Story and Art Forum

lol

Same happened to me I had retention issues last year after an operation as a complication . Now I love the opposit, let it flow , and let the urine out freely 

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Three New Messages Seo-ya happily hummed all the way up the stairs, a bounce in her step. Adam sat immaculately still, trying not to move the vomit pooled in his lap, nor breathe in the smell, nor acknowledge the feeling of it soaking through the pajamas. Which was easier than he thought, given what he was trying to process. He started playing out different scenarios in his head, wondering if there had been a better way to handle that. Should he have been honest, even if it meant Seo-ya had whisked him away? Should he have revealed everything he knew, even though that wasn’t much, and given away his secret? Had he bonded with Kang so much that he now risked the man’s position and possibly his life? Though he had to concede, it might be because of Joomi, not him. Either way, his heart was roaring in his ears as he searched, pointlessly, for a way that could have gone better. While it was an attempt to persuade himself that he did the best he could, given the circumstances, it also felt like he was punishing himself, and his clenched gut agreed. “I’m so proud of you, baby,” Seo-ya purred as she walked him into the bathroom and kissed the top of his head. “You did so well.” “I…” Adam started and stopped, glaring down at the tub as she turned on the water. He wanted to tell her he didn’t mean to make her proud, or even yell at her for believing Kang would take this lying down (even though he worried that was the case). A great many things came to mind to say, but after experiencing the ups and downs of her moods and the pettiness she was willing to sink to, he thought it best to keep his mouth shut. He wanted her in the highest of spirits so he could, hopefully, hasten this process and be alone as soon as possible. “I know, I knoooow,” she sang, chuckling at the end as she plopped him on the edge of the sink, his feet landing inside it as vomit began to dribble down. “A lot was said that you didn’t…” Adam looked up into the mirror and met her gaze when she trailed off, and her face showed that she was recalling something. “Did you… understand what they were saying?” she questioned warily. Adam lurched forward as she gasped, putting her hand on his forehead. It was only a bit of stomach acid at this point, which he spat out into the sink, and she moved her hand to pat his back. “Get it aaaall out,” she soothed, her tone still a bit wary. After a few pats, he summoned a burp to get her to stop, and she stroked his back approvingly. He spat out the acidic taste and spat out a few more times, giving him time to think and have his answer ready. “I understood some,” Adam lied quietly, using his mittened hand to wipe at his mouth. “Eomma –” he paused as he looked up when Seo-ya cleared her throat disapprovingly; Adam stared for a moment, trying hard to channel Kang’s impassivity rather than glare or show any reaction. “…Mommy and Halmae have been teaching me. And I can usually pick out my name in a sentence…” “Ahh,” she sighed in relief and nodded in acceptance as she began undressing him. His eyes nervously darted over to the pooling water, wondering if talking through the bath would make it go faster or slower. Then, he wondered if there was any topic that wouldn’t sour her mood. Swallowing as the diaper tapes were ripped open, he pressed his lips together, knowing full well a normal conversation with her wouldn’t bode well; he searched for something acceptable… but his brain wasn’t engaging. He jumped when her bony fingers wrapped around him and lifted him up; he slammed his legs together to hold his penis in place, and curled them up in response to the discomfort. Seo-ya quickly placed him in the warm water, and he looked up at her, realizing she, too, was hoping to make this quick. At least, that’s what it seemed like. She filled a cup with water, dumped it on his head, and began humming as she grabbed the shampoo. The blonde flashed a smile upon remembering that she wanted to celebrate her husband’s so-called victory. That worked in his favor, and he quickly dunked his head under water to help her move it along. She smiled and began massaging the suds into his hair, without the care and pressure Joomi did. This was clinical and quick, both of which he appreciated and made him sad, reminding him how much he missed home. Once the shampoo was rinsed out, Adam tracked her hands over to the soap, and he gulped, knowing full well Seo-ya wasn’t going to let him handle his genitals on his own. He watched her hands with intensity, not wanting to be surprised when she made her move, but tried to think of something else that might help him disassociate from it. Oh! The download! Her bony hands rubbed together as the soap suds built up, and he stared while he contemplated all the possibilities of the download. Was it purposeful? Had they sent him a message? Or had Little Boja been given some kind