With a last snicker, he strutted out the door. I took a few deep breaths as the class sat in idle discomfort. "OK. So today we're talking about the reading from the weekend. Everybody get out a half sheet of paper - we're going to do a quick reading check." A chorus of groans fired back at me. "Relax. This isn't a quiz; it's a reading check. If you took your notes or at least paid attention, and you finished the reading from Friday, it should be a joke." I waited for them to get their materials ready, sheets hastily torn in half and shared with neighbors. Tabitha had stored a half sheet for herself from the last reading check, the tear a perfect line across the top of the page. Taylor had forgotten a notebook. And a pen. And to do the reading, as was plain from the look on her face. "Question one: which of the major themes we discussed - remember, you can use your notes on this - was the dominant theme of these two chapters?" I gave them a minute to flip through notes, issued the s
Too late to walk it back now. "I know some of your friends, Abbie. If you keep this up, someonewill notice, and then your only option is going to be to use it on them. I can attest firsthand that it can and will spiral beyond your ability to control it. And that's best case scenario. It's not hard to envision others that end a lot worse." Little by little, I could see my words sinking in. Good. So she had some imagination after all. "You're saying you wouldn't go all Liam Neeson and use your particular skills to bail my ass out if I got tooken?" "I'm sorry, 'tooken?'" She merely nodded. "If you keep abusing my language like that, I'm going to root for the tookers." Abbie sighed. "OK fine. You can have the rest back. Wasn't enough to do anything too cool with anyway. I'll drop it off." She caught my skeptical expression. "I will! What, you think I'm gonna go on a rampage in the next twenty minutes of the school day? Short-ass rampage. Almost nothing left anyway." "And again, did yo
Most students thought teachers disappeared into the ether with the tolling of the last bell, and I channeled that belief into my response. "Outside of class?" A place I'd never been, never heard of, my face said. "I think I've seen her in Saturday class here and there. Usually kind of a pain in the tush about it, too, but that's what you pay me the big bucks for, right?" I chuckled.She did not."And nothing beyond that?""How else would I know her? From what I hear, she's not exactly Spell Bowl team material." (I coached Spell Bowl in the spring. Too nerdy for the Sterns, too intellectual for Cassie, too low-brow for Tabitha. It was a fantasy-free zone.)Usually Mrs. Horen let her glasses hang from a cord around her neck. Presently, she raised them to her face. I recognized that maneuver. I'd seen it before in conferences with difficult parents, where she was done listening to them bloviate and was about to lay down the law. I have to say, it was doing work.Without a word, the princ
I am not a pussy, but I wasn't superhuman either, nor did I cleave to that tired but persistent belief that crying is a sign of weakness. I owed Isa big time, though. The fact that I was trying and mostly failing to stop sobbing with self-pity in the seclusion of my own home instead of festering in a jail cell was entirely her doing. Maybe a small nod to me for having the foresight to enslave her in the first place. (Yes, enslave. No sense pussyfooting around the term now. Not when the whole city - the whole country, maybe, if this thing got traction - was going to be using it to describe me soon enough.Acclimate, Canon.) Still, no matter Isa's insistence that they couldn't arrest me for something the girls had done, their exposure (pun intended) had done more than enough damage. I didn't know how much Principal Horen had overheard of their damning greeting, but she'd certainlyseen plenty. The girls had been dragged to the office by Horen in anticipation of contacting their parents.
She clicked her tongue reprovingly. "First off, they're not children. You're all adults in the eyes of the law. If you weren't their teacher, you could fuck them all day every day and nobody could say boo. Second, that's not what you're accused of. The charge is a teacher engaging in sexual conduct with students. What they've seen doesn't look good, but they didn't walk in on... well, any of the hundred-odd incidents that would be damning." Hearing it that way was at least some relief. Not much, but some. "How do you rate my odds?" She was quiet a moment; I could hear Candy in the background prodding her to admit she'd just come in her panties, Isa shushing her. "It's hard to say, master. Horen wants your head, that's for sure. Still, all she has is girls who will all swear you knew nothing about their state of undress, and a grainy video of what's probably a student kissing you in a bar. If I were you, I'd be getting in touch with my union and contesting the charges. You'll look a
Tuesday morning I contacted my union rep to appeal my dismissal and for legal counsel. They rushed somebody out before noon, a tired-looking fellow named Capaldi with wire-frame glasses and only a few lonely hairs left on his head. I explained my situation using the lies I'd settled on with Isa. We were still talking over what to expect when I got the call from someone at the police department asking me to come in for questioning as soon as possible. The appointment was set for that afternoon. I'd driven past the place a thousand times without a second glance, an old brick building next to the courthouse. It was on my route to the high school. Nonetheless, it was a daunting thing, walking into that police department with all that guilt weighing me down. I couldn't escape the feeling that I would never leave, like they would ask the perfect question and I'd be left with no choice but to confess all my sins and throw myself at their absent mercy. Capaldi and I were led to a sparsely d
