Thankfully, all of the leaders were very gentle in waking us up, so I wasn't very groggy and I was thankful that we could at least sleep until 10:00 and not have to wake up too early. After everyone was up, the leaders all went and stood in the bathroom, ready to assist us, except that this time Ms. Sammy announced to all of us that we would be required to take either a morning shower or bath. I was confused as to where the showers were until I realized that there was a doorway in the right corner of the back wall, which held the toilets, and through the doorway a more narrow room was revealed, with one wall being completely full of showers, each with white tile and an overhead light with a clear glass door. I was tempted to say something about the lack of privacy, before I realized that the opposite wall was lined with several chairs and a few of the male leaders went and sat in the chairs, clearly set on watching us for 'safety reasons'.
"Okay, I know it may be a bit of an adjustment, but it is just part of the rules, which again will be explained further later this morning. Please don't be afraid to ask for help from one of the leaders." Ms. Sammy gave us the brief announcement as she showed us the shower room before turning around to leave, which I was thankful for as I walked up and took one of the towels off of a pile in the corner and opened one of the showers. I didn't really mind changing in front of anyone else, since I was fairly used to being comfortable with large groups of friends while on some kind of high or going skinny dipping in my town lake or other various regular activities that my parents should probably never find out about. But, just to be safe, I stepped into the shower before taking off of my clothes and tossing them on the floor next to my change of clothes. After about ten minutes, I had washed my hair and body and was out of the bathroom within another five minutes.
When I exited the bathroom after brushing my teeth, I picked out a black zip-up hoodie to go over my navy green tank-top and baggy white-washed jeans and black converse. I sat and waited, making my bed and putting away my pajamas since I was bored and had my phone taken away at baggage claim. I was also trying to distract myself from the fact that I was actually quite worried about whatever we were going to be doing today, seeing as thought I still refused to cooperate with whatever little activities they expected me to do.
After about 20 more minutes, whatever small talk was going through the room was silenced by the familiar shrill sound of a leader's whistle. "Okay everybody! I hope you're all as excited as I am to get this day started! So, first, we are going to head back down to the cafeteria and about halfway through lunch we are all going to listen to one of the leaders explain the rules and expectations as well as punishments. But first: everyone please come up and take a wrist band! you will be expected to wear these at all times, and if you choose to enter a partnership, you will get new bands!" Everyone stood as she held out a clear bin full of light blue rubber wrist bands, each of them marked with the Center's name and logo. She stood patiently, making sure that everyone was wearing a wrist band before continuing. "Anyway, go ahead and leave everything here, except of course any stuffed animals you would like to have with you, and then follow me back to the cafeteria." I suddenly felt embarrassed again, remembering my duck in my dresser as I stood and followed her, noticing a few boys carrying stuffies with them silently.
Once we reached the cafeteria, Ms. Sammy told us all to sit in the blue row of tables, on the left side of the walkway in the middle of the room after picking out our food. I turned to walk to the right side of the room to get some food, but was stopped by one of the leaders. "Oh, sorry, but your buffet is over there." I looked to see a woman with frizzy brown hair and round glasses standing in front of me, blocking my path to the right buffet, pointing her finger behind me. I stopped and looked at her, and without showing any sense of agitation, I decided to try and talk my way past. "Actually, there's not really anything over there that I wanted to eat, so..." I gave her a small nod and tried to walk past her, but was stopped again by the same woman. "Again, sorry, but all subs are asked to eat from the other buffet, over there." She gave me a polite and impatient smile, making it clear I was going to have to suck it up and find something to eat on the left side of the room. "Right. Thanks so much." I gave her a sarcastic smile and retreated back over to the sub's buffet to wait in line.
While I was in line, however, I suddenly spotted Ezra... at the other buffet. Great... I thought to myself, suddenly feeling a wave of shame that he would probably see me and know my classification. I squinted, trying to see his wrist band and realized that it was probably under his sleeve, which reminded me to do the same. Either way, I hoped that the one person I've actually kind of made friends with here wouldn't see my stupid wrist band and start treating me like a little kid.
