Chapter Twenty
Students milled about in groups, whispering and looking around, wondering what was going on. A police car sat in front of the office and word had spread that another had just left.
"Cam, what’s going on?” Aralyn asked. Her boyfriend had just arrived at her locker, where she stood with Tiffany. They had plenty of time before the homeroom bell rang.
"Mr. Roth was escorted off campus by two police officers about fifteen minutes ago,” Cam answered.
Tiffany paled and her heart started to pound.
“What? Why?” Aralyn demanded.
“I don’t know,” Cam said. “Rumor has it a student has claimed they were having an affair. It’s totally against the rules of course, and word has it, she was a minor.”
Blood rushed to her head and Tiffany felt the pounding in her ears. An affair with a student who was underage? But she was eighteen! She wasn’t underage!
“A student?” she managed.
Cam nodded.
“Yeah. Guess whose name came up too. Callie West,” Dean joined them, his green-blue eyes on Tiffany. “As one possibility.”
“I heard her claiming she could have any man once,” Aralyn murmured. “I teased her about you, Cam, and how she’d never get you. I wonder if she made a move on him and he turned her down? Which I’m sure he would. Maybe this is some kind of twisted revenge plot. It’s a classic one. Scorned teen girl makes false claim.”
“Or took her up on it. There’s no telling with Callie, if it’s even true,” Cam said. “But everything is rumor right now, so I don’t know what’s what, even though supposedly there’s more than one girl.”
Tiffany barely heard the conversation as she leaned against the lockers, her knees weak. A lie, of course. She was the only girl Tony had been with. She was sure of it.
“I’m going to try and get some more information,” Cam was saying. He kissed Aralyn on the cheek and disappeared into the crowded hallway with Dean, who wouldn’t look at Tiffany.
Tracy stopped by to chat with the cousins but Tiffany discreetly tried to play with her phone, sending a text message to Tony.
He hadn’t answered by homeroom and she sent another. She sent him text messages in between classes, and even slipped into the bathroom to try and call him. The phone went straight to voice mail.
By lunch she was trying not to get hysterical. He wasn’t answering, wasn’t calling her back. All day people were looking around, wondering if it was Callie West or someone else that had been boffing the teacher. Callie had a smirk on her face throughout the day, and didn’t look one bit remorseful.
Tiffany wanted to slap the arrogant girl. How dare she try to ruin Tony!
It was during English that their substitute teacher announced Ms. Duke was to go to the office after the classroom phone rang.
“Which one?” Aralyn asked.
The new substitute looked flustered.
“Oh um, they didn’t say. Both of you go, I guess.”
The cousins exchanged a glance and gathered their books, walking up to the office.
“It’s me,” Tiffany hissed. “That’s Dad’s car!”
“Why is Luke here?” Aralyn demanded.
“Something must have happened to Mom!” The girls broke into a run, bursting into the office. Luke and Honey Duke were speaking with Principal Loyola Kevins, who had gone to school with the Bob-Whites.
“What’s happened?” Tiffany demanded. “We saw Dad’s car, is everyone all right?”
“Why don’t you come into my office, Tiffany,” Principal Loyola Kevins said firmly. “Aralyn, you can wait out here, I’ll talk to you shortly and your parents are on the way.”
Puzzled, Aralyn took a seat as Tiffany glanced at her. Following her parents into the office, Tiffany handed her backpack to Aralyn.
“Have a seat, please.” The principal wasn’t smiling.
“Have I done something?” Tiffany asked in a small voice. She glanced at her mother, and flinched.
Honey Duke had never looked so furious, even after they snuck out in the General Lee. Her lips were pressed together in fury, her slender body tense and rigid. The hazel eyes were blazing, elegant hands balled into fists.
Luke Duke was almost shaking with anger, she realized. Did they know about her and Tony? Dear God, they must. She had never seen her father ready to explode like this.
Principal Kevins handed her an envelope. Tiffany pulled out the pictures and her heart stopped. Nausea swept over her. They were time stamped on a recent Sunday morning, and it was Tony kissing her in the doorway of his apartment. There were several that clearly showed her face as she was walking away. She didn’t look past the fifth one.