I'd meant it as a joke, but Tabitha nodded austerely. "I mean to. That is, at least as long as you're out of jail and all. Do you really think that'll happen? Because I'm going to have to make more corrections to my five-year plan if that's the direction this all goes." Touching. "I don't know. My lawyer didn't laugh in my face and tell me I'm fucked, at least, but I suppose we'll see how our little fiction plays out. How were things in school today? Are we trending?" "Nah, I haven't heard anybody talking yet. Can't believe the principal could walk in on me showing you my bare butt and not even get in trouble for it. I guess Mrs. Horen kept her mouth shut about it though, because I wasn't even getting weird looks. So far, so good, I guess." I got to work on my own clothes. "That's a relief. If we can actually somehow keep this under wraps, coming back will be a lot easier." "Yeah, it'd be nice not to graduate with an asterisk. 'Most likely to whore her way through college' doesn't
"If I spank you any more, it's going to bruise. It may have already," I told her some hours later. She looked back at me, sulking. "So? So when I sit down tomorrow, I'll remember how much Mr. Canon approves of my ass. It'll feel good. Go on. Bruise me." I patted the bed. "Come on, give it a rest for a bit. I can only take so much." Tabitha stood, frowning, and gestured to my admittedly fully erect shaft upthrust from my prone position. "Really? Because it looks like you could take more." "I meant my hand, actually. But if you're so intent on brushing up, climb aboard. You're almost as bad as Taylor about getting me off-topic from my lesson plan." Not that I'd had a plan. And no one was as bad as Taylor. It was a little strange, in a way. If I had told Taylor to mount my cock, she'd have grinned that self-satisfied smirk of hers. Abbie, too. Cassie would have practically leapt on it. No, not practically, definitely. Isa would pout, Candy too, but they'd have that angrily horny fac
"What party? You mean Cassie Brown?" She shook her head. "Nah. That party sucked anyway. I got pretty drunk, though. Anyway, no, it was... Thursday? Or Wednesday. What day did you come back last week?" "Friday." "OK, so Thursday, then. I remember because I was really stoked we had a sub for most of the week until I showed up Thursday and suddenly I was like, what was I even thinking, Mr. Canon is an excellent teacher, and then you were back the next day and I was really glad." Then she frowned, which since it was Katie Medina meant the lower lip automatically thrust out in an adorable pout. "Where were you all week anyway, Mr. C? You never said. Three days is a long time to be out. Did one of your grandparents die or something?" Even the casual mention of dead grandparents wasn't enough to dull the heat throbbing out of me into Tabitha's mouth. How could she breathe like this? Abbie was kneading Tabitha's ass, and as I watched, she took a page out of Katie's ex-boyfriend's playbook
She remained bent over. "Ugh. Yeah. Man, that was nasty. Thanks, Mr. C." She kept at it with the water bottle, swishing the water around to get the dregs and spitting into the trash. I pivoted to the others. "Both of you. Talk. Now." Tabitha defended herself first. "I didn't know anything about whatever that was," she insisted. Abbie shot her a swift glare. "Don't hate on me. I told Taylor this was a horrible idea from the beginning, C-dawg." "Well you obviously know something! If you don't know the why, you can at least start with the goddamn how! I just watched her graduate! Did you chloroform her in the bathroom or something?" "This school, man, people getting drugged all over the place. Somebody needs to crack down," quipped Abbie. I didn't laugh. Screw it. I turned back to Katie, who seemed to have more or less recovered. "Katie, what did they do to you? Are you OK?" She nodded. "Yeah, I think so, Mr. C. Those paper towels were frickin' gross. You know what it... Did you e
Fourth? She'd made Abbie take a dump on my desk. I opened the door. "All right Taylor, let's--" Taylor was not in my room. Two other people were. One was straight from my short list of suspects. Abbie sat on the corner of my desk in a loose-fitting t-shirt and denim shorts that went down nearly to her knees. That she wasn't dressed to titillate was actually much more surprising than her being here. As I walked in, she looked up from her phone with a sly grin. "Sup, C-dawg. Long time no see." The other occupant, however, was not on the short list. Nor the long list, nor any list at all aside from my second period class roster. "Katie...?" Katie Medina's reply was muffled by her gag, what turned out to be a wadded up ball of paper towels from the dispenser I kept in my desk. Which, it turned out, was now sitting beside Abbie, who turned out to be offering to me the key to a pair of handcuffs which, it turned out, were the reason Katie wasn't moving from her desk at the front of t
