Aphrodite: Greek goddess of love, sex, & beauty. Her sensual figure was carved into a fine marble statue. Elegant and alluring.

And so was the fake.

The two statues stood in the center of the class. They were the same height. Had the same color of white. And both gave Aphrodite the same pair of ‘assets’.

The students all looked back and forth. The left to the right statue. The statues to their laptops. Their tablets to the projector screen.

Their reward & their punishment read as followed: ‘Whoever can tell me which one is fake, with evidence, gets to skip the test’.

Dante Barrett sat at her desk. Sipping her mug. Watching the clock tick. Seeing her students struggle to beat it.

About half had submitted their answers. Most were right. Dante hoped the remaining students were just double-checking.

She also hoped the empty seats would come back soon. The cold sweeping the school had taken a small chunk of her class. Those who showed up came in thick coats and scarves.

5 minutes left. Her page was sprinkled with the last few submissions. It took Dante the remaining time to check most of them.

Happy to say, “Most of you are right.”

The bell rang. The students got up. Their Professor would reveal their fate in the next class.

Everyone except for one.

“Ford, can I talk to you for a moment?”

A clique of boys did the obnoxious ‘oooooo’ as they passed by.

“Shut up,” Ford laughed.

He wasn’t worried when Dante waited for everyone to leave. Barrett closing the door and saying nothing until she was seated, scared him.

“Something wrong?” Ford questioned.

“You got it right.”

Dante pulled up Ford’s response. A detailed explanation of why the left statue was fake. With accurate sources. He even threw in a joke about fake implants.

Confused, “Was, uh, was I not supposed to do that? Ma’am?”

Dante pointed out her issue. Ford was the first one to get it right. He was also the first one to submit his answer.

Did Ford write a 3-page essay in 3 minutes? 5 including the time to find sources. Dante was about to find out.

“Can you prove to me you didn’t use AI to write this?” Dante asked.

Ford’s eyes drifted. From the projector screen to the back of Dante’s laptop. He seemed interested in Dante’s brand-new computer.

“Sure,” with permission, he spun Dante’s shiny laptop to his side. He typed and talked, “You’ve got an AI indicator here. And it didn’t go off. My puns about Aphrodite’s buns are a little too clever for a machine. I misspelled…2 words. And, I should’ve mentioned earlier.”

In 1 minute, Ford had typed up a 1-page document. 500 words in single space. Detailing how he grew up on computers and could take one apart if he felt like it.

The last words punctuated: ‘In conclusion, I was built for speed.’

Dante knew there had to be a word for ‘confused yet impressed’. The closest she could think was ‘delirious’. She’d pull out a dictionary later.

Right now, “Wow! That’s incredible! You’ve always been fast but this is something else.”

“Thank you, Professor!”

“So, did you read all the articles you sourced just as fast?”

“What do you mean? Of course I did?”

“I mean,” Barrett clicked on Ford’s sources, “This one is 7 pages long. This one is 5. Another 7. And 6.”

She could see Ford’s shoulders stiffen. A sudden lack of eye contact. His fingers fidgeted with his bag strap.

Not letting up, “So, you’re telling me, you, a student I tutor, looked at those statues and guessed which one was fake in less than a minute. Then, found and read 25 pages in 2 to 3 minutes. Not including the ads. Then you wrote a 3-page essay, 2 to 3 minutes after that?”

Dante could see he didn’t have an answer. It was as if Ford was looking around for an excuse.

There wasn’t an excuse. Not with the articles. Not with his speedy typing. Not in the room.

No normal professor would believe the truth. How lucky was he?

“Can you keep a secret?” Ford asked.

Jiji’s info dump about Nick beating up Ford over pictures of ducks was suddenly relevant. The parts about Ford’s left eye, that is.

“That depends.” Dante raised her mug, “What’re you about to tell me?”

Le Faye let his grip on his bag go, “Something only you’d believe.”

“Why’s that?”

“I may be a part of the ‘magic is real’ club.”

Ford said this in a funny ‘trying to be subtle’ way. No offense intended. A way to ease into a possibly sensitive subject. All Dante heard was this 18-year-old somehow knew what she’d been texting her wife and niece.

Holding back her fury, “…Did you hack my phone? No, wait, you hacked my phone but can’t drive a car?”

Panicked, “No! I mean, yes. I could. But I didn’t! Not on purpose. I hack everyone’s phones!” His eyes shrunk. The left with a whirring noise. “That came out wrong. Please let me explain.”

Furious but curious, “You’ve got 30 seconds.”

“My…‘ability’ just works on its own. It’s not like Jiji’s magic where I can train or hold it in. This eye is, well, automatic. It’s why I know you’re the only person who’ll believe what I’m going to tell you. But…Professor Barrett, I just need to know you won’t tell anyone else.”

Dante let it stew for a moment. Her fear of other magical creatures becoming real. First with Nick. Who Jiji had proved she could handle. And now her student.

Her young student. One with no emergency contact. Asking her for permission to be open. Hoping she’d be someone he could confess this secret to. On the caveat that it stays a secret.

Dante calmly closed her laptop, “Explain.”

Ford pulled up a chair. He set his vulnerability on Dante’s desk for her to hear. His secrets, his treasures, and his fears.

Certainly, Professor Barrett could handle that.

End