The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

The Good Teacher

Previously: "Win, Place ... Cho!" 

"Michael is still probably the best choice," you muse, and take another sip from your tea.

Sydney's eyes glint. "Oooh! Is that really what you think?"

"Well, yes. I—"

"I didn't think you'd really go for it." Sydney dimples at you. "Kinky! I like it!"

You give her a startled look. Then you realize your mistake.

You thought she was asking in general who should be your next recruit, but she must have been asking who you thought should be her recruit. You are about to correct her, but pause. She sure seemed to leap at the suggestion—it sounds like she wants to play Michael Hagerman to your Hannah Cho.

You promised yourself that you would let her make her own choice, just as she let you pick yours, so you turn your surprise into a smile.

"Sure," you say. "Kinky." You give her a twinkling smile over the rim of your tea cup.

"Do you think you could help me get him tomorrow? After school, same as we did today?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. We're always popping into each other's classrooms with something to talk about."

Because although Hannah wouldn't admit it to herself, she really would like to find herself underneath her colleague.

* * * * *

You were half-hoping that Sydney would follow up her "Kinky!" remark by inviting herself over to your place for the night. But she makes no moves, and you don't press her. Only after you've parted do you remember something she said once about preserving her virginity because of the "power" it gave her. You wonder if she is going to try preserving that virginity once she's inside a mask.

So you are alone when you drive home to Hannah Cho's apartment. It's a small, cleanly furnished place on the north side of town in a complex that has seen better days. But Hannah is just taking her first fledging flight into the world, and doesn't want to spend any more money than she can help. You slip off your shoes just inside the door, then go into the bedroom to change clothes. You strip completely, putting on new panties and brassiere before getting into some loose cotton shorts and a floppy t-shirt. You give yourself an admiring glance in a full-length mirror while naked, though. Hannah Cho is skinny and her breasts are small. But she's tightly built all over, and highly flexible from doing yoga.

For supper you fix stir-fried beef and vegetables over rice, with a side of Mrs. Cho's homemade kimchi, and settle onto the futon in front of the flatscreen TV. Netflix is Hannah's one real luxury, and you scroll through the offerings until you find some reruns of House, with your dinner in your hands and your iPhone balanced on your knee, open to her social media. Hannah has lots of friends on Instagram and other places, and you relax deeper into her personality by shifting your attention between their posts and the drama on TV.

When you finish dinner and the episode, you wash up then move into the dining room, where you take out the day's assignments and settle in to do your grading. It's a disappointment to find that teachers also have homework, and that there's more of it, and that it's even more tedious than the kind that you are used to.

It's a little after ten o'clock when you finish, and after stretching the stiffness from your limbs you get up to get ready for bed.

You feel the sensation creeping over you as you wash your face, and floss and brush your teeth. But it's not until you step back into the bedroom and cross to the closet to get the nightgown that it fully seizes you: The sense of strangeness that comes from being in another person's bedroom, and preparing to get into their bed. Yes, you've got Hannah Cho's memories, and the room and everything in it (including yourself) feels very familiar. But a feeling of homesickness comes over you as well. These are not my things, you find yourself thinking. This is not my room. This is not what I do. Your skin is cold and it prickles as you slide in between the cool sheets.

This isn't my body, either.

As you lie in the dark, staring at the ceiling, you gently squeeze one of your breasts, and the thought This isn't my body wrestles with the thought Yes it is, it's mine now! and a reluctance to take advantage of your position wrestles with the temptation to give in and pleasure Hannah's body as Hannah herself does. The match doesn't last long, though. I should be in character, you think, and that adds the decisive weight. I am Hannah Cho. I am Hannah Cho, you tell yourself as you bite down hard on the knuckle of your left index finger as you dig and rub at the tender spot between your legs, through the fabric of your gown and underthings. Both the thought and the action excite you: I am Hannah Cho. Soon your breath is coming in quick gasps, and you burrow under the folds of the garments to push your fingers directly into the flesh. You don't even need any fantasies to get yourself off, and when you bring yourself to climax it's through the sheer pleasure of grinding it out of you. You turn on your side afterward and try cuddling with yourself. When you're not looking, you fall asleep.

