Strains

I manage to get through my morning classes without any issues, outside of the normal ones that is. It’s lunchtime and I get the privilege of eating a peanut butter sandwich at a chair in the corner.

“Goodness. I know Matthew has you on a leash, but you don’t have to subject yourself to sitting alone,” a voice above me says.

“Oh, hi Ms. Tiffany.”

“Just Tiffany is fine. We’re practically the same age,” she says, sitting across from me.

She’s right. Other than April up at admissions, we were the only women in the same age range on campus. If we weren’t dead, I bet it wouldn’t look out of place for us to be in a coffee shop together, sipping expensive overly priced sugary brews and groaning about our colleagues.

“So, what brings you out this way?” I ask. She doesn’t have a tray in front of her, and her hair, which always lays on her shoulders, is pulled back.

“Just grabbing a few bottles of water for my next class. The vocal exercises we’re doing today are a little more intense than what we usually do.”

Why couldn’t I have been enrolled in her class? I’m not big on singing, way too shy for that, but it’d be nice to have a professor that cared for their students the way Tiffany did.

“Sounds like fun,” I say.

“Would’ve been nice if that grump of a facilitator had put you in my class instead of Hercules’s. Oh well, maybe you could convince him next semester?” She says with a swing of her ponytail.

I lean back. “I’m not sure I could convince that man of anything.”

“Stranger things have happened. You’ve somehow made a softy out of Hercules, just work that magic on Matthew.”

“I’m not magical, and I’m not sure I’d want him to be as enthusiastic about killing me as Hercules is.”

“Well, I think you ought to at least give it a try,” she says.

A group of girls pass by our table and as usual make hushed snide comments about a hypothetical relationship between Tiffany and me. Tiffany’s eyes widen, but instead of doing anything, she just sighs and rests her hands on her palms.

“Why the hell hasn’t Matthew done anything to stop those rumors from going around? It’s his damn groupies spearheading this.”

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t see what anyone can really do about it.”

“How are you going to make any friends with all of this crap going around?” she leans forward. “And I worry what the council will say about it.”

Not another thing to worry about.

“Sorry, Elizabeth. I better get that water and prep for class.”

“It’s fine, really. I get it, have a good class.”

She leaves and heads in the direction of the kitchen. How long will it take for me to disappear into the background at this place? The way Tiffany puts it, with Matthew as my facilitator, it’ll never happen.

What the hell am I going to do?

I glance at my watch. Apparently, I’m going to Hercules’ class.

I get to class on time with everyone else, so I don’t get the luxury of knowing what the assignment will be today. Hercules leads the class through the woods and to the sandy shores of the lake. On the water are different colored buoys. I don’t like the looks of this.

“We’re going to be going for a swim today,” he says, grinning at me.

How the hell did he figure out that I can’t swim? Welp, I’m dead meat now. The students around me begin to take off their shoes. Looks like they’re relieved. This must be considered an easy day. I take my shoes and socks and pack them away in my backpack, then tuck the bag into the base of a tree. I’ll have to come back for this stuff later.

“Everyone, line up!” Hercules shouts.

My heart begins to thump as I take my usual position alongside Piper and the other Aqua.

“Just a moment, class!”

The shout comes from the trees behind Hercules, and we all turn away from the lake.

“What the hell are you doing here, Matthew?”

“I have urgent business with my student. Elizabeth, get your things.”

I’m grateful that I won’t have to drown today, but I don’t like the sound of having urgent business.

“We don’t have time for you to get your shoes on. Come on,” he waves at Hercules who responds with his middle finger.

***

After a long, and uncomfortable walk, we’re in Matthew’s study.

He hasn’t said anything about the so-called emergency that caused him to pull me from class. I finish drying my feet with the towel Matthew brought for me. My feet are cut and bruised from the barefoot walk over here, but does Matthew care? Nope. He just cares about keeping his floor pristine.

I keep wiping at my already dry feet, nervous to say anything. He’s sitting behind his desk, reading my assignment. He flips the page. Shouldn’t be long now.

A few minutes pass and he sets the last page on top of the pile. He then takes the stack and drops it in a wastebin next to his desk. And there goes two hours of work.

“If you’d like another assignment, I’ll gladly give you one. Maybe with a word count requirement instead.”

I bite my lip. “So uh, what was the emergency?”

Matthew gets up from his desk and goes over to the whiteboard. On my list of faults, he scribbles a new word. ‘Dense’.

