A Teacher

‐

Hey. ‐ Hey.

‐ I thought you were staying at Josh's.

‐ Oh, yeah, I was, but I just‐‐ just wasn't feelin' it.

‐ You okay? ‐ Yeah.

No, I'm fine, I'm just, um...

I'm just a little tired.

‐ So, how was it? How was homecoming?

‐ It was fun. Yeah?

‐ Yeah. Yeah, it was fun.

Good.

‐ All right.

Night.

Night.

‐

Oh, my God.

‐ And so we're on stage, and, I mean, we're in the zone.

And I look into the audience, and there is this girl

and she's just not backing down.

‐ Hey. Hey.

‐ You're back already. ‐ Hi, guys.

Yeah, turns out I‐I wasn't on clean‐up duty, so...

‐ Okay, nice.

Um...we were just texting about

ideas for songs, and then we were like,

shit, let's just hang out and play.

I didn't know you'd be back. ‐ Yeah, no, it's totally fine.

Yeah, Matt was telling us about

Lakelight's Pacific Northwest tour.

‐ Ah, that was... before our time.

‐ We got together right after the tour ended,

so thank you for that.

Um, you wanna hang out?

‐ No, I'm tired. I'm gonna go to sleep.

‐ Uh, nice to see you guys. Mm‐hmm.

Night. Night. Later.

Um...

‐ I'm the man.

I'm the motherfucking man!

'Sup? Oh, shit!

Yo. Look at this!

‐ Look who showed up! ‐

‐ Dude, where the fuck did you go last night?

Uh, I got...

super sick from pre‐gaming, so I just bounced.

Oh, I didn't know you were such a lightweight.

It's good to know.

‐ What happened, uh, at the after‐party?

How was it? Actually,

it was kinda shit.

Hey, you heard from Alison, yeah?

‐ No. ‐ No?

Dude, she was pissed.

I'm pretty sure she spent, like, half the night crying in the bathroom.

‐ Really? Yeah, it was bad.

‐ Yeah, I should have texted.

I didn't mean to ghost... you know.

‐ Guess it was in the air.

Well, hey‐‐ yeah, fuck off.

‐ You're not the only one who ghosted last night.

‐ Yeah, this asshole's sister decided

she couldn't hang with the big boys.

Where'd she go anyway? A freshman party?

‐ Dude, I don't know, okay?

All I know is she didn't wanna be around you.

Whatever. I'm serious.

Uh‐huh.

You guys want something to drink?

‐ I'm hungover as shit. Nah, no, I'm good.

Thanks, though. ‐ Coconut water.

I don't have fucking coconut water.

Who do you think I am? ‐ Then get water, dude, something, just...

A little bit of ice. ‐

‐ Okay...

So, uh...

what'd you really do last night?

‐ Dude, I told you‐‐ Dude, don't‐‐

Come on, don't. I got fuckin' sick.

‐ I've known you since first grade.

I know when you're fucking lying.

‐ So just tell me, okay?

Logan told me about the girl you met at work.

‐ Yeah. ‐ Yeah.

‐ Yeah, man, it's...

I don't know‐‐I've never felt this way before.

It's‐‐it's new.

She's confusing, too.

‐ Hey, man, love is, um...

it's a beautiful and confusing thing.

‐

‐ Hey.

Looking good out there. ‐ Oh, good.

‐ How's it going?

‐ Well...not all of these papers are horrible,

so there's that. ‐ Cool.

Nice.

I'll, uh... I'm gonna get back out.

‐ Okay.

Yeah, can you light that shit up already, dude?

I been waiting a fuckin' minute here.

You have all the Trix, don't you?

Mm‐hmm.

Nice.

‐ ‐

‐

Walker.

It's nice to see you're still alive.

‐ Hey.

Yeah, um...

I'm sorry, I should have texted you.

I got really sick after the dance,

and I just‐‐I, uh...

‐ Yeah, fuck you.

‐ Yeah, right. Don't lie to me.

Can you at least give me that?

Why did you even ask me to the dance?

I mean, you broke up with me last year,

and now you abandon me in front of the whole entire school?

‐ Alison, I'm sorry.

It really wasn't planned.

‐ I don't want to hear that.

‐ All‐around really good work with these papers, you guys.

Great work, Eric.

So...the weekend reading.

Sophocles was playing with some pretty big ideas, huh?

Oedipus Rex.

Eric, can I talk to you for a second?

‐ Yeah.

‐ So the SATs are in two weeks, right?

‐ Yeah.

‐ Then we should probably schedule more tutoring sessions.

‐ Yeah.

‐ Tonight?

‐ Um...uh, I can't.

I've got practice.

‐ Ah.

After.

I can meet you at the same place.

‐ Okay.

Great. ‐ I think I can...

‐ Make that work.

‐ Great.

See you later.

ering]

‐ What the fuck?

This cannot happen, okay? This is stupid.

‐ I'm sorry. ‐ Anyone who follows me can see that.

My husband can see that.

Do you realize how fucked I am if anyone finds out?

If we're gonna keep doing this,

then we need to set some ground rules.

‐ Yeah, okay.

Whatever you need. ‐ You cannot tell anyone about us ever.

‐ I know.

‐ And no photos. Change my name on your phone.

‐ I already did that.

‐ Steph?

And we can only meet once a week.

Let's stick to Mondays, okay?

And nothing on school grounds.

‐ Okay.

Look, I'm sorry about the photo, too.

Look.

Gone.

‐ Okay.

‐ Well, you did look really beautiful there, so...

you should know I do like it.

‐ I think we're good.

It's Monday, so...

Sorry. It's all right.

Hey! ‐ Hey.

‐ You hungry?

Got some pad thai, green curry.

Went out on a limb, got a little, uh,

little spicy eggplant.

‐ Thanks.

‐ Did I do something wrong?

‐ No. I missed you.

‐ Missed you too.

Are you okay?

‐ Yeah.