The Sassy Submissive

Ch. 5 - Adam Decides to go see Angel

"This is The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker," Angel said, holding up her personal and very worn copy of the book. "I want all of you to go out and get a copy as soon as you can or borrow it from the library, read it online... whatever. If you need to, you can borrow a copy from me, I have about five extra ones, but if you don't return them to me by the end of the semester then I will hunt you down and all the self-defense skills I teach you won't be enough to help you." She grinned at the class of mostly young women who tittered a little bit at her joke.

Teaching these classes tended to be the hardest for her; the ones done in community centers or at her parents' dance studio usually had a broad mix of women, many of whom were coming from places of experience. They knew the value of what she was teaching. It hurt to know they'd had those bad experiences, but at least she knew what she was teaching them was going to help protect them in the future. Here, at a community college, she couldn't always be sure. The majority of these girls were under twenty-one years old, they had just hit a seriously dangerous period of their development, and they didn't even realize it.

The worst had been when halfway through a semester a student came in with her smiles and sparkling eyes gone and a sudden and violent need for what Angel was teaching. Fortunately the school had counseling services, which she could recommend, but it never stopped her pain at having to deal with situations like that.

"What this book will talk about, and what we'll discuss in class, has a lot to do with awareness. It's about not putting yourself into a dangerous situation, about being aware of when you are and about not putting your guard down. There are tons of little things you can do, with your day-to-day life, to make yourself safer; oftentimes they're not even things we think about." Angel looked around the room at the cheerful faces in front of her. "Raise your hands: how many of you, when you first get into your car, take the time to check your hair or your make-up or your cell phone?"

Every girl in the room raised her hand and Angel nodded.

"When you first get into your car is one of the most dangerous times for a woman if she's being followed or targeted. We aren't paying attention to our surroundings, we're distracted and concentrating on other things, and meanwhile we're sitting ducks. I'm willing to bet most of you don't even lock your doors while you're sitting there." The expressions on all of their faces were sliding into seriousness, which relieved her. Sometimes the college girls were liable to try and make a joke out of everything, it looked like this class actually had ones who were willing to think about their actions, which made everything easier. "This class isn't just about punches and kicks, it's also about raising your awareness in your day-to-day life."

One of the students, a serious faced blonde who had been frowning almost as soon as Angel had begun speaking, raised her hand. "Miss Jones? You make it sound like we should always be worrying that someone's out to get us."

"Not worry, no," Angel shook her head, feeling her pony tail bobbing behind her. "But it's good to always have a general state of awareness, to know in the back of your head that bad things sometimes happen to good people. This shouldn't make you frightened or stop you from doing the things you want to do, it should just be an added factor to your life. For example, I'm going to assume most of you have been to a party on campus." The majority of them nodded their heads. "While you're there, I hope you're retaining your awareness of where your drink is at all times and you don't accept a drink from someone you don't know. Roofies are something women didn't used to have to worry about, but now they are and it's, hopefully, second nature to all of us to be cautious about what we drink when we're in that kind of situation."