So maybe this level of deception, that goddamn mystery gravy, made some sense at least. Still, what I couldn't wrap my mind around was the happiness clause. There simply wasn't any way one could think that tricking me, drugging me, ending my sex life and stealing my Serenex would make me happy. The command had to have been working, right? She'd been so free with her nudity, seemed so preoccupied with pleasing me. Had that all been an act? My capacity to read body language seemed to dull when the body was gorgeous and naked, it seemed. I thought back to what they'd discussed earlier, about seducing me into giving up the Serenex. Not how someone who was trying to make me happy would describe it at all. But that made no sense. I'd seen her standing there slack-jawed beside Megan and Cassie when I ran into my yard that day! She'd sat while I programmed her and Megan for hours, glassy-eyed and barely responsive... With the same exact expression I'd had when they found me, supposedly full
"All right. Now it's moment of truth time. Into the kitchen, asshole," ordered Isa. The two of them followed me in. I thought of the big gob of drug-laden potatoes in the trash and hoped they'd buried it under their own leavings. Isa's arms were folded behind her back; I didn't know if she had the taser with her or not. Candy squeezed past me and opened a cabinet next to the microwave. The lower section contained a spice rack, its contents neatly organized save for a few bits still sitting out on the counter. The upper shelf held cooking sprays, wooden skewers, baking soda, a plastic bottle of honey shaped like a bear, and, buried in the back, my canister of Serenex. She had to stretch to pull it down, but she managed. The two of them drew close, pinning me between them right up against the sink. I read the room. They'd gotten what they needed out of my Serenex, neutralizing me completely. Nothing left for them to do now but deprive me of the rest of it. Shit, these bitches were goi
During the summer months, it was easy for a single teacher's house to transition from a comforting retreat into a self-imposed prison. On the weekends, I still got out to see my friends, and otherwise there was the occasional errand to run, but as time passed, time increasingly lost meaning. Grocery shopping was as likely to happen at 3 AM as it was during daylight hours. It was liberating, in a sense, but simultaneously disorienting. One year I had managed to land a summer school position to help keep me grounded, but the others, I had needed to adapt on my own. One of those adaptations had been Baxton Park. It was a decently sized public park, mostly a softball field and open grass but with a few pavilions and a wooded area at the east end. Squirrels and birds were in abundance, along with the occasional sighting of a raccoon or a hawk. One day, simply to be out of the house for a while, I took my lunch there and ate it sitting on a small grassy hill overlooking the field, leaning
Come on, come on, pick up pick up pick up! "Hello?" "Candace! Oh thank-" "What in the name of all that's unholy are you calling me for at this hour, Canon?" "Look, I know it's late, I'm sorry, but-" "Late? Christ, it's after two! You have some nerve." "I really am sorry, I swear. Now just shut up and listen to me - there isn't much-" "Did you tell me to shut up? Don't youdare tell me what to do, buster! After what you pulled, you're lucky you aren't on your way to prison. Believe me, if we could have found a way, you would be." "Yes, you made that very clear earlier, and I didn't mean to be rude, but please if you'll hear me out for just a-" "Great, now you woke Isa." Her voice through the phone was suddenly muffled. "No, mama, it's that asshole again... Idid have it on vibrate, but he must have called a hundred times... We can't tell him to go fuck himself, because he might actually try to do it... I know you meant it metaphorically-" "Figuratively," I mumbled. " -but mayb
Candy returned. "We're handling this. You stay wherever the fuck you are, hear me? So help me, if you already found a way to slither out of this, I won't be able to rein Isa in next time. I don't think I'd even try." "Paranoid much? God, Candace, I... ya know, fine. I won't call again, but keep me in the loop, OK? I'm halfway to shitting myself over this. Promise me you'll tell me once everything is under control." "We're going to get them back under theirown control, Canon. Don't you worry." "I don't care about any of that any more. I just don't want anyone to... crap, I'm repeating myself. Let me know? And... you know. You two be careful too." "Yeah." The phone went dead. Minutes passed like hours. Candy had said don't call, but she hadn't said don't text. I could still do that without letting her know her plan had failed as badly as mine. I know you said not to call, but... anything yet? Don't be a little bitch. Candace is seeing if they're parked on the street. Might be l
The eye roll redirected to Isa. Seriously? Like lashing out at LGBTQ people only hurt the bullies doing so? Good grief. I'd seen her talk students down in school more than once before. Hell, she'd been the one to pacify Taylor over the whole chapstick incident! Oh, well. It was two in the morning, and she had two armed and malicious students in her home. I supposed it was reasonable she wasn't at her best. Abbie and Taylor continued to banter with Isa. Meanwhile, my phone notified me Candy was typing, and a few moments later, I got a response. I think it's working. Fuck. Abbie brought a bat. Taylor a knife as big as my arm! They set them down now. Tasey Mae is back in her holster too. Tasey Mae? Good god, they'd given it a nickname? Isa resumed her efforts to get to the heart of the matter. "Look, nobody is judging you for anything that's happened these past couple weeks. I checked this stuff out with the help of professionals, and you wouldn't believe what's in it." (This stuff,
