I arrived at school Tuesday morning with a skip in my step, feeling like I could take on the world.

It was unusual for me. I was never much of a morning person, but for some reason, I woke up excited that morning to be back in the classroom. After the wedding, after the explosive night I’d had with George, and our cute little breakfast together on Sunday morning, everything felt perfect, like it'd finally fallen back into place for me.

I couldn’t wait to play some music, get my kids excited about it, and to rehearse with Parker and Derek for the after school music program. But when I stepped into the classroom, finding it already lined with students, loud and noxious as usual, Parker’s face stuck out from the crowd and I realized just how awkward this could be for all of us.

Though Parker smiled at me and waved, and I waved back, I couldn’t help wondering what would come of all this going forward. What if things fell apart between George and me? Not that I thought they would, but if they did, what would that portend for my relationship with Parker? Would he hate me, would he blame me for all his dad’s sadness in the wake of it? If I were him, in his teenaged shoes, I probably would’ve done the same thing.

And if we did fall apart, what would happen to my job? What would happen if Parker decided to tell some of his friends the band teacher was dating his dad? It was all getting too real, too fast, as I stood in front of the crowd of thirty-some students. Any of them could go to the administration, could pass on a rumor, and before I knew it, I could be unemployed.

“Good morning, everyone,” I called over the noise, banging on my podium to draw attention to myself. The kids fell silent and sat down relatively quickly. For some reason, they'd decided to stop giving me a hard time, almost like they approved of me or something—what a novel concept.

“I take it you’ve all had a good weekend,” I said, smiling at them. A few people cheered, others clapped, others sighed. “I hope you're jazzed up and ready to go because we've got a lot of work to do this week. I know last week we started working on some stuff with the instruments, but this week, we're going to go hard on it,” I said, prompting more cheers.

I instructed the kids to get out their instruments and waited the requisite ten minutes for everyone to unpack everything and get settled again. We ran through a new piece of music that I'd picked for the class based on their performance on the last song, one I intended for us to perform at the fall concert. This one was a little more difficult, given that it didn’t have a melody they recognized right off the bat, but to my surprise, they sight read it the first time through with minimal errors.

Parker, in particular, seemed to shine, drumming away on the snare like he was born to do it. Watching him made my chest swell, made me so proud. Maybe I'd made it all up in my head, but it seemed like Parker was happy personally—and about his dad being with me. I hoped it wasn't wishful thinking on my part, especially after the weekend I'd had with George.

The dismissal bell came much faster than anticipated, and after everyone had packed up and poured out of the room, I flagged Parker down. It wasn’t much of a stretch because he seemed to be lagging around and waiting for everyone to clear out to talk to me anyway.

“Everything okay?” I asked, and he nodded.

“I love the new song; it’s a blast to play,” Parker said.

“Good, I’m glad. You seem like you're having a great time up there,” I said, and Parker smiled at me. “Look, Parker, if there’s ever anything you want to talk to me about, you know I’m here for you, right?” I asked. It felt forced, but how else could I say it? If he had any reservations about my relationship with George, I wanted to know, and I wanted him to feel like he could tell me.

“Okay, but everything’s great. Dad misses you, or at least that’s what he says,” Parker said, rolling his eyes. “You know, I’ve said it before, but you two are disgusting together,” he laughed. I laughed along with him, my concern evaporating along with my laughter. Evidently, I was paranoid; maybe there wasn’t anything at all wrong.

“I miss him too, and I know we’re disgusting, believe me,” I said, with more emphasis than was probably necessary. Parker laughed. He seemed like an entirely different kid just in the few weeks that we'd gotten to know each other. If I showed him the old version of himself, him how far he’d come in the short amount of time both personally and as a musician, I doubted he would’ve believed it.

“Well, I should get going,” Parker said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would much rather spend the next period here with you than suffer through Mrs. Baker's algebra, but I guess I don’t have a choice,” he said.

“Yes, we can't have you getting in trouble at school, especially not as a result of me,” I said. It had a double meaning, and I hope he picked up on it. He looked at me funny, crinkling an eyebrow, and I was pretty sure he got the message. He smiled at me, waved, and headed for the door.

