The Good Dean Pt. 01

The bill rang, she dismissed her students and walked to her office. To her shock, she ran into Ally in the way there. The girl was walking alone, when her and Liz's eyes met. The girl looked concisely making the decision to keep a bland face, but a hint of her contempt showed, making Liz shake slightly and fasten her pace. Upon entering her office, and when she made it to her disk, she was greeted with the black sneaker laying there beside her chair. She kicked it aside with her foot and sat in her chair. She took out the papers for the last exam she'd given, and started rummaging through them. When she finally made it to Ally's paper, a disappointed look crept to her face. Ally had an A-; which would be an A+ if any other professor in this university was the one grading that test, as Liz had always taken it too hard in grading papers. She threw the papers back in the disk and reclined in her chair.

Instinctively her eyes made their way down, to eventually find themselves meeting the sneakers. It was as if it was taunting her. She raised her hand and lightly touched the bruise on her forehead.

Suddenly she was back in high school again. She'd just walked after Tally and Nora to the bathrooms. She stood in front of them, stomped her foot on the ground and told them to leave her alone. When they laughed it off and gave her one of their smart insulting remarks, she pushed Nora against the wall and called her a bitch. Big mistake that was. She remembered how Nora pined her in a head-lock and how Tally started punching her until she cried. It was the day she'd found out she couldn't beat a pigeon in a fight, and that she had the physical tolerance of a baby. They made her beg them to stop, and they left her on the bathroom floor curling in a ball of tears.

That was two months before graduation, and those two months have been the worst in Liz's life. When Tally and Nora cornered her in Gym class the next day and gave her two notebooks, instructing her to solve their assignment, she didn't bother resist. She knew that she'd either do what she was told or be beaten, and the reward was that they wouldn't take it hard on her in class anymore. They kept their word, and they milked her word for all what it was worth. She did their assignments, and at dinners they sat there like princesses while she grabbed their food. She convinced her mother to swing by their house, which wasn't far away from hers, and give them a ride to school with Liz every day; at least they made sure to be nice to her while they were in the car.

Those two months had proved to her that she was a wimp. And that clarified something, that since she was too weak to stand up to those bitches in that way, she had better reach a position in her life, where she wouldn't have too, where power would be hers, no matter how much smart witted insults someone threw at her.

She felt her knees weaken, as she sunk to the ground, crawling the short couple of steps that were between her and Ally's shoe; the girl she was punishing. She couldn't explain it. She couldn't think of a single reason why her shivering hands grabbed that shoe. She just sat on her knees and held it, resting it on her lap. A sickening urge inside her made her raise it to her face, and hold its opening an inches away from her nose. A light foot smell erupted from it; that didn't compel her to move it away, but to move it closer. She'd been barely breathing up until that point, but now she took a deep sniff, allowing the girl's foot smell to smoother her nostrils and enter her lungs. She took another sniff, imagining Ally standing over her, giving her that disgusted look, like she was a piece of scum.

Waking up, and realizing what she was doing, she threw the shoe aside, as forcefully and as far as she could. You can't apologize to a shoe Liz. Unable to imagine what Ally would think if she'd seen what she had been doing, Liz took a deep, fresh breath, and stood up. She'd made three choices: apologize to Ally, and tell her that she wasn't going to fail her. Return the damn sneaker. And make it up to her.

She put the shoe in her bag then rushed into her bathroom to give her face a quick splash of water. She walked to her next lecture.

The next day Liz didn't have any lectures, and so spent half of it trying to locate Ally's house. She called dorm's management, only to find that Ally didn't live in the dorms. She looked at her Facebook page, and after superficial investigation, found nothing. She ended up calling the University's student affairs, and asking for the girl's number. She decided to take her last resort and call her, ask her where she lived.

Sat on her sofa, Liz grabbed her phone in one hand, the paper she'd jotted the number on in the other, and froze. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to muster up the courage to start. She dialed. The phone rang for a minute, which Liz spent fretting and biting a nail.

Ally's voice came through. "Hello."

Liz took a breath then said. "Hey."

"...Who is this?"

"Huh." Liz snickered nervously. "It's...it's Liz."

"Liz who--oh" The coldest oh that Liz had ever heard.

Liz waited, but the other end had went silent. "...How are you."

