Page 19 of Eighteen (18)

I swallow and begin. I read for whole minutes about numbers on a number line. Shit any second grader should know, but authors feel compelled to repeat at the beginning of each textbook. I stop at the end of the page and look up.

He smiles. “Keep going.”

“This is dumb.”

“How so?”

“The other class I’m taking just lets me take tests. Can’t I just take tests?”

“The other teacher in that other class doesn’t give a shit about you.”

“And you do?”

“I’m here, right?”

“He’s there, right?”

“He didn’t give you a jacket to wear in the rain last night. He didn’t pick you up, take you somewhere dry, and buy you a cab ride home.”

“No, but that’s not how most teachers behave, Mr.—”

“Mateo.”

I just stare at him. What the fuck is his game?

“Say it,” he says. “Say my name.”

I swallow down the confusion. “Mateo?”

He sighs, letting out a long breath of air. And then he leans over the table, grabs my face, and kisses me.

I am so stunned, I don’t move. But his mouth demands something. Cooperation, or interaction, or submission, I’m not sure.

But I do kiss him back, I’m very sure of that.

He fists my hair, making me stand up, and then his lips break free as he walks around the table, keeping hold of my hair while he does it.

I look over my shoulder, my heart beating fast and my breathing coming out in small gasps. “The door is open,” I whisper, almost in a panic.

He ignores me, just grabs my breast, pulls me towards him, threads his fingers up my scalp so he can fist my hair again, and takes what he wants. My mouth.

I give in. I feel helpless. Weightless. Powerless.

When he breaks the kiss, I feel like I might pass out.

“Where were you last night?”

“What?” I ask, taken by surprise.

“Where were you last night, Shannon? I know you weren’t home.”

“How do you know that?”

He leans down to kiss me again, but this time his teeth nip the sensitive skin.

I let out a small whimper. “The door,” I say, trying to pull away. “Someone will see us!”

“Everyone leaves at five.” He kisses me again and then pulls back, staring down at me like I’ve done something wrong. “Where were you last night?”