Welcome to my dark little corner of the universe, as with almost all the things I write, this story consists of dark, non-consensual themes, a little DV, some violence/abuse. If any of this or my terrible grammar offends you, then this is not the story for you! I was going through some odd chapters I have compiled and came across this one. It originally started as a commission, who knows, may even feel inspired to write more someday. I have tried several times to do commissions and collaborations, but it never quite works out. The person ghosted nearly a year ago so now its mine. Suck it! Also, all characters engaging in sexual acts are 18+.
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Allie faced Middlesbrough High School and felt a few butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She had her long blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun and her ID-Badge proudly clipped to the front of her light blue cardigan. She had already been mistaken for a student twice. Once when she had applied for the job and the second time was when she had come in for the interview. She would have thought being 5'1 since middle school would have better prepared her for it, but her nerves were still frayed. Her young features aside, they had hired her almost immediately. The previous art teacher had been killed in a car accident and being such a small town, their resources were limited. She studied the map they had included in her orientation packet and headed inside. Students brushed past her, many of them nearly knocking her over.
At least she had decided to wear flats today; she could only imagine how embarrassing it would have been to break her ankle on her first day. When she saw the shop classroom, she felt confident she was headed in the right direction. After unlocking the classroom door, she took a minute to enjoy the sight before her. This was
her
classroom, a place where she could reach young minds and inspire them to see the beauty in the world. It was important to remember the beautiful things; a lesson Allie knew better than anyone. The only sound besides the buzzing of the luminescent lights was the silent ticking of the giant analog clock that hung beside the chalkboard.
"You have got to be kidding me," she announced. Allie had not been aware classrooms still used chalkboards. She cringed but shook the thoughts away. Nothing was going to bring her down today! Her sign-on bonus check cleared, so she had treated herself to a hot mocha latte from a local drive through coffee shop. She straightened her black blouse and set her coffee down, moving to write her name on the board as she waited for her first class to walk in. She felt nervous, high school students could be intimidating, especially in large groups. She just had to remember she was the teacher and she had the power here.
She turned swiftly as she heard the door swoosh shut and watched as a trio of girls walked through the door. The first one was the leader of the pack; Allie could tell that right away by the way she walked into the room and the other two simply flocked behind her. She wore large hoop earrings and a thick layer of makeup. Her shirt was low cut, showing off puberty's early gift. Allie felt a twinge of sadness; the girl was looking for all the wrong attention.
"Ms. Stevens, are you gonna have assigned seating?"
"Choose your own for now and I will explain the rest after class begins." They exchanged muttered whisperers between them as they chose a small table off to her left. Normally the tables were made for only two students, but the girls had simply pulled up another chair and Allie decided to let it slide. She would have a trial run see how well the students did in the first week of class by choosing their own seats. If they passed, they would keep it until things needed to be altered for future behavioral issues. But she was hoping they wouldn't have to go through that. As minutes ticked by kids began to slowly trickle in, the rush began after the warning bell went off three minutes before 8am, the beginning of class.
The first three rows of tables filled up and she began to feel a little anxious. A few chatted with one another, but they mostly scrolled through their cell phones. As the last bell rang Allie took a deep breath before facing her class. They began to quiet down, and she smiled.
"Welcome to Art I, my name is Ms. Allie Stevens. Today we are going to go over some of the rules here in my classroom. You will find I am a reasonable teacher, if you remain respectful of yourself and each other, there is no reason why each of you shouldn't get an A. Now to start off we're going to go around the room and..." she was interrupted by the classroom door opening and a straggler walked in. Without uttering a single word, he walked to the front of the classroom, sticking his out his arm, holding out a small white note. She was taken aback momentarily as she studied him, while she was often mistaken as a student, she was pretty this teen was often mistaken for an adult. Allie walked over, taking a few seconds to gather herself, and she noticed he towered nearly a foot above her. He had a strong square jaw, but his cheeks still held a boyish roundness to them, his eyes were amber in color as he stared at her patiently. His black hair was in a faux hawk, and he wore cargo pants with a T-shirt depicting Vincent van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting.
Allie took the piece of paper, and discreetly opened it. It was a tardy slip for Vincent Dethridge, signed by Mrs. Crandall, the school counselor. She slipped it into the pocket of her baby blue, polka dot skirt. She had made it herself because she was tired of never having any damn pockets to put her keys in or her wallet or Chapstick or even some change for vending machine. By making it herself, she not only got to design them, and pick patterns that pleased her quirky side, she got to save money doing so. Sewing was a skill she had learned from her Grandmother when she was a little girl. Her grandmother had babysat her a lot when her mother had to work a double shift while going to night school.
"Have a seat anywhere Vincent, I was just telling the rest of the class that we are going to start the class by going around the room and stating our names, and why you chose to take Art." Vincent walked straight to the back of the classroom and sat down at the very last table, the one surrounded by nothing but empty seats.
She pointed to the trio of girls who had walked in first, starting with the girl in layered make-up.
"Let's start with you."
