The Teacher

by Freida McFadden

And as Nate pulls the car onto the road and starts driving in the direction of the school, all I can think to myself is that I hope a truck blows through a stop sign, plows into the Honda, and kills us both instantly.

Goodlord!

From the moment I saw the name Adeline Severson on my roster, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. In my nearly ten years of teaching, I never once asked to have a student removed from my class, but I almost did it this time. I have a terrible feeling about this girl.

“I think…” My breath catches in my throat. “I may need some convincing.” That’s when he grabs me. And lowers his lips onto mine.

I knew it

You were right. I should never have married him.

I’m even angrier at Mrs. Bennett for making him so unhappy.

But we’re never going to be able to be friends again. Things will never be the way they used to be between the two of us. Not since Hudson helped me kill my father.

But Hudson never forgave me.

Nathaniel and Adeline. We sound like a couple from hundreds of years ago.

Why r u thinking about this...?

As if on cue, Jay’s phone starts ringing. This time while he is talking, I can hear a baby crying in the background. I rest my chin on my hands, trying to push away the stabbing guilt in my chest.

WTF!!!

But then something firm pokes me in the leg. Like a roll of toilet paper.

AHHHHHHH

And now I’m thirty-eight, and I’m meeting my soulmate for the first time, and she’s only sixteen.” He grimaces. “How cruel is this universe?”

God damn

He’s right. If anyone finds out about this, he would get fired.

Girlllll he would listed as a sexual predator

I push my way into the house, and before I slam my front door closed, I catch a glimpse of a figure darting across my front yard. And for a moment, I can make out her face in a slice of moonlight. It’s Addie Severson.

I stare at the words on the screen. If she were dead, I could still keep my job, and we could still be together. I read them five times before they vanish, and I am left wondering once again what he really meant.

Oh my God, how could I be obsessing over shoes when there’s a burglar in the house? Maybe I really do need help.

It’s like talking to a person programmed by a cult.

I don’t want to do it. I don’t want any part of this. But he’s doing this to help me. To keep me out of prison, so that he and I can be together like we have always wanted. I’ll do anything he says.

This girl is so stupid

Even now, even with my wife’s body in the trunk of the car, I am aroused thinking about Addie.

For a moment, I consider simply leaving her here. But no. I’ll need her for the next part.

In the end, I recognize that it will be Nathaniel’s word versus mine. And he’s going to deny everything.

“No.” She shakes her head. “He wrote it for me.”

I CALLED IT

“Because Nate and I have been sleeping together since my freshman year.”

This guy is fucking gross

“You could say that. She…uh…she really liked shoes and used to come to the shoe store all the time, and, um, yeah.”