Average High School Life Ch. 15

The next thing I knew I was waking up. At least it felt like waking up. I wasn't in my house, nor was I in a bed. I thought it might have been Max and Charlie's apartment, but the décor and the interior were all wrong. It did look somewhat familiar.

I suddenly snapped up as I realized I was in Miss Garnier's living room, lying on the couch that she liked whenever I came over. I checked myself in a panic and found I was still dressed. I was ready to bolt for the door when Miss Garnier came around the corner.

"Calm down Jason," she said.

As everyone knows, that usually works about as well as police telling a suspect to stop running, but I actually looked at her and stopped. She was in a dress, but it was a practical, average one that hardly showed any skin. The material was thick and didn't hug her body at all, except where it had to so it kept its shape. Her hair was back in a bun and she had minimal makeup on. She also had a neutral but concerned expression.

"I made some tea?" she suggested, and then I realized the heavier French accent she'd been using for the past couple weeks was almost totally gone.

"Miss Garnier?" I said hesitantly.

She sighed and sat down in a chair across the room. "We're not in school, Jason. And given...well..." she sighed again and looked at me, "given everything you can probably call me Monica."

"I...I think I'll stick with Miss Garnier if that's okay?" I said.

"Of course," she said. She set the tea on the coffee table and pushed it over so I could reach it if I wanted.

"What time is it?" I asked, then started looking for my phone.

"I have your phone in the kitchen," she said, "It's about two thirty in the afternoon."

"Shouldn't...shouldn't you be in school?" I asked. It was after classes finished but I knew teachers stayed late.

"I couldn't stay there," she said.

There was an awkward pause between us and I sampled the tea. It was sweet tasting but still tea, not overloaded with sugar.

"Um, Miss Garnier...how am I here?" I asked.

She sighed. "I doubt it matters in the grand scheme of things but I got your contact number from the office files. Principal Oberman's secretary was...busy in his office, so I helped myself. When I called you, you sounded odd...almost delirious. I managed to find you based on your description of the city."

"How?" I asked.

"I lived there for a few months before buying this place," she explained, "And I've always been good with cities."

"What...happened to me?" I asked.

"I was going to ask you that," she said, "But based on how you were acting I think you were in shock, possibly coming down from a panic attack. You were rambling nonsense by the time I picked you up, then you fell asleep in my car. You were barely conscious when we arrived. I thought it better to let you rest."

"Thank you," I said after a moment.

There was another long break of silence when she just looked at me. Finally she sucked in a breath and said, "Jason, given your lack of questions about my behavior, particularly based on our previous meetings, I'm guessing you have some idea of what is happening, and probably why I suddenly had my...moment of clarity, let's say...earlier today?"

"Um, yeah," I said, "I...I don't know if I'm up for talking about it right now. I...I'm actually feeling kind of cold."

I'd felt my chest tightening up when she started talking, and the prospect of rehashing everything was panicking me. I started fidgeting and looking around, and I suddenly wanted to run outside.

Miss Garnier moved from her seat to the couch and she took my hand, holding it and rubbing the top gently with her other hand.

"It's okay, Jason, just focus on breathing. You're okay; I'm not going to do anything," she said.

She led me through some breathing exercises. I still felt like a complete mess and my chest was tight. In the end I actually broke down and sobbed. When I finished I found myself tucked into Miss Garnier's shoulder as she rubbed my back.

"Oh God I'm so sorry," I said.

"It was the least I could do," she said. Then her face got nervous and she looked at me. "Jason...was any of this because...because of me?"

I almost denied it immediately, but I had to stop and think.

Finally I said, "I...don't think so. I mean, you're caught up in everything, so sort of but...some bad shit-...stuff has happened the last couple of days."

"Jason," she said with a sad smirk, "I believe we had a conversation recently debating whether you were going to have anal sex with me, and I complimented you on...how did I put it?...oh yes, on how 'well-fucked' your girlfriend looked. I think we're past apologizing over language. And you certainly don't have to apologize for your emotions. I do wish you would tell me about them, though."

"I...I guess I can try," I said.

It was a slog. I thought talking about the first parts of it would be easier, except it was only when I thought about it I remembered that Miss Garnier was the start; her coming onto me was the first example of something odd going on. I stopped the first time I got to an encounter with her and looked nervous.

