Teaching Her a Lesson

Part Fifteen: Back To School Sales

The room was bright with sunlight when I woke up the next morning. Shit, was it the next morning?! I scrambled, looking around for my phone. There it was in its usual place on the nightstand, reassuring me that it was shortly before noon on Sunday. It had been nine hours or so since I had let Abbie dose me with Serenex. I had no recollection of anything since.

My own bedroom. That, I wouldn't have expected. Alone. Even less expected. The clothes I'd worn last night were wadded up on the floor, but no one else's. Usually when a woman stayed the night there was a scent that remained after, but there was nothing. In the bathroom, no water on the floor of the shower or in the sink. I walked the house, but no signs of occupancy either present or recent. No fresh notifications on my phone aside from a few work emails, the screen still open to my text conversation with Candy. I even checked to see if there was a fresh stack of papers in my handwriting sitting on my desk, or maybe in my briefcase. Nothing. No Serenex to be seen, but I knew who'd had it last, and she could use it whenever she wanted. Nothing to worry about there. My hand was still a little sore from hand-writing out dozens of pages at Candy and Isa's dinner table, but it was better than last night.

Considering the condition in which I might have woken up, it was a good problem to have.

Hmm.

I made myself a sandwich and popped a few tylenol for my head. Last time Abbie dosed me, I'd figured it was simply a stress headache, but now I was pretty sure it was a side effect. Made sense, I suppose, if what Isa had said was true about the additives in the Serenex. I looked forward to asking her what all I'd ingested last night when I'd opened wide for Abbie. In the meantime, however, I was alone, and it was quiet, and a great many things had happened since those conditions had last been the case.

I reflected.

There were no memories, nothing after those few seconds of sputtering and grimacing at the taste. But did anything

feel

different? I focused on my emotions regarding Candy and Isa first. Still felt smug about my moral high ground approach. Still a little mad. Still frustrated I hadn't gotten that threesome in. Nothing that seemed new, no impulse to lash out at them, no sense of entitlement to their bodies. Little more than resentment at the two cunning bitches who'd duped me on our dinner date.

Abbie, then? Taylor? No. Still a pair of hot, scary brats. Cassie, no; Megan, no. Myself? Had they changed the way I saw myself? There was no fresh

rarr me no pussy-man brugga brugga

bouncing around in there that I could tell. I didn't hate myself or love myself any more than I had last night. If I had some new compulsion, it seemed perfectly content to wait for me to rinse off my plate, do my exercises, reply to an email from Mrs. Adamson about Stephen's missing assignments, do a little grading.

Sure, I could simply pick up the phone, demand to know where the girls were and what they were doing. There was no real point to that, though.

After all, I could already see them.

It appeared Megan's absence was an on-going invitation for the Sterns to use the Brown house as a base of operations. Operations had expanded, even. My office window afforded a view of a steady stream of GHS students coming and going. I actually heard them before I saw them, hip hop music playing from Megan's stereo. In fact I smelled them before I heard them via the smoke rising from their charcoal grill. Somebody had put up a volleyball net, and it appeared the kids were simply enjoying a cookout on a pleasant spring day. All three of my girls were there, and it appeared the guest list included friends of each. I recognized most of them from my classes; I taught roughly two thirds of the senior English class sections, and my pupils were well-represented.

Whether it was a genuine effort to keep me at bay or simply kids being kids, I didn't know. It certainly imposed a requirement for distance. I couldn't very well walk over next door and ask to speak with Abbie when she was surrounded by her peers. As far as anyone knew, both she and her sister scorned the establishment as a whole, and Taylor me specifically. Cassie might not, but it would still be awkward to try to pull her away from her friends to question her. Plus, what was the rush? I felt fine. Curious as all hell, but if anything, my apprehension stemmed in large part from not feeling any immediate danger. Candy and Isa probably weren't having their best day, wherever they were, but they weren't crucified in my back yard or hanging from their ankles in my basement.

Oh shit, the basement! I sprinted down the stairs.

Whew. OK, nobody in the basement.

So there wasn't much to do but work. Work, and try not to peer out the window too often. Taylor was wearing a blue crop top, looking dynamite. Abbie wasn't far behind in a more overtly provocative bikini top and jean shorts. Cassie was the most conservative of the three in casual t-shirt and capris, but knowing that there were decent odds she was wearing a butt plug beneath them was something I couldn't easily forget. Frankly, there were a few other head-turners down there, too, but I had to keep from leering before I earned a reputation as some kind of peeping Tom.