"Hi, my name is Megan..." Allies eyes were drawn away as she listened to the students drone on. Vincent had pulled a sketchpad out. He seemed to tune out his peers as he pulled out a piece of charcoal he had in his pocket. He began sketching, everything else fading around him. When it came to his turn he stood, stated his name, said pass. Allie clenched her hand then smiled and let it go. She was not going to let one student get to her. After introductions she began to introduce them to the fundamentals of art, and how they were going to learn each of them over the course of the next few weeks. A few people remained interested while a couple others went back to playing on their cell phones. It was going to be a very long first day.
~~~~~~
Allie sighed as she watched the countdown of the minutes on the microwave, her stomach grumbled, reminding her she had skipped breakfast. She had been way too nervous to eat. When the microwave finally beeped, she pulled out her cup of noodles, growling in frustration when she realized the water had bubbled over. She quickly cleaned the mess and by the time she sat down her noodles had cooled, and half of her lunch break was over. She quickly shoveled food into her mouth as she listened to a few of the nearby teachers chatting. They were both discussing some of the actual question's students had asked them so far today. Allie nearly snorted when someone had explained evolution as the process in which birds became humans on some island. Allie nearly choked on her noodles right there and she blushed as she realized they heard her respond.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear," Allie confessed.
"It's those hormones, it tends to block the blood flow to their brains, and they go retarded."
"Albert, you can't say retarded anymore," scolded one of the other women who was sipping a cup of tea while reading what looked to be a smut novel, if the shirtless ripped man on front cover was anything to go by. The older man was heavily overweight, and he huffed as he slammed a fist down on the table.
"Well you know what I mean. They don't think, that was my point." The younger teacher beside him looked over at Allie and stretched his hand out in greeting. She accepted it, his nearly engulfing hers.
"You must be Ms. Stevens." He announced.
"Please, call me Allie. I'm sorry but I am not quite acquainted with everyone's names yet." He blushed a little and apologized.
"I am one of the chemistry teachers, Mr. Kadner, but you can call me John." she shook his outstretched hand and leaned forward.
"You'll have to excuse Albert, he started teaching back when they still used paddles on students."
"Well, it kept them in line in my day. You also didn't have classrooms filled with digital zombies!" Albert grumbled before he went into a coughing fit. Allie finished her cup and checked the clock, she had just enough time to run to her car to grab the Snickers bar she had stashed beneath the driver seat. She had been thinking about it all morning.
"It's alright, takes a lot more than that to offend me, it was nice meeting you both." She smiled and walked out of the teacher's lounge. The weather was warm, and she hoped her candy bar hadn't melted in the heat. She planned to eat it regardless, it was just a lot less messy when it wasn't melted. She spent a few minutes fishing under her seat before escaping victoriously. She grinned and hugged the bar to her chest, grateful to find it solid. This was almost as great as her morning cup of coffee...almost.
~~~~~~
It was already fading into night by the time Allie pulled into the driveway long dirt driveway. She lived far out in the countryside of town, but it was quiet, and the land was cheap. She had chosen this cottage because it reminded her of something out of a fairy tale. It wasn't until after she had moved in and been living there a few weeks did she discover why they had wanted to sell so quickly. There were a lot of things that needed to be fixed and then she found there was an entire family of raccoons living beneath the back patio. At first, she thought they were simply wild raccoons getting into her trash until the time she took the garbage out near middle of the night and a dozen or so tiny little black hands came up through the porch like something out of a nightmare. But with those disasters aside, she knew from the moment she laid eyes on it that it was the one.
And the when the light rose over the trees in her backyard it lit up the house and warmed the floorboards. She just needed a few paychecks. Until then she could suffer through a few setbacks. There was some more cosmetic stuff that needed to be done but she wasn't in a rush to finish that. She would make this home hers from the top to the bottom. She lugged in a two grocery bags, kicked off her shoes and set her keys in the bowl besides the front door. After setting her groceries down she locked the deadbolt and slid the chain into place. After hanging up her jacket she made her way to the kitchen where she took out her groceries and began preparing herself dinner. She had settled on BBQ chicken and steamed vegetables. Her TV played in the background. Somedays the silence could be almost suffocating, and it was soothing to hear something besides the sound of her own breathing. By the time she finished making her dinner she was able to eat it without missing Jeopardy. It was one of her other guilty pleasures, and yet another thing she had gotten from her Grandma. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. It did seem to matter how much time passed, the pain of
losing her Grandma still hurt. It was because of her Grandmother she had even been able to afford the house. She had left her a little of bit of an inheritance. It paid off her school debts, the house and the rest of her car loan.
Allie glanced up at the painting above her fireplace, it was a serene vision of the lake where her Grandmother had grown up. When Spring came along, flowers blossomed, and all the plants came to life; it was a beautiful sight to behold. She smiled; it was because of her Grandmother that she had pursued art. Instead of trying to become a well-known painter, her Grandmother had chosen to raise a family instead. Something she had sworn she never regretted because it gave her a different kind of fulfillment. But there were times she had caught her Grandmother staring wistfully at the picture of the lake, the questions of what could have been, shining in her eyes. Allie could only hope her Grandmother was somewhere watching over her.
