Once we got to her house, the driver, 'Drew', pulled up to the front door. She grabbed my handle and climbed out of the car. Her house was huge, the kind of building that you see as you drive past and think "I could throw the best parties there..." except, you'd never drive past it, because it's hidden away from the rest of the world in an area that only houses like that are in. Obviously, I'd never been to her house before, but it was very much what I expected. It was very modern, with several stories, and an overall grey look to it. Not quite... I think people called it 'brutal' or something, but kinda close? I couldn't see much of it from my place in the cage, but it was easily the size of the entire apartment complex my family lived in.
The car door slammed, making me jump, and I looked around to see the car pulling off again, to some garage out of sight, I presumed. Marissa walked to the door, deliberately bouncing my case off her thigh with every step. One she got to the door, she knocked, and it swung open to reveal an older man in a light grey suit, but... one of the old ones, not a business suit. She held me up to eye level and pointed at me with her free hand.
"Parker, this is my new pet. You are not to interact with it in any way, not to feed it, clean it, or in any other way acknowledge its existence, unless you find it loose, in which case you will return it to my room. I have supplies for it coming later today, bring them directly up to my room, and knock. I'll let you in, do not enter without knocking."
The gentleman's eyes widened at her first statement, staring at me with mild surprise, but he almost as quickly returned to a neutral gaze, and nodded as she spoke.
"Of course, Miss Marissa, I will be sure to follow your instructions perfectly."
She spun away from him, dropping me back down by her side, jolting me and causing me to fall over, and then she marched off to an elevator.
In the elevator, I looked up at her. She looked pensive, like she was thinking something over as she waited, but I couldn't tell what. She still wasn't looking at me, and by this point I had realized that she didn't just 'not value' me, but rather, she was trying to show me she didn't value me. Even a regular rich person would be at least slightly interested in the new pet they spent $25,000 plus bribe on, right? She had to be trying to fuck with me, that's all there was to it. I considered trying to get her attention, maybe knocking on the side or calling out, but then I remembered that her attention was very much a bad thing to have. I lay down and stared up, seeing her knuckles whiten as she squeezed, seeing her arm vanish into her coat, seeing her stretched out away from me like a cartoon character. Being small really made perspectives difficult...
The doors slid open, and she walked out and across the hall, into what I assumed was her room. It was big, it had an open floor plan, and there were a few pillars here and there, but overall, it looked fairly normal. There was a giant bed with a low sofa on one side, a few shelves along the wall, one of the walls was just a big window, and one wall was taken up by a big TV, a computer desk, and between them, and large empty standing desk. The desk was where she put me, she set me right in the middle, and walked away, to one of two doors other than the one we can in from. A bathroom maybe? A closet? I tried to get a sense of what kind of person she was by her decorations, but the posters on the wall were art prints from artists I'd never heard of, of things I couldn't quite identify, and her shelves seemed to be full of classics, school books, and the occasional generic fiction novel.
The door opened again and she stepped out. From where I was, it did look like a bathroom after all. She pulled her coat off, and tossed it on the bed, then stood there, taking careful breaths as she looked at the floor. What was she doing? Was she ok? I leaned against the bed, and hoped she had forgotten about me for now... With one last deep breath, she looked my way. She walked over to me slowly, and grabbed the case.
With a twist, she pulled the front wall off, exposing me to the world. I stared at her. For the first time since the store, she was looking at me, full on, her green eyes shining as they bore into mine. Her face filled the entire wall, and her breath was close enough to feel warm. It was minty, like she had just brushed it, and it stung my eyes. I felt dizzy. Was I supposed to say something? I couldn't think of anything safe to say, I didn't know exactly how she saw me yet. I sat there, unmoving, eyes locked on hers. She licked her lips to wet them, then spoke to me.
"Hello, Rat."
So she DID know who I was... I knew she knew, but... Now I really knew, there was no 'oh, maybe she didn't realize it was me' whispering in my head. She knew, she'd known, and she'd bought me on purpose. I sat forward, and gave her a nervous smile.
"H-hey, Marissa. I see we're going to be... living together, huh?"
Her face finally broke into a cruel sneer, and I felt a sense of relief. I didn't know why, but somehow her dead stare was even worse than her usual face.