So I took a cold shower and got back to work. Then when I found myself too distracted by the sight of Tabitha Hutchings' vain efforts to keep her breasts inside her bikini top between each spike of the volleyball, I took another one.

By early evening, the kids had moved inside. Probably drinking, or worse. Though again, nothing I could do about it. By nightfall, they were starting to disperse; every time I looked out the front window, there were fewer and fewer cars parked along the street. I was increasingly surprised Megan hadn't come back yet, but then she texted me to let me know her mom needed a little extra help, and would it be OK if I could give her an extra day. Oh, and keep an eye on Cassie for her. We'd partaken in an orgy not forty-eight hours ago, and here was this woman charging me babysitting her daughter when she knew I was fucking her.

My balls were turning brighter and brighter blue. Something else that could be laid in large part and Isa and Candy's feet. Wherever they were, I hoped Abbie and Candy hadn't heeded my counsel too closely.

At last, a little after nine, the only car left was the Sterns'. I let myself in.

Cassie was in the midst of cleaning up; Abbie and Taylor were on separate couches in the living room, both on their phones and looking in opposite directions. I had to clear my throat before anyone even acknowledged my presence.

"Mr. Canon!" Cassie squealed, running to me and giving me a tight hug. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Curious, but fine." I delivered my answer loudly enough to be overheard to the two sisters, but neither glanced up.

"Yeah, me too. Last night was

insane

, wasn't it? I guess you don't remember, after, but even before that. So crazy!"

If they wanted to give me the silent treatment, so be it. Cassie talked enough for all three anyway. "And after...? What happened?"

However, the loquacious young woman looked with not a little apprehension to her new friends, then back to me. "I don't really know. I went to the kitchen to keep an eye on Ms. Salata and Officer Barbour."

"Are they OK? What happened with them?"

"I don't know. I couldn't hear. They had me put in some earbuds and listen to music."

"You just let them...?" I looked at her agog. "So you mean you didn't overhear

anything

?" I looked through the opening to the living room. The non-reaction from the Sterns was, increasingly, a reaction.

"Nope. They cranked up the volume all the way."

"You weren't even curious what they were doing?"

Cassie shrugged. "I guess I didn't feel like making a fuss? They sprayed some of that stuff on my arm. It tingled a lot, but I didn't want them to put it in my mouth like the others, so I figured maybe I should play ball, let it slide."

That explained a lot. I'd gotten used to thinking of the contents of that canister as an ingested mind control agent that I'd almost forgotten you could simply splash somebody with it and herd them like a sheep. Cassie might not even know it worked that way; her recollection was probably that she simply hadn't wanted more confrontation and so had simply chosen the path of least resistance.

Which meant that whatever the Sterns had done, they'd thought Cassie would oppose it. Regardless, she wasn't going to be any help.

I softened my expression, gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. "Thanks, Cassie. How are you doing? Everything all right?"

Oh crap. I'd asked Cassie Brown an open-ended question.

"I think so. Today helped. I really missed my friends. I've been so busy pleasuring you and watching porn that I barely saw anybody all week. Sort of weird to have a big party at my house, though. People kept going upstairs, and I don't know if they were having sex or doing drugs or what, but it was wild to think of either of those things happening here. I can't believe Justin Diggs was at

my

house! I used to have such a huge crush on him. Could you see his nipples? He took off his shirt for a while earlier, and he was

so

hot. Not that you're not attractive too, Mr. Canon. Was that rude? You're pretty hot, too, just in a different way. Honestly, my friend Philippa used to sort of have a thing for you. Not a

crush

crush, obviously, since you're a teacher, but she'd make these really gross jokes sometimes if she was over and she saw you working outside or something. I bet there's actually plenty of girls at school who think you're cute. You're way closer to our age than most of the boy teachers, and maybe you're not cut like Justin Diggs, but you're in good shape, and you have those big hands, those shoulders. I personally don't like that stubbly beard thing you have going on but I know most girls think they look good. Sort of prickly, though? Not my favorite. You have good hair, too. And not that people at school know but you have a pretty great shwing-shwong, too. Though a lot of people say size doesn't matter, so I don't know if a big cock is even a good thing or what. I definitely like it, but I think it's more the look than the feel of it, because it's all huge and RARR I WANNA FUCK YOU CASSIE, which I find really turns me on."

