Kelsey Pays For Her Crimes Ch. 01

"Yep, me too. Thank you so much, Molly. You've been so great since I met you."

"It's my job. Tell her I'm sorry."

***

AJ was numb sitting in the backseat of Gracie's sedan on the way back to the suburbs. Kelsey had thrown her suit jacket onto the floor and laid on the seat as soon as she got in the car. Now she was curled up with her head in AJ's lap. She was either dozing or faking being asleep because she didn't want to talk about court.

The last few months had really been the best time of AJ's life. After she had been sentenced to public exposure, she thought her life was over. Her parents, who had never been the best, were on the edge of throwing her out for disappointing them and shaming herself with public nudity. They didn't care that it was a court ordered punishment. They just couldn't look at her anymore.

Gracie and Kelsey, though, had been her salvation. When she finally admitted what was going on at home to them, Gracie had, without hesitation, invited her to stay with her for the summer. She was eighteen and could do what she wanted, after all. It had taken some convincing and AJ had stayed at home for a couple weeks after graduation, but she had had another knock down, drag out fight with her dad when she told them that she was dating Kelsey.

That had been the last straw and she'd packed up what she could carry and moved in with Gracie for the summer. She found a job as a barista and worked as many hours as she could over the summer before school started and now, she found hours in between classes and on the weekend. She was paying for college with loans, which was stressful, but Gracie was a great source for budgeting and other money stuff and she was getting by. Plus, Gracie had promised to help her if she ever needed it, though she didn't want to have to ask.

Other than that, though, the summer was great. She got to live with her two best friends and she actually had a real support system for the first time in her life. She could tell them anything and they would support her. The summer was a time she'd remember fondly for the rest of her life.

However, AJ saw that starting to slip now. While she was still absentmindedly petting her girlfriend's short brown hair, she was angry at Kelsey for dragging her back into the world of judicial punishments. She knew why Kelsey was so gung-ho about the USSJP and she admired her for it, but she had a bad feeling about it all year. The meetings were stressful since she didn't like hearing all the stories and she knew the idea of rallies and activism would turn bad someday. She'd been at the rally, though she hadn't gotten arrested. That had just been luck, lots of people were arrested who were doing the same thing she did.

When the police came to Kelsey's apartment and taken her for questioning about the riot, AJ had been there. It seemed like the world was ending as she called Gracie in a panic and the wheels of justice started to grind. When all this was over, she was going to have to tell Kelsey how she felt, but for now she was going to have to just grin and bare it. There was no way she would ever abandon her in her time of need. She loved Kelsey to the bottom of her heart.

She caught Gracie looking at her in the rearview mirror and they exchanged concerned looks. Gracie had been more than an adopted older sister and an occasional lover with Kelsey and AJ. When Gracie had gotten back from her last punishment, she'd admitted that she had a crush on the two of them. They'd talked about it, and Gracie was worried about them being so much younger than her, but they ultimately gave into passion. AJ had thought it was nice to have somebody more experienced in the bedroom involved, too. It had become rarer though, as Gracie tried to return to a normal life. They hadn't had sex in a couple months, now.

AJ knew when Gracie was taking care of them, she was going above and beyond what she'd do for a friend. And she was grateful, more than she could express.

The car pulled into the driveway with a bump and the engine turned off.

Gracie turned around, "Is she actually asleep?"

"Yeah," AJ said, starting to shake the girl in her lap, "Come on, Kels, I'll tuck you into bed."

Kelsey roused herself looking bleary. If she was faking, then she was being a wonderful actress. "Yeah, that sounds good."

In a few seconds, Kelsey's and AJ's fingers were interlaced and they were headed for the guest bedroom.

"I'll get your stuff, you rest," AJ said, as they entered.

The bedroom was in the back corner of Gracie's house and had a window above the bed and on the wall opposite the door. The bed was a queen bed, which was nice when both of them were there, and there was a dresser with a mirror rising from it and a closet. AJ and Kelsey had taken up a couple of the drawers and half the closet with their things, but a lot of it was Gracie's knickknacks and other junk that usually got hidden in guest rooms.

AJ had brought a couple photographs from home when she moved out, but hadn't really felt like she should decorate, even though she knew Gracie wouldn't mind.

