Four | Lie Through Your Teeth

On Monday morning, I showed up late to my first period class. The cause of my tardiness? A piping hot cinnamon latte from the cafe. I admit, I might have been addicted. Unfortunately, the line had been much longer this morning than it usually was. But I had no regrets. I had a delicious cinnamon latte in my hand and I was going to enjoy every sip.

Setting my latte on my desk, I turned to my class and sighed. "I almost forgot I had a job today. But then I remembered, so here I am. For the first 30 minutes, just work on analyzing the first chapter of The Tipping Point. We'll have a discussion afterwards."

As the class took out their books, my eyes were pulled in the direction of Harrison. Her hair was down today. It was straight. And her eyes as they concentrated on reading were still breathtaking. I watched her fingers caressing each page of the book as she read. Her right hand would periodically rest just under her chin as she turned to speak to West. Her lips as she spoke were taunting me with the idea of kissing them to see what she tasted like today.

I forced myself to look away. I couldn't be thinking such things. She was my student and that was all she could ever be. I couldn't allow myself to think of her as anything else.

After the night Harrison and I had shared together, she left that following morning without a word, and I didn't blame her. Although, a part of me wished that we could have cleared the air. I remembered that night all too well; I had gone against my morals completely and kissed her, even going further than that and surpassing the line of danger. I touched her. My body had been pressed up against hers. Our mouths had a hard time parting and our hands roamed all along each other's bodies. The worst part was that I had enjoyed every second and regretted nothing even though I knew how inappropriate the moment was.

I assumed that her friend, West, knew about what had happened between us at the party, and that made me think of Jason. I hadn't told him about what happened between me and Harrison. But honestly, I needed to get it off my chest.

"Class, I'll be right back," I excused myself, stepping outside to call Jason.

Ringing... Ringing... Come on, pick up!

Voicemail. "This is Jason. Well, no. It's supposed to be, but whatever. Couldn't make it to the phone right now and it's none of your business what I'm doing! You know what to do after the beep, I don't think I have to remind you."

Beep.

I sighed and left a message. "Hey, Jason, it's me. Look, I really just thought we could talk today. I've got something on my mind that's kind of been killing me. Maybe over lunch? My first break is at 11. Uh, that's it. I gotta go, but text me or something," I finished. I took a deep breath before heading back in, walking straight to my desk, not allowing a single look in Harrison's direction.

But the temptation was hard to resist.

When the class was over and everyone was gone, I slammed my fist onto my desk and rested my head.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt." My head jolted up and I noticed West standing in front of my desk.

"No, I'm sorry you had to see me lash out like that," I said, taking a deep breath so I could calm myself down. Everything was just fine. "What can I help you with, West?"

He stood up taller. "I just wanted to say that I know what happened between you two. You and Harrison, I mean."

"Yes, West. I'm aware that you know because it was kind of obvious," I said, coming off angrier than I meant to sound, so I quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. It's not like me to snap like this."

"Must be the stress," West commented and shrugged. "Well, all I really wanted to say was that I'm not going to tell anyone what happened, so if you were worried about your job, then you don't have to be. Not yet, at least."

"I'm not worried about my job, West," I said. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

West smiled at me forcefully before he left, and once more, I slammed my fist on the desk. In a moment of pure anger, I threw my copy of The Tipping Point halfway across the classroom. I immediately regretted it only because I hated losing my temper and it was a rare occurrence. It shouldn't have been happening right now.

This was what I got for playing with danger. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling I had when I was around Harrison. I couldn't shake the butterflies that would creep up into my chest each time I caught a glance of her or heard her voice from across the classroom. I knew it was a mistake to have slept with her since she was my student, but I couldn't write it off as just that. There was something more when it came to Harrison. Something I couldn't quite explain.

•••

Thankfully, Jason had called me back prior to my 4th-period class and said that he could have lunch with me around 11:30 since he had just woken up. It was a typical Jason move to sleep well through 3pm, so I was pleasantly surprised that he actually got up before noon.

The bell rang at 11 and I immediately left the classroom, using the back exit since all the students were racing out of the front (as if they had somewhere other than another class to get to). When I got to the teacher's parking lot, I got into my car and started my drive to the restaurant. It didn't take me long to get there and I arrived 15 minutes early.

Jason was 15 minutes late. But it was expected. He liked to keep me waiting. Really, he liked to keep everyone waiting. The good thing was that I had been able to get a secluded seat in the restaurant due to my earliness, which was optimal. The current state of affairs was nothing to be shouting from the rooftops.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said when he arrived, sitting down across from me. "Actually, I'm not sorry. You should be used to it by now."

"Yes, I'm used to it. Good to see you, too, Jason."

"So, what were we gonna talk about?" he asked, immediately grabbing the menu and scanning all of the items.

"Well–"

I could barely get a word out of my mouth before the waiter walked over and asked if we were ready to order. I wanted to protest as my appetite was really nonexistent at the moment. I needed to get this off of my chest before I could even think about eating anything. But Jason spoke before me and nodded eagerly.

"Hell yeah, I'm ready. I'll get the triple chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, the white gravy, obviously. Oh! And two orders of garlic knots. That would be great." I looked at him, raising a questioning eyebrow. "What? I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"And for you?" the waiter asked, turning to me.

"I'll get the regular burger with fries. Medium rare," I said. "Thank you."

