While the rest of the school was making their way home at the end of the day, I was headed back inside. My fight with Joey the day prior had landed us both in detention with Ms. Bailey. It sucked, but wouldn’t have been too bad on its own. I’d thrown myself under the bus to protect Emily, just as I had dozens of times before, expecting to pay the price for it. This time, however, she had seen the whole thing, and there was no logical story I could cook up to explain my outburst. I’d spotted her a couple times throughout the day, but it was obvious she was trying to steer clear of me. It made sense, I must have looked like a maniac at the career fair..

I sauntered into the history classroom, finding it empty. With a sigh, I dropped my bag at a desk and took a seat, waiting for the others to arrive. A few minutes later, Joey walked in. He gave me one silent, dirty glare before sitting down at a different desk on the other side of the room. No words were exchanged, which was fine by me. Regardless of protecting Emily, he was still an asshole for trying to sell me out. I wasn’t gonna lose any sleep if he thought poorly of me.

What did make me lose sleep, however, was the other person joining us for detention. I’d been able to avoid Henry’s attention for a long time through a healthy combination of quick thinking and dumb luck, but this time was different. This time, there would only be the three of us in the room, plus our history teacher. It’s a lot easier to blend in with a crowd of fifty than a crowd of three. I felt my chest tighten as the door opened once more, only to be greeted by Ms. Bailey.

“Just the two of you? Fine, we can wait a few minutes for Henry to show up before we begin,” the busty blonde teacher said tersely, sitting down at her desk and removing her glasses. I didn’t say anything, and neither did Joey. We both just stewed in silence while Ms. Bailey polished her lenses. I knew from experience that she was a favorite toy of Henry’s, constantly having her physical and mental states altered to suit his juvenile fantasies. Normally it was just annoying, but today I hoped that she would provide a tempting enough distraction for Henry to not pay me any mind.

Speaking of the devil, I narrowly avoided jumping out of my seat when the door opened once more. This time, it really was him. Henry walked in extremely casually, clearly accustomed to detentions with Ms. Bailey. His sandy blond hair was just slightly messy, like he couldn’t be bothered to properly style it. His clothes communicated much the same, wearing an unremarkable hoodie and a pair of jeans.

“Everybody’s here then,” Ms. Bailey said, putting her glasses back on. “Let’s start with this: What on Earth happened yesterday?” she asked, annoyed.

She looked first to Henry, who offered her nothing more than a haphazard shrug. Then she turned to me, her demanding eyes prompting an answer. Pushing through my instincts to stay silent around Henry, I spoke up.

“We, um, Joey and I, had a bit of a disagreement, and um…”

“...and you decided to attack me like a maniac?” Joey completed sardonically.

“I, um, I guess that’s kinda what happened…” I muttered, shrinking like I usually did.

“Are you kidding me?” Henry spoke up, swinging around to face Joey, “He didn’t ‘attack you like a maniac’, you big baby, he barely shoved you.”

I nearly fell out of my seat. Henry defending me felt beyond unexpected. Then again, he did witness the whole thing, and Joey was certainly prone to exaggeration. Regardless, I felt my stomach sinking. I was hoping he’d stay uninvolved.

“Hey man, stay out of this,” Joey warned, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Alright, that’s ENOUGH!” Ms. Bailey snapped, intimidating myself and Joey, but leaving Henry completely unfazed. “I won’t tolerate disrespect in this room. Not towards me, and not towards each other, is that clear?”

“Crystal clear, Ms. Busty,” Henry said with a smirk. “Sorry, Bailey,” he corrected mockingly.

Ms. Bailey’s eyes widened as she stood up from her desk, staring daggers into Henry.

“Henry, I’ve had to bring you into detention more times than I can remember, yet you still maintain this insulting attitude of yours. Do you think this shit will fly in the real world? Cause I’ll tell you right now, it won’t. If you keep this up then one day you’re gonna get into the kind of trouble you can’t get out of, and nobody will be left to help you.”