I didn't bother to hide that I was reading over her shoulder. He says he'll take it. The recipient, according to the contact name at the top of the page, was Bitch, Stupid. "Taylor, huh. Does she know you have her saved like that?" She shook her head and pulled up another contact. "No, that's not Taylor, and no, she doesn't know. This is Taylor." Bitch, Boss. "If I enter them like that with the commas, they stay side by side. Convenient." "Dare I ask what you have me saved as?" She smiled, scrolling down through her contacts and finally tapping on one and holding it up to me. Free Tutoring Service. "In case anyone snoops, I didn't want them to find an entry for 'Guy Who Spanks Me Until I Come.'" Thank goodness everyone else was wrapped up in the moment and not paying attention to us. "I approve." The phone buzzed with the reply from Stupid Bitch. (Inwardly, I felt a bit guilty that I didn't know whether that referred to Abbie or Cassie. Tabitha was not someone whose estimations
Taylor and I walked inside together. If anyone thought it strange, a young, single teacher walking side by side with a dropout in a sopping wet bikini top, I didn't care. Hell, thanks to her, my colleagues would think nothing of it, and all of her classmates were about to leave for good, and had bigger things on their minds, besides. Inside, there was a buzz of excitement, jubilant noise streaming from the fieldhouse doors ahead. As we reached them, however, Taylor stopped me with a hand on my wrist. I paused."You know, it's a damn shame we hated each other before we liked each other. We might've done good, ya know.""Maybe so.""Guess you can't reboot shit in the middle of it, though.""No, you sure can't."Her head tilted to the side. "You sure you don't want your present?""You mean the present isn't a work place where none of my coworkers or superiors can find any fault with anything I do?" Not exactly what I'd had on my wish list. Honestly, I'd thought it would be that, or else
The young woman merely glared sullenly. It was as much confirmation as I'd gotten when I pressed Isa on it, but that too had been sufficient. "Makes sense. With a trained chemist on your side -- one who works in a drug analysis lab, with access to all the contaminants she'd need to replicate my mutated Serenex, one whom you thought I'd never encounter or question, so you could keep marching to your twisted Emersonian drummer. Even if the woman found a way around your control -- which I doubt you'd give her -- she'd think to go after Isa, and no way that submissive little bitch was going to rat you out. Hell, you probably even had Abbie handle that, scapegoat for life." "Almost out of the good stuff, so you move heaven and earth to get your hands on more. You make all these big plans for a grandiose gesture to impress your new boyfriend, mind-fucking the entire faculty and staff just so you and I can hook up in the classroom without anyone getting nosy." I shook my head. "Or something
Her hands balled into fists, and a primal growl issued from deep in her throat. A few hundred feet away at the other end of the parking lot, the procession of graduates began exiting the field wearing their caps and gowns, empty diploma cases in hand. "I swear to god, you are the most selfish asshole I've ever met!" Taylor roared. "If you even knew half the shit I did for your ungrateful fuckin' ass, you'd--" "You mean like drugging Randi?" I interjected calmly. Taylor froze, head snapping back warily. "Um, what do you... I mean, I never..." "You did. And if you're going to lie to me, then we have nothing to talk about. I know all of it now, so don't embarrass yourself by being coy." She planted her hands on her hips. "OK, fine! So what? So I dosed a janitor. Big fucking deal. Not like anybody got hurt by it." "That depends on one's perspective on the merits of free will." "Overrated. You of all people should know that." She shook her head irritably. "So how'd you find out?" "
I enjoyed a few more seconds of fondling, then released her. With my back to the auditoriums' occupants, it was naught but a hug as far as they were concerned. Her face was suddenly flushed, and I knew well that the intense look on her face was not the righteous indignation that once would have been there at being publicly felt up by a teacher. It was arousal. Savage, urgent arousal. "Congratulations, Ms. Hutchings. See you on stage." I walked by, and left her in my wake. A few rendezvous with fond students later, I finally bumped into the fondest of them all. She disentangled herself from a cluster of friends to dash over to me and unabashedly wrap her arms around me in a truly fierce embrace, practically a tackle. "Mr. Canon. Hi." "Hiya, Cassie." I hugged back, skipping the grope this time. She'd already arranged a sleepover tonight; I'd have plenty of opportunity to enjoy her ass then. "Can you believe we're here? I mean, gosh, this is probably the last time we'll ever be toget
She somehow followed my incoherent stutters. "You asking about that stuff? Oh, that was so long ago, I can't..." She took a drink, mulling it over. "No, you know what? I think it was that same day, with that whole essay kerfuffle. Funny, right? Yeah, the little fox waited until I was doing one of the bathrooms, snuck up behind me and..." She mimed spraying her face. "Don't you worry, though. Nothing's more important to me than making sure you and your girls can have your fun." My god, when I was poised to listen for it, hearing the way Serenex twisted speech with its rote repetition was just detectable enough to be utterly chilling. "So you knew, this whole time, that we...?" "Sure, sure. You aren't nearly as subtle as you think you are. Classroom doors feature that big gap at the bottom, ya know, and there's a little sliver between those papers you placed over your windows that you can see right in. Don't you lose any sleep over it though. If I saw you were up to anything, I kept o