"No, there's no 'living together', Rat. You're my pet, and you'll be living in my room, under my control. Living together implies that we're somehow equals, and you aren't my equal. You never were, and now the government agrees, and now I get to do whatever I want to you."
I shuddered and shrink back. Her expression was still just a bit off, either that, or being small made faces look weird somehow. I could see her pores, filled in with foundation but still there, I could tell where her mascara had clumped her eyelashes together, I could see the slight cracks in her lipstick. I could see every detail of her face at once. Maybe that's why she looked off... I was confused why she had lipstick on though, I hadn't seen her wear it at school, even in college, was it something new she was trying? It looked like she wasn't quite used to putting it on yet; it wasn't quite even. Back to the matter at hand, though...
"Are- are you going to kill me?" I asked, needing to get the obvious fear out of the way.
She laughed, a bark of genuine surprise, before she leaned back in and spoke quietly, hissing the words between her teeth.
"Kill? No, Rat. I need you to be alive. I need you to sit nice and pretty where I can show you off to all the other girls, I need them to watch me own you. I need them to see you, trapped and owned by me, and I want them to be jealous of me, I need them to desperately want to BE me, to own a little you. I need them to see me for the superior godsdamn goddess I've always been. I need them to respect me for owning someone they all looked down on, and respect me for fucking doing something about it. But most importantly? I need them to see you and to fucking fear me. I need them to look at you and to feel pity for you, then to feel relieved that it wasn't THEM that I bought as a pet. They'll look at you as a symbol of my power, as a threat, and as a buffer between me and them.
"For all that, I need you alive. I might need you to be fucking HEALTHY even, I don't want them to think 'oh, she's just going to play with her for a few months then she'll be too broken to enjoy', I need them to think 'that is a position for LIFE. She'll be eighty years old, still bringing the rat around with her like a toy' and I need them to imagine an entire life being owned by ME."
She leaned back. I was sobbing, hugging my knees to my chest, but she wasn't done yet.
"I'm not going to kill you. Hurt you, maybe. Starve you? You need it anyway. Use you like a fashion accessory? Of course, that's the fun of it it, but kill you? Hurt you beyond repair? No..." She leaned in close enough for her breath to fog the plexiglass around me and snarled. "Rat, I'm going to treat you like a fucking princess."
I curled against the side of the cage sniffling as she leaned back, my back shaking against my bed. She huffed out of her nose and looked around her room.
I nodded quickly, whatever it took to keep her off of me.
"Ok, well first off, I need you to call me... Let's see... Miss M? Or... Lady M, or Mistress, or maybe "My Lady"... that sounds pretty nice..."
I cringed compulsively at 'My Lady', but stayed quiet as she thought for a moment more.
"Second, I don't want you to talk to me unless we're already having a conversation. In other words, only speak when spoken to... Unless it's an emergency, I guess.
"Third, don't leave this room without me. This isn't so much a rule to keep you here, as it is a rule to keep you safe. Not that I care, but I need you alive long enough to let my ownership of you sink in with the other girls, at least. There's a lot of people working here, and we have a high turnover, so if you wander the house you'll get crushed or vacuumed or something in no time.
I gasped indignantly, I wasn't overweight by any means, a bit of a tummy was healthy, and I kept my exercises up, I was in shape as well as anyone... This was going to be hell, I could tell.
"Fifthly, you'll wear what I say when we go out, and you'll be nice and polite. I doubt anyone will speak to you, but if they do, just pretend you're a kid at a family reunion and your aunt is gushing over you. Something like that, that vibe.
"Six, I don't want you to be talking to people all the time about me, I think the stuff I got you has one of those mini tablets for class Bs, so I guess you can use the internet but I'll have your password, obviously, and if I find you've been talking bad about me, or even just not talking well about me, I'll take it away, understand?"
I nodded, feeling my phone digging into my butt in my waistband. It seemed she hadn't noticed I had it yet... Hopefully the stuff she got included a wireless charger I could use.
She leaned back in to squint at me, thinking hard.
"Well... There's more, but I don't know of them yet. It's a living list, so be prepared to have me make rules on the spot at any time. For now..."