Kelsey flopped on the bed and started to unbutton her frilly white blouse and tossed it aside, revealing a white B-cup bra, that she'd chosen to minimize see through.

AJ rifled through the drawer and found Kelsey's pajamas, or rather what she slept in, which was a gray t shirt and black gym shorts. When she turned around, Kelsey was wearing only a tan colored thong. AJ was still jealous of her girlfriend's petite frame. AJ's was much rounder, voluptuous was what Kelsey called her, but she just called herself chubby.

"Here," AJ said, tossing clothes next to her friend and watching her slip into her comfy clothes. "Come on, try to sleep. Everything's going to be ok. I love you."

"I love you too," Kelsey said and rolled over.

AJ changed clothes, too, pulling off her long gray dress and her tights. She released her boobs from her 34DD bra. It was nice to have a bra that fit, which was another thing Gracie had taught her, but it was even better to not have to wear one at all.

She put on gray sweatpants and a t shirt and hoody and went back out into the sitting room. Gracie was sitting on the couch having also changed into her lounge clothes, pajama pants with hearts on them and a thin teal cotton shirt.

"Hey, how is she?" Gracie asked turning around toward AJ.

AJ shrugged as she walked toward the couch and collapsed onto the cushion, "Trying to sleep."

"She's not just trying to avoid talking about it?" Gracie asked, skeptically.

"I thought so too," AJ responded, "But I think she's really exhausted. It's been a rough week."

"How was she at school this week?"

"I dunno. I convinced her to go to class. She tried not to on Monday."

Gracie frowned and thought for a few seconds, "Well, I guess we'll get her through the best we can, right? Nothing else we can do."

"Yeah. I guess," AJ said unsure.

Gracie stared at her, "Are you doing ok?"

AJ sighed, "I'm mad at her, I guess. For dragging me, us, back into all this. I wanted it behind me."

"Yeah, I understand. You two were so great to me, I feel like I'm obligated. You aren't in the same way. I'm sorry."

"Yeah I am. I mean I'm her girlfriend and I love her. And I know she'd do the same for me. I just wish she'd talk to me like an adult. Every conversation gets back to this and I just want it to be normal."

"Yeah, I know she's being hard to deal with, but remember we didn't know her before the last time she was at the PC. This might just be how she copes. She has always felt guilty about every little thing. The case is probably all she can think about," Gracie reminded her.

"But it's not what I want to think about!" AJ said heatedly, before taking a couple breaths to calm herself.

"I know it's not fair. You can talk to me. We can find you a therapist. You have to be patient with her now, I think," Gracie said soothingly.

"I can't afford a therapist."

Gracie took a deep breath and looked sadly at AJ, "You know that's not the issue. Just come lay your head on me. I'll support you too."

AJ was glad to have the conversation end. She scooted over to Gracie's side of the couch and laid her head on Gracie's chest and Gracie enveloped the teenager with her arms and they laid quietly.

***

Kelsey tossed and turned in the bed, unable to sleep after AJ left the room. It was too bright in the room, since it wouldn't be dark for a few more hours and if she put her head under the pillow then it was too stuffy. At least those were the reasons she was trying to tell herself she couldn't sleep.

Really, she wished AJ would have laid down with her, but she sensed that AJ was angry with her and she understood why. "I should have listened to her. She told me the protest was a bad idea."

If she could take it all back, she would. They could have waited until after Sofia was released and lead the protest when tempers weren't as high. She could understand everybody's blood boiling when they were confronted with her naked body on the ground. She'd felt the anger too, but she'd controlled herself. "No, don't blame others. I planned it and it was my fault everyone was there."

The longer she laid there, the more she couldn't prevent herself from thinking of her punishments. She'd been through the strip search and the public punishment before, so while that part sucked, she would survive. The corporal punishments were going to be new to her. Her parents had never even spanked her as a little girl.

It leapt to her mind that AJ and Gracie would probably volunteer to help her practice, like they had during Gracie's ordeal. Kelsey wasn't going to let that happen.

Before her last punishment, she had secretly practiced inserting things into her butt because that had been her sentence. When her roommate had been gone, she would strip naked and finger her butthole before eventually working a highlighter inside of her. Then she would bend over and look in the mirror, imagining being in front of the crowd and getting used to what they'd see. She'd passed the habit onto Gracie when they had become friends and, in fact, she had hooked up with AJ the first night the two of them had helped Gracie practice.

