POV: Savannah
Everyone was getting a kick out of our conversation because they had no idea how we previously knew each other. All they knew was that he was a major upgrade from Mr. Wheathersby, and they wanted more.
"Mr. O'Donoghue," said a girl in the back of the class, "how old are you?"
"31— 32 in a few months..." whispers filled the air again, and Ryan decided to fuel their fires, "how old are you?"
"I'm 28"
"What's your name?"
"Hannah Shoeman"
"Nice to meet you Hannah," he winked, as he turned around to write on the board behind him.
The whispers turned into hushed murmurs and giggles.
"So tomorrow are you going to be teaching us in the same place Mr. Wheathersby left off?"
"Well Hannah," Ryan smirked, spinning back around and facing the class, "I'm sure I could teach you a lot of different things in a lot of different ways... we'll just have to see how this goes—"
That did it, everyone was officially stirred up. Whispers turned into shouts, and it began to get a little out of control.
"Can I call you Ryan?" She asked abruptly.
"You can call me anything you want—"
"Daddy?" She joked.
"Except that" he said, beginning to blush from embarrassment.
The volume of everyone's voices kept escalating, and Ryan had to try to settle them all down again.
"HEY, everyone chill out!" he demanded, banging a wooden gavel on his desk, "you guys like that? I brought it from my old school, always shuts people up."
Everyone chuckled and he continued, "but guys, in all seriousness, I didn't mean any of that. I'm not the type of guy that would sleep with a student—"
"Have you ever slept with a student?!"
"No..." he replied, making eye contact with me, "well.... actually I guess I have, but she wasn't my student at the time—"
"So if I come back in four years—"
"No," he smiled, looking down at the ground, "now if HANNAH comes back in four years..."
He trailed off and everyone bursted out laughing.
"I'm joking!" He said, "seriously, don't try to corner me one day or anything—"
"When did you have sex with that student?" asked David Prescott.
"Like— a couple months ago... I was visiting here from out of town and—"
"How many schools have you taught at here?"
"Just this one..."
"So she went to this school?"
He had found the loop hole.
"Not necessarily..."
"You said you were visiting here from out of town when you had sex with her a couple months ago... That means she lives here. If you never taught at any other school here until today, that means she goes to this school, and since this is the first class of the day, that means she's in this class..."
Everyone was shocked. We didn't understand how, but he had cracked the case. All the details in his prediction were perfect, and only three of us knew it.
"Damn," Ryan said under his breath, "y'all are actually smart..."
"Only David..." Someone shouted
"You weren't supposed to hear that," Ryan smiled, walking over to sit in the front desk again.
"So who was it?"
"I'm gonna call roll, if you're here speak up, if not, you're absent!" Ryan shouted, avoiding the question.
"Mr. O'Do—"
"Connor!"
"Here"
"Jennifer"
"Here!"
He looked up from his computer and smiled, "I have a friend named Jennifer... Jennifers are always the best..."
He called out about 20 more names, and just happened to call certain people last. It was in alphabetical order by last name, so I knew he waited to call us out on purpose.
"Mr. King!"
"Hey," Reece waved
"Sup buddy! How's your recovery going?"
A smile beamed across his face and his eyes were switching back and forth between me and Reece.
"It's goin' good thanks for asking!"
I didn't know when they had become so close, and formed this weird bromance, but he was acting like Ryan was his best friend he hadn't seen in forever... I think Reece just thought it was cool to be close with a teacher. Especially one that everybody liked. Girls wanted to be with him, and guys wanted to be him... it was disgusting.
"Hannah hoe—" Ryan looked up and smiled, "I mean SHOEman!"
Hannah smiled back, "ha-ha you're so funny Mr. O'Donoghue—"
"I try... Mr. David Prescott!"
"Here, are you going to answer my question?"
"Probably not... let's see g you can figure it out! If you do I'll give you a free 100 in my grade book"
"Deal!"
Ryan closed the laptop on his desk, "ok so I hope—"
"Excuse me," I said, "you didn't call my name..."
"Oh, dang... sorry Savannah," he said plainly, "I'll just have to give you a pass to go to the office and get it changed real quick"
The office? That was ALL the way across freaking campus... It was probably his plan all along.
"Meet me in the hallway and I'll write this for you..."
I walked into the hallway and waited for him to come out.
"My mistake," he said, handing over the pass, "hey can you get me a soda while you're out?"
"Ryan—"
"Please?" He asked, handing me a dollar and some change.
"Fine... If you want to play this game... be my guest," I said, turning around and walking away.
"Thanks Savannah, I can always count on you... Love your shirt by the way!"
I had completely forgotten I was wearing the shirt he had given me...
POV: Ryan
I watched Savannah walk down the hall until she was out of sight, and then went back in the classroom. I could tell she was absolutely pissed with me, but I had no control over where the school system transferred me to. I wasn't any happier about it than she was...
I knew she was happy with Colin, and I had accepted that. When I left that day, I never planned to see her again. If I would've known this was where she went to school, I wouldn't have taken the job.
"Mr. O'Donoghue?"
"Yeah?!" I said, snapping away out of thoughts and into the real world.
"Are you single?"
The class grew silent, anticipating my response.
"I don't really know..."
"How do you not know?"
"Well, there's a crap load of things that influence my answer to that question"
"Like?"
"Like, my two children... or my wife who refuses to get a divorce from me, even though I tried to get her to leave me alone... my potential baby on the way—"
"Wait what?"
Hannah was absolutely shocked.
"What else haven't you told us?"
"Oh sweetheart I've got a whole LIST of things I could tell you—"
"Just throw a couple of your worst things out there!" David said eagerly.
My eyes shifted to Reece who was covering his face, preparing himself for what was coming.
"Alright..." I said, walking to sit at my desk, "let's see... I have a wife who lies, cheats, and causes pain in my children's lives every day of the week. The courts won't give me custody, because they think I'm a drug addict, but I mean they're not wrong—"
"I thought you were a recovering drug addict?" Reece blurted.
"I was! Until I went back home to my wife and kids... that's why I took the transfer job. I just wish I would've known where they were going to send me, or else I wouldn't have taken this job..."
"I'm sure things will get better—"
"Will they?" I questioned, "Not to mention, I'm a compulsive liar with trust issues and a potential baby on the way with my brothers girl because I'm too much of a cocky prick to use protection! So Hannah, pardon me if I don't see the world through rose colored glasses like you do..."
I realized how defensive I was becoming, and attempted to calm my nerves. I closed my eyes and tried to think of my children, remembering that they were the most important things in my life no matter what. When I opened my eyes, I meet Reece's gaze... I don't think he knew about the possibility the baby was mine.
"So, when's lunch?" I asked
"Uh, it should be—"
He was cut off by the ringing of the bell over the intercom.
"Right now I guess!"