She reached in and slid her hand around my torso. My heart lunged as I felt her fingers effortlessly lift me into the air and out of the cage, my legs hanging over the floor. I clung to her thumb as she squeezed me, the air being pushed out of my lungs. I coughed and kicked, trying to get a different position so her middle finger wasn't directly on my sternum. She squeezed harder, watching me closely, then relaxed her grip. I gasped and panted for air, curling up in her hand and she swung me around and walked over to her bed. She tossed me, and I shrieked as I fell, spinning in free fall head over heels onto her pillow.
I hit the plush surface with all my weight, which wasn't much at the moment, but it was enough to click my teeth and stun me for a moment. She hit the bed a moment later, laying down hard next to me, causing me to bounce up into the air before coming back down onto the comforter in a heap. I moaned and felt myself. I was in one piece, and while my teeth hurt, they weren't chipped, and my phone had stayed stuck to my skin under my waistband during that, so it was still hidden.
I sat up and got my bearings. I was on the right side of the bed, and she was on the left side, laying on her side facing me, her body creating a wall along the whole surface. She was lookin down at me with her half lidded stare, watching me try and fail to stand up on the soft surface.
"So... Rat. do you have any useful skills I should know about? Anything that might come in handy for me as your new owner?"
I gave up trying to stand and resigned myself to sitting cross legged instead.
"Well... I know we're in different classes, mostly, but I'm pretty good with homework? I kept up the scholarship for years after all..."
She snorted.
"Homework? I haven't done that since middle school. I buy my way through classes with the administration. Most of us do. You're one of the unlucky few that actually has to try. That's not helpful to me at all."
"Oh... Well, I'm good at art? I don't know if that's super helpful, but I can draw pretty good, if that tablet you ordered can support a drawing app..."
"Maybe. Anything else? Anything like, connections? Useful friends? Inside knowledge of... whatever your parents do for a living?"
"U-uh, well, I know the people at the Pad Thai place pretty well, they keep tofu on hand for me, and they don't charge me for the extra sauce... Um, other than that, I know Henri, she's pretty good at talking to people? And... my dad is just the manager at an appliance store, so I don't think anything there would be useful to you..."
I looked up at her unamused face. The expression spoke for itself.
"So you're pretty much useless as a tool, huh?" She mused, poking me in the forehead, knocking me over backwards. I stay down and squeeze my eyes shut. I feel her finger run across my face and down to my torso. When it reached my chest, it flinched back for a moment, before pressing into my stomach. I opened my eyes to see her leaning over me with a strange expression on her face, an intensity that I hadn't noticed before. Her eyes flicked back and forth over my face, looking for something, before she drove her finger down into my gut, causing me to spasm, dry heaving to the side as she twisted her finger, her thick nail driving into my skin.
She pulled her finger away, the look on her face still strange and unplaceable. She sat up and crossed her legs, looking down at me as I stopped gagging and caught my breath. Her fingers slipped under me and she lifted me up to her face, to her slightly open lips, and I felt a wash of cold go over me. She wouldn't, right? She wanted me alive and well, and-
Her painted lips parted, and she blew, her minty breath blasting me, the air sucking out of my own lungs. I gasped for air, but only got her secondhand breath, no oxygen. I flopped in her palm, and in a desperate attempt to breathe, I dove off her hand to the bed. As soon as I was out of the path of her icy jet stream, I filled my lungs. I hit the bed hard, and the air left me, but I could breathe.
I heard her laugh as I gulped air heavily.
"I guess I take your breath away, huh, Rat?" She mocked.
I grimaced, and lifted a single finger up to her to show her what I really thought, and her laughing cut short.
"Listen, RAT." She growled. "We're having fun here, ok? I don't need you being rude to me, do you understand?"
She pinned me to the the bed with her hand and glared down at me.
"Do. You. Fucking. Understand, Rat?"
I nodded, begrudgingly.
"I understand, yeah." I panted.
"Say it right, say my name, Rat."
I thought back, what was the least humiliating thing she had told me I could call her?...
"I understand... Miss M."
She smiled, and positioned her other hand next to my side.
"Ok, well, just to make sure..."
She flicked me, and I screamed as my side exploded into pain. She must have hit my kidney, or just had a lucky shot, because the pain was so much I couldn't see straight. I started crying again, and I felt her hand move away from me.
"Oh... Well... It looks like you learned your lesson..." She said.
