1 My desk mate, Tiffany, is basically a princess. On the last day of school before summer break, she asked me, "Should I go to Paris or Tokyo for the next three weeks?" I asked her, "Should I go back to my grandma's in Idaho to dig potatoes or detassel corn? Eight hours a day, two hundred bucks, cash." Tiffany, in a fit of pity, offered me a gig. She said her cousin, also a rising high school senior, had a serious gaming addiction. Apparently, he was desperate for someone to discipline him, to literally beat the addiction out of him. He wanted to hire a tutor who could get physical. The pay? Two grand a day, room and board included. Tiffany even thoughtfully provided me with a starter kit: a ruler, a riding crop, and a thick leather belt. I followed the address to a mansion in the hills. I rang the bell for what felt like forever before the door finally opened. A handsome guy with bleached blond hair scowled at me. "You're a girl?" I slapped him across the face. His artfully arranged bangs flipped to the other side. "Don't be sexist," I said sweetly. "Respect women." He was stunned. "Did you just hit me?" I gave him a deep, formal bow. "My apologies. Tiffany told me this is how you like it." He stared at me for a solid ten seconds, his eyes darting away. A slow blush crept up his neck. "Damn it," he muttered. "How did she know I..." He cleared his throat, suddenly flustered. "F-fine, come in." 2 He led me up to a room on the third floor. It was a gamer's paradise, with multiple massive screens and a glowing, transparent PC tower. I'd never seen anything like it. "So," I asked, "shall we begin?" He plopped into a gaming chair. "You can use that setup," he said, pointing to an identical station next to his. "How are your gaming skills?" he asked, putting on his headset. "Tiffany said you're a high-rank player, that you could carry me... whoa, what the hell?! Why did my screen go black?" I emerged from under the desk. "Because I unplugged your power cord." "What is wrong with you?!" I pulled the ruler from my back pocket and gave his butt a sharp whack. "If you swear again," I said with a smile, "I'll use this on your mouth." He yelped, clutching his rear and then covering his mouth. "Who are you? What did Tiffany send you here for?" "My name is Chloe," I said. "I'm here to tutor you." His rebellious streak flared up. "I told her to find me a gaming partner! Not a damn tutor!" He tried to bolt, but I slammed him against the door and locked it. He struggled, and I pressed my body against his back to hold him in place. He suddenly went still, his breathing becoming heavy. "What... what are you doing?" I leaned in, my lips brushing his ear. "Studying, of course." For some reason, all the fight went out of him. Maybe I'm just good at handling things. I've wrestled pigs at my grandma's, after all. In the dimly lit room, I asked him, "What's your name?" The tough guy was all bravado. He trembled slightly. "L-Liam." 3 Liam called his cousin. Her phone was off. "You can go home," he said. "I don't need a tutor." "I can't," I replied. "I've already been paid." He pulled out his phone. "How much did she give you?" "Thirty grand." He immediately tried to Venmo me. "I'll give you a hundred grand to get out of my house right now." I declined the payment and confiscated his phone. I took the leather belt from my waist, tied his hands behind his back, and pushed him into the chair. I opened a textbook and started the lesson. He refused to cooperate, standing up to leave. I pushed him back down. He stood up again. I slapped him, hard. "Sit down," I said, my voice ice cold. He let out a soft gasp. Still, he wouldn't sit. I grabbed the riding crop. "Do I have to hurt you to make you happy?" I snapped it against his legs. "Does this feel good? Huh? You're just asking for it!" One of the hits must have stung because he actually tried to fight back, raising his fists in a weak imitation of a boxer. "Meow meow combo punch!" He was definitely trying to provoke me, wanting me to hit harder. So I did. The crop whistled through the air. CRACK! "Ow! I was just kidding!" he yelped, clutching his head. Finally, blushing, he sat down. When I opened the door three hours later, a middle-aged woman was standing there. Liam, still tied up, looked mortified. "Mom..." His mom looked from him to me, a little flustered. "Are you two... playing?" "No," I said. "I'm the tutor Tiffany sent." She was shocked. "He's actually studying?" "For three hours straight," I confirmed. She handed me a set of keys. "Then you're in charge now, Miss Chloe." Liam was still defiant. "Who said I wanted to study?!" His mom pulled out her phone and showed us his April Fool's Day post: [Hiring a hitman to hold a knife to my throat and make me study. Must not actually kill me.] She gave him a knowing look. "Don't be difficult, Liam. Tiffany's terrified of you. She would never do this unless you told her to." Liam: "!!" 4 It turned out Liam and I went to the same school. We could study together after classes. We were in his study until dark, and he finally threw down his pen. "I'm completely drained... I have nothing left to give..." He said he had to use the restroom. I untied him and escorted him to the door. When he came out, he was blushing, begging me not to stand guard next time. The pressure was too much. After dinner, we went to his home gym. He worked out his frustration on the weights, then threw the barbell down on a towel. I walked over, lifted one end with a single hand, and pulled the towel out. I'd been doing farm work since I was a kid; lifting heavy things was second nature. What's he making such a fuss about? This is easy. I turned around and saw him staring at me, his jaw on the floor. He suddenly announced he was done working out and wanted to go study. 