Cadence sighed. “All right. Thank you for the car.”
There was no point arguing over it. She thought maybe she’d just start slipping bills in his wallet when he wasn’t looking. Five dollars here. Ten dollars there. She’d keep a ledger in a notebook she’d hide somewhere in the guest bedroom. Then she wouldn’t feel so helpless and needy.
It wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t trying to make her dependent on him. She didn’t think so, anyway. He was being practical. But she didn’t like the shift in power. Oh, who was she kidding? There was never a shift in power because he’d always had it. Bigger. Stronger. Older. More money. Suddenly her sneaking-bills-into-his-wallet plan seemed foolish and immature.
“Cadence?”
She looked up at Mark. “Yeah?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Is the tag office still open? Don’t I need a tag and all that?”
He nodded. “You’re right. I forgot.”
“I’m paying for it,” she decided.
He nodded again. He wouldn’t argue with her. He could see her brain working hard, trying to figure out how to make things even.
“Have you heard from your attorney?” Cadence asked suddenly.
Mark shook his head. “Why would I? Everything’s done.”
And that was the truth. He arrived at Crestview High early Tuesday morning last week before any students showed up. He was escorted by Officer Tyson to his old room to collect his personal belongings. Not really much there. Just a few pencils, pens, and notebooks. Oh, and a CD he’d forgotten he shoved in his desk drawer.
The whole experience creeped him out, and for the first time since he started his secret affair with Cadence, he felt ashamed. The principal, assistant principal, police officer, secretary all eyed him suspiciously as he walked down the hall. They wanted to intimidate him, and it worked a little. He even thought he should go home and look up that law once more, read it over again, make sure it really said what he thought it did.
I’m not a monster, he thought as he stepped over the threshold of the front doors. He would never return. He would never step foot inside another Georgia high school. That part of his teaching career was over. He wasn’t sad to say goodbye, but he couldn’t be without a job for long. He had a girlfriend to support.
“Everything’s fine,” he said, noting Cadence’s look of concern. “I promise you that it’s over.”
That was a partial truth. His trouble with Crestview High was certainly over, but now the real work began. Securing a job. It wouldn’t be easy, but he was determined. He had a purpose. And she was standing in front of him.
***
Cadence didn’t want to alarm Mark. There was no point in telling him that the bullying at school escalated as soon as word spread about their affair. Students were relentless. They were all in on it. Even Jacob had changed, but she understood why. He was freaked out by her bizarre behavior last Monday morning. She did wrap her hands around his throat, after all. She couldn’t expect him to say “hello” to her in the halls anymore. But he wasn’t abusive towards her. He just steered clear.
“Gosh, if I was fucking my math teacher, I guess I’d be graduating, too,” Alaina said to Cadence before class one morning.
“I earned my grade,” Cadence replied. Why? Why Cadence? Why would you say that? Why engage her at all?
A group of students burst out laughing.
“Yeah, you did,” one replied, simulating a blowjob.
Cadence rolled her eyes and took her seat. Just a week and a half left. She could do it, if the substitute teacher didn’t fail her. She noticed that even Ms. Donovan seemed to have it out for her. A punishment for her deceit. She left the subtle signs on Cadence’s quizzes.
“Hey! Let me see your quiz for a second,” Cadence called to Jacob after class.
“Huh?”
“Just let me see,” she said, snatching his paper. She held up the quizzes side by side and compared the red marks. Sure enough, her wrong answers were marked with large, angry red X’s that spanned a quarter of the page. Jacob’s one X was much smaller. “What the fuck?”
Cadence stormed over to Ms. Donovan. She slapped the quizzes on the desk and leaned in.
“What is this?” she asked.
“What is what?”
“This X on my quiz. Why isn’t Jacob’s X huge like mine?”
“Are you serious, Cadence?”
“Yes.”
Ms. Donovan blinked.
“Why are my X’s huge and Jacob’s X is tiny?” Cadence asked. She wouldn’t let it go. It was straight up bullying, and by a teacher no less!
“Cadence, perhaps I graded the quizzes at separate times,” Ms. Donovan offered. She sounded annoyed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Frankly, I don’t care what you believe. You’re paranoid.”
“I know what you’re doing. Subtle intimidation? Give me a break. Bully me all you want. You can’t fail me. I’m passing this class and leaving this hellhole.”
“You need to watch the language.”
“You need to stop being a fucking bitch!”