Go figure, it was Nate calling me out. 

"I was a thief when I was a kid ok?  Normal dads took their kids to the park and raced to the jungle gym, well mine raced me to see who could steal five hundred dollars first."  All five faces looking at me had the same look on their face.  All it said was What. The. Fuck?  And then I realized.  There were only five faces looking at me.  "Hey what's up with the rest of the  class?"  Everyone who didn't sign the ninety seemed to be completely zoned out.

"The simplest way to say it is hypnotized.  While what I actually do to them is much more complex and effective, saying that they're hypnotized works best."  Kevin had wandered from his desk to a guy sitting in the second row.  His name was Stephan.  We hung out a couple times in the ninth grade but the dude was pretty fucked up so  I kinda just let him be.  "As long as they are in this classroom, they are oblivious to the world around them as their minds play out whatever fantasy they wish."  God, his voice was really starting to piss me off.  "This is how I keep my word in saying that they'll love the  class..  They don't remember anything outside of it other than they enjoyed themselves.  In fact, watch this."

What happened next was....well this was all pretty freaking unbelievable but this took it out of the  park.  Kevin wound up and slugged Stephan in the face .  Like, there's hitting a guy, then there's punching a guy, and then there's putting everything you have into one shot.  This was an all or nothing punch.  Stephan just kind of flopped out of his desk.  He didn't react, nothing.

"See?  Totally unaware."

"What the  actual fuck dude?"  Trent had stood up as soon as the punch landed. 

"Relax, he'll be fine."  Kevin repositioned Stephan in the desk,  "He wont have so  much as a bruise when he snaps out of the trance.  Now sit down."  His voice was suddenly very commanding, Trent obeyed.  "Now  back to where we were before, Mitch you said you have some experience in this field?"

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"As a pickpocket, nothing else.  Even if my dad's crew ran bigger hits  I would have been excluded cause I was a kid."

"Pickpocketing!  What a perfect benchmark test!"  As he strode to the  middle of the class he got this eerily excited look on his face.  "By tomorrow I want all of you to bring me three wallets, or purses or whatever the hell it is women keep their things in.  And if you  have any questions you can talk to Mitch over there."

I caught different looks from each of them.  Trent was worried, and I knew why.  Jessica was...confused.  I think she was still trying to decide if this was real or not.  Nate was shooting me a glare that almost hurt.  Riley was worried, she could only look more afraid if she was shaking.  Kevin was the worst of all.  He was ecstatic.

"You can all leave now."  His voice shook me out of my zone out.  "Get going!"  We all kind of jumped as he yelled.  As the first out the door Trent and I waited for the others.  We made a circle in the middle of the hallway.

"Ok what you want to look for  in a pick is."

"What the fuck are you  talking about?"  I wasn't surprised that it was Nate who cut me off.  I knew he would be difficult.

"I'm teaching you  the basics."

"Of committing a crime!   What part of that has yet to sink in for you Mitch?"

"The part stuck behind remembering how much pain he put me in!"  I lost it.  I prided myself on my ability to keep cool, but this was it.  "And if you'll remember, I  took that heat for you!  For all of you!"

"We never asked you too."  He was much more meek now.  The others gave him a questioning look.

'Well if you want I'm pretty sure he'll get his damn rocks off if  I go back in there and ask him to burn you!"  Through the rectangular window in the class door I could see Kevin chuckling to himself.  "Fuck it, I wont help people who don't want to  be helped."  I walked out the door at the  end of the portable hallway and headed home.