5 Liam was actually pretty smart, so I didn't push him too hard. I let him go to bed at midnight. I was asleep in the guest room when the security alarm went off. Liam had made a run for it. His mom was grabbing the car keys to go after him, but I stopped her. We checked the security cameras and saw him sneak into a storage closet. I stomped down the stairs loudly and flicked on the light in the closet. "Are you hiding?" I sang out in a creepy voice. "Ready or not, here I come! Where is our little boy hiding...?" I dramatically checked behind the curtains, then under a table. I flung open the main cabinet door. "Aha! Found you!" Liam, a six-foot-plus guy, was curled into a tiny ball, trembling. "You're terrifying!" I dragged him out. "Why are you hiding? Isn't studying fun? You learned over 100 new vocabulary words today!" "You're force-feeding me!" he wailed. "I can't take any more!" I pointed to his head. "But your brain is begging for more. It wants me to push it to its absolute limit." "This is insane! You're going to break me!" "Don't struggle," I said with a smile, dangling the shiny silver handcuffs his mom had given me. "If you run again, I'll lock you in the basement and we'll study until you don't know what day it is." Liam: "!!!" 6 The next morning, Liam was up early, reviewing vocabulary. But his motivation was low. I brought in a pet rat. Liam, who was terrified of rodents, shot upright. "Get that thing away from me!" "But he's so cute," I cooed, dangling the rat in front of his face. "Okay, 200 words. For every one you get wrong, I'm putting him down your pants and tying the drawstring." "You're a psycho!" he screamed, tied to his chair and unable to escape. "Keep yelling, and I'll do it right now." The rat's tail brushed his arm, and he shrieked. "Okay, okay! I'll do it! I'll study!" I put the rat back in its cage. "Good boy." Later, during a quiz, he got stuck. "The word for 'sensitive' is..." "Uh..." I reached for the cage. "SENSITIVE!" he yelled. The adrenaline was a powerful study aid. After a few hours of this, he passed out from exhaustion. 7 The next morning, at 5 AM, he refused to get out of bed. I leaned over him, whispering like a demon. "Still lying there, your majesty? As you should. You are the king, after all." He opened his eyes. His hands and feet were tied to the bedposts. I started layering wet paper towels on his face. "You just rest. Your humble servant will be back later." Liam: "!!!" From then on, his alarm would go off at 5 AM, and he'd spring out of bed like a jack-in-the-box. He became a model student. All he did was study, eat, and use the bathroom. His obedience was almost suspicious. Then I caught him using the smart fridge's screen to text his friends. They had a whole system worked out with emojis. Friend: ? (game) + ? (on)? Liam: ? (what) + ?(time)? Friend: ? (tonight) + ? (three). Liam: 6785753 (our usual spot). That night, a shadow crept into my room and stole the keys from my nightstand. It disabled the alarm, snuck out the back, and hopped a fence into a waiting yellow Lamborghini. "Bro, you're free!" his friend cried, hugging him. "Shut up and log on!" Liam hissed. I appeared in front of the car's headlights, a ghostly smile on my face. "Going somewhere, darling?" The screams from inside the car were epic. 8 My bodyguards threw Liam back into his room. He was huddled on the bed, shaking. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to play one game!" I grabbed a fistful of his bleached hair. "And here I was, thinking you were actually starting to love learning. But you were just thinking about that stupid game the whole time, you little cheater!" He seemed to... enjoy being yelled at. He swallowed hard. "W-what are you going to do to me?" "What am I going to do?" I said, my voice dripping with menace. "I'm going to destroy it. I'm going to make you watch as I take your precious game and humiliate it. Then you'll know what true suffering is." I held up his phone. He panicked. "What are you doing with my phone?!" "Keep yelling, and I'll post your browser history." Liam: "..." I kicked the back of his knees, forcing him to kneel. "Oh, and by the way, I'm going to take your account, download a bunch of dating sims, and spam all your friends with notifications. I'll change your algorithm so all you see are thirst traps of shirtless guys. You can even watch the screen recordings of me playing, if you want. See how your precious account moans for me..." "NO!" he begged, his eyes wide with horror. "I'll do anything! I'll study, I swear! Just don't do that to my account!" I let out my best evil villain laugh. "I don't want to torture you, darling. But you just won't behave." "I'll be good! I promise!" he cried, a crazed look in his eyes. "Every problem you assign, I'll do it! Every chapter you highlight, I'll memorize it!"
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "385524", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel