After Class (Janet and Aaliyah)

Chapter 11

Acacia

I leaned against my desk, trying to get all my emotions back in order.

Did I really just finger my student in my classroom? Did I want her that bad? Have I really only known her for a few days?

I did. I wanted her in the worst way. Aaliyah was single-handedly tearing me apart and making me do things I would never do with anyone else, especially not this soon. Part of it was the fact that she was young, but that was starting to matter less and less to me. So what? It just happens that she's my student, but if I'd maybe met her in the park, things wouldn't seem so bad.

But I really could not control myself around her. Now that I'd tasted her, touched her, I didn't want anything else. It was nearly shameful. I needed to get my mind right, or first period would become a free-for-all on the account of my own carelessness and uncontrollable hormones.

The phone on my desk began to ring, pulling me out of my thoughts. It was none other than Matt.

  "Hey, Acacia, sorry to bother you. Are you busy? I tried to come see you earlier, but you weren't in there."

  "Yeah, I had to run to my mother's and let her dog out. I'm not busy, come on in," I told him easily. Lying was something I tried to do as little as possible, but when I did lie, I made sure it was a damn good one.

We hung up and thirty seconds later I was faced with the man with a million dollar smile. His features were so blindingly, breathtakingly sharp and clean, he looked like a character straight from a comic book. It was a little scary how flawless and unmistakable he was. It filled up the entire room in an aura that screamed, 'look at my face because you can't possibly look anywhere else'. It hurt. And here he was, looking at me, and quite honestly, I felt a little embarrassed that I wasn't as good-looking. It wasn't supposed to be a competition, but I was intimidated anyway.

  "How are you? What's up?" I asked, leaning against my desk once again, in the same spot Aaliyah was just sitting.

  "I'm okay, I just wanted to chat, you know. See what you're up to." He sat on top of a student desk, making himself comfortable. It was like I could have told him about something as bland as that one time I woke up at 7:05 instead of 7:10 one day, and he'd still look at me with the same profound interest in whatever it was I had to say. His eyes sparkled with something like infatuation, waiting for me to fill him in on the events of my life since the last time he paid a visit to my classroom 24 hours before. It made me tug on my ear with a childish bashfulness.

  "Absolutely nothing, I'm finally settled into this whole job, and it's really nice. The kids are good, life is good right now."

  "I'm glad to hear that." He flashed those insanely white teeth at me, crossing his legs at the ankle and his arms over his chest. Like he was waiting for me to snap a photo of him right then and there. But I knew he wasn't trying, that's just the way he came across. What a great problem to have.

  "Yeah, and thank you for just helping me get situated, showing me the ropes. I really appreciate it."

  "Oh, don't worry about that. I'm always here," he waved me off.

I nodded my head, running my fingers through my hair.  He was very charming. I found my eyes glancing to his left hand in search of a ring, but came up empty. He must have been absolutely insane not to have married someone yet. Girls should have been lined up for him since middle school.

  "Lunch again today is okay?" He asked me.

  "That's fine, yeah."

  "Cool-Oh, is this your necklace on the floor?" Matt crouched down and picked up a delicate chain. My grandmother's chain. I never took it off. I wonder how it even came off.