However, she didn't find the weird stuff they had been doing sexy, at all. It was more the intimacy and feeling of support that the group gave each other that had turned her on the first time.

She really hated being the center of attention, though. The other times they'd practiced together everyone was focusing on Gracie and that had made it better. "Maybe I can just practice by myself, again. I could even start now. Plus, AJ's mad at me, probably Gracie too, how could I let them be involved in the spanking and . . ." she didn't let her mind finish the last thought, not wanting to think about the J49.

Kelsey quietened her mind and listened for anybody moving around the house. It was silent. "Just something little to get used to it again." She rolled over and pulled up her shirt uncovering her breasts. She'd always wished they were bigger and was jealous of AJ's bust size. She massaged her peach colored nipples to life and tried to summon anger toward herself, "How could I have been so stupid? I got my friends in trouble." She grasped her nipples between her thumbs and forefingers and squeezed as hard as she could, holding it for a few seconds, biting her lip.

She'd never told anybody that, for her, practice was self flagellation. The pain wasn't too bad. The shame and guilt were worse. She cupped the bottom on her right breast in one hand and grasped her nipple with the other and pulled. "You deserve this, Kels. You were bad."

Kelsey carried on the same routine for the next few minutes, punishing herself by squeezing and twisting her flesh and rolling over trying to squish her boobs between her body and the bed. Eventually she decided she shouldn't continue. "What would I even say if AJ walked in?"

She'd gotten her heartrate up, screaming at herself internally and reliving that stupid protest. As she came down, she was feeling tired and decided she might be able to sleep now. As the exhaustion and stress of the day caught up to her, she finally was able to fall into a fitful sleep.

***

Gracie hated driving this close to downtown. The traffic was terrible. Kelsey and AJ were in the backseat, as usual, looking solemn as they neared the Punishment Center.

The last couple weeks hadn't been any better than the day that Kelsey had gotten her sentence. She'd been hiding in her room every weekend when she visited, and AJ said she'd been doing the same thing on campus during the week.

Gracie and AJ kept trying to reach out to her and show support, but she just kept withdrawing. It was taking a toll on AJ and Gracie has spent more time supporting her because Kelsey wouldn't take any help. "There's going to be another fight before long," Gracie predicted silently.

They'd learned, a little surreptitiously, that the punishment was going to be at the University's basketball arena. The Punishment Center didn't advertise where specific individuals were going to be sent on big punishment days like today. Usually after people were processed at the Center, they were put into whatever van needed to be filled and sent to some park or another around the city. It had been random chance, and good luck, that the three of them had been assigned to the same park back in May.

The only reason they knew it was the basketball arena was that somebody had leaked the information to Sofia Alonzo. Whoever the leaker was had thought that she might want to attend since they had terrorized her, but they were wrong. Sofia was much more sympathetic to the protesters and she had gotten in contact with the USSJP, who had secretly passed the information on to everyone else. Gracie thought it was lucky to be at the basketball arena. It was blustery and gray on this early November Saturday, so she was happy Kelsey wouldn't be outside. "They can fit a lot of people in there, though."

"Are you feeling ready?" Gracie asked looking in the rear-view mirror.

Kelsey didn't speak but shrugged her shoulders.

"She's going to be ok, I think," AJ added, trying to sound cheerful.

Gracie was disappointed. She felt like her friend had transformed into a moody teenager, but quickly reminded herself that they were both only nineteen. She had turned 30 in September but had become so close to them it was easy to forget that she was a decade older than both of them. "There's a reason I mother them so much."

They pulled up to the fire lane in front of the punishment center. The steps and columns still made Gracie nervous, it wasn't like she had good memories of the place.

Gracie left the car running but got out and walked around to the sidewalk as AJ helped Kelsey out of the car. Kelsey spoke as she approached, "Thank you guys for coming with me."

"Of course you did the same for me," Gracie answered.

"Yeah, we love you," AJ added.

"I'm going to hurry up. I'll see you guys after?"

"Yeah, we are going to head over there now so we are there when they start letting us in," Gracie confirmed.

"Thanks, I'm going to go."

