The New Principal Ch. 28

It turned out that the background lust in the theater wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. I was able to untangle a couple of the girls, but it was exhausting. Each one needed deep individual attention to see where and how the serum had took root in their minds.

But soon I was no use to anyone, and we had to call it a night. Unsurprisingly, the students had no objections when we sent them back to their dorms with orders to report bright and early the next morning.

And so the rest of the weekend went by as smoothly as could be hoped. I was working full time on helping students recover. I was able to get all of the girls back to themselves, without any trauma or side-effects, as near as I could tell, but it took a long, grueling time. Only Lynn gave me real trouble. Eventually, I saw how to bring her around, but it would take weeks of daily training.

Jennifer was recovering in the hospital as well as only someone in top physical condition can. Veronica was working with Tess' technical teams to go through Sten's computers for evidence. Kimberly was even well enough to help with the public-facing story, although she said she had the worst headache of her life. She helped Anne put out a brief report on the re-posted newspaper site.

The newspaper reports were pretty flimsy stuff, but we hoped no one would look too closely at them. Principal Sten was now called a 'temporary administrator,' and Ben Lee, who had always been principal but had to step down due to a minor medical issue, was now back in charge of Bright Hall. There was a second article that reported an embarrassing but vague case of fraud by Sten, which led to an on-campus raid by unspecified federal agents.

More important was Kimberly's work in feeding the town rumor mill. The local citizens were the only ones who would care and have the time to poke around. For them, Kimberly explained something a little closer to the truth. Without the magic trick that makes people want to fuck. The story was lascivious enough that they would enjoy telling it and tut-tutting over it, and it would also explain the strangers in town and even the dead body and gunshot wound that would surely be the talk of the hospital. But hopefully it was self-contained and tied-up enough that people wouldn't feel the need to discover too much more.

Troopers Moore and Pine were surprisingly helpful on that front as well. I could tell that Pine wasn't totally on board, but Moore took charge and explained to the other troopers, and all the volunteers, the story as far as they needed to know. Having Tess and her federal agents on site gave his words weight, even if it added to the curiosity.

They never found Sten or her boat. Veronica knew her business and knew she cut the fuel line well. She was still convinced that she never could have made it to the mainland, and everyone agreed that Sten had a serious injury that would need a doctor's attention, but they didn't find anyone in the local hospitals that fit her description. Tess was able to put a total lock on all of the funds that were pledged during the auction so Sten wouldn't be able to use any of that. I was told in no uncertain terms not to ask for more details on that front. A week later, there was a generous donation to our endowment by a TK Foundation. I can't say I felt totally okay with that, but I wasn't exactly unhappy, either.

It seemed even stranger to go back to teaching the next week. The students weren't all back in class, yet, but the change in atmosphere was palpable. As soon as students found out that Sten was gone and I was back in charge, it was like the entire campus started breathing again after holding its breath for a couple months.

Of course, because I was principal again, so I was working out of the administration building and in my own office again. Sten had set up rooms for her experiments that Tess' people were in the process of cleaning out, but the principal's office was the same. There was that same ludicrously large leather chair, and the giant desk. Veronica had torn out the old computers, but set me up with a new system. Kimberly was back in her office basically running the show again. It was just like old times.

But I wasn't done with Bright Hall. There were so many changes I still wanted to make. And now with Sten out of the way, why shouldn't we have a little fun?