"Should I be?"

"Well I would be if I was sleeping with my underage student."

"Well I’m not."

"What? Scared? Or sleeping with your underage student?"

"Scared" Simply replied Simone.

Cat was looking at her in disbelief. Her teacher had just somehow admitted she was having an affair with Annabelle. That was priceless to her.

——

Emaculeta had been working late that night. No, actually, she had been working late for quite a time now, since Simone had stopped fulfilling her obligations. When she heard knocking on the door, she knew it was Pegrum again, probably with Simone.

"Simone, Catherine, come in." she paused and asked them to sit with her eyes before adding "So, what is it this time? I seem to recall Catherine is not in your dorm anymore so why are you here with her?"

"She attacked one of mine, Collins."

"Now why would you do something like that Pegrum?" asked Emaculata in a very calm and bored voice.

"Well, it’s kind of a long story… Involving a teacher and a student sleeping together. So you might want to have a seat too."

Simone’s face didn’t move an inch. She knew perfectly well Cat was bound to say all she knew about Annabelle and her. She looked at her aunts goldfishes on her desk; they were trapped in a bowl, everyone staring at them. She felt the same way in her life, trapped, and soon, she’d be stared at. She tried to remember how Annabelle’s skin felt on her fingertips; she tried to remember her smell, her smile, her eyes… But it all seemed gone, erased from her mind.

She felt like she had lost her, and that wasn’t a thought she could bear; now she felt sick. She was not listening to Cat’s explanation; she was just looking at the fish bowl, wondering if they too, wanted to jump out of there. <I love her… But who could understand? Let’s talk about morality… The price of love. I don’t want to look back and see I’ve lost her. It might be invisible to naked eyes, but euphoria can’t be mistaken. I’m not gonna find someone like her again.>