My Teacher Read online

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2018 Sam Crescent

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-685-9

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To everyone who has fallen in love and fought the boundaries that had bound them.

  AUTHOR NOTE

  Lucia and Jack's story has been rolling around in my head since I was a teenager. Their story is all about love, about boundaries, about fighting for what you love, regardless of the consequences. Please, give Lucia and Jack a chance to show you their love, and what each other means to them.

  MY TEACHER

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2018

  Chapter One

  “That’s enough from you, Connor,” Mr. Parker said, glaring at his troublemaking student.

  Lucia Deen tried not to look back at the guy who had just called her a fat bitch in front of the entire classroom. She hated coming to school for this very reason, but unless she wanted to hear her parents complain, she had no choice. It’s not like the first time Connor or a few of the other popular kids had decided it would be funny to call her a name, or push her against the locker, or something else. She avoided the bus home from school, never went down corridors alone, and certainly made sure that her jeans fit snugly around her waist. There was a time she’d wear skirts that fell below her knee, but one of the jokes they pulled was to lift her skirt up and call her wobbly legs. Yeah, she stopped wearing skirts or dresses that day. The humiliation had been way too much for her.

  She leaned on her hand and tried not to look at the rest of her classmates. They were all giggling at her expense anyway. If Marie was with her, then it wouldn’t have been so bad, but for their senior year, they were in next to no classes together. It was pitiful that with all of her high school life so far, she had one close friend. That was it, one. Marie was her lifeline, and if it hadn’t been for her, Lucia feared what her future would have been like.

  Both of her parents worked all the time, so she rarely had any company. That wasn’t unusual though. They had always worked, and they had always pushed her in the direction of being independent and making her own decisions.

  It was why they didn’t know the extent of the bullying. Why she could walk around all day completely naked and they still wouldn’t see the bruises where another girl or guy hit her.

  She was used to it and had been for the past ten years.

  Yes, she was the fat kid in school. The one they always made fun of because she wore a size eighteen, not a size eight or zero. The girl that weighed more than anyone else, and everyone made sure she knew about it as well.

  Feeling her cheeks heat, she listened as Mr. Parker got back into his lesson, comparing two poems by people she couldn’t even remember the names of. English was her favorite class. She loved reading, but poetry wasn’t for her. She didn’t gel with it. The constant rhyming or when a poem didn’t make sense because they used long words. She didn’t mind books, stories, something fleshed out, and complete fantasy. They were her favorite, and she spent so much time reading that it helped her to deal with her life as it was now, or to deal with the loneliness as well. Some people would love her life with the lack of her parents’ interest, but she hated it.

  Tucking some hair behind her ear, she watched as Mr. Parker began writing notes on the board, and she copied them down in her notebook, being sure to be thorough. Just because she didn’t like poetry didn’t mean she wanted to fail at this.

  Over and over he spoke about these two poems and all she saw was loss. The loss of a loved one and how people coped with it. Why did all poems that they were learning have to have some deep meaning or something? Couldn’t they be completely stupid, like talking about someone breaking wind?

  The bell rang, making her jump, and she didn’t even realize that class was so close to ending. It didn’t seem two minutes that she’d entered the room and now she was leaving it.

  Classmates were already rushing out the door, yelling and shouting for lunch. Packing her stuff up, she was about to head toward the door when Mr. Parker called her name.

  Hiking her bag up her arm, she turned toward him and stepped closer to his desk.

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  “You don’t have to listen to the boys in my class.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine. I won’t accept that kind of behavior, nor should you.”

  She nodded her head. “It’s not a problem, Mr. Parker. It’s not like it would be the first time or the last.” She shrugged. “They get a good giggle out of it, I guess. No biggie.”

  “This happens in other classes?” he asked.

  “When the mood strikes them. You can’t tell me that you’re not used to the fat kid getting bullied now. A few names here or there.”

  He tilted his head to the side with a frown. “You have any more trouble in anyone else’s classroom, come to me. Do you understand?”

  She nodded. “Sure.” It would be the last thing she did. There was no way in hell that she’d bring this kind of mess out in the open.

  Some of the other teachers laughed it off. Others tried to hide it, but she knew they were laughing at her as well. That was the way of life.

  He shook his head. “Go on. Get to lunch.”

  “Thanks.”

  Turning her back on him, she made her way out of English to find Marie already waiting for her.

  “You in trouble?” Marie asked.

  They were the complete opposites of each other. Where Lucia was fat, with long, brown hair and dull brown eyes, Marie was slim, with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. They had become friends in kindergarten, and that friendship had grown strong over the years. Marie knew her situation at home, and how she spent a lot of time on her own.

  “No. Why would I be in trouble?”

