SubscribeStar Story: The Teaching Assistant, Part 38

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Part 38

“Looks like she’s learning,” Ashley said, “Better late than never for our new student, I guess.”

“Mm hmm,” Claire nodded, “Well, Millie? Let’s get you ready for your first full day here. And hey, at least it’s Saturday. No classes!”

That actually was good, although not for the reason Claire meant. It was more that Amelia’s plan would be a lot more difficult to achieve if she was expected to follow a strict class to class schedule. Although it was still super frustrating to not be in the comfort of her own apartment on the weekend, at least she could potentially sort this out once she got a moment to herself.

A few awkward seconds of silence passed before Amelia realized that they expected her to respond. It was impossible to keep up with the girls, considering how often both Ashley and Claire cut her off throughout their conversations. Until now, apparently. Still looking up at the young brunette, Amelia muttered, “Umm, yeah. No classes.” What more did they want from her?

“Here, I can do your hair again,” Claire said. She stepped forward and placed her hand on Amelia’s upper back, nudging her forward towards the desk. “Anything else your little cousin needs to take care of, Ash?”

“She still has to brush her teeth,” Ashley replied, “But hair can be first. Just don’t take forever; we are running a bit late thanks to a certain someone.”

“Got it. You heard her, Millie. Sit. I’ll take care of this pretty hair of yours.”

After Amelia reluctantly did as she was told and sat on the desk chair that had more or less been her prison that previous night, Claire got to work. Similar to last time, the brunette opted for a simple braid. Not objectively an immature look, as Amelia knew plenty of girls her own age that liked braids on themselves, but she was just as bitter as before in terms of how the style stole away one of her favorite features. Then again, her hair only looked amazing as it normally did thanks to her usual morning ritual of showering, blow drying, brushing, and rounding things off with the gentle curl. Amelia hadn’t seen herself in the mirror yet, but she had to imagine that sleeping on her blonde locks didn’t do her any favors. It was why she normally showered in the morning before anyone saw her. These bratty girls had robbed her of that opportunity, however, and she was long past fooling either of them. They both knew that she wasn’t quite as physically mature as she presented herself; hell, it was one of the things they were using to insist that she was a student when all three of them knew that it wasn’t actually true.

“All done!” Claire announced, dusting her hands off for show after tying the tight braid. She placed her hands on Amelia’s shoulders and spoke more quietly near her ear. “How old are you, Millie?”

Wincing a little bit from the proximity, even though Claire’s hushed voice still sounded rather normal despite the borderline suggestive distance, Amelia responded right away, “I’m thirteen years old, Ms. Claire.” As always, pushing through in the name of getting past the portion of the day that involved her and Ashley. After all, Amelia had been trusted without them yesterday afternoon, even after realizing she had been tricked. Only this time, she wasn’t going to be helpless and play right into their hands.

“Sorry, what was that?” Claire asked, “I couldn’t quite hear you.”

Resisting the urge to sigh, Amelia said more audibly, “I’m thirteen years old, Ms. Claire.”

“You’re thirteen years old, Millie. You’re a transfer student.”

Amelia didn’t know what to say to that. Echoing the whole thing felt silly, so she just gave a tiny nod instead.

“Now, go let your older cousin help you with the rest of your uniform.”

Not needing to be told twice, the petite blonde slipped away from Claire’s contact and out of the chair. She walked back towards Ashley and the last couple outfit pieces still on the hanger, and ended up faced with a similar face to face ordeal with her ‘cousin’ that she already dealt with after Claire’s pushy hug.

Ashley placed both of her hands on Amelia’s shoulders, towering over the girl thanks to the combination of her natural height and her heels. “How old are you, Millie?” she asked the increasingly familiar question.

‘Seriously?’ Amelia thought to herself. As humiliated as she was about this continuous charade she was stuck in, complete with literally spending the night here, she also wasn’t an idiot. As a recent college grad, she had plenty of intelligence outside of the kind required for the academy’s aptitude test. Were these teenagers trying to condition her? It was a pretty transparent effort on their part, but it also wasn’t like Amelia could call them out on it or even scowl and refuse. Besides, it’s not like something so simple would work on her; she knew her real age, even if she was stuck pretending otherwise. “I’m thirteen years old, Ashley,” she said. No formal title. The dark haired bitch wasn’t a prefect, and Amelia wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of accidentally stumbling into an unnecessarily proper address.

Similar to Claire’s tactic, Ashley said, “One more time, Millie?”

This time around, Amelia did sigh. “I’m thirteen years old, Ashley. I’m a transfer student. I’m your younger cousin. I need to develop physically and intellectually.” Saying all the ridiculous concepts back to back softened the blow of each of them, and would hopefully instill that she wasn’t a total pushover. Granted, she had allowed this to snowball pretty far, but she was still clinging to the underlying truth that she was the adult here and Ashley was a spoiled brat who was abusing her office privileges and having fun at Amelia’s expense. However, just like Amelia couldn’t call out the blatant conditioning attempts, she also couldn’t spit out any of that, either.

Seemingly unfazed by the flippant response, Ashley just said, “See? She’s learning. Although watch the attitude, little cousin. If you’re going to be difficult, I’m sure our resident prefect would be happy to make you write lines. How about it, Claire? One thousand iterations for each of those lovely things Millie just admitted?”

“Sounds about right,” Claire replied. “And if she was too slow, or the writing wasn’t legible enough? I could probably think of an additional penalty.”

“Fun!” Ashley chirped. She held Amelia’s gaze with a small smile, knowing full well that it didn’t take much to make the girl behave under her current circumstances. “Okay, Millie. Tell me your age one more time, and then we can get you dressed for school like the transfer student that you are.

Already regretting letting her emotions get the better of her, when everything so far had been in the efforts to make the morning go as smoothly as possible, Amelia responded right away. “I’m thirteen years old, Ashley.”

“You’re thirteen years old, Millie,” she repeated, intentionally using the nickname as frequently as possible throughout the casual conditioning. “Hmm, how about, ‘Please, my amazing older cousin Ashley, will you help me get dressed for the day?’” She gave a nice, long pause after the suggested words, before lightly laughing and stepping back. “I’m kidding, Millie. Loosen up a little, will you?”

Not wanting to say the wrong thing, Amelia merely stood there and quietly waited.

“You should really smile more,” Ashley said, “Maybe we should play yesterday’s game. Your phone is just as waterproof as before, isn’t it?”

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The Housekeeper, Chapter 31

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The Present, Parts 1-30