Wordlessly she set them on the desk, feeling the tears poking at her eyes. Who had taken them? Who had followed her?
Dean, she thought. Dean knew. Dean knew which apartment was Tony’s. Dean was a photographer and was always taking pictures. Dean had seen her. Dean had betrayed her after all. Her throat began to constrict at the thought of her old friend.
“These were delivered to my house late last night,” Principal Kevins was saying. “Mr. Roth was escorted off campus this morning. As you are not a minor, charges cannot be pressed against him, unless this started before you turned eighteen.”
Feeling the eyes boring into her from her parents, Tiffany shook her head.
“No,” she whispered.
“When did it start?” were the icy words from Honey Duke.
“Early December,” Tiffany whispered, trying to keep her tears from falling.
“Early December?” Honey repeated. “As in, a week after your birthday?”
Tiffany nodded. Luke stood and paced the room.
“And the flirting? The build up?” Honey demanded. Tiffany shook her head as the hot tears began to slide down her cheeks.
“It really wasn’t,” she murmured. “I thought he was hot, I saw him looking at me sometimes. I ran into him at the bookstore one night, and it was the night of that horrible snow. His apartment was close by so I went with him, nothing happened!” she added quickly as Luke’s bright blue eyes bulged in fury. “I mean, he kissed me, but nothing else. I did stay the night but I slept on the couch. I swear it!”
“You lied to us?” Honey demanded. “You said you were at a friend’s and you were at this, this man, this teacher’s house!”
“He didn’t want me to try driving and I didn’t want Dad risking his neck to come get me,” Tiffany said in a small voice. “Nothing happened!”
Luke’s electric blue eyes glowed so brightly with fury that Tiffany shrank back in her seat, suddenly feeling like she was five years old and had just smashed Grandmother Madeleine’s favorite Ming vase by accident. Luke looked ready to apoplexy.
“A kiss ain’t nothin', Tiffany!” Luke exploded. “You are his student!”
“Luke, let her finish. Keep going,” Honey said tightly.
Tiffany looked away, unable to bear the anger and disappointment in her mother’s face. She stared at the carpet.
“He said he had always noticed me but I was too young. So he tried to ignore me but he couldn’t. He said I was his best student and we talked about literature mostly, and how intelligent and mature I was and…eventually how he wanted me,” her words finished in a whisper as a fresh wave of scalding tears began to run down her cheeks.
Luke’s hands balled into fists. “Did he ever, ever, touch you before you were eighteen?” he demanded, his body tense and ready to spring. She shook her head. “At all, in any way?”
“No, Daddy, I swear.”
“Miss Duke, do you realize how serious this is?” Principal Kevins demanded. “Do you understand what happens when a teacher takes advantage of a student?”
“He didn’t take advantage of me!” Tiffany’s temper flared. “I’m not some innocent little girl who doesn’t know better! I liked him! I wanted him! We fell in love. He loves me! I’m the only one, he told me so,” her voice was rising. “He loves me!”
“Miss Duke, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re not the only one,” the principal said quietly.
Tiffany just stared at her; hear heart pounding so hard she thought it would come out of her chest. “No,” she said finally. “No. It was only me. I know it was.”
“All those times you went out in the evening?” Honey demanded. “Came home late from practice, were you with him? Did you lie to us about staying at Aralyn’s?”
Tiffany nodded, the tears unstoppable now, streaming down her pretty face, but she kept replaying the principals words in her head. “There couldn’t have been anyone else. There couldn’t!”
“Callie West has already come forward,” the principal said.
Tiffany’s jaw dropped and she leapt to her feet, angry now.
“She’s a lying whore!” Tiffany shouted. “She’ll sleep with anyone and everyone! If she came onto Tony, he would have rejected her! I know he would have!”
“This isn’t about who he would have rejected!” Luke yelled, startling both his wife and daughter. “That man seduced you! You’re barely eighteen years old and he was your teacher, Tiffany! What the hell were you thinking?”
Tears flooded down her face and her lungs began to tighten.
“Miss Duke, Callie isn’t the only name we have. She gave us two other names. And if you look further through the pictures, you’ll see them.”