  “Hello, you had to go and see Mr. Parker after everyone else left. I mean, only bad kids do that.”

  She giggled. “Nah. Connor said something mean, and he was just being nice about it. You know.”

  “Mr. Parker is one of the best teachers in the entire school. Let’s face it, he’s also the hottest.”

  He was the only teacher who didn’t take any shit from anyone. Unlike some of their male teachers who kept their suits in pristine condition, Mr. Parker would roll his sleeves up, showing the ink that decorated his arms. In the height of the summer, the tie would come off and a couple of buttons would open up, revealing his chest. She was sure she’d seen a couple of marks displaying more ink.

  Not that she thought of Mr. Parker in any way like that. She’d heard a lot of the girls in her class saying how much they’d love to fuck him and stuff. There were a lot of things some of their fellow peers would like to do to Mr. Parker, but he was completely off limits, and it wasn’t something she allowed herself to think about at all.

  In fact, it would be completely hilarious. Her and the teacher. There was just no way in hell something like that would ever happen.

  “Look at you, having the hots for a teacher,” Lucia said, wrapping her arm around her friend’s shoulder.

  “Please, so gross. He’s, like, way old. Not going to happen.”

  They found a bench far away from the cafeteria. />
  Pulling her lunch from her bag, she handed Marie her cheesy fries and pulled out her sandwich of cheese and pickles.

  “You think he’s gross?”

  “Don’t get me wrong. He’s hot, but he’s old. We’re still really young, and when he gets older we’d have to take care of him.” Marie wrinkled her nose. “Not going to happen. We’ve got to live life to the fullest, and having an old dude, that’s not living life. That’s pitiful and boring.”

  Lucia laughed. Just a few minutes in her best friend’s company and she felt a million times better.

  “Are we going shopping this weekend?” Marie asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t your parents have that trip they’re going on?”

  “Yeah, they do.” They were heading to England for some kind of conference, and just the thought of it depressed her. “I forgot about that.”

  “I already have it marked on my calendar. Already told my parents I’m spending the entire weekend with you. I’ve rented some Brad Pitt movies. What do you think?”

  “And you’re grossed out by old guys but Brad Pitt is all the way?”

  “Please, he’s not that old, and he’s so good to watch. I’m going to marry a man just like him,” Marie said.

  She rolled her eyes and giggled as her friend batted her eyelashes. Finishing her sandwich, Lucia packed her lunch away, ignoring the candy bar that was so calling her name. She was still hungry, but she wasn’t going to eat anything else until she got home.

  “You look sad again,” Marie said. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, of course. Nothing’s wrong with me at all. You know. Just not with it today.”

  “Senior year will do that. College applications and lots of studying. Don’t forget parties.” Marie gave a little shimmy as if she was dancing.

  Lucia wouldn’t get invited to parties. Marie, maybe. She had been catching the eye of a certain jock lately, but she didn’t know if her friend wanted that.

  Senior year was proving to be just like every single other year. The same people were all in the same circles. Even now, sitting at lunch she knew the popular kids were all around the center tables in the cafeteria. Some of them actually sat on the table, and all of them were on their phones, sending messages, taking pictures, uploading them onto social media. The same old life.

  There was a time she’d had an account where she posted updates to all of two people who friended her. After the skirt lifting incident and the nasty comments, she disabled her account and hadn’t gone on again.

  Marie kept talking about her Brad Pitt movie marathon, and it would be nice to spend the time with her friend. Forcing a smile to her lips, Lucia listened and laughed in all the right places that her friend needed.

  Where Marie was taking senior year with fun and positivity, Lucia was struggling. Everything was the same. Nothing was different. Their last year of high school was supposed to the turning point of their life. She had so many high hopes, so many plans, so much riding on the final days of her life.

  Did she have it all wrong?

  She always imagined something amazing, something life-changing happening during her senior year, and in fact, it was the complete opposite. Only one week in and she was used to the horrible names, the usual routine of avoiding certain areas of the school.

  Once they finished lunch, Marie had to be on the opposite side of the school, and Lucia walked her toward the art room before heading back to her locker. She had history, and as she stood collecting her books for the next couple of classes, she gasped as she was suddenly pushed against her locker.

  Gritting her teeth, she didn’t do anything, and listened as Rachel told her to lose weight.

  “You can’t even fit into the locker. We couldn’t push you in, loser.”

  She waited for them to walk down the long corridor. Once upon a time tears would have filled her eyes, and she’d be sobbing, but right now, she kept them at bay. Grabbing the last of her books, she closed her locker door and made her way to history class. She was the last person to enter and took the only available seat at the back. Ignoring the snickers and the noises coming from people around her, she rested her head on her hand and took a deep breath.

