The cafeteria

You're still feeling a bit odd about the professors reaction, and you head down to the school's cafeteria to get yourself something that could pass as breakfast.

Usually the cafteria is full with people, but right now there seems to be only a handfull of students hastily passing through on their way to their classes. You wonder if you're supposed to be somewhere as well, but right now you just have to get something to eat.

You buy a sandwich from Roy, the old guy running the cafeteria, and settle down in a chair to eat. When you're nearly finished, your friend Lenny comes by and sees you sitting there.

"Hey!" He says, stopping beside your table. "I didn't see you at midterm. You overslept?"

"Yeah..." You reply wearily, still a bit irritated at yourself. "But it seems like Porter will let me do it tomorrow instead!"

"What?! No way! It's a one chance only! She can't let you do that!" Lenny exclaims, looking quite surprised.

"I know! I guess she must like me or something!"

"You know that's just so NOT true!" He laughs. "She must've been out of her mind, or just playing a trick on you!"

"She sounded pretty honest..." You say, even if you feel that there has to be some sort of catch. The professor's acting was certainly strange... "Damn, I wish I had a little more money on me, so I could get some juice or something to drink to this! The bread must be a day old or more!"

"Heh, I'm not going to buy it for you, if that's what you're asking!" Lenny grins.

"Yes you will!" You tell him jokingly while taking another bite of your dry sandwich.

"Yeah, okay..." He agrees, and then heads over to Roy before you can stop him.

Staring at Lenny over your shoulder, you actually see him buy a bottle of orange juice! For a moment, you think about Porter's strange reaction, but then you shrug and tell yourself that Lenny's probably just messing with you.

He just seem a little confused however, when he returns to your table, and puts the bottle of juice down in front of you.

You eye both him and the bottle suspiciously, then open it and smell the contents. Orange juice, quite fresh even... You quickly gulp down a third of it, before Lenny changes his mind.

"Hey, Lenny...?" You ask him, putting the bottle down again. "Have you EVER bought me something before, or even done anything else I've told you to?"

"Umm, no... Not that I can think of, really..." He replies, still looking quite confused.

"So, why did you just buy me a bottle of orange juice?"

"I have no idea...!" He says, staring back and forth between you and the bottle through his glasses while scratching his head. "I just... did what you told me to..."

"That's exactly what Porter told me..." You say, trying to figure what the hell is going on here. "So Lenny...? Would you drink the rest of this bottle of orange juice?"

"No! No way! I hate Orange juice! And besides, you drank directly from the bottle, and I certainly don't want to risk getting any of your eventual diseases!" Both of you laugh a little. The disease part is on your usual level of humour, and it's good that he can actually joke about his paranoia for bacilli. It's also quite well-known that he, oddly enough, dislikes most sorts of fruit flavoured juices.

"Okay... Let me rephrase myself then..." You say, thinking deeply. "How about: Lenny, drink the rest of the orange juice!"

"Yeah, sure!" He smiles, grabs the bottle and, much to your surprise, lift it to his lips and start gulping from it! It's quite clear he doesn't like the taste however, and he grimaces considerably when he puts the empty bottle back down on the table! "Why the hell did I do that?!"

"Because you like orange juice, Lenny. And you don't really mind getting some of my bacilli." You tell him, watching him closely as he suddenly stop grimacing and instead start licking his lips with an even more confused look on his face.

"Shit...!" He exclaims. "How... how did you do that?!"

"I don't know..." You say, starting to feel seriously uncomfortable about this weird newfound ability that seems to make people do and think what you tell them to... "Just forget about the whole thing, Lenny. We never had this discussion, okay?"

He gets something blank in his eyes, and then he just stares at you as if he barely knows who you are!

"Uhm... Hi!" He says, sounding very confused as he starts to look at the surroundings. "I... uh... I didn't see you on midterms today... You overslept?"

"Yeah, I did..." You reply, staring at him in bewildrement.

"Tough luck! What did Porter say?"

"Not much... She'll let me redo the exam tomorrow." You're getting a feeling of deja-vu here, but Lenny doesn't seem to notice at all. Instead he rather seems to have overcome the initial confusion, and is now making jokes about how much Porter must hate you if she's going as far as open lies just to trick you!

You don't hear much of what he's saying though, since you're trying to figure what this strange talent can be used for, and how it works more exactly... You could probably keep playing around with poor Lenny to test your ability more, but it doesn't really feel right to do that to a nice guy like him. Even though it's probably a lot safer then doing it to someone unknown, since he might at least be able to forgive you if something strange happens...