Teaching Her a Lesson Pt. 25

"What, this old thing?" The girl acing AP chemistry and physics grinned, performing a graceful twirl that fluttered her dress up to flash her panties. A thong, fire engine red. It complemented her floral summer dress nicely, white but decorated with sinuous vines sporting countless roses. Not that anyone but the two of us knew she'd donned matching panties. The dress was exquisitely snug across the chest, displaying her perky bust fetchingly.

"Do I need to remind you about showing your underwear in this building, Ms. Hutchings?

"No, Mr. Canon," she murmured in playful contrition.

"Good. Now what's up? You stuck around just to flash me, or what?"

"Actually, sort of?" She glided up to my desk, hands folded in front of her demurely. "My seventh period is doing final projects. I volunteered to go first, so I'm all done in there. Ms. McGough said it would be all right if I wanted to get some extra help for my other finals."

"Tabitha, absolutely not. Nothing in the classroom. How can you even suggest it after-"

"I didn't meanthat, Mr. Canon," she corrected hastily. "But I thought I could at least help out. You were saying how hard this week is on you. What if I pitched in? I could help organize your shelves, grade stuff, whatever you want. Even if I'm only half as efficient as you, an hour of my time would still get you an extra half hour sleep tonight. Correct?"

Like ice cream on a fat guy, my hands went straight to my hips. "Do you really not remember my being fired last week because you had your ass out in my classroom?"

"I'll pitch in with my clothes on, obviously!"

"No, you won't, because if Principal Horen walks in here and finds you're ditching class to do chores for the teacher you were bullied into flashing your thong at, how do you think that's going to look?"

Her face took on a serious cast. So serious I was actually taken aback. "Listen. I ammortified by what Taylor made me do for you. Or to you, whatever. It was hard just to walk in here when you came back, knowing what you've seen. What I've shown you. I wanted to curl up in a ball in the women's restroom and just ditch your class." This was not a person who displayed emotional vulnerability casually, but in those wide eyes, I saw real shame.

I frowned. "Wait, really? I didn't-"

"I feel like such an idiot. But worse, I feel awful for what my cowardice putyou through. You are an excellent teacher, Mr. Canon. You've gone the extra mile for me all year, even before all this crud. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. My conscience would never fully heal if I graduated without trying to make things right between us, and leave you on a note that reflects both my respect, and my shame for my poor judgment."

I was stunned. Had she really been burying all that? What had I been putting her through, without even thinking that she was still clinging to-

"Andthat is what I'll explain to Ms. Horen if she pops in."

I rolled my eyes. "Nice, Meryl Streep." Still, she'd been earnest enough to throw me, and I could use the sleep, so... screw it. I couldn't spend the rest of my career afraid to ever be alone with a female student. "All right. Butno funny business. I don't want to see that thong again until I'm taking it off myself." I winced. "I mean, off of you, by myself. Err, you'd be there, too. With my hands, that is-"

"You plan on undressing me later. Understood, and eagerly awaited. Now how can I help you with my clotheson?"

To my credit, I did reach out to Ms. McGough and make sure she was really on board with releasing Tabitha. If nothing else I wanted to be sure that if Horen did stop by and did decide to get suspicious, my defense would include that I had followed protocol. I set her to doing some of my organizational labor for me, tallying what books and supplies were missing, who owed what, and filing my few remaining papers in students' folders.

I had to hand it to her. As much power as the girl had to arrest my attention when she wanted to, during that prep period, she was a ghost. Pretty soon, I forgot she was even in the room. Amy stopped in at one point to briefly touch base about the summer reading list for next year's AP seniors; she merely smiled and waved at the comely honors student as she patiently scrubbed at some of the graffiti on one of my desks. Tabitha Hutchings was above suspicion.

Unlike the person who entered my classroom next.

Though my initial reaction was shock at Taylor Stern being in the building, I couldn't help but register still greater shock at seeing theway she was being in the building.

To say Taylor was flouting the dress code would be the understatement of the year. The shorts, if one could call them that, were jaw-droppingly revealing. Once upon a time, they had been jean shorts. Now, they were the tattered remains thereof. It wasn't so much that they were short - though they were, the legs practically nonexistent - but it was the network of holes and threadbare patches on what remained, all of it strategically positioned to gratify the male gaze. My gaze. As she turned to shut the door behind her, it was clear that if there were panties beneath them, they were only barely present. The shorts were so tight that part of her ass was literally squeezing out of one such hole in the denim, a tan little bubble of butt.

