Teacher's Pet

“I was seeing someone,” I said.

“Oh?” my mother asked. “Seeing someone? Like a boyfriend?”

“Yes. Well, no, not exactly like a boyfriend.” I realized how this made it sound, though—like I was just hooking up with some guy for sex. ?

??I mean, we were together, and we liked each other, and I guess I just thought it was more serious than it actually was. He broke up with me before I could really tell you guys about him. And I wasn’t expecting it, and it sort of got in the way of my schoolwork. Which I realize was stupid, and I shouldn’t have let happen.”

“Tessa,” my mother said. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve helped you. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. Breakups can be really hard.”

“Mom, I don’t think you could have helped me.”

“Well, we would have at least known what was going on with you.”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal.”

My father looked far less sympathetic, though. “So you’re telling me that this is all about some guy?” He shook his head. “That’s not acceptable, Tessa. You can’t let yourself get sidetracked like that, especially over some boy.”

“It’s done and over with!” I exclaimed. “I’m not involved with him, I’ve accepted that he doesn’t like me like that, and I’ve moved on. I’m not letting it distract me anymore. You guys were asking if something had happened, and I’m telling you.”

“I’m not too interested in hearing about your relationship woes, Tessa,” my father said. “Are you trying to tell us you need to see a psychologist? Some sort of mental health professional? Is that what this is?”

“What? No!” I shook my head. “I don’t need to see someone! I was just telling you what had happened.”

“It sounds like you’re trying to make excuses.”

“I’m not.”

My father nodded. “Good. And now I need to get going; I’m going to be late.” He went over and dropped a quick kiss on my mother’s cheek, nodded briskly at me, and then was gone.

“Well,” I said, looking at my mother. “That went great.”

She sighed. “Tessa, you know how you father is. You shouldn’t act surprised. Daddy and I have been generous with you, too, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect you to uphold your end of things. But I also don’t want you to think that we don’t care about the other stuff that’s happening in your life. Who was this person? Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Who he was. We’re not seeing each other anymore.”

“Is there anything else going on that you’d like to tell me? Now would be a good time, since your father’s out.”

“You’d keep it from him?”

“Of course I wouldn’t keep it from him, but sometimes it’s better if I’m the one that breaks the news to him.” She looked at me closely. “Why? Is something else happening?”

I shook my head, even as Leo’s words echoed through my mind. If my parents couldn’t even handle the fact that I’d dated someone and it had ended, there was no way I was going to tell them about what Leo had said. And since they’d made it abundantly clear that I had to get my grades up immediately, it seemed more and more like I was going to have to take Leo up on his offer.

6.

Leo

I was sitting in my office with 10 minutes until feature writing class. I had my laptop open in front of me and was cleaning out my inbox. This time, I did happen to catch the email from Shannon, rescheduling the meeting that had originally been for Friday evening, to today at lunch. I looked at the date. She’d sent it only yesterday. I hit “Reply All” and took the time to type out, in big, rainbow letters: CANT WAIT REALLY LOOKING FORWARD 2 IT. I knew how much the ALL CAPS and the lack of punctuation would irritate not just her, but probably everyone else on the list.

Satisfied, I shut the computer, left the office, and went down the hallway to the classroom. Of course, Tessa wasn’t in feature writing class the day I planned to apologize. That friend of hers, Lindsey, was though, and I could tell that Tessa must’ve said something to her, because Lindsey was following me around the classroom with those fuck-me eyes every time I looked her direction. Kristin seemed to pick up on this, and I caught her shooting looks at Lindsey every so often.

Lindsey lingered after class, packing and repacking her stuff into her bag, just so she would be the last one out. I had a feeling Kristin would have hung around to see what Lindsey wanted to say, but she had another class she had to run off to.

“Everything okay?” I asked, looking at Lindsey. She was wearing a pair of jeans that appeared to be shellacked onto those gazelle legs of hers.

“Everything is fine,” she said. “But I did have a question.”

“Okay—shoot.”