“And that’s that! Enjoy your lunch break, everyone!” Ms. Bailey announced to the class as students began filing out of the room. Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, I slid my textbook into my bag. Henry had slipped in partway through to interrupt our history class as per usual, but only got as far as magicking away the teacher’s shirt before rushing off to fulfill some other asinine fantasy, a glint of twisted inspiration in his eyes. The change in attire was… distracting… but the lesson had otherwise gone off without a hitch. Hell, if having the hot teachers display their tits was all Henry did I’d welcome his presence with open arms.

“Derek!” I heard Emily’s voice call out from behind me. I turned to see her hurrying towards me, her radiant smile a beacon among the sea of shuffling students.

“Em! Wanna grab lunch?” I offered, not wasting any time on idle conversation. At any given moment I was competing with at least three other people for her attention, one of which had godlike powers. As such, I’d learned to limit the chances for interruptions when it came to spending time with her.

Emily gave me an apologetic smile. “Sorry! I already made plans to eat with Mai today. I’m sure you could come if you wanted though!”

I sincerely doubted that. Mai had been extra hostile toward me since the dodgeball incident. She practically glared a hole through my head the last time I tried to join a conversation between her and Emily. By this point I was pretty confident Emily didn’t reciprocate Mai’s feelings, but Mai clearly hadn’t given up her pursuit.

“No worries, go ahead and do your thing, Em. We can eat together another time.”

“You sure? I do want to hang out more, y’know,” Emily reassured.

“Totally, I’ve got you booked in for tomorrow,” I replied with a smirk.

Emily raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Woah! You take appointments?”

I crossed my arms, playing along with the bit. “Sure do, and you’re finally at the top of the waitlist. Lucky you!”

“Woah, I had no idea. I would have booked sooner if I’d known…” she trailed off.

I chuckled. “No harm, no foul. Anyways, I need to get some studying done or Ms. Shae’s gonna kill me next period. I-”

I was interrupted by Emily clutching my arm tightly, her eyes wide with shock.

“She’ll kill you?!”

I blinked, startled by the panic in her eyes. “Um… yeah?”

Emily ushered me to the side of the hall, her fingers still gripping my arm with a slight tremble.

“D-Do you need help? I can hide you at my place, or help you skip town!” she offered in a heightened whisper. I was surprised by the commitment to the bit, but Emily always was a playful person.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think a bit of studying should be enough to avoid a metaphorical death by teacher,” I assured.

“Metaphorical…” Emily mumbled, realization sweeping over her. She let out a relieved sigh, loosening her grip on me and taking a step back.

“Jesus Christ dude, you had me worried there,” she exhaled, her breath still heavy, “I thought you were actually in danger.”

I laughed. “Nope, just my grades.”

Emily smiled a breathless smile. “Good…. Good. Anyways, I’m gonna get going. Don’t forget about our appointment tomorrow!” she yelled as she made her way down the hall, her cheerful demeanor returning.

“Not a chance!” I called out with a wave before turning the opposite direction towards the library. It was a shame we couldn’t hang out, but I had to admire her commitment to the joke.

I was sitting at a lonely cafeteria table, staring into a textbook and attempting to will myself to learn, albeit with limited success. Try as I might, I kept glancing at the wall-mounted clock, watching the seconds tick down rapidly as third period approached. The more I tried to focus on the textbook, the louder the sounds of other students milling about became. The distractions kept multiplying, and I was running out of time.

“That book won’t do you any good now, you know,” I heard a familiar voice say to me from across the table.

Speaking of distractions, I looked up to find my friend Joey smirking at me. I’d known Joey almost as long as Emily, though he wasn’t nearly as good of an influence as she was. He would always try to get me to pull pranks with him when we were kids, and now that we were finishing up high school his schemes had evolved to skipping class and cheating on tests. Still, despite his slacker demeanor, he could be quite cunning at times. I’d seen him lie his way out of countless tight situations where he should have been caught red handed.

