Algebra & Crosshatching

"You're all late." By a good 20 minutes.

"Sorry Ms. Reid, Andre was talking about our semester projects." Her students rolled in slowly, getting out textbooks and calculators.

"You mean Mr. Vierra." She corrected. God she hated him. The lack of respect he showed for the other teachers pissed her off. Andre Vierra was the new Art teacher who refused to live by the clock. She had tried to stay civil with him on the matter but he continued to disrespect her.

"He says we can call him Andre." Of course he does. He might as well be one of the teenagers.

"Well you can call him Mr. Vierra in my presence. Thank you." He was too casual with the high schoolers in her opinion. The teachers needed to demand respect or they would be walked all over. "Page 57 everyone. We have a lot to get through today and it looks like you'll have homework thanks to your friend Andre." The class let out a collective groan. Andre may not care if they are late but soon the students will start to care.

*

"Rena Reid. Finally venturing over to my side of the school." Andre continues washing paint brushes without even looking at her. "What can I do for you?"

"You realize that your class isn't the only one that matters right?" Rena stands at the threshold with her arms crossed.

"Excuse me?" Catching his full attention he spins around to see the scowl on her face.

"You keep your 3rd bell class late every day. And every day they are at least 15 minutes late for my class." She simply stated hoping he would just apologize.

"It's just math." He shrugged. Wrong answer.

"Just math? Just math!" Rena stomped her way into his classroom nearly knocking over 3 easels in the process.

"Relax, relax. I'm kidding." He spits out before she can do something crazy like stab him with a paintbrush. "They have a big project coming up and not much time to work on it."

"Have you ever heard of homework?"

"They don't have the supplies at home. Rena I'm sorry. We get caught up. I'll try to be more aware of the time."

"Please do. I don't want to have to come back in here. It smells." Rena rolls her eyes and quickly makes her way back to her own classroom.

"Rena, Rena." Andre just shakes his head. Ms. Reid had a reputation for being a bit of a hard ass. She taught the college prep classes and her students always passed their standardized tests with flying colors. She was a valuable asset to the district and pretty much everyone kissed her ass. He admired her. Her willingness to do anything to help a student learn. She was an exceptional teacher.

He's not sure when Rena started hating him. Hell, he doesn't know if she ever liked him. He just knows through gossip that Rena absolutely despised him. At first he was angry because how dare she have such strong, negative feelings about a person she doesn't even know. Especially considering the admiration and respect he has for her. But then he figured it was a good thing. It means she's noticed him, he's in her world now. So since discovering her hate he's been milking it. Everything about him pissed her off. Which is exactly why he smiled at her, brushed up against her, and kept her students late. Andre will admit it was childish but it was the only way she even talked to him. She thought she was better than the other teachers and truthfully she was, but it didn't give her the right to look past him like he didn't exist. So being a minor annoyance was a good way to get some face time with her. It's working.

*

"15 minutes late" She announces to her students as they drag themselves in the room.

"Talk to Mr. Vierra" One of them moans.

"Lot of good that will do." She mumbles.

*

Rena watches him pour his coffee looking calm and carefree. She hates his denim button down and khaki colored pants. She hates his scruff and the fact that the principle lets him dress however he pleases. She hates that the students praise him and look forward to his class. She wishes the real art teacher Mr. Ellis would come back. Andre was just a sub teacher while Mr. Ellis was out on a leave of absence with his wife and new baby. He's been gone for 3 months, seriously how much time do you need off? How much longer does she have to deal with this man?

His personality was too much for her. All smiles and charming stories at 7:30 in the morning. He's the type of guy who shouldn't be allowed to interact with the general public until after 10:30. Like when McDonalds stops serving breakfast he can come out of his room.

She sits in the teachers' lounge trying to ignore him talking about his weekend with the Language arts teacher Ms. Dunn. She hates that she now knows he went to the food festival and had some really good ramen.

"Good Morning" He jolts her out of her hateful thoughts.

"Morning Mr. Vierra" She says monotonously.

"How was your weekend?" He pulls a seat up next to her.

"On time." She stands and leaves the lounge.

*

Rena hates Field day. Hours outside in the hot sun with screaming teenagers. She'd do anything to be back in the classroom. Every year the entire school was gathered out on the football field for a day of games and the possibility of bragging rights. This was not something she participated in.

Andre on the other hand loved field day. He played every game and always won at least one ribbon. He was sure this year would be the same. First was the egg toss. With his favorite student Tyler as his partner of course they won. The other student teacher teams didn't stand a chance.

He was positive he would be winning the sack race too.

"You gonna root for me?" He's managed to place himself at Rena's side while a game of ultimate Frisbee finishes up.

"I wouldn't root for you if we were at your goddamn little league game." She whispers back.