And if the shorts were scandalous, I'd need a thesaurus for the top. In terms of fashion, I didn't even know what to call it. It wasn't a tube top, but that was probably the closest thing. It consisted of a band of aqua green elastic around her tits, probably only four or five inches wide in spite of her whopping tits' efforts to stretch it further. The poor thing couldn't fully cover them. Just below her nipples (as I happened to have memorized exactly where those were) was a filmy white bit of fabric that was entirely translucent. I could see her belly button with ease. Seated, my angle to her was just low enough that I could make out the underside of her breasts, jutting out proudly before her. The gauze portion didn't even go all the way around. Busty as she was, there were a few scant, mouth-watering centimeters of side boob hanging out by either arm. There was nothing on the shoulders, nothing on the arms, nothing but that elastic band on the back.

Her hair covered more than the shirt did, a blanket of wavy brownish blonde that I only belatedly realized had two pigtails woven into the sides. I almost didn't notice the calf-high red boots adding inches to her height, deadly seduction to her walk. The whole ensemble was a manifesto of arrogant sexuality, a middle finger to anyone who thought they might have a claim to being more worthy of being ogled than her.

"Sup, C-dawg."

"What are you..."Wearing, I nearly finished. Of all the things she'd worn in my classroom that had sent me home apoplectic with pent-up sexual frustration, there had never been anything like this. In my life, no one hadever wornanything like this for me - and there was no doubt from that twinkle in her eye that it was for me, all right. If she'd worn a bikini, it would have been less salacious. At least a bikini was skimpy for some purpose. This was just a walking, talking reminder that sex was still a thing, and this was who we all wanted to be having it with. "Um, what are you doing here?" I spit out at last.

My stammering wasn't lost on her. "Came in to clean out my locker. Good thing they didn't search it, or I'd be in trouble for more than just showing you my cooch."

"And let's just skip right past whatever that means. I'm-"

"I got some edibles in there. Tests make me anxious, so I was gonna use it to get through finals. Guess now I don't need to keep saving it."

I sighed. "And yet I can't help but notice you came here empty-handed."

"You want weed, maybe you shouldn't have sicced the fucking cops on me."

"Referring to the sanctioned contents of your locker, obviously." I didn't know if recognition dawned on her face. I couldn't look up that far. When she didn't respond, I clarified, "Your books? Tabitha, you have the list. What are we owed?"

As Tabitha, who I only now saw was openly glaring at the newcomer, skimmed the papers in her clipboard, Taylor worked in a response. "So it's 'we' now, huh. You and Flatty Tabby?"

"That doesn't even rhyme," retorted Tabitha coolly, not even looking up. "For a girl whose name rhymes with 'nail her,' 'whaler,' impale her,' is damn close to 'failure'... that might not be a fight you want to start." She tapped her lip, suddenly looking up with eyes sparkling. "Oh, if we went full name, we could go for Inhale Your Sperm. Reaching, maybe, but better than Flatty Tabby."

"If I wanted to start a fight, toothpick, you'd already be-"

"That's enough." I stood, interposing myself between the two. "What does she owe?"

"World literature textbook, number 19-104.Raisin in the Sun 81.The Things They Carried 30.Frankenstein 0-75. Two copies ofBeowulf, number 57 and one that's just three question marks." She glanced up contemptuously. "Did you return anything all year? There's more here."

She rolled her eyes. "I guess I just fell in love with all these amazing books."

"Just bring whatever you find, Taylor. I'll figure out the rest." I shook my head.

Taylor took a step closer. "That's it? Not one goddamn word to me in that whole fucked as hell week, andthat's what you got to say to me?"

"Language. And what else is there to say, Taylor?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about 'thank you.'"

"Thank you? Are you seriously-"

But she wasn't having it. "Or how about 'I'm sorry.' Or maybe 'I missed you.' Oh, or you could try 'I'm a little pussy who snuck in to have a nooner with your little sister and didn't even have the guts to look you in the eyes.' Hell, I'd settle for a nice 'You look so hot I'm coming in my briefs.'"

I took a step in myself, but only to loom. Shit, she evensmelled good. That garden-variety teen perfume, the scent of which could only be called "baby whore." That I'd complimented Tabitha on her dress and wasn't expressing any appreciation forthis was simply wrong.

