✅ A Dose of Humiliation

12. Normal Day

My dad didn't seem happy, but he wasn't going to argue with me heading back to school with one of my classmates. But he did have one restriction to put in place.

"I want you to be at school, okay? No cutting class with your friend. I'm going to let your mother know, pick up my stuff and head to the office. That gives you a little over an hour to get breakfast and get into school. Then I call the school office, and ask if my daughter is in class. If you're not there, you get one of these when you get home. Understand?"

He held up a small bag with the pharmacy logo on. I could see two or three long, slim boxes inside. About the shape of a mid-range fancy pen in a case, of the kind that a middle manager might have on their desk to convince underlings that they are serious business. More automatic syringes, I assumed; the booster shots.

"You know overusing those is legally classed as child abuse?" Serena answered for me. "You can have your kids taken away if you use it without a good reason."

"I know. But one of the reasons is restrictions that any reasonable adult would agree with. I think getting to school counts. I'm recording on my phone now, and I'm sure Lorna is recording everything as always. And I'm telling you now that your punishment will last an extra two weeks if you miss more than one class before you get to school. You have been warned, I've got a little booklet where I can record the restrictions I've given you, so I'm entitled to enforce that punishment. Okay?"

"Yes, Dad," I mumbled. I already knew from Marcie that I was giving him the power over me. If I filed an abuse complaint after getting a booster shot, Dad would just have to show that any parent would think his demands were reasonable, or that I had agreed to the terms. And this time, I could see that school attendance was something parents were expected to enforce. Now I'd had this thing stuck in my ass, I couldn't say no to Dad about something like this.

"That's my girl. Now, I'll get you a drink before I go, if you might be dehydrated. I'm not completely heartless." So we went to the nearest food kiosk; not quite as healthy as Serena's suggestion, but I wasn't going to object if Dad thought he owed me a treat.

"Hey girls," the guy behind the counter smiled. Dez, I think his name was; I'd seen him in the hat shop once or twice, talking to other customers, but when I came here there was normally a long queue preventing a real conversation. "Just come from the pharmacy? Guess you need a little something to lift your spirits. And rebalance your electrolytes, if I recognise that long face. You went through with it, then?"

"She doesn't get a choice until she learns to behave properly. Now she might learn to contribute to society instead of laughing at the rules."

"Right," Dez grunted, and then turned back to me with an iced frappe in his hand, with a whole bunch of cream, marshmallows, and rainbow sprinkles on the top. Kind of my usual, but turned up to eleven. "This one's on me. Just so you know, every decent person in town got your back."

"Thanks," I smiled, and tried the drink. It tasted just as special as it looked. Serena asked for something similar, and it was ready in a flash. She got a couple of giant cookies too, and offered me one. We were about to walk away, finishing our drinks on the way to school, but I heard a little commotion behind me.

"And I'll have–" Dad managed to say, before Dez – if that was his actual name – cut him off.

"Sorry, I'm on my break. But there's a pretzel stand up on level five that might be open."

"How can you... you just served them!"

"Yeah, I did. They seem like nice kids, and I heard them say they're on the way to school. Wouldn't want them to be late, you know?"