She still sounded haughty and cruel, but there was a layer of uncertainty now. She scooped me up and I cringed at the movement, sobbing in pain. She placed me in my bed, a lot more gently than she'd put me on her own bed, and closed my cage up.
"You just sit in there and think about... stuff, like how you're going to... Make it up to me, until your stuff gets here."
I moaned and curled up. I could hardly see through my tears, but she looked at me for a long minute, reaching out once like she was going to open the cage again, before lowering her hand and walking away. My side still hurt like crazy, I'd never been hit that hard before, not by bullies, not the time I was hit by a softball, never. I focused on trying to calm down, and before long, I had calmed myself down enough to stop crying. It still hurt, but it was more of a throb than a scream.
I peeked out over my shoulder, and saw Marissa on her bed, watching me from across the room. At my look, she jumped slightly, then got up and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I sat up gingerly and pulled up my shirt. There was no mark yet, but it'd be an ugly bruise before long...
I pulled out my phone and opened it. 35%... There were a lot of new messages from Henri, and a few from my mother. It seemed like they were trying to find a legal way to get me back, but so far they couldn't find anything. I sent my mother and "I love you, I'm safe", and started texting with Henri.
'im down to 35%, ns if ill b able to charge up, im in her room, she doesnt know i have my phone'
A second later, Henri was online, responding fast.
'Is she hurting you???'
'a bit yea, but i think ill just bruise. nothing broken... i hope.'
'If you get pics, we can report her?'
'it's not bruised yet, but maybe. shes saying shes going to use me as an accessory...'
'Ugh that bitch, I'll come by and see if I can bargain, do you know your address?'
'no, dont, she probs would just refuse 2 let u in then take my phone'
'Then what shall I do?'
'just keep looking 4 a way 2 get me out, legal smth idk, just keep trying, u got this'
I put my phone back away, powering it down to be safe, and lay down. There was something odd about the way Marissa was acting. It wasn't quite herself, like, she was being cruel and mean, but she seemed to be focused too; not on hurting me, on something else. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but it made me nervous either way. My body was sore all over, especially my side, and I was worn out from being tossed around and crushed, so in a few minutes, I was asleep.
~~~
My cage jolted, and I fell out of bed, hissing in pain as I landed on my side. I looked around, and saw Marissa holding the handle, with two men carrying a large pair of boxes into her room. She jabbed a finger at the desk I had been on.
"There, set it up there. There's a plug to the left, I'll do the furniture myself, just get it set up and working."
"Ok, can do, she's going to love this, it'll be like a castle, just you wait!" The taller of the two men said, cheerfully. Marissa ignored him and crossed her arms, bouncing me against her hip impatiently.
The men pulled parts of a small square house out of the boxes and began snapping them together. It looked like the house was styled after one of those old dollhouses from the early 2000s, where you could open one side and look in. It was three stories, with the lower floor being a kitchen and dining room, the middle floor being an open floor, and the top floor having a bedroom, with a section blocked off that wasn't open to the outside, the bathroom, I'm assuming. There was a tank on top, right above the bathroom, and a tank below on the floor as well. Presumably that was the water for the plumbing in the home. There was a standard cord that plugged into the wall behind the desk, and when it was plugged in, the house lit up, with small LEDs in each room coming on.
Once it was all connected and set up the shorter man pulled a case out of the bottom of one of the boxes.
"This here is all your extras, the cushions for the bed, a sofa, a little TV, a tablet, the kitchen set, all that stuff. Usually the class B will want to set this stuff up themselves, but the furniture is kinda unwieldy, so you may want to give her a hand. They're stronger than they look, but not that strong."
Marissa glared at him and took the case with her free hand. "And the clothes? Where are those?"
The man shook his head. "There's a few basic sets of clothes provided here, but most of what you ordered is going to take a few days. We have her measurements from the government scan, and we're using that to make sure the clothes actually fit."
"Seriously? There's no... One size fits all?"
"Well, there is, but the people who dress up their class Bs in the kind of expensive clothes you ordered prefer them to look, you know, nice, and if their clothes are all giant and sloppy, it ruins the effect..."
"Ugh, I suppose. Is that all?"
Marissa walked to the door and opened it. "Well, if that's all, then..."
Once the men had left, she closed the door and set me down on the desk. "Well, Rat. I told you I'd treat you like a fucking princess, this is the proof. I bet your old shithole house had nothing on this, huh?"
