Chapter 4

Gordon arrived at school Monday morning for the next school week. He had music first period, so he dropped off his coat and bag in the music room before heading to the staff room for a coffee. After his breakup with Debbie Emery, he mostly avoided the staff room. There were always too many teachers gossiping or giving him looks that made him uncomfortable, but this morning, he ran late and hadn’t made any coffee at home. The only positive was that it might give him a chance to say hello to Steve, his longtime teacher friend, before class.

As Gordon entered the room, everyone went silent. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him as he walked to the coffee maker with his mug in his hand. This level of discomfort was new for him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Debbie looking at him, just shaking her head. He didn’t know what was going on or what stories had been told, but he just wanted to get the hell out of there. He had filled his mug, placed the lid, and headed to the door when it was opened by a familiar person.

“Gordon! What the fuck? Tell me it isn’t true,” Steve said, blocking the doorway.

Confused, Gordon didn’t know how to respond, “What the hell’s going on? Is what true?”

“The school is buzzing that you took a student home on Friday,” he replied, as the whole room looked at the two of them.

“I...” he stumbled on his words, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. When? Who?”

“You know who! It’s always the same who. Don’t give me that bullshit, Gordo. Word was, it was Friday after your band practice. It’s been spreading around school like the telephone game. You’re in deep shit, bud,” Steve said.

Gordon could tell Steve was actually worried. He didn’t know what stories had been spread, but school gossip like that never goes well. He had learned that after the Austin Tate situation. Then, a more worrying thought popped into his head. What about Kelsey? She was dealing with so much already. These wild rumors wouldn’t help her a bit.

“Look, nothing happened, alright!” Gordon said loudly, trying to get to the door.

“Gordo, I’m your friend. You are walking on a razor’s edge here, man. You’ve got to stay away from that student.”

“She’s in my next class and a leader in the band. I can’t pretend she doesn’t exist,” Gordon said, frustrated.

From behind him, another voice joined in, “Then just stop with the extra practices and lunches, eat lunch in here with us. Just let it go. I’ve tried to tell you this,” Debbie said, looking Gordon in the eyes.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to look to see if anyone else booked a practice room,” Gordon said, sounding defeated. “I have to get to class,” Gordon said, pushing past Steve and heading down the hallway. He could feel the eyes of the students on him, with their whispered chatter and snickering as he passed. He wondered, what exactly did they think happened? It was just a car ride for someone in the rain. It shouldn’t be such a big deal.

When Kelsey entered the school that day, she didn’t even notice anything unusual going on. She was so used to being gawked at, called names, and laughed at that nothing seemed different from any other day. She still walked down the hall with earbuds in, so she couldn’t tell that people were talking about her, and she kept her eyes forward to not look at what other students were doing.

She didn’t notice anything unusual at all, until she got to her locker. She didn’t notice it at first. Putting in her combination, she looked up to open it and saw ‘TEACHER’S PET’ written across the top of her locker. She looked around, looking for a suspect, but everyone was already looking at her. They were whispering and giggling. Something was off. It hadn’t been this bad since Austin was suspended. Kelsey put her stuff in her locker and headed to music class. Seeing Mr. O. would make this better. It always did.

Walking down the hallway to class, she could feel the eyes on her from everyone she passed. She even caught a few teachers looking at her before they quickly looked away. Kelsey walked faster. She wished she still had some friends who could give her a rundown on whatever the current gossip was, because it was clearly about her. She didn’t think she had done anything wrong. She just tried to keep her head down and out of everyone’s way this year. Finally, she saw her sanctuary in the music room door.

When she got inside, there were already a few students sitting down and warming up. She looked for Mr. O., but she didn’t see him in the main section of the classroom. Maybe he’s in his office, she thought to herself, before climbing the risers.

“He’s not in there,” one of the trumpet players said.

“Who? Mr. O.? Do you know where he is?” she asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” one of the flutists said sarcastically from behind her.

“Well, yeah, that’s why I asked. What’s going on? Why is everyone being really mean to me now?” Kelsey asked.

