Tempting Her Teacher: Student-Teacher romance

X - Cookies

[RECAP: Juliet is making progress in her mission to seduce her high school Latin teacher, Mr Carl Spencer...]

"Happy birthday, Sir. These are for you."

Juliet put the plate of home-made cookies on Mr Spencer's desk. They were oatmeal chocolate chip and she had got up early in the morning to bake them fresh.

Mr Spencer looked pleased and embarrassed. "You didn't need to do this, but it's very kind of you. Now everyone is going to know I'm getting old."

He was joking to defuse the tension. Juliet slipped off to her desk. Margot was late that morning.

The aroma of the cookies permeated the room, causing other girls to notice. Cooking was one thing that Juliet had become really good at. She had suffered years of awful food in foster homes, often not even being given enough food and going hungry, and being yelled at and even punished physically if she had tried to get something for herself.

When she had finally been taken in by Aunt Mary, just being given free rein in the kitchen had been an amazing luxury. It turned out that Aunt Mary wasn't particularly keen on cooking. It was just a necessary chore for her. So gradually Juliet had taken over, starting with simple recipes and using cookbooks and magazines to learn more advanced techniques, with Aunt Mary quite happy for it to become her responsibility.

Aunt Mary still cooked, but it was mainly Juliet's job now. The only thing Juliet regretted was that her aunt had quite simple tastes. Juliet longed to try and create fancier dishes but her aunt liked the "plain and wholesome food the good Lord provided".

So Juliet just concentrated on making basic recipes as awesome as she could. As such she was pretty confident that her oatmeal cookies would blow Mr Spencer away. She had seen him accept a cookie after church, so she figured he wasn't diabetic or low carbing.

Not that he needed to low carb. He was super slim and fit. She longed to get an even closer view of those hard, fit muscles beneath his clothing. She wondered enviously how much access Rebecca had to them.

* * *

Carl Spencer felt dizzy with the thought of Juliet and the aroma of the cookies. She was winding her way into his senses. Against all his self-discipline he had found himself more than happy to see her at church last night. He had also felt glad to be able to speak with her alone, a gladness he now he felt very conflicted and guilty about.

He was a grown man, he shouldn't be so affected by a high school student like this.

He still hadn't read Juliet's file. From several things she had said, and a couple of comments from other teachers, there was clearly some trouble in her past. But as curious as he was growing about her, he couldn't bring himself to snoop.

It felt like a violation: it had always been Carl's rule to take students as he found them. If there was a serious current issue, such as a family crisis or significant disciplinary issues, the head teacher would have briefed him anyway.

But it was more than that. He felt that reading about Juliet's past would be falling further down the rabbit hole. He needed to get a grip because he was starting to get obsessed with this girl and it was wrong and terribly unfair to Rebecca.

Rebecca. He must think of her: focus his thoughts on their wedding and their future together.

But every time he tried to picture Rebecca the sweet, sexy image of Juliet Martin came into his head instead. After church last night he had lain in bed alone unable to sleep, he was so turned on by the thought of her. While he didn't believe the doctrine that self-relief made you blind or was the worst of sins, he knew it would be a sin and a betrayal to fantasise about his student in that way.

So he had tossed and turned, tried reading some bible passages, and didn't manage to fall asleep until the early hours.

Now he had to get through an entire Latin class trying not to be distracted by her. But even when he tried not looking at her, and giving his attention to other students, the sweet, delicious smell of the cookies were a constant reminder.

* * *

"Any more progress?" Fhemie asked as they sat outside, eating lunch. She had become more interested in the bet between Juliet and Margot over time.

"She made him cookies," Margot said. "Like the ultimate teacher's pet."

Fhemie crunched on her chips. Once again there was a complete absence of any fruit or vegetables in her lunch. "Well you know what they say," she said, licking her fingers. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"Biologically speaking, the way to anyone's heart is through their stomach. Or their ribs at least," Juliet pointed out.

"You know that's not what I meant. So did it work? Did Mr Spencer make a move? Ask you out?" Fhemie asked.

Hardly. It was way too early for that. Juliet shrugged. "I think he liked them."

Margot groaned. "His face literally lit up," she told Fhemie. "And he can't stop looking at her in class, though he tries so hard not to."

This was news to Juliet. "Does he?"

"I can't believe you haven't noticed. Though he's trying to avoid you noticing, but I see everything that's going on."

Juliet wondered if Cynthia had noticed. Their enemy had a huge crush on their Latin teacher herself and might make trouble if she sensed he preferred Juliet.

They were walking down the corridor to history class, past the main noticeboard. There were the usual announcements about school events and clubs. They didn't change too frequently, so a large, printed notice in the middle of the board caught everyone's eye.

St Gillian's Choir Trip: Paris, Winter Break - those interested in attending please sign up below. Parental permission required.

There was also a little image of the Eiffel Tower with a few musical notes floating around it, making clear that it was definitely a European trip, not Paris, Texas.

"Oh my god, why do I have to be tone deaf?" Fhemie lamented. "Paris! They went to lame old Vancouver last year."

"It wasn't that lame," Margot said. "There were some super hot Canadian boys."

Juliet didn't say anything. She hadn't been able to go last year because the trip had been too expensive. It would be even more so this year.

"So you'll go on the Paris one?" Fhemie asked Margot.

"Maybe." Margot cast a glance at Juliet and tried to change the subject. "It depends on my parents and whatever. Anyway I need to borrow your notes from Biology because Terrance kept texting me and I lost track. I just know that bitch is going to pop quiz us tomorrow."