Let me start off by saying I NEVER thought this would happen. I'm in my 3rd year of teaching, which means (when you add in my college training) I've had at least 7 years of being taught to avoid inappropriate relationships with students. And, beyond that, I'm not a pervert. I am completely aware that it is not okay to be sexually attracted to student. And yet...
I first met Tyler when he was a freshman in high school. I was a college senior, student-teaching in his Government classroom. I was 21, he was 15... I found him endearing, but nothing more. To be honest, he was always busting my chops, pointing out errors & basically being a cocky SOB. I graduated college, married my high school sweetheart, got hired at a nearby middle school, and frankly never thought of Tyler again.
Flash forward 3 years. My middle schoolers are attending the school district's week-long camping program, complete with overnight accomodations, environmental-based lessons, and local high school students as counselors. As the camp teachers introduce my students to their counselors, I hear "Tyler Marcus, call your cabin names, please." My head jerks up & I make eye contact with Tyler – only now, he's not a scrawny, naïve, 15-year-old freshman... He's a handsome 18-year-old senior with an athletic build. And he's smiling at me with recognition.
"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Uh..." I was so lost in how weird this was, I couldn't think straight. Finally, my brain caught up.
"Yeah, I student-taught with Mrs. Dixon a couple years ago. Weren't you in her Honors Government?" As if I didn't know the answer already.
The rest, as they say, is history. We instantly clicked during that week at camp. Unbelieveably, he was the counselor assigned to my class. That threw us together for classes, meals, even night hikes. Once the week was over, we became Facebook friends. After a while, we started texting eachother. Constantly. After a month or so, Tyler actually called me. We spent hours that night, chatting on the phone, talking about any and every subject – what was I thinking?!? How much trouble would I get in if someone from the School System found out? I shudder to think about it... Yet, somehow, that knowledge wasn't enough to make me stop our friendship. After about 3 months, we crossed another line – we started hanging out after school. We would meet at parks, random parking lots, anywhere we thought we'd be safe to sit & chat. I started attending his baseball games this past Spring, and his football games these last couple months. Essentially, we became best friends – we chat multiple times a week, we meet at least weekly, we innocently flirt. Note I said innocently; Tyler is 18 years old - legal, but still 6 years younger than me, not to mention a current student in my school district.
Flash forward to last Friday night. I went to Tyler's football game, as I usually do. It wasn't the most impressive game for his school, but Tyler played amazingly well. So well, in fact, that he called me afterwards & asked him to meet at the park, to hang out. We got to the park – it was deserted, of course – and walked down to the pavillion. We sit on one of the picnic tables and light up a couple of cigarettes. As we're smoking and discussing the game, Tyler scoots closer to me.
"So, you really think I played a good game?"
"Of course! You always play well - you're a talented athlete, man!"
