Veronica (teacher x student)

9

I just had the worst sleep in my entire life. For the whole week, I couldn't stop thinking about the speech competition, but now it's Liam. Every interaction I've ever had with Liam just wouldn't leave my mind. I woke up at 04:00 but we didn't leave until 06:00.

I took a cold shower to try to relieve all of my negative thoughts. In my shower, I couldn't help but free some of my fantasy thoughts that I always push away. I imagined Ms. Wright right beside me, water spraying on both of us. Her hands snaked up from my sides to my shoulders. She leans in for a kiss. Her lips were soft, yet somewhat aggressive. I closed my eyes. My hands began to feel around her body. Then, her hands moved up to my neck, gently holding it while kissing me. But, her grip got tighter and tighter. I opened my eyes not to see Erica, but Liam. His muscled arms gripping my throat as tight as he can.

I felt all the same emotions as I did that day, even though I knew it wasn't really happening. It got hard to breathe and my vision blurred. Pressure began to build up in my head. It's not really happening, I tell myself. Yet, my breathing was still heavy.

My eyes open and I'm sitting on the floor of the shower. The water was very cold. I get up to turn the water off and step outside. It was already 05:00, I must've passed out while showering. It was evident by a big cut on the side of my leg. The cut was on my thigh, it must've been about 4 inches long. I put on some undergarments and go through our medicine cabinet.

I grab some gauze and athletic tape. I plop my butt down onto the cold bathroom tiles. I place the gauze over the cut, immediately soaking up blood. Then, I carefully balance the gauze on my leg while I unravel the tape and begin to circle it around my leg. My fingers were pruned by being in the shower for so long.

I pull a random school long sleeve shirt over my head and a pair of athletic shorts through my legs. I had prepared my suitcase the night before, all I needed now was to haul it to my car and drive to the school where Ms. Wright would pick me up in some school-owned vehicle.

I walk out into our kitchen and to my surprise, my mom was sitting at our island. She gave me two homemade muffins in a ziplock bag. She then pulled me into a big mama bear hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Veronica. I hope you do good at your speech competition," She says while rubbing my back.

"I love you, Mom," I tell her, retracting from the hug.

"I love you too," She says and I grab my suitcase and leave our house. My parents aren't there for me a whole lot but when they are, it's really special.

I pull into the school parking lot, and it's very much empty. It's kind of weird seeing the lot this deserted, I mean usually, it's nearly empty after volleyball practice, but there's always the occasional junkie car. I guess no junkies hang around at the school at 05:45. I stare at my phone, reading the few notifications I have. A loud car horn startles me and I look up to see Ms. Wright parked right in front of me. I smile and get out of my car's seat. I grab my suitcase out of my backseat and hand it over to Erica, who seems absolutely delighted. She slides it into the trunk of the school car.

"Get in, you're shotgun," She says before hopping into the driver's seat. I get into the passenger seat.

"Do we have everything?" She asks. I recount all of my things.

"Yup," I assure her, "I never knew you were a morning person,".

"You're just lucky enough to get me in the afternoon when I'm all grumpy from students," She says, still smiling. I look out of the car window as she drives out of the parking lot.

We weren't even out of town yet when I feel a particular hand graze my leg. I see her fingers trace the gauze.

"How long has this been here?" she asks, her fingers still feeling the wrapping.

"Just this morning, I fainted in the shower," I tell her.

"Do you faint a lot?" She asked slightly concerned.

"Just when I get too wrapped up in things in my head," I say.

"And that's what?" She asks her eyes glancing from the road to my eyes.

"Liam," I confide my eyes darting down to my shoes. Our conversation goes quiet. She removes her hand from my leg. I begin to shuffle through a small backpack I brought for the car ride.

"What are you looking for?" Erica asks curiously.

"My earbuds," I reply, I search some more before realizing I had left them on my nightstand. Erica then turns on the radio as if reading my mind. She begins tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. Her fingernails were painted a sage green, one of my favorite colors.

I turn my head towards the window and my mind begins to wander off. I imagine my life in the song playing, it was a love song. Lyrics played about professing undying love.

I open my eyes to the touch of a hand on my shoulder.

"Do you need to stop? There's a gas station up ahead," Erica says. I check the clock and it read 08:12.

"No," I reply, "I've been sleeping for almost two hours?!". Her hand has not yet left my shoulder. She laughed lightly at my remark.

"Our hotel is about 30 minutes away, so don't fall asleep again," She says returning her hand to the steering wheel. We become quiet.

As soon as I turn my head back to the window, she places her hand on my thigh. I, of course, whip my head around to look at her. She doesn't say anything, she just smiles.

We begin talking about things that don't matter at all. Silly little things, pointing out license plates from far away, pointing at cows, and even singing along to a song we collectively know.

Our hotel looked average, it wasn't that ratchet, but it wasn't a high-end, fancy valet kind of hotel. We walk in and Erica checks into our rooms. I sat on a chair in the lobby staring at my phone. Erica approached me and handed me a room card.

Room 914.

"Is this on the highest floor?" I ask.

"I assume so," Erica replies and picks up her luggage. We walk together towards the elevator. I see a sign that reads Hotel Pool.

"Do we have enough time to go to the pool?" I ask.

"Probably more in the nighttime," She responds smirking at my suggestion. We enter the elevator and she presses floor 9. The ground lifts us both lightly and aggressively. We stand close to each other even though no one else was on. The elevator lags a little and makes me lose my balance slightly. My hand knocks softly into hers and I find my balance again. The elevator door opens and we walk outside. I begin following the numbers on the door with my eyes.

Room 903

...

Room 906

...

Room 909

...

912

...And there's my room, Room 914, on the right side of the hallway. Erica turns and faces my door. I assume she would be just one room over. She swipes a card and walks into my hotel room. I stand in the hallway confused.

"This is my room," I tell her holding up my card.

"We are sharing a room," She says simply, opening the door wider to show two beds in the room. I could feel the color drain from my face. Never I would have imagined sharing the same room as Ms. Wright. Ms. Wright's stare made me unable to think.

"You nervous? I don't bite," She says smiling walking over to me. Her hand grazes over my forearm and down to my hand as she picks up my luggage.

"I'll be gentle," She whispers staring her icy eyes into mine. Her body whips around and walks back into the room. I stand in the hallway for a few moments more really taking in what happened. I'll be gentle. I can never tell if she's joking or if she's serious. She sounds like she's joking but she doesn't act like it.

Hesitantly, I walk into our hotel room.