Bad Teacher (3 page)

Hailey

I go into the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror. God, I look like a fucking mess.

I turn on the faucet and stick my hands under the water. They’re shaking. I quickly splash my face with the cold water, hoping it’ll rinse away the shame.

It doesn’t.

It’s almost as if it’s visible on my face. Like you could literally walk up to me without knowing me and say, ‘Hey, you’re that girl who slept with her professor without knowing it, aren’t you?’

I’m now
that
girl.

That girl who not only spent her first fuck on a man she never met … but did it with her professor.

That girl who royally fucked up.

Fucking hell.

I slap myself in the face and murmur, “Get a hold of yourself, Hailey.”

I don’t know why, but it helps.

No one knows we did it. Lesley knows I fucked some random dude, but she doesn’t know it was him. But fuck, I hope none of this gets out because that would mean the end of my staying-low-at-school style.

Yes, I might be the red-haired girl, the nose-piercing girl, the vibrator-under-the-bed girl, the girl who loves ice cream and rock music, who likes glitter, unicorns, and rainbows and black all together, the girl who’s a mess and a mesh of all things both disgusting and fancy.

But I like who I am, and I like my privacy. So I need to make sure I keep my shit private.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I storm outside. I find a nice spot near a tree and take a packet of cigarettes from my pocket. I light one up and take a much-needed smoke break. Then I put my earbuds in and listen to “Kitty Hawk” by Ki: Theory.

I stay here for a good half an hour, enjoying a bottle of orange juice while reading a magazine. I know, corny, but I have to do something to take my mind off the whole thing, and I know going back to my dorm room won’t help.

I hear shuffling behind me in the sand, and when I turn my head, someone shouts in my face.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Lesley asks.

“Here,” I say, smiling like an idiot.

She smacks me on the head with an empty bottle of water. “Asshole. You left me in there. Alone.”

“You have plenty of friends.”

“So? You’re my best friend. You can’t just storm out. We were in the middle of class.”

I shrug. “I felt sick, so I went to the bathroom,” I lie.

Best friend.

What does that mean when I lie to her face?

I don’t even know anymore. We used to be so close, since way back when we met on the first day of college. If I knew then that I’d be lying to her face, I’d have punched myself. But I can’t exactly tell her the truth either. What I did with Thomas was a big fat no-no. I can’t tell anyone. Not even her.

I don’t want her to know. Yet. Maybe not ever. I don’t know.

This isn’t just something you tell someone while you’re casually sitting under a tree.

“And what the fuck is that?” She snatches the magazine from my hand. “
Playboy
?”

“Found it in the trash.”

“Trash? You’re outta your mind.” She throws it back at me.

“What? I just needed some distraction. It wasn’t covered in filth or anything … except on the inside.” I grin.

“You’re a lunatic,” she says, sitting down beside me.

“And proud of it.”

“So you ran out because you needed to puke? I don’t believe it. You never get sick on the first day. You’re never nervous.”

“Today, I was. I can’t help it. Can we just talk about something else?”

“As long as you promise me this isn’t because of your mom.”

“It isn’t.”

“Are you sure?” She places a hand on my shoulder. “Because you know you can tell me everything, right?”

“Yeah … No, it’s not my mom. I promise.”

“Okay. So you left class because you were sick. Were you too embarrassed to come back?”

I look at her, nodding. “Yeah.”

“I get it. Everyone was looking at you when you rushed out.”

I groan, palming my face. “Please don’t remind me.”

She laughs a bit. “It’s okay. No one will remember. They all only had eyes for the teacher. He’s freakishly hot.”

“Tell me about it …” I say, choking up a little at the thought of seeing him again.

“Just as long as you don’t leave me in there again. We’re best friends. Best friends stick together.” She rubs me and then gets up again. “Wanna get a Blizzard at Dairy Queen?”

“Fuck, yes,” I say, as I get up from the ground and brush the dirt off. “No fucking sickness can stop me from licking that ice cream.”

She grins. “
Nothing
stops
you
from licking ice cream. I’ve seen you lick it off some guy’s abs at a party. You’d do pretty much anything for it.”

“Damn right, I would. And who cares about abs anyway? I just wanted the ice cream.”

She holds up her hand. “High five!” And I slap hers. “Now, let’s go get some ice cream.”

***

That same night

Hours later, Lesley drags me to a club, but when I see where she’s taking me, I stop in my tracks.

“Oh, no … I’ve changed my mind.”