"I'm...huhu." Ally snickered. "I'm good." She said, obviously waiting for her to get to the point.

"You forgot your, ahh," Liz said, privately cringing at herself. "Your shoe, in my office."

She could almost see the shocked face that the girl on the other line had. She didn't forget her shoe, she threw it, straight at her face, and then walked out without it. She would give anything to know what the Ally was thinking now.

"I did?" Ally said. "I can swing by your office tomorrow; I can take it from you then."

"That could work," Liz said. "Or, I can...are you home now." She said, already thinking about a possible excuse to personally deliver her shoe to her.

"Yeah," Ally said, confused. "I'm home."

"Maybe, I can come over, and give it to you," she said. "I have a visit, near your area anyway, so I thought...you know. I can come by." She had no idea where her area was, but she hoped Ally wouldn't focus on that.

After a long silence, Ally said, "Sure, why not. I'll send you my location."

"Great." Liz said, making sure not to show any of her excitement.

"Alright, see you then. And thank you, for..." Ally seemed to resist a giggle. "Holding on it for me, or whatever."

"My pleasure," she said, then looked up the celling almost cursing at her stupid answers. "I'll swing by soon."

Ally ended the call. Liz threw her phone aside, leaned her head back against the sofa's back and took a long-needed breath. Afraid that she would start overthinking the whole thing and end up giving up, she lunged to her feet and went to get dressed. She wore a casual pair of jeans, and a purple, turtleneck sweater, and her black flats. She didn't want to look too formal.

She checked the location; it was an hour-and-a-half drive. The long drive made her think one last time why was she about to travel one and a half hours to return a girl her smelly sneaker. Cause it was the right thing to do that's why? She hissed at herself, denying to have any other...agendas.

She grabbed her purse, in which was the shoe, then got out of the house, into her car, and started driving.

On the high road, while she had nothing to do other than focus on the horizon, she found herself thinking of Ally, the way she talked, the way she spoke to her in the office, calling her out, the disgusted look she'd given her. She'd looked at her like she was...disappointed. She looked cute disappointed, Liz thought. How she had slipped her shoe out so effortlessly and managed to land her shot at her forehead.

It was hard to live under two bullies' thumps for so long and still be the same when they set you free. Liz had wrestled with the idea for too long, then accepted it; they'd done something to her. During those months that she'd spent basically being their bitch, every night, she had trouble sleeping. She'd lay there in bed for hours, and couldn't help but think about the things they'd said to her, the insults and the remarks and their dumb jokes. She'd think about how she stood there like an idiot and took it. One thing she'd found to work in making her go to sleep, was thinking about it, differently. She found herself romanticizing it, sexualizing it. She'd masturbate while she fantasized about them standing above her, calling her a dumb bitch, and an ugly cow.

Thankfully, those fantasies had only started at the end of the year, a couple of weeks before they'd departed, to not see each other ever again. They had left, but the fantasies stayed, ever so slightly.

Driving up to that girl's house now, Liz knew that a part of what she hoped to gain was a sliver of that fantasy coming to life. But she liked to believe that this was a tiny part, compared to the real reason, which was doing the right thing: Apologize, and give the girl her shoe back.

She was soon in the girl's neighborhood, and it was...not the worst neighborhood she'd seen. It was alright. She found the house and parked in front of it. It was a one-story house, nothing special. It has a small yard on its left, and looked quite neglected, nothing compared to her three-story villa and her big garden. Bet Tally and Nora lived in houses like that.

She walked up the porch and stood at the door, fretting at the decision she was about to make. She knew why she was here; she knew what she wanted, and she dreaded the fact that she might soon get it. She shook her head, and knocked. Some anxious seconds passed before she heard footsteps behind the door. It opened, and the girl that hadn't left Liz's thoughts ever since she'd met her stood in front of her. She wore a white t-shirt, and a gray stretch-knit pajama pants that reached just below the knee, and fluffy slippers and white ankle socks. Liz raised her eyes from the girl's slippers to meet her blue eyes that stared at her questionably.

"Hey," Liz said.

"Hey." Ally smiled, before nodding slowly.

Not seeing any signs of Ally welcoming her in, Liz held up her purse and took the shoe out of it, before offering it to Ally.