As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. It was really nice. The kitchen was shiny and clean, the countertops looked like real stone, even the stairs had fancy real wood hand rails. She opened the cage, and I walked over, stepping up into the house. As soon as I did, I looked down in shock.
"Are- are the floors heated?!"
"You sub humans have a hard time keeping in body heat, so yeah, heated floors help maintain your temperature. Otherwise, you'll get sick way more often, and you can develop brain damage over time." She replied, automatically.
I looked up in surprise, I hadn't expected her to actually know about the care of class Bs. She noticed my look, and frowned.
"I did have to take a class, you know. They don't just give the licenses away, you have to earn it or whatever."
I thought about that, it did make me feel... a little bit better, at least. She knew how to care for me. Whether she did or not was another question. She pulled out a table and a few chairs from the box and slid them into the dining room, then did the same with a sofa on the floor above me.
"I'm not setting all this up, it's your house you know. I'm just getting stuff out, you need to get it all into place. And another thing, consider it another rule, you see how clean my room is? Your whole house needs to stay that clean, at all times. Got it?"
Upstairs, there was a rug, a boxy TV, the tablet (which was roughly as big as my whole torso), a short table, a flat treadmill, and some blankets. I decided to leave setting the electronics up for later, and went upstairs to make the bed and put the bathroom supplies away. The soaps were all grainy and thick, and instead of toilet paper, the toilet was equip with a bidet, which was nice, and it made sense, I supposed. There was a toothbrush that was weird, it was more of a felt strip than bristles, and there was a hairbrush that seemed much too big to be any use. I found the feminine supplies, and... the pads were way too thick to be comfortable, but the other option they had provided was... not going to work, to say the least, so I would just have to get used to them.
I finished up, and looked around. The house was mostly in order, I just had to get the TV and tablet set up, and it should be fine. I was actually pretty happy with the bed, it was very soft, and the sheets were satin, or something like it, and felt much better than the microfiber I'd been using. I went down to the middle floor, and turned on the TV. It was just a basic streaming box, and the only thing to do was to plug in the wi-fi. I looked over out the open side of the house and saw Marissa sitting on her bed, reading the manual for the house. Huh, it looked like she really did have an interest in this stuff...
"Excuse me, what's the wifi password?" I called out, politely.
"It's Lemoncrush55, capital L." She said, not paying attention. Then she blinked and glared at me. "Hey, no speaking unless spoken to, Rat. Do you want me to flick you again?"
I shuddered "No, sorry! I just need it to set up the TV, I'm just minding my own business, I swear..."
She glared at me for another moment, then went back to reading. I calmed myself down and tried to stop shaking. I didn't think she'd really flick me again, she almost seemed to regret it the first time, but... it was still not something I wanted to risk. The whole "don't speak unless spoken to" rule was going to be hard to get used to. I was always a very outspoken girl, and my parents didn't mind me talking, so I was used to just saying whatever, whenever.
I finished setting up the TV, and turned my phone on. I sent Henri a message.
'im gonna set up a tablet 2 text u and stuff, dont mention i have a phone when txting that contact, let my parents kno 2'
I got a reply instantly.
'Ok, got it. Stay safe, kleine fee,'
I'd need to look that up eventually. She kept calling me that, so it must be a term of endearment or something. I put in my info to the tablet, using a different email than usual so it wouldn't synch up my phone's messages, and I messaged her again.
'hey henri, got a tablet, settling in to my new home. it's amber btw'
'Hello, I'm so sorry I missed you at the shop, we love you so much and we will be here for you, I am with your parents, is there anything we can do to help?'
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up to see Marissa peeking into the house.
"You're texting your friend, huh? Remember, nothing bad about me or you lose the tablet."
I nodded and reply to Henri as Marissa dug through the rest of the box the movers had left.
'idk, ill think about it, just plz make sure 2 stay in touch, ly2 bbgrl'
I set the tablet down on the stand, and the charger icon popped up. Wireless... Hopefully it'd work on my phone too, and the shrinking hadn't made the... electronic bits not work right or something. I turned around to see Marissa holding a semi flat bottle up to the house, measuring it against me. I stepped back, was she going to?...
"Hey, does this look like you'll fit?" She asked, holding it sideways. It looked like I'd fit, yeah, but not enough to even take a step, I'd barely have room to sit down...