"Jason, I was there, I remember," she said, "Just keep going."

It took me over an hour to say everything and bring her up to the present time. I had to stop a few times for mini panic attacks and times when I just felt overwhelmed and started crying. I felt like a complete ass, but Miss Garnier was right there, just supporting me. I was thankful she hadn't said anything about the weirder parts or doubted me about them, but by the end I figured she thought I'd had some sort of mental break. The doctor's words from the day before popped into my head.

"Do you have to report me or something?" I asked.

"I would, but you're 18," she said, "You could, and arguably should, report me, the cheerleaders, and possibly Amy's stepmother."

"But...I mean...the virus..."

Miss Garnier sighed. "You haven't experienced it. Earlier in my youth I was a bit of a partier. The clubs here have nothing on those in Germany or Amsterdam. Looking back on the past few weeks, I'm reminded of those times I decided to mix molly and a lot of liquor, probably with some other stuff. I didn't question decisions, I wasn't worried about consequences, and sex...ohhh sex was the best thing ever. I wasn't thinking rationally at all, but I wasn't mindless. I made decisions, I had preferences."

She paused and looked me in the eyes. "You were a decision, Jason. I remember that first night, answering the door, bringing you in, giving you a blowjob. You see, I'd just seen an Instagram post about my ex's wedding...to my former best friend. Both of them are in France, still. I wanted to feel wanted, and sexy, and desirable. Without your virus, it would have remained a fleeting feeling. Maybe I would have thrown a subtle innuendo at you to see you blush. Instead, you showed up at the door and I saw an opportunity."

"And...why did you keep going?" I asked.

Miss Garnier shrugged. "It was powerful. I mean no offense but you were putty. You looked at me like I was a goddess, and treated me that way too. When your girlfriend came by it felt like I was your sexual mentor and you wanted my approval and guidance. It...appealed to my maternal instincts and my sexual needs all at once. It was intoxicating.

"But...I'm your student," I pointed out.

Miss Garnier shrugged. "It is not unheard of in France. If the student is 18, as you are, and they are discreet, people mind their business. Of course there are problems; we have bad people who like to play with children in France too. But they do not jump to the prudish conclusions so common here. Sex is so tied up with morality here. Why is anal sex so naughty when blowjobs are expected? And interests outside the norm are borderline evil. Let someone show too much interest in...feet or something and suddenly they're little better than pedophiles. American sex is merde."

That bit of French I did know.

"Just to be clear," she said, "I still wouldn't have done anything, even if you asked, except that your virus convinced me. I'm not excusing my behavior, I'm just explaining why I'm not having as much of a meltdown as it seems others have. You are not the first younger man I've slept with, nor were you and your girlfriend my first threesome."

There was another pause and then she got up and brought me my phone.

"It has been 'blowing up' all day. You should probably tell them you're all right," she said.

"What about you?" I asked.

"You should tell them," she said.

"They're going to make...assumptions," I warned her.

She rolled her eyes. "They are children. But I want to speak with this Charlie. I have some ideas about the virus."

I looked at her surprised for a minute and then she smiled, "I do have a master's degree in biology, Mister Mulligan. Ask her if I can have her number and I will call separately. Meanwhile I'm getting myself a glass of wine; I'm getting a stronger and stronger urge to curl up on your lap and let my full accent slip out."

I blushed a bit and looked at my phone. They hadn't quite hit 100 DMs but it was close. Of course the twins' style of texting three words per message made up a lot of that. Violet was the clear winner for volume. Despite how I felt about it, I opted to call Max. She picked up on the first ring.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing she asked, which felt oddly relieving.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm...I'm with Miss Garnier."

There was a pause and Max said, "That's your bio teacher, right? The one-"

"Yes, but she downed some vodka earlier today. She's fine," I said.

"If you're sure," Max said.

"Yeah, Max, look...I lost it. I literally don't remember much of the past three hours, and I'm kind of wiped out. Amy, CC, the virus, and then Charlie's solution to keep me away...everything just hit me all at once."

"Yeah, I guessed that was what happened. I told Charlie not to bring it up until things calmed down or Amy talked to you. Don't worry; she's going to be punished for that, and not the fun kind of punishment," Max said.

