“And I appreciate your concern, but you’re right, I’m not a minor. I know how to be cautious and keep this a secret.”
“Yet you came running to tell someone the minute you got confirmation that Kyle was gonna let you in the back door again.”
Terry pouted. “Well, you already knew. It’s not much of a secret if I’d told you about it before.”
Olivia put down her bowl to cross her arms at Terry with a huff. “You want my advice? I know you didn’t come for it, but I’ve got some if you’re willing to listen.”
The first thing in Terry’s mind was a sharp retort. He bit it back and nodded.
“Fantasies are all well and fine to have. Hell, ever since you first mentioned having a hot teacher with big sweater-clad tits I’ve pulled that one out like, once a week, at least. I’m not gonna tell you that wanting to fuck your professor makes you a pervert or anything, but I am going to remind you, again, to be smart about it. Not just so you don’t get in trouble, but so neither of you gets your heart broken. I don’t think you love this guy and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s not planning to put a ring on your finger anytime soon either. Have your fun, if that’s what you agreed on. My advice: know what you’re getting yourself into before you’re in too deep. Okay?”
The retort refused to be held back again. “I know what I’m doing.”
Olivia shrugged and picked up her bowl. “If you say so. Good luck.”
Terry walked off, trying to convince himself that he did, in fact, know what he was doing. For weeks he had wanted to get over Kyle, but that crush could not be quelled, especially since he was desperate to know what he had done wrong. Then when Kyle reopened that door of opportunity, it was like a dream coming true, just not yet, and now Terry was more desperate to see it fulfilled. It was like when he was traveling through Europe and had grown frustrated with how few of his expectations were being met, but he couldn’t be entirely mad because he was experiencing so many new and beautiful and interesting things. That reminded him of how much he yearned to get back on the road, finally write that book, find someone who did love him and wasn’t simply DTF once nobody cared about their age difference or whatever.
Sleep didn’t come as easily as Terry would have liked that night. He lay awake with all these thoughts buzzing in his head. There were a few times when he was on the cusp of unconsciousness, but then something occurred to him that woke him back up until he had figured it out. He concluded that he needed to talk to Kyle about this. One of the things that kept him up was imagining the conversation they might have, all the reactions Terry would have to deal with, the conclusions they would draw. Even after he managed to fall asleep, he knew when he awoke the next morning that those fabricated interactions had followed him into his dreams, though he couldn’t remember most of them.
The topic of conversation among students the next day mostly focused on their Halloween plans, if they had any. Terry was going to stay home and hand out candy with Paul and Olivia, if Paul didn’t make any last-minute changes to that plan and drag Terry to a sexy costume party instead.
What if I did go to a party? What if I met someone better than Kyle? Terry’s gut reaction was no, there couldn’t be someone worth giving up all this time and effort for. But I wouldn’t be giving up Kyle, I’d just find someone to have fun with while I wait for the end of the semester.
The memory of that one night with Zander reemerged. That was a combination of being too drunk and being too distracted by my own low self-esteem, which itself was brought on by being too drunk. I think I have more of a spring in my step these days. I could totally hook up with another guy and not fail that way again. No guarantee he’d be packing what Kyle has though…or that he’d be as smart…or as confident…or that we’d get along as well as I do with Kyle, y’know, now that he’s not scared I’ll report him to the school for having an affair with a student.
Olivia did have a point. Terry wasn’t head over heels in love with Kyle, but Kyle was everything Terry wanted and needed at this point in his life, and even if he did satisfy his immediate need for intimacy with some stranger in a costume, that wouldn’t change anything, not unless by some miracle that stranger turned out to be Terry’s soulmate.
Terry walked down the hall to Kyle’s class Tuesday morning with something like a decision. He wasn’t going to die if didn’t fuck someone before the end of the semester, and he didn’t want the conflict of possibly striking up a side fling with some guy and then having to dump either Kyle or the new guy once Kyle became available. There was enough drama in this situation without bringing in a third party. For Kyle, he would wait.
The girl who had once tried to ask him out came from seemingly nowhere to stop Terry as he approached Kyle’s classroom. “We’re boycotting Professor Weiman’s class,” she said.
“Why?” Maybe I’ll need a rebound guy after all. What has Kyle done now?
“You know Marissa? She says when she went to talk to him about making up her midterm grade, he made a pass at her. She says it was totally creepy! So we’re not going to his class anymore.”
Terry couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But…Professor Weiman is gay.”
“I know! He probably says that so no one will suspect him when he does something like this. Men will do anything to take advantage of women. No offense, but…y’know, it’s true.”
Terry stared at her, waiting for her to start laughing or reveal that this was part of some ethics class where they had to find out people’s reactions to certain moral dilemmas. She looked back in earnest. “Marissa is lying.”
“Why would she lie? She was so upset when she told me.”
“She’s lying,” Terry insisted. “I was texting with Ky—Professor Weiman that day and he told me she had been in his office, he gave her options to improve her grades, and she didn’t want to do any of them.”
“Yeah! Because they were fucking gross. He’s like, old enough to be her grandfather!”
