Title:           Week17 - GreentextSavant
Author:          AlexanderGrey
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/q3vGZp12
First Edit:      Friday 15th of July 2016 10:27:41 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Friday 15th of July 2016 10:27:41 PM CDT

LISTEN:
>…
>Spend the rest of the school day worrying about your job more than ever before.
>You had to say yes to Sweet wanting to stay after school for ‘just a lesson’. How on earth were you supposed to prove that she could have meant something else based on what little evidence you had to go on?
>It’s a good thing you are able to retain the concern within your thoughts and not let it show on the outside.
>School is over, the bell rings, and you’re only reminded of the fact that Zest is absent when she doesn’t walk through the door this time.
>After the hallways empty out, your ears are left with only one pair of footsteps menacingly pacing back and forth out there. The echoes of the footfalls grow louder and softer every few seconds… until they approach the closed door and stop.
>You try to slow your breathing as much as you can, almost experiencing a heart attack as you hear the doorknob being turned.
>Come up with a last second plan and spring to your feet. You already had your stuff packed up and ready to take with you in your bag.
>”Hey there.” Sour Sweet speaks to you before the door is out of the way and she can actually see you.
“Oh! Miss Sweet!” You act surprised. “I was just on my way out.”
>She pauses at the doorway. “You… what?”
“Heh, sorry. Have an online meeting to attend. Gotta head on down to the faculty room.” You’re playing it pretty cool so far.
>Sweet starts to get a sour look on her face. She crosses her arms as she watches you waltz right past her and out the door. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” She suddenly and quietly says.
“Again, sorry. I gotta get to this meeting.” You tell her, seeing how many days she’s willing to let you stall her. “I’ll see you… maybe tomorrow.” You’ll need to come up with an entirely new plan by then.
>You’re out the door and down the hall by the time Sweet calls to you again, in a lower and more aggressive voice. “Mr. Mous?”
>Turn back to look at her, but only to wave. You notice her peering up at the corners between the walls and the ceiling right as she starts to follow you down the hallway. It’s no doubt that she’s looking for security cameras, which does nothing less than concern you even more.
>You retreat to the faculty conference room with the door shutting behind you. It’s already a given that Sweet can’t follow you into the room with the hallway cameras watching her.
>”There’s something you should know.” The girl looks around for anyone who might be listening.
“I can’t leave this room now, Miss Sweet. The meeting starts in a couple of minutes.
>The girl knows for a fact that it’s in her best interest not to enter the room. There was a time in the past when Sunny Flare had tried to sneak into the room in order to cheat on one of her tests. The girl had made sure that none of the teachers were around to see her.
>But there are always security cameras installed by Cinch herself that are pointed directly to all of the entrances to the conference room. The principal is more than strict about academic integrity.
>Not only was she suspended for a week, but her grade for the class she was trying to cheat in was automatically set to a value where in she got perfect 100%’s for the rest of the year, she would be exactly 1% short of passing the class. It’s a good thing the girl was taking an extra class that year, or else she would have been expelled for not passing enough classes for the year.
>No one is held back at Crystal Prep. You either get it right the first time, or you’re dropped.
>Cinch later said that she thought up a more… “creative” way to punish a student who dared enter the faculty conference room.
>It’s deliciously sinister, but proved to be effective. Sunny Flare learned her lesson, and did not dare to go near the doors to that conference room again.
>Sweet has a whole history class hanging on that line, and isn’t the type to go and try taking extra classes.
>You sit down at the computer with a little headset of your own on. You internally thank Lemon Zest for giving you this idea of ignoring a certain someone who can still see you through the slim window along the length of the door.
>Pretend that you can’t hear the girl knocking and begging for you to come out. She has turned back to her softer voice after she realizes that you’re in territory where she cannot cross into.
>Log on to your account with the girl still out there.
>It’s a good thing these screens are reflective enough for you to see her silhouette. She appears to be using her phone to do something… possibly texting someone.