"Not... Not well? I think I might, but it'd be really close quarters..." I reply reluctantly. She threaded a silver chain through the neck of the bottle and held it up to her chest.
"Well, this is going to be your home, while I'm out and about. It's a necklace, and you'll be on display for all the world to see, so you'll need to be on your best behavior, got it?"
"Oh, gods. I'll be in THAT all day? I don't think I can-"
"HEY." She snapped, cutting me off. "It's this, or... I safety pin you to my shirt or something, so suck it up. It's cute, these bottles are like, designer. It even has an intercom so you can talk to me through an earpiece if it's too loud." She smirked "IF I decide to wear it, of course. I can't imagine I'd have much need to talk to a Rat like you."
She clasped the chain and takes a few steps around the room, leaning forwards to test out the necklace.
"Yeah, this is nice, I like this. It'll be good. We can do a test run for it tomorrow, I have a class in the morning, I'll wear you then." Her mouth split open in a smile "Gods, I'll wear you, that's just... It's so... gah..." She shivered, grinning.
She composed herself, and pulled the necklace off. "Well, take some time to get used to your new place. I have to go get food apparently, I thought it was included in all this, but that shop doesn't offer it. Don't break anything, read the manual, and I'll be back any second so don't get sneaky." She grabbed her phone, and walked away.
"Wait, the food, I'm a veg-" I called out. The door slammed, cutting me off. I slumped. Just perfect. Well, as long as she was gone... I slid my phone onto the tablet stand, and... The screen lit up. I sighed in relief. I'd have to stay close while it charged in case Marissa snooped, but at least it wasn't going to be a brick. In the meantime though, I needed a shower... There were a couple of the "one size fits all" clothes in my closet, and the ones I'd been wearing for almost 48 hours needed cleaning badly... I headed up the stairs, and got to work.
~~~
A few hours later, I was sitting on my couch watching videos on the tv. I had looked up videos by other class Bs to see if anyone had any tips for living life like this, but most of the channels I found were run by the class B's caretakers, and they seemed to be 'managing' the whole thing, with the class Bs practically reading off a script. It reminded me too much of the 'family channels' that were popular a couple years back. I couldn't find any genuine vlogs or videos by class Bs, but I wasn't sure if that was because of the algorithm, or if they just didn't really exist. Either way, I had resorted to watching videos about class Bs, by caretakers. There was one lady who really seemed to care for hers, and her videos were full of helpful tips on how to make sure we didn't get hurt or die.
I was learning a lot, Some stuff I really should have already figured out, like that we were more susceptible to cold, or getting sick, or that we couldn't eat too much 'people food' or we'd throw up because our stomach acids couldn't break down the proteins and stuff, but other stuff, like the fact that we could lift much more than our body weight, in some cases even a few pounds, really surprised me. I hadn't felt any stronger, much less being able to lift a whole other me, but it made sense the way she described it. She was just going into detail about how I'd need to start taking supplements for calcium and fibers when the door opened, and Marissa came in, holding a small bag from an upscale grocery store.
"GODS, your food is expensive. You're lucky you got bought by me, your parents would have had to just buy you the food pellets and call it a day. This is 2 week of meals and it was almost $600. I don't even spend that much on food in two weeks, and I'm full sized, with actual taste."
She dropped the bag on my kitchen table and I headed downstairs to see what she'd bought. Hopefully there was something without meat, I didn't want to start anything right now, and she sounded annoyed already...
"Thank you..." I offered, opening the bag.
It was full of small, frozen or refrigeratable cardboard containers. They had a logo of a cartoon person surrounded by shining lines of light, I think, and they were branded as "Micro Power Ready Meals". They had a little list of facts on them, talking about how they were formulated for compressed individuals, how they were heavily processed so we could digest them, and how they were full of all the vitamins we'd need to be healthy. Yeah, it sounded expensive alright. The servings were pretty big too, bigger than I'd have thought.
