Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

"Taylor, you plagiarized. You were caught. You lied about it and were caught in that too. If you persist in this behavior, I'm going to have to send you to the office. I believe next time you'll be up for a Saturday class. Now you can take your seat and let me get on with the class, or... see you tomorrow for the Saturday class." It wasn't the most productive punishment, reminiscent of the Breakfast Club tradition of locking up a bunch of angry and unruly kids in a room for Super Detention, but it was five hours of easy money for me. I mostly got to sit back and grade, plan, and do the work I would be doing anyway. Every so often, I looked up to nudge them awake or keep them off their devices. I doubted it had any corrective effect as the students already had enough tedium during the week, but Principal Horen believed in it, and I wasn't so opposed that I was unwilling to cash in. There was a tense moment with a truly malevolent glare, and she drew it out long enough that I began to

The glare diminished, but only slightly. "Yeah, I remember.""Alright. I want you to head down to my office, and we'll talk about this, and figure out the next step. I need a minute with Mr. Canon first, though, okay?"With one final withering look at me, Taylor pivoted and flounced out of the room. Was that a smirk I had caught on her lips? Maybe. After all, she had engineered a way to ditch the seventh period.I had to hand it to her, Louisa Barbour was a heck of a smooth operator when it came to de-escalating situations. We had all seen the videos of uniformed brutes body-slamming mouthy preteens, but our Louisa was a genuine asset. This wasn't the first time I had seen her work her magic, but it was the first time it had been done to rescue me. Only a couple of years out of the academy, but she had a hell of a great head on her shoulders."Thanks, Louisa. I have no idea how things went sideways like that. She's been in a heck of a mood today - I caught her cheating, and she made me

At least, when I wasn't dwelling on ignoble thoughts. They were merely fantasies, nothing I intended to act on. I would have her write her essay for me and maybe apologize, but that was it. Absolutely. School let out at 2:55. By 3:30, I was pretty sure Taylor had decided to blow off my leniency. I was such an idiot, a fool who had spent all the money he had saved to help a student who refused to be helped. After completing as much work as I could with this scheme, I typed up an email to Louisa informing her that Taylor had blown me off, to disregard my earlier message, and to let the hammer drop. Taylor had been given every opportunity to make amends and instead... "So, are we doing this or what?" A voice from the doorway interrupted my thoughts. I looked up, and there she was. She wasn't wearing her earlier outfit; instead, she was wearing a thin white tank top and athletic shorts that were cut high on either side. They almost met the school's past-the-fingertip rule if not for an

"The whole chapstick thing, I guess," she said. She was nearing the bottom of the board again. Rather than squat, this time it appeared she was going to simply bend further. Maybe her thighs were sore from her workout. Maybe she was doing it on purpose to mess with me. Hell if I knew. But she was bent nearly ninety degrees now, and her tank top was hanging down enough that I could just barely make out the bottom of her sports bra clinging to the underside of her chest. It was a faded pink, almost the same color as that egg-shaped chapstick that had started all of this."Say it like you mean it," I pressed. "A complete, sincere-sounding apology." I deserved this. She deserved this. An apology was only fair. If Louisa had drawn a different conclusion about what she'd walked in on, it might have ended my career. A heartfelt apology was the least I owed."Jesus, fine. I'm very, very sorry I tried to get my chapstick back, Mr. Canon. And for teasing you.""You were?" I blinked. Had it reall

I wasn't far behind her. Spending an hour a day with Taylor in my sixth period had been exhausting me all year; an extra hour all alone with her was going to be the death knell of my joie de vivre. Briefcase in hand, I made my way into the hall. Grant High was silent this time of day, a welcome respite. At the far end of the English hallway, I could see our custodian Randi pushing her vacuum back and forth, doggedly undoing the damage these kids did to the poor building day in and day out. She looked up and I gave her the customary nod of gratitude; it was unreturned as usual. I couldn't even blame the woman. After all, my being here doing my job only made hers harder, while the reverse was true for her. My classroom, H121, was right near the junction with the school's main hallway. Then it was that long stroll down the wide, empty corridor to the parking lot before I could finally drive home, unbutton my shirt, and relax for a few minutes before I had to start prepping for tomorrow.