Teaching Her a Lesson Pt. 14

"You told her you were going to cunt punt her, or so I heard," I reminded her.

"-and now they get to pull this shit, and we let them go? No fucking way!"

"Hear me out. I'm mad, too. You know that, right? This past week, what we did this morning... it's been amazing. It will keep being amazing. They tried to take that from me - from us. As did your mom, Cassie."

She frowned. "Yeah, I know. But she's sure sorry now."

"She is. But you know what? You know why we're all fighting to keep things the way they are, and they're resisting harder than we even thought possible? We'reenjoying ourselves. Hell, even Cassie's mom is having some fun with it now that I decided to let her. You know what they got? Bullied, used, and put in the corner. I'm not defending their actions. But if we use our position here to punish them, humiliate them, or whatever very creative ideas I'm sure you two were having, they're only going to keep resisting."

"So we tell them to stop resisting," Taylor rebutted.

"See, though, that's the other thing. It's not only about them. I don't know about you, but I've been feeling kinda shitty about some of the things I've done the past couple weeks, even though at the same time I've been having all this fun. More fun than I've ever had before. And I think the reason for those highs and lows is because as lucky as I feel, I know I've done some bad stuff."

"You said to never use the words 'bad' or 'stuff,' Mr. Canon," supplied Taylor impishly. We'd discussed that very thing earlier that week. I might get a gradable essay out of her yet.

"In writing, yes, but... Look. Whatever else I've done, I think we've mostly had fun. But I also got you stuffed in a trunk, Taylor. I made you make that fake video in the school bathroom. I force-fed Abbie a chemical weapon. I made my neighbor train her own daughter to fuck me better. And I dragged those two women into this, forced them to betray some of their deepest convictions for my own selfish reasons."

"Like them trying to cut your dick off wasn't selfish?" Taylor snapped.

I folded my hands in my lap. Time to be a teacher. "Do you remember last year in American lit, we read about the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys?"

"No."

"Two families, bitter blood feud, dozens dead and jailed? Anything?" Though I'd had neither Cassie nor Abbie as students in that class, I at least saw recognition register on their faces.

"No. Guess I had a suck-ass teacher."

I smiled. "Evidently. Anyway, the point of it all is that seeking revenge only made it worse, not just for the people being attacked and killed, but for the attackers, too. We made our peace with all this craziness because we all found something - someone - to enjoy. They didn't. And I'm not going to dirty my hands and further stain my conscience. No more. I am done, Taylor. Done dragging out this mess by trying to control everyone around me.

"They were wrong about the harm I caused you. They were right, though, that I'd done wrong. Now I could try to outsmart them, outmaneuver them, burn my right to do whatever I want into their heads. Or I could give them back their lives and their happiness. We could all of us simply go on as people with a weird secret who sometimes wave hi to each other in the halls."

Cassie scooted over next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. "That was nice, Mr. Canon. I liked that. I always liked Coach Salata. It would have been sad if we did something to hurt her. I vote yes."

"We're not voting," I said quickly to forestall the Sterns' predictable reaction of imposing a tie. "But I'm glad. What about you two? Can you get on board with it?"

The two looked long at one another until Abbie prompted her sister to speak first. "Can I at least tase her once?"

"No. No tasing. Before you ask, no stabbing, either."

She'd been joking - mostly - but she wasn't about to let the issue slide with a mere quip. "Honestly? This is a pussy-ass move is what I think. I think this is a weak little bitch move. I think this is an ugly fucking side of you, C-dawg. That's what I think. But hey, you can do whatever you want to me, right? Not like I get a say."

I didn't have a response to that. I am not a pussy, but that didn't mean I had to be a ruthless asshole, either. With her case made, however, Taylor shrugged and deferred to Abbie. Abbie, who had been so quiet throughout my little pep talk that I hadn't noticed that livid expression on her face.

"Abbie? You've been quiet. Use your words."

The young woman had a talent for imposing uncomfortable silence, I'd give her that. She let us stew in that glare of hers, marinating in disapprobation.

"I think you were right before."

"Before? I said a lot of things, Abbie. Which one?"

"That we need to test it. The Serenex. Make sure it's really working. You know, in case."

"I appreciate the uncharacteristic abundance of caution and all - better late than never. I think Taylor adequately proved that for us, though."

"Nah, I'm not so sure. I think we ought to test."

"So you want to volunteer after all?" I retorted.

"I think we should test it on you," said Abbie.

To me.

Oh, fuck.

"Hey, I get that you're not liking my decision, but-"

"Give me the Serenex."

"Right, sure." I immediately hopped up and started carrying it over to her. Abbie could use my Serenex any time she wanted. Now she wanted to use it on me, though, which meant I had mere seconds to talk her down. The obvious thing to do would be to spray her first, but I will never use Serenex on Abbie without her permission. It didn't look like she meant to grant it.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Mr. Canon," Cassie said nervously, shrinking into the corner of the sofa.

"Abbie, yeah, let's not go fucking crazy, right?"

"Shut the fuck up, Taylor."

Taylor obeyed. What choice did she have? Abbie was the boss of her.

"Abbie, please. Let's talk about this. I want to hear what you're feeling, OK? Just don't do anything rash. That's how we all got into this mess in the first place."

"No,this is how we got into this mess in the first place," she said, snatching the canister from my hand. She raised the nozzle and pointed it at my face. The girl was going to dose me, then march into the kitchen and do god only knew what to Candy and Isa. So much for my troubles being over. My mind was frantically exploring options, but my planning hadn't covered this contingency. There was only one thing left to do.

I opened my mouth wide.

Damnit all to hell if it didn't taste even worse the second time around.