Katya:

I ran home and headed straight to my room. I cried and cried, as I felt my nose start to stuff up. I can’t believe him, I thought. After all the back and forth, now he wants things to be over. He was the one pursuing me the entire time. God, how horrid can you treat someone? I could report him. No. I could never say that someone took advantage of me. I’m too smart for that. I chose for this to happen. I thought about the moments we had together. I thought of the feelings I had around him. I hadn’t been able to control myself around him, and he knew it. That’s what he’d used to put me in such a vulnerable position. I wasn’t going to let him get away with it. There had to be something I could use to get revenge. Everyone has secrets, I just needed to find out his.

I spent the following weeks keeping a close eye on him. Of course school came first, but I made sure that I was always aware of my surroundings. Every day before I left, I would peep my head into his class, just to make sure he wasn’t doing anything suspicious. It’s not like I expected to find anything out, but it couldn’t hurt to try. Every time I saw his face I wanted to scream. It angered me the most that everyone around me was so charmed and impressed by him. Eventually, I grew tired of the same pointless routine. If I wanted to find some dirt on Elijah, I would have to take it up a notch. So, one day after school, I waited for him to leave. I first broke into his classroom, but found nothing useful in his desk. I’m about to make a big mistake, aren’t I? I thought. I quickly ran behind the school, where I found Elijah pulling out of the teachers parking lot. I borrowed my parents car today for a reason. I ran to my car, and drove quickly to follow him. I didn’t even put my seatbelt on! I was super paranoid, and for a good reason. This had gone really far—too far. Nevertheless, I was determined to find a reason to make him feel how he made me feel. When I noticed him slowing down, I parked the car immediately. It wasn’t far away, but I was far enough not to be noticed. He casually walked inside. I could see the lights turn on, and he went and sat in the dining room.

I sat in the car outside for hours. I was waiting for something to happen; anything. I felt pretty guilty about what I was doing, but I tried to keep thinking of the reason behind it. He was my teacher, and he constrained me. The whole situation felt very selcouth to me, like I was in an out of body experience. Like I was looking down at someone else’s life, but not mine. The old me would never have been this obsessed with a guy. I shouldn’t have come here. What was I thinking? I was about to leave since I was so embarrassed, but then I noticed a shadow across the street. It had grown quite dark by now, so it was hard to make out her face. The girl headed up Elijah’s driveway, slowly. She seemed to be sneaking in the door. Oh my god. This is it, I thought. Someone is here! Someone is coming to see Elijah! I got out of the car very quickly and silently. I tried not to draw any attention to myself, but I was secretly wishing that he noticed me so that he knew that I could see everything he was about to do. As I approached, I saw him kissing the girl. That awful bastard! I knew he didn’t want to date me because I was his student, but I thought he’d take longer than a few weeks to move on. All I’m doing is torturing myself by watching this, I thought. But then I noticed something peculiar. The girl looked extremely familiar. Is she another teacher or something? I wondered.

“Oh my god!” I screamed. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Elijah came running outside to see what all of the commotion was.

“Katya? What are you doing here?” He called.

“No!” I yelled. “What are you doing here? Another student, that’s what!”

“Katya, I can explain. Please just let me explain,” He begged me.

“You told me what we were doing was wrong! You said that being with me would be a mistake. You’re such a dirty, little liar! So, tell me, how many girls in the school are banging?”

“Katya-”

“Surely it wasn’t just this chick and me. Who is this chick anyway? Tell her to come on out here,” I laughed. The girl came out, you could tell she was nervous. When I saw who she was, I was speechless. It was Diana! My friend that gave me love advice!

“Diana…” I trailed off.

“Katya, I had no idea that he was the guy you were talking about on the bus. I’m so sorry,” She told me.

I couldn’t handle any more of this situation. I walked away angrily. I had just put my fingers on the car door handle when Diana ran after me.

“If I would have known, Katya, I swear, I would have never-”

“You’re a little slut!” I yelled, then drove off.

The next morning I went to school. I was determined to solve this problem once and for all. I walked straight to the principal’s office, but Elijah came in between me and the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked.

“I’m ending this mess,” I grunted.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” He warned.

“Are you threatening me?” I asked him, as I crossed my arms.

“Look, Katya, please hear me out,” He pleaded. I stopped and thought for a minute.

“Fine. Let’s go to your classroom and talk. If I decide to turn you in anyway, there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

In his classroom, he tried to tell me how much he loved me. Anyone would be able to tell how much I hated listening to this. I knew that every word that came out of his mouth was a lie. He proceeded to explain everything to me, like I was that naive. I wonder if he can tell that this isn’t working on me? I thought blissfully to myself. I was half trying to tune out his voice. I thought nothing he said would ever make me change my mind. Little did I know, I was wrong.

“Listen to me, please Katya!”

“You can call me Ms. Tyson,” I said bitterly.

“I love you. I know that I hurt you, but I didn’t know what to do about these feelings. Okay? There’s no way I could’ve possibly hurt you as much as it hurt me to drive you away like that. I would do anything to make it up to you, but there’s no way to forgive and forget unless you try to forgive me. I won’t see other girls. I won’t give up on us again, or turn on you. I promise that I will spend every day trying to love you as much as possible,” He said warmly. It truly surprised me how I just fell into a trance again. It was like the first time I saw him. I could hear the honesty in his voice, and I believed in him. I kept trying to pull myself out of the trance, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to believe him because I didn’t want to get hurt again. Yet the way he had spoken to me had so much power over me.

“Okay,” I told him willingly. No matter how much of a mistake this may have been, I was in it for the long-haul. He beamed brightly at me in a way that made me feel less regret.

Later that day, I ran into him in the hallway. We gave each other a subtle glance. I wanted to ask him to make plans later, but there were countless people around. I passed him casually, careful not to draw attention to myself. I decided to stop by his house later. If I happened to find another girl there, at least I would know before I was in too deep.