"Come on give us a hug," AJ said, grabbing her girlfriend's wrist and reeling her in. The three of them embraced in a warm group hug and AJ kissed Kelsey on the forehead before Kelsey left to climb the step to the wide Punishment Center doors.

When Gracie and AJ climbed back into the car and into traffic, AJ asked, "Did you notice she never said 'I love you'?"

"Yeah."

"And I had to make her hug us and she never kissed me."

Gracie felt so bad for AJ. Kelsey was in a terrible situation, but she wasn't being mindful of AJ's feelings. "I was going to talk about it with her when all this was over," the older woman said, "But I think we should do it earlier, maybe tomorrow after she sleeps today off."

"Yeah, I need something from her. We could help her, but she won't take it and it just hurts for her to ignore me."

"I know. I love you. She loves you. She's going through a hard time."

AJ nodded.

"We'll figure it out," Gracie promised.

***

As Kelsey was almost to the wide double doors at the top of the stairs, a deep voice called out, "Hey Kelsey!"

Kelsey turned and saw Zoe and Jeremy waving and standing off to the side of the doors under the eaves of the Punishment Center. Jeremy was in dark wash jeans and a garish multicolored sweater. His beard had grown back during the two weeks since court, though it was shorter than it had been before. Zoe was in a short black dress with red, yellow, and green embroidered stripes around her waist and matching stripes on the ends of her short sleeves, black tights, and black ballet flats. She had her black hair tied into a braid that laid on her shoulder.

"Hey," Kelsey said, putting her hand out to greet them.

Jeremy shook it, but Zoe went in for a hug, "Come on, Kelsey, we can do better than that. Where have you been? The meetings have been so full!"

"What?"

"Yeah, and we are missing the president. We've been texting you."

Kelsey gave an awkward laugh. She had totally ignored the USSJP the last few weeks, not wanting to look at all the people she got arrested in the eye. "I didn't think you guys would want me there."

"You're the fearless leader, though," Jeremy chimed in, dryly, "I thought you were avoiding us, so nobody thought you were planning another riot. Logical."

Another pang of guilt shot through Kelsey, she had abandoned the people she led into the situation, "God, I'm the worst."

"He's trying to be funny, but we've missed you," Zoe said.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been at my best. What are you guys doing outside, it's cold?"

"We've been waiting to see if we saw anybody from USSJP. Plus, no reason to show up early," Jeremy said.

"He's lying. We were waiting for you. We've been worried about you," Zoe said, now eyeing the door, "And I'm getting cold."

"I mean, yeah," Jeremy said, "You disappeared, and AJ said you were going through a difficult time."

Kelsey sighed again, "I'm ok. I just needed my space. Sorry, I wasn't around."

"Anyway, I'm paying for dressing well, let's go inside," Zoe urged.

Jeremy laughed, "I went the comfortable route like Kelsey."

Kelsey was in black skinny jeans and black t-shirt with a jean jacket for warmth, though she hadn't thought about what she was wearing. She knew from experience she wouldn't have it on for very long but thought better of voicing that. "No reason to scare them."

"That's not nice. I think she's dressed up," Zoe said.

"Um, yeah," Kelsey responded, "AJ just laid it out for me, I guess."

"See, her girlfriend thinks it's cute. But can we please go inside, I'm getting cold," Zoe said and started to head to the door, tired of begging.

"I didn't mean anything by it. I thought it was comfortable," Jeremy said defensively as they followed Zoe through the door.

As she stepped in, Kelsey felt her heart race. It looked the same as it had back in May. In front of them, there was a winding queue of people, in the same situation they were, waiting to talk to receptionists behind the window. "Thanks for the compliment, Zoe. You look good too. Come on, let's get in line."

The chatter between the three of them quietened as they joined the line of people. Zoe and Jeremy traded playful jabs at each other's clothes, flirting to take their mind off the situation, Kelsey decided. "They'll see each other naked, soon enough."

Kelsey retreated into her own little world, just adding an occasional laugh and an, "I agree."

Kelsey was glad conversation had moved on from her absence the last couple weeks since it wasn't very flattering. She knew she had been ignoring AJ and Gracie and the club, but she'd thought she was doing them a favor. "Maybe not," she thought to herself, and that made her feel even more guilty, "I'll apologize when this is over."