Mr. Jonas, I Have a Confession

“I can’t wait for soccer to be over!” I exclaimed as Noelle and I walked to first period.

“You say this all the time. You’re just exhausted,” Noelle stated.

“Whatever,” I mumbled back. “What dumb assignment do you think Nick will assign today?” I took my usual seat, and Noelle followed.

“Well, we did just finish reading Separation, so maybe he will have us write our own forbidden love story!” Noelle squealed. I stared at her in confusion. She hated writing.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” Nick announced as he walked into the classroom. The class mumbled a reply.

As Nick droned on in another discussion about the latest chapters from our reading, I zoned out. I couldn’t help it; my body was sore from last night’s game and I needed more sleep than I was getting. I stared at Nick, his muscles begging to get out of his tight dress shirt. I closed my eyes for a minute, imagining his hands massaging the tight muscles in my back, down my legs. Then, when he is done, he…

“Kenna, Kenna!” Noelle screamed. I jumped, realizing I must have drifted off into sleep. The class got a good laugh out of it.

“Do my discussions bore you, Miss Leighton?” Nick smirked.

“Yes,” I mumbled, quickly realizing what I had said. Gasps erupted throughout the room.

“Well, if that is how you feel, Kenna, then why don’t you write a better story?”

“Wait, really?” I asked, jumping out of my seat once more, but this time with excitement. I looked at Noelle, who just smiled at me.

“Why not?” Nick shrugged. “Your next assignment is to write anything about a forbidden love. It can be in any format, any length, as long as the point of the writing is addressed.”

“Way to go, Leighton!” Samantha Wertz whined. Someone remind me why she is in this class.

“Come on, guys. It will be fun. Create your own characters, your own setting, and your own romance. Make it something that could be published one day.”

The bell rang and everyone hustled to the next period. “It’s due in one week!”

~~

“And so it begins!” I stated as I cracked my knuckles. I sat atop my bed, my laptop on my lap. A forbidden love story can’t be that hard to write. After all, I was living one in a small sort of way.

“Busy with homework?” a sweet voice whispered over the instrumental music I had playing.

“Hey,” I smiled as he sat at the end of my bed.

“Come up with any ideas?” Nick asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “I need some sort of inspiration.”

“Yeah, right! Why would you of all people need inspiring?”

“I’ve wrote forbidden love stories before. They all start to sound the same after a while.”

“Why don’t I help then?” Nick smirked, removing the laptop from my lap.

“Jonas, I don’t need your inspiring. It was a one-time thing.”

Nick slunk back into his original spot. “Right. A one-time thing.”

I stared at him. “Wasn’t it?”

Nick looked at me, his eyes begging for an answer. “You tell me.”

“Well, I said it was a one-ti-“

“No, Kenna. I mean tell me what you really feel,” he demanded.

I didn’t like admitting my feelings out loud. Boys had a tendency of taking advantage of it. Would Nick? “I think I’ve been inspired just enough,” I smiled, taking my laptop back.

Nick smiled slightly. “I can’t wait to read it.” He walked out of my bedroom, but not without leaving a kiss on my cheek.

~~

“’They were nowhere near perfect alone, but together, they found perfection,’” Nick read from a student’s poem. “The author of this story will be getting an A.”

“Yes!” Noelle cheered. “Sorry.”

“Noelle, that was beautiful!” I whispered.

“Thank you,” she replied.

Nick looked for another story. “Ah, here it is!” he stated, pulling out the stapled pages. “’As a young girl, I had no idea this would occur. Not in my wildest dreams, or even my wildest fantasies.’”

My eyes grew wide. Suddenly, I wanted to be invisible.

“’I never imagined myself to be one of those students, like the ones in “The Graduate,” but I grew to love the idea. The danger of being caught thrilled me, but the mystery that was he thrilled me even more.’”

Nick looked up, searching for an expression on my face. I forced an angry expression, but it did not faze him.

“’He could never know, however, the true feelings I hid from him. With every kiss he stole from my lips, my feelings grew stronger, and my needs grew greater. I could never speak the truth, though, for I am only a dirty little secret, in love with the master of my movements.’”

Nick whispered the last few words. He took in a big gulp, then looked up at the class, specifically at. I hid behind my legs in my seat.

“Damn, who wrote that?” Carter Johnson asked.

“I haven’t said who wrote any of these stories, Carter. Why would I now?”

“Because, I wanna bang that chick!” Carter’s friends high-fived him in agreement. I rolled my eyes, but Nick did not ignore it as easily.

“I do not want to hear you say that ever again, Mr. Johnson.”

“Why not, Mr. Jonas?” Carter asked. “I’m sure we are in agreement. She mentions ‘The Graduate,’ so she must be into a teacher.”

“Whoever wrote this, Mr. Johnson, was brave enough to show their darkest secrets with me,” Nick stated. “I expect this from all of you. Do not be afraid to do the same.”

The bell rang, and everyone made their way for the door. I stood to collect myself, Carter Johnson passing me.

“Dude, I’m going to find that girl and teach her a lesson. You know what I’m saying?” He and his friends laughed together.

I rolled my eyes once more. They are all idiots. I turned my attention to Nick, who sat on the end of his desk. I wasn’t sure if he was mad, upset, or a mixture of both.

“Coming, Ken?” Noelle asked.

“One second,” I told her. She nodded, understanding what I was going to do. I made my way to Nick as she left. “Nick?” I whispered. No one was around.

“Y-Yeah?” he stuttered, not looking at me.

“We can talk about it, if you want.”

“Later, Ken,” he stated as students started to file in.