Tiffany stared at her. “No,” she whispered, then her voice became stronger. “No. He loved me. Only me! He told me. He promised me.” She turned to Luke as her voice to a high pitch, her eyes wild. “Daddy, it was me, he loved me!”
Amidst his fury, Luke’s heart broke for his daughter.
***
Aralyn knocked on Tiffany’s door. She had heard Tiffany’s voice rising in the principal’s office and she paced nervously outside. Bo and Trixie had arrived, responding to Luke’s call. Once Honey and Luke led a sobbing Tiffany from the office to their car, without a word to Aralyn, the older cousin was taken into the office with her parents.
The school had gone on lockdown while Tiffany was in the office, windows covered, all classrooms locked.
Principal Kevins handed her the pictures without a word. Aralyn’s jaw dropped.
“Oh. My. God,” she murmured. She flipped through the pictures and recognized Callie West, also photographed kissing Tony goodbye. Some of the shots of Callie had been taken through the window and Aralyn felt sick looking at them. If there had ever been doubt of Callie’s sexual prowess, there wasn’t now. Another girl she didn’t know, the fourth looked vaguely familiar.
“What do you know about this?” Principal Kevins.
Aralyn shook her head.
“Miss Duke, your cousin is in a whole heap of trouble. You two are like twins. You cannot expect us to believe you know nothing of this.”
Aralyn stared at her parents, shaking her head.
“I didn’t know. I swear. I thought she was seeing a married man and I tried to stop her!”
“Married? Married ain’t no better!” Bo snapped.
“I promise you, Daddy, I tried to stop her,” Aralyn said earnestly. “I tried to talk her out of it. I even had Tim talk to her.”
“Tim knew?” Trixie said furiously.
“Only because she wouldn’t listen to me, so I went to him. I told her she wasn’t a home wrecker, that she couldn’t be with a married man and it was wrong, it wouldn’t end well, I did everything I could to stop her! I never knew it was Mr. Roth, I swear!” Aralyn protested. “She never once let on it was him!”
Bo studied his daughter.
“I believe you,” he said quietly.
“Why didn’t you come to us?” Trixie demanded.
“Mom, Tiffany is a legal adult, same as me. There was nothing you could have done to stop her, or Luke or Honey either. I thought it was a married man, and no, that’s no better, but I was hoping she would come to her senses. She never said much about him, just that he liked to read, and he was kind and sensitive. She wouldn’t tell me anything more than that. I asked Tim to talk to her and he couldn’t get anywhere with her. He even followed her, to try and find out where she was going, but there were too many stores around.”
Principal Kevins nodded, and sighed. “I believe you, Miss Duke. Do you know anything about their relationship?”
Aralyn shook her head. “She kept saying nothing was happening, but nights I went out with Cam, I thought she was at that bookstore she liked. She did seem a little different since right before Christmas, but it really pissed her off when I tried to bring it up. I couldn’t lose my best friend, Mom,” Aralyn said to Trixie, tears in her eyes. “So I stopped bringing it up. All I knew was she met him at a bookstore near Croton and she asked me to never go there.”
“What bookstore?” Trixie asked.
Aralyn told her she didn’t know which one specifically, but gave her the street. After some more grilling, she was released to return to class. Callie sat outside the office, looking smug, along with the other girl from the photos and some underclassmen Aralyn didn’t know.
***
Honey had asked Aralyn to come over, to talk to Tiffany. Tiffany had locked herself in her room and wouldn’t come out. She and Luke had tried everything but their daughter wasn’t acknowledging them.
“Tiff? Tiff, it’s me, let me in,” Aralyn knocked on the door but here was no answer. “Tiff, I mean it. Let me in or I’ll pick the lock. You know I can.”
There was faint movement and the door unlocked. Aralyn walked in and shut it behind her. The room was dark but she knew the layout as well as her own. She could hear Tiffany getting back into bed.
“What happened?” Aralyn asked, climbing on to the bed with her cousin. She brushed aside the used tissues and turned on the lamp next to the bed. Tiffany’s face was blotchy and swollen, her eyes red and hair messy.
