#hackerney

Laura clawed her hand into the denim on her thigh under her desk as her lower lip slowly began to tremble. 

Not again. 

The student looked up for a split second and looked into her teacher's questioning face. Mr. Hackett wasn't used to this kind of attitude from her. From the very best student. Laura usually made a special effort when it came to him. With the new teacher, who was not only fresh out of college, but also smoking hot. Usually, Laura enjoyed his attention, but not today. She didn't actually write bad grades. He was sure to be disappointed and would scold her in a minute. 

Another person she disappointed. 

She had long since lowered her gaze back to her test. Her vision was blurred by the tears gathering in her eyes. She almost didn't notice the bell ringing and her classmates leaving the classroom around her. Only when Max put his hand on her shoulder did she look up at him. His look was full of compassion and just as he opened his mouth to say something, he was interrupted. 

"Max, would you be so kind as to give me and Laura a moment to talk?"

Max turned his head to his teacher and gave him a quick nod before leaving the classroom and closing the door behind him. The hustle and bustle and the background noise created by the students in the hallway had suddenly fallen silent. All the louder now were the footsteps that Laura heard slowly coming toward her. She perceived him taking the seat next to her. The moment he sat down on the chair, the first, thick tear fell on the sheet of paper that lay in front of her. The liquid mixed with the red ink he had used to draw the letter F on the paper. 

"Hey," he said softly as he gently placed a hand on Laura's shoulder, just as Max had just done. "It's not the end of the world, Laura. I know you actually write excellent grades. That you can actually do this. I'm just wondering why you completely failed to write on the point. Didn't you have time to prepare for the test?"

Laura propped her head on her arms as tear after tear ran down her cheek. 

She remained silent. Talking about it wouldn't change a thing. 

"... Sorry. I," she tried to hold back the quiet sob, but it escaped her body involuntarily. "I don't know either. I'm sorry, Mr. Hackett."

He took a deep breath before removing his hand from her shoulder and moving his chair close beside her. Then he said, "Look at me, Laura." 

She obeyed. She turned her puffy face to him. He looked at her with the same look Max had just given her, though for a completely different reason. 

"I guess I can imagine that the grade is devastating for someone like you. You're ambitious. But don't worry about it, Laura. Your cooperation in class is impeccable, and so far you've also collected all the extra points that could be earned. You are a very good student. You are intelligent, hard-working and inquisitive. You really have nothing to worry about." He smiled encouragingly at her. It was a thin smile, but it was genuine. Laura appreciated it, however she couldn't return it at that moment. 

"Do I get a chance to make up the grade, Mr. Hackett?"

"Of course. How about correcting the test at home? I'd count the elaboration as an extra grade, so you can even out the test a bit."

Laura nodded gratefully before averting her eyes again. He had noticed very well that she had flinched slightly at the word 'home'. 

"Can you manage to get the correction done by tomorrow?"

 "Absolutely."

"Okay." He stood up and gave her shoulder another quick squeeze. "Don't be upset about the bad grade."

"It's not about the grade," she whispered. She wiped tears from her cheeks with her hand.  

Mr. Hackett frowned at her statement. "Then why are you crying if not for the grade?" 

She had not been aware that he had been able to hear her. 

Laura looked up at him and smiled briefly. Then she grabbed her bag and her test and left the room before Mr. Hackett could say anything else. 

He had been well aware that her smile had not reached her eyes. 

__

When she entered the classroom the next morning, she first walked past the teacher's desk and placed the corrected test on it for Mr. Hackett to see. Then she led the way with her head bowed until she dropped into her seat. The lesson had already begun, which is why the noise level in the classroom was relatively low. The last voices faded away as Mr. Hackett came through the door.

Laura buried herself in the open textbook that lay before her. She just wanted to get the day over with as quickly as possible. But before Mr. Hackett could even say anything, one of her classmates shouted something through the otherwise empty classroom. 

"Yo Kearney, what happened to your face?"

Out of reflex, Laura looked up when she heard Jacob call her name. The next moment, all pairs of her classmates' eyes, including Mr. Hackett's, were on her. 

On her black, swollen eye. 

Laura lowered her head. She knew it was easy to see the bruises that turned the skin below her left eye, and on her cheekbone, dark blue. They were accentuated by the slight swelling. A vein had apparently burst in her eye, which was why fine red lines ran through the otherwise brilliant white of her sclera. She looked like crap. Even the extra layer of makeup this morning hadn't changed that. 

"Laura? Is everything okay? What happened?" asked Max, leaning over to her in concern. He looked shocked. 

"I'm fine. I fell on the way to school." She lied. She swallowed excitedly as she looked at Max for buying her lie. 

"Then maybe you want to go to the nurse's office? I mean, not that you have a concussion." 

"No, I'm fine." 