After getting my breakfast, which ended up being a couple of mini waffles and some apple slices, I headed over to my assigned table and noticed that all of the girls with light blue bands had also joined our table. I had only been sitting for a couple of minutes before someone sat directly in front of me. When I looked up, I suddenly felt a little sick and my neck and ears started to burn up a little bit from shame.
"'Morning." I got a tired and casual smile from Ezra, who had brought over his own plate full of eggs and bacon and a full apple. It took me a couple of seconds to realize he had actually spoken to me, which of course just made it a little more awkward as he stared at me expectantly. "Oh- Uh, m-morning." fuckkkk. I sat, and waited for him to ask about my seating arrangement or what my band was or why I was on this side of the room, but he surprisingly didn't and just glanced down to my plate of untouched kid's food with a raised eyebrow. "Not hungry?" I glanced down too, changing my expression to be more casual. "Not really. I don't usually eat breakfast." I waited for him to change the conversation to the next subject, but instead he just comfortably leaned his elbow onto the table and gave me a small smile. "Why not? You should at least eat something, there might not be another chance for hours. At least just eat the apple slices." I stared at him for a moment, a little taken aback, and just shrugged. "Eh, I don't really like apples when they're sliced. I'm good, though, anyway." I was starting to feel a little put on the spot, and didn't want to talk about food anymore. But to my surprise, he just nodded and picked up his full apple and placed it on my plate. "Here. Just eat it." I gave him kind of a half smile and picked it up and took a bite, which I guess made satisfied him enough to start eating his own food.
"So. What is it?" I put my apple down and raised my eyebrow at him, waiting for him to finish his bite of egg. "You're impatient." He grinned at me, obviously not having too much of a problem with his new classification. "What do you think it is?" He continued smiling and pulled his arms off the table, preventing me from seeing his wristband. "Uh, I don't know. Like a slave-master or something???" I joked, grinning at him. "Nope. I'm a blue band. Dark blue, obviously." Right. Obviously. "Oh. Cool." Suddenly I regretted asking about his classification, since for some reason the possibility of him being a blue dom never crossed my mind, which of course just made this situation that much more awkward.
"And you're light blue." I almost coughed while taking a bite of my apple, definitely not expecting that comment. "Uh. Yeah." My ears burned and I looked at my plate, poking one of the small waffles around slowly. "What's wrong?" I glanced up at him, seeing that he genuinely looked a little confused. "Well, it's not like I'm actually going to play into any of it or anything. I didn't even know what kind of place this was until last night." I set down at my apple, waiting for his reaction. "Why not?" I kind of sat there, a little taken aback by his reaction and shrugged. " I don't know. I just don't think it's really for me... I guess." I studied him for a moment, suddenly feeling like I said something wrong by the disappointed look on his face. "Oh. Well, how do you know it's not for you? Have you ever tried it?" And then it hit me that while I was sitting here complaining about my classification, he was probably actually into it and I had just been offending him this whole time, which suddenly made me feel like shit. "No, I guess not." I kind of changed my demeanor a little bit, trying to lighten the mood with a thoughtful expression. "Well, maybe you should. You never know, you might enjoy it." He replied, now showing a small grin, which made me let out an internal sigh of relief that I hadn't insulted him. "Maybe I will." I was suddenly feeling more confident, with him sitting there trying to convince me to go through with it.
"Hold on, how are you sitting over here? I'm not even allowed to walk across the room without someone holding my hand." I snickered, realizing all of the other dark blue bands were still sitting on the other side of the room. "Well us dark bands just have to ask and they let us sit wherever. Especially if it's to sit with a cute sub." He then winked at me, making my cheeks go red for the first time, which caused him to widen his grin. But just as I was trying to enjoy the moment, he suddenly looked down and let out a small chuckle, which also made me look down, only to see the sleeve of my hoodie completely covered in syrup on my plate. "Oh, shit. I swear I'm not usually this distracted." I jerked my hand back, with my face only getting more heated as he let out a small laugh. "Yeah, sure. Hold on, I'll get some napkins, I'll be right back." I watched, feeling like a clumsy little kid while he smiled down at me with an amused expression on his face as he went over to my side of the cafeteria to get some napkins. While he was gone, I looked down at my plate, feeling stupid and embarrassed. Now he's gonna start thinking you're an actual blue band.
"Here, gimme your hand." Before I knew it, he was back at our table, holding out his hand with his other full of what looked to be Wet Wipes. "Oh, I've got it. Thanks." I reached out my hand to grab a wipe from him, but to my shock he moved his hand back, with his expression almost daring me to try and take one again. "Just give me your hand." He sat down, looking across from me with a calm, monotone expression on his face, his outstretched hand inching a little closer to my own syrup-covered sleeve. "No, serious-" I tried to take one again, but this time he cut me off, with almost a stern expression to his voice. "Just give me your hand already, asshole." I studied his face as I raised my sleeve reluctantly, feeling a little scolded. But as I looked at him, I realized that while he was being serious he still had a small, triumphant smile on as he used the wipes to scrub my sleeve and hand. "Jeez, here you go, sir." I smirked at him as he locked eyes with me, still scrubbing my sleeve, as he raised his eyebrow at me jokingly. "Hold still." Before I could ask what he meant, he suddenly dashed the wipe over the corner of my mouth, even adding a "Boop!" Sound effect, which caused me to flinch a little bit and sit there, frozen, with a shocked expression on my face, which of course just caused him to break out into a small laugh. "You should see your face right now! Here, hurry and finish your apple, they're going to start the announcements soon." I relaxed my posture, laughing a bit along with him still a little startled by his actions and then I took a bite of my apple, sarcastically rolling my eyes at him.
By the time I had finished my apple, Ezra had cleared his whole plate of food and then stood and offered to take my plate to the trash for me. "Uh, I got it-" I started to reach for my plate, but he just shook his head and picked it up for me, already walking away with it before I could even say anything. But suddenly, as I watched him cross the cafeteria to throw away his own trash, I got a weird feeling in my stomach, which only got worse as he came back and sat down again.
I could tell that he was going to say something again, but thankfully I was saved by the familiar sound of one of the leader's whistles ringing around the cafeteria. "Okay, I hope you all have at least managed to get some kind of protein into your bodies this morning, and if not that's ok because we still have about fifteen minutes left to eat this morning. Just make sure that you're paying attention while I go through the rules and punishments." I turned my body slightly away from Ezra to better pay attention to the man that was speaking, who I quickly realized was the man that Ezra and the other blue doms had followed last night to their dorms. "Hey, is that your main leader?" I leaned over slightly towards Ezra, whispering my question quietly for only him to hear. "Yeah. Mr. Don." He whispered back just ask quietly, not moving his gaze from the front.
"Starting with the rules, I recommend you listen while I'm up here so I can answer any questions you may have, but they will still be posted as a reminder around the Center, which means no excuses. And, moving on:
1. All subs must either be under a leader or a dom's supervisions at all times.
2. There will be no violence tolerated under any circumstances.
3. If you are worried about the safety of yourself or any of your peers- doms included- please contact a staff member immediately.
4. DO NOT leave the Center grounds without explicit permission.
5. If one of the other guests -dom or not- makes you uncomfortable in any way, please contact a staff member immediately.
6. No recreational substances under any circumstances.
7. No romantic or sexual relations with any other patient without explicit permission from your doctor.
8. Do not take it upon yourself to punish a sub, unless you are their official and documented dominant.
9. Please refrain from wandering the premises without the permission from a staff member.
10. No bullying under ANY circumstances "
Mr. Don took a break from reading off of his clipboard, taking a moment to look around the room in case anyone had any questions. I wasn't really interested in any of the rules, but more the punishments that I knew I probably wouldn't like as much.
"Alright, and keep in mind that while those are the golden ten, leaders and doms do have the right to punish you for other misbehaviors as seen fit. If you have any concerns about the methods of your dominant, please reach out to one of the leaders or staff members. Onto punishments, ranked from smallest to the most severe, starting with the subs.
