The place you lose your fears

Nick’s heart thumped in his chest. He looked at his stepmother, his blood freezing in his veins. He was dripping wet, and the warmth from the bath was quickly leaving his veins. A chill rolled down his spine, and he shivered.

Ella stumbled away from him. In contrast to Nick, her face was as hot as a bonfire. She chewed anxiously on her lip and looked around, not sure what was going on.

“Wh-why are we here?” She stammered, looking hastily at Amelia. Staring at the cold-eyed blonde was easier for her than looking at the very naked boy not ten feet away from her. Yes, she was a little uncomfortable around Amelia sometimes due to the older woman resembling her stepmother superficially, but Amelia had been very kind to her, and Ella was starting to warm up to the other woman.

And right now, she seemed to be the only person who understood what was going on.

Ella wasn’t wrong about that, either. Amelia had a very good idea of what was going on, and why. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t surprised.

The present situation wasn’t exactly a positive one for her.

With a sigh on her lips, she rubbed her forehead and let her exasperation show.

“Good morning,” she said brusquely, crinkling her nose. “I presume that the two of you are here for a good reason, then?”

“It-it’s not like we wanted to come here,” Nick stammered. He was still freezing. He stealthily crept over to the window, where at least the exposure to direct sunlight could hopefully warm up his bones. He glanced surreptitiously over at Ella, and saw the look of embarrassment on her face.

“We were just in the bathroom together!” Ella squeaked out, clenching her fists. “And-and Nick… Nick was naked, but we weren’t DOING anything, I swear!”

Her hand shot to her wrist as she felt the throbbing presence of Cinder in her skull. But without her rubber-band, there was nothing she could do. Desperation seized her breast and she looked frantically over at Nick, then at Amelia. “I… I don’t…!”

She started swatting the side of her head, trying to fend off her other self. Even after the stimulating night that Cinder had experienced, she was fully recharged and determined to ensure that nothing bad happened to Ella.

“Stop that!” Amelia’s eyes widened. She swiftly walked across the classroom and grabbed Ella by the wrist to keep her from harming herself. “What do you think you’re doing, young lady?” She demanded, narrowing her eyes.

Ella swallowed. “I… I didn’t, um…”

She glanced warily over at Nick, her heart pounding in her chest. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to go, but… she didn’t know what to do… she felt so nervous and unsupported right now, she just… she just didn’t want…

“It’s okay,” Nick said as gently as possible, trying to smooth things over. “There’s nothing to panic about here, okay, Amelia?”

Amelia looked at her stepson and raised her eyebrow. “…I see. My apologies.” She let go of Ella and stepped back, adjusting her glasses.

That was the best Ella was going to get. She probably could have apologized more thoroughly if she’d thought to, but right now she was too shaken by the present turn of events.

Nick couldn’t really blame her for getting flustered, either. With a sigh on his lips he just wished someone could tell him what was going on.

This had Echo written all over it.

“Hello there!”

Echo stood in the doorway, dressed in a school uniform. The colors had been drained from the catholic schoolgirl costume, just showing another way that she made mockery of things. And the gleeful grin on her face?

Amelia wasn’t exactly pleased by the demonstration.

“…This is your doing, I take it?” She coldly regarded the host. Two confrontations in the classroom in two days. Yes, Echo was definitely making her the target for something, that much was clear.

Echo smirked.

“Why, yes, it is,” she replied, nodding smugly. “I hope that isn’t a problem, Amelia?”

Amelia’s eye twitched. She could respond to what the other woman was saying, but she had a feeling that if she did that, it would not go over well for her. Echo seemed to be goading her, trying to get a response out of her, and Amelia wasn’t interested in falling for her games.

Instead, she sighed and shook her head.

“This is my transformation, isn’t it?” She asked, playing on her initial suspicions.

Echo blinked. “…Very perceptive of you,” she said with a nod, tapping her cane on the floor. “Yes, that’s correct!”

Amelia’s transformation appeared on the blackboard for everyone to get a good look at.