“Yeah well, it’s one of the better things I could be staring at right now,” I responded.

“Better than Ms. Bailey’s tits?” he teased, more accurately than he could possibly know. 

“For strictly academic purposes, yes,” I answered, suppressing a grin. I didn’t want him thinking it was a good idea to distract me right now.

Joey leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Listen Derek, do you feel ready for this exam? Like, at all?”

“Of course not, why else would I be prepping for it fifteen minutes out?” I answered snappily, instinctively dropping the volume of my own voice to match his.

“Exactly! I’m not ready either. I could make it work if we had another day, and I know you could too! So, what if we did?”

I raised an eyebrow, “We don’t, Joey, that’s the problem.”

Joey held a finger up, a sly grin forming on his face, “Or do we?”

Without any warning, he snatched my textbook from under me and began walking away. 

“Hey!” I snapped, scrambling out from my seat to follow him. Joey clearly had something in mind, but I wanted no part in it. It wasn’t until we were out in the hallway that I was able to grab his shoulder, prompting him to stop.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” I scolded, yanking my textbook back from his arms.

Joey, for his part, looked unbothered. He subtly darted his eyes to the far wall, prompting me to follow his gaze. Standing out among the concrete painted eggshell white was a small, bright red box. The fire alarm.

“No. Not a chance,” I responded sternly to his unspoken suggestion. 

“Do you really think we have a choice here, dude?” Joey argued, “The nervous system exam is worth like half the grade, neither of us can afford to fail it.” 

“We can’t afford to get expelled either, you know they have cameras on those things, right?” I countered.

“Not on this one they don’t, look around,” he argued.

I obliged, scanning the nearby walls. To my chagrin, he was right. Not a camera in sight and no students or staff either. It was just us in the empty corridor, with a bright red escape button for our exam woes sitting right on the wall.

“Look, Joey, I really don’t want to risk this. I’m sorry,” I said, hoping this would be the end of the discussion.

“C’mon, Derek,” Joey implored, “Do you really want to risk getting held back for a semester if you fail?”

My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks, his query echoing in my ears. Another semester. Four more months of Henry. No Emily to keep me company. No, surely Henry wouldn’t stick around to torment the summer school students, right?

Right?

“Fine,” I whispered under my breath against my better judgement. Joey immediately clamped his fist against my chest.

“Hell yeah! You do the honors, my friend,” he said, gesturing toward the fire alarm.

“Wait, what? Why me?” I asked. “Wait… Why did you need me at all? This isn’t exactly a two-man operation.”

“Oh, I heard a rumor that these things spray you with invisible ink if you pull them so they can track down culprits from false alarms,” Joey stated bluntly.

I blinked. Was he serious?

“So, you brought me here to throw me under the bus if things went south?” I asked, anger rising in my chest.

“Exactly,” Joey confirmed.
Before I could muster a response, I heard an authoritative voice cut through from behind me.

“And what exactly are you boys up to in this corner of the school?” 

I whipped around to find the exact last person I wanted to see, excluding Henry. Standing before me was Officer MacNamara, the school resource officer. She was the cop that got paid to give a boring speech at the start of the year and stand around menacingly in the foyer once a month. Shit, was she really here today of all days, in this exact hallway?!

“We were just talking about pulling this fire alarm to get out of a test we weren’t ready for,” Joey blurted. 

Fucking WHAT?!

I whipped around to face him with a glare that could melt steel, but the damage was already done.

“Excuse me?!” Officer MacNamara growled. Even without the uniform, the woman was an intimidating presence. She was almost as tall as us, and the icy stare of her steely gray eyes would make anyone shrink in the short-haired brunette’s presence.

“You two, come with me,” she ordered sternly. I felt my whole world crashing down. The nerves from the test were nothing compared to what I was feeling now. What would this mean? Suspension? Expulsion? Arrest? A part of me wouldn’t mind being expelled that much, but then who would protect Emily?