Ms. Bailey studied Henry for a reaction, but he simply looked on at her, bemused. She sighed, returning to her desk. “I don’t want that to happen, you know, I want you to be better. But in order for that to happen, you need to meet me halfway. Can I ask you for that, at least?” the teacher implored.

“I mean, it’s nice to know you care, Ms. Bailey. But I promise you, I’ll never end up in the kind of trouble you’re talking about,” he bragged.

“And why exactly is that, Henry?” Ms. Bailey sighed.

“Oh, y’know,” Henry smirked before snapping his fingers. In an instant, the light behind Ms. Bailey’s eyes vanished. She slumped forward, jaw hanging slack as if she were a marionette whose strings had just been cut. It was as if all conscious thought had been drained from her body.

“Wh-What the hell?!” Joey sputtered, “I think she’s having a stroke!” 

Henry rolled his eyes. “Relax, both of you, this is normal,” he stated matter-of-factly. In an instant, Joey’s panic dissipated as he returned to a relaxed posture. “Oh, okay then.”

I did my best to mimic Joey’s reactions. As long as he continued to try and manipulate both of us at once, I could play my part without too much trouble.

“Oh man, Ms. Bailey, what are we gonna do with you today?” Henry grinned, rubbing his hands together like a cartoon supervillain. “We could turn you into a stripper, or maybe a BDSM slave, or maybe since you’re so insistent on being a hardass I could make you a sexy dictator. Yeah, that’d really…” he ranted, his excitement trailing off at the last minute.

“Oh… Wait. I already did that. Huh.” Henry began staring off into space right alongside Ms. Bailey, although unlike her he seemed to be sincerely lost in thought. A long, uncomfortable silence passed before Joey decided to speak up.

“Is, um, is everything alright, man?”

Henry glanced over at him, his normal carefree attitude replaced with a look of consternation. “It should be. I mean, I’m living the dream out here. I’ve fucked this woman so many times and in so many different ways, and I’ve had a blast each time. Hell, this is only the second time I’ve actually been called into detention. Usually I just make her call me in for fun.”

“You get yourself into detention for… Fun?” Joey asked, confused.

“I mean, yeah? It’s insanely fun, flipping the power dynamic and whatnot,” Henry explained, almost as if it was obvious. “Or at least, it usually is. But for some reason I can’t think of anything to do with her right now,” he muttered, brushing his hand along the absent teacher’s cheek.

“I’m so confused right now,” Joey said, observing the scene in front of him with befuddlement. For the first time in a while, we were on the same page. I’d never once seen Henry even approach the concept of self-reflection.

“Well, no point in letting the detention go to waste, I suppose,” Henry stated, snapping himself out of his funk, “Anything you want to do with her?” He asked Joey.

“Me? I mean, I’ve always wanted to see her tits,” Joey offered enthusiastically. Henry just rolled his eyes.

“Wow, you wanna look at her tits, how creative of you…” Henry mocked. Still, he snapped his fingers, making Ms. Bailey’s shirt and bra vanish in an instant and causing her sizable breasts to drop onto her desk as she remained in her brainless slump.

“No fucking way!” Joey shouted like a kid in a candy store, “Can I touch them?”

“Have att’er,” Henry said dully, trudging over to his desk and plopping listlessly into his seat. Joey practically leapt to the front of the room, immediately fondling Ms. Bailey tits as she continued staring into the middle distance.

I simply sat in my chair, silent. Somehow it had kept me out of trouble up to that point, and with Henry in his weird depression maybe the strategy could sustain me until the end of detention.

“What about you, you want her to do anything?” Henry asked, swiveling his head around to look at me. So much for staying quiet.

“Oh, me? Um… Honestly… I kinda just wanna leave if that’s cool.” I said, trying my best to put on a casual facade. To my surprise, however, Henry raised an eyebrow.

“Really? You just wanna leave? You know you can do anything you want to her, right? Didn’t I send out that command?” he asked himself. I pretended not to notice that last sentence, I doubted Henry would let me acknowledge it if I were being influenced by him. With Joey distracted by Ms. Bailey’s tits, the focus was entirely on me. My reactions were purely a guessing game at this point.