• Private Lessons: Once each round, Amelia will find herself waking up alone in the room with another contestant. Neither woman will be allowed to leave the room until Amelia has completed teaching a predetermined lesson, and her student has learned it. [NOTE: Curriculum of the day will be determined by the host.] (Teacher)

“Wait, what?!” Nick didn’t even think of that. “Hold on a second, that’s not right!”

Echo looked at him. “It’s not?” The smile never left her face. “Why isn’t that so? Hmm? Can you tell me, Nick? What isn’t ‘right’ about what we’re seeing here?” She asked giddily, tilting her head to the side and sauntering over to him.

Nick narrowed his eyes into a glare.

“For starters, it says ‘alone’,” Amelia pointed out, gesturing to the text. “And that is clearly not the case here.”

She turned to Ella and Nick, pointing out the obvious- she had not, in fact, woken up “alone” in the room with another contestant.

“Ah, semantics,” Echo scoffed, waving her hand. “The purpose of the transformation is for you and another contestant- in this case, our sweet little princess, here- to wake up alone in the classroom so that you can have a private lesson together.”

She turned back to Nick. “Nick here, he’s not a student. I think it would be more appropriate to consider him… hmm…” Echo scrunched up her face and pretended to think. She stroked her chin thoughtfully. “…Oh!” Her eyes brightened. “Consider him an educational supplement! A teaching tool, as it were, like a ruler.”

Echo’s eyes drifted down towards Nick’s exposed crotch. “…Well, maybe a few inches too short for that, I will admit, but you know how it goes. Budget cuts and all that!”

Nick glowered at her, and Amelia made a sickened expression.

Ella just looked confused at Echo’s taunt went right over her head.

“For the record,” Amelia scowled, storming towards the other woman, “Nicholas’ growth in that regard is perfectly acceptable. I will not allow you to slander him with improper insinuations about the size of his genitalia, understood?”

Echo just smirked at her.

“Well, you would know, wouldn’t you?” She taunted, tapping her cane. The text on the blackboard shifted once again, displaying the relevant transformation.

• Developmental Concerns: Amelia is still Nick’s stepmother, which means she is very invested in his growth and development. She will find herself confronted with intrusive thoughts at all hours of the day concerning Nick’s body, particularly his penis. She will try to rationalize this as something completely natural for a mother to be concerned about, so long as her thoughts just remain thoughts. (MILF)

Amelia’s face burned as she looked at the snickering woman with contempt on her face.

But she had to restrain herself.

If Echo was allowed to get under her skin, then that would be akin to a defeat. And Amelia would not allow that.

It would be improper for the other girl to get the better of her like that. Amelia was determined to see this through.

“Look, you guys, um…” Nick wanted to step in, but the fact that he was still naked was making that difficult, even if nobody was looking directly at him. “…Echo, can I please have some clothes?” He begged.

Echo turned her head towards him with swiftness that would make a slug look like an Olympic runner. She pressed her lips together in a neutral expression and stared at him for a long time with flat green eyes.

“…And why exactly would the teaching tool need clothes, again?” She posed the question.

Nick glowered at her. His embarrassment was quickly being overshadowed by his irritation, and while he knew that was probably Echo’s point with all this, that didn’t mean he had to like it. “Echo, come off it, you said it yourself this morning, my job today is to make Ella more comfortable. And having me naked in the classroom is the opposite of that!”

Echo kept staring at him. Then she turned to Ella. “…Is that a fact?” She asked dryly.

“Eh!? Uh…” Ella had been so confused by what was happening that she was a little slow on the uptake. Not sure how to properly respond to the challenge Echo was posing to her, she looked warily over at Nick for a moment and bit her lip.

It took a conscious effort not to draw her eyes down towards his crotch. “I-I guess… it’s very distracting,” she stammered out.

“I didn’t ask you if it was distracting, I’m asking you, does it make you uncomfortable?” Echo pressed, trying not to let how much she was enjoying this show on her face.

