I'm in love with my teacher.

There I admitted it. I guess I am the crazy, psycho, lunatic girl that everyone always thought I was.

But Mr. Carter is the most appealing and attractive man I've ever met. He recites Shakespeare like an angel. Tears well up in his eyes when we discuss tragic literature. You couldn’t ask for a better man. Well I couldn't.

So as I walked to third period English, I thought about seeing Mr. Carter’s gorgeous face. I was the first one in the classroom and I sat down in my desk right in front of Mr. Carter's podium. I had the best seat in the whole classroom.

The classroom slowly filled up with students and then Mr. Carter finally came into the classroom.

“Good morning class. How is everyone?”

He is just so sweet. None of my other teachers ask how we are. But Mr. Carter is something special; he's not like other teachers.

“Good,” a half asleep class replied.

“Today we're going to continue reading William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, so please open your textbooks to page three-hundred twenty-nine.”

My textbook was already open to page three-hundred twenty-nine so I sat in class waiting for all of the unprepared students to open their books.

“Would anyone like to volunteer to read today?” Mr. Carter said glancing around the room.

My hand was the first one up.

“Mia who would you like to be?”

“Juliet.”

I was Juliet every time we read. I had to be her because Mr. Carter always read Rome's lines. He must have known that we were perfect together too otherwise he wouldn't pick me to be Juliet every day.

“We'll be starting at Act Two Scene Two today everyone,” Mr. Carter said putting on his reading glasses. I loved the way his glasses made him look. They made him look smart but in a very intellectual and handsome way.

I didn't have any lines for a while so I sat there and stared deeply into Mr. Carter's eyes as he read. I watched his lips sound out every word and I took note of the way his tongue articulated each syllable.

We stopped and discussed the play a lot. And I didn't care as long as I got to look at Mr. Carter. I wanted to get to my lines today because they were the most famous lines Shakespeare had ever written and I had been practicing saying them out loud. I knew that when I said those words Mr. Carter would look at me and he would know. He would know that we were meant for each other.

So I sat staring at the clock waiting. Praying that today would be the day I'd dreamed about. The day I'd been practicing for. And I'd even worn my best sweater.

So when the moment came, I opened my mouth and said “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” And while I said those beautiful words I looked right into Mr. Carter's eyes.

There were tears in his eyes and at that moment I knew that he loved me. I knew we'd get married and spend the rest our lives together.

“Sorry guys I have really bad allergies,” Mr. Carter said and blew his nose.

He was so sweet! He was covering up our love so that the other girls wouldn’t' be jealous. Because they would be. When I came back to the high school reunion as Mrs. Carter they would envy me.

“Juliet? Mia? Do you want to finish the rest of your lines?” Mr. Carter was waving his hands in front of my face.

I reached out and grabbed his hand. I wrapped my fingers around it. “Yes,” I said looking into his eyes.

“Uhh...Mia?”

I let go of Mr. Carter's hand as fast as I could. I couldn't believe I'd just done that. I quickly threw all of my books into my messenger bag and I sprinted out of the classroom. Kids whispered and howled with laughter as I ran. I was running but I didn't know where I was going. I decided to go where all girls go when they need to sort things out, the girls’ bathroom.

The bell rang and I knew girls would be coming into the bathroom so I went in the stall and locked the door. I sat on the toilet and pulled my knees up to my chin, thinking.

What was I going to do? I was going to be the freak everyone talked about. I would be “the creepy girl who was in love with Mr. Carter.” Maybe I could transfer schools. But then I wouldn't have Mr. Carter as a teacher anymore.

I heard footsteps and girls came into the bathroom.

“Yeah that girl is such a freak. She'll probably get kicked out of school for holding hands with a teacher. Who does that?”


So people were going to call me a freak. But I was just going to have to get through it. Because that's what Mr. Carter would want me to do.

“I wonder if Mr. Carter will get fired. I've heard stories on the news about student teacher relationships and the teachers usually end up getting fired. That girl would probably have to change schools. I mean I wouldn’t want to be known as the girl that got Mr. Carter fired.”

Oh my. I could not get Mr. Cater fired. That would ruin my life. My life would be over. I needed a plan to save Mr. Carter. I had to think fast.

And then it came to me. I would just go over to his house later and apologize. He would have to understand if I talked to him in person and explained the whole situation. Then everything between us would just go back to the way it had always been.

I didn’t think I could stay at school for the rest of the day so I decided to run home. I waited until the passing period was over before I left the bathroom. I ran down the hallway and out the side door of the school. Luckily the hallways were deserted so I made a clean escape.

My house was a twenty minute walk from school but I just wanted to be home so I ran and made it there in half the time. I grabbed my key and unlocked the front door.

