She Still Won

"Yes?" he answered, looking up at her finally as he settled himself on the desk, grinning evilly in her direction. Anna's eyes flashed with something, which meant she knew exactly what he was doing.

'He knows,' was the first thought that passed her mind when she saw the slide. Her eyes shifted from the screen to his face. He carefully avoided her. The act was so perfect that she was sure he knew. There was paranoia and the distant memory of someone being in her room. The strange feeling she got every time she stepped in. The same one that made her check behind the curtains and under the bed every time she left the room and came back.

This was Ladislas' method to wedge the splinter deeper into his own skin. He wanted to be petty. He wanted her to rage and bite him.

"If it is like a mock debate and it is about philosophy, how do we know you will actually announce your own opinion at the end of it and not what you decide you like over the course of the class?" she asked.

There was a light gasp from the other students. They could rightly interpret what Anna was trying to say: 'You blame others for being unethical… but really, aren't you the same?'

Ladislas smiled. "Oh. Fair point well made, Miss Dunn."

He saw Anna's friend elbow her slightly. It was promptly ignored.

"How about…" he only pretended to think because she saw him in the correct light. Unlike the blind students with their misplaced faith in him, Ladislas was gravely aware of his unethical ways. He reveled in them.

He wrote down his opinion… the unadulterated one down on a piece of paper and took the steps up the theater. He closed the distance between them, noting with delight that she didn't move a muscle or squirm away as he approached. Her eyes held fire. He folded it in front of her eyes and handed her the note.

"Miss Dunn, you shall be the keeper of my secrets and judgment today. You will be responsible for keeping me honest. What do you think?"

She took the note and smiled politely. She wanted nothing more than to lure him into joining the conversation. But for a student to be that gusty and go against the curriculum was foolish. Even for her momentary reckless mindset.

"Yes, sir."

And with that, the amusement turned into mild irritation. She gave in a little too quickly for his liking.

He had goaded her outright and only she knew it, but she played along. He hadn't expected her to actually participate in the conversation when he was not arguing. Instead, she pushed her thoughts in the politest way possible.

He had not excepted her to expertly use sociology to argue. She spoke about articles written by psychologists and prison sociologists who wrote about how the panopticon was not working. That the prisoners or the civilians did not feel like they were watched, instead, they felt ignored… alone.

It was overwhelming loneliness and an expectation that someone was watching them instead.

Ladislas looked at her curiously.

In short, she threw herself under the bus by saying that no one was really watching. That even the people who stared at the unprotected CCTV cameras and the government looking through conversations… they really didn't care about that information. That civilians were truly alone and not important enough to hold the interest of a person.

As a matter of fact, Ladislas felt the exact same way. No one really cared about the private lives of others. It was just a boring job to look at people and not care about them. Most of the time, people were not being watched at all… and they wanted to be.

Only three others tried to tackle the issue but most of the class backed off from the conversation during the lecture. The other three had very idealistic takes on being watched. Ladislas saw two students falter when Anna's argument started to make sense to them, but the last one… the name of whom he didn't know, stuck to his guns.

The guy was headstrong and confident.

Hilariously, Ladislas could see the snide look this other student gave Anna. But Anna… Anna looked at nobody but Ladislas.

He pitied the boy: if she was as cut-throat as he believed her to be, she was not the kind to give in to petty classroom rivalry. Especially against a boy who thought he knew everything.

"Maybe you wouldn't feel that way if I watched you through your webcam without your permission," the boy sneered. "Maybe someone is watching you sleep and you—"

Ladislas snapped his head up to look at the fool, slouching near the front of the class, eyes fixed on Anna. She stiffly turned to look at him and then raised an eyebrow with the coldest expression Ladislas had seen her give. Her face couldn't get more scornful if she had donned on a mask.

The boy snapped his mouth shut and there was an awkward silence in the room.

"You," Ladislas spoke reluctantly. He didn't need to help her out. He barely wanted to, considering that he HAD been to her room without her consent. But when had human morals bound him? But this was one of those times when he needed to shut down an asshole. He had to as a professor.

"I suggest you think before you speak. Making such outlandish remarks will get you into trouble. As you said, you never know who is watching. You should know how close you are to being reported to the sexual harassment cell with that remark."

The boy sank into his seat, sulking. His face turned red in embarrassment. With his over-gelled hair and clean-shaven face, he reminded Ladislas of the inconsequential and grubby men Penelope liked to play around with.

He called an end to the debate. It had started as a petty desire to unsettle her and she had still won.