I hope you know. This mean war.

Andy Reese stared at you as if daring you to say something. Not wanting to acknowledge his existence, you move to walk around him when he speaks. "Miss me?"

Not bothering to look at him, you growl, "Like a bad case of hemorrhoids."

You decide that eating in the lounge wasn't worth the aggravation and turn, heading for the exit.

Halfway there, Reese calls out, "Going somewhere?"

"Back to my classroom," you call out. "It smells like someone took a dump in here. Do something about that?"

Reese snarls as he barges past you, reaching the door to the hallway first, and slams his hand on the wooden door.

"Listen here, Clarkson," he spits out as you approach. "If you know what's good for you, you'll want to be my friend."

You stop at the door and calmly say, "Really, I want to be your friend?"

"That's right," he hissed. "So make that cunt Marlow have her sluts start spreading for my players, and everything will be good."

You glance at Lasko and Leonard, who don't react at all, then turn back to Reese, saying. "Not going to happen, dude."

Taking his hand off the door, Reese sidled up to you and stared you down.

"How stupid can one man be," he sneered. "In case you haven't heard, I rule this school, not the bitch Smalley. The board and the superintendent love what I'm doing, and they give me whatever I want."

"Who are you trying to convince here? Me or you," you hiss back.

After a moment a very unfriendly smile cracks his lips. "I'm going to let you think on it, Clarkson, and for your sake I hope you make the right choice."

With that Andry Reese brushes by you, making sure to hit your shoulder with his.

"Fucking Asshole," you think to yourself as you leave the lounge. You quickly walk back to your classroom and unlock the door. Entering your classroom, you sit down at your desk to eat and ponder the altercation you just had.

Andy Reese isn't even hiding it anymore. It's almost as if he's daring you to reveal what you know about him and Dallas.

"What if he is?" whispers your subconscious. He knows that if you reveal the pictures that you have of him, Dallas's question will be asked of you.

"How did you get these?" would be just the first. What you've seen over the past few weeks is that the man is unstable. But unstable doesn't mean unintelligent.

Maybe he's made the calculation that you came into possession of those photos because you're in an inappropriate relationship with her too.

In the end it doesn't matter that the pictures came into your possession before you started fucking her. Reese told you to think on his offer. So you have a little time, but not a lot. Andy Reese, of course, is unstable, and if the football team keeps losing...

Then all bets are off.

Finishing your meal, you toss the foil wrappers and empty Coke can into the trash. A few minutes later, your classroom door opens, and Melissa Thompson, one of your fifth-period students, enters.

Melissa on most days wore a T-shirt and jeans, and today was no exception. But the teen was also into, what they would call, nerd culture.

Case in point, her shirt had emblazoned on it Bugs Bunny kissing the shotgun-toting Elmer Fudd. It was captioned with his classic line. "What's up, Doc?"

You smile as another of his classic lines comes to mind. "I hope you know. This means war."

Yes, you decided. "Andy Reese, it will indeed be war."