Teacher's Pet 9
by Redkage
“…and so as you can see, the answer for the equation is twelve,” I announced out loud as I finished solving the problem on the board. Turning around, I scanned the classroom. It was a fairly tricky problem, but my demonstration was simple enough so that most of them got it.
In his usual corner all the way in the back, Ethan watched me with those dark, focused eyes. Every time our eyes would meet, I could feel my heart flutter and the sweat form on my forehead. I could see the intention in his eyes, even from all the way up here.
He still wanted me.
He wanted me badly.
It’s been a week and a half since my return, and although he hadn’t made any real attempts, his intentions were as plain as day. Every day he’d stay back after class and flirt with me about sports, TV, school gossip and so on while batting his eyelashes at me. He hasn’t asked me out or tried to kiss me or anything like that. I was grateful he was taking things a bit slowly, because just knowing he had a crush on me was almost more than I can bear.
It certainly didn’t help that he somehow had the growth spurt of a lifetime either. I mean, who grew two inches and gain almost thirty pounds of muscles over three weeks? It just wasn’t possible. And yet there he was, sitting in front of me, bigger than ever. Every time I tried to ask him about it, he’d just shrug and say something like he had a good diet or program or some other bologna. I suspected some sort of new super steroid and constantly warned him about the dangers of using those things, but he’d just laugh.
“If I were really using ‘roids, then why is my dick even bigger than before?” He’d ask. My eyes automatically glanced down at the prominent bulge and immediately averted my gaze in embarassment. It certainly looked bigger, but it was hard to tell for sure through denim.
A knock on the door brought me back to the present. Looking up, I saw two students walk in carrying several large plastic bags.
“Sorry if we’re interrupting Mr. Whitmore, but we’re here to deliver our heart-o-grams,” one of the girls announced.
“Okay, go right ahead.” I nodded as I set down my piece of chalk.
Today was February 14th, Valentine’s day. To celebrate, the school had a candy delivery service called “heart-o-grams.” It was actually a red sucker with a heart shaped slip of paper stapled to it, but it’s the thought that count. They’ve already visited my classroom the last two periods, so I was used to it by now.
Moving about, they delivered the candy to everybody who was lucky enough to receive them. But when they reached Ethan’s desk, they didn’t just hand him a bunch; they gave him a whole shopping bag!
Other than me, no one else seemed surprised by this, but I guess it was natural. Ethan was popular, athletic and absolutely hot; of COURSE he’d get a ton of valentines.
Though, I certainly didn’t expect one of the girls to come up to me and hand me a whole bundle of candy.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Mr. Brian,” she smiled at me, and then left with her friend to move onto the next class.
I was dumbfounded at all of the candy lying on my desk. Looking over at Ethan, I tried to see if he had anything to do with this. He looked just as surprised as I was. Picking up a few, I read the names on the tags: Angela, Carrie, Holly, most of them were my students while the rest were anonymous.
They were probably just doing it to be nice or something, I figured, so I set them aside and continued on teaching until the bell rang an hour later.
As usual Ethan came up to my desk after class, though for some reason he seemed to be acting… weird today, though I couldn’t figure out in what way. It was almost as if he was nervous or something.
“That’s… quite a bit of candy you got there.” Ethan peered at the bundle sitting on my desk.
“I’d say yours far outweighs mine Ethan,” I chuckled as I nodded my head towards his plastic bag.
He glanced down then shrugged, the globes of muscles in his shoulder rolling around each other. “Standard V-day haul, no biggie.”
“Oh, speaking of big…” I opened a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper. “We have a big problem.”
Ethan winced when he saw the big, fat zero on his test. “Er, yea…”
“Ethan, I thought we already talked about this,” I started.
“Sorry Mr. Brian.” Ethan hung his head. “I’m trying hard, really. I’m doing okay in all my other classes, but it’s so hard for me to understand math.”
“What exactly don’t you understand about it?”
“Well, how to do that power thing, parenthesis and brackets, all of those letter things-“
“It looks like you’ve been cruising on this free ride for so long you don’t even have the basics down.” I rubbed my chin.
“Yea, I’m stupid, I get it.” He looked away.
“No, you’re not stupid.” I reassured him. “You just need to work hard to catch up on what you slept through. The thing with Math is that unlike subjects like History or English it builds upon prior knowledge, so you can’t pick it up and start wherever.” I thought on the problem for awhile. “Tell you what; how about I tutor you to push you in the right direction?”
“Really?” His eyes lit up. “Can you come over to my place tonight?”
“Not tonight, I have… things I have to do. Same goes for tomorrow.” I shook my head. “How about this Saturday?”
“What exactly are you doing tonight?” His muscles suddenly tensed up, filling up his sweater to the max. “Got a date?”
“Nope, no date,” I shook my head. “I just have work. Is Saturday good or not?”
“It’s good.” Ethan relaxed, obviously relieved by the news. His crush on me was cute at times, but probably unhealthy for him in the long run. Unfortunately, he was still stubborn and completely unreasonable.
“So what exactly are you going to do with all that candy?” I changed the subject. “There’s no way you can eat all of that and still keep all your teeth.”
“Oh, these?” He lifted the bags up slightly. “I’m going to share it with all my buds. After the fifth one it gets on you, y’know?”
“I guess that makes sense.” I looked down at my own little bunch. “I wonder if some of the other teachers would take all of this as well.”
“You’re not eating any of them?”
“Nah, I’m trying to cut back on the sweets.” I explained. “I’m starting up a new diet, and candy isn’t anywhere on the menu.”
