Getting Schooled (Craving #9) Read online

  The last thing I remembered was hearing someone shout my name.

  Chapter 3

  I opened my eyes but winced and quickly shut them due to a brightly lit room. I slowly opened my eyes again and saw that no one was in the room. All I could hear were beeping sounds. I looked to the side to see where it was coming from and saw that it was the heart monitor.

  I’m in the hospital?

  Before I could think more about it, the door opened, and Penny came walking in. She immediately saw me and smiled. She sat down in the chair beside me, making me think she’d been there for a while.

  She grabbed my hand. “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired…and confused.”

  “You fainted.”

  The memories came flooding back. Penny and me meeting with Mr. Knight. Finding out that he was my advisor. Wanting to get some fresh air.

  “Oh. Wait! Is my baby all right?” I asked, sitting up, starting to panic. If anything happened to him or her, it would kill me.

  My heart monitor started to beep faster, but I couldn’t hear it.

  “Eve, Eve, calm down,” she said, placing her hand on my back and rubbing it. “The baby is fine.”

  Hearing that broke through my rising panic and calmed me down, but I just had to keep saying it. “The baby is fine. The baby is fine. The baby is fine.”

  “Yeah, the baby is fine. You have nothing to worry about.”

  I slowly lay back down and closed my eyes, placing my hand on my stomach. I started fantasizing about the life I could have with my child. First, I pictured a life with a girl. Getting to dress her up in cute little dresses, doing her hair, and having tea parties. Getting to play house with her baby dolls. Getting to see her in ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, soccer or baseball, track or basketball. Getting the chance to talk to her about boys and getting to see her experience her first relationship. Comforting her when she experienced heart breaks and reminding her that she was a precious gem and that any guy would be lucky to love her. I would experience her mood swings and punish her for her bad decisions but then come back and tell her that I love her no matter what. I dreamed about getting her ready for prom and taking a bunch of pictures of her and her date or friends until she begged me to stop. Seeing her graduate and go off to college or doing something like traveling or getting a job or whatever she felt was best for her. Getting to see my baby marry the love of her life and being there in the hospital when she had her own children.

  My mind then jumped to a life with a boy. I’d get to dress him up in cute little suits. I’d get to play with him and his toy cars and dinosaurs. Help him build with his blocks. Get to see him in basketball, baseball, track, soccer, or band. I’d get to play video games with him. Tell him I loved him despite his faults. Teach him how to treat women and tease him and say that no girl was good enough for my baby. Get to take prom pictures of him and his date or friends. Get to see him graduate high school and go off to college or experience life another way. See him marry the love of his life and have kids.

  Thinking about all the possibilities, I didn’t want to miss it.

  I sighed. “What happened?”

  “The doctor said you fainted because of stress.”

  That made sense. Worrying about my dad, going back to school, being pregnant, finding out that I was pregnant by my teacher. I sighed but continued to keep my eyes closed.

  “He left a couple of minutes before you woke up. He told me to call when you woke up, but if you’re not ready yet, I can wait.”

  “No, it’s fine. I just want to go home.”

  She pressed the red button on my bed to notify the nurse. I was told that I needed to take it easy and try to avoid stressful situations. That’s going to be hard considering the fact that I stayed with my dad and I was always going to be checking up on him. I was also in school, and adapting was going to be difficult. The only thing I could control was the situation with Mr. Knight. I could go and ask for another advisor. After that, I just had to try to avoid him in the halls.

  After the nurse left, Penny stepped out of the room for a moment. I found it odd, because even though she told me that she was just going to the bathroom, I didn’t believe her. She just sounded off, but when she came back, I didn’t question her. I was sure she would tell me in her own time, and I didn’t need the stress.

  I was able to leave about fifteen minutes later, and now I was being tucked in by my dad.

  “You do know I’m twenty-eight, right?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, but you will always be my little princess.” He then sat down on my bed and grabbed my hand. “The doctor is right, though. You need to take it easy. You can start by not checking up on me all of the time,” he said, cutting off my protests. “I am able to take care of myself now, and need I remind you, I am fifty years old,” he said, mocking me and my earlier statement.

  “Well, you will always be my old man. I can’t help but make sure you are taken care of.”

  “Well, I am. You have done a wonderful job of making sure of that over the years. Now you have to take care of this baby. I shouldn’t be your priority anymore.”

  I sighed. “I know. Another situation I have to adapt to.”

  “I know it’s a lot of change right now, but you can handle it. I’ve seen you handle things much worse, and you came out on top. Don’t think you don’t surprise me every day with your strength.”

  I smiled. “I got it from you.”

  “And God gave it to the both of us.”

  “So he knows what we can handle it.”

  He smiled. “That’s right.” Then he sighed. “Now this boy situation…”

  I shook my head at his word of choice for Mr. Knight. “I’m already handling it. I’m just going to request another advisor.”

