How to Hate Your Crush - My Teacher is the Devil

Chapter 6

My body kept reminding me of the places he touched.

I could still feel the heat of his fingers pressed against my chaste skin. There is no way I could understand adults. How someone do such a thing without any feelings of love. They’re all disgusting – adults.

During the next few days, I sought to avoid Mr. Brady completely, this time with no intention of provoking his attention. Successfully enough, I managed to not get kissed or touched by him. How will I ever face him again? Just the thought of him disgusted me and triggered a jolt of chilling shivers. Yet, I could not say that I no longer loved him. To like someone is a complicated thing, I never thought it possible to hate and love someone at the same time.

I drowsily entered homeroom with a yawn.

“Good morning.” I smiled at the cheery faces turned towards me before heading to my assigned seat.

“Good morning, Ellie!” some gleamed back as I walked past them.

“Did you hear?” a group of giggling girls turned back in their seats while others bounced over, forming a circle around us. I was curious about their early enthusiasm.

“Mr. Bloom is absent today.” They said this strangely excited.

“Really? Why?” I asked.

“Apparently his wife is giving birth or something.” one replied. Although her expression emitted excitement, it did not seem to be about the new life coming into this world, for she quickly disregarded the news with a shrug.

“Yessss!” another hissed, pumping up a victorious fist, “No boring Bloom giving lectures today!”

“But that’s not the best part.” the first girl continued, grinning as if she knew a deep and dark secret. “Apparently, our substitute for homeroom and history is none other than…”

Here, two more girls wearing equally heavy makeup joined in chorus, squealing with commotion, “Mr. Brady!”

As if in cue, the devil himself entered the classroom and cleared his throat to get our attention. I shivered all over.

Just my luck.

I lowered my gaze and did my best to hide my face from him, although I knew it was of no use, for he would notice my name on the attendance sheet. However, instead of calling out our names to check for absences like all other teachers, he simply eyed the list lazily and called out,

“Is anyone missing?”

“Just Tyler.” All the girls answered hastily, each louder than the other, trying their best to be heard by the Adonis standing before them.

He clearly noticed their efforts but discarded them as if they were nothing. For the first time, I began noticing what kind of person he really is. Giving no importance to other people’s feelings, he toys and provokes them for his own amusement, keeping their hopes up with meaningless winks.

“Where is Tyler?” Mr. Brady asked.

“Probably on the roof, smoking. Bad boys need to keep up with their reputation somehow.” One girl commented and everyone laughed.

“Why does he even come to school if he doesn’t bother to come to any of his classes?” the class roared with excitement.

I remained silent, pondering about him curiously. Tyler and I used to be best friends in elementary, but one summer he returned to school quieter than ever and isolated himself, until he stopped showing for classes. I wonder what could have happened.

“How hot can he get?” Maia turned back in her seat to gossip with Noy.

“I know, right?” Noy observed him dreamily. “I wish we had classes with him all day long.”

I felt a razor-sharp shock shoot up within me as my friends spoke.

“Right, Ellie?” They turned towards me, but all I could do was sink into a red fervor and blush. I had confessed to this man just a few weeks ago, the last thing I wanted was for my friends to like him too.

“You three!” A stern voice sounded from behind us. We all froze and shivered before he wacked us with a pencil. “Stop acting like girls and don’t talk so much.”

“But we are girls.” Noy complained.

“There’s not much evidence of that right here.” Mr. Brady scoffed, pointing at both mine and Noy’s chests. We flushed in mock anger as the class giggled.

As Mr. Brady returned to the front of the room to begin class, he glanced a smirk at me. Just from that annoyingly conceited look, I knew he overheard us whispering about him. He somehow seemed glad of it, but he will only use it as a tool to torture and embarrass me.

“Come on, go ask her.” I heard from a corner of the room as I observed Mr. Brady organize a stack of papers.

“Fine.” a boy answered, annoyed, nudging his poking friends. However, his annoyance rapidly disappeared and morphed into a curious bashfulness as he fumbled closer. Another one of Maia’s admirers? I wondered.

I looked away not to stare and frighten him off. Yet, shortly I was looking at him again, for he called out my name and not Maia’s. I was perplexed. Oh, I know. Perhaps he will ask me to speak to her for him. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Hey, Ellie… Uhm…” he began.

“Oh, hi Jaden.” I smiled at him brightly and as friendly as possible, trying to make him more at ease, even though Maia would probably reject him as soon as I delivered his message. “What’s wrong?” I tried encouraging him as I noticed he had been fidgeting with his fingers nervously the whole time.

I heard Maia and Noy giggle behind me, and I was confused. They must know that he is here for Maia.

