I Won't Give Up (Teacher/Student)

Chapter 18

We walked together in silence. I kept my hands in my pockets, gripping my loose change and keys. When we made it to my classroom, I pulled open the door and stared at him. He stood there, his face expressionless. He continued to twist a pencil between his fingers, and his long legs were rooted in their position.

"It's better for you if you step inside," I said, my voice controlled.

His brown eyes scanned me over lazily. With every look, every tilt of his head, every second that he stood in this hall like he was in control, I fell deeper into my anger.

I opened the door wider and extended my hand toward the classroom. Dustin rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and stepped inside the room. I walked over to my desk and leaned against the front of it with my arms crossed against my chest and my legs crossed at my ankles. I watched him as he stepped toward the desks and stood in the middle aisle, directly in line with me.

"What were you thinking posting those pictures?"

"I didn't post any pictures."

I titled my head. "C''mon, Mr. Ekhart. You're smarter than that, and you know I'm smarter than that."

"Diem and I are just having a disagreement. We'll get past it like we always do."

"There's no getting past it, Dustin. Don't you get it? She wants nothing to do with you, and you have broken all of her trust. Even if she forgives you, there is no getting past it."

"Diem will—"

"You used her vulnerability to embarrass her. You posted pictures of her for all of her classmates and teachers to see. It's over."

Dustin sighed and shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair and rolled his eyes upward. "You don't get, Dee. I know her. She'll forgive me."

"I know everything, Mr. Ekhart." I uncrossed my arms and gripped the edge of my desk. "Everything."

"Whatever she told you is a lie."

I lifted my hand in the air to stop him before he continued any further.

"The only reason you're speaking to me right now and not Principal Marion is because I want to keep Diem from further embarrassment. Otherwise, you'd be kicked out for sexual harassment and assault."

That wasn't entirely true. The only reason I hadn't told Principal Marion was because she had asked me to. She had asked me with her eyes and the desperation in her voice, and I knew I would be another person to disappoint her if I went against her request. She shouldn't have felt embarrassed— the only person who deserved that was him, and keeping this information to myself was killing me slowly. I had a responsibility to protect her, like I had a responsibility to protect all of my students, but Diem was more than that to me, and it was the root of all my problems.

Still, I had to tell Dustin that it was my choice. If I had told him that it was really Diem who asked for it, he would have seen it as an invitation to approach her again. He wouldn't see it as her embarrassment but rather her continued interest in him.

"I didn't—"

"But if you don't stop, I will go to the Principal, and I will go to your parents, and I will go to the police. If I even see a tear come out of Diem, you'll be out of this school before it finishes rolling down her cheek. Am I understood?"