  He sighed again. “I do wish you would have stayed in that class. I know you were always fascinated with Spanish and French, and it would have helped you a lot with your parents and students. But,” he said, cutting me off, “I do admire you leaving a situation where you feel uncomfortable, though. It could be awkward, and I don’t want you to get hurt if word got around.”

  I thought about that too. I knew the students were supposed to be older, wiser, more mature, but that’s not the case with some, and I didn’t want them thinking I was sleeping with my professor just to pass my class.

  “I also don’t want this to interfere with your dreams. You have been waiting for an opportunity to go back to school for a long time, and I don’t want you being sidetracked or discouraged by small obstacles. I want to see my baby walk across that stage.”

  “You will. I will ask for another advisor, and everything will be solved.”

  Everything wasn’t that simple. The day after I made the request, I received another email from Mr. Knight. Of course Penny came with me just in case I had a panic attack or fainted like before. At this point, I was just ready to be free of him.

  When we walked in the office, we were met by Mr. Knight and a man I didn’t recognize. What was going on?

  Mr. Knight smiled and held out his hand. “It’s nice to see you both again.”

  I stood there, the world fading away, just looking into his eyes.

  Good Lord, this man was beautiful.

  “Um, it’s nice to see you as well,” Penny spoke up, causing me to break out of my trance.

  I pasted on a smile. “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”

  Get yourself together. This is not the time to be daydreaming about your professor while you are carrying his baby. Actually, there is never a good time.

  “It’s all right,” he said, taking my hand.

  He then stepped back and gestured toward the man beside him.

  “This is the dean in the education department, Mr. Matthews.”

  In front of us stood a heavyset man with short, gray hair and beautiful blue eyes. He didn’t have the cuddly, sweet father figure look, though. He actually looked scary even though he was smiling.

  He
held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, ladies.”

  What was so important that the dean was here? I hid my confusion and shook his hand. My face hurt trying to keep my smile in place, but I had to contain myself. I didn’t want a repeat of last time. He was really going to be suspicious then.

  We all took our seats, and Mr. Matthews got down to business.

  “Ms. Masterson, we are here today to discuss your recent request to change advisors.”

  I had a feeling this day was not going to end well.

  Even with the huge lump in my throat, I managed to speak. “Yes.”

  “We wanted to know what is the reason for this change?”

  I think I’m going to be sick.

  “In the last few days, you have requested to leave two classes and change advisors, and all of those involved Mr. Knight.”

  Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

  “The board would like to know the reason for this change.”

  You know what? Maybe I should just pass out, so I didn’t have to listen to the rest of this conversation.

  “It’s…it’s due to…to…”

  Penny grabbed my hand under the table.

  “I promise we don’t mean any harm. The board would just like to know if there’s a problem so that they and myself can take the necessary steps to improve, but if you’re not inclined to share, that’s fine,” Mr. Knight cut in.

  His words and tone comforted me but unnerved me at the same time.

  “Excuse me for a moment,” I said, getting up. I got up and this time let Penny come with me. We walked to the bathroom, but someone was in there, and from the smell of it, they were going to be in there for a while. Penny grabbed my hand and led me outside to an area where we wouldn’t be easily seen or heard. When we were finally secluded, I broke down.

  “I’m a horrible person! Here he is, comforting me, and he could possibly lose his job, and it would be my fault!”

  I wasn’t usually this emotional, but lately I felt like I was going crazy. I guessed I could blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but it’s also all of this mess going on. When my dad had a stroke, I was devastated, but I was strong, and that was due to the fact that I only had that to worry about. Now I had one thing after another. He would be disappointed in me if he saw me right now.

  “No, it wouldn’t. You didn’t know you would choose your professor as your sperm donor.”

  We heard a strangled gasp come from the other side of the bushes. I looked around, and I saw Mr. Knight standing there. We then heard a noise from behind him, and we all turned to see Mr. Matthews.

  Oh, God!

  Chapter 4

  We all sat in the office, not saying a word. Me looking like I was going to throw up, Penny holding my hand trying to give me comfort, Mr. Knight looking pale as a ghost, and Mr. Matthews appearing stern and calculating.

  After what felt like an eternity, Mr. Matthews cleared his throat.

  “So, just to be sure, you two didn’t know each other before the start of school, right?”

  “No, sir,” we both answered quietly at the same time.

  “Well, from the look of the past few days with the changing of classes and advisor, it would seem you had a relationship in the past but recently decided to end it. That’s fine with me as long as you ended it, but the board might not see it that way.”

  “I can assure you, sir, that we haven’t met until recently,” Mr. Knight insisted.

  Mr. Matthews sighed. “Okay. Well, I think it’s best if we go through with the removal and the reassign. Cut ties with each other. I assume that Mr. Knight doesn’t have rights to the baby.” He focused his steely eyes on me.

  “No sir.”

  I noticed that Mr. Knight was glaring at him, but I couldn’t dwell on that, because Mr. Matthews spoke again. “Good. Like I said, you both should cut ties, so this doesn’t get out. He could lose his job.”

  “And it wouldn’t be her fault,” Mr. Knight said. He was trying to be respectful, but I could hear the stern way he said it.