A short while later we were seated in the office. Seated in front of us were Officer MacNamara and Ms. Robinson, the Assistant Principal, the person who usually handled disciplinary issues. She was normally a fairly gentle person, but rumor had it she could be quite strict when it was warranted. She had a gentle face and a slim build, with dark brown skin and short, chic afro. Like I said, she had been quite pleasant with me the few times I had interacted with her. Right now though? She looked pissed.

“So let me get this straight, you two thought you could get out of a test by pulling the fire alarm, disrupting every single class, dragging the fire department away, and costing the school hundreds in false alarms fees? Am I missing anything?” Ms. Robinson asked scornfully.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Joey beat me to it.

“Yes, that was our plan.”

I stared at him, flabbergasted. He used to be smart! Sure he could be a bit of a dipshit, but usually he at least had a plan! Was he intentionally trying to screw us over?!

“Unbelievable,” Ms. Robinson said with a disappointed exhale, “I’ll have to write this incident up, and the punishment will likely be steep.” 

I gulped, noting the harrowing tone in her voice.

“You know, criminal charges are usually applied in the case of a false alarm,” Officer MacNamara chimed in. She almost seemed to enjoy seeing us squirm in our seats at the mention. In all likelihood, she did. Most students agreed she had a sadistic streak when it came to discipline.

“Wait, criminal charges? We didn’t even pull the alarm!” I argued.

“This is correct, so there will be no criminal charges” Ms. Robinson added, calming my nerves somewhat. “You are, however, looking at several weeks’ suspension and an automatic fail on the test you were so keen to avoid.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. It was the worst of both worlds. No expulsion, but less time at school. No way to protect Emily for weeks, having to go to summer school, all because Joey sold us both out for nothing!

“I-I’m really sorry…” Joey stammered, as if he had any right to be upset. I felt my blood boiling. If I was going down anyways, then I’d at least go down letting the little prick know how I felt.

“‘Sorry’ my ass! This whole thing was your idea, Joey! Thanks for stabbing me in the back!” I spat.

Ms. Robinson gasped, a horrified expression on her face. To my own shock, Officer MacNamara whipped out her gun and pointed it at a shell-shocked Joey.

“ON THE GROUND, NOW!” she screamed as a terrified Joey raised his hands behind his head and slowly lowered to the floor.

“Wha-” I began before I felt a pair of hands on my back. In the chaos, Ms. Robinson had maneuvered behind me and begun frantically feeling around my body

“Where is it?! Are you alright!?” she belted in a frenzy.

“W-Where is what?” I asked, voice trembling.

“THE STAB WOUND! WHERE’S THE WOUND?!” she shouted, practically lunging for a first-aid kit sitting on the wall.

“Stab wound!? What are you talking about?!” I shouted over the ensuing chaos.

“You said he stabbed you in the back! Now where’s the wound?!” Ms. Robinson exclaimed while hurriedly procuring a bandage.

I stared at the scene, dumbstruck. Officer MacNamara had Joey pinned to the ground and was actively preparing to put him in handcuffs. Ms. Robinson looked on the verge of tears as she tried to treat a mortal wound I didn’t have. Was this because of the expression I used, clearly I didn’t mean it literally!

“Listen, please, I’m not wounded. It’s okay.” I said as calmly as I could given the circumstances. Ms. Robinson stared up at me, wide-eyed. 

“How is that possible? How could Joey stab you without wounding you?” she asked, genuinely astonished.

“He didn’t! He didn’t stab me!” I explained, exasperated.

Officer MacNamara stared at me, then back at Joey on the ground. “Then why did I cuff him?” she asked. 

I buried my face in my hands. This felt like a weird nightmare, like one of Henry’s weird little scenarios. Wait…

“Hang on,” I said, cutting through the chaos. I had a theory to test.

I turned to face the officer. “Officer MacNamara, Joey is completely innocent,” I stated firmly.

