Author's note: All characters present for or witnessing any sexual encounters are 18+.
"This is stupid, Mr. Canon. I already did this. Why do I have to do all these pointless little steps? It's a waste of time!"
"We've been over this, Taylor. Part of this is having a respectable final product, yes, but part of it is also mastering the process."
"But the process is stupid. No way is it some sort of real world life skill to put my notes on separate pages, or write a bibliography on every one of them."
"It's a works cited entry, not a true bibliography," I reminded her, "and whether or not it's useful to everyone in the real world, it's useful for some people. Heck, just showing you can follow directions is progress. Whatever you wind up doing, you're probably going to have somebody above you who expects you to be able to do what they ask you to."
"I already have a job, and my manager definitely doesn't make me cite works. Like, ever."
"Oh yeah? Where you working?"
"I'm a waitress."
"Very cool. Where at?"
She made a face. "What, are you stalking me or something?"
I sighed. Try to show interest, treat her like a person instead of a work assignment, and the door slams in my face. "Taylor, that's a very inappropriate thing to say."
"Stalking is a pretty freaking inappropriate thing to
do
, ya know."
No sense trying to force the point. I glanced at the clock. "You have eight more minutes. Try to get it done."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
I returned to my desk and began packing up my take-home work. Rewrites from my third and fifth period, a pile of assignments to enter in the gradebook, and some feedback on a half dozen IEP proposals I needed to finish up. I entered the combination on my briefcase and flipped it open, tucking in the stack of paper and my laptop case. They barely fit thanks to the recent addition of a thin white canister. The latch
clacked
shut as I closed the lid and scrambled the combo.
We'd made it three days without my having to resort to another application of Serenex. There was no chance it was because she'd seen the light. (A she-demon like Taylor Stern was probably blinded by bright lights anyway.) My sense of it was that Officer Barbour had done a good job talking sense into her, or maybe putting the fear of god into the girl. Whichever it was, I made it a point to send Louisa a thank you. Taylor hadn't had another outburst so far this week, probably her longest scolding-free streak in recent memory. I'd had to reprimand her for calling Caroline the c-word, but even then she'd at least looked chastened and muttered an apology without even being told. Progress, even if it was only in the home stretch.
After school these past two days, it had been tolerable, if not enjoyable, relying on more conventional pedagogical tools with her. Yes, teaching her would be easier with the Serenex. We squandered easily ten to fifteen minutes of our daily one-on-one hour on griping and foot-dragging. But this way, the natural way, dodged all that anxiety-inducing and ethically problematic stagecraft that would be necessary to continue the way we'd begun.
I'd certainly had some ideas about how to reintroduce her to the Serenex, but we were better off without it, I was sure. Moral dilemma aside, I had my doubts about whether it would interfere with her capacity to learn. New as the stuff was, the internet had nothing definitive on the effects of prolonged use, and from the one trial I'd put her through, I wasn't sure she even remembered what had happened that day.
Since Monday afternoon's adventures in tedium, Taylor hadn't said word one to me about it. We'd been trapped in a room for nearly four hours since then, half of that with only the two of us, and not a single solitary snide comment. Neither had she repeated any discomfort she'd had about the occasional wayward glance I might have briefly directed her way during it, as she had at the time. I was grateful, of course. There was a part of me that was nervous simply being alone in a room with a student like Taylor, which was to say, a liar and cheater whose hobbies included taking whatever satisfaction I might derive from my job and curb stomping for sport. But despite how affronted she might have felt at the time, there had been nothing since.
Maybe... maybe it made her forget the whole thing ever happened? Wouldn't that be a relief! Though if the Serenex could do
that
, then it could... I could...
No. I couldn't.
I hoped she had simply realized I'd never really done anything untoward -- aside from the Serenex dosing, and maybe one or two unprofessional glances at her derriere -- and was taking her lumps with a modicum of equanimity. With dignity.
"UGH, this is so boring I'd rather choke myself to death on a used tampon," my student groaned.