Veronica (teacher x student)

5

I went back to school a few days after being in the hospital. I could talk, but my voice was pretty hoarse. It kind of sounded like I smoked 4 packs a day. And believe me when I say there were herds of people around me. No one could believe what happened. There were so many rumors that Liam did it because I slept with his best friend. Of course, I denied them all, but I think there are some people still persistent that they are true. Liam had been sent to a juvenile detention center over 3 hours away, I'm still not sure how long he is going to stay there. The whole day I wanted to see Ms. Wright and thank her for the flowers. The day seemed to go by so slowly. In every class, it seemed I had missed two months of work even though I had only missed a few days.

When I walked into English, I was confused the entire lesson. I was constantly asking Nathan if he understood what was happening.

"You know, I think Ms. Wright feels guilty about not getting to you in the hallway sooner," He whispers over to me.

"I think so too, but there was nothing she could've done," I say and he nods his head in agreement. Nathan already knows almost the entire story of what happened. I can't help that I'm a gossiper. I told almost everyone what happened but I excluded the parts like me and Ms. Wright holding hands or that she got me flowers.

"Veronica and Nathan stop talking or I'll give you detention," Ms. Wright reprimands us from the front of the room.

The final bell eventually rings and everyone goes to leave but me.

"Good luck trying to catch up on all your stuff," Nathan says to me before he leaves.

"Thanks," I sarcastically say and I watch him leave. I look back at Ms. Wright at her desk typing.

"Hey, Veronica could you close the door then come back here," She asks. I quickly reply with a "Yup," and go to close the door. I walk back to Ms. Wright's desk and I see her mindlessly stare at my bare legs as I approach. Her eyes break contact with my legs and she begins pulling out all the papers I missed.

"Come around my desk so you can see these good," She instructs. I walk around and stand next to the chair she's sitting in. As she's explaining everything to me I begin to feel a sharp pain in my foot from the stitches. I instinctively sit down and raise my foot and lay it on my leg. I peel off my shoe and see red bleed through my sock.

"I can help you with that," Ms. Wright whispers into my ear. I then realize this whole time I had been sitting on the arm of her chair. She gets up from her chair and pulls another chair across from hers. I sit in the one she pulled up and she returns to hers. She pulls out a first aid kit from under her desk. I put my foot on her knee.

"You can get closer than that," She teases me and pulls on my leg and the chair I'm in wheels closer to her. She removes my sock and begins to clean up my foot.

"I'm turning 18 soon," I tell her.

"When?" She asks.

"October 2nd," I answer.

"What are you going to do for it?" She asks casually.

"Well, I really want to take a bike ride through the cherry blossom trees then, I have school that day so I got to go to this class I hate. It's called A.P. English and the teacher is so strict and mean," I joke.

Her eyes narrow into mine, "You think you've seen my mean side,". My cheeks turn hot and I have to look away. She begins to wrap athletic tape around my foot.

"You know how to wrap?" I ask.

"Yes, I played volleyball until college," She says.

"What position?" I ask getting excited.

"If you can guess, I'll give you a reward," She says almost in a whisper. I think about it for a little bit.

"I want to say center back, but I think coaches would want you to hit because you're tall. My final answer is outside hitter," I say.

She smiles and looks up, "How'd you know I wasn't middle?"

"Did I get it right?" I ask ignoring her question.

"Yes," She replies as she finishes wrapping my foot.

"What's my reward?" I ask narrowing my eyes into hers.

"I might just have to save it for your birthday," She says.

"No! That's like over 2 weeks away," I say impatiently.

"Oh, you can't wait another 2 weeks?" She teases.

"No, I really can't," I tell her. She leans back into her chair thinking.

"Please tell me, Erica," I say emphasis on her name.

"Don't call me that in school," She responds back quickly. I smile at her uneasiness. She tosses my foot off of her lap.

"Scooch closer, now we actually need to do some work," She says. We work at her desk, our legs a few inches away from each other. After we finish one sheet, she reaches across and grabs another, in doing that her chair scooted closer to mine. As a result, our legs were less than an inch away.

"See if you can do this one by yourself," She says and leans back. I lean forward to begin writing. Not even a minute into writing I feel an Erica Wright's hand on my back. It started with her fingertips until she flattened her hand on my shoulder blades. Her hand began to wander around my back, then wandered downward. Her hand rested on my lower back as she leaned forward to make sure everything I was doing was right. When she was satisfied with what she saw, she leaned back and I could feel her eyes stare at where her hand was. The hand lifted off of my back and I felt a slight disappointment until I felt it once again but this time on my skin. Erica lifted the back of my shirt and put her hand under it.

Her hand still wandered around, I felt her fingertips feel the strap of my bra. I still try to focus on the English sheet. Erica's hand exits out of my shirt and she stands up.

"I got to go make some copies for tomorrow, you keep trying to finish that up," She says and exits the room. It felt weird, being in a classroom alone. I loved how she touched me. Her warm hand scaling my back. I've never really felt this way about another woman, especially a teacher.

I rub the back of my neck trying to push my thoughts back. For some reason, I just can't get Ms. Wright out of my head. I wonder what perfume she uses, she smells like what I'd imagine a baking school to smell like. I would want a candle with her scent. I look back at the page on her desk and try to think about the rest of the questions. I wonder if Ms. Wright tries to match the colors of her bra and underwear. The questions! I need to answer the questions. I manage to write down a few more answers until I hear her heels clicking closer to the door.

I see her strut through the doorway. She walks back to her desk and places down a handful of papers. She doesn't sit down though, instead, she stands behind my chair and reaches over my shoulder for my worksheet. She places her hand on my shoulder as she looks over my responses.

"This is good, you're getting a lot better," she says, "We can continue more tomorrow,".

Ms. Wright hands me my sheet back and I take it. I pack up my bag and leave her classroom. Once again, all the hallways were empty. I stop by the gym and see everyone practicing. I felt bad, I really wanted to practice with them, but my foot still hurt and I definitely can't yell right now.

"Do you wish you were practicing right now?" Ms. Wright whispers being me, scaring me.

A little startled, I reply, "Yes, this is my senior year, I definitely don't want to be missing out,". I can feel her eyes looking at me as I'm watching the other girls. Without saying anything, she starts walking away. I look at her walk out of the school doors. I continue watching the volleyball team do some usual drills before I leave as well.

As I'm walking out into the parking lot, some car pulls up to me.

"Get in, loser. I need to talk shit," says one of my best friends, Jenny. I haven't hung out alone with her in a while so I decided to get in. Her family is pretty rich so she has a nice car.

"Where are we going?" I ask her.

"I found out how to see all the teacher's addresses," She says smiling like a fool.