“Ohhhhh, I get it. You’re gay. No worries, man, I’m an ally. Watch:” with that, he snapped his fingers, instantly replacing Ms. Bailey with a broad-chested, shirtless man that shared a handful of her features. Joey, who had moments ago had his head buried in Ms. Bailey’s tits, felt around for a moment, confused by the sudden flatness of the chest he was fondling before opening his eyes and leaping back in shock.

“Oh my god!” he shouted, absorbing the sight of the man in front of him, “I was sucking on those nipples!”

“Calm down you drama queen, nipples are nipples,” Henry remarked before returning his attention to me. “So, you like?”

“Oh, um, no, sorry. It’s not that I’m gay. I just don’t want to stick around at school,” I clarified as Joey rushed to his bag and began chugging a bottle of water. 

Henry raised a curious eyebrow. “Interesting…” he muttered, snapping his fingers and returning Ms. Bailey to a feminine state. Joey eyed her warily, not rushing to grab her tits this time around.

“So you’re telling me you hate school so much you want to leave immediately, even if it means that you don’t get to fulfill whatever sexual fantasy you desire with the hottest teacher in the school?” Henry queried.

“I guess, yeah?” I said nonchalantly. On the inside I was in a full-blown panic. Not only was Henry talking to me directly, but he was questioning my thoughts and motives. If he got even the tiniest bit more curious and tried to manipulate me directly, it was over. I was one bad move away from being exposed. 

“Why’s that? Getting bullied? Bad grades? No friends?” he belted out, searching for explanations. I thought about lying and going along with one of his suggestions, but made a split-second decision that it would only get me into deeper shit than I already was. I also felt slightly infuriated that Henry, of all people, was asking me why I didn’t like school.

“No, none of that,” I said.

“So what then? What’s your problem?” asked Henry, my problem.

“I think that I…” I began, but I couldn’t think of a good enough excuse in time. In a last-ditch effort to summon an answer, something more genuine than I had anticipated came out of my mouth, “I don’t see the point. Every day feels like the same struggle, but no matter what I do, it doesn’t mean anything in the long run. Good, bad, it doesn’t matter. None of it matters.” Flashes of Emily’s disappointed face flashed into my head as I spoke. Somehow I’d spoken more honestly to Henry than anyone else in my life over the past few months.

Henry stared at me, clearly caught off guard. “You…” he began. I braced myself. I’d revealed too much.

“You’re just like me!” he exclaimed, snapping me out of my despair. 

“Sorry,” he chuckled, “It’s just, that’s my problem too. I’ve been trying to enjoy myself for a while, but lately it’s all felt so stale. I just haven’t felt the same inspiration I normally do. Like, a few months ago I turned this entire school into a giant superhero movie. That was awesome! I got to fuck a whole bunch of sexy costumed weirdos and it was amazing! Lately, though, I feel like I’ve barely been trying, you know?”

I most certainly did not know. Just one day prior he had transformed almost every booth at the career fair into a sexed-up inversion of itself. That was uninspired?!

“Um, yeah… Totally!” I lied through my teeth, putting on my best non-confrontational face. I had to imagine he would be making me act normal if I was actually under his control.

“You know, I’ve had this problem for a while, but I wasn’t able to put words to it until just now. I think it’s cause of what you said!” Henry exclaimed as if he was having a breakthrough. “I’ve only been seeking inspiration from myself!”

“That, um, yeah, that would do it,” I agreed, not fully understanding his epiphany.

“So now you’re gonna help!” he beamed. 

Wait, what?

Henry snapped his fingers once more, materializing a paper and pencil on the desk in front of me, an act that felt slightly unnecessary considering we were in a classroom.

“Okay, I want you to write out a scenario involving Ms. Bailey on that paper. When you’re done, I’ll make it real. You’re not just some horny idiot like that other guy, so I trust you to do something creative. Ready? Go!” Henry grinned.