* * * * *

As is usual for Hannah, you pick up Lindsay the next morning. Neither of you talk. You've nothing to say to Hannah's little sister, and she is concentrated on her phone. At the school, you part from each other with a cheery "Have a good day" from you and a distracted grunt from her.

Although it is not quite eight o'clock, Willa McBride is already waiting outside the classroom, sitting crosslegged on the floor and bent over her iPhone. But she scrambles up when you greet her with a "Hello, Willa!"

"Morning, Ms. Cho!" she exclaims. Willa is always early and she always comes straight to your classroom, where she camps out with her phone, waiting for her friends Courtney and Sage to show up. (That would be Courtney Ireton and Sage Hambrick, respectively.) You unlock the classroom door and go in.

The first twenty minutes of the day are spent getting your notes in order and psyching yourself up for the day. You have a long and repetitive slog ahead of you: Three periods of English I, with two more periods of it after lunch, and only the even more tedious and challenging Grammar for Writing class to break up the monotony of spelling/vocabulary quizzes, writing-journal assignments, and class readings and discussions of To Kill a Mockingbird that is teaching freshman English. Ms. Cho has tried jazzing it up with a few curveballs—some creative writing exercises—but most of the students don't respond. It's pretty clear that except for a few students here and there—Willa is one of them—none of them want to be taking this class.

Well, you didn't want to take it either, when you were a freshman.

But you put your head down and power through.

You distract yourself as best you can by taking notes on which of the students you might convert to the Baphomet cult that you and Sydney are building. Among the girls, you are most intrigued by Willa in your first-period class, and by Caitlyn Smart in your eighth-period class, for both of them are in gymnastics and talk quite openly of their plans to try out for the cheerleading squad later in their careers. Another one you put down—possibly in a moment of madness—is Shelly Nolan. She can't seem to stop talking about Harry Potter, and it would be amusing to convert her into an adept of actual magic.

The real challenges come from the boys, most of whom seem to be born trouble-makers, and they seriously try your patience. You look on the bright side, though: It shouldn't be too hard to bust some of them and give them detention, where you could get a mask onto them. And just as you're attracted to Willa and Caitlyn because they plan to be cheerleaders, you find yourself eyeing those boys who seem destined to become football or basketball players. It helps that these—Austin Ritter, Steven Groom, Elijah Denton, the Daniels brothers (who are twins), among others—would be the easiest to punish with a life-changing after-school detention.

But first things first. You have to help Sydney with Michael Hagerman.

* * * * *

She comes to find you shortly after the bell rings, and you're well on your way to getting packed up. When she asks, "How are we going to do this?" you say, "Leave it to me. Just have the mask ready."

After you've got your things packed up, you lock your door and lead Sydney down the hallway to Mr. Hagerman's room. He's alone, doing some work at his desk when you look in. "Got a minute?" you ask him with your coyest smile.

"Sure, what's up?" It vexes you a little that his gaze falls away from you and goes straight to Sydney when she follows you in.

"This is Sydney McGlynn," you tell him. "She came to me to talk about starting up a book reading club at school, but I decided I wanted to talk to—"

You catch sight of a girl peering into the classroom from the hallway—spying on Mr. Hagerman obviously. But that's all for the good. It gives you a chance to march over and shut the door on her.

"I wanted to talk to you about it," you continue. But when you turn around you see that Michael isn't paying attention to you anymore. He's fallen back in his seat with a vacant expression on his face. And Sydney is just straightening up from bending over him.

"I had a whole story worked up to tell him," you complain. But she just gives you a look and says, "Kill the light, Will. And help me move him over where no one can see us."

Next: "Teachers Two" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"