Alice heard the door bell, made sure her bookmark was in place before she set her book aside, checked her watched, and smiled. It was six o'clock sharp.
She opened the door, and invited Tina in. The girl was small and shy, and carried a folder with her. Tina came in and kept her eyes on the floor.
"Take your shoes off," Alice said. "We all do."
Tina left her shoes on the hall, looking old and battered compared to the others there. At least they were clean. She walked behind Alice, softly treading on the thick, warm carpets with her socked feet. The living room was large and well-lit, and Alice sat down on a big, comfortable, leather easy chair, rather than the sofa.
"Thank you, Alice," Tina said. "I owe you one."
"You really do," Alice said. "Now, let's see what you got."
The shy girl gave Alice her university coursework, and stood there awkwardly, wondering what to do with her hands.
Alice took out a red pen from her pocket, opened the folder, and sighed.
"Don't loom over me like that," Alice said. "Sit." She pointed to the floor at her feet.
"Uh, you mean there?" Tina said.
"No, I mean on the moon. Of course I mean there."
Tina blushed at Alice's sarcastic words, and sat on the floor at her socked feet, trying to find a comfortable position.
"Stop fidgeting," Alice said. "It's distracting."
"Sorry." Tina wondered why she couldn't take a place on the sofa, or one of the other seats available, but she tried her best to keep still as her classmate checked her work.
"Alright," Alice said. "You agreed you owed me a favour, didn't you?"
"Sure, anything," Tina said.
"Give me a foot rub then," Alice said, stretching her long, socked feet towards Tina's lap.
Tina dithered as the dirty, white, thick socked heels rested on her legs. As soon as Alice lifted her soles off the floor, a pungent, sharp smell wafted towards Tina, making her nose wrinkle.
"Uh, Alice? You want me to--"
"Unless you don't need my help, of course."
Tina sighed.
"And no sulking!" Alice said.
"Uh, sorry. I just--"
"Quiet, I'm trying to work here! You don't need your mouth to massage my feet, do you?" Alice snickered. "Well, unless... but no, get on with it now."
Tina barely avoided another sigh and held Alice's foot with both hands. She began to rub Alice's sole through the sweaty, damp sock, tracing circles with her fingers, hoping this wouldn't take too long.
Alice smiled down at her, and started checking the work, marking mistakes with her pen.
"You are really stupid, aren't you?" Alice said.
Tina kept quiet. She continued rubbing Alice's foot, hoping she wouldn't have to answer. Alice prodded her soft belly with her toes, making her squirm.
"I asked you a question. It's rude not to answer."
"I'm sorry," Tina said, rubbing harder. "I guess... I guess I am quite stupid, yeah."
"You're a silly girl."
Tina looked down at the feet on her lap, avoiding Alice's gaze.
"Say it," Alice demanded.
"I'm... uh, I'm s-silly."
Alice snorted, and went on marking Tina's work. Judging by the movements of her red pen, there was a lot wrong with it. She began to wipe her free foot on Tina's skirt, staining it with her sweat.
Poor Tina didn't dare say anything. It looked like an unconscious movement, like something Alice might just do without noticing, and Tina didn't want to be told off for being annoying.
Looking at one particular equation, Alice gasped and glared down at Tina.
"Are you deliberately wasting my time?" she said.
"No! I'm just... I really tried my best, ok? That's why I asked for help."
"This is far worse than I thought," Alice said, still looking down on Tina, tapping her toes on her leg for emphasis. "I can't believe you are this dumb. It's going to take longer than I planned for and that means you're going to owe me even more."
Tina nodded her head, abashed.
"Uh, whatever you say, Alice."
"Change foot."
"What?"
"You're being disobedient now?" Alice said, raising her foot towards Tina's face, almost brushing her upper lip with her socked toes, and placing the other one on Tina's hands to rub.
"Uh, no. It just caught me by surprise."
Tina tried to avoid the unbearable smell by turning her head, but Alice's foot kept following her, just this close to her nose, tormenting it with its powerful stench. In the end, she started breathing through her mouth as Alice giggled.
"What's the matter, Tina? Is my foot smell bothering you?"
"A little."
"Wow, I'm hurt. You come here asking for help and tell me my feet stink? I knew you were dumb, but I thought you had a good heart. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. It's not like you have money, you can't help me with anything, and you aren't even pretty. Still, even a stupid, useless, ugly girl like you can follow simple instructions, if she's obedient and humble, but it looks you don't even have that."
Alice dropped the folder on the floor.