She took a breath. "So, yeah, to answer your question, if you wanna have sex, I am definitely up for it. Mom's not even going to be home tonight with Robby, so if you wanted to stay over here, that would be fun!" She bounced on the balls of her feet hopefully.

"I... we'll see." That did sound fun. There were more pressing matters first, however. Somehow. I gave Cassie a peck on the forehead and let her get back to tidying up the kitchen. On to the living room.

The Sterns still hadn't moved, their dedication to nonchalance so pronounced that simply walking into the room felt like I was pressing through a wall to get close to them. They were still dressed like they had been earlier, shorts with a crop top and bikini top respectively, yet their indifference to my presence was its own blanket.

"Good evening," I said after a long moment in which neither so much as acknowledged my presence.

"Sup," said Abbie. Taylor didn't even go that far, twisting herself to face away from me.

"Can we talk about last night?"

Neither of them replied. A half-grin formed and left Abbie's face at something on her phone.

"Fine. I'll start. So I surmise the two of you didn't like the decision I made."

"Mm? Which decision might that be?" Abbie replied.

"How to handle Ms. Salata and Officer Barbour."

"You made that decision?" She frowned, looking to Taylor curiously. "Do you remember him making a decision on how to handle Candy and Barbie, Tay?"

Her mouth said nothing, but her eyes spoke her displeasure clearly.

"We could have talked it out."

"We

did

talk it out." Abbie snickered. Taylor did not.

"You know what I mean. Come on. I thought we were getting along. Did I imagine that? And then over one disagreement, you tore it all down. I don't get it."

Abbie groaned. "Oh fuck, is he going to start talking about his widdle feewings now?" Taylor turned off her phone and sat up, facing me once more, but maintained the silent treatment in a display of the full measure of maturity I'd always presumed of her.

"It's not a sign of weakness to have or to discuss feelings. Feelings matter." Not wanting to sit all the way across the room but also not wanting to loom, I knelt in the middle of the floor, nudging aside a discarded pop can. "I know you're very preoccupied with your notion of masculinity, forcing me 'not to be a pussy' and all that, but I think your definition of that word and mine vary significantly."

"No shit, fuckwit," said Abbie.

"Not being a pussy doesn't mean trampling over everything in your path. It doesn't mean hurting people to get what you want. It doesn't mean you can't ever make mistakes. Yes, it was stupid to trust those two. I see that now. But I think I turned that situation around pretty goddamn well, considering. At least I was, right up until the moment where you two stepped in."

"Stupid?" Taylor shot the word out so suddenly, so fiercely I almost lost my balance. "Stupid is a pretty big fucking understatement. Every time we let you take charge of this, you fuck everything up until I -- we -- have to step in and fix it!"

"Fix it? You call that--"

"Fuck yes I do!" she thundered, on her feet. I rose to mine nearly as quickly. Eye to eye -- there was no looming now, though we were both trying our best. "Don't act like you had some epiphany or something, learning they were back-stabbing snakes. We

told

you not to trust them! But nooo, you wanted your little seduction game. Then when it blew up in your face, who'd you call to come in and fix it for you? Me! Me and Abbie, again!"

"You?! That was

my

plan!"

"Oh yessir, Major General Canon, sir! You fucking asshole.

We're

the ones that marched into the home of a gun-toting taser-worshipping mother fucking

cop

, not you! You know if something had gone wrong, we could have been fucking

shot

, yo! And it ain't the first time we've had to step in either!"

"Oh my, I must have blinked and missed all those times you swooped in to save the day."

"Yeah, ya must've, 'cause it's been that way since day one. Who let it slide when you Serenexed my chapstick and leered at me like a simp? Me. Who kept Abbie from doing all the shit she wanted to do to you that first night at your house? Also me. Oh yeah, and who was it who refused to fill everyone in on the brilliant plan with Cassie's blackmailing bitch mom -- no offense Cassie -- and wound up fake-dosing Barbour in the first place?! Oh wait, that one was

you

! If you'd just let me handle it, last night never would have happened!"

"Right, because two years of witnessing your conduct in my classroom has filled me with confidence in your equanimity and grace under pressure."

