When I can’t stand to brush for another second, I pull it out of my mouth and bend over to spit into the drain.

“You will swallow.”

I don’t want to. God, I don’t want to. Saliva fills my mouth. I’m going to be sick. I’m going to be sick, and then⁠—

No. I can’t.

I’m not here. This is happening to somebody else.

It’s not me.

I have to fake it until I get free. I have to fake it, and that means doing whatever Mr. Jay says.

I swallow, tears pricking my eyes.

It almost comes up, but I swallow again. That happens three times before I’m certain I won’t throw up. I stay bent over the drain for another few seconds, then stand up straight and face Mr. Jay. I’m a mess on the inside. I’m disgusted and afraid and tired, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep going.

I have to keep going.

“Doesn’t it feel good to do the right thing?” Mr. Jay asks in a voice that’s sweet as honey. “Your mother picked this punishment for you.”

“Y—” I’m almost sick again, but I choke it down. In another few seconds, I’ll start crying. The only reason I make myself stop is that I’ll get another punishment. I can’t take another punishment. Not tonight. “Yes, sir. It feels good to do the right thing.”

I keep on doing the right thing for three months before I see my mother again.

When I do, she can’t believe the person I’ve become. She’s proud of all the progress that I’ve made and so relieved that I finally saw how wrong I was before I came here.

My mom cries and kisses both my cheeks. “You’ve grown so much. You’ve turned out so well.”

She’s so pleased with everything the school has done for me that she makes me stay another two months and finish out the year so I can graduate with my classmates.

DEAN

The next time I show up at the shop for my shift, I feel like I’ve been given a new lease on life. Rick gives me some mild shit over how the cops came to interview him, then slaps me on the shoulder and reminds me in a fake-stern voice to stay out of trouble.

“I always stay out of trouble,” I tell him with a smirk.

“I know you do,” he says with another deep laugh, his eyes twinkling. He’s been in trouble when he was a kid. Thank fuck he has a soft spot for me.

What I have today is a full list of projects out ahead of me. Some of them are as simple as oil changes. There’s a decent job for you. You start with dirty oil and end up with clean oil.