Mrs. Horen didn't look back, but she did at least halt her typing for a moment to address me. "You may not care what I think, Mr. Canon, but for what it's worth, I do think you're an excellent teacher. We're lucky to have you." It was a good thing she wasn't looking, because I completely failed to mask my surprise. "Um, thank you." "But don't take that to mean that I think you're an innocent man." I didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't elaborate, however, so I simply said, "Have a nice summer, Mrs. Horen." "Mm." The remainder of the morning was spent in the usual end-of-year activities. Reporting missing materials, organizing returned ones, tidying up so August would be one iota less of an ordeal. Amy was in and out, flitting between all the members of her department. She leaned around my doorway; finding me in the midst of re-stacking heavy piles of textbooks, she let herself in. "Hey, you're back. While I have you, we had a couple updates to your fall schedule I want

I enjoyed a few more seconds of fondling, then released her. With my back to the auditoriums' occupants, it was naught but a hug as far as they were concerned. Her face was suddenly flushed, and I knew well that the intense look on her face was not the righteous indignation that once would have been there at being publicly felt up by a teacher. It was arousal. Savage, urgent arousal. "Congratulations, Ms. Hutchings. See you on stage." I walked by, and left her in my wake. A few rendezvous with fond students later, I finally bumped into the fondest of them all. She disentangled herself from a cluster of friends to dash over to me and unabashedly wrap her arms around me in a truly fierce embrace, practically a tackle. "Mr. Canon. Hi." "Hiya, Cassie." I hugged back, skipping the grope this time. She'd already arranged a sleepover tonight; I'd have plenty of opportunity to enjoy her ass then. "Can you believe we're here? I mean, gosh, this is probably the last time we'll ever be toget

The young woman merely glared sullenly. It was as much confirmation as I'd gotten when I pressed Isa on it, but that too had been sufficient. "Makes sense. With a trained chemist on your side -- one who works in a drug analysis lab, with access to all the contaminants she'd need to replicate my mutated Serenex, one whom you thought I'd never encounter or question, so you could keep marching to your twisted Emersonian drummer. Even if the woman found a way around your control -- which I doubt you'd give her -- she'd think to go after Isa, and no way that submissive little bitch was going to rat you out. Hell, you probably even had Abbie handle that, scapegoat for life." "Almost out of the good stuff, so you move heaven and earth to get your hands on more. You make all these big plans for a grandiose gesture to impress your new boyfriend, mind-fucking the entire faculty and staff just so you and I can hook up in the classroom without anyone getting nosy." I shook my head. "Or something

I didn't bother to hide that I was reading over her shoulder. He says he'll take it. The recipient, according to the contact name at the top of the page, was Bitch, Stupid. "Taylor, huh. Does she know you have her saved like that?" She shook her head and pulled up another contact. "No, that's not Taylor, and no, she doesn't know. This is Taylor." Bitch, Boss. "If I enter them like that with the commas, they stay side by side. Convenient." "Dare I ask what you have me saved as?" She smiled, scrolling down through her contacts and finally tapping on one and holding it up to me. Free Tutoring Service. "In case anyone snoops, I didn't want them to find an entry for 'Guy Who Spanks Me Until I Come.'" Thank goodness everyone else was wrapped up in the moment and not paying attention to us. "I approve." The phone buzzed with the reply from Stupid Bitch. (Inwardly, I felt a bit guilty that I didn't know whether that referred to Abbie or Cassie. Tabitha was not someone whose estimations

She remained bent over. "Ugh. Yeah. Man, that was nasty. Thanks, Mr. C." She kept at it with the water bottle, swishing the water around to get the dregs and spitting into the trash. I pivoted to the others. "Both of you. Talk. Now." Tabitha defended herself first. "I didn't know anything about whatever that was," she insisted. Abbie shot her a swift glare. "Don't hate on me. I told Taylor this was a horrible idea from the beginning, C-dawg." "Well you obviously know something! If you don't know the why, you can at least start with the goddamn how! I just watched her graduate! Did you chloroform her in the bathroom or something?" "This school, man, people getting drugged all over the place. Somebody needs to crack down," quipped Abbie. I didn't laugh. Screw it. I turned back to Katie, who seemed to have more or less recovered. "Katie, what did they do to you? Are you OK?" She nodded. "Yeah, I think so, Mr. C. Those paper towels were frickin' gross. You know what it... Did you e