“Kevins said that Callie West had named herself and two others that he was involved with.”
“I saw the pictures, Tiff,” Aralyn said, her anger bubbling. “How could you lie to me? How could you let me think you were involved with a married man, when it was our teacher? What were you thinking? This is just as bad, maybe worse! You lied to me! I…I can’t believe you lied to me!”
“I had too,” she said in a small voice. “If anyone knew, even if you did and let it slip—”
“I’m your best friend!” Aralyn shouted. “Tiff, your first boyfriend—and you don’t tell me? You don’t tell me that he’s our teacher? Do you have any idea how much that hurts, how angry I am, that you didn’t tell me the truth?”
“I’m sorry,” Tiffany whispered.
“Did you really sleep with him?” Aralyn demanded. “You saw those pictures of him and Callie West? You know you need to go get a full battery of STD tests, right?”
“Yes to all of those,” she admitted.
It was the expression of heartbreak that hurt Aralyn the most and evaporated her anger. She put one arm around her cousin, letting Tiffany lean into her.
“I don’t mind being the quiet one,” Tiffany said, “but it’s hard to see you and Cam together all the time. Tony made me feel beautiful, and special, and mature. We talked about literature and philosophy and business, and it made me feel so womanly.” She wiped her eyes. “The night he first kissed me, all I could think about was this must be how you felt when Cam kissed you. All giddy and tingly and warm. And when he touched me—Aralyn, it was magical. The first time we made love, he was so gentle, and kind. The things he did, the way he made me feel—I finally had an understanding of why you love Cam so much.”
Aralyn felt the ache in her heart as tears slid from Tiffany’s eyes.
“I wanted to tell you Ari, I did, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t take the risk of anyone finding out. He had to play it cool in class, but he used to send me texts in between classes.” Tiffany wiped at her eyes with a tissue. “I know I should have told you, listened to you. Even if he wasn’t married, he was supposed to be out of bounds, but I couldn’t—I just couldn’t resist him. And he didn’t seem to be able to resist me either. It was like…I don’t know. We were just drawn together.”
Aralyn didn’t know what to say. Tiffany lay back down, her head resting on Aralyn’s leg. Aralyn stroked her cousin’s hair.
“Daddy is so mad. He’s livid, Ari. I’ve never seen him so mad, even when we smashed up the General. And Mom, oh God, I thought she was going to strangle me.”
“They’re upset, Tiff. They get called to school and told their eighteen year old daughter has been having a sexual affair with an older man, a teacher. They find out their daughter has been lying to them for weeks, maybe months. But they’re not ogres. They know you’re hurting and that’s the hardest part of all for them,” Aralyn said softly. “It is for all of us.”
“When did you get so wise?” Tiffany sniffed. Aralyn chuckled as she smoothed her cousin’s hair.
“I’ve watched a fair amount of Oprah. Besides, I’ve heard it from Dad. They’ll come around, Tiff. They’re just going to be pissed for a while. You’re the concern. They don’t know how to help you, and they feel they should have seen something going on. They’re the parents. They’re mad at themselves for not seeing what was happening.”
“I love him, Aralyn,” Tiffany said quietly. “I really do. Mrs. Garcia would be back in April, and then we could have been together openly.”
Aralyn didn’t point out Luke and Honey would still have a fit over the ten year difference between the two. And the fact the whole thing began when he was her teacher.
“Tiff, I have to ask. Did this start before you were eighteen?”
“No,” Tiffany answered. “Just me looking at him and fantasizing a lot.”
“That’s good. Otherwise they could file rape charges on him.”
“I know,” Tiffany sighed. “And he hasn’t returned my calls all day.”
“I think he’s in police custody, from what Cam said,” Aralyn replied quietly. “I’m not sure if they can hold him, unless they can prove he was with a girl under eighteen. Tiff, word has it there are five others. Cam called me to tell me that’s the latest rumor. A number of girls were pulled from class today and questioned. About twelve. We saw photos of Callie and the other two.”
“I know Callie said there were more,” Tiffany sobbed. “But there weren’t. There couldn’t be. Callie had to be before me. It was only me. He loved me, he said so. He only wanted me!”