“I’ll see you later, I can’t wait for practice,” he called as he left. Truthfully, I couldn't either. The afterschool music group had quickly become one of my favorite things, the one thing I looked forward to most in the week—aside from seeing George—and it seemed to have had that same effect on the students.

“See you then,” I called after Parker, watching him run down the hall toward his next class, his book bag bouncing on his back. It was a hilarious sight. Parker looked older than me, with his beard and shoulders wider than a semi, but there he was running down the halls of a high school to math class.

It made me want to be a kid again. Maybe the only way for me to do that was to embrace the things that made me happy, including my relationship with George, and my relationship with music.

* * *

“Hey, Clay, are you busy?” a voice asked, catching me off guard. I turned in my office chair, a sandwich in my right hand, to find Principal Hagan standing in the doorframe.

“Hey, Emily. No, I’m just on my lunch break and trying to get caught up on grading. What’s going on?” I asked, playing it cool though my heart had leaped up into my throat and lodged itself with the dry wad of sandwich I’d swallowed.

“Oh, not much. I just wanted to check in and see how Parker’s doing. He seems to have taken an interest in you, and vice versa,” Emily said with a smile as she sat down across from me in the folding chair George had last used. What was that supposed to mean? Emily brushed her long blonde hair behind her ears and I dropped my sandwich back into its plastic container before wiping my sweat-slicked palms on my pants.

“Yeah, things are going well. He’s doing a great job in band, and he’s doing even better in the after school program,” I said. She smiled and nodded.

“Good, I’m glad. I can’t really explain why, but I had a feeling you two would be a good fit for each other,” she said. “I heard you and Parker played some music for his Uncle’s wedding last weekend. How’d that go?”

My blood froze in my veins. What if Emily had put the pieces together, had seen or heard about me being with George? Would she care? She didn’t seem like she'd be uptight about something like that, and she gave me no indication during our conversation she was, but once more I found myself coming dangerously close to merging my personal life with my professional one.

“It went well, we had a lot of fun. It was Parker’s idea, actually, but I’m glad we decided to do it. It was nice to get to meet Parker’s family and get a clearer picture of what his life’s like outside of school,” I said.

“Is it troubled? I only ask because I heard about him trying to hit another student on the first day,” Emily said and I let out the breath I’d been holding as discreetly as possible.

I was acting paranoid. Maybe Emily had just come to talk to me about Parker and Derek. I’d done my best to make sure their incident didn’t become a big deal, but it was probably inevitable Emily would hear about it eventually.

“Not more than the average teenager’s life is,” I answered. It wasn’t untrue. “But don’t worry, everything’s under control. Believe it or not, those two are friends now,” I said and she laughed.

“Teenagers, right?” she asked, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

“Exactly,” I said.

“Well, good. I’m glad everything’s worked out. Anyway, I don’t want to keep you, I just thought I’d drop by while I had a minute,” she said as she stood. “How are things with you? Everything going well?”

“Yeah, perfect. I couldn’t ask for better,” I said, smiling.

“Awesome. Let me know if there’s anything we can do for you, anything you need. I want to make sure the music program is a success, it’s been a long time coming,” she said, smiling.

“Thanks, will do,” I said. Emily nodded and walked out of my office, taking my appetite right along with her, replaced by a tight ball of nerves in the pit of my stomach. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. That conversation had been far too close for comfort.

The anxiousness never went away, even as I stepped back into the classroom later that afternoon for the after school music group.

Parker was already there, dragging out the drums, and Derek sat tuning his guitar. I wasn’t lying when I told George that Parker and Derek seemed to have bonded.

That was the magical thing about being young, about being in high school. The drama came and went, hurt feelings came and went, and it all seemed to happen way too fast. I wondered if that spirit might carry over to my relationship with George if anyone in the school or the broader community took issue with it. Would they forgive and forget? Or was that just the ball of anxiousness in my stomach talking again?

“Are you okay, Mr. Johnson?” Parker asked, stirring me out of my head.

“Yeah, I’m just feeling a little tired, that’s all,” I said, but I didn’t fail to notice that Parker referred to me as my teacher name, rather than my actual name. Maybe George had a conversation with him, laid it all out for him about why he had to keep things civil and teacher-student between us at school, but whatever it was, I was grateful for it.