I stared at him for a moment, taking in the excitement on his face before realizing that I needed to start writing. Hastily, I pulled the paper up and grabbed the pencil. This wasn’t going to plan, but I needed to do something to impress him or else he might get frustrated and try to use his powers on me. I stared down at the page. What would I write about? What’s something that Henry would like? A bizarre power dynamic? A chaotic costume? I held my pencil to the page, but no words appeared.

I glanced up, watching as Henry meandered Ms. Bailey’s desk, poking the mindless teacher’s tits as he did. He had limitless capabilities, yet he still felt stuck. How did that make sense? The possibilities should be endless for him, he should be able to fulfill whatever messed up fantasies his absurd mind conjured up. What could I possibly offer to someone whose very existence was so much higher than mine? What kind of perspective could I bring?

Perspective…

I began writing.

About five minutes later, I handed the sheet to Henry.

“This is it?” he asked.

“Yep. You can give it a read and see if you like it,” I confirmed.

“No need, I’ll just make whatever’s on the page come true. I want to be surprised,” Henry said, snapping his fingers and causing the page to vanish into thin air. At the same time, Ms. Bailey suddenly returned to life. 

“What was I saying…?” she muttered before shaking her head. “Right. Derek, Joey, I want you to write an apology note to each other. At least a full page. As for you, Henry, I want to help you, but you need to help yourself first.”

Henry seemed surprised to be addressed directly, glancing in my direction. I gave him an affirming nod before starting on my apology.

“Well, how exactly would I go about that?” Henry asked in a noncommittal tone.

Ms. Bailey sighed, sitting back down at her desk. “Well for starters, you could stop getting yourself into detention. It’s a serious waste of time for both of us.”

“Oh come on, don’t you enjoy spending time together, Ms. Bailey?” Henry smirked, clearly prodding her as usual.

“No, Henry, no I don’t. I don’t like having to stay back past my normal hours just to try and impart some good values on you,” she rebuked sternly.

“Come on, Ms. B, you don’t have to drag me into detention all the time. If I’m such a troublemaker, why not just let me learn the hard way after graduation like you said?”

“Because I know you can do better, Henry!” she exclaimed, catching him off guard, “I see you often enough that I know you have good qualities. You’re funny, creative, and much smarter than you let on. If you weren’t so insistent on being disrespectful, then maybe those greater qualities could shine through.” 

I glanced up from the page to see a rare sight: Henry was surprised. “Oh, um, thank you Ms. Bailey. I didn’t know you thought so highly of me…”

Ms. Bailey scoffed, “It would be hard not to, considering how much time we spend together. These days I feel like I spend all my spare time with you.”

Henry looked at her curiously, “Is that a bad thing?”

Ms. Bailey paused for a moment, adjusting her glasses as she considered her answer. “Sometimes it is. When you’re disrespecting me and yourself. Other times, though… You can be good company.”

Henry laughed, “Me? Good company? Don’t take this the wrong way, Ms. Bailey, but you need to get out more. Maybe go on a few dates.”

Ms. Bailey crossed her arms. “And whose fault is it that I don’t have time to go on dates?” she asked rhetorically. 

Henry held his hands up. “Point taken, teach. Tell you what, I can try and end up in detention a bit less, give you some of your free time back.”

“It’s not just about the free time, Henry, it’s about the treatment. A date would treat me well, compliment me. Do you do that when you’re here?”

There it was, the shift. My script was taking effect.

Henry pondered for a moment. “I guess not. Well, I think your blouse looks lovely, Ms. Bailey, it compliments your figure well.”

Ms. Bailey lit up at the kind words, “Thank you, Henry! Looks like there really is a gentleman buried under there.” I glanced up from my paper as the teacher spoke. She had a bright smile and was absentmindedly swirling a strand of hair with her finger. Perfect, she was acting just like I’d hoped she would. Henry, too, seemed to be picking up on her cues.

“Hey Ms. Bailey… How else would you like to be treated? You know, on a date?” he asked tentatively.

“Oh! Well, I’d like it if I was made to feel special. I’d also want my date to take the lead, I do enough planning at my day job,” she explained. 