Terry did some quick math in his head. That wasn’t true either, technically, but he supposed the gray hair made Kyle appear older. Hot, but older. He was getting off topic. “I’m telling you he wouldn’t do that.”
The girl scowled at him. “I can’t believe you’re just going to take his word for it.”
“You’re taking her word for it! This is literally a he said/she said argument!”
“Ugh, this is so typical. Men always blame the victim if it means defending another man.”
Terry wanted to shake some sense into her, or at least blurt out that he knew for a fact that Kyle was into men, but he couldn’t back that up without getting Kyle into trouble for a different reason. He gave the girl a snarling sigh and pushed past her towards the classroom.
She called after him. “Either way, her parents are going to talk to the dean about this!”
Terry froze. The situation had just gotten a hundred times worse. It was one thing for a rumor to start among the students. It was another thing entirely for an official complaint to be filed with the administration, especially from concerned parents. If these were the strict “My child is infallible and we have lots of money so we’re right” sort of people, then Kyle was doomed.
Terry pulled out his phone and hastily typed a message. He swore under his breath every time he had to fix a typo. That girl who you met with on Friday is spreading a rumor that you harassed her in your office. Parents are going to talk to the dean. Be prepared. He sat down in his chair, one of the scant few occupied—Terry noticed there were no women in attendance—and prayed Kyle got the text before someone else could confront him about it.
Whether Kyle had heard it from Terry or someone else, he walked into the classroom with the expression of someone who had recently received shocking news. He didn’t mention anything, but carried on with the class as usual. The look in his eyes remained and he occasionally became distracted at random. Nevertheless and despite the diminished attendance, Kyle was a professional first. He had come to
teach and he was not leaving until the lesson was taught. The only remark he made was, “Pity so many people had to miss this class. This stuff is going to be a big part of your new project.”
In contrast to Kyle, Terry was an absolute emotional mess. He was so angry, yet so scared for Kyle, and at the same time so upset that, yes, things like this happened with such frequency that it wasn’t out of the question for someone to accuse their professor of sexual misconduct. He wanted to scream with frustration. He took his notes the best he could, but every nerve in his body itched to find Marissa and make her take back the rumor. The only thing she would gain from this was maybe a better grade. Kyle could lose his entire career. It was selfish beyond reason.
At the end of the class, Kyle left with a short farewell. Terry was torn between following him and running to find Marissa. All he could do, however, was sit there, still stunned by the unfairness of it all, and feel his heartstrings unravel.
Chapter 8
Kyle wasn’t responding to texts again. Terry stopped trying halfway through his work shift. Instead, he wrote to every classmate he had in his contacts list, regardless of what class he knew them from.
There’s a girl named Marissa I’m trying to find, he wrote them. Wavy brown hair, usually with friends, kinda whiny. I need to talk to her about a class we’re in together but she’s been scarce recently and this is important.
It was a long shot with such limited resources. Terry knew these people from group projects or sharing notes, but he had never spent time with them outside of class or work sessions in the library. Still, it wasn’t a huge school. There had to be some connection he could tap to find her.
As it happened, when he got off work that evening, among the “Sorry, no” replies, one guy from one of his Communications classes had written, I think she’s in my analysis of literature class. Should I tell her your looking for her?
The moment of pause Terry took to be upset over the typo prevented him from immediately responding. There was no guarantee she would agree to a meet-up unless Terry straight-up told her he was blackmailing her or came up with some other exorbitant lie. He didn’t want to show up at her class like a stalker and pull her into an abandoned classroom either. That would tip off even more suspicion about her status as a victim, and Terry wasn’t about to throw gas on that fire. He sat with his chin resting against his folded hands for a few minutes as he thought.
Terry asked for the time and location of the analysis class. It was at the same time as a class Terry had the next day in the same building two floors above. Tell her I can help with the trouble she’s having in Professor Weiman’s class. I can meet her by the side door, alone.
Once again, Terry considered what would happen if she didn’t show up. If all else failed, he knew where she would be and when, but he didn’t have this class again until Friday. That was too long. He didn’t know if her parents had already spoken to the school board or if he was going to catch this before that could happen. With a heavy heart, he remembered that the American school system wasn’t quick to follow up on claims of sexual harassment, especially with baseless accusations like this one. If the administration here had the same lackadaisical approach, that could work in Kyle’s favor. However, Terry secretly hoped there was a more serious response to rape here so the next girl who spoke up, and spoke up in earnest, wouldn’t have to suffer.
Terry kept an eye on the clock all throughout his classes the next day. His stomach refused to settle. The first one seemed to take all day. The second felt like a month. The third one, after which he was supposed to meet Marissa, was purgatory, constantly looking at the clock only to find that barely thirty seconds had passed. He wanted to pretend he was going to the bathroom and simply never come back, but Marissa wouldn’t be there until after class anyway so he begrudgingly sat and waited.
The professor dismissed them and Terry had his hand on the door by the end of her sentence. He bolted down the stairs so quickly he was afraid he might lose his balance. Fortunately, he made it to the side door without injury. Marissa wasn’t there yet. Terry casually leaned against a nearby sapling and scrolled through his phone. Every creak of the door made his muscles tense.
