102

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