of passive program to download information? Like… a copy of the call? Maybe — “Eep!” he squeaked as she slithered her fingers under his penis, causing his shoulders to rocket up to his ears and his arms to pull in against his chest, now looking like a T-Rex. Seo-ya only chuckled, not hesitating or slowing down as her index and middle fingers felt around to make sure they handled every little crevice. Watching it hadn’t helped, so he closed his eyes, but it was too late now to go back to distractions. He just had to bear it, and he clenched his teeth, somewhat withdrawing all his limbs as if to pull back like a turtle into its shell. He let out a sigh of relief as she removed her hands from him and the water, and his brain snapped back into action. Both Hopper and Little Boja were downstairs. He tried a few times to start up the topic, but she dumped water on him several times, then pulled the drain, then wrapped him up in a towel. “Auntie,” he groaned, fighting to find a hole in the massive towel that could easily serve as a blanket for him. “Can I have Hopper and Little Boja, please? They’re downstairs.” “Mmm, where did you leave them?” she asked, and Adam gaped for a solid three seconds. Where did he leave them? Was she serious? He didn’t hear sarcasm in her tone, and after the initial shock, he found an opening and pushed the towel away to look up at her incredulously. She lifted her eyebrows questioningly, and he saw no signs of playfulness or snark. She was genuinely asking. “I - me -??” he stammered, vividly recalling her ignoring his silent request for them and placing them on a shelf behind him. Then he was whisked away to bath time after puking. He blinked and shook his head a few times, and Seo-ya snickered. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll find them,” she reassured in a saccharine tone, and Adam remained dumbfounded by the stupidity of that conversation as he was laid down on the changing table. He remained quiet as he stared at the ceiling, his thoughts drifting towards how much he missed genuine conversation. He tapped his fingers on his chest, starting to sense how easy it would be to regress if this were his daily life. Everyone was talking over his head; the conversation was always controlled and trite, unless one engaged in a very specific way. Since Seo-ya responded to him best when he acted how she wanted, he could easily see a future where he’s had no choice but to lean into it. It was conditioning. Training. His eyes snapped to her as she folded out a fuzzy, very warm-looking navy blue pajama set. There was a care about her that was distinct and very different from Joomi, and he was just starting to piece together what it was. “Pet,” he mouthed as she tucked one leg in at a time. She treated him like a pet. But not lovingly, like when people who couldn’t or didn’t want children ended up treating their pets as if they were children. She was the kind of pet-owner who wanted the appearance, power, and company. But only on her terms. This realization sat with him for the remainder of his dressing and tucking into bed. As promised, she went downstairs to retrieve the plushes, and he finally appraised his pajamas, sighing in relief that there were no mittens. She really was in a good mood. “Found theeem,” she sang as she entered, making the two dance in the air. He let himself grin slightly, amused by how dumb she looked and grateful she kept her word. He reached his hands up for them, and she held them hostage, raising her eyebrows expectantly. “Please and thank you,” Adam said with a forced neutrality. Seo-ya nodded approvingly and handed them down to him. He buried his face in Little Boja, using him as a pillow while hugging Hopper. He flushed when he heard Seo-ya coo about it, and he curled tightly into a ball, closing his eyes and telepathically begged her to leave. She let out a chuckle, and he flinched slightly as he felt her stroke his hair, and a few seconds after her hand left, he heard the mobile jingle quickly followed by the reduction in the room’s volume. Grimacing into the fur of Little Boja, he forced a laugh as best he could and didn’t otherwise move. He had no way to know whether this appeased her, but either way, she turned off the lights and left. He let out a long-suffering sigh. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the mobile for a long beat. The download! He sat up, scoffing at himself for forgetting again, and twisted his body to face Little Boja. Squinting at his eyes, he reached out and placed his index finger on them to access the menu. ‘Hi Adam! You have three new messages!’ chirped the enthusiastic voice, and Adam grinned, wondering if Boja chose to make him so chipper to make a strong distinction between him and Little Boja. The voice went on to explain how to access, play, and pause the messages, and he smiled so broadly that his heart fluttered with anticipation. He had no idea what to expect, but he didn’t want to delay and deliberate either. He immediately played the first one. ‘I would like it on the record that I suspected Shik immediately,’ Boja’s voice came through clear in his ear at the beginning of the audio file, and Adam slapped a hand over his mouth before he burst out laughing. ‘Security footage from a traffic stop provided details about the old car you were taken in, as the gym’s rear cameras had been sabotaged. All the evidence pointed to a party knowledgeable about our technological capabilities and deployed a series of tactics specifically meant to delay our search. Had they used a connected vehicle, we could have tracked and even rerouted it.’ Adam wanted to cry, not because of the content, but because he missed Boja so much. The tiger could have sent a long audio clip with him rambling about nonsense, and it would have felt comforting to just listen to his voice and cadence. ‘Emonim says these details are not important to share right now, but I disagree. So when she tells you all this later, when you’re back home, act surprised.’ Adam covered his face as he grinned from ear to ear and nodded in affirmation, instinctively, despite knowing logically that this was just a recording. ‘Further, all senior leaders of Japok are given the best security protection and alerts against online attacks to mitigate government and foreign-agency spying, which meant I was unable to penetrate Shik’s home to verify your presence,’ Boja grumbled in irritation. ’This meant not only were the initial kidnappers prepared to kidnap you in particular, but that any of the senior members were able to hold you without concern, as long as they stayed indoors.’ Adam took in a sharp breath through his nose as he slowly nodded, realizing he hadn’t even considered them being able to spy on Shik. ’I have snuck this message in ahead of the others to reassure you that at no point did we abandon you, Adam. I trust you already knew this, but I did not think it would hurt to confirm it.’ “Thank you,” Adam whispered as the audio message ended, and without a real Boja to hug to express his gratitude, he grabbed Little Boja and hugged him instead. He was tempted to replay it, just to bask in hearing his voice again, but his curiosity about the other two was too strong. Pushing the stuffed tiger out of the hug, he tapped through the eyes to start the next audio file. ‘Agaya,‘ Joomi greeted, but her breath quickly caught in her throat. Adam paused it (by tapping on the nose), finding his own breath catching. He stared at Little Boja, feeling his heart in his throat. He didn’t know why he had paused it. He had been wanting to hear her voice, often replayed it, and imagined it whenever he could… maybe it was hearing the sadness in her tone. He swallowed, nodding to himself; Boja could speak like nothing was wrong, but that wasn’t her. Still, it was difficult to hear. He took a few seconds to breathe and collect himself, then resumed the playback. ‘Adam, we must keep this message brief, as our window for sending data to you is likely to be short,’ Boja stated curtly, sounding more like he was reminding Joomi than telling him. ‘And we must prioritize the packages over our messages.’ ‘Yes,‘ Joomi whispered in agreement, and Adam could see her nodding in his mind’s eye. ‘We are sending you a payload of several configuration updates, some of which will work right away, others require a system upgrade,’ Boja continued after a beat, and paused again, and he could hear Joomi take in a breath. ‘We are working out how to get these upgrades to you, and Father will be buying us as much time as possible,’ she explained quietly, sounding like she wished she could be talking about something else instead. ‘Please, Boja… continue.’ ‘Very well,‘ Boja replied. ‘The first update will be a listening service from Little Boja. It will come with pre-programmed commands, but you can configure them as you’d prefer. This will bypass the finger restriction, in case your hands are otherwise occupied or restricted.’ Joomi sniffled. ‘In case you are wondering why we did not install these ahead of sending Little Boja to you, we had limited time and prioritized configuring him to accept a wide variety of payloads from different sources, as we did not know what to expect or precisely where you were. We needed every avenue of communication made available, while maintaining stealth. Shik’s home has some of the best traffic inspection monitoring.‘ Boja paused, then added in with clear resentment in his tone, ‘We should know. We built it.’ Adam grinned as he nuzzled his face into Little Boja’s and closed his eyes. Even given the circumstances and emotions at play, he was happy to hear them. ‘The second upgrade is the ability to send return messages.’ Adam’s eyes flung open as he gasped. ‘Don’t get excited.’ The blonde snorted. ‘The recording must be short, and it won’t send right away. Little Boja will scan all available signals and send covertly when possible, which is unlikely to happen often, but he will inform you when it is sent. I must caution you against sending anything that isn’t worthwhile to helping us free you. We cannot risk Shik discovering this ability because you wanted to tell us you love us for the 300th time.’ ‘Boja!‘ Joomi gasped, and Adam slammed his face into Little Boja, unable to stop himself from laughing so that at least he could muffle it. ‘They can be short audio recordings, or messages by text,’ Boja continued hastily, and Adam imagined the tiger was averting his eyes from her. ‘Instructions will be read to you when you activate it. Third, and final one is a thunderstorm and jungle recording that stops automatically when there are lights, or it hears voices besides your own.’ There was a beat. ’That’s it. It’s just in case you missed it.’ “I do,” Adam whispered as he smiled, feeling his chest open and warm at how touched he was that they would include it. ‘The other functions will be explained once we’ve managed to get the upgrades to you,’ Boja said as there was a slight shuffling of fabric. ‘Agaya, there - there is another message for you,’ Joomi added softly, though still loud enough to be heard; she must have moved closer to the microphone. ’It is more personal, and… it is important to me that you hear it as soon as possible, but please make sure you are - you have some privacy or - or can safely listen to it.’ Adam blinked a few times, surprised to hear her so flustered. ‘Good luck, cub,’ Boja stated to wind down the message. ‘And be safe.’ ‘We love you,‘ Joomi added, and the recording cut off just before something akin to a sob started. Adam closed his eyes and curled his body in a ball as he quivered, trying hard not to break out into his own round of sobs in response. ‘Great! Now that you’ve heard that, I have a directive to install the update,’ Little Boja stated. ‘Beginning now. Please don’t touch anything until it’s done!’ Adam blinked, opening his mouth to ask him to stop, but realized he wouldn’t recognize a verbal command yet. His hand jerked towards the eyes, but he grimaced and stopped himself. He had wanted to hear the third message first. Looking over his shoulder at the door, he figured Uncle and Aunt Shitty Bones were prematurely celebrating their victory, and that this would be his longest available moment of privacy. He curled his nose up at the stuffed tiger and sighed, scratching at his temple as he had little choice but to wait. He curled his legs up against his chest, and he rested his chin on his knees. His immediate instinct was to send a message asking if Kang truly meant to stand down and advise against it. He could just precisely tell them he knew Shik was lying about several details, though technically, it was speculation. His gut told him he was correct, but he didn’t have much else to tell them other than that. Maybe he could detail out the hand tic, in case his covert message hadn’t registered with anyone. He was most tempted to send a message of gratitude and love, both because it would be the most meaningful to Joomi and make Boja roll his eyes, both of which made Adam smile. He was least tempted to detail Seo-ya’s treatment of him. After his bad experience and guilt with Kang, he didn’t want to cause anyone to make hasty decisions because of that. It also meant he couldn’t tell or thank Joomi that the earpiece was protecting him, since that would spark fear about what else Seo-ya was doing. Maybe he could describe the two men who grabbed him. He had a good visual on them, and although it wouldn’t help him get out, at least they might get a sense of how many in Japok were on Shik’s side. He went through waves of these options, revisiting, rejecting some, setting some aside, and he hadn’t settled on his first message by the time Little Boja chirped in his ear again. ‘Update complete!’ His face lit up as he reached for the last audio file, but he threw his head back and groaned when the directions for the newest configurations began automatically. The audio commands were clever: saying ‘Little Boja’ first to open the listening command, and ‘listen here’ would start recording, which could be said within ten words of initiating the protocol. That way Adam could widen the variety of how he declared it without sounding too suspicious. Much of it was cool and interesting, but his impatience was kicking in. He could listen to these instructions at any other time (there was even a command for it!), but he had a specific directive to listen to the final message, and he was eager to hear it. He made a few waving-hands motions at the stuffed tiger to hurry it up, though it didn’t actually do anything, and finally he sighed in relief when the instructions were over. Tapping on the eyes and nose, he navigated the audio menu and activated the final recording. ‘Adam,’ Joomi started the recording breathily. ‘In light of recent events, I feel I must confess something to you.’ It sounded like she rubbed her hands together, took a deep breath, and let it out in a sigh. Adam scooted a little closer to Little Boja, frowning curiously. ‘From the moment you were taken, I have been – I have feared your Adoption scroll is a premonition, rather than a warning. I can’t stop thinking about all the things I should have told you, all the things I regret, and… when Uncle Bom confirmed where you were…’ There was a strange noise, and it took a few seconds for Adam to realize she had taken a deep breath, her hand over her mouth. ‘I wish to tell you the truth, in hopes that it gives you strength.’ Adam flashed a smile at the sentiment, but his face contorted, switching between sadness at her tone and confusion. ‘I… know you are not afflicted with any illness.’ Adam’s eyebrows shot up. ‘And that you are fully able-bodied and minded.’ He squinted at Little Boja in disbelief. ‘I am so sorry, Adam,’ she somewhat muffled as he heard the sounds of fabric moving, and it took him a few seconds to realize she was likely bowing. ‘In the beginning, I was overcome with joy that the gods had sent me a perfect companion,’ she continued as she sat up, evident by the sound of her voice becoming clearer. ’A curious, intelligent mind that I could work beside, in the body of a child that I could nurture. I let myself be swept up in this folly, and convinced myself that everyone knew something I didn’t. And I was so eager to have this… that I did not see your suffering.’ She stopped to try to collect herself, but Adam barely noticed. He felt numb in a way he couldn’t describe, and the passage of time felt altered and unreadable. ‘*I made a sacred commitment to you, while living a selfish fantasy where I could… have a child.’ Joomi broke out into a sob and clearly made attempts to manage it. The sounds of her clothes swished, her sobbing muffled quickly, and the room she was in sounded deathly silent. This made him jump in surprise, and he blinked through the tears that had formed in his eyes, looking to Little Boja in concern. He placed a hand on the stuffed tiger’s foot as his gaze dropped, hearing a deep, repressed anguish in her muffled cries. His mouth ran dry as he realized this may be her admission to being infertile. ‘I keep promising you better, promising that I can and will protect you, and here we are. I have failed you at every step, Adam. And it’s only you that suffers for it.’ “Well, that’s not true,” Adam grumbled, frowning and glaring down at the mattress, annoyed he couldn’t contradict her in real time. She was leaving out that he was in genuine danger after offending Hyun and Kang, and that she had stepped in to take him when that had not been the plan, thereby saving him from a much worse fate. And that didn’t even begin to address her own suffering in trying to balance him and her family. ‘It had been my intention to grow your comfort in this… lifestyle, just enough to prevent any further altercations with Father, or… others. I wanted to grow your mind and reveal to everyone just how beautiful and competent you are. And,’ Joomi paused as she chuckled. ‘You had your own plans, it seems. And together, they were working.’ She sounded proud and triumphant, but only for a beat. It was quickly followed by an echo that was far sadder in tone. ‘They were working…’ Adam nodded, his eyebrows pinching together in irritation. It was all working. His grandparents had flipped in how they treated him, and even Geon had shown far more acceptance of him than he had expected. Reaching Kang and Chana had caused a chain reaction in the family, as Adam had hoped and planned, and everyone was better for it. Except Shik. The snake that didn’t want that kind of change. Adam’s hands curled into fists as a flash of rage flushed his skin quickly from pink to red. ‘Adam, please don’t be the moon rabbit,’ Joomi pressed after sniffling and collecting herself, and his face relaxed as he gasped at the reference to the self-sacrificing rabbit. ‘You are right. That story is a terrible lesson that I do not… that I cannot…’ She paused, taking in a breath to calm herself. ‘Take strength that whatever you want for your future is yours. I will stand before the entire family and explain everything. We will change the laws to free you. Whatever you need. Whatever you want. And…’ She paused as her tone rose an octave, and she had to force the next words out as her voice wavered, barely able to keep herself together. ‘And even if that means you never want to see me again…’ Adam’s jaw dropped open as he shook his head, his eyes watering throughout her words. ‘I will understand and honor it,’ she promised through a wavering, pained tone. ‘Just, please… please don’t break, Adam. Please come back safely, as you are.’ And with that, the recording ended, cutting off in the middle of a stuttering gasp just before she likely cried. Adam stared at nothing. His mind felt like a void for a long, silent moment as the tears that he had blinked away formed again and descended his flushed cheeks. Before he could really absorb the reality of her confession, he let out a gasping cry as his emotions emerged from the void. His heart hurt. He wanted to hug her, be engulfed by her embrace, and bury himself between her and Boja. He felt sad, pained, confused, and terribly alone. His entire body shook before a wave of crying came, and he collapsed forward onto Little Boja, burying his face into his chest. Squeezing the stuffed tiger, he let out a long, mournful sob.