"Language!" He knocks his body against hers coaxing a small frown out of her. He doesn't win the sack race. He blames it on Rena silently cursing him from the sidelines.

Up next was the three legged race for teachers.

"Rena." Andre steps closer with the intention of caressing her arms. He thinks she's starting to like him a little bit.

"Ms. Reid" She side steps him. Who the hell did he think he was? She hates how casual and friendly he is with everyone. How he feels the need to touch everyone and insert himself in their personal space. It was aggravating.

"We can win" He coos in her ear.

"I don't want to play" She shakes her head asserting her answer.

"Come on Ms. Reid, you can win it for the seniors." Tyler yells out drawing attention to her.

"Yeah Ms. Reid. Please, it will be fun." Melissa pleads. Pretty soon a good chunk of the senior class is begging her to participate. The peer pressure gets to her and she finally caves.

Her left leg is tied to Andres right and she already regrets this decision. "Put your arm around my waist." Andre tells her as he proceeds to wrap his own arm firmly around her waist. Rena ignores the warm feeling spreading throughout her body and tries to focus on getting this over with. When the horn sounds they get off to a rocky start. Uncoordinated and wobbly, they still manage to be ahead of the other teachers. When they finally manage to cross the finish line Rena's legs give out and she tumbles to the ground taking Andre with her. She smiles amused at his flustered face.

"Holy hell, you can smile?" Andre blurts out before he can stop himself.

"Ugh, get off of me" She rolls his body to the side remembering she hates him.

"Admit it. That was fun" He lays beside her with their legs still tied together. He's still dumbfounded at the smile she was beaming. He knew Rena was more fun than she lead on. They won a ribbon for the sack race.

*

"12 minutes"

"Andre- I mean Mr. Vierra says he's sorry." Melissa pats Ms. Reid on the back.

"I don't want apologies, I want you to be on time." Her student puts her hands up in surrender.

*

"You realize the kids get homework every time you do this right?" Rena sits on the chair closest to the door. She wants to give Mr. Vierra one last chance before she makes a formal complaint.

"They mentioned something about it" he takes a seat next to her.

"You don't care?"

"It's the only way to get you over here." Andre figures he might as well come clean. There was no art project. He and the kids literally sat around talking about nothing after the bell rang. Making them intentionally late for her class. He can't say he regrets it because it's worked so far. But it was a bit shady to do to the kids.

"Well yeah. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this issue." She mumbles.

"You know what I think?"

"Do tell." Rena wishes she had just made that complaint and moved on.

"I think you like me. Just a little." He winks.

"Please tell me what exactly I did that made you think that." She turns her body to fully face him.

"So I can change the behavior."

"You stare at me a lot but you frown whenever I look at you. You don't talk to me. You don't give me any of your time at all unless it's forced." Andre scoots his seat closer so that his thighs enclose hers.

"These are signs that I like you?"

"It's the only way you can express yourself, clearly." She doesn't bat his hand away when his fingers caress her bare arm. "You haven't made a formal complaint about me yet because you like coming to chew me out." Truth. All truth. But Rena is not going to say that out loud. When Andre's hand strokes her cheek and his lips touch hers, she doesn't hate it. She definitely doesn't complain. "Am I right?" He asks against her lips.

Rena doesn't answer but pulls him back to her lips with a deep kiss. Andre is delighted to finally have some proof she had the hots for him. So delighted he rewards her by stroking his tongue against hers and lightly tugging on her hair. Rena seems starved for this. For someone's breath to mingle with hers. Her hands stroke his beard and run down his chest to his stomach. She doesn't hesitate to touch the warm skin under his shirt.

The room gets hot quickly with hands sliding under each others clothing. What should have been a quick chat has turned into a 10minute make out session with Andre's hands in Rena's panties.

Rena decides enough is enough and transfers herself to Andres lap. The shocked look on his face tells her she made the right choice. He wasn't expecting a kiss to lead to this, but he's not going to put an end to it. She works on his button down exposing his chest for her to kiss. She smiles for the first time since this began and he no longer has doubts about the situation. "Bout time you came around." He lifts her shirt over her head. Mouth finding her nipple he licks through the black, lacey, wireless bra.

"Shut up" She kisses him hard biting his lip with enough force to hurt. He groans and she grinds her center against his. Andre keeps kissing her with soft, slow licks. She indulges for a second before turning her head so he can bite her neck. Andre hopes she's all in for this because he'd by lying if he said he didn't want to taste her since the moment he saw her.

Lifting her off his lap he roughly lays her on the cold wooden table next to tubes of acrylic paint. He ignored her grumbling and unbuckled the thin belt on her waist. Sliding her slacks down he was happy to see the black lacey thong. He wanted to say something clever and seductive but when she wiggled out of her thong his mouth attached itself to her clit.