The officer looked at me, then back at Joey cuffed on the floor. “Oh my god!” she exclaimed, quickly releasing the cuffs. “I’m so sorry, you’re free to go.”

Joey rubbed his wrists and stretched, now freed from his prone position on the floor. I was still incredibly pissed at him, but I had a theory that could explain his odd behavior.

“Ms. Robinson, what day is it today?” I asked.

“It’s Wednesday,” she responded, confused by the obvious question.

“No, it’s Thursday,” I correctly falsely. Immediate panic filled the assistant principal’s eyes.

“Oh my god, I have so much work to do! I’ve missed at least five deadlines! You two can go, we’ll deal with your incident next week.” she blurted, rushing to her computer to accomplish her tasks.

“Officer MacNamara,” I began, “You’ve been promoted to Chief of Police.”

A glowing smile fell over the officer’s face. “I never thought it would happen so early in my career, fucking incredible! Finally I can get someone else on this glorified babysitting job,” she bragged, grinning sharply.

As Ms. Robinson frantically typed away on her computer and Officer MacNamara began audibly daydreaming about all the exciting benefits of her new role, my theory was finally confirmed. At some point today, Henry must have eliminated the concept of lying. That’s why Emily was acting so strange earlier, it was why Joey had sold us out as soon as the officer asked what we were doing, and it was why my word was being taken without question now. As the only one immune to his influence, however, I could lie to my heart’s content.

Slowly, the possibilities began to dawn on me. For once, I could borrow a small piece of Henry’s influence without him knowing. The more I considered the possibilities, the more endless they seemed. I felt my heart pounding even harder in my chest than it had been before. Obviously the first step would be getting myself out of trouble, but I had to be careful not to conflict with anything we’d already told them. I’d already seen how oddly they could react to contradictory information.

“Ms. Robinson, Ms. Shae actually gave us a special exemption to pull the fire alarm to get out of her exam today, so no punishment is necessary.” I declared.

Ms. Robinson looked up at me with surprise. “Oh, well why didn’t you just say so? You boys are free to go.”

Hearing that was music to my ears, but I wasn’t quite done.

“Officer MacNamara, do you like coming here for work?” I asked.

“That’s Chief MacNamara to you! And of course not, the only part I could tolerate was the terror all you little twerps had on your face when I caught you acting like idiots. I really loved bringing in the harsh punishments, not that it matters now!” she gloated.

I couldn’t say I was surprised by Officer MacNamara’s power tripping, but hearing her gloat about it so openly was uncanny. I thought back on every time I’d seen her flex her powers and intimidate the student body, somehow thinking it was all just part of her job. Now though, she was admitting to my face that all her intimidation tactics were just some petty grudge about being assigned to school duty. How ridiculous…

“Chief MacNamara, I just got word you’ve been demoted. Your official position going forward is to serve the students of this school full-time with whatever they need.” 

The officer’s eyes widened, the color draining from her face as she processed the whirlwind demotion. “No, I can’t do that. I’d rather start over, I quit!” she declared.

“You’re not allowed to, I’m afraid,” I said, withholding a mischievous grin, “It’s illegal to quit this job, and you’ll be arrested if you don’t commit to it 100%. If a student makes a request of you, you’ll have to do whatever it is to the fullest extent you’re able.”

Officer MacNamara stared at me silently, her face a portrait of dismay. I felt bad for her for a moment, but then I remembered all the students she had put in a similar position before without a shred of remorse. Not to mention everything would likely be reset by tomorrow, so she wasn’t actually condemned to a life sentence like I was saying.

“Hey MacNamara, you hurt my back pretty badly a moment ago, I’d like an apology,” Joey demanded. MacNamara turned to face him, still visibly shaken by the reversal of the power dynamic.

“I-I’m sorry for hurting you, sir.” she choked out, doing her best to bury her reluctance.

“Damn right you are. Y’know, my wrists are hurting pretty bad from the handcuffs, why don’t you massage them to make up for it?” Joey ordered.

