The past few weeks were a culture shock for Bryce. After he had caught Smallera he was sent to a facility. Everything in his room was scaled for him. The meals were portioned for someone of his size. The food was made in miniature form. Everything was meant to ease his transition. The facility wanted the transition from big to small to be seamless. It wasn’t until he heard a knock at his door and a giant hand came in with his meal that you were reminded of the reality he lived in.
Everything now was turned upside down. Now it was only when he closed his eyes did Bryce have the solace of everything being normal. The deep black of one’s eyelids was now the only piece of normalcy that he had. It was the only time the world seemed right, as the pitch-black world one sees when one’s eyes are closed is equal to all.
The first few days were a culture shock. How does one get used to looking through metal bars? Bryce tried to bend the metal poles, but it was futile as he doubted that he could fit between the bars and squirm his way out. But even if he could, he knew he had nowhere to go. He belonged to his former student now. They prepared him for this. They provided books, movies, and talks about what it would be like. How best to transition back to the real world. They tried to prepare him for what life would be like with a guardian. However, never once did the thought enter his mind that his guardian would be a former student. Bryce always thought he was going to be assigned to his family. Surely, they were working to secure the funds. He knew it wasn’t cheap, but you sacrificed for your family. You sacrifice for those you care about.
Whatever sacrifice his family was making was met with a letter informing them that he had been assigned. Sometimes, Bryce wonders if they were told. If the letter informed them that Mia Lawson would be his guardian. He doubted that it did. They would want to protect the identity of the guardian. Perhaps if you knew them, it would be different. But even if his family were told that Mia Lawson or the Lawson family had been assigned, they wouldn’t know who that was. They wouldn’t know that it was a self-absorbed student of his that was now his guardian. They wouldn’t know that her family’s money and wealth made the act of obtaining him nothing but a mere trifle.
The act of obtaining him wasn’t even some long-planned-out thing. It wasn’t the end of a long game played to perfection to secure him in some sort of act of revenge. It was instead a younger brother remembering that his older sister had groaned and complained about one of her teachers more than others. She had bitched about the work assigned and the expectations. She was appalled when he had the nerve to dismiss her generous monetary offer for a good grade. It was unthinkable for Mia as Money had always solved her problems.
Bryce often thought of that moment, though. If he just had fewer morals. If he wasn’t so honest. If he had just accepted the bribe. Would he be here right now? Would he be staring out at the Sorority room at God only knows what college of his former student? In his mind, Bryce likes to think no. He likes to think that he would be with his family.
The daily routine had become somewhat normal. Mia would wake up quite early. This surprised him as he figured she would be the type to sleep in and laze around. However, Mia was normally up by 8 am. She would change into a sports bra and some yoga pants before going for a morning run. It wasn’t until after she returned, normally thirty to forty minutes later, that he had to be up. If he wasn’t, Bryce had learned that Mia would give his home a “gentle” tap with her shoe. It very well may have been gentle to her, but to Bryce, it seemed apocalyptic. It was then she would break off a piece of her bagel. Normally she ate quite healthily, which in turn meant so did he now. However, the carb-loaded and cream cheese-covered bagel was a treat for his taste buds. It was heavenly divine; never would Bryce have thought he would ever describe something as simple as a bagel as divine.
On the good days, Mia would shower and get ready for classes all on her own. However, on the days she got back early, Bryce especially hated it. She would pull him from his cage and set him next to a nail polish bottle on those days. It was always humbling to be reminded that you are of equal size to one of the seemingly endless bottles of polish pulled from her bulging makeup bag. It was then expected that he would lift the heavy brush and paint slather her nails in neat, even, uniform strokes. As he was reminded nearly constantly. It was the least he could do. Luckily this was not one of those days. Mia had merely gotten ready for class and left.
The bedroom door opened and closed with a heavy slam. Logan was out for classes as Mia stormed into the room, dropping her stuff carelessly on the floor. Even in his cage, Bryce could feel the floor reverberate under the thick heavy shoes Mia chose to wear on this day. Mia stood before his cage, tapping her foot on the floor as she looked down at her former teacher.
“Can you believe I have to get a job? I know this is my Mothers doing. The last time I went home, a couple of weeks before I got you, she said how important it is to understand a dollar’s value. Now she’s making me get a job. Can you believe it? ME! Like I somehow have time to get a job. Does she even know how many social commitments I have? That’s practically a job in itself. Why aren’t you saying anything, Wexie? This affects you too.”