Although this was Taylor Stern. Being in the wrong was one of the most consistent features of our relationship.

"Taylor, I don't know what you hoped for, coming in to provoke a confrontation, but this isn't the time. I'm honestly not sure after the way you've been behaving that thereis a time."

"Somake time, Canon. You owe me that."

My jaw audibly hit the floor. "Iowe you? How do you reckon that-" I shook my head. "No. No, we are not doing this again."

"Doing what again?"

"This, where you and Abbie do something terrible, I roll up my sleeves and find a way of seeing your side of things, we have sex, and you make me feel like an idiot for treating you like more than the bitch you've been to me since you walked in that door." There they were again, hands on hips. I was turning into my mother. "Frankly, I'm done. I don't know how you got into the building dressed like that-"

"Thank Barbie."

"-but I'm tired, all right? You feel like you're owed an apology? Is there no point at which you begin to take responsibility for yourself? For what you've done?"

"For whatI've done?! I've-"

I thundered over her, though I quickly lowered my volume in case any sound carried beyond the confines of my room. "You, Ms. Stern, have abused my trust countless times, and done unspeakable things to your classmates. You've bullied people, deceived people... Taylor, you'veenslaved people! Do you even understand how wrong that is?"

"Don't look to me like the skinny bitch got complaints."

Before Tabitha could get into it again, I snapped right back at her. "You removed their capacity to complain! I don't pretend to grasp the precise ethics of all this, but... Oh sure, give me that look, because I'm the jerk who's reaping all the rewards."

"Aren't you? You talkin' big shit now, but I ain't hear you bellyaching when you were basking in all that pussy in the locker room after Saturday class. Aw, but shucks, then you gotta rinse a little yolk off your house, so suddenly it's boo hoo, fuck Taylor, fuck all she's done for me, fuck the best mother fuckin' thing you ever had come your way!"

"Don't you put this on me! We're all of us making the best of a situationyou caused! With your recklessness. With yourarrogance. You and your sister are two tornadoes, whirling across the landscape sewing destruction wherever you go, and I'm sick to death of it!"

"Don't you drag Abbie into this! You leave my sister's name out your fuckin' mouth!"

"Right, because she's clearly innocent in all this," Tabitha said dryly.

"Bitch, don't make me-"

I cut in. This couldn't become an actual fight. Besides, my beef with her took precedence. We'd been at this for two years now. "Believe me, I'd love to leave her out of it, Taylor. Wherever I look, though, there's some fresh chaos the two of you have collaboratively concocted. For the life of me, I don't know how you could think there would never be any consequences, no end to my willingness to indulge your tantrums and your vindictiveness, but at some point, I don't care if it's the best sex I've ever had! I just want to teach my classes and live my life without constant terror and harassment! I amdone tolerating it, you hear me? Done!"

She was quiet for a moment. Inscrutable. I willed Tabitha to stay silent; mercifully, she had the sense to do so.

"Best sex you ever had, huh."

"That's not the only factor, Taylor. I gave you a hundred chances. You blew them all."

She moved forward. I didn't give her the satisfaction of flinching away, even as she closed to the point where her scarcely concealed breasts pressed into my chest. "But you agree it was the best."

"Tabitha's still new. She'll be able to do what you can do."

She didn't press further. Her hands, her eyes behaved themselves. Her tits were soft and inviting against my chest, impossible to ignore. They always had been. "You and I both know she ain't never gonna be what I can be."

"What, a hooligan? A vandal? A druggie?"

"A goddess, you fuckin' asshole."

I didn't like the feeling, deep down in my gut, that her words had struck something. This wasn't the time to back down, though. "Maybe not. But at least I know I can trust her."

"And I trust my vibrator, but I wouldn't take it over your dickwad ass. Just 'cause it can get me off doesn't make it a worthy partner."

My eyes narrowed. "Worthy? How exactly did I set myself apart from the, oh, I'm guessing hundreds of other men who've looked at you and thought about throwing you down and fucking the hell out of you?"

She looked up at me evenly. "You did it."

We locked eyes for a long, tense moment. I didn't know what to say to that. Again, there was that feeling in my gut. The same idiot place in my gut that made me buy that Serenex in the first place. The place that did all my worst thinking, and most of my best fucking.

