identify yourselves for the court."

"Lindsay Riley, sir."

"Clara Riley."

"Have you both read the contents of the officers report?" Mr. Fisher asked.

"Yes, sir," they both said together.

"Do either of you disagree with anything in the report?" the magistrate continued.

"No," Lindsay said as Clara shook her head.

"You have to speak up, Clara," the magistrate stated.

"No, it's correct."

"Do either of you have anything to say to the court that might defend your actions?" Mr. Fisher asked.

"No, we just forgot to put our bottoms on," Lindsay said.

"Does the same go for you, Miss," Mr. Fisher queried.

"Yes," Clara lied, glad that Lindsay was doing most of the speaking.

"Well then. That was easy. For the record then, Lindsay Riley I find you guilty of breaking Municipal Code four point seven point three. That is immodest dress on a public street. In line with precedent I sentence you to a J21 punishment with a public enhancement. Clara Riley . . ."

Clara grabbed her sister's hand and squeezed as the magistrate repeated the same judgement. Lindsay returned the squeeze and Clara didn't know if she wanted her sister's support or if she wanted to break her hand. "You're going to be fine, you're going to be fine," she repeated to herself over and over.

"Are both of you aware what that sentence entails?" Mr. Fisher asked.

"Um, I think so . . . " Lindsay started.

"Well to be clear," the magistrate cut her off, "As soon as possible you will be taken to a public punishment site and you will be stripped and spanked on your bare bottoms. I hope that this punishment will remind you to follow all local ordinances. To that end I also order that the court give them a copy of local laws."

The magistrate looked at his bailiff, and Clara realized this was a common order. The bailiff reached down to the floor into a box that sat under his chair and handed two thick stacks of papers to the arresting officer behind them.

"I'll make sure these get put in with their possessions, your honor," the officer said.

Mr. Fisher nodded approvingly, "Will the punishment be carried out today?"

Clara's stomach dropped at the idea of spending the night in jail, but the officer assured the magistrate, "Yes, your honor. Their punishment will be complete within an hour, as usual."

"Good, it is so ordered. Court dismissed."

"Wow," Clara thought, "That was fast." They had been convicted and sentenced in less than ten minutes. If there had been any question of their guilt, she would have been furious.

"Hold still, ladies," the officer said behind them as he connected the two sisters again each with a link around one of their wrists. The officer grabbed Clara by her bicep and steered the two of them back through the door to the waiting room. Hazel's arresting officer had returned and had the woman standing with her wrists cuffed behind her back.

"Seems like we're together, Jimmy," Officer Noble announced.

"I figured we would be. I have Ms. Olson ready so we can get down to the beach," Jimmy responded.

As the sisters approached Hazel, Clara flashed her a smile. Hazel responded with a sad smile of her own. Her hope that they wouldn't be separated had come true, at least. Clara hoped it would make it easier on her.