“Yeah, I bet,” Parker said and winked at me, making my heart skip a beat. I glared at him, and the hint of laughter that'd been on his face disappeared almost instantly. He mouthed sorry to me, and I waved him away like it was nothing, but still, it ate at me.

“Did I come at a bad time?” a voice asked, and if my stomach was full of nerves before, now it was overflowing. I turned around to find George standing in the entryway to the classroom, his hands on his hips, looking like a southern knight in shining armor. On any other day, I would’ve been over the moon to see him, would've been thrilled that he'd come to watch me and Parker and Derek play, but today wasn’t the day, not with Emily breathing down my neck.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, forcing myself to smile. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see George, I was just overwhelmed.

“I came to listen to you guys play. I couldn’t get enough after your winning performance,” George said. Winning performance? Was that a double entendre? My heart rate increased, and I stared at George until he realized what he said could've come across more than one way. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said under his breath as I approached him.

“Why don’t you guys go ahead and get warmed up? You know the drill,” I called to Derek and Parker. Parker nodded at me, though he didn’t take his eyes off George and me as I led George out into the hallway.

“Are you crazy?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” he asked, throwing his eyebrow at me.

“I had no idea you were coming, and after our weekend together, I’m not sure it’s appropriate that you show up unexpectedly at the school like this,” I said. He sighed and stroked his chin.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to put you on the spot or make you uncomfortable. I just thought it would be nice if I swung by and spent some time with you and Parker,” George said. Guilt filled my stomach. Was I overreacting?

“No, it’s not you who should be apologizing, it’s me. I’m stressed out, I don’t know how else to explain it,” I said.

“Sounds to me like you need some time away, some time to rejuvenate,” he said, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Did you have something in mind?” I asked.

“Come to dinner with me tomorrow night,” George said.

“At your house?” I asked.

“No, we'll go out somewhere nice. I want to treat you; you deserve it after all the work you’ve done with Parker,” George said.

“George, you don’t have to do that. I'd be perfectly happy just to spend time at your place with you and Parker,” I said.

“No, I insist. I want to treat you; I want to have a good night together,” George said. It wasn’t I didn’t want to go; it was more that I couldn’t stop thinking about the people we might encounter while we were out.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if someone sees us?” I asked.

“Who gives a damn if they do? You haven’t been here long enough to know, but you'll learn pretty quick, there’s no such thing as secrets in Beauclaire,” George said. “And besides, I’m not trying to keep this a secret. Parker’s okay with it and so am I. I assumed you were too,” he said.

“It’s not that I’m not okay with it, I’m just concerned about my job,” I said. "You're a parent of a student, after all. I know it’s easy for us to forget that outside of school, but it doesn’t stop being true.”

“I understand. We don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to, I just thought it would be a good change of pace for us,” George said, and I sighed.

“No, you’re right. I don’t know why I’m so scared, I just am,” I admitted. It was a tightrope of sorts to walk for me, balancing my enjoyment of the relationship with George with my responsibility for my job.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll pick you up at six, we’ll have a nice dinner together, and I’ll make it worth your while, you know I will,” George said, stepping closer to me, reaching out and wrapping his hands around my waist. I tried to weasel away, but before I could, he landed a kiss right square on my lips. I didn’t resist—I couldn’t have even if I'd wanted to—instead, I rested my hands on his cheeks, enjoying the kiss.

“God, I needed that,” I said when we broke and George smirked. But reality came screaming back when I remembered we were standing in the hallway of my school. I stepped away from George and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, but it was too late. When I turned around, Parker and Derek were standing there, laughing at each other as they peeked around the door.

There was no way they hadn’t seen what we'd done, but I didn’t know what to say. George laughed, and I supposed that was the best answer either of us could come up with, but it didn’t ease my nerves.

“Get outta here, both of you,” I snapped, waving Parker and Derek away. They hadn’t meant any harm by it, but it still filled me with dread.

What if Derek told the wrong people? I'd already learned the hard way, on the first day of school, that he had a mouth he had no control of—what would I do if that extended to me? What if word got back to Emily?

It couldn’t come to that.