Oral Advocacy Ch. 06: The Teacher

"When will you see her again?" Becky said, an idea popping into her head. "Next Sunday, a week from today. Why?"

"I want you to ask her again," Becky said. As he started to protest, she cut him off and said firmly, "I'm serious. Ask her one more time, understand?" He agreed and Becky took him right there on the floor, as quickly as she could. She had work to do.

As soon as Matt left, Becky called her future sister-in-law, Maggie, and asked her to lunch the next day. More like ordered, Becky thought. Maggie was Samantha's best friend and, conveniently, Tyler's younger sister.

After they ordered drinks, Becky got right to the point. "Maggie, I need a favor from you. Matt Miller is going to ask Samantha Gentry to the prom, and I need her to say yes. Then I need her to ask him to Sacred Heart's prom. In that order."

Maggie almost spit out her drink she laughed so hard. "Is this a joke?" she said. "She's not going with a loser like Matt. That's just gross." Becky fought the urge to slap her. God, if she only knew. "Besides, he already asked her and she said no," Maggie continued. "I'm not her boss. And why do you care anyway?"

"I care because he's one of my students. He's the editor of the newspaper and I'm the moderator so I've gotten to know him well," Becky said. "I want to help him out and he likes Samantha but he's apparently not good with girls."

"Not good? Try pathetic," Maggie said. "I've never actually met him but I'm not going to ask Sam to stoop to that level." Becky felt herself start to get pissed at the way Maggie was talking about Matt.

"He said you used to work together," Becky said.

"I don't know, if we did I never paid any attention to him. Not worth my time, you know?" Maggie said. "I'm not going to let Sam to go to prom with a dork like him. She has a reputation to protect."

"If you don't know him, how do you know he's a dork?" Becky said. Maggie just looked at her blankly, apparently thinking the answer was too obvious to warrant a response. "Anyway, he mentioned he's going to ask her on Saturday, so you have six days to convince her. I heard she's single now."

"I'm not going to do that," Maggie said. "She'd be better off skipping it than going with him."

"Yes, you are," Becky said firmly. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Becky added, "As you know, Tyler and I have been dating for quite a while now. He's going to propose at some point, and we'll be sisters-in-law. And as his fiancé and wife, I will have a certain influence over him that you, shall we say, lack."

"Please, that's gross," Maggie said. "I don't want to hear about your sex life." I bet you would, Becky thought as she suppressed a smile.

"What I mean is that you want to go to medical school, and your brother's a doctor," Becky said. "And you're going to state, where several of my friends from ed school are on the faculty now, teaching freshmen."

"So what?" Maggie said.

"Well, it would be a shame if your brother and his doctor friends wouldn't hire you to intern for them in the summers during college. Or if they wouldn't write letters of recommendation for you. Or if your teachers thought maybe those essays weren't quite worthy of an A next year," Becky said.

"I have a good GPA and good test scores," Maggie said.

"Yes, but not in college. You want to go to a top medical school, maybe even Vanderbilt, right? Those are very hard to get into," Becky said. Maggie glared at her. "It would be a shame if no one went to bat for you. Or if any alumni raised any concerns with the admissions committee. Oh, you know what, now that I think of it, Tyler and I know a few people on the committee. We spent quite a bit of time there, of course."

By the look of rage in Maggie's eyes, Becky knew her blows had landed. "My brother is going to help me get in," Maggie said.

"Are you sure about that?" Becky said. "He's very fond of me, you know. I think it's because of a certain thing I do to him that no one else does, but who knows. Anyway, I hope he doesn't hear anything bad about your work ethic or character. Or about those rumors about your academic integrity in high school that are circulating among the teachers I know. I just couldn't help overhearing and would hate to slip up and tell Tyler."

"You're a fucking bitch," Maggie said.

"Maybe so," Becky said. "But so are you. And I'm tired of it. We all are. So now you're going to be my bitch."

"Fuck you," Maggie said. "You fucking cunt, you're not doing this to me. I'm the most popular girl in school and you can't tell me what to do."

"No, fuck you, Maggie," Becky said. "Trust me, you're not that popular. You're just a bitch who treats everyone like shit. Matt is a great guy and you're going to make sure Sam says yes. Otherwise, I'll make sure your college grades suck, you can't find an internship, and Tyler won't recommend you to work at McDonald's. But of course, if you follow through, Tyler will hear all about what a wonderful candidate you are for med school."

"Fine," Maggie said through gritted teeth after a long pause. "I get Sam to go to Trinity's prom with Matt Miller, and you help me get into med school."

"Exactly," Becky said. "And don't forget she then asks him to Sacred Heart's. He's never been to a girls-school dance so I think that would be nice of her to ask him."

Maggie rolled her eyes and said, "Of course he hasn't. But ours is early, only three weekends from now, on May 1. It's three weeks before Trinity's because of finals."

"Well, then you'd better get to work. And keep this between us, of course," Becky said, smiling as Maggie stood up and stormed out.

The following Saturday, a week later, Matt stopped by Becky's house after work. He was beaming as she opened the door. "It worked," he said. "She said yes."

"See, I told you," Becky said. "Sometimes you just have to have a little confidence and try again. I'm so happy for you."

"The crazy thing is then she asked me to go to hers," he said. "Can you believe that? Samantha Gentry asked me to her prom."

"Wow, that's amazing," Becky said, leading Matt to her bedroom. "I guess she likes you after all." They screwed all night, until they were both totally drained. Becky decided to break the bad news to him, hopefully letting him down easy. "Matt, you know this is only temporary, right?"

"Sure," Matt said. "But I don't go to college until August and then I'll only be a four-hour drive away, so I can come home for holidays and weekends. I know it won't be like it is now, but it'll still be great."

"No, Matt, I think we need to end it," Becky said. "I think Tyler's going to propose on my birthday and I can't keep doing this to him. And now you're incredible in bed and super confident, which was my goal all along. I mean, you're dating Samantha Gentry, right?"

"I guess," Matt said. "But I really like you. And I mean, I really, really like this."

"I know you do," she said. "I do too. But all good things must come to an end. I'll tell you what, I'll get us a hotel room next Saturday night, so we can sleep together just like our first time. And before then, let's see how many times you can bang me in one week. Maybe we can break our record."

That week they did it 23 times, including twice at school, culminating in a passionate, romantic night together the last Saturday in April. The following Saturday, Becky's birthday, Tyler did indeed propose, and Becky of course accepted. A beautiful diamond on her hand, they made love twice, a rarity for them, at the same hotel she'd slept with Matt in the week before. It was perfect, just the way she'd imagined it, with one addition. As she fell asleep in Tyler's arms around 11:00 p.m., she couldn't help but wonder how the prom was going, and how--and what--Matt and Samantha were doing.