To say Rena was loud would be an understatement. Andre would have never guessed she could make such sexy sounds. He was so used to hearing her bitch at him he wasn't sure she could make these moans. It's a good thing the school is empty. He lets her scratch at his scalp as his tongue fucked her. "Andre, oh..." he had no idea his name coming from her lips would sound this good. "Ahh..." Andre is kneading her thighs with his hands while his mouth devours her.

Rena didn't plan to be on this table with Andres head between her legs. She doesn't do these things, spontaneous sex based off of lust. Yes she was willing to admit he was sexy, tan skin, broad shoulders and facial hair that was currently tickling her stomach as he made his way up her body. He was gorgeous, a solid man with big hands and a husky voice. But she still wanted to hate him for the way he was unraveling her at the moment. For how their bodies fit together so well in his little classroom. She lets him suck and nip at her neck even though she knows he's trying to leave marks. And she lets him strong arms restrain her as he grinds his covered sex into her bare one.

"Rena" Hands drifting down to cup her breast through the bra they haven't yet managed to get rid of. "Do you want me to stop?" He kisses her quickly before she replies.

"No" She reaches down and slides her hand into his pants feeling the weight of his hardness. He groans and nods as he makes quick work of his belt. She sits up for the show.

And Andre definitely makes a show out of it. Slowly working the pants down his legs and standing back up for his black briefs. Rena tries to keep her eyes on his. Andre waits until she can't help it and her eyes drift downward. He can't help the smirk when she licks her lips. He's honestly surprised the table can hold the weight of both of them. Slowly thrusting into her he's able to kiss her softly without any resistance. Rena digs her nails into his hips countering the kiss. Rena is gorgeous like this, mouth open letting out soft sighs. He tries to memorize the sight. The feeling of her wrapped around him. So he can have something to think about next time she yells at him.

Rena wishes she had given in to this sooner. To be fair, if she had known it would be this easy to cave, to let go, she would have without a fuss.

*

"8 minutes" She sits at her desk tapping a pen watching the kids scramble to get to their seats.

"It's better than 20" a student squeaks out.

"True" She waves "you're still getting homework"

*

"Come on Melissa we worked on this." Rena mutters to herself as she grades tests. It was disheartening to see that none of their tutoring sessions had made and impact on Melissa's grades.

"Knock knock." Andre steps into her classroom with 2 white cups. "Here" He sets it on her desk and stands there expectantly.

"I don't drink coffee" She pushes the cup to the far corner of her desk.

"I know. It's tea" He pushes it back to her with a wink. He thinks he's cute. She hates him and the delicious tea.

"I just wanted to apologize again, properly. I won't keep them late anymore."

"You said that last time." Rena rolled her eyes. Shouldn't things be awkward between them.

"How old are you?"

"Irrelevant." And rude.

"Just answer the question." He sits up on the corner of her desk. She resists the urge to push him off.

"26" Rena answers.

"You don't look it." He shrugs

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Because seriously he should work on those.

"I was just wondering. You need to loosen up" He thought he had already accomplished that with her yesterday.

"Please leave" Rena says politely.

"Come on. Let me buy you lunch"

"Why would I want to have lunch with you?" She stacks her papers and prepares for 2nd period.

"Just come on. The lunch lady is serving chicken nuggets, she always gives me extra. I'll stop by after your next class." He walks away only to realize he left his coffee on her desk. He contemplates going after it but figures she's already thrown it away.

*

It feels weird eating in the lunchroom with the kids. It feels weird sitting next to Mr. Vierra listening to the students joke and play with him. Like he was a friend of theirs.

"Why do you have so much food?" Tyler asks Andre. "I'm sharing" He nudges his tray of what has to be at least 20 chicken nuggets towards Rena.

"She ain't eating it dude."

""You're making the kids think I'm a liar." He whispers so closely she can practically feel his lips against her ear.

"You are a liar. I never asked for chicken nuggets." A loud 'Ooooo' erupts from the table.

"Just one. So they'll trust me again." Rena takes the nugget out of his hand and takes a small bite.

"Happy?" Andre smiles brightly and shakes his head.

"You know this means you're dating right?" Tyler again giving the input that no one asked for. Rena gives him the eye. "Sharing food mean you're together." Andre just chuckles, dips another nugget in ketchup and holds it up for Rena to eat. She rolls her eyes and accepts it. Why not?

*

Rena sits at her desk grading papers she should have finished last night. She's got time since the class is always late. Halfway through the tests her students start flowing in. Early. Rena just stares at them wide eyed and confused.

"Guess this means we don't have homework tonight" Tyler smirked. Andre figures the small annoyances aren't necessary anymore.