The Conductor {Black Lightning}{Wattys2018}

Ch. 32: On Thin Ice

The mechanical sound of the air hummed in Jennifer's ears as she kneeled down on the floor. Eugene had assigned her and Keisha to clean out the desks for detention. Since she had eaten in class multiple times, she couldn't really complain. But as she reached under the desk and felt a piece of gum squelch under her finger, she recoiled and cried out in disgust.

"Urgh. That's gross."

"What?" Keisha asked.

"There's gum under the desk." Jennifer turned to Eugene, who was bent over a stack of papers. "You got hand sanitizer, Emart?"

"Yeah." Eugene brushed a handful of curly hair out of her face and pushed the bottle to the edge of her desk. "Here you go."

"Also, who sits here?" The alcohol in the hand sanitizer made Jennifer's palms tingle. "'Cause they gon' catch these hands."

"Well, Khalil used to sit there, so it must be someone from one of my other classes." Eugene inhaled sharply, quirking an eyebrow. "Probably my study hall. They're a bunch of gluttonous gremlins."

Jennifer snickered, her eyes glancing over Eugene's desk. "Are those our in-class essays you're grading?"

"Yeah." A sly grin crept across Eugene's face. "I'm actually starting yours right now."

Dread dripped off of Keisha's voice. "Oh, no, she gon' give us a bad grade to get back at us."

Jennifer rolled her eyes at Keisha's dramatics. Eugene may have been acting like that, but she wouldn't grade like that. She didn't have a bad bone in her body. Even still, temptation made Jennifer lean forward in an attempt to get a glimpse of her grade. Eugene snatched the papers away, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, no, you're not peeking. Clean."

Jennifer pouted.

"I'll show you your grades when you finish cleaning," Eugene said sternly. "Clean."

"Okay."

"We're done." Jennifer's heart fluttered slightly at the thought of seeing her in-class essay. If she got a good grade, there was a chance Mom and Dad would go easier on her about the detention. But if she did badly, that would only add fuel to the fire.

"Okay." Eugene clumsily navigated through the sea of desks, her hips moving like a penguin as she checked Jennifer and Keisha's work. "Pretty good, actually. You can see your grades now."

Jennifer and Keisha swarmed Eugene's desk, nearly knocking over the stack of papers.

"Woah, woah, woah, let me give them to you." Eugene paused as she flipped through the stack and handed them out. "Jennifer. Keisha."

"I got a six," said Keisha.

"Seven." Jennifer grinned, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Keisha tilted her head to the side as she put down her paper. "How did you get a better grade than me when you had to blow into a fish bucket every thirty minutes?"

"Well, regardless of the fact that she brought piranhas into the classroom, it was still a good paper, so I had to grade it fairly," said Eugene. "Oh, now don't go breaking your hand patting yourself on the back," she added as Jennifer grinned harder. "I had to type my lessons on the projector for the rest of the day because I lost my voice yelling at you. You are on thin ice."

"Whatever you say, Emart."

***

A small smile lingered on Eugene's lips as she came back from Jen and Keisha's detention. Something about teaching made her smile - even if it was detention.

But then she opened the door and Anissa was sitting on the couch and the smile vanished.

"Hey, Anissa." Eugene strategically chose a chair across the room. Anissa didn't like to be touched when she was mad and with her new powers, now was not the time to take any chances.

"Hey." Anissa avoided Eugene's eye, staring intently at the stack of papers she was going through.

"Um...I'm sorry," said Eugene, scratching the side of her head. "Last night was shitty. I got hysterical and then my attitude came out and it was honestly nasty. I'm sorry."

Anissa looked up at her and sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry too. But I can't just sit here and do nothing besides go to work. I'm going stir-crazy."

"Yeah, and I know I can't stop you." Eugene paused. "But, um...if you do decide to go off somewhere again, please don't do it at night. That's terrifying."

"Yeah, sorry." Anissa pursed her lips sheepishly. "I don't blame you for freaking out. I did come in through the window while you were on the toilet."

"Yeah, don't do that again, please." Eugene snickered. "So can we make a deal? No, um, sneaking off in the middle of the night?"

"We got a deal." Anissa paused. "But only if you can be truthful about your feelings from now on."

Years of lying and sign language had taught Eugene how to be quick with her facial expressions, but this time, Anissa jumped on a mere moment of hesitation.

"See, here we go." Her eyes narrowed.

"Anissa--"

"Don't 'Anissa' me. I'm not making any deals about anything until you get your shit together."

She shook her head and looked back down at her work. Eugene mirrored Anissa's body language, her stomach tying into knots.

God, she was such a coward.

***

A/N: Hey, guys! I hope you liked this chapter. I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments! Obviously, I know you guys like it because of all the hits and kudos, but sometimes I feel like I'm posting into a void, so feedback here and there would be nice.