“Err…” Ella met Nick’s eyes again. This should have been an easy question to answer, so why was she having a tough time formulating her feelings?

“Not uncomfortable for him, to be clear,” Echo clarified. “Uncomfortable for you.”

Ella gulped. “I, um… I would… prefer if Nick had on his clothes right now,” she finally managed to stammer out.

Echo was satisfied with that answer. “Just for now, then? Well, if that’s the way you want it, I suppose that’s fine.”

The flustered girl’s eyes widened behind her bangs. “W-wait, no, I didn’t mean it like that!” She exclaimed. That made it sound like she wanted Nick to be naked later! That… that was just a terrible thing, or whatever. Probably.

But Echo was all too happy to accommodate the other girl’s frantic request. With a tap of her cane, she gladly fulfilled her obligations, and gave Nick some clothes.

…

“Seriously!?” Nick still had to cover himself. “Underwear!?”

Echo had given him a crummy pair of boxers, that was it. And they were tight, too, he could barely fit them on. This caused an obvious bulge to be displayed even though he was trying to keep his erection down, resulting in an outfit that might just have been more distracting than if he was completely naked.

…Which, of course, was Echo’s entire point, as judged by the gleeful expression on her face.

“What? That will make things much easier for you both,” Echo taunted him with amusement. “…By ‘you both’ I meant Ella and Amelia, to be clear,” she added. “I don’t care if things are easy or not for you, Nick.”

Yeah, she’d made that quite obvious by this point.

Nick glared at her.

“Are you simply here to taunt?” Amelia demanded.

“Not at all!” Echo shook her head. She glanced at the blonde woman. “Nice pajamas, by the way.”

Amelia just kept glaring.

Without hesitating, Echo tapped her cane once more, and Amelia was fully-clothed. Instead of wearing the oversized, modest nightgown she went to sleep in, Echo had her dressed up in something out of her closet. A tight pencil skirt and white blouse, the sort of clothes she would normally wear if she was teaching.

Amelia wasn’t exactly appreciative, though. Even though Echo had gone to the trouble of fixing her hair, and everything!

Some people were just so ungrateful, honestly.

“…And that just leaves you,” Echo said, turning to Ella. She’d saved the flustered latina for last. She crinkled her nose and frowned in disapproval. “You realize that you smell like a whorehouse, don’t you?” She pointed out.

“How do you know what a whorehouse smells like?” Nick challenged her.

Echo ignored him. She tapped her cane on the floor, and a dark light shot out, wrapping around Ella and swallowing her whole, transforming her rumpled, fluid-stained maid costume into something a little more suitable for a student.

“EH!?” Ella looked down in shock. She was wearing a schoolgirl uniform! It clung to her slender frame, just a little too short in certain places and too tight in others. Echo had been generous and even restored her rubber-band, but that was hardly the issue here!

She’d also decided not to give Ella any panties to replace the pair that she’d ruined last night. After all, good behavior like going commando should be rewarded, shouldn’t it? If Ella was making the right choices, Echo was happy to support her!

That’s what a good host was supposed to do.

“…There we go! All better!” She chirped, clapping her hands together. In her eyes, everything was just perfect now. And no, she didn’t care about Amelia glaring, or Nick shivering, or Ella desperately tugging her skirt down out of fear of a slight breeze, none of that mattered to her at the moment.

She was perfectly content with things just the way they were!

“So, let me get this straight,” Nick said, trying to figure out the proper way to word his assumptions. “You set this up, so that the lesson Amelia is teaching this round is for Ella, isn’t that right?”

Echo nodded. “Yes, that’s correct,” she confirmed.

“And I’m… some sort of teacher’s aide, or something?”

“A tool,” Echo clarified. She was very particular with her terminology. “Precision of language is important in the classroom, Nick. You should know that.”

Amelia almost rolled her eyes. But that would be far too juvenile of a response.

Ella bit her lip. She could already guess what these “lessons” would entail, and she wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea.

Neither was Nick.