"Yep. I figured they were good at being scary as hell, while you're good at being sweet and lovable, so I let you all do what you do best. Meanwhile, I kept the line open with... her," I pointed to Candy, not wanting to use her name and snap her out of her stupor. "I knew they'd want to 'fix' you like they tried to fix me, so I just waited until I was sure the Serenex was in the open and you had Isa's attention, and then... I told her about my plan." "Dumb fucking cunt never saw it coming." Abbie drew up in Candy's face and laughed mockingly. "Oh, they did at first. The good officer was watching her phone - she knew not to trust your coach around me. I worried she might be smart enough to suspect that angle. But I also knew if you came in here armed and dangerous, the officer would be the one dealing with you." Abbie eyed at the weapon at her sister's feet warily. "I seriously thought she was gonna tase us for a sec there, C-dawg." "I would've for real knifed that bitch. Fuckin' t
The girls quibbled back and forth, though anyone watching could tell they were all waiting for me to say something. Let them wait. We had hours - all day, if we felt like giving them another spritz or two - and it would only take moments to do the job. The hundred copies method had been an amusing foray into the allure of abusing teacher-student power dynamics, but it had also been childish and unnecessary. No, I would do this right, and only do this when I knew what "right" meant. "We do... as little as possible," I announced at last. Their conversation ended immediately. "What?!" the Sterns demanded in concert. Even Cassie looked surprised. Abbie scowled through the wall at the two women. "We cannot leave these two backstabbers to do it again. You fucking know they will!" I held out my hand cautioningly. "I'm not saying we do nothing. We protect ourselves, yes. Keep them from interfering with us, let us go about our affairs without any more shenanigans. But we're not giving in to
"What party? You mean Cassie Brown?" She shook her head. "Nah. That party sucked anyway. I got pretty drunk, though. Anyway, no, it was... Thursday? Or Wednesday. What day did you come back last week?" "Friday." "OK, so Thursday, then. I remember because I was really stoked we had a sub for most of the week until I showed up Thursday and suddenly I was like, what was I even thinking, Mr. Canon is an excellent teacher, and then you were back the next day and I was really glad." Then she frowned, which since it was Katie Medina meant the lower lip automatically thrust out in an adorable pout. "Where were you all week anyway, Mr. C? You never said. Three days is a long time to be out. Did one of your grandparents die or something?" Even the casual mention of dead grandparents wasn't enough to dull the heat throbbing out of me into Tabitha's mouth. How could she breathe like this? Abbie was kneading Tabitha's ass, and as I watched, she took a page out of Katie's ex-boyfriend's playbook
She remained bent over. "Ugh. Yeah. Man, that was nasty. Thanks, Mr. C." She kept at it with the water bottle, swishing the water around to get the dregs and spitting into the trash. I pivoted to the others. "Both of you. Talk. Now." Tabitha defended herself first. "I didn't know anything about whatever that was," she insisted. Abbie shot her a swift glare. "Don't hate on me. I told Taylor this was a horrible idea from the beginning, C-dawg." "Well you obviously know something! If you don't know the why, you can at least start with the goddamn how! I just watched her graduate! Did you chloroform her in the bathroom or something?" "This school, man, people getting drugged all over the place. Somebody needs to crack down," quipped Abbie. I didn't laugh. Screw it. I turned back to Katie, who seemed to have more or less recovered. "Katie, what did they do to you? Are you OK?" She nodded. "Yeah, I think so, Mr. C. Those paper towels were frickin' gross. You know what it... Did you e
Fourth? She'd made Abbie take a dump on my desk. I opened the door. "All right Taylor, let's--" Taylor was not in my room. Two other people were. One was straight from my short list of suspects. Abbie sat on the corner of my desk in a loose-fitting t-shirt and denim shorts that went down nearly to her knees. That she wasn't dressed to titillate was actually much more surprising than her being here. As I walked in, she looked up from her phone with a sly grin. "Sup, C-dawg. Long time no see." The other occupant, however, was not on the short list. Nor the long list, nor any list at all aside from my second period class roster. "Katie...?" Katie Medina's reply was muffled by her gag, what turned out to be a wadded up ball of paper towels from the dispenser I kept in my desk. Which, it turned out, was now sitting beside Abbie, who turned out to be offering to me the key to a pair of handcuffs which, it turned out, were the reason Katie wasn't moving from her desk at the front of t
