The following day...

Madison was on her way to class, lost in a reverie, when Regina appeared beside her.

"Hey!" Regina said brightly. "You look like you're in a good mood."

Madison nodded and smiled. "Things are getting serious with Ross. I think we-"

"Have you messed with Lauren again?" Regina interrupted, clearly not interested in Madison's relationship. "I tried the other day but I think the school, like, reset her or something."

I covered up your stupid mistakes. "That's strange," Madison lied. "Maybe it's best if we leave her alone."

Regina laughed and Madison felt a familiar surge of what she now knew was irritation. "Oh, come on! You wouldn't believe the shit I had her doing after you left. I figured out a better way to sneak her the modifier and everything. Don't you wanna hear about it?"

Madison suppressed a grimace and nodded, so Regina continued. "You know that stupid tie Dr. Cortez always wears? I think I figured out a way to print the pattern directly into the tie. That way, every day he's going in there flashing it to her. Smart, right?"

Tell her. Madison ignored the aberrant idea. "That's clever, but I still think the risk is greater than the reward."

"Are you serious? The reward is our own personal golem to fuck with anytime we want! I've been reading up on what these things can do and I have all kinds of ideas I can try. I was even thinking you could print some scripts in the lab and we could try rebinding her. You're saying you have no interest in turning Lauren into an airhead or a robot or something?"

TELL HER. "Not really." Madison tried to sound nonchalant. "She's just a golem."

"Dude, you are fucking crazy. She's not just a golem, she's-" TELL HER "-a sophisticated device-" TELL HER "-that's completely under our control!" Regina didn't seem to notice Madison's internal struggle, being completely wrapped up in her power trip. "We could do whatever we fucking want with her!"

TELL HER TELL HER TELL HER. "Listen, I'm actually not feeling well," Madison said shakily. "I think I need to-"

"What is your fucking problem?" Regina interrupted again. "You've been a complete buzzkill about this. Is it just guilt? Remember, nothing that happens to her matters because she's just a-"

"Golem," Madison said angrily. "Like me."