✅ A Dose of Humiliation

71. Complications

As we got closer, it became clearer what was happening to the car. Somebody had decided to pee on it, presumably having found out about the Punishment Pill she'd been dosed with. But that wasn't enough; a puddle of pee around her car wouldn't bother anyone. Among other decorations, I could see 'potty pants' daubed across the windows, barely legible as the paint ran, and some of Todd's friends were kicking the car. I reached into my pocket and turned my phone on, recording before we even got close.

"Oh, it's the pee pants girls!" Todd jeered as we got closer.

"Is it?" Serena asked. "What would you know about that? Because it looks like you're just pulling insults out of your ass. Is that a guess?"

"No, babe. I know you've been wetting the bed now. My dad told me what dose you got. Won't be long before you're making puddles in class like your friend pee-pee. Even your car stinks!"

Serena shook her head, thoroughly disappointed. "Yeah, guess that's a consequence of letting you near it. You know I got the add-on for active hydrophobic finish protection, right?"

"Doesn't matter how–" one of Todd's cronies started to respond, but Serena had her phone out of her pocket, and tapped a couple of buttons on the car's remote control. The paint and everything else those guys had smeared on the car dropped off as if it was being repelled by a magnet, and there was a splash when it hit the ground. More than a couple of jerks got paint on their shoes. But the guy who'd been talking before was so desperate to save face, and he still thought he might still have some kind of high ground. "Oh, so childish, pee-pants. Pretty car, got to have all the flashy gadgets. It's like a giant electric handbag to you, isn't it? Something to complement your outfit. You wouldn't know a real car if it bit you."

"I'll bet I drive better than you, Wallace. What did it take, six tries to pass your test?"

"That's..." Wallace started, but then went silent. His attempts to mock Serena had fallen flat at record speed.

"Oh dear," Todd smirked. "You think you're so smart? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, face me on the track with your electric toy. I'll show you how a real man drives." I couldn't believe this conversation was escalating so quickly, but Todd wasn't scaring Serena now. He had his ego fully on display, and she seemed confident that she could beat him. Maybe he was as proud of himself in a car as he was on a skateboard, and with just as little justification.

"Sure, I'll kick your ass any time," Serena said with a smirk of her own. "You don't want to criticise my driving until you've actually seen it. And clean yourself up, dude. You smell like piss." She gestured to the splash marks around the bottom of his trousers, and turned to walk back to class. Like she didn't care about what else they might try.

"Maybe you should put the car on automatic?" I suggested. "They're just going to try messing it up again."

"Can't drive away when there's people standing around it," she answered. "They probably know that. And they know that if they actually damage it, they'll have the cops around here pretty fast. Nothing they try will stick anyway, the paint has this special treatment, and if anything doesn't slide right off, I can just tap the button to brush it clear with an electric charge."

"Yeah, but they'll try to think of something."

"Either they trip the alarm and the cops are on them in thirty seconds, or they get bored. I prefer not to waste power, but I set it to start up and find another spot as soon as it can safely drive. Don't worry so much about those jerks, they're just overcompensating. And Todd wants to race? That sounds like it could be fun."

"Yeah," I nodded. Cars weren't really my thing, but I knew that Serena had more than a little experience racing hers, and I was looking forward to seeing Todd Becker humiliate himself again. "Oh, and he said his dad told him which doses we got. I'm pretty sure that's illegal, right?"

"Yeah. Take it you recorded that?"

"Yeah. Won't be long until I can get over this. Just hope I'm back to normal for graduation."

As soon as I said those words, I realised just how close it was getting. Graduation was the end of the year, and it had been a couple of months away... but somehow the time had gone so fast, with me worrying week by week, until it was only a couple of weeks away. Maybe it was the other side of my personality demanding so much of my attention that I couldn't think about other things; or perhaps planning ahead was another ability I was losing.

"Wow," I said, just a second later. "I didn't know it was getting so close. And my... Oh, hell. I did my college application before all this kicked off, yeah? I'm supposed to be on a course with a political engagement component. So as well as the exams, I need to have a practical grade in debate skills."

"You can do that through debate club, can't you?"

"Yeah, but I kept on thinking there's plenty of time before the end of the year. I need to get it done before graduation. I mean, they might take a bad grade, but I need to have done at least one formal debate. I need to get that sorted quick, before I forget."

Serena was always practical. We were already a bit late for our next classes, but she guessed that there would be some record that the nurse had been called for some incident, and that we had left our maths class late as a result. The next teacher would probably be notified, if the school was as organised as they usually were. And that meant we could afford a quick detour.

The Debating Club was a student society, but it was organised by the PolSci department; and anybody taking part in one of their debates would get a debate skills certificate. That was what I needed, so we hurried to the department office.

"Can I help you?" the lady behind the desk asked. She peered at me over the top of wire-rimmed glasses, but I couldn't imagine anyone on a school administrator's salary couldn't afford to get her eyes corrected. I mentally pigeonholed her as a poser, and thought no more about it.

"She needs a debate certificate," Serena said. "Kind of last minute request for a college application. Is there time to fit her in?"

"It's been very busy. More than a few colleges are asking for debate skills."

"Is there space?" Serena asked again. I could feel my anger starting to build at this bureaucrat who was trying to stand in the way of my further education. But a second later I realised that I was lucky Serena was here to speak for me. Because in this situation anger couldn't help me. I needed to play along if I wanted to win, and I wouldn't have been able to do that. It was the same as with the teacher; I was losing control. More than losing the rules I had lived by, I was starting to lose my abilities. My instincts were betraying me, and I had to rely on someone else. I hated that.

"There's one slot left. Can you argue against schools having a procedure to prevent bullying?"

"I can do that," I said, but I knew that it would be a hard case to argue. Especially if I started getting angry every time somebody disagreed with me.

Serena paid the fees for me to take part. I didn't bother to ask how much it was. And I collected a wallet full of information, which would tell me everything I needed to know so that I could prepare. It would still be tough. This was something I should have done weeks ago, or even months. And I really didn't know if I would be capable of debating in my current state. But I still knew I had to try. Even if it seemed worthless; even if I just wanted to run back to Josh and his gang, and join up with the slackers. Even if the whole education thing seemed pointless, I wanted to try. Just to show Becker that I was better than him, and I could fight through the handicaps he had given me.

After all the drama, it was almost a relief to get back to sitting at the back of a class and staring out of the window. The rest of the day passed pretty easily, and it wasn't long before I was ready to head home. Just hoping that I could keep my wits about me for another week. At least if I could graduate from school and get into a decent college, I wouldn't have my parents staring over my shoulder and putting stupid restrictions on me the whole time. I would be free then, to live however I wanted. After the last couple of months, I couldn't wait.