“Why?” She grabs my hand. “Nothing’s wrong with this place.”

“I know. I’m just … Can’t we just go watch a movie or something?”

She seems flabbergasted, but then she laughs. “Stop joking around. Let’s go have some fun. You obviously need it.”

I guess that’s what happens when you tell your best friend you got sick from being nervous. Of course, it’s a lie, but she doesn’t know, and she thinks this place will make me relax.

Unfortunately, it’s the same place I met Mr. Thomas Hard.

“C’mon, it can’t be that bad,” she says, pulling me along. “I’m here. That’s more than you need to have fun.” She playfully sticks out her tongue as she drags me through the doors.

“Fine,” I mumble as she gives me a stern look.

“Yay! I’m buying,” she cheers, as we walk to the bar. “Two tequilas, please.”

“Aren’t you two a bit too young for this place?” The bartender narrows his eyes.

With a smug smile, Lesley pulls out her ID and shows it to him. With suspicion, he checks it but doesn’t say a word.

Lesley purses her lips. “I’m the good kind of young. The legal-but-still-smoking-hot kind of young.”

“And her?” The bartender looks at me now.

Lesley eyes me. “C’mon, Hailey, show him.” She winks.

I reach into my pocket and pull out my card. He inspects it thoroughly, almost as if he sees something.

“All right. Two tequilas coming up.” He walks off, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Lesley leans sideways. “I told you it would work,” she whispers. “These cards are magic!”

“I’m so glad I didn’t need it last time,” I whisper. “And I’m sure as hell glad he didn’t notice they were fake. But what if we get caught next time?”

“We won’t,” she says. “Not when you’ve got these lips and these eyes to lie our way through it.” She points at her own face, then her tits. “I mean, who can resist this?”

I laugh a little. “Big head much?”

“Not at all, actually,” she muses, shrugging.

I shove her, and she almost falls off her stool. “Whoa!”

“Sorry,” I say, still laughing. “No, I’m not.”

“Of course, you aren’t. Be careful, or I’mma hook you up with the nearest old guy.”

“Please don’t,” I say, making a face. “I’ve had enough of men for a while.”

“Oh, so he was old?” she says, narrowing her eyes.

“I didn’t say that.”

“I can see when you’re lying, Hailey,” she says, smirking. “But he probably wasn’t that old. Fifty. Forty? Thirty?” When my eye twitches, she says, “AH-HA!”

“Here are your drinks,” the bartender interrupts, placing two glasses in front of us.

I quickly pick it up and take a sip.

“So he’s a thirty-something hot guy.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I say, coughing because the drink burns my throat.

“You don’t need to. I can read your face like a book.”

I raise my brow. “Do I look like a Harlequin romance?”

She picks up her tequila. “No, more like a
Fifty Shades of Grey
.”

My eyes widen.

“Oh, god.” She almost spits out her drink but manages to swallow it, then slams her glass down. “You’re kidding. It is? He was like Grey? Did he spank you? Tie you up?”

“Shhhh!” I say.

“What? It’s not like anyone can hear us with this music blasting through the speakers,” she says. “C’mon, I wanna know. Give me the good stuff. My own sex life sucks.”

“Like mine is so great. I only did it with one guy.”

“Yeah, but he was smoking hot, and you guys did kinky stuff, didn’t you? I mean, that’s definitely worth talking about and swooning over.” She sucks on her lip. “C’mon, Hailey, I won’t tell a soul, I promise.”

“You promise?” I lower my eyes.

“Pinky swear on my current non-existent sex life.” She holds up her pinky and shakes mine.

“Fine, yes, he was in his thirties, and the sex was straight up kinky.”

She squeals. Too late do I cover her mouth with my hand. “Stop yelling!”

“I can’t. It’s too fucking cool. Like you literally went from zero to a hundred in terms of sex.”

“I know, but just keep it between us, okay?”

“I promise, but you gotta stop feeling ashamed.” She places her hand on my upper arm. “There’s nothing wrong with having sex, and there’s nothing wrong with talking about it.” She smiles. “So … what did he do?”

I grab my tequila and take another sip as she hangs on my lips. “Well, he kind of tied me up… and spanked me.”

“Both? Oh, my god.” She fans herself, grabbing her tequila. “I definitely need this drink now.”

“Okay, enough about him. How was class? Did I miss anything?”

“Miss anything? Well, apart from his cute booty … no, I don’t think so.”