- Please note that all punishments will be given to you by your assigned dom if you have one-
1. A spanking- severity depending on your offense
2. Time-out- can be given by anyone, severity depending on your offense.
3. Early bedtime- can be given by anyone
4. Privileges revoked- depending on your offense
5. Suspension from activities- given by leaders
6. Suspension from Center- given by leaders and staff, parents will be called and you will be asked to leave the premises until further notice
7. Expulsion- given by doctors, leaders, and staff, parents will be called and you will be asked to vacate the premises."
Shit. They can't actually be serious about the spankings, right? I suddenly feel my breath quicken a little bit, which is stupid and catches me off-guard, because why should I care? It's not like it's ever going to happen to me, as long as I keep my head- suddenly I'm jolted out of my thoughts by a warm feeling on my left forearm, which turned out to be Ezra's forearm, gently pressed beside mine, in what I guessed was a form of comfort. I glanced up to his face, which remained unchanged and expressionless until he gently looked back at me, raising a brow as if to ask, 'Are you good?'Â to which I nodded in response, slowly moving my arm away as the feeling in my stomach grew, causing his expression to falter slightly before turning back to Mr. Don as if nothing happened. I took a moment to feel guilty before I remembered that I was supposed to be listening to Mr. Don, who was now moving onto the punishments for the doms, which I realized I actually really wanted to hear.
"Okay, while punishments for dominants may be used less frequently, we still do not hesitate to use corrective measurements when it is necessary. I'm looking at you, Ross." I smiled as the rest of the kids in the room laughed when Mr. Don turned his head in the direction of a snarky-looking kid who appeared to be in the process of flinging a spoonful of oatmeal at one of the other boys at the blue dom's table, who quickly hid the spoon of oatmeal behind his back. "Moving on. The punishments are listed in order from the least- to most severe, which can be asked about at any time:
1. Privileges revoked- given to you by a leader depending on the severity of your offense.
2. Suspension from activities- given to you by a leader depending on the severity of your offense.
3. Spanking- given to you by a leader depending on the severity of your actions.
4. Suspension from Center- given to you by a staff member or leader depending on the severity of your actions.
5. Expulsion- given to you by doctors, leaders, and staff members depending on the severity of your actions."
For some reason, hearing that doms could also get a spanking made me feel a bit better, especially when I looked over to see Ezra's cheeks a light shade of pink. I then snickered and caught his attention, causing him to give me a sheepish smile, which thankfully made the feeling in my stomach go down.
"Anyway, please just follow the rules so that we can continue to make this a safe, and healing environment." The room began to pick up in conversations as I watched Mr. Don walk back to wherever he was standing by the other blue table, probably picking a fight with Ross.
"S'not so bad, is it?" I turned and saw Ezra lazily leaned on the table, acting as though he needed to be comforting me. I didn't appreciate this, so I let my face settle into an unamused and blunt expression. "Nope. It's not." I turned my head away, but not after seeing his smile fall a little bit in confusion. I waited for him to say something else while I picked at my nails, but after a couple of minutes he never did, and pretty soon Ms. Sammy blew the whistle and it was time for me to go. I gave him a small and half-hearted smile when I stood up after he gave me a small wave goodbye.
"Okay, everybody go ahead and listen up! I'm going to list today's activities and we are going to use our listening ears and follow Ms. Sammy's directions!" I inwardly groaned at her cheery attitude and rolled my eyes tiredly, wishing I could have had some coffee with my apple. "First, we are going to head over to the craft room and then I am going to call some of you out to meet your assigned doctors so that you can have your first appointments. Then, after craft-time we will all head over to the cafeteria for some food. After lunch is outside time at the playground, and then after that is naptime back in the dorms, which will lead us to our very first group time. After group time we will head outside again until dinner is ready, and then after dinner I will allow you to settle down in the common area of your choice, depending on how well you behaved today until bed time. Any questions?" I stood with the group of tired boys, all of us silent and probably mutually pissed off at Ms. Sammy's annoying attitude.