“Of course, sir,” Officer MacNamara confirmed, dropping to her knees and tenderly rubbing Joey’s outstretched wrists with her thumbs.

I was caught off guard by how quickly Joey had taken advantage of his newfound power over MacNamara. Then again, he was also under the influence of my lies, so he was probably far more willing to embrace his newfound authority than he would have been otherwise. Still, I couldn’t deny how hot it was watching MacNamara tend to Joey on her knees.

“I’m sorry, but could you all please leave the office? I have a lot of work to get done.” Ms. Robinson asked as she shuffled through a flurry of papers. I felt a pang of guilt seeing the Assistant Principal so stressed, she really was a nice person when you weren’t on her bad side. I decided to give her a break.

“Ms. Robinson, didn’t you hear? Astronomers have discovered we’ve actually accumulated an extra day because of the Earth’s abnormal orbit. The government passed a law to go back one day in the week, so it’s Wednesday again.” 

It felt strange telling such an overt, ridiculous lie, but it felt even stranger watching the intelligent woman in front of me accept it uncritically. Ms. Robinson stared at me awestruck before breathing a deep sigh of relief. 

“Thank goodness!” she exhaled, leaning back in her office chair. With her momentarily distracted, I could admire the way her outfit shaped her body. I’d seen most of our teachers and staff naked by this point courtesy of Henry, but I’d never been free to admire them at my own pace or convenience due to the pressure of not blowing my cover. That was, until now.

“Also, there’s a new policy. Any staff in this office need to perform their duties naked,” I declared, still somehow nervous that I’d receive backlash for my lie. Instead, I watched as Ms. Robinson stood up from her desk chair and began unbuttoning her shirt. Even having ordered her to myself, I still struggled to process as she tossed her shirt aside and unclasped her bra, exposing her modest, round tits.

I caught an unexpected flurry of motion to my left as the Offficer MacNamara began pulling apart her own uniform, exposing her pale, toned body before continuing to tend to Joey’s wrists. I could see Joey admiring her body as well, clearly taken by the brunette’s naked form. The sounds of typing returned my attention to Ms. Robinson, now fully nude, conducting her office tasks as if everything were completely normal.

“Hey MacNamara, are blowjobs part of your duties?” Joey asked almost innocently. MacNamara glanced over at me, seemingly uncertain herself.

“They…” I pondered. Glancing at the two naked women in front of me stirred arousal in my cock, giving me the answer I was looking for. “Yes, yes they are.”

“In that case, blow me please,” Joey ordered. Officer MacNamara sighed, cursing under her breath as she began unbuttoning Joey’s fly. In a matter of moments she’d freed his dick and enveloped it with her mouth. Joey leaned back into his sighed, relaxing as MacNamara bobbed up and down on his cock. As per my directions, she had to give the task 100% of her effort, so she was sparing no expense in making the experience enjoyable for Joey. She ran her tongue slowly up and down his shaft before kissing the tip and wrapping her lips around his entire member.

The sight was getting me too hot and bothered, and I found myself looking to Ms. Robinson’s naked form.

“B-By the way Ms. Robinson, part of your duties for today include blowing the male students in your office. Joey’s already being looked after, so…” I prompted.

“Of course, Derek,” Ms. Robinson said calmly as she stood up from her computer, her full nude body visible to see. I had a moment to admire her lightly trimmed pussy and heart-shaped hips before she knelt down in front of me and undid the button on my jeans. I suppressed a gasp as she freed my rapidly-hardening cock, gently wrapping her wet lips around it and sending jolts of pleasure throughout my body.

A bizarre peace fell over the room as Joey and I received simultaneous blowjobs, the chaos that began when we entered the room replaced now by the soft sound of sucking accompanied by the occasional moan. Soon enough Joey reached his climax, pulling back and spraying MacNamara’s face with his cum. “Lick it up,” he commanded quietly as he basked in his post-orgasm bliss.

