Story Of Her Life.

Big Mistake

Mrs. Hall's office was a lot more spacious then Beth last remembered from Freshman year, when they took a tour of the school. File cabinets neatly lined the back of the room and a big desk filled the center of it, where Mrs. Hall sat. Beth and Mr. Conklin sat in identical chairs, at least six feet apart from eachother and Mr. Woodcock, Mrs. Paslay and a news reporter stood at the back of the office near the exit.

Beth never thought she'd be sitting in this office, let alone with Mr. Conklin. She side-glanced over at him. He was tapping his black converse on the floor and fiddling with the loosened tie that hung around his neck. He did look pretty cute, but she could never see him that way.

"Mrs. Pasaly here says she's caught the two of you, on several occassions, in Mr. Conklin's classroom with the door locked during school hours, and after school. She's also spotted you in your vehicle Ms. Anderson, in a...close manner, and this young gentleman here says he has footage of you too showing public displays of affection on school grounds." Mrs. Hall explained.

Beth wanted to leap from her chair and choke Mrs. Paslay. She obviously had no idea what she was talking about, and 'close manner?' If you're in a car, you have no choice to be close, it's the laws of physics!

"Inappropriate student-teacher relationships are strictly prohibited at North Shore High. I surely thought you two, especially you Benjamin, would know better!!" she hissed clattering up from her chair.

Beth wondered for a moment if student-teacher-student relationships counted. It made her head hurt. She cleared her throat and spoke.

"Excuse me Mrs. Hall, but if we could have a chance to explain ourselves?" Beth inturrupted. If she were going to be expelled for something that wasn't a student-teacher relationship, she wanted everyone in that room to know exactly what it was.

"Non-scense! You've had plenty of chances to-" Mrs. Pasaly was cut off by Mrs. Hall's pale, lanky arm being put up to quiet her.

"Thank you... I met Ben- er, Mr. Conklin for the first time long before any of the students here did. Probably long before any of you did. Infact, I was 3 when our mothers first introduced us. He lived three roads over in my neighborhood. His mother babysat me for a while while my mom worked night shifts at the hospital, and when I was old enough, I babysat his little sister while he studied for tests and such as a teenager." A smile appeared on Ben's face. He never studied. "He's been like an older brother to me, and I could NEVER see him in that manner. And Mrs. Pasaly only saw me in his room after class ONE time. It was a couple of days ago when he was helping me deal with a family problem, which most of you know him as my Father. Pasaly inturrupted a private conversation and accused us of the worst, not knowing the facts. She probably did see us on the road one day. My mother called him to pick me up from the hospital, because I was too sedated to drive home. And Friday, after my father threatened to kill one of the staff members here, he gave me a comforting hug that no one else offered. It's not a romantic relationship, it's an he's-the-older-brother-I-always-had relationship. So I'm sorry to be rude Mrs. Pasaly, but don't just assume what your eyes see is legit, they can fool you sometimes." She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. Maybe they'd buy it? She pulled that one out of her ass.

Mrs. Hall whiped the tears from her eyes, and straightened the sweet smile she had on her lips.

"Obviously, we were misinformed," she eyed Paslay, who was still in shock of what she heard.

"You're dismissed." she looked from Mr. Conklin to Beth.

They filed out of the room just as Mrs. Hall called Mrs. Paslay to sit in a chair. A heavy weight lifted off of their shoulders as they passed by Bug, and the two office assistants. They were snickering and looked at the two as the left.

Although they'd avoided any trouble with administration, Bug was one of the biggest gossips at North Shore High. The whole student body would know about the little mishap before tomorrow. Great. Just what Beth needed, more attention.

When they were in the hall and safely out of earshot of anyone in the office, Mr. Conklin turned to Beth and smiled. Beth grinned back.

"Thanks for uhh..." he pointed to the office.

"Saving your ass?" Beth finished.

His eyes widened. "Language!... but yeah..." he grinned.

He wrote her a quick pass to class and they were soon headed in seperate directions. She couldn't believe how close she was to being caught for a student-teacher relationship, with the wrong teacher. She knew the administraion and staff had their flaws, but how stupid could they be? She took that day into consideration for next possible time she'd sit in that office with another teacher by her side.