Passion in James County XV: Ben and Nancy
"I joined the newspaper staff," Trish told Dawn as they sat in the cafeteria at lunch time a few days after the conversation about Mr. Morris that disturbed Dawn so much.
Dawn, surprised, gaped at her friend. "You? On the newspaper?" she exclaimed. "Trish, you hate writing!"
Her friend nodded. "Yeah, writing sucks, big time. I know that," she replied. "But I heard Mr. Morris is the advisor for the newspaper and figured maybe, if I'm hanging around him enough, I can get him to make a move on me. I'm at least as pretty as Miss Brown and Miss Thomas, don't you think?"
"I...I guess so," Dawn replied. In reality, her friend was very attractive, but she always wore clothes and makeup that made her look more than a little sluttish. Trish had begun to mature earlier than her classmates and her young body was already full, and her breasts jutted provocatively under the tight tops she always wore. Dawn had always believed her friend's mode of dress was a little trashy, but she'd never told Trish that. "I...I don't know, Trish. I mean, I think it's against the law for teachers to have sex with students, isn't it? Didn't somebody here at the high school get in trouble for screwing around with students a few years back?"
Trish shrugged. "Who cares?" she said. "I mean, it's against the law for kids our age to smoke, isn't it? I've been smoking for three years, and I haven't gone to jail for it yet, have I?"
"I...I guess not," Dawn said. "But Trish, smoking and having sex with a teacher aren't the same thing."
Trish grinned. "Yeah, I know," she said. "I figure having sex with Mr. Morris is gonna be a helluva lot more fun than smoking."
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Both girls got up.
"Trish, I'm not sure what you're talking about doing is a good idea," Dawn told her friend as they carried their trays to the dishwasher station. "I think you could get in trouble. And...and maybe you could get Mr. Morris in trouble, too."
Dawn headed to her next class and Trish headed to a different one. "I can't believe Mr. Morris would be stupid enough to let anything happen between Trish and him," she thought as she walked down the hallway. Then another, more disturbing, thought occurred to her. "Trish can be pretty vindictive," she mused. "She gets pretty mean if she doesn't get what she wants. What will she do if she comes on to Mr. Morris and he turns her down?"
Dawn remembered what happened a year earlier. A boy Trish was going out with broke up with her. To get even with him, Trish spread rumors that the boy was homosexual. Those rumors led to other boys picking on him, he got in a lot of fights and, eventually, he wound up transferring to another school.
"God, I hope she doesn't do something like that to Mr. Morris," Dawn thought.
Later that day, after school, Ben walked into the office assigned to the school newspaper. He didn't expect anyone to be in the office, since school had ended two hours earlier, and was surprised to see Trish sitting at the work table, examining herself in the mirror on her compact.
"Trish, what are you doing here?" he asked. He didn't understand why the girl, who wasn't doing the bare minimum of work she had to do to pass in his class, had joined the staff of the school paper, especially in her senior year. She didn't seem to like writing, and wasn't very good at it, either.
Trish looked up at him and smiled. She stood up and pulled her shoulders back, thrusting her chest out. "I wanted to talk to you alone, Mr. Morris," she said, her voice low.
Ben fought the urge to smile. The teenager was obviously trying to be seductive, but it would have been better if, at least, she hadn't been chewing gum.
Ben sat down at the table, keeping a safe distance from Trish. "About what, Trish?" he asked.
Trish looked as if she wasn't sure how to respond to his question. Ben wasn't sure why, it was a simple enough one, even for her. She began pacing back and forth in front of the table, apparently trying to make her walk seductive.
Ben watched the girl pace. If she used a little less makeup, and dressed a little more sedately, Trish might be very attractive. She was taller than a lot of the girls in her class, probably five-eight or five-nine, and her blonde hair, cut shoulder-length, was fine and soft-looking. She had on a dark blue tank top and white stirrup pants, held up by a dark blue belt. Both the tank top and pants fit her like a second skin, so it was easy for Ben to see that legs were very good, as was her bottom.
Trish walked over and stood looking down at him. "I...I think you're really nice, Mr. Morris," she said.
"Thank you, Trish," Ben said. He gazed into her blue eyes, trying to figure out what she was up to. "I'm flattered you think so."
"I..." Trish stammered, momentarily losing her facade of self-assurance.
At that moment, Ben thought she looked a lot like a lost little girl playing a weird game of dress-up. Her face was bright red.
"I...I...want to...to get it on with you..." she whispered, her voice sounding extremely child-like.
The girl's statement took Ben totally by surprise. "Trish, are you...are you saying you want me to make love to you?" he stammered, realizing his voice sounded higher than it usually did.
Trish looked at him and nodded. "Yes," she said. "That's...that's what I...I want." She seemed to relax a little.
Ben didn't remember ever hearing anything about how to deal with a situation like this in teacher's college. "Trish, my God! I, we, it's not possible you really mean that!" he stammered.
"Why not, what's stopping us?" Trish said defiantly. "I'm not a virgin, if that's what you're worried about."
"But I'm your teacher...you're my student...I can't do anything like that!" Ben protested. He knew he needed to keep calm, to stay in control. This was a very volatile situation. The fact that Trish would do something like this meant she was probably a very troubled girl. If she was, he didn't want to do anything that would traumatize her any more than she already had been traumatized.
Trish looked him in the eye, a look of determination on her face. "I know you're getting it on with Miss Thomas and Miss Brown!" she said. "Everybody in school does! Do they know you're fucking both of them? What would they do if they knew?"
Ben wasn't sure how either of the two women he was seeing felt about the fact that he was seeing the other, but neither Evelyn nor Tosha had complained so far.
He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly while he tried to think of something to say. "Trish, you have to understand," he said. "There is no way I can have a sexual relationship with you. First of all, it's against the law. Second, even if it wasn't against the law, I wouldn't take advantage of you like that."
Trish's face contorted into a pout. "So you're saying you won't get it on with me?" she huffed. "Is that it?"
"Trish, I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to," Ben said. "Can't you see that?" The minute he said it, he realized the girl might take a view of what he'd just said that could be a problem.
"So you don't want to get it on with me, huh?" she snapped. "What is it, I'm too ugly or something?" An evil-looking frown appeared on her face. "Maybe I'm not black enough, huh?"
"Trish, that isn't it. I think you're a very attractive young woman," Ben said, trying to make up for his error. "It's just that, given our circumstances, and your age, a relationship between us is completely out of the question."
"Yeah, sure," Trish snorted. "I got the picture. You figure I'm just some dumb kid who doesn't know what she wants, don't you?"
Despite the girl's attempt to sound tough, Ben could hear the hurt in her voice. "Look, Trish," he said, trying to sound way more rational and calm than he felt. "I...I think we better stop this before it gets any worse. I'm going to leave. I think, maybe, it would be a good idea if you stopped and talked with the school psychologist tomorrow." He paused. "In fact, I think I'll get in touch with her in the morning and ask her to talk with you."