Aralyn let her cousin cry. She didn’t know what to say.
“The school is going to figure it out,” Tiffany said, moments later. “After we got pulled out of class. Callie West is going to spread the word to the media, and we’ll be all over the news.”
“Don’t even go there,” Aralyn said. “Possibly not. The school went on full lockdown once we were all pulled out of class. Most likely the principal put her under some sort of gag order until this is settled. And trust me, as much money that goes into the school from our family? Guaranteed silence. I’d be surprised if Grandpa Matt hasn’t already had his lawyers on the phone with them. There’s no way they’ll let this out, especially if they think they might lose that much money.”
“But Callie…”
“Don’t worry about that skanky whore,” Aralyn said cheerfully. “Trust me, Grandpa Matt will take care of this.”
Tiffany wiped her eyes.
“Look, Cam’s doing some research, trying to find out what happened. He and Dean are all over it,” Aralyn said, hoping to comfort her.
“Dean,” Tiffany said bitterly. “That lying bastard. I hope he’s happy, now that he and his damn camera have ruined everything!”
“Tiff, what are you talking about?” Aralyn asked confused. “Dean would never-wait, Dean knew?”
“Dean just had to have the proof, to blow the lid off this. So much for giving me his word he wouldn’t tell, the lying sonofabitch!” Tiffany punched her pillow
“Dean knew?” Aralyn demanded. “And I didn’t? You told Dean over me?”
Tiffany sat up and wiped her eyes.
“He claims he was visiting a friend and saw me one morning when I was leaving Tony’s. He wanted me to stop the relationship, said he was worried I’d get hurt. I told him no, that I was an adult. He swore he’d keep his mouth shut. Now these pictures show up! He just couldn’t his mouth shut! He should have come to me, said something. I already called him and left him a voicemail. That rat bastard,” she whispered.
Aralyn thought for a long moment. “Those pictures were time stamped, Tiffany. For this past Sunday.”
“Yeah,” Tiffany replied wearily.
“Tiff, Dean was having breakfast with me and Cam on Sunday. He spent Saturday night on Cam’s sofa. There’s no way he could have taken the pictures.”
Tiffany was silent for a moment, then sat up, face drained of color. “Okay, then I owe him a huge apology, especially for the voicemail I left him, but Aralyn, if he didn’t, then who did? Who’s been following me?”
***
The next day, Tiffany picked up Aralyn and her brothers for the ride to school, but both girls were quiet. The boys chattered as usual, intrigued by the lockdown from the day before and the scandal involving the English teacher.
The halls were filled with whispers, students intent on determining who the mystery students were. No one believed it was Callie West, and the general consensus was that Mr. Roth had rejected her advances, and this was her payback. Tiffany’s absence from school was explained by a minor family issue. Several of the girls had become hysterical and sent home with their parents. Names were flying fast and furious among the whispers.
Tiffany had just closed her locker, when Callie and her friend Christina walked by.
“Check this out,” Callie was saying loudly. “Look at the resolution on these pictures. The new camera is so fab. I can get up close shots from fifty yards away.”
Tiffany froze. Callie’s voice was unusually loud. She turned slowly, and saw the smirk on the girl’s face.
“I guess we share more than you thought,” Callie hissed as she passed by.
Without thinking Tiffany grabbed Callie and slammed her into the locker. Students turned to see the commotion as Callie tried to cover her face.
“Tiffany, no!” Dean was there, locking his arms around Tiffany and pulling her back.
Callie cringed. Tiffany might not be as heavy or feisty as Aralyn but the gentle Duke cousin was bordering on snapping, she could see it in the big hazel eyes.
“Tiffany, stop!” Dean held her securely. It normally wouldn’t have been hard to overpower her, but his friend was pumped full of fury, hurt and adrenaline.
“I oughta to bash your stupid face into that locker, bitch!” Tiffany spat.
“Tiff, come on,” Dean pleaded. “Please, she’s not worth it!”
Callie grabbed her friend by the arm and they fled, as students stared at Tiffany Duke. No one had ever seen her lose her temper.
“Come on, outside,” Dean said gently, half carrying her. “People are staring, come on.”
