The Man of the House

I went and prepared food for the family after Mackenzie and I had finished cleaning up. I had grown much more skilled at cooking than I used to be, and while I still heard I was better before the injury, it wasn’t at the level where they were suspecting anything. Then again, suspecting the brother you had been living with the last week was not your real brother was probably difficult to accept even if you were told that.

For dinner, I cooked spaghetti in meat sauce, and this time I was able to do it without any of the noodles getting stuck to the bottom and burning. The girls started to arrive one at a time over the next hour. As for Mackenzie, she had sat on the couch in the living room and watched television while I cooked. Any time I looked her way, I realized she wasn’t watching television but was smiling while watching me. Rather than feel freaked out by it, her looks made me feel a bit self-conscious.

Once I had cooked the meal, I put out the plates and started serving them to each person. While I was in the middle of doing it, Kristy suddenly spoke up.

“Someone was having sex in the locker room today.”

“Seriously?” Kelsey perked up

I nearly dropped the ladle, splashing pasta sauce everywhere, but I just managed to catch it. “Wh-what?”

“I mean… I didn’t see anything.” She blushed. “But… one of my friends tried to get her swimsuit from the locker, and there was a Senior standing in the entrance who wouldn’t let her past. She said she heard what sounded like… well. Sex.”

“All women?” Bethany said, her eyes wide.

“N-no! I mean… I don’t think… she said there sounded like a man in there.”

“Don’t believe every rumor you hear!” Mackenzie cut in, glaring at Kristy, “Right, mom? Mom?”

“Touchdown!” Mom jumped up and then looking away from her phone at the rest of us. “Ah… right, whatever Mackenzie said.”

“There, see?” Mackenzie snapped.

“She sounded certain,” Kristy responded in a pouty voice.

“I wish I could have sex.” Kelsey sighed.

Thankfully, the conversation ended with that, although Mackenzie gave me a few sharp stares as if she was trying to lecture me. When no one was looking, I responded with a kissy face, causing her the blush and stop harassing me. After we did what we just did, what right did she have to complain! There was one other person who had been watching me carefully though.

That night, there was a light tap on my door, and I opened it surprised to see Dawn standing there. She rarely ever came out of her room except to eat, and she never came to my room. However, this time, she stepped into my room.

“Was that you, in the locker?” She asked.

“Why would you think that?” I tried to deflect the conversation.

“Don’t you keep telling me you’re a slut?”

“… fine, it was me.”

“…”

“Are you just upset you didn’t film it?”

“N-no!” She crossed her arms and then blushed. “B-but… if you wanted to…”

“Haha… you’re my cute big sister. How could I say no? Next time, I’ll let you record everything.”

She nodded, but after a moment her embarrassment grew to concern, “You should be careful too. There could be repercussions to this kind of thing. Plus, there is still Abigail.”

“Abigail had nothing to do with this.” I waved my hand. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be careful.”

She nodded, and then looking around she quickly gave me a peck on the cheek. “I love you, brother.”

“I love you too…”

She turned and walked away, but I felt pretty happy about the conversation. I went to sleep that night without worries.

Slut!

The next day, I came to my locker to see that written across the front. I had been getting more looks than I expected, and people were whispering behind my back. You’d think a bunch of seniors dogpiling on a younger student would be something they would keep from spreading, but it turned out the rumors were only getting worse. I had wanted to be careful and nip them in the bud, but I ended up only acting more and more recklessly. I supposed that I only had myself to blame. I closed my locker and walked away, pretending like I didn’t even see the word.

“Slut…” A guy coughed as I walked by, leading to even more giggles.

I stopped and then turned to the guy who said it. “Jealous you’re not getting any?”

His face turned red and he looked away. It was a weird thing to see on a guy a head taller than you. If I talked to this guy like that before, even if he did start it, I’d end up getting my ass handed to me. Now, he hid away the second I threatened him.

I turned away and kept walking. Although I felt like people were whispering and talking crap about me all day. I just dealt with it, grinding my teeth, until lunch. Then, I’d get to talk with a couple of interesting girls who I might even be able to call friends. However, when I reached the table, the girls had blocked all of the seats with their backpack. They also weren’t looking in my direction.

“This seat is taken.” The girl named Nora said, not meeting my eyes.

“Sorry…” Sophie added.

“Seriously?”

“Sorry…” Sophie responded again. “Just go.”

I bit my lip, nodding, but feeling genuinely upset for the first time. I left the table and found a place to eat by myself. Even there, I thought I heard my name a few times and received a few glances. Maybe, I was just being paranoid. I wanted to go talk to my sisters, but they were surrounded by people and seemed popular. I didn’t want to bring down their table by showing up.

