Bad Influence

Both us feeling much better and that comfortable sense of playfulness restored between us we start the study session by going over Trixie’s history exam. I munch on my sandwich and sip my beer as I peruse the answers. She sits beside me cross legged with her textbook in her lap.

“Women’s suffrage huh?”

“Yeah, totally boring.” She says. “If they just let women vote from the beginning then I wouldn’t have to read this boring stuff. Their suffraging causes my suffering.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.” I chuckle.

“People back then were so stupid.”

“People now are so stupid.”

“Ha!”

I flip a page and continue. Trixie sighs, her attention was already beginning to fade and we hadn’t even started yet. As I keep reading I catch her reaching for her phone.

“Nah ah ah!” I waggle a finger. “We’re studying.”

“I just need to text Tima about…” Trixie’s voice trails off as she sees the hard look on my face. “Okay.” She smiles as she mutes her phone. “Right! Ready.” She puts on a comically super serious study face, even making nerdy looking glasses appear, which makes me laugh.

I keep munching and sipping and reading the test. “Mmm.” I swallow and smack my lips. “34 seems pretty harsh. Mr. Robson hasn’t changed I see.”

“I know, right? I don’t know why he doesn’t just give me a D like the other teachers.”

“Teachers don’t give you marks Trix, you earn them yourself.”

“Ha! You sound just like Daddy.”

I grumble at the comparison.

“Okay, I’m gonna read this part then you can test me on it.” She says as she opens her book. “If I get anything wrong you can tell me and we can do it again until I get better.”

“That sounds a like a plan.” I say.

“But don’t laugh okay?”

“Okay.” I smile. “But it’s hard not to laugh around you Trix, you just make me happy.”

She giggles and nudges me. “You know what I mean.”

She takes a draw from her juice and I watch the purple liquid enter her lips then quickly dissipate into her slime and disappear. Setting down the drink she cuddles up to my arm and lays her head on my shoulder as she reads her history book. I give her a head pat and she lets out a soft coo and cuddles closer, molding her warm body against me. This was so nice.

I had thought it would be a constant chore to keep her focused, I had imagined ways of keeping her on task with flirtations and little inappropriate rewards perhaps even culminating in breaking my taboo with her if I felt ready, but surprisingly this isn’t the case. She struggles mightily but her focus remains steadfast on her work. When she had told me she studied hard she wasn’t kidding. It took visible effort for her to work through the text but she persevered like a champion. Work ethic definitely wasn’t the problem here.

Out of the corner of my eye I watch her read and see her face scrunch up each time she comes to a date or place name she needed to memorize. “1869.” I hear her whisper to herself. “1869.” She continues reading then I catch her finger scan back up to the top to double check something, then back down again to try to find her spot. Every time she came upon date, name or location she would stop and read it over a few times, whispering it to herself, before carrying on. Sometimes I hear her let out a frustrated snort and see her face cringe as she would remember something wrong and start a paragraph all over again. Minutes later she stiffens up and I hear her say, more angrily this time. “1869! Stupid.” I gently nuzzle her head and feel her body relax at my loving support. As determined as ever she starts again from the beginning. It seemed she could follow the narrative it was the details she was getting hung up on.

I turn my attention back to the test and flip another page to look over more of the answers to see my suspicion confirmed. The actual writing was good but the facts and dates were all over the place, sometimes even changing over the course of a single answer. She tries to make up for it with kindness and cuteness and flattery, putting well meaning comments and little hearts here and there around the answers, but the actual recalling of hard data was abysmal. Trixie would never make college, but we already knew this, and my mind wanders to what the future might bring for my little sister. She had already spent half her life living a human childhood and through her school years, but to what end? Where did a lone slime girl fit into the big wide world? Was all of this work she was putting toward living as a human worth it? My conversation with Dev still weighed heavy on me. I wanted to talk to Trixie about it but I needed her to be the one to broach the subject. I decide to give her a nudge.

I wait patiently for her to finish reading the section she was on before I speak. “Trix.”

“Yeah?”

“You never talk about what you want to do once you graduate.” I say. “You aren’t going on in school. You never talk about a career. You said you don’t want a husband.”