Jerk.

“We can’t afford to have you die in public. Haven’t I made that abundantly clear?”

“Well yeah, but how long do you expect me to be able to pull that off?”

He sits on top of his desk.

“Until I tell you not to. There are still council scouts supervising the portal.”

I rest my head on my hands. Great. Just great.

“Didn’t realize you were in such a hurry to die.”

“I’m not, it’s just really hard to avoid when the whole campus hates me and there’s a crazy iron man who’s made it his mission to kill me.”

Matthew sighs.

“True. We’ll have to keep you out of Hercules’ class for now. The council will pull back eventually. We just have to hold out until then.”

“Hercules is going to be upset if I ditch his class every day.”

“Can’t be helped. You’re too much of a weakling for us to risk you in his class, especially with that grudge he has.”

I lean back in my chair. This wouldn’t have been an issue if he would’ve enrolled me in Tiffany’s class instead of Hercules’.

“If I had done that, it would have aroused suspicion from the council. I can’t protect you, not obviously anyway.”

“Well maybe if we explain everything to Hercules. He’s your friend, maybe he’ll understand.”

He shakes his head. “No. I’m not dragging him into this.”

“But-, “

“I’m not going to subject him to council surveillance and possible banishment. Period.”

Well, I’m out of ideas. This all seems hopeless. Matthew turns towards the whiteboard and crosses his arms. I’ll have to tell Tiffany how wrong she was when I see her. I can’t convince this guy of anything.

“You met up with Tiffany?”

I sigh and tell him about our short meeting. I don’t leave anything out, he stiffened at Tiffany’s criticism, but they were her words, not mine.

“So even she sees it as an issue.” He gives a light chuckle. “We’re really screwed then.”

He’s right. Between the council, Hercules and the rumors, there’s no way I can continue my existence here; not without one causing issue with the other. Matthew flips the board over and draws a triangle illustrating the point. The council is at the top and the students and Hercules take the bottom positions.

“If you make an appeal to Hercules the student rumors will be impossible for the council to ignore. They might suspect you of trying to build an army of staff against them. I know, ridiculous, but they’re paranoid enough to think that way. If we direct our attention to the students, then Hercules will still kill you and the council will realize you didn’t come through the portal. The only way for the council to leave you alone would be to get banished, so that’s out.”

He steps back and takes it all in. He looks over his shoulder. “How would you feel about dating Hercules? Doubt he would kill his own girlfriend, and it might be enough to stop the jealous bitches from spreading rumors about you, since it’d be public anyway.”

“You want me to use him? I thought he was your friend!”

He turns back and crosses his arms. “Well shit do you want to date Tiffany then? I don’t care which, they both have shown an interest in you, so I don’t think they’d be offended if you gave them a chance. Not that I understand what they could possibly find charming about you.”

That was mean. And I thought Tiffany was just nice. I didn’t think she meant to be nice in that way. Guess it explains the chatter at lunch. Still, it seemed wrong to use someone as a cover just to stop some stupid rumors.

“If you have a better solution, I’d love to hear it.”

I get up and walk over to the whiteboard. I take in all of the writing and pick up a marker.

“Triangles aren’t just three lines,” I say slowly, letting the gears turn in my head. Matthew watches me intently, joining me at my side. I touch the tip of a marker to the center. “This is the key to everything, what ties everything together.”

“Right,” Matthew says inquisitively, “It’s you, obviously.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s definitely you.”

Matthew stomps back to his desk and sits back in his chair.

“Trying to pass the responsibility on to me, now?”

“No, sir. It only makes sense. You work for the council; Hercules is your friend, and you’re the object of the students’ affections. This doesn’t have anything to do with me, even if I were a man, nothing would change. A student of yours was always doomed to be hated.”

Matthew stands and regards me carefully. He’s thinking over my words, probably trying to poke holes in my theory, but I know I’m right.

He passes by me and stands behind the whiteboard. The board begins to squeak. What is he writing now?

He emerges from the board and swivels it around. When I look up at it, instead of new faults, I see that some of them have been wiped away, including the new addition.

“You are more inquisitive than I thought.”

I don’t know what to say, so I just say a simple, “Thank you, sir.”

“If all of this mess is up to me to clean up, then I’ll be doing it my way. Do you know what that means?”

I cringe. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”

A devilish smile spreads across his face.

“Not a bit.”