035

"Good afternoon, girls. I take it Mr. Canon has brought you up to speed on our arrangement?"

"Yeah, he said he made you his bitch, pretty much." Abbie helped herself to a seat on the sofa. She didn't bother crossing her legs, not that it would have done anything to preserve her modesty. "So how's it feel?"

The sight of a teacher mustering the resolve to show restraint despite a student trying their best to provoke a reaction engendered more empathy in me than all of her belly-aching and sass in the shower had. "Look. Abbie, Taylor, none of us are in a position we want to be in," their other teacher began.

Abbie shrugged. "I dunno, I'm kind of OK with it."

"OK, a situation none of us wanted to be in this time Thursday," continued Candy evenly. "Now it's going to make some things complicated, obviously. That said, I expect you two to remember that I am still your teacher, and presently, your hostess, and I expect you to act accordingly."

Taylor took her own seat in the armchair I'd