Melanie continued stroking 505's paw while they finished their breakfasts.
Melanie felt guilty. She had almost gotten 505 in trouble. He was the one good thing about this place. He was her only friend there. She didn't mean to hurt him.
Melanie lost count of how many prayers of forgiveness she had offered up, but she had yet to say anything out loud. That needed to change.
When 505 had calmed down enough, Melanie whispered, "505, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. I was stupid. From now on, I'll try to..."
505 gave her a hug. He didn't mean to upset Melanie either. He couldn't bear having her be sad, too.
Melanie hugged him back, happy to know that all was forgiven.
"Your friendship makes me gag," Dementia chimed in from down the table. "Bleh!"
Just then, the door to the dining room opened. It was Flug looking much more composed than before.
Melanie looked at Flug, squeezing 505's paw nervously.
"What's up, dork?" Dementia asked. "Are ya gonna say something?"
"Dementia, I think Black Hat had something for you to do today," Flug said.
"Ahahaha!" Dementia squealed as she leaped over the table and dashed out the door behind Flug. "I'm coming, bon bon!"
As soon as Dementia was gone, Flug turned to Melanie who was fidgeting nervously next to 505 and said, "Okay, Melanie. I think it's time for us to get started."
Melanie stood up in her chair and grabbed her bags.
"Wonderful…" she said, her voice sounding monotone.
505 stepped up behind Melanie to offer his support.
"So, where's the classroom?" Melanie asked.
"Follow me," Flug said, turning on his heels and walking ahead.
With a reluctant sigh, Melanie followed the doctor while 505 followed her. Flug led Melanie and 505 into an elevator. As soon as Flug pressed some buttons, the elevator door closed and they were on their way.
The trio remained silent. Melanie looked at 505 nervously for support. 505 looked back at Melanie with a smile trying to quietly reassure her as much as he possibly could. Flug glanced back and noted this behavior mentally without letting either of them know that he noticed the interaction.
In less than a minute, the elevator stopped and opened its doors.
"Here, we are," Flug said walking out of the elevator with Melanie and 505 following behind him. "We had to…uh…modify a few things since we normally don't teach students here, but it should be fine since we have cleared a room for a classroom."
Melanie and 505 quietly followed Flug down the hall until he stopped in front of a room and opened the door.
Inside was a classroom with black walls and floors, on either side of the room were bookshelves filled with books which let Melanie know she would have to do a lot of reading. A singular desk was in the middle of the room. At the front of the room was a desk and chair for Flug with a white screen behind him to reflect the images of the overhead projector hanging from the ceiling.
All things considered, Melanie thought it looked very close to a normal classroom, minus the one desk, the obvious lack of windows, and the Black Hat propaganda posters decorated with love notes and hearts from Dementia that Melanie just now noticed were covering the walls…
On second thought, Melanie realized that the only non-menacing thing about the room was the bathroom in the back.
"How welcoming," Melanie muttered sarcastically as she and 505 entered the room.
"Well, regular schools aren't very welcoming either," Flug replied as he sat down at his desk. "Now, take your seat if you please."
"My other school wasn't like this," Melanie retorted as she reluctantly sat down in her desk and pulled a notebook and pen out of her satchel while 505 sat down next to her.
"505, why don't you go upstairs and take care of some of your chores?" 505 asked. "I can handle Melanie from here."
505 looked at Flug sadly. Then he looked at Melanie sadly and gave her a hug.
"I'll be alright, 505," Melanie whispered. "Just keep me in your prayers and keep that smile on your face. Okay?"
505 let Melanie go, gave her a final sad smile, and exited the room.
Flug shut the door behind him, walked back to the front of the room, and said, "So, Melanie de la Muerte, what do you know about evil?"
A PowerPoint presentation went up with Grim scratching his head with that very question above his head.
"Uh…" Melanie said trying to search for a clever response. "It hurts people?"
"Uh, not all the time?" Flug replied in a mocking tone. "Okay, I will admit that you have a point. Evil involves hurting other people much of the time, but evil is not always necessarily bad."
"Yeah, it is," Melanie retorted. "That's kinda its definition."
"How so?"
"Well, for instance, if I didn't stop those thugs from robbing that convenience store, they would have hurt that old man. That's evil."
"Are you sure? I spoke to Wesley and he was just trying to get Mr. Jenkins to give him his protection money since he worked on his turf."
"That wasn't their turf! That just makes it worse."
"Which brings us to the first kind of evil," Flug said merrily changing the slides of the slideshow. "Feudalism!"
"You're not even listening," Melanie grumbled under her breath.
"Speaking of listening, I got something for ya," Flug said placing a voice recording device on Melanie's desk. "Your parents told me you used one for your school accommodations, so I made you an updated version. All the buttons are clearly labeled, so it should be quite simple to use. What do you think?"
"Wow," Melanie said in genuine surprise. "This program actually got something right."
"Of course," Flug said. "We tailor our programs to accommodate the special needs of all young villains."
"I'm not a villain," Melanie retorted.
"Not now, you're not," Flug replied. "But soon, you'll have to be since it doesn't look like your family is giving you much of a choice."
Melanie couldn't think of a clever response, so she looked away while Flug turned the voice recorder on.
"Now, speaking of feudalism…" Flug began.
Flug proceeded to lecture while Melanie struggled to pay attention and stay awake.