  Just one year to go and life would be simpler, easy. That’s all she needed to do.

  Listening to the teacher go on and on about the complications of wars and how they started throughout the years, Lucia rubbed at her side where she’d hit the locker. They were all under the impression that she didn’t hurt because she had extra padding. The pain was there, and so were the bruises, but she wouldn’t give in.

  There would be something that would happen this year. A turning point. There had to be. She couldn’t look back on her senior year with pain or hatred. Something had to give in her life, and she intended to make some damn good changes.

  Feeling a little better, she found herself smiling as she sat up, taking notice of her lesson once again.

  She would not be dragged down.

  ****

  “I hate kids,” Ms. Bertram said. She taught biology and was one of the sexiest teachers in the school.

  At least that was what Jack Parker had overheard several of the students whispering. They loved it when they got her to bend over, as they could see right down her shirt. That was the kind of crap he had to listen to when they should be reading Shakespeare or a simple book on etiquette and talking to a woman. Not that he could complain. Most of his teenage years had been spent chasing women like Elizabeth Bertram.

  He had been the ultimate bad boy and had fucked his way through all of the teaching staff before deciding to go after girls his own age. Anyway, that was another lifetime, when he didn’t have to be responsible. Now he dealt with kids who could be complete assholes, like today.

  Connor was a self-serving asshole who thought he was something special. Jack had grown up with kids like him, and for a time had been completely like the Connors of this world, but not anymore.

  “Anyone tell you that hating kids is not in your profession?”

  “Shoot, I knew I was in the wrong career.”

  He chuckled. “What can I do for you, Beth?”

  “Well, I was wondering if you were doing anything Friday night?”

  Jack paused with several of the homework sheets in his bag. “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Look, I know you don’t date people you work with, but we’ve known each other a couple of years now.”

  “I appreciate it, but not right now. The school year has started up. There’s a bunch of kids I’m getting to know.” This was the first time he’d taught seniors, and it was turning out to be quite the experience, not that he minded. This was the post he’d been wanting to fill since he qualified as a teacher several years ago.

  Beth held her hands up. “It’s fine. Honestly.”

  “I think you’re really nice.”

  “Let’s pretend I didn’t ask. I feel so embarrassed.”

  Now he felt like shit. “How about we get a couple of other teachers together and go out? Have a meal, some drinks this Friday. Compare notes on a few of the kids.”

  “You know what, that sounds like the best plan ever.” She clapped her hands with that usual excitement that she always seemed to have. He chuckled. “I’ll do all the organizing. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with all the details.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  The moment he agreed, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d screwed up. Beth had been showing him attention ever since he got to Beyer Hill High School. Any normal time he’d have jumped at the chance to be with Beth. She was sexy, smart, cute, all the things that normally mattered to him, but he wanted to make this work. He loved his job, and teaching had been something he’d stumbled onto during some community service he was forced to do when he was a kid.

  He watched her leave and finished packing up his stuff for the day. There were a lot of papers to grade and several lesson plans to go over. He intended to do all of that with
a nice cool beer and a juicy burger.

  Leaving the school grounds, he passed several other teachers, whom he stopped and talked to. Everyone had that beginning of the year excitement that he found utterly addictive. He listened to the school door close as he made his way toward his car, only to stop when he saw Lucia sitting on one of the benches near the parking lot.

  She had earbuds in her ears and was clicking away at her phone.

  “You okay, Miss Deen?” he asked.

  She looked up, pushing some of her hair off her face. “Yes, Mr. Parker. Thank you.”

  “It’s a bit late for you to be here still.” Most of the students had already left for the day.

  Lucia bit her lip and glared around her. “Yeah, I had a text from my dad. He was supposed to be picking me up. Clearly, he forgot.” She rolled her eyes.

  He didn’t like the thought of leaving her alone. It wouldn’t be long before it got dark, and some of the students traveled quite a way to get to this high school.

  “Do you want to call him? I think it best you remind him to come and get you.”

  “Sure.”

  She clicked on her phone and placed it against her ear. He didn’t like this. Was she accustomed to being left behind?

  “Hey, Dad, yeah, it’s me. Erm, where are you?” There was silence, and he saw her cheeks start to heat. “You texted me. Told me to wait at the school. Oh … okay. No, it’s fine. Totally fine.”

  He saw it was anything but fine.

  “Bye.” She clicked her phone and sighed. “He’s not coming.”

  Already Jack didn’t like this man. Whoever her dad was, clearly the man needed a lesson in how to deal with his daughter.

  She grabbed her bag, climbing off the table.

  “Is there anyone else you can call?”

  “No. It’s fine. I live about forty minutes from here. It’s no big deal for me to walk.”