I went to my last two classes without incident. School sucked. I had to just accept that. School had honestly not been that great in my previous world, right? At least my home life was a lot better. I could talk to Dawn about it or Mackenzie. Maybe, I shouldn’t tell Mackenzie I was being harassed. She would do something about it and it might even make things worse. Either way, my home life was still good, so I could live with a shitty school environment.

As the bell finally rang for us to go, the pretty math teacher called to me. “Noah, stay after class for a moment, will you?”

I nodded and sat back down. I saw a few looks as people left, some more snickering, but after facing it all day, it barely affected me. When the last student left, the teacher began erasing the chalkboard in front of the class. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans and a tank top. It was the kind of casual wear I never would have expected to see on a teacher, but it was only so normal here.

Boys had various dress codes. We couldn’t wear anything that showed our chest. Short shorts or anything that showed a bulge was considered taboo. Even shorts that just showed too much thigh were outlawed. Thankfully, I was the kind of guy who wore pants all year round. Even in the summer, it was difficult to find me outside of jeans. As for exposing my chest, I’d never gotten a shirt with a low V or anything like that.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors spinning around you since yesterday.” My teacher said as she put her eraser down and turned around to face me.

She was a pretty girl in her mid-twenties. She had a small bosom, but nice hips, and a short stature. She had black hair that went down to her shoulders, a heart-shaped face, and some sensual lips that tended to attract the boys. I tried not to fill my head with sexual fantasies about her, especially after everything that had happened today. I had to show some restraint, right?  

“Ah… the vice-principal already talked to me about it.” I said, thinking that this must have been an extension from the conversation she had yesterday.

“I’m your teacher too, so if there is anything you need to talk about…”

“It’s fine… just people running their mouths.” I said. “I’m not even sure what the rumors are. Just someone calling me a slut, I guess.”

“The rumors say you’ll sleep with any girl who asks.” She explained. “Well, they usually come out as insults. Of course, I punish anyone I hear using that kind of language.”

I snorted. “Well, thank you for your concern. I’ll consider it.”

The rumor wasn’t wrong, after all. I had said those words myself. I’d be more embarrassed if they had any examples, like the six seniors in the locker room. Well, perhaps social exiles weren’t the worst thing. I hadn’t flirted with or had sex with any girls today, right? I’d go home and at the very least, the rumors wouldn’t be getting any worse.

My teacher sat down in the desk next to mine, pulling the chair over and watching sympathetically. “I’m very concerned that this kind of thing might start affecting your grades. After all, you had to take a week off right before this drama started, so it will be a struggle for you to catch up.”

“It’s not that bad.” I deflected. “I have older sisters who had your class, after all. I can always get some tutoring from them if I asked.”

“That’s right!” She nodded sympathetically. “You come from a broken home, right?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, if your father was still around, it’d be fine, but you only had your mother and sisters to raise you. A boy like you being raised by all women, it has to be tough.”

“My father…” I made a face. “He doesn’t matter.”

“Well, every boy needs a father to teach him how to cook, and clean, and such…”

I glanced up at her, realizing she was leaning in pretty close to me. “Isn’t that… kind of antiquated.”

“Haah… you caught me. Friends like to tell me I have an old soul. I have a lot of traditional values. Women should open the door for men. Women should chase after men. That kind of thing.” She reached out and touched my knee. “What do you think?”

“Ms. Devon, what are you doing?”

“Call me Diana.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I already said, I’m just trying to help you improve your grades. I wouldn’t want to see them slip. As long as you work hard, I guarantee they’ll stay up.”

She watched my eyes carefully. I wasn’t a fool, so I could understand what she meant. I had been careful to try to not see her as another affair, and in the end, all that happened was she ended up becoming another affair! Part of me was extremely excited about this. I had sexual fantasies about her the entire year. This was a dream come true.

However, it was no doubt that this came just as rumors about me being a slut surfaced. My trustworthy teacher turned out to be a bit of a predator. I supposed that should be terrifying, but how could I see it that way. Glancing at the door, I licked my lips and then moved my hand onto her knee as well. She seemed surprised for a moment, but then her smile grew.

“I like decisive men.” She said. “Join me in the back for a bit.”

She stood up and then walked to the back of the classroom. There was a teacher’s office there which had a lock on it. What she was saying was abundantly clear. I felt like a nicotine addict trying to quit. I had made it through day 1, only to have to set it back to zero again. However, this was a teacher too. She wasn’t likely to start spreading around that she was banging a student. If I kept quiet, and she kept quiet, there was no one around to spill the beans and cause us pain.

Looking at it another way, younger girls were petty, stupid, and unstable. Maybe, I should have been sticking it in older women from the beginning!

I walked into the back and then shut the door, closing it behind me. Not only was I going to have sex with a beautiful woman, but I was also going to guarantee I had good grades! What could be better?