Mr. Teacher

“Charlotte? He tilted his head. “Charlotte Baker? Wow, what are you doing here?” He stood and blinked in surprise.

“I’m here because of this.” I pulled the copy of the email my sister sent out of my pocket and sighed deeply. “I believe my sister took an old story I wrote and sent it to everyone in the school.”

“I see.” He closed his eyes and I could see his face getting red with anger. “Mr. King said he was dating someone that used to be a student here. I’m guessing that would be you?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “And I swear on my life—even on my sister’s life, which may not last much longer—that Mr. King never even looked at me in this way when I was a student. This story was nothing but a fantasy written by a sixteen year old girl that had more hormones than brains.”

“Yet you two are together now?” His eyes opened and I detected suspicion in his voice.

“We are.” I nodded again. “I came by to pick up my sister from detention and I ran into him again. He’s divorced now, we’re both adults, and yeah—the girl that wrote that story still had a crush on him.”

“You and everyone else.” Principal Wilson picked up the piece of paper. “You’re going to have to give a statement to the police and probably the school board. I don’t know how this will shake out, but at least we can make sure Mr. King doesn’t go to prison.”

Chapter 10: Gavin

I wanted to answer the questions that were being asked, but there was no way I was going to do it without a lawyer present. The school board tried to send their attorney to sit with me, but I decided to hire private counsel. The school board would only look out for themselves and the situation I was in would require someone that had my best interests in mind. It took several hours for my lawyer to arrive and for me to fill him in on the situation, but then we were seated in the interrogation room where I knew my life would quickly be dissected.

“Have you tried to reach out to the girl you have been seeing?” My lawyer leaned over and whispered before the cops walked in.

“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “We’ve only been on two dates and we made plans in person. I didn’t even get her number.”

“That’s probably for the best.” My lawyer leaned back in his chair as the police walked in.

It was a barrage of questions and I let my lawyer decide which ones I should answer. They took a few breaks along the way, but it was practically an entire day of questioning. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but the allegations were so serious that I didn’t feel comfortable handling it on my own. Internally, I was feeling so shocked by what transpired that I wasn’t sure I could have said the right thing anyway. I couldn’t help but question if Charlotte had set me up. She was the one that suggested I ask her out.

She was the one that showed up at the school and then later showed up at my house wearing the cheerleader uniform. All of that seemed a little convenient considering the fact that the email was sent the very next day.

“So, let me get this straight.” The detective leaned back in his chair. “You’re sleeping with someone that used to be a student at Glendale High School, you think she might have sent this email, but you’re not going to tell us who it is?”

“My client has already explained that to you.” My lawyer leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “This is a private matter between my client and his girlfriend.”

“Or—her sister.” The other detective stared at his notes.

“My client doesn’t have anything else to say. Are we free to go?” My lawyer glared at the two detectives.

“Let’s take a break and reconvene in about an hour.” The larger detective stood. “We need to review our notes.”

“You can’t hold him here!” My lawyer’s tone got louder.

“We’re not holding him. We’re just talking.” The other detective stood up and followed his partner towards the door.

The detectives excused themselves and we sat in the room for longer than an hour. My lawyer decided to go out and see if he could figure out what was going on. School was definitely out and the rumors were likely rampant with every parent of a cheerleader sitting them down to have a serious conversation the moment they walked in the door. I wasn’t sure if Principal Wilson or the school board had started questioning them or notifying the parents, but it wouldn’t matter either way. I might have gotten some frowns because I was dating a former student that once sat in my class, but even if they found out the email was a lie, my reputation would be completely ruined in the aftermath.

“Mr. King, I’ve got good news.” My lawyer walked back into the room with a smile on his face.

“I’m not sure anything you say will sound like good news.” I looked up at him and sighed. “It’ll rank somewhere between bad and worst.”

“Well, then consider it the lowest version of bad. They figured out who sent the email. A Ms. Charlotte Baker approached Principal Wilson after school and confessed.” He shrugged. “That’s good news, right?”

“She confessed?” My stomach did a flip as my lawyer spoke.

“She confessed to writing it, but not to sending it.” The detective that first questioned me stepped into the room. “It was her sister that did that. We’re going to end our investigation and turn this over to the school board. It doesn’t look like there was a crime, so we’ll let them handle it.”

“No crime…” I sighed and shook my head.

Just the crime of my life falling apart.

“AMY, NO. YOU CAN’T do that!” I was seething into the phone as I spoke. “I didn’t do anything wrong, it was some stupid kid at the school!”