“I was, uhm… I mean, we (he placed a whole lot of emphasis on that ‘we’ as he looked back and pointed to his friends, who now facepalmed at his action) were wondering if you would like to come with us to the karaoke place after school.” the boy stuttered.

I froze in confusion. Then, I looked back at his group of friends who were smiling and snickering at us.

“Huh?” I said while my mind still processed his words. “Me?”

The boy nodded, but this only made me more confused. Wasn’t it Maia he wanted to invite?

Still perplexed, I managed to make out a smile and was about to accept his offer until—

“Ellison.” Mr. Brady was suddenly standing in between us. “You didn’t forget about cleaning duty, did you?” he smirked.

Our school had the innovative idea of putting students making rounds of cleaning the entire building instead of hiring its own janitors. It is supposed to enhance our sense of responsibility and our respect for the school grounds, but most mostly it’s a way for the school to save money in hiring extra staff. Every day, one student from each class are responsible for cleaning the entire grounds. And, despite Mr. Brady’s convenient interruption, today was definitely not my turn.

“Oh, you have that today?” the boy looked down in what seemed like disappointment, “Sorry for asking, then.” He left before I could tell him the truth. I followed him with my eyes, still baffled at the whole event, and saw the others laughing and patting his back as if he had been rejected.

I then turned to Mr. Brady who was still crowning proudly at his own scheme.

“I’m not on duty today.” I protested.

“You do now.” he grinned, holding up the homeroom sheet. Someone else’s name was crossed out in a messy blot and my name was written beside it in a different color as all the rest. He didn’t even try to mask it…

“That’s what you get for ignoring me for so long.” he whispered. I pouted at the unfairness as Mr. Brady walked gleefully back towards the blackboard.

At least erase my name from next week’s shift…

Soon, the bell rang, and History class began as everyone sat down and Mr. Brady clapped a stack of papers onto the table. We all shivered at the sight of the papers, knowing exactly what they were – graded tests.

“Mr. Bloom didn’t leave a class plan behind, but he did leave your graded tests for me to hand out back to you. So, just do test corrections during class time, I guess.”

I looked around from my seat at the back of the classroom as Mr. Brady handed out each test one by one. Everyone was either excited or impatient to see their results, but most were terrified – I was one of the latter. I followed his fingers as they separated each packet, and his arms as they flexed towards each desk. With every test he handed, the more my anticipation grew. However, at one point, the pattern of flipping and handing broke. His fingers parted a group of sheets, but his arm did not flex. Instead, his hand flipped and the test was flicked onto the back of the stack. It couldn’t be Tyler’s test because he did not show up on the day, we took it, and he is the only one missing. I scanned the room to confirm my suspicions – yes, he’s the only one absent. Once most of my classmates had received their tests back and were either gloating or sulking, the answer became clearer. Did this devil in disguise purposefully leave my test to last to enjoy my suffering? A growing grin on his cheeks every time he glanced at me verified my conjecture.

Once everyone else was focused on the papers in front of them, Mr. Brady sauntered towards me with pride filling his each and every step. He dangled my test before my eyes teasingly and kept turning it so I could not see the number marked in red until I kicked his shin in mock anger. Yet, his smirk did not fade. He arched his back until his face was almost at my height, and finally dropped the papers on my desk. I looked around, ensuring no one noticed him teasing me inappropriately.

He whispered, drawing my eyes back to him, “See? With my special motivation you were able to get a decent grade.” Mr. Brady winked and, although he did not stick his tongue out tauntingly, I could feel he wanted to.

I blushed, recalling what he meant by ‘special motivation’ and averted my eyes. However, once again, he snagged my attention by slamming a finger onto my desk. It pointed at the circled numbers in red. A soft smile followed my expression of widened eyes and parted lips. Despite my outward cool, my interior was jumping up, throwing confetti and blowing horns. For once, I had gotten an average grade. But, how? I did not feel ready at all when I took that test. I hardly understood the questions. What kind of sorcery is this? Could this devil be, at the same time, a lucky charm?

Mr. Brady then returned to his spot in front of us and sat on the swiveling chair, turning from back to left with a book in his hands instead of paying attention to us. When he did look up, however, I did notice a couple sneers targeted at me. I presumed my blushing and eye-averting were provoking him, so I decided to avoid looking at him completely. Be that as it may, it was not easy. It seemed like a magnet was hidden behind my eyes, pulling at full force towards him, but I resisted. I bent my neck down and held my head in my hands so that I had no peripheral vision from my desk.

There’s no way I will graduate from this school completely sane with a devil like him around.