The Teacher

by Freida McFadden

Three kisses per day, sex once a month, and Nate is always the one who drives. I am so lucky. I have a beautiful house, a fulfilling career, and a husband who is kind and mild mannered and incredibly handsome. 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.

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.

The thing I really need to worry about? Addie is in my husband’s class too.

told the principal the truth. And I told the police everything there was to tell. Well, not everything. I mean, I’m not a complete idiot.

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 you have to know that my wife… We have nothing in common anymore. I feel nothing for her. And then I meet you, and it’s like… I finally connect with someone for the first time in my life.”

Mr. Bennett is the sexiest teacher in the whole school. Everybody knows it. And he’s married to a grown woman, who I would assume he has sex with. But for some reason, while I was hugging him, he was getting turned on. By me. And then he told me that he’s never connected to anyone like he has to me. The weird part is that I was thinking the exact same thing.

“I’m trying to resist you,” he murmurs. “You have no idea how badly I’m trying.” “You don’t have to.”

I’m surprised when it is Mr. Bennett who lowers his lips onto mine. It’s the first time I have kissed a boy—well, a man. At first, it’s just his lips on mine. But then a few seconds later, his tongue enters my mouth.

I can’t stop thinking about what happened in that darkroom. The way Mr. Bennett—I mean, Nathaniel—touched me. The feel of his lips on mine set every single nerve in my body on fire. And really, all we did was kiss.

He doesn’t care if all we do is kiss. He just wants to be with me because we have this connection.

“I married Eve because it was expected of me to settle down. I never met anyone genuinely special before. And now I’m thirty-eight, and I’m meeting my soulmate for the first time, and she’s only sixteen.”

“You have no idea how much your presence in my life has changed me,” he says. “Before you came along, I was completely blocked. And now I’m writing poetry again! For the first time in a long time.”

“You have become so important to me, Addie,” he breathes when his lips separate from mine.

It almost frightens me how head over heels I am for Nathaniel. He’s already my first thought when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about as I’m falling asleep. When I write poetry these days, it is always about him. I am so in love with this man.

The idea of having sex with Nathaniel in a bed seems so exciting and grown-up.

Plus, eventually I will graduate from high school, and I will get to date whoever I want. But if Nathaniel is still with his wife, he will be trapped. If only Mrs. Bennett weren’t around. It would be so much better.

“Addie was in the bushes. She was watching me. Stalking me.” “Why would she do that?”

“She hates me,” I say. He laughs. “Come on. Why would she hate you?” “I can see it in her eyes.”

It was a mistake going to Nathaniel’s house last night. I should never have done it.

“I could never, ever hate you,” he says. “You’ve become my entire world. You’re my soulmate. But we have to be a little bit more careful now. Just for a little while. I don’t want Eve to get suspicious.”

Nathaniel isn’t just the best thing in my life—he’s the only thing.

He’s kissing her. No, he’s not just kissing her. It looks like he’s trying to figure out how her lunch tasted. That kiss… That’s not a first kiss. That’s a kiss between two people who have kissed many times before and probably done a lot of other things.

That bastard is cheating on me. With her.

“I know about you and Addie Severson,” I blurt out.

“I know what you’re doing with her. I know that’s why she was outside our house the other night.”

“I saw you kissing her. In your classroom during fifth period.”

“Okay, fine. So let’s talk about this. What do you want from me?” “I want a divorce.” He doesn’t even hesitate. “Done.”

don’t understand how it could be over, just like that. Yes, I get that it’s bad that his wife knows about us. But Nathaniel and I are soulmates. It doesn’t seem possible that she could snap her fingers and it’s over just like that.

If she were dead, I could still keep my job, and we could still be together.

Well, it’s true. If Mrs. Bennett is the only one who knows about the two of us, then if she weren’t around…

Although now that I’m no longer allowed to see Nathaniel, I may as well be a virgin again, because there’s nobody else I would want to be with. Maybe it’ll grow back.

I love Nathaniel. I love him so freaking much, it’s almost painful.

if Mrs. Bennett were gone, that would fix everything too.

Hate. I hate Mrs. Bennett. I thought I hated her before, but I didn’t even know the meaning of the word.

If she were dead, I could still have my job, and we could still be together. I could never do anything to hurt her though. I mean, yes, I was responsible for my father’s death, but that was an accident. I would never… I could never… No. No way. Out of the question.

Addie Severson is in my kitchen. I’m certain that it’s her. There’s no other teenage girl who would be sneaking around my kitchen at nine o’clock at night. She’s already done it once before.

This is Nate’s fault for misleading her. For not telling her that a thirty-eight-year-old man has no business kissing a sixteen-year-old girl.

That girl has been crying for help all year, and I could have helped her. My husband simply took advantage of her. I’m going to make this right.

“You have to understand that Nate is a lot older than you. A lot older. And he’s your teacher. It’s so inappropriate to be in a relationship with him, and honestly…he’s taking advantage of you.”

“He’s not taking advantage of me. I promise. You just… You don’t understand. Maybe you’ve never experienced anything like what we have, but if you had, you would understand.” Oh, Lord. She is so brainwashed. “I do understand,” I tell her gently. “I know how you must feel, but it’s just not healthy. You should have a boyfriend your own age.”

“I’m sorry you’re the kind of person who can’t understand the love that the two of us have for each other, but that’s not my fault. You don’t have to rip us apart. If you care for Nathaniel at all, you’ll let us have this.”

“Nate has been lying to you, Addie. He’s telling you what you want to hear. A man his age is not capable of having normal adult feelings for a teenage girl, especially not one of his students. He’s manipulating you.”

Addie brings that frying pan down on my head with all the force in her young teenage body. It connects with my skull with an eardrum-shattering impact. And a split second later, everything goes black.

She crumples and collapses to the floor, her eyes rolling up in her head. But even after I hit her, I still feel the rage coursing through my fingertips. So I hit her again. And again. After the third impact, she’s very still on the floor.

I crouch down beside Mrs. Bennett on the floor. She isn’t moving at all. I squint down at her face, trying to figure out if she’s breathing. I’m not sure she is. Oh my God. She’s not breathing. Did I kill her?

“I’ll buy a train ticket to New York using her phone. Her family lives in New Jersey, and I’ll say she planned to visit them. We’ll drive her car to the commuter rail station, and we’ll leave it there.” “But…” I can’t look at Mrs. Bennett. It’s too awful. “What about her?” “We bury her in a place no one will find her.”

At one point, he loved her enough to marry her. And now he’s talking about burying her body.

wake up feeling utterly confused. First of all, I am not in my bed like I usually am when I wake up. I am lying splayed out on a hard surface that I soon recognize to be the floor of my kitchen.

“You need to call an ambulance. She really smacked me hard.” Nate’s eyes are glassy. He’s looking down at the floor, a dazed expression on his face. “No.” “No? What is that supposed to mean?” “It means…” He raises his eyes to look up at me. “It means I won’t let you wreck my life.”