I sigh out loud and shake my head. “You didn’t pay attention, did you? You just stared at his ass.”

“What?” She shrugs. “I can’t help it. If there’s good ass, I need to study it. They should give me points for that. In fact, an entire class should be dedicated to judging butts all day long. I’d fucking ace it.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, that’s enough tequila for you, Les.” I try to take away her glass, but she isn’t having it.

“No, I think I’ll have another one.”

“Let’s just dance,” I say.

She pulls the glass back so hard, the contents spill over and onto her shirt. “Ugh! Look at this. Now, I’m all wet.”

“That’s probably the first time in weeks,” I muse, and she gasps, then slaps my arm.

“Not funny, bitch. And for the record, I had sex”—she clears her throat—“last week.” She pulls my arm and drags me off my stool. “C’mon, we’re going to the toilet, and you’re gonna help me clean up.”

We go into the bathroom, where I grab a few pieces of toilet paper, and she pulls off her shirt. “No one here anyway,” she says as she holds her shirt above the sink and squeezes out the liquid.

“Here.” I hand her the toilet paper. “I don’t have anything else.”

“This is fine,” she says, dabbing them into the wet spots. “It’ll have to do.” When she’s done, she says, “Can you wait a minute? I need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure.”

I stay near the sink, while she goes into a stall.

And then I literally hear the biggest fart in the entire fucking world.

“What the fuck,” I mumble.

“Sorry.” She giggles out loud, and another fart comes out. “Fuck, I think this is gonna be a smelly one.”

“Okay, I’m gonna wait outside,” I say, laughing my ass off.

“I’m dying!” I hear a painful moan and then another fart, which is my cue to go.

As I walk out, I take out my cell phone to check the time, but when I put it back in my pocket, I bump into someone.

“Shit, sorry.”

“No problem.”

Fuck.

That.

Voice.

It’s as if fate is sticking its middle finger in my face right now.

This can’t happen twice, can it?

Yes, it fucking can, because
he
is standing in front of me. Again.

Thomas fucking Hard.

Boy, is he hard to avoid.

Thomas

Of all the people I run in to … this girl shows up?

I never expected to see her again in this joint … let alone in my classroom.

The girl I fucked last night is my fucking student.

It can’t get any more fucked up than that.

“Well,” I say, clearing my throat, “this is awkward.”

“Yeah …” She tucks her red hair behind her ear, and I can’t help but look at her mouth as she sucks on her bottom lip. They still look kissable as hell.

Fuck me; this is messed up.

“Aren’t you my student?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

“I think so,” she says.

“I saw you in class yesterday.” I cock my head. “You were the one who ran.”

Her cheeks stain red. Not that I didn’t already know who she was. I just want her to know that I know it was her.

And I know exactly why she ran too.

“You didn’t know I was your teacher,” I say.

She slams her lips shut and looks away.

“You had sex with your teacher,” I mumble under a heavy breath.

She suddenly grabs my shirt and pulls herself up to eye level. “Forget about it. Please.”

I smirk and shake my head. “Forget about it? How? I can’t exactly erase your body from my mind.” I grab her hands and push them away until I have her backed against the wall. “You know, I’ve been thinking about you. From the moment you showed up in my classroom, I knew I was fucked.”

“You? You mean me!” she says.

I place a hand on the wall behind her. “
We
fucked up. But I could never
forget
about you.”

Her breathing picks up, and she swallows as my eyes drift over her outfit. She’s wearing a little black dress with high heels, and her hair is brushed back. Not as raunchy as when I met her, but still very sexy. Too sexy.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“None of your business.” She glowers. “Why are you here anyway?”

“Why would I tell you if you won’t tell me?” I raise my brows.

“Whatever.” She rolls her eyes. “Let’s just forget this ever happened.”

“No, I don’t think so. I know your name now.” Her eyes flicker with bewilderment. Yeah, I know because I checked my list the moment I saw her in my class. And maybe I asked around a little. I lick my bottom lip, wondering how she’ll react. “Hailey Walters.”

I take my time pronouncing her name because I want to do it right. It rolls nicely off my tongue, like something I could get used to saying a lot.

“Doesn’t mean jack shit.”

“You like filthy words, don’t you?” I muse. “I could teach you a few more.”

Her lips part, but no sound comes out.

“Speechless?” I muse.

“Oh, please … stop acting like you’re all that.”

“Likewise,” I say.

“Yeah, well, I just used you to get rid of my virgin status,” she boasts.