I pulled out the first box and flipped it over. It was listed as "R'ce and Been Burrito". Well, it didn't have meat. It looked like they weren't legally allowed to call the rice and beans 'rice and beans' though, which was... concerning. The next box was labeled "Tofu BBQ Salad".... Not sure what that meant, but it looked like tofu was ok to say at least. I pulled out another one. It was called "Plant Derived Burger Meal, with Fried Carbs". It looked like a fast food meal, burger and fries, they even came in little cardboard fast food boxes too... I could eat all this, actually... I dug through the bag, and started putting it in the fridge, it was all veggie friendly. Was that the norm for class Bs?
I glanced over at Marissa, who was watching me with a strange expression on her face from over by her desk where she had begun putting on lotion. I cleared my throat.
"Thank you," I said again "I'm really glad you got these for me, and it's lucky they're all vegetarian too, I was hoping I wouldn't have to eat meat."
She snorted, and shook her head. "Lucky nothing, I paid extra for that stupid meat free shit. It's way harder to get plant proteins compressed for a class B apparently."
I looked at her in surprise. "Wait, you knew I was vegetarian? How? I didn't even get a chance to tell you..."
She glared down at me. "I'm not stupid, we've been going to the same schools for like 6 years, I do notice stuff, you know."
"I... didn't know you thought of me enough to notice anything like that, thank you, I really appreciate it..." I said, feeling awkward. I'd never noticed any of her eating habits, was I just oblivious?
"Whatever, Rat. You get one of those meals a day, some on the morning, the rest when we get home. Each meal is just under the calories you need in a day each, based on your height, so hopefully you'll get into better shape over time this way."
There it was. I subtly sucked in my stomach and stepped around the table to face her. It wasn't easy to see my body in the oversized bodysuit I'd put on after my shower, but hopefully being small would help me out.
"I really like to work out, I saw there was a treadmill, and I plan on using that every day. I usually go to the gym at least three days a week with Henri, so I do burn more calories than most people, I'm pretty healthy. I think I might not be healthy if I just eat one meal a day..."
Her face loomed in front of me, her half lidded glare bearing down on me.
"Rat. I say you need to get in shape. You fucking say 'Yes Mistress, I'll do my best.' not try and tell me why you don't have to obey me. Now, I say you need to get in shape, Rat, so..."
She looked at me expectantly. I grimaced and fold my arms, looking back at her. She raised an eyebrow, and lifted her hand up to my face, her finger behind her thumb, ready to flick. My side spiked with anticipatory pain and I cringed back. I opened my mouth and forced the words out.
"Y-yes, mistress, I'll try my best..."
She smirked, and poked my face with her finger. "That's good Rat, that sounds lovely. You can eat a whole meal tonight, since it's been a couple days since you ate."
Thank the gods, I was hollow by now. I rubbed my nose and closed the fridge.
"It was the night before last, yeah. I had mandu..."
"Mandu? I don't even know what that is, it sounds like an alien."
"It's... dumplings, it's a food my parents make me. Or... I guess used to make..."
I look at the fridge and slump. I'd never eat that again, I guess. Marissa clicked her tongue and shook her head.
"Better forget about all that Rat, you couldn't even eat it even if they did make it for you. A few bites in and you'd be puking your guts up."
"Yeah, I know. I was watching videos about it before you got here."
She crinkled her nose. "You were watching videos of class Bs puking?"
"No, the- ew, like the videos of people telling how to take care of class Bs. I'm new to all this, I didn't even know about the food issues, or the heat problem, and like, did you know that class Bs have to use special microphones to be heard on the phone?"
"Yeah, Rat. I took the stupid class, I told you. I know all that shit. Anyway, you don't need to know all that, I'm in charge, I'll be the one taking care of all that."
"That's a weird thought... Being... 'taken care of' by someone. You, especially."
She reached in and knocked me on my ass with a finger. "Hey, I'm not 'taking care' of you like that. I'm your fucking owner. I'm protecting my investment."
My side throbbed from the sudden jarring, and I slowly stood up, rubbing it. Her eyes watched me, going to my side, then my face, and she got that odd look on her face again.
"Anyway, look. Just make your fucking dinner and mind your own business for tonight, I'm taking you out tomorrow, so you need to be well rested, or I'll shake the jar constantly to keep you alert, understand?"
I shuddered and nodded. "I understand... 'Mistress'" I say, injecting sarcasm into the last word. She narrowed her eyes at me, but turned away, and left the room.
I sigh and pull out the burger meal. This was going to be hell, but She was somehow a lot more human than I thought she'd be...