Against Reason

Teacher's Pet

"If I hear anything from the girls about you acting like a cunt, I swear to God I will kick you in the balls so hard it'll be considered free gender reassignment surgery," I whisper into his ear.

And with that, I'm off.

Honestly, the whole morning is a blur. I drive to school in a zombie like state, and just go through the same motions I do every day. In the break room before first period, I sit with my coffee mug and a pile of tests and attempt to grade.

"What's gotten into you?" the arts teacher, Mrs. Hudson asks me. We aren't exactly friends, just colleagues. But I appreciate her caring.

"Just didn't sleep much last night."

"Ooof. You're in a for a fun day. And grading tests in your state? You're crazy," she judges. I chuckle and run a hand through my hair. "What's in the mug?"

"Uhhm, coffee with a bit of milk and creamer?" I say, narrowing my eyes. The art teacher rolls her eyes and pushes her glasses up onto her mess of frizzy curls atop her head.

"No, you need something stronger. Here," she reaches into her bag she conveniently had and pulls out a Celsius. "Energy drink," she explains herself. I look up at her with confusion.

"Oh! I- um- thank you!" I say to the woman. She smiles kindly at me. This is weird. I open my mouth to ask her what's gotten into her, but the words don't come out.

"Look, I hear things. These kids gossip like there's no tomorrow, so naturally, I overhear stuff. I'm really sorry you're going through things right now, I just wanted to let you know that even though I hardly know you, I'm here for you." Mrs. Hudson, or Allison I should say, warmly grins at me.

"That..means so much, Allison. Thank you," I wholeheartedly say.

What an unexpected way to start my day.

——

Aria

I tossed and turned for the majority of the night, just pondering about mine and Vera's "relationship" if you could call it that. Her strange text sets off my anxiety, and then I'm overthinking every interaction we had in the past week. Needless to say, I'm tired today.

So all I can do first period is half listen to Iris drone on and on about her new boy toy, half listen to the music playing through the airpod I have hidden in one ear, and doodle on the worksheet that was assigned. I've made it a habit not to look at Vera too much during class.

"Ugh. That's pathetic," Iris grumbles suddenly. I'm pulled from my thoughts and look up to see what she's looking at. "Aaron knows damn well how to conjugate these verbs, ain't no way he actually needs this much help," she scoffs. "He's literally flirting with Mrs. Avila!"

My eyes land on Vera, who is in fact standing by Aaron's desk, leaning over in conversation with him. It doesn't take an idiot to figure out that he's flirting with her. Vera is polite enough that I can tell she's humoring him, smiling at whatever it is he has to say. I feel jealousy bubble up inside of me, and subconsciously I grip my mechanical pencil tighter.

"Jesus. You good?" Iris asks.

"I'm fine. Yeah that's sick," I say. Iris goes back to talking about god knows what, but my eyes stay on Vera and Aaron. He says something with a charming smile, and she suddenly throws her head back slightly and laughs in that beautiful laugh of hers. I can see the way he's looking at her from here.

"Teacher's Pet" by Melanie Martinez gets shuffled on my playlist, and I almost laugh at the irony.

I can guarantee that Aaron isn't the only boy in this class with a crush on Vera, and the thought nauseates me. But what's worse is that there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I can't tell a single soul that Vera is mine. I just have to stand idly by as she gets hit on by the greasy trolls that are teenage boys, knowing that they think they have a shot with her. It's torture.