Sara wrapped the white bandage around her right fist, silently cursing her own temper. She really should’ve had more control over herself. Had the Kung Fu classed taught her nothing? Once the injured hand was completely bandaged, she taped it up and tossed the remaining cloth into a nearby trashcan.

She walked to the door of her class and put her hand on the knob. She didn’t want to go in there. She was late and would definitely be scolded for it. But she had never backed down from anything before, and she wasn’t about to run from a hateful teacher. She opened the door and walked on in.

“I’m glad you finally made it, Sara.” the teacher said, “Sit down immediately and get to work. You’re already behind.”

Sara grunted and threw herself into her seat, making quite the noise. A few students looked up from their textbooks to eye her curiously. A couple of girls in the back began whispering and giggling. Sara turned quickly in her seat to glare at them. “Is there something wrong?” she asked, her voice dancing with held-in anger. Today was different. Too many things had gone wrong, too many things were trying on her patience, and she just couldn’t take it anymore.

One of the girls was suddenly quiet, turning around. The other smiled defiantly. “Nothing is wrong. We were just wondering why you were late.”

“That would be none of your business.” Sara replied.

“Well, I came to the conclusion that you must have been making out with your girlfriend Crissy.” the girl said, giggling and causing the whole class to burst with laughter. “I mean, we all know you’re a dyke. You don’t have to hide it.”

In a blur of auburn and white, Sara was beside the girl’s desk and yanking her out of it. She threw the girl against the wall. “That would be none of your business as well! And if you ever bring Crissy up again, I will splatter your nose across your face, do you understand?!”

The girl nodded quickly, her whole body trembling.

“Good. Now apologize.” Sara demanded, ignoring the screeching teacher behind her.

“I’m sorry!” the girl yelled desperately and Sara released her. She fell to the ground, gasping.

Sara looked around at all the shocked faces. “If anyone else has a smart remark, let’s hear it.” There was a nervous silence before Sara shrugged and went back to her seat. She pulled a tablet and a pencil from her duffel bag and opened her text book. She sat casually, awaiting her lesson as if nothing had happened.

Gradually, the other students did the same and the teacher walked to the front of the class. The girl in the back crawled back into her desk without a word. “Now that the class has settled down,” the teacher said, giving Sara a look, “we can continue with our lesson. Today we are studying slavery in American history. For those of you who weren’t here, I assigned the questions on page sixty-three.”

Sara flipped to the right page and began work on the questions. It had felt good to just snap and vent her anger, and now she felt calm and peaceful. The questions seemed easy enough, as they always did when she was in a decent mood. When she got to the last question, she sighed when she realized it was an essay question. “Write an essay describing how you think a slave would have felt.” Sara groaned. How would she know how a slave would feel? She’d never been one.

She turned her paper over to write the essay on the back. She began writing anything she could think of, hoping to just take up space on the page. “I think a slave would have felt very lonely and sad. They would probably be very depressed because of their situation and be quiet around others who weren’t slaves because they would feel that they weren’t good enough or smart enough to talk around them. They would be very obedient because they were taught to be that way, and they would be afraid of their owners.”

Sara stopped writing suddenly, realizing what her own words were telling her. Did all of these things not describe Crissy? She thought back to way Crissy shied away from all the other students, looking as if she felt inadequate to even speak before them, the way she based all of her decisions upon Christoph’s wishes, and the look of terror on her face when Christoph was near.

Did this mean Crissy was a slave? Sara couldn’t believe that. Things like that just didn’t happen in this day and age. And Christoph had seemed so sweet. She shook her head and finished her essay, turning it in then quickly returning to her seat. She pulled out a piece of paper and began doodling aimlessly. She found herself drawing a pair of large, bright eyes surrounded by black-framed glasses. She drew a small, pointy nose and a pair of pale, soft lips. She drew an elfin chin and made long, dark lines around the face and eyes for the image of black, wispy hair. She took out her pack of colored pencils, which were worn down after nearly a year of her sketching and drawing. She dug around for the brightest blue she could find and colored in the eyes. She shaded the black hair and lightly went over the face with peach. When she was finished, she was shocked at how much it looked like Christoph.

“So you even think about me in history class?” she heard him ask.

She jerked her head up. Christoph was standing over her desk, eyeing the picture. “Christoph! What are you doing in here?!” she yelled, scrambling to cover up the picture with other papers.

“I stopped by for a visit.” he said, then grabbed the picture and jerked it out from under the mess. He lifted it up and looked it over. “Wow, this is great. I didn’t know you were so talented.”

She snatched it from him and tore it to shreds, even faster than she had ripped up the note he had left in her locker. She gathered the pieces into a small pile on her desk and raked them off into her hand. She walked to the front of the class and tossed them into the trash can. She gave him a frown before sitting back down.

He kneeled beside her seat. “Why did you do that? It was pretty.”

“Because I felt like it.” she said, eyes on her papers as she crammed them into a folder. Suddenly she felt his hand upon her cheek. It was warm and smooth, like silk. The back of his hand rubbed down her face and to her chin, where it gently turned her head to face him. “Don’t be so harsh with me, Sara.” he said, his aqua eyes glowing. He leaned in close and Sara’s mind went crazy. She wanted to move away, to shove him off, or punch him. She wanted to do something, anything other than just sit there and let him do what he wished. Finally his lips touched hers and he kissed her for the second time. He kept his eyes open, glaring at hers as he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth. She still couldn’t move, as if she were frozen.

Sara’s eyes shifted to the teacher, who was sitting in the front corner talking to a couple of students. The rest of the class was wrapped up in their own conversations, laughing about this and that. No one seemed to even notice, and if they did, they were pretending that they didn’t. Sara wondered if Christoph’s power over the school had something to do with that.

His other hand touched her shoulder and slid toward her neck. It moved down to the collar of her purple and white button-up shirt and began to go beneath the fabric before Sara jolted and pulled back. Christoph made an attempt to pull her back to him but she shoved him violently. She held her hand over her mouth and panted. When she regained her breath, she looked up at him in disbelief. “What do you think you were doing?!” she yelled.

He smiled. “I told you that I like you. I was just proving it to you.”

In a whirl of fury, she punched him, right across the face. The impact could be heard throughout the class, even over the loudness of the jumbled chatter. Everyone just stopped to look at Christoph, who stood in shock, staring at Sara. Although his eyes seemed dangerous, even terrifying for an instant, Sara stood her ground, looking at him with disgust. His expression softened, but Sara’s did not. “Don’t you ever touch me again!” she screamed before grabbing her things and running out of the room.

Christoph stroked his injured cheek and straightened his glasses. His smile became wider as he shrugged casually and turned to leave the room. In the back of the class, the girl who had also experienced Sara’s strength sat silently, eyes fixed upon Christoph until the door was shut behind him.