I felt myself approaching my own arousal limit, placing my hands around Ms. Robinson’s head in the hopes of guiding her pace. To my surprise, she gently swatted them aside. Before I could say anything, she grabbed onto my hips and pulled her head forward, taking my entire cock into her mouth. The sensation of the tip of my dick around her throat was unlike anything I’d felt before, and she still wasn’t done. She began moving her head back and forth with a fervor I never could have imagined.

The pleasure from the deepthroating quickly proved to be more than my body could handle. I instinctively gripped Ms. Robinson’s head and pulled her into me, pumping my load directly down her throat. As my head swirled from the sensations, she calmly pulled back, stood up, and took a sip from a nearby water bottle.

“Holy hell, Ms. Robinson, where did you learn to do that?” I murmured as I leaned back in the chair and admired her rear.

“Language, Derek. And if you must know, I’ve been married for almost six years now, so I’ve gotten plenty of practice with my husband,” she said confidently.

“Wow, lucky man,” I said.

“He sure is,” Ms. Robinson confirmed with a smirk.

“If she’s really that good then I think I should get a turn next,” Joey butted in. MacNamara was still preoccupied licking stray droplets of cum from her face. With my post-nut clarity, I was able to latch onto something that had eluded me earlier.

“Hey Joey, did you actually just bring me in on your fire alarm scheme so I could take the fall if things went south?” I asked pointedly.

A look of panic flashed over Joey’s face, no doubt exacerbated by the fact that he was literally incapable of talking his way out of this situation.

“Yeah, sorry dude,” he said weakly. 

I returned a deadpan stare. I knew he could be self-centered at times, but this was on a whole other level. If it weren’t for Henry’s manipulation, this could have turned out far worse than it actually did. Hell, I could have been expelled! I decided then and there that I was done with him, he’d had a lot more bad moments than good lately but this was the nail in the coffin.

“Some friends you have,” MacNamara offered sarcastically as she licked the last bit of cum off her finger. I see not even being ordered to serve the student body could eliminate her petty streak. Honestly, it ticked me off even more.

“Hey Ms. Robinson? Former Officer MacNamara here just sassed me. That’s actually against school policy, so you’ll need to punish her,” I demanded.

Officer MacNamara’s eyes widened as Ms. Robinson looked up from her computer inquisitively. 

“Oh, alright then. What will the punishment be?” she asked almost innocently.

I reached down and picked up MacNamara’s handcuffs, handing them to Ms. Robinson. “Cuff her, bend her over your knee, and spank her for the rest of the day,” I ordered.

Ms. Robinson sighed, as if this was a minor inconvenience. “Alright, MacNamara, come over here.”

The officer nervously approached the assistant principal, placing her hands behind her back and allowing the woman to lock them in cuffs. As soon as she was secured, Ms. Robinson bent her over her knee, delivering an audible smack that rippled across her bare ass. I was caught off guard by how forceful Ms. Robinson’s smack was, just how kinky were her and her husband behind closed doors?

“The, um, the policy says you have to be a little bit gentler,” I awkwardly intervened, worried that MacNamara might be seriously hurt if she were subjected to the full force of Ms. Robinson’s punishment.

“Alright then,” she said calmly before continuing the spanking, now slightly gentler than before. MacNamara’s ass was already turning red, and her expression was that of total defeat. It made sense, getting promoted to police chief then demoted to being spanked for an entire afternoon must come with quite a sense of whiplash.

“As for you,” I said, redirecting my attention to Joey, “You need to come with me or you’ll be arrested.”

I saw Joey’s life flash before his eyes before he nervously agreed, accompanying me out of the office. The last sight I saw as we left the office was MacNamara glaring in our direction while her dangling tits bounced from the impact of Ms. Robinson’s open hand on her rear.

