She'd gotten to him. For a brief moment, she knew she'd caught him off-balance, brought crumbling down the construct of who he was that he worked so hard to build. And for a brief moment, she wished severely that she could see his face - she could tell from the way he jumped that she'd caught him unawares, but the moment he finally turned to look at her, anything that might have been different in his eyes was replaced with rage, rage that challenged her to keep it up.
If only she could have seen his eyes and gotten a better look at his soul.
As she spoke her threat, the two remained there, snout to snout, unmoving, looking at each other, before his face suddenly became a new mask. A knowing mask that said he understood something she presently didn't. A knowing mask that begged her to keep up and face the consequences of whatever it was he had to bring to the table. Think, Samantha, think - what could he possibly have to level against her? What power did he hold, other than the threat of physical conflict - something she'd doubt he'd bring to bear - or at least something she was sure he'd only bring to bear if pushed to snapping.
He was smart, but he wasn't conniving. He knew the information he knew, but he wasn't likely to know the things that only those with true wit and intelligence greater than what either of them possessed could know. So what was it?
Well, what could he take away from her? What could he make her lose? Her job? Not likely - Roger didn't even like Gauge that much, and given her track record of good behavior as a teacher, she doubted he could say anything that the Principal would believe.
. . .
In a split second, a new thought joined the others. One that whispered terrible, despicable possible realities into her ear, that stroked its hands through her fur to taunt her because she knew it was correct. "What if," the thought began, "he goes after the ones from this morning?" And that, really, was all it needed to say. Marcus, Rocket, that dragon hybrid, Mark, Yuro. Gauge could go after them physically, too, but that wasn't it - she'd been on the right track thinking about the school system earlier. He was threatening to bring that system down on them, and despite Roger's dislike for Gauge, he disliked non-canine species - "fangless" was probably the biggest derogatory term for them - and canines who defended fangless even more.
So despite her bluster, despite her bold words, she felt fear. She hid it behind her eyes, she kept her face level as they started at each other - but she knew he probably could tell she was fearful for the students anyways.
Then, to add to the whole situation, which was already terrible and not exactly getting better, he stood up to full height, which placed them almost nose to nose as she pulled her face back slightly and tracked his eyes with hers. His face was threatening, his body language aggressive - any hint of her younger self that she sometimes saw in him was completely and absolutely gone, replaced by his apparent need to not look weak. Thing was, she wasn't sure if he was trying not to look weak more for the canines around him, or for himself.
Baring his teeth, he finally spoke up, their staring - which had quieted down the entire library to noise levels far below the students normally cared to keep - having gone on uncomfortably long. "You think you scare me?" he asked, growling. Then - "Bring it bitch".
She didn't mind the word, bitch. Well, she minded it as an insult. She didn't like hearing it used for herself. But still, she got it enough at this school that she'd taken to just ignoring it. It was a word, and what did she honestly care if dumb students used it? But now, in this situation right here, she had to care. Samantha wasn't particularly one who cared for or about power. Minor authority was something she, as a teacher, accepted. But she didn't really get all up in arms about students undermining her, or whatever.
However, here was a critical point. If she backed down in front of the entire library right now, she was signaling to them that Gauge was free to do whatever he wanted with regards to his disruption and speciesism. And in that case, it meant she was dealing with something greater than her authority - she would either be standing up to or backing down to a very literal representation of speciesism. She couldn't back down. She just couldn't.
Thinking for a moment, Samantha found that a wonderful idea quickly popped into her head. Mind made up, she moved her face back away from his, eyes still attached to his own. Face breaking out into a mirroring "I know something you don't" mask, she clucked softly before speaking. "Fine then, Gauge. You have lunch detention today, with me. And we will continue this discussion there." Finally breaking her eyes away, she began to turn before she looked back at him, face yet again serious, knowing smile gone. "Oh, and if you've anything further to say, at all, about them or anyone like them," she gestured to Mark and the dragon hybrid, "then you'll say it to me then, not now." Finishing her turn, she began to walk away to the projector, grimly satisfied with herself. He'd backed her into a corner (something, she suspected, he felt had been done to him before that), so she'd backed him right back into the wall. If he skipped out on it, he'd be backing down from a teacher. And if he came - well, Samantha knew, or was at least somewhat confident she knew - a way to begin handling her Gauge problem.
Topic: Pellicius High School, 4200 Hanso Lane (Read 14637 times)