“When I went to college, which wasn’t long ago. I got an easy job tutoring. I’m sure you could find a simple job. Why not work in the cafeteria or library.”
“We need realistic solutions here. Not your hallmark movie garbage. We are at DEFCON 4 here. There is talk of me having to make my own money. Like they will just pay for tuition, phone, and books. I don’t get any access to my trust until after I graduate.”
“It’s very normal for people going to college to work as well.”
“You are so damn useless. Wait a minute. Maybe you aren’t. Stay here; let’s hope my credit cards aren’t cut off. I have an idea.” Bryce watched Mia dash out the door leaving him in seemingly an instant. It wasn’t until he saw her return a few hours later with a small bag.
“Yeah, great. So I can email the resume, and then, assuming the interview goes well, it would be like a couple of weeks before starting? Great. Okay, bye.” Mia said as she slid her phone into her pocket.
“It sounds like things are going better than before,” Bryce said as he watched Mia lift up the roof on his cage and set down a small office chair followed by a small desk and podium.
“Great news Wexie. I need you to put on this tie, dress shirt and vest. You can leave the shorts on just sit behind the desk or stand behind the podium. I got off the phone with the high school a few blocks from here. Lucky break for us there is a nationwide teacher shortage. I got you an interview over Zoom in about thirty minutes. I expect you on your best behavior.”
“Wait, what is going on? You are leaving out all kinds of details.”
“Ugh, you are so slow. Okay, so I was told I had to get a job. However, I have so many social commitments and things that I do already that I just won’t be able to find the time. You have all the time in the world Wexie. So, we are just going put this table down here, and this is one of my old phones. It’s last year’s model, but it should be fine. Then you have a desk here and little paper and pencils. You are going to be teaching at the local high school here. Just virtually. They are fully aware of your situation. So, the students will just show up to the class as normal, hop on iPad or laptops, and then you can just teach as normal.”
“You aren’t serious?”
“This is great; you can work from here. It’s like 8 am to 3 pm. Logan is at class and works during that time, and I normally have classes, so I’m in and out but mostly out. I was talking to the principal, who was saying with your experience 70k range is pretty normal, plus benefits. You just need to nail this interview. I’m just going to hop on my laptop quick and download your resume. I saw it was still posted online. Don’t worry; I will give it a few touch-ups.”
“So let me get this straight. Your employment plan is for me to do my old job virtually at a local high school here.”
“Wexie, Wexie, you’re thinking about this all wrong. This isn’t about me. This is about you. Just last week, when you were painting my nails, you were saying how you were above this. How you didn’t spend all this time and money going to school to paint my nails and look over my homework. Cleaning my phone screen shouldn’t be your problem. This is me, your guardian taking that feedback in and saying okay, let’s layer on top of all those important tasks you do with something really meaningful and important, like educating the future leaders of America.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“Of course, I am serious. So, get those clothes on. You need to look good for this interview. I expect you to give the interview of your life. How excited you are about the opportunity and how much you are looking forward to getting back into the workforce and all that shit, Wexie. I mean, what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine. I believe that’s how your user agreement works. Once you pass this interview, I should hear back from your boss in a couple of days. As your guardian, I will get everything set up. You just have to teach.”
“Mia, Ma’am. I would never attempt to doubt you. Perhaps this isn’t what your parents intended or the lesson they were hoping you would learn.”
“What are you talking about? This is me using my resources and getting a job. You’ll be doing a 40-hour week that I have to manage for you. You have no idea how much work is involved in caring for you besides my other social commitments and class work. I’m putting in the work. This is the absolute least you could do. Oh, this is him. Get behind your desk. I’ll accept the call for you.”
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Love how upset Mia is at having to get a job, the Hallmark movie garbage had me rolling.
It’s my favorite part of her character. She really thinks it’s Mia’s world and everyone else exists as supporting actors
“The food was made in miniature form” This actually bodes well for Jordan as it implies that miniaturised food will drop in price, Sara claimed in 363 that the reason she wasn’t buying him any was due to the high expense but, I doubt the government would be shelling out for probably millions of littles nationwide so for it to be served there makes something for Jordan to look forward to.
I think Mia and Sara went to the same “manipulation 101” class…..🤣🤣🤣