Marissa emerged cautiously a few minutes later. She saw Terry and crept over to him, glancing around for any eavesdroppers. “Hi,” she said quietly.
“Hi,” Terry said. His nose wanted to wrinkle in disgust, his lips to pull back in a furious grimace. Here she stood, the girl who was willing to peg her professor with the stigma of a sexual predator just so she could get a better grade. The excited glint in her eye made his stomach roil. She genuinely hoped he was going to help her get away with this.
“So…here I am,” she said. “What did you want to talk about?”
The vitriol would not be held back. “I wanted to talk about how you’re a manipulative bitch,” Terry spat.
Marissa’s hope immediately turned to fear. “W-What?”
“You’re playing the victim card—a card you don’t even hold—to make your friends back up your lie and get Ky—Professor Weiman in trouble.”
Marissa frowned, but she was cowering. “He did though. I-I swear, he…he came on to me. He’s probably been lowering my grade on purpose to set this up.”
So that’s what you’ve been telling everyone. It’s not that you’re a bad student, it’s that Kyle has been targeting you in hopes that someday you’d come to him offering “extra credit” to make up for it. How could anyone believe that shit? Once again, he reminded himself that there were predators among professors in some schools who would pull stunts like that. However, Kyle was not one of them and he didn’t deserve to be treated like one.
“I can prove that you’re lying,” Terry hissed. “I know when you were in his office, and when you left. Not only was Professor Weiman texting me at the time, he isn’t even attracted to women. So guess what? You’re not going to walk out of this without consequences.” Marissa opened her mouth to make a rebuke, but she faltered, so Terry continued. “This isn’t just about Professor Weiman. If, God forbid, someone actually assaulted you, people would say, ‘Oh, she’s made up stories before, she’s probably doing it again.’ Or if someone else is molested, people will think of you and be less likely to believe them because if one person lies about assault to get what they want, then couldn’t this be the same thing?”
Marissa was visibly uncomfortable, but she gave him pleading eyes. “Then back me up. If I don’t get in trouble, then I won’t lose my reputation.”
“Yeah…fuck no. I respect Professor Weiman way more than I respect you, and for good reasons. And do you think he’s going to let you ruin his reputation? He’ll find a way to prove you wrong, with or without my help, but I happen to have timestamped proof that Professor Weiman only offered you actual options to improve your grade and that you kept begging him to take off your deductions instead. If you come clean now, you can stop this from getting out of hand. The longer you let this fester, the further rumors will spread and the more people who will know what you’ve done when the truth comes out. Take back your accusations quietly. This doesn’t have to end in disaster.”
There were actual tears in her eyes. “B-But…”
“I don’t fucking care if you’re already in trouble for your bad grades. That’s your fault. What do you think is worse, having to redo the class or being labeled ‘The Girl Who Cried Rape’ for the rest of your life?”
Marissa swallowed. “But my parents are supposed to talk to the dean this afternoon. What am I supposed to tell them?”
“Tell them you fucking lied!” Terry wanted to slap her. All the pity he felt for her was scorched away by his anger at her selfishness. “So what? They ground you? Take away your phone? Your allowance? What do you think they’d do if this involved lawyers, whom they would pay for, and then someone like me stepped forward with evidence against you? You think they’d be mad now, imagine having to tell them that you made them go to court for nothing.”
S
omeone walked out of the side door. Marissa hid her reddened face, pretending her forehead itched. She sniffled. “Why do you even care? I thought he hated you.”
“We’ve…worked past that. Misunderstanding. He’s a hardass, but he’s not a—He wouldn’t do something like that to a student, let alone a female student. He’s gay. I’ve got proof of that too.” Just please don’t make me use it. He held up his phone and shook it. “Wanna see?” Please no please no please no please no.
Marissa eyed the device in his hand. She wiped her eyes on her jacket sleeve. “O-Okay, I’ll tell them.”
Terry crossed his arms, phone still in his grasp. “Tell them now.”
“What?”
“I want to see you calling or texting one of them to admit what you did.” Terry felt like a bully. With any other context, he would have been. He turned his head slightly to make sure no one was watching, since any passersby wouldn’t have context at all and he would simply be a guy standing next to a girl a head shorter than him while she cried to herself. The things we do for the people we care about.
Marissa didn’t fight it anymore. She pulled out her own phone, showed him that she had selected a text conversation with her mother, and typed out the message with his supervision. As much as Terry didn’t want to pry, he noticed that the last exchange in the conversation ended with her mom promising that she would do anything to keep her safe. Does that include keeping her safe from her own stupid decisions?
With the message sent, Marissa slouched in defeat. “Are you happy now? My parents are going to yell at me so much when I get home…”
“Not gonna lie, you lost all my sympathy when you asked me to lie for the sake of your reputation.” Terry shook his head. “It ain’t coming back just because you’re gonna get what’s coming to you. Next time, read the syllabus instead. I swear it’s much easier than faking sexual harassment.”
Top in the Class Page 7
