I couldn't figure out why the vice-principal had come back to school so late, but that was really the least of my worries.
The meeting in the principal's office went about as good as could be expected, to be honest. They were able to get me a month's salary if I would sign all sorts of terrifying documents. Basically, it came down to trying to keep things quiet and as plausibly deniable as possible. I would leave of course, but not just the school. I must leave town. There were too many ways this could go bad if I were still around. They made it very clear that it would be for the best if I never even came back to town. I would never say or write anything even remotely related to my time at the school. I would never make contact with anyone from the school after I left. I would get no references. I would never sue, and I would accept that they could sue me at any time if I broke any of these promises.
I was pretty sure that most of this wasn't strictly legal, and I knew enough that a decent lawyer could shred through the papers I was signing, but hey, a month's salary, right?
And of course, their terror of the story getting spread worked for me, too. If I was ever going to get another job in education, or anywhere, for that matter, I couldn't have any of this turning up in some random Google search of my name. So far, there wasn't a whiff of this in any of the local papers, and it had to stay that way.
I picked up a couple of printer paper boxes from the admin office. Not surprisingly, Frankie was nowhere to be seen. Then I was escorted by the vice principal and Kent, the English teacher, to my classroom to get my things. I begged a bit of time to write a couple of notes to the teacher who would be taking over my classes. I didn't want to let down my students more than I already was.
The vice principal said she couldn't guarantee the notes would get to the new teacher, but she would try.
I got more depressed as I wrote the notes and with each book I put in those boxes. I fucked up really good. Tess I wasn't worried about, but Frankie? I didn't really know what state of mind she was in. When I saw her last, she was still curled up in a ball on the bean bag chair, with a blissful smile, sweaty and satisfied. Surely, they would let her keep her job, since this was all my fault, right? I noticed that beanbag chair was missing from the corner of the room. Best to have that thing burned, I suppose.
Then there was that student. I still didn't know who she was. If my insights were to be trusted, she seemed like a pretty normal, fairly well-adjusted kid, just as horny as any other eighteen year old. She was confused a bit about why she was so aroused, but she didn't seem to have any real hang-ups or trauma - just the biggest surprise of her life, I guess. I did feel a hint of excitement in watching people that she might act on later, but that was natural enough, and was there all the time, even if that night gave it a little push.
The rest of the students were mostly finished with their standardized tests, so I think they should be on their way to college or jobs or whatever. They'd be okay. Tess' son Peter? He was one of my students. I wonder if he found out about me and his mom. I remember that he was heading off to college in another state, so that's probably for the best.
Then again, what about Tess? I wasn't worried about her. Even if this did blow up, she had enough money and status that it wouldn't cause her much grief, but she was the only one who understood whatever was going on with me. I mean it was clear that whatever I had was related to whatever she had, but it wasn't exactly the same. She had so much more power. I was confident that she knew more about it, and she hadn't told me. I really needed to know how to control it better. Maybe I'd get better with time. Maybe I would need to practice to work out what all I could do.
But god, that was the worst idea. Control would be great, but right now I was a wrecking ball. What I really needed to do was just shut that part of me down, go full-on monk celibate. I needed a new job, that was the most important thing. If I started trying to hypnotize people or go walking around staring deep into everyone's eyes, I'd either get into the same kind of mess, or, more likely, everyone would just think I was super creepy. No way to get a stable paycheck there.
While I was thinking all this through, I had picked up all my things, or at least the things I wanted to keep. I couldn't help myself from adding that box of dry erase markers to my pile as a kind of twisted memento. I put everything in my car and turned around to see the vice principal and Kent standing there. Did they really have to escort me all the way out to the car? I felt like a felon.
Kent moved to shake my hand.
"Shitty situation all the way around. Good luck, dude."
He turned and walked back to the school building, leaving the vice principal standing there staring at me. She didn't extend her hand, so we stood there for a few seconds in awkward silence.
"You know you can never ever come back. You can't visit... anyone you know here. Even outside school grounds. You just can't. We're taking a big risk here by not doing everything we should, formally. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand. Thanks, I guess? I have to ask. You're not firing Frankie, are you? This was all my screwup. She wasn't responsible at all..."
She cut me off. "Francine is not fired, yet. We're going to be watching her closely though."
Well, that's something. And you all are firm on not giving a recommendation? I don't mean to be flip, but it's going to be really hard to get another job."
"Well, you should have thought of that before you..." She took a breath and paused. "Yes. I understand it will be difficult. Your little... party has caused everyone a good deal of trouble. We've got to hire a new emergency sub for your classes right at the end of the semester."
"Yeah. Yeah... no, that's fair. I do feel bad about leaving you in a lurch like this but... I..." I knew I needed to cut my losses here before I screwed this up too. "I really need to leave. I need to get out of here."
"Yes. Yes, you do, Mr. Lee."
With that, she turned and went into the building. I still couldn't read her, but there was no reason to. She wasn't my boss anymore, and I had a lot more pressing matters to attend to.
***
The next few weeks were a rollercoaster for me. Mainly going downhill.
Money was the big driver of everything I did. I tried getting out of my lease but couldn't, so I ate a fine there, and that was most of that month's salary I got. I ended up selling my car because I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up the payments. I needed a new paycheck, fast.
There was a decent community college a few hours east, so I took my resume through every office they had there. I got a couple of nibbles, and eventually got some temp work in the main administration office under the dean. It didn't pay much, and it wasn't full time, but they said it might turn into something permanent if the budgets got approved. I didn't really have many options, so I moved into a glorified flophouse near campus and tried to straighten my life out.
I was still putting in applications everywhere I could, but the real hiring for academic jobs wouldn't be until the fall, and I didn't know if I was going to have the cash to hang on that long.
I was thinking through my options as I walked through the grocery, picking up the cheapest pasta and on-sale store brand peanut butter. I was embarrassed at my own joy at finding frozen burritos on sale, too. That would keep me going for a while. With a sigh, I passed by the wall of Ben and Jerry's. It wasn't so long ago that I could pop a couple of pints in the basket without even thinking. Maybe this would be good for me. Nothing like enforced hunger, sleeplessness, and nervous twitching to burn calories, right?
I walked over to the automated checkout. It was always slightly less embarrassing because no human being had to see my shameful haul. But I saw one of the cashier lanes had no line. The cashier was a short and very curvy woman. She was standing there, clearly bored, with her weight on one hip, which really showed off the beautiful line of her ass down to her thigh. She had long jet-black hair with a bright blue streak on one side. It fell straight down almost to her butt. Even a grocery chain uniform couldn't hide her lovely body.
I started to have thoughts that went very much against my planned monk-like celibacy. What would it hurt? I could ask her out like a regular human being, we'd maybe go out, then maybe I could find out if those boobs looked as incredible up close as they did from back here.
She turned and glanced my way and I blushed.
Shamed, I figured I had to do through her line, now, otherwise I would look even creepier than I did. As I walked over, all my sexual thoughts fell apart. Here I was, going with the small package of spaghetti so I could afford peanut butter. I couldn't even afford to take her out anywhere, this was all just fantasy unless I tried to zap her with my little trick. That might get me laid, and eating a girl out was wonderful, but didn't help with actual hunger.