I need information to continue forward with Ms. Sinclair. Luckily, I have an informant, and I know just where to find her. In the center of the school grounds, there’s a courtyard where many students like to spend their breaks. Even in the cold weather, there are quite a few students milling about trying to find their friends.

Almost immediately, I see who I’m looking for. She’s sitting on a bench, wearing far too little clothing for the cold weather.

“Hey, Val.”

A tall, beautiful girl, with a short, blonde pixie-cut, ocean blue eyes, and a body almost too stacked to be natural looks up from her phone.

“Oh my gosh! Sam! It’s been like… forever!”

“Yeah… it’s certainly been a while.”

“I can’t believe you actually got suspended! I mean, even I haven’t done that and… well… y’know!?”

“Yeah…”

I do not know.

“I told you Anna was bad for you!”

“What? You're the one who introduced us!”

“That doesn’t mean I thought you two dating was a good idea!”

“If I remember right, your exact words were ‘you two would be cute together!’”

“You look cute with everyone, Sam! It’s not my fault you can’t pick a good one! I mean… she was like, the resident closet slut! At least I’m open about it!”

She’s VERY open about it. Val and I have been friends for a long time, far before she began to go through her… well… slutty phase. She used to be so timid, then one day she got fed up with herself, and decided to be a completely different person. 

“Plus, did you hear what happened to her?”

Honestly, I can’t say that I care. 2 weeks with Carolyn has made me realize just how hollow my previous relationship was. Finding out my ex was cheating on me seemed like the end of the world at the time, but I think it may have been a good thing. I still occasionally flare up with rage when I remember walking into that bathroom, but when it comes to her specifically, I don’t feel anything. She’s not even worth being angry over.

“No, I didn't, how's she doing?”

“She’s gone! After she got ousted no one wanted anything to do with her, then she just disappeared!”

“Seriously?”

“Nobody’s heard anything from her since a few days after you got suspended. All of her friends started doing a shunning thing after she disappeared. I can't even get them to talk about her.”

Oh no.

“That’s too bad.”

She probably ran away after the consequences of her actions caught up to her. Oh well.

Valerie catches me up on all of the drama that I missed, and now it’s my turn to ask what I came here to.

“Have you heard anything about Ms. Sinclair? Any rumors?”

“Oh my gosh! I, like, totally forgot to tell you. She’s your favorite teacher right?”

“Something like that.”

She wears a face like a particularly smug cat. She only does that when she’s really proud of something.

“So get this…  she’s totally sleeping with Mr. Karlsson!”

“Just like everyone else?”

“No, I mean for real this time! Cassy totally saw them going at it after school! Turns out Mr. Karlsson is actually sleeping with a ton of teachers!”

“Wait… seriously?”

“Yeah! Cassy's been, like,  suuuuper obsessed with him for a while, so she followed him around a bunch. Standard love stuff, y’know?”

“Y-Yeah?”

That sounds more stalker-y and less love-y.

“But she totally found out that he’s got something going on with not just Sinclair, but like… a ton of other teachers as well!”

“Isn’t he married?”

“Yup.”

“And you’re… sure about this?”

“Absolutely. Cassy's a certified Karlsson maniac. She wouldn’t lie.”

“Do you know when and where Ms. Sinclair and Karlsson meet up?”

“They meet-up once every few days in Sinclair’s classroom after their classes. Sometimes Cassy likes to watch. Speaking of… she’s like… suuuuper depressed ‘cuz Karlsson’s sleeping around. Do you wanna meet her? You two would be so cute together!”

“Pass.”

We exchange goodbyes, and I leave. I’ve got what I needed, now I just need a plan.

There are a few ways that I can take this, but each one has its pros and cons

Firstly, I could blackmail Ms. Sinclair. Morally, blackmail seems like a shitty thing to do and consequently, I really don’t want to do it. I’m going to ignore this one for now.

Secondly, I could break Sinclair and Karlsson up. There are a few ways to do this, and I think the success rate is pretty high, but I don’t know how helpful this will be to actually dominate Ms. Sinclair.

Thirdly, I could use the Theft Potion. This has the same problem as blackmail. Is it really okay for me to toy with people's affections like that? I’ll keep it as a last resort, and try something else first.

There are a few other ways that I can think of, but I’m just going to play it by ear. Once I have a better grasp on their relationship, and how to begin my domination of Ms. Sinclair, I’ll choose a plan. Deciding too early would be a mistake. There are, however, a few preparations I can make that would be useful to almost any plan, so I make sure to discreetly prepare in the ways that I can.