She bit her lip nervously as she shifted her gaze - away from Max - to the front. Her gaze instantly met Mr. Hackett's. His whole body froze when he saw her face. 

The lesson was a cramp. Laura had been handed a note in between. In it, Kaitlyn asked how she was doing. Laura hadn't put much effort into her answer before passing the note back in her friend's direction. She also told her what she always told everyone. 'I'm fine.'

When the redeeming school bell signaled the end of the lesson, she had packed her things within a moment and was about to leave the classroom when she heard his voice. 

"Laura, please come see me for a moment."

Briefly, she wondered if she should just leave. She was not in the mood to have a conversation with her teacher now. She didn't feel like being approached about it. But she also knew that she was not that kind of person. Someone who ignored the teacher. Someone who was disobedient. That's why, before she could even think about it, she was standing in front of his desk. 

He waited patiently until all the students had left the room. Then he closed the door behind Max, who was the last to go out. 

They were alone. 

Mr. Hackett breathed in and out loudly before sitting down on the edge of the teacher's desk. Laura had sat down in one of the chairs in the front row. He crossed his arms, obviously not really knowing how to begin. 

While he was seemingly struggling to formulate the right sentence, emotions were boiling up inside Laura. 

Please don't bring it up. Please don't. Please, please, please.

"Laura..." 

Immediately, her lower lip began to tremble. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. 

The next moment, he came up to her and squatted in front of her. He tried to look her in the face, but Laura turned her head away. When he put a hand on her arm, she looked at him. Tears were already streaming down her face. 

"Who did this?" His voice was no more than a whisper. 

Laura said nothing. Nor could she have - she only managed a quiet sob before she really started to cry. 

Mr. Hackett stroked her arm with his hand, trying to soothe her as Laura cried. After a few minutes, she had regained her composure. He was still squatting in front of her and his hand was still on her arm, too. His expression was questioning. 

"Laura?" 

"Mr. Hackett?"

"You want to tell me who that was?" 

She wiped her face, hoping to regain her composure. 

"I fell this morning. I tripped over something. But it hurts pretty bad. Maybe I should check in with the nurse after all." 

Mr. Hackett took another deep breath. He looked her straight in the eye as he exhaled the air through his nose loudly. 

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

She frowned. What was he trying to get at?

"No, I don't."

"I see, so you live alone with your parents?"

Laura's features hardened. There was nothing she could do about it. It was just happening. "Just with my mom."

He nodded knowingly. "Are your parents divorced?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business." She snapped at him. 

Mr. Hackett was so caught off guard by her sudden change of mood that he removed his hand from her arm in a flash. 

She saw his tongue press against his cheek from the inside before he answered her with a firmer tone. "I know the difference between a fall injury and one you get from a punch in the face." Slowly, his gaze softened again. "Laura, did your mother hit you?" 

Suddenly, she stood up and took a few steps away from him. She needed to put distance between them. 

"Laura," he stood up and walked after her. "Will you please stay here while I talk to you?" 

"Why?!" she yelled at him. "What good would that do? What would it change?" 

He was standing in front of her now. "Don't yell at me." His tone sounded more direct than his expression looked. He lifted a hand and placed it on her upper arm again. She knew it was meant to be a reassuring touch, but even so, the grip with which his fingers held her was relatively firm. 

"Please answer me. Did your mother hit you?" He held her chin before she could turn her head away. The thick tears that were gathering in her eyes ran back down her cheeks to his hand. 

"Yes." she answered him in a choked voice. "I disappointed her."

"No, Laura. It is her behavior that is disappointing. It's not just that-it's wrong. She can't hit you, do you understand?"

"What am I supposed to do? She's my mother!" She closed her eyes to keep from looking at him. "You don't know what it's like. I can't do anything about it."

They stood like that for a while. He looked at her, she widened quietly. 

"With me, it was my mother, too." he then whispered. His grip on her upper arm softened instantly. But she did not move an inch. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at him. A few tears that hung in her lashes marred her view of his dark eyes. She noticed at that moment how dark they were. Almost black. 

"I know exactly what a punch with a fist looks like. What marks a flat hand leaves on the skin. What the welts look like that a belt draws on a body. How they change color over time." He collected himself for a moment before continuing. "Laura, if your mother is hitting you, it's not okay. We have to do something about it." 

"...we?" She hadn't realized she'd spoken her thought aloud before he answered her. 

"Of course. As long as you want my help, of course."  

She didn't know what exactly she was feeling at that moment. An avalanche of emotions was overtaking her. Happiness. Relief. Hope. Gratitude. She felt, for the first time in half an eternity, no longer alone.