"Well hold off because Miss Garnier wants to talk to her. Apparently she has some ideas on the virus," I said.

Slightly muffled, I heard, "Cunt! Get your laptop and go in the other room. Someone's going to call you."

"How are the twins?" I asked.

"One of them is kind of worried about you, the other is annoyed that you left and kind of cussing you out, not gonna lie."

"The worried one will be Victoria," I said.

"Yeah, well they calmed down when I went full dom on Charlie. Though Violet looked a bit interested. I'll need to shut that down."

"What if she wants to try it?" I asked.

"No fucking way. Her attitude? She's just into the power trip. Anyway, we'll be okay here. Just make sure your teacher stays medicated. And look...The way I said what I did came out completely wrong. Nobody here wants to lock you away. And...I'm really sorry about Amy."

My chest tightened again and my eyes stung, but not as bad as before.

"I will explain, I promise, but I don't think you're ready for that right now," Max continued.

"No, you're probably right, not gonna lie," I agreed.

"Look, I'd say take all the time you need but if nothing else your school is falling apart. And you can't live your life in isolation or drugging your friends. Plus whatever CC's got going on."

"I get it," I said, "I'm gonna go now."

I hung up and took a shaky breath. I heard Miss Garnier talking in the other room, I guessed with Charlie. I scrolled and messed around on my phone for a while until I noticed my battery was low. I also noticed it was four in the afternoon. Technically I should be going to work in an hour. I walked into Miss Garnier's kitchen and saw her sitting at her table with a notepad and her laptop open. She'd apparently hung up with Charlie. There was also a glass of wine next to her, mostly full.

"Did you know Charlie was majoring in Microbiology?" she asked.

"No, I...I don't know a lot about her, not gonna lie. God that sounds so sus; I've fu-...had sex with her like...a lot."

"I wouldn't feel bad about that," Miss Garnier said, "Based on your description and what I gathered on the phone, it seems that you were a convenient play partner, at least at first. They didn't expect to have a longstanding relationship with you after that first tryst at your job."

"Oh, yeah, speaking of, I'm supposed to be at work in an hour," I said.

She looked at me, the way teachers do when you've said something silly and they're trying to figure out how to tell you you're an idiot without just saying you're an idiot. Or at least that's what I always assumed.

"Jason, you've had a major breakdown today, and it seems to mostly be because of what happened the last time you went out on this job. We don't have any way to counteract the effects of this so far. You'd be at risk of something else happening like with the cheerleaders. Or worse, if Charlie's assumptions about Miss Cormier influencing everyone's behavior are correct."

"I...I feel like I should try. Get back in the saddle, you know, or something like that? Also I need to keep this job, not gonna lie. I mean, life's gonna go back to normal after this, and I still need to make money," I said.

Miss Garnier sighed and looked around. Then she took a sip of her wine. "I assume your car is elsewhere?" she said.

"I never picked it up from the house after...well after what happened," I admitted.

She sighed. "All right. We'll take my car."

"What?" I asked.

"You don't have yours and I assume you need to drive to make deliveries, do you not?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"I've been drinking wine all afternoon. I'm hardly drunk, but I should not drive. I need you to drive me to the school to get a few things, then I'll come with you," she said.

"With me...delivering?" I asked.

"Yes. You told me the types of encounters you had changed when you were with your girlfriend," she said.

"Yeah but...Charlie said a popular theme in hentai is a guy being forced to watch while his girlfriend is, like, raped and tortured. What if that happens?" I asked.

"I have some ideas," she said, "Which is why we need to stop at the school. I'm hoping most of the staff are gone by now. Let's go."

-=-=-=-=-=-

I wasn't able to talk Miss Garnier out of coming with me. She took me into the school with her. It was kind of eerie with no one, or at least very few people there. We did hear some sounds echoing on occasion that suggested there were at least a few people still in the building and they weren't studying.

She went to a room I'd never noticed and unlocked the door. Inside there were lots of standing metal cabinets. She unlocked one of those and opened it to reveal a bunch of clear plastic bottles with chemical formulas on them. She looked around and grabbed one labeled with "C", "H", and "O" on the side, though most of them seemed to have similar labels. Then she reached down behind a cabinet and pulled out a spray bottle. She opened the container and the smell was immediate and strong.