“Is that so? Well, I can help out a bit with that,” Henry offered, standing up from his desk.

“Henry? What are you doing?” Ms. Bailey asked, a tinge of nervous anticipation in her voice.

“If I’m gonna become this better guy you think I can be, I might as well start getting some practice in. Figure I can treat you well, start making up for all those hypothetical dates I cost you.”

“That… That seems inappropriate…” Ms Bailey commented, her eyes fixated on Henry as he leant against the side of her desk. 

“Maybe… But I’m not treating you like a teacher right now. I’m treating you like a date.”

“But-”

“And weren’t you the one who said you wanted someone else to take the lead?”

Ms. Bailey’s mouth hung open ever so slightly, her breathing subtle and intense. Whatever words of resistance she had prepared melted away as Henry took her hand, gently lifting her to her feet. 

“Henry, I-” she managed to say before Henry placed a gentle finger over her lips.

“Ms. Bailey, please, let me show you a good time,” he whispered, caressing her cheek and pulling her lips into his. I watched the emotions unfold in Ms. Bailey’s eyes. First the shock, then the confusion, and finally the acceptance washing over her body. She began to reciprocate, pulling him close to her and guiding his wayward hands to her hips.

In a flurry, Ms. Bailey unbuttoned and tossed aside her blouse, revealing her ample cleavage and drawing Henry’s gaze downward.

“You know, Henry, I’m not oblivious about my body. I see the boys staring during my lessons. It’s annoying,” Ms. Bailey said, moving her hands behind her back. “There are other problems too. Back pain, finding clothes that fit well, big breasts are a real hassle,” before Henry could respond, she unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the ground. “One of the upsides, though, is being able to leave a guy speechless when I want to.”

Henry was indeed speechless. It was remarkable, he’d put Ms. Bailey in so many slutty outfits and fucked her countless times, yet he looked like he was seeing her body for the very first time. 

“Let me offer you a tip - a date would do more than just stand there,” Ms. Bailey suggested coyly, leaning against the side of her desk. Henry didn’t need further convincing. He practically lunged forward, burying his face between her pillowy breasts. Ms. Bailey let out a playful gasp, wrapping her hands around his head and pulling him in closer to her.

Henry then adjusted, positioning his mouth over her left nipple while placing his thumb atop her right. Ms. Bailey’s sly grin quickly shifted into closed-eyed pleasure as Henry got to work, licking and sucking the left nipple while tweaking and massaging the right with his thumb. Henry seemed to struggle to stimulate both at once, fighting to pleasure as much of her body as possible. He was overwhelmed in the best way possible, and Ms. Bailey was enjoying every moment of it. Her eyelids fluttered and she began breathing through sharp inhales and exhales, her body now responding to his rhythm

I watched as the scenario unfolded in front of me, amazed at Henry’s shift in attitude. I couldn’t detect any trace of the smug, power-mad reality-warper I’d grown accustomed to. It was satisfying, in a strange way, seeing him subject to the same lust he so frequently inflicted on others. I briefly glanced over at Joey, noticing him on his phone, his apology sheet still blank. I’d instructed him not to pay the two any mind. I’d already finished mine, freeing me up to observe Henry and Ms. Bailey in the throes of passion.

Suddenly, Ms. Bailey stood up, pushing Henry off of her. However, what seemed at first like a rebuttal of his efforts was quickly proven to be the opposite as she rapidly removed her skirt, letting it fall to the ground. Her panties soon followed, leaving her entire nude body exposed. Her pussy was visibly wet, Henry’s efforts having clearly paid off.

“One last tip,” she panted, her eyes fixated on Henry’s, “A date would wrap things up by fucking me until I couldn’t think anymore. Can you do that?”

Henry stared at her, wide-eyed, taking in her nude form as if it were his first time seeing the sun. Finally, he opened his mouth, the air around them electric. “Lie down,” he directed.