  “No, it wouldn’t,” Mr. Matthews said, giving him a confused look.

  I could feel the tension in the air coming from them. Thankfully, I was saved when my alarm chimed on my phone.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to excuse us. We have another appointment to attend,” Penny said.

  “Very well. I will be working on assigning you a new advisor, and you can meet with them tomorrow. I’ll send you an email with more details,” Mr. Matthews said.

  “Yes sir.” We stood up and walked out of the room. As soon as we were a safe distance away, Penny spoke.

  “That man is intimidating.”

  I just nodded my head. She saw that I wasn’t in the mood to talk, so she let it go. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep the day away, but first I had to take my dad to his doctor’s appointment. I hoped everything was good with him, because right now I didn’t think I could handle anything else.

  That night, my dad and I were sitting in the living room watching a horror movie, with empty candy wrappers, soda cans, popcorn bags, taco wrappers, and burger and fry wrappers surrounding us, and now I was eating mint cookies and cream ice cream. Most of the food was eaten by me, but hey, I was a pregnant woman.

  Just when the evil spirit popped up on the screen, I heard a loud knock at the front door. I jumped, dropping the tub of ice cream and letting out a scream.

  My dad sighed and picked up the ice cream before some dripped out. “This is why I don’t watch scary movies with you.”

  “Sorry.” I blushed.

  He opened the door, and I heard a loud thump and my dad yelling.

  “What are you doing? I’m calling the police!”

  I quickly got up and went to the door, and what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks.

  “Mr. Knight?”

  Chapter 5

  “Do you know him?”

  “This is my teacher.” If I said he wasn’t welcome here, my dad wouldn’t hesitate to put him out. I believed my dad could handle himself, but looking at Mr. Knight and those arms, I was sure he could handle himself as well.

  I mentally shook my head to clear those unsavory thoughts of my superior, and I walked up to him. “Mr. Knight, what are you doing here?”

  He looked me up and down as if checking for any injuries.

  “You better answer, son,” my dad warned him.

  “I’m sorry, I heard screaming, and I thought you were in trouble.” He then turned to my dad. “I’m sorry, Mr. Masterson, for any trouble that I have caused. I will pay for any damages done to the door, if you allow me to.”

  “Umhum,” my dad said, giving him a calculating look.

  Uh oh. When my dad got that look, he’s studying that person, seeing what kind of person they were just from the little interaction they had. When he found what he’s looking for, he then decided if they’re a good or bad person. He had done that with all of the people I wanted to be friends with and all the boys who had asked me out. No, he wouldn’t make me cut contact with them. He wanted me to make my own decisions about them. But get this, he’s never wrong about his assumptions, much to my annoyance. I hated knowing he’s right. Penny was the only one who made the cut.

  “The reason you almost broke down our door is answered, but what are you doing here?” I asked, quietly and cautiously.

  I thought earlier today was going to be my last time seeing him and tomorrow was going to be a new day. I was going to be the strong woman I was before instead of this nervous, bumbling fool who passed out at the drop of a hat.

  “I wanted to talk to you.” He looked nervous.

  Oh no, was he going to tell me that the pregnancy news was going around? Was I getting kicked out of school? Did he get fired?

  “Okay, let’s step outside.”

  We stepped outside onto the porch, and I waited for him to explain.

  “I just wanted to apologize for Mr. Matthews earlier. He’s not a jerk; he’s
just known for being upfront and not sugar coating anything, but I promise you, he has a huge heart. He’s just a huge stickler for the rules, and he’s looking out for me. He has known me for years, and I’m like a son to him.”

  I could understand that, but that didn’t excuse the fact that he had made me uncomfortable. But instead of saying that, I just said, “Okay.”

  “I’m also here because I want to make this right.”

  What?

  “You can totally punch me and call the cops for this, but…I want to raise this baby with you.”

  What?

  “Absolutely not!”

  “I know this is crazy, and you have every right to say no, but I don’t want my child to grow up without a father. I have seen so much of that, and I don’t want him or her wondering where their father is.”

  “They will have my dad.”

  “And I know he will be a fantastic father figure, but it’s not the same.”

  He’s right, and the whole reason for having a baby in the first place was because I could lose my dad. He wouldn’t be much of a father figure if he’s gone. They would also need a man to teach them things I couldn’t. Having a father was important in a child’s life.

  But I had also seen people do well without having a father figure, and it’s due to the mother being a great parent overall. I could be that.

  “I appreciate your willingness to help, but there’s no need. I have God, friends, and family here to help me, and we got it under control.”

  There. I said my piece, now I hoped he’d leave.

  He looked at me for a couple of seconds and then sighed, resigned. “I understand. I’m sorry for ruining your night.” He then turned around and started walking down the steps. “Have a good night,” he called back.

  I quickly went back inside and closed the door. I leaned back against the hard frame. What just happened?

  I slowly walked back to the couch and sat down beside my dad and lay my head on his shoulder.