Diaper U - Chapter 11

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EDIT: As was pointed out, I mistakenly double posted this. Whoops! Sorry! I'm leaving this version up.

“Can you believe that bitch?” Manju asked, throwing up her hands. “I can’t–the gall.”

“It’s fine,” Daniel insisted, though he felt inclined to agree–still, he couldn’t fight every battle that cropped up and study at the same time. He just had to make it four weeks and change, then he’d be out from under Rachel’s thumb.

It’d been two days since the ‘false alarm’–that’s what the faculty were calling it. A mistake in the university’s security systems. Naturally, that did nothing to quell the rumors–some said it had to do with instigators trying to cause trouble at the school, others claimed it was a prank. Nobody had more than guesswork to go on.

Daniel had his own theories, but he kept them to himself. Within his limited social circle, the focus was less on the ‘false alarm’ itself, and more about his unfair treatment that evening–forced to live out punishment in the grand hall in spite of the dire circumstances.

“It really is an unfair situation,” Matilda added. “Even if your circumstances are…unique.”

“You mean, ‘Even if he cheated to get enrolled’?” Hazel chimed in.

“Hazel–” Soga sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t be an ass.”

“I’m not,” Hazel shot back. “I’m pointing out the truth. Rachel’s just doing what the faculty wants–you really think that Rachel’s cheating the system by screwing with Danny?”

Their study group hesitated, and nobody had a good reply.

“It’s still unfair,” Jen said, cutting through the silence.

“Well, whinging’s not going to fix it,” Hazel said. “So, are we going to study, or are we going to waste time?”

“Please,” Daniel added. “For once, I agree with Hazel. I made my bed, I can lie in it, let’s just focus on homework.”

Soga raised her eyebrows, a little amused and a little surprised. “There’s a first.”

“She’s right, though,” Manju added.

“And another first,” Soga repeated, her eyebrows now fully encroaching onto her forehead. “Wow.”

“Oh, not about–I mean, whinging isn’t going to fix it,” Manju said. “Also–are we actually using the word ’whinging’, Hazel? Really? You’re not even English.”

“What, Americans can’t say ‘Whinge’?” Rachel asked.

“Not if you don’t want to sound like you’re a character in a fantasy novel,” Daniel said, sliding the paper he’d been working on forward. “But–studying, seriously.”

“Hold up,” Manju insisted. “I had a point. Whinging isn’t going to fix anything, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any fixes available.”

“I already looked into school bylaws and stuff.” Daniel explained. “Prefects have a ton of freedom to act unilaterally, if teachers and faculty don’t stop them. Corporal punishment, general cruelty–it’s all on the table. Like, she’s not even being that creative–spanking other students has been a pretty common punishment in the past, the only reason it’s not done more often now is because it’s kind of…”

“Cringe?” Soga suggested.

“Cringe,” Daniel agreed, adjusting his stack of papers again. “Now–”

“So we don’t do anything by the school rules,” Manju said, shaking her head. “That doesn’t mean we can’t get a little old-fashioned payback on Rachel.”

Daniel looked at his homework, and then back up at his study group, and then dropped the papers on the table and sighed. They weren’t going to get anything done that day.

“Don’t,” Daniel said. “Just don’t.”

Manju tilted her head. “Why not? She deserves it.”

“Well, first things first–you do realize that anything you try to pull, the blowback’s going to come down on me, right?” Daniel asked, shaking his head.

“Not if you’ve got an alibi,” Manju suggested, wheels spinning almost visibly in her head.

“No, even if I’ve got an alibi,” Daniel shot back. “Rachel isn’t going to care if she can actually pin the blame on me. If you get her mad enough, she’ll find a reason to get me in trouble, and if she can’t, she’ll invent a reason.”

(And I’ve been sneaking off to talk to Ismella for weeks,) he considered, though he kept that detail to himself. (And if she gets wind of that, it’s my ass she’ll take it out on.)

“So we come up with something that she won’t even realize is revenge,” Manju continued.

“No.” Daniel stood for emphasis, shaking his head. “Listen to what I’m saying–It doesn’t even matter if she knows it’s on purpose. Don’t piss her off.”

“Why not?” Soga asked.

“Yeah,” Manju added. “She deserves it.”

“It’s because she’s a bitch,” Hazel interjected. “Have you not been paying attention?”

Daniel gave their abrasive study partner a nod. “If she’s mad, she’ll take it out on me, whether or not it’s fair, whether or not she has a good excuse.”

“She’s not a bitch,” Matilda added, quietly. All eyes fell on her, and she clarified, “She’s a bully.”

“Look,” Daniel continued. “Just the fact that we’re talking about this risks landing me in hot water–what if someone overhears and tells her? I’m almost clear of detention–just a few weeks left–and once I’m free of that, she’ll have a much harder time inventing justifications to torment me. Let me just get this over with, please.”

The study group fell silent.

“Sorry,” Manju meeped.

“Next time, learn to take ‘no’ for an answer.” Reaching down, Daniel started picking up his study papers, gathering them up to leave. They still had forty minutes left in their group meeting, but he wanted the conversation to be over, and he wanted to see Ismella before returning to his grounding.

“Danny–” Jen started.

“I want to storm out,” Daniel admitted. “It’s a guy thing, just let me have this.”

Nobody stopped him as he turned, storming away from the table and out of the library.

He wasn’t sure why he felt so upset with them–they were just acquaintances, just people who he was using as an excuse to get out of detention and keep his grades up. At most, he should have felt mildly annoyed that they wouldn’t listen to his objections and nothing more.