"Fuck me, Mr. Canon." Her gut must have been feeling the same as mine.

"Taylor, he's not going to-"

"Don't say another mother fuckin' word to me until I say you can," snapped Taylor without so much as glancing toward the girl. Tabitha fell silent instantly, cowed.

"Fuck me," she repeated. "Right now. Don't think about it. Just fuck me. You know you want to. Shit, I ain't even gay and I wanna fuck me in this thing. Just get out of your own fucking way and take what you goddamn want for once without me having to drag you to it."

"We're inschool, Taylor. We can't-"

"So the fuck what. I'm worth losing your sad little life for. Whip out that fat fucking dick and fill me with it. Right here. Right now. Be the fuckin' man. You won't regret it. I will be to you what you never knew you could have. Fuck. Me. Fuck me like I was begging you to when you stole my chapstick, you ungrateful fuck."

Suddenly, the door opened. I could barely make myself turn to face the woman opening it, even with this student's tits pressed against me. It was only Isa, though, thank god. "Horen's moving down the main hallway. Don't know if she's coming this way, but head's up."

Then the door closed. There it was, the protection I hadn't known I'd had. Or else she'd simply been ordered to escort Taylor so she didn't cause trouble. I stepped back. "We can't," I croaked, throat dry.

"Fuck Horen. Fuck Tabitha, and Barbie, and Detective Whatshisdick. Take the goddamn life you want, right now. Fuck me."

God, did I ever want to. This close, she flooded the sum of my senses until nothing else was perceptible. That pretentiously displayed visage of sensual perfection. That slutty fragrance. Her proud, perky tits pressing into me invitingly. The urgency in her voice as she demanded I do exactly what I wanted to do. Hell, I could taste her lips without even putting my mouth to them. They tasted like rain, and strawberry chapstick.

"Psst!" hissed Tabitha.

"Shut up." Taylor looked back to me immediately. "Who cares who sees it, C. You wanna fuck me; I'm not even a student here any more. There's no excuses left except being too much of a pussy to take me on. So drop your bullshit, and fuck me."

"Taylor, I..." Her chin tilted up not hopefully, but expectantly. Of course. How could a woman bethat sexy and not anticipate compliance with such an offer? I leaned down. She was right. My job could never satisfy me the way this woman could.

Tabitha stalked into our peripheral, flapping her hands in a paroxysm of anxiety.

Shit! Isa had just said... something. Horen! Horen was coming. Maybe not in here. But maybe! Shit!

"We can't."

I don't know what I expected. An angry denunciation, a sob of despair, maybe even a sucker punch to the gut. What I did not expect was for her to take a step back, jam a hand down the front of her shorts, and retrieve - of all things to pull out of one's pants - a tightly rolled, badly crumpled bundle of papers. With a hard thrust, she jammed one end of it down the front of my own pants before I knew what was happening.

"You know what? Fuck you. Fuck your class, fuck this whole bullshit school. I didn't want to come back here for another year anyway! You ruinedeverything!" she yelled. Then she turned to Tabitha. "Looks like he's all yours now. Why don't you start off writing something a hundred times on the board while he checks out that narrow ass of yours? That really gets him off. Oh yeah, if you didn't know, he likes to sit back and watch and not do a fucking thing."

I pulled the wad of paper out of my pants irritably. "Taylor, you're being unreasonable. We can talk about your enrollment here later after-"

"You been talking at me for two years, Mr. Canon! Just when you finally start saying something worth listening to, you let these fools cram you into their bitch-ass box. This whole fucking place is full of whiny little sheeple, doing what they're told, playing by some loser's loser-ass rules, making themselves into whatever you all tell them to be. Guess that's how you like it, huh."

"That's not fair and you know it."

But she was back after Tabitha. "Go on. One hundred times, nice big letters:I am a stupid easy flat-chested cocksucking whore. OK? And use the lower part of the board, so you gotta bend over. Right, C-dawg? That's where the good shit is."

I glanced at the door anxiously, but it held. "Leave her out of this. You have a problem with me, talk to me."

"No no. I'm leaving her in this. You're welcome, by the way. Guess you'd rather have a pathetic little fuck toy than someone who... just... fuck you, Mr. Canon! And fuck high school!"

She stormed out the door, slamming it so hard behind her that it shook the whole room.