The rest of the school day passes, and it’s time to wait for their meet-up. I have 4 minutes of invisibility and increased senses so that I can spy from a distance. The doubled senses from Sense Boost are surprisingly helpful. My eyesight becomes razor-sharp and I can see further and in much clearer detail than before. My hearing becomes almost painfully sensitive, so I can only use it when there’s not much noise around, but I can hear faint whispers as audibly as a regular conversation.

My other senses are also bolstered, but I haven’t tested them out much.

I’m hiding in an empty classroom on the floor above them, waiting for Karlsson to show up. Ms. Sinclair is impatiently pacing around her classroom, waiting.

I can’t actually see this, but my hearing is sensitive enough that I can hear her footfalls and pick up on her positioning and obvious angst.

Suddenly, different footsteps enter my range of hearing. They’re heavier and more masculine. This is Karlsson. I can’t see him, but I remember how he looks. He’s tall, about 6’2, with a natural thin-but-muscular build that girls go crazy for. His hair is still thick despite his age, and obvious grey hairs just serve to make him even more attractive.

He enters the classroom with Ms. Sinclair, and they begin to speak in quiet voices.

“Hello, my beautiful Laura. You look absolutely radiant today.”

“Hello my oh-so-handsome Cedric, what brings you to my office today?”

They’re flirting with each other. The fact that they’re in a relationship is no longer in question.

“Well, my dear, it would appear I have a problem. A big one.”

“Oh, and where is this big problem’?”

This is painful to listen to. My ears are bleeding.

“Well, I don’t quite remember, why don’t you help me find it?”

“Actually, speaking of big problems… I had a student come to...”

“Oh god. Please don’t start talking about students.”

“Oh sorry, I just...”

“We had a good mood going and now it’s gone. I come here to FORGET my students.”

“Sorry I just...”

“Pants off.”

“What?”

“The mood’s gone, we might as well just get this done and over with.”

“Uhm… okay.”

I can hear the sounds of shuffling clothing. Karlsson’s kind of a dick behind the scenes, who'd have thought? Sinclair is unsurprisingly completely herbivorous and completely being taken advantage of by Karlsson.

I have a plan solidified in my mind now. It honestly didn’t take much to come up with.

Mr. Karlsson is someone who “favors discretion” as he said on the first day of class back when I had him. He wants to keep his familial, professional, and sexual sides from intersecting. He lives in a delicate balance that could easily be thrown off. Time to see what happens when I disturb it just a little.

I’m going to have a student interrupt their affair. It can’t be me, because I don’t think Sinclair would be open to a tryst with the student who caught her with another teacher.

I step out into the hall, and, by pure chance, there’s a small girl who I recognize as the small, mousy girl from chemistry earlier.

She sees me make eye contact with her and begins to stammer “I’m sorry I wasn’t follo-”

“Ms. Sinclair said she wants to see you.”

“Wuh?”

“Ms. Sinclair, our chemistry teacher, wants to talk with you. Also, she said to not even bother knocking, just throw open the door and walk in.”

“Ah- um- okay.”

She sets off on her doomed journey to the chemistry classroom, and I wait a moment, then begin following with invisibility.

Mouse-girl follows my instructions to a T, loudly throwing open the door.

Before she can say anything, she’s greeted by the sight of Ms. Sinclair, fully nude, being bent over her desk. Karlsson is standing just behind her with his pants around his ankles, but not quite having penetrated her yet.

There’s a moment where all 3 just look at each other, then all hell breaks loose.

Mouse-girl lets out a blood-curdling shriek and sprints away as fast as her little legs can carry her, Ms. Sinclair hurriedly starts pulling clothes back on while Karlsson begins to shout,

“You said you locked it!”

“I thought I had!”

I definitely didn’t damage that door earlier so that it wouldn’t lock. Not me. No way. I mean, who would just damage school property like that?

“Damn it, woman! Now I...”

“Now you what?”

“I don’t know you.”

“What?”

“This never happened. We were never here. You’re just a coworker”

“But we...”

“We never did anything. Goodbye Ms. Sinclair”

Mr. Karlsson makes to leave.

“Wait! No! I do know you! I love you!”

He stops for a second to look at her.

“I don’t even know who you are.”

Then he leaves. A half-dressed Ms. Sinclair is left sobbing on the floor after her lover cuts her out of his life completely.

Am I a bad person?