First it's hot, then cold, and in the end it hurts [Polina]

This was abnormal. Okay, the situation wasn’t at all abnormal, but the person involved this time set off alarm bells for Erik. He had heard that Polina and Nikon were an “item.” He sometimes struggled to keep out of student’s personal business, but being so close to Venera, he often got an earful. While he often broke up amorous couples inside empty rooms and hallways, he had never expected to see his quasi-daughter’s best friend so engaged in swallowing the tongue of another student, let alone someone as widely known for it as Nikon Zima. Erik had met Nikon several times before, and Nikon had served plenty of detentions with him, typically for something like this. He was outspoken, which was not a bad thing in and of itself, but he was crude and ill-tempered and hated to not get his way. As such, he was not one of Erik’s favorite students, though he didn’t particularly dislike any of them. 
 
Polina, on the other hand, was quiet and demure. She and Venera were best friends and he liked having her in class and often smiled and said hello to her in the hallways. It was hard to be a family member of a student, but now had four students to look after—Emma and Axel Lindquist (his new stepchildren), Venera (Aldemar’s daughter), and Kari (his biological son). This made it difficult to remain completely impartial, especially where there was a connection. He did good for the most part, but he worried for Polina a little bit in this case. This was so unlike her to do, he had never seen her be showy and flashy. Either she was desperately in love, so much so that she no-longer cared for her quiet reputation, or she was somehow being pushed into it by her new flame. He worried that Nikon would be the kind of boy to take advantage of her. 
 
After breaking up the snog, Nikon left quickly and without incident, but Erik lingered behind with Polina. “Can you talk for a moment, Polina?” He asked. “Let’s head to my office, it’s not far. Don’t worry, Professor Krylova didn’t find you, you won’t be in trouble.”  He assured. He started talking on the way, though it was a short walk. 
 
“You know, Polina, if there was ever anything you wanted to talk about, even though I’m not your head of house, I’m here for you.” He began. “Ah, here we are.” He opened the door to the office, ushered the girl inside, and then closed it behind her. “Polina,” He started. “I’m a little worried about you. This isn’t the first I’ve heard of you and your newest boyfriend showing off around school. It’s not like you, though. Is he hurting you? Pressuring you in some way?” He managed, going right for it. 
 
“You know Venera is like a daughter to me, so any friend of hers is also important. I worry about your health and happiness, I wouldn’t dare let anyone harm you.” He assured. “So if he’s being too… forward…” He trailed off, not making the known threat. “That said, I know what it’s like to be young and in love, so it’s possible you’re just carried away in it all. I’m not accusing you or anyone, just checking in on your welfare.” He stated, giving her a light, caring smile. 
 
“You can tell me.” 

@Polina Konstantinova

This was the most utterly humiliating situation of her life. What was worst of all was that she couldn’t even be angry at Nikon. Yes, this was all his idea, but she had agreed to it, even suggested the prime locations that Venera was likely to be in so that they’d have the best chance of being spotted by her, and of course, if they were spotted by Nikon’s crush too then that was even better.

Her head hung low, not realising that Nikon had already escaped from the situation, as she tried to hide the bright red shade of her face. Polina wondered how much trouble she was going to be in. She hadn’t really thought about it being a possibility before. Apollinariya was never in trouble, never really reprimanded for anything. It didn’t really occur to her that snogging her fake boyfriend would be something that would get her in trouble if they were caught. She should have realised. However, she was too caught up in trying to make Venera jealous, desperate to provoke a reaction out of her crush.

She didn’t dare look up as Professor Fisker asked if they could talk in his office. Briefly, she wondered what detention was like as she meekly nodded before he continued. She’d never been in detention before, but that was surely the punishment for this sort of thing, wasn’t it? Apollinariya finally raised her head for a short moment, eyes wide in surprise as the professor added that she wasn’t in trouble, a wobbly smile appearing on her face before she lowered her eyes to the ground again as she followed him to his office.
 
It was nice of the professor to offer his services should she ever want to talk about anything, and Polina appreciated it greatly, feeling that he was treating her far more kindly than she’d have expected. Though Polina didn’t say anything in reply, she made a mental note of it that clearly she could trust the Nautic Magic professor should she ever need an adult to talk to. However, since it was now abundantly clear that she was not in any sort of trouble, Polina was curious as to why he still wanted to speak with her in his office. Was this like some kind of warning? Would he just tell her not to do it again and then send her on her way?
 
Timidly, she stepped inside his office, her head still lowered towards the floor as she clasped her hands in front of her, trying to make herself as small as humanly possible. She did not look up when he began addressing her, remaining silent as he expressed his worries that Nikon might be pressuring her. Polina could see why he thought that, even though it wasn’t the case. They weren’t even actually boyfriend and girlfriend, they were just pretending to be. She shook her head in reply to his question on if Nikon was hurting her, shaking it again to confirm he wasn’t pressuring her. Polina wanted to ensure her friend wasn’t going to get into trouble over this.

Professor Fisker made a mistake as soon as he mentioned Venera. Polina let go of her hands and clasped them into fists, looking up at the professor as her chin wobbled. This was all Venera’s fault. All she had to do was notice her, give her the attention she wanted, like her in return. If she had, this wouldn’t be happening.

“You can tell me.”

With those four words, Apollinariya burst into tears, her shoulders shaking as she looked directly at the professor. “You don’t understand,” Polina began with a sob, “Nikon’s not my boyfriend…” She quickly admitted as she shook her head slightly. “this is all Venera’s fault!”