Ally took it silently, doing her best not to let that smile escalate into a giggle. "Thanks." She stood there and threw it to the side.

Both women stayed silent for a moment, Liz didn't know what to do other than standing there and looking at Ally with a stupid smile on her face, hoping she'd eventually have some manners. I just drove 300 miles to deliver you your damn shoe, invite me in, brat.

Ally just stared at her questionably, as if she was trying to figure out what the woman wanted, as if to know if she'd really driven this far for this trivial task. After ten more seconds, she raised her eyebrows. "You wanna come in."

"I guess, why not," Liz said, containing her excitement. She walked in, giving the room a quick scan. Her eyes were assaulted by what she saw. At college, she considered her roommate to be a missy pig, but looking at Ally's living room, Liz roommate was a neat freak. The living room was casually furnished, one brown sofa with a brown armchair beside it, in front of them was a coffee table then a medium-sized wooden TV stand. On the sofa was a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, on the arm chair were some papers, some of them crumpled some of them not, on the coffee table were a couple bags of chips and a soda along with some dirty coffee mugs. She had white carpet, stained on more places than one. Multiple pairs of sneakers and flip-flops were scattered here and there.

Pig, she thought. "Nice place," she said.

"Didn't know that deans knew sarcasm." Ally walked to her armchair then crashed onto it.

"Hmm." Liz stood at the door, not knowing what to do.

"Make yourself at home." Ally rolled her eyes, seeming sick of Liz's awkwardness.

Liz smiled nervously then sat at the sofa, taking the liberty to push Ally's pants away, and getting a little hot over it. Ally looked at her, waiting patiently, the sole of one slippered foot resting against the armchair, the other resting on the ground by the heel rocking impatiently. Ally waited, and when Liz showed no signs of starting a conversation, she said, "It's usually not that messy." She gestured around the place, twirling her brunette hair around her fingers. "it's the end of the week, and I usually tidy up on weekends, meaning tomorrow."

"Oh." Liz nodded, looking around with unimpressed eyes.

"Don't look so appalled now." The girl smirked. "Not all of us can get maids."

"Hey..." Liz protested, but quickly shut up. She did have a maid. "Whatever." She smiled. "Between university and, I don't know if you work, it's understandable."

"I do work, actually, part time." Ally said, sounding a bit passive aggressive. "Took two days off to study for your exam on Saturday," she gave a fake smile. "Those two days off went to waist, thanks to someone."

Liz's eyes went downwards with shame. The girl was doing her best to be polite, despite her more-than-deserved hate. She was living in a bad neighborhood, had to work a part time job with all her studies, and now she had to deal with Liz's crap. "That's...actually why I'm here."

The girl's tongue pushed against her cheek, waiting for her to continue.

Liz continued, "I'm not failing you." She said and waited for a reaction, that never came. The girl just looked at her. "I came here to apologize."

"Did you now," she said. She didn't look pleased, not upset, but not pleased either, just...indifferent.

"Yeah." Liz said. "It was, unreasonable of me and I acted--"

"I know," she said. "I was there." She sighed and reclined in her chair, as if to try to control an outburst. She extended her legs forward on the ground, crossing her ankles and put her hands behind her head. Her body was trying to relax but her blue eyes seemed angry.

"What..." Liz said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said roughly. "Is that all?"

She understood her. Ally obviously wanted to give her a piece of her mind but was too afraid, given that the last time she did so she got an F. The respect that Liz had fought for before was standing in the way now. "Speak freely, Ally. I'm here to make it up to you. I'm not gonna try to hurt you."

"I would've studied." Ally threw her arms in the air. "I would've studied for the damn exam in those last two days. Thanks to you now I don't have time, and the house is a mess." She gave the coffee table in front of her a light kick.

"Well..." Liz said. "Don't worry. I will take it easy with my grading."

Ally gave her a brief, fake smile, showing some of the disdain Liz was slowly getting intoxicated by, then rolled her eyes in irritation. She was an excellent student. In Ally's mind, she wouldn't need her help, if Liz hadn't pulled that crap. Sensing an opportunity, and getting hot and bothered by the girl's aggressive, slightly dismissive attitude, Liz fretted about whether or not to say her next line.

"Or maybe..." Liz said. "Maybe I can help you in some other way."

Ally looked at her again with narrowed eyes. "Yeah?"

