DISCLAIMER: This story is in no way, shape, or form meant to encourage student/teacher relationships. This story is simply about what could possibly happen between two people who share some common ground and begin to fall in love, despite what society might think. If you have a crush on a teacher, please do the smart thing and wait until you graduate to see where your relationship might lead, OK? Yeah, so on with the story...

A/N: The reasons for Rebekah's depression will come out later.

Prologue

"Excuse me, Ma'am, are you here to pick someone up?"

Rebekah smirked as the cool night air sent goosebumps up and down her arms, and his dress shoes clicked softly against the terrace blacktop. Wouldn't it shock the heck out of him if she decided to toss herself over the rail right about now? She'd been thinking about for the past half an hour, staring down a red Jeep parked below them and wondering what it be like to blot out painful memories forever.

The music from the nerdfest blared and then became muffled again when the gymnasium door opened and closed behind them.

"Ma'am?"

She turned to face her US History teacher, who narrowed his eyes and took a step back as he tugged his tie.

"Hi, Mr. Fields." She smoothed her black dress, undoubtedly leaving a sweaty residue, and he rocked back on his heels.

"Rebekah Rose? You looked like... someone else."

She cursed her glowing cheeks, but wasn't surprised that he'd seemed to have mistaken her, a sixteen year old High School Junior, for an adult. Unlike the other girls here tonight, who'd dressed in the fanciest gowns their parents' miserable budgets could afford, she'd selected a plain, black dress that hugged her curves. No frills. No sparkles, no diving neck lines. Just a plain, ugly black dress. Why dress up when she didn't have a date, anyway?

She could have had a date if she'd wanted one. Two boys had asked to escort her to the Homecoming Dance, but she'd refused for two reasons: 1) They were too young. Yes, they were both sixteen, but still too young for her; and 2) they were too goody-goody, damn it! Not only were they Honor Roll students, but they must have been participants in every flippin extracurricular activity known to mankind! Too good. Too predictable. They didn't even have the courage to act shy about asking her out.

Anyway, she wasn't only dressed too plain for this dance, but she'd recently had her light brown hair layered and cut above her shoulders- shorter than she'd ever had it before. At least it gave the impression to her parents that she felt like sticking around.

Mr. Fields approached her slowly, cautiously. "Where's your date, Rebekah?"

"I don't have one."

"Really?" A faint smile sat on his face. "A cute little girl like you?"

Little girl, huh? She wasn't a little girl, but decided not to waste her breath explaining that to a man who was all of seven or eight years older than her. If she was a little girl, then he was a teenager, for crap's sake.

"I think I'll just walk home now."

"Alone?" He frowned as the wind rushed down and scattered his wavy, brown hair. "In the dark? No, Rebekah, I think we better call your parents."

With her lighter than usual locks flying up around her, she followed her young teacher into the cafeteria, where he motioned at the pay phones and handed her some quarters. "Get with it, Girl. No female student of mine is going to walk home in the dark in this neighborhood."

"Only the girls?"

He chuckled, shoving his hands back into the pockets of his dress pants. "Girls are more of a target, if you catch my drift."

His chocolate eyes darkened, and instead of allowing herself to be pulled in by the good boy/bad boy vibe he seemed to sending off, she snatched the quarters and rolled her eyes when her heart fluttered from the contact. Please, God, if you are there, please tell me that I am not developing a crush on this guy, like every pom-pom-waving girl in this school.

She'd gouge her eyes out before she found herself mesmerized by his goody-goody lectures and the muscles that sometimes stressed his dress shirts. Of course, watching him beat listening to old Mrs. Sanders lecture them about sexual reproduction. Geez, why couldn't they bring in a young teacher for that subject?

"Try smiling every now and then," Fields reprimanded. "You're far too serious for a girl your age."

She forced a smile, and he raised a brow.

"You know what, Rebekah? I think I have an extra assignment for you."

"You can call me Bekah." The few friends she had called her Bekah- Renee, Alice and Misty. They were all here tonight, and probably wondered where she'd disappeared to.

"Bekah Bekah, Bo-Bekah... I want you to go home and look something up on the internet and give me a report on it."

Yay. More homework. Just what she needed to make her life more thrilling. "What do you want me to look up?"

"Space Travel."

She knit her brows and raised her top lip in sort of a half snarl, a move that brought a wide grin to his smoothly shaven face. "Just do it," he laughed. "Do it and see what happens."

OOOOO