Page 55 of Lessons in Cruelty

Until one of them plays a little too rough. Until feelings get hurt.

A bark, a snap.

A whimper, a whine.

Then they realize it’s not a game anymore, and the cruel reality crushes them.

I’m an expert in cause and effect.

I know someone’s been playing rough with Miss Lee. It’s gone past the point where she can deny it, even to herself, and yet she so desperately tries.

Who is she protecting?

I understood the act of inflicting cruelty on someone else before I studied it academically. My interest in that concept plateaued years ago.

But for someone to accept that cruelty?

That still fascinates me.

Is that why I can’t get Miss Lee out of my fucking mind?

Is that why after class ends, I call her to me? Why I suppress a smile as she hurries over?

Wide-eyed, nervous, shy, curious. A flurry of emotions, openly broadcast for anyone to see.

What it must be like inside her mind as she tries to navigate this new world.

Does her pulse flutter whenever she’s uneasy or unsure?

Is it doing so now?

“When is your next class?” I ask her.

“Uh…I have Urban Studies at two.”

I nod and let the silence grow until she has no choice but to fill it with words. “I was going to study for a while. Work on some assignments.”

“Good. Then I’ll walk you to the library.”

A flash of surprise lifts her eyebrows before she tries to look cool and detached. “I wasn’t going to the library.”

“Then where?”

Her lips move like she’s trying to hold back the truth, but that’s the funny thing about authority. It can be…persuasive.

“Just…in my car.”

“In your car?” The words come out sharper than intended. The thought of her hunched over textbooks in that beater…

”I’ll walk you out.”

I head for the door, but she doesn’t follow. When I turn back, she’s watching me with a blank face, a touch of unease in her eyes. Like a deer that’s caught a hint of a predator’s scent in the air.

I walk back, scratching at my temple. “Is this the part where you tell me you can look after yourself?”

I make a point of looking at the bruise on her jaw.

It’s much fainter than I make it out to be. But I’m keenly observant, and I’ve known something’s wrong with Miss Lee for a while now.