“I said I’m not chasing a husband, that I don’t need one.” She corrects me. “Not that I don’t want one.”

“Sure.” I say. “So are you going work or volunteer or travel or…what?”

“I dunno.” She shrugs. “What are YOU gonna do? Are you going to marry Vespy? Can I be the maid of honor?”

“Quit deflecting.” I chuckle. “We’re not talking about me. Come on Trix, what are your plans?”

“I don’t have any plans. I told you, I just wanna hang out and have some fun.”

“That’s it? Just have fun all the time? For your whole life?”

“Ha! I wish.” She says as she runs her fingers over the page of the book on her lap. “I’m just a slime Jake. We don’t do important things like you humans. I don’t think anybody is going to write books about me. Not like Susan B. Anthony or these women in here.”

“You’re important to me.”

She looks up with a sweet smile and a gentle blush across her cheeks. “Oh Jake. Why do things have to change? Everything is so good right now.” She hugs my arm tight. “The whole family is together. You finally know about us. We have a pet. Everything is perfect now.” She sighs. “But soon…I’ll graduate and not know what to do anymore. Luci will probably find a way to go to university. You’ll get a job and probably move away or something. I wish things could stay just like they are right now…forever.”

“I wish we had forever Trix.” I turn and hug her. “But just think of how boring things would be if nothing ever changed. Even if everything was perfect, imagine the same thing everyday?”

“Yeah. That’s true.” She hugs me back. “But I’m glad they’re perfect now.”

“And who knows, maybe things will get even better than perfect.” I kiss her with a little extra suck at the end.

“Ooo.” She quivers. “I hope so.”

She falls quiet. Despite the opportunity to talk about it she seemed no closer to telling me her secret so I let it drop.

“Trix. How much do you honestly care about passing this test?”

She pulls back and peers up at me with a guilty look. “I know it’s important to you and Daddy and Grandma. I…I want you to be proud of me.”

“Aww Trix. You silly little slime.” I pinch her cheeks. “I’m already proud of you! That will never change.” Grabbing the sides of her head I stare into her eyes. “You can’t live your life for other people. What do YOU want Trix?”

She looks down at her textbook with something approaching disgust. “Well…I do kinda hate it. I kinda really hate it. But I don’t want to fail again. But…ugh! I don’t know.” She thinks a minute. “Honestly Jake…I just don’t care. School is fine I guess. I like my schoolmates, but they’re all gonna be gone next year. It sucks being left behind. And the classes, ugh! Math, history, science…I don’t care about any of it. And half of it’s wrong anyway with all the magic stuff cut out.” She thinks some more. “Writing’s fun though. I like that class.”

“You’ve always been a strong writer.” I say. “Maybe you could be the one to write a book about you. The first slime author. Memoirs of a Slime Girl, I could see it now. My sister on the monster’s best seller list.”

She titters. “Could you imagine!?”

“I could imagine actually.” I say encouragingly. “I really could. You should think about it.” I motion toward the stairs. “Hey, want to get out of here? Head into town maybe. I wouldn’t mind you showing me around some more. Maybe introduce me to some of those goblins.”

“Ew.” She scrunches her nose. “But, what about the history test?”

“No worries there.” I say. “I mean if I just happen to shape your toy into an eye and just happen to leave it looking right at a sheet of…”

“Cheating!?” She exclaims. “You want me to cheat!” Her laughter sends jiggles all through her body.

“I never said that.” I say innocently.

“You are the worst! Ha ha ha!”

“Are you saying I’m a bad influence?” I act appalled. “Me?”

“Yes!” She chirps. “You’re bad. I knew I got it from somewhere. He he he he!”

“So, is it a date?” I ask.

“A date?”

“A night on the town, hanging out, whatever you want to call it.” I nod. “I mean, if you’re too embarrassed to go on a date with your brother I’d totally understand.”

“NO! I mean yes! I mean…” She laughs. “I’d love to go on a date with you!”

“Great.” I kiss her cheek. “Give me some time to get ready and we’ll be on our way.”