Ms. Bailey smiled wider than I’d ever seen her, throwing her arms up like she was going down the highest drop on a rollercoaster and falling lengthwise onto her wooden desk. As she did so, Henry frantically unbuttoned his jeans, wasting no time in shedding all clothing from the lower half of his body. I’d seen Henry’s dick many times at this point, entirely against my own will in every instance, and even I could tell that his current hard-on was different. It was as if every ounce of vitality in his body was concentrated in his raging erection.

Despite the intensity of his desire, Henry moved slowly. He gently placed his hands on Ms. Bailey’s thighs, guiding them apart as she watched with wide-eyed desire. He then placed his index finger atop her clit, eliciting a gasp that she quickly tried to silence, as if the atmosphere of anticipation forbade any noise. Slowly, he traced finger down her pussy, ultimately stopping near the bottom, right at the pink opening of her vagina. Ms. Bailey threw her head back, her jaw silently quivering.

Then, gently, Henry positioned his cock in front of her vagina. Using his finger to stretch the opening just slightly, he guided himself inside her. Ms. Bailey gasped, breaking the near-silence between the two as she clasped the sides of the desk, steadying herself. Henry, too, grabbed the desk, latching onto its corners as he carefully pushed himself deeper inside her. Ms. Bailey’s grip on the desk tightened, steadying herself as much as possible for Henry.

Gradually, Henry began establishing a rhythm, carefully sliding in and out of his teacher’s waiting pussy. Ms. Bailey held herself steady atop the desk, the only movement she allowed herself being the rise and fall of her chest. Finally, as Henry established a consistent pattern of movement, she lifted her head and spoke.

“Henry, you’re ready. Now fuck me.”

Henry heard her and didn’t hesitate. He moved his hands from the desk to her hips, pulling her entire body into him. His pace accelerated along with the intensity of his thrusts, rapidly losing himself to his own movements. Ms. Bailey, to her credit, maintained her position. She was still flooded with arousal, her cheeks flush and her body twitching, but she spared enough composure to bring her hand down to her waist and begin furiously rubbing her clit with two fingers. That final piece of stimulation was enough to lose herself fully.

I watched as Ms. Bailey threw her head back, her eyes rolling upward as she lost focus. She made no further effort to suppress herself, moaning loudly between sharp, desperate breaths. Henry, too, had long since lost his composure, throwing his full weight behind every thrust and clutching the teacher’s body like it was a life preserver in the middle of the ocean.

I watched carefully, both to observe Henry’s reaction to my scenario and to satisfy my own fascination. I had no love for Henry, and I’d seen Ms. Bailey in countless sexual situations because of him, but the scene playing out in front of me was far more organic than anything I’d witnessed before. Henry was no longer the arrogant orchestrator of an absurd play, he was an active participant in a maelstrom of desire.

That desire was rapidly approaching its apex. Ms. Bailey’s moans were ascending in pitch and volume, her body seizing with arousal off and on. Aware enough to notice this, a look of determination flashed across Henry’s face. He leaned forward, pausing to position himself in a new angle, one that would allow him to maximize his movement inside her. For the first time since she laid back on the table, their eyes met. A momentary gaze lingered between them, one of shared reverence.

Then he began his final push.

Henry pistoned himself into Ms. Bailey’s waiting pussy, unrestrained. Ms. Bailey made no effort to quiet herself, she openly screamed in delight as he pounded her against the desk. Her massive tits rolled and rocked with every quake of her body, almost fluid in their movement. Finally, their bodies locked together, each seized as a massive orgasm quaked through their limbs. For a moment, the two were immobile, locked in passion with one another as pleasure coursed through their bodies.

Finally, Ms. Bailey fell back onto the desk, reduced to nothing more than a panting, ecstasy-fueled body. Henry lingered as his dick pulsed, pumping semen into her waiting pussy. Slowly, he withdrew his cock from her, now coated in her juices and glistening under the fluorescent lights of the room.

Then, as Ms. Bailey remained sprawled out across her desk, her eyes dulled once more and her arms fell limp. Henry himself seemed surprised as the agency left the woman, just as he had willed it to hundreds of times before.

