Teacher's Pet

“Based on what you’ve told me, I highly doubt that it would ever get monotonous. Monogamous, maybe.” She grinned. “Could you imagine if Leo was your boyfriend? I mean, that would be totally crazy. He’s so hot. And once this semester is over, you won’t be his student anymore, so you could totally go public with being in a relationship with him.”

“I can’t even think that far into the future right now,” I said. “I just want to enjoy the way things are going, and keep focused on schoolwork, because really, that’s what got this whole thing started to begin with.”

“And to think that none of this would have happened if you hadn’t gotten a few C’s.”

It was weird the way things worked out sometimes. If I had never gone to him about the extra credit, none of this would be happening right now. “All right,” I said, pulling my laptop toward me. “Let’s get back to work.”

Lindsey and I stayed at the Haymarket for a couple hours, and we were pretty good about staying on task and getting some studying done. I finished a paper I had for my feminist fiction class and almost finished reading three chapters for my moral philosophy course. Was it ironic that one of the chapters I read examined the morality behind doing something pleasurable despite the fact that you knew it was wrong, even if it wasn’t hurting anyone?

As I was driving back to the apartment, my phone started to ring. I came to a red light, so I pulled it out of my purse and looked at the screen. It was my father.

“Hello?” I said, wondering why he was calling me now. “Is everything okay?”

“Hi, Tessa,” he said. “Yes, everything’s fine. How are you doing?”

“Good. I just finished up at the Haymarket; I was there studying with Lindsey.”

“Glad to hear it. That’s mainly the reason for my call—I just wanted to check in with you and see how things were going with your studies. But you sound like you’ve got things back on the right track.”

“Yeah, Dad,” I said. “I think you and Mom would both be pretty pleased with the work that I’m doing.”

“I hope we’ll see that reflected in your grades.”

“You will.”

“Good. You and I didn’t really have an opportunity to talk at all after that day you stopped by the house. I know I came off as a bit stern, but it’s only because we care about you and want to make sure that you’re living up to your full potential. I also don’t want you to think that we’re holding anything over your head. I know it might seem that way, but we’re paying for your apartment and bills right now because we want you to have the time you need to truly dedicate yourself to your studies. And I won’t keep you on the phone long; like I said, I just wanted to check in, and it sounds like everything is going well. I’ll be sure to let your mother know.”

“Okay, sounds good,” I said. “Thanks for calling.”

There were a few awkward seconds of silence, then we both said goodbye. My father wasn’t much of a phone person, and I knew that he must have been bothered by the way things had gone down that day at their house if he was calling me now.

There was a part of me that did feel guilty about what I was doing with Leo, if only because I knew how badly my parents would freak if they ever found out. I pushed that thought out of my mind though, and told myself they wouldn’t find out, and that even though I was doing that with him, I was still taking care of my schoolwork. I felt pleased with the amount of work that I’d done, and despite things seeming totally hopeless a few short weeks ago, things had really turned around. I let my thoughts go to Leo, and I wondered what he was doing t

hat very moment, and a part of me ached to be with him and wished that he would be there when I walked into my apartment.

I stopped in the lobby to check the mail, which I hadn’t done in a couple days, and as I stood in the elevator, I flipped through the circulars, a shoe catalog that looked semi-interesting, the phone bill, and then a white envelope, addressed to me. There was no return address.

I smiled as I slid my thumb underneath the flap of the envelope to open it. I had liked that he’d included that note with my last assignment he handed back, but actually sending me something in the mail . . . there was something very tantalizing about that.

The elevator reached my floor, and the door slid open, so I stepped out and let myself into my apartment before opening the envelope all the way. I pulled out a sheet of unlined white paper, folded in thirds. Whatever was written on there had been typed.

I started to read.

We know what you are doing with Leo Rochman. Such activities could get you

both thrown out of Benton College, as it is in direct violation of school policy. If

you would like that this be kept secret, the following is required: You must write

a five-page paper about the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina and

whether or not you think the outcome would have been different if New Orleans

had not been predominately black. You have a week to do this. MLA citation

required. Ignoring this letter, taking it to the dean, or in any other way trying

to get out of doing this will result in the whole school knowing about the