>You do what Lemon Zest would have done and nod your head to imaginary music, until you open up a makeshift online meeting. It’s actually a recording of a previous Skype call that you and other teachers had before.
>Cinch just keeps track of everything that goes on, doesn’t she? It makes you wonder once again about the emails.
>It’s a good idea to just play this for the next hour or so… or at least until you see Sweet get bored and leave in the computer screen’s reflection.
>Start to pretend to talk to the other teachers in the “call” until something makes your heart sink.
>The screen switches to blackness, the whirring of the surrounding computers ceases, the light in the room shuts off.
>The power went out.
>An imagined imbalance almost makes you fall off the chair as you struggle to comprehend what just happened. There’s a door in front of you, but you don’t run to it; you’ve been too set on staying put on the chair and not moving an inch.
>Finally get yourself to turn your head around, only finding that Sour Sweet has disappeared from the window. You stand up anyway.
>”Mr. Mouse.” Her voice is still right there around the corner. “You might want to come back to the classroom.”
>The computer won’t turn on.
>You can’t think of an excuse that coincides with the whole lie about the online meeting. You can tell from how trapped you feel that Sweet just might be enjoying the feeling of having cornered you.
>The click of the door opening fills the room, and you stand facing the source of the sound. Sour Sweet still cautiously steps into the room, but smiles while your eyes meet hers.
>”You wanna know a secret?” She chimes, holding the door still so it doesn’t automatically shut.
>Reach for the doorknob of the adjacent door out of the room you’re backing up towards. “Stop.” Sweet lets out a confident order. “Or I’ll tell Cinch something you wouldn’t want her to hear.”
>The headphones re-enter your mind, but with a hunch that Sweet may be referring to something far more damning.
>How right that hunch is.
>”Remember me roughing myself up before we walked out into the hallway from your classroom?” She reminds you. “Guess what that would look like if Cinch has a reason to look over the security footage?”
>A crushing blow of defeat slams your lungs and hitches your breathing.
>”And don’t worry about the cameras seeing me stepping in here. They went off with the power.” She insidiously steps back and lets the door close again, continuing to speak through the window. “You have about one minute to make up your mind. Because that’s when the emergency generators kick in.”
“I…I…” You’re at a loss for words at the hands of the grasp Sweet has on your whole reputation.
>”One minute, Mr. Mous.” Sweet reminds you.
>Race through your mind for anything that might convince her that whatever it is she has planned isn’t going to work.
>The girl smiles through the window beside the door once again, holding her hands up against the glass on the side of her face to see you more clearly. That smile she has… the type that grows wider with each little movement to escape you make.
>And the longer you look at her, the more you want to escape.
“Y-you have nothing but your word against mine, and no proof of anything to boot.” Look to see if she’s listening. “If I can prove you tampered with school property you will be punished severely.”
>Throw together a plan to push past her to the generator room, despite having no idea where it is. You’re a history teacher, for pete’s sake.
>”Oh, I didn’t do anything. All the cameras will show is me standing here the whole time before everything going black.”
“Who did you text?” You grit your teeth.
>”No important. Don’t worry your pretty little head about that.” She pauses and takes another look at her phone. “And it’s been one minute, Mr. Mous.”
>You’re not going down. Not like this.
>”Yo Sweet.” A familiar voice sounds from the direction of the entrance of your classroom. “Have you seen Mr. Mous anywhere around here?”
>”Huh?” Sour Sweet’s smile fades really quickly as she turns her head and speaks to her friend.
>That’s unmistakably Lemon Zest’s voice. “He didn’t leave yet, did he? I just got here and wanted to at least do one of those lessons since I wasn’t here today.”
>A pause.
>”Oh, and did the power go out?” She adds.
“I’m here!” You would have never spoken so loudly in this room otherwise.
>”Mr. Mous?”
>The door swings open to a smile on Zest’s face and a frown on Sour Sweet’s face.