"I can..." She took breath. "I can, help around the house..."

Ally's surprised reaction didn't help Liz's anxiety. She looked like she heard what she least expected.

"You know." Liz fidgeted. "I can, tidy up the place, so you can study."

Ally still silent, her eyes still confused, but her mouth slightly curled into an amused smile, she straightened her poster, like she wanted to get what was being said right.

"That is of course, if you don't want me to just, give you special treatment in the exam." She made sure to use the word special treatment, hoping that the words would make her feel weak if she took the first offer.

"You..." Ally finally spoke. "Want to...tidy up." She looked around the catastrophic apartment. "This place...my place."

Liz smiled and looked around with a smile, showing it off as it was nothing. "Yeah, why not. It's not that bad really." She looked at her again.

The girl's face was beyond baffled, and was equally amused. For a second, her narrowed blue eyes looked like they were studying Liz, trying to figure her game out. trying to figure out the Dean's gain from cleaning this girl's stinking apartment. If only she knew. She'd never expect that what the thirty-six-year-old dean was getting from cleaning this girl's apartment, was...cleaning this girl's apartment, and the embarrassment that came with it. "What do you say," Liz said.

The girl smiled while holding her arms in the air, as if giving up on realizing the Deans intent. "I mean, can't say no to that." She got to her feet, and stood in the middle of the living room, taking a look around her mess, that the dean was supposed to fix. "So, you'll clean this room."

"Yeah." Liz nodded vigorously.

Ally's hands got to her hips, as a confident smile made it to her face. "What about the kitchen, and my room."

Liz felt a tingle at the sight in front of her. Ally standing above her like that, testing how much she could push her. "Sure, those too." She wanted to get it through to her. You can push me far Ally.

The girl's face lightened up, like she'd spotted a prize. She pursed her lips standing on foot and resting the other by her toes, then said with an intentionally, slightly spoiled tone. "What about the bathroom."

"You're pushing it." Liz said, feeling like she should put up a small fight, even though the suggestion made her gush. Imagining herself on her knees, scrubbing away at the dirty bathroom tiles of this beauty, with her towering above her--she shook her head, not wanting to lose herself into fantasies while Ally was right in front of her.

"I mean, a girl must have a clean bathroom. It's good for my..." Ally couldn't resist her giggle and maintain a demanding attitude. "Studying mentality, or whatever, I have to insist."

"Okay," Liz said. "Whatever you say."

"Okay." Ally giggled. She walked towards the kitchen and opened some drawers. "I think you'll find everything you need here." She looked back toward Liz, who was still sitting on her place at the sofa. "Guess I'll go inside and study then. I'll check up on you later, prof." She said her last word with a slight, mocking wiggle of her head.

Liz could only nod, and Ally went inside shaking her head and smiling, allowing Liz to throw herself back on the sofa's backrest. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to get the tension that had been building in her limps to leave. She took a look at the room she was to clean. It would probably take her more than an hour, maybe less, maybe a lot more, she had no way of knowing, as she hadn't cleaned her own apartment for years; but she was going to clean the apartment of a girl she barely knew, an attractive, confidant girl. Never in her life had Liz coherently wanted and feared something that much. She was the Dean. What would anyone say if they saw what she was about to do. But no one would see, Ally would tell no one. How do you know that? She didn't know that. She didn't know if Ally would keep all of this to herself or if she'd brag about it in the middle of her next lecture. And that was exactly why Liz needed to get up and get to work, she knew she wanted to do this, she knew she'd do it no matter what, what was the point of fretting about what it would escalate to.

She got up slipped her feet out of her flats and put them on near the door. She got a bag from the kitchen, deciding to start with the garbage that was thrown all over the room. She picked up one piece of trash after the other, bags of chips, cartoon coffee cups, soda cans, a pizza box. She fixed the cushions and dusted off the coffee table and the station, then started picking up the shoes. Flats and flip-flops and sneakers. Seeing no shoe closet she assorted them beside the door, taking her sweet time in putting every single pair, like she was handling something important. She resisted the urge to repeat what she did in her office. Not that Ally would see her or anything, but smelling her shoe, while the girl was basically right there in her room, made it all the more real, humiliating, wrong. She passed a flip-flop past her noes quickly and sat it back quicker, then got up.