He forced her out the door, and away from prying eyes. “Damn, Duke, I’ve never seen you snap like that!”
“That bitch!” Tiffany hissed as her eyes welled with tears and she pulled out of Dean’s grasp. “I know Tony wasn’t sleeping with her, I know it! She must have seduced him before we got together.”
Dean’s heart sunk. He was pretty sure Tony had been sleeping with Callie during the time he was with Tiffany. He hadn’t seen the pictures but Aralyn had told him of the graphic nature. He also suspected it was Callie behind the pictures, as the ones involving her were much more intrusive.
“I owe you an apology,” Tiffany murmured, running her hands over her hair. “That voicemail I left you last night, accusing you, I’m so sorry, Dean. Aralyn told me you were with them. I just thought, since you knew, and you take such good pictures, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Tears threatened to spill from her eyes.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he soothed her, hugging her. “I knew why you did it, it was a logical assumption. It’s okay. All is forgiven. I just didn’t want you to get hurt, Tiff. I never would have done something like that to you.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “You were always a good friend, to Tim, and Cam. And us. And I’m sorry.”
Dean smiled at her, trying to keep her from crying. “I do my best. Now listen. People are going to start suspecting you after that, so you need to hold it together okay? I’ll get a cover story out, and Cam and I have some leads on where Tony is and as soon as we get the information, it’s yours.”
“You’d do that for me?” Tiffany asked, wiping her eyes.
“Yeah. Call me crazy, but we’re trying to find out what’s going on. We went to his apartment last night, there was police tape and nobody home.”
“Police tape?” Tiffany whispered. “Why?”
“Accusations against him include a seventeen year old,” Dean said softly. “Tiffany, I’m sorry. I don’t know what the evidence is, but—”
“No,” Tiffany moaned. “He wasn’t. It was only me! Dean, he loves me!”
“Shh,” Dean said soothingly, brushing her hair back. “Tiffany, please, I need you to hold it together. Let me handle this okay? I will protect you as best I can, I promise.”
Tiffany nodded.
“There you are,” Aralyn appeared. She raised one eyebrow at the sight of Dean with his arms around her cousin.
“What if…”
“No what ifs,” Aralyn interrupted. “Bell is about to ring for homeroom. Tiff, we’ve got to keep it together. There’s going to be more ugly rumors before days end.”
Tiffany nodded.
“People are going to say nasty things about him,” Dean said gently. “But keep your head up, all right? I know you can. No popping off at people.”
Tiffany nodded.
***
Somehow, Tiffany made it through the day. The student body was shocked by the turn of events, the police involvement and word had spread quickly about Tiffany’s outburst. Dean knew Tiffany would be furious but he spread the best rumor he could to take the attention of her as a suspect in the Roth case. By lunch, everyone was buzzing about Tiffany and Dean as a couple, Tim’s unhappy reaction and by the end of the day, the rumors about them were so wild, Tiffany’s name was almost forgotten as being linked to the Tony Roth sex scandal. For once, the high school rumor mill drama worked to Dean’s advantage.
Aralyn almost laughed when she heard the rumor but she let it go. She understood what Dean was doing and would go along with anything to protect her cousin.
***
Dean logged into his photography message board briefly, intending to check on a conversation about a new camera he was considering.
After clicking on ‘new posts’, his heart stopped when he read the header. MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER WAS SEDUCED BY THIS TEACHER, with the sub title ‘I think he’s in Westchester County, NY’.
“No way,” he murmured. Not wanting to, he clicked on the post.
THIS MAN SEDUCED MY DAUGHTER RIGHT AFTER TURNING 18. HE WAS HER TEACHER, USING THE NAME JACK WATSON. I BELEIVE HE IS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY AND HE WILL DO IT AGAIN. PROTECT YOUR DAUGHTERS AND CALL THE POLICE!
The page loaded completely and Dean’s heart sunk, even though he had instinctively known. It was Tony Roth.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
Author’s Notes
- A huge yee-haa to the fabulous Donna, for editing this!
- Poor Tiffany. being a teenage girl just sucks.
- Word Count, 4,732
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