“Look, teacher’s pet,” the trumpet player said. “He stepped out for a moment. Relax, ok?”

“What the fuck’s with this teacher’s pet thing?” Kelsey said, starting to get mad, “It’s been written on my locker.”

More students filed in and were just watching the exchange, waiting to see if things blew up. As one of the other students was about to answer, Mr. O. walked in. Everyone went silent and Kelsey realized she wasn’t about to get an answer from them. She turned to her favorite teacher and noticed he looked frustrated and upset. He clutched his mug tightly in his hand and nearly slammed it on the piano.

“Mr. O.? Can we talk after class?” Kelsey asked politely.

“Not right now, Ms. Moore. Just take your seat,” he said gruffly to her.

Kelsey was taken aback. He never called her by her last name. Somewhat hurt, she picked up her things and sat down in her section. It was like her whole world was crashing down and she didn’t even know why. She started assembling her instrument, almost robotically, but overheard one of the brass players behind her say, “Must be trouble in paradise for her majesty.” It took every ounce of self-control for Kelsey not to turn around and slug that bitch. At this point, she didn’t care what everyone was talking about. She just wanted it to end.

Class eventually got underway and despite Kelsey’s mood, playing helped calm her down somewhat. Halfway into class though, there was a knock at the door and Mr. Vernon, the school principal, entered. A large intimidating man, he beckoned Mr. O. over to him for a chat. Mr. Vernon never left his office, and for him to interrupt class, it had to be bad. Kelsey watched as the two adults spoke, noticing both of them occasionally looking in her direction. She gulped, wondering if she was about to get in trouble for something. She didn’t know what, but with how her year had gone, anything was possible.

After a few minutes of chatter, Mr. Vernon looked in her direction one last time before thundering out the door. Mr. O. walked back to his podium and tried to resume class, but everyone was too wired with gossip to regain control for the last ten minutes of class. The teacher simply put down his baton and walked up to his office and shut the door. Kelsey just sat with her clarinet on her lap, head down, waiting for the bell to sound.

Gordon sat in his office waiting for the bell to sound to let everyone out of class. He just didn’t have the energy to try to reel them all in for another ten minutes. He’d been lucky, Liam Vernon, the principal, didn’t believe any of the rumors that were swirling around the school. Gordon did admit to driving Kelsey home after seeing her soaked in the rain but swore nothing happened. He was simply given a warning not to do it again and it would be best if he stayed away from Kelsey for a while till the heat died down. They both knew the school would find something new and exciting to gossip about shortly, it just needed to be waited out.

He knew he was on thin ice though. Rumors and speculations could follow him for years, even if he was innocent. According to Liam, one rumor was that he and Kelsey were seen having sex in the back of his car in the parking lot. Gordon had to deny that accusation, officially, to Liam, but was it ever embarrassing to have to declare that statement. He finally heard the bell sound and the flurry of shuffling heading out the door. He wanted to simply go home, climb into bed, and wake up after Christmas.

There was a soft knock on his door, and Gordon raised his head to check who it was. Of course it was Kelsey.

“Are you ok, Mr. O.?” she asked, looking upset.

“Just having one of those days. Shouldn’t you be heading for your next class?” he said plainly.

“I ... I just wanted to see what was going on. I’ll leave,” she turned quickly and ran out the door.

The cherry on top of his bullshit sundae was complete. He now felt like a horrible asshole as the door closed behind her. He would have gone after her to apologize, but with everything going on, he didn’t think that would be a good idea. He could only imagine the looks they would get, and he didn’t want to make her life any more difficult than it already was. He just put his hands on his head once again and wished the day would end. Unfortunately, he had another class to teach and there wasn’t anything he could do about that. He tried to pull himself together, drank some cold coffee, and worked on pretending to be normal.

The lunch bell rang, and Gordon couldn’t wait to get rid of the students as quickly as possible. While this was a class of grade 9s and didn’t know much about what was going on, he just wanted to be alone for a while. He had told the rest of the teachers that he would have lunch with them, but he didn’t have the appetite for that either. He just wanted to sit quietly in his office and space out completely.