Completely catching me by surprise.

My jaw drops, and I’m inclined to shout, but then I realize we’re in a public place, and I really don’t want to make a scene. Especially not considering she’s one of my students.

I shake my head and close my eyes, sighing. “You were a virgin?”

She shushes me. “Not so loud.”

“Right …Well, fuck me.”

If that’s the truth, then Jesus.

I really fucked up.

I not only banged a student, she was a virgin too.

Well, it’s too late to change that now. Guess knowing is just an added bonus. Hurray.

With half-mast eyes, I think about my situation. “I should’ve seen this coming.”

“Duh.”

My brow rises. “Do you always act like this to your teachers?”

“You’re not just a teacher … Professor.”

“Not Professor, please. It makes me feel old. Teacher is fine,” I correct. “And you’re not just a student … not anymore.” I lower my head. “Are you even old enough to be here?”

“I am if I want to be.”

The left corner of my lip quirks up into a smile. “Attitude. We’ll need to fix that.”

The ladies’ room door opens, and I quickly step away from Hailey.

“Oh … hey, aren’t you … Mr. Hard.” It’s that girl who sat next to Hailey during class. They must’ve come here together.

“Hi, Lesley.”

“Oh, you know my name? I’m flattered.”

“Of course, I do.” I smirk.

Hailey signals Lesley to cut it out, but she doesn’t see it … I do, and it makes me smile.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Lesley says.

“Neither did I when I saw the two of you.”

“Yeah, well, this place is the bomb, you know. How could we not go here?” She giggles.

I frown. “Right.”

“Okay, time to go.” Hailey tries to jerk Lesley’s arm, but she isn’t having it.

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll excuse myself,” I say, winking at Hailey as I step back. “I didn’t know this place was a regular for students. Guess I need to find a new spot.” I turn around and give them a short wave. “See you in class, girls.”

***

Hailey

That bastard.

How dare he shove me against the wall? How dare he get up in my face like that? And more importantly, how dare he get me fucking riled up over seeing his fine ass?

Fuck.

Out of all the people I could run into, it had to be him.

He probably comes here often. I should’ve thought of it. But still … he could’ve known I’d be here too. I mean we fucking met here, for crying out loud. One of us should’ve been the smart one. Guess it was neither.

“Did you see his ass?” Lesley says.

“Oh, shut up,” I say.

She sneers, “Geez, what’s gotten into you?”

“Him. Under my skin.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you hear what he said? That he was gonna find another place to chill because of us?” I say.

“So? What teacher would want to hang out at the same place as his students?”

“He made it sound like we were scum!”

She grabs my arm. “Hailey, I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“No, let me go.” I jerk away from her hold.

“Hailey … c’mon, can’t we just forget about him and go have some fun?”

I frown, looking at the dance floor, but knowing he was here too, lecturing me about what I should and shouldn’t do makes me mad, and I don’t like being mad. Or maybe I’m just pissed off because he suddenly appeared back in my life when I thought I’d never see him again … and it turns out that thought was a blissful lie.

I make a face. “I don’t know.”

She pouts. “Aw … but we haven’t even checked out the guys yet. Maybe there’s a cute one on the dance floor just right for you. Nothing like getting out of a funk by banging another dude.”

“I think I’d rather just go home. Do you mind?”

She looks at me and sighs. “Something’s wrong.”

“Nah, I’m fine.” I give her a fake smile.

“Don’t believe it.”

“Okay, it’s the tequila. Happy now?” I say. “I just wanna go home and read a book or something. Can we do that?”

“A book or something? You? Reading a book?” She snorts.

I bring my fingers to her face and press her lips together. “Zip it!”

“Hmm,” she murmurs, and I release her. “Fine. Okay. We’ll go.”

“Great.”

“But you sure as hell won’t be reading a book.” She grabs my hand. “If we’re going home, we’re gonna look up Mr. Sexy on Facebook.”

“Oh, god …” I slap myself in the face because I just know this is going to be so cringe-worthy.

“And then we’re gonna watch
Sex & the City
, for old time’s sake.”

“Seriously?” I say as we walk out of the club.

“Honey, I need sex. I don’t care where, but if I’m not getting any, at least let me watch someone else get it. Okay?”

“We could watch porn,” I say.

She opens her mouth but then closes it again, her brow lifting curiously. Then she nods slowly and smiles brightly. “Good idea, let’s do that. I call dibs on James Deen!”