“Is that so…” Ethan trailed off, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “Oh, uh, look at the time. I gotta go before I’m late for class. I’ll see you late Mr. Brian!” I watched as he turned heel and rushed off. Something was definitely unnatural about that, but I pushed it out of my mind as the kids for next period started filing in.
After school ended, I made my way to the teacher’s lounge for my usual cup of coffee. To my disappointment however, I found the pot completely empty. Caffeine was what gets me through a night of endlessly flipping burgers, making soggy french-fries and dealing with the customers from hell. I didn’t have the energy to make more from scratch but I didn’t see another other choice. Sighing, I started to make a fresh pot of coffee for myself.
“Ah, Brian, just where I’d thought you’d be!”
I turned around and watched as Mr. Kennedy walked in, carrying a box of chocolates in one hand. “Here, try one of these chocolates. They’re to die for.” He offered them towards me.
“No thanks,” I declined, “I’m on a diet.”
“Oh come on, one can’t hurt!” he insisted.
“If Mr. Whitmore does not wish to have one of my chocolates, then let him be,” Mr. Cartier spoke as he entered the room. “I doubt he could fully appreciate such fine Belgium chocolate.”
Yup, Cartier was still an asshole as usual. Wanting to prove him wrong, I snatched a piece and popped it into my mouth. The chocolate instantly started to melt, spreading its rich bitter sweet flavor across my taste buds.
Damn, these really are good. I thought. It was a good thing Mr. Cartier was watching; otherwise, I’d probably be tempted to scarf them all down at once. “So where did you get these from? Did you buy them for yourself?” I tried to make fun of him.
“Nicholas here got them as a thank you present from a student.” Mr. Kennedy said as he took one himself. “Though I’m surprised someone would give a teacher something so expensive. How much do these cost again, eighty, ninety dollars?”
“Ninety six dollars and twenty four cents with tax, a suitable amount for this caliber I suppose.” He answered as if it were nothing, but with that amount of money I could have bought a few week’s worth of groceries. “Yes, well I have done much for Ethan during the past few years. It’s only natural, I suppose, that he’d wish to repay me with this small gesture.”
I felt the color drain from my face upon hearing that name. Ethan gave chocolates to Mr. Cartier and not me?
“Hey Brian, are you alright?” Mr. Kennedy leaned in closer.
“Huh? Oh, yea, I’m fine.” I snapped out of it. “I, uh, gotta get going now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay.” Mr. Kennedy nodded, and then pressed three more pieces of candy into my hand. “Here, take some for the road.”
“Er, thanks.” I replied absentmindedly, and then left for work.
On the bus, I stared blankly out the window. Why would Ethan give Mr. Cartier chocolates? I mean, I thought I was the one he liked. Or maybe I had gotten it all wrong, maybe Ethan had moved on while I was away and all those flirts and lustful eyes were really all in my head. But the way he acted obviously stated that some interest was there. But then why would he…
Ugh, I’ve got to stop thinking about this! I smacked my forehead with my palm, forgetting that I was still holding some half melted chocolate. Swearing, I yanked out a tissue from my bag and wiped the mess off furiously. I should be grateful that Ethan was moving onto someone else… right? I mean, even though it was bad he was still after a teacher, especially a jerk like Mr. Cartier, at least he wasn’t after me… or at least, that was what I thought. Deep in thought, I looked at the window, not really paying attention. It wasn’t until the bus started to move again that I realized that this was where I was supposed to get off.
“Stop the bus!” I jumped to my feet.
* * *
I let out a deep breath as I climbed the stairs towards my apartment after a really bad shift at work. All night I couldn’t shake Ethan out of my head, causing me to lose focus at work. My boss practically yelled at me nonstop for sloppy work and daydreaming.
Why was I so obsessed with Ethan? He was only a student after all. Sure he was my student, but he wasn’t the only one. I mean, he did stand out in a big way I guess, being such a troublemaker and also such a popular guy… okay, he stood out to me because he’s just plain big, alright? Who could miss those big, bulging muscles anyway?
Still frustrated, I mindlessly stomped up the stairs to my floor. When I reached my landing, though, I stopped.
Leaning just outside my door was Ethan.
“Hey there Mr. Brian,” Ethan grinned as he pushed off the wall and walked over to me with his hands behind his back.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” I looked up at him.
“Waiting for you, of course,” He winked.
I stared at him, baffled. “Why?”
“To give you this,” almost shyly he brought his hands forward, “Happy Valentine’s Day Mr. Brian.”
I stared at the object he was holding. “…Rice cakes?”
Sure enough, it was a bag of rice cakes. Eight chocolate flavored, low cal, low fat… rice… cakes.
“I know it’s not much, but it was the best I could get on such short notice.” He scratched the back of his head. “I had a box of chocolates I wanted to give you, but then you told me you were on a diet and everything, so I had to ditch them for these instead. I hope these are enough though.”
I looked up at his face. I looked at the rice cakes. I looked back up to him again.
Without warning I burst out laughing.
“Mr. Brian?” Ethan blinked. “Are you alright?”
“Hahaha, I, I, hahaha, oh-hahahaha!” I was laughing so hard I couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. I laughed at his present. I laughed at what I had done to get rice cakes instead of expensive chocolate. I laughed at how Mr. Cartier had gotten second hand chocolates that were really meant for me. I laughed at my whole day, my whole life.
But most of all, I was laughing at myself, for being happy that I received a Valentine’s Day gift from my 18-year-old student even though I shouldn’t feel that way.