Realization
My first-period class, English, is a markedly mediocre course with an equally mediocre teacher. Mr. Thor is a man that in no way lives up to his name. The last name Thor would imply a commanding presence and a masculine set of features. Mr. Thor has neither. His appearance is similar to a marshmallow if it had thinning hair, and he has virtually no presence. Despite being a teacher, students often forget he’s even in the room. He commands so little respect that the students don’t even call him “Mr. Thor,” instead electing to call him by his first name, Dennis.
The period starts with him attempting to get the class’s attention and failing. He starts to flounder, and I can see his face begin to turn red in embarrassment. This is a very standard start to the class.
A lone female student rises from her chair, stands on her desk, and says, “Guys, shut the fuck up! Dennis is talking!”
The room falls silent and looks at her. She’s about average height for a woman, with strawberry blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. Her face is consummately beautiful, with a model-like appearance. Her body, showcased by a form-fitting light blue shirt and tight pants, is nearly the opposite, having a washboard chest and no butt to speak of.
This girl is Octavia, the eighth daughter of a local multi-millionaire. Her intervening on Dennis’ behalf happens nearly every class period.
Now that the class has fallen into silence, she hops off the desk and back into her chair, gesturing for the teacher to continue.
He stutters for a second, then class begins as normal. He only has about 40 minutes of content planned, so the rest of the class period is given to the students as “work time,” which in Dennis's language means "just do whatever you want."
I immediately pull out my phone to send some texts to the women in my life and browse the internet, when I feel someone approach me. I look up and see Octavia standing there.
She plays with her ponytail as she says, “You’re Sam Williams, right?”
“That’s me, is there something you need?”
“Do you know Minnie, perchance?”
Oh, I know her alright. I sure hope this isn’t about when I sent her to see Laura’s tryst with Karlsson. I feel like the gut punch I got was more than enough penance.
“Vaguely.”
“Then you should know she’s a little bit… timid.”
“That sounds like her.”
“And she often has trouble saying what she really means...”
“Also not surprising.”
“So… I think it’s best if I tell you, rather than her.”
“Tell me… what exactly?”
“She likes you, romantically.”
“... Seriously? Even after everything?”
“Everything? I thought that you two had never even spoken to each other?”
This has suddenly turned into a delicate issue. She’s running on old information and doesn’t know that Minnie likely hates my guts at this point. Time to pull out my most powerful weapon. Making shit up and denying everything.
I let out an awkward laugh and scratch the back of my neck, “I… uh... spoke with her a little bit a few days ago.”
“Sam, what did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Sam. Did you do something bad to Minnie?”
“Me? No way. I couldn’t possibly have done something bad to Minnie. Not me.”
“Sam.”
“Definitely wasn’t me. Nope. No sirree.”
“Sam, either you tell me what you did, or I’ll go ask Minnie. If she tells me something I don’t like, I’ll fucking castrate you.”
“Would there maybe be... less castration if I tell you?”
“Maybe.”
She drives a hard bargain. Plus, if I tell her I can soften a few of the details to make it seem a little less bad than it actually was.
“I... may have been responsible for Minnie walking in on her idol going at it with another teacher.”
“By going at it, you mean...” She makes a hole with 2 fingers on her right hand and thrusts her left pointer finger through it.
“Yeah, that.”
Octavia looks shocked. She visibly recoils when she hears that.
“Oh god. Minnie thinks that holding hands in public is lewd! What the hell were you thinking?!”
“I didn’t know!”
I did, in fact, know. Now, there’s no reason that she has to know that, but I do feel a little bad twisting the truth in this way. Not bad enough to risk getting castrated, but I do have some guilt.
She furrows her brow and lets out a loud sigh, “That explains a bit.”
“About what?”
“Nothing, Sam. Just forget I said anything. Actually, forget this whole conversation. I don’t want you anywhere near Minnie.”
“Can do.” I give her a half-assed salute and go back to my phone. I want absolutely nothing to do with Minnie. I wasn’t particularly interested in her to start with, and now that any amount of proximity to her will result in me getting my ass kicked by Spikes and/or castrated by Octavia, I’m content to stay as far from her as possible.
English ends and now it’s time for chemistry. I can’t help but wonder how this period is going to be. This is the first time I’m ever going to a class where I’m sleeping with the teacher.
I step into the room and Laura is already there setting up for her lecture. She looks up and locks eyes with me. There’s a gleam of that same affection from this morning, and as quickly as our gazes meet, they break away from each other.
This is just the tiniest bit awkward.
I sit down at my desk, and class begins. I still have no idea what the hell she’s talking about. She’s going on about some shit called valence electrons while every single pair of eyes— bar one mousy pair, belonging to Minnie— dully stares at the whiteboard behind her. Before I was romantically involved with her, this state of affairs was fine. Now, I feel like somebody has to tell her that her teaching style is not working. I’m gonna eat my lunch here so that we can have a nice long chat about how to fix the current state of affairs.
Chemistry drags on for an eternity, and then, finally, ends. Students shamble out of the door like zombies, except one small girl who bolts out of the door as quickly as she can. Ms. Sinclair’s eyes follow her until she leaves the classroom. Soon, it’s only me and her left.
“So… how’s your day been?” my voice echoes in the empty classroom as I pull out the lunch she packed for me this morning.
“It’s been nice. How about you?”
“Ehhh, it’s certainly been another day.”
She lets out a small laugh and says, “I’d love to stay here and eat with you, but there’s something that I need to take care of. Enjoy your lunch.”
She makes to leave the classroom, but pauses at the door, walks back towards me, and gives me a long tender kiss.
“For good luck.” she lets out a light, pretty giggle after saying this and leaves the room.
With those words, I’m now alone. Well, no reason to stay here any longer. I might as well go find Val.
She’s once again sitting on a bench in the courtyard, playing with her phone, and doesn’t make any indication that she notices me when I sit down next to her.
“So… how’s it going?”
“Not good, Sam. Cassie’s acting crazy.” She’s dropped her bubbly way of speaking. That’s how I know she’s being serious.
“How so?”
“After she found out Karlsson’s been ‘unfaithful’ she’s started to do weird stuff.”
“Like?”
“Culty shit. I think she’s trying to summon a demon or something. Just look at this.”
She tilts her phone so that I can see it, and what I see is one of the most batshit insane selfies I’ve ever seen. A small, chubby girl with red hair and freckles wears a tight scowl in a room full of pictures of Mr. Karlsson going about his day-to-day life. There are symbols scattered all over the room, most of which are drawn over the pictures.
None of that is what scares me though. The look on Cassie’s face. Her eyes. They have that same gleam that Laura’s have.
Obsession.
It’s at that moment Val says something profound. “What is it with Karlsson and crazy bitches?”
Fuck.