First Friday of the 2nd Semester: It was a student--Nathaniel

“Uh…Miss Williams can I talk to you for a second?” It was Nathaniel Lynn, a senior from one of her earlier classes in the day. He was always a good student.

Leah smiled warmly at Nathaniel as he entered her classroom, the door closing behind him.

"Of course, come on in," she said, setting her phone down on her desk. "What’s up?"

Nathaniel shuffled his feet nervously as he approached her desk.

"Well, uh, it's kind of awkward," he mumbled, not making eye contact. Leah tilted her head, giving him a look of concern.

"Hey, it's okay. What’s going on Nate?" she said reassuringly.

Nathaniel took a deep breath.

“You remember that card you got before Christmas?” His eyes watched her for her reaction.

“I…I got a lot of cards.” Leah said trying to recall if she had gotten one from Nate. She didn’t seem to recall him giving her one. It was mostly girls and helicopter parents who sent such things to school with forgetful students—even seniors.

“It was the one that said… ‘I know your secret.” He said his eyes wide. Leah’s eyes went wider. Leah felt her stomach drop. She had completely forgotten about the cryptic card, too preoccupied with the holiday festivities and her complicated personal life. Nate shifted nervously, looking down at the floor. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was he knew. Had he seen her and Mr. Howard or something else? Surely it wasn’t—no it couldn’t be what she feared…

“Oh…yes…I wondered who had given me that.” she said trying to play it cooly. There was an awkward pause as neither of them really knew how to proceed.

“And ummm what was this umm secret you know. Ha ha.” She laughed weakly.

Nathaniel stepped closer to Miss Williams, his eyes wandering down to her ample cleavage visible above the scooped neckline of her blouse.

"Well...I, uh...I saw a video," he mumbled. Leah's face turned white. He knew.

“A um video of what exactly?” Leah said, hoping against hope it wasn’t the video of her aborted pornography career when she was just a stupid wild and **** college girl. But if Mr. Howard had found it…Nate could have as well. Who ELSE might have found it?

Nathaniel stepped even closer, his eyes looking at her with a strange fascination.

"I found a video of you…uh before you were a teacher.” he coughed “Um a video of you…ummm doing porn.” Nate looked around like he had said some violent oath and would be struck down by an unseen hand. He had always been a rule follower. His religious parents would kill him if they saw him doing this—just like they would have killed him if they had caught him watching porn…porn that just so happened to be that of one Miss Leah Williams.

Leah's face flushed red with embarrassment and shame. She had tried so hard to bury that part of her past.

“Uh what video? Are you serious? You uh have to be mistaken.” Leah said trying to play ignorance.

“It’s…its you Miss Williams. I know it is.” He said doubling down.

“How do you know its me?” she demanded.

Nathaniel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, quickly finding the video on a shady website he'd stumbled upon by accident. He pulled up the phone to show her the video and Leah's heart sank as she recognized herself on the screen. It was a clip from that stupid video she made, back when she needed money desperately to pay for college and was being a rebel. In the video, Leah was moaning and writhing as a muscular man pounded her doggy-style. She couldn't believe Nate had found this video too.

"Jesus Nate!?" Leah tried to pretend to not watch the scene turning her eyes away. But she saw enough to know--it was her and the scene she had shot so long ago. "Look, that could be anyone," Leah insisted, trying to play the charade of innocence.

Nathaniel shook his head, adjusting the timeline on his phone to a segment of an interview before the debauchery began. In it, Leah gave her first name, where she was from, and a quick tidbit about what she liked. She had been so stupid she didn’t even change or lie about anything. She was so naive back then.

"I... I don't know what to say," Leah stammered. She felt like she was going to faint. "Do your parents know you are watching this kind of stuff?"

He shook his head. Nathaniel blushed. His parents would be ireate if they knew what kind of degenerate sites he had looked at across the internet.

“Does anyone…else know about this video?” she asked hesitantly.

“No.” he said shaking his head “Just me.”

“Wew” Leah breathed out a sigh of relief.

“For now…” he said.

Their eyes met.

“What do you mean?” Leah asked slowly, her sense of worry shooting back up.

“I…well..” Nate shuffled his feet, took a breath himself and then locked eyes with her. “I can…um…I can like keep it a secret. No one else knows about it. But I would maybe uh want something um in return.”

Leah crossed her arms. It only accentuated her breasts even more and for the moment Nate couldn’t help but pull his eyes away from Leah’s face to her chest.

“You want an A?” Leah asked “Fine—no problem. You won't have to do any classwork at all. I can do that.”

“I already have an A though.” he said looking at her incredulously. It was true—he was a smart student and always did his work well.

“You can skip the final then.” Leah offered desperately.

“But I can already skip it according to your syllabus,” he said cocking his head—realizing she was trying to avoid the obvious. He was right yet again—he had an A, and hadn’t had any unexcused absences which made him eligible to skip the final exam.

“Well…what do you want?” Leah said letting her arms go to her side exacerbated by the moment she dreaded was coming.

Nathaniel hesitated for a moment, feeling a bit guilty--but mostly scared--about blackmailing his favorite teacher. However, he couldn't help but be swayed by the opportunity in front of him. He had always thought Miss Williams was attractive and now seeing her **** side made him see her in a whole new light.

"Well, I was... um... wondering if you could….we could... you know... uh..." His face turned beet red as he struggled to say it out loud.

“What, Nate?” She asked, her heart hanging in her chest.

“Sex!” He blurted out as if he couldn’t hold back.

"You can't be serious, Nate! That would be... improper. So inappropriate." Leah's heart raced, but she tried to maintain a neutral expression. "Hell that would be illegal. You are my student." Leah's eyes were wide, a flash of headlines and blue lights along with sirens going through her mind's eye.

"I know," he said, looking down at his feet. "But I... I've had a crush on you for a long time, and this... this is my only chance." He looked up at her again, his eyes pleading. "Just once. That's all I'm asking for."

Leah bit her lower lip, torn between her morals and the fear of her past catching up with her. If Nate were to share the video it could be doom for her.

“Come on Miss Williams! Even just…just…a blowjob?” He said with the same tone a winy student might ask for an extra favor in class or a hint on a test question.

Leah hesitated for a moment, weighing her options. Her morals and principles warred with her fear of her secret being exposed. Maybe Nate could be convinced to not let out the secret of her past...and yet...he held the power to destroy her in his cellphone. Maybe she could buy some time without just dropping to her knees, he was young and a bit timid.