Adrian blinked away oncoming sleep and tried, once again, to focus on what his professor was saying. His eyelids started to slowly close and he wrenched them back open. Only five minutes remained and then class, as well as school, would be over. Adrian tried to think of something other than the blur of words coming from his professor’s mouth that were creating a nice hum, lulling him to sleep. Four minutes left. When would this class be over? Adrian liked World History and found it intriguing, but his professor! Man could she talk! Lecture after lecture, one following the other. Ms. Katz wasn’t a captivating teacher and Adrian, who had a hard time paying attention in the first place, was sleep deprived. Now only two minutes remained of school. Ice cream, pizza, hamburgers, steak, cheese. One minute left. Glorious, precious time in which he could finally crash. 19 seconds, 18 seconds, 17 seconds; Adrian counted downwards. 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9.

“Adrian? Are you alright?” asked Ms. Katz. “I asked you for the year Rome was established.”

6, 5, 4. “Um…” Adrian started, 2, 1! Brrring! Saved by the bell! “Sorry, Ms. Katz. School’s over now.” The rest of his class filed out the door but Adrian had trouble grabbing his books and so was held back.

Ms. Katz sighed and took off her glasses to rub her eyes. “Adrian tomorrow I want you to stay after school so we can discuss your level of focus and attention. You’ve been distracted lately.”

Inwardly Adrian sighed. “Alright Ms. Katz. I’ll come at 3:00 tomorrow.”

Ms. Katz nodded wearily and waved Adrian off. Once she was alone she took off her glasses, let down her hair in a curly mess, and went home.

Ms. Katz wasn’t as old as her students and colleagues believed. She was really only 25 but due to her apparel and actions in school they thought she was in her late 30s, early 40s. Her full name was Alexandra Caroline Katz and she was pretty. Not extremely pretty or ravishing or plain or ugly. Alexandra was a normal everyday woman who was simply pretty. Of course if she wanted to Alexa, as her friends called her, could be extremely pretty or plain. For the classes she taught her inky black hair was always up in a perfect bun, not a strand of hair out of place. She also wore fake glasses, solid colored clothes, and a limited amount of jewelry. The glasses were so her bright blue eyes wouldn’t be seen quite so well. Her earrings were silver, dangling ones; she wore an intricate Celtic cross; and on her middle, right finger a thin, silver band could be found. Most students assumed she was married despite the lack of a wedding band and had kept her last name, providing for the title Ms. not Mrs. However, Alexa hadn’t even dated anyone since her senior year of high school. Her heart still ached when she thought of Michael, her first and, so it seemed, last boyfriend. He had been tallish but not too tall, his hair a sandy-gold, and his eyes a perfect hazel. He had been so kind and caring and had made her feel sexy, special, and important until he decided she just wasn’t good enough for him anymore. There had been no warning signs leading to their breakup. He had simply, oh so simply, changed his mind. How shocked Alexa had been, how broken. They had been dating for two years! She still remembered his last words to her; “You just don’t captivate me anymore. Sorry, but it’s the truth and we shouldn’t be in a relationship together, like this. Besides,” he shrugged, “You’re not that pretty.” Oh, how those simple, ugly words had stung. Not that pretty. Michael didn’t know how much effort she had put into their relationship, presenting herself in the best possible light, being the perfect girlfriend for him. And to think it was all for nothing.

Distraught Alexa had fallen back on an old habit of hers, studying and working away the pain. Alexa continued in her studies to become a teacher. Michael dropped out sophomore year of college. Alexa was still now unhappy with life and Michael had a wonderful wife and three kids. How cruel fate is.

When Alexa got home she kicked off her shoes, changed into something more comfortable than her stuffy dress, and turned on the T.V. to watch the local news.

“And now we turn to an unusual scene outside of Westchesterfield High School.”

Alexa immediately turned up the volume. “Apparently a student has gotten trapped on top of the school’s roof and is attempting to jump off without dying. The fire department has been summoned to the site to rescue senior Adrian White. However, Adrian has said that he doesn’t want their help and will jump either way because he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. His only chance is to land in a bush directly under the roof. This is James Peterson from WCN. There will be more on this story later.”
“And now we turn to the…” Alexa turned off the T.V. and stared in shock. Snapping herself out of it she grabbed her car keys and drove as fast as she could to the school. What was Adrian thinking? He knows better than this! He’s one of the brightest students in the school!

When Alexa reached Westchesterfield High she hastily parked her car and sprinted into the building, up three flights of stairs and with shaking hands opened the rooftop door on the third try. She cursed herself for not being faster and rushed onto the roof where she saw Adrian calculating how to safely jump from the roof.

“No!” she cried. Adrian turned surprised to see Alexa. As he did so his foot slipped and he started to fall backwards. “Oh, s***!” he exclaimed and just as he was about to go plunging down to the earth Alexa lunged forward, grabbed his arm, and started pulling him back up. She gritted her teeth, concentrated with all her might, and her veins in her neck started to bulge.