Now I could finish my plans to save Mr. Carter. I knew he lived around here but I needed to know exactly where his house was. So I went for the phone book and flipped to the C page.


Cartan, Cartar, Carter. Carter, Thomas. Thomas Carter. 1259 Oak Avenue.

Oak Avenue was about ten blocks away. I could just tell my mom I was going to Anna’s house to study. She would believe me.


It was noon now. So I would have to wait until at least four o'clock to leave for Mr. Carter's house. What was I going to do with four hours?

I knew! I would watch romantic movies to get me in the mood for my talk with Mr. Carter! And that's what I did for three hours. And then I decided I needed to get ready. I had to look good. Mr. Carter had to look at me the way he would look at a grown woman and not one of his English students.

I put on my prettiest blouse and my best fitting pair of jeans. I slipped on my socks and shoes and brushed my hair. I brushed my teeth and sprayed myself with my favorite perfume.

Right as I was heading downstairs the door opened and my mom came in.

I had totally forgotten that my mom could find out I'd left school. I prayed that she didn't know.

“Oh hi Mia how was your day?” My Mom said this breathlessly while walking in the door with a handful of groceries.

“It was pretty good. How was yours?”

Whew! It appeared that she didn't know. Hopefully she'd never have to find out.

“Hectic.”

“So Mom I was going to go to Anna's house to study for a while, is that okay with you?”

My mom thought about the question for a few seconds before answering.

“Yes its fine, you can go. But we're having dinner at seven so you need to be home by six thirty.”

Yes! I was going!

“Thanks Mom! Bye!” I said as I ran out the front door.

“Bye sweetie!” She called after me.

The walk to Mr. Carter's took forever. I estimated that walking to his house would take me around ten minutes because I was a fast walker and I ran when I was excited. But instead it took me twenty minutes to get there.

Finally I saw the mailbox on Oak Avenue with the gleaming numbers 1259 nailed on the side.

I made my way up the driveway and my heart began to pound so fast I thought it would beat right out of my chest.

Each step made me more nervous than the one before it. I was going to do this though. I needed to talk to Mr. Carter. He had to know how I felt about him.

I turned around just in time to see a car come around the corner. It was Mr. Carter!

Suddenly I didn't want to do this anymore. I dove into a bush in his front yard as quick as I could.

I peered out from the bush and saw Mr. Carter pull his car into the garage. He walked out of the garage and glanced around the front yard. It looked like he knew something wasn't right.

He walked back into the garage and closed the door behind him.

At that moment I realized I was an idiot. I was in love with my teacher. A man who was fifteen years older than me. He was supposed to help me learn and there I'd been crushing on him so much it was taking over my whole life. I was so embarrassed for myself.

I had to get out of this bush. I had to get out of Mr. Carter's front yard! But he couldn't notice me.

I got down on my stomach and army crawled over to the next set of bushes closer to the road. I made it and then I hid there for a moment. I got up to run out of Mr. Carter's front yard.

Something caught my foot though and I was on the ground screaming before I had even run five feet. I had tripped over a sprinkler. But I looked down at my left leg and everything went black.

“Mia? Mia? Mia are you okay?”

Mr. Carter was peering down at me with confused eyes. There was a woman behind him and a small boy peering from around the woman's legs.

I tried to talk but instead I began to cry.

“It's okay Mia. The ambulance is on its way.”

The ambulance! Why was there an ambulance? I sat up and screamed bloody murder at the pain that shot through my leg.

“Lay down!” Mr. Carter yelled. He whispered to the woman next to him “Honey will you go get some ice please?”

The woman walked into the house pulling the small boy with her.

My life is over. If I thought it was over before, I was wrong. I had broken my leg in Mr. Carter's front yard. There should be a limit to how much embarrassment you can have in one day.

“Mia what were you doing in my front yard?” Mr. Carter was sitting cross-legged on the ground staring down at me.

“I...I...I wanted to apologize for what happed today in English.”

Mr. Carter looked at me strangely.

“Oh okay. Um...it's alright. I guess. I'm not going to tell the administration.”

Thank goodness!

“I didn't want you to get fired Mr. Carter so I wanted to apologize.”

“Well thank you Mia. I appreciate that.”

The ambulance pulled into Mr. Carter's driveway bringing its flashing lights and sirens along with it. The EMTs hopped out and came over to where I was laying in the grass.

They examined my leg and determined it was definitely broken.

“What's your mother's phone number sweetheart?” One of the EMTs asked me this while I was lifted onto a stretcher.

I told the woman.

My stretcher was lifted into the ambulance. I saw Mr. Carter waving at me as the doors were closed.

I knew that would be the last time I saw him. Because I was going to make sure that never went back to that school again.