Gordon decided to go to the cafeteria to get a salad anyway, not feeling like retrieving his lunch from the staff room. While in line, he heard people gossiping about him and Kelsey, until they noticed him standing there. They put their heads down and pretended to talk about something else. He got his salad and headed back to the music room when he saw Kelsey sitting on the floor in the hallway upset. He tried his best to walk past her, getting almost all the way by before turning around. He couldn’t help himself. He hated seeing her upset.

“Why are you sitting on the dirty floor, Kelsey?” he asked, noticing her holding a sandwich.

“I have nowhere to eat. There’s no way I could eat in the cafeteria, not with all the jackals howling at me. And I didn’t want...” She stopped there.

“Didn’t want what?”

“I didn’t want to bother you,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. I think we’re both having a day, come on, let’s go eat in the music room.”

“Are you sure? Do you know what’s being said about us?”

“I do. Come on, we can talk about it away from all the gawkers,” he said, noticing a few students watching them. Kelsey put her lunch back in her bag, stood up, and walked toward the music room with Gordon. Gordon looked down the hall, in the direction of the staff room. He saw Steve standing there, a dark glower on his face, before he turned and walked away. He knew then that he would be alone in the school from now on.

Over the next few months, Kelsey and Mr. O. tried to reduce the amount of time they were seen together. Kelsey was told, as a rule, ’don’t stand so close to me’. Which was his way of telling her to give the appearance of distance. They would still eat lunch together and have the after-school practice sessions, but most people didn’t notice those things. Out in the hall or during class, they just kept their distance.

Neither of them attended the after party for the Christmas concert. They both just went home. With how things were, it was probably best he did not attend even if she wasn’t going. He didn’t want to start a new thing if people saw a teacher hanging about with students after school at a restaurant. Kelsey chose not to go, since it seemed like everyone blamed her for the teacher not attending. It was a lose-lose situation, so she just went home.

Christmas turned to New Years, and then to Valentine’s Day. Kelsey had a new slate of classes and didn’t have music this semester. It was tough for her not to see her favorite teacher in class every day. Sure, they still had lunch together when they could, but she missed playing every day.

For the most part, after Christmas break, Kelsey was mostly forgotten about by the rest of the school. A new gossip situation raised the ire of the student populi and she was able to just go back to being under the radar, for the most part. She noticed though that Mr. O. didn’t seem to interact with the other teachers much anymore. She wanted to ask what had happened, but she knew deep down she was the cause of it.

For Valentine’s Day, the school sold candy grams to raise money for charity. Kelsey decided to buy one and have it sent to Mr. Osgood with the message, ’Thank you for everything’. She thought it would be a nice, simple gesture to let him know she appreciated everything he’d done for her. They would be delivered at last period, and she could talk to him about it after school.

Kelsey was excited throughout the rest of the day as she waited for her final class to end. When the final bell did sound, she made her way to her locker to pick up her stuff before heading to the music room. When she arrived though, the room was empty. She knew he taught biology before, so she figured he might be answering questions or cleaning up, so she just decided to stay and practice. She knew this year’s arrangements back and forth and could play them with her eyes closed but it was always good to practice. After about twenty minutes, she was starting to wonder if he’d gone home for the day when the door suddenly opened.

“Hello Kelsey,” he said, with a smile on his face. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Mr. O.,” she replied.

“You were sounding really good there. Very smooth through that tricky segment,” he said, sitting down next to her, tossing his coat on the floor.

“Thanks, I think it’ll be really good in May.”

“Kelsey, did you send me this?” he asked, pulling out a heart-shaped candy from his pocket.

“I don’t know, isn’t it supposed to be a secret?” she said, blushing.

“Didn’t we talk about this? This could get us in a lot of trouble,” he said sternly. Kelsey’s heart sank, and she lowered her head.

“I thought it might be a nice thing to do. I didn’t think about it, I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” he said, picking up his coat. “Because I didn’t have anything to give you.”

Surprised, she looked up at his smiling face. He was holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates, with a tag on it, ‘To Kelsey, thank you for everything too’.