Ever the class act, Taylor flipped me off, the other hand slapping her bicep. "Oh right, because in your head,

you're

the big damn hero for showing up last night after everything was nice and safe, right? Once we'd stared down the barrel of the taser, in you stroll, talking all that bullshit about burying McHatchfields and whatever the fuck. And you didn't mean a goddamn word of it!"

"Of course I meant it! Having someone at your mercy is not synonymous with withholding mercy! I don't share the compulsion of some in this room to bend every person I run across to my will!"

Her eyes widened in indignation, scoffing in audible sputters. "No, you know what? Fuck this. Fuck you, you ungrateful prick. C'mon, Abbie. We're getting out of here."

Abbie hopped right up, but I interposed myself between the girls and the door. "We are not done here, ladies! What did you do to Ms. Salata and Officer Barbour?!"

"Like I said,

I

took care of it, and I did it just the way you wanted. You can thank me later." She whistled. "Let's go."

I let them past me. It was a sad comfort that I felt like I could have stopped them if I had wanted to. I hadn't been entirely sure they'd left me in a condition to do that.

"Oh, man, and they didn't use coasters." Cassie bustled in, picking up their drinks and ferrying them back to the kitchen.

I went home. That night, I slept alone.

Monday at lunch I caught up with Candy and Isa. I'd emailed them an invitation to meet with me, even rather magnanimously let them pick the location, which in turn they magnanimously requited by agreeing to meet in my room. It was unlikely to be a merry occasion, but the fact was that the three of us worked together. If we were going to be able to continue to do so, it would be better to clear the air. Besides, I was brimming with curiosity over what might have been done to them in the interim. Taylor had said she'd done it my way, but I'd long since learned not to take Taylor Stern at her word. I half-expected to see the two women arrive with shaved heads.

They arrived together, hair intact. Isa was in her usual sharp, breast-concealing police uniform; Candy in a thin white top and a long blue floral dress with sandals, a smattered collection of marbled plastic bracelets adorning each wrist. Isa didn't disguise that she was looking me over to see if I had the Serenex pocketed. Likewise, I didn't pretend not to notice the conspicuous absence of her taser. (I didn't really think she'd use it on me here in the building, but I hadn't really thought they'd poison my gravy, either.)

Once everyone's most immediate suspicions were satisfied, we sat at three student desks, pulled together in a loose triangle. If we were a bit more distant from one another than when we'd met the week before, well, who could blame us.

"How are you two holding up?" I opened broadly. Would that I could simply open more directly with

What new marching orders are you following,

but it had occurred to me that they quite possibly didn't know about Abbie's betrayal. I didn't mean to inform them of my fallibility. These two already thought I was plenty fallible.

"We're doing all right, considering," Candy answered, just as broadly. Isa merely shrugged, nodded, took a bit of her salad.

Having been given nothing, I walked further out on my plank. "Do you feel OK? Nothing... weird? From the new commands, I mean."

"Don't get pushy, Canon. We're taking care of them. You can relax. I have to say, it's... ambitious. If you pull this off, it's going to be one for the record books."

I masked my consternation with a bite of my sandwich. Ambitious? Record books? "Any progress yet?"

They looked to one another, then back to me. Isa's laugh was openly disdainful. "It's been twenty-four hours, Canon. Relax. You'll be the first to hear when there's a progress update. We'll do our part. Not like we have a choice."

There was no obvious way to press further without revealing my ignorance. Was it paranoid to be preoccupied with projecting strength to these two? Probably not, considering what they'd tried to do to me. Being a teacher had taught me one lesson as well as any general at war: showing weakness invites aggression. "Keep me posted, then. And, um, the other commands?"

"You're the one who put them in there. You tell us," grumbled Isa. She fidgeted with her uniform.

"You... don't remember?"

Her left hand formed a fist, pounding the desktop loudly. "Is that our fault, Canon? The obvious ones, we sort of figured out. The rest... I guess we find out when we find out. If we ever find out what all damage you did."

So no hints there either. Not all that shocking; I didn't know what all had been done to me either. Hell, I wasn't sure I knew the full extent of Abbie's meddling the first time she dosed me. Either way, I meant to make up with Taylor when we met after school anyway. Perhaps she'd throw me a bone and fill me in.