Part 48 As soon as Amelia stepped into the gym with Lily, she finally learned what was in store for her.  A volleyball net was set up on the far end of the room, and Summer was on one side with the rest of her clique. There were six other girls circled up and chatting on the other side, and it was a simple enough count for Amelia to see that she hadn’t been dragged along to this just because Summer enjoyed bossing the new girl around. Amelia actually rounded out their team. Not that she felt particularly flattered, as there were probably countless other options just a text away, and Summer had never seen her play the sport.  The only real experience Amelia had with volleyball, outside of doing a day or two of it for PE when she was younger, was the beach variety during a spring break trip with her friends a couple years ago. Amelia had decent hand-eye coordination, although that was more or less the extent of her athletic talents. She much preferred to spectate, and was already worried about the ball being served in her general direction when a girl like Summer was no doubt expecting a win against the other team.  This was clearly a casual game, but even a few encounters with the young blonde gave Amelia the impression that she didn’t like to lose.  Then again, would the other girls throw the game on purpose? Amelia didn’t have the time or energy to start thinking about the ‘politics’ of a bunch of teenage girls. She was still worried about fitting in for the sake of not causing trouble for herself.  Lily had once again linked their arms once Amelia was done changing, and she led them across the gym. “Sorry we took so long, Summer!” she said, “How does Millie look?” Summer gave Amelia a cursory once-over, then nodded, “Fine, I guess. You can play in flats, bitch?” Questionable. Wanting to avoid a repeat of the recent conversation with Lily, Amelia said, “That’s all I have with me, Ms. Summer.” Doing her best to ignore the rude nickname while simultaneously going along with the title for her, Amelia continued doing what she had to in order to not rock the boat. The sooner this game was over, the sooner she could start figuring things out again.  “New girl. Right,” Summer replied, “Someone remind me to add her to our text group after the game.” Amelia’s athletics might have been weak, but her mind was still a strength despite what the aptitude test might have suggested. While she had refrained from asking Lily about borrowing her phone, the idea was still vaguely on Amelia’s mind. Jumping on the potential opportunity, Amelia said, “Umm, my phone was confiscated. I don’t know when I’m getting it back.” “Huh. Well, we probably have a burner lying around that you can use in the meantime. Any bitch of mine needs to be accessible 24/7, yeah?” “Yes, Ms. Summer,” Amelia agreed.  This time, she was more than okay demeaning herself by addressing the girl like she was an authority figure. Because as it turned out, her assumption had been correct. Earlier, Amelia had been more laptop-driven. Ever since she started thinking about phones, however, it had been a simple enough thought process to draw a line from one kind of technology to another. This was a school filled with girls from wealthy families, so there was a good probability that a couple students in this group would always be buying the latest smartphone. And since it was a boarding school, they probably wouldn’t be trading up.  Acquiring a phone that Ashley didn’t know about would be huge. Of course, it wasn’t a guaranteed solution to anything, either. For starters, it had to be a smartphone. Amelia was really hoping that Summer was using ‘burner’ in the spoiled teenager sense, rather than talking about the flip phones used on TV shows and movies. If it was the latter, that would hardly be progress. With no numbers memorized, her only foreseeable option on that front would be calling the cops. And considering how she currently looked and how Ashley had screwed with her file, that would likely end up being a girl-who-cried-wolf situation. She was the ‘compulsive liar,’ and anyone who showed up for such an emergency would likely be inclined to listen to the adults and/or prefects present rather than the petite blonde trying to explain how she was a teaching assistant currently trapped as a schoolgirl.  For the time being, Amelia would have to try and put it out of her mind. Pushing too hard would make Summer suspicious and perhaps less willing to offer something like that up. Less was more for the time being, and Lily ended up being inadvertently correct–serving as Summer’s bitch did have some unexpected benefits. Not that Amelia planned on seeing it through for a second longer than necessary.  “Who wants to start?” Summer asked, “It’s 4-v-4, by the way.” “So two can rotate out and take breaks,” Lily murmured to Amelia who was still standing arm in arm with her. Of the six of them, the ‘transfer student’ was likely the only one who wasn’t familiar with their format. Then, for the rest of the girls to hear, the brunette beside her said, “Millie and I can start.” “Fine by me,” Summer said, “I’ll start, too. Be our fourth, Julia?” The mixed girl gave a confident smile, “Of course. I’ll take offense. What do you play, Millie?” “Umm . . . ” Amelia flushed a bit as she saw that all five of the girls were looking at her expectantly. She definitely wasn’t to claim to be competent at a game when the reverse would be proven true almost immediately afterwards. “I don’t really play. I mean, I know the rules, but-” “You’ll be fine,” Summer cut her off, “Just get the ball to one of us and we’ll do the rest. Lily, you play with your new girlfriend. I’ll play up with Julia. Hands in.” Before Amelia knew it, everyone was circling up. Going with the flow, as well as with the peer pressure, she followed suit and placed her hand in the middle.  Summer gave a small smirk as she glanced from girl to girl. “‘Fuck those bitches’ on three. One . . .” With how they were grouped up, it was tough to get eyes on the rest of the gym. Was Summer confident that no one was around to hear them break the handbook rule about inappropriate language? Or was it improper, or unladylike? It was tough to remember the book Amelia had crammed last night. Regardless, the ‘no swearing’ part was the part that mattered.  Lily muttered under her breath, “Loud and proud, Millie.” Not noticing Amelia’s hesitation, or simply not caring, Summer proceeded to count, “ . . . Two, Three.” “FUCK THOSE BITCHES,” Amelia shouted. She needed them to give her a phone, meaning she needed Summer’s approval. Of course, she hadn’t stopped to consider the idea that maybe Lily might have been screwing with her. Although the young brunette had been helpful in private, that didn’t mean she was above tricking the new girl around the others.  The rest of the circle said the phrase in unison much more quietly, making Amelia the odd one out in their team’s huddle as well as piercing the resonant gymnasium with her projected cheer.  Half the girls in the now broken broken circle gasped and/or chuckled in surprise, although Summer wasn’t one of them. “What the fuck, Millie??” she hissed. Whipping her head left and right, she said, “What if there was a prefect in here? Are you trying to get us all written up?” “N-no!” Amelia protested, “I just-” “Shut up. You’re lucky it’s just students. No one in here is going to rat on me, but you better not pull something like that again. Got it, bitch?” Blushing more deeply now, Amelia glanced away and murmured, “Yes, Ms. Summer.” “Good. Now, let’s play. Lily? Julia? You’re up.” As they stepped onto the court, Amelia gave a look to the brunette who just baited her into such an embarrassing moment. Lily just shot her a smile and a wink. It seemed more playful than malicious, though that hardly meant much now that Amelia was back on Summer’s bad side. She also hadn’t forgotten the offhand ‘girlfriend’ comment, as that was wrong for a number of reasons. For now, however, Amelia needed to focus on the impending game.  The good news was, she was on a team of four. That meant that the others could carry her dead weight most of the time. When possible, Amelia stepped aside and let the closest girl take the ball. When she absolutely had to keep it from hitting the ground, she somehow managed to volley it vaguely in the direction of someone on her team. The bad news was, it didn’t take their opponents long to figure out that 25% of the opposing team was a little bit scared of the ball. Once they started targeting her with serves and attacks, Amelia wasn’t nearly as successful keeping the ball alive.  When the other team scored three points in a row merely by serving, Summer called out, “Hey! Hold up, we’re subbing someone in.” Then she turned to Amelia with an annoyed look. “Take a break, bitch. Watch what the rest of us are doing for a while, okay?” Amelia didn’t need to be told twice. She was quite aware that she was the weak link on the team, and was more than happy to let one of the other girls play. As she stepped off the court, she was a little surprised at the fact that she was sweating. Her half game of volleyball hadn’t felt that cardio intensive, though the gym wasn’t particularly cool now that she was thinking about it. Wiping a few beads from her brow and wondering if it would be worth taking off her tight flats for a few minutes, Amelia sat down on the bench next to the other girl on their team who wasn’t currently playing.  The girl next to her brushed back her hair and said, “I really hope you didn’t just cost us the match.” “Sorry,” Amelia replied, “I tried to tell Summer I didn’t play.” “Let’s hope they make a comeback,” she said, “If we lose, we’re on the hook for the penalty.”  ----------------------- Check out my website: www.ladyluciastories.com And read more of "The Teaching Assistant" (85+ parts) and other stories on my SubscribeStar: https://subscribestar.adult/lady-lucia

And how many people does the venue hold?