Sweet Caroline

#11 Vampire fetish

I had never needed a drink so much in my entire life. Tiffany laughed when I poured my second beer down my throat even faster than my first one. The first week had been way harder than I had imagined. The Thompson brothers had exhausted me, little Richard Grayson had puked on me and Gracie's mother had yelled at me because she felt that I didn't grasp just how special her little brat was. I loved the kids, all of them, I really did, and it was great to finally know that I wouldn't have to say goodbye to them so damn soon, but that didn't mean it wasn't hard teaching them. They were testing me because I was new, eager to see if I'd be easy to break.

I wasn't. I really wasn't.

Still, I had spent the entire day sleeping and crying, way past the point of trying to make something of my free Friday. It was a good thing I had plans with Tiffany to get wasted in the only proper bar this tiny town had, drinking my troubles away.

After my third beer, Tiffany urges me to slow down.

"I know I said that we should get shit-faced," she whispers, moving closer to me so no one would hear us, "but this is a bar, Caroline. Parents could be here or walk in any minute. Parents drink too, you know. They could see their kids' brand-new teacher drunk as a skunk and you'd lose their respect before you even had a chance to truly gain it."

She's right, of course, so I move on to water and soda. I notice Tiffany doesn't drink anything after her second glass of wine, so even though she is a more established teacher than I am, she must still be worried about someone judging her for getting drunk. I had never worried about that before, partly because I had only been a temp, but mostly because I'd never lived in a town this small. Most of the schools I had worked at hadn't even been close to the bars I hung out in. I can't remember ever seeing a parent, but that might have something to do with me being too drunk to notice, although I doubt that. I like a nice buzz, but I hardly ever get drunk. When I did though... Yeah, I had done some stupid things, most of them involving guys.

Tiffany's friends are nice and they try to make me feel included. One of the guys even asks me to dance a few times, which I do, but there is nothing but friendliness between us. I'm not looking for anything other than a friend anyway. I don't want a relationship, not when I am focused on getting the hang of this new job, and my need for sex has been satisfied for the foreseeable future by Nathan. I try not to think of him, because I get wet and breathless whenever I do.

At the end of the night, Tiffany and I are definitely the only ones in the bar who are not drunk. The guy I danced with earlier is not all friendliness anymore, and I actually have to push him away from me at one point. He's not solely focused on me though, I am only one of the many girls he's drooling over. Way to make me feel special, dude.

Tiffany lives only three blocks from my place, so we decide to head over to her place and drink a bottle of wine without having to worry about who sees us. When we're sitting on her couch, I decide to ask her why is so worried about parents seeing her drinking and a little out of control.

"Did no one tell you about why Hillary really left?" She sighs when she realizes I don't have a clue. "You know that there is a policy at our school that says you can't date the parents of a student, right? They can't fire you on the spot, but life will get pretty hard if anyone finds out and if the headmaster finds a way to get rid of you, he will. Trust me."

"Okay, no dating the parents of any of my students," I promise with a smile. Not a hard promise to make, judging by the fact that it was mostly mothers dropping their kids off at school. The few dads I've seen aren't exactly the sort of guys I will ever go for. Besides, most fathers are at least ten years older than I am and I don't have thing for older guys. Well, there's Nathan, but that is different. And that wasn't planned. Plus, that's over.