Once the waiter was out of sight, I was ready to ramble and let every secret flow out of my mouth smoothly. But because Jason enjoyed making things hard for me, he spoke up once more.

"Okay, so before we start on whatever you wanted to talk about, I have this hilarious story," Jason said, already chuckling. Great. "Okay, so I was on campus a couple days ago and we were all doing this 5k run for the school, and this dude ran into a pole, and the guy behind him was laughing so hard that he ended up running into the same pole!" Jason was laughing hysterically at his own story. It wasn't even that funny to begin with.

"You weren't doing a 5k run." Jason never ran. He was lazy.

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't running it, but I was walking by when it happened. It was hilarious, but you had to be there I guess."

"Thanks for that compelling story. Anyways, about the–"

And that son of a bitch had the audacity to cut me off again.

"Oh, there's one more thing–" Jason tried to speak, but I felt my hands tense into tight fists as I interrupted him from uttering one more dumb word. The secret I wanted to tell him was boiling inside of me like a kettle, rising to the surface and getting ready to spill over. I would likely burst if Jason didn't let me speak.

"Jason!" I interrupted, causing him to shut up. "Come on, it's really important." The waiter arrived not a second later, placing the garlic knots on the table directly in front of Jason. His eyes widened in delight and he immediately dug in.

Maybe with his mouth full of garlic knots, he'll finally shut the fuck up.

"Right, fine. Go ahead," he said, then shoving an entire knot in his mouth.

"Okay. So you remember the party right?" I asked and he nodded. "At the party, one of my students joined me outside and we had a beer and talked. And then, I woke up next to her. Naked."

Jason practically choked on one of his knots, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Dude," he leaned in and whispered, "you slept with your student? Your student who's a junior, your student who you've only known for, like, a week? Wait, which one are we talking about?"

"Harrison."

"Oh, shit! West's friend?" he asked and I nodded. "She's pretty hot, Otto." And what Jason did was absurd: he held up his hand towards me for a high five.

"High five? Are you kidding me, Jason? I slept with a student and you're trying to give me a high five?"

Jason retracted his hand. "Right, sorry. Maybe that was the wrong reaction. By the way, these knots are phenomenal! You've gotta try one."

"Can we just talk about the current situation? I'm not really in the mood to stuff my face with garlicky knots of bread when there's so much on my mind," I said and sighed. It was so hard to keep Jason on topic. "We haven't talked about what happened, but there are some issues. First of all, I see her every day and I can't just keep ignoring her or not acknowledging her presence. I'm going to have to see her, which is beyond difficult."

"It shouldn't be so difficult. You guys had sex, but you were drunk. It didn't mean anything," Jason said. But I shook my head. I knew that wasn't true. In fact, it was far from the truth. Harrison and I hadn't been drunk. And us sleeping together had meant something. I could just tell.

"We weren't drunk, Jason," I admitted and his eyes widened again.

"Oh shit. That's a completely different issue."

I sighed. "I just don't know how to deal with this right now. It's literally a week into the school year, and I'm already overstressed by something that shouldn't have even happened!"

"Otto, calm down. We can figure something out," Jason said, for the first time in a genuinely serious manner. "Why don't you just ask to have her transferred out of your class? Teachers have done that before, and all you'll really need is a good enough reason."

I thought about it. It might be a good choice. Possibly the only choice. "I guess I could, but how would I even persuade the Dean into making her switch English classes?"

"You just say that she needs a different teacher because you don't think she's learning well in yours. Maybe she would fare better with a different teaching style," he suggested. "I think that would be the best way to go, Otto. If you don't want to seem suspicious about it, and if you don't want to have to see her every day and replay what happened between you two in your mind."

I thought about whether transferring Harrison would be the best option and if I wanted her out of my class in the first place. And a part of me didn't because I wouldn't get to see her as often. Something about that particular fact made me upset. I enjoyed her presence in my class. I took pleasure in getting to look up from my desk to watch as she read or spoke quietly. I could watch her for hours on end and never get bored. There was just something so enthralling about her. I didn't quite want to let her go.

But the professional side of me agreed with Jason, "Yeah, okay, that sounds like a good idea. Thank you, Jason."

He shrugged. "That's what I'm here for. To help grown men get away with sleeping with 17-year-olds!"

He really had a way with words.

So the next day, Harrison and West walked into the classroom right as the bell rang. I took roll and then called her up to the front, "Harrison! Can I talk to you for a moment?" She glanced over at West and then slowly walked up to my desk.

"Uh, what's up?" she asked, clearly confused and not interested in talking to me. I didn't blame her.

"I needed to give you this," I handed her a transfer slip with the location of her new English class and said, "As of tomorrow, you are officially a part of Mr. Robinson's English 3 class."

"You're transferring me out of your class? And to the East building? Are you joking? Is this some kind of joke?" she asked. I could tell that she was upset, and not just a little.

"No, it's not a joke, Harrison. I thought maybe you needed a class that would–"

She kept her voice low as she cut me off, "No, don't explain it to me. I know why you're transferring me. I guess since this is my last day, you won't mind if I ditch." Harrison then stormed out of the classroom. I ran a hand through my hair and then looked up at West who was glaring at me as if I had done something wrong. But I had done something that would save my career, and that had to be my highest priority. Yet, a certain part of me regretted the decision I had just made.

•••