A few minutes later I led Joey into Ms. Shae’s classroom, now empty save for the lone teacher doing paperwork at her desk. A glance at the clock showed me that we were well into fourth period, the exam having concluded some time ago. Ms. Shae looked up at us, irritation plainly visible on her face.

“You two! Where were you this afternoon? You know I had to give you both a failing grade, right?” she scolded, half angry and half disappointed.

“It’s alright, Ms. Shae, we received a special exemption from the exam,” I reassured. Her demeanor softened, the frustration draining from her body.

“Oh, I didn’t realize! Will you be writing it at a later date?” she asked innocently. 

“No, you just need to give me a perfect grade,” I replied, taking full advantage of the opportunity afforded to me by Henry’s manipulations. I watched on with satisfaction as she entered her computer and marked me down with a flawless score for a test I never took.

“Alright then, and a perfect score for Joey as well?” she asked.

Joey started to say something, but I intervened. “Actually, he has to write it right here, right now.”

Ms. Shae seemed annoyed, but handed him a copy of the exam.

“There are some conditions, though,” I added. Joey and Ms. Shae turned their attention to me.

“Ms. Shae, Joey tried to get out of your class today, so he needs to prove his commitment to learning. As such, you’ll need to perform a sexy striptease for the entire duration of the exam, doing as much as possible to distract him.” 

Joey’s eyes practically bulged out of his head. He absolutely needed to pass this exam if he wanted to pass this class, so he couldn’t afford to take even a second to admire the beautiful teacher dancing in front of him. I felt an unusual mix of pride and shame for thinking up this particular torture method.

“Alright then Joey, take a seat,” Ms. Shae said, gesturing to an open desk. Joey sat down and picked up his pencil, only to look back up and see his teacher tugging at her skirt, giving tantalizing flashes of her long, bare legs. I watched Joey struggle to focus entirely on the paper in front of him as Ms. Shae continued her routine, sashaying her ass and seductively unbuttoning her top.

“Oh also, he’s not allowed to touch you under any circumstances. Doing so will result in immediate expulsion. Good luck, Joey!” I called out as I left the room, leaving my former friend to lie in the bed he made. Now alone in the hallway, I wondered what to do with the remainder of the day. I could run around to various classes and have the teachers boost my grades, I could go back to the office and have more fun with Ms. Robinson and Officer MacNamara, or maybe I could find Emily and… 

Do what exactly? There was no question I was attracted to Emily, but it was more than just physical. I admired her, respected her, wanted to see her succeed. I didn’t want to control or use her. I had these extraordinary powers at my disposal, but was there anything I’d actually be comfortable using them on her for? I wanted her to like me back, but it wouldn’t mean anything if I just told her to. That’d make me just like Henry.

Come to think of it, hadn’t I been acting just like Henry? I’d used his abilities for sex, I’d gotten revenge on somebody who wronged me, and I’d made them think it was all completely normal. Parts of it were enjoyable, but the idea of my real friendships and connections eroding made me freak out. Is this what he felt like all the time? Did he even have human emotions? Was he even human?

There was so much I still didn’t understand. I decided to find an empty classroom and lay low for the rest of the day. Maybe it was stupid, maybe I was wasting an opportunity I’d never get again, but I’d become so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t trust myself to properly consider the consequences of my actions. The power I had exercised today wasn’t my own, it was just a tiny scrap of Henry’s. I had been careless playing with something I didn’t truly understand.

Time passed, and eventually the end of the day came. Students hurried out of the building going about their ordinary days, and I was among them. I caught a glance of a stressed-looking Joey making his way out of the biology classroom, Ms. Shae leaving behind him wearing nothing but her underwear. 

It was more than likely that all of this would be reset by tomorrow for everyone here, but not for me. I’d remember being betrayed by Joey, getting head from Ms. Robinson, and getting a perfect score on a test I’d never taken. Whether I liked it or not, time was moving forward, and tomorrow would be another day. My knowledge was mine to keep, and whether or not that was a privilege or a curse was something I’d had yet to ascertain.