He let out a sigh. “…I’m guessing that this lesson you’ve got in mind… it’s not going to be something we’ll enjoy, is it?”

“Oh, you should enjoy it very much,” Echo said, her eyes shining.

That wasn’t what he meant.

“A sexual lesson,” Amelia bluntly cut to the chase, saying what everyone in the room had been dancing around.

Ella let out a tiny squeak and jumped. Her hand scrambled to her wrist, and she snapped her rubber-band, grateful that she finally had it back. “Thwap!”

Echo turned to Amelia and crossed her arms over her chest. She cocked her hip to the side and shot a taunting look at the teacher.

“…Of course it’s going to be sexual,” she bluntly answered right back, matching Amelia’s energy. “You’re on Harem Hotel, remember? Did you think that every round you’d be helping someone with their illiteracy or something? Please.”

Amelia’s eye twitched. She knew that it would be asking too much for something like that. Frankly, she should have anticipated an outcome like this, but she had overlooked the possibility. “…I am not objecting,” she said plainly, shaking her head, “I am simply curious as to whether or not you have fully thought out the consequences of what you are proposing. Have you?”

Echo shrugged.

“…Your transformation says that the host is the one who gets to determine the curriculum,” Echo reminded the other woman. “So, that’s what I’ve done. I’ve picked out a bit of curriculum that should be just perfect for our little shy wallflower here, especially given what she experienced last night. …Yes, Cinder may have been the one in the driver’s seat, but that hardly matters, does it?”

She shook her head and turned to Ella. “Ella, dear, you would like to touch Nick’s cock, wouldn’t you?” She crooned in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Ella shuddered slightly. “W-well, I…”

She glanced over at Nick, and bit her lip. “I mean, that… that’s… …It’s only fair, r-right?” She mumbled, her face burning. “Cinder did things with him, s-so I mean… it would be okay for me to do some… there’s nothing wrong with that…”

“No, you’re right, there’s certainly not!” Echo shook her head gleefully. “Exactly the right mindset to have!”

“Why does that need to be a lesson, though?” Nick protested. He would much rather prefer Ella taking things at her own pace, as opposed to being forced into it by Amelia’s transformation. “Echo, I don’t think-”

“It’s not that you don’t think, it’s that you’re not thinking,” Echo interrupted him, shooting Nick a sharp glare. “This is the curriculum. Understood? Ella isn’t some simpering little shy girl who can’t do anything without being pushed into it. Are you, Ella?”

She gave the latina an expectant look.

Ella stared back at her. “No!” She protested, shaking her head. “I-I’m not! B-but that’s not… That’s not what Nick’s saying, right?” She looked over at him. “He’s just concerned for my wellbeing, that’s all this is..."

Nick sighed. Ella wasn’t wrong. He really was concerned about her. But as much as it stung to admit, he couldn’t argue with Echo.

If this sort of framework would actually make it easier for Ella to embrace her… obligations towards fairness, it would be a jerk move of him to protest about it.

He wanted Ella to be more comfortable doing this sort of thing with him. If Ella grew more comfortable with it, then Cinder might hopefully do the same. He wanted to develop his relationship with both sides of Ella’s personality, and this was the day to do it.

Echo might have been heavy-handed in her methods, but the annoying thing was that her choice wasn’t necessarily wrong.

Even if Nick thought she was being a colossal bitch about the whole thing.

With a sigh, he nodded, and turned to the flustered Ella.

“I’ll be open to it,” he said, “if this is really what you want. Okay, Ella?”

She let out a tiny little relieved sigh and nodded, glad that he wasn’t going to think less of her for this weird situation that they found themselves in.

Echo grinned from ear to ear. “That’s perfect! Then please- begin the lesson, Amelia! I’m sure you have a lot to teach our little virgin here about how to properly handle your stepson’s cock!”

Then she disappeared with a tap of her cane before anybody could say anything, leaving the three of them alone in the room.

Nick realized the enormity of his mistake. It had completely slipped his mind that Amelia would be involved with all this. But there was no going back now.