WHY I TEACH-Part 24: Not the Answer I Expected

“Hey, Trey,” I said to the kid standing on the other side of my desk. I finished writing my thought and looked up. “How are you doing today?”

He looked super nervous. “I’m fine.”

I leaned over to look around at the young woman standing behind him. She shrunk back, chewing on her fingernails.

Trey stepped aside, put his around the young woman, and pushed her toward me. “This is my girlfriend, Annie.”

“Hello, Annie, it’s nice to meet you.”

Annie raised her eyes to meet mine, then quickly looked down and began chewing on her fingernails.

Trey took Annie’s hand. “Annie has something she needs to tell you.”

I braced myself for the words “I’m pregnant.” Trey was a junior, Annie looked like maybe a freshman or sophomore, both were under 18. So freaking young to be pregnant. I clicked on a folder on my computer desktop labeled “PG Resources”.

“My father has sex with me,” Annie said.

I looked at her and blinked, then nodded.

“I started dating Trey and now he’s all jealous. He wants me to break up with Trey, but I don’t want to. If I don’t break up with Trey, I think he’s going to start getting on my sisters. And they’re only six and 4, so I don’t want that to happen.” It came out in one breath. One very long breath.

“I’m so sorry, Annie. Is your mom home, can she help?”

Annie blushed a deep shade of red. “She’s home, she don’t work. She doesn’t want to kick him out because then we’d be homeless. And I don’t want to be the reason we’re homeless.”

I looked at Trey, he was staring intently at me.

“Listen, I can help, but I know someone who’s even better at helping, would it be OK if we went to see her? I’ll stay with you when you talk to her.”

Annie nodded. She looked at Trey. He reached out and embraced her. I heard him whisper, “You were so brave, it will be OK, I promise you it will be OK.”

I had been to the guidance department once. I thought I knew the way, but I really wasn’t sure. I paused at my doorway.

“Are we going to see Ms. White?” Trey asked.

“Yes, why don’t you head that way? I’ve got to log off of my computer and then I’ll catch up.”

Trey turned right out of my classroom and I ran back to log out of my computer. I grabbed my phone and followed behind them.

We sat in front of Ms. White. I held Annie’s hand and squeezed it encouragingly as she shared with Ms. White.

The bell rang for class and Ms. White said to me, “You can go, thank you, I’ve got her from here.”

I gave Annie a huge hug. “I’m super proud of how brave you are,” I whispered in her ear.

In the process of the arrest, trial, and conviction of her father, I learned where Annie lived. I made a habit of driving by her house. They didn’t get evicted. The lights stayed on and the girls were safe.

A few months later, Trey came to me with an unusual request. “Can you keep my dog until I graduate?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Well, it isn’t my dog. I bought it for Annie, but her mom said she can’t have it and my mom’s allergic to dogs. So, can you keep my dog until I graduate?” He pulled up a picture of a long-haired dachshund. She was red with floppy ears.

“You don’t graduate for another year and a half.”

He shrugged. “I paid like $600 for the dog, I don’t want to just give it away.”

“Well, if I take her in and care for her, will you be providing all veterinarian care including shots, flea prevention, heartworm, or anything else she may need?”

“It’s a he and no, I can’t do that.”

“So, if I take him, you’re giving him to me to keep.”

Trey flashed a huge smile. “So you’ll take him!”

“Let me ask my hubby, first, but probably, yes, I’ll take your dog. What’s his name?”

“I call him Maple, like the color of the leaves.”

“Nice, Mr. Maple will have a good home with us! My kids will love him.”

Stuart agreed and Mr. Maple joined our home of rescued pets along with the other two dogs-Rosie and Poppy, a cat-Puddin, two ferrets-Bino and Bella, four hermit crabs-Juan, Jose, Juanita, and Louis, a turtle-Fred, and numberless, nameless fish.