I didn't bother to hide that I was reading over her shoulder. He says he'll take it. The recipient, according to the contact name at the top of the page, was Bitch, Stupid. "Taylor, huh. Does she know you have her saved like that?" She shook her head and pulled up another contact. "No, that's not Taylor, and no, she doesn't know. This is Taylor." Bitch, Boss. "If I enter them like that with the commas, they stay side by side. Convenient." "Dare I ask what you have me saved as?" She smiled, scrolling down through her contacts and finally tapping on one and holding it up to me. Free Tutoring Service. "In case anyone snoops, I didn't want them to find an entry for 'Guy Who Spanks Me Until I Come.'" Thank goodness everyone else was wrapped up in the moment and not paying attention to us. "I approve." The phone buzzed with the reply from Stupid Bitch. (Inwardly, I felt a bit guilty that I didn't know whether that referred to Abbie or Cassie. Tabitha was not someone whose estimations
Taylor and I walked inside together. If anyone thought it strange, a young, single teacher walking side by side with a dropout in a sopping wet bikini top, I didn't care. Hell, thanks to her, my colleagues would think nothing of it, and all of her classmates were about to leave for good, and had bigger things on their minds, besides. Inside, there was a buzz of excitement, jubilant noise streaming from the fieldhouse doors ahead. As we reached them, however, Taylor stopped me with a hand on my wrist. I paused."You know, it's a damn shame we hated each other before we liked each other. We might've done good, ya know.""Maybe so.""Guess you can't reboot shit in the middle of it, though.""No, you sure can't."Her head tilted to the side. "You sure you don't want your present?""You mean the present isn't a work place where none of my coworkers or superiors can find any fault with anything I do?" Not exactly what I'd had on my wish list. Honestly, I'd thought it would be that, or else
The young woman merely glared sullenly. It was as much confirmation as I'd gotten when I pressed Isa on it, but that too had been sufficient. "Makes sense. With a trained chemist on your side -- one who works in a drug analysis lab, with access to all the contaminants she'd need to replicate my mutated Serenex, one whom you thought I'd never encounter or question, so you could keep marching to your twisted Emersonian drummer. Even if the woman found a way around your control -- which I doubt you'd give her -- she'd think to go after Isa, and no way that submissive little bitch was going to rat you out. Hell, you probably even had Abbie handle that, scapegoat for life." "Almost out of the good stuff, so you move heaven and earth to get your hands on more. You make all these big plans for a grandiose gesture to impress your new boyfriend, mind-fucking the entire faculty and staff just so you and I can hook up in the classroom without anyone getting nosy." I shook my head. "Or something
Her hands balled into fists, and a primal growl issued from deep in her throat. A few hundred feet away at the other end of the parking lot, the procession of graduates began exiting the field wearing their caps and gowns, empty diploma cases in hand. "I swear to god, you are the most selfish asshole I've ever met!" Taylor roared. "If you even knew half the shit I did for your ungrateful fuckin' ass, you'd--" "You mean like drugging Randi?" I interjected calmly. Taylor froze, head snapping back warily. "Um, what do you... I mean, I never..." "You did. And if you're going to lie to me, then we have nothing to talk about. I know all of it now, so don't embarrass yourself by being coy." She planted her hands on her hips. "OK, fine! So what? So I dosed a janitor. Big fucking deal. Not like anybody got hurt by it." "That depends on one's perspective on the merits of free will." "Overrated. You of all people should know that." She shook her head irritably. "So how'd you find out?" "
I enjoyed a few more seconds of fondling, then released her. With my back to the auditoriums' occupants, it was naught but a hug as far as they were concerned. Her face was suddenly flushed, and I knew well that the intense look on her face was not the righteous indignation that once would have been there at being publicly felt up by a teacher. It was arousal. Savage, urgent arousal. "Congratulations, Ms. Hutchings. See you on stage." I walked by, and left her in my wake. A few rendezvous with fond students later, I finally bumped into the fondest of them all. She disentangled herself from a cluster of friends to dash over to me and unabashedly wrap her arms around me in a truly fierce embrace, practically a tackle. "Mr. Canon. Hi." "Hiya, Cassie." I hugged back, skipping the grope this time. She'd already arranged a sleepover tonight; I'd have plenty of opportunity to enjoy her ass then. "Can you believe we're here? I mean, gosh, this is probably the last time we'll ever be toget
She somehow followed my incoherent stutters. "You asking about that stuff? Oh, that was so long ago, I can't..." She took a drink, mulling it over. "No, you know what? I think it was that same day, with that whole essay kerfuffle. Funny, right? Yeah, the little fox waited until I was doing one of the bathrooms, snuck up behind me and..." She mimed spraying her face. "Don't you worry, though. Nothing's more important to me than making sure you and your girls can have your fun." My god, when I was poised to listen for it, hearing the way Serenex twisted speech with its rote repetition was just detectable enough to be utterly chilling. "So you knew, this whole time, that we...?" "Sure, sure. You aren't nearly as subtle as you think you are. Classroom doors feature that big gap at the bottom, ya know, and there's a little sliver between those papers you placed over your windows that you can see right in. Don't you lose any sleep over it though. If I saw you were up to anything, I kept o