Daniel wasn’t so upset that he forgot to check behind him on his trip back down the faculty hallway, ensuring nobody was following or even looking his way. He wasn’t about to get caught, not after giving a big speech about the importance of not getting into trouble.

Once certain that the coast was clear, Daniel snuck down the hallway, wishing for all the world that he had his wand back. It’d be easier to be stealthy if he could cast a spell to cover the sound of his footfalls–though he’d have no need to be stealthy if he wasn’t grounded, too, so once he had his wand back he wouldn’t properly need it.

Either way, he made it to the door of Ismella’s room without being noticed. Pressing his ear to the door, he listened for a moment, ensuring nobody was inside, that he wasn’t about to stumble into a teacher by surprise.

“You look funny with your head tilted like that,” Ismella snickered.

Daniel rolled his eyes, standing up and away from the door. “I had to be sure the coast was clear.”

“You could just ask, you know.”

The ghost had a point. Daniel just shrugged, pushing open the door and walking inside. “How’ve you been?”

“You know I can’t answer that,” she pointed out. “I don’t know when the last time you saw me was.”

“Right, just…making conversation. That’s kind of the small talk script I run on,” he admitted.

Ismella exhaled–a sort of audible gesture Daniel had learned to interpret as a shrug. “How have you been?”

“Grumpy,” Daniel admitted. “Rachel’s still breathing down my neck, and…I don’t need to bore you with details, but my so-called friends are getting on my nerves.”

“Yeah?” Ismella asked, pausing before pushing on. “How so?”

“It’s…you ever have people who say they want to help you, but really just want something for their own benefit?” Daniel asked, hopping up onto the desk and sitting on the end of it, relaxing in the abandoned classroom. “Or, maybe not their benefit, but just because it’s what they already wanted to do?”

Ismella didn’t respond. Unable to see her, Daniel couldn’t gauge her body language to see how she was really reacting.

“Someone did something like that to you, huh?” he guessed.

“Sorta,” she admitted.

“It’s like…I asked for one thing, and my friend knew it was important to me, but she wouldn’t listen.” Daniel shrugged. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else, but still. I just get frustrated with people like that.”

Again, no response for a while. Finally, Ismella asked, “Is this…are you talking about your study group friends?”

“Yeah, I mean–who else?” Daniel asked. “My only other friend here is you. And Jen, but she’s also in the study group, so…” he shrugged.

“Oh. Okay.” Ismella paused once more, clearly caught up in thoughts.

Daniel realized something. “I’ve never just openly said that we’re friends before, have I?”

“No,” she confirmed. “But…thanks. I think you’re a friend too. What were your study friends doing?”

“They wanted to get revenge on Rachel, I asked them not to because it’d get me in trouble,” Daniel explained. “It’s…kind of a whole thing, I don’t want to rehash it right now.”

“Okay,” Ismella conceded.

Another pause.

“What’s on your mind, Isma?” Daniel asked.

She giggled. “Isma?”

“A nickname, I’m trying it out,” Daniel said. “What do you think?”

“I like it.” She paused, and then said, “Danny…I’m sorry.”

He sat forward. “What for?”

“I…” He heard an inhale, a pause to find her words. “I remember the night you’ve been asking about. The argument.”

Daniel sat upright, immediately on edge. “What? Since when?”

“The second time you came to visit,” Ismella admitted. “I put it together, and knew I had the right memory. I made sure to think about it a lot, too, so I’d be able to remember it again, but…”

Her silence said enough. “You were worried that I wouldn’t come back once I got what I wanted.”

“Mhmm.”

He swallowed. She wasn’t wrong, at least not in the first few visits–by now he’d taken to liking to her, and he’d want to come around, but even then…he wouldn’t have been risking weekly outings to spend time with Ismella just for companionship.

“You lied to me,” he said, getting to his feet. “You know I could get expelled for coming to see you?”

“Danny–” Ismella started.

“We don’t even know what the danger is,” Daniel continued. “For all I know, lives could be at risk–heck, the school itself could be in danger. And you risked that for company?”

“You don’t know what it’s like!” Ismella shot back. “How lonely it gets. I can’t leave–I can’t even make plans. Every minute I’m alone, I’m lost. I don’t know when I’ll see anyone again. I don’t know if I’ll see anyone again.”

“So what does that make me?” Daniel demanded. “Not a friend. An on-demand entertainment system?”

“You’d have done the same,” Ismella sulked. “If you were here, and I was still–”

“I’m leaving,” Daniel said, pushing off the desk.

“Wait,” Ismella said, and he felt a cold tingle as she put her ghostly form in front of him, as though to block his way. “Don’t you want to know what I remember?”

“Later,” Daniel said. “Maybe. Or maybe I won’t come back.”

It was a petty comment, and cruel, but he felt like being petty. He could leave for five minutes, and wander back, and he’d feel better for getting his revenge–she wouldn’t know how little time it’d been.

“Daniel, please–”

“Goodbye, Ismella,” he said, throwing open the hallway door and storming out.

He walked out of earshot, fuming. Didn’t she realize what was at stake?

Didn’t she care about him?

Still, he did need the information–so, once he was certain he was far enough to be forgotten, far enough that this memory would have entered Ismella’s long term storage, he stopped. Wheeling on his heels, he strolled back, adjusting his clothing, tousling his hair so it’d look like a different day.

He knocked on the door, still furious, but hiding it behind a placid expression. “Ismella? I’m back. We should talk.”

She didn’t respond.

Daniel knocked again, then stepped inside. “Ismella, are you there?”

Another pause. No response, again.

“Ismella?”

“...Isma?”