21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Teacher's Pet

March 1988

My assignment was at Shermer High School to go undercover as Michelle Nelson, a smart and quiet girl who transferred from a school in Oregon. Judy threw some pastel colored sweaters my way and I headed to school. This bust was directed toward a math teacher and trying to prove that he is having sexual relations with his students.

I sat in a chair in the English class I had to take, and I started chatting with one of the cheerleaders there, because it was another cheerleader that we think is hooking up with the math teacher. Of course it's not her fault, she is being abused by a man in power. It's my job to prove that he's abusing her, so we can lock him away.

"Our coach makes us all have a 3.0 GPA. If it is any less, we are not allowed to go to practice," she told me as we sat in desks by each other. Her blonde hair was up in a high ponytail, and she wore a jacket with her name sewn into it.

"What happens if it's too low?" I asked her in a low voice. The teacher was not in the classroom yet, and we were all waiting for their arrival.

"Then we have to get tutored at the library," she said, following a gagging sound. She chuckled and said, "it's not hard to keep over a 3.0. Especially with a teacher like Mr. Harrison."

Mr. Harrison is the teacher that is under investigation, so her mentioning his name was intriguing. I asked, "what does Mr. Harrison do?"

She was about to answer when she was distracted when we heard a male voice say, "okay, students, take your seats."

"I'll tell you later," she whispered.

I looked to the front of the class and saw Teacher Tom holding a pile of papers in his hands, wearing nice dress pants and a dark corduroy jacket over a plaid shirt that I could only see the collar of. He wore thin round glasses to the bridge of his nose, and Judy and I spent a couple hours this morning putting makeup on his face to make it look like there were some wrinkle and smile lines to age him. It is not often we have to age ourselves up instead of down.

Tom began to smile at me before he immediately looked away and cleared his throat. That is one of the most difficult things about going undercover together as strangers, is that we have to act like strangers.

Fuller almost came in as the substitute, but he felt that having someone younger would be better in case it's a student who is part of the problem. We wanted to know if students were initiating these affairs, even though it's the teachers who should know better.

The cheerleader, Linda, leaned over to me and said, "the new substitute is hot."

I scoffed and looked toward Tom, "you think so?"

"He's a hunk and a half."

"He's old," I whispered to her. He is definitely too old for her.

"He doesn't even look that old. Who cares?" She snickered.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"That is too young for any man," I said. I added a little chuckle to my statement.

"Just a few more months until I'm legal, and I bet he won't mind."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because Mr. Harrison doesn't mind, and he is much older."

"What do you mean?" I tried to act dumb.

"Get him alone, and you are guaranteed an A for the year. Trust me." That was all she said, but that was all I needed.

Tom interrupted us by scolding, "no talking."

"Excuse me, Mister..." I spoke up.

"Wayne, Mr. Wayne," Tom answered. Batman.

"Mr. Wayne," I said and tried to think of a way to get him alone with me to inform him of the information I just received, "I don't understand what you can teach us that we cannot teach ourselves."

"What do you mean?" He asked in a deeper voice, tilting his head. He stuck a pencil behind his ear and I swear I heard Linda sigh.

"I mean," I said sassily and stood up from my chair. "I could teach this class better than you."

Tom chuckled and gestured his hand out. "Take a seat, Miss Nelson."

"Take it where?" I asked innocently.

"Smart mouth, eh?" Tom said to me. His one eyebrow raised at me. He snapped his fingers and pointed to the door. "Hallway. Now."

Students around us "ooo-ed" as I walked up to the front of the class and Tom followed me out the door. As soon as the door closed, I leaned against some lockers that were in the hallway and he turned to me and asked in his usual voice, "what do you got?"

He knows me well. I stood right in front of him as I took out a package of gum from my pocket and offered him one when I responded, "Linda told me that if I can get Mr. Harrison alone, I'd get an A for the year. Guaranteed."

Tom had his arms cross but started to chew on his pinky nail. I knew what was going through his mind, and he didn't seem too pleased. "Think you'll be all right?"

"I'll be fine," I said, "do you know when his free period is?"

"I think it's next period. We talked a bit this morning at the teacher's lounge, and he seemed excited that his long distance girlfriend was gonna spend the weekend with him. Didn't realize he meant long distance age wise," Tom said with a shudder.

"It could be Linda. It seems like she meets up with him quite a bit to keep up her GPA. I think we should include her on the bust."

"It would be a good way to reel him in since they've already got that relationship," Tom agreed.

"I'll talk to her. I'll come up with a game plan before the period is over."

"I've got a free period next too, so I can cover you."

"We got this," I said before we automatically high fived and suddenly a door opened down the hallway.

Tom immediately shoved his hands in his pockets and said in a deeper voice, "I do not tolerate that kind of behavior in my class, young lady. Next time I will send you to the principals office."

"Yes, sir," I said submissively as a few teachers were walking past, carefully watching our interaction. I almost felt like the teacher's pet.

"Get to class, Miss Nelson," he said and he watched me walk back into the classroom.

For the rest of the class period, Tom continued with his lecture and Linda kept drooling over him. I was developing my plan to arrest Harrison, preferably in the most embarrassing way so everyone knows what a creep he is but Tom told me that that might traumatize the students. He's probably right, but no matter what, I can guarantee that this man never hurts another child again.

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