“Ms. Katz,” said Adrian matter-of-factly, seeing only her face, “let go of me.”

Alexa took a deep breath, gasped “No!” and tugged really hard on his arm until Adrian came flying onto the roof, landing right on top of her.

For a single solitary moment Alexa and Adrian were no longer teacher and student, rather female and male, connected to each other’s feelings on some base level.

As suddenly as it occurred Alexa remembered two things and abruptly pushed Adrian off her. One, Adrian was her student and two, they were most likely being filmed. Now standing she held a hand out for Adrian to get up. Instead of taking it he stared at her hand as if it was a foreign object. Then he glanced at her and back to the hand. “Ms. Katz?” he asked. “Is that really you?”

“Oh, for goodness sakes! Really Mr. White,” she huffed as she once again pulled him up, “is that all you can think of to say?”

Adrian was confused. This person sounded like Ms. Katz but looked nothing the same. The person in front of him was a really pretty young adult. Ms. Katz was at least in her middle 30s not her 20s. Ms. Katz didn’t wear sweatpants, t-shirts, or her hair down in a curly, frizzy, hot mess. She certainly didn’t take off her glasses, old-fashioned earrings, or wear flip-flops. So who the heck was this? Her younger sister?
Alexa sighed and pulled Adrian to the open door, leading downstairs. “Look. I don’t care how you ended up here, locked out. I don’t want your reasoning; that can come later.” They were almost down to the bottom floor that’d lead them outside where Alexa’s car waited for them. Right before they reached the door Alexa turned towards Adrian. “I don’t care about anything Adrian. Just promise me you’ll never, ever do that again. Alright?”

Adrian didn’t respond but just stared at her. Alexa faced forward again, sighing. “Come on. Let’s go,” she said. Then Adrian spun her back towards him fiercely and kissed her. Surprised Alexa let him and found herself responding in kind. Then her consciousness kicked in again. Cheeks flushed, panting a little she looked Adrian in the eye, who was looking unabashedly smug and unrealistically happy, and said, “Are we understood?”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “Yes, Ms. Katz. I understand. Come on, let’s go.” This time is was him tugging her towards the door. Alexa let him and studied him closely. Why had he kissed me? and He kissed me, ran repeatedly through her head.

When they reached her car Adrian took the keys from her, ignoring her protests, and got into the driver’s seat. Reluctantly Alexa entered the car and sat in the passenger’s seat. With her directing him Adrian got Ms. Katz home and parked the car in her driveway. The ride to her house had been filled with awkward silence and occasional directions from Alexa such as, “Turn left here,” or “Go straight.”

Adrian walked Ms. Katz to her door and hesitating for only a second or two leaned in and gave Alexa a chaste kiss on the cheek. Then he turned to leave and as he walked home he called out over his shoulder cheekily, “See you tomorrow babe.”

On the porch Alexa rolled her eyes and walked inside. There would be no tomorrow for Alexa at school. Only Ms. Katz would remain. No more casualness, no more letting go. All this Alexa decided that day but fate was to be her enemy.

The next day as Ms. Katz walked from her car to the school a branch got caught in her hair pulling her dark waves out to cradle her face. In addition to that incident her white blazer was marred by coffee spilled as someone pushed the door into her, leaving her no choice but to remove the blazer. It was also an unusually warm day for winter, forcing Ms. Katz to roll up her long sleeves and unclasp her second button. Opting to skip the coffee faculty meeting that morning Ms. Katz entered her classroom and collapsed in her swivel chair behind her desk. Putting her head in her hands Alexa sighed. This was going to be a long day.

A few minutes later her class filed in. As the day progressed Alexa got more and more comments and funny looks directed towards her appearance. By the end of the day she just couldn’t wait to get out of school, but the worst still had yet to come.


Adrian couldn’t believe it. Ms. Katz actually was the girl on the roof the other day. It wasn’t just his imagination playing tricks on him. Oh, well, he thought. She isn’t too bad, she’s really pretty, and I know she connected to me. If only she dressed more often like this.

“Hey, Ms. Katz! How’re you?” he asked.

Was it his imagination or did Ms. Katz just blush? “I’m fine, thank you Mr. White.”

“Ms. Katz, my name’s Adrian and you know that.”

This time she definitely blushed a crimson red. So she was thinking about yesterday.

Alexa composed herself quickly. “Be that as it may Mr. White, I prefer to keep my relationships with students as professional as possible.”

Adrian controlled his urge to roll his eyes and asked innocently, “But Ms. Katz, what about AJ? You don’t call him Mr. Thornwicke. Nor do you call anyone else in class by their title. So why only me? I feel singled out.”

The bell rang, saving Alexa. “Please take your seat Mr. White. Class is starting.”