At that moment, his appearance, the friendly, easy-going manner he had toward his students, was completely unimportant. Laura suddenly felt understood in a way she hadn't in a long time. She felt a deep sympathy for him that she hadn't felt before. She was so overwhelmed with excitement, joy and a certain kind of attraction that the next moment, she stood on her tiptoes and placed her lips on his. It was an innocent, brief kiss, which he broke instantly as he overcame the shock stupor that the intimate touch had triggered in him. He backed away just a bit, so he could look into her eyes. 

"What are you doing? Why did you do that?"

They looked at each other questioningly. They both had similar expressions on their faces, though they had completely different reasons. His expression was questioning, but confused. Hers was questioning, but dreamy. Happy. Grateful.

Laura let a few seconds pass and when he still hadn't increased the distance to her, she started another attempt. 

His lips were warm and soft. The feeling in her belly - the tingling - was indescribably pleasant. She placed a hand on his chest, whereupon she felt his heart racing underneath. She could feel it throbbing against her palm. 

His body did not move while she kissed him. He stood frozen in front of her. Only when she briefly released her lips from his did he say something, which Laura nipped in the bud with another kiss. Only when her hand wanted to move from his chest up to his neck, he grabbed it. He held her hand tightly as he pushed her away from him a bit. Laura winced. She felt as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Wide-eyed - like a deer in headlights - she looked at him. 

"Why the hell did you do that?" he was furious. 

Laura swallowed. "I don't know - I, I've-" she sputtered, before he let go of her hand and put a few feet of distance between them both.  The pleasant feelings she had felt until just now were suddenly blown away. Suddenly she realized what she had just done. 

"...Sh-i-t." she cursed quietly. Then she panicked. 

She rushed past Mr. Hackett to where she had left her bag earlier. She was about to grab it when he grabbed her hand. 

"Don't-!" he said. "Laura, wait. Stay here, please."

"I'm sorry..." she stammered, but he interrupted her with a raised index finger. 

"Listen to me, I can understand how this situation is wearing you down emotionally and messing you up. Do you have someone, a friend - who knows? Someone you can confide in?" 

Laura shook her head. 

"What about Max? I thought you two were dating?" 

Laura let her eyes wander out the window. "No. Our worlds are too different. It wouldn't work. He has a perfect family and lives in a perfect world. I don't. He doesn't understand my problems. Or rather, can't understand them. He doesn't know about Mum either. Well, of this," she points to her black eye. "He wouldn't understand. I can't ask him for help. He would freak out and would want to call the police or something." 

"I know what you mean." They were still standing quite a distance apart. By silent agreement, they decided to leave it like that. Laura took one good look at her teacher. Knowing what she knew now. He was tall. He had a certain appearance. She couldn't have imagined in life that he had once been in the same situation she was in. 

"Does it ever stop?" she asked with a hopeful look. 

"For me, it stopped after I moved out from home. When I went to college."

Instantly, tears welled up in Laura's eyes again. She turned away from him and sobbed loudly. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

"I won't be able to go to the college. I won't be able to pay for it. I may not even be able to-" 

"Of course you'll go to college, Laura. Anything else would be a waste. You're too smart to stay here."

"But the money-"

"Have you looked around for scholarships? You're in your senior year. You still have some time, but you need to at least try to apply for scholarships. Laura, look at me."

She turned to him. 

"I'm going to help you, you hear me? We're going to make this work. We're going to get you out of here. I promise you. Okay?"

She nodded gratefully at him. "Okay."

"Good." he said. "Come here." He held out his arms, and he didn't have to wait a second before she was with him and in his arms. The hug felt good. Laura closed her eyes and let the warmth and physical contact wash over her. 

"You can't tell anyone. Do you understand me? No one's soul. This is very important." he whispered.

He didn't have to be specific about what he meant. Laura understood that he was talking about their kiss. She nodded and added, "Please forgive me, Mr. Hackett. I was just emotional and...I don't know." 

They broke away from each other, but he continued to look at her with an intense gaze. 

"Ask Max out on a date, Laura. He's head over heels in love with you. Even I've noticed that. I'm going to look into matching grants for you. You once said you wanted to be a veterinarian, is that still the case?" 

She nodded.

"Good. The next time your mom...has a bad time - if you notice she's like that, get out of the house. That's what worked for me at the time. Go to Max's or a friend's house and stay there until she calms down. Try to avoid the situations and don't provoke her. When we find you a scholarship, you'll move out this time next year, okay? One more year. Can you do that?" 

Again she nodded at him. 

"Good girl. Now go to the nurse and get your eye treated." 

"But-" 

"Don't talk back to me." 

She nodded again. 

"And Laura, don't tell anyone. Do you understand me? I can't help you if I'm in jail." He smiled at her. 

She was grateful that he was joking about it and no longer angry. But she understood very well the importance of his statement. She knew he could get in serious trouble if she told anyone about it.