“And that’s that,” I said, standing up from my desk. Henry looked over at me, as if he had forgotten I was there in the first place, “What did you think?”

“What did I think? That was…” I braced myself, “That was fucking awesome!” he exclaimed. “How did you get her to be so lively and feel so real?”

“Easy, she is real,” I responded, “Ms. Bailey’s a fully autonomous person with her own life and desires. Well, at least she usually is,” I said, glancing at the stream of juices leaking out from her pussy as she lay motionless on the desk. “I tweaked a few variables, like having her fall in love with you and be willing to have sex with a student, but otherwise I relied on her real personality to do the heavy lifting.”

Henry looked at the mindless teacher, then back to me. “Wow. I mean, WOW. I had no idea she had all that pent-up sexuality. And here I thought she was just a nice pair of tits. I have to thank you, dude, I finally understand what I’ve been missing lately!”

He did? Did my scenario help Henry realize that the real world is better than his fucked up fantasies?

“My problem was that I got so caught up in cooking up fun scenarios that I stopped being an active participant! Well, that ends today! From here on out, I’m fucking my way across this whole school, and nobody’s gonna stop me!” Henry declared with a wide, excited grin.

It took every ounce of my willpower not to flip my desk over. Instead, I wrenched a polite smile onto my face. “Good for you man, congrats on rediscovering your passion!”

Henry smiled back, “It’s all thanks to you, man! Obviously I can’t let you remember what happened today, except for this small bit of advice: Take life by the reins! Don’t just wait around and hope things get better, you have to make them better.”

In spite of my frustration, I felt his words resonate in a strange way. Before I could ponder them any further, however, Henry snapped his fingers. Ms Bailey reappeared at her desk, fully clothed. “Alright, that’s enough time. Derek and Joey, I expect you to exchange apology notes before you leave. And Henry… Just try to get in a bit less trouble,” she implored.

“Not to worry, Ms. B, I’m a new man!” Henry grinned before waltzing out of the room, more enthusiastic than ever. It was almost inspiring, until I remembered what a revitalized Henry would mean for my school life. More scenarios, less normalcy, more chaos. 

“Oh, and thanks again dude!” Henry called out to me. I almost gave him a normal response, before remembering at the last moment that he thought he had wiped my memory.

“Uh, for what?” I called out. Henry simply chuckled, amused by his false assumption that only he would remember the events of the day. He then walked out of sight, leaving just the three of us.

It was time to finish detention properly. Standing up, I walked over to Joey.. “Here,” I said, handing him my apology note. I watched him unfold it and read it through.

Joey,

You were a good friend to me for a long time, which only made the fact that you set me up to fail sting all the more. I won’t apologize for being angry about that, but I will apologize for not hearing you out after the fact, and definitely for intimidating you at career day. Considering how long we were friends, you deserved that much, and I hope that we have a chance to talk things through.

Sincerely,

Derek

Joey read the note and reread it before sliding a paper of his own across the desk. He then swung his bag over his shoulder and walked out before I had a chance to read it. Curious, I opened the note.

Derek,

Fuck off.

Joey

“So, did you get the apology you were hoping for?” Ms. Bailey asked as she packed up her own things. 

“Well, I definitely got the one I expected,” I answered, crumpling the note and tossing it into a nearby wastebin. Maybe that friendship was never meant to survive. As I made my way down the hall, I thought more about my circumstances. I could happily accept losing my friendship with a prick like Joey, I didn’t care at all if he hated me.

Emily, though? Different story.

We were rapidly approaching winter break. If I didn’t set things right with her before then, the negative sentiments would linger. Maybe it made me selfish, but I couldn’t accept her pulling away, not after everything I’d done to protect her. I cared about her, I wanted her to succeed, and I wanted to be there to see her thrive.

As I walked out the front door, I eyed a poster on the wall for the Senior Recital later that week. Emily would be there, performing on the clarinet. I decided then and there that I was going to follow Henry’s advice. It was long past time I started taking an active role in my own life.