I can't breathe. I can't breathe and I'm going to fucking puke. I clutch the arms of the chair I'm in and start to shake, but then Ethan comes to my rescue.
"Taryn, don't say a damn word!" He steps forward, his hand on my shoulder. "You can talk to our attorney, Hill. Because we are fucking suing this school, and every administrator and the school board!"
Mom sobs quietly beside me as I try to figure out how in the hell they got Michael's cell phone and where is he anyway? Did he tell them everything? As worried as he was about being found out, that's really hard to believe.
"Mr. Kincaid," Mr. Hill tries to calm Ethan down. "We're doing everything we can to rectify the situation, but we are still in the investigation stage. We need to hear Taryn's side of the story."
"What the hell do you need to investigate?!" Ethan yells. I have never even seen Ethan mad, let alone heard him cuss and yell. He's furious. "You have the creep's cell phone, his lap top, what the other two girls said! You don't need anything from our daughter!"
The other two girls. That girl, that Kaitlynn who came into work last night. Oh my God, she must have told on Michael and then dragged me and the other girl into it. Or maybe it was this other one, the girl whose name I don't know. I'm sitting here because someone blabbed. And now they want me to tell them what Michael and I had done. Hell to the fucking no.
"I wanna go home," I murmur, bowing my head.
Mom throws her arm around me. "We will, baby we will. Just as soon as we can."
"We're leaving now." Ethan says, helping me to my feet. I stay wrapped in Mom's arms so I don't have to look at anyone else.
"Mr. Hayes is on paid administrative leave until we have the whole story," Mr. Hill is still trying to explain everything and stands between us and the door. "You should know, there are some disturbing things on his lap top. An online private diary, in which he has written very intimately about your daughter, and the others. That and the texts on the cell phone between Taryn and Mr. Hayes, leave little doubt as to the nature of their relationship. But we need to confirm whether this relationship was consensual or not. So, speaking to Taryn, is, I'm afraid, essential."
"You piece of shit!" Ethan is speaking between clenched teeth. "Consensual? Of course it wasn't consensual! That man took advantage of Taryn, plain and simple! He was her fucking teacher!"
Mr. Teagan steps forward to try to diffuse the situation. "I know this is hard, Taryn, but if you can just help us the way Kaitlynn and Pam did, we can make sure Hayes never teaches in this state again."
"Teagan!" Mr. Hill snaps at the Vice Principal. "That's confidential information!"
I stare up at Mr. Teagan from Mom's arms. "What?" My hand goes to my mouth. "Pam? Pam Steele?" I start to retch and jerk myself out of Mom's grasp to hurl into the trash can under the copy machine.
Mom is at my side immediately, holding me and shouting at the men behind us. "Look what you've done to her! Taryn, Taryn, it's okay, I'm here!"
I'm on my knees, puking and sobbing and Mr. Teagan and Mr. Hill move away a bit.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Ethan growls at them. He and Mom help me up and Mom smooths my sweaty hair from my face and smothers me in her embrace again.
"She's not talking to you, stop asking her questions. She doesn't deserve any of this!" Mom shouts. "My Taryn would never have consented to .... any of that...she's a good girl! It was not consensual!"
I whisper into Mom's chest and the room goes quiet.
"Taryn?" I look up into Mom's pain filled eyes. My gaze goes from Mom to Ethan, then to Mr. Teagan and Mr. Hill. And finally, I say it.
"Yes...it was consensual. I did it. I did all of it. Whatever is on his lap top and in the texts..." The tears are dropping from my eyes, blinding me and I sway unsteadily against my mother. "It's all true. I had an affair with Michael and he didn't force me to do anything."
◆◆◆
I don't know I get to the car. Somehow I am in the back of Ethan's Lexus with Mom and she and Ethan are arguing, which is also something I've never seen.
"You have to call him, Mar!" Ethan snaps from the driver's seat.
"The last thing I need right now is Martin and his, whatever he is, getting in the middle of things!" Mom snaps back. She's fussing over me like I'm a toddler and keeps fixing my hair which is making me nuts.
"He's her father." Ethan pulls out of the school parking lot and heads towards home.
"Yes, I am aware of that fact, Ethan!" Mom is being super bitchy to him and I see Ethan's jaw tighten but he says nothing.
"It will be okay, baby." Mom goes back to soothing me. "We'll call our attorney, and we'll file a lawsuit and maybe even criminal charges."
I try to tune her out. All I can think about is Pam. Pam was the third girl. I wonder what all Michael did with her. And Kaitlynn.
Then suddenly I think of Manny. Oh my God. He'll find out. It will get out, things like this always do and he'll know what a freak I am.
Pulling away from Mom, I claw for my bag and grab my cell. Mom takes it before I can start texting.
"No, Taryn. You're not to have your phone. Not right now."
"Mom, give me my phone back! I have to text Manny; I have to tell him what happened before he hears it from someone else!"
"Taryn."
Ethan uses a tone he's never used with