“We have a minute or two before that. Use my first name and I’ll sit down.”


Alexa gave him a look that could kill and he had to keep himself from snickering or smiling smugly. In as composed and calm a voice Alexa asked, “Would you please take your seat Adrian? Class is now in session.”

“Of course, lovely, dear Ms. Katz. How could I not? World History is my favorite subject as you very well know.” Now he couldn’t control his grin.

Alexa rolled her eyes, pointed to his seat and said, “Seat. Now.”

After class Adrian came up to her with a stubborn look on his face.

“What do you want Adrian?”

“I’m simply doing as requested. You said to stay after school to talk to you yesterday.”

Alexa pushed a loose piece of her hair from in front of her eyes to behind her ears. “Oh, right. What’s been going on with you recently? You don’t have any focus in class and are frequently getting more and more answers wrong to simple questions.”

Adrian sighed. “I haven’t been getting much sleep recently. I’ve been kept up by my dreams.”

“Oh? What kind of dreams?”

“Ones too morbid to describe. They aren’t at all pleasant. I think last night was the first time in at least five months that I slept soundly and had a good dream.”

“And why do you think that is?”

Adrian looked at Alexa incredulously. “Isn’t that obvious Ms. Katz? Think about yesterday’s events and don’t you dare say that you haven’t been pondering them because it’s clear you have been.”

Once again Alexa blushed, this time a rose petal pink. “N-n-nonsense. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned away from Adrian, her back facing him.

“Oh come on! Seriously Ms. Katz? Why do you try to deny it? You felt the same connection I did. I know it in my bones. So why can I accept and embrace it when you can’t? Shouldn’t I be the one confused? You’re the adult here.”

“You’re mistaken Adrian. You have the wrong person. I have no clue what you are referring to.”

Adrian narrowed his eyes. “Oh really? Is that so?” Shutting the door gently he moved closer to where Alexa stood by the windows. She started to turn but was stopped by Adrian’s body pressing against her.

“What are you doing?”

Silence from Adrian; point made.

“No, Adrian. We can’t do this.”

“Says who?” he murmured stroking her hair and then wrapping his arms around her, moving her closer to him.

“It just isn’t right,” said Alexa and yet her brain was telling her she was crazy, that her statement was wrong not their connection. This was right. Maybe it wasn’t morally right but it most definitely was physically. They were made for each other. Soon all coherent thought was pushed from her mind as Adrian started to swivel his hips against her butt and kiss her neck tenderly. Alexa let out a gasp of surprise and delight. Adrian then started to move his hands along her body making Alexa’s skin tingle. She turned to face him and saw in his eyes her desire reflected. She knew somewhere in her head this was a bad idea but she no longer cared what was right or wrong anymore. Alexa started kissing Adrian with abandon pushing him towards her newly cleared off desk, kissing him harder and harder gasping for breath in between. Skin hot with desire they moved against each other and together. Adrian spun Alexa so she was laying on top of her desk and let his hand rest at the top of her blouse where her white lace bra could now be seen through her blouse, at the topmost, clasped button. Meanwhile Alexa had her hands in Adrian’s hair and her legs wrapped around his waist. She was now kissing his neck, and as he silently asked she gasped a “yes” to him and he slowly unbuttoned every single button on her blouse. Her blouse ending as low as it did, Adrian now slid his hands up along her smooth body coming to rest at her bra clasp behind her back. He unsnapped it and rested his head below her soft breasts.

“More. More!” breathed Alexa and she started to take of his shirt. Catching her drift Adrian pulled it off over his head for her, throwing it to the floor. Alexa studied his perfectly sculpted body for a moment and Adrian leaned back a bit to let her take him in as he was.

“Mmm,” murmured Alexa and then reality came crashing down around her. Kissing him while pushing him off of her Alexa stood and faced him.

Kissing her gently, Adrian searched Alexa’s face. “What?”

“You don’t even know my name.”

“Then tell me.”

“It’s not that simple,” said Alexa but gave in anyways. “It’s Alexandra. You can call me Alexa; all my friends do.”

Adrian’s mouth curved into a tantalizing smile, making Alexa want to kiss him again and again. “I think I’ll call you Lexy, Ms. Lexy Katz. I am not your friend after all.”

Lexy smiled and leaned in for another kiss. “You know that if anyone finds out we’ll have a ton of trouble to deal with. Not to mention it would ruin your reputation and job prospects.”

“So we don’t tell anyone. Keep this to ourselves.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

Adrian looked Lexy in the eyes and stroked her right cheek and she leaned into his hand. “In a few years I’ll be able to marry you and provide for you. Since this is my last year of high school let’s keep this to ourselves until the year is over and we’ll do our best to stay low,” Adrian promised.

Lexy smiled. “That sounds absolutely perfect. I can’t wait.”