"Is that booze?" I asked.

"It's 99% ethyl alcohol, which, yes, is the kind you drink. However if you tried a shot of this you'd be more likely to end up in the hospital than anything."

"What are you doing with it?" I asked.

"You'll see. Come on, let's get to your job," she said.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into Central pizza. It looked normal to begin with, but as I approached the counter a girl stood up next to him from below my view. Her black hair was a little messed up and her lips looked swollen.

"Hey Mulligan," Bud said, "you seen Amy around?"

"N-no I haven't," I admitted, "We...sort of broke up."

Bud rolled his eyes. "You kids. Anyway, this is Meg, she's a new hire, she's helping out with some things back here."

"Hi!" Meg said with a perky giggle that reminded me of some of the girls from the sorority weeks ago. She stuck her hand out and licked her lips slowly. When I shook it, she trailed her thumb along my hand.

"She'll give you the deliveries tonight. And if you need a break just ask her; she'll take care of you," he said with a wink. Meg nodded enthusiastically.

I returned to the car with some pizzas and the addresses in my phone.

"Good so far?" Miss Garnier asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure my boss just told me the new girl he hired will give me a blowjob whenever I want. He might have been getting one when I walked in, not gonna lie."

Miss Garnier seemed a little surprised, but not very.

She came with me to the door of the first couple of deliveries. She skipped the one that was no-contact, but came with me when the door was answered by an older, shapely woman in a silk robe. It hung open down the center, showing off a black thong and the swells of both breasts, neither of which seemed covered by anything except the robe.

"I put a lot of toppings on this," the woman said as she took her pizza, "I like to be...experimental."

I ignored her tone and implication and just headed back to my car with my teacher. "So that sort of thing would happen constantly before you delivered to me?" she asked.

"That was tame," I replied.

"No wonder you were a bit worked up whenever you got to my house," she said.

"You didn't need any help getting me worked up," I said, then blushed as I realized I was sort of flirting. She smiled and patted my hand.

When I went back to Central Pizza, Miss Garnier stopped me before I got out and handed me the squirt bottle.

"Spray this in the new girl's face," she said.

"What?"

"Spray it in her face, then wait. It's testing a theory," Miss Garnier explained.

"How do I justify spraying her to begin with?" I asked.

"Make it a prank," Miss Garnier said. Then she gave me a suggestion.

I walked up to the counter and Meg was doing Amy's job of distributing the orders.

"You need a...break?" she asked, licking her lips.

"Hey Meg, do you like getting your face sprayed?" I asked.

"I really really do," she said, her voice immediately dropping to a seductive purr.

"Good," I said, then brought the spray bottle up and shot her in the face.

She sputtered and wiped her face, shrinking back. I hoped I hadn't gotten too much in her eyes. After a second she straightened back up and chuckled.

"You're going to pay for that," she warned with a teasing smile.

"After work, I'm guessing?" I said.

"Oh yeah, you-" she started, but then paused. I'd only ever seen the shift out of the porn virus with Charlie and Amy, and it had taken longer. Somehow the spray knocked out Meg's connection. She went from flirty and smiling to wide-eyed and horrified. She looked back at Bud and put her hands up over her mouth.

"It's okay," I told her.

"I...I've been-"

"Meg, it wasn't you. You were...drugged. Someone put E or something in your food or your drink," I offered, trying to invent something plausible.

"Fuck. Fuck he's gonna-"

"Give him a beer," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"Get him to have a beer. He'll get over it," I assured her, "I'll be back after these deliveries to check on you."

I got back in the car and handed the bottle back to Miss Garnier. "That worked way too fast," I said.

Miss Garnier was nodding. "She inhaled the alcohol. The key is the nose. There's a reason people like to snort drugs if they can get away with it; it hits the brain and the bloodstream faster. Whatever this virus is, ethyl alcohol seems to be excessively toxic to it. Unless you can convince someone to take the alcohol nontraditionally, this spray may be the fastest solution."

"Spraying someone with beer isn't going to get them drunk, though, right?" I asked.

"No, it has to be more concentrated," Miss Garnier said, "